The Energon Pub

holy crap. I want a Nova Prime toy now!
interesting to see Jhiaxus mentioned, and having Monstructor as the first combiner.

I'm really loving the more mature themes in this IDW Furmanverse, Previous Autobot Primes that are more akin to Megatron than Prime is a nice touch, something new and different.

The hints of whats going on behind the scens concerning Galvatron is great, and infuriating, it's starting to get like Lost, everytime a question is half answered 3 more questions are asked.

I'd like some more information on Omega Supreme, as to why he is in hiding, surely it could not be purely because of the Monstorbots?

Spotlight Jhiaxus in the future anyone?

And Don, great work on the Previous Prime's I love the look and feel of Nova in particular. I like the extra design pages being thrown in the back of the past two Spotlights, I hope this is something that is continued throughout all of IDW's future releases.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:The way I figure it was Springer left the planet from Stormbringer to find Kup, then went back there and then Stormbringer happened. So maybe not as much as a year before Infiltration, but certainly before it.

The first issue of Stormbringer features a reference to a message sent from Prowl's detachment on Earth, a message Ironhide sent in issue 3 of Infiltration. In addition, the close of issue three of Stormbringer features a conversation between Razorclaw and Megatron, which is explicitly shown in Infiltration Issue 4. Finally, Optimus arrives on Earth at the end of Infiltration, having departed to there from Cybertron at the end of Stormbringer.

Therefore, Stormbringer happens at the same time as Infiltration, with the Kup Spotlight taking place right after it...or before it. Whichever.

I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Couldn't make it to a comic shop this weekend so I've just bayed it.

Insurgent wrote:I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Ah, I see what you're talking about now. Well, in that case, we can say that the main part of the Spotlight took place a year prior, with the last page taking place just before the Prime Spotlight/near the end of Escalation.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Ah, I see what you're talking about now. Well, in that case, we can say that the main part of the Spotlight took place a year prior, with the last page taking place just before the Prime Spotlight/near the end of Escalation.

So your saying after the whole Thunderwing debacle, Springer then went and rescued Kup while the rest of the Wreckers went off to fight Decepticons. I can see that. Though I would probably place it nearer the start of Escalation, give them time to make repairs on him.

Insurgent wrote:

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Ah, I see what you're talking about now. Well, in that case, we can say that the main part of the Spotlight took place a year prior, with the last page taking place just before the Prime Spotlight/near the end of Escalation.

So your saying after the whole Thunderwing debacle, Springer then went and rescued Kup while the rest of the Wreckers went off to fight Decepticons. I can see that. Though I would probably place it nearer the start of Escalation, give them time to make repairs on him.

Isn't the difference there negligible? I mean, I thought "Escalation" occurred nearly straight after "Infiltration" and "Stormbringer".

Insurgent wrote:So your saying after the whole Thunderwing debacle, Springer then went and rescued Kup while the rest of the Wreckers went off to fight Decepticons. I can see that. Though I would probably place it nearer the start of Escalation, give them time to make repairs on him.

Yeah, that sounds more accurate.

Leonardo wrote:Isn't the difference there negligible? I mean, I thought "Escalation" occurred nearly straight after "Infiltration" and "Stormbringer".

"Infiltration" and "Stormbringer" happen at around the same time. Some time passes between "Infiltration" and "Escalation", but we don't know how much (unlike the time difference between "Escalation" and "Devastation", where it's mention that a couple of weeks have gone by.)

Didn't Prime say it was about two weeks since his beating at the hands of Megatron in Esc 5? I don't have the issue handy so I can't confirm. And if it is a couple of weeks between Esc and Dev, Sixshot must be waaaay out on the edges of the galaxy. He got to the planet in his spotlight fast enough, so he can't be slow in jet mode.

Thinking back through how the humans have taught the bots how to interact with Earth, and how they have been acomadated for, I would say one or two weeks between Esc and Infil. Why else go to the effort of making them comfy if they are gonna be gone in a day or two. Though you must wonder, did they have a wash at all? All this time has passed, they've ran, been shot at, buried, and they are still wearing the same clothes.

Insurgent wrote:Didn't Prime say it was about two weeks since his beating at the hands of Megatron in Esc 5?

If he does, he doesn't say it directly. But I gather it took more than a little bit to get to Omega's hideaway and back. (Ratchet does tell Sideswipe that Prime's gone off on his own, but doesn't say how long he's been gone.)

Insurgent wrote:And if it is a couple of weeks between Esc and Dev, Sixshot must be waaaay out on the edges of the galaxy. He got to the planet in his spotlight fast enough, so he can't be slow in jet mode.

Yeah, but how far away is Earth compared to wherever it was Sixshot was when he got the call? (Prowl says three weeks have gone by since the end of Escalation.)

AHHH MORE CONFUSION.. lol.

I think they need to make a huge update to that Ultimate Guide book, to include all this!

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:Didn't Prime say it was about two weeks since his beating at the hands of Megatron in Esc 5?

If he does, he doesn't say it directly. But I gather it took more than a little bit to get to Omega's hideaway and back. (Ratchet does tell Sideswipe that Prime's gone off on his own, but doesn't say how long he's been gone.)

Insurgent wrote:And if it is a couple of weeks between Esc and Dev, Sixshot must be waaaay out on the edges of the galaxy. He got to the planet in his spotlight fast enough, so he can't be slow in jet mode.

Yeah, but how far away is Earth compared to wherever it was Sixshot was when he got the call? (Prowl says three weeks have gone by since the end of Escalation.)

I read the issue again and there is no mention of how long ago the beating was, but it must have been at least a few days to repair his damage.

Also, where does Prowl say three weeks have gone by?

People have mentioned in the thread that Nova Prime shows that the Autobots were not the completely benevolent beings and that they have come up short of the ideals they espouse now.

I would like to point out that this is being shown in the Megatron Origin series. There would be no Decepticons if not for the curruption of the ruling class of Cybertron i.e. the Autobots. Even if they werent technically Autobots back then it is that idealogy at least from Cybertron's past that is being carried on by the Autobots today.

Prime's disillusionment comes from the realization that the ideals that he believes in and lives up to havent been actualized throughout the history.

Good and evil are not black and white but in the case of world politics today more complex and gray.

This also leads me to believe that since he didnt know this beforehand there has been revisionist history going on as to what caused the Decepticon movement and subsequent war.

Insurgent wrote:Also, where does Prowl say three weeks have gone by?

In the preview of "Devastation #1", which is at the end of the Spotlight.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Ah, I see what you're talking about now. Well, in that case, we can say that the main part of the Spotlight took place a year prior, with the last page taking place just before the Prime Spotlight/near the end of Escalation.

I'm not sure that's totally correct. IIRC, when Springer was speaking to Prowl in the Kup Spotlight, Prowl had his earth form. Also Prowl mentioned that he was keeping the information from Prime which suggested to me that Prime was with him on earth. I mean if Prime was still at the Orbital Hub, why would Springer contact Prowl at all? I feel like he would just go straight to Prime. So, I thought the Kup Spotlight was mostly taking place during the "current" time period.

Hopefully IDW will release some kind of Timeline in an upcoming Trade, or some other easy to access medium...

It should clear up all these minor niggles.

Personally Im waiting to see what part Dealer/DoubleDealer will have to play. And I am sure that Omega and Jetfire still have large parts to play in upcoming arcs, after a few more readings I really feel as if the re-introduction of Jetfire was done for a reason.

Anyone want to place bets that Computron is not all that far away?

clrobe wrote:

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I know Stormbringer happened at the same time as Infiltration, I was referring as to when Spotlight Kup happened in relation to Stormbringer/Infiltration. Which I believe was about a year before. There is no way that amount of physical damage to Kup could have been repaired in a week or two(the amount of time from Infiltration 1 to Spotlight Prime) as Springer says Kup has been fully repaired physically.

Ah, I see what you're talking about now. Well, in that case, we can say that the main part of the Spotlight took place a year prior, with the last page taking place just before the Prime Spotlight/near the end of Escalation.

I'm not sure that's totally correct. IIRC, when Springer was speaking to Prowl in the Kup Spotlight, Prowl had his earth form. Also Prowl mentioned that he was keeping the information from Prime which suggested to me that Prime was with him on earth. I mean if Prime was still at the Orbital Hub, why would Springer contact Prowl at all? I feel like he would just go straight to Prime. So, I thought the Kup Spotlight was mostly taking place during the "current" time period.

Good point. I knew Prowl had his earth form, but they had been there for three years which gives leeway as to when it is. And I never thought of why he was talking to Prowl. I just thought Prowl contacted Springer to try and talk him out of sending more bots to their death.

Only one things bothers me. If we're paying homage to Marvel G1, then his name should be
PRIME NOVA.

Why can't Simon remember his own work?

From Transformers #65:

We are PRIMUS.
We are PRIMA.
We are PRIME NOVA.
We are SENTINEL PRIME.
We are OPTIMUS PRIME.

Dark Starscream wrote:Only one things bothers me. If we're paying homage to Marvel G1, then his name should be
PRIME NOVA.

Why can't Simon remember his own work?

From Transformers #65:

We are PRIMUS.
We are PRIMA.
We are PRIME NOVA.
We are SENTINEL PRIME.
We are OPTIMUS PRIME.

Yeah, but in G1, Galvatron is a reformatted Megatron, not an ancient tf that was around before the Decepticons formed. Don't worry about it. Besides, Nova Prime sounds better than Prime Nova. It keeps the Prime at the end of the name, making it sound more like a title.

so I'm still lost...

What did Nova Prime actually DO that made him so bad? He wanted to explore?? or he made monstructor?

And prime calls Omega just as bad as the rest. I don't really get what was so severe that either did. It seemed melodramatic.

Starscream wrote:so I'm still lost...

What did Nova Prime actually DO that made him so bad? He wanted to explore?? or he made monstructor?

And prime calls Omega just as bad as the rest. I don't really get what was so severe that either did. It seemed melodramatic.

Nova Prime wanted to expand the Cybertronian empire out to other worlds and reformat them and their population into new Cybertron's and tf's. Basically, fill the universe with one giant Transformer Empire ruled by him.

And Monstuctor was made to be the ultimate warrior, super smart and super strong. But like all combiners, the melding of minds forced the combined robot to become increadibly stupid. Although they didn't know this would happen as Monstructor is the very first (and only) combiner in this universe.

As for Omega getting called that by Prime, it was because after the loss of Nova, Omega put it upon himself to lock away Monstructor and throw away the key so combiner tech doesn't fall into Decepticon hands. And that was a very long time to imprison 6 individuals because they were part of an experiment that went wrong. Omega never tried to help them, he just brushed them under the carpet. It was this lack of morals that Prime found so appalling.

Which all plays into what's so cool about IDW's take on TF continuity...the Autobots, as a governing body/structure, are proving to have been as morally shady as the Decepticons that they're fighting. Nova Prime, Omega Supreme, Senator Ratbat, Senator Decimus--it gives the Autobots an edge that's been lacking, and almost lets us sympathize with the Decepticons.

Senator Ratbat?!?! Which issue is he in?

Ratbat was in issue two of Megatron: Origin. He was the one who, I'm guessing, sent Soundwave to contact Megatron.

Kind of a cool look for Ratty, too...humanoid, but with a beast-style helmet.

Remember in the Nightbeat spotlight Nightbeat mentions "[t]he inhabitants clearly upgrading from organic to biomechanical [...]"? Does anyone else suspect that perhaps Gorlam Prime is an early victim of Nova Prime's expansion, of his idea that "the universe should be molded somewhat in our image"?

Also, did the general idea of molding civilisations in the Cybertronian image remind anyone else of the virus from Dreamwave's G1 volume #1?