The Energon Pub

Almost overflowing with glee at this week's arrival of my first ever Soundwave toy, I decided to revisit Soundwave's spotlight issue this evening, and I even read the five-page preview of Movie Prequel #1, despite buying the complete issue a fortnight or so ago.

Anyway, my question. Why is Bumblebee's comet form drawn completely different in the Soundwave spotlight than to how it actually was in the issue? The actual published Movie Prequel that I bought (the full-colour edition) has this artwork:

http://www.newsarama.com/IDW/Tformers_m ... re_02.html

but in the Soundwave spotlight he doesn't look like he does above. I don't have an image to link to, but in "Soundwave" Bumblebee's comet form has guns, the apparent 'wheel arch' above is absent, he has red and yellow 'lights', he has what resemble intakes on the side, there's more detail compared to the blurry one above, and the whole design of the detailing is radically different.

Panel 2 is also different in "Soundwave" than to that above (as are the captions).

Why is this? Apologies if this has been explained before.

what does bumblebee's comet mode look like in the soundwave spotlight???????????

I think I missed Bumblebee's comet form altogether in Spotlight Soundwave. All I remember is Bludgeon & his minions & Megatron, Ravage & Laserbeak.

Leonardo wrote:Why is Bumblebee's comet form drawn completely different in the Soundwave spotlight than to how it actually was in the issue? The actual published Movie Prequel that I bought (the full-colour edition) has this artwork:

Hasbro wanted more bland protoform designs in keeping with their Prime/Starscream toys.

The preview pages were most likely culled from the first run print, which had a major printing error on the first five pages. Obvious, when this was caught and corrected, some of the artwork was given touch ups.

Denyer wrote:

Leonardo wrote:Why is Bumblebee's comet form drawn completely different in the Soundwave spotlight than to how it actually was in the issue? The actual published Movie Prequel that I bought (the full-colour edition) has this artwork:

Hasbro wanted more bland protoform designs in keeping with their Prime/Starscream toys.

Fair enough. The thing is, I think the design in the Soundwave spotlight looks much better.

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:I think I missed Bumblebee's comet form altogether in Spotlight Soundwave. All I remember is Bludgeon & his minions & Megatron, Ravage & Laserbeak.

It's not in the actual Soundwave strip, you silly chap. It's in the Movie strip at the back of the Soundwave book (after some adverts).

is this what you are talking about

That's it, exactly. Thanks for the illustrative images, Cujo!

Darth Bombshell wrote:The preview pages were most likely culled from the first run print

Chronology, going by what Josh and others have said --

1) Issue drawn, laid out, ready to go.

2) Preview pages incorporated into the print files for issues that have a long printing lead time. Files for those other issues sent to print.

3) Hasbro decide they want different reference material used. Bits redrawn, layout changed.

4) Error creeps in with layout. Whether the eventual printed result is down to IDW or the printer being given a corrected file but failing to use it, we don't know.

5) Prequel printed, as rush job or with printer that doesn't have such a long lead time.

6) Error found, stock recalled, rush reprint.

Leonardo wrote:The thing is, I think the design in the Soundwave spotlight looks much better.

Me too.

right. that whole first issue was a bit of a debacle in itself

basically can be summed up as miscommunication

Don based the first version [drew the WHOLE book with that version] based off an early concept of camaro bumblebee

turns out in the end that hasbro thought he looked too much like his earth bot mode so he had to be redrawn to match the look/aesthetic of the protoforms seen in the movie/preview toys

so yeah. the book was originally drawn all the way through with that first bumblebee [also halfway colored] but then we had to go back, redraw/recolor all the panels with bumblebee

lots of tedious cut/pasting that i never wanna have to do again

*right-click-Save*

He looks a bit like Wreck-Gar there...

is it just me or does this bot look a hella lot like classics/stormbringer jetfire......

Thanks for the clear up, Denyer and Josh.
I was kinda wondering that myself.

Cujo wrote:is it just me or does this bot look a hella lot like classics/stormbringer jetfire......

It's the socalled "Red Ratchet", if I'm not mistaken.

I reckon Red Ratchet's design formed the basis for Ironhide, because the transformation is essentially the same, and even the base vehicle mode (GMC Top Kick), just with the firetruck gear removed.

Leonardo wrote:

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:I think I missed Bumblebee's comet form altogether in Spotlight Soundwave. All I remember is Bludgeon & his minions & Megatron, Ravage & Laserbeak.

It's not in the actual Soundwave strip, you silly chap. It's in the Movie strip at the back of the Soundwave book (after some adverts).

Ahaha!.........uhhhhh I feel all stupid now........damn you Leo..............

Denyer, Josh, thank you for your info. All these processes are very interesting to me.

Decepticlone, don't feel silly. At least you're not a twit.

Just on a side note, do pencillers and colourists keep copies of every panel they work on (digital copies, I mean, not the printed publications) or is it just the more interesting pictures?

Leonardo wrote:Denyer, Josh, thank you for your info. All these processes are very interesting to me.

Decepticlone, don't feel silly. At least you're not a twit.

Just on a side note, do pencillers and colourists keep copies of every panel they work on (digital copies, I mean, not the printed publications) or is it just the more interesting pictures?

ive got CDs full of the digital files used for the comics i work on

ive got CDs full of War Within Vol. 3 stuff. Colors for the unseen issue 4 xD
dun dun dunnnnn!!

hehe

so yeah. at least i do
i like keeping the layered and high res files. they're neat to look back on and its cool to have huge versions i think

Wow, you have a veritable treasure trove of artwork there! I would imagine other artists would do the same, out of pride, if nothing else.

TwV wrote:Thanks for the clear up, Denyer and Josh.
I was kinda wondering that myself.

Cujo wrote:is it just me or does this bot look a hella lot like classics/stormbringer jetfire......

It's the socalled "Red Ratchet", if I'm not mistaken.

I reckon Red Ratchet's design formed the basis for Ironhide, because the transformation is essentially the same, and even the base vehicle mode (GMC Top Kick), just with the ************ gear removed.

Thanks for clearing that whole mystery character thing up for me as well. It's been bugging me for a while. To tell you the truth, I totally missed that there was ever even a re-draw of bumblebee. I remember the re-call, but I guess I didn't read into it enough.

Hey Josh, if your ever really REALLY bored, feel free to share some of those lost pages with us. I'm still a massive DW fan and i would have loved to know what I was missing. Same goes for the Energon MTMTE, I would have loved the art for that.