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singingcicadas · 3 months

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Rodimus and making Necessary Sacrifices

The most famous one: blowing up Nyon

Btw Megatron could totally have saved the people in Nyon if he wanted to; he knew about Zeta's plan beforehand. All he needed to do was give Hot Rod and the citizens an evacuation alert. But he didn't because he wanted to give Optimus a good emotional impact with all the deaths and who cares about the common lowlife anyway, all they're good for is getting bodily thrown at Zeta until his weapon overloads from draining too many people.

Kimia station in Chaos Theory:

Red text bubble is Optimus. He doesn't wait for Optimus to agree before directly giving Omega Supreme orders to shoot Kimia down.

Reaction after confirming that Doubledealer is a traitor:

Using Rung as bait for the sparkeater:

The last two panels also gives us something on how he views (his own) authority. Because while he's always held a position of authority in high command, the high command is still a council. On the ship his authority is absolute.

The next three scenarios form a pattern. It always starts with Rodimus telling someone to kill a comrade, the person tasked with the killing goes 'what I don't want to do that', and Rodimus tones down the order from death to wound.

Ordering Rewind and Swerve to shoot at Fort Max:

Ordering Swerve to hurt Ore:

Ordering Cyclonus to shoot Brainstorm:

Each of these scenarios is in response to a critical situation. Rodimus' first orders of 'aim to kill' are, while extreme, not disproportionate to the level of threat presented. They're within reason and authority. And ceding from kill to wound when protested is proof that he doesn't not care. But it also shows that his first instinctual reaction towards threats is to kill first ask questions later, even if the threat used to be his friend, comrade, or compatriot, he's able to weigh the lives on a scale and make that hard decision. He's also the type of person who's very comfortable with taking the fates other people into his own hands and deciding whether they should live or die (which is why him choosing to spare Getaway after retaking the Lost Light is a sign of character growth).

His characterization is fairly consistent throughout the comics, except for this:

Everything in Spotlight Hot Rod goes against his later presentations. In his spotlight he's said to repeatedly beat himself up over one failed mission and is averse to taking responsibility towards other people for fear that he'd get them killed but in later issues he has No Problems doing exactly that. He displays no preferences for 'going solo' aside from the mission to retrieve the matrix and that's because everyone else kicked him out. When he wanted to leave on the Lost Light he made speeches to convince other people to join him despite the fact the Autobots were already outnumbered on Cybertron and taking people away would make their situation worse. Whenever he went anywhere in mtmte he assembled a team to accompany him.

This scene especially contradicts Spotlight Hot Rod in every single way. The only consistent aspect of his character is the recklessness. He forces Optimus to authorize a rescue mission, of which he declares himself the team leader, ignores Optimus' caution about keeping it clandestine and tells everyone to barge through the front door, shuts Ironhide's objections down by pulling rank, then falls into a trap and gets Ironhide killed. Mission failed too obviously, they only got Prowl out. Optimus takes responsibility for the failure and surrenders to the humans, of which Rodimus' response is: "he freaked out because he couldn't hack it" and promptly also proceeds to drop everything and leave because yay there's no one to keep me on this stupid planet anymore and whoever wants to can come with. Where. is the guilt.

That and the whole fiasco with Swindle and Menasor were probably Rodimus' worst moments lol. Overall he's the type of leader good with stressful trolley problems but bad at considering the larger or long-term implications of his actions. His flippancy towards life and death and tendency to solve problems with the bluntest approach bleeds heavily into his leadership decisions and... just how his character is in general. Thank goodness there's only one of Drift and he's gone for most of the Lost Light voyage, Rodimus really doesn't work well with too many yes-men hanging around.

#I don't like Spotlight: Hot Rod either it's too over the top #this is just rambling it doesnt even have a main point #going through the screenshots I have saved up so I can delete them from my computer #idw transformers #transformers #maccadam #mtmte #rodimus #hot rod

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camp-mithril-lake · 4 months

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Late night, but at least writing is progressing. Now, to track down a specific comic from Phase 1 and the Hot Rod Spotlight so I can write Doubledealer's 3 sentences right. Otherwise I won't move on for three months.

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quetzalpapalotl · 10 months

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maybe a weird ask but do you happen to have a reading list for arcee in idw1? my friend loves arcee but i dont want to make her go through all of idw1 to see her akshdjbdjx

Hi! Sorry for the delay! Not weird at all! I love these kind of questions. And I was thinking of making one anyway bc Squiggle suggested it, so this is the push I needed to get to that. And this is my girl we're talking about, I need to get everyone to read about her.

A few things of note, I write this guide assuming the reader has not read any IDW1. I will focus only on things that feature Arcee, so by following this you will be lacking a lot of context for the continuity, I will try to provide context for the bigger picture, but if there's something that doesn't make much sense just push through it (or ask!)

Unlike the IDW Optimus reading guide, I'm actually going to list every issue with Arcee in it (hopefully I don't forget any), because even doing so, you still end up with less reading material. Tho, you don't have to read every single one.

However, I will be asking you to read all of Ex-Robots in Disguise and its sequel Optimus Prime. While Arcee was a very minor character previous to this, she is a main character in those series, in fact she's the one who most consistently shows up from beggining to end. As such, I cannot tell you to just read the issues Arcee is in, it would be like skipping episodes of a tv series, you need the whole context. Besides, these comics are very thematic and mostly everything that's brought up is meant to feed the larger picture. And Arcee ends up being the thesis statement character of the whole thing. Being the best character in all of IDW1 (I'm serious), I think she's worth reading it all.

Spotlight: Arcee by Simon Furman

Well... okay, you may have heard that this issue which introduces Arcee's character is very transmisogynistic, that would be correct. I'm not comfortable telling anyone to read with without at least a warning. In the story Arcee's unique gender is said to be the result of mad scientist Jhiaxus experimenting on her, which makes everyone instinctually refer to her as "she" and made her an unstable, crazy murdered. Unfortunatelly, this will be the basis for Arcee's character. Later Barber will tackle the issues with this story and recontextualize it with the help of Jenevieve Frank, a trans woman. The retconned story will be that gender previously existed on Cybertron but was forgotten (tho, it's still present in the colonies) and Arcee is a trans woman who voluntary had Jhiaxus perform gender reassignment on her, but she ended up being the victim of malpractice. Barber will also expand on Arcee's character, her backstory, wants and motivations, so she's not just reduced to a bad surgery. However, Spotlight: Arcee can still be an uncomfortabel read. So if you don't wanna read it just read the wiki summary for it.

Spotlight: Cyclonus Spotlight: Hardhead Spotlight: Doubledealer Spotlight: Sideswipe (or all published together as Revelation) by Simon Furman

These 4 spotlights work as a miniseries, but Arcee only shows up in one page in Cyclonus and one page in Hardhead, which show her tracking down Jhiaxus, and in like 4 pages in Sideswipe, where she finally gets her hands on the guy. You may just want to skim to those pages. Althought it may be worth readin the whole thing just because the Dark Universe stuff will keep showing up. If you don't want to read it the whole thing (fair), this story is about uncovering what's up with Nova Prime and his crew (Jhiaxus, Cyclonus, Galvatron, etc), who dissappeared 6.2 million years ago when they left on an expansionist mission. Turns out they ended in a dimension called The Dark Universe which made them more or less zombies and unable to survive in this dimension for long periods if they don't return to the Dark Universe and empowered Nova-now-Nemesis with "The Heart of Darkness". They want to bring the "Darkness" to this Universe and rule it with Cybertron at the center. The Autobots fight to stop them and succed. Arcee gets to kill Jhiaxus over and over again thanks to the immortality he gets from being in the space between dimensions. Hardhead is there.

Heart of Darkness #1 and 2 by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

In this 4 issue mini-series, Galvatron turns out to have survived previous events thanks to the Heart of Darkness, finds out that D-Void, the embodiment of the Dark Universe, is planning to kill everything in this universe and uses the powers of the Heart of Darkness to raise an army from corpses to stop it. I don't reccomend it and the art can get uncanny, but Arcee shows up in the first two issues.

The Transformers (2009 ongoing) #28 and 30 by Mike Costa (and James Roberts)

This is the Chaos event that follows up on Heart of Darkness. It runs though issues #24 26, 28, 30, but Arcee only shows up in the last two and it'll probably be very confusing since we skipped the entire Costa ongoing. The rundown is that Galvatron attacks Cybertron in order to get to the Vector Sigma at the core and fuse it with the Heart of Darkness to stop D-Void. To no-one's surprise, The Heart of Darkness is part of D-Void and Galvatron was being manipulated by it so that it can come into thi universe and kill everything. It creates an amalgamation of the Decepticons and Galvatron's sweeps to fight, but Megatron keept that occupied while Optimus and co. get to the core of the planet. In the end, Optimus uses the Matrix to purify Vector Sigma, which breaks the Matrix in half.

The Death of Optimus Prime by James Robers and John Barber

Optimus wakes up to a rejuvenated Cybetron after the events of Chaos. Arcee doesn't show up in this, but it will establish certain things important to understand what's next, so I recommend reading it. Also, IMO the quality goes way up from everything listed before.

Robots in Disguise #1-9 (volumes 1 and 2) by John Barber

Finally we get to the good stuff (unless you skipped everything until now). With the war over and Optimus and Rodimus gone, Bee tries create a functioning society among the tensions between the Autobots, Decepticons and newly-arrived neutrals. It's not going great. After the therapeutic experience that was getting to kill Jhiaxus over and over again, Arcee comes to work for Prowl in the shadows. Her character finally displays some interiority. She also sort of gets retconned to never having been an official Autobot.

Robots in Disguise annual by John Barber

Arcee doesn't show up in this, but the coming events will probably be confusing if you don't read this. We also get flashbacks to the Cybetronian past which will come in handy later.

Robots in Disguise #10-22 (volumes 3, 4 and 5) by John Barber

Megatron, who hasn't been seen since his fight with the amalgamation in Costa's ongoing, returns, which isn't good news for the fragile peace. Things get set up for the Dark Cybertron event. Arcee gets lot of cool moments here and her motivations become more clear. I want to highligh issue #18 as it featured her in the narration and we get to learn a lot about her point of view.

Dark Cybertron (volumes 1 and 2) by John Barber and James Roberts

A crossover betwen RID and MTMTE. It comprises a first issue released on its own, 10 issues that alternate betwen being published as MTMTE and EXRID and a final issue also published on its own. Rather than switching between ongoing, it's easier to read it all in the 2 compiled volumes. Shockwave sets up a very comvoluted plan for nefarious purposes. If you haven't read Mtmte you may wonder who half these people are, but having read RID (and even more if you read the Revelation spotlights listed at the beginning) you'll be far less confused than someone who has only read Mtmte trying to read this. Arcee gets some baddass moments.

Robots in Disguise #28-34 (volume 6) by John Barber

The Earthfall arc where, after the events of Dark Cybertron, Optimus gets a team to return to Earth following a message from Alpha Trion. Arcee asks Optimus to let her tag along. Tensions rise between Optimus and Prowl and Earth may not be so happy to see them.

The Transformers #35-#38 (volume 7) by Jonh Barber

Due to the coming release of the Robots in Disguide 2015 cartoon, Barber's ongoing had its subtitle dropped, becoming just The Transformers, hence why the fandom calls the entire ongoing ex-RID. It inherited the numberation of RID despite the new name, but you may not find its issues listed under the previous name in some sites, look for The Transformers (2014) in that case. We check back on Cybertron, learn more about Cybertron's past and then get to the Onyx Interface arc. Optimus returns to Cybertron and leaves Prowl in charge, but not without asking Arcee to keep an eye on him. Prowl doesn't seem to be all that reasonable and Arcee has her own ideas.

Combiner Wars by John Barber and Mairghread Scott

A crossover similar to Dark Cybertron but with the Windblade series instead of Mtmte and it takes one volume. Arcee doesn't show up, but I wouldn't recommend skipping it as some important stuff happens which I think is better to read for oneself than rely on other's people's opinion. But either way, have a summary: Metroplex's spacebridge is now operational, which means they can open a portal to Caminus, Windblade's reason for coming to Cybertron since her planet is in dire need of resources. Starscream is eager to help them out as it will mean the planet will be in debt to him and is more people to have influence over. Windblade and Optimus are worried about Starscream getting and empire, but since they don't want to stage a coup, they decide to use Optimus status as Prime (figures religiously venerated in Caminus) to combat Starscream's plot (I'm sure this won't get to OP's head later). Prowl thinks they're cowards, he thinks Starscream spreading his hands on Caminus will lead to him doing the same with the other colony words, establishing a new Cybertronian Empire and then expanding it to the rest of the galaxy. Prowl thinks Starscream should be stopped at all costs even if it means destroying the spacebridge and leaving all Camiens to starve to death. A bunch of stuff happens, including: Starscream sending Swindle and Menasor to attack Caminus so he can save it and get more clout. Prowl using Devastator to destroy the spacebridge and being stopped by Superion and Defensor, losing an eye in the process and getting arrested. Starscream using the enigma to replace Prowl in Devastator with Scoop. Rattrap setting Menasor on Caminus again and freeing Prowl. Four combiners fighting on Caminus' ground to which Prowl adds another one by using the enigma to combine himself with Optimus and others in other to have him see his way. And ultimately Prowl is arrested again (and it doesn't stick, again).

The Transformers #42-#44 (volume 8 minus the last issue) by John Barber

Optimus and Prowl have a chat, it doesn't go well. But while they are busy on Cybertron, Arcee is now the de-facto leader of the Autobots on Earth and deals with Galvatron, but just like her predecessors, she makes a quick trip back to Cybertron. Issue #44 is once again narrated by her and lets us see her perspective on Cybertron's current situation.

Combiner Hunters by Mairghread Scott

And one-shot where Arcee tries to steal the enigma of combination, putting her at odds with Windblade and Chromia. We get to see some nice interactions between them and some very nice art of Arcee in her dark deco.

Sins of the Wreckers by Nick Roche

A mini series that's a sequel of sorts to Last Stand of the Wreckers from phase one. It will make much more sense if you have read that one and LSotW it's considered one of best things to come out of phase 1, is not the best, but if you don't want to bother I think you can get the gist of what's going on. Prowl has been kidnapped and unfortunately, he's too important to not try to rescue him. Arcee is dealing with her dissapointment in him and the fact that he never actually trusted her, so she's not too happy about it, but goes along anyway. Truth be told, you won't get lost in the plot if you skip this one and Arcee shares the screentime with a lot of characters, but it's pretty good and you get another writer's take on Arcee.

For context: On the Windblade series, Starscream and Winblade have been contacting the remaining colonies and trying to get them to join the Council of Worlds, which is like the United Nations for the Cybertronian Colonies.

The Transformers #45-#55 (last issue of volume 8, volumes 9 and 10) by John Barber

Things aren't looking so good for the Autobots on Earth, Galvatron makes his move leading to the Conqueros arc. Following Optimus on Cybertron, we get to meet best girl Aileron! Whom you may recognize as Arcee's eventual love interest. Optimus wonders what he should do about the problems on Earth and arrives to a very unpopular decision leading to the All Hail Optimus arc.

Titans Return

A mini crossover, it opens with a one-shot, followed by exRID #56-57, and then MTMTE #56-57, but you can skip the MTMTE issues. Garrison Blackrock's original Cybertronian personality, Sovereign, a servant of Onyx Prime, awakens and causes trouble. Somehow, Sentinel Prime has returned.

Revolution by John Barber and Cullen Bunn (+others)

This is where the infamous Hasbroverse crossovers start. I wouldn't blame you for wanting to skip it, but Arcee is there (tho nothing is about her in particular) and it will be referenced later. Baron Karza, a guy from a place created thanks to Micronus Prime called Microspace wants Earth's ore-13 to save his dimension from entropy, but the dimensional transporting of the ore makes it unstable and explode, this means bad news it it keeps happening. The explosion blamed on the Cybertronians who are still not very well-received on Earth. G.I. Joe is sent to deal with the Cybertronians, but while Optimus wants to make peace with them, things are further complicated when Rom the space knight shoots some G.I. Joe members. As it turns out Rom's enemies, the shapeshifting Dire-Wraiths have infiltrated the Joe ranks because they too want the ore-13 because it enhances their magic. A guy that's secretly allied with Karza leads a project to develop tech against Cybertronians which result in the M.A.S.K organization Rom wants all the ore out of this dimension, Optimus is more concerned with protecting Earth than the microspace, G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. still hate Cybertronians and then the Micronauts show up following Karza. Eventually they all sort things out between themselves and solve the crisis and the ore is stabilized. Optimus learns that Earth is not so defenseless after all

Optimus Prime #1-6 (volume 1) by John Barber

Because of editorial reasons, exRID get's a relaunch under the name Optimus Prime and the numeration resets, but it's following the same story, so don't worry about it. Starting with the new Cybertron arc, Optimus is dead set on Earth joining the Council of Worlds and will play a risky game for it to happen. Arcee is practically his right hand woman at this point, but that doesn't mean she's happy with how he goes about things. On top of it, Sideswipe has been in critical state since Conquerors and Arcee is not doing great.

Wrath of Karza by Cullen Bunn and Jimmy Johnston

Another crossover that closes the Microspace plot. Honestly, you don't need to read this, I don't even personaly recommend it. But if you have read everything else up to this point, might as well read this so you can say you've read every comic with Arcee in it.

Optimus Prime #7-10 (volume 2) by Jonh Barber

We follow how things are going after the events of New Cybertron. Arcee finally gets some sympathy from another person. Issue #9 focuses on Sideswipe but is also a very important moment for Arcee's arc and in issue #10 we learn about Arcee's past.

Transformers Annual 2017 by Jonh Barber

The conversation between Optimus and Pyra Magna after issue #8, comes included in Optimus Prime vol 2. No Arcee here, we just learn about how Optimus met Bee and Pyra's omnious encounter with Onyx Prime. This will be referenced later, but you can skip it if you're tired.

For context: In the Revolutionary series, assorted characters from different IPs follow the track of a mysterious thing called The Talisman that seems to be linked to Onyx Prime. This includes Blackrock, who wants to learn more about his past, Kup and his new bestie Action Man, Anaya Jones, now working for G.I. Joe under the name Mayday. This leads them to a G.I. Joe villian called Kreiger who has a Transformer working under him.

Said Transformer is named Centurion, who used to think he was Bumblebee because Shcokwave brainswashed him and his crew in order to study a simulation of the Cybertronian war. At the end of it all the Talisman fuses Centurion's consciousness with that of a guy names Mike Powell, aka Atomic Man. Also Transformers are allergic to the Talisman.

First Strike by Mairghread Scott and David A. Rodriguez

Another crossover. This one is better handled than Revolution IMO by mainline focusing on two main IPs and leaving everyone else for the side stories, so you get a more centered narrative. Personally I think there's some really good stuff in here, but also some really stupid stuff. Either way it'll be important, but Arcee only has a role in the last two issues, so here's the rundown: Earth has agreed to join the Council of Worlds, but during the celebration, Joe Colton, ex-G.I. Joe, and Kreiger attack Cybertron with the objective of getting the Talisman to the core of the planet and get rid of Cybertronians while they're distracted. Colton is motivated by a mistrust of Cybetronians, thinking he has to get rid of them before they take over Earth. Scarlett, the current G.I. Joe leader and Colton's daughter-figure, gathers her team and gets to Cybertron in order to stop Colton. But when she gets to Cybertron, the Council of Worlds is feeling very wary of humans and arrests them all. Scarlett convinces Optimus they need her help to stop Colton, so OP breaks out G.I. Joe. Everyone rushes to stop Colton and Kreiger before they get to the core. Kreiger reveals himself to actually be a Visionaries villian and activates the Talisman to summon the city of New Prysmos, because his plan was always to take the planet and make it a new world for his people. Colton is arrested, but the Talisman has poisoned Cybertron's energon reserves. It also has the efefct of waking up Unicron, oops.

Optimus Prime: First Strike (Unification Day: Dawn) Transformers: First Strike (Unification Day: Dusk) by John Barber

First Strike side-stories, collected in Optimus Prime vol 2. Show what Arcee was doing before showing up in First Strike #5. She joing the Revolutionaries characters in rescuing Blackrock. Way less plot relevant than First Strike, but it has some very fun character interactions, so I do recommend it.

Optimus Prime #11-14 (volume 3) by John Barber

Two mini arcs: Primeless and The Dead Come Home. In the first one, Aileron tries to keep things in order on Earth while Arcee and Optimus are busy on Cybertron, my girl is trying her best. In the second one, Optimus learns about the newsparks growing in Trypticon that the Dinobots are protecting (how this came to be happens in the Redemption of the Dinobots trilogy) so he and Arcee deal with that. Good stuff all around IMO.

For context: On the Till All Are One series, Windblade and Bumblebee get through to Starscream, who confesses all of his crimes and is then arrested. Windblade is elected president of Cybertron.

Also, Kreiger's actions caused a bunch of people from his decaying world, the Visionaries, to come end up on Cybertron. They're divided in two camps, one who wants to take over the planet from themselves and one who doesn't want to do that because that's immoral. They fight it out. The Visionaries and Cybertronians come to an understanding. The important thing is that there are now wizard dudes living in their own city on Cybertron and we are reminded Transformers are allergic to magic.

Optimus Prime #15-21 (volume 4) by John Barber

The Falling arc. Things finally seem promising until Onyx Prime shows up and ruins everything. This is one of my favorite parts (yes, including the plot twist). Lots of characters get great moments including, of course, Arcee. On top of getting to show off, this is when she and Aileron share the first explicit romantic kiss between two Transformers.

Unicron #0 Optimus Prime #22 Unicron #1-4 Optimus Prime #23-24 Unicron #5-#6 Optimus Prime #25 by John Barber

Unicron is here, Transformers have to face the weight of their history. A history Arcee is all to familiar with. And with this we read the end. Please read it in the order stated above. Optimus Prime #25 serves as an epilogue. Arcee confirms what has been suggested this whole time, that she is without a doubt a trans woman. She gets to close the book on the continuity showing how far she has come. It's a very rewarding ending after everything, I think.

Bonus:

An Arcee Sort of Day by Peri Mercer

An one-shot included in Synergy: A Hasbro Creators Showcase released to celebrate women's day. It's set on its own vague continuity, but Arcee's characterization is based on IDW's, so you may enjoy it!

#so sorry if this is to much i need to be throughout #arcee #idw1 #transformers #quetzal rambles tf

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solarzilla · 1 year

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since I got Spotlight: Revelations I decided to scan some of the concept art, first starting with Doubledealer by nick roche

Straxus & Grindcore by dan khanna

Cyclonus & Nightbeat by EJ SU

#transformers #maccadams #maccadam #transformers idw #idw transformers #straxus #grindcore #doubledealer #cyclonus #idw cyclonus #nightbeat #idw tf #tf idw

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transformers-mosaic · 2 years

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Transformers: Mosaic #43 - "Temptation"

Originally posted on December 3rd, 2007

Story, Art - Kris Carter

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: This strip ties into Spotlight: Hot Rod, with Kris Carter deliberately pushing his style in the direction of that issue’s artist, Nick Roche. In the past, Hot Rod has fled Ki-Aleta with the Magnificence, abandoning Dealer (secretly a Decepticon spy, nicknamed “Doubledealer”) to his fate; Hot Rod reflects on that here, and will go on to rescue Dealer, as seen in that same issue.

#transformers #transformers mosaic #maccadam #IDW Transformers #Hot Rod #Gizmo #Backbeat #Download #Doubledealer #Magnificence #Optimus Prime #Kris Carter #official creator

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aeondeug · 2 years

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And made it through volume 4 of phase 1. All Hail Megatron’s starting which means the end of the Furman era of IDW’s book is fast approaching and with it the end of Hunter. Whcih I am sad about. I will say that while I think the latter chunk of Spotlights during the -ations portion were Bad, with Doubledealer’s being especially funny, I do overall really like that bit of the IDW books. I especially liked the human characters and I want to know what would have been done with Hunter.

Alas I don’t live in that world and instead I live in the world where All Hail Megatron occurred. Which is. Fine. I do like things that come after it. But also I dunno it just kind of bugs me how shit like the Hunter arc were just tossed aside so harshly.

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backup-datatrax · 3 years

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#idw1 #maccadam #hot rod #spotlight doubledealer

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picsofultramagnus · 4 years

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Spotlight: Doubledealer

#maccadam #spotlight doubledealer #idw #ultra magnus #hot rod #rodimus prime

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kryptonitecore · 5 months

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Reread: Spotlight: Hot Rod

This book seems a bit more focused than some previous Spotlights, quickly setting up the idea of Hot Rod/Rodimus as a risk-taker but also, usefully, the complicated relationship he has with guilt and responsibility. Specifically, the part where he says he likes solo missions because then ‘my life - and my life alone - [is] on the line’ is interesting. Although this book was written well before Autocracy and does not work perfectly with it, I think this Spotlight still draws on a lot of the themes that would go on to be picked up by later books.

The Magnificence is mentioned here but never really used. Overall, though, I quite liked a lot of the execution. I liked the parallel stories, I think Nick Roche’s art and grasp of facial expressions helps an awful lot and possibly compensates for some of the thinner spots in the writing - Dealer’s face when he looks at Hot Rod while they escape the planet is a good example of this.

Regarding Dealer/Doubledealer, I quite like plot-line and its implied future consequences for Hot Rod, as he learns of and responds to the betrayal. However I almost preferred the story when there was an element of potential blame (even accidental) for Rodimus in the Ki-Aleta mission. Nevertheless, Dealer walked so that Getaway could run, and I liked the ending and the decision to cut it off where it was instead of rushing things in order to fit in some kind of resolution or confrontation. Leaving this Spotlight more open-ended seems like a good move.

It is a little simple, but I think this was pretty well-executed. Kind of surprising, as I think I didn’t care for it at all the first time I read it.

#transformers #idw1 #comics #spotlight hot rod #doubledealer #the grand reread 2023 2024 #rereading!

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liaswritesrobots · 4 years

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tfw the magic 8 ball rats you out

#also that panel of ''Let no one in'' Dealer you aren't slick you clearly had some feelings for Roddy #Lias reads IDW #Spotlight: Doubledealer #Doubledealer #Hot Rod #Dealer #Transformers #idw

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meteorcrab · 5 years

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“Our destinies —his and mine— are intertwined, out fates...inseparable” this sounds like its from a soulmate au fic but it was written by f*rman and its about optimus and nova

#lol #optimus prime #nova prime #147 hour ramble #spotlight: doubledealer

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red-the-dragon-writes · 3 years

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For the character and a tune one, might I have something for Rodimus? :)

i know i said "first line" but i decided to go with the first line of the chorus, for like, the sake of making life easier. this is much more to work with

Love and Memories by OAR - "Love me faster than the devil"

Set in Phase 1 IDW1, around the same time period of the events of Spotlight: Doubledealer (or whatever it's called. the Hot Rod spotlight. you know the one.) Deadlock/Hot Rod enemies slash almost lovers nonsense. 751 words. This one got away from me. I was thinking to make it a drabble... not so much lol.

Hot Rod fell out of the sky, whooping. The terrifying joy of a hot, hard landing never escaped him, really, no matter what he was doing, and this was both a hard and hot landing if it was absolutely anything. He came in like a meteor. The ground crumpled beneath his pedes. The shock of the landing radiated up and, mm, ugh, he'd probably have to replace his knee joints by the end of this. One of the medics'd have it out with him over that later.

But for now all he had was the thrill of the mission. Getting in, and getting out, a whirlwind of quick thought and quicker action. It hardly mattered what he was doing, even.

There was, of course, a Decepticon presence on-planet; they would hardly have sent him otherwise. He wasn’t exactly here because this was an easy job. And they thought he didn’t know it, because they figured it might, you know, interfere with his performance, but he was pretty sure Deadlock was here, too. If it were going to be easy, they wouldn’t have sent him; and Deadlock was a lot of things, but he was certainly never easy.

He was supposed to sneak into a building, smash in, grab some information, dash out. It should be easy enough; but slag, if Deadlock were here, it might be more fun just to see how it’d play out. And all things besides, if Deadlock were here, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Still, he made his best attempt to make his way into the alien structure quick and quiet. If he had a team with him, it might be easier—but no, he wasn’t doing that these days. Too many risks involved. So he'd make do without a pair of eyes to watch his back.

The mission largely went off without a hitch, which was good, obviously it was good, but Hot Rod couldn't exactly say he was feeling satisfied about it. Which was fine, it was whatever. It was supposed to be quick, not fun. But he could feel the fire burning in his veins, and he couldn't bite back a moment of satisfaction when just as he was going to make his exit he heard the telltale sound of blasterfire ring out.

And he'd been right, he saw, as he dropped to the ground and turned to see his least favorite purple and white smudge pointing a gun at where he had been. Hot Rod sprang up, closed the distance in the span of a vent, and then he and Deadlock were face to face. Deadlock smirked, fangs flashing, and Hot Rod felt himself mimic the expression; and then they were off, a blazing whirlwind of a fight, teeth bared, claws out, trying to get the upper hand.

"Where's your team, Hot Rod?" Deadlock snarled, writhing out from Hot Rod's half-second best try at a hold.

"No one's watching us," Hot Rod spat back, and then ducked a swipe for his face. He kicked Deadlock in the chassis, knocking him back a few feet. He landed hard on his heels, teeth bared, and Hot Rod spat a laugh at him. "Come on, hit me with your best shot."

Deadlock lunged at him, claws out, but there was a laugh on his vents, and Hot Rod grinned right back and dodged the blow. And then they were off, for real this time.

Really, for what it was worth, Hot Rod was not a Decepticon. Not where it counted. But it was times like these, locked in the fight with Deadlock, each of them vying for the upper hand in a deadly dance that felt more and more like a game every time they came back to play it. And Hot Rod was dancing on the edge these days, anyways. He needed to get back, sure, but what would be the harm of playing along? Just for a moment or two?

He could see it in Deadlock's eyes, besides; he wasn't the only one toeing the line, enjoying the game more than he should have.

At the end of it all, they had their objectives. Maybe things would've been different in a different life, but this was the one they had; and Deadlock missed a shot, and Hot Rod took the opening for what it was, tossed a half-salute to the Decepticon and hightailed it. He had things to do. Places to be.

And he'd see Deadlock again. He was sure of that.

#macaddam #hot rod #deadlock #red replies #prompt fill #ask game #heliopauseentertainments #listen i am midwar roddylock trash.

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