Transformers Spotlights Part 5: Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper, Metroplex, and Prowl

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So without any further ado, it's time to talk

about the comics we are reading right now here

inside the pull bag. Hello and welcome to Otto

Botley August here inside the pull bag. I'm of

course TfU and Mike. Joining me is Ryan and even

Flo Merkley. Hello, sir. Hello. And today we're

continuing on with the Transformers Spotlights.

This is part five of seven, I think, that I put

together. Yeah, seven, looks like. In today's

episode, we're gonna be talking about Jazz, Drift,

Cliffjumper, Metroplex, and Browl. Oh boy. Wee.

So all these take place earlier in the Transformers

universe for anyone who, assuming there's anybody

that listens to these. For anyone who does listen

to these though, this happens before a lot of

the IDW stuff that we normally cover, i .e. Robots

in Disguise, More Than Meets the Eye, Lost Lights,

and Optimus Prime. This is part of the first...

Actually, this is all part of the second phase,

really. It's after the first... German stuff

and we're getting into the Mike Costa era Yeah,

I'll say out of all of these the one that I Didn't

feel like fit with the the What the spotlights

were supposed to be is proud Because when we

get to it, we'll say it I'll say it now and I'll

say it again later. It says in the book This

takes place before Transformers number one by

Mike Costa. And I'm like, okay, sure. So Jazz,

anyway. Jazz is, it's essentially tracks telling

a story about a nameless Autobot who he couldn't

see as you cough to death. Yes, thank you. And

I like pointing it out, you know, it's good podcasting.

Not really. So, Jazz. It turns out it's jazz,

of course, or else this would not work very well

as a book. So, or name, anyway. Jazz saves tracks

from the Predacons is really the plot of it all.

And in the sense, or in the grand scheme of things,

he teaches jazz what it is to be a heroic Autobot.

and sort of lifts the spirits of the Autobot

to a pretty down at this point in the Transformer

series. And yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

For me, this was pretty solid, actually. There's

not a lot of characterization, although having

said that, you get Jazz as sort of the team player.

he generally tries to view things view the glass

as half full especially for those around him

which I think works fine I don't have a lot negative

with this one actually I like this one and really

the only negative I have is it doesn't make the

Predacons look real good because they get they

get beat by a blind transformer and jazz And

they're supposed to be the Predacons, but whatever.

Jazz does get saved at the end. I mean, Razor

Claw is going to kill him. Yeah, which makes

sense because Razor Claw is a guy that in the

comics and in the IDW universe goes toe to toe

with Grimlock and some of the other one percenters

on a regular basis. So that was OK. Yeah, so

I was OK with it in the end. Overall, though,

it's pretty. Oh, it's issue Yeah, it is. I love

the way that Josh Van Wreck and Sean Noller or

Knowles I gotta say as much as I love Chris Mowry

and his letters whoever did the letters on The

main page of this single issue. Oh, it's really

hard to read the names for the creative art is

done by EJ Sue I love EJ's art in this. Yeah,

this one, it worked really well on. We'll get

to one later, but no, I like them in this. Yeah.

I love Jazz's Cybertronian mode. You already

mentioned the story. I love the story. I think

it's cool. I think it's like, you know, really

interesting that you're focusing on Jazz on Cybertron

when most of us think of Jazz in general as,

you know, the earth loving sound machine that

he is. Yeah, I like seeing him out of that though

and it helps to that I'm not trying to bag on

the guy here or anything else but Jazz is not

jazz doesn't have a great role or time in the

Costa run And he's not kind of redeemed or used

a lot better until much later Optimus Prime in

the series. But yeah, it's, I don't know, that's

neither here nor there. And I love that this,

like this is the run of spotlights that I think

we can, we see the transition from the old guard

to the new guard. Because I don't think any of

these ones today are written by Simon Furman.

Maybe one of them is. But I think Simon went

on to do other things at the time. And while

I like Simon's spotlights, I'm kinda happy that,

you know, like right now, getting into Drift,

Shane McCarthy is the writer on this, with art

by Casey Collier, and colors by Joe Ilofante,

letters by Chris Mowry. But yeah. Time Sites

2020 on this one for me. Really? So, yeah, well

no, and I'll get into it, so. This is the story

of a former Decepticon Drift. Deadlock. Yeah,

formerly Deadlock, thank you. Meeting up with,

basically he's going after his former crew and

he ends up meeting slash running into none other

than the Wreckers with a slightly different lineup

than we usually do. really know them with but

most of the normal ones are there i mean cup

is there obviously so yeah cup is pretty much

the consistent standby and so springer so anyway

in the end deadlock drift whatever you want to

call them proceeds to show his heroism to everyone

and then gets invited to the wreckers and it's

a short read but i enjoy it uh when i first read

this i wasn't a big fan of it because it kind

of felt like oh they're trying to show us this

cool new autobots etc etc but again like i said

before i feel like hindsight was good for it

in that i know more about drift as a character

now especially yeah especially post more than

meets the eye where he was used very differently

than he was early on And I think that works for

him. But yeah, I enjoy this. I gotta say one

thing, too. I can't put my finger completely

on it, but man, I love the designs of the Transformers

in this. Yeah, Casey does an amazing job here.

I think this is the earliest work of Casey that

I've seen of his at this point, because obviously...

we've seen him throughout the rest of like we've

already said more than meets the eye lost light

that kind of thing i've seen his other art that's

more recent than this this is perhaps the oldest

art that i've seen him do and wow it's really

good yeah and i'm not always a fan of the transformers

wearing fabric or capes or whatever you want

to call them but when drift is sort of in not

in shadow but while he is in shadow as Well,

too, but he's got sort of the cape and the covering

and that kind of thing. It's really well done

I love the look of him the reveal the action

sequences are Are easy to follow well done. I

just really like his art and the design of Characters

we've never seen before that are new like turbine

and others who would Turbine would come back

and robots in disguise, but I just I love the

designs and wanted to point it out Yeah, I love

the whole kind of spy mission thing at the beginning

of this with drift and I I kind of obviously

we know just by looking at the cover that it

is drift and that it is him narrating but the

whole thing with the people finding out that

oh You're one of them Kind of thing and that

that's the like open city sky shot. I think it's

See it is page seven That is a beautiful background

with beautiful character stuff That Casey has

done and the colorists and everybody else Like

you said the story is is it's almost an origin

slash redemption story. I Guess like you know

second chance really it is. Yeah. Yeah, it's

drifts origin for us Yeah, we don't know anything

about the guy at this point And you're right,

it is a very fast read. I got to that final page

and I'm like, that's it? That's great that we

have a full, complete story for his origin, but

I'm like, damn it, I want more Drift now. We

may have to go back and review Empire of Stone

or something, I don't know. Yeah, and one thing

too, you mentioned it as well, I completely forgot

to point it out, but one thing McCarthy does

that I loved was... Seeing how others ie organics

view the transformers you mentioned it, you know

Oh, you're one of them It makes sense that they're

hated in this universe and they really should

be because their war has done Terrible things

to a number of different planets all over the

place. Yep Yeah, absolutely drift was a great

great story and just I need to go out and find

more Shane McCarthy stuff because I love that

guy's writing. I love the way he wrote it. What?

Don't know if I'd recommend that, but anyway.

Okay then. I am not a fan of all hail. Okay.

At all. Not saying specific traits. I'm saying

stuff in general by the guy. Okay, the day we

sit down and review all hail Megatron is the

day the podcast basically Is the day the podcast

matrix essentially burns out because I've heard

nothing but bad stuff about that thing I think

there's some positives anyway anyway on to Cliff

jumper who Is Let's see well like I said Shane

McCarthy again on the writing Robbie Musso is

on the art with Joanna La Fuente on colors, Chris

Mowry on letters. Cliff Chopper is kind of the...

Clark Kent in this story. Not really Superman,

but more of Clark Kent -ish, I guess. I guess,

so he's on a different planet than we're used

to. And long story short... or ends up helping

and befriending some organics. I can't remember

if the race name is ever mentioned. I don't think

so. I don't think so. It's there or anything.

Anyway, he ends up befriending them and ends

up saving them when the inevitable locusts and

the Decepticons come knocking. Because that's

what they do. Also, it'd be a really weird read

without them. I guess just he goes to a planet

and yeah helps them out with stuff and nothing

else really happens I Mean the Decepticons have

to show up at some point or another But yeah,

Cliff jumper risks his life to save them And

yeah, that's pretty much it What I do like is

that in the writing it shows that he's like these

children have questions about him and He's trying

to find the right answers or he's trying to explain

it in a way that he thinks they'll understand

also what I love about this is the fact that

This may be mentioned elsewhere later down the

line and some of the other series or whatever

How she asks him? How are you talking like us?

Don't you have like don't you have like this

whole language thing? I love that they bring

that up here. I think that's super interesting

Yeah, I don't know what it is this one Didn't

strike a chord with me. I think part of its because

we've had a lot of different Transformers are

on another planet be friended organic something

happens stories in the past especially in the

comics It's been a really popular thread. I don't

feel like it did anything different for me and

also well I didn't ever I never felt like we

learned anything about Cliff jumper Yeah, it

feels very... Yeah, I don't necessarily know

anything more about him than I did before the

issue started. I guess, and I feel like that's

a problem when it's a spotlight. Yep. Absolutely

it is. Yeah, I'm trying not to be negative, but

it just feels like kind of a throwaway, like

it's just kind of their issue. Yeah, like it

doesn't like the Decepticons are almost of no

consequence No, but the whole conflict other

than the fact of losing the girl He couldn't

save the girl like that's the the saddest point

in the whole story But there really isn't anything

here to give us insight into the character other

than the fact that he's Supposedly a stand -up

guy and will you know? Fight for truth justice

in the Cybertronian way, I guess. I don't know.

So, on to the Titan. The old Metroplex. Yay!

I love the big splash cover. That big wraparound

cover that they did for the... Oh, I love that

cover. Again, I mean, Earth in general is well

done, but I like... This issue it's different

from all the others. So it's not told well actually

I guess much like jazz. It's not told by the

titular character Yeah, it's told by and hey,

we actually get the throttle bots who don't make

an awful lot of transformers appearances Which

was kind of neat also gold bug is not the same

character as bumblebee Yeah, never do that again.

I enjoyed this. So the story is the throttle

bots are on planets and they are completely screwed

being chased by notable phase six or six shot.

And they have little to no hope of well, anything

but their death happening. Yeah. And they are

saved when the gigantic city -esque thing they're

in starts defending them. Yes. And of course

it's Metroplex. Of course it's Metroplex. Curses!

You spoiled my hiding spot! I have to go hide

now again! You found me! Ah! Now I have to go

play hide and seek elsewhere. Basically. I love

the art in this. yeah it's pretty good oh my

god i love the art in this it's so sleek uh and

very very cool the throttle bots look amazing

um our solo mates here did the art with uh priscilla

tramitano doing the colors it is written by andy

schmidt former editor at idw writer editor whatever

And yeah, I mean, this whole story of basically

the throttle bots, like you said, being chased

by a six shot and whatever. And then they accidentally

kind of, you know, bang up against Metroplex

or, you know, some sort of explosion happens

where he's alerted and he transforms. And I love

the one line where the ground's moving under

my wheels or whatever it is and like, holy crap,

there's a giant hand. I yeah, I kind of I wish

this Didn't so Let's see trying to remember where

you are No, so This gets picked up later on I

Wish they had had more time to go with some of

it Six shot really doesn't make another appearance.

Even though at the end of this it's pretty clear

that he's alive Although he's had better days

since you know he got crushed by a titan and

even though he's a phase sixer uh apparently

that hurts uh now they say in the closing pages

of this that he has to protect it i assume they're

talking about the matrix or nope what are they

talking about that uh boy i'm trying to remember

now venture flex has a Okay, it's Metroplex has

a number of different secrets and he knows where

the Knights of Cybertron went and he knows where

all the colonies are Etc, etc. So in general

I think it's mostly just meant to refer to the

different sort of secrets now having said that

we've had numerous creative teams between that

Comic and the end of the Transformers series.

Yeah Not sure if that was the original intention

True Yeah, I really dig Metroplex that was a

fun little story Now we get to the prequel to

the I haven't even read it and I still shutter

Like I haven't even read the Costa run and I

still shutter Prowl so this happens in the shadow

of all hail Megatron the humans are rebuilding

and Prowl is disguising himself as a police car

which by the way Nobody notices the fucking Autobot

in city on the hood. That is a shitty disguise

As Prowl you might want to might want to turn

that one off or like, you know, paint it white

or something. Anywho so Prowl is undercover as

a police car and in the end after watching so

much and not doing anything he just kind of is

forced out to save a little girl and blows his

cover and the police officer that he's been riding

in for uh man that seems dirty eight months Is

you know, let's him go instead of getting killed.

Yeah, I Got a lot of problems with this issue.

I mean the more Notable is just the fact that

for owls really had a character Yeah, like it

doesn't match any version of him in the IDW stuff

so Comes off real weird. I think that They were

going for maybe a more G1 feel with it because

obviously Prowl since G1 has always been a police

car and they went for hey let's you know actually

make him be a quote -unquote cop kind of a thing

so I think that's kind of what's going on I don't

know it's weird and I don't know that even if

it were to set aside I guess if I were to set

aside the continuity and the universe that's

been put forth, it's not a bad story. I'm just

not sure it works all that well with Brown. And

it definitely doesn't work with the version of

him in the IDW books, who's very much a pain

in the ass needs of the many outweigh the needs

of the few or the one. Yeah, slash sort of logic.

Dictates everything slash. He's essentially asshole

shockwave. So Yeah Yeah Oh Boy, yeah, it's Like

you said, it doesn't match anything that we've

like I'm like, where's flipping tables? Where

is this? Where is that? Like come on what's going

on? But as you said taking it outside of the

universe just as a Prowl character story. Not

that I've wanted to see this, but I almost feel

like he should be in some sort of samurai motorcycle

ninja outfit at this point for this book. So

Prowl from Transformers Animated. Yep. That would

have worked, yeah. Or other versions of him,

I guess. And it's not a... Don't like I said

before it's not a bad issue not a bad read it

just doesn't fit in this continuity and doesn't

necessarily It doesn't do what the spotlight

series was essentially created for which is probably

its biggest problem Yeah, probably is Those are

the spotlights folks, I think I enjoyed almost

all of them except for probably the only one

that's kind of a yeah and it's not not completely

its own faults and I'm hesitant to crap on things

so Brian crap on things no that yeah I know what

happened I know right join us next time when

we review the final season of Game of Thrones

I'm sorry stop it Yeah, I don't know if we're

gonna rate these or anything cuz it's not even

available in it Yeah, let's get that out of the

way, too. So these aren't in a trade. These are

not in collected editions with the exception

of I believe they're reprinted in the giant phase

books Yeah, but they're not in your standard

sort of trades like all the other spotlights

have been And that's weird That is very, very

weird. Where do the people find you online, sir?

At nightbeat. On Twitter. There you go. I'm at

TF2 and Mike on Twitter. You can also follow

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Radio Network and The Pull Bag. As always, visit

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all of our other episode posts for this show

and all the other shows we've done in the last

10, 10 and a half years. Coming up next time,

we're... taking a little break from the Transformers

to do an old Order 66 joke so in episode 366

for the first time we're gonna be covering Star

Wars Darth Vader volumes 1 & 2 from Marvel so

yay Darth Vader invades Transformers here in

Autobotly August and then after that we will

come back and I think it's probably gonna be

myself and Haji Prime Talking about Orion Pax,

Thundercracker, and Eggatron. Make your greatest

game in the comics and we will catch you next

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