Spotlight: Sixshot

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Denyer
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Spotlight: Sixshot

Post by Denyer »

Should be out on Wednesday 20th December.

Preview pages here:

http://tfarchive.com/comics/idw/preview ... spotlights
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Zombie Dave
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Post by Zombie Dave »

Thought it was a bit gash. Weakest Spotlight. IMO.
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Commander Shockwav
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Post by Commander Shockwav »

Read it.

Didn't really do it for me, I have to say.

For the first time on a Spotlight, I thought the story was too contrived, too banal. By the end, I was just happy that I didn't have to bear looking at Sixshot transform for the umpteenth time and blast something into smoke.

And the Reapers? A curious bunch with a interesting approach to life, and with a kickass looking leader in the Deathbringer, but why they were so powerful was not really that clear.

I felt this was some of Simon's weakest writing on IDW yet. Sixshot is made out to be the ultimate loner, and yet despite this, the entire issue focuses on his quest to locate his Terrorcon "friends" (who get zero characterization, by the way). I just couldn't come to terms with his motivation in this issue.

I think the message Simon was trying to relay was that, despite Sixshot's reputation and singular outlook on life, even he had an inner desire for companionship. But to me, this really took away from the "badness" aspect of Sixshot. Had he actually blasted the Terrorcons to dust, I think that might have made this reading redeemable in my view and truly made him intriguing in some way. By the end, he seemed no different than, say, Razorclaw and his pals, or Bludgeon and his lackeys.

A missed opportunity, IMO. I kind of felt the same way at the end of Stormbringer, when Razorclaw had a chance to destroy Cyberton and really shake up the mythos, but elected to stay his hand.

Artwise, I will say that Ruffolo exceeded my expectations. Though I don't think it was anything stellar, it was certainly acceptable. Unfortunately, Rob's greatest performance was not enough to rescue this tale from the grip of mediocrity.

A "D+" overall.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Better than I expected, and as the Commander says the art was a 500% improvement on Micromasters and managed to be acceptable rather than awfull.

Sixshot's a very stock character though, and you don't get much sense of his friendshid with the Terrorcons though. And why's he so impressed by the six Reapers destrying a planet? On the opeing page he boasts of doing the same all by himself.

Who are the two Decepticons watching Sixshoot look out the window? And the Actionmaster looking guy? Oh, and is the space startion supposed to be a Cybertronian mode Trypticon, just a homage or a totaly coincdental use of black andgreen?

And the worst TF injoke of 2006 goes to Sixshoot's guns making a "ZARAAAK" sound.
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Post by optimusskids »

Actionmaster is Sixshot the two Cons watching Sixshot look like they might be 2 parts of Reflector
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Post by Commander Shockwav »

Originally posted by inflatable dalek
And the Actionmaster looking guy?


I could be mistaken, but I think that's Krok.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Wierdly enough, having noe got off my lazy arse and done some research [Read: Looked at pictures on internet], it's actually Treadshot. A coincidence, or did someone at IDW read our Hot Rod thread and go "YES! That's who this comic needs!"?
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Post by Denyer »

Not a terrible concept, although thin enough to turn the focus onto the art... the colouring was excellent, and the Reapers got a good group shot before starting to look like a rather silly and small bunch of aliens. Visuals were never going to be helped by Sixshot being a nondescript block of a toy, though I suspect we'd have gotten a more dynamic approach to battles from Roche... speaking of whom, the Hot Rod book would've been more deserving of the better paper stock that this got. That's going to be annoying, if one issue out of the set ends up with different production values.

I think it'd have worked better if some of the dialogue was removed, such as the "how can you when all you see is what others tell you to see? what we have done here is merely to cauterize one of the universe's many bleeding wounds" (and "who? us?!" on the next page, the "fine by me" directly underneath a bubble already reading "willingly picked up" a few pages back.) Other problems: two pages of Sixshot shooting around the Terrorcons in lots of smoke and laser fire is undercut by them standing unharmed at bottom of the second page, rather than overleaf where it might've been a surprising reveal. We're taking the Terrorcons' twisted friendship and hero worship of SS on imagination; a page or so of flashback could've built that up.

The way it was structured left this unsatisfying.

2/5
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Post by Halfshell »

Yes to the awesomeness of Treadshot. I laughed hysterically when I saw him.

He was the only worthwhile thing in it.

Not a bad story, of course. Just... well... a little pointless. Okay, maybe it's setting up the Reapers or whoever as villains down the line, but... well... it didn't really feel like it was contributing anything other than putting across a notion about Sixshot's character, which could be summed up in less words than this sentence.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Originally posted by Brendocon
Yes to the awesomeness of Treadshot. I laughed hysterically when I saw him.

He was the only worthwhile thing in it.


How longe before he gets a spotlight do you think?
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Post by Neuronutter »

Another late review, this time the Spotlight falls on loner Sixshot. This issue was pencilled and coloured by Rob Ruffolo of DW’s Micromasters notoriety, and written as usual by Simon Furman. This set of spotlights have been an excellent look at some unique and varied characters as well as giving us different angles on the war that rages across the IDW universe.

One of the great things about this run of Spotlights has been the unique viewpoints provided and the way Furman has gotten into the roles of each character and given us stories that vary from the main ongoing story. With each case the tale has been presented from the point of view of the TF in the spotlight, giving us a window into the thought processes of that individual. Sixshot is presented as a loner, a being of pure destruction and chaos as well who thrives in battle and wastes away in the lulls between the battles. The problem is that he’s not as interesting as the other spotlights TFs. You don’t relate to his as much as the previous tales and the character grates a little. The struggles the character wrestles with feel forced and although he’s not tempted by the darker side of the force, you feel he should be.

Another thing about the story that bugs me is that Sixshot boasts about destroying an entire world, but personally I don’t see that being likely. I can’t see anyone but Unicron having the power to do that, even someone like Megatron or Galvatron. I just don’t see how any one Transformer could generate enough power to do that. Just a personal niggle, but something I have trouble with. As for the rest of the story, I really like the use of the Reapers. They are an interesting collection of individuals and their use of the Terrorcons as bait is also interesting, as it their search for other destructive individuals to add to their collective. I don’t see how their mission is actually helpful to anyone but then we’re not really given the big picture. So overall the story is a mix of good and not so good.

As for the art, well it’s ok, but not great. It’s much better than the awful Micromasters and there are no obvious problems, but it never feels like it offers anything special, unlike the brilliance of Figueroa or the story telling of Roche. The Transformers feel cluttered, clunky and bulky. Also endless shots of Sixshot switching from mode to mode tire quickly. The Reapers on the other hand look great and make me wonder if there’s other stories that Ruffolo would be better pencilling, something non-TF. Oh and the colours are great, so that’s something.

Overall looking forward to the other Spotlights, glad to see they are being continued past the current run, but not inspired by this particular story.
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Post by Denyer »

Originally posted by Neuronutter
Another thing about the story that bugs me is that Sixshot boasts about destroying an entire world, but personally I don’t see that being likely. I can’t see anyone but Unicron having the power to do that, even someone like Megatron or Galvatron.
Explosives? Thunderwing has that ability to catalyse ionisation of atmosphere, and Megatron ordered Cybertron nuked.

I agree it didn't come across in the story at all well or convincingly...
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Post by Clogs »

I liked it. Yes - I did. Thought the art was fine and dandy, and it was a sterling attempt to look into Sixshot and what drives/could drive him. He seems to be defining himself as the super badass, and he wants to be seen as same, but he goes after his friends and still, in the end, hangs on to his loyalty to the Decepticon cause. What else has he got? Sure seemed a lonely guy to me!

So, he kept changing his form? There are new readers out there, remember? And, maybe, he was showing off a bit to justify himself again.

Loved the Reapers. There's another piece of the puzzle to bear in mind...
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Post by Osku »

I really didn't like it. I felt like I was reading a very mediocre 2000 AD comic strip ("Nemesis", but done badly) just a bit longer and in colours. "I'm a strong loner and want friends" felt... ridiculous. Terrorcons' idolizing of Sixshot could have saved the issue but the topic wasn't really touched.

OK art, colours were very good.

Weakest Spotlight of the first four.
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