Spotlight:

[Dominic]

No question, Anderson and I have different ethics on this. But, I am not arguing for "sneaking into the bedroom and smothering with a pillow". I am arguing for the tried and true tactic of attacking when the enemy is not ready. (Sun Tzu rightly says to do this in "The Art of War".)

It would not go like this:

Prowl: Hey, SwitchBlade, I have a job for yeah?

SwitchBlade: Oh, yeahahahaha? Yeah?

Prowl: I want you to sneak into the human base and pop a few of their heads like grapes for me. Can you handle that?

Switchblade: (fingers twitching) Can I!

It would be more like this:

Prowl: Jetfire.

Jeffire: Yo!

Prowl: You know those humans who have been bumping off Transformers?

Jetfire: Ayup.

Prowl: We have located their base. Would you please drop a bomb on it before them come looking for us again?

Jetfire: What about the Autobots they have taken captive?

Prowl: They will likely survive the bombing. Make sure it is a targeted raid though. No need to waste time or ammo hitting nearby houses.

Ironhide: And, we really do not care about those guys the humans captured. That is why we are leaving 'em right where they are.

Prowl: Ironhide....

Ironhide: Prowl, if they ever pinch you, we would totally bust you out.

Prowl: Awe, thanks.


Joking aside, I am actually disturbed by the fact the Autobots did leave 3 or 4 of their guys behind. (Windcharger, Gears and at least one other are mentioned as being in human hands in issue 1.)

In any case, the situation between the TFs and humans is analagous to war, not petty crime. Is killing in a war murder?

Dom
-no, really, what about Windcharger and those other guys?

[BWprowl]

Getting revenge later would be wholly irrational. Killing the humans in their sleep later to prevent them from killing more TFs would be fine though. Of course, a more logical solution might be to set humans on Decepticons, to provoke Decepticon survivors to focus more on humans and/or join the Autobots for protection.

Another logical revenge solution might be to, say, leave the planet in the hands of hostile Decepticons forces, all but ensuring that they wipe the problematic human race out in a wave of characteristic genocide.

Of course, I can't ever imagine an Autobot doing *that*.

[Shockwave]

Dom, that was hilarious! Killing armed soldiers in a war is not murder, but killing their defenseless children is and history has a long list war crimes trials to back that up. Prime's gonna bust out the other guys when he leaves to fight Menasor.

[Sparky Prime]

I would argue that a moral obligation is required in order to not be reprehensible.

I'd argue that would really depend on the circumstances of any given situation. Looking at Prowl's situation of saving Breakdrown for example... Prowl sees it as a moral obligation to save a fellow Cybertronian life. Others, however, would probably focus on the divisions between Autobot and Decepticon. With the obvious stigma between the two groups, they probably wouldn't see it as a moral obligation at all. This, then, would obviously complicate the rebuke towards Prowl, as he would just as easily face a backlash for taking action as he would for not taking action. In the end though, it's still what Prowl personally feels was the right thing to do.

[Shockwave]

No question, Anderson and I have different ethics on this. But, I am not arguing for "sneaking into the bedroom and smothering with a pillow". I am arguing for the tried and true tactic of attacking when the enemy is not ready. (Sun Tzu rightly says to do this in "The Art of War".)

And with this, I believe everyone is on the same page. The way you phrased it before did kind of imply a pillow smothering. I doubt Anderson is suggesting that the Autobots shouldn't take measures to defend themselves from a hostile species.

[Dominic]

Of course, I can't ever imagine an Autobot doing *that*.

Pre-AHM they probably would have....

Dom, that was hilarious! Killing armed soldiers in a war is not murder, but killing their defenseless children is and history has a long list war crimes trials to back that up. Prime's gonna bust out the other guys when he leaves to fight Menasor.

Who said anything about hitting their kids? I just said hit the soldiers. Most likely, Skywatch would not have their families near the base. (Actually, is Skywatch actually military, or something "other"?)

Dom
-and, the debate goes to the ongoing thread......

[Shockwave]

Oh, well then no, that's not a crime. As for families, most military installations have families. I know. I spent the first 20 years of my life doing so (my dad was in the Air Force).

[andersonh1]

I knew there was a general Spotlight discussion thread somewhere.

Spotlight: Orion Pax
Not too impressed with this one. It's not a bad story, but while I've been enjoying tales from the past over in MTMTE's "Shadowplay", this spotlight feels unneeded. Yeah, it's always fun to see characters that are dead or unused in present continuity, but the Mission Impossible style caper of Shadowplay was a lot more interesting than the all-out action movie approach of this spotlight. As I said, it's not bad, but I'm not sure this story deserved a spotlight of its own.

[Dominic]

Thundercracker:
Thundercracker is in dangers of a character who just sort of shows up to be that character. Given that a big part of the "Spotlight" series is to present characters studies, it is not entirely fair to judge this issue on that standard. But, it is something that IDW should probably keep in mind for the future.

Barber sets the story early in the war, but long after faction lines have been established, The Decepticons have largely degenerated in to a mob of thugs and murderers, leaving guys like Thundercracker to follow willingly if unenthusiastically. Barber does a good job of expanding on Thundercracker's original character profile and any deviations are easily reconciled by the fact that IDW G1 is not "original" G1.

While not as good as it could have been, "Spotlight: Thundercracker" is not a bad read.

Grade: B/C


Dom
-would not mind a cost effective way of army building titans....

[Mako Crab]

I just had a "what if" moment. Like, what if Thundercracker emerged as the future Decepticon leader? There seems to be this distinction between what the Decepticons as a distinct culture should be and what it actually is. Megatron first mentions this to Starscream way back in AHM # 11 or 12 (can't recall), saying that he had to make the 'cons as vicious and evil as possible to win the war, but that afterwards, he intended to cull out the truly psychotic and rebuild the Decepticons as he originally envisioned them.

Thundercracker, as a believer in the original cause, but unenthusiastic at what it's become, could shift the 'cons in a new direction. Of course, being that it's Thundercracker, the stories probably wouldn't be as interesting as Starscream's attempt to rise to leadership during peacetime. With Starscream, there's always that air of suspicion about him, like, is he really trying to reform himself and the 'cons, or is he just after a power grab?