Spotlight: Cliffjumper

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OK, where's Seaspray?
"The Transformers: Spotlight: Cliffjumper"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published June 17, 2009
Cover date June 2009
Written by Shane McCarthy
Art by Robby Musso
Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Chris Mowry
Edits by Denton J. Tipton
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology 8390 BCE

Synopsis

In the darkness, Cliffjumper speaks to an unknown being.

Some time earlier, he crash landed on a planet and was attempting to make a transmitter to contact the Autobots when he was greeted by two natives. Kita and her younger brother Coll were orphaned when their parents died and struggle to maintain their family's farm. Others of their kind help out from a nearby settlement. After some introductions, Kita doesn't believe that Cliffjumper would hurt a fly, as hurting others is a great evil in her peoples' eyes. Cliffjumper hurriedly changes the subject and they later head to the farmhouse where Cliffjumper refuels on synthetic energon. He believes he will be there for a while and suggests he help with Kita's farm.

Time passes and the farm is now thriving. While Cliffjumper and Kita discuss flowers, a Decepticon ship flies overhead and lands near the farm where Coll is playing. They rush back to the farm, where the Decepticons are threatening Coll (who mistakes them for "Autosmots"). As they try to pry info out of Kita, Cliffjumper kills three of the landing party. They finally use her as bait to lure out Cliffjumper, and are surprised to learn he is but one Autobot. To humiliate him, they tell Kita that Cliffjumper is a killer who sabotaged a Decepticon ship. She is saddened and wishes to leave. They let her go but only to shoot her in the back and then toss a bomb toward her and her brother. Cliffjumper uses his body to protect his friends and then rushes them to the barn.

In the present, Cliffjumper consoles the dying Kita and tells Coll to stay with the body while he tends to his enemies. The Decepticons have called for backup, the leader of which chastises them when he finds out it was but one Autobot. However, when he figures out the "runt" is Cliffjumper, he quickly tells the team to arm themselves, but it is too late, as the furious Autobot unleashes on the Decepticons and destroys them all.

Cliffjumper later plants a memorial for Kita, banging it down with the head of the Decepticon who threatened Kita. He places her favorite flowers on the gravestone and sees to it that Coll is raised by a new family. He then takes off in the Decepticons' ship to rejoin his own family, the Autobots.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others
  • various unnamed Decepticons (4)
  • Kita (2)
  • Coll (3)
  • Coll's new parents (5)

Quotes

Decepticon 1: Did you say "little red runt"?
Decepticon 2: Yeah, little red-
Decepticon 1: Small?
Decepticon 2: Yeah.
Decepticon 1: About so high?
Decepticon 2: Yeah.
Decepticon 1: Horns?
Decepticon 2: Yeah, but-
Decepticon 1: Arm yourselves!

—The nameless Decepticons realize they're not dealing with any 'one' Autobot

Notes

Other trivia

  • The art style applied in Kita and Coll's seem to borrow some elements from Japanese manga, namely the big eyes that emphasize Kita's emotions throughout the story.
  • Lafuente's colours have reverted to her pre-"Spotlight: Drift" style, which is shown in "Spotlight: Blurr".
  • Once again there is a criticism to the planetary cold war between Autobots and Decepticons, as the unnamed Decepticon threatens Kita's life. The themes of the Autobots protocol of waiting, watching and rarely acting against the Decepticons ("hide under a rock") and the fact that they were willing to let other races deal with the Decepticons on their own ("acceptable losses") are once again played out.

Covers (3)

  • OK, where's Powerglide?
    OK, where's Powerglide?
  • That's my name, dammit!
    That's my name, dammit!
  • I'm here to kick ass and chew energon, and I'm all out of energon!
    I'm here to kick ass and chew energon, and I'm all out of energon!

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Reprints

  • Collects All Hail Megatron issues 1–16, and the Spotlights of Volume 3.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and the art sketches from previous collections.
  • Collects the first 2 The IDW Collection volumes.
  • All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 TPB; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
    All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 TPB; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
  • IDW Collection Vol. 1; cover art by E. J. Su
    IDW Collection Vol. 1; cover art by E. J. Su
  • Complete All Hail Megatron; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
    Complete All Hail Megatron; cover art by Trevor Hutchison
  • Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
    Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
  • IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
    IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1; cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
  • Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 38: Devastation; cover art by Don Figueroa and Robby Musso
    Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 38: Devastation; cover art by Don Figueroa and Robby Musso
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