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Transformers: The IDW Collection #1.2
Transformers: The IDW Collection, Volume 2
The re-presentation of IDW's Transformers Universe continues in volume 2! This volume includes the Transformer series Stormbringer and Escalation, as well as Spotlights: Sixshot, Ultra Magnus, Kup, and Soundwave.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2010
30 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Simon Furman
948 books56 followersSimon Christopher Francis Furman is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro/Tomy's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel's initial comic book to promote the toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on the Generation 1 minifranchise.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 8, 2021
I had previously read and enjoyed the first volume of IDW's Transformers. Then I had an opportunity to purchase the entire IDW series and am now reading through the whole thing. It is very entertaining. As a child, I grew up with the Transformers and enjoy running into Tranformers that I am rather familiar with. The artwork for the series (with the sad exception of the Kupp Spotlight) is quite good. That is important since scenes of Transformers fighting each other can be confusing if the art is of poor quality.
This 2nd volume starts with the story of Thunderwing. A powerful Transformer that was designed the destroy worlds. The fight against him was quite interesting and well done. The story then moves back to Earth and we get more of the story behind the Decepticon infiltration of Earth, as well as finding out about the Human response which will lead to some interesting consequences for the Autobots. I did enjoy the entire Megatorin/Prime in "Russia" part. It was a fight worthy of the ages.
The story then ends with a series of Spotlight issues focusing on a variety of characters from Ultra Magnus and Kupp, to Ramjet. All of the stories, except for the atrociously drawn Kupp story, are well drawn. I really enjoyed the Ramjet story. The art style recalled the original stylings of the 80's cartoons.
A great second volume in what seems to be an excellent series. A must read for anyone who likes the Transformers.
This 2nd volume starts with the story of Thunderwing. A powerful Transformer that was designed the destroy worlds. The fight against him was quite interesting and well done. The story then moves back to Earth and we get more of the story behind the Decepticon infiltration of Earth, as well as finding out about the Human response which will lead to some interesting consequences for the Autobots. I did enjoy the entire Megatorin/Prime in "Russia" part. It was a fight worthy of the ages.
The story then ends with a series of Spotlight issues focusing on a variety of characters from Ultra Magnus and Kupp, to Ramjet. All of the stories, except for the atrociously drawn Kupp story, are well drawn. I really enjoyed the Ramjet story. The art style recalled the original stylings of the 80's cartoons.
A great second volume in what seems to be an excellent series. A must read for anyone who likes the Transformers.
November 2, 2016
A little confusing at first, but as I progressed through the story it started to make more sense. A great grand story.
October 14, 2025
As noted in my Vol 1 review, I'm reading the Transformers comics in chronological order, not the IDW order. This means I'm jumping around a lot in the 20-volume IDW Collection, reading one or two story arcs from each in order to follow the canon timeline. So I will be marking one Volume as read whenever I read approximately 350 pages of material (I haven't actually read all of Vol 2). Reading the comics chronologically adds a ton of depth to the Cybertron War era, and is very rewarding backstory for a long-time fan of the Bay movies. I love the politics involved in the conflict - I almost want to root for the Decepticons. Megatron is incredibly tuff, definitely my favorite character in the comics. I also love Soundwave - Michael Bay really stayed true to the comics for his character in the movies.
May 29, 2021
This was leaps and bounds better than the first IDW Collection. The character spotlight issues in this were particularly good, and actually played around with various genres quite a bit. From horror to dark humor to psychological exploration and themes, it was very refreshing and no issue felt the same. I wouldn't exactly suggest starting with this book due to plot elements from the previous collection coming back in this one - however this one has done a much better job at making me want to read more!
September 5, 2021
Another mixed collection, but with a better sense of what to expect, perhaps one I enjoyed more than Volume 1.
Stormbringer was a lot of writerly melodrama and over-narration, but was made up for by Escalation , which was a worthy successor to the Cold War-esque espionage of Infiltration.
Between Spotlight: Sixshot and Spotlight: Optimus Prime , Furman's prosaic house style had really started to grate on me, but Spotlight: Ultra Magnus was dynamic enough to prevent me from going bonkers.
Spotlight: Mirage was a little confounding, but its ambiguity paved way for Spotlight: Kup , a dark and atmospheric story with refreshingly feral art; one panel in particular had me open-mouthed in shock. Spotlight: Ramjet however was easily the stand-out of the volume, making the most of the conceptual scope of the Transformers premise and encapsulating the kind of cartoonish thriller-tone that makes the best of the franchise so enjoyable.
Stormbringer was a lot of writerly melodrama and over-narration, but was made up for by Escalation , which was a worthy successor to the Cold War-esque espionage of Infiltration.
Between Spotlight: Sixshot and Spotlight: Optimus Prime , Furman's prosaic house style had really started to grate on me, but Spotlight: Ultra Magnus was dynamic enough to prevent me from going bonkers.
Spotlight: Mirage was a little confounding, but its ambiguity paved way for Spotlight: Kup , a dark and atmospheric story with refreshingly feral art; one panel in particular had me open-mouthed in shock. Spotlight: Ramjet however was easily the stand-out of the volume, making the most of the conceptual scope of the Transformers premise and encapsulating the kind of cartoonish thriller-tone that makes the best of the franchise so enjoyable.
January 6, 2024
My rating is actually 3.5 stars, but you can't give half stars on this app, unfortunately. This book was satisfactory. I never found myself avoiding it and I liked some of the themes they tried to play around with in the character spotlights. Also the Goodreads description is incorrect, there is no Soundwave spotlight in this book. As always, the art is spectacular. Huge respect for the artists.
However, there is something missing here. I think I find it hard to become attached to the characters because the book is so disjointed and it doesn't really feel linear. Too many characters and so most of them don't feel like they're given enough "screen time" to make a connection with any of them. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you don't care about that sort of thing in books, but I find having characters I can care about to be a good measure of good writing, and I haven't really experienced that with this series so far.
However, there is something missing here. I think I find it hard to become attached to the characters because the book is so disjointed and it doesn't really feel linear. Too many characters and so most of them don't feel like they're given enough "screen time" to make a connection with any of them. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you don't care about that sort of thing in books, but I find having characters I can care about to be a good measure of good writing, and I haven't really experienced that with this series so far.
July 24, 2020
As I stated in my review for the first collection, I'm a hugely biased transformers fan, so tale from that what you will. All that aside, this is an absolutely brilliant follow up. The two following mainline stories absolutely ramp up the action, while featuring the first Optimus vs Megatron battle. Absolutely brilliant. On top of that, the standalone stories known as 'spotlights' were absolutely brilliant. The Kup one far exceeded my expectations, taking an interesting direction I never thought they would take it. Then it ended with Optimus himself, offering a little insight to the question of how he deals with the pressure of being leader of the autobots. Overall, this was a fantastic collection, throughly earning it's 5/5 rating. If you're a transformers fan, you simply have to buy these!
December 6, 2024
do u think the autobots put any time into designing their human-sonas (sorry, their "holo-matter projections") or do they just copy someone's face off of the street?
i bet ratchet put a lot of work into his. he was probably all like "look bumblebee, this ones called a 'friendly grandfather' type, these creases on its face are called 'smile lines' and they indicate to other humans that it's friendly and approachable" and bumblebee probably was like "dude the decepticons are furthering international tensions in the middle east and megatron just turned into a human gun can we do this later"
anyway thats what i think
i bet ratchet put a lot of work into his. he was probably all like "look bumblebee, this ones called a 'friendly grandfather' type, these creases on its face are called 'smile lines' and they indicate to other humans that it's friendly and approachable" and bumblebee probably was like "dude the decepticons are furthering international tensions in the middle east and megatron just turned into a human gun can we do this later"
anyway thats what i think
March 20, 2025
Reading in chronological order so I'm finishing this volume before volume 1. Having fun so far. It can get confusing at times with the jumping between places and times, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I really like the characterizations of almost everyone. A lot of these guys barely showed up in the original cartoon and subsequent continuities so it's pretty cool to see everybody be given their own unique personality.
April 8, 2018
It gets better when you get hints of Cybertron in Stormbringer. I feel bad for remembering the early "-ation" series by Furman as being dull. It's not and it's got it's own internal sensibility that makes the humans compelling--eventually.
The highlights for me though are really Spotlight:Kup and Ramjet. The Ramjet special is just really amusing, the Kup issue though, wow, Nick Roche is just really good at everything to do with the franchise.
The rest is okay, but pales in comparison to Roche's issue and the Barber, Roberts series that would come much later in the continuity.
The highlights for me though are really Spotlight:Kup and Ramjet. The Ramjet special is just really amusing, the Kup issue though, wow, Nick Roche is just really good at everything to do with the franchise.
The rest is okay, but pales in comparison to Roche's issue and the Barber, Roberts series that would come much later in the continuity.
April 3, 2020
This volume contains some of my favorite stories. Spotlight: Kup is still excellent, and Spotlight; Ramjet is always entertaining. Stormbringer is great, and while Infiltration was a bit of a slow start Escalation ramps things up and, between it and Spotlight: Optimus Prime, starts sowing the seeds for the universe's broader mythology.
November 15, 2021
They don’t give you the entire backstory all at once so I can only imagine how hard it would have been to follow events without these issues being collected chronologically. That being said, this collection is well worth the effort of digging in. Excellent story that’s very complex with many different aspected to watch unfold.
December 23, 2022
fun collection
This is a pretty good collection of quality Transformer stories and spotlights. We get to see plenty of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Omega Supreme, Monstructor, and various other well know or lesser know bots. If you’re a fan you might have read some of this in the past, but I still recommend it because it’s a good read.
This is a pretty good collection of quality Transformer stories and spotlights. We get to see plenty of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Omega Supreme, Monstructor, and various other well know or lesser know bots. If you’re a fan you might have read some of this in the past, but I still recommend it because it’s a good read.
June 1, 2022
Again, just a Transformers fan is looking for.
I love the depth and history of this universe, IDW did well in building a narrative that moves at a good pace while still giving me time to think about what the Autobots and Decepticons have been through in their endless war.
I love the depth and history of this universe, IDW did well in building a narrative that moves at a good pace while still giving me time to think about what the Autobots and Decepticons have been through in their endless war.
October 25, 2022
Spotlight: Kup messed me up for a few days, to be quite honest. It was very well done and due to personal experiences it was heartbreaking to see what was actually happening vs what he thought was happening
January 20, 2023
The main story still has too many humans but the Spotlight series are great, with fantastic choices beyond the usual suspects, like Mirage and my personal favorite toy from the 80s, Sixshot. (RIP action figure)
July 15, 2023
A very fun and interesting take on the transformers canon that respects the source material while also doing some new things with it. Honestly the Kup spotlight from this book is what got me interested in these books.
March 7, 2025
I have throughly enjoyed reading these books! It can be confusing at times when reading. However if you think of it rather like reading comics back to back. It makes a little more sense! I’m getting my own copies of these books when I can!
April 5, 2018
I grew up on it, so I'm an easy mark. The "Escalation" series is pretty good, well paced and plotted, full of danger and mystery. The rest, kind of eh...
September 26, 2021
IDW solid series. Currently up to Phase 2 Vol. 9. Very happy all the way through.
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May 3, 2023KILL MAIN VIOLENCE KILL MAIM!!!! FUCKING HATE SIMON FURMAN
January 7, 2025
freakformers panel out in the wild (megop we know what you are)
January 14, 2026
mt foda Optimus Prime
June 24, 2015
So, volume #2. As a first-timer I’m really enjoying how these issues and volumes are being put together. I didn’t like how they weren’t exactly chronological in the first collection, but after going through this second collection I get it and I like it.
Volumes
This collection starts out with Stormbringer which I was very confused with. Because these aren’t completely chronological they didn’t start with issues that lead up to this volume. I sucked up my irrational annoyance and read on only to find that the confusion made it hard to stay glued to the page. The bits where Optimus and Megatron exchange a few words is always interesting, but I didn’t feel the threat of this Thunderwing and was still confused by the time I reached the end of the volume. The good thing about putting this volume first is that it is a kind of prequel to Escalation which follows right after. The second half of Infiltration is just as entertaining as the first. Simon Furman does a fantastic job writing out Autobot and human relations and I can’t wait to see how it ends.
Spotlights
The spotlights in this collection actually correspond with each other in order as well as with some spotlights in the first collection. Even the characters I wasn’t familiar with I loved reading from their points of view. The spotlights are Sixshot, Ramjet, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Mirage, and Optimus Prime. I loved them all, but I’d have to say my favorite was Kup’s spotlight. This is interesting because it was written and drawn by Nick Roche who also wrote my favorite Transformers issue of all time Spotlight: Megatron. What Roche does is introduce you to the highlighted character by taking a step into their mind (his monologues are amazing) and then expressing that character through another character’s feelings toward him/her. I can’t wait to see what else Roche has done because I’m officially a fan.
The thing about Transformers comics is you always want more when you’re done with them--well, I do anyway. My hunger for all things Transformers is insatiable so I will definitely be getting the rest of this series.
Volumes
This collection starts out with Stormbringer which I was very confused with. Because these aren’t completely chronological they didn’t start with issues that lead up to this volume. I sucked up my irrational annoyance and read on only to find that the confusion made it hard to stay glued to the page. The bits where Optimus and Megatron exchange a few words is always interesting, but I didn’t feel the threat of this Thunderwing and was still confused by the time I reached the end of the volume. The good thing about putting this volume first is that it is a kind of prequel to Escalation which follows right after. The second half of Infiltration is just as entertaining as the first. Simon Furman does a fantastic job writing out Autobot and human relations and I can’t wait to see how it ends.
Spotlights
The spotlights in this collection actually correspond with each other in order as well as with some spotlights in the first collection. Even the characters I wasn’t familiar with I loved reading from their points of view. The spotlights are Sixshot, Ramjet, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Mirage, and Optimus Prime. I loved them all, but I’d have to say my favorite was Kup’s spotlight. This is interesting because it was written and drawn by Nick Roche who also wrote my favorite Transformers issue of all time Spotlight: Megatron. What Roche does is introduce you to the highlighted character by taking a step into their mind (his monologues are amazing) and then expressing that character through another character’s feelings toward him/her. I can’t wait to see what else Roche has done because I’m officially a fan.
The thing about Transformers comics is you always want more when you’re done with them--well, I do anyway. My hunger for all things Transformers is insatiable so I will definitely be getting the rest of this series.
July 18, 2017
This is a very good second volume of the complete collection of the early IDW comics Transformers main universe series. I really enjoyed all of the stories in this volume, which included Stormbringer, Escalation, and Spotlights Sixshot, Ramjet, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Mirage, and Optimus Prime. I think the Spotlights were probably my favorite issues. Escalation was probably the weakest story in the volume.
December 15, 2015
Not a bad collection of stories, not at all.
Stormbringer is one of my favourites by far, but the rest of the series aren't really anything special to write home about.
The spotlights are not really that interesting, beside Scorponok. A shame really, I had high hopes for Optimus'
The main problem is that it only contains escalation which doesn't sit well on it's own. It needs the rest of the series to really shine and it's a pity we didn't get Devastation in the same book...
Stormbringer is one of my favourites by far, but the rest of the series aren't really anything special to write home about.
The spotlights are not really that interesting, beside Scorponok. A shame really, I had high hopes for Optimus'
The main problem is that it only contains escalation which doesn't sit well on it's own. It needs the rest of the series to really shine and it's a pity we didn't get Devastation in the same book...
April 25, 2023
Lots of excellent material here. The story about Thunderwing brings a formidable foe in the path of the Autobots, while Escalation contains an absolutely epic fight between Megatron and Optimus Prime. The Spotlight issues range from good to great, my favourites being Kup, Mirage and Ramjet.
The art is pretty consistent across most of the book, without anything too over the top.
The art is pretty consistent across most of the book, without anything too over the top.
August 22, 2015
Easier to follow than the first, two main story arcs with a bunch of one offs featuring individual transformers. Nothing amazing to write about here other than if you're on book two, I presume you liked book one enough to get this one. On to book three!
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