Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

[tahukanuva]

The DJD's pretty cool, and this certainly sets up some interesting introspection, but the most important thing about this issue is that Deathsaurus is on the cover.

God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.

[Death's Head]

Musings of a Decepticon-killing man.

[Knightdramon]

Pretty good preview---Blip is seen again, mentioned by Ultra Magnus as somebody who thought he was a sparkeater, a proprietor of infinite sin and so on.

Said Sparkeater said to be a "black eyed" monster...could it be the guy that Whirl shot in the past was the "original" sparkeater instead of Kaon? Nah...

Nifty musings on Roller...err...Tarn. Appears to take place slightly before issue 34, time-wise, as Kaon and Vos are not around and Tarn laments Vos. [both appear to have been left for dead after the 3-way battle].

So, Roller/Tarn---red herring, or actual undercover agent 113?

I think Deathsaurus will be either another vigilante 'con...

[Warcry]

The DJD's pretty cool

[Citation needed]

(The belated attempt to give at least one of them an actual personality, however, is definitely welcome.)

, and this certainly sets up some interesting introspection, but the most important thing about this issue is that Deathsaurus is on the cover.

I thought you might like that.

I'm certainly glad he didn't show up in the first couple pages to die just to make Tarn look cool, like Black Shadow did.

[Unicron]

I'm certainly glad he didn't show up in the first couple pages to die just to make Tarn look cool, like Black Shadow did.

Maybe Deathsaurus was buddies (or perhaps even Conjunx Endurae) with Black Shadow and is now out for revenge. Failing that, my only other guess is he's somehow someone Tarn actually reports/answers to.
Well, there's also the possibility he's just another victim but that seems like a waste

[zigzagger]

Sakamoto apes Milne's style quite well. Probably a teeny bit less detailed, but I was almost convinced.

[Citation needed]

(The belated attempt to give at least one of them an actual personality, however, is definitely welcome.)

Yeah, it's appreciated. Still hasn't won me over yet, of course, but we'll see. We'll see...


Given that this is (I think) a one-shot issue -- starring the bleepin' DJD, no less -- I fear we may not be seeing much of Deathsaurus after this. But, so often I am proven wrong.

Again, we'll see.

[Red Dave Prime]

I kinda hope we dont get a load of personality lumped onto the djd. Sometimes its nice for the mosters to just be monsters. Although if Tarn is roller than I suppose we should get something but I'm happy for the rest to just be sadisitic killers.

Wonder will deathsaurus be a target or maybe one of the original DJD that Tarn is welling up over?

[Auntie Slag]

Whilst trying to avoid work, I read a thread on Transfans which pointed to this Australian website talking about Rung's alt-mode.

What do you think? The other people's responses to Paulbot's guess give it extra weight, along with a possible explanation for Rung's serial number. I certainly never would have guessed this!

[Edit] To counter the guess, the image Paulbot references is done by artist James Raiz. If you compare that with an alt-mode image drawn by series regular Milne Rung's alt-mode looks quite different.

[Another edit] When Springer eventually returns to the scene; Whirl is going to have to answer for his actions re: attempting to place Roadbuster's Sparkeater weapon on Springer's comatose body.

This raises a few questions, like;

1) What is Roadbuster doing with a Sparkeater thing? In this case it looks like an organic creature, rather than Brainstorm's spark eater gun. Does this suggest that Sparkeating is a naturally organic thing and perhaps a reason for Transformers to fear some types of organic beings/races?

2) After seeing what Brainstorm's gun does to people, why on earth would Whirl choose this as a method to end Springers life? It implicates Roadbuster, his friend, as the killer. Its a grisly way to go... surely it would be better to find a random gun and shoot through Springer's spark for an insta-kill, much more humane that way.

3) If/when Springer does come around, doesn't that mean Whirl is going to go straight back to prison unless Rung can determine Whirl mentally unfit? Why has Roadbuster not said anything about this for the last three years... is he incapacitated, or dead?

4) So in IDW's universe there is a naturally occurring Sparkeater, and Brainstorm's gun. Is the former a dead universe creation? was this clarified during Dark Cybertron or any of the -ation or Spotlight series?

[And another edit!] Apologies for going on about Whirl all the time. Cliffjumper's thread about 'What's the purpose of having 200 members on the Lost Light crew' and the lack of character development got me wondering a bit... My hunch is that Whirl is perhaps the most important Transformer of all because he possesses the certain something that caused him to breakaway from his function & cause everything up to now.

He's also perhaps depressed (Red Alert overhearing him having a blazing row with himself, and his entire history up to that point), a liar (saying Cyclonus tried to kill him in issue 1, and locking Cyclonus and Rewind in with the bomb in issue 14), and definitely suicidal (taunting a psychotic Fort Max in the hostage story, and taking on Megatron in issue 32).

Rung may be the second most important Transformer in terms of his bright spark. I have a hunch that should MTMTE all come to an end, it will end with these two... or just Whirl!

This issue has shown that perhaps Brainstorm did everything for love. Whirl has seemingly no love for anyone at all, but maybe has a few things working in his favour; Megatron's decree has kept him alive, and Rung may know something significant about Whirl that may tie the two of them together.

So he's come closest to death from the hands of Autobots (Fort Max), and Cyclonus, who presumably never held to Megatron's decree, because he's not a Decepticon. Its a good thing Cyclonus didn't follow through with his threat!

[Terome]

Whilst trying to avoid work, I read a thread on Transfans which pointed to this Australian website talking about Rung's alt-mode.

What do you think? The other people's responses to Paulbot's guess give it extra weight, along with a possible explanation for Rung's serial number. I certainly never would have guessed this!

[Edit] To counter the guess, the image Paulbot references is done by artist James Raiz. If you compare that with an alt-mode image drawn by series regular Milne Rung's alt-mode looks quite different.

Nah. For one, it wouldn't make any sense. Metroplex can transform on his own without a big silly lever. And why would Metroplex's missing lever be such a big deal to the Functionists? Why would Metroplex's missing lever be interesting in any way?

Also, beyond being roughly cylindrical, those two objects really aren't drawn very similarly at all.

To my shame I haven't read 'Zero Point' yet. But I'd hazard a guess and say that maybe Roadbuster's Sparkeater gun is not Brainstorm's Sparkeater gun, if only to eliminate confusion.

[Auntie Slag]

Yeah, I agree with you. At first I was thinking "stone me, they've got it", what with the Titans featuring in both MTMTE and RID, but yes, they're basing it on the drawing of a one-off artist. Shaky ground.

As for Roadbuster's sparkeater, its not a gun, its like a giant parasite with some strange identification marks that may be significant at a later date! It featured in a panel of the regular MTMTE comic (possibly the first issue), with Whirl attempting to rest it on Springer's chest so that it would, presumably, eat through his armour to the spark beneath.

I remember it being really weird, reminding me slightly of the brain-leech things from limbo in the old comics' issue 100 story.

[inflatable dalek]

FWIW, Roberts has said there's no such thing as a natural Spark Eater, the two created by Whirl were the first; with the one not locked up on the Lost Light being for the sole narrative purpose of explaining where the stories came from (though it may have the ability to "breed" and create others).

Roadbusters Spark Eater weapon works differently to Brainstorms, one act like a Spark Eater (in that it removes and destroys your spark as a means of assisted suicide in that case) whilst the other turns you into a spark eating monster. Beyond the similar name they're completely different.

[Auntie Slag]

Seems a bit weird having both called Sparkeaters, even if that's what they both do. Its confusing for the reader, well... it confused me anyway.

I can't help but wonder why Roadbuster's one looks like an organic creature? It doesn't even look like a knock-off Insecticon, it looks like a proper, moving, wriggling thing!

And where would you keep something of that size in the event of an assisted suicide? Its smaller than Aquitas, but then most things are. Maybe it is no big deal, but we all know by now that everything is designed in MTMTE for a reason. If Whirl wanted to help Springer die then he could have pulled the plug on the life support, got a gun or something else. I mean, pulling life support may trigger an alert to the medics, but so would a Sparkeater.

[Edit]On a side note, I just saw images today of Generations Ultra Magnus. He's all modern MTMTE Magnus COMPLETE WITH MINIMUS AMBUS! I suppose you have to supply your own desk, nameplate and desk tidy, but he's got all the groovy stylings on comic Magnus. He looks an absolute beast. The only downside is I can't see the irreducible Minimus, but still!

I also saw an absolutely ass-kicking Generations First Aid. I don't think he's out yet, but wow! Looks very different to the current comic depiction, which means he may about to be pummelled through the floor by the DJD over the next few issues before his triumphant rebirth as a hep cat!

[Auntie Slag]

Unicron made this prediction last August in the Issue 32 thread:

"Anyone placing odds on the crew and perhaps Ravage talking Megatron into getting a new body made, a non-poisoned and strong one, so he can properly fight the DJD? Maybe Brainstorm would give him the inter-dimensional circuitry to syphon anti-matter from a black hole finally."

Sounds spookily plausible, and if anyone's going to finish off the DJD it may as well be their band manager Ian... I mean Megatron, with a Cricket bat and a black hole.

[Unicron]

Yeah, I came up with that idea a while back. Seemed reasonable, as Ratchet has brought it up twice, Perceptor thought it was stupid and thus it seemed like the sort of thing Brainstorm would be all 'Perceptor thinks it can't be done? We'll see about that' about.
But with Brainy in the brig and somehow Decepticon affiliated, it seems less likely now.

Wouldn't be the first time I kicked around an idea that was totally wrong. I mean I'd been thinking Defensor would result from mad-science on the Lost Light so they'd have something big to take on the DJD but now it seems we get the somewhat bland approach of them taking a shuttle to visit the McGuffin.

[Auntie Slag]

Maybe the DJD kidnap Megatron in an effort to turn him back to the dark side and its they who give him a new body (because if they kidnap him, they probably won't take the poisonous special brew on the Lost Light he needs to drink to keep him alive).

Has anyone followed up on why Rung went missing during the Slaughterhouse storyline? He told Megatron he wouldn't be around after their initial talk, and its not clear whether his alternate self was aboard the alternate Lost Light during the massacre.

I read an article on the TFWiki just now, about the Black Box Consortia & the Galactic Empire fighting with the DJD over the alternative Lost Light. Night beat mentioned evidence of a lot of warping in the area prior to their arrival. This is the same Black Box Consortia who put up such a fight against the Functionists, that the Functionists had to sell them Luna 2 as a sort of truce!

How does Rung know to stay out of all this?

And on another side note (I'm reaaaaaally dodging work), I'm starting to imagine famous voice actors suitable for the parts. Very British led, with the exception of Rodimus who could be played a bit more internationally.

• Overlord: Tim Curry or Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones.
  Chromedome: Paul Bettany
  Swerve: Nick Frost
  Skids: Aiden Turner
  Ultra Magnus: Clive Owen
  Rewind: Nicholas Hoult
  Getaway: Jude Law
  Rung: Stephen Mackintosh
  Whirl: Richard O' Brien
  Cyclonus: Tim Roth
  Red Alert: Hugh Dancy
  Perceptor: Benedict Cumberbatch
  Ratchet: Sam Neill
  Rodimus: James McAvoy
  Megatron: Vincent Cassell
  First Aid: Gael García Bernal
  Tailgate: Elijah Wood
  Impactor: Dominic West
  Drift: Cillian Murphy
  Tarn: Michael Fassbender
  Trailcutter: Bill Bailey
  Prowl: Colin Firth
  Brawn: Matt Berry
  Brainstorm: Chris Barrie or Tom Hiddleston
  Tyrest Mark Strong

It could raise the question of how old you think the cast are? I picked certain voices because they have rich, grand Leadership voices. Some are distinctive (I think James McAvoy could play a cocky arse like Rodimus) and others because they reflect who in the list I think are younger (First Aid, Rewind).

[Unicron]

Has anyone followed up on why Rung went missing during the Slaughterhouse storyline? He told Megatron he wouldn't be around after their initial talk, and its not clear whether his alternate self was aboard the alternate Lost Light during the massacre.

I read an article on the TFWiki just now, about the Black Box Consortia & the Galactic Empire fighting with the DJD over the alternative Lost Light. Night beat mentioned evidence of a lot of warping in the area prior to their arrival. This is the same Black Box Consortia who put up such a fight against the Functionists, that the Functionists had to sell them Luna 2 as a sort of truce!

How does Rung know to stay out of all this?

Nightbeat noted from alt-Rewind's infodump dataslug that alt-Rung was 'lost' during the explosion, hence why alt-Rodimus used alt-Animus as alt-Sparkeater bait and got his alt-head stuck in the alt-engine. Alt. (I should also note that I feel the usage of 'lost' by Nightbeat is a little ambiguous. Could be alt-Rung died or was sucked out into space. Or possibly even blinked out like the real Lost Light and crew did, due to some 'maintaining the cosmic order' BS where he's important to the grand design but can't be duplicated even in a quantum accident. That last bit is from me thinking Rung is the key for some Primus-ordained Deus Ex Machina and thus vital to the safety of reality.)
And Rung said he sensed that he and Megatron wouldn't get to talk like that again, not that he wouldn't be around. Whether that's an indicator of some kind of prescience on Rung's part or just him thinking Megsy wouldn't be willing to partake in further therapy sessions I don't know.

Yeah, that BBC is a tough bunch, it would seem. Weird that we still haven't directly seen them yet, though we only ran into the GC once so far despite a few references. Universe building and potential future threat, I suppose.

[Skyquake87]

If Rung isn't a lever for titans ... how about one for Cybertron..?

[Knightdramon]

Full preview out now.

And yes. Different by what we're led to expect.

[Unicron]

That was... unexpected. Makes me really wonder where it's going, assuming those two new pages aren't a mistimed April Fools gag. Leaving that possibility aside...

Nickel is a weird one. Where the hell did she come from? If she were from Caminus like Nautica and Chromia, she's either a really new arrival, or news of a long lost colony was deemed completely unimportant. I suppose she could be an Ammonite, which would work, given her size. Still...

On the plus side, I was right when I theorized that the DJD had to have some kind of support staff. It made sense they'd have a medic, someone to run their base, supply resources, intel., etc. Which means the 'Who is Agent 113?' guessing game just gained at least 1 new option.

[Denyer]

Not sure that the juxtaposition works.