Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

Darth Zax wrote: a la the modern BBC version of Sherlock Holmes (I might be a bit on the obvious side here).
No, I think that's spot on. And the BBC Sherlock is popular right now. Wouldn't surprise me if that's the direction Roberts is going here.

Hopefully he'll use the Sherlockisms sparingly, as Nightbeat has the potential of being a really fun character.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

It makes sense for Nightbeat to be kind of antisocial or maladjusted. He did seem to prefer to wander around on his own in deep space with his clues rather than help out the Autobots unless Optimus Prime himself asked him really, really nicely.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

I have zero love for Swerve in this second series. He comes across as a dick, need to see him interact with someone like Skids again, or get along with Bluestreak or Groove. It feels like the heart has been ripped out of him, almost like Roberts is scuppering/side-lining his own Jar Jar Binks character as per Episode II (twelve sodding years ago!!!!).

I find this ‘missing things’ on the Lost Light a very annoying concept. As reader’s we’ve got nothing to go on other than just wait for the reveal. In Shadowplay, the DJD/Scavengers and Delphi we could guess and ruminate till the cows came home and it was fun… but I feel like there’s nothing to go on here. It will be interesting when the reveal comes, but I’m missing that level of interaction and fun. In the meantime Swerve is grumpy, and Rung seems to have announced that he won’t be in this particular storyline much more (re: his comment to Megatron last issue).

That Ravage is skulking about undetected is excellent (does Megatron know, and if he does then he’s also got longer term plans than just being Captain and an Autobot).

Very intrigued to see how Whirl will deal with the revelation that he’s never been in a fair fight, and how Chromedome will continue to deal with the loss of Rewind. These are very good issues, Rung’s comment to Megatron “So when did you decide the universe needed to be dominated?” was perfect.

I guess what bothers me at this point is we’re two issues in and Bluestreak hasn’t said much. In my head I thought he would be the new Skids, not in terms of being a hero, but being an interesting character and main focal point.

Nautica is kind of interesting and Riptide hasn't done anything other than take up panel space, when I would prefer a Season One background character fill that position; Cosmos or Siren for instance.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

Agreed on the fact that we really just have to take the 'edits' at face value but I feel that trust has been established at this point. Also we're bound to experience some diminishing returns on the Big Mysteries - the constructed cold / forged mythology which was so carefully portioned out in the last season was clearly something Roberts has been thinking about for years.

Swerve has never been as cuddly as he tends to be remembered - he hated Cyclonus and carries a chip on his shoulder about most things.

Not sure I caught that same Rung announcement that you did - what do you mean?

I am intriguied by Riptide. Something is definitely up with him. The theories that abound is that he's Rodimus in disguise or that he's the writer of the Lost Light Chronicle. It might be the case that his shit-stirrer character couldn't be provided by anybody else who was available. The only prankster / malcontent I can think of offhand is Skywarp but he wouldn't fit.

Would like to see more of Bluestreak too, but everything is so stuffed-crust right now that it would be safe to say we'll get to him later.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Terome wrote:Not sure I caught that same Rung announcement that you did - what do you mean?
In the previous issue there is a panel where Rung says something like "Megatron, I sense that we may not get the chance to talk like this again"...

Now there's a Soothsayer portent if ever there was one. That, plus Ravage. I think Rung knows far more than he's letting on (as usual) and perhaps even knows Ravage is on board. I've a feeling he's not too bothered about various characters dying because he's more concerned about resolutions in the bigger picture.

Also, Megatron's got a point to prove since Starscream called him out as a muppet with little tactical skill or credulity. I feel like there'll be some proper Overlord style carnage in the future from Megatron, things that would make Overlord blush, especially considering that comment he made to Prime in Chaos Theory; "I would happily wade chest-deep through mucky oil, rust and pot noodle to tear the soul out of every last Autobot".

Yeah, he's all sweetness and light now, but the sod is biding his time to come up with something well narrrsty.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

Ahh, I took that line a little more literally - that Megatron would refuse any further appointments. Though why was he even having one in the first place? Were they court-ordered?

I don't think Megatron will wreck havoc unless arms are twisted and marching orders sent down. That's the least interesting thing that could happen. As for his chest-deep oil wading, well, he was playing the gallery and trying to goad Prime into killing him.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Things things things...Although I don't like recap pages (all very 'Previously On (insert TV show name)' a thing I've never liked as it seems to assume the viewer is drooling thickie incapable of retaining information), I did like that it was Swerve giving a breathless catch up.

Tailgate can transform! I assume that's off the back of Cyclonus doing the big sword magic on him, but whatever that was a totally cute scene "Finger-In-The-Head!" (works with the sting of old theme tune, that) and I LOVED just that small frame of Cyclonus reassuring Tailgate'd been missed. Is that a smile..?

Protectobots! Monsterbots! Whoop.

The courtroom scenes were all great, especially with Starscream as everyone else has said. Probably the first bit of decent writing he's ever had, showing him to be the slippery politician he really is. Stupid Armada body or not.

Loved the scene with Rodimus and Atomizer where you just knew Rodimus would peek as he wouldn't be able help himself.

The Chromedome / Nightbeat scenes were good...although I really, really don't want Rewind's 'death' undone - data ghost or not. These two did get my favourite bit of artwork though with that nicely laid out splash leading up to the reveal of Nightbeat's office wall and floor disappearing.

Other things...Trailbreaker (f**k all this Trailcutter crap) had a nice little story here and loved Milne's panel of Megatron and Magnus with the Protectobots all armed and ready - but WHO is the pink and turquoise dude with the big wheels in that shot? A generic or just someone I don't recognise? Cool design whomever it is.

And then...the Corpse! Dun dun durr...!

Overall an enjoyable and busy comic like what comics used to be. Really liked Alex Milne's art this issue, which seemed...different and somehow a bit cleaner. I'm not sure its changed, but it seemed...better.

Its only the flipping colourist whose gone and made this book look all BIG and AWESOME! Its a personal thing, but I always found Josh Burcham's colours quite pale and washed out. Here, Joanna Lafuente turns the colour up to 11 and I like it. Its bold and bright and the characters don't end mixing in with the backgrounds as much as they used to. There's depth and shade and it looks proper ace. I hope she's staying on board.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Bit distanced since I'm not really feeling "season 2" yet. Instantly fell in love with MTMTE 1, could tell that something new and exciting was coming up...and two issues in here, I ain't feeling it that much.

Part of that is because it feels and reads as if Megatron was totally forced on as an Autobot to Roberts, and he's jumping through hooves to establish why he was dumped on his book. Almost the entire three parter [I'm assuming 30 will be the last chapter in this saga] reads as an insert. I'm of the opinion that instead, or surplus to Windblade, we could have a proper 3-4 parter "Trial of Megatron" or something, with full on details and accounts and whatnot, and use these issues of MTMTE to focus on something else, instead of having a pseudo mystery of "how did Megatron get around all that and became captain of a crew of autobots that do not trust him at all? and what did Rodimus have to say about that?"

Despite all that, I rather like Megatron the benevolent leader. It's a fresh take, although they could have just as easily picked him up as a stray from exile or something instead of this convoluted storyline.

I have a feeling that Swerve's "old injury" that the entire fandom seems to ignore [he even told Drift off in issue 13 about not touching him below the shoulder] might be that nasty cut he got in SL: Hoist. Could be wrong.

Liking Nightbeat and Chromedome, feels as if Roberts is trying to "Sherlock" them both. Nightbeat the quirky but brilliant Sherlock and Chromedome as the initially passive sidekick Dr Watson who when they first team up together is lost, mentally and spiritually. I don't think Rewind will come back, it would greatly cheapen S1 as a whole. Because if he ain't really dead, despite the entire carnage and mayhem, S1 would have really just killed Pipes and a bunch of background characters, giving the free pass to Ratchet, Magnus, Rewind, Whirl and Rung.

Riptide appears to be a fresh take on the "reporter" angle on the LL, and so far nothing more. Very indifferent about Nautica.

Not going to comment on the whole coffin thing, as again, Roberts stating that almost none of the "message" happened in S1 cheapened the entire message. Kind of lost its impact if, instead of the LL being lost for years with no way of contacting them, they came back, sat around for six months, and THEN left again and those occurrences happened.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

The issue just before Dark Cybertron kicked off (issue 22?) with the James Raiz art showed Tailgate in vehicle mode. That issue was all about Rewind's video and was chronologically supposed to have taken place around issue 6 I think, so Tailgate has been able to transform since then. I might be getting the chronology confused though, as I picked up Spotlights Trailcutter and Hoist around that time, and their stories were also set around that time period.

Megatron giving Trailbreaker/cutter a job was excellent. The pink and turquoise guy was mentioned by someone in an earlier post as Joyride. He doesn't look particularly Joyride-y to me but maybe it is.

I love Milne's artwork here too, but feel its been deflated a little by LaFuente's colours. I prefer Burchams, maybe that's just the familiarity of that artist & colourist working together.

Someone on another forum made a point (ike you did), that this is a very substantial comic, taking at least a good half hour to get through and they compared it to an entire TPB of a very famous and lauded title (I forget the name), and that could be read through in 10-15 minutes.

I only raise that now because I feel like there's so much in the 'World shut your mouth' story that maybe there's another text story to follow it at some point? The last text story kind of allowed Roberts to fit in a part six to 'Remain in Light', which was cool, although it would have been nice to see Red Alert and Max's departure from the Lost Light in glorious Milne-o-vision.

Its annoying eh? This team of Roberts/Milne/Burcham et al produce this brilliant, involved, immersive set of stories and all I can manage is a Dennis Nedry "Don't cheap out on me Dodgson" snarky comment. I hope they take that as a good thing, it means I (and perhaps others) want 100% MTMTE all the time.
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Post by Unicron »

Skyquake87 wrote: but WHO is the pink and turquoise dude with the big wheels in that shot? A generic or just someone I don't recognise? Cool design whomever it is.
Auntie Slag wrote: The pink and turquoise guy was mentioned by someone in an earlier post as Joyride. He doesn't look particularly Joyride-y to me but maybe it is.
Aquafend. Yeah, I'm all "Who the hell is that?" too whenever I see him. This probably the 6th time I've looked up his name, as I can never remember who he is. Anyway, he seems to be part of the LL security team, since he was with Drift when they burst in on Cyclonus singing to Tailgate and apparently was on the response team when Fort Max took Rung and Whirl hostage.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Strangely, he's one of the toys I have had [still survives to this day] as a kid, but could never recall his name.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

As a toy he looks quite interesting. Its a shame I was so blinkered as a kid, I would refuse a weird bright pink robot with a water-squirting gimmick over a classic G1 brick like say Hound or Sideswipe. According to Wiki Aquafend also had a water reservoir, that's pretty cool. But does a little flexible plastic reservoir stand the test of time, or has it gone all brittle by now?
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Yay Aquafend - I used to have him. Nowhere near as cool looking as Milne's slight redesign though, which looks a lot more...beefy.

Aquafend Aquafend Aquafend.

There, all rememberized now.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Aquafeeeend, not just a pretty paste... Aaah!
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Post by Knightdramon »

Auntie Slag wrote:According to Wiki Aquafend also had a water reservoir, that's pretty cool. But does a little flexible plastic reservoir stand the test of time, or has it gone all brittle by now?
Seemed okay last I checked. Had the toy for like...20 odd years now? That water thing still worked fine, though it's been at least a year since I last checked it.

Won't think it'd make a difference. If it has survived 19+ years, I sincerely doubt an extra year would make a difference.
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Post by Denyer »

Warcry wrote:There's too much going on in this issue, in my opinion. It reminded me of Devastation, when it took Hot Rod and Wheeljack four issues to drive to a junkyard because we only saw them for half a page each time.
Except by Devastation it was becoming clear Furman couldn't do densely-packed narrative to save his life...

I'm a big fan of the kitchen-sink approach to plotting as long as payoff for some of the story points isn't deferred endlessly, which Mr R has demonstrated a good handle on. It adds up to the feel of a big, populated environment where folks are off doing things when they're not on-camera.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

That hologram-thing that Nightbeat was studying when Chromedome walks in looks a lot like Rung's alt-mode. And Rungs alt-mode looks kind of similar to a bit of machinery Tyrest was messing with to create the bridge/gap to Cyberutopia.
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Post by Unicron »

Auntie Slag wrote:That hologram-thing that Nightbeat was studying when Chromedome walks in looks a lot like Rung's alt-mode. And Rungs alt-mode looks kind of similar to a bit of machinery Tyrest was messing with to create the bridge/gap to Cyberutopia.
Pretty sure Roberts confirmed it was Rung's alt-mode on Twitter. Think he had to because of the art style differences between it's first appearance and this issue.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

That'll teach 'em not to use Raiz.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

So MTMTE issue 30 iiiiiis... next week? Really desperate to see whether anyone can stop The Mechanic.
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