Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

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Patapsco
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Post by Patapsco »

RE: The Ores. It seems that the ore on Earth was the only one that evolved correctly, and the planet that Kup was stranded on was one that was seeded and went haywire. Presumably after finding out what happened to the other ores Shockwave went nuts and decided to bring about the end of the universe. Or something
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Auntie Slag wrote:How come there's so little activity in this, a regular MTMTE thread? Were not many people able to get the comic in either form this time around? There's not a peep from Unicron, Warcry, Death's Head and the other regulars.
I've two reasons why this hasnt grabbed me. Number one, is that the muddle with the release dates for exRID made it hard to judge until that comic came out. But also, much as I enjoy seeing Alert and Maximus along with the general overall plot, this feels like filler - something that doesnt bring out the best in MTMTE. You get so used to nothing being throw away, even in the light issues that this just doesnt feel quite worth the effort.

That sounds awful, because its not bad at all. I guess it just feels out of place in the overall scheme.
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Post by Warcry »

For my part, after the garbage that was Dark Cybertron and Combiner Wars I'm ignoring this toy-driven crossover bullshit as much as I possibly can. I'm not even entirely sure if I've actually read the issue or just seen snippets of it floating around, but I don't even care enough to download it and find out.

Plus I'm not super inclined to read comics starring Robot Trump as the antagonist when I can't get away from talk about the real one in my day-to-day life.
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Post by Unicron »

Unicron wrote:I don't think there's anything indicating the Institute did anything to Red beyond getting him to steer Prowl and Tumbler towards finding that Momus was a closet-Con.

Red joining Sentinel may not be due Institute tinkering. Or at least not changing his thoughts. I suspect Red turning is a result of Sovereign's energon dripping onto and seeping into the old mnemosurgery points on the back of his neck. Might be that allowed Sovereign to get control.
Well... totally wrong on this one
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inflatable dalek
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MTMTE 57

Post by inflatable dalek »

Haven't read the Ex-RID parts of this crossover yet and the comic itself clearly doesn't care about any of that (Sentinal is finished off by falling down a hole like he's Dreamwave Shockwave!)...

But I enjoyed Red Alert's mental plane allowing the main cast to appear and the Alisha Dixon ending ("Does Fort Max wash up? Yes he does actually) was very nice domestic stuff.

It's fluff really, but nice fluff and makes for a good light coda to the series.
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Post by Selkadoom »

I enjoyed it as well, granted reading the new ex-RID helps considering it should have been out before the last issue but I digress. It was a good feeling issue that made Prowl seem much less like an unlikeable ass.

Now we wait for December.
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Having checked out both issue 57s, I think IDW ended both comics in a decent way. Theres some nice set-up and explanation for some stuff and I really like then impending doom of a Titan fleet arriving at some point in cybertrons future - especially if it has no direct 'evil' leader.

That said, the Fort Max thing worked out rather quick and convinient didnt it. The rest of the 2 issues though is pretty good and I liked that the fall out frm sentinal was more than a few 'cons being shot (granted, I may be complaining when that point is dropped in the upcoming storylines)
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Post by Selkadoom »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Having checked out both issue 57s, I think IDW ended both comics in a decent way. Theres some nice set-up and explanation for some stuff and I really like then impending doom of a Titan fleet arriving at some point in cybertrons future - especially if it has no direct 'evil' leader.
Ya know I could only think of the ending of Mass Effect 2 there, a giant fleet of world killing robots slowly making their way to life.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I've now read the two Ex-RID issues as well.

Jesus ****ing Christ, Jazz telling a bunch of characters who should already know it "That's Blitzwing, he's a tripple changer!" is the single worst line of exposition dialogue in a TF comic ever. It makes some of the stuff Budiansky was required to do seem naturalistic.

It's like Barber saw Warcry's complaint about MTMTE 55 not recapping things enough and thought "Ho ho ho, I'll show him".
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Selkadoom
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Post by Selkadoom »

The more I look at the last few issues of both series, the more I see a strange amount of similarities between the plot and the Mass Effect games.

A massive fleet of intelligent giant robots coming to scourge a planet of life

Said menace being an ancient race that have had massive impacts on the galaxy before.

One of the people involved in awakening these beasts being named Sovereign.

Just a strange coincidence? Lazy writing? Something else?
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koriand'r
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Post by koriand'r »

Knightdramon wrote: Dying of the Light was 85% Megatron and perhaps 15% devoted to others, with prominence to Dominus Ambus. Drift and Rodimus made up within one page. Nautica had her moment in a couple of pages. Skid's story was resolve in a very rushed and almost non-event way.
i'm still salty about this. drift's and rodimus rift had a lot of juice backing it up, with how it would affect the command structure, rodimus resentment towards himself because he let drift take the fall and also ratchet's conflict with rodimus giving brainstorm 'a slap on the wrist' for almost murdering his co-captain versus drift's exhile.

also the throwback to rodimus ability to burst into flames not being explained is really grinding my gears. can he only use it under some conditions, like when he's powered up? then what about the dinobot issue? did have to do with emotional trauma? or is he simply and outlier?

the comic is slowly becoming megatron centered and while that's fine for an arc, you've got such a rich cast with so many diverse characters and untouched issues, and instead he keeps grinding megatron's worth through issues and issues...

just like the non 'epic' reveal of tarn's identity, skids followed a similar fate, his identity, his forgotten past was a mistery deeply ingrained with more than meets the eye plot since the first issues, and to be brushed of aside like this, so skids can die a cheap death to power the crew up - after megatron finally decided he gave a s*it about organic beings and decided to give a huge ol' speach - is just bad writing in my opinion.

also dominus identity was pretty much brushed aside in favor of who? bingo it's the mister Bucket Head.

also what about developing drift's image of the djd? he's spent most of his time scared of them, even asked ratchet early in the comics to kill him because he couldn't face them. what about some consequence's in his possible hesitation in fighting them?

g.d i'm so angry robert's wasted so many opportunities, i mean i did enjoy this last issues as i love some gay robot drama and drift's reappearence, etc.. but this writing just makes it hard to enjoy it.

robert's focusing too much on him and wasting plot reveals.
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inflatable dalek
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More Than Meets the Eye Revolution.

Post by inflatable dalek »

Out now (well, a few days ago, but I've had computer troubles) and Spoilers ho!















I think that was the most unashamedly funny TF comic since the glorious Spotlight Ramjet.

Like that, the rule of funny is first and foremost here, unlike in even the most light-hearted fare the two authors have done the internal logic isn't as tight as usual (unless I missed something there's not even a token explanation as to why only one admin guy from all of American's armed forces and special units in interested in the robot dinosaur. Nor why that kid at the start is excited to be taking pictures rather than running screaming from one of the monsters that decimated America), but as long as you role with the conceits this is just brilliantly daft.

I think my favourite joke in the whole thing was the burying of MP3. Not just an initial funny joke but it was then built upon brilliantly.

Of course, the danger of doing an issue of a big comic crossover that sends up the conceits of big comic crossovers is that IDW had published a lot of issues in Revolution and asked for a lot of money for it. Ending with "Ahhhhhh, bit silly isn't it?" could have resulted in a mass punching of the nearest walls from readers.

I think it actually managed to walk the line though (albeit from the perspective of someone who didn't give a hoot about Revolution, YMMV) thanks to two things:

First, despite the title byline it has nothing to do with the rest of the crossover as far as I can tell. Indeed, this may be the most accessible to new readers comic of the year as all you really need to know is how crossovers work to follow the gags and it's all very self contained despite working from the prior established Scavenger relationships.

This creates a sense of distance from the main event, it's not specifically taking the mickey out of the story you've spent X amount reading, it's a more general comedy at the style. Plus it means anyone who has been following and loving Revolution proper still has that story intact and untainted (though I suppose anyone who hates MTMTE and bought this on the assumption it would be relevant to the rest will be annoyed).

The second key thing is that the Crossover ultimately has a positive effect on the characters. Yes, like all crossovers it doesn't really drastically change anything (well, except for Crankcase I suppose. But then, this was the first time we've learnt of his Thunderwing issues, so it basically creates a new long standing problem for him to resolve. Even Grimlock is more continuing his arc along the curve he was already on) for the regulars, but it does end positively for them and makes a difference in the lives of the two guest stars.

Which is then comedically undone in MP3's case, but he still got to achieve saving the day, even if his resignation went all wrong.

That's clever in that it makes the book more of an affectionate parody than a sneering one.

And there's just so much good stuff here! Considering the hallmark of Barber's era as editor has been the use of old continuity everyone had very nearly forgotten--sometimes well, sometimes "Didn't we kill Nova Prime twice already?"--it was incredibly brilliant to just about (give or take) end that time with Thunderwing randomly turning up. And for the twist to be it's not really old baggage but something new and fun.

Both authors, as should be expected, worked well together as well. I honestly couldn't see the join (I suspect the look at Joe bureaucracy was Roberts, mainly because despite often comparing his stories to RTD or The Moff he has more than a bit of Robert Holmes in him when it comes to Who writer comparisons) and clearly just revelling in the fun of it. If one word could sum up the whole thing it would probably be "Joyous".

Even the slightly tortuous dialogue to get the snooker gag to work was brilliant.

And as for the art...

Well as anyone who follows Alex Milne on twitter will know, despite the "Alternating arcs" announcement earlier in the year, he himself doesn't seem very confident he'll be working on Lost Light for anything other than covers. I've no idea what's going on there (and who knows, maybe nothing is going on and it's something perfectly sensible that just looks very odd from the outside without all facts), but if this his last bow it's a really good one. He knows exactly the sort of story he's working on and adjusts his usual style to match, just that little bit bigger and brasher and louder than normal. Smashing stuff.

So yeah, really liked that. Who wants to bet James and Nick got all their snooker knowledge from Big Break?
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
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You were lampooning me, it was nothing but a simple lampoon!

Post by Auntie Slag »

I love that Transformers have their own chat-rooms with amusing screen names and avatars.

The title of this story is: 'Nothing will ever be the same again'. That alone is a glorious two-fingers up to all this conceited crossover crap, and every other time a title is forced to shake things up.
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Post by Death's Head »

I must thank James for the mental image of Grimlock "curling off" a mess. Put me right off me profiteroles!
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