Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Would have worked much better as a bombshell plot. Would have felt fresher too.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

That would have been fun! When was the last time one of the second-string Decepticons even got a chance to be the villain of an arc? The Combaticons and particularly Swindle had a nice go of it in Costa's run, but other than that IDW and Dreamwave before them have mostly stuck with already-entrenched bad guys (Megatron, Galvatron, Shockwave, Scorponok, Thunderwing, Bludgeon, Ratbat, Jhiaxus) when they weren't consciously introducing someone as a "bigger bad" like Nova Prime, Overlord or the Fallen.

It'd be awesome to see a random Insecticon or Terrorcon or someone step up to be the main antagonist for an arc or two. :)
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Definitely. Also would be good to see a threat that isnt all about being more powerful. We "kinda" got that with Tyrest but he still had a huge army of robots and gadgets backing him up. Would be nice to see more cerebral enemies.
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Post by Rack 'n Ruin »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Definitely. Also would be good to see a threat that isnt all about being more powerful. We "kinda" got that with Tyrest but he still had a huge army of robots and gadgets backing him up. Would be nice to see more cerebral enemies.
The trouble is cerebral enemies require cerebral writing. Roberts can handle it, but can any other TF writer? I'm not sure. Hence the same old tropes being trotted out time after time.

I'd certainly be up for more variety in bad guys and bad guys' plots. The Scavengers may deliver on that front with any luck.
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Post by Vagabond Elf »

The origins of the Season vs. Series terminology has to do with how TV shows were funded in the US vs. the UK.

In the US, someone decides to make a TV show. They form a company, hire people, write episodes, film a pilot, convince someone to buy the show based on the pilot and the script, make a dozen episodes, and it goes on air. If it does well, they get paid to make another 10 episodes to finish out the season. If it still does well, they get hired to make a second season, and so on. All this time, the show is being produced by a single company, with direct continuity of people's involvement, and further episodes are essentially an extension of the existing contract.

In the UK, when the show is produced, the contract specifies exactly how many episodes there will be. When it's done, it's done. If the show did well, the network may buy more episodes - but that will be a new contract, often with a new production company, again for a set number of episodes. There are a few exceptions that occur in a more US style, but for the most part, when you see a "Second Series" in the UK - what would be "Season Two" in the US - it is functionally an entirely new show, even if it happens to involve the same actors, writers, directors and characters. Thus, it is referred to as a new Series, rather than as a follow-on Season of the existing series.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

So it's tomorrow, right?

Bigger than Wills and Kate.

Larger than Dalek's ass on your face via Skyquake's enormo-plas screen.

Tenderer than a well done James Blunt.

Beefier than six bags of beef Monster Munch in succession.

Bring it on James, you sexy bitch!
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Auntie Slag wrote: Larger than Dalek's ass on your face via Skyquake's enormo-plas screen.

What I like about this is, we know James Roberts looks at the feedback threads, but I suspect probably doesn't visit the rest of the site, meaning that, out of context, this is going to look really strange and perverted to him and make him wonder what sort of depraved people are reading his comics.

Of course, in context, it's as sweet and innocent as a nun playing with a kitten and anyone who says otherwise is a liar.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

We are all perverted, its normal. It’s the cloak of social norms that's abnormal.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Auntie Slag wrote:So it's tomorrow, right?
I thought I read somewhere that RID was tomorrow and MTMTE was next week. I could be wrong
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Post by Auntie Slag »

I didn't do two tours in 'Nam just so we could wait another week.
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Post by Terome »

inflatable dalek wrote:What I like about this is, we know James Roberts looks at the feedback threads, but I suspect probably doesn't visit the rest of the site, meaning that, out of context, this is going to look really strange and perverted to him and make him wonder what sort of depraved people are reading his comics.
I am here all the time and that is what it looked like to me.
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Post by Denyer »

inflatable dalek wrote:this is going to look really strange and perverted to him and make him wonder what sort of depraved people are reading his comics.
I'm sure he's been on Tumblr before now.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

James Roberts podcast interview that will be filling my ears at work tonight here:

http://theunderbase.libsyn.com/the-unde ... season-two
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
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Post by Skyquake87 »

oh Podcasts...if only I had the HOURS these fill to listen to them!!!

Hopefully, you'll do a summary at some point, if its not too cheeky to ask Mr Dalek?
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Post by Denyer »

Hate audio for conveying information normally, but there are some creators it's worth listening to -- ta for pointer, hope to have it on in the background later in the week.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

Full preview at Seibertron

Quite impressed by how determined Prime is to stitch up Megatron here.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Skyquake87 wrote:oh Podcasts...if only I had the HOURS these fill to listen to them!!!

Hopefully, you'll do a summary at some point, if its not too cheeky to ask Mr Dalek?
Oh well, if you insist (but I am only scratching the surface here):


Nothing in Dark Cybertron was part of the original plan for the two series, but it was decided upon by Hasbro early enough for them to start working towards it with enough notice (it happening to come after as far forward as they'd planned in detail helped as well).

Brainstorm being mostly dead was indeed deliberately set up in advance by the Spark Eater ignoring him, but was seeding for something intended for season 2, when Dark Cybertron came along Roberts realised it tied in neatly with the whole Dead Universe idea.

Making it a Dead Universe story wasn't something decided upon in the initial meeting with Hasbro, and the ultimate decision was at least partially inspired by Nightbeat being on the list of toys they were given that would have to be included in the series- knowing they'd have to bring him back and considering where he last was meant the Dead Universe would have to be at least briefly visited (Roberts of course had no problem at all with that particular toy tie in, and Nightbeat is indeed on the Lost Light now).

Both Roberts and Barber were very aware of the general fan perception of the Dead Universe and did think hard about whether it was a good idea, but decided there was enough mileage left in it for one last hurrah.

Whatever other authors may do in the future, as far as Barber and Roberts are concerned, Bumblebee is Dead Dead.

They at least briefly considered making it a full on 30th anniversary celebration by making the threat to all Transformers Universes, with our heroes meeting and interacting with the casts of other shows (that would have actually made the Beast/Armada toy promotion more organic IMHO). Oddly the fact Regeneration One was planning to end in pretty much the same way doesn't seem to have been a factor in the idea being dropped. Indeed, though he describes it as "Furmanesque", Roberts seems to have actually forgotten that IDW only just published a comic with the same basic idea as he lays into it a bit when discussing why he's glad they didn't go down that "Indulgent" route.

[One interesting similar moment is him describing the Dille stuff as being in a "Bubble continuity", which feels like two words that perfectly sums up his feeling on how the Acy stuff's portrayal of Pax has conflicted with his own stuff]

His biggest concern with Dark Cybertron was having to bring everyone back home, he considers the whole point of a quest is forward momentum and that this would kill that off. He's very relieved fans don't seem to have taken it that way (mind, personally, I've never felt there was that much burning forward momentum on the quest side of things). Issue 28 originally had a lot more "And now we're back to where we left off!" stuff in the script before he decided it was mostly pointless.

Tailgate was going to die right up until Roberts started writing the issue. There would have been some sort of twist about his character revealed in death that may or may not play a part in the future.

As said, that's all scratching the surface, it is well worth a listen for those of you unlike Skyquake who don't lead such busy go getter lives. The Underbase crew are on fine form with their questioning and Roberts is thoughtful and interesting throughout.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Unicron wrote:I thought I read somewhere that RID was tomorrow and MTMTE was next week. I could be wrong
IDW's own website helpfully doesn't have a straightforward release calendar like proper comics companies do*, but Forbidden Planet have MTMTE down on this week's releases:

https://forbiddenplanet.com/?sort=a-z&t ... =7&size=20

* in the interest of fairness, they do have an "out this week" news story, but still...
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Post by Death's Head »

And...relax.

That was very, very good. So many plots! Every one of them more tantalising than the prospect of whatever it is Shockwave's been up to for the past few months. Sadly, it's back to the month-long wait until the next fix...
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Post by zigzagger »

Some quick-ish notes:

Overall; interest is very much piqued and it's good to be back after (sigh) Dark Cybertron, but damn... that's a whole lot of set up. A lot happened -- annnnd, a lot didn't happen.

While I eat this sort of thing up (seriously, I love it), I can definitely see how this issue might put off some folks. The bulk of the issue mostly consists of... well, set up. Character introductions (and reintroductions), establishing the new status quo -- though how that comes to be has yet to be fully revealed, which I'll admit was a minor quibble I had.

Most of the focus was squarely on Megatron -- which I am soooo all for, even if we've only just scratched the surface -- but there wasn't much in the way of breathing space for anything else, was there? A few members of the... err, previous "season's" cast remain unaccounted for (e.g. Cyclonus, Tailgate), as well. I suspect we haven't seen much of present-time Rodimus due to some upcoming dramatic reveal.

Can't hate it for that, though. I'm just horribly impatient. I want to know now! :(

On the positive end, while it's probably too soon to say this, I think Megatron is in good hands. At. F***ing. Last.

Once again, there's a whole lotta references to Chaos Theory tossed in. More so than usual for an issue of MTMTE ;) We always come back to that one, don't we? Rung, Whril, Rodion, Megatron's manifesto, the trial... it's almost as if Chaos Theory was building up to this very moment.

Wasn't expecting a Whirl/Megatron confrontation to happen so soon, but pleased it finally happened all the same. It didn't disappoint, plus it served to action-up the issue a smidgen. Did feel a teensy bit contrived, considering the nature of the premise (I mean, there's not too many likely scenarios this could happen), but I'm not too fussed. Can't deny it did cross my mind, though.

A few nifty revelations here. Aside from Megatron's opinion of him, Whirl's world must be totally shattered. Proof that there's still life and storytelling potential left in the character. Looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Other stuff:

Oh! Oh! Coffin! Almost everything from the first issue's message from the future has (or is about to) come to pass. Think there's only one warning left to go, right?

Groove! Sweet! I love me some Protectobots. This makes me very happy.

Swerve couldn't resist the Bluestreak looks like Prowl gag, huh? I had this nagging suspicion the joke would make an appearance once it was revealed he'd be on board the Lost Light. And Prowl isn't exactly popular with certain members of the crew (forget everyone else). At any rate, Bluestreak deserves a little time in the spotlight and I'm all for it. Bring it on.

More ramblings and misguessings to come, I'm sure.

---

**Looks back at post**

Hmm. Okay. Nothing "quick-ish" about this post at all :o

Death's Head wrote:And...relax.

That was very, very good. So many plots! Every one of them more tantalising than the prospect of whatever it is Shockwave's been up to for the past few months. Sadly, it's back to the month-long wait until the next fix...
Was that deliberate on IDW's part? It really did feel like they drew out the release for this one. My impression was that folks were clamoring for MTMTE's "return" the most.

Or maybe I feel that way because I couldn't care less about the other two books (haven't bothered to check on the general consensus on Windblade yet -- is it any good?).
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