Lost Light discussion

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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Ouch! If true that really sucks. MTMTE has been a great constant over the last half-dozen years, its monthly turnaround makes it feel half that!

I'm glad James has been the writer all this time, and no IDW muppet has come in and messed with his stories... you know, other than the stupid crossovers and the 'NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN' grandstanding issues that return a status quo.

So Lost Light and the IDW-verse will end shortly after the Bumblebee movie. Wonder if Transformers will go into a hibernation after this?
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Auntie Slag wrote:Ouch! If true that really sucks. MTMTE has been a great constant over the last half-dozen years, its monthly turnaround makes it feel half that!

I'm glad James has been the writer all this time, and no IDW muppet has come in and messed with his stories... you know, other than the stupid crossovers and the 'NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN' grandstanding issues that return a status quo.

So Lost Light and the IDW-verse will end shortly after the Bumblebee movie. Wonder if Transformers will go into a hibernation after this?
I certainly will. The series has done well overall and has covered a lot of ground but a more fresh take should be done. I know that runs the risk of maybe not being as successful but I dont think they can rejig G1 again unless it's a massively different tone.

And yeah, it's great that roberts ran the whole run on MTMTE/LL. As an idea dalek, a book interview reviewing the series with insights as to what was planned / cut/ changed etc. could be your book project after volume 3 is done. I still have that script you sent me for issue 6 and its a wonderful read to see how things changed.
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Yeah, very much enjoyed this. It's a pretty dense issue but I didnt feel it was too packed. It flew by on first read and had some great stuff in it. I'm not sure I fully get why things ended up the way they did
SPOILER! (select to read)
Basically once they realise they cant take the child through,
why do they still go to Gaurrus 9? And if grimlock was staying to fight shouldnt they all have stayed to fight?
Still, if Lost Light is in for its last year, it seems to have recovered much of its mojo and is heading towards a great finally.

Also:
SPOILER! (select to read)
Given that we know unicron is being done by the IDW continuity,
is the last page linked to that or just a massive red herring? I initially thought it just the herring and more of a joke by Roberts but reading the LL 14 thread maybe it is the big horny one
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I'm a little bit behind the rest of you (does Lost Light have a tiny print run? I'm really struggling to get physical copies and am considering switching to the trades or - horror of horrors - digital versions...), but finally got to read this. A really great issue. I like little interlude type stories like this, where it's all neat little character moments that build to something.

I loved all the goofing about between Swerve and Anode, Chromedome and Rewind sneaking inside Roller (that sounds weirder than it should...) and the exchange between Cyclonus and Magnus - which perhaps explains why we've never seen Minimus say anything about Agent 113. I wonder what's going on with Ratchet. It looked like he was having problems with his er, donated, hands and then suddenly he's gone all 'sleep mode' and fading away. The growing claustophobia was well done and Milne was on fine form.

...on a side note, why are IDW doing an adaption of Rogue One a year after the film has been out..?
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Red Dave Prime
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Lost Light #16 - Straight to Spoiling

Post by Red Dave Prime »

Hello Folks,

This is out again which is fantastic - feels like Lost Light is almost on a bi-weekly schedule. Certainly helps keep the interest flowing.

So it's kinda hard to discuss this issue without going straight into spoilers so if thats a think stop reading in...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1..

And Go!

So everyone died at the end of issue 13 it seems. We are back with the main crew (Team Rodimus) and we find out what happened inbetween the end of that issue when Ten spoke and Ratchet was dying and to now where everyone is walking up on slabs and seeing a giant matrix.

This is the afterlife.

And it's odd because there's much here that makes it seem like the afterlife and much that has you waiting for the twist reveal. Given we had a planet devoted to swerve, anything really is possible. But many of the characters seem convinced. Even Ratchet, who is still in the no camp, is not 100% sure it's a trick. And so this issue plays off the character interactions. There's no action. And it's great fun.

We get to see returning dead characters such as Tailcutter and Pipes and the issue would also confirm that Tailgate did in fact die (but of course, it might not be him) Lots of little things point to this being legit (the dead people who show up, the way several different bots see things they expected - specifically Swerve, Drift and Cyclonus) and some little things that dont quite gel (Pipes calling Nautica Lotty - he never met her so how does he know the nickname for her) . Whats nice is that at this point either truth will work and either truth is interesting.

We also briefly met the guiding hand at the end of the issue - which again seems odd because the story cyclonus told was that Mortilus died and the rest were split apart - and yet here they all stand as big as Titans.

I found this a real enjoyable issue despite not liking the initial premise. It flows really well with nice individual scenes throughout and some good breadcrumbs being dropped - red herrings or otherwise. The art is lovely. Ok, there's not a lot for Jack to do from an action scene or background point of view but in an issue focusing in on peoples response to the afterlife he really does great expression work.

Lost Light continues its good run but where do we go from here? I wonder will the reveal be better as a scam or as it actually being the afterlife (technically its Limbo) A scam would seem a let down but if it's all real and we do have cybertron gods (not just primes) than it really spins things on their head.

Now for the inevitable release slow down and we have to wait 7 weeks for the next issue...
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Post by inflatable dalek »

As with issue 13 I'm assuming a reality bubble type trap (I wouldn't be surprised also if Getaway and company are also caught in it and will appear next issue and be forced to team up), but it's all very well executed and moving with everything just clicking together perfectly to create something very nice.

Alternate theory: With the reboot coming, the twist is James has actually genuinely killed everyone. It's not as if that's stopping them having adventures.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

After a decent entry last month, didn't enjoy this. Either it turns out to be a fairly predictable fake-out and wheel spinning or it's "real" and shark-jumping. Not keen on the flashback narration approach either. Bit sad to be calling it like this, but Lost Light hasn't really done much for me to ever justify shelf space in printed form. Will see it out in digital and stick with earlier collected volumes, the latter being something I've ended up doing with a lot of series, have never really had the urge to keep whole runs of things like Preacher, Transmet, Hitman, etc. Sandman is a rare exception, and even that's got lulls.

Seems like with a sales slump and Chris Ryall getting out IDW is on its last legs?

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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Is Tyrest & his puppetmaster behind this?

Ten has ascended, but Legislators never had sparks? Also, he's got his proper left arm back and all injuries recovered. Is it more a Limbo dream state like in the Marvel comics?

Where's Wheelarch? and Dominus Ambus? (maybe he'll show up next issue if Rewind and Chromedome feature).

I read a comment over at The Allspark that said all the dead characters appearing in this issue are only those that the living felt guilty about. If so, shouldn't Skids be there? Rodimus painted himself in purple colours as a sign of mourning for Skids (unless I misinterpreted that). And did anyone care about Pipes?

I feel like the Guiding Hand are a fake out. A pretty cool issue, a bit bizarre, but not dripping with intensity.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Auntie Slag wrote:Ten has ascended, but Legislators never had sparks?
It was never said one way or another. Only comment I can recall is members of the Circle of Light being referred to as raw material for more Legislators. No indication if that was smelting forged bots to make better MTOs type of raw material or bots being domesticated raw material. Or some other kind.

The Guiding Hand almost has to be fake. Cyclonus' creation story from the old annual had Mortilus killed and the others turned into Vector Sigma, the Matrix, a brain module, and a transformation cog. Of course, that was a story and could be wrong.
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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Ah ok. There was a comment Tyrest specifically made to someone, it could've been Pharma or Getaway. He was referring to the Legislators being simple rule following programs, which was why they only bark the name of the infringement "1984" etc.

Interestingly, when that one Legislator came for Swerve's bar it was saying a different number offence for Swerve. Skids's rule-break was always 1984, and the entire rest of the crew were something like 2319, but Swerve had his own unique offence, too. I'll look it up to make sure.

[Edit] The TF Wiki refers to them as 'sparkless drones'.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Auntie Slag wrote:[Edit] The TF Wiki refers to them as 'sparkless drones'.
I question where the wiki got that from, as I don't recall it coming up in any of the issues
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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

You're right. I'm just looking at Issue 19 now. Tyrest is explaining to Minimus Ambus (Page 8, panel 3) and says:

The Legislators don't think like we do. They don't really 'think' at all. I built them to act...

I was wrong about Swerve as well. When the Legislators came aboard the Lost Light, they identified everyone as 'Seventeen Twenty-One', with only Skids being a 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.

Also, Swerve mentioned Ten had a 'bruised brain' that he could fix as it was 'easy to hack' (Issue 29, page 10, panel 1). So I guess a brain could suggest more than just a brainless computer following the rules of the law. Does Ten also have a T-cog? He's shown to have a spark in the current issue, so he's almost a Rossum's Trinity.
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Post by Unicron »

Ten probably does have a T-Cog, given that the shuttle Skids first arrived in was 3 Legislators bolted together.

Everything in the various issues leads me to think that the Legislators are Tyrest's prisoners, whose bodies were altered and their higher brain functions bypassed so they could serve as his shock troops and security guards.

I reckon Swerve's hacking of Ten's 'bruised brain' would be akin to a rudimentary and hamfisted form of Spinister's technique to reverse domestication. It's not like Swerve would recognize such a condition nor have the skills to fix it, he just found a Legislator with the right kind of damage that gave him a starting point to make a doorman.
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Auntie Slag
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Lost Light #17

Post by Auntie Slag »

Just picked this up hot off the press. I didn’t expect ANY of that to happen. I don’t want to spoil the crap out of it because its only the first day on sale, so I’ll just say I kinda miss Megatron.

... this isn’t a spoiler because it happened last issue; but a robot has to be happy in order for their spark to be ripped out. Magnus called it ascending. But if there’s bad guys behind this, then they have to make sure their prey are compliant before they kill them? Is Ten really, properly dead for example?
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I read this! And forgot to post here (this thread is only way I find out there's a new issue out!), and now can't remember much about it, except the happiness stuff and that last page. I am intrigued to see where this is going, although it does feel a bit...not what I expected (I don't know what I was expecting) ...a bit like that odd and unsatisfying first episode of Beast Wars Season 3.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

It feels like its wrapping around to events in Last Stand of the Wreckers, are the Lost Lighters inside Aequitas under Ten's direction who may have been carrying out a command from Tyrest or Tyrest's puppermaster (I'm not bright enough to have thought this, I read the theory somewhere else), and will that tie in Shockwave, Overlord, OLL Rewind, Tyrest etc?
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Post by Summerhayes »

I finally caught up with this issue! I was big on collecting the whole run physically, even more so now that the end is in sight. Unfortunately, after I moved to Japan it looked unlikely and I became tempted to move over to digital.

Now, though, I've found a shop in Osaka whose top floor is all transformers. Is it months behind? Yes. Are the prices marked up to double what I'd pay in a UK comic store? Absolutely. Am I going to let that put me off? Hell no! I might go digital to catch up on my reading, but I'm pretty hopeful I can finish my collection physically. Huzzah!

As for the story itself, not much to say as it asked a hell of a lot more than it answered. The finale was pretty damp, though. I know Roberts is no stranger to fake-out death cliffhangers, but when the next issue advert is literally on the next page showing all the Scavengers alive and well it's beyond a joke, y'know?
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Summerhayes! Yay! I hope you are well and enjoying the Japan :)
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Post by Summerhayes »

I am and I am! Thanking you.
I had a scary awakening in the earthquake last week, but me and mine were far away from the real danger.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Slightly disappointed you're not living in a hollowed out volcano.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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