Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

[Auntie Slag]

Ha ha, oh well. That's probably a good sign for me to give up for the night. I thought I was on to something there.

If nothing else I've still got a hunch Chromedome didn't say "I love you", whilst on the outside of the Slow Cell door. Just because in some relationships one person is more in love than the other.

I don't doubt Chromedome loved Rewind, but I think he was as interested in Rewind's storage skills, whereas Rewind was fully into Chromedome.

[Unicron]

Ha ha, oh well. That's probably a good sign for me to give up for the night. I thought I was on to something there.

If nothing else I've still got a hunch Chromedome didn't say "I love you", whilst on the outside of the Slow Cell door. Just because in some relationships one person is more in love than the other.

I don't doubt Chromedome loved Rewind, but I think he was as interested in Rewind's storage skills, whereas Rewind was fully into Chromedome.

T'was an interesting theory. It's tough for random Cybertronian X to be Ambus due to when he and Rewind returned to the planet. So I'm fairly certain Chromedome is somehow involved in Dominus' disappearance. The question is whether Dominus is dead or just really locked up somewhere and has had his head tampered with.

I think you're on to something with what Chromedome may have said. That's way too perfect of a setup for some kind of misdirection, and it would be just like Roberts.

[Blackjack]

Mmm, I've never thought that Pious and Fortress Maximus could be the same person. Certainly seems possible to be something like that, no?

Chromedome... I was reading issue... six or seven or whatever and he did tell Skids to not ask anything about his missing memories and/or the Empyrean Suite. So, yeah, there's something definitely fishy about it.

Chromedome being Dominus Ambus might work, though, if only to wave away the 'my old name is Tumbler' thing which ended up being unimportant... I heard a podcast about Roberts saying that it's not important, but what if Chromedome was Dominus Ambus before he became Tumbler? Maybe he did a body gloving thing? Shadowplay established you could do that and in the realm where mnemosurgery is in play nothing anyone really says can be taken at face value.

Chromedome being responsible or partially responsible for Megatron being afraid of needles makes sense. Chromedome, mind you, had no reservations about playing around in Megatron's head despite refusing to do so after Rewind's death during Dark Cybertron. Chromedome accidentally rewriting Megatron into the stupid thug we saw throughout most of the pre-Roberts material would make sense, and maybe it was the events of... Chaos? RID? Whichever it is that started playing him in a more positive light the original Megatron's mind restored itself.

And maybe Chromedome wanted to kill himself because he was responsible for Megatron, who might be responsible for the death of one of Chromedome's conjunx? We know at least one of his old loves was warborn and a friend of Hoist's and so most likely the war was responsible for the death of one.

Or the colder, more Prowl-y take on Chromedome being around Rewind to protect his information would work... except he really truly grieved during 'Gloaming' and Brainstorm knew Chromedome from the past so that puts him being Dominus on the hunt for Rewind kind of in a bad timeline or something.

Wasn't Black Shadow's crime stated by the DJD? Selling a bunch of warworlds or something?

Scorponok being behind the ship makes perfect sense considering the organic stuff and the association with Grimlock. Scorpy was conspicuously absent from LSOTW, and probably buggered off because he was hunted down by the DJD as well? IIRC Scorponok was a rogue Decepticon the first time we saw him in Spotlight Ultra Magnus.

Though mostly I just don't want another Shockwave story after the last twelve-issue one ended up being so disappointing.

Chromedome could be shouting "OPEN! OPEN DAMN IT OPEN!" I mean, it's a possibility.

A lot of these speculation would lead to extremely interesting stories, though.

[Auntie Slag]

Chromedome & Rewind:

[Rack 'n Ruin]

So, my (random) MTMTE thoughts...

Are Minimus Ambus and Dominus Ambus confirmed as beling related? If so, I wonder if Dominus is a load bearer like Minimus is. If so, he could be inside nearly any largish Transformer, totally hidden from sight. Even his moustache, a dead giveaway for the House of Ambus, could be compeltely obscured behind, for example, a large Decepticon insignia facemask... Yep, I'm now wondering if Tarn is Dominus post some Chromedome-mind-warping-gone-bad. Could explain the Empyrean Suite link between him and Magnus people have mentioned. Maybe the music could be heard at The Institute while the mind fiddling was taking place, and maybe Skids was present also (hence he has the music swirling through his mind). I'm guessing his amnesia is also Chromedome induced. Things could get dark with this...

Also (and this occurred to me a while back, so apologies if I've already rambled on about it), what if the mysterious warning message from way back (Don't let them take Skids!) is not actually from someone in the Lost Light's crew, and the "them" is referring to Rodimus and co. picking Skids up in issue 2ish. If the message isn't from a Lost Light-er, it would open up some interesting questions. Who is it from? Who were they trying to contact? Prowl, maybe? What is the intention behind the whole message - fair or foul? Innaressin', innaressin'...

[Auntie Slag]

Dominus as Tarn.... daaaaaaaamn [/Top Spin]

I could imagine if Rewind has survived and later Overlord and Tarn have the most almighty fight, it could be the sudden appearance of Rewind that would kick off all manner of flashbacks in Tarn, letting Overlord get the upper hand at the crucial moment, crushing him and setting the path for the final confrontation with Megatron.

The Wiki says that Dominus and Minimus are indeed spark brothers.

[Unicron]

It's almost a certainty that Tarn is someone else, given the mask face and Dominus is as a good a guess as any. Especially since we know next to nothing about Tarn, how long he's been active, etc. Nothing there to shoot any idea down.

Speaking of spark brothers, we still don't really know what the term means. My assumption is it's 2 or more sparks that flared to life and were harvested in close proximity to each other, and thus have some sort of connection or similarities.
(Admittedly this lack of certainty could throw a small wrench into my Pious/Fortress reasoning, but I'm sticking with it until we know otherwise.)

[inflatable dalek]

Whatever dark secrets are in Chromedome's past (and I certainly don't think we've learnt what it was that he wiped from Prowl's mind) I really can't see it being the case he's ever done anything manipulative or sinister to Rewind.

After all, it's not just the first successful IDW Transformers love story, it's the first IDW Transformers love story full stop. Having done something I think we would all have been cynical of three years ago and pulling it off brilliantly, I can't see Roberts suddenly turning into such a poor writer as to make the whole thing based on lies just for the shake of a cheap shock. Especially as it is, to all intents and purposes, a gay relationship, something that doesn't always get great treatment in popular entertainment.

Plus, Chromedome asked Minimus about his name in Remain in Light, suggesting he thought he might be Dominus and has no more idea what happened to the moustached one than the rest of us.

[Auntie Slag]

It seems to me that Chromedome loved Rewind, no matter what sinister agenda he may have had going on. I don’t think of it as a gay relationship, its just a relationship. Femmebots are still an incredibly unusual thing in the MTMTE/RID continuity, yes? As in they’re the products of CNA experiments by Jhiaxus. If that’s the case and Transformers are only either forged or cold constructed then there’s no need for any sexualisation when describing a TF relationship.

Chromedome asking Minimus his house name is an easy bluff, that happens in films all the time when the hero is in disguise.

It wouldn’t feel like cheap writing to me if an underlying shock were waiting in the wings beneath Chromedome & Rewind’s relationship. We know Chromedome is a dodgy little so and so who partakes in nasty things despite his better nature.

Its Rewind who was trying to keep him on the straight and narrow, possibly to avoid Chromedome ever considering another suicide attempt following too many sordid doings.

[EDIT] Just read in the Wiki that:

Nautica was born on a distant world colonized by the Metrotitan known as Caminus. The Titan carried within him an active hot spot upon leaving Cybertron, allowing new Cybertronians to be born from the colony. Nautica was one of several Cybertronians born from that hot spot who evolved in such a way that they were considered "female".

So there are natural females born in this TF universe, but they've never featured until Dark Cybertron, and I guess we don't know yet what difference it makes for a Transformer to be considered female?

[Unicron]

It's also an almost certainty that Domey has tinkered with Rewind's head at least once. The UV light allergy, which is kind of ridiculous and would be one hell of a coincidence. UV light is basically everywhere, it'd be like being allergic to oxygen. Plus at least one instance of Rewind not being able to remember where Chromedome was and what he was up to.

Sure, it could be one hell of a bit of misdirection, but I doubt it.

[inflatable dalek]

It seems to me that Chromedome loved Rewind, no matter what sinister agenda he may have had going on. I don’t think of it as a gay relationship, its just a relationship. Femmebots are still an incredibly unusual thing in the MTMTE/RID continuity, yes? As in they’re the products of CNA experiments by Jhiaxus. If that’s the case and Transformers are only either forged or cold constructed then there’s no need for any sexualisation when describing a TF relationship.

It's not litterally a gay relationship of course, but it's certainly analogous to one, and not with a huge amount of subtlety (and at AA 2013 when he was asked if Hasbro has any resistance to the idea Roberts didn't refute the phrasing of the question that called it a gay relationship either). You could certainly call it an asexual relationship (which is even rarer in fiction come to think of it) if you want to be completely literal, but either way it's a deeply loving relationship complete with marriage.

And if Chromedome has been doing things to either Rewind, either physically or via having done something to his ex-partner, that turns it from a loving relationship into a deeply hideous abusive one.

There are people who are uncomfortable with how the Cyclonus/Tailgate thing is going considering it basically started with Cyclonus beating up Tailgate (though I quite like the idea suggested by someone here of it being a parental relationship rather than a partners one, with MTMTE being all about friendship in all it's various forms a father/son* dynamic would be an extra dimension for it to explore), the already fully established old married couple turning out to be all about the one manipulating the other in every way really wouldn't be a good direction to go on.

It's a relationship that worked beautifully, it doesn't need twists, I'm still somewhat nervous about how the likely return of Rewind at some point will affect things.




*Though based on what Roberts and Milne said at AA, that'd be more of a Mother/son relationship. Cyclonus' holo-avatar is a rather stern school marm apparently...

[Unicron]

Yeah, Chromedome being up to no good with Rewind would put an unfortunate spin on the relationship, but I'm certain there's some kind of weirdness with them we're not privy to yet. Hell, for all we know Rewind is Chromedome's handler, assigned to him to keep him on the straight and narrow and non-suicidal.

*Though based on what Roberts and Milne said at AA, that'd be more of a Mother/son relationship. Cyclonus' holo-avatar is a rather stern school marm apparently...

As funky as that sounds, I kind of hope they're joking about it. I was hoping Cyclonus' avatar would be a Russian dude, complete with fur hat. (Whenever I read the bit with Cyclonus singing for Tailgate that Drift bursts in on, I always read it with Cyc having a Russian accent there)

[Unicron]

Double-posty goodness

So there are natural females born in this TF universe, but they've never featured until Dark Cybertron, and I guess we don't know yet what difference it makes for a Transformer to be considered female?

Well, up until Dark Cybertron, we never really were exposed to non-Cybertron born Transformers (same with the cast we'd been following up till that point). As for what makes them female, I think one of the bits of info in the last issue lists Nautica as having an Estriol-Positive spark, which probably is connected to the femaleness.

[zigzagger]

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #32 three-page preview by way of iTunes.

[Blackjack]

Nothing overtly spectacular, but it's just three pages.

Future Lost Light! Anyone betting that we're having a Target 2006 style time travel displacement thing going on? Except why only the original crew was displaced...

[zigzagger]

Nothing overtly spectacular, but it's just three pages.

Yeah, I read... somewhere (?) that Roberts structures the scripts for each issue in such a way so that little can be spoiled in the previews. Just enough to whet the appetite.

Think that's a recent thing, though. I recall the previews for issues #5 and #15 being especially spoilerific.

Future Lost Light! Anyone betting that we're having a Target 2006 style time travel displacement thing going on?

Mmm, I'm leaning toward the quantum duplicate theory myself.

And quite possibly...

SPOILER! (select to read)

that a certain phase-sixer is causing trouble among the wreckage.

[Blackjack]

Yeah, I read... somewhere (?) that Roberts structures the scripts for each issue in such a way so that little can be spoiled in the previews. Just enough to whet the appetite.

Ah, that would be excellent! Though both the RID and MTMTE previews this time around are not that spoilerific but indeed do, as you say, whet the appetite.

SPOILER! (select to read)

that a certain phase-sixer is causing trouble among the wreckage.

SPOILER! (select to read)

Sixshot!

Oh, Overlord you say? Man... I mean, I like Overlord and all, but I want to see Sixshot back.

[Terome]

We are heading for the Rob Grant solo era of Red Dwarf references...

[Unicron]

Yeah, my money is on the quantum duplicate thing still. If it was just a just a Target 2006 time displacement thing, then why did only the original ship and crew vanish? And why did they only vanish in this short time frame when that wreck looks like it's been there a while.

I'd bet the 'from the future' stuff is a result of this wrecked Lost Light not having been through the temporal shenanigans of Dark Cybertron. All of time or whatever was being pulled in to Cybertron, who knows what that did to the time frame of the rest of the universe that wasn't at Cybertron when it happened.

[Terome]

Mmm, I think the future timeline is a red herring. Something stranger is at work here.

Nice to have Milne back. That is a gorgeous spread.