Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

[Skyquake87]

I'd like to see a few of the old faces too. 'Season 2' (ugh. sorry, I really hate comics trying to ape TV. Its a different medium entirely. If anything, this should be a 'volume two' , but comics don't have this quaint old practice anymore.) might as well be a brand new book as we've effectively had an entirely new cast to contend with. That does mean that the book has unfortunately fallen prey to the 'new toys' problems that plagued the old Marvel book and has too many characters to concentrate on.

I have felt that since Dark Cybertron, the book is effectively starting over and is less of a continuation of what went before.

I suppose its felt a bit more like the recent run of Doctor Who, a bit of a transitional phase following a big jamboree and we're about to knuckle down to something (hopefully) really really good

This is a minor criticism though, as this is still hands down the best comic produced under the Transformers banner.

[Unicron]

One other question: How is Cosmos currently pulling double shifts in MTMTE and (ex) RID? The writers have made sure to know which characters are featuring in which book, seems slightly odd to make a cock-up now?

He's not. His only MTMTE appearances post-Dark Cybertron have been flashbacks, to either the trial on Luna 2 or on the alternate Lost Light.

I temporarily considered him as a real mole candidate, as being space worthy, alt-Cosmos could have skipped out on the ALL and linked up with Prime's group for further evil spying, while normal LL Cosmos has been pulling a Rodimus and been unseen on the lower decks (duplicate Cosmoses, Cosmiii, whatever possibly persisting due to distance between the two even the ALL engines shutdown). Falls apart as I don't think the timing would work out at all, and apparently he shows up in the real flashback to the DJD's assault.
Another one of my random theories that falls apart under scrutiny. Fun though.

[Blackjack]

James Roberts has confirmed that Trailbreaker is indeed dead on multiple podcasts since. No cop outs, or so the man says.

Damn. And I thought the fact that they were vague with whether Kaon squished the brain or not was a deliberate cop-out...



I sad.

[Unicron]

Damn. And I thought the fact that they were vague with whether Kaon squished the brain or not was a deliberate cop-out...

Pretty sure they weren't intending to be vague, just that the artist botched the kriking brain squish.

[zigzagger]

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #35 three-page preview by way of iTunes.

Out Wednesday, November 26!

[Unicron]

Hmmm... definitely some interesting bits here, and a lot of questions raised that will probably be answered over this and the next 37 issues.

Spoiler thingy, just to be safe.

SPOILER! (select to read)

So the Council sold/gave away Luna 2. Does that mean it was simply offlimits to Cybertronians while the BBC (interesting, either there's two groups in the galaxy with those initials, or they changed names for some reason) mines it, scraps it, or whatever they're doing with it, or that Luna 2 was literally taken away from Cybertron? And if the latter, then where the hell did the current Luna 2 come from?

Mass recalls of 'unnecessary' classes? So mass culling of parts of the species, I assume. Man, those Functionists were evil SOBs.

So Minimus does, or at least did, have an alt mode. Why do I have a feeling the next page is going to be him getting hassled or locked up by that Functionary.

EDIT: I totally missed them on the first look but holy hell is there a lot of Unicron Trilogy cameos, or themed generics, on that third page.

SPOILER! (select to read)

There was something bugging me about that first page, like something was missing, and it was pointed out elsewhere: There's no 'couple of million years ago' yellow text indicating this is a flashback. So with that and the hugely major events that would be the loss of Luna 2 and deportation of knock-offs going unmentioned previously, a theory has emerged that this is actually present day Cybertron after Brainstorm screwed something up in the past.
Seems quite likely, especially with Minimus having not seen Dominus for 2 million years. If this were really a flashback, then it would have to be a good ways pre-war, since Dom and Rewind were off planet at the start, which would mean the Ambuses were contemporaries of Cyclonus, Nova Prime, and all of them, which I don't think has been established before. So yeah, I'm thinking alternate present due to Brainstorm killing a cyberbutterfly by accident. Or Megatron. One of the two.

[Terome]

SPOILER! (select to read)

You might be on to something there, Unicron. To my knowledge, the Black Block Consortia is a modern-day thing, the Primal Vanguard was never dissolved and I don't think even the Functionists were quite this evil. Luna 2 was being mined for sparks last we knew and had some kind of ancient cultural significance with intact courtrooms for Megatron's trial... something's up. Way up.

On the UT cameos, I spotted Energon Ironhide. Who am I missing?

[Terome]

SPOILER! (select to read)

Also, what, unseated the Senate? Deported the knock-offs? When did that happen?

Man, looks like the ethics lesson is continuing. Megatron thought that someone else would be the Decepticon figurehead but it might turn out that only he could be the one fit for the job and only a horrible planet-destroying war could make Cybertronians act somewhat civil to each other. Bummer.

[Rack 'n Ruin]

I am looking forward to this very much.

[Unicron]

I can't take credit for the theory, someone else came up with it. It just makes a lot of sense and explains some stuff that I noticed.

On the UT cameos, I spotted Energon Ironhide. Who am I missing?

Arm Cyclonus, Demolisher and Blurr, Energon Ironhide, Snow Cat, Ultra Magnus, Cyb Jetfire. Also saw people mention seeing I think Crumplezone, Energon Cliffjumper/Beachcomber, and some others.

Oh, and there's a certain two medics on that landing near the top of the stairs in the first panel of page 3.

[zigzagger]

Gah! I know I should know better than to trust the solicits, but it -- and the preview pages -- sure do match up with the aforementioned 'Stormy theory. Seems that way....

So what I'm saying is, I fully expect to be proven completely wrong by the time the full issue hits.

[Auntie Slag]

James Roberts has confirmed that Trailbreaker is indeed dead on multiple podcasts since. No cop outs, or so the man says.

And that's a perfectly valid statement. But it doesn't stop Trailbreaker being saved by a time jumping Brainstorm does it? I mean, that's not a cop out... technically Trailbreaker is very actually dead and Ratchet or First Aid can't repair him, but time jumping may require Brainstorm (or somebody) to go back and rescue a guy with such an important forcefield resource to the crew. It may even be that Trailbreaker has even been saved in such a way before?

And that would be very cool following his FIM chip personality slap by Megatron, which turned him into the very definition of a heroic Autobot, rather than a pissed up one-trick pony (although even during his drunk days he showed some very cool handling in his spotlight against Lockdown and Co. thanks to Whirl's confidence boosting words).

... Or he's a dead parrot. I really don't mind either way as he's a fairly minor character. Perhaps it was a smart move, as his skills may have proven too game changing for the story following his enforced sobriety, and then we'd be witness to legions of fans complaining in future stories; "Well why don't they just use Trailbreaker/Cutter to forcefield bounce the enormous re-animated slavering corpse of conjoined Tyrest/Pharma, I mean god, he's got this super power that no-one else has...

Trailbreaker (in this continuity) has saved Kup, he's saved the entire Lost Light crew and (sadly) he saved Vos. That's more than most Transformers have ever been shown to do, apart from Prime. So he gets to have a good name and be well remembered.

[zigzagger]

Full preview's up @ Tformers.

Already can tell this one's going to be dense, which is good. So Elegant Chaos has been extended to a four-parter now? Thought it was supposed to start in issue #36.

Very exposition-y, these two additional pages. Good thing Minimus has been out of town so he can ask some of the same questions we have

Nutty stuff happening here, though. Looking forward to the full issue.

Also...

SPOILER! (select to read)

Unicron called it.

Was that worth spoiler-tagging it? Eh, probably not.

[Red Dave Prime]

Spoiler tagging is click bait tome. Spoiler your whole post and I am guaranteed to read it - twice!

[Unicron]

Was that worth spoiler-tagging it? Eh, probably not.

Probably not, but that particular info isn't anything anyone really needs to know.

Poor, poor Energon Jetfire. Dude can't catch a break.

[inflatable dalek]

SPOILERS




















As part one of a story there's a lot of set up and exposition here (especially in the "Real" timeline scenes), so this is something that'll probably read a bit better when done all in one go with the following issues.

But dang, there's some good ideas here. A villain trying to change history and making things worse even for them isn't entirely unprecedented (amongst other things it was the basic idea of Back to the Future 2 before the scene of Old Biff being erased from history because Lorraine had shot him during the '90's was cut), but it would still have been far more standard to show Brainstorm's effect simply to be having the Decepticon's win, this is far more interesting.

And hey, there's an actual plot reason for Rewind to be back as his database is going to be the litmus test for whether things are fixed or not!

I'd say Brainstorm is pretty much unambiguously evil isn't he at this stage?

The fate of Dominus was just nasty, and the eye cameras were a really neat piece of proper science fiction (for a while now I've thought there'd be something in that with the way electrical devices are shrinking all the time).

Ironically, as much as the new future is probably worse for all the Transformers, it probably means the rest of the galaxy is a lot better off doesn't it?

I will bet you know Megatron will be the leader of the resistance in the new present (or, if Roberts is being really tricksy, Orion Pax will be and Brainstorm has actually gone back to kill Megatron having decided all their defeats are actually their leader's fault and he's going to take charge using his future knowledge to try and change things).

[Red Dave Prime]

Just finished it.

Oh My. So many ideas buzzing around my head with this. A very good read and hints at what could be a really definitive transformer story. The last few pages with Rewind and the house of Ambus boys was chilling in how much it echoed fears about modern tech and how we willingly let it invade our lives (compulsory "upgrade").

[Denyer]

The JLI influence is becoming more apparent... short, punchy high-concept character driven stuff. Except it's awesomeness that hasn't dated.

[Terome]

Flawless stuff. Genuinely scary alternate present and great scenes on the Lost Light. I particularly liked the 'last place I expected to find you' scene and the 'grotty fan club' line. Nice bit of unfashionable cartooning with the labels on the Functionist Council table. It's not just Scioli who can get diagrammatical when the situation calls for it.

And among all that is the wrenching but understated bit about Rewind not quite reintegrating with Chromedome and an offer of therapeutic mnemosurgery.

I'm subscribing to Dalek's theory that Megatron was/is Brainstorm's true target on the grounds that it is far more interesting.

It was early on when things were still solidifying, but it strikes me that Rewind in the first issue of MTMTE had a sort of nostalgic, almost warm view of Functionism - he kept his useless alt mode and repeated one of their slogans in a cheerful way. I'd like it if that was intentional - the way people in Russia have fond memories of Stalin and such.

Speaking of which, wasn't 'The Guided Hand' a phrase that Rewind read off the Matrix that only Optimus and Cyclonus knew anything about? Seems like the Functionists had the inside track, or got hold of the Matrix, or that it's more useful and interesting to have a widely shared cultural background rather than a secret history.

[zigzagger]

Okay. I REALLY want to know what Brainstorm's motivation is, as this alternate new future is pretty freakin' nasty.

Shows how little we know about him. Assuming this is the future he had intended... maybe it isn't. Maybe this is an unintended consequence.

Also on board with Dalek on this one; Megatron seems to be a more likely target (I personally haven't bought into the Stormy being a Decepticon double-agent thing yet). Once more, I'm reminded of Optimus and Megatron's chat in Chaos Theory; without Megatron's uprising, there'd be no Optimus Prime, and thus no Autobots. At least, not as we know them. No Megatron also means there's no one to challenge the (then) status quo. The Functionalists (et al) are left more or less unfettered to evolve into, well, what we see here.

That's how I'm rationalizing it. Makes more sense to me than targeting Orion Pax, at any rate.

**sigh**

Whatever. I'm probably wrong.

Good showing from Rodimus. The focus these last seven issues has been skewed towards Megatron, and while that's not much of a criticism, it's still nice to see more of the old faces again. I guess it's the wait between issues that makes it seem like it's been forever since we've last seen the likes of Rodimus or Magnus.

Speaking of which, I'm starting to like the slightly-more-cynical Ultra Magnus. There's a glimmer of a personality trying to shine through. It looks like he's finally come to terms with life aboard the Lost Light and all that entails.

"Caught in another time paradox, you say? Huh. Must be a Wednesday."


At first I was just as confused as Rodimus and the others were, trying to work out the mechanics of Brainstorn's time machine with the multiple briefcases and... and the colorful technobabblery. Think I'll chalk it up as "magic", too.

Eh, I'm kind of a dunce already, especially when it comes to this sort of thing, so it all sounds plausible to me.

But in all seriousness, the real headscratcher, for me anyway, was how Perceptor came to the conclusion that Brainstorm time jumped. Did I skim past that part?

And among all that is the wrenching but understated bit about Rewind not quite reintegrating with Chromedome and an offer of therapeutic mnemosurgery.

Chromedome hasn't quite given me a reason to doubt his intentions -- or his feelings for Rewind -- but was I the only one that was worried that he might be considering doing more than just erasing ALL Rewind's memories of the DJD?