Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

[Terome]

Just had a thought...from what we've seen of him, Tarn really hasn't shown any signs so far of the "transformation addiction" that Pharma said he has. I wonder if it was just a cover to explain away a need to frequently replace transformation cogs because they keep getting turned into Action Masters by the Nucleon?

Those two missing pages were 3 x 3 long shots of him transforming back and forth again while locked in a McDonalds bathroom.

Dalek: Without going all Godwin, it's very Nazi isn't it [insert your own ordered genocidal maniac of choice if you'd prefer]? Those stories about how they could do all those terrible things and then go home and play with the kids and the dog, and how all the paperwork was very carefully filed.

Yeah, and the ghastly detail of drinking innermost energon was the proverbial bellybutton on the lampshade.

Hey, Tesarus turned down the innermost energon! He is Agent 113!

I think Agent 113 is long dead or has gone native, myself.

Warcry: The impression I get is that, yes, Tarn and co. are the be-all and end-all of Decepticon human resources management. If they actually had a proper bureaucracy for that, they probably wouldn't have 80% of their high-ranking officers going rogue at the first possible opportunity (and thus wouldn't need an invincible death squad to hunt them down).

But then they wouldn't be Decepticons.

It's lucky that Megatron's ship is leakier than Prime's because it really does seem that self-destruction is what did the Decepticons in. We have Shockwave disappearing under the weight of his plots back in the Ice Age, Sixshot getting bored, Black Shadow being paid off to score a massive own-goal, Gigatron wandering away, Scorponok going into possibly perverse private enterprise with fleshlings, Overlord kidnapping a whole division of useful troops, Bludgeon going mad with Thunderwing worship, Deathsaurus taking the moral high road (took him long enough) with a significant fraction of living Cybertronians, Banzaitron running his own game and whatever it was that Heretech was up to and you start to really feel for Megatron by the time Infiltration rolls around and his sub Starscream attempts an outright coup. He was not holding it together. And Tarn is squandering his super-nuke going after small fry like Blip!

Compared to that on the Autobot side, Grimlock's strop and Tyrest going loopy looks mild and containable.

Dalek:Yeah... those people hey...


*Sheepishly puts flaming torch and copy of Empire of Stone to one side*.

Oh, Milhouse doesn't count.

[Auntie Slag]

It's quite literally a betrayal, he'd accepted orders from a senior officer to study Overlord for the Autobots and instead tried to turn him over for execution to the Decepticons (which as a thing to do to a captured prisoner is a bit of a no-no as well, Brainstorm is actually a massive hypocrite in his inability to kill anyone directly), that's unequivocally a court marshal offence even if you think he was right to do it.

And the fairly predictable consequences suggest it wasn't a very good idea anyway.

Though as Brainstorm was also in the process of betraying the Decepticons he's basically a super betraying dick.

I think this Tumblr comment sums things up really well in relation to Brainstorm, and Roberts has endorsed it (apart from the point about Nuke). It includes many things Brainstorm would have taken into consideration when calling Tarn up, things I'd long since forgotten!

[inflatable dalek]

EDIT: The following is needlessy grumpy. Sorry about that, bur I'll leave it be as being such a cock is quite funny at my expense:

That post is flawed for several reasons:

IIRC The weapons used by OLL to destroy Overlord's pod were the ship's standard meteor defence weapons; they weren't picked up along the way.

Brainstorm had good reason to believe the DJD would keep their word to only kill Overlord when attacking a ship that also had Drift on it?

And that was him also assuming none of the Autobots aboard would try to fight back against the inexplicable (if they discounted the attack being against Drift) assault on their ship?


That Tumblr post is very hard to take credibly as the writer seems to be as stupid as Brainstorm would have to be for their logic to work. The piece also stars by claiming the issue opens questions that go back as far as Wreckers (presumably meaning Bullets) but then doesn't address any of those questions. So why mention it? It's an horrendously poorly written piece.

And I speak as a man who has created a lot of poorly written crap over the years.

@Warcry: Whatever authority Prowl may or may not have; Brainstorm still accepted the job off him so at that basic level it's a betrayal.

[Terome]

It just occurred to me that by asking everyone to assemble in the recharging room to watch him overdose, Tarn was intending for his suicide to be a murder/suicide. He knew that his spark would blow up when it popped.

He is remarkably efficient!

[inflatable dalek]

Oh, and now we know why they didn't just take the extra 30 seconds to just kill the Scavengers, Tarn is very strict on following The List. OCD is a serious problem for the guy.

[inflatable dalek]

Oh, and speaking of Brainstorm... I really don't think he'd thought through some of the implications of what he was planning when he made his "Don't kill anybody" plea, after all, his own plan would ensure all the post-war created Autobots aboard would never exist in the first place anyway (and everyone else would have such drastically different lives he'd be basically "Killing" the versions he knows).

In fact, why bother with Overlord at all when he's so close to making the entire thing irrelevant?

[Auntie Slag]

Is it though? Helex points out that they're not killing people in order anymore. So he has got some flex!

[Knightdramon]

You'd wonder what the order is---crime level?

You'd have to think hard to get one Decepticon who ISN'T on their list. Or how they get added. Do they have live feed from battlefields? Seeing as they haven't had contact with Megatron since around his resurrection in the stealth bomber body, I don't know how they get it.

Thundercracker, Starscream, Dirge, Bombshell, the Constructicons, Swindle, Shockwave...pretty much every A-level Con except Skywarp has not been loyal to the cause or directly assaulted Megatron themselves.

Eg why go after Blip for his sparkeater cult [I still maintain this is a horrendous mistake and he's not the same as the terrorcon Blip---for f@ck's sake THAT guy tried to free Megatron a few months ago] but not the Insecticons/Starscream for their coup in AHM?

Could it be that the Scavengers gave them such a fight because the DJD did not recharge on Nucleon after Black Shadow? Though to be honest, in that fight, only Spinister seemed to come out unscratched, Misfire was about to be brutalized by a dog and Crankase was this close to being fried alive?

I wonder why Brainstorm did not just eject the Overlord stasis cell with the DJD in the vicinity.

Furthermore, the timing does not make much sense...the DJD attacked the ALL circa issues 9-10, left, then came back around 18 months later. So Rewind pretty much stayed on a ghost ship, not doing much, and constantly hiding? He did not try to leave or contact -any-body?

Super revelation---if the innermost Energon Tarn is sampling was indeed sourced from Tailgate's corpse [very unverified]...he's a dead bot, isn't he? That Tailgate was never cured for cybercrosis, which I assume is very transferable...?

[Terome]

Super revelation---if the innermost Energon Tarn is sampling was indeed sourced from Tailgate's corpse [very unverified]...he's a dead bot, isn't he? That Tailgate was never cured for cybercrosis, which I assume is very transferable...?

Cybercrosis seems to be a cancer analogue so if that carries through, Tarn will be fine.

Furthermore, the timing does not make much sense...the DJD attacked the ALL circa issues 9-10, left, then came back around 18 months later. So Rewind pretty much stayed on a ghost ship, not doing much, and constantly hiding? He did not try to leave or contact -any-body?

I can imagine how, after seeing all those horrors, Rewind might not want to get out much for a little while.

[Unicron]

You'd have to think hard to get one Decepticon who ISN'T on their list. Or how they get added. Do they have live feed from battlefields? Seeing as they haven't had contact with Megatron since around his resurrection in the stealth bomber body, I don't know how they get it.

Eg why go after Blip for his sparkeater cult [I still maintain this is a horrendous mistake and he's not the same as the terrorcon Blip---for f@ck's sake THAT guy tried to free Megatron a few months ago] but not the Insecticons/Starscream for their coup in AHM?

Super revelation---if the innermost Energon Tarn is sampling was indeed sourced from Tailgate's corpse [very unverified]...he's a dead bot, isn't he? That Tailgate was never cured for cybercrosis, which I assume is very transferable...?

Selecting random bits to comment on...

I always suspected the DJD got their intel from someone, whether it was tapping into Decepticon communications, a couple of agents they have searching out information, or maybe even from Banzai-tron and his Decepticon Secret Service (there's someone we need to hear about again). And in the case of the Scavengers, Tarn just makes a decision on his own.

Seeing as they were in contact with Megatron up until AHM, it's possible they were filled in on his plans. Assuming I'm remembering correctly, Megatron had the whole betrayal on Earth bit planned, so he could thin his troops of the nasty ones.
As for the DJD not going after Starscream in general, I could swear somewhere (AHM, Spotlight Megatron maybe) it was said that Megsy kept Starscream around because of his treachery. It kept him sharp. Makes sense he'd be exempted from The List, if that's the case.

The Innermost Energon Tarn was sampling, was it green? Because Tailgate's on the ALL was green from the cybercrosis. You can see it in 32 when Nautica and Nightbeat find his impaled corpse.
Also, there's nothing to indicate Cybercrosis is contagious. Seemed very much to be a cancer analogue.

[zigzagger]

Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #40 three-page preview from the usual place.

[Knightdramon]

Just brilliant. First page had me all sentimental for all 3 bots/person...

[Unicron]

You know what makes the Hunter stuff on Page 1 even worse? Bombshell sitting in the tree in the last panel. I totally missed it until someone mentioned it.
Page 3 started not at all like I expected, which just makes it funnier.

So Ratchet doesn't say goodbye... Guess we know what's happening at the end of the issue, perhaps with tragedy.

[Death's Head]

Mm, Scarvix. Don't tell Marvel!

And I suppose Swerve will have to go all gastro now to compete with Mirage.

[zigzagger]

Re: Ratchet leaving -- Maybe this is the point where he leaves to catch up with Drift in his mini-series.

Though... the way it's being set up, it does come across like Ratchet may be leaving for good, doesn't it.

Mixed on that prospect, if it all turns out to be true. On one hand, well, it's Ratchet and I love him. Conversely though, while I am forever game for new Ratchet adventures, his arc in MTMTE is pretty much complete (at least he's accomplished everything he's set out to do since issue #1, more or less -- though I'm still waiting on that 'proper handover' to First Aid). Been a while -- like, Remain in Light -- since he's been in the forefront too.

[Terome]

That is some excellent attention to detail to make that third segment on the first page resemble the 'ations.

Mirage's posh bar sounds like the absolute worst.

[Inaction Master]

Pretty sure that energon was purple. And, not to be the slow one that points out the obvious fact that everyone caught onto long ago, but the fact that they've innermost energon on tap - is that technically a form of cannibalism or something? I guess it helps to further cement the image of Tarn being Hannibal Lecter if we worked a desk job. (Then again, seemed like the Scavengers were willing enough to do that too, although that could have been done more out of a survival need.)

Cool to see another Japanese-originating character like Deathsaurus given a chance to take center stage in a book that isn't like a convention exclusive or a cameo or something. I like the idea of him being a true captain of his men, he had a pretty close knit team of regulars in Victory. Though you'd think him stating he was made specifically during war-time, (think when he was made he was given the name 'Deathsaurus' or was it something he came up with on his own?) that he'd not have a strong opinion of his contemporaries if they were just shilled out as disposable troops as much as he was.

It's just a shame though that Star Saber turned out to be little more than a minor roadblock of an antagonist at best - I'd have loved to see the two of them have a smackdown if only as a tribute. I do hope to see more of him and his crew in the future.

[Warcry]

Full preview is available.

Mixed on that prospect, if it all turns out to be true. On one hand, well, it's Ratchet and I love him. Conversely though, while I am forever game for new Ratchet adventures, his arc in MTMTE is pretty much complete (at least he's accomplished everything he's set out to do since issue #1, more or less -- though I'm still waiting on that 'proper handover' to First Aid). Been a while -- like, Remain in Light -- since he's been in the forefront too.

There's a problem with the "hand things off to First Aid" plan now, though -- First Aid is gone off to join the Combiner Wars along with the rest of the Protectobots, and who knows if we'll ever see him back aboard the Lost Light. The post-miniseries new toy shilling might mean that Defensor needs to stay behind on Cybertron with the rest of the gestalts.

Of course, the same goes for Mirage, so Swerve probably won't have to worry about losing customers for long.

[Terome]

There's a problem with the "hand things off to First Aid" plan now, though -- First Aid is gone off to join the Combiner Wars along with the rest of the Protectobots, and who knows if we'll ever see him back aboard the Lost Light. The post-miniseries new toy shilling might mean that Defensor needs to stay behind on Cybertron with the rest of the gestalts.

Of course, the same goes for Mirage, so Swerve probably won't have to worry about losing customers for long.

It is a shame, isn't it. These aren't big plotlines but it grates that they are being pulled about by outside forces. When I did my big read of the Giffen / DeMatteis Justice League books that are a big influence on MTMTE, you can spot these hairpin turns a mile off. It really hurts the idea of the series successfully outlasting its sell-by date. It's something that the comic industry seems to have cheerfully sacrificed a long time ago - I suppose TV shows and movie franchises have similar problems with contracts / deaths but it seems like the stakes are higher in those cases. IDW could have done some requisite Combiner Wars comics in a splinter timeline that resembles their continuity. That's the logic the toy biographies operate under - we don't expect Rung to up sticks and do a psychological profile of the Protectobots to fit in line with some copy so why is it okay to pinch First Aid for essentially the same reasons?

Anyway, the art is lovely here. This is Cahill, isn't it? I don't remember clearly the last thing he did but this looks like a leap and a bound of improvement. Very good sense of space and depth.

Oh, and here's more fuel to the 'Ultra Magnus and Megatron getalong gang' fire - Ultra Magnus has been doing some thinking about the sorts of human rights that Megatron was very keen on, once upon a time.

[zigzagger]

It took 40 issues, two Spotlights and an annual, but Xaaron finally gets a line of dialogue, unless I'm forgetting something.

It's a start.

Not that he's a character I've been clamoring for, just would be nice if he piped up once in awhile.

Full preview is available.

There's a problem with the "hand things off to First Aid" plan now, though -- First Aid is gone off to join the Combiner Wars along with the rest of the Protectobots, and who knows if we'll ever see him back aboard the Lost Light. The post-miniseries new toy shilling might mean that Defensor needs to stay behind on Cybertron with the rest of the gestalts.

Of course, the same goes for Mirage, so Swerve probably won't have to worry about losing customers for long.

I sure do hope not

Always figured MTMTE was on its own vague timeline, and being somewhat removed from the other titles.

Sort of thing happens in the cape books all the time, where a character inexplicably disappears to take part in some editorially mandated event, only to return a storyline or two down the road and no one misses a beat.

Maybe it'll simply come down to a few throwaway comments (personally, I'd like to see Rodimus' reaction when - or if - Ratchet returns to the ship with Drift in tow).