MTMTE #13

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:27 pm

Spoilers below, natch.

The "B" cover's been knocking around for a while now, along with the solicit which talks about shore leave on Hedonia:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... 13-176153/

But I just saw this link to the "A" cover which, unless it's massively misleading, indicates the return of a character I certainly wasn't expecting:
http://multiversitystatic.s3.amazonaws. ... 3_cvrA.jpg

Now considering the current situation on the Lost Light - the state of Swerve's face, for example - there's no way that this can be anything but a flashback, can it? Set sometime after the LL's launch but before Fort Max went crazy and Rung got shot in the head, perhaps. Or (and this is a stretch) between #11 and #12 - there were sirens going off at the end of #11 but maybe that was for something other than Rodimus getting everyone together for a fight and there's something we didn't see happen there. That's the problem with a writer as twisty as Roberts, I feel like I can't trust anything I've seen so far.

Other than that, how's about an interview with Roberts and Barber?
http://multiversitycomics.com/interview ... interview/

Lots of encouraging stuff, especially regarding their relationship with Hasbro. Putting in-continuity comics in with Generations toys? If they're exclusive then I may have to buy them. That's some good marketing there.

Not everyone is who they seem. OMG.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:23 pm

I think the hoomans are holomatter projections?

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 3:05 am

Bring back Verity!

Post by **Best First** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 8:21 am

Loving Ambassador Kosh buried in the background on that second cover.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:02 am

Hound wrote:I think the hoomans are holomatter projections?

Gah, and now it's obvious who they all are (assuming Magnus picked Verity). Twisty!

Post by **Kaylee** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:04 am

Why isn't this out on Comixology, yet?

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:26 am

Verity should get a spotlight. Maybe set when she first stowed away.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:05 pm

Leaving Earth was a great move for the comics but I do wish Verity was still around.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:05 am

Karl wrote:Why isn't this out on Comixology, yet?

It's not out until Weds mate - this toppic is MV kindly bridging the gap with info until that time.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:04 pm

Hound wrote:Leaving Earth was a great move for the comics but I do wish Verity was still around.

Thing is, she is a good way of doing humans in Transformers. A minor character. Someone you can have in small doses. But not someone the story focuses on to the detriment of the GIANT ROBOTS. Hence her working well in LSOTW.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:52 pm

According to some dude on the IDW boards, the preview goes up on Seibertron at midnight PST, whatever that is

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:52 am

Preview preview preview preview preview

Post by **Best First** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:12 am

aaaaand reflex.

I mean relax.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:52 am

Loving Guido's art on this issue. A little bit cleaner than Milne's but still captures the personality.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 11:16 am

Aw, that panel with Rodimus and Drift is so adorable.

I guess that this must be set after issue 12? What with them having Decepticons in the brig and all...

Post by **Best First** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:54 pm

Yep seems that way, although i am sure that i saw Roberts say that this issue was a flashback - then again maybe it was just a double bluff to prevent the previous one from being robbed of drama.

edit - also can't help but feel that this issue's mission statement is "Make you love Ultra Magnus even more before we kill him"

That said i would love for my expecatations to be confounded and for him to **** Overlord right up.

Seems an aspiration that is unlikley to go unfulfilled.

Post by **Kaylee** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:29 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:Aw, that panel with Rodimus and Drift is so adorable.

It's guy love

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:11 pm

I love this comic more than any other comic ever. I swear.

This issue made me genuinely laugh out loud (Whirl's holo avatar is genius), and moments later feel sad for Swerve, Magnus and Tailgate and full of admiration for Cyclonus.

And next issue it's all going to be torn apart

Post by **Kaylee** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:08 pm

Absolutely brilliant! Skids was Doctor Who!

Post by **Best First** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:29 pm

Hound wrote:I love this comic more than any other comic ever. I swear.

Yep.

Any significance to Swerve not having an Autobot badge do you think?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:49 am

According to Orbital Comics the digital edition doesn't contain the text story

Post by **Best First** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:58 am

what text story!? Bah.

paper copy should be there when i get home though - i get both.

Seems unfair for those who buy digital tho. I also think it''s a bit of a shame they don't include the ads for the next issues.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:15 pm

From the IDW boards:

John Barber, Master of Continuity, wrote:
Transformers: MTMTE #13 digital readers! @jroberts332's prose story will be in the digital release in a day or 2. Your purchases will update in the next day or so if you bought it in the Comixology, IDW, or Transformers apps. Sorry about that--unintentionally left out!

so yay.

In a way its better - like two Christmas's.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:38 am

Best First wrote:
That said i would love for my expecatations to be confounded and for him to **** Overlord right up.

You and me both.

This issue was sublime. Roberts, IMO, could write circles around Bendis. I truly mean that. Did you guys read that prose interlude at the end? Seriously, that was better than 95% of sci-fi/fantasy book authors out there. The humor was masterfully written.

I'm calling for a Roberts TF novel. I mean, he can't just tempt us with this and leave it at that.

Particularly fond of the Tailgate/Cyclonus moment. That was simply fantastic writing. (Somebody give me some other superlatives, I'm tired of using 'fantastic'.)

Can't say enough about how good this is. Really looking forward to where all this is headed. Transformers hasn't been this good since I was a young teen with a virgin imagination reading Budiansky's early run, and that was only because of a skewed perception rather than the superb quality Roberts is delivering.

A++++

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:58 am

UM... Yah, he did write a TF novel, it goes very well with an eReader, and I can send it to you, blah blah blah.

I have been so absorbed into Transfandom that I was the first one to go "oooh! Eugenesis!" Make me a UK citizen already.

I loved this. It was a bit silly, but in a good way, and the art was a bit erratic what with all the different guest spots, but I enjoyed it. Skids is Eleven? That says so much.

Was initially pissed that Rung was back without so much to bring us up to speed. Was mollified (mostly) by the text story. I still feel like we need a bit more time before Rung is fully operational again because his moment of death had So. Damn. Much. Pathos. Only writers talk like that, btw. Lousy writers.

Also, was Verity a nod toward Magnus's inner nature or what? He considered her a friend. I wonder what she considered him?

I absolutely would love Verity on the Lost Light. And Jimmy rummaging around in the sickbay, although I picture Jimmy as being too much of a scoundrel to hold still. I know there's a big anti-Verity movement esp. on the IDW boards, but I liked her in every incarnation. Even when Simon was struggling to sound like an American teen, I liked her.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:29 am

bumblemusprime wrote:I know there's a big anti-Verity movement esp. on the IDW boards,

If that isn't a ringing endorsement of an idea, i don't know what is.

Prose story was amazing.

I am basically sh*tting myself on behalf of these guys = not everyone is going to make it

Which is an amazing testament to the writing.

Post by **snarl** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:59 pm

bumblemusprime wrote: Even when Simon was struggling to sound like an American teen, I liked her.

Oh man, I used to cringe at that a little bit.

Erm...

I didn't really like this issue much. And I thought the art was a bit... wank

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:18 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:UM... Yah, he did write a TF novel, it goes very well with an eReader, and I can send it to you, blah blah blah.

I have been so absorbed into Transfandom that I was the first one to go "oooh! Eugenesis!" Make me a UK citizen already.

So he wrote Eugenesis? What is Eugenesis anyway? Never read it but heard a lot about it.

And if he did write Eugenesis, which is loved by many in the fandom, why did it take so damn long for a comic publisher to give this guy a gig? Did we have to go through McCarthy and Costa when Roberts was already a proven writer?

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:34 pm

Yaya wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote:UM... Yah, he did write a TF novel, it goes very well with an eReader, and I can send it to you, blah blah blah.

I have been so absorbed into Transfandom that I was the first one to go "oooh! Eugenesis!" Make me a UK citizen already.
So he wrote Eugenesis? What is Eugenesis anyway? Never read it but heard a lot about it.

And if he did write Eugenesis, which is loved by many in the fandom, why did it take so damn long for a comic publisher to give this guy a gig? Did we have to go through McCarthy and Costa when Roberts was already a proven writer?

Eugenesis is a post-G2 continuity piece of fanfic from the 90s. Absolutely brilliant book, but not an official Hasbro pub. http://www.tfarchive.com/fandom/features/eugenesis/

As for your second question... what is the sound of one hand clapping, grasshopper?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:58 am

I can't help but feel that the whole "everything you thought you knew about Tailgate was a lie" sequence may be setting us up for a similar reveal about one of the other characters. All that Shadowplay in the past has got to pay off in the present in a big way and I'm convinced one of the regulars has had the old needles-in-the-brain treatment. Well, other than Skids, obv. My money would be on Rewind there, especially after what Chromedome said about him being allergic to UV.

I really want to hear more about the Thumb Quest, though I'm slightly disappointed that it wasn't a Leg Quest - after all it was Chromedome and Hot Rod who had that conversation back in Marvel and it would have been a nice nod.

Love the fact they got Rodimus a hat. That had me sniggering away to myself. In fact there were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments this issue, always a good sign. Whirl's avatar for one, as well as Rung's being called Mary Sue. Swerve is basically the Autobot Misfire. The day is saved by them all jumping up and down on Magnus. Trying not to imagine what Sprocket got thrown in the brig for, ditto where Whirl stuck Killmaster's wand.

And then we get the Cyclonus/Tailgate bit which tugs on the heartstrings but I'm not sure how keen I am that Cyclonus seems to be morphing into Worf, what with being an outsider and the warrior code thing he's going on and now the singing...it's not that I don't like Worf, I'm just not sure I saw Cyclonus and Worf as being that similar. Drift, now Drift being Worf I could get behind. The swords and the mysticism are a better fit for a Worfy character, I think. Still, it's a minor quibble.

And Swerve! Man, poor Swerve, he's such a loser. I love him for it, but he really sucks at life.

Given that music is really important to Roberts, does Magnus's drunken revelation have any bearing on, say, Skids? Or Tarn? Or another musical theme that I haven't remembered?

And with #14 and #15 coming up, are we gonna play Dead Pool for the next two issues?