MTMTE #19

[Professor Smooth]

I stopped reading IDW comics shortly before the MTMTE/RiD series started. Star Saber showing up made me pick up the last two issues of More Than Meets the Eye.

Wow. Just. I mean. Wow. I never thought that IDW's universe would ever go in a direction like this.

If you'll excuse me, I've got some trades to order.

[Metal Vendetta]

Wow. Just. I mean. Wow. I never thought that IDW's universe would ever go in a direction like this.

If you'll excuse me, I've got some trades to order.

I'm really rather jealous, imagining reading MTMTE in its entirety up to now in one go, having not read it before.

[Auntie Slag]

Ooh, I wonder if he managed to read Last Stand of the Wreckers before taking his IDW sabbatical? It ties in with the MTMTE stuff, and though not essential to the reading of MTMTE, it really adds to it like an extra bit of topping on a pizza... a really good bit!

[Professor Smooth]

Ooh, I wonder if he managed to read Last Stand of the Wreckers before taking his IDW sabbatical? It ties in with the MTMTE stuff, and though not essential to the reading of MTMTE, it really adds to it like an extra bit of topping on a pizza... a really good bit!

Oh, my, yes! And it was great!

I think I read up to the first issue of either RiD or MTMTE.

[Auntie Slag]

It’s so handy then, that they’ve released all the previous issues as TPB’s (or Collected Comics, as a nod to the old Marvel UK style of reprinting old issues).

I remember seeing the first five or so issues of MTMTE in my local comic shop. Had a brief look through but didn’t bite. I think I just made a conscious decision to buy the 1st TPB when it became available and decide from there.

... After reading that first TPB I was desperate for the second one, which was a couple of months away (at the time), and by the end of that I was so enthusiastic I placed a subscription with the comic shop and have been collecting the individual issues since Issue 9. There’s no way I could ever wait for the TPB’s now!

I haven’t subscribed to a comic since the original Transformers comic, which I stopped in ‘88. Carried on with The Beano and The Dandy for a while after, but that was it. Never dreamt there would be the possibility of a Transformers comic in 2013, but I feel as excited for each new issue now as I did when I was little.

And it’s only because of the writing. I don’t think I would be doing this for RID or REGEN.

[snarl]

Regen is actually bloody good, really hitting it's stride now.

RiD...

For me its the runt of the litter.

[Yaya]

Intriguing issue with questions answered and more questions added. Roberts knows suspense, that's for sure. He also knows dark. This series gets darker and darker with each issue. Genocide. Mental instability. Fanaticism. Torture. Deceit. Violent loss of loved ones. All this and hardly a Decepticon in sight! That's nuts. I could use a good dose of heroism right about now, to be honest. Never thought I'd say this, but having Optimus Prime come in and save the day might actually be a welcome sight at this stage (cause we sure as hell know Magnus ain't gonna do it). But something tells me we've got a lot darker to go yet before that happens.

Though the whole Ultra Magnus history is very interesting, I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed that at this stage he's just a bunch of armor, not even his own bot. I was really growing to love the big UM, especially with him starting to chill a little. Instead, he turns out to be Dominus Minimus, a small scraggly mustached bot with very little appeal and an almost geekish countenance. But that's how things play out sometimes and what makes the writing so strong. The unexpected happens. You can't always get what you want.

Don't know anything about Star Saber, except that he looked cool, like some Prime-like noble bot. Turns out he's just some religious zealot. Kind of disappointed that Tyrest turns out to be the very same. ( Oh, and add self mutilation to the list of psychoses in this). I was hoping like Jack was about Tyrest.

Waiting for the equivalent of a bulimic bot to show up next, since we've already had that obsessive-compulsive DJD guy who can't stop transforming.

[bumblemusprime]

I wrote my thoughts on this and then watched them disappear inside a slow Internet connection...

"Remain in Light" is KILLING me, guys. I don't think it was this tough to wait month-to-month for Last Stand of the Wreckers.

This story is framed much like a big superhero movie. Big bad, clearly deranged, with a psychotic plan that will change the universe. Heroes are split up and have to overcome personal differences (please, Cyclonus and Whirl, surprise me!) and minor characters (poor Ambulon) are unsafe.

Within that framework, though, there are a lot of little mindbenders. Tyrest has been a cornerstone of intergalactic law, and now he is an insane force unto himself. The constructed cold/forged debate is cool... or has the potential to be cool. I always liked how IDWFormers had no Matrix-induced lifegiving. It seemed in line with Furman's original intent, which didn't feature the Matrix much at all. Now we have TFs getting their mojo from the Matrix, and the second story, if you'll notice, to feature a decoy matrix in the last couple of years.

What happened with this decoy matrix? For that matter, what happened to the decoy in Shadowplay?

I loved the change in Ultra Magnus. I know some people were disappointed, but it makes his over-the-top behavior clear. Ambus has been, to some degree, acting out a part the entire time we've known him. The internal monologue in Furman's Magnus spotlight comes under a whole new light.

We do have a cavalry now. The Circle of Light might show up and save the day. I'm guessing/hoping there is a last-minute twist that puts the onus of rescue back onto Rodimus' crew.

On Jack's comments: I too, was a bit disappointed in Tyrest's default mania. I find myself intrigued by the robot aspect, though. After all, you can't fix a faulty set of neurons with the precision you might fix a circuit board. I hope James spends a little time complicating these robo-psychoses.

One hell of a book.

[Professor Smooth]

I'm really rather jealous, imagining reading MTMTE in its entirety up to now in one go, having not read it before.

Up through issue 12. I'm at a loss for words. "Stunning" I guess is the word that comes closest.

[Best First]

It's almost as if... the best single comic coming out every month... is a TF comic.

Except for Cable and X-Force obviously.

[Auntie Slag]

Ratchet's words to Ambulon and First Aid (that it would be a doddle to put them back together), niggled me a bit. Transformers in MTMTE seem to go through a lot of pain and, Fort Max aside, don't seem to suffer too much trauma.

I mean, It was shocking seeing what happened to Twin Twist and Guzzle in LSotW, and downright sad seeing Kick Off's equivalent of a thousand-yard stare upon reaching the end of his 'Pit Fights'.

But sometimes it feels like... what exactly will debilitate a Transformer? Right now it seems you either have to break Rossum's trinity, or break the robot mentally. Anything else and they've got a chance of walking away relatively unscathed.

James Roberts has done a good job of being nasty to his Transformers. There's a line in his novel Eugenesis; 'there's over four thousand ways to kill a Transformer' (I'm paraphrasing), and he has killed them in some spectacular ways ... but its really starting to bug me that most of them (the one's that survive something horrible, Rung, Chromedome, Ratchet for example) don't seem to suffer much mentally.

It makes me wonder why they bother physically fighting at all. Ideally they should have a couple of attack patterns if they genuinely want to inflict damage; kill the troops Doctor, or aim straight for the vital three points on a TF just like a Sparkeater.

I'd imagine the reason the latter doesn't happen is... I dunno, lets say those are the three toughest parts on any Transformer and it'd be like one of us trying to cut into a safe with a butter knife.

I think I'm gonna be narked if, next issue or two we see Ambulon up and about, fixing others having suffered no ill effects at being sawn in half.

This is just a petty rant by the way. I know there's plenty wrong with my argument. But to the average punter some of this stuff looks like it undermines the story. If most of these guys have been around (and fighting) for four million years+ then it's a fair bet they're not in the least afraid to be killed in nasty ways, or to have their eyes gouged out, or their elbows broken...

But comparing their indestructibility to the Sir Robin of Camelot song from Holy Grail makes me a bit sad. When Furman wrote Kup's Story the idea that a robot can lose his fighting edge (or whatever), gave it some tragedy. Yes they might think they're tough, but time'll get 'em in the end. I'd like a bit of that in Roberts' characters because at the moment it seems most of them can recover like Rung. I'm sure Red alert will prove the opposite of that, and Rung is exceptional but I'd like to see some consequence to someone losing an arm, getting their face shot off etc.

Ok, Kup regained his skills. But the seed was sown that you can lose it and that was a cool notion.

Ugh, I'm tying myself in knots now, but how many times can Ambulon be sawn in half before he's genuinely had enough and can only spend the rest of his days clasping a milky tea and quiet afternoons by the window?

So I'd like to ask Roberts, what it takes to [composite word including 'f*ck'] up a Transformer in his world? Good n' proper.

[Professor Smooth]

SENATOR SHOCKWAVE?!?! **** me running!