MTMTE #29

[Metal Vendetta]

Preview here: you lucky, lucky people

[Computron]

Oh Tailgate you scamp!

Don't open the coffin!

[Metal Vendetta]

Bumped up to a full preview here.

[Best First]

Wait... out this week?

OUT THIS WEEK?

I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED FOR THIS.

[Computron]

Oh Rodimus, you just love making bad decisions. I can not wait.

[Metal Vendetta]

Where is Rodimus?

I think that's the really important question going forwards. He can't be on the Lost Light, at least judging by Whirl's dialogue last issue...so where is he?

[edit]Also, Gripper! GRIPPER! In a comic and everything!

[Hound]

Arrrrgh so so good! So many questions!

[Computron]

Well, that was one big question answered, holy moly!

Starscream's speech was the height of this for me. Brilliantly written and a dagger right to Megatron's heart.

Also that was a creepy Rewind appearance!

(Not sure I'm keen on Nightbeat's explanation, but I'm looking forward to the full resolution.)

[Metal Vendetta]

Oh my goodness. Well that's one question answered pretty promptly then. Holy hell.

[inflatable dalek]

SPOILERS AHOY IF YOU'VE NOT READ IT.....























Me halfway through the issue:

"Ha! Look Rewind just walked in! I was right about him being in the coffin all along! I defy your plot twistey nature Mr. Roberts!" *Smugness ensues*


Me at the end of the issue:


"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh HOLY CRAP IT'S RODIMUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A very clever bait and switch there.

Not much of a through-line this issue, but lots and lots of nice individual scenes and an air of something really not being quite right on the ship (I wasn't misreading the double page cross-section of the ship was I? Nighbeat's office has lost its space facing wall?).

The Rodimus/Atomizer scene was the highlight, literally balls crawling back up into my abdomen tense. Really nice to have follow up on the vote as well.

What's interesting about the first two issues of season 2 is that there's at least one area Roberts would be entirely justified in recycling bits from Eugenesis- In terms of how Nightbeat deals with being back from the dead. But so far it seems to be that he's found a completely different direction to take the character is, which is harder work but much appreciated.

[Sunyavadin]

Saw that coming with Starscream a mile off. He takes the opportunity to tear Megatron and everything he ever did down completely, and gloat in the confident assurance he's won, only to ironically end up giving Megatron an out when it comes to responsibility for everything.


As for the Lost Light...

For once I wasn't buying into the good old Roberts bait and switcheroo. The Rewind thing was way too obvious to be true there.

DON'T OPEN THE COFFIN!
AND FOR THE SAKE OF THE CYBERTRONIAN RACE ITSELF, DON'T-

[snarl]

Really loving Megs as boss of the LL.

This is great stuff. New colourist, did anybody notice?

Just want it all, right now. ******* month long waits.

[Yaya]

Hands down one of my favorite Megatron-Starscream moments of all time.

[Best First]

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #29
(Marvel Comics)
For the initiated, people who have seen red badges battling blue since Ronald Reagan's first administration, this issue is one of the best ever in a series that will not relent in its excellence. The interplay of personalities -- Ultra Magnus openly agreeing with Megatron, Starscream's effective in-court oratory -- is a treasure trove of Easter eggs for Transformers fans. However, if the reader is merely a fan of science fiction, simply joining the haphazard crew of the Lost Light on their quest for long lost progenitors, this issue is still amazing in its means for presenting intoxicant abuse amongst robotic beings, presenting the calm certainty of a captain openly hated by his crew, addressing locked door mysteries and a "data ghost" with humor that doesn't deprecate. Writer James Roberts is, not to put too fine a point on it, a genius and each issue builds the lore and legacy of the Cybertronian people in a way that has never been done before. Just plain "wow."

Normally hold a bit of a low opinion of the column but think the above the is rather spot on.

The second golden age of TF comics.

[Metal Vendetta]

Agree with Snarl that Megs captaining the Lost Light is just brilliant. I love the way he deals with Trailbreaker, thrusting him into a position of responsibility and forcing him to prove himself - contrast that with how Rodimus treated him during Spotlight: Trailcutter and the difference between their leadership styles is breathtaking. It's not something we've really seen before but here Megatron is a competent commander and sad to say, doing a much better job than his predecessor.

Really, I am completely loving this. I've always wanted a proper focus on Megs and now we've got one of the finest TF writers out there getting under his skin - literally psycho-analysing him - and the results are nothing short of spectacular. It was always going to be a tough call portraying Robot Space Hitler as a sympathetic character but Roberts manages to give him depth and purpose with just a few sentences of dialogue. I cannot emphasise how much I am loving this.

[snarl]

What MV said.

[Best First]

Yes it's fascinating isn't it? Interesting that what he did was probably for Trailbutter's good it was still a distinctly athoritarian form of help.

Also interesting how comfortable Ratchet and Mags seem around him.

Plus: Joyride. Yay.

[Computron]

Yes it's fascinating isn't it? Interesting that what he did was probably for Trailbutter's good it was still a distinctly athoritarian form of help.

Also interesting how comfortable Ratchet and Mags seem around him.

Plus: Joyride. Yay.

Well UM has a history of following the commands of authoritarian leader types (Tyrest), so I imagine transitioning to Megatron probably fits naturally.

Ratchet is a more interesting question. Something definitely happened between the trial and the current timeline to smooth things over.

Anyone else think Drift may have sliced Rodimus' head in half? Or too obvious?

Edit - Also, Trailbutter is an awesome typo.

[Best First]

deliberate cojoining of breaker and cutter Computhong.

[Computron]

Computhong.

Comfort and quality.

[Shanti418]

Don't really have much to add. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, it's the 2nd Golden Age. Yes, Roberts on Megatron excites all of us in ways that are too graphic for a family forum such as this. But some questions/comments:

- Didn't really get the end of the Nightbeat/Chromedome thing. Nightbeat's room is empty of something important? Nightbeat's room is missing a wall but all of the things still in the room are bolted down?

- I agree with Yaya: one of the best Screamer/Megs moments of all time. But again, this was a chance for Roberts on Screamer, so not surprised it's 5x better than anything Barber's put in his mouth without even trying.

- SOMEHOW, I think this all may be according to plan, like Dick Grayson in Forever Evil or that Star Trek episode I can't remember of that top of my head or that time. Megatron becoming de-stigmatized/captain of the LL, Rodimus "dying"/Rodimus seeing the list......my money is on everything being connected where the way Rodimus died is essential to Meg's current status quo and picking up the body out in space was part of the plan all along.

[Professor Smooth]

Finally got the chance to sit down and read 28 and 29. Oh, man, that was great!

Personal favorite bit? Megatron absolutely demolishing Whirl. "You've never been in a fair fight your whole life". WHOAH! That was mind-blowingly awesome!

[Best First]

Hmm. Megs would have a point if Whirl only picked fights with his own race...

[Professor Smooth]

Hmm. Megs would have a point if Whirl only picked fights with his own race...

Excellent point.

[Metal Vendetta]

Though to be fair, Whirl's only non-Cybertronian victim that we've seen was Imperious Drax, leader of the Heroic Terradores. A peaceable dude who came up to Whirl's knee.

[Best First]

Though to be fair, Whirl's only non-Cybertronian victim that we've seen was Imperious Drax, leader of the Heroic Terradores. A peaceable dude who came up to Whirl's knee.

Yes but we have also seen him up against Cyclonus, The Once Circle of Light 1984 1984 and all the Ammonites ever so i think that's actually not fair.

I also doubt how strongly a decepticon's resolve lasts when Whirl is about to shoot them in the head.