Impactor... Returns!

[Impactor returns 2.0]

Yeah!

[Professor Smooth]

Guess this is the #37 topic.

Can somebody answer the phone?

[Computron]

I'm gonna need to read this issue 10 more times and then read all the previous issues to see if any of the prior issues had cameos of the Lost Light crew.

Took me a while to realize that the panel of Cyclonus hitting Tailgate was meant to be a flashback.

Otherwise, loved it.

[Professor Smooth]

Was this the first time we got to see Whirl's face?

[Computron]

Was this the first time we got to see Whirl's face?

I believe so. TFwiki seems to agree.

[Hound]

Hmmm ok, I have a bit of a theory. I'm only half awake and some of my facts are probably wrong but...

Megatron has always been coy on whether he was born or constructed cold this issue shows him being constructed.

We also know he's a 0.01% percenter or whatever, and those sparks are green (I think)

Yet Megatron is shown with a blue spark

And Brainstorm harvested a green spark on Luna 1?

Maybe this ties into the whole paradox theme and Brainstorm was destined to help create Megatron or the Decepticons in som way

[Metal Vendetta]

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Kroma_macab ... lusion.jpg

[snarl]

At first I didn't like this much...

Bit of a strange reason - it's cause Obvs it's a good idea to read with Chaos Theory and Shadow Play at hand as a reference, and when I went to retrieve said issues...

Well I think some **** in my old house in Wanstead probably has a few of them, as I seem to have only brought half my copies of MTMTE with me, which ****** me off no end.

So it basically messed with my mind, and I had to read a load of TF Wiki to sort out the mumbo jumbop in my loaf. And I also thought that the story was being resolved this issue, and that it didn't after we had to wait ages for the new issue, got on my tits a bit.

But anyway, after I read it again... I've been obsessed with checking out all the references to past issues. The amount of planning to achieve it! There's stuff from 2011 that looked like casual background toss being readdressed!

Very, very clever.

And there are still a few ways this can be going - Is Brainstorm going back to kill Megatron? Is he going back to create him? etc

Reminds me a lot of the techniques JR used in Eugenesis.

[Metal Vendetta]

It's basically Roberts making good on what he had Perceptor say the other week - that parallel universes are for second-rate sci-fi writers, and so he deftly manoeuvres a rollicking time travel adventure through the past without contradicting himself or creating a paradox.

I think Whirl learning that it was the Functionist Council that took his hands will have drastic consequences. We still don't know the reason why they're not around any more in the regular timeline, or indeed if they were taken out of the picture at all, but given the alternate timeline showed them in control of Cybertron, I think a good old-fashioned Whirl revenge rampage is probably going to have to happen to them in order to get everything back on track. Everything we've seen so far shows that this is a pre-destination paradox - the future we know relies on the Lost Lighters having gone back in time in the first place, leaving Rung present at all the historical events - but the Functionists end up winning nonetheless in the alternate timeline, so my bets are on something catastrophic and Whirl-shaped happening to them in the near future. Or past, whatever it is.

That and I am betting we will see that panel I linked above again next issue, or at least the events leading up to it. Future Chromedome being the tip off as he explains the situation in front of the heavies is brilliant.

[Computron]

I just wanna say that a hallmark of this series is that as each issue is released, it refreshes and reinvigorates every issue that came before. Like snarl said, now I have to re read all those prior issues to catch all the subtleties caused by the time travel we are seeing.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

Macabre is an ace looking tf isn't he?

[Optimus Prime Rib]

This issue hurts.
So good. So painful. Like LSOTW painful.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

The second time we see through magnus eyes, he doesn't seem to know who megatron is or... He has no reputation.
Why?

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Because Megatron may not ever exist.

[Computron]

The second time we see through magnus eyes, he doesn't seem to know who megatron is or... He has no reputation.
Why?

UM's database is being rewritten with the time changes.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

I have always wondered if they would ever get Rack N Ruin in the IDW universe. Then today I realized that that is exactly who Hammer and Anvil are. Only they arent Wreckers, they are hired thugs.

Seeing Whirls face was the part that almost brought me to my knees. Just gutting.

[Metal Vendetta]

I have always wondered if they would ever get Rack N Ruin in the IDW universe.

We met them in Spotlight: Orion Pax - they were Decepticons, they didn't wear facemasks, they weren't conjoined and they were 2/3rds of a set of triplets. Weirdest Rack 'n' Ruin appearance ever. They were also in the LSOTW Wreckers flashbacks and Rack appeared in flashback fighting Black Shadow in MTMTE #7, but according to Springer and Ironfist, they're dead by the present day.

[Professor Smooth]

James Roberts is doing for Transformers what Don Rosa did for Uncle Scrooge.

That is, without question, the highest praise I can give.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Ah, I didnt catch Spotlight Orion Pax. Is it worth getting? Didnt recognize them before. So for me, the questioin was finally answered in this comic, but it is nice that they were acknowledged earlier.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

So it was a leading question regarding magnus and his info on megatron.

If history is being rewritten and thus magnus has no info on megatron.

Then how is megatron still standing in front magnus?
If megatron has ceased to exist then he would be present?
Or are the crew of the LL out of the time continuum or something?

[Metal Vendetta]

Ah, I didnt catch Spotlight Orion Pax. Is it worth getting?

It's kinda weird, it's a Roberts-written issue but it's really hard to see how it fits into his bigger picture. It's worth a read, but I don't know if it's essential.

[Metal Vendetta]

If megatron has ceased to exist then he would be present?
Or are the crew of the LL out of the time continuum or something?

It's like Rewind's database being overwritten - the new timeline is "bedding in" before the old timeline is erased. It looks like the process is accelerating to the point that there's basically only the Lost Light that's unaffected (presumably because Brainstorm is still drawing power from the quantum engines).

[Professor Smooth]

Maybe Brainstorm is going to infuse Megs' spark with Estriol. Or was, before the timeline was rewritten.

[Yaya]

Some smart guy said this about Brainstorm when this all started:

He's going after Megatron. No doubt.

-Yaya

Nailed it from the start, nyah, nyah.

But confused now as to why. We're made to think Brainstorm wanted the Decepticons to thrive. So now what? If Megatron is taken out of the equation, there is no uprising. The corrupt Senate and Functionist Movement survives. Senator Proteus, Sentinel Prime and Senator Ratbat carry on with their machinations and shenanigans working with their hooligans while....riding tobaggans. And of course, all of past IDW continuity would be rendered null and void. Which ain't gonna happen. Cause then we'd get an Star Wars Extended Universe kind of rebellion amongst TF fans. (MTMTE has been so damn good, I doubt you would find me among them).

But if time truly is altered, then it provides Roberts with a genius way for Megatron to be cleared of his crimes. I just don't see how it's possible to change Megatron's past to that extent without completely retconning everything that has happened in IDW continuity to date.

Despite the last shot of Brainstorm holding a gun to Megatron, I'm not convinced he's actually there to off him. We don't know what kind of gun that is. I would not be surprised if it's some injector gun or such to implant Megatron with something.

Quite a complex tale indeed. My head hurts. In a good way.

[Professor Smooth]

Some smart guy said this about Brainstorm when this all started:

He's going after Megatron. No doubt.

-Yaya

Nailed it from the start, nyah, nyah.

And only a *few* posts after mine.

Oh, ****. Brainstorm killing Orion Pax wouldn't lead to that dystopia seen in the issue. Brainstorm's gonna kill Megatron.

You know, I just realized, I've been doing this back-and-forth with Yaya for a friggin' decade, in four countries, on two continents, from more than a dozen different machines, and while living in 11 different places.

It never ends, truly.

[Yaya]

And only a *few* posts after mine.

Oh, ****. Brainstorm killing Orion Pax wouldn't lead to that dystopia seen in the issue. Brainstorm's gonna kill Megatron.

Daaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyymmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn.

You know, I just realized, I've been doing this back-and-forth with Yaya for a friggin' decade, in four countries, on two continents, from more than a dozen different machines, and while living in 11 different places.

It never ends, truly.

I'm working on a briefcase. So our exchanges can traverse time and space as well.

[Metal Vendetta]

I've seen on IDW that people are speculating the dude Whirl blows away goes on to be Kaon of the DJD - he bears a similarity to him in colours and design and whatever it is that Whirl shoots him with, it seems to blow out his eyes. Maybe reaching a bit far but it's an interesting little theory.

Also, it's bugging me that we didn't see Kroma this issue. We see his two buddies and he's presumably just off-panel there, but he's really obvious by his absence considering he appeared in Whirl's flashback in Interiors as well as Shadowplay and Chaos Theory, plus he's the only Senate thug to get a name so far. [edit] Scratch Interiors, it was one of the other (nameless) Senate thugs from Chaos Theory who was in Whirl's flashback.

The guys getting out of the back of Roller(?) to break up the fight at the bar - I'm not sure if they're Springarm and Wheelarch (the colours don't seem right) or just two other dudes with their body-type, but if it's the latter that's a nice touch to the Functionist days if all guys of a certain body-type fulfil a similar function.

[Yaya]

I think you've got a waaaaaay better handle on things then the rest of us, MV. Clearly, you've been studying.

So, if it's not too much to ask, can you briefly give us a timeline of relevent events in Cybertrons past (the original timeline, not the new one) like where the Functionist Movement fits in, the MMM, etc? Just the bullet points, cause I'm kind of losing my orientation. If that's too much, can you point us to a link that might give such a timeline? Surely, someobody is writing all this down in 'timeline format'.

If not that, then I'll have to find some time to reread MTMTE from the start. Which I was planning on anyway, but in the short term to understand the changing of time Brainstorm has created, I could really use a brief timeline.

And I was reading a short synopsis of the Autocracy/Monstrosity/Primacy series, and it looks to be somewhat more relevant to understanding past events then I had originally thought. I mean, if you go to the TFWiki and read about what James' is crafting, they site this series left and right. So I'm going to go ahead and order the print copies off of Amazon.

EDIT: Just fournd this link. http://tfwiki.net/wiki/IDW_timeline Nevermind.

[bumblemusprime]

I believe that Dilleocracy all takes place after the events James is chronicling, in the closing days of Zeta's reign.

It's hard to reconcile the brilliantly detailed, deep and powerful work of Roberts with something that reads like a lost episode of the 80s cartoon.

[snarl]

Oh god, they're total **** aren't they.

Crap art, dialogue is just wank.