Lost Light #25 (in 25 issue limited series)

[Professor Smooth]

The one page preview was posted last week. Review copies have been, well, reviewed. We're less than 24 hours away from the end of the road.

Hold me.

[Professor Smooth]

I had to read it twice to make sense of everything. And I did something I've caught myself doing many times during the run of this series, something I've very rarely ever done for other comics, reading certain exchanges out loud. I find it really heightens the emotional impact of certain scenes.

It's over. It's not just "kind of" over. It's "over over". The story had a proper ending and I don't think I could possibly have been happier with how things ended for the crew. They ended as the needed to, and in most cases, better. I couldn't have hoped for better, and I had been dreading any possibility that Jim Bob wouldn't stick the landing.

But the thing that really made my day is that Megatron "didn't. change. back." Megatron's redemption was complete. It actually stuck. One of the things that gnawed at me during the last few years of Lost Light/MTMTE is how attached I'd become to nearly all of the incarnations of these characters. I'll never be able to look at Ultra Magnus again without seeing Minimus Ambus. And the thought that, somehow, a year or a few years into the future, we'd be returned to the status quo. Megatron would once again lead the Evil Decepticons in a never-ending war against Optimus Prime and his army of Heroic Autobots. I thought, even as I'd hope otherwise, that this was inevitable.

But it's not. The book is over. Finished. And at the end of IDW's continuity, the changes *stuck*. At the end of all things, Megatron really did see the error of his ways, was redeemed, and paid the price for his lifetime of misdeeds. And he did so in way that will color my perception of any future Megatrons that I happen across.

...

I've been a Transformers fan forever. And I've been really, REALLY invested in the franchise. For a long time, I was everything wrong and toxic with Transformers fans. Everything. After awhile, I was just kinda "meh" about the whole franchise. It had taken its toll on me. Professor Smooth. Pat Lee. Dreamwave. Seibertron. OTFCC. All of it. Transformers became one of dozens of things I used to love, but at present, only enjoyed out of nostalgia. "Things sure were great back when..." But then, maybe a year into MTMTE, I started notice the glowing reviews from folks. And I wound up buying the first few trades and was almost immediately sucked in. By the time Rewind's "final" words were said on the recording to Domey, I was hooked in ways I'd never been before. It took another year or so before I realized that the best Transformers story ever told was happening RIGHT NOW.

MTMTE and Lost Light was a Transformers and comic reading experience unlike anything I've ever had before. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that way. It was so many things to so many people and I feel blessed to have shared in that experience.

James Roberts' Transformers saga deserves to be spoken of in the same conversations as Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The characters will go on in our memories forever. It will inspire countless creative people to explore their own talents and gifts. And the legacy of this series will endure for Generations to come.

MTMTE/LL is our Conjunx Endura. And no shortage of us will make a donation innermost Energon to mark its passing.

[snarl]

I thought a lot of it was hot garbage.

IMO the book lost it's way a while back. I really lost interest, especially after the number reset / rebrand.

It wasn't without merit, but soooooooooo much space wasted on uninteresting ****, like the two bints, amongst others.

And [composite word including 'f*ck'] me, the art.

[Professor Smooth]

I thought a lot of it was hot garbage.

IMO the book lost it's way a while back. I really lost interest, especially after the number reset / rebrand.

It wasn't without merit, but soooooooooo much space wasted on uninteresting ****, like the two bints, amongst others.

And **** me, the art.

The first year of Lost Light wasn't up to the standards of MTMTE. I thought year two really found that sweet spot again.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

What can I say, I think lost lights ending was clever and well done.
And equally it reflects my feelings on TF as a whole.

I don't think we will be blessed with something like this again, I get a feeling that as a franchise its not got anywhere left to go.

So as I wrote on this board, for the first time in ages, all I can think is wow that was a trip, I'm not going to confess I understood much of it, I struggled with it frankly but I enjoyed it and I preferred it to rehashing the past story we all grew up with.

Was it all great, no, was most of good yes, did I like the art, not really but I think as a story I would show this to anyone and say read, proud that they wouldn't be getting the stereo type TF sci fi I think many would expect.
From the halcyon days of marvels run to the end we have today I think TF have been really lucky by and large.

I'm feeling a bit washed out from it all so I'll sit back and watch what you are all think...

Do we have a Facebook group?

[bumblemusprime]

I'm feeling devastated. it was a rough year over here--my wife's sister died of a heart attack and her mom was diagnosed with cancer, my job was frustrating, and LL ended.

But it ended right. And I guess I always loved this particular thing about the book--it was really about this question of "how does the idea of Transformers grow up?" James had actual thoughtful approaches to peacetime, redemption, relationships, gender and everything that had been kind of handwaved or never even part of the franchise. All the characters changed. And the ending--about Ratchet's inevitable death, the pairing off and going-on-with-life, and Rodimus's decline, and then the beautiful little alternate story where the LL goes on forever...

It was perfect. It was growing up, with all its mess and disappointments.

I will still follow the TFs, buy (hopefully fewer) toys, read the comics, but it will go back to a minor fandom. A small part of my life, mostly memorable for the friendships I made. This story came to me in one of the darkest parts of growing up, and saw me through a lot of adulthood. It wasn't always great, but it always meant something.

[Denyer]

The first year of Lost Light wasn't up to the standards of MTMTE. I thought year two really found that sweet spot again.

Yeah, the concluding arc pulled it back. And agree with other comments that MTMTE/LL has been a high water mark for TF fiction -- not always consistent in execution but trying new things and doing a damn good job with them a lot of the time. Like some other favourable reinventions (such as Mystery Incorporated in the Scooby Doo canon) you can't see the franchise owners letting writers get away with as much again.

[Best First]

i kind of agree with everyone.

I think the first 50 issues were, almost without exception, the best TF fiction ever written, and yes among the best comics ever written. Of course they benefited massively from the tropes and cliche that had gone before it - its almost baffling to think this story exists in the same continuity as All Hail Soft Reset or Lets Make Jazz a Murderer Because Transformers Don't Have Mummys - but all these things gave it something to define itself against and become something other, while also paying (sometimes mocking) homage to the original treasure of the G1 run.

I think LL did get rather lost. The loss of Milne was jarring and i feel his contribution to what made this comic special was underestimated by the editorial team at IDW, and the new characters were not deftly introduced breaking the core dynamic (although i can imagine the representation they created for some people made a big difference and therefore i'm not going to gripe any further).

The last ten or so issues were a definite improvement but felt a little rushed, which i suppose was inevitable. I was a little disapointed that Getaway went from being a valid though harsher view point on Megatron in what some of the crew had done to being a more generic bad guy. I thought the way the guiding hand were woven in was masterful and tied the whole saga together nicely. The last issue and ending i thought was wonderful, although it took me a few readings to get to that point.

And like Spencer it has got me through some tough times, to the point that having another issue to look forward to in the halcyon days of MTMTE was enough to make me lift me head a bit. I missed that feeling with LL, altho on reflection maybe that was also because life was going better.

And i agree with the sentiment we are unlikely to see its kind again. But then for an awfully long time i thought we would never get anything better than Simon's G1 work, yet here we are.

on the subject of a facebook group - we didn't create one as we thought it would pull people away from the board - in retrospect this was a highly amusing concern - i would gladly create one if it will help people stay connected, cos that's really what this is all about innit?

Hope all are well.

[bumblemusprime]

Lets Make Jazz a Murderer Because Transformers Don't Have Mummys

I miss the days when Optimus pretty much iced a Machination driver in Escalation. #old

The loss of Milne was jarring and i feel his contribution to what made this comic special was underestimated by the editorial team at IDW

It's also bizarre how bad Lawrence was initially, especially compared to where he ended up. I loved Lawrence's art in the last arc. Thought it was great and almost up to Milne. But I took a look at the Functionist storyline recently and gahhhh. How is that the same guy?