RID #14 (Major spoilers)

[Sunyavadin]

I didn't read IDW between Furman and Roberts, so I'm pretty fuzzy on the space bridge/gestalt stuff. For those of you that waded through that, did this all get tied off in a nice little bow?

I've recently been re-reading EVERYTHING with my girlfriend and so I have a lot of this fairly fresh in my memory.

Basically, from what I've seen...
Megatorn was interested in Metroplex a loooong time ago. The decepticons had space bridge tech that was put together in AHM, but it got blown up, then Jhiaxus reactivated the space bridge network recently because he's super smart, and then it fell into myth and legend, then Megatron got a new body with it built in, as well as Shockwave using it for the sole purpose of travelling to Earth, not doing much while Megatron surrenders, and then naffing off again, and then we got some exposition on how titans have it built into them.


For a more serious summary of how all the retcons fit together consistently, read http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Space_bridge#IDW ... continuity

[Yaya]

I didn't read IDW between Furman and Roberts, so I'm pretty fuzzy on the space bridge/gestalt stuff. For those of you that waded through that, did this all get tied off in a nice little bow?

I've recently been re-reading EVERYTHING with my girlfriend and so I have a lot of this fairly fresh in my memory.

Basically, from what I've seen...
Megatorn was interested in Metroplex a loooong time ago. The decepticons had space bridge tech that was put together in AHM, but it got blown up, then Jhiaxus reactivated the space bridge network recently because he's super smart, and then it fell into myth and legend, then Megatron got a new body with it built in, as well as Shockwave using it for the sole purpose of travelling to Earth, not doing much while Megatron surrenders, and then naffing off again, and then we got some exposition on how titans have it built into them.


For a more serious summary of how all the retcons fit together consistently, read http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Space_bridge#IDW ... continuity

Quite confusing. I had forgotten Metroplex even had a spotlight. Was the thing that Metroplex was protecting every revealed? Was it the spacebridge tech or something else? What ever happened to Alpha Trion, wasn't he with Metroplex?

All very confusing. If IDW is smart, they will stop reaching back to events that happened years ago and focus on future events. I'm all for continuity, but there comes a time when you just look forward and ignore past events like the Heart of Darkness stuff.

[Sunyavadin]

Yeah, I always assumed it was Alpha Trion he was tlaking about. I mean, Cybertron already had possessed space bridge tech. Why would that be a super dangerous secret he had to protect. It took Jhiaxus no more than a year or so tops to recreate it, depending on how much time you assume elapsed during Heart of Darkness.

[Mr_Tigg]

Regarding Prowl being the head of Devastator - I don't understand the confusion - the explanation is that to form a good combiner you either need cohesive minds (constructicons) or no mind to resist (prowl). When Prowl joins the constructicons Megatron instructs Bombshell to command Devastator - implying that Bombshell is still able to both suppress and control Prowl thus make him a good fit for Devastator .

Sure, but that doesn't answer for me 'why Prowl?' Unless Bombshell is going to control Prowl and Devestator for the rest of his life. Why not just use a Decepticon and have six points of failure instead of seven?

It's not explained particularly well in the dialogue I'll grant you that, but I'm assuming that Megs wanted to make an example of a Senior Autobot - nothing better to instill fear and horror into Autobot high commands' hearts then show how far one of their most respected warriors has fallen.

With regards to why a Decepticon wasn't chosen - they explain that even combining cons doesn't guarantee success (as demonstrated with Monstructor and Menasaur) therefore picking one from the ranks isn't a practical solution.

That's my theory on it all anyway.

[Metal Vendetta]

I think I read somewhere (maybe the IDW boards) the theory that the 'Cons must steal the space bridge technology from Metroplex at some point between Spotlights Thundercracker and Metroplex, which kinda makes sense. In Thundercracker, 'Plex is still teleporting from place to place, but in subsequent appearances he flies through space like a regular ship while the Decepticons are using the space bridge to **** over the Autobots. Granted, it would kind of reduce "space bridge technology" to some sort of MacGuffin that they stole from the Titan, but it fits what we've seen.

[Jack Cade]

All very confusing. If IDW is smart, they will stop reaching back to events that happened years ago and focus on future events. I'm all for continuity, but there comes a time when you just look forward and ignore past events like the Heart of Darkness stuff.

I don't think it's as easy as that though. Sure, it's good to have Roberts and Barber generally ploughing ahead, but the trouble is that they'll want to tie a lot of their stories to what has happened in the past, and IDW badly need to sort their ship out once and for all in that regard. We're bound to have multiple flash-back or pre-war stories in the future that will need a concise Bible of facts to build from, or else we'll end up with multiple absurd contradictions.

Of course, we'll end up with that anyway if IDW hire more writers like, say, Zander Cannon, who had clearly only had the vaguest flip through previous issues before penning his script. I'm not even that confident about Autocracy/Monstrosity - Dille and co seem to be eager to fit it into continuity, but somewhere along the line, it feels like there's a lack of communication or attention to detail. Starscream being all up on betraying Megatron so early in the game, for example - it doesn't fit with the events of Infiltration, which played out as if Starscream had gone too far this time. What's too far when you were urging Skorponok to kill Megatron millions of years ago?

[Sunyavadin]

Monstrosity

Holy crap, this is seriously the first time I have ever heard of this. Had to google it since there aren't even any wiki articles. IDW, sort your **** out and advertise your stuff sometime.