Penultimate Dark Cybertron preview - spoilers

[Metal Vendetta]

Be warned, from the solicits and even the cover of this issue, spoilers abound.

So with that out of the way, here's the preview.

So...whose days are numbered? Prowl? Bumblebee? Magnus? Rodimus?

Place your bets now!

[Computron]

I'm calling it for Prowl. He has yet to experience a redemptive arc.

UM and Megatron interacting on the Lost Light is too compelling a story to throw away.

Rodimus needs to suffer more. He still hasnt reached rock bottom.

Bumblebee dying would be "meh" in my opinion. No heft.

[Metal Vendetta]

I'm inclined to agree, though I'll be sad to lose both Shockwave and Prowl to Dark Cybertron :/

[Computron]

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So I guess I was wrong. Bee bit the dust. I can see the narrative arc they were building between Megs and Bee, but I still feel that Bee getting zapped was more "meh" than "holy crap!"

Art was A+ as usual. Plotwise I just want Season 2 of MTMTE to start already.

Also, I'm fairly certain Brainstorm is Dr. Krieger from Archer. I even read his lines in Krieger's voice now.

[Death's Head]

I'll be sad to lose both Shockwave and Prowl to Dark Cybertron :/

They were lost a long time ago...

*shakes head*

*dies*

[Yaya]

Yes! Bumblebee dies! Finally something to like about Dark Cybertron. You have no idea how long I've wanted that little **** out of the way. If only they could have kept Metalhawk dead too.

Looks like Computron was right about Shockwave. Even Barber refers to Shockwave's plan in the intro as a 'mad scheme'. Thank you Barber for ruining my favorite character.

And I stand by my Prime-Shockwave/Luke-Vader prediction made so many issues ago. Lameness is coming.

[inflatable dalek]

Oh Dark Cybertron Chapter 11, you didn't have to get me a late valentines day present in order to make me love you again, but killing that little git Bumblebee was nearly as good as a blow job.

Though I'm really not sure "[composite word including 'f*ck'] yeah!" was intended to be the reaction it engendered. now, if only Scoop, Ratttrap and Metalhawk (who wasn't faking to get close to the enemy after all, he's just a dick) could take part in some sort of elaborate suicide pact.

Overall, with all the really dumb exposition done in part 10, it looks as if the decks are clear for a nice straightforward balls to the wall action final, which is probably a good thing. One of the problems I had with the final issue of Reg was devoting so much page count to its worryingly similar and equally nonsensical explanation for what the hell is going on there, if you're going to base your story around a really stupid premise it seems to be a good idea not to burden the climax with it.

Well, actually it's a good idea not to base your story around a really stupid premise, but this is a close second.

After an improvement in the second half I do think the stumble with part 10 and the fact Shockwave's plan is basically nonsense (and feels like the two authors are bandying words like "Universe" and "Time" just because they sound cool rather than they have any idea what they mean) does mean even if the last issue is just non-stop brilliant we'll be looking at something that, at best, was just sort of OK. Which is a shame.

It's actually interesting to compare Shockwave's plan to Tyrest's. Both are basically mad (however an ill fit that is for Shockwave you pretty much have to roll with it to even accept the basic idea of his plan), but the execution of their stories were very different.

What Tyrest wanted to do was evil and insane, but you could see the internal logic his twisted mind went through to arrive at that place. He was a man who thought X, wanted to achieve Y in order to get it and put Z in progress so as to achieve it. You could follow his motivation and how he ended up where he was.

With Shockwave, I do not have even the slightest idea how in the hell he's going to get anything out of the destruction of the Universe (even erasing it from ever having happened in the first place? My eyes are bleeding), nor the freezing of everyone on Cybertron in one moment of time. I mean, he's a scientist, what's he going to get out of no more science?

The plan to create the Dead Universe by draining its energy through time travel would actually make more that enough sense as the reason for his plotting without ending time thrown in as well. Even if it were to repower Cybertron, the Autobots would be opposed in principal as he'll have effectively destroyed the "Normal" Universe that would have come into being if the Dead Universe had never been created, cause the greatest potential genocide ever. You could even get the Decepticons on side with the whole "Shockwave's lost it thing" by revealing what he's going to do will actually destroy Cybertron, after all, an entire Universe would have far more power than one planet could ever, ever use.