Tarn Nation

[Auntie Slag]

I love Tarn, and his back-story is rife with holes. We've only seen snippets of his life in MTMTE.* But what about his inspiration to leave Pax and the outliers. What did that do to them?

There's the chequered, unexplained past. His relationship with Megatron, his love of music (shared with Magnus).

He can't face killing Blip and so lets the others do it. He's one of the most feared Decepticons and yet he still has crises of conscience. Roberts didn't need to add that, he could've left Tarn a stone cold killer. Instead he gave him doubts.

I wonder if the Nuke is overplayed in readers minds. If you could draw a pie chart; how often during the DJD's exploits where they hyped up on Nuke? I'd like to think only a minor percentage but I've got no proof.

Is there a massive dischord between his life as Tarn, and his final fight with Megatron where he properly lost his temper. If the turning point was the moment he read the updated version of Megatron's book, prior to that he was the epitome of Decepticon tyranny, yet there was moments where he cared intensely for his crew (when Kaon, a knockoff was dying as a result of Tyrest flicking the kill switch).

He's an interesting chap, he looks fantastic and his death was, sadly the least interesting thing about him, which is exactly what Megatron wanted. But I hope we get lots more Tarn. He was and still is awesome. More interesting than Overlord.
 

[numbat]

I love Tarn too, and thought his arc in MTMTE was masterfully written, playing out well with a very satisfying ending.

He clearly went off the deep end after Megatron changed sides. He showed compassion towards Kaon,

SPOILER! (select to read) but later kills him out of frustration

.

I worry that attempts to fill in the blanks of his history will only lead to disappointment though (sure, I'll read them, and would love to be proven wrong)!

Also, while Tarn is far and away a more interesting character than Overlord, the latter is just so much fun (not in reality, I mean I would not want to meet the guy... either guy...).

James Roberts has done great things with Transformers!
 

[Auntie Slag]

Oh yeah, Overlord is still kick ass. My favourite moment is probably when he got the one-up during Chromedome's mind games. It was expertly done and genuinely terrifying when you see Chromedome buckle over at just how stupid he's been.

But he's also got that Bugs Bunny "Ain't I a stinker"? vibe.

Tarn does a different kind of terror. That Black Shadow take down by way of an intro was masterful.
 

[numbat]

Yup - Overlord is the classic big-bad, with lots of fun but little depth. Tarn is a truly interesting yet terrifying character.
 

[Selkadoom]

I could sit here and wax poetic my love for Tarn, by and far he's my favorite character introduced in some time to the franchise and I am in a minority who didn't care for his death, instead seeing some opportunity for a fave turn with Megatron sheparding him much like Prime did but alas twas for nought.
 

[Patapsco]

Nah, Tarn's run is over... finished. Megatron's speech to him just before murdering him gave me all the background and closure I'll ever need for him. Stick a fork in him, he's done
 

[Red Dave Prime]

Originally Posted by Patapsco

Nah, Tarn's run is over... finished. Megatron's speech to him just before murdering him gave me all the background and closure I'll ever need for him. Stick a fork in him, he's done

Yep. Any attempt to reheat him in flashback will suffer from the fact his whole rep was tarnished (ho-ho!) in the final showdown with Megatron. He's had a good run, but let's have a look at the menu and order us up a new bad guy.

Ideally, that bad guy is introduced by tearing apart Overlord. That's another guy I think has been left to sit in the oven a little too long at this point.
 

[Patapsco]

I had to go rummaging back through the Wiki but this is why I don't think Tarn will ever be focused on again:

"Goodbye, Glitch. I want you to die with one thought in your head: everything you did was for nothing."

Megatron has essentially invalidated his entire reason for existing. We don't need the backstory because it doesn't matter. Tarn never mattered. While an exploration of how Glitch became what he did would be a pretty interesting topic, I just don't think it needs to be told. It was all for nothing
 

[Selkadoom]

Originally Posted by Patapsco

Megatron has essentially invalidated his entire reason for existing. We don't need the backstory because it doesn't matter. Tarn never mattered. While an exploration of how Glitch became what he did would be a pretty interesting topic, I just don't think it needs to be told. It was all for nothing

Yes yes it completely killed off his crediblity and was a big hero moment for a char who didn't really need one. All fine and dandy though part of me says "It was all for nothing" is going to be the line used when eventually, possibly years from now, Megs goes heel, because we all have that feeling it'll happen eventually.
 

[Red Dave Prime]

TO be fair, I think if Robs and Barbs stay in control, Megatron will be an Autobot until the end. The last five issues of MTMTE had a clear purpose from Roberts point of view and that was to present Megs with his chance to return to the Decepticons. He didnt so I am firm in the belief that Megs flipping wont be an issue (ok, maybe it will be an issue but I dont think he will)

Personally, I think it would have been awesome if he dies in the bubble. It would have given season 2 a wonderful complete arc of a fighter looking fro redemption, finding it and the battle to protect that redemption ultimately destroying him. Buts that is my own personal choice.
 

[Selkadoom]

Thats a fair point and I'll concede to you that would have been more satisfying then utterly destroying the credibility of a character while coming out scott free