Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

[Knightdramon]

I went back and read all the letters in 50 and 51 .

While it'd be nice to have some back and forth [perhaps with Roberts? An editor] responses on them, technology has evolved since the 80ies and 90ies where I'd read debates on letter pages; that's what forums are for.

MTMTE attracts fans from "all walks of life" [pardon the expression], and as such you are bound to see different reactions than your usual TF fan. Or maybe LGBT-associated people were always reading TF comics, but they've now identified some common ground and are more active in the fandom.

It's not unusual to see fans having great expectations from a series, book, film of any kind---it's what commonly happens. A good Walking Dead episode can turn a mediocre Monday to a good one, a great TF comic can turn a good Wednesday even better; it's when fans arbitrarily link the two that things get, well, poisonous, as you remember from the twitter feeds regarding the Scavengers issues.

And, as discussed in detail in other threads, a good number of fans/posters/writers of letters in such cases don't really read other comics. Or have handled other transforming figures, and the list goes on...

[inflatable dalek]

It's worth remembering that the 50 letters page was intended as a one off specifically soliciting celebratory messages, even if it wound up spilling over. I suspect a regular page would have a different feel to it.

The recording of the commentary from the Orbital Comics signing for 50 has gone up, and can be heard HERE.

Some interesting facts came up:

The Rustbots are cyborgs, therefore explaining why Megatron wasn't too bothered about acts of violence against them, nasty part organics.

There's a six month gap between 49 and 50 (if that was meant to be conveyed within the issue itself it didn't work for me).

Also, in a chat where it's clear which questions he's been evasive and lying on (I suspect James isn't very good at poker), he sounds so confident with his "The entire crew are firmly behind Getaway and knew about the DJD" comments, even with everyone present trying to catch him out by repeatedly asking him the question.

Well worth a listen, even if a kind of hysteria sets in as it goes along. It was boiling hot in Orbital earlier in the day when I was there which probably explains things like the repeated questions and James getting the name of almost every character wrong.

There's also an amazing twat who genuinely thinks asking (to paraphrase) "Why is John Barber shit?" is a good idea, and keeps pressing it even after it creates a really awkward atmosphere ("I was specifically thinking of Prowl, you write him so much better"). Who'd have thought trying to get a writer to slag off their friend, employer and someone whose writing they clearly don't have an issue with (else why work with them for four years) was a pointless rude dead end?

I mean, it's pretty harsh on James as well as it assumes he's enough of a dick to go "Why yes, I am the better writer by far now I think of it".

[Red Dave Prime]

I don't mind the letters page being about the better parts of MTMTE but some of it is ridiculously over the top.

It comes across as blind fan loyalty and that's just never appealing.

[Auntie Slag]

Yeah, give it some meat so that in turn James can spar with it, then its entertaining for him and us, and it adds further value to the stories.

I'm sure if it was his choice none of this preening, fawning tat would have made it into the comic. I'd rather they ban all future letters pages before some bright spark at IDW decides they should cut back on story pages next month as they've lost precious advertising space this time around to three pretend suicides, twelve shut-ins and a bulemic.

[Skyquake87]

I'd rather they ban all future letters pages before some bright spark at IDW decides they should cut back on story pages next month as they've lost precious advertising space this time around to three pretend suicides, twelve shut-ins and a bulemic.

I was trying so hard to be polite about the letters page too...

But yeah, if a letters page means less story pages then no thank you.

[inflatable dalek]

I think some of the reaction to the letters page here is a bit OTT, especially as it hasn't taken away any pages from the comic and the letters clearly weren't forced on Roberts as his reaction on twitter has shown he's been genuinely moved by them.

Fair enough not liking them (though again, it's not a "Normal" letters page, I've not been paying close attention but I can't believe my forthcoming musings is going to be the only funny letter in three issues), but the bile aimed here ("Pretend suicides" is bit much Slag, attitudes like that towards depression is what drives people towards suicide in the first place. It's tremendously horrible to assume people have made up these stories to get published. Fandoms and fiction across the board has a long history of helping people through issues that long pre-dates both MTMTE and Transformers), just glance through them like what I do.

Except when it comes to my letter, you'd better all read that carefully when that comes up.

(Apologies for sounding stern--and I love you Slag--I do realise this is possibly the silliest aspect of the comic to get into a debate about)

[Skyquake87]

The repetitive content of the letters does push them into the realm of parody. Editorial should have sifted through the mailbag a little more to avoid the page turning into the sort of real life tragedy that keeps Take A Break going.

[Warcry]

Yeah, even I think it's a bit silly to get worked up over a letters page. As long as it doesn't eat up story pages, I just ignore it.

[Patapsco]

I don't mind the letters page being about the better parts of MTMTE but some of it is ridiculously over the top.

It comes across as blind fan loyalty and that's just never appealing.

can I just endlessly quote this forever and ever too? Because *this* right here is my problem with the "fandom", expressed better and with less swearing than I would. And I'm going to put "fandom" in quote marks because it's bloody ridiculous

[Knightdramon]

Didn't we already mention that the letters for these two issues were meant to be published for issue 50, and were "way to go guys, 50 issues and counting" on purpose?

This stance here is like going up to Veterans on Rememberance day and talking shit about them because they celebrate. I mean, what gives?

Over the top reactions can't even begin to describe this, guys.

Auntie Slag, mate, your response, if sarcastic, is in bad taste. If not...

I could write more but will respectfully end this discussion here. I'll see you all here once MTMTE 52 comes out and folks want to discuss the story in that issue.

[Patapsco]

Damnit Slag, you should have turned your sarcasm font on...

[Skyquake87]

I suppose all the flannel about the letters page is because, er, there hasn't really been one. Partly for the reasons you cite above, but IDW haven't done much to encourage letters. Even Marvel and DC have reintroduced those, having got over the 'no room for letters, we need the ad space revenue' thing.

I half suspect a regular page would have some variety to it. And whilst its fine to celebrate the 50th milestone issue! and I don't think anyone begrudges that, all we ended up with is a load of birthday card greetings messages. You might as well have printed out of context quotes in the vein of many a film poster.

[Auntie Slag]

No worries Dalek, I was being a total dick when I said that but at the same time I don't feel apologetic about it. Dave hit the nail squarely on the head with:

... the letters are so ridiculous that they make me feel like being less of a fan.

For the first time ever these letters knocked my appreciation of the comic. I felt the shudder of an outsider looking in, reeling with disgust. If this was the first issue of MTMTE I'd ever picked up, despite the story those letters would have put me off.

I love the work that James Roberts puts into this title with endless little nods, nuances and setups that take three years to pay off. He pays attention to everything (apart from Impactors power levels, ho ho). and I find it insulting to both him and us that IDW went full-on crawly bumlick mode for five pages!

And again, I think James is a smart guy; he might've picked out letters that entertain and challenge his storylines, maybe only printing the ones where he offers something thought provoking in return; perhaps a veiled clue or three? what Megatron thinks of Skids? not give it up for vanilla plaudits.

And I'd evidence that by the cool text stories that he doesn't have to do but does, maybe because he feels he's otherwise cheated us or his own characters in some way by editing them out of panel time (Max and Red on Luna 1 for example). Then there's the soundtracks to every issue and being an exceedingly nice & patient bloke on Twitter.

That's all got to be part of the fun of a world-building 21st century story writer. It must be great to have such a close connection with the readers. I guess Simon Furman and Budiansky never got to feel that.

[Auntie Slag]

Examples of letters I'd have imagined in a comic like this at hitting a milestone:

Dear James, congratulations on hitting 50! Can you explain why you killed Hyperion, a former Wrecker leader and probably a big deal, in the most anaemic way back in issue 2?

Wouldn't that be interesting to find out 48 issues later? Even if his answer was simply "for shits and giggles", at least we'd know. How many other writers would be audacious enough to kill off a Wrecker leader in such a throwaway er... way? They're supposed to die fantastically, just like in Pyro's dreams. There must be a reason!

Dear James, you once said if the comic was in danger of cancellation before hitting 50, you had an alternative storyline that could tie up lots of threads neatly. Now it's secure can you give anything away about this failsafe?

My god, I'd LOVE to know that one!

[Denyer]

[quote="Dramon"]While it'd be nice to have some back and forth [perhaps with Roberts? An editor] responses on them, technology has evolved since the 80ies and 90ies where I'd read debates on letter pages]

Nah, disagree. If letters aren't a two-way conversation you might as well be reading randomly ordered Tweets.

[Auntie Slag]

[Edited to remove all trace of Terminus].

[inflatable dalek]

In terms of question asking (and all of Slag's suggested questions are good ones), I guess that's what twitter is basically for now. Why write in to a comic and wait a month for a reply when you can just ask the writer (or artist or whoever) directly and get a response that afternoon? It'd arguably be more of a waste of a one-off letters page than anything written by the people actually published.

As I normally go with trades for my comic buying, do many other titles carry them still or have they been completely superseded now? This one seems to have been done entirely off James' own back (with him selecting the letters as well, love or hate it, it's unfair to blame anyone else for it) as Ex-RID 50 didn't have one IIRC.

[zigzagger]

Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #52 three-page preview by way of iTunes.

Full issue due April 27.

[Red Dave Prime]

That all feels a bit messy, bet it was a bugger for AM to draw.

Nitpicking, we still seem to have all-over the place power levels. Its really hard to tell how powerful any particular bot is in this. Maybe it would have been better if Helex wasnt included and it was just Kaon and the pet, with some genericons. Also, is it established if Ten has been enhanced since he become part of the lost light? Because I wouldnt have thought he could take the beating from last issue and still be able to do a Shoryuken to the pet.

[Patapsco]

I wouldn't worry about Ten, he falls under Roberts patented "Characters never really die because reasons" folder. But wait, did a Decepticon death squad really just fall back because a mutated Turbofox was being threatened? Really?