Transformers: More than Meets the Eye season two discussion

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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Oh, managed to miss a lot of replies somehow, so I wasn't ignoring people's points or being vague with my references to "People", who were hypothetical.

Can't see where RDP called you names Patapsco, he just disagreed with you a bit (but is far closer overall to your thinking than mine). If we were going to batter to death people who had complaints we'd have gotten rid of Warcry years ago.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Don't know about co-ordination...not sure when what was written when, but if Sins was sticking to a monthly schedule, 4 would be out at...49? 50? :P

Dalek, the transfusion theory is one that I've discussed with others, perhaps a frenzy ala 28 days later?

I'm pretty sure Overlord is working for the organization featured in 46 too---the flesh pod people. He doesn't specifically say they want Megatron, just that their interests align with his own. Only reason I'd see him being on the planet without knowing Megatron is on is that Velocity might have tripped some silent alarm in the pod room and Overlord was the nearest "agent"?

Tarn/Megatron/Overlord were just sublime in my opinion in their paired interactions. I think that Tarn is looking for some vindication on his entire life more or less. If 39 is anything to go by, he was not fully at ease with what he was doing, so further confirmation straight from the horse's mouth that it might have been for nothing is just fuel for the fire.

Not sure if it's a dramatic posing or not, but he's puncturing Megatron's neck in the same way he did to Grimlock in issue 8. Or maybe it's me clutching at straws at my earliest theory that he's just injecting bots with what Roller was drinking in 36, faking out his speech ability? Maybe his outlier ability is something else?

I think Roberts is just installing a safety backdoor in case Megatron needs to take the purple mantle again with the chemicals thing. It can go either way, but Megatron made the switch during Dark Cybertron, pre-chemicals. He seemed defiant to a Decepticon call to the very end though, his looking at the Autobot symbol before being blasted being a beautiful scene in my opinion.

Overlord versus Tarn was great---there you have two power titans who can dominate and bully countless bots, but are standing at equal height here, both at power levels and at quips. I think that they were both spot on, Overlord's "a thug with a mask" and Tarn's "at least he hasn't forgotten me" being correct and hitting the mark. Their fight was visually interesting to, not something that Roberts is known for.

The aftermath on the Peaceful Tyranny was shocking but expected, you can see Tarn boiling and shaking his fist as Overlord is just babbling on. As others stated, I don't see Deathsaurus willing to align himself with Tarn for much longer, and even Overlord shut up and was visibly distraught at the horrific scene.

Weak points? The Drift/Rodimus reunion was a bit stale and felt rushed. If next issue is a "sit down and talk" issue perhaps it would have been better saved at that point.

Eager to see where this is going. Strongest issue of the 6 parter so far in my opinion.
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Patapsco
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Post by Patapsco »

inflatable dalek wrote:Can't see where RDP called you names Patapsco, he just disagreed with you a bit (but is far closer overall to your thinking than mine). If we were going to batter to death people who had complaints we'd have gotten rid of Warcry years ago.
I'm not entirely sure what my own line of thinking on the book is. I think it's just a bit of it's cleverness. It doesn't feel as sharp, some of it feels forced at times. #47 was the most obvious example because it didn't feel like a Roberts issue, more like a ghost-written one which tried to copy his style. That 48 & 49 didn't really fix any of those problems (again, could be self-perceived on my behalf) and instead exacerbated them hasn't really gone away.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

I'm beginning to think that Tarn's going off his nut and brutalizing Kaon is all to set up Deathsaurus and his crew ditching the DJD and joining up with Megatron to even the odds. Current Megatron isn't the same bot that Deathy parted ways with long ago.

It seems the most logical way to solve the Team Rodimus/Megatron vs DJD/Deathsaurus (and now Overlord) imbalance using the tools at hand and not having to resort to something like a last minute Omega Supreme appearance or what have you.
The main problem is how to set up a conversation between Megs and Deathy to show that Megatron is now different
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

inflatable dalek wrote:
Can't see where RDP called you names Patapsco, he just disagreed with you a bit (but is far closer overall to your thinking than mine). If we were going to batter to death people who had complaints we'd have gotten rid of Warcry years ago.
I think Patapsco was saying that its cool that we can disagree here without resorting to name calling. If I've got that wrong Patapsco and I said something to offend it was definitely unintentional. I like your take on MTMTE and the other IDW comics.

Going over the comments, I find myself agreeing with a lot of the good points raised but I also feel in agreement with Patapsco over the last view issues - things just don't feel as well thought out as before and I wonder is this because of other influences (certain things needed to be done to get Dark Cybertron to line up which Roberts couldn't have foreseen, and there felt like a rush to line everything up for issue 50) I cant say I haven't enjoyed the last 6 issues but they don't feel as tight as before.

Whats still very nice is all the speculation here about what could be going on - its one of the nice things with MTMTE in that it does make you think outside of the immediate and try and spot the angles. My own take (a little like Unicorn) is I feel that Tarn has never recovered from learning of Megatrons betrayal. Trust into a situation where instead of following the ideals of a leader, he know is the leader and like many cons before him, he is crumbling under the pressure - which is all great.

Cant see Deathsarus joining Megs and the Autobots - he and his army are still decepticons. I do see them leaving though - if he stays after what Tran did to Kaon, than that really doesn't follow through on a key point of why Deathsauras left Megatron in the first place.

Also don't see Overlord being a first response as he is clearly here to kill megatron - although I did think that was an excellent idea. I get the feeling whomever rebuilt him is going to use him to weaken the transformers overall - maybe he will betray everyone and take out Deathsauras and his band. That would be a hell of a blow against any new decepticon force starting up.

So many ideas floating about.
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Post by Death's Head »

I did enjoy Tarn and Overlord arguing like tarts over Megatron's corpse. Blackly humourous.
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Post by Warcry »

inflatable dalek wrote:If we were going to batter to death people who had complaints we'd have gotten rid of Warcry years ago.
You just try it!
Patapsco wrote:I've read it three or four times now, and all I keep thinking is "Is that it?" because this felt like deep fried filler. It still does. My first reaction when Overlord appeared was not "OH MY GOD", "I CAN'T BREATHE" or "I'M SCREAMING" but "really?"
Same here. Overlord popping up on a giant splash page in the middle of so much else going on got nothing by eye-rolls from me. But he immediately turned around and became the most entertaining thing that's happened in the book in the last year, and by the time the issue was over he'd won me over.

You're right that it pushes the odds against the heroes from "overwhelming" to "impossible", though, and that's going to make the conclusion feel even more contrived than it probably would have before this. Seeing him put Tarn in his place (and vice-versa) may actually be worth that, though.
Red Dave Prime wrote:Cant see Deathsarus joining Megs and the Autobots - he and his army are still decepticons. I do see them leaving though - if he stays after what Tran did to Kaon, than that really doesn't follow through on a key point of why Deathsauras left Megatron in the first place.
If he leaves, though, it really raises the question of why Deathsaurus was introduced to begin with. What narrative purpose does he serve, if he's just popping up, joining Tarn and then un-joining and disappearing into thin air again? I can't see him sticking around as part of the crew or anything like that, but I'd be surprised if his conscience didn't push him into taking up arms against Tarn before this is all over.
Red Dave Prime wrote:Also don't see Overlord being a first response as he is clearly here to kill megatron - although I did think that was an excellent idea. I get the feeling whomever rebuilt him is going to use him to weaken the transformers overall - maybe he will betray everyone and take out Deathsauras and his band. That would be a hell of a blow against any new decepticon force starting up.
Just watch, it'll turn out that Prowl was behind it. :(

To be perfectly honest, the Decepticon infighting is way more interesting than anything that the Lost Light and her former crew have gotten up to in ages. I'd almost rather this arc ends with all the Autobots dead so that the book can switch to being about the wacky adventures of Deathsaurus and Overlord, villain protagonists.

(But seriously though, I would love to read a Decepticon-focused series, even if it was just a mini, and I'm surprised IDW haven't done one yet.)
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Warcry wrote: (But seriously though, I would love to read a Decepticon-focused series, even if it was just a mini, and I'm surprised IDW haven't done one yet.)

*whispers*Megatron Origin*whispers*
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Whats a "megatron origins"? Is it some kind of Go-bot adventure?
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Post by Patapsco »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Whats a "megatron origins"? Is it some kind of Go-bot adventure?
It's apparently where I called Alex Milne a "no-talent hack who should never work on Transformers comics again" according to my own personal Time Hop. Here comes the retcon!
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Post by Patapsco »

One more thing: I assume by how close "sunset" is that more than eight hours have passed so all those last word messages from #50 have been sent?
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Post by zigzagger »

Quickie notes.

I'm with Dalek on this, in that this will probably be easier to judge in retrospect. A lot happened... and a lot didn't happen.

That said, I was still entertained. As with a lot of folks, what saved this issue for me were the exchanges between Megatron, Tarn, and Overlord. The Decepticon infighting was a freaking hoot, and it was just enough for me to disregard all the contrivances and, well, derailment of the story.

I agree that the Dying of the Light proooobably could've done without Overlord, as Roberts is spinning enough plates here as it is (and I'm immediately reminded of Remain in Light), but he actually turned out to be good value.

I mean, he's as unimpressed by Tarn as I am! It's like Overlord was designed to be my own personal audience surrogate. ;)

That's what I'm going to keep telling myself.
Warcry wrote: ... the book can switch to being about the wacky adventures of Deathsaurus and Overlord, villain protagonists
Oh my god, yes! Deathsaurus can be the straight man and Overlord can be the stooge or wise guy.
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Post by Patapsco »

zigzagger wrote:I'm with Dalek on this, in that this will probably be easier to judge in retrospect. A lot happened... and a lot didn't happen.
I still think this will read better as a trade, but as a single issue story it left me cold overall. And a bad MtMtE issue is better than most comics
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Post by zigzagger »

Oh! One more thing...
Unicron wrote: .... and not having to resort to something like a last minute Omega Supreme appearance or what have you.
****, it's going to be Defensor, isn't it?

The Protectobots are still out there, as they never made it back to the Lost Light after Combiner Wars.

Ooooh, that would be "hilarious"!
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Post by Patapsco »

zigzagger wrote:Oh! One more thing...



****, it's going to be Defensor, isn't it?

The Protectobots are still out there, as they never made it back to the Lost Light after Combiner Wars.

Ooooh, that would be "hilarious"!
do you have something against the best Autobot combiner team?
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Post by Knightdramon »

zigzagger wrote:Oh! One more thing...



****, it's going to be Defensor, isn't it?

The Protectobots are still out there, as they never made it back to the Lost Light after Combiner Wars.

Ooooh, that would be "hilarious"!
I've been thinking that ever since Combiner Wars...how the Lost Light has got a functional combiner when they come back, which may or may not be during this saga.
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Post by zigzagger »

Patapsco wrote:do you have something against the best Autobot combiner team?
Nope, only callbacks to AHM ;)

But seriously, I adore those guys. With the exception to First Aid, they've been grossly misused.
Knightdramon wrote:I've been thinking that ever since Combiner Wars...how the Lost Light has got a functional combiner when they come back, which may or may not be during this saga.
Well, Velocity did say that she meant to contact First Aid instead of Ratchet. Maybe she still got through to him...???
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Post by Patapsco »

to be fair, the Protectobots did get their own personal dance off panel and now I want a spin off issue with just the Protectobots dancing and saving lives. Like a better "Step Up" or "You Got Served" or something
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Post by Flimflammery »

I've finally managed to read issues 51 and 52, and I've been wondering about the Protectobots (not to mention Mirage) too - with the long time gap that has been introduced between 49 and 50 it seems very odd (and possibly suspicious) how long they're taking to get back to the Lost Light. They left ex-RiD in #44, which at that point was clearly a few weeks/months ahead of MTMTE's timeline.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Drift and Ratchet’s character models are really messy. That fight scene on page 2; I could barely make out what Drift was doing exactly. I much prefer his simpler pre-exile design, it felt much more his kinda thing.

I’m at a bit of a loss to the significance of the pet, Kaon went nuts when Ten ‘thocked’ the turbofox-thing. Why exactly? I’m an animal lover (Oo-er), but they’ve never made a big thing of this in previous issues. And then Overlord makes a derogatory comment about it. Is Megatron similarly seen as having such a weak spot regarding his relative closeness with Ravage all these years? If so why didn’t Prime and the Autobots exploit that?

I love that Overlord just turned up. Not even a full page arrival, just 80% of one. Normally such a return would be ‘final page of an issue shocker’. This worries me only because it feels a little like rushing major moments to accelerate the end of MTMTE.

hat’s interesting is Megatron not being dead. A direct shot from Tarn’s twin-fusion cannons I’d imagine would be enough to kill anyone. So is this another reference to his black holes and hidden space in his body? (last referenced when he fought against Whirl, who lost his arm inside Megatron (double oo-er)!

I’ll stop now because there’s plenty more cool innuendo in this issue. Really glad Ten’s alive. He looks surprisingly better than the last episode where he seemed nearly obliterated!
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