Transformers: More than Meets the Eye Season One #1-22

[Red Dave Prime]

After the slight disappointment that was the muddled mess of the annual, MTMTE hits back on course with a very strong issue. Art is back up to par and the story feels more focused.

Some nice comedy spots in here with Ratchet (theres the hands thing but theres another one which I wont reveal). Its always good when a joke is funny but also leads to the story.

There's also a great cliffhanger. Something I didnt see coming and could be an actual MTMTE

SPOILER! (select to read)

DEATH!!!!!

Aside from all that, I'm just wondering if they need to change the character snapshots on the back page. After all, Magnus has now smiled twice

[zigzagger]

There's also a great cliffhanger. Something I didnt see coming and could be an actual MTMTE

SPOILER! (select to read)

DEATH!!!!!

We'll see if it actually holds.

It would up the suspense a notch knowing that someone from the core cast can actually stay dead for more than one issue.

It is setting up quite the mystery, isn't it? There's no brain module left for Chromedome to dive into...

**strokes chin**

[Red Dave Prime]

We'll see if it actually holds.

It would up the suspense a notch knowing that someone from the core cast can actually stay dead for more than one issue.

It is setting up quite the mystery, isn't it? There's no brain module left for Chromedome to dive into...

**strokes chin**

If it doesnt stick then I'll have to agree with those who complained about similar issues earlier on. Hope it sticks though and I'm fairly certain Rodimus is way off base on the suspect

[Knightdramon]

Good stuff. Definitely good stuff.

I dig Ratchet's and Drift's origin so far, kind of sad to see Drift that way. His current attitude can be contributed, in real life terms, to that of a recovered addict, but then there's 4 million years of bloodshed in between Kind of random appearance of Sonic and Boom.

Interesting to see that Nominus basically lied to everybody about his matrix, and that Sentinel basically did him in. I always thought that Sentinel was the most decent of the false Primes, but if the rumours from the Senator are true, and with a little guesswork...*perhaps he's behind the murders, using his men to frame the Decepticons, staging the whole uprising with Senator Ratbat to coax the public and the other senators to give him more power as Prime than the police chief he used to be*.

Furthermore, I'm starting to piece together a theory about Skids...*what if all those skills he has come from the relinquishment clinic? What if he used to be a rent a body bot\addict, inheriting memories and skills from those he inhabited\came into his body?*

Fun guesses at to who Roller is...probably some other cop\friend of Pax who gets downsized or named in honour to his drone.

Current day events, I'm not sure why Rodimus thinks it's Cyclonus. But it's been foreshadowed, about the state of the victim I mean, in the annual cover. He's the only one without lit optics. Really hope we learn much more about it.

[Red Dave Prime]

Good stuff. Definitely good stuff...

Fun guesses at to who Roller is...probably some other cop\friend of Pax who gets downsized or named in honour to his drone.

Current day events, I'm not sure why Rodimus thinks it's Cyclonus. But it's been foreshadowed, about the state of the victim I mean, in the annual cover. He's the only one without lit optics. Really hope we learn much more about it.

Is it possible that Roller is a mono transformer who opted for his alt mode? His only appearance is in escalation I think. It will be interesting to see how he become so linked with Prime.

As for the annual cover, I didnt pick up on that at all. Well spotted.

Definitely one of the nice things about MTMTE is the little details that may or may not be important.

[inflatable dalek]

Very dense, lovely stuff. I was initially unsure how they were going to keep up this framing device for three issues when every "He said she said" gag had been done already by Ratchet and Drift, but the introduction of a proper present day plot at the end stopped that fear.

Hard to pick out favourite bits, everything from Nightbeat (surprised its taken Roberts that long to sneak him in), the Red Dwarfish (again!) way Chromedome works out Sherma was killed by the Decepticons; my annoyance at Rung's non-death being cancelled out by it being turned into a plot catalyst here; Sonic and Boom being reused in a way that underlined the random connections factor... well everything. Possibly my favourite issue yet.

And whilst it's nice it looks like we're going to get an explanation for Autocracy ignoring the previous "Megatron and Prime first fought at Sherma bridge" claims, I'd much rather the book just tell Autocracy to **** off.

The ever improving Alex Milne really hit it out the park this month. I've already waxed lyrical about how he doesn't seem like the same guy who did Origin but this feels like the end of an upward curve he's been on since the already very good second issue.

[Knightdramon]

More tidbits:

Nightbeat has red eyes in the flashback. Maybe minor, but he had blue before he was killed.

Ratchet's freshly painted hands leave a smear on Drift's face. Going by that, it could be a red herring that Drift may be the killer [he was the one suspecting and not liking Red Alert earlier on], or Ratchet had an actual agenda of painting his hands. The medibot who recorded Red Alert's message, was, in fact, a MEDIbot.

I stand by my theory earlier on that the relinquishment clinic must have left some sort of phantom memories or multiple personalities on the occupants. So in my opinion, it's either Skids [who, in fact, was at the oil reservoir with Chromedome] or Drift, who has another "self" in him from the days before the war. But if it's Skids, shouldn't Chromedome have seen the event when he read his memories in issue 8?

[inflatable dalek]

My money is that the mind swap thing is to get round the contradiction over the first Prime/Megs fight in Autocracy with what we've already been told about Sherma damn.

These issues will cross over with the start of Megatron Origin, and in that strange gap between Megatron escaping from the prison ship to go free his people and suddenly being Giant Haystacks we'll see him on the lam, where he'll try to escape the man by going to a relinquishment clinic and putting his mind in a brand new body (Drift? Skids? Rung?). He and Prime will then fight, with the later not realising who the former really was until after Autocracy.

Or... as part of the "heist" that Skids mentioned in the last issue that's apparently part of this story; Prime will have to go undercover with a mind swap as well and Megatron won't realise it either.

Three more thoughts:

Anyone think it was a bit odd we opened on Nightbeat discovering a murder only for him then to not investigate it?

Odds on Red Alert having faked his death in an OTT elaborate way?

Iacon is basically Mega City One isn't it? Giant over-populated blocks, weird murders, and Prowl is almost literally the Law. Come to that, the relinquishment thing is very like the face change clinics in Dredd as well...

[Red Dave Prime]

Odds on Red Alert having faked his death in an OTT elaborate way?

pretty good to be honest. Hope not but now that you put the idea in my head it makes complete sense for red alert to do something like that to get his enemies off his back.

And whilst it's nice it looks like we're going to get an explanation for Autocracy ignoring the previous "Megatron and Prime first fought at Sherma bridge" claims, I'd much rather the book just tell Autocracy to **** off.

As a general rule, when it comes to whats what I'm going with MTMTE and RID as the "definitive". If other stories differ than those stories are the ones that are in the wrong.

Autocracy does play too loose with past events - Zeta primes death, the first prime/megs fight, blur. Should have been better edited.

[Death's Head]

Iacon is basically Mega City One isn't it? Giant over-populated blocks, weird murders, and Prowl is almost literally the Law. Come to that, the relinquishment thing is very like the face change clinics in Dredd as well...

I must confess my first thought with the Relinquishment Clinics was "temping" from Warren Ellis and Darick Roberton's Transmetropolitan, in which humans can try on the genome of an animal or even an alien species for a short time. In said comic Spider Jerusalem describes it as "body tourism", a phrase repeated in this issue of MTMTE.

Edit: Actually, further to your thought on the Dredd parallels - It's notable that Orion Pax was called "supercop" by Sonic and Boom. Nice to see him kick a little arse as well!

[inflatable dalek]

Yeah, Prime is Dredd far more than Prowl. He only just stops short of calling Sonic and Boom "Creeps".

[Warcry]

Anyone think it was a bit odd we opened on Nightbeat discovering a murder only for him then to not investigate it?

That kinda left me scratching my head, too. I mean, wacky investigations are about 70% of his personality.

Odds on Red Alert having faked his death in an OTT elaborate way?

Yeah, it would be perfectly in-character of him to have brought a facsimile of himself aboard just on the off-chance that he'd need to throw off someone who wanted him dead. He's probably living in the ductwork, investigating his traitor, and will pop out to accuse someone at random at the most comically-appropriate moment.

Or at least I hope so -- it'd be hilarious.

[EDIT]
Haven't actually commented on the issue itself yet, have I? I thought it was okay, but the pace is definitely slower than the series has been so far. Not a lot happened, either in the present or the flashback, because there are so many characters involved that they each only got a couple pages. As an individual issue it's probably the weakest so far, but it's hard to judge when it's very clearly only 1/3 or so of a story.

[Denyer]

No problem with the pace -- between this and the RiD annual, I'm feeling pretty well-rewarded for the cover price even considering postage -- but it'd be nice if it wasn't a month's wait for the next bit.

[Brimstone]

Wow...I really loved this issue! MTMTE and RiD have to be the most enjoyable TF comics I've ever read (not just my favorite IDW work, but my favorite TF comics, period).

They're well written, entertaining, fun, and have me genuinely intrigued as to what's going on.

Question though...what was with the comment about Chromedome's prvious name? Is this some sort of tease for a future reveal? A reference to something from past issues that I've missed? Or some sort of insider joke/nod to something from the Marvel or 80's cartoons? I didn't get this...was I meant to?

[zigzagger]

Not a lot happened, either in the present or the flashback, because there are so many characters involved that they each only got a couple pages. As an individual issue it's probably the weakest so far, but it's hard to judge when it's very clearly only 1/3 or so of a story.

Yeeeeah, I groaned when Rewind decided that Ratchet's story needed to end on a 'cliffhanger' so he could jump back to Chromedome for the sake of chronology. Even if it was done for laughs (no, really, who the **** does that?!!).

Feeling pretty confident that the second act will be a lot stronger, though. The first was just set up.

Question though...what was with the comment about Chromedome's previous name? Is this some sort of tease for a future reveal? A reference to something from past issues that I've missed? Or some sort of insider joke/nod to something from the Marvel or 80's cartoons?

It might be. My money is on Stylor.

[inflatable dalek]

Yeeeeah, I groaned when Rewind decided that Ratchet's story needed to end on a 'cliffhanger' so he could jump back to Chromedome for the sake of chronology. Even if it was done for laughs (no, really, who the **** does that?!!).

I think Rewind would, just from this issue alone he's obsessed with making narrative sense rather than real world sense. I'd even say he's less interested in healing Rung and more pumped for getting the chance to tell an exciting story to an (literally captive in Rung's case) audience and is milking it for all its worth.

Did anyone else think Ratchet and Drift were a bit too friendly after the Annual? To me, their banter here was more two friends taking the mick in a old pals ("You so said this" "No I didn't!") way than should really be the case.

[zigzagger]

I
Did anyone else think Ratchet and Drift were a bit too friendly after the Annual? To me, their banter here was more two friends taking the mick in a old pals ("You so said this" "No I didn't!") way than should really be the case.

I did. I wouldn't have thought much of it had Skids not made his throwaway comment relating to the annual, back in issue #8. They wouldn't have made it to Theophany yet if that was the case, where Ratchet and Drift had their argument.

By the end of #5, I was under the impression that they were at least on better terms, even if they hadn't placed their differences aside. So, the bantering would make sense if the events from the annual hadn't happened yet.

But, they did...

Maybe Shadowplay was meant to happen sooner?

[inflatable dalek]

Glad I'm not the only one.


Ratchet painting his hands a different colour so soon after the person stealing the data disc with dark blue/black hands has got to be deliberate misdirection hasn't it?

I just can't decide if it's misdirection for or against it being Ratchet what did it.

[Terome]

My read was that their argument in the annual was kind of a cathartic point for them. They're away from sniping and sneering and now are beginning to agree to disagree.

Question though...what was with the comment about Chromedome's prvious name? Is this some sort of tease for a future reveal? A reference to something from past issues that I've missed? Or some sort of insider joke/nod to something from the Marvel or 80's cartoons? I didn't get this...was I meant to?

I don't think there is anything to Chromedome's name change other than to add the implication that the end of Functionism gave people a lot of personal freedom that they wouldn't have enjoyed if not for Megatron. Now we can imagine that any of the characters has had a dozen names and identities but we only hear them referred to the usual one for convenience. I'd be disappointed if Chromedome's name used to be Stylor, or some such thing.

If that is the intention then it might be a clever way of getting around Hasbro's reluctance to have characters switch names, body forms and allegiances very often - say that it did went on in general and leave the rest to the imagination.

Iacon is basically Mega City One isn't it? Giant over-populated blocks, weird murders, and Prowl is almost literally the Law. Come to that, the relinquishment thing is very like the face change clinics in Dredd as well...

Yeah, this storyline definitely wears its influences on its sleeve. I'm glad that we're taking a break from the Red Dwarf for a few issues and have a different British s.f. institution to draw from for a while.

[Auntie Slag]

I loved Swerve's drawing of Prowl.