Am I the only one who think Soundwave did more than just gave a speech? He did say the "yokes" need to come off next. So I'd presume he made some promises to the Sharkticons, like blocking off some control devices or something, or it won't make any sense what he said in the last page. Junkions do have some unique alien techs.

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Edit: Also I don't think Arcee currently has "feeling" feelings towards Sideswipe. From the narrative, she just doesn't have much. So anything left is precious. Her attitude's rather cynical and nihilistic. I think she and Galvatron would have made a fun couple. At least they shared a worldview: in the end the strongest will survive. (Though, the most adaptive will survive. That's why these characters are tragic, like dinosaurs. Tragic but still cool.)

 

I really like how conflicts are depicted in this issue (not the action scenes). The reactionary nature of it, and Optimus' much repeated phrase "at all cost," his habits of diving into righteous rages, his ruthlessness, the parallel between Junkions and Deceptions in the aspect of being the underdogs who turned to violence. Optimus is very good at commanding in a warfare.

What does it mean to do something "at all cost?" Arcee's tone may be lacking a personal touch, but her words resonate, to the story and to her own experience. The simplified versions of reality, of morality, help those involved see things more clearly, propel them into action, but it comes at a cost of elimination of those not focused on. In the end this brutality still feeds on itself. That's where Arcee's cynicism comes from, I believe, because she sees no way out.

 

So to further add to his already colossally long list of horrendous decisions since re-assuming the Prime title, Optimus has now ordered civilians into active combat. Cool.

Cool.

Put this a-hole in jail. Now. Please. P-l-e-a-s-e.

Also, by and large, I'm actually on Pyra's side in her beef with Optimus. But she picked a real bad time to go full sassy bitch.

 

For the record, I always initially read your handle as "Maverick Christian Hunter," which could be read two wildly different ways. =D

 

BLoody hell. Me too.

 

It really irks me how Pyra is treated in the comic because she really does have a point, Optimus is a bit of dick. Yet the comic continues to dipict her as salty and bitter and rassinfrassinIshouldhavetheMatrixraasinfrassin. It's a complete contrast to how she was written in the annual.

Back to Op being a dick. He doesn't believe in Primus, or any of the many branching religions, but is happy to exploit those beliefs and a(dead) holy relic to further goals.

The only difference between him and the previous Primes, who also played upon the beliefs of the people, is that the Matrix chose him. I'm honestly not sure if that's better or not.

 

I liked that too.

I like the series so far, with the art style being the particular highlight for me.

 

I thought it was an enjoyable enough issue. The action was good for me. The issue did seem to end quite perfunctorily, but I am surprised to see it getting slated so much. I am actually preferring this now to the end of exRID.

Having said that I am among those who felt that Soundwave's speech changing everything was stretching it a little bit, whether the Sharkticons are animalistic or not. Just not convincing enough to me- if they're that easily swayed in that short a space of time. It was convenient to the plot though of course.

 

Yeah, even if the annual takes place later, she was way better written. By the same guy.

Barber is long guilty of way too blunt dialogue though. I mean , he scripted dirge to be shouting political theory in the middle of a deadly firefight. And metalhawk was infuriatingly obtuse.

 

You've got to hand it to Barber, though - he does know how to make an issue discussion-worthy. I just went through the thread from my last post and want to reply to everybody.

Going apeshit was totally understandable. Yelling "You murderer!" is the problem. Even if you're completely green, you're a soldier. With a gun. You have been ordered to kill people. You have probably already killed people, or seen your allies killing them. They are fighting back, fighting for their lives. One of them gets your brother - the epithet 'murderer' at this point is ridiculous. 'Butcher' maybe, given Oiler's ignominious death.

I feel the same way as Coffee (in the post below yours) about this. I cannot conceive of a creature so stupid that it blindly follows orders without any incentive, but intelligent enough to instantly grasp the appeal of personal freedom. Animals are trained to obey commands using food as the reward - so if the sharkticons are animalistic, it would be more believable if Soundwave had proffered energon goodies as per the animated movie. Revolutionary sentiments when replied to indentured servants can catch on quickly, but there you're talking about humans, who wouldn't be obeying one another in the first place if there wasn't an oppressive system that needed unpicking. Employees would need to be bought off, etc.

Agreed - this is an initially interesting character trait that Barber has now stretched to breaking point. He's been far too much at pains to paint Soundwave as an honourable revolutionary, past and present, which actually de-evolves the character, since it transpires he's learned nothing. In fact, the logical reading of Soundwave now is that he's someone who routinely misplaces his principles when things get out of hand, and then rediscovers them when it's too late.

Additionally, what is Soundwave actually offering them? This should have been the main point of the speech - you can't marshal a group to turn to your side unless you tell them how much better their lives will be, materially. Freedom is an abstract concept - when politicians deploy it, they're usually lacing their speeches with concrete ideas of exactly what that means, usually in the form of more personal entitlements to the demographic they're addressing.

Also agree - what the heck are the Junkions thinking? Didn't they do a rudimentary headcount before deciding on all-out war? Didn't they think to check in on what reinforcements are available to the Autobots?

I keep thinking about how this is going to read in trade. Every few pages, all the characters are re-introduced, and every chapter, someone recites the same details about themselves all over again. It's like they're all in Memento.

Your presumption is exactly what should have been on the page, not something that takes place off-panel.

 

Well, firstly, didn't you see the page where Aileron said the inner coms went all nuts? Right when the Sharkticons started to retreat? Secondly, if I'm not mistaken, Soundwave is above Matterhorn, while Jazz is in New Mexico. They are like in two different continents, and the Sharkticons all retreated at the same time. If Soundwave really shouted that loud... I don't think at least the humans will be alive anymore.

These two facts, Soundwave's own words, and his outlier abilities we've seen in the flashbacks combined together, it's really natural to speculate that Soundwave did something more than just gave a speech.

 

So is Arcee against Prime or for him? I don't really know.
Also if Soundwave can just talk people into doing whatever he wants, shouldn't he be the one talking to say the Cybertronian council, or the colonies, or well, everyone?
I hope soon that Optimus can start getting some real respect, having his own book and all. I am lame, but he is and has always been my favorite.
I am starting to think that Pyra being a jerk is just a set up. She will take the Matrix, or get it somehow and come to realize Prime was right... probably.

 

She started off being very supportive of him in RID season 2 but she's been concerned about him being too extreme since All Hail Optimus. Now it seems like she's completely indifferent to him and just wants to help the only bot she has anything in common with.

 

I agree with you. Soundwave had shown his abilities on changing someone's mind, in exRID57, to Blackrock. I believe he could do something to the Sharkticons to make them meek.

A detail is, when Soundwave was up to the sky, the Sharkticons were to attack him, but only few seconds later, they stopped and just began to listen the speech. That's not natrual. So I believe it's a hint that Soundwave use some abilities to make them quiet.

Well, I hope Barber won't fail me.

 

But I still prefer the classical Soundwave, including G1, DW and FOC games, etc. I love that villian, not the saint here.
He even didn't CARE his cassettes. Not any a question. Ridiulous.

 

Natural to speculate, maybe, but only because the on-panel explanation - the speech itself - is so woefully inadequate and cringe-inducing. Assuming there's something in your explanation, it would have been better if Soundwave had said nothing at all, but just mentioned 'class warfare' - then we see the effects, and are left to wonder what exactly he did.

 

Sharkticons are simpleminded, enough said.

 

That is a suspicious detail indeed! I hope Barber wouldnt just do something like in the movie where Grimlock just stamped his feet. That wouldn't be a very funny insider joke here.

Perhaps it's just different people react differently. When I read that bit where he made the speech, I was simply glad he seemed to not be mad at Megatron anymore. Maybe Barber want us to believe he inspired the Sharkticons merely by his speech. So when it's revealed he used his ability it'd be a bit of a surprise, because if Soundwave didn't say anything, it would be just too obvious he "psyched" them.

 

This Optimus series just keeps on getting better, I like how easy it was for Soundwave to sway the Sharkticons, though I do wish he'd used a treat, like in the movie.