maybe details of her life has sliped away of the years upon years of torture she sufferd, they will need to clearfiey somewhere along the line how such a detail could be forgotten

 

While I really like the concepts of this issue, the fact that Megatronus just decided to conquer everyone, but then suddenly stopped because he and Onyx were buddies? Unless we get a reveal further on that Onyx, Liege Maximo, and Megatronus orchestrated everything (which I think the issue might be implying, but it's unclear). The story felt rushed and really could've stood to be a two-parter, or just ditched the framing device of Trion's narration.

 

I just mentioned this in another thread - I think the big take-away here is that the only truly special primes were Megatronus, Onyx, and Alpha Trion. They all seemed to have a direct link back to Primus that the other tribal leaders did not. Megatronus states he is the first named, Alpha Trion clearly recognized the autobot symbol as an accurate representation of Primus' face, and then there is onyx - who seems to have knowledge of Primus' face, but claims he got it second hand from the titans.

 

Arcee's old look surprised me, she changed a lot. And with it being shown, that pretty much guarantees at some point we'll see what happens.

And ah, we had someone else claiming the title Prime before the 13 took the stage- I suppose Liege effectively took that slot.


We also have yet to see Prima, who ended up leader of the 13.

 

If you're referring to her changing her body, we saw that already in Spotlight Arcee.

I am 100% here for trans Arcee.

 

anybody got a pic of Arcee's original body?

 

well... she's a twin of galvatron so she looks like him. what the fuck man. makes sense now why galvatron tolerated arcee so much though.

 

Another problem in this issue is the liability. Oh my dear Trion, we give you a dozen pages to tell a story so very anticipated, only to hear you say at the end that "I'm just telling a tale"? OMG that really challenges my Will Suspension of Disbelief as a reader. There's a difference between liking a lie-spreading antagonist and hating an ambiguous storyteller among the good guys.

Maybe it's a type of writing but it pains me no less to bear in mind that all this ancient Cybertron story can be either continued like this, or subverted anytime.

 

John Barber was born to write this story. It's a Prime-focused issue of IDW that manages not to severely piss anyone off, by giving us a clear set of events that sets up the next story, yet also has deniability for anything that people super-hate!

-Alpha Trion--may or may not be completely off his rocker.
-Starscream as Chosen One--may or may not be completely made up by any combination of Metrotitan, Onyx, and Trion.
-The resolution of Arcee and Galvatron's whole deal--fits all the facts perfectly but if it really rubs you wrong there's ambiguity to work with.
-The entire existence of Megatronus and his stupid name--unless Arcee gives us confirmation it's still in the realm of things Trion could have made the fuck up
-"First Face" Autobot symbol--quite possibly made up from NOTHING by a deranged nutbar, which really fits into the whole IDW-verse idiom nicely.
-Connection created between the oppressed beasts on Cybertron and the Eukarians, which were previously two of the dozen or so separate ways that IDW was bringing in Beast Wars characters.

And on top of all that, the flashback itself is a fine little post-apocalyptic (pre-apocalyptic?) yarn.

 

Oh yeah AND years after establishing Arcee was trans by way of a weird, fucked up, offensive story, the portrayal of Arcee, female Transformers, and trans characters have matured to the point that this story CAN BE DONE.

 

Optimus Prime #10 full preview - Transformers News - TFW2005

 

I honestly don't like all of the 13 being tribal leaders who just somehow won succession. To me them not playing an important part with Primus and the creation of Cybertron/battle with Unicron just feels wrong. Here all they have is a special bond with Primus only Megatronus partially alludes too. I'm guessing they will have to unite the 13 Primes/tribes to fight Unicron, and in turn hopefully achieve or realise some divinity. Maybe Primus will grant them more Titans as per the revelation. Then Leige Maximo will twist Megatronus into betraying them and Onyx will also seize that opportunity.

Also, I wonder if when Onyx returns he could enlist Predaking to his side.

 

Me too. What I mean is we don't really have the whole scenario though, just snippets. What lead this Arcee to be experimented on by Jhiaxus?

Also, sidenote, this makes me think Arcee is a point one percenter. If they're nigh-even twins and Galvatron is a PoP, it stands to reason. Makes a lot of sense that the 'reign of the twins' (Gladiator arena reign I assume?) has been a thing with credentials like that! Plus, yesh, that 'Prime,' holding gladiator fights in the name of Solomus, god of wisdom? I can see why they'd go, "Liege and Megatronus are ok, but this a-hole we're better off without."

Hm, obviously things fell apart some time before, but we're almost at 'the rise of rome,' proverbially. This isn't the era of fall, this is the era of 'there's a group of states and they're starting to come together.'

 

Millions of years is a lot of time for all manner of things to happen between people, even family members. Arcee's standing by while Prime killed Galvatron isn't as outstanding as it might seem at first.

I say this as someone who's been severely hurt by their own brother.

 

I have a feeling that Maximo was never actually a Prime and only took Septimus' place after Megatronus killed him

 

I mean, in that time, Galvatron was missing presumed dead, Arcee spent a few eons in homicidal rage, Galvatron came back as an undead abomination, and they fought a few times.

Plus, y'know, whatever happened between now and the Ark launch.

 

Known associate of Galvatron, who's a known associate of Jhiaxus, who is a lunatic. There could be a good story in there but it's not a big stretch if we never see it.

I'm not sure Galvatron is "confirmed" but like...yeah, they totally both are. They are both ludicrously effective fighters, and Arcee in particular was called out as such from the very, very start.

Another piece falls into place...back in the "RiD" days why did the Decepticons just *assume* Arcee was on their side, and why did they just *assume* that "Arcee beat the shit out of Shockwave, Soundwave, and eight other guys without breaking a sweat" was a half-way plausible cover story?

But you know, when you really think about it in-universe, Arcee is an ancient gladiator with a penchant for saying completely psychotic things and top-tier strength, stealth, and speed, plus her armor is the color of blood. The way people react to her has actually made sense from the start of Barber's run.

More and more I'm appreciating Barber's panel at TFCon 2011 when he said that Arcee was his favorite character...

 

Oh, oh yea, this just made me realize it puts her skill's origin in an entirely different context. She didn't become strong to get revenge, she was strong and turned that in pursuit of revenge!

 

Really, really, really nice story. Lots to digest...which would've gone over so much smoother had someone other than Livio drawing that portion (I like the other guy however). I already have trouble keeping track of the older ancient bots and Livio not drawing distinctive figures does nothing to circumvent that.

Which pisses me off as Livio's kinda grown on me lately so to see him hack out this issue's art just drove me all kinds of crazy.

 

It strikes me that this follows Galvatron's pattern of being given a cause by a boss. Megatronus shows up, "I'mma toss you this guy, wanna be in charge of this place under me?"