Not sure if you've ever seen Out of Sight with George Clooney & Jennifer Lopez, (and you should, great "caper" flick) but it has one of the best (?) pointless deaths ever.

I'll put it below for people who either know what I'm talking about or don't care about being spoiled.

Spoiler

that one thug runs up the stairs, trips, lands on his gun and blows his own head off. It's unintentionally funny, shocking and a cautionary tale about gun safety in one 3 second scene. All the other characters just stand there for a beat like they can't believe they just saw that either.

 

Getting caught up here; Red Alert's situation is the only case where Roberts feels he didn't properly marcate the line between death and injury in Transformers (as of the big Q&A ahead of #50). So use that as a metric, of sorts, for lethality in Transformers as far as MtMtE is concerned.

Issue 12, upon reflection, is probably my favorite issue of the series. So many layers, even beyond the nested nature of the plot. Like the choice of characters sitting in the quiet section of the shuttle. I wonder why Perceptor, a veteran of the Wreckers' trip to Garrus 9, might not be the most enthusiastic participant in battle?

 

The book used to be so intelligent with it's more subdued moments. It's a shame it's turned into what it currently is.

 

I have to disagree. The book still continues to "bear fruit" as Ryan F put it. Lost Light has some tonal differences but that has a lot to do with it being "the end." It can't keep layering on plot in the captivating way Season 1 did because it is now approaching an endpoint. Even before the end of the current continuity was announced we knew this.

 

Probably not a discussion that should be gone into in this thread. =\

 

Probably right. It ways comes down to the same thing though doesn't it?

 

Well... one bright note is that Ryan shouldnt have to mess around buying trades and figuring out which order to read them in - stick with the hardback collections and the whole collected thing should be able to be reviewed properly.
And maybe follwed up with an overall thought of the story.

 

Haha, yes, I have heard about the upcoming ending of the current IDW-verse. It's nice to know that it's ending on it's own terms, rather than finish on an unresolved cliffhanger or be rushed into something hurried.

It's like, I dunno, the Beatles versus the Stones. The Rolling Stones have put out all manner of dross albums since their peak, whereas the Beatles maintained their image by quitting on a relative high (Abbey Road). Do we want the IDW-verse to be remembered for being short but sweet (like the original Outer Limits or the Adam West Batman), or one of those franchises that got strung out way past its natural lifespan (the Simpsons, the X-Files, the Carry-On movies). I know there's always a feeling of remorse or 'gone-too-soon', but that's way better than to carry on like a zombie simply for the sake of it.

"A candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

 

This is pretty interesting - I've heard arguments elsewhere between people saying that Lost Light has jumped the shark, and people saying it's still as good as the old days. Guess you'll have to wait a while for my hot take on the matter. Until then, however...

More Than Meets The Eye #13
Cybertronian Homesick Blues

Cards on the table – I’m not sure what Roberts is aiming for in this one. On the one hand it seems as though he wants us to pity Swerve – he’s naïve, he can’t read people (i.e. Blurr), nobody wants to be roommates with him, and the fact that he ends up spending three hours talking to a fake phone number is presented almost as if Roberts wants us to feel sorry for him. So in reading the material in this particular way, Cybertronian Homesick Blues comes across as a tragi-comedy.

And yet… I find Swerve to be really, really annoying. He grates on me something horrible. In the penultimate scene, when he realises that Blurr has conned him, I was inwardly cheering as I was reading it. So yeah, another reading of the text is this – boorish idiot gets what he deserves. It’s like one of those old eighties He-Man episodes where the equally-annoying Orko cocks up and then learns a life lesson in the process. I almost expected an appearance from Man-At-Arms in this issue’s coda, saying something like, “In today’s issue, Swerve learnt a valuable lesson…” Except, Swerve never does learn a valuable lesson. Even after the potentially life-changing events of recent issues (his near-assassination of Rung, his chat with Ore in the Annual, the near-death experience of him shooting his own face off), Swerve continues to sail through life without the slightest hint of self-awareness.

Take the Blurr scene at the end, for example. Swerve is presented as a creepy celebrity stalker, or the kind of guy who can’t read a signal and insists on pushing for a girl’s number even if she’s not interested. That’s really crummy behaviour on his part, which only serves to make the final punchline so satisfying. But again, I’m not sure if I’m reading this right, or blatantly missing the point. Am I supposed to pity Swerve, or is Roberts’ intent to make us revel in his downfall? I suppose it’s nice that it’s so ambiguous, that it can be read two different ways, but I have a sneaking suspicion (given the moody lighting, Swerve’s doe eyes (visor), and the fact that Ultra Magnus cheers him up at the end), that the intention is for us to root for Team Swerve here. I’m sorry, but no. Swerve is a dick.

But the Swerve stuff is merely a framing story – the majority of this issues takes the form or a recent flashback, as members of the Lost Light crew get wasted in an alien bar. The ‘getting drunk’ angle is a neat (if well-worn) way of getting past the characters’ outer facades and seeing what they’re really like on the inside (it’s no coincidence that one of the very first episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation had the crew become infected with a virus that made them all act drunk). As well as letting us find out some home truths (particularly regarding Ultra Magnus and Tailgate), it also makes for some outrageous comedy (by which I mean, more outrageous than usual). There’s even a nice callback to the old G1 comic, “Guess Who the Mecannibals are Having for Dinner” when it’s revealed that some drinking establishments refuse to serve robots, meaning that the Transformers have to disguise themselves as humans – in the original comic, it was via the use of Pretender shells, here, they use holo-matter avatars.

So we get hilarious scenes like baby Tailgate, Swerve as a cross between Magnum PI and Puck from Alpha Flight, everyone jumping on Ultra Magnus to get him to transform, and so on. You have to admit, the premise is definitely milked for yuks, and by and large the comedy works. This is really outré, cornball stuff, but it succeeds if you’re in the right frame of mind. I have no idea how this issue was viewed when it came out, but I’m guessing the reactions were pretty mixed?

In amongst the comedy we have two main character threads. The first revolves around Ultra Magnus and his failed attempts to be a bit more relaxed. This wasn’t really a character arc I could get too excited about, simply because Ultra Magnus is probably the most uninteresting member of the crew. He has a one-line character trait (‘he’s a stickler for the rules’), and barely extends beyond that six-word description. Hopefully future issues with give him additional character traits, more complexity, because as of now he feels like he’s stuck in a bit of a rut.

On the other hand, the Tailgate stuff is absolute gold. I recall saying at the time that I thought the ‘osal’ written on his arm was short for something other than ‘Bomb Disposal’, and I’m quite smugly happy that I got that one right (despite the fact that it was pretty obvious – oh well). The Tailgate/Cyclonus duo is right now probably my favourite character combo on the ship – Cyclonus the brooding old soldier, and Tailgate the wide-eyed baby. I know that sticking two mismatched characters together is a storytelling tactic older than time itself, but it works extremely well in this case – they bring out the most interesting facets in each other, making Tailgate and Cyclonus more dynamic as a pair than they ever were separately. If we could get less scenes of Ultra Magnus and more of these two, I’d be a very happy bunny.

In summation: Swerve sucks, the one-note Ultra Magnus bores me, but overall this issue succeeded more than it failed. The humour might not be to everyone’s taste (‘funny’ is so subjective), but it worked okay for me personally. The Cyclonus/Tailgate stuff as ace. The art wasn’t as good this issue, however. 3/5

Oh, and Hedonia as a name for a pleasure planet!?! That's straight out of the Terry Nation Book of Planet Naming (c.f. Aridius, Marinus).

 

This has run longer then any other continuity. It deserves a well thought out end. Would you be willing to read the reboot once you finish with this one?

Yep, your definitely on the hate Swerve side. I’m on the like side.

If I had to describe this issue, the term buddy comedy comes to mind, a term not associated with Transformers.

And I think this issue was a fan favorite, but I can’t be for sure, cause I didn’t read it till well after the fact. But I definitely loved it.

Oh, and I never get tired of Whirl.  

 

I’m not sure. Probably not, unless the reviews were super good?

I’m not one of those Transformers fans who has to consume everything. There aren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve never seen a single episode of the Unicron Trilogy, Transformers: Prime or Robots in Disguise; I’ve only seen a handful of episodes of Beast Wars and Animated. G1 is my rock and I’m happy to crawl back under it.

[But that’s the beauty of Transformers: it can mean different things to different people. There are Amanda fans who hate the Beast Era, or Bayverse fans who can’t abide G1. Liking Lost Light doesn’t mean you have to like Generation 2 or vice versa. Some fans like their stuff sealed and AFA graded, others love to take their toys out of the box. It takes all sorts.]

What I’m getting at is, whatever comes next could be different - way different - from what we’re currently getting. Whether it’s something that will pique my interest or not, I don’t yet know.

 

The current theory is that it’s going to be set during the beginning or middle of the war. In sync with Hasbro’s upcoming War for Cybertron toyline.

 

I think how one can feel about Swerve in this issue is either of the views you have presented. Both are equally correct. He is both annoying and someone who deserves a bit of pity. Much like most of us, I suppose, though to a higher degree than your average person.

I tend to think that that's what Roberts goal was.

 

I'm not going to lie--I'd love to see a Grumpy Old TF Prime or Beast Wars thread, as I think those have a slightly more mature tilt to them that G1 fans can appreciate compared to any of the other Transformers media. I'm sure that reading the books and posting reviews takes up a ton of time--so thanks for your dedication and thoughtful reviews.

 

I've never quite "got" the Swerve love around here, but I don't exactly hate him either. Would I hang with Swerve in real life? Hmmm, no I'd probably brush him off as diplomatically as possible. If I did need a friend, Swerve is probably the kinda guy that would talk for hours and after a while you'd probably think "well my life isn't so bad after all", so while you never actually got a word in edgewise about your problems you come away feeling better anyway.

Frankly I do kinda love Ultra Rulebook. Yeah it's a one note joke but he really does TRY to fit in. You can kinda see that just being around these washouts and screw ups is actually physically painful for him. It's almost a masochistic attempt to become more social. So in a sense he is TRYING to grow as a character. (Remember, before this book he was a "I work alone" superhero/lawman.) There's also something of a running gag in Transformers history of Ultra Magnus being a sort the Rodney Dangerfield of otherwise Class A leader bots. From him getting passed over by Hot Rod in the movie and playing 2nd fiddle in season 3, to the "I can't deal with that now!" meme. (Not to mention the psychotic "Prime's brother" in Car Robots and his "just when I was about to get some screentime" run in DW) This is probably the most character development Magnus has EVER had.

Spoiler

unfortunately the character was never quite the same after the Minimus Ambus reveal. Ambus just doesn't act the same way as early Magnus and Magnus never really acts the same way either. Though the jump to the Functionist timeline doesn't help matters either.

Finally, it's not much of a spoiler to say you can never have too much Whirl. If ALL the remaining books until the relaunch were 22 pages of Whirl madness it wouldn't be enough. Whirl was NEVER an A-list character, and even though he was "the Other Deluxe Autobot Wrecker from 1985 your parents wouldn't let you buy" he never had this much characterization. He's tragic, dangerous, funny, broken, and surprisingly crucial to the plot. Whirl under Roberts' pen and Mline's art (seriously, how do you get that much facial expression out of a DOT?!?) has been like a box of chocolates for years now. (And he's only given in small doses, the tease!) More than anything else I think I will miss IDW Whirl the most. (Even if I still can't decide if he should be voiced by Adam Baldwin's Jayne-Firefly or John DiMaggio's Bender-Futurama)

 

Lol. Yeah I’ve always hated swerve. I’m being careful here cos my memory of exactly what had preceded this point is a little sketchy but keeping non specific, what makes me really hate him isn’t that he’s insecure or has no self awareness- he can’t help that, it’s that when folks are actually nice t9 him or he meets someone like him he treats them badly/talks down to them. He takes every opportunity to try and make some one else the butt 8f the jokes cos he’s so weak and terrified if not it will be him. Typical signs of a weak insecure little bully. I do remember getting the same kick out of the end and wondering why others were saying poor swerve, the worm got what he deserved!!

Perhaps i also dislike him as well cos the worst thing about Roberts writing for me is his rubbish attempts at being funny. Sorry but for me he’s really unfunny and at times comes across like swerve writing - trying far too hard and ending up filling the sTory with his really crap attempts at humour that just end up making me not want to read on. I actTuslly thought this was one of the first issues this problem got close to spoiling my enjoyment of it. IIRC he just about got away with it in my book this time, but in hind sight perhaps this was a warning sign for what pushed me away  

To end a little more positively though there’s plenty of excellent stuff to come where the desperate, non stop and failing attempts at being funny don’t take me away from the story so looking forward to some upcoming reviews.  

Oh and yeah at this point and for a while to come cyclonus and tailgate was by far my favourite relationship in MTMTE, far more interesting and enjoyable than the for my taste, sickly sweet rewind/chromedome dynamic.

 

The thing with humour is that it’s soooo subjective. What’s funny for one person isn’t necessarily going to be the same for another. There’s certainly no shame in not finding something funny that everyone else finds hilarious.

Here the humour was relatively high in the mix, but beyond that there was still a lot of drama to be found. I don’t know how I’d feel about a hypothetical future issue that skewed the drama/comedy balance even further towards the latter - I guess I’ll find out when I get there.

 

Hmmm far be it from me to tell people how they should read the comics   but I think you might have missed the point with Swerve. It's as you say, some things elicit different responses. I found S1 Swerve the most likeable; I did actually like him less as it goes on but that's just other characters being more interesting.

There's a lot more to Magnus; there's a few things hanging in the air around this; some clues were in this issue as well. IIRC at this point in the series I was rooting for him and Whirl of all people, heh.

 

Revisiting this issue and seeing the feedback here got me thinking about how we view creative things in general.

The Rolling Stones vs Beatles thing is interesting as if bands like the Rolling Stones don’t end at their peak and have a slow depressing decline we often like to draw our own lines to give us closure and separate an era of their creative output we can view as ‘perfect’ and class the rest as filler. Mtmte is not immune to this kind of thinking either with many on these forums choosing to draw the line at the end of season 1 before a distracting idw crossover ‘event’ comic whilst others choose to draw the line at the name change to lost light.

In my opinion these lines are just things we create to feel better and the reality is a bit more complicated with the ‘golden era’ containing many of the same problems they later receive harsh criticism for its just we are too blind with love during the honeymoon period to see them and the later work often has merit but our belief in our line is stopping us from seeing them.

This issue for me is proof that the line really is just a blur as it contains many of the qualities that later becomes very unpalatable to many people whilst I could happily name many issues of mtmte/lost light released after both of the lines I mentioned earlier that easily surpass this issue and are of a similar quality to the highs season 1 of mtmte is famed for.

You are already doing a pretty amazing job of remaining objective and reviewing each issue on its own individual merits so it seems unlikely that you will fall into the critical trap of drawing a good/bad line and sticking to it regardless of what you are presented with.

 

While not directly spoilers, it's probably not a good idea to dwell on discussion of MTMTE's zenith prematurely. It's also a topic that's been available for discussion in more than one thread.
I agree that Ryan shows well reasoned objectivity, but I also believe he displays some pretty impressive critical skills, delivered in an insightful and articulated manner, (with almost no advertised grumpiness!).

Essentially, despite anyone's attempts at steering, Ryan's going to have his own opinion on the matter and you can bet it will be worth reading.

Personally, I felt #13 was a weak issue. Particularly as the preceding issues displayed strong visual and narrative identities. Swerve wasn't at his most offensive as far as I'm concerned, but the humor throughout the issue didn't manage to resonate with me at all. Despite this, I really don't have a problem with Ultra Magnus' caricature-like depiction as I feel the book benefits from the semblance of juxtaposition between the 'straight men' like UM and Ratchet and the frivolous 'funny men' characters.