I'm not entirely sure what to think about a certain reveal regarding Tailgate in this issue but on a mostly unrelated note it definitely delivered on the body horror.
Spoiler Tarn is terrifying....whats new lol Kinda dislike what they've done to Tailgate...just screams over-powered special snowflake...but what can ya do. Also that body horror was terrifying! Kudos to the artist!
I'm amazed at the number of people who don't get a good she-hulk to cyclonus's hulk reference when they see it. I've been hearing 'special snowflake' and 'hope summers' and it's so blatantly a hulk family joke.
Pretty solid issue. I loved pretty much everything except Tailgate suddenly is now insanely superpowered? I'm sure this is leading to something down the road, but it kind of comes out of nowhere and took me out of the story a bit. I'll see where it goes, but for now I'm not a fan. Sunder continued to be a really creepy dude, and I hope we haven't seen the last of him. The inside-out transformation thing was a surprisingly disturbing kind of body horror, and I think it actually made for a more effective show of violence than your standard bloody gore, since it's very Transformer-specific. Also glad to see that no one died just for the sake of a shock death. Looks like we finally get to see what Skids has so drastically suppressed, and... yeah, that's some pretty disturbing shit. I was worried that the memory reveal might be a letdown, but I totally understand why he would need to keep that locked away. That last page was haunting. I'm glad to see Roberts returning to form (albeit maybe a bit shakily), and I really hope Dying of the Light brings him back to his writing A-game. Also, props to Sakamoto; I haven't cared for his art in recent issues, and I still don't like it nearly as much as Milne's, but he did very well on this issue. Also, Tarn's tank tread shoulder capes are the pinnacle of Cybertronian fashion.
I really, really hope that there's something that we don't yet know about Tailgate that will be revealed in the next few issues, or AT LEAST that Tailgate isn't used as an excuse to neatly resolve the Dying of the Light. But it's Roberts, so I trust him (especially now that this issue delivered IMO) to handle it well. Man, this issue was good. Grindcore was brutal and awful, Rung's bit at the end was great (owning up to his mistake and being professional/mature/responsbile), and Megatron....oh man, Megatron. The next two issues are gonna suck for him.
Hmmmm. That was alright. Good read actually. Some beautifully horrific imagery. Moved things into a very odd place for the finale though. I'm enjoying Megatron's choice of walking further away from himself. The kill or be killed attitude of his former self being exactly what the crew will need come next issue. But what this Season has shown us is that he is no longer that person, both physically and mentally he can no longer and will no longer lean on violence, and his new outlook has hit its peak at the worst possible moment. What's eating me though, is Tailgate's foreshadowing as the deus ex machina of The Dying Of The Light rather obviously juxtaposed with Megatron's final renouncing of violence. These two changes go hand in hand and I wonder how we're getting Tailgate's 'enhanced strength, abnormal speed (and) invulnerability' into Megs to give him a fighting chance. Or is that too obvious? Surely going down fighting in this instance would be better than the alternative? Because failing that it's curtains. The worrying part of the exchange he had with Rodimus says he's willing to embrace that possibility come hell or high water. Unless he delivers the mother of all speeches to his former greatest acolyte and breaks Tarn that way..
Just finished up and I can't wait for #50. I think my only complaint would have to be Sakamoto's artwork. It's just so inconsistent-- seriously, check out any character that is in the background, they're barely sketched out-- almost rushed, and it didn't really fit the mood of this particular story. Because of it, Sunder's rampage almost seemed slapsticky and almost whimsical in places instead of terrifying which is what was needed. He's a decent artist, but I don't know that he's the right fit for this book in particular. That last shot was great, but could you imagine how jaw dropping it would've been if Milne had drawn it?? Any word on #50's tentative release date? edit to add: Just want to make it clear that I'm not hating on Sakamoto's art just for the sake of it, far from it. I think he's got a decent style (that could use some tightening up compositionally) but it just hasn't "fit" on MTMTE. For me at least. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he tends to get some heavy issues and the themes of those issues don't play to his strengths. He'd be an excellent addition to the Windblade-related book/s since his work has the type of energy and quirks that'd be more at home in that setting.
Was pretty disappointed. I keep hoping we're going to get back to how things were before, but every time we get a lick of seriousness, we get something ridiculous. Spoiler The pacing felt really off tonight, and I think that's been the issue for a long time. Too many important moments condensed to the point of near incoherency. It's very jarring to have people being turned inside out by telepathic brain surgery one page and then Rung flying his model spaceships with little guns and Tailgate hulking out to save the day on the next. MTMTE has always been heavy on the humor, but since the time travel arc ended, I feel like I'm reading a gag comic with serious bits mixed in instead of the amazing story that single-handedly drew me into Transformers in the first place. The issue did have redeeming moments. Getaway's fate, for example. Like to see who did that. And the final bit of what happened in Grindcore was pretty damn good. I like Sakamoto's work in general, but definitely seconding that this particular issue REALLY would have benefited from Milne's art.
Another yawn worthy issue. Not as horribly bad as the last one, but still quite dull. Ready for the big surprise about Skids? It's that Tarn, a guy already known for ripping peoples brains out of their skull and feeding it to them, is literally Hitler. Yeah, that's it. Also Tailgate is off-screen better and suddenly has Super Powers now. Because.... Rainbow lovesplosion? I mean, why not? So are the people whats-his-bad-face balled dead? Because if so, Thunderclash was a huge waste. But I find myself caring less and less. I liked the shuttle transforming, and I liked Rung's army of drones, but the rest of this was a lot more bollocks. I hope 50 comes close to bringing back MTMTE's former glory.
Not a bad issue in my opinion, seemed a little shorter than usual. What I want to know is Spoiler did Thunderclash and Froid survive their 'balling' ?
I'm assuming so if Rodimus is okay. Like Rung said so long as the spark case is undamaged they can be fixed. Chromedome just needs to give them a litle nudge to remind them how to transform.
I agree and i felt very under whelmed with this issue particularly that you leave things on a cliff hanger and it resolves it self in the most cartoonish way possible again (looking at you personality ticks x_x). I figured Thunderclash may put up a fight considering how (albeit jokingly) he's considered to be one of the greatest if not the greatest autobots ever. The issue with MTMTE right now is that it takes 2-3 issues to lead up to a battle and 3 pages for that battle to end. I mean i get it, you want to have a star studded line against the DJD but this is errrr......so messy that a lot of action/drama/explanation is happening off panels with characters providing the information later on. It doesn’t really add to the intrigue and annoys me because we’re probably going to get an explanation but 5 months later. Also, is Getaway missing his mouth? wtf? also why is he mounted the way he is? Fort Max didn't get this treatment hell overlord was chained a little more humanely than that (yes he was sedated but you could probably just do that to Getaway too) what about brainstorm, chromedone?. Who convened the panel that decided this outcome? :S How does Tailgate stumble on Getaway then somehow all the important people from the cast converge on the same spot? just so meh. Everything is so convenient, you have gore but it can be easily undone effectively ensuring that everyone survives. The only thing i found redeeming about this issue was the art/coloring and lettering. The story itself was such a big pass for me.
I'm hoping Skids memory issues tie into the eventual "Tarn" reveal, although seeing the last panel from within the tale is quite a mind screw. Seems like there should be more to it. Sunder's mode of attack was at least creatively terrifying. I kinda wish we could get a similar tale that didn't involve so many author insertion characters (Rung, Froid, and Sunder/Sceptre). Aren't there 200 other guys on the Lost Light after all? The Tailgate reveal was good for underscoring the change in Megatron. Otherwise it's a naked and hacked in deus ex machina with about zero dramatic importance.
Also, can I just say the balling people was dumb? Here's the thing. I like the idea of a Cybertronian forgetting how to change shape and going haywire- in fact, we've had dozens of such threads about mistransformed toys (WhY mY sHouLdeRs HuRT) which honestly, would have been a much more fun and interesting take on it then explode into balls. Transformers in this universe don't work that way - it might work in the movieverse where Transforming takes place on a much smaller level, but in a G1 based universe where everybody looks pretty toyetic, it's just more nonsense designed for cheap body horror shocks. Sorry Roberts, the DJD has totally desensitized me to robot violence. You can blame yourself for that.
Seriously, this is basic storytelling 101. We know Roberts can do better than this, we've seen him do better so ??????????
Not sure what you meant by that exactly but you skipped the part in your quote where i mention that this would be covered over the next 5 months and that is annoying. The point i was trying to get at was that James could have easily fit most of this in were he not trying to shove issues in like Swearth. Furthermore Cyclonus reached for his sword and the autobots opened up on him in issue #47, there was no need for him to do what he did. Even Megatron admits that he would not have harmed Tailgate in the very next issue. If the end result was Chromedome having to read Tailgate's memories then that could have taken place without Cyc putting up a resistance. Giving tailgate powers because he time traveled and saw 1 person he loved almost die allows him to mutate. Well that is great but what about the rest of the damn crew who time traveled alongside Tailgate? you think those bots having fought a 4 million year war won't have some of that acute stress related trauma? by that logic the most likely contender for all of that should be Rewind who A) witnessed the slaughter of the LL crew by the DJD and then saw all of the atrocities undertaken by the Functionist council. To add a bit to this, issues # 41 & #42 didn't add much to the story apart from acting as a platform to get Thunderclash on board. The same thing could have been executed in one panel by having Thunderclash show up (which literally happens all the time in almost every major comic) when the LL actually faces off against DJD. Its not the best of solutions but that way you could have at least 1.5 issues which could have either covered the Cyc/Tailgate saga or added more to the Sunder story. I'm no writer obviously but even James has to understand that 2 potential issues were somewhat wasted on his indulgence and you can see its ramifications here. I mean what exactly happened to the quest for the Knights anyways? at the moment it feels like i'm watching a serial where a new threat comes out of nowhere, seemingly unstoppable and blam, over and done with. TLDR: The explanations are too convenient imo and feel contrived. Some issues feel completely filler which reduces the pages for some actual story (see end of remain in light). Again this is just my opinion, no one is under any obligation to agree or disagree
I meant that the idea of "show, don't tell" is one of the basic storytelling rules most writers get drilled into their heads from day one. Like the whole plotline with Cyclonus, Tailgate, and Getaway. I think we all assumed we'd get some follow up to what happened in issue #47, but then all we get is some talk about them being okay off-panel, and then Tailgate perfectly fine by issue #49. The resolution fell flat because we were only told how it resolved, instead of seeing it play out in the actual comic.
