Because he never found out. He died before anything about Minimus came to light.

 

We do have an example of a made, not born outlier in the form of Tailgate though.
Roller has, like Tailgate, been irradiated (or potentially so) in that spark field add in the Quantum surge exposure of the LL Timetrippers materialising within his alt mode and we have almost identical mechanics (radiation exposure + time jump exposure) to what has theoretically caused Tailgate's One Punch Man mutation, with Tarn expressly stating he found his gift late it does swing the gaze of suspicion Roller's way.
If indeed he DOES have an Outlier ability and he isn't faking it by secretly OD'ing them on C32 as some have theorised.

Whilst it's true Dominus has not been identified as a POP, depending on how the familial traits of sparks work in the IDWverse and unless explicitly stated otherwise, being Minimus spark brother implies the possibility he *could* be a POP, which would make him able to run a body as powerful as Roller's. That it's been established Rewind lost track of Dominus at a Bodygloving clinic continues to niggle me, of course it may still be a different loose plot thread to the mystery of Tarn's ID to be woven into the tapestry later. It would explain that shift from taciturn, blue-collar cop to classical music loving intellectual though, not to say that characters can't change over time without a brainswap.

In truth it's as much my unwillingness to discard either as a suspect that has me lumping them together. Whatever the resolution I think Roberts has played fair with the clues and red herrings necessary for an interesting and compelling mystery.
As a writer he is good at making things connect in a sensible way, it may be that he flubs the landing in *how* he reveals it as he has a couple of other times but I trust him not to do a left field for the sake of it 'Ha!Hah!It's this guy from panel 3, #6 all along and none of you spotted it!' resolution.

 

....

D'oh! Aw man, I mixed up Rewind v Overlord and the last arc before Dark Cybertron  

One wonders how circumstances were different to have him find out. And I hope they didn't discuss that and I forgot that too.

 

Is he, though? About the only times I remember Rewind being "demanding" were when he was 'demanding' that Chromedome stop 'injecting'... which is understandible.

See, I think you're arguing a negative from an unknown there. We know so little about Dominus... but it's pretty much certain that he would be forged, and therefore could be a POP. Also, outlier research was only beginning to happen at Shockwave's institute (a period when Dominus was off in space)... how would anyone know if he had an outlier ability? The whole outlier thing is inexplicable by normal Functionist science. Dominus seems to have occupied a higher status in Cybertronian society, so he wouldn't necessarily have been instrumentalized as a military operator even if he was a known POP, nor would his outlier status have needed to be known. I mean, what about the POP guys that the Sparkeater went after on the Lost Light? Were they -known- POPs? Did they have special status? Or was it something that was private, that was only really discovered after the fact?

All we really know about Dominus is that he was a physically large-ish genius-type who belonged to an important "family" and was highly respected. And he had a 'crest' on his face that looks like a moustache, of course.

In terms of the outlier thing, it doesn't really rule out anyone. Tarn himself noted that his outlier ability only developed and was recognized late in his life. It wasn't something he was 'born' with... so in that sense, he could be anyone. We've also seen an example recently of a latent outlier ability being triggered due to trauma and other factors (with Tailgate).

Well, we don't know what form of POP Tarn really is. It has been implied that he's a Warrior Elite/Phase Sixer class upgrade, but that hasn't been 100% confirmed either. And we know there are different classes of POP... but we don't know how many different variations there are.

I agree that having Dominus 'body gloving' Roller seems unnecessarily complicated (also, the actual process of body gloving is vague). But we know that Megatron has swapped bodies a million times now, so obviously a POP can get upgrades or have their spark transferred to a new body. That's no issue.

zmog

 

Actually it'd be funny if Reflector was Tarn.

 

 

Makes you feel more empathetic to Chromedome.

 

Something thing no one's mentioned is Tarn was a patient of Lobe and his assistant... who both also operated on Shockwave and we really don't know when he was.

The other thing that's hard to pin down is how little Tarn is on the front line of the war, at least as we've seen. Grindcore and the DJD are not front line. So, if Tarn is so powerful (and he is, given what he's done), why isn't he in the front?

 

DJD, strike me as berserkers where they will kill the enemy and their allies. Once they get killing it is hard for them to stop killing. They are last group I want on Front Lines where if you put them there everyone on the battlefield dies. You can not predict their movements and coordinate an attack plan. The DJD is less an asset as battalion group and make excellent hunters. Tarn created killing machines that will slaughter anyone. Megatron was well aware some more aggressive members of the Decepticons so he needed something to keep them in line. The DJD is like New Institute to the Autobots something ensure loyalty amoung the troops.

 

Well artificially creating outliers is not entirely impossible, as in 36, Sentinel had been experimenting that long ago......

 

I get why you would want to control Helex and Tesarus and maybe Kaon (as a chair isn't too much of a battlefield asset), but I don't get Tarn and Vos. Both of them are pretty well controlled, much like Sixshot. So the question remains: why did Megs keep his best troops away from the front? Why did he keep one of his protege's (and Starscream if you can think of SS as Megs' other Tarn) away from the place where he could have inflicted catastrophic and demoralizing damage?

 

I feel like part of the question is When did the DJD form?

Like, is Tarn pulling double Duty as the commander at the Grindcore while also leading the DJD?
because that seems unlikely.

or does Megatron form the DJD after the fall of Grindcore or after the Warriors Elite/Phase Sixers start going rogue?

 

What if Tarn is Dominus and Roller. ....that might explain the classical taste...

 

So...both of them at the same time? Alright then.
Dominus disappears, donning a Magnus-like suit of armour, becomes Roller and being a load bearer accounts for all the modifications to become Tarn?
Why you ask? Dominus knew that leading movements were no longer enough to fight for the rights of the disposable class and others, he would have to take a more direct approach. He couldn't become too big or the Senate/Functionists/whatever would deal with him, so he started small as a police investigator where he met Orion Pax. As time went on he became a resistance fighter, things were good. Then Elegant Chaos happens and tack on an appropriately ridiculous version of the Roller is Tarn theory. The freedom fighter becomes the oppressor.

Probably is contradicted timeline wise and plain common sense, but speculating comes a lot easier to me when I don't believe any of it myself.

 

That was my guess. I was thinking the body is Roller, but the spark is Dominus. If Roller's spark went out some time in the past, but Transformers in IDW seem to be plug-n-play with regards to sparks and brains. Dominus could've been dying so he makes a deal with the devil to get another shot at life.

We see Lobe and his buddy operating on Tarn's body; we don't know whose spark is in the body.

But all of that is probably more complex than necessary. The simplest answers are often the most correct.

Or the spark was Terminus, which would fulfill the "you were made to hurt someone" line, assuming Megatron was talking about hurting Optimus. Roller's body walking around with Megatron's disciple's spark would hurt a lot of people (because Terminus encouraged the writing, but wasn't the master - he's not Aristotle to Megatron).

 

With Vos it is matter of communication he does not speak regular or Common Cybertronian but the old language that no one speaks. So if he try to go to field and there need for a communication coordinate an attack Vos is a liability. As for Tarn it is simple Megatron needs someone to control the DJD. Tarn is still an effective interrogator or torturer as well as a warrior. Tarn is more effective as special ops where you need a small unit to function in area get in and out quick. Tarn's skill set will be wasted as battle field commander.

 

It still amazes me Megatron never once thought, hey maybe I should sick the DJD on the Autobots high command.

I have a theory that there is more than one Tarn, much like Vos and the rest.

and that

Spoiler

Both Roller and Dominus have been

Tarn at one point.