Hm. I think I'm done. Goodbye, Lost Light.

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by RNSrobot, May 13, 2017.

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  1. HereticalHeresy

    HereticalHeresy Decepticon

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    I'm just not interested in her due to the fact that there is already a lot going on with the other character. Without a doubt, this line has many arcs going in different directions, each requiring focus. I find the question important to ask, was Anode necessary in this regard? Is there a possibility she'll play into a couple of pre-established character arcs? Absolutely. However, I feel like there could have been a better way to do that, rather than introduce someone completely new. There's just so much currently going on, to add someone else on top of the pile, like I said before, it's feeling cluttered.

    So maybe you're right, maybe it is too soon to say anything about her. But my opinion is that she better tie into a lot of other characters and arcs, or else there's just too much going on here. Take Terminus for example. I'm okay with him if he were to receive more attention because he is at this point critical in Megatron's character, a pre-established journey that is on its way to reaching its destination. But Anode, it feels like she's going to need some sort of better connection soon.
     
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  2. GoLion

    GoLion Banned

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    Agreed, I read the first season a few weeks back in its entirety. The first 20 or so issues (before dark cybertron) are fucking masterful.
     
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  3. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    I think readers need to stick with a series they have been enjoying longer than jumping ship at the first issue they didn't enjoy. One bad issue doesn't mean a thing if the following issues are decent so someone who dropped the book because of The One Where They Go To Earth has done themselves a huge disservice having read the issues after.
     
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  4. Tailgreat

    Tailgreat Active Member

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    I'll admit that LL has been the weakest part of the entire MTMTE saga (outside of Swearth anyway), but I'm still enjoying it well enough even though the big reveal about Rung has been pretty weak thus far. I think it'll take off once they've escaped the Functionalist universe.

    Anode's a nice little addition to the cast, I'm liking the fallout to Skids' death, Tailgate and Cyclonus' dynamic shift is really good, Killmaster showing up and revealing Whirl as a big liar was hysterical, and the grand return of the Functionalist universe was something I wanted for a while.
     
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  5. Red Spider

    Red Spider Well-Known Member

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    I've been having similar thoughts myself to RNSrobot and I can fully appreciate what's been said.

    Milne was a massive, massive part of the book and I think the delay between MTMTE and Lost Light was pretty painful and then when LL arrived it felt like a different book to me in more than just a name. I don't want to knock Lawrence and I think he has great potential. Maybe the treatment of Milne has affected us more to the change than a 'regular' switch of artist would? Still, I think it's very much a thing.

    In regards of Roberts, in my opinion he has written the best TF stories I've ever read and I think he is a great writer for the format. I think delays and a few experiments with the pacing have hurt the LL so far. For me as well I had to stop following him on Twitter which was a great way of keeping myself immersed in the mythos and swirl surrounding the comic. I really enjoyed his TF posts but the political views and social commentary was a little much for me just wanting to read about Transformers. No disrespect for the guy or criticism to his beliefs or views but it just wasn't for me. As a result I feel somewhat more discombobulated in regards to the story. I have gone from a chap who would buy two copies of this comic, one physical, one digital because I couldn't wait for the post to a guy who reads the comic when he gets round to it.

    If anybody who has bothered to read my gibbering and feels the same way has got this far I would suggest we stick around and give Roberts and co a fair crack of the whip. I appreciate what he has done for the brand and for comics and I am going to stick it out. Maybe people should see the end of this arc and maybe a couple of issues of where it goes next. I personally feel that they have done so well they at least deserve that much from me. There has been so much good and some amazing character pieces throughout as well as some rollicking good stories, I'm hoping this is following the footsteps of a lot of US series and after the first middling episodes they finally hit their stride after 6 or so shows.
     
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  6. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    I really, really appreciate your thoughts. And you're right that Roberts has done so much for this book. I'm not saying forever, but for now, I need to step away.

    I absolutely believe the artist change would not be such a big deal if not for the circumstances. Again, Griffith chose to leave transformers books to pursue other opportunities. So zama is a fresh take. It ALSO helps that she is bringing a drastically different artistic voice to op than Andrew brought to xrid.

    If jack Lawrence was replacing a Milne who chose to step away, I'd probably be like... Well he's not amazing, but I'll give him a shot. And it's not against jack as a person, of course, but simply that there is an ugliness to why the art is not by Milne. So no, I'm not charitable to Lawrence, particularly paired with a middling story.
     
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  7. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    I believe you, when you say it. But I can honestly not remember seeing Glitch before the reveal that he is Tarn. Until someone mentioned his name for the first time again in this thread I did not even remember anymore who Tarn really was now. I just remembered it was not Roller.
     
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  8. ZeroiaSD

    ZeroiaSD Autobot

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    The thing is, I don't think that's how Roberts works as a writer.

    Can you imagine Season 1 existing anything like it did if Roberts asked 'is this really necessary?'. I think he comes up with ideas and thinks, 'can I make this fit?' or 'would this add something new?' and 'will this help things stay fresh?'. Roberts signature was taking obscure and new characters and making us invested in them, so he's going to continue making new stuff because that's how he works.

    Was Anode necessary? Plot-wise, she has a job no-one else does that plays into what Rung's purpose is so fits in there, plus she directly adds a piece of worldbuilding that fleshes out our knowledge of sparks and fits in with the functionist universe, so I'd say on that side, yea, though it wouldn't be hard to retcon Velocity as doing that stuff. Character wise? Too soon to tell, I bet she's going to grow more major, but it's not always predictable. But I don't think that's how he thinks anyway.
     
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  9. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    All of this is true, valid, insightful.

    I still don't enjoy anode. So, a failure while other ideas have been successes. She can still be a failure.
     
  10. Rewind

    Rewind Swoosh!

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    Still loving it. I actually like Anode quite a bit and find her and her story arc interesting and engaging, especially after #5. I wasn't fully comfortable with Jack's art at first but I quickly got used to it and I really like it now. I think his style fits the characters wonderfully.
     
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  11. Focksbot

    Focksbot Skeleton Detective

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    Top marks to everyone for a really good thread. I feel people on all sides have put their opinions thoughtfully and respectfully, and it makes me happy to be a part of a fandom that's able to have this kind of discussion.
     
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  12. Wheeljack_Prime

    Wheeljack_Prime Searching for the Infin-Honey Stones

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    Lemme list a recent interview quote from him:
    "I wanted a driven, funny, independent, ebullient, cheeky new character, with a unique set of skills.”

    Yeah. He really doesn't realize that that description applies to more characters in the comic than it doesn't, if not all of them. She's barely gonna be be more tolerable than Riptide at best. I'll leave it at that.
     
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  13. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    Lol

    It's the journey. Anode will obviously have some important, surprising role to play. I actually like her function.

    But it's the journey, and I don't want anything else to do with her .
     
  14. PhaseSixer

    PhaseSixer Well-Known Member

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    I have read a lot of what everyone has said.

    Replacing Milne the way they did was wrong, as it was unexpected, they rebooted the book 7 issues after they made a spectacular about issue 50, again unexpected, the first arc of the lost light has absolutely nothing to do with the quest, its almost like the quest has been abandoned, Lawrence's art isn't bad, but it's not Milne, Nothing wrong with Roberts writing imo, but rereading season 2, there was way too much filler, that's to me why season 2 didn't hit a mark

    Can we talk about the elephant in the room? Let's all be honest that while megatrons redemption and autobot turn is interesting, the way IDW pulled it off didn't work, so season 2 turned into what looked like a rework of what Roberts originally intended. To me there were ZERO seeds dropped before Megatrons turn, it was like they said what will jolt sales the most and let's do it. So they shoehorned seeds, but Megatron becoming a autobot the way he did, didn't make sense with what came before it. If you want it to make sense I guess you can make it, but does it flow? No. but IDW has always tried to pretend everything they do fits
     
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  15. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    Hmm. There's a lot of truth there. Was there any megatron development prior to Dark Cybertron? He was pretty much a stunning asshole in xRID Season 1. Bee gives him some chastisement, dies, and Megatron wants to redeem himself.

    I'm personally ok with the gap, because I think they've done a tremendous job with Megs moving on from dark cybertron. But I think you're right, there isn't really any build-up.
     
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  16. Kane prime

    Kane prime Well-Known Member

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    I love mtmte and lost light is enjoyable.
    The art style is different but I don't mind it at all , it does however have its weak points

    Btw what bad issues of mtmte have there been ?
     
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  17. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    There's a difference between issues some people didn't like and actually bad issues.

    Some people didn't like Swearth or the Personality Ticks issues since they are self contained offbeat stories but are they actually bad?
     
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  18. emptythreat

    emptythreat Well-Known Member

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    I dropped reading the book long before LL and have had issues with the writing from early on.

    The key points other have raised already are :

    Characters all speaking with the same voice, in the same tone, in the same "statement, joke, statement, aside" structure that gets very boring very fast
    Multiple fakeouts and lack of proper resolutions - I have argued before that the Shockwave reveal was meaningless because the only people who didn't know who the senator was was the audience. The reveal did not affect a single character on the LL, no-one was changed or grew from this revelation because they all already knew. They knew and never mentioned it before. Also structurally the story was told in accounts by the characters to fix Rung (already a pretty flaky idea) but then the Shockwave bit is a reveal, not told by the characters but as an actual flashback. Roberts has a habit of not really knowing how best to frame his stories.
    Also, I cannot abide "meta" as a concept in fiction. It's horribly self-absorbed "look at how great we are" writing that stops a story dead. If you are so in the clique it feels like it validates you but it stops me dead whenever it raises it's ugly head.

    I have never thought he was a bad writer but he does strike me as a one trick pony, and after the initial excitement at the sheer difference of his work we are left with the sameness of his work, and repeated exposure just wore me out. I do feel that Roberts has reacted to the Tumblr audience and shifted things more in their direction which is not to say it is less valid, just that by favouring one group you are inevitably going to shut someone else out. It has lead to some strange tonal shifts such as Tailgate being an abuse victim to now being in a romance with Cyclonus.

    I also feel like a lot of his ideas feel borrowed and not nearly as interesting as the hype they generate. Old Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and Voyager plots seem rehashed and re-purposed without a particularly new spin.

    One aspect during season 2 that I was genuinely impressed by was the way Roberts wrote Megatron. He masterfully pulled off the impossible there, but it was the only bright light in a sea of mediocre for me.
     
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  19. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    Of course I feel bad for the people who loved MTMTE before and now drop the book because they don't like it anymore. But better drop the book than forcing yourself to read it, if you already know you don't like it. And also then posting every month that you did not like it would add nothing to the rest of us who still like it.

    For me right now this is the most interesting story since season 1. If it ends soon I'd be a bit disappointed. But maybe that's better than dragging out too long. Like Barber's book. Nothing really happens there. I feel much better that I don't pay for the Optimus Prime book I only bought the one that Milne drew, because I want to support him :)  And I liked the art. But for the rest... The 3,59€ would feel wasted for the Optimus Prime book. I still feel it's good invested in TAAO and LL.

    But everyone has to decide for him- or herself.
     
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  20. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    Hell when you look at it, a run as long and as solid/well received as Roberts 57 issues of mtmte - a couple issues here and there or those who disliked s2 aside - is fairly phenomenal. It's a five year stretch that would be amazing on any book.

    I am disappointed to feel this way but as you say, better to drop it now rather than be disappointed every month. Especially for a story and characters that mean so much to me. Hell of a run.
     
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