Got under my skin a bit, that ending. Still thinking about it. The way it came about after an entire issue of reflecting on cause and effect in relationships. Of course it didn't forget to leave the impression Tailgate made on Fangry. I haven't been this impressed with a shocker like that in a good long while.
In a perfect world this would have been More Than Meets the Eye #64 and next issue would be Lost Light #1. And what an ending it would have made, too. I'm still not buying that Lug is all sunshine and daisies. We never did find out what Anode was going to tell her. Confirmed crew of the Big Skip (working title) Rodimus Ultra Magnus Ratchet Drift Cyclonus Whirl Anode Chromedome Rewind That's only about half of the people Rodimus said would fit. So I imagine that Lug, Roller, and Nautica have come along. I guess Swerve isn't. Brainstorm would make sense, but if the idea is that Minimus is stuck in the armor and thus is now "permanently Magnus" Roberts may not have brought Brainstorm along to give him that out.
Well on James Robert's twitter he said that Spoiler issues 8/9 are Anode, Lug, Nautica and Velocity on a solo caper so that would be one extra. I would guess probably Nightbeat as well as the quest to locate the Lost Light would be a good mystery for him.
Lost Light is digging a hole and dying slowly in it's own isolation chamber. The ending was good, but the rest of this issue was complete garbage story telling. Magnus' issue was wrapped up too quickly. This could have been a couple issues reveal. Lug magically growing into her old self in what, a day? And the biggest story sin, Ship Ex Machina. Hey we need a ship to finally get these guys off the planet, no problem, this guy turns into a ship and viola! Lazy story telling.
Nightbeat and Rung also have their own mystery going. So it would be weird for Rung not to come. The thing is, it seems like all the main characters, and all the responsible characters, have left Necroworld with only Kaput in charge of all the other frozen bots.
This one wasn't bad. Dialogue was awful. It's noticeably repetitive, and plenty of the jokes were barely even jokes. But I liked how things played out. Seeing Cyclonus in a moment of weakness and his moment with Whirl were great, and it was genuinely shocking to see the roles reverse now with Tailgate wanting nothing to do with Cyclonus. The way Tailgate goes out was really well executed, too. The call back to his history under ground for six million years was genius. I have to admit, though, the death hasn't affected me as much as I thought it might. I'll chalk that up to Roberts' reluctance to kill characters off in the past, which makes me wonder: "How is he going to become un-dead from this." If he does come back I'm dropping the book completely, though. Not going to read a story by a writer who still doesn't give a shit about that. God I love Whirl... his moment is so small but so poignant. Even though I'm not into Lug and think the whole scenario with Anode is silly and unneeded, it was cute to see Roller tossing her in the air like that. I wouldn't mind seeing Roller acting more like a Bulkhead sort of character to the cast. Someone who can chill the fuck out is almost necessary at this point. What else... I do like that Fangry. I have a thing for characters who do this sort of shit out of pure spite. He's still basically a generic goon, though. Then again I guess we won't be seeing him again for a while now that they're off the necroworld. I'm not sure about Ultra Magnus. On one hand it feels like his development has been set back, on the other I kind of like that he's back to being strict and rule-obsessed. I wish they made a point of how he doesn't really need to be in the Magnus armour to be effective, since that was the whole point of his arc in season 2. Anyway, yeah, I liked this one more than others. It's not a perfect issue, but it's aight.
Overall I liked this issue but there were a few things I had problems with. First off is Anode and Lug. There situation was wrapped up too neat imo. Lug was dead and now she's not and it's fine because she still has all her memories. It feels like the whole purpose of the Lug hallucinations/resurrection was to just give Anode something to do for the plot, and even after all that I still don't care about them as characters. I just don't! They still seem kind of dry but idk maybe my opinion will eventually change since they're sticking around. Then there was that whole "proof of personality" thing with the Magnus armour which I found the idea of that to be ridiculous. But fine. Whatever. I just hope he doesn't completely revert back to how he use to be at the beginning of MTMTE; undoing all his character development.
There's certainly a bit of 'resetting the clock' going on now. Drift gushes on what defines Rodimus, him being his own own own blind spot despite having an intrinsic knack of seeing people for who they are and inspiring them to do what he wants. That's really not true at all, it's sheer luck of the draw (not to mention Drift telling Rodimus what he wants to hear), but that 100% self belief (an absolute two fingered salute to his G1 namesake) works for him almost all of the time. The captain's reaction prompts Drift to say that's why he needs people like him to keep him in check only for Rodimus to respond with recognising that's why he needs Magnus. A Magnus seemingly back to being his massively OCD self post Megatron. So there's the chain of command reset. On Rodimus, I'm firmly of the mindset that he is barely capable of moving past winging it. He does it constantly. It defines him and his actions. The reset of the chain of command for me affirms that he's remaining this way for the forseeable. And I'm kinda fine with that. Cos it gets results, entertains and his ridiculous persona is possibly the heart of the book. For better or worse.
I'm not as bothered by the personality recognising thing with the Magnus armour as everyone else here as don't banks have similar things to check our accounts for sudden irregular spending then notify us incase we have had our account hacked and it makes complete sense for Tyrest to install something like this without ambus's knowledge as he wouldn't want his magus's breaking character or compromising the image of his legendary law bot without his knowing. I can't remember the scraplets thing but couldn't they just say there was loads inside forcing the armour to move against its will as minimus ambus is so small that he doesn't actually reach his Magnus armour limbs so he must rely on the armour working correctly to move the limbs.
Agree on Magnus. He's just a joke character now really which is a shame. Also agree that hopefully this issue is a sign things are on the up. The humour grated less, there was less of the sanctimony that plagued the functionist universe storyline throughout. Much better. I also thought Kaput was going to be dodgy so I was very happy to see the end. Like Arnie however Tailgate "will be back" I'm sure.
I really hate Anode and Lug. So shoehorned in. I just can't care about them at all, and they are wasting valuable character space.
I was initially critical of this issue, still kind of am. But this was probably the best LL issue so far (when looking at past issues this may not be saying a whole lot but w/e) Let me just say that I love the ending, not just because I've hated Super Tailgate for a good while now, but because it was unexpectedly brutal and made perfect sense in-world. Just 'cause the war is over doesn't mean that all Deceptions will play nice now. Fangry getting revenge was one of the best minor plot threads that Roberts included in this comic and I loved its outcome. Now please, please do not reverse this decision. I want x1000 for Roberts to let this be permanent and potentially have ramifications in the future. I want this character death to be the catalyst for a future story and not just be resurrected in the future. Dialogue throughout was still stinted and kind of awkward to read, but I liked Magnus' situation and I'm fine with the outcome being solved instantly. I'd rather it not have been built up over a few issues because the actual solution was minimal at best and if that was teased for weeks on end, I'd be pissed. Magnus' spiel about Megatron was great and partially true. Guilt doesn't erase six million years of warmongering. Hopefully this leads to some interesting arcs and possible conflict in the future. Anode and Lug need to both go away forever, especially the former. They're not interesting and the way they were presented in this story just SCREAMS self insert/mary sue character. "You're an inspiration"? Jesus Christ. And of course, the aforementioned Lug plotline being resolved almost immediately. Ugh. Kill these characters, please. I don't really mind Cyclonus having emotions, but I really don't like him and Tailgate being a "couple". They never came off as that in the early issues (More Teacher/Big Brother + Pupil/Little Sister), and it seems kind of forced now. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind relationships (I still love Chromedome and Rewind) but it's not being built up properly like CD/RW. It's coming on too strong and its really awkward. Overall, I'd say we're slowly getting back on track to being "good", not quite there yet, but I like this direction and am interested in what's to come, even if the potential for it being "good" is slim.
So that ending was a surprise. There are other bots still on the surface right? Autobots and Decepticons. I suspect one of them may notice the doctor is dead... Great ending, easy to reverse if necessary. I hope there is some ramifications. Still I am not a fan of the relationships, this wrapped it up well. On a nother note, Tailgate's end mirrors his beginning right? 6 million years, that was how long he was down before?
So much goodness. I read LL/MtMtE more for character arcs and interaction than I do for plot (tho' I do love my big action pieces, especially when it's coming from something related to the characters) so having such a more focused and character oriented issue (after roughly at least a dozen issues of non-stop busy arcs) hit all the sweet spots for me. It reminds me of really early MtMtE. I'm on the fence about Tailgate's fate. On the one hand, I want it to be final but I also don't want to get my hopes up either that it'll stick because it seemed like he threw in a hint about him returning (the initial six month prognosis reads as a wink wink see you in six issues). Then again, it could be a hint that in six months we'll find out his fate.
Yep. A few of us have commented on it. Horrible. But fitting. Bookends his whole arc, and as someone else observed, would've made a fitting end to MTMTE before it became Lost Light. Now.. keep him in the ground.
Do people really think this is the end of Tailgate? The other bots will notice that two of their team is missing besides of the only doctor on the planet. It is a matter of time before he is saved.
