I completely forgot Lug is her Endura.

Given that Anode kind of completely recreated her, I thought Anode was more like Lug's...Mother?

 

Yup, I'd agree with all of this. Swerve's insecurities are pretty obvious also. But my absolute favourite is that Whirl hugged Cyclonus and so many people didn't even pick up on the irony of that action. Instead they've been cooing at the friendly display of affection to quell cyclonus' sore feelings! Hilarious!

Now when did we last have a story about characters realising their worst fears? That's right, Hoist's spotlight issue!
Character's fears were manifest by Galactic Council tech used to protect asset worlds.

I'd say they're in close proximity to the GC, the only clear explanation for the bizarre events.

 

Wtf dude

 

You’re forgiven for forgetting. It’s literally never come up in the stories themselves, only in a recap page on #8.

 

Satisfied with this issue.

This is probably the least worst Anode has been but I could've done without her.

Enjoyed seeing the crew chill out for a bit even if it all blows up at the end.

I'm really curious what really became of Tailgate, like what could be worst than death? I'm glad Rodimus actually cared and was heartbroken over the news, probably one of his best moments in a while.

The Canoodling bit was a bit much.

I'm interested in the mysteries set up in this issue, shame we gotta wait another 2 months till then.

I think Roberts is starting to improve again.

 

Hmmm, cynical old me is wondering if Rodimus' sadness at Max's news is actually because it should have led him to head back to Necroworld, and that would have meant he lost hope of catching Getaway. I wonder if he is lying to Cyclonus about Tailgate being dead to prevent any (as he sees it, unwanted and unnecessary) detours. He is rather motivated by revenge. I could imagine him being that selfish, but believing the ends justify the means.

 

Ok

If that were the case, wouldn't it be far easier (and more ambiguously sinister) to just never say anything to Cyclonus?

 

He is ego driven too. He really wants to prove he's a better captain then getaway. As much to himself as anyone.

Rodimus needs a victory

 

I thought I was gonna hate this issue because of the preview, that Roberts had for serious killed off Defensor without much fanfare so we could have a story about Anode having a head in her butt. It was actually a nice return to the old crew, and the whole prank-war with Swerve did a decent-ish job integrating Anode more with the regular cast, though I do think Lug needs to develop dynamics with some of the other bots. The character interactions made this one for me, with Swerve being willing to sacrifice himself to save Anode, Ratchet and Drift interacting as trusted friends and confiding in each other, and Whirl showing great development in comforting Cyclonus. As much as I liked Tailgate, and as upset I was at him supposedly being killed off, I do kind of hope his death isn't a fake-out. Cyclonus' grief is what made this issue for me, and I feel like bringing Tailgate back might cheapen that. The reveal of what was happening to Ratchet, and the wham ending with Ten have me hooked for the next time we see Team Rodimus. The one issue I have is Ultra Magnus. I love Ultra Magnus and his development throughout MTMTE, but ever since the re-branding, the poor guy feels like he's become the one-note joke character he's usually critiqued as, and some of his dialogue in this issue feels downright out-of-character. Say what you will about Minimus, but he's never demonstrated anything but contempt for people who try to impose the kind of control his self-help book is about. That's why he rebelled against Tyrest, and he even called Prowl out on it. I know it's just a joke, and not a huge problem with the issue, but as an Ultra Magnus fan, it's kind of upsetting. That said, this was a good issue, and I'm actually looking forward to the Scavengers arc, as well as the resolution to this story thread.

 

This issue felt a lot more like the MTMTE era books that I loved. Hope Roberts found his groove again, because the next issue preview does make it look like the type of writing that made me love the book is back again.

 

Ha ha. I'm poking fun at some of the other posters, as well as myself, for all the silly speculation we had way back when with MTMTE. My initial thought with the post you're quoting was to say Ten is dominus ambus.

... and autocorrect didn't catch my misspelling of hackneyed. Dammit.

 

I have a revelation. This isn’t crazy speculation.

I am Ten

 

I KNEW IT!!!

 

I don't know, it just felt... unfocused.

I'll admit, my first thought was that Ratchet was "possessing" 10 after disappearing. I also agree that virtually everyone was having their fears realized.

 

Definitely suspect. Though the first and third are based on tangible events, so it's hard to say it's a Scarecrow Gas situation. Though it would be very on brand for Rodimus to fly off in the one Outlier Decepticon out of the bunch.

It's also very on brand for Tyrest to employ small dudes secretly dressed up as big dudes, and we know that's what Star Saber is anyway. It would be easy to say that Saber himself died a long time ago, or is kidnapped, and that it's actually Grumpy McDiaclone wearing the Victory Star.

 

Do we know that's the case in IDW specifically? I must have missed it if we have...

 

I personally think this is spot on.

 

That would be an enormously jerky move from Rodimus, and would honestly make him no better than Getaway in my eyes. And knowing Roberts, that's exactly what he's done.

 

We don't. But we know such beings exist in IDW.


On a similar note, while it wouldn't make sense for a robot of Anode's scale to have one, I would have loved it if the butt head thing wasn't a prank. Because some bots (like the ones in combiner teams) do have second heads in them somewhere, which means Lotty probably wasn't making that up.

 

We also know tyrests previous enforcer was a small bot in armor so the legacy could be passed on so it stands to reason his new enforcer would follow suit

On anode, I was half expecting it to be revealed her and lug were duocon type autobots (like Potp battletrap)