Exactly the point I was making!

Looking deeper, there are some hints he does hold some standards that he loses-though it’s not that well communicated

When the protectobots catch wind of his misdeeds, he could have had them out and out killed then and there rather than do the memory loop thing: after all, he's already shown himself willing to have dissident crew members sacrificed to Sunder in order to save his hide, and killing them would've eliminated the risk that they might escape and inform Autobot command and send a larger force after him (Of course they were...preoccupied with Unicron, but Getaway couldn't have known). And he can't be keeping them alive to stave of suspicion from command since, whether they’re dead or incapacitated, sooner or later, people will notice one of the Autobots combiner teams failing to check in.

The only reason he'd spare them (that I can think of) is that he didn’t want to-or rather, didn’t feel it was necessary. He ends up crossing that line of course, when he forces Atomizer to kill Rook.

Regardless, it ends up being rendered a moot point when he’s already thrown away the lives of 25 (I think) crew members to Sunder. He’s already crossed the line, so why give him any standards at this point?

It would’ve been better if we got more time and issues to develop Getaway’s fall.

 

I agree mostly with those that say Getaway's descent into madness was ...sudeen and not written the best.

LL is general just wasn't that great, thought some moments are peak.

My biggest issue is that this will likely be the perspective and usage of any new incarnations of Getaway; I rather like the original's (and say what you will about what amount of character he has) more suave, James Bond-esque take -even if Furman loved to kill him.

I feel this way about some of the IDW characters, and overall, it was a very mixed bag.

It had its mountains and undersea trenches to be sure.

 

Could've been worse though

He could've gotten the treatment Star Saber got.

 

That reminds me: Anode was originally supposed to first appear in a plot with the Mutineer's. Don't know what that would've looked like, but it would've been interesting.

 

I thought Getaway's actions was due to shadowplay by Tyrest at Luna One and the crew were under Sunder's control, that his and Froid were screwing with their memories explaining issue 47 through 49 and the Mutineer arc. Was so disappointed to find it was what it was.

 

Would've made sense. Maybe Tyrest figured he'd make Getaway a sleeper agent as a contingency, but something went wrong with the process, and it messed with Getaway's psyche

 

Though it lacked in execution, possibly from the rushed ending, I kind of thought Gateway's descent was supposed to mirror Megatron's.

He starts his mutiny based on a hatred of Megatron and a belief that Rodimus is inept, selfish and dangerous. At some point his intentions made sense.

He first crosses the line when he sees Tailgate as an acceptable loss to be rid of Megs. Cruel and manipulative, yes, but there's an argument that the ends justify the means, which is damn close to something his former boss, Prowl, would do.

Speaking of Prowl, I would not be surprised to find out that he had something to do with Getaway's heel turn between Dark Cybertron and the sjip's return to space. Prowl hated seeing Megs walk "free" and could easily have put a suggestion into Getaway's head to be rid of him. I like that idea more than it being Tyrest's meddling. There's also a connection to Megatron there with the subtle hint that the aborted Shadowplay Droid was having done on him somehow kickstarted poet Megs turning into psychokiller.

When Getaway is freed and takes over, he does so using his magnetic personality and makes mutiny seem palatable to much of the crew. But he finds keeping control incredibly difficult and makes compromises like falling in with Sunder and Star Saber.

He jsut keeps digging a deeper hole for himself because this gigantic ego (exactly what he accused Rodimuw of) can't countenance being wrong or accepting defeat.

Buuuttt.... it didn't play out that way on paper.

 

Tbh...yeah that makes a scary amount of sense. I doubt Prowl would take Megatron walking free lying down. So, it's perfectly in character for him to pull something like that.

Only problem is the fake voting list Atomizer handed out before the verdict came out. But my personal headcanon for that is that Atomizer was plotting his own mutnity, but then Getaway found out and offered to combine their efforts.

Even before that, there was the situation with Whirl and his scuffle with Megatron.

While the intent was to get Megatron to react violently, giving them an excuse to get rid of him. But the possibility that Whirl could end up killed in this attempt had to cross Getaway's mind-after all this was Megatron, not to mention the bad blood between the two. But I doubt he would've cared-between Whirl being an unstable and violent psychopath, the historical rivalry between the Wreckers and Spec Ops. In fact, he might have hoped for it for the same reason he manipulated Tailgate-make a martyr out of him.

Hard agree there. iirc Getaway only appears in in 5 issues in LL-the Mutineer's trilogy, and 19-20. Not enough time to develop his fall

 

That would have been so much more interesting and gave his character some element of tragedy. He was completely unlikable. A narcissist whose only skills are killing and manipulation stages a mutiny because he's petty and doesn't have the discipline to follow military order stages a coup. Said mutiny goes south and leads to failure because he's a narcissist without charm whose only skills relate to death and destabilization. Not very engaging. Only thing i wanted was to get past him as a plot point and it was dragged out for years. Finding out he has some redeeming value of likability or that he isn't entirely vapid would have been a great twist and made the whole mutineers plot feeling like something other than a waste of time. The main plot just stopped for years and at the end i just didn't care about the mutineers or the functionalist reality because of that. I liked autobot megatron and enjoyed the whole showdown with the djd, but really wish they had gone straight from that to the mutineers perspective (catch the audience up) and then resolving that subplot up. Then move to the side step of alternate cybertron. Giving megatron an unexpected personal crucible timing wise and highlighting how much the basic crew had grown disgruntled at the situation was cool, but not if the plot essentially stops for years and how pointless it all turned out to be really was a turn off. An editorial decision to rework these subplots into the larger narrative would have helped a lot. Making getaway a victim and not just a waste of an individual would have made a much the mutineers a more worthwhile subplot. Instead we got a worthless character with a near worthless story. Froid and sunder were ok.

 

In my opinion, Getaway was more than justified. Despite how sorry Megatron was feeling, he still indirectly or personally slaughtered millions, most of which didn’t deserve it. Megatron should’ve had his story end with being tortured for the rest of eternity. But then Getaway just turns into Megatron 2.0 in LL. Maybe it was a way of trying to show Getaway turning into who he was trying to kill, but it instead skydived from 1,000 feet in the air before falling into a garbage can and splattering all over it.

 

Yeah. I think that might've been what they were going for: a 'he who fights monsters' type of deal, where Getaway, in addition to being a brutal tyrant, also shows traits of the petty and egotiscal manchild that he accused Rodimus of being.

It was just executed poorly.

 

I see the criticism of someone like Megatron and I think of Negan in Walking Dead. He was defeated and sentenced to life in prison so he could watch the other communities thrive without his tyrannical rule and forced slavery of them. And it almost worked. Death would’ve been too easy for him. Iroh said him killing Ozai would be seen by history as just a brother killing a brother for the throne, when the Avatar needed to defeat Ozai to restore balance and end the war. Same for Negan. Killing him would’ve just been another bad guy being put down. Imprisoning him gives the heroes a moral victory and allows them to properly punish Negan for his crimes, since that hurt him, being stuck in a cell and not ruling the communities.

But like I said, it almost worked. A year and a half later, he was begging to be put down simply because his bat that he formed a psychological attachment to in lieu of his dead wife was gone. He didn’t feel bad for what he did, and even when he came back to his cell after escaping, it was because he realized his old empire was gone and he wouldn’t survive on his own. He did do some heroic things out of pure altruism, but any tyrant can treat their waiter with kindness. Killing Alpha was half to save his own hide after it looked like he was going to be executed (for admittedly involuntary manslaughter). It took coming face to face with Glenn’s son to finally realize some of what he had done - and he didn’t truly feel sorry until his wife and unborn child were in danger from a situation eerily similar to what he did to the group. But the group would’ve never been that cruel to him to punish him. Nobody reasonable would.

So I say all that to say that Megatron’s evil was so great that I don’t know how they could’ve punished him properly besides death just to make sure he couldn’t do it again. It’s like what First Aid said, Pharma doesn’t do anything, he’s dead, and he can’t hurt anyone again. That’s a simple solution, and it’s effective. Aang killing Ozai still would’ve ended the Hundred Year War and saved the Earth Kingdom, but Aang had the blessing of being able to come up with a better way. Megatron is in a setting where they simply could not come up with a better solution, and without the Lion Turtle, it would’ve been the same for Ozai. And Getaway points this out when he fully becomes a villain, that all the death camps and pink alchemy and etc were so morally bankrupt that it’s impossible to believe Megatron ever deserved anything different than actual punishment.

And that leads to Getaway himself. He goes from asshole who has a point to two dimensional villain. But he’s still entertaining to watch for a little bit. It’s appalling just how fast he goes off the deep end purely to maintain control, and that again is a problem. Getaway wasn’t a control freak in S2 nor did he have a god complex and yet we jump to that immediately by the time he returns in LL. And even then, his end isn’t as satisfying in a cruel, twisted way as watching Negan beg for his wife and child’s life like Glenn did, nor as cathartic as seeing Ozai helpless and weak, barely able to lift his head off the ground.

I still love IDW 2005 Megatron because… I don’t know. I just do maybe because he became the protagonist and tried to do better. It’s so complicated. Maybe it was Chris McFeely’s performance in that script reading.

 

Gonna be honest...couple years back...I absoulelty LOATHED Getaway...and yet, I couldn't stop thinking about him. Like something was off about it.

Then it hit me: Getaway's potential in LL was wasted.

 

I think a lot of people already pointed this out but Getaway's personality shift during the mutiny just didn't feel organic. He was charismatic and socially astute enough to understand how to get people to like him so he can get them to do what he wants, that was one of the things that made him seem really interesting and dangerous. There was also the added bonus of fact that he had a point about Megatron, so much so that a mutiny to try and kill him or get him off the ship was 100% justifiable, any Autobot would have been more then fine with Megatron dying considering how much of an absolute monster he was for 4 million years, the amount of genocide, destruction, pain and suffering done to galaxy by Megatron just couldn't be measured. Getaway was right and nothing about the mutiny was strange and unreasonable...Until he suddenly becomes a completely different character and acting like deranged maniac, hurting the rest of the crew, allowing guys like Sunder and Froid to stick around, killing Atomizer and then going on some insane spiel about becoming a Prime despite this never being brought up before or hinted at as a desire for him.

It felt really tacted on for me at least. It was like the story was trying waaaay too hard to make Getaway looks as cartoonishly evil as possible instead of the subtle danger, corruption and "ends justify the means" thing he had going on. Getaway spiraling into madness COULD have worked...but making him do hilariously over the top acts of violence and having him ramble like a lunatic did absolutely nothing to invalidate his points about Megatron or the mutiny. It felt like the story just wanted to gloss over a great chance of a genuine moral dilemma of how truly damaging the war was, the war Megatron caused. Getaway was born into the war it's all he's ever known and as far as he's seen Megatron is and always will be the enemy. There could have been a really good confrontation between Rodimus, Megatron and the rest of the crew over if it was right to just let this mass murder continue to exist or how Getaway is the way he is BECAUSE of Megatron and the war. After all, he wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the war.

There's a lot that could have been done with the mutiny arc but it just felt like wasted potential over how everyone should just feel sorry for Megatron being old and sad after 4 million years of genocide and billions of deaths, while Getaway is super evil actually! for real! I really liked the story but man...did I feel let down by that "conclusion".

Oh, and massive missed opportunity for some deep dive with parallels between Getaway and Prowl's mindset considering he's supposed to be one of Prowl's agents and worked with him for a majority of his life. I'm also disappointed we never got a real interaction between Getaway, Prowl and Skids. And also Mirage just dying to Star Saber.

 

Yeah, we could've seen something where Getaway is confronted. I mean like, a legit confrontation and argument, rather than the washed down version of what we got.

Also, the fact that Getaway and all the MTOs owe their lives to Megatron reminds me of this one quote from Rex during Clone Wars Season 7:

“We clones have mixed feelings about the war. Without it, we wouldn't exist"

In fact, I see plenty of parallels between the clones and MTOs. Child soldiers in all but name, who are literally created for war, and have to fight in it whether they like it or not. Except, at least the clones had like, what 10 years before they went into actual combat. MTOs spend their first seconds of life in a warzone.

Not as stupid as Atomizer IMO.

Yes, I'm sure your friend will totally understand you betraying him and letting his enemies escape

Spoilers: He didn't.

 

Definitely a massive missed opportunity right there. There could have been a really good set up and pay off with the mutiny. We could've had a really interesting final confrontation with Getaway involving the fact that he's an MTO born for the purpose of fighting the Decepticons, and Megatron who is the very embodiment of the Decepticons, the guy who started it all, the mech who is indirectly responsible for his existence. He finally has a chance to kill him. I really thought the reason why Getaway even started the mutiny was because he was trying to fulfill his "purpose" as an Autobot MTO and we'd get some kind of moment where the realization was Getaway did all this because he genuinely believes it to "right" and his duty as an Autobot to get rid of Megatron. That was preforming his "function", what he was made to do.

But nah. We get cartoonishly evil, egotistical throwaway villain with the flimsiest reason to start the mutiny. It was a let down.

 

I do think Getaway is probably a victim of the rushed ending, but at the same time, so much of LL felt meandering that I don't know if Roberts would have developed him more "smoothly" even if he'd had all the time in the world.

For all the issues IDW Star Saber had, he was at least consistent within IDW. 90% of most people's objections are just which character was picked to be that role. If he had done all the same actions but been an original character like Pharma, I think most people would be fine with him, or at least neutral (although I still felt his final battle was lackluster regardless). Getaway might differ from his G1 self, but I think the main issue people have is how different he becomes within IDW, and how quick the change is.

 

A great example of Roberts making interesting writing moves on accident, then getting so high on his own supply that he can't deviate from the obviously flawed trajectory he had planned. I always got the sense that he was banking on the charisma of his Megatron iteration to narrow fan opinions a bit more.

The assassination of Getaway's characterization was a major blow to the series. It wasn't nearly the first thing to go wrong, but it was so confusing to see an interesting and engaging turn get snuffed out in favor of an incredibly flat, lame alternative. In the end, all it did was reduce the thoughfulness of the piece, and make it a less interesting work to consider.

As the comic progressed, it became clear than anything that might challenge the main cast of walking tropes and Avengers analogs in an interesting way would not happen.

 

Is that really true? Man. Another case of a villain being too based so the writer made them horrible just so we’d have less reasons to root for them. Lol.

 

I’m still really frustrated with Getaway’s characterization.

kinda.

I mean I have to remember he did try to manipulate Tailgate so from the beginning he was pretty scummy. But yeah the material in Lost Light REALLY pushed him over the edge into being a rather eye rollingly irredeemable bad guy. Which stinks because he was totally right in calling out the main cast and Megatron on all their inadequacies.

With the Getaway we got?…He’s got some stuff going for him in his goals and the sorta implied story line Roberts was going for.

But dang what we almost got just scratched an itch for me so much better than what he ultimately went for.