Where to begin?

First, I had to look back though the art on the whole series because if you notice Ironfist has a "scar" right on his noggin. It was staring us in the face the whole time.

Of course that meant I had to re-read the argument/debate in the Aquitus Chamber. Ironfist was SUPPOSED to use the Suicide Lock. Actually it was Verity who wouldn't STFU and let Ironfist speak for himself.

Pyro didn't want to die, and Ironfist was having a a moment of dealing with his own mortality. (which has got to be a big deal for a creature that's lived millenia) When Veirty began arguing about the madness of it all. Topspin, who was in serious pain at the time, (and being the only REAL Wrecker in the room at the moment) did what Wreckers do, screw the body-count and get the job done!

Which, of course, threw the whole mission into chaos. (made it "chaos-y-er"?)

For the record, at this point I don't believe Percepter is a Wrecker, (which is why he's not listed as MIA/KIA or unaccounted for in the epilogue) He's more like a adjunct-on-loan. The squad needed a specialist to operate Aqueitus. The only thing is, it doesn't seem like he was cleared to know Ironfist was to use the Suicide lock.

Don't you hate it when command compartmentilizes orders?

Speaking of command, I'd say Impactor was more guilty of violating a DIRECT ORDER, than the atrocities. A millitary can over look a lot of things in the fog of war but insubordination can lead to breakdown of cohesion. (It's why I never joined the millitary myself.   True story, I was rejected back in the late 80's)

I gotta admit though, this does beg the question, what's the hirarchy of rouge Autobots? The Dinobots went MIA for a few centuries, but they were known for breaking rules quite a bit. (speaking of breaking rules, Sideswipe bends them,,,, a lot, but he's a mainstream Autobot) but Grimlock seemed reluctant to work with, or ask for help from the Monsterbots. Yet the Wreckers are the only squad of Autobots to have a C.O. Imprisoned for war crimes. (well Grimlock was going that way, but he wasn't there yet) So I gotta know, what's up with the Monsterbots?

Overlord's demise was both anti climatic and fitting. Even after all that damage, he was still a threat untill Verity destroyed him in a way no weapon ever could. Truth hurts. Thanks Verity. (though the flaming skull, while awesome, was awfully Terminator IMHO)

My next points have to do with the bio's:

I'm glad Guzzle lived,because I suddenly love the guy. (even though he looks like Orko inside that helmet) The though of him being significantly smaller at one point is funny and rings true. (it's called Napoleon Complex, or why the smallest, weakest, least able to fight of your friends is always the one who gets your crew kicked out of the bar or arrested) So essentially he got "roided up" to play in the big leagues, and most of his friends got killed,,,,

Spoiler

by KUP!

on a rescue mission.

Overcompensating much? Yeah! *cha-click* Youse gottta problem wit dat?

Finally Pyro, I gotta ask though if he painted himself to look more like Prime, what did he look like before? Because he's got a LOT more yellow than Prime and he's a FIRETRUCK named PYRO! The blue helmet I could see and the faceplate, (which IMHO really doesn't resemble Optimus's ENOUGH to be modeled after it.) but what other colors would Pyro have been? All yellow and black? Orange? That ugly lime green/yellow some firecompanies use? (or whatever the European color scheme for a firetruck is? Actually that'd probably make the most sense. Don't they have white/blue fire trucks in Germany?)

Anyway, shame we don't get to see Pyro as a hero in his own right (his past deeds) before he began emulating Optimus. Might make for a good Spotlight in the future.

 

I was on Verity's side. Pyro was a major, major douchebag in issue 4. He redeemed himself in the end, but yeah, he fingered Ironfist to die because he was a nobody, not because he was the one who was supposed to do it.

 

That's the feeling I ultimately came away with, and maybe that's why I made the comment that the series lasted an issue too long. I was expecting or hoping that the final issue would justify all the violence up to that point, but it really didn't.

It was good to see Verity on board since issue 1, but I think you're right that her role in issue 5 was the reason she was included in the story. It would have been bad enough for one of his fellow Transformers to let Overlord know that he had been wasting his life obessing over Megatron, but to have a human do that was a real twist of the knife.

And it works very well. The Transformers seem almost blind to their flaws at times, but Verity is the outsider who can comment on them, just like she did on the Aequitas computer and the Wreckers' place in Transformers society. She offers a different perspective.

I got that, and that's probably why the ending of the series was such a downer for me. The Autobots who died didn't die for a noble cause. They died so that the truth could continue to remain hidden. That's about as depressing as it gets.

I agree. It was a very trite sentiment after all the deaths. Yet another reason why the ending of the series didn't work for me.

I agree. Roche seems to have a particularly harsh view of Prowl as someone who's willing to send Autobots to their death to preserve a lie. And if we look back at what he did to Kup, he's also willing to override someone's free will without their knowledge or consent for what he considers "the greater good". In other words, Prowl is a very "the ends justify the means" kind of character. That doesn't exactly square with Costa's take on the character.

 

Good point. When dealing with cybernetic beings who can get stuck in a rut for a millennium, it's also interesting to have a human voice in the series to voice our own (as human readers) points of view as outsiders. I have no problem with TF's acting like short-sighted idiots, and having humans blow their mind with some kind of simple paradigm-shifting observation, so long as it's handled well. One has to be convinced that it is an intentional point, rather than just poor writing.

In this case, I liked it.  

Oh, hell yeah. But I sort of liked that too. Sorry to see some of those bots disappear from the IDW universe, but the utter cynicism of it all worked for me... because in those kinds of movies where the "expendable" team of motley specialists mostly perishes to achieve some mission, often it turns out the mission is of a dubious nature anyway. The only thing missing in this case was outright betrayal.  

Though one plot device still pisses me off. What the HELL is with the "suicide lock"? Who builds one of those? Okay, we don't have the access codes, but we can get in if one of us kills himself! What the hell kind of security contingency plan is that?? WTF?

Barely concealed plot-hammer is more like it.  

I don't know what they were trying to imply with that ending, but I don't think it worked.

Also... SNARE. Why kill him off? They should have kept him around... could have yielded some interesting story connections down the road... though I guess Thundercracker occupies that position for the moment.  

I f***ing LOOOOOVE Roche's Prowl!!!

Prowl was one of my first TFs, and remains a sentimental favourite with me (sentimentality being rather ironic, considering it's Prowl). However, I don't have a heroic attachment to Prowl, requiring him to embody all of my own personal ideals of heroism... I just want to see the character treated with the respect he is due. In most of the media, if he gets any characterization at all, he is reduced to an uptight, mostly ineffectual sub-administrator with a by-the-books mentality, which I find robbed him of a lot of his significance.

Roche's Prowl, by contrast, is a subtle, calculating, mover and shaker. His discussion in his Coda story of his motivations, and his contempt for the rugged individualism that prevails in the Autobots, was bang-on for me. His methods and rationale might be entirely questionable, but that makes him a fantastic character and an important element to have in the Autobots from a storytelling point of view. Prowl is a strategist. He sees the big picture and plays the bigger game.

I also enjoy the fact that he can be both sinister and completely earnest. He isn't in it for power or prestige. His motives are "pure". He simply sees the most logical course (even if it is labyrinthine in its mechanics), even when it might seem emotionally unacceptable. Prowl is meant to be one of Optimus Prime's most trusted advisors, and you can see why... he is capable, but also provides a rational, pragmatic, unclouded perspective that someone as "humane" as Optimus would need for balance.

Even if his character becomes almost antagonistic, I prefer that to the bland, un-nuanced role Costa has drawn for him. One more self-sacrificing heroic fool in the Autobots brings nothing to the larger dynamic. It's a waste of the character's potential.

zmog

 

Ironfist....  

*sniffle*

 

I haven't read all the posts here re: LSOTW. It is probably the best thing IDW has done, followed closely by Ongoing #4. Nick has an excellent grasp of the TF universe. His inclusion of throwaway characters is brilliant.(Squadron X) I have high praise for IDW regardless of what the fandom has to say about certain aspects. In a way, IDW has re-created the mix of Marvel US and Marvel UK stories that we all loved and grew up with. I see the ongoing as the mainstream US and the mini's, spotlights etc, as UK stories. Granted the UK stories were considered fill in at the time but ended up fleshing and creating the Universe proper. A lot of the fandom doesn't enjoy Don's current take(not me, I love it) but looking back at (and I'm sorry Mr Delbo) Jose's run on the original US comic it is far superior. Fandom complains about change of art styles but check your UK reprints, that's all we had. A roster which included Reed, Wildman, Sullivan, Staz and Senior(come back we miss you!) to name a handful. But I think I digressed too much. Keep it up IDW!! LOTSW was fantastic!! The only questions I have now, is where did the Big Grim go and who was Shockwave's handpicked crew. Guess I'll just have to wait for Roche's next mini.

 

This was something I considered as I took some time to rethink things. His curt manner in dealing with Impactor was surely meant to tick him off, thereby giving Prowl the opportunity to have his energon and eat it too.

Goodness I've gotta go back and re-read/look closely at those panels. Also, I had totally forgotten what the suicide lock was, so that had gone over my head. This comic is absolutely chilling.

I totally agree with you here. It was a combo of Terminator and Dreamwave's Fallen. But then again, maybe it's our own limited mental capacities to immediately refer to these flaming bots.  

I completely agree with you here. And while I wasn't ever really a big fan of verity (or human characters in general), I think this was one of the top 3 best depictions of a human character in the TF universe (contending with G1 Spike and Shia's "no No NO!" Sam).

A very dark ending indeed. I loved it.

 

I forgot about the suicide lock too... so in the end I'm not sure if Ironfist was there specifically for the suicide lock or to "take" Aequitas. Somehow, it feels like overkill to have the dramatic self-sacrifice for the suicide lock, and then the dramatic self-sacrifice for the Aequitas download. It's like the writers weren't sure which plot device they were going to use, and ended up using both instead.  

On a side note, something I liked was that the "Brain Bullets" actually became a meaningful plot point. When they were introduced earlier in the series, it was almost as an aside. It really seemed like a random detail to jam-pack in there. Awkward. But now I realize why they had to make sure the Brain Bullets got in there. Probably could have been introduced in a better way, but the series did have a bit of a compressed feeling, so maybe it was a space/time constraint.

zmog

 

Prowl's manipulation of Impactor raises an excellent point about him. For someone so logical to be so adept at manipulating the emotions of others makes him a VERY dangerous adversary. I wouldn't be surprised if he disagreed with Impactor's style and tactics enough to have set him up on order to get him out of the picture.

 

So, this Prowl is like a Spock that turns into a cop car?  

 

A much more dangerous Spock

 

This also occurred to me.

That's how Prowl always should have been. Reading his old bio, you get the impression of someone who tends to sit in the background and be unobtrusive... but he sees and analyzes everything. I don't think he was originally intended to be this sinister, but I think it's a valid and very interesting take on the character. Probably the best take on G1 Prowl I've seen in any TF medium.

zmog

 

Just thought I'd point out little things I'm picking up from rereading the issues. Most of these are little bits that might've gone unnoticed:

Issue #1: Verity offers to go to "Uhura Mode" and hail the Decepticon ship Impactor was flying on. Most of us know Uhura is from Star Trek.

#2: Pyro wonders if Impactor was locked up for selling adulterated energon to the "Chomskians." This reminds me of spies who sell nuclear arms and other secrets to the Russians. Also, Noam Chomsky was an American political dissident.

#3: After their initial escape from Overlord, Ironfist laments Rotorstorm's death. "He shot him in the head, Perceptor! In the head!" As he says this, he's pointing to the wound on his own head. I had seen the wound ever since the first issue, but Ironfist is pointing to the cause of his eventual demise. =(

#5: The panels after Overlord says "Kill every prisoner" are of the group of Autobots shown in #3 as Overlord says "Any Decepticon who brings me the head of a wrecker can leave." The panels are in the same position, lower right corner of the page.

 

One more:

Issue #5, Verity has a book on the table of the diner that reads "Tennyson" on the spine. Lord Alfred Tennyson was a poet whose phrases have become commonplace in English, such as "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." It's not improbable that he also wrote "life persists."

 

I think she was paraphrasing Tennyson throughout the issue, penning new articles under the "Fistitron" name, which was used as the issue's narration. My issue is at home or I would research further.

 

To be fair, he's still alive. I'd describe him as more of a prominent intellectual and media awareness lecturer/author/theorist than a "dissident" really.  

I noticed that too, but I wasn't sure if it was a meaningful reference or just an incidental private joke.

zmog

 

Since it seems some people dont get "life persists", ill say what it meant to me. I felt the message was about how no matter what may happen to you and the people around, you have to keep moving forward, even though a lot of shit went down on G9 the autobots and verity cant stop and stay in sorrow, they have to keep living, no matter who died.

 

Yeah, that occurred to me too... however if the thesis/summation of the series is essentially "life goes on", that's still a pretty weak note to end on. I mean, yeah... I get it, but it's still a fairly bland platitude.

zmog

 

I thought Perceptor was part of the unit specifically to be near Kup, since they rebuilt his body using the Pretender tech, and in turn making sure his cy-gar was always available which killed the cravings Kup acquired while trapped on that planet in the Spotlight?