Yep, which has me utterly leaning towards the double cross thing. Chest full of sparks and a one armed Spinister? Place ye bets. Fixing that mess in the cell is fucking child's play once he's hacked and slashed his way to the smackdown Scorponok has deserved since Maximum Dinobots and taken back the Magnificence, then it's a rendezvous with the Rod Squad and staring down the Apocalypse as foretold in LL #1 with a full on ensemble of crowd pleasing characters quipping and smashing the fuck out of everything that stands in the way of a soppy ending.

Fuck the critics (playfully, gently.. it's only entertainment, people) this is snowballing into a glorious finale.

 

Shhhh, don't mention anything about finales. I'm not ready for it to end yet.

 

Definitely a very good issue! With it being so exposition heavy, I kind of felt that it missed some of the classic characterisation I've come to expect with Scavengers-centric issue. I think I'd have liked to have seen a little more insight into Scorponok and maybe have Grimlock's abuse be explored a bit more. A panel with some explanation from Scorponok seemed a bit...rushed. Perhaps both these things are coming down the line and I should hold my bloody horses. I also really hope we get a little more exploration around Grimlock defection to, and from, the Decepticons. I don't just want to be told it happened, I'd like to actually hear Grimlock talk about it.

That said, I loved the info dump. Elegant storytelling be damned. I love a good wallop of exposition every now and then. And there are some fine, deft wee character touches still in there. One of the many things that Roberts does well is to make you appreciate the viewpoints of both the 'good' guys and the 'bad' guys and, with the little bits of dialogue about the Autobots stealing the magnificence ("Typical Autobots....that's their excuse for everything") and Nickle and the Scavengers very different views on the DJD, this issue was as good a display of that skill as any.

Also, I really enjoyed the stuff with Shockwave and Tarn. Shockwave seeing only the logical outcome (from his viewpoint) rang very true for me. Not only is there a precedent for this way back in Spotlight:Shockwave but it also reminds me of someone I work with. The guy is a brilliant academic with the rare quality of also being emotionally intelligent with it, yet he frequently gets totally caught off guard when someone doesn't think the same way he does. He sees everything with such clarity and he's arrived at such perfectly logical conclusions that it's just staggering when other people don't see it his way. So yeah, the Shockwave stuff rang so very true to me. Well played.

All the revelations about the magnificence were interesting and fun. That it may be the last physical vestige of the 'oldest and wisest of the Knights' (who's that? The knights are separate to the Guiding Hand, right? We've never actually had any of the knights identified in any sort of a way, have we?) is another thing that really makes it all feel like this whole romp is being tied up. The prospect makes me both happy and sad.

And yes, the magnficence was aequitas! Which means that Overlord was after it too. Was that who Scorponok thought the Scavengers were working for? Overlord talked about it before he found himself in league with the Galactic Council, so while they may have an interest in it he wouldn't be after it on their behalf. At best it's of mutual interest to them both. Of course Tyrest and Pharma are still in play, with Pharma appearing prominently in Drift's vision. It's going to be fun watching all these bits and pieces converge.

So yeah, enjoyed it a lot. I don't believe the Scavengers have all just been offed but none the less , unlike Tailgate's fake death and subsequent milking thereof, I really felt the death scene and actually felt genuinely upset that Grimlock, who'd only pages earlier been recognising that they're a team/family, tore them to pieces.

Can't bloody wait for the next issue.

 

Yep, would be awesome to see some Grimlock action, haven’t had nearly enough of that in IDW. I was a little amused about the editors reference to Monstrosity on the ‘history’ Grimlock and Skorponok have, as I always think of Spotlight Grimlock and Maximum Dinobots. Bring on the full tilt action.

 

So the magnificence was under aquitas? I think we called that years ago

 

I like that nod, that goes right back to why Grimlock chins him rather than take the offer in his Spotlight. Lovely stuff.

@barry - the idea of a talky yet visceral scrap between Grimlock and Scorponok is juicy as fuck. I'm glad Scorponok remains the big ham he was of the Furman era. He's a complete arsehole and likely to exposition his way into the afterspark. Fucking arsehole.

And yeah, I'm firmly of the belief that their deaths are a bait and switch. But he still royally pummeled them. Maybe Spinister took the theatrical brunt and after the curtain closed it was spark extraction then messing up the bodies pain free?

I like that idea.

Watch them be deader than A-line flares with pockets in the knees, though..

 

You know, out of all the MTMTE/LL characters, the Scavengers are the ones I want to get out of the whole thing alive so that they can romp freely round the cosmos. I'm not sure I can articulate why just yet, but out of everyone they're the dudes that 'deserve' freedom and a happy ending.

I know, a funny point to make when they're all in bits on the floor.

 

Issues involving the scavengers really makes me appreciate my krok and misfire figures

Not to mention my potp grimlock  

 

Spoiler

As you've probably picked up already, most of the revelations this issue involve The Magnificence, claimed to be potentially what remains of one of the Knights of Cybertron. It is likely that The Magnificence held a relationship with the intuitive Aquitas supercomputer, as it was the mystery element, allegendly contained in the lower reaches of the Garrus-9 facility. We discover that Grimlock was charged with guarding The Magnificence, having been physically altered to carry the mythical item. Obviously this confirms the Decepticons got to their prize, presumably gaining access to The Magnificence after submitting Grimlock to tortures. A degree of cognitive tampering and involuntary control over Grimlock is alluded to.

One of the most interesting possibilities of this reveal is that we may already be familiar with another potential knight. While many of us would prefer not to remember D-void, it's worth noting that this continuity arc was born from the Chaos story line. While the Matrix is a similar mythical artifact and a strong plot point, I'm pretty sure it can only be deity associated. Vector Sigma may have potential, however.

Agreed, it's nice to get a feeling of momentum with many long-standing mysteries receiving attention. I really don't understand why some of us fear a resolution to this story. As if other adventures can't be had once Cyberutopia is reached...

Yeah, iBooks Australia here. We do get it early, Comixology just has a delay. Available after around 12am AEST, (I had a late one).

 

And here I’ve been all these years waiting until Wednesday evenings to read all my comics like a sucker.

 

Yep I certainly did. Or at least felt it had something to do with it

 

Okay, I know that last panel is for shock value, I know Roberts has been upping the death rate because he's building in a "raise the dead" feature, but still... That last panel really got to me. More so than seeing big name bots die two issues ago, likely because these are the type of characters to actually worry about. Mirage dying? Please. A made up con bomb is another matter.

Still, I know they'll be back. So ,I guess what it comes down to is testimony that the people who put in work on the book are doing a great job.

 

The curtains being pulled back and I love it.

One of the series longest standing mysteries and now the blanks are getting filled. I remember Roberts promising that way back during the season 2 live stream.

Scorponok was badass in this issue, especially the way he shutdown Grimlock with a word.

And Grimlock, is he suddenly back to his old self now? I sure hope so!

And that last panel, that was good shock value. Even though it’s save to say that the Scavengers aren’t dead.

 

That reminds me. I wonder if they'll reunite him with the Dinobots so we can get Volcanicus after this?

Wait a bunch of characters, some of whom just got figures killed off in an IDW comic? Rest of the Scavengers confirmed to be getting a mainline release! Maybe as a combiner team.

This wasn't the first quest Swerve went on. Hopefully it won't be the last.

I think it helps that the Scavengers are well... Their just a bunch of guys. Some silly blokes who somehow survived the war, and are just futzing around now.

 

Yeah, and somehow I'm more attached to them than anyone else in this book.

Damn you Roberts, for messing with my emotions!

 

in the end it wouldn't let me download it til about 8pm, so i'd say you're on point with your evening schedule. and i got a whole bunch of art finished to keep me distracted during the wait so we all win.

All except the scavengers, god daaamn
i can't imagine them ALL being dead just yet, but what a gut punch.
and if that is how they go out, what a brutal, ironic, devastating end.... JRo hasn't made me cry in a while but that..... that'll do the trick.

 

In regards to the Magnificence, remember the possible set up for it in Dark Cybertron and that it may not be Knight of Cybertron creation.

 

What the hell? Are they dead? Why did he do that? Or just faking it?


Loved this issue. Hope it stays like this.

 

Honestly a pretty decent issue but I'm still figuring out how I feel about the ending. At least there's no way Spinister can be dead. Nickel too. I can see this being another fake-out for all of them as well. Especially when we don't see it happening. I had theorized that Grimlock would flip out and kill the Scavengers some day waaaaay back in issue 8, but now it's like, eh. Having them killed as a group instead of going out one-by-one seems kind of cheap if this is the case.

 

Issue #97 of Marvel UK is all I will say...... I'm not saying they are facsimile constructs (they aren't) but if you remember the end of that issue (and Roberts read tf UK) then you know what I mean.