Thanks. I wish we knew more about this religious movement. I love finding out about Cybertronian culture.

 

Surrender ?! Do you seriously believe, that that was a good idea Megatron (resp. Rodimus) ?

So, Lug is a girl ? Wow, what a (interesting) surprise. And she said "the pretty one"...Hmm, do I "detect" some interest here ?  

I feel sorry for the prisoners...I hope, they get saved, somehow, and can join Rodimus´ crew.

 

Really thought he is a hovercraft thing. I forgot that his wheels are on his back. Thanks there.

 

Hmm. Wouldn't it be pretty obvious to the Functionists that these guys really are interdimensional travellers, or something similar, since they're a mixture of obsolete (ie. extinct), legal and illegal forms, and just appeared out of nowhere? It seems bizarre for their leader to treat them like run-of-the-mill agitators.

Also, hang on - there are no functional objects at all in this universe? Every machine is a transformer? What about the gun JudgeDreddbot is holding? What about escalators?? What about digital tablets????

Leave it to Roberts to introduce a whole raft of new things to get my head around!

I find some of the dialogue here a little clunky and exposition-y. Say your friend had dictated a letter to you last week, and you hear him quote a part of it this week. Do you then quote a larger chunk of the letter and remind him that he wrote it? Seems a slightly odd thing to do.

 

I liked the preview overall but agree with you here. Dialogue was definitely clunky in the functionist universe due to the renumbering/renaming to Lost Light.

 

Shattered Glass Megatron, is that you?

 

Roberts said he originally wanted to make Nautica/some female mechs indistinguishable from male ones, but IDW wouldn't let him. I'm glad he was finally able to do his thing. Really, really glad.

Now to keep the other artists and guest covers from putting lipstick and curves on Lug and Anode.

Also laughing at Lug assuming Rodimus and Drift were a pair.

 

Interdimensional travelers is a rather wild assumption, isn't it?

 

You, can't blame the girl for thinking that.

 

OK, but outsiders/aliens at the very least. Considering how tightly they run their ship, I'm surprised the functionists don't know exactly where everyone is all of the time.

 

The "Judge-bot" could be of the Primal Vanguard. it was stated before that guns were "part of their anatomy" maybe the same holds true for data tablets? consider for a moment all of the random shit G1 transformers had built into their arms in ye olde cartoon (especially Ironhide)

 

Drift confirmed for prettiest character!

 

I really, really hate that cartoony style of art, it doesn't work with Roberts' writing at all. Milne managed to sell Roberts' often clunky dialogue with his amazing work on facial expressions, this artist makes it look like a bunch of words pasted in front of a mediocre cartoon.

 

And he seems to have one admirer at least ...

 

It'll hopefully be discussed more in the actual issue, or at least later issues.

The presence of female transformers indicates they have made contact with at least one of the other colonies, it's just a matter of which ones they do know about.

if contact was recently made, it could explain Twelve-of-twelve's response.

 

Well, I would say that he's probably the prettiest among the malebots.

Nautica is the prettiest character in general though.

 

Same here  

Preview looks interesting, this season will be something to behold  

 

The art is so distracting. I think it's because it's not even bad, just different. I find I can "ignore" bad art, but thsi style has its own distinct feel. Add the fact that MTMTE has definitely undergone a quality shift in its own voice, and I could not feel more disconnected from this book.

And it's a shame, because this functionist alt universe was exactly what I was dying for MTMTE to get to, but even though there's nothing really wrong with it, I feel completely uninterested. It's like I've been turned off MTMTE so much even when it returns to being okay, I feel disinclined to read it. It doesn't help that everyone just talks way too much. There's so few soft-spoken, to-the-point people.

Yeah, that doesn't make a lick of sense at all.

I feel Roberts has lost touch with the art of "subtlety."

 

I feel similarly about the dialogue. As well as too many characters being nervous chatterboxes, there are instances like Rewind, on page 1 of this preview, asking a question that weirdly devolves into a hectoring monologue, and the unlikely reaction of the Functionist councillor is to just stand back and take it, and then wait a few more panels while Megatron gets in on the act.

That said, I'm still totally on board with the series. Whatever criticisms I have of Roberts' writing usually come down to one thing - he needs a sharp-eyed editor. All the excellent is there and it's just a question of a skilled overseer knowing when and how to rein him in.