I think the narrative structure actually gets a bit screwy. In the first few pages, when Chromedome first makes it upstairs, we see that Rodimus has actually JUST been caught mid-air by Overlord. So it's possible that Rodimus saying "till all are one" happened pretty much as soon as Chromey arrived. Also, Chromedome was really preoccupied with finding Rewind at that moment, so he was panicked and distracted.

However, when we skip back 30 minutes, and see that moment come around again, it seems like the timing is off... with Chromedome having time to chat and all that.

I suppose it's possible that Rodimus jumped through the air and got caught by Overlord TWICE... but it seems kind of unlikely (at least that he'd survive the first time).

Yup. Arcee's the most powerful point-one-percenter of them all.  

zmog

 

^ SMOG, I am wondering if Roberts caught our conversation about how powerful Rodimus is relative to the "big guns" and decided to vindicate me with "Lightweight."  

In seriousness Overlord's taunts of Rodimus are the unrecognized highlight of the issue.

 

Haha! Yeah, I kind of felt that way too. Maybe it's because I never liked Rodimus much, but it's also because he's much more interesting as a smarmy, self-absorbed dick. It's also nice to have a leader type who doesn't necessarily have to be a heavy-hitter. I mean, I'm sure Rodimus is a hell of a fighter and all... but he's still just an average bot.

While Overlord the planet-killer is apparently only vulnerable to onboard ordinance used for clearing asteroids (and apparently deterrence-chip shotguns). Geez, between those missiles and the sniper rivet-guns, the industrial equipment on the Lost Light probably could have ended the war a few million years ago...  

zmog

 

lol, probably not used because they're energon inefficient.

 

I would be behind Mags getting a Prime-like body, but with a few changes. Maybe if he lost the mouthplate and turned into something like Orion Pax's altmode. You know, just so we don't have a white Prime running around confusing the uninitiated.

 

We're not even sure those did anything more than stun him for a bit  

 

Actually it would be awfully nice if they clarified where ship-mounted ordnance (some of which probably has ammunition that is larger than a Transformer) fit in the "power scale" of IDW.

They seem to intentionally obfuscate any difference between tactical and strategic weapons.

Anyway there's no real reason why flinging an asteroid or a nuke would not end the reigns of Monstructor or Overlord, given proper follow-up efforts to ensure no "comic-book death."

 

I think the reason why sparks are green sometimes is because the Sparkeater was pulling on them mystically, and it made them green. If you look at his tummy, you'd see that the sparks are blue again.

 

It's also fair to point out how much Roberts has added to Rodimus as a leader in this context, and how it works, compared to how absolutely dreadfully boring Bumblebee has remained over the same period of time in RID.

 

Yeah, I realize that. However, Roberts has said that this issue "definitely wraps up the Overlord arc", and the ending seems to posit the idea that Overlord has been "defeated"... though knowing what we know, I'm kind of unclear how the actions of Rewind OR Chromedome achieve that end. After all that talk about how indestructible Super-Warriors are, and how much carnage they are capable of, this ending seems kind of unconvincing.

I'm not sure what that cell is made of, but I'm curious why it can hold Overlord, when obviously the restraining harness was completely useless. The Autobots really don't know how much power they're dealing with, apparently (despite everyone constantly reminding us how unkillable Overlord is). And that said, it seems that it's just tough enough to contain him, but not strong enough to withstand Asteroid Missiles.

Exactly... and not just strategic/tactical... but personal weapons too. Phase-sixers are charged with independently subduing entire planetary populations through military force. I think that sure as heck blurs the line between personal firepower and firepower on a strategic scale.

In Transformers, due to their shapechanging powers, the line between large spacecraft and actual characters has always been fuzzy, and that tradition extends right up to the recent uses of Omega Supreme in the Ongoing. Considering the amount of raw personal power wielded by many Cybertronians, the proposed "indestructibility" of an ununtrium-infused guy like Overlord creates an even larger dissonance.

So yeah, all of these contribute to my general dissatisfaction with the way this wrapped up. Roberts can build these threads of dramatic tension and attachment through an entire year, but in the end, the "deaths" of Rewind and Overlord are given (and carry) less weight than Pipes being redshirted. I think that that is a logistical storytelling failure. A dramatic all-white open panel of Chromedome's anguish is utterly neutered by the contrivances and inattention to dramaturgy leading up to it. It pains me to say it, because Roberts has been SO GOOD at so many other things, but once the pace picks up and he has to script action, his plot structure disintegrates into a hurried and clumsy rush.  

As many have noted, the content of this issue should have been stretched over two. Overlord's rampage, Magnus' death, Rewinds' sacrifice and Chromedome's choice are all major emotional flashpoints that become undermined by the cramped scripting. Roberts is reportedly prone to overwriting, and it sure feels like the panels in this series usually have twice as much dialogue crammed into them as other series... but comic books aren't prose, and some things you can't rush. Sometimes you have to pay attention to the pace and the cinematography of negative space, y'know?

zmog

 

The way Milne designed Magnus' almode has been a bit weird to me considering how it looks like a white Animated Optimus Prime pulling a big Ultra Magnus trailer.

So if they got with the mini-Magnus idea they could totaly make him resemble a more G1-ified Animated Optimus with a Magnus style head.

I really think that the WHOLE issue was rushed out like hell. I mean check out the GIGANTIC crew that did the art for it unlike the previoues ones.

Really MTMTE #15 reeks of the, what I like to call, "deadline syndrome", and once you add Roberts tendency to write a mini-novel for each issue you can see where things started ozzing out of the issue because of the ammount of stuffing Roberts has been shoving into it.

I do kinda dig the fact that Overlord's carnage was over and done in one issue because to me it feels more realistic scenario. The only way you could possible contain and defeat a force like Overlord is before it can do too much damage and while he's "warming up".

But it appears that Roberts simply had TOO big of an idea to pull off in just one issue so there clearly was a conflict of "we do this as a single issue VS we do this in the "writing for a trade" way and split it into two".

If we didn't have the whole 30 minutes before segments and simply the whole issue was just cointinuation of where Chromedome jumped in I think the pacing would be much better suited for a single issue. Plus it's not like he couldn't explain all the plot related details like Percy with teh copy-protected map in a later issue.

Again it seems like Roberts simply had too grand of a scrip-idea and wasn't willing to trim it down.
Now if this was an "annual" it could've totally worked, as it is it just feels off.

In the end to me #15 is probably my least favourite MTMTE issue so far, not because of the insane overhyping some people (me included) have been doing as I knew it would never live up to it, but simply because there were just TOO many "because the plot said so" moments that screamed of lazy/not though through enough writing that I don't except from Roberts.

It's not bad, it's just...it's RID level of writing and not MTMTE level if that makes any sence.

With #16 we'll probably be back in Roberts confort zone so I'm looking forward to that.

 

I'm prepared to accept that Overlord's major influence on MtMtE is over, but not that he's dead and gone in IDW continuity.

Also, of course, we could be getting set up for a twist, though I'm hoping there's something more to it than the Powermaster reference that this thread seems to have just flat-out adopted as truth...

 

I'd agree, but our consensus do often turn out to be right......

 

I agree that the EVENT should have felt self-contained, though of course the passage of time, and how many panels are given to depicting it are two different things.

Well, he's said before that he scripts this comic like a TV series...I can see how it would be awkward to split the events between two issues... though with a bit of tweaking, I suppose the death of Magnus could easily have been the mid-point cliffhanger to split on. It would have cut down on the redundancy of having TWO last minute intervention scenes in the same issue, where Fort Magnus (ahem) jumps in and starts laying it on Overlord, even though he can only hope to keep him off balance for a short time.

Which reminds me, I have to say it again. That's a pretty frickin' AWFUL cover for this issue. Sorry Alex (and Josh?), but I'm reminded every time I see it. ONE... it totally KILLED any shock or suspense over how the Magnus/Overlord fight ends. TWO... it's a cluttered, muddy, indistinct mess. Totally lacks punch as a cover. Nicely drawn robots, sure... concept and composition-wise though? Bad call.

Y'know... I think you're right. There is definitely some pre-rampage stuff that could have been excised in order to give more space to the important stuff in this issue. I mean, I like the before/after flexible timeline trick as much as the next reader, but in this case it actually hurts the overall effect.

Yup. Totally...

Which raises a question in my mind... didn't last month's RID also feel a bit... hastily wrapped up? Like they were trying to FORCE the main plot points to a conclusion almost prematurely (and perhaps not entirely convincingly)? This is just conspiracy theory, mind you... but with evidence of Hasbro's increasing influence/input regarding some of the content of late, I can't help wondering if both Barber and Roberts were being pressured to tie up some of their threads early, so that Hasbro and IDW can align themselves for some big new plotline?

hmmmmmmm......

I'm fairly sure we haven't seen the last of him... but the issue here is that the circumstances don't even feel remotely convincing. If we're supposed to accept that Overlord is "dispatched", even tacitly, we haven't been given much to go on.

zmog

 

^ In "story-logic" we obviously haven't seen the last of Overlord, but in "real-world" logic it wouldn't matter if he's not completely dead, he's stranded somewhere in deep space with severe damage.

It's not as if they expect Unicron to show up and make him into Galva-Lord.

Also note that even Phase Sixers require spaceships for interstellar travel...or at the very least, Sixshot does and he's possibly the biggest and best-equipped of them all.

 

It does feel a bit like All Hail Megatron all over again. It's as if the higer ups at IDW/HASBRO are telling them to warp up their shit and concentrate on doing a big EPIC MASSIVE EVENT THAT WILL CHANGE THE COMIC FOREVEEEEEEER to boost sales and stuff.

So all of the ideas are being either thrown away or showed in as fast as possible to make way for Shockpoint.

At least this time they had enought decency to keep Barber and Roberts instead of showing them the door in favour of someone new. The backlash would be crazy.

But if Shockpoint turns into some Crisis on Infinite Earths style event that fuses everything into Hasbro's BULLSHIT CONTINUITY I will rage. I will rage a lot.

 

Well, we don't know he's dead, and the ordinance was being used for clearing the asteroids, but was obviously meant for battle.

 

Like someone earlier said, his storyline FOR NOW is concluded. That doesn't mean he's dead. It just means that his current subplot is wrapped up. He's off the Lost Light and someone else's problem now (The Scavengers? DJD? Prowlstator? Who knows except the writers).

I'm more interested in the aftermath, and where they go from there. And, who else has some rather dark secrets they're keeping from Rodimus. This could be the straw that makes Rodimus paranoid and look to see what all has gone on without him knowing.

Also, now that the cat's out of the bag, wonder if they're going to repair Red Alert? He would be the perfect second in command to a paranoid everyone's out to undermine his authority Rodimus.

 

Do people not realize what asteroids are made out of? o_0

 

Compressed Metals, rocks and gasses? something that would be infinitely harder that any thin layer of even the strongest fictional metals?

Doesn't matter, Overlords still alive.