So hey, turns out MTMTE 22 is already out on iBooks, and I thought it might be an idea to move discussion of the full issue to here and away from the preview thread for those who are waiting until Wednesday.

So, the issue itself, calling it now, Rung's alt mode save the universe in Dark Cybertron!

Whirl ending a 16 miilionyear long war for the wrong side was priceless! Need to see more of those guys!

Thunderclash is totally Ace Rimmer to Rodimus's Arnold.

Loved beyond measure the idea of the CoL standing in for all the critics of the series, absolutely brilliantly meta!

 

So, spoil it for me, what was the Thunder Clash thing all about?

 

Spoiler

Thunder Clash boarded the Lost Light because he needed to jumpstart his ship, the Vis Vitalis, which is also Thunder Clash's life support machine, with the Lost Light's quantum engines.

 

Amazing issue with incredibly inappropriate (aber good in it's own way) artwork.

 

Read it, loved it!

Art was great too. Yeah, there's a difference in tones between story and art, but whatever. Nowhere important enough to spend another 20 pages talking about just that.

So much to talk about, but I'm currently typing on my phone. It will have to wait.  

 

Read it. Excellent issue, but it really would have benefited from more..um..appropriate art? Something more cartoon-y like Roche or maybe Matt Frank.

Rung's alt mode...how big of a plot point is THAT gonna be later on? You know he's not just...whatever the hell that was.

 

The art's really grown on me. I can totally see what Raiz was aiming for, that sort of look you see in these sort of documentaries all the time, where the one on one introspectives are shot in a different manner to the interpersed stories, and indeed in these interspersed stories it's great. I just think he's way overdone the inks in the introspectives. I look forward to seeing his stuff in Dark Cybertron.

Rungs alt mode makes me think of a light house or beacon, brightest spark, Dark Cybertron, hmmmmmm....

 

Someone should kitbash Rung out of Chopster. He's not an axe, but he's a melee weapon, right?  

That whole game of one-upsmanship between the robots had me laughing out loud and my wife thinking I was crazy, as usual. I'm hoping that Barber/Roberts do more with this idea that the TFs aren't unique, and that they can be infiltrated by other aliens.

 

The altmode party page had me in stitches. I just could NOT stop laughing at it like a ******ed monkey  

 

God that was hysterical. Rung's alt mode, Rodimus's outburst (give credit to the art where it's due, he looked really funny screaming like that with his arms up) Swerve's theme night, everything.

 

Interesting that Thunders was chosen to carry the Matrix during Optimus's first sabbatical. Both because that's a huge thing for a guy making his first IDW appearence, and because 'first sabbatical???' How many times has Prime just upped and buggered off exactly?

 

Well, considering it was a 4 million year war, it's probably a gag on how often OP just had a big ol' mope-fest in the Marvel days.

We've already seen him toss it over to Ratchet once, and he's currently in a state of abdication. Maybe that's why Hardhead doesn't take it too seriously.

 

Rodimus literally wearing a bucket on his head was hysterical on it's own, but the "lone Megatron in the sea of Whirls" made me stop reading the comic so I can have a good long laugh.

Mu stomach still hurts from that page  

You think Thunders was basically Roberts going "You think my characters are all Mary Sues? I'll give you a Mary Sue! I'LL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST MARY SUE TRANSFORMERS HAS EVER SEEEEN!!!"  

 

A 4 to 5 million year war is a pretty long amount of time.

 

Possibly, but I think it's more along the lines of puncturing Rodimus' "special" balloon, just as the little combining guys did for the Transformers at large.

 

I love how Roberts makes characters lovable, interesting, fun to watch and sympathetic, and in return they get called "Mary Sues."

It just goes to show how starved for true characterization Transformers fas have been that most of them find actual characters alien and don't know how to react. Gone are the days when most of our thoughts about most of our favourite characters could be summed up as "he looks cool" or "he did this thing once."

Absolutley.

MTMTE has been one big ego boost followed by humbling slap to the face for ol' Roddy.

He really is the perfect captain for this book. Could you imagine if we got someone like Prime or Prowl? Yeah they'd be good, but they'd never get us into situations like Rodimus has.

 

Given IDW version of the Autobots Optimus Prime has to work with how can you blame him. Optimus is pretty optimistic that the Cybertronians can work things out eventually with out his direct input. Being a Prime right now is like babysitting a bunch glitches with psychological disorders.

 

All good points guys. Basically I think this entire issue is just James having a little fun with himself, the franchise, and fans of the book before things get serious in DC.

 

Well this is a fandom in which funny voice = character was the default setting for years.

Besides Mary Sue as a term has lost all meaning in the last couple of years considering how abused the term is.

 

Also, Rung's ID card spelled his name RONG.

Goddammit, it's the little things.