MTMTE #43 iBooks previews

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Sockie, Jul 22, 2015.

  1. GoLion

    GoLion Banned

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    Other writers have done it. Usually by having her look at the panel. But you're right, it was definitely happened a lot while Byrne was writing her.
     
  2. Rewind

    Rewind Swoosh!

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    I guess I don't see any reason to lose faith that it wont.

    I've always seen MTMTE as an unpredictable rollercoaster: some twists might bring elation and some might make your stomach churn, but I stay on because I don’t know what’s around the next corner and it’s a hell of a ride. :) 
     
  3. GoLion

    GoLion Banned

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    That's great! For me, and for others, it's just not firing on all cylinders anymore. It's also gone in a weird direction. I mean, maybe I'll be wrong and Roberts will make all of these off the wall stories make sense in a similar fashion as remain in light tied up all the little plot points in the first season.
     
  4. Mirimus

    Mirimus Member Known Well

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    I'm spoiling what I'm about to say here, just in case some aren't up to date on everything:

    No the meta bomb is not a new thing, but whatever happened to it? Are we to assume that Ravage has only ever stolen one of Brainstorm's inventions for Megatron? Is it possible that, as I said before, maybe there's an ultimate point to all this fluff? Also - IF they're in Swerve's head, who's to say there isn't some lingering effect of the meta bomb that's affecting them as well?
     
  5. Rewind

    Rewind Swoosh!

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    I see exactly where you're coming from now.
     
  6. Cevel

    Cevel Well-Known Member

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    Also, tweets Roberts has been making/retweeting like these don't make me feel very confident that I'll like where this issue is going. It makes it sound like he's getting all up his own arse about how deep and amazing this all is going to be. It's like he just genuinely doesn't understand the criticism he's getting or why people are worried about what this preview and the general sense of writing decay a lot of fans are feeling says about the direction the comic is going.

    There's a fine line between promoting your work and looking like the praise is getting to your head, and I'm genuinely concerned that he's crossing it.
     
  7. Coffee

    Coffee (╭☞ꗞᨓꗞ)╭☞

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    No kidding. It's like if somewhere in the middle of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow suddenly teleported onto the set of Breaking Bad, watching his own show on television, and droning on to Sam about how he hates Fanfiction and loves sports.

    I think it was more to do with Ratchet's leaving. That's how it was implied at least.

    By all means, I'm not entirely losing faith either. I'm disappointed by the train of less than stellar issues, but I still rate mtmte higher than most comics and a good few television shows both Transformers and not. I expect it to pick up, but there are indicators that it's sort of locked itself into this meta, self-referential cage for the time being, which I'm personally not a big fan of.

    To be fair lots of creators tend to do this. Your point still stands, but Roberts tweeting praise and reviews about his own comic isn't far off from what most writers and artists post on Twitter.
     
  8. GoLion

    GoLion Banned

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    I think he's taking the stance that all criticism is good. Even if it's bad. I mean, the comments from Tailgate are pretty evident that he's taking a piss.
     
  9. AgentOrange

    AgentOrange Banned

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    That's an incredibly hyperbolic false equivalence. Not only would it be tonally out of place, it would be an abrupt break in the established logic of that universe, as well as out of character for Jon Snow.

    None of the characters in these few preview pages act outside of their established selves. Metafiction transposing itself on the book was introduced explicitly almost 30 issues ago.

    You can criticize all you want, and there are valid criticisms to be made, but at least do it without the logical fallacy.
     
  10. Cevel

    Cevel Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, but I still think it's getting to be a little...much. And the reports I'm now hearing from others about him unintentionally talking down to others when they make any sort of critique on Twitter, even when it hasn't directly been brought to his attention, may be colouring my perception too. They're too intimidated to even talk about the series anymore on Twitter for fear that they'll either get roasted by rabid white-knighting fans or get Roberts himself appearing from nowhere and dismissing their criticisms as nothing.

    Not gonna name names since these people have gotten enough flack and I imagine they wouldn't want any more, but yeah.
     
  11. Coffee

    Coffee (╭☞ꗞᨓꗞ)╭☞

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    If he's talking down some proper criticisms then that really puts me on edge. Of course I think there are two different kinds of criticisms MTMTE bears. There are either criticisms towards tone, pacing, even character arcs and dialogue, or there are the other weirdly criticisms like the whole Minimus Ambus deal, the idea of Megatron being an Autobot, the new take on Star Saber's personality, and the lack of A-list characters, which I'd believe are the loudest criticisms the comic receives. I think James has received a great bulk of each to the point where to defend most criticisms for him is becoming the point to defend all criticisms.

    The recent TFcon interview got really bad with this at the half-way point. The review addressed concerns about 'silliness' and the want for a return to subjects such as Megatron's philosophy and Brainstorm's repurcussions - which was good. But then somewhere halfway we learn that one of the interviewers hadn't even read mtmte, or at the very least season two, and he just starts going on about asking all these questions that Roberts and the other Interviewer had to point out were already answered in the comic prior. The real bizarre criticism was that they didn't like the DJD anymore now that they were depicted with "personality", since they liked the villains as soulless bogeyman. I think in this instance Roberts was right to defend his point that the DJD were, and by all means still are one-dimensional bogeymen, and some personality and individuality is much needed considering they are not mere minor characters in the grand scheme of things. Of course they wouldn't have it, but whatever.

    But yeah, I still don't believe he should be one to talk down ALL criticisms surrounding the comic. We want to see him improve further and further, and to praise him blindly is stupid, but considering how the anti-mtmte fanbase seems focused on the more trivial objects compared to the ones that actually matter, I think he's just come to the point where the real criticisms for him to consider are going over his head with the rest.
     
  12. kaijuguy19

    kaijuguy19 Keyblade Wielder

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    In regards to Cyclonus's holo matter I think in a weird sense,the Victorian teacher does go in line with his strict and arguably extremist moralistic views on life though in regards with him being a warrior a Samurai does also make sense but should he decide to change holoforms then perhaps a Viking warrior or even a female Viking would be a good fit for him if not a Samurai since Vikings are infamous for being brutal in warfare yet do have their set of honour and morality not to mention Cyclonus's helmet evokes a Viking helmet due to his obvious horns.
     
  13. General Magnus

    General Magnus Da Custodes of the Emprah

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    Wut?
     
  14. Napalm

    Napalm Drinking About Robots TFW2005 Supporter

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    I.. just don't know. The last two were not great. Some brilliant character moments but a strong sense of dragging stuff out. More on that in a bit. I felt that what could be more entertaining plot points - namely Rodimus and Megatron out planning the shit out of each other and Thunderclash being.. well, Thunderclash were sacked off in favour of indulging the writers love of Red Dwarf, fey indie music and robot dance offs. Which is fine spread across your entire run, less so when amped up to levels that take you out of a 40 page story.

    This one looks to ramp the quirk up to 'Fuck that, I'm done' levels. I don't count myself among that number. But as I have said, there are concerns this is going too far one way.

    What I'm presuming however, is that Roberts, like it or not, is using the forced downtime fiction wise between his book and Transformers/Combiner Wars - bear in mind that issue 50 for both books in going to be game changing, so both need to marry timeline wise - to exorcise some pretty mental story ideas that will be divisive as hell to the fandom but have little long term impact on the overall arc of MTMTE or indeed the IDW-verse at all.

    Maybe.
     
  15. SMOG

    SMOG Vocabchampion ArgueTitan

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    More to the point, Byrne -started- it with his solo She-Hulk series in 1989, and was played as a light-hearted meta-satire right out of the gate, starting with the front cover. So it's not exactly comparable, since the series was very clear in its take on the character.

    This is just it. The series has always had asides and meta-humour gags sprinkled through the series, but always with restraint, allowing the ostensibly "serious" stories to hold the focus. The same goes for the exaggerated caricaturization of characters and the snappy banter. It's always been there, but always in proportion.

    In the last year, that balance is seen by many readers (including myself) to be shifting... to the detriment of the stories, and to reader involvement. Some of you don't care... but I think a LOT of people do.

    This is criticism that is of a different kind from those complaining about gay robots, or not enough "action"... this is critique emerging from people who liked the series and the balance that was struck by the writing, and are now finding that it is qualitatively declining, as Roberts feels less rigourous about holding his quirks and proclivities in check.

    I daresay, the humour is becoming less clever, and more broad, substituting an undertone of wry satire for increasingly parodic absurdity. What nailed this series for me was the intelligence and dramaturgy that managed somehow to draw out an emotional response. It wasn't just the exaggerated antics (that have more and more spilled out of the more "comic relief" characters, and begun to engulf the entire cast).

    I don't think it's inaccurate or inappropriate to say that his writing and the narrative itself have shifted or even lost focus... it's entirely reasonable for fans to take issue with this... and the growing trend of discontent should probably be taken as a barometric reading of how thick his "self-indulgence" (or whatever you want to call it) has become.

    Well, let's not mince words. Some people are not the greatest critics... of great literature, or even of comic books. There are some who are inexhaustibly negative, but without much insight... and there are those others who are blithely positive and uncritical... and neither extreme should be trustworthy when it comes to questions of evaluative taste.

    So yeah, everybody is entitled to their opinions, but inevitably, some opinions are going to carry more weight, due to how they are expressed or justified. But hey... that's pretty much normal across the board... comics, art, movies, literature, music, whatever...

    zmog
     
  16. SMOG

    SMOG Vocabchampion ArgueTitan

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    I really wish I could have been there this year. Roberts was the major draw for me, not Cullen. I'd like to meet the guy. I heard that when he was at TFcon 2 years ago, he hadn't accumulated quite as much of an entourage yet, so he was just hanging out and chatting with people... while this year, not as much. Still, it would have been interesting to see the interview.

    I had friends going for the weekend who wanted to drag me along, but I had too much "real life" stuff to do at home. :( 

    zmog
     
  17. Cevel

    Cevel Well-Known Member

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    Well yeah, there's obviously some "criticism" that he's getting that's totally baseless and made by people who've either never really read much of the series or are just plain grumpy about the comic not being exactly like [insert other TF series here]. I can understand not paying attention to stuff like that. But like you say, lumping in more valid and thoughtful criticism into the metaphorical trash bin with the rest is a pretty bad move.
     
  18. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    :lolol 



    I feel the same way. I know things are going to pick up later so I might as well sit back and enjoy the insanity.
     
  19. Sockie

    Sockie Veteran

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    While both books' #50 have been said to be big, it sounds they're still going to be their own things, not any new crossover. Roberts has said MTMTE #50 is going to be the first part of the season 2 finale, and it sounds like ex-RiD #50 is the conclusion to the Conquerors arc/the start of its own season finale.
     
  20. Wheeljack_Prime

    Wheeljack_Prime Searching for the Infin-Honey Stones

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    Yeah, the way James talked about this issue, sounds like that's going to be a last page reveal or something.