It's not a myth; it's an expectation. And yes, it's partly from people transposing the Last Stand of the Wreckers bodycount to a series which has a very different tone and structure. But it's also because even when Roberts saves someone in a 'cheaty' way, it still feels (to *some* of MTMTE's audience at least) like it's because he's saving them for a more dire threat later on. Only Red Alert has come back and been safely 'retired' - everyone else who has survived near-death experiences is now facing another one.

 

Which they will survive. It's pretty transparent.

And even in LSoTW causalties were redshirts. About two only stars in this team, Impactor and Springer, did manage to survive (well, Springer less so).

Roberts isn't any worse or better in this department than any other autor writing a series - lead characters are rarely killed. Especially in comic books, where you don't have to deal with actors leaving the show.

 

@ haywired. Cmon lsotw has pretty much its main cast die. ThE fact that we havent seen fisitron since says some, same goes for springer an grimlock. Besides people forgot that roche wrote some of the script for lsotw, maybe the initial script was roches (he asked roberts for help if i rem. Well?)

Its Roche with the happy trigger finger not Roberts, why do people keep forgetting.

Also cut Roberts some slack, maybe roche can keep the series ongoing till jr is ready to get back to tfs.

And yes i dont even know who the ll medic is atm, its hightime ratchet came back with drift, cos getaway really has it coming who cares about tarn. It just burns me to think that he might even be redeemed after this.

 

I'm guessing behind the door is more a who than a what. Might be dead. might be barely alive, but I'm betting a someone versus a something.

I bet that planet is a titan or somehow related to them....

 

I mean, far be it for me to complain about my favourite series, but honestly Roberts fear of killing characters is one of the low points for me. So far there have been only three actual deaths that stuck in the entire series, none of whom were main characters and one of whom was completely overshadowed by another death in the same issue of a character who was eventually brought back to life. I think the most annoying thing is that the series does like to pretend with its cliffhangers, solicits and constant, constant fake-outs that it is a series with an "Anyone can die" policy but it's really, really not.

I think I've made this list before, but let's look at all the times Roberts has used death fakeouts:

Rung: Shot in the head but turned out to be fine.
Red Alert: Cliffhanger of an issue involved them finding his decapitated body. Turned out he was just in stasis-lock.
Rewind: The big one. Actually died only to be replaced by an alternate version in Season Two.
Ultra Magnus: No less than twice in a short time-frame. Had his spark severed by Overlord and was given a short time to live, got better. Had his head crushed by a Legislator in another cliffhanger, got better.
Tailgate: I suppose a little different because no-one believed he'd go through with it, but was cured from his fatal disease last minute via deus ex machina.
Rodimus: Intentionally left absent from the first two issues of Season Two with the last cliffhanger being finding his corpse in a coffin. Turns out it was an alternate version and he's fine.
Cyclonus: In my opinion the most obnoxious. Mowed down by security's guns, bid a final goodbye to Tailgate and then collapsed, seemingly dead. Made worse by Roberts claiming he didn't intend for anyone to believe Cyclonus died. Riiight...

So in summary I'd be surprised if even one of the mainstays died during this arc.

 

TBH, not exclusively Robert's limitation. All of IDW rolls in this pretty standard for comic books manner. So far aside of Hardhead, Shockwave and Bumblebee (with Hardhead having a long period of not being used before the Dark Cybertron and Bee dying when he was a surplus to requirements... and quite possibly he may be back) all of casualties were redshirts. Technobots died, but they had some serious exposure only in Stormbringer.

It isn't even a thing with Hasbro mandate. I learned to not expect a real death threat in comic books. If any death in the main cast is happening it is usually touted as a big thing... and then, eventually, someone's hitting the reset button.

Writers and editors alike are hesitant about killing off cast members for good in case they had no replacement or no guarantee that a replacement will be liked by readers.

 

I am still unsure how a bot with access to quantum deus-ex-teleporters can just simply die, lol. Or is this one of those "noble sacrifices" to help Rodimus?
Either way, a la Magnus: "Screw Getaway".

 

My predicted deaths:

Ten
Velocity

That's it

 

Barely visible Tarn mouth....Tarn you tease!


Just take it off!

I really hope we get some info on why Tarn's obsession with the Decepticon cause is so....I wanna say disturbing? Like seriously even Soundwave isn't that obsessed and twisted. I really wanna know what drove this. I like my baddies to have deep complicated past and reasoning's.  

 

And Tarn and Soundwave have dramatically different ideas as to what the Decepticon cause IS.

Tarn and the DJD are symbols of how wrong the Decepticon movement went. Thugs like Brawl and the Grindcore guards show that --- when things turned violent --- Cybertronians who simply liked to kill, maim, murder and generally be unrepetant assholes with no concern for anybody else co-opted an already corrupted movement for their own petty motivations.

Prowl is an unrepetant asshole, but he does what he does in the name of defeating the Decepticons, who are murdering and ruining. IDW has shown Cybertronian history to be more more complex than GOOD AND BAD!!, but nonetheless, the Decepticons remain BAD. Megatron's philosophy is great but shit goes downhill in a hurry.

I really hope it's Roller, as it's the logical follow-through at this point. He gets abandoned (THANKS RODIMUS), damaged, already dependant on drugs, addictive personality, gets into Megatron's work, and finds meaning in it... and gets worse and worse.

 

Well I certainly hope that doesn't happen and as someone who knows how hard to conquer addictions can be, I wish you all the best in your battle with those demons.

I've never seen any connection between swerve and addiction myself though. I guess the thing I hate about him is not his insecurity, that's not something he can help and isn't something I feel you should dislike someone for. its that he then treats others in exactly the way he cries about others being towards him, look at his treatment of ten or constant prying into others secrets when they'd rather them not exposed. Were others to do that to him he'd be whining and feeling sorry for himself and for that reason I don't feel the slightest bit of pity for him and think it's his own fault he has no true friends (or feels he doesn't), as when he has the chance of one he treats them badly and only cares about his own feelings. IMO a thoroughly repugnant individual.

 

I don't know if they will. You might be right; you might be wrong. And I can't really say anything to stop you and others being jaded enough to feel no dramatic tension whatsover over this issue.

But those fans you think of as giving Roberts undeserved due in the savagery stakes *do* genuinely believe he's got it in him to kill these characters. The fact that he's pulled them off the chopping block repeatedly before doesn't really do much to convince otherwise - poor taste comparison, but if you know someone who keeps threatening others with physical violence but then coming to his senses and apologising, do you yawn and decide he's never going to do it ... or do you think, "Shit, next time he might actually do it?" Frankly, the latter makes much more sense when it comes to this series, which has always been built on the promise of a finite running time.

I think you're letting an awareness of other comic practices bleed in too much here. Marvel and DC characters are safe because they're bankable and have to be passed from series to series in perpetuity. Roberts' characters are effectively *all* redshirts, with the exception of Megatron, Rodimus and Ratchet (Minimus can be replaced by another Magnus for the purpose of keeping that character around). Their lifeline is only that Roberts still wants to use them later in the series.

 

I have no real predictions when someone dies.

Skids: Just because he has a past with Tarn. Also Brainstorm might have a grudge because Skids indirectly responsible for Quark's death.

Ravage: I am not sure he being best buds with Megatron and Soundwave will save or the fact he actually very loyal to the Decepticon cause. Much as Tarn touts that he is loyal to Decepticons and have his team commit mass murder. Ravage might be the one person who is loyal and represents everything Tarn is not.

Rodimus: Well uh because it is tragic. It will give Rodimus to be martyr inspiration to go after the mutineers which can be serve as motivation to Drift, Ratchet, Ultra Magnus and even Megatron.

Chromedome and Brainstorm have unfinished business with the New Institute and Shadowplay.

Ten I think has some plot in regards to what Skid saw and Rodimus drew. He is actually may be the key to the Knights.

Deaths in this Arc:

Rodimus or Ultra Magnus not both. One of them has to be inspired to go hunt for Knigths of Cybertron.

Skids
Ravage
Velocity
Nightbeat
Getaway
Vos
Kaon
Thesarus
Helix
Rewind

 

I'm not jaded, I just see the pattern in this industry and he's not a special snowflake. He will follow it as any other writer, especially if said pattern was shown in his works before.

Roberts is only a hired writer. Nobody exceptional in this business.

This isn't creator owned series like Saga, and MTME characters may be bankable for IDW and Hasbro as well.

This is just a publisher owned and licenced comic book, not a War and Peace. It will not break any artistic grounds. The author doesn't even own any of these characters.

You're hyping it too much.

 

I don't think it's a question of 'hyping it'. Hasbro lets the writers kill off *some* characters. To this end, MTMTE might as well be creator-owned, as Roberts will be allowed to kill almost any of his core cast if he thinks it serves the story. None of Whirl, Minimus, Swerve, Tailgate, Rewind, Nautica, Nightbeat, Skids, Ten or Velocity are safe by dint of TF being a franchise. Trailcutter and Pipes were G1 characters, after all, the former with a toy on the shelves.

 

If anyone DOES die, I think we can safely say that them having a current or upcoming toy probably won't be a guaranteed sign of survival, since we've seen that rule broken before with Trailcutter. Same goes for Jhiaxus in Dark Cybertron, who died JUST as he transitioned to his new toy's design. So at the very least, I'm not willing to declare the likes of Ravage, Nightbeat, Chromedome/Rewind, et cetera untouchable yet.

 

Skids is most likely, he's kinda like the key to everything.

The rest are pretty reasonable/logical.

 

I told Roberts once that Skids is one my favorites and he laugh at that. The fact he may survive just may be worse than death. Tarn is type of person that keep the person alive and maintain just to torture them. Death may actually be kinder fate for Skids than surviving.

Skids dies. Skids survives 1. He tormented by survivor's guilt. 2. Tarn capture him torture him. 3. Skids goes back to Tarn because is a mole in the Autobots regime and the Vos persona takes over. Then Skids commits mass murder of his former comrades for the DJD.

Last one I just thought up as attempt at joking. Sad thing it is very possible.

 

I'd rather have them find a way out than anyone die.

 

Well then people would just keep crowing about "no one dies in this comic!". While I will certainly miss any major characters if they die, I have no desire to see this book turn into Bleach.