More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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Sparky Prime
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by Sparky Prime »

Normally I'm one to defend the silliness of MTMTE... I generally think it works to offset some darker tones and keep the book light-hearted. But I have to say I think #42 over did it. Personality ticks (haha) that feed off on charisma? And they die when Rodimus and Megatron walk into the room... Besides that, this and the previous issue just didn't feel like it did very much. Ironic considering Rodimus having that big to do about having finally accomplished something.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by Dominic »

"Personality ticks"?

I cannot wait to get caught up on this series.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

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I just got around to reading #42 last night, and while my patience wore thin with #41, this issue while flawed I think justified that issue and got through to its point. The Personality Ticks feeding off big personalities was an idea that was too cute for its own good, but I bought it because it was something different and warranted watching. It was a convoluted story, and it stretched its premise thin, but I found it readable to the end.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

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Flipped through issue #43 before dropping it back in to my pull-file. (Still working through "Secret Wars" comics that I bought two weeks back. And, some of those are from further back. At this point, the delays in that series are not an issue.)

Two thoughts:
-1: The re-re-used cover gag was funny, with the artist crediting the two previous times that "More than Meets the Eye" riffed on the old Giffen-era JLI cover and then (almost as an after-thought) crediting the original JLI cover.


-2: Considering how much MtMtE humanizes the alien robots (for better or worse), and that current IDW assumes that TFs have always been a gendered species, it is odd how many members of the Lost Light have female avatars.

Back when TFs were not gendered, and were not written to be "humanized", it made sense. The avatars were part of the disguise, and would have been chosen to match the vehicle. A character who turned in to a certain type of car/truck would want a female avatar-driver because it would make sense. (For example, women often drive SUVs because those vehicles are seen as safer.) And, TFs did not recognize gender, so there would not be any issue.

But, the more that TFs are humanized, and shown to be fans of modern Earth (especially western) culture (as seen by them singing the "Back to the Future" theme), the less sense it makes for male robots to be taking feminized/female avatars as often as they are. Magnus I can accept because the avatar is clearly supposed to reflect his fondness for Verity (and this series is all about teh feelzie-weelzies).

But, Bluestreak? Is he actually female? Are we supposed to assume that Cybertronians as a group have a higher than human-average rate of being gay or transexual? (This sort of thing does vary by species. Bonobos are almost uniformly bi-sexual.) Of course, the real reason is that IDW is pitching towards a certain type of fan, the emoji-loving anime fan. But, the more I see it in a book about alien space robots, the more forced it seems.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by andersonh1 »

I was rolling my eyes when Combiner Hunters contrived a reason for female Transformers to wear makeup. Because, you know, girls do that and so girl Transformers need to do that too. Right?
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

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andersonh1 wrote:I was rolling my eyes when Combiner Hunters contrived a reason for female Transformers to wear makeup. Because, you know, girls do that and so girl Transformers need to do that too. Right?
I got the impression that all of the Camiens, male and female, had to wear the 'ceremonial paint' to celebrate the Cybertron-Caminus alliance, not just the females. After all, the face paint the Cityspeakers in-particular wear is meant to be modeled after Caminus himself.
Dominic wrote:Considering how much MtMtE humanizes the alien robots (for better or worse), and that current IDW assumes that TFs have always been a gendered species, it is odd how many members of the Lost Light have female avatars.
Well even though the current IDW established Cybertronians as always being gendered, it's still a relatively new concept for those from Cybertron. With the exception of Arcee who was forcibly altered, every female Transformer is from one of the colony worlds. While some of the holo-avatars are clearly meant to evoke a humanized version of the Transformer, they don't necessarily have to like you pointed out with Ultra Magnus deciding to base his avatar on Verity. Bluestreak also spent time on Earth, so it's possible his avatar is just left over from the disguise aspect rather than meant to represent him.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

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This seems like an issue that is destined for many fans to dislike, to claim it jumped the shark (which it acknowledges in a meta way which itself is baiting those fans), especially RIGHT after a pair of issues that dealt with very similar themes and tones (which again this issue meta-acknowledges, which again is kinda baiting). That said, I really enjoyed the hell out of it, I enjoyed the psychology and thought given to all these characters, I enjoyed the past connections (according to the wiki, the Swerve thing goes back to Chaos when Roberts first wrote for Swerve, that's bonkers), and the premise was a fun idea that also had some personal weight for these folks. I enjoyed the touches with the
Spoiler
meta bomb and the briefcase
even if they were trotted out really late in the game. The single thing that left me a little eh about was the idea that First Aid would up and leave when a patient was in danger and everybody on the ship was in danger too.

Dominic wrote:Flipped through issue #43 before dropping it back in to my pull-file. (Still working through "Secret Wars" comics that I bought two weeks back. And, some of those are from further back. At this point, the delays in that series are not an issue.)

Two thoughts:
-1: The re-re-used cover gag was funny, with the artist crediting the two previous times that "More than Meets the Eye" riffed on the old Giffen-era JLI cover and then (almost as an after-thought) crediting the original JLI cover.
Keep in mind, that's the sub cover, not the general cover. It was really funny (the previews for it didn't have the word bubble), but when I opened it to see the cover it's aping from issue 1 I literally laughed out loud for a minute. That was fantastic going from the Swerve version to the issue 1 version.
-2: Considering how much MtMtE humanizes the alien robots (for better or worse), and that current IDW assumes that TFs have always been a gendered species, it is odd how many members of the Lost Light have female avatars.

Back when TFs were not gendered, and were not written to be "humanized", it made sense. The avatars were part of the disguise, and would have been chosen to match the vehicle. A character who turned in to a certain type of car/truck would want a female avatar-driver because it would make sense. (For example, women often drive SUVs because those vehicles are seen as safer.) And, TFs did not recognize gender, so there would not be any issue.

But, the more that TFs are humanized, and shown to be fans of modern Earth (especially western) culture (as seen by them singing the "Back to the Future" theme), the less sense it makes for male robots to be taking feminized/female avatars as often as they are. Magnus I can accept because the avatar is clearly supposed to reflect his fondness for Verity (and this series is all about teh feelzie-weelzies).

But, Bluestreak? Is he actually female? Are we supposed to assume that Cybertronians as a group have a higher than human-average rate of being gay or transexual? (This sort of thing does vary by species. Bonobos are almost uniformly bi-sexual.) Of course, the real reason is that IDW is pitching towards a certain type of fan, the emoji-loving anime fan. But, the more I see it in a book about alien space robots, the more forced it seems.
Bluestreak and Magnus both used existing avatars, they were personal preferences, perhaps Bluestreak's chick was someone who he was close with off-panel. I didn't think it was worth giving that much thought towards, and I only found it a touch confusing for a single panel until it clarified who it was.

andersonh1 wrote:I was rolling my eyes when Combiner Hunters contrived a reason for female Transformers to wear makeup. Because, you know, girls do that and so girl Transformers need to do that too. Right?
Arcee is wearing her stealth colors, it's not makeup. And Windblade had already acknowledged why she wears makeup, so again, that was already covered and thus Chromia wearing it was the only oddity, and she didn't even like it.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by Sparky Prime »

MTMTE #44
Having recovered a bullet from Swerve's shoulder with Agent 113's (revealed to have been the previous Vos on the DJD) message on it, the crew of the Lost Light learn the location of the Necrobot's homeworld. Rewind hopes to find out what happened Dominus Ambus but Rodimus, having drawn a new map on his desk, wants to continue their mission. However, Megatron supports going to the Necrobot's world (as he tells Ravage, hoping to learn his own fate). The Necrobot turns out to be a regular Cybertronian (named Censere) who took it upon himself to chronicle every deceased Cybertronians after his friend, Tusk, had his death left unrecorded. Every Cybertronian that kills another also has a statue surrounded by blue flowers containing the residual spark energy of the Cybertronian they've killed.

Pretty much a self contained issue but feels like the series is starting to get back on track after the last several issues didn't really do much for me. Interesting to find out Rodimus has been carving the Matrix map on his desk going all the way back to issue 13. Guess that's because he had been carrying the half of the Matrix. I'm glad to find out the Necrobot is just a regular Cybertronian rather than some sort of supernatural being. It was good to get some background on that character at long last. Some really beautiful art in this issue as well.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by Dominic »

Read issues 41-44 over the weekend.

Dropped the book from my pull-list yesterday.

Purging out what I have soonish.

My reasons for this have been discussed in earlier posts. Short answer: For ever thing this book does I like, it does two things I do not.

Pretty much done with TF until the new Wreckers series drops. And, that is likely to be the last chance I give the modern comics.
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Re: More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

Post by Shockwave »

Dominic wrote:Read issues 41-44 over the weekend.

Dropped the book from my pull-list yesterday.

Purging out what I have soonish.

My reasons for this have been discussed in earlier posts. Short answer: For ever thing this book does I like, it does two things I do not.

Pretty much done with TF until the new Wreckers series drops. And, that is likely to be the last chance I give the modern comics.
Like what? I seem to recall that you were concerned that the book would go back to Autobots vs Decepticons on Earth, Scrapper would come back from the dead and that Cybertron would somehow go back to prewar spec and the Megatron would be a Decepticon again. None of that has happened. Yeah, there are TFs on Earth, but there really isn't any war going on there, Cybertron remains the field for post war politics, Megatron is still an Autobot (a point that's permanent enough that Hasbro even included Autobot logos with the latest toy), and while Scoop did take Scrapper's place, He's still Scoop, not Scrapper. And for me, that's the thing that keeps me going: Once the status quo changes, it stays changed. Thundercracker is still analigned on Earth, Thrust and Ramjet are still dead, Shockwave and Bumblebee are still dead, as are most of the other characters that have died.
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