More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

[Onslaught Six]

That one was less cool, but a big source of my frustration probably stemmed from the fact that it was a Season 3 episode, and we knew Season 3 would be the last one. Season 3 of Animated really piddled around and didn't develop its plot very much, and that sucked, because we knew there'd never be any more of it.

[BWprowl]

Season 3 of Animated really piddled around and didn't develop its plot very much, and that sucked, because we knew there'd never be any more of it.

I kinda want to argue this point, but don't want to derail a dedicated comic thread. So anyway:

MTMTE #13:
Alright, I genuinely don’t know what I’m supposed to think about this comic anymore. I mean that in the nicest way possible, I mean. It’s just…I really can’t tell how savvy Roberts is being about some of the stuff he’s *doing* here, and what reactions he’s intending to illicit. Fr’example: I’ve complained intermittently about the presence of Rung, his OC-fan-character status underscoring Roberts’s use of several such characters, despite his function as a psychiatrist being something that might have necessitated his invention. But then the characters get their new holo-avatars here, complete with IDs, and Rung’s gives him the name of ‘Mary Sue’! Uh…and then Rung literally asks if he looks like a ‘Mary Sue’! Dammit Roberts, if you don’t know, how am I supposed to know how I’m intended to react to this character!

Stuff like that is just there in this book. I’d admittedly been suspicious of Tailgate’s bomb-disposal ability since I picked up that he was pressing Rewind for cues last issue, but I’m not sure what making him a fake bomb disposal ‘bot *does* for the character, other than generate one more moment for him and Cyclonus to bond over, it just seems like an overly complicated setup for a rather pedestrian payoff. Swerve and Ultra Magnus, the real stars of this issue, fare better though. Opposed to his coy treatment of Rung, Roberts shows a very clear understanding of what he’s got in Swerve, making a clear distinction between characters the audience ‘likes’ and those that they just ‘enjoy’ (“They don’t really like me, they just laugh at my jokes”) and making it apparent that he understands the use of a character who is *supposed* to be annoying (which just raises further questions about what he’s trying to do with Skids). Magnus, on the other hand, who has been treated mostly like a joke so far, is used to show that there’s nothing necessarily *wrong* with a character defined by their stodginess, and that it’s possible some people may even *like* such a character. In the end, we’re left with the book’s oft-repeated lesson that bonding between two diametrically-opposed characters in a ‘wacky’ situation is NOT as foregone a conclusion as other fiction would have us believe.

So yeah, this story functions well as a necessary breather before the alleged return of Overlord next month, and also proves to be an interesting study in character likeability, which I found timely given our current discussion over in the RID thread. My main issue with it is that while Roberts makes good headway in defining such a thing for Swerve and Ultra Magnus, he’s aggravatingly ambiguous about Rung, as well as Tailgate, to an extent, and it’s somewhat more annoying in that I think the reason it comes off so vague is *because* Roberts is a talented enough writer to pull it off that way. Much like the crew of the Lost Light doesn’t really know where they’re going, we the readers can’t really be sure where Roberts is going with this story. The way it jerks us around between arcs is making me think that he’s screwing with our expectations on purpose (the Scavengers arc still being a prime example of such execution) and is getting me to the point that I’m not sure I’ll be able to adequately ‘review’ the comic until the ENTIRE thing has finished up, and we definitively see where Roberts was actually headed with it all. As is, the last couple issues at least have been solid and focused enough for my liking, and the writing/dialogue itself is entertaining enough.

One small thing I liked: Swerve and Blurr incidentally both opening up bars in each of the books was apparently intentional. I’m thoroughly convinced now that, for all the tonal differences between RID and MTMTE, Roberts and Barber are sharing their notes and working closely together on these. And I appreciate that.

Note: I didn’t get around to reading the text story included with this issue yet. I was up late enough as it was last night.

[Onslaught Six]

One small thing I liked: Swerve and Blurr incidentally both opening up bars in each of the books was apparently intentional. I’m thoroughly convinced now that, for all the tonal differences between RID and MTMTE, Roberts and Barber are sharing their notes and working closely together on these. And I appreciate that.

...was there any doubt? Barber is the editor on MTMTE.

[BWprowl]

...was there any doubt? Barber is the editor on MTMTE.

There were always little details that made me figure this was the case, but the general disparity in tone and style of the two books had me chalking the bar thing up to an amusing coincidence (especially since before now, we'd had no indication that there had been any connection between Swerve and Blurr).

[BWprowl]

Alright, read the text story, ‘Signal to Noise’. Not bad, and it’s actually plot-relevant (which I honestly hadn’t expected), setting up for Overlord’s return more readily than anything in the actual story this issue did (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that). One thing it confirms is that Roberts would be in his element a lot more if he was writing straight-up Transformers prose, rather than trying to cram all his world-building and overwrought asides into comic form. Those sort of things just fit a lot more naturally in a text story, I genuinely enjoyed the meandering conversation between Rung and Ultra Magnus on the subject of flowery metaphoric dialogue vs the direct, advancing variety (even if it was another case of me wondering exactly what Roberts wants from me on the subject, being that he’s obviously calling attention to his own penchant for needless ‘filler’ dialogue with that sequence). I’d like to see him do a whole novel, I probably wouldn’t be nearly as put off by that as I am by parts of this comic.

Anyway, I got to thinking, and while I had previously described MTMTE as a ‘Transformers sitcom’, I have to say it actually swings much closer to being like The Venture Bros, given its penchant for rampant, somewhat subtle world-building, minor asides that turn up later as seriously plot-important elements, and the way story elements are communicated and advanced largely through conversations and dialogue. It’s not as judicious with its words as The Venture Bros, and I think my main problem with this comparison is that the book simply isn’t *funny* enough to be carried by such a setup, but if my impressions are right, and this is what the book is going for, I think that’ll make it easier for me to roll with the story’s pacing and handling of its own elements. The way it casually drops Transformers references the same way The Venture Bros uses pop-culture asides as dialogue and story beats is definitely enough of a defining parallel. I’ll just picture that slam-cut-to-credits at the end of every issue, to drive the point home to myself.

I freely admit that I may be meditating too hard on how I'm supposed to 'get' this book.

[andersonh1]

I haven't read the text story yet either. I'm not so sure I liked this issue... it had some nice moments, but I'm starting to agree with Dom, that there needs to be more direction and less witty banter. Do we really need an issue built around the joke that Magnus can't hold his liquor? And as much as I like Guido's art, I'm not sure it fits the tone of this particular book. Maybe that was part of the problem, I don't know. I'm generally pretty enthusiastic about this series, but this issue didn't quite work for me.

However, next issue (if covers can be believed) brings back Overlord, so maybe there's some forward motion at last.

[Onslaught Six]

I’d like to see him do a whole novel, I probably wouldn’t be nearly as put off by that as I am by parts of this comic.

He did one. Go find it!

[Shockwave]

As much as I like Swerve, I would like to see a little bit more stuff happen. I mean, they're on a mission to search for the Knights of Cybertron yet they really haven't gone anywhere or done anything. I guess I was expecting "Transformers: Star Trek" where they explore strange new worlds, but instead all we get is a ton of whitty banter in the ship's (or elsewhere located) bar. Now, I enjoy whitty humorous banter as much as the next guy, but this was a little bit like buying a Star Trek DVD only to find season one of Friends instead. Yeah, still a good show, but not what I wanted to see. Same here. MTMTE isn't necessarily bad but it's not what I thought we would get.

As far as the human avatar part, I didn't find this quite as offensive as some did, although I am glad that it was somewhat minimized. I didn't really care who's av was what gender although Tailgate showing up as a baby seemed out of place. You'd think they would at least program an avatar that would be old enough to go into a bar.

I'm hoping next issue's Overlord story will at least get things back on track and maybe lead to some actual exploration.

In spite of everything this is the first issue where I felt like they were actually branching out and visiting other worlds. It almost seemed like an away mission where the crew of the Enterprise has to take on an alien disguise, like Romulans or whatever.

[Mako Crab]

Now, I enjoy whitty humorous banter as much as the next guy, but this was a little bit like buying a Star Trek DVD only to find season one of Friends instead.

LOL!!! I can just see that person's reaction. Half the episode would be spent in 10-Forward. The other half would be quirky antics in their personal quarters. And every now and then we'd see them actually working in Engineering or on the Bridge.

[BWprowl]

LOL!!! I can just see that person's reaction. Half the episode would be spent in 10-Forward. The other half would be quirky antics in their personal quarters. And every now and then we'd see them actually working in Engineering or on the Bridge.

You almost literally described what MTMTE is actually like.