Miracle of miracles, Golden Apple comics had a copy of #17, it was in their "recent back issues" box, the very last issue, 1 copy. My car is so close to death that I had to leave it running while I ran inside so the transmission fluid wouldn't abandon first again.
The art wasn't my favorite, something about it made characters tangle up in claustrophobic panels, and backgrounds meld into them as well. But it wasn't terrible by any stretch, just not as good as it could be.
andersonh1 wrote:MTMTE #17
So, an issue of MTMTE that doesn't require discussing Rewind and Chromedome.
Ha! I disagree! By not discussing Rewind while showing Chromedome, they've created a reason to discuss them, that being Chromedome's lack of reaction, despite that being his problem with previous besties from forgetting them. Outwardly, Chromedome's behavior here is no different from if he had mindwiped himself on Rewind.
Some fairly big things happen this issue, and yet it feels strangely light in the plot department. I think it's because we're still only inching forward in the "what happened to Ultra Magnus" storyline, because otherwise, a good many things happen. There are half a dozen character storylines going at any one time, with all of them competing for limited page space, which probably also helps explain why it feels like things are going at a crawl. At least everything is interesting.
So the lost moon is found, and I doubt that portal leading to it just happened to pop up for no reason at all. Something's behind it, I'd hazard a guess, probably whatever took Ultra Magnus. The billions of sparks all over the surface is an idea that Roberts deserves credit for due to the scale and spectacle of it. And it makes sense. How in the world does a race do anything but kill itself off if thousands are dying in a war and only a few at a time are being brought to life via the Creation Matrix, or whatever. Not that that applies to IDW continuity, which has been largely silent up until now on how Transformers come into the world. In any case, it's a fascinating idea, though it's also very disturbing how just about all the Autobots present seem to have very little respect for the life all around them. They immediately start wondering how the situation could be used to their advantage. They really are a bunch of irreverant jerks, aren't they?
I am also glad to see the Legislators return from issue #2, since we'll finally (presumably) be able to learn what they are and why they're after Skids. And now the other bots on the ship as well. And it's good to see Fortress Maximus out of his cell and part of the crew again.
I'll grant you that they put Magnus' eerie disappearance into the background early in the story, but they find Luna 1, that's a pretty big storyline element, I can see why those searching for UM would get caught up in Luna 1, and then the unborn sparks on it. And the C story was Tailgate dying, Cyclonus plays it off and then scrapes the hell out of his face in distress over the matter, very interesting stuff. I also didn't feel like this was a "crawl" at all, although I can see how you'd feel that way.
The solicitation for this issue said this was taking them through the gates TF heaven... or hell! It's a "dead" moon, it's covered in souls, and Pharma showing up further suggests it's some semblance of an afterlife - a gateway to the allspark? I dunno, but that fits with what I see.
As for creation of sparks and TFs, MTMTE hasn't been silent up until now at all, it's been making bold religious and sociological distinctions, "cold forged" and so forth, this has been one of many common threads in the series.
The Legislators are also in Spotlight: Hoist, which I haven't finished yet, and they were in a few flashbacks, so the series clearly isn't done with them. Plus Tailgate mentions them in issue 6 when Magnus is teaching him the full code of the Tyrest Accord and comes to clause 19 (80) 5a, which reminds Tailgate of them saying "1984", to which he asks what 19 (80) 4 was and Magnus says that was an unused clause for a type of warfare that never happened, "thought warfare".
Considering both RID and MTMTE are clearly driving at levels of thought warfare, I would say the legislators are being driven by its use. Skids having part of his mind wiped suggests even more thought warfare, so I think we're about to get that tied together, unless they've got a long game.
BWP wrote:Hey, don't worry, we've still got guys like Tailgate and Cyclonus to discuss! Bros 4 life!
Haaaa! I should have just left your post to it.
I about had an aneurism when Chromedome mentioned that it felt like they hardly had altmodes most of the time. This is on par with the times Roberts has had characters mention how they talk too much or have clear personality disorders passed off as 'charming'. If you...if you are noticing these issues with your story to the point that you're *pointing them out in the story itself*, why would you waste time doing that instead of, you know, fixing them to make the story better?
In this case it's obvious they didn't let them drive there because otherwise Rodimus would have touched the ground too soon and turned on Luna 1 early in the story. So this was done specifically to make the story better while addressing why they weren't driving there. And I mean really, you want to knock Rodimus for taking precautions... FOR ONCE??? It's like the very first time in the series he's taken any precautions at all, "fly there instead of get into trouble landing there," goddamn miracle for the character.
Some of the structuring was a little sloppy, I didn't quite grasp that Rodimus's narrating bits were happening later, somewhere else until my second once-over of the issue, there wasn't really anything visually separating them from the other parts where Rodimus is in a room talking to dudes about the mission they're doing.
I caught it on its 2nd use just because of the tonal shift of WHAT he was saying, and even then it didn't actually make itself plain to me until 2 more uses, the next to last use in the book.
And I had to hit the wiki to remember who the guy he was talking to was, and if I was supposed to know him.
It's Rewind's ex-boyfriend, the one we were told might be dead.
Awww shit, good find!
Oh, and Lockdown and his Titan-hunting Deluxe Insecticon squad show up AGAIN in this issue
Is that who that was? I had no idea!
Anderson wrote:Did you catch that Chromedome is holding his new hand up for inspection just when Skids is talking to him and wishing there was some way he could dig through his memories and learn which ones he'd forgotten? Makes me wonder if the new hand has the same surgical needles as the old one.
I caught the hand, but didn't put it together with the implication in that moment, it only occurred to me later down the line that he might not be able to when Skids was once again lamenting on his missing braintime. I would certainly doubt that his replacement limb has the mnemosurgical tools, those were rare and given by The Institute. Plus, his bio blurb at the end calls him an "ex-mnemosurgeon" I think.
Osix wrote:Of all the elements of TF, it seems like Roberts is least interested in the actual transforming aspect. Which, for a comic book story, is totally fine! Given the medium and all. If it were an animated series or live action film, I'd be more worried, but...
Roberts used transforming for battle and for disguise in this series, neither of which come up all that often locked away on a spaceship. The battle against Overlord had transforming though. There was transforming in this very issue too, Cyclonus and Brainstorm are vehicles when the rest are on the MAARBs; and Tailgate's inability to transform comes into play in the story.
anderson wrote:I tend to agree, though with the caveat that Transformers really have to transform from time to time just to stay true to the concept. There can be storylines where transformation is plot-relevant (the early Costa issues where Skywatch would trap characters in vehicle mode comes to mind), but transformation is generally more dramatic and action-packed in animation or live action. On the static page it's the personalities of the characters and the universe they live in that stands out to me.
You are totally right, transforming on the page is really dull usually, just some "tsche tchu tchu" text and a few motion blur lines and a ghosted halfway in between at best. The personalities and what they do are what matter on the page.
o6 wrote:I remember the weird hoverboards Drift and Rodimus had in that one early MTMTE issue being really stupid and extraneous. Why not just use their vehicle modes? (They didn't even give a bullshit excuse, like "we can't touch the ground or it'll rust our legs," or some crap.)
As I mentioned above, this is being used intentionally in this issue because it's Rodimus' contact with the planet that causes it to come to life, so in order to get all the pieces of that puzzle into the right positions at the right times, it requires flying on MAARBs under the guise of scouting safely. It's an intentional story choice.
God Damn, I need to get caught up on this.