More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

[andersonh1]

I was interested in who Tarn was when issue 7 gave us that great cover and the DJD was introduced. 30 issues later, it feels late in the game to finally be addressing his identity.

[Dominic]

The "Days of Deception" banner covers them. Roberts can honestly say that he was obviously screwing with people's heads.

The point of the handshake at the end was to show that nothing was going to change for Trailbreaker. Note that he was ready to get drunk a the end of the issue, after Rodimus talked to him. If Trailbreaker comes back, I am done. (As it stands now, I am waiting for some pay-off on Rewind coming back.)

Not terribly worried about who Tarn is as it is not the point of the series.

[Onslaught Six]

Roller could actively be any of the DJD, given that they are all "formerly" other guys. What-all is pointing to Roller being Tarn specifically?

[BWprowl]

What-all is pointing to Roller being Tarn specifically?

General size, status as a Point-One-Percenter, being advised to read a portion of Megatron's writings that Tarn notably quoted, addictive personality...

Of course, we actually *see* Roller's juice-box addiction in action as opposed to Tarn's "He's totally addicted to transforming, guys! Burns through cogs all the time! Just always transforming! What do you mean you don't know what his altmode is?"

[Sparky Prime]

Of course, we actually *see* Roller's juice-box addiction in action as opposed to Tarn's "He's totally addicted to transforming, guys! Burns through cogs all the time! Just always transforming! What do you mean you don't know what his altmode is?"

There was a page back in issue 8 where Tarn rolls off the DJD ship in vehicle mode and transforms to robot mode at the bottom of the ramp, then he transforms back to vehicle mode to approach the pod Grimlock was in and transformed again to robot mode to look at it.

[BWprowl]

There was a page back in issue 8 where Tarn rolls off the DJD ship in vehicle mode and transforms to robot mode at the bottom of the ramp, then he transforms back to vehicle mode to approach the pod Grimlock was in and transformed again to robot mode to look at it.

That was clearly an impactful scene that made an impression, given that I still can't recall what the hell his vehicle mode is. Great direction, Roberts. And that was all the way back in issue 8, how many times have we seen Tarn transform since?

Can I just please have more scenes like the one with Roller at the beginning of this issue? Acknowledging the transforming aspect and using it in cool and interesting ways in the story? Just a couple scenes like that per issue, and all my current problems with this book would be alleviated and I could comfortably consider it Pretty Good.

[Sparky Prime]

That was clearly an impactful scene that made an impression, given that I still can't recall what the hell his vehicle mode is. Great direction, Roberts. And that was all the way back in issue 8, how many times have we seen Tarn transform since?

Point being they have shown an indication of his transformation addiction, he's a tank type looking vehicle by the way. And how many times has Tarn even shown up since issue 8, let alone of him transforming? I think all we've seen of him is a panel or two of him asking if Kaon was alright when the universal killswitch was activated and a couple scenes of the DJD attacking the other Lost Light.

[Onslaught Six]

Prowl, I challenge you. Go grab a single issue of any handful of TF comics--Geewun (especially Furman's run), Dreamwave, Armada, etc., and actually compare the number of transformations. I mean, I read the first two issues of the new Drift and I'm not sure there's a single panel of an altmode--and this book has Gigatron!

[BWprowl]

Prowl, I challenge you. Go grab a single issue of any handful of TF comics--Geewun (especially Furman's run), Dreamwave, Armada, etc., and actually compare the number of transformations. I mean, I read the first two issues of the new Drift and I'm not sure there's a single panel of an altmode--and this book has Gigatron!

Indeed, I noted it when I was reading Drift too, and it's driving me goddamn bananas! Why even? Drift and Ratchet could easily transform to drive around or something, but nothing! That book's pissing me off for very similar reasons, I'll concede, but we aren't discussing it, so I'm not...talking about it.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are plenty of TF comics where transformation takes a backseat, and it's annoying in any case. But they don't *call attention* to the fact that they're not transforming the way this book does (seriously, that quip by Chromedome still haunts me), and they don't berate the readership by proxy for caring about transformation the way Roberts does in this book. I shouldn't feel bad for thinking that Transformers should be transforming *as much* as Tarn does in that one issue, at least.

EDIT: Right, Empire of Stone has Gigatron, a guy whose sole defining characteristic is his shit-ton of altmodes! And they haven't shown off one of them yet; that's an utter failure at using the character, and makes you wonder why they plucked him out and decided to use him in the first place.

Meanwhile, I can crack open 'Windblade', and I get the title character jetting along in vehicle mode across beautiful cityscapes, I get cool altmode-use action from Chromia, hell, even Sky-Byte's shark mode put in an appearance for a gag, it's great!

[Dominic]

Roberts is clearly trolling fans (like you) who are going to harp on a secondary (if not tertiary) thing that is irrelevant to what the comic is about. This is not unlike what Slott does when he trolls fans who get all obsessive about C and D-list characters.