Comic review: More Than Meets The Eye season 2: #28 onwards

[i_amtrunks]

I have to disagree with you both.

Think about it - Megatron has spent 4 million years with that gun on his arm. In his mind 'death comes from here'. Then the war is over and he gives up his weapon. He's wrestling with his history and his newfound pacifism. Suddenly he's forced to wear that weapon again and become the killer he's trying to put behind him, to protect the people he's actually starting to care about, them BAM - the weapon and symbol of his power and ability to kill is destroyed right as he needs it the most.

No wonder he broke down. The guy's having a massive identity crisis. He doesn't know who he is, should be or wants to be. And he's being fought by the very guy who worshipped the 'old Megatron' and is specifically tasked with killing those that aren't loyal to him.

Love the theory, hadn't thought about it like that all. Just hope those three shots can snap him out of it!

[Lord_Zed]

I completely agree with Jinto's theory, MTMTE Megatron is not the Megs of old, he's deeply conflicted, at first it seemed like Megatron’s turn to the Autobots might be a ploy but with recent issues I think it's pretty clear that it's not.

He's just reluctantly started slaughtering his fellow Cybertronians again adding to the ocean of flowers around his statue on Necroworld. Sure the DJD are hardened murders, but Deathsaurs crew are just garden variety genericons, and if recent IDW comics have taught me anything it's that the line between the average Autobot and Decepticon is pretty thin. And then the real villains Megatrons greatest protégé, and one of his greatest living weapons show up and take out his main weapon no wonder he stumbles.

What he does next will be interesting, maybe he'll snap out of it and release the rage of the Megatron of old, but wouldn't that also be a step toward returning to the Megatron of old? So far the arc of the story suggest that in order to defeat Tarn he'll need to do this, but wouldn't this also be what Tarn wants to bring back the old Megatron, heck even Overlords only purpose is to fight that Megatron.

Anyway pretty good issue, the Megatron arc is the meat of this season for me, so how it concludes will be make it or break it. Pretty sure those 3 shots weren’t from Overlord or Tarn, and that Ravage will survive, (Guzzle came back from a similar injury). Skids apparent demise was well handled though I’m always a bit cynical when main characters die of late, in case there’s a miraculous resurrection.

[Paulbot]

No spoilers from me, but I was happy with the final part of the story. There was one moment I thought didn't quite work because it made me laugh when it's not really funny, but overall a great end to the season.

[Trent]

That was pretty good. Although not sure how I feel about Tarn.

[GoktimusPrime]

SPOILAHZ









I'm glad to see the DJD go. I've come to expect non-toy based characters to be inherently disposable because a lot of non-toy characters in G1 (especially the comics) where designed for limited appearances, often just once. Your "Hi then bye" or even "Hi then die" characters. If they ever make toys of them later, yeah, I'll get them, but it doesn't change the fact that I had limited interest in them when they appeared in the comics because they never had toys.

This is similar to:
* G1 Arcee. Okay, as a kid I thought that it'd be nice to have Arcee (especially as a repaint of G1 Blurr), but I didn't lose any sleep over not having one. I did get SCF, Binaltech, Animated and finally Generations & Legends Arcee, but this doesn't change the fact that it honestly didn't bother me that much that she never had a toy when I was a kid.
* Scrounge. I'm looking forward to getting Scrounge from CW Computron (and then selling off the rest of the set as I've also preordered UW Computicon). But I gotta admit, if this toy wasn't coming out I wouldn't be massively shattered either. Emirate Xaaron and Impactor are probably among the few non-toy characters that I want toys for; hence I quickly bought Generations Impactor and I would like to see a Xaaron toy. But again, I'm not losing any sleep over not having a Xaaron toy in my collection.

This is why I much prefer IDW using existing toys to populate their universe. The moment they introduce an existing toy-character, then I'm immediately drawn towards them due to my existing familiarity. So characters like Ironfist, Pyro, Rotorstorm, Hubcap, Guzzle etc. interest me much more than say Rung, the DJD or Ambulon (who doesn't even have a leg to stand on ).

Having said that, I'm more than happy to buy toys based on these non-toy characters when they get made. With CW Liokaiser coming out, I wouldn't mind seeing Vortex getting redecoed as CW Death Cobra.

[philby]

it seemed like for 5 or 6 issues they were sitting around waiting to die from this impending attack and hardly anything happened so i for one am glad the whole thing seems to be over now. it just seemed to be really dragging on i felt.

[Lord_Zed]

I found the conclusion to this season a bit lackluster myself after building up the threat and mystery of Tarn, it turns out he was just some guy from 2 panels in the story you can't remember who is then dispatched in a page or two by Megatrons death touch. I guess they already covered the faqct that the whole DJD thing is a result of Megatron's ideology in earlier issues, but I don't know I expected something more.

SPOILAHZ

This is why I much prefer IDW using existing toys to populate their universe. The moment they introduce an existing toy-character, then I'm immediately drawn towards them due to my existing familiarity. So characters like Ironfist, Pyro, Rotorstorm, Hubcap, Guzzle etc. interest me much more than say Rung, the DJD or Ambulon (who doesn't even have a leg to stand on ).

I used to agree with you, but these days I'm not so sure, sometimes I think the writers need an opportunity to create their own character without any preconceptions. I understand it's nice to have characters based on toys, but isn't it time Transformers moved beyond being a toy commercial?

Also side note, I found Ambulons death more poignant than Skids, but that may just be how it was handled.

[i_amtrunks]

I felt Skids death was brushed over too quickly.

The ending was lacklustre, but the whole "Megatron thinks ten steps ahead" was nicely played out, the setup was there all along (with the Whirl arm a nice comedic section) but It still felt underwhelming. The death of the DJD was understated too, but after some thought it is a fitting end for a bunch of juiced up thugs that were more about punishing those that strayed from Megatron's doctrine than true justice.

I still love that with MtMtE that so many reveals of long sought after questions show that in the end they were not all that important to the story or the larger picture (Dominus, Agent 113, Brainstorm etc) but more of a motivation for the characters.

The issue itself was beautifully created, the creative team for MtMtE and RiD (or whatever it goes by now) have improved so much, the shading, line art and lettering are perfectly done and never seem cheap or last minute rushed.

Bring on season 3 with the geobomb and rescued from time disappearances and more Megatron and Ratchet (one of my favourite pairings) after the crossover interlude of the next few months with heads chopping and changing!

[GoktimusPrime]

II used to agree with you, but these days I'm not so sure, sometimes I think the writers need an opportunity to create their own character without any preconceptions. I understand it's nice to have characters based on toys, but isn't it time Transformers moved beyond being a toy commercial?

There are easy ways around this. Simply pick a toy-character who hasn't had much (if any) previous appearance in IDW continuity and make him be whoever the hell you want to be. They did it with Tailgate! IDW Tailgate's persona is nothing like G1 Tailgate's persona - the two of them are alike in name and similar in appearance only, otherwise they're totally different people. But IDW Tailgate has become a popular and endearing character among fans.

The G1 toy universe still has many toy-characters who have yet to receive any major roles in IDW's world, if they've ever appeared at all. I would like to see IDW dip into this rich pool of available characters and use them up before resorting to just inventing characters out of thin air. Time Warrior's still waiting for his moment to shine.

[Paulbot]

It's interesting that the mystery of "Who is Tarn?" actually isn't an element in the story. Fans discussing the book asked "Who is Tarn?" and the readers came to the conclusion he was Roller and we wanted a "reveal" but no character in the universe wonders about this (and some like Skids and Megatron know exactly who he is).

Goktimus, I think MTMTE Tailgate is an interpretation of his G1 toy bio. Really all the G1 toy bio says about him that he believes other machines are alive and humans impose unfair rules on them. MTMTE Tailgate, as someone who is easy manipulated and somewhat mentally immature, could easily be someone who'd believe the others if they told him earth machines were alive and subjugated, and would then go one to fight for their rights.