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There is a lot of work expected from the readers, yes. But I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

Now, when the solution to a problem is 'millions of tiny attention deflectors', then nope. Try again.

Va'al wrote:
For the record, I've never even visited TVTropes.

I've mentioned somewhere before that I take my time, as I get the comics on the Friday before they're released, and write the review on the Monday, reading it at least three/four times, with another as I write things up. I also have to go through it to pick out images.

Of course, sometimes they can be a little faster than others: last week's BH3 was all done in a day, because of when we received the material, for example.


I'm not sure what you're saying about ReGen vs RID/MTMTE, could you please explain it again?


But thank you for your comments, I'm glad you took the time to let me know what it was that you disagreed with (though I'm still unsure I can put my finger on it exactly).

Hey thanks for the reply and thanks for taking it well. Maybe I was a bit harsh because I came off reading other reviews and then read this, but that is what I feel about most tf reviews. I said you were better lol and now I know. You don't read TVTropes!!!! That puts you as my favorite reviewer!!! I will keep looking forward to the retroactive reviews where some comics that initially got great reviews fade and those that were thought to be 'bad' appreciate in value. I am glad you all at least do that and they have been my favorite and enjoyable reviews. I suppose it comes with the territory of trying to pump the review out there asap and the spoiler restraints so there is no way to get some deeper thoughts. Keep it up Va'al. Thanks for hearing me out again. Peace.

burning_sirius wrote:Hey thanks for the reply and thanks for taking it well. Maybe I was a bit harsh because I came off reading other reviews and then read this, but that is what I feel about most tf reviews. I said you were better lol and now I know. You don't read TVTropes!!!! That puts you as my favorite reviewer!!! I will keep looking forward to the retroactive reviews where some comics that initially got great reviews fade and those that were thought to be 'bad' appreciate in value. I am glad you all at least do that and they have been my favorite and enjoyable reviews. I suppose it comes with the territory of trying to pump the review out there asap and the spoiler restraints so there is no way to get some deeper thoughts. Keep it up Va'al. Thanks for hearing me out again. Peace.

Hah, thanks!

I've been told today that Roberts is quite the fan of TVTropes, so I might have to look into it eventually.

You touched on a good point there: spoilers. I don't have any directive regarding them, but I feel that if I put up a review a day (or two, for some) before the issue comes out, it might ruin the experience. If the series keeps playing around with big revelations as it has, though, I may have to switch to a more open style, not caring about spoilers at all.

I'll keep in mind the comment you make about retrospective stuff, I might consider going back on the whole run before Dark Cybertron begins...

So I read this.

For the most part, I've not really enjoyed RID or MTMTE. However last issue left me looking forward to this issue to find out the truth about Ultra Magnus.

Now ... I'm an Ultra Magnus fanboy, so I'm a little sensitive to how the character is handled. And honestly, his character has been the most enjoyable of the series.

Except he's not Ultra Magnus. He's just some bot in the "Magnus Armour". There use to be an Ultra Magnus, but he died. Now he's just a suit that Tyrest created.

Ultra Magnus is a fraud.
Ultra Magnus is a puppet.

That aside ... the one thing I did NOT like about this issue was one panel ... one little panel.

Tyrest is covered in holes. When questioned about them, he dismisses the question. It's answered later in the issue.

"I started drilling as a way of relieving the pressure on my conscience. One day, when the pain refused to subside, I aimed for the brain"

Self-harm ... self-harm in robots.

Now, as someone who many years ago contemplated performing such an act on himself many times ... I find it borderline insulting.

See, it's plainly obvious that Tyrest is nuts, he's insane, he's lost the plot.

That's not a reason to self-harm. To imply it is, well yeah ... borderline insulting.

Oh and Whirl and Cyclonus? Yeah ... those two could have their own "Odd Couple" sit-com.

I'll quickly reply to the self-harm point, will come back later.

I hope it gets developed further, and it's not just a one-off mention of a serious issue.
Because just dropping it there trivialises it. And given the fact that it's an obviously disturbed character, it increases the perception of self-harm as being something crazy people do.

Whereas it's a fairly common issue, unfortunately. And yes, it is people who are unwell, but not genocidal, psychotic murderers with religious delusions. As it is, just now, it's problematic. If it gets explored more, it could work. I don't have an issue with using robots to explore these issues, drugs have been used before, religion has been used, relationships have been used, even gender issues, badly, but they've been used.

(Sorry Burn, you've read this before.)

What do others think?

You need to go back and reread the issue about the whole drilling bit. Tyrest says it was a way of relieving the pressure, showing that he was starting to crack. One day it wasn't working and in desperation he drilled a hole to his brain. It was after that that he 'saw the light' and became the genocidal maniac. This heavily implies that he damaged his brain somehow. Certainly drilling a hole to it/into it isn't healthy, even for a Transformer. Certainly in humans brain damage can cause memory loss, personality changes, etc. Who is to say that isn't true for a Transformer?

Burn wrote:So I read this.

For the most part, I've not really enjoyed RID or MTMTE. However last issue left me looking forward to this issue to find out the truth about Ultra Magnus.

Now ... I'm an Ultra Magnus fanboy, so I'm a little sensitive to how the character is handled. And honestly, his character has been the most enjoyable of the series.

Except he's not Ultra Magnus. He's just some bot in the "Magnus Armour". There use to be an Ultra Magnus, but he died. Now he's just a suit that Tyrest created.

Ultra Magnus is a fraud.
Ultra Magnus is a puppet.

That aside ... the one thing I did NOT like about this issue was one panel ... one little panel.

Tyrest is covered in holes. When questioned about them, he dismisses the question. It's answered later in the issue.

"I started drilling as a way of relieving the pressure on my conscience. One day, when the pain refused to subside, I aimed for the brain"

Self-harm ... self-harm in robots.

Now, as someone who many years ago contemplated performing such an act on himself many times ... I find it borderline insulting.

See, it's plainly obvious that Tyrest is nuts, he's insane, he's lost the plot.

That's not a reason to self-harm. To imply it is, well yeah ... borderline insulting.

Never been in a postion of wanting to cause self- harm, but I think for me this is a poorly written panel being misconstrued. Yes, Tyrest is offically off his rocker, and he's acting out of a paranoid conspsiracy, but to me, it read more like "Tyrest is Drilling because of something he did." Or "Tyrest is drilling because of something he did and the drilling made him crazy" than it is that Tyrest is drilling because he already was crazy. Or maybe its a Chicken vs. Egg scenario.

I wish there were time in the comics to explore his theory,cause one could get real deep real fast in Cybertronian society, was there a difference in the upbringing if a cold-constructed bot vs. a forged one? What if Tyrest is right, there's a marked difference? RThe parallells that could be drawn are really cool to think about. But then, I like that expansiony stuff. It humanizes the Transformers, much like Roddenberry would make the aliens of Star Trek relatable, dealing with social issues like our own despite being so different.

Prediction: Whirl, the psychopath who singlehandedly convinced Megatron that Violence is the only answer is gonna pull a Verity on Tyrest. He made a ig fuss about being Forged, and turned out as bad or worse than many of the Aquitas prisoners. he could easily turn Tyrest's theory on its head, and I could totally see him doing so.
The other thing I really like about Tyrest's bit about Self Harm is how it relates kinda sorta back to Chromedome and Tailgate's scene about the Relinquishment clinics, when Chromey said they were being used as Suicide Suites, and observed how hard it is to actually die for a Transformer who's lost it all. Again, the Suicide Suites were deep, and did more to realize the Transformers than just "Hur Dur Robot shoot RObot". I can see how suicide or assisted Murder, even in Robots couldld be a touchy topic, but it gives our metal beings culture, and that's cool. And I really want to toast the writers for being brave enough to explore these alternative avenues to "Prime shoots Megatron" stories.

I haven't read this far into the series yet. Can someone tell me what is meant by cold-constructed bot vs. a forged one? I am curious

Stormrider wrote:I haven't read this far into the series yet. Can someone tell me what is meant by cold-constructed bot vs. a forged one? I am curious

I'll copy the TFWiki section, removing spoilers for the issue, as it summarises it better than I was going to.

Cybertronians are created through at least two methods, they are either "Forged" or "Constructed Cold." Forging was the natural way for Cybertronians to be created. An energy pulse from Vector Sigma would flash actoss the world, igniting a hot spot where new sparks would emerge from the planet. There would be great rejoycing and ceremony and the sparks and base substance would be sought out and harvested from the living metal of Cybertron or its moons. Cold Construction was a method created later when Nova Prime learned natural spark creation was slowing and might someday end. He created it as a way of bolstering the population. The general population was told that it functioned through splitting a Forged spark to create a new life.

Essentially, 'forged' is perceived as being the more natural of the two, where the spark and the materials for the bot are found and ..forged together into a new being. On the other hand,'constructed cold' is the creation of a body without a spark, to which one would be added later. More or less.

In the racial analogy, forged is the 'superior' class.

Va'al wrote:

Stormrider wrote:I haven't read this far into the series yet. Can someone tell me what is meant by cold-constructed bot vs. a forged one? I am curious

I'll copy the TFWiki section, removing spoilers for the issue, as it summarises it better than I was going to.

Cybertronians are created through at least two methods, they are either "Forged" or "Constructed Cold." Forging was the natural way for Cybertronians to be created. An energy pulse from Vector Sigma would flash actoss the world, igniting a hot spot where new sparks would emerge from the planet. There would be great rejoycing and ceremony and the sparks and base substance would be sought out and harvested from the living metal of Cybertron or its moons. Cold Construction was a method created later when Nova Prime learned natural spark creation was slowing and might someday end. He created it as a way of bolstering the population. The general population was told that it functioned through splitting a Forged spark to create a new life.

Essentially, 'forged' is perceived as being the more natural of the two, where the spark and the materials for the bot are found and ..forged together into a new being. On the other hand,'constructed cold' is the creation of a body without a spark, to which one would be added later. More or less.

In the racial analogy, forged is the 'superior' class.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

i think the concept is kinda interesting -i wounder if it means that there are different types of sparks -ie sparks that lend themselves to special abilities or designs. the load bearer type of .01% makes me think that different sparks may have different special properties ie some sparks allow bots to be triple changers for example. We already know there are the mitotic sparks that can split into multiple bodies like magmatron- though this is a different media i kinda wounder if this will get expanded on.