The Energon Pub

[Va'al]

Good news, UK-orbiting readers! With the release of the first trade of IDW Publishing's Transformers: Lost Light, Orbital Comics in London is hosting a signing session with writer James Roberts and main artist Jack Lawrence. The event takes place on Friday 10th November, and you can check out the poster below!

They’re the most traumatised, lovelorn and sarcastic Autobots in the galaxy, and they’ve just been marooned by a mutinous escapologist. It’s time for this ragtag group of would-be heroes to band together to find their way home to their stolen spaceship – the Lost Light.

To celebrate the release of volume one of Transformers: Lost Light, we’re proud to welcome back series writer James Roberts and artist Jack “Jackademus” Lawrence to Orbital Comics for an unmissable signing.

Autobots… ROLL OUT!!

[Counterpunch]

For what it's worth...I hope I'm wrong in my takes.

I hope that the plot architecture of the story is only caught in this blind spot because of the serial nature of the books.

[Va'al]

For what it's worth...I hope I'm wrong in my takes.

I hope that the plot architecture of the story is only caught in this blind spot because of the serial nature of the books.

Even if that is the case - which I also hope to see happen - the wider point of editorial lack still applies. I know that some writers are better at single issues and other better as story arcs and collected trades, but a good editor will make sure that a good writer is able to deliver a good story using the serialised nature of the medium. A better story collected? Of course. A patchy, whiplashy one when read as single issues? No, not for me.

[ArmadaPrime]

I've both loved and hated trading this discussion because personally this was one of my favourite episodes of lost light, and honestly was up there for mtmte in general. That said, I am biased for a few reasons: 1) as I said a few pages back, I adore first aid and love anything that spotlights him 2) something I make no secret of, I have a brain despise getaway with every fibre of my being. He's cruel, ruthless, and willing to use the most disgusting approaches to further his goals without showing a scrap of remorse. Does anyone really think Whirl's problem with the plan was Megatron being killed? I'm pretty sure his problem was getaway sexually assaulting a child who was then sent to his death to get megs killed.
Then we have the more interesting point of debate: 3) I really love Roberts' Megatron. A lot of people don't think he ever deserves redemption, and I don't wholly disagree. However what megs is, to me, is a revolutionary who was driven to terrible things by an oppressive system, and who's own fragile-at-best mental state allowed those things to corrupt him and push him further down a road of ever-worsening atrocities. It's important to note (and the other ongoing does overall a very solid job of it) that OP was in some ways not too dissimilar. Sjmilarly, Soundwave is pretty much a "good guy" now, and most (myself included) are enjoying him in that role. One could even argue the same for starscream- as megs' right and left hand men, both of these two were instrumental in pretty much every aspect of the war.
Do I think that Megatron should be forgiven and we should brush the last few million years off? Categorically not. But do I think it's important that megs, who is arguably the most repentant of the 4 I mentioned, ought to be given an opportunity to at least find peace with himself, and do something good with the rest of his life? Maybe, yeah.

Ramble over, what's my point in relation to this issue? I don't agree with any drawing of parallel between Getaway and Megatron. Getaway is deeply, personally vile and self-servient has pretty much always been this way. There's no indication that like Megatron he originally came from a morally good place. Especially if you remember that he's been at this since before Megatron joined the crew. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was one of getaways cronies who offered rodimus the find-a-new-captain vote results, back in dark Cybertron before Megs was assigned to the ship?
My point is I guess, anyone who feels this is OOC for getaway: go back and read his previous highlights again. Read 47 (I think? You Know The One) again, and again, and again. Getaway nis and always has been evil imo.

EDIT: oh, and I really loved the actual plot! I agree that the time loop could have done with maybe 1 less page, but I think it needed a few pages to really drive home the sense of "oh... oh No...". Would have enjoyed a deeper look at hound/xaaron (especially xaaron, personally), and the teeth marks line has still got me feeling

[Va'al]

Quick response: not at all out of character. No one - I think - is saying that Getaway is A Good Person.
Or at least, that was never what I meant to say, and I apologise if my phrasing misled readers. What I am trying to say is that we have 4millionyearwarlord and genocidal despot who decimated planets in pursuit of something (whatever the cause, that is currently irrelevant) being treated empathically and affectionately by the narrative. The narrative. The writing. The book. My issue is not the characters or how they react to him. It's how we're made to react to him.

Does he deserve personal redemption? I'm still not sure he does. No other despot in human history has that argument made for them, except in weird, dangerous political extremism - including the current resurgence of certain movements.

And on the other side, you have an abuser, a violent abuser, probable war criminal, and retch-inducing predator. Which has always been shown as this side of himself, by the narrative. No redemption or empathy. At all. Does he deserve them? No.

He's a despicable character with a populist streak riding a legitimate (ymmv) wave of protest for personal gain. The political parallel to many current political players worldwide is clear. Roberts has never been subtle in that.


Shorter version, as I said earlier: Getaway is a type of poopy character. Megatron is a type of poopy character. I dislike being manipulated into feeling good feelings for either of them.

[ScottyP]

And what a brilliant move to have Mirage here in the thick of it. Barber usually gets the long-game continuity love, but Roberts fully deserves some here for Mirage. Part of his story in this issue was, for me, him fighting against doing anything that would label him a traitor - again, and right after he'd made peace with Ironhide and others about it!

[Va'al]

And what a brilliant move to have Mirage here in the thick of it. Barber usually gets the long-game continuity love, but Roberts fully deserves some here for Mirage. Part of his story in this issue was, for me, him fighting against doing anything that would label him a traitor - again, and right after he'd made peace with Ironhide and others about it!

He also wonderfully glassed Getaway. While doing the fancy things you say. That was satisfying.

[ArmadaPrime]

And what a brilliant move to have Mirage here in the thick of it. Barber usually gets the long-game continuity love, but Roberts fully deserves some here for Mirage. Part of his story in this issue was, for me, him fighting against doing anything that would label him a traitor - again, and right after he'd made peace with Ironhide and others about it!

He also wonderfully glassed Getaway. While doing the fancy things you say. That was satisfying.

Now on that, we can agree
Actually I pretty much agree with you entirely- especially now I've realised the character-response vs reader-response distinction which is failed to pick up on (my fault, not yours!) before. As Roberts writes him, I like Megatron. I like that I like Megatron. But I'm not sure I like that I like liking Megatron. (Just in case I was being too coherent before )
There's perhaps an interesting discussion to be had about intentions, remorse, and what if anything they count for- but that would require far more organised thoughts (and much more revision of ethics theories) than I tend to have, so I'll leave it there I think

...seriously though, I felt a sense of personal victory at that glassing. Dude makes me even as a reader (not just a reader-surrogate character) deeply uncomfortable. Might have to get the panel printed and framed.

[Deliverence]

First off I don't post often, but I do lurk this thread daily. I just wanted to bring up that, in my opinion, this is one of the best stand alone issues in all Lost Light/MTMTE since Swearth and I know that may not score me points with others and that's ok, because I don't keep score unlike Mirage groan. It actually tells a self contained story within its pages, rather than make you wait until the next month for the previous months story to be finished all the while continuing the current arc. Of course, if Roberts jammed these stories into little self contained segments we wouldn't have the delicious breadcrumbs to follow as we read through this little space opera.
I was actually smiling as I read this one. It was an enjoyable read, but I will acknowledge the conundrum of Megatron/Getaway. I could probably right a thesis paper on the subject and still be dead wrong and a lot has been said on the subject so far, so I won't get into it. My only real problem with this issue was that I know it's part one of a three part arc and as much of an enjoyable story as it was that's one issue where it seems you're going to reintroduce characters and take them right back off the table practically cutting your arc time down to two issues instead of three, just to illustrate a (possibly) rampant phenomenon on the Lost Light. (I bet the brains in storage are all being looped). Once more, I could be completely wrong, kinda like when you think you're going to fall out of a rollercoaster but you don't and that's half the fun and that's pretty much how I've been treating this whole beautiful mess.

[Calvatron]

I really like idw megatron and hope when we next see him he's moved on enough not to looking for redemption anymore. Not unrepentant for the harm he's caused, but no longer defining his self worth by the way he's perceived by others. Getaway i just don't like and never have, he's just a selfish asshat.

[Insurgent]

Hmmmm......


SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favourite issue of Lost Light so far. Although I agree the ending went on far too long. I realised that the instant I saw Blades get hit, I didn't need a quarter of the issue to be a repeat. Just up to the crash would have been fine.


I like that there are clearly many on the crew who are regretting their choice to mutiny now. Including Hound. You can tell by his expression and the way he talks. So all those people upset by those characters going along with it..... they aren't happily going along with it.


And that mention of petrorabbits has me thinking. And just to play Devil's Advocate here. Because I enjoy playing that role, even when I disagree with the side I'm arguing. Ok, so we know Getaway was a manipulator and did anything to get rid of Megatron. But many in this crew have done horrible acts. Brainstorm was a Decepticon sleeper agent so he could perform more of the unethical experiments. Have we all forgotten that? Rodimus took off with his own little band of people and made a deal with Swindle to try and get off planet (start of Costa's run). Nautica tried to terminate her relationship with her best friend to ressurect someone she loved, and let Velocity have no say in it. Whirl beat up an unarmed and subdued prisoner. Cyclonus had a hand in trying to bring the Dead Universe into ours and WIPE OUT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! So you may all hate on Getaway, but no one's hands are clean. Not even Tailgate, who went and used his new super strength to beat the scrap out of Fangry because he jumped to conclusions and didn't listen. He let his ego get the better of him. And no, Tailgate is not a child. He is naive. But he is far from a child.


Now, we don't know why Getaway has put those brains in the jar. Those bite marks? The Warren? What if petrorabbits attacked them and mauled those missing crewmembers, trying to get their brains? Getaway managed to get them out but their bodies were too damaged and failing and the only way to save them was to put them in those jars, like the Bacta tank in Empire strikes back? Remember: Engex is MEDICINAL. And Swerves is locked to prevent any accidents from happening to the brains. And they are stuck in a memory loop to keep them active and prevent them from deteriorating. Getaway never actually said who they were or why they were there. Mirage started that fight when he glassed Getaway.


What about Thunderclash? Well... if he was a dissenter and didn't like Getaway, Getaway could have easily killed him. We know he's not above killing those in his way. So why hasn't he? Why has he kept him alive? Could it be his room is locked to prevent any of the Ex Decepticons from getting in and killing him? And correct me if I'm wrong, but Getaway made the Galactic Council promise that only Megatron would be killed, the other Autobots would just be marooned. They had no part in the DJD turning up and trying to kill everyone.



Getaway is not the irredeamable little **** everyone is hating on him as. He has displaying more honourable qualities that I'm not seeing anyone remember. Just sayin.....

[ScottyP]

This seemed like the appropriate thread to see if anyone noticed the new emoticon available on the boards

[Kurona]

The duality of Rodimus

[D-Maximal_Primal]

OK, so I wanted to add some of my thoughts when I was on briefly Friday, but this thread had so much I really didn't have anything to add.

That said, I was bored out of my mind at the reception for my cousin's wedding Saturday night, surrounded by upper 20 year olds drinking and I really didn't want to be there, and a thought hit me: MTMTE issue 55, page 1.

Here is the page for reference, pay attention to the very bottom



It has been brought up several times that Getaway had a legit reason to mutiny, that in all actuality, he had justifiable action. And then the Lost Light went dark for 18 months our time, and now here we are again finally. And it appears as though Getaway has done all this really bad stuff. There are crewmembers missing, there are brains/spines in engex jars, and he overall seems like a madman, and what was that Roberts tweet about narcissists?

Also, we remember how he was willing to sacrifice Tailgate by manipulating him so Megatron would die or be re-imprisoned.

And then we run into an issue I have with this issue: How did Riptide know the DJD had attacked? Getaway was shown to not have anything to do with that, and the only people he and the crew knew were coming were the galactic council, and as the page above shows, Getaway had tried to make them promise to only harm Megatron, the sign that he didn't want the crew to come to any harm, he just wanted Megatron supporters out of the way. And since the Lost Light was on blackout, would they really have all seen the last recordings the crew did, and did any of the crew mention the DJD? (I don't think the ones on panel did).

So basically, Getaway was willing to kill a Minibot so Megatron would be removed. He then lead a mutiny to remove the Megatron supporters, but only intended for Megs to die and the rest to be removed unharmed. And then the Lost Light goes dark. Somehow, some crew members end up as brains in booze with teethmarks, and others that felt the mutiny was wrong are put in stasis with looped memories. Some somehow know the DJD were involved, others still feel the mutiny was wrong but fear saying so, and Getaway is shown to be an absolute piece of ****.

This is inconsistent and is now really bothering me, even though I did like the issue.

P.S. Pay attention to First Aid's quotes from the beginning 4 pages and the end. An "oh" changes to an "ah"

[Insurgent]

It's only inconsistant because the narrative is making us believe Getaway has done all this out of malice. Read my previous post for a theory on why it's not actually inconsistent and all this still fits with his 'Only hurt Megatron' mentality.'


And if that oh changed to ah and was not a typo, then...... I guess it means something. I was essentially just skimming those last pages.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

It's only inconsistant because the narrative is making us believe Getaway has done all this out of malice. Read my previous post for a theory on why it's not actually inconsistent and all this still fits with his 'Only hurt Megatron' mentality.'


And if that oh changed to ah and was not a typo, then...... I guess it means something. I was essentially just skimming those last pages.

i did read your post, but I really do feel Roberts has been inconsistent with Getaway. He is a very complex character that I think isn't being done proper justice at this point.

And the typo's have been used before: It was used when Chromedome was listening to Rewinds last message back in issues 28-30, and the message changed, which lead to the indication things weren't right and then we got Lost Light 2 and a new Rewind

[ArmadaPrime]

You know, I 100% disagree about getaway but I had largely forgotten the whole only-harm-megatron thing. Way I see it though, he's dealt with the council before and must know they're hardly the honourable type. Perhaps he didn't actively want the others to come to harm, but I somehow doubt he cares.
I do agree that the engex is probably to protect the vulnerable spinal cords, though only of those he'd already extracted and messed with (this is rudimentary mnemosurgery, I doubt there's anyone on board who can do it in a sophisticated manner). Less protect-these-people and more itd-be-bad-if-they-died?

I also had totally missed the change of words, and I imagine it's very deliberate- FA starting to "wake up". Perhaps if it had been cut down to 1 or 2 pages I would've paid more attention, though would have missed the cleverness of the issues final line.

Tailgate's age is an odd point- I see him as a child in much the same way stardrive is a child (or at most a teen). Having been young before (first day on the job I think?) and then slept out the entire war, pretty much his only formative experiences are those aboard the LL. It's not by chance that his holomatter avatar is a baby (though for sure an exaggeration). Does that make even cyclonus/tailgate A Bit Weird? ...yes, actually. At least that was mutual and consensual though.

[Insurgent]

Oh i agree, when he first started tailgate was a child. But by the start of season 2, i don't view him as such. He's grown alot since then and i would put him in the late teenager bracket when getaway pulled his stunt.

[ArmadaPrime]

Oh i agree, when he first started tailgate was a child. But by the start of season 2, i don't view him as such. He's grown alot since then and i would put him in the late teenager bracket when getaway pulled his stunt.

That's a fair assesment actually- his spark spasm outbursts could even be considered a parallel to teenage rebellion/angst
Still makes the whole getaway stuff dodgy though- arguably slightly less so, but still very much dodgy

[Va'al]

And in other comics news from IDW Publishing, we head back to where it all started - again. The Transformers: Lost Light first volume is out soon, and we've received the advance preview for the collected trade paperback, mirrored below for your viewing pleasure!

Transformers: Lost Light, Vol. 1
James Roberts (w) • Jack Lawrence (a & c)
Universe united, universe divided! In the aftermath of Revolution, Rodimus and his crew are stranded with no ship—and no hope of escape! Five years ago, Rodimus and a collection of traumatized, lovelorn and/or sarcastic Autobots set off on a quest to find Cyberutopia. So far, they've made a right hash of it. They've misplaced their map. They've lost their ship, the Lost Light, to a mutinous escapologist. Oh, and they're dead. Collects issues #1–6.
TPB • FC • $19.99 • 144 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-992-9

Bullet points:
2017 promises to be the year of Transformers with the release of Transformers: The Last Knight.
Advance solicited for October release!

[Kurona]

Bullet points:
2017 promises to be the year of Transformers with the release of Transformers: The Last Knight.

What... does this... mean?

[william-james88]

Bullet points:
2017 promises to be the year of Transformers with the release of Transformers: The Last Knight.

What... does this... mean?

Nothing

[ricemazter]

Bullet points:
2017 promises to be the year of Transformers with the release of Transformers: The Last Knight.

What... does this... mean?

Nothing

My guess is that at the time, whenever this blurb was written, they were banking on Transformers: the last knight being such a massive cinematic hit that 2017 would forever be known as the year of Transformers. Somehow, I guess, this was meant to also make the comics successful. Maybe? I dunno.

[Hydrargyrus]

Anyone here collect in this format? Any thoughts on it?

[Rodimus Prime]

Ugh. Anode. I almost forgot.

Anyway, I haven't read any of the Lost Light issues, for 2 reasons: I learned my lesson with Dying of The Light that Roberts has been exposed as mediocre at best, someone who can't keep a coherent story together from issue to issue, never mind keeping a complex character like Getaway on the same level from issue to issue. Also, Dying of The Light was pretty decent as a TPB, even with the garbage ending, but it has to be read all at once. So I am willing to give Lost Light one chance, by reading the Volume 1 TPB. If I don't like it, I'm done with this crap, and I will never again waste a minute of my time reading or a penny of my money buying anything with Roberts' name on it.