Review of IDW Transformers: Lost Light #7

Synopsis

AFTERMATH! The war with the Functionalists is over—and Rodimus is left wondering whether he won or lost. It’s the beginning of a new chapter for the displaced crew of the Lost Light, as decisions are made that will change their lives forever.



Story

I must admit right off the bat: this story really felt like a filler issue, with not much going on, some pages dedicated to things that weren't really focusing the story, and an overall sort of flat quality to it. After the initial 6 issue arc, which itself felt an issue or 2 longer than it should have, this was a breather, but not one that was needed.

Now may I tell you that this is not an indication that I think the story is bad. The story was alright, but it wasn't good nor bad. There wasn't anything particularly bad, but the good didn't shoot to the moon either. It was sort of flat and no real dips or rises to it.



That said, the good for the story included some decent character moments for Rodimus, Tailgate, Cyclonus, and Whirl. Fangry also gets his moment to shine, which I can appreciate since he is finally in IDW and he had the setup for a payoff. Also, Roller and Lug are very cute, I will appreciate that. And the moments surrounding Megatron, even if he wasn't in the issue, are good and they are telling of his effects on the crew and all the Lost Light characters in general. I appreciated that, even though there were great moments with them, everyone is acknowledging how is absence changes the group's dynamics, and in essence this goes a way to proving that #GetawaywasRight.



On the topic of Lug, that part really felt brushed over and really sped up. Quite literally, last issue brought us the revelation that Rung and Anode between then can resurrect everyone so long as they have some spark residue left (basically sortof), which itself was a cheat on how death is supposed to be meaningful, but we still have characters coming back to life regularly. And then in the case of Lug, she was resurrected, and any ill feelings between her and Anode were brushed over in what, 5 or 6 total pages of time between 2 issues? Nope, not feeling that one.

And also, on that subject: why Kaput? You literally got a decent character, and yet the mentality here is to kill. Kill off the more interesting add-on to the crew, and send the other one off to star in the next 2 issues. Come on man, enough with that. While I can appreciate the bookends to Tailgate's story, doing in Kaput went too far in my humble opinion. You can render someone stasis locked without ripping off their head, ya know?



With this in mind, the beginning of the issue did call back to the opening of More Than Meets The Eye, and it felt properly classic. Tailgate was handled fairly well, and I loved the Cyclonus/Whirl page. That page was the best part of the issue. It's just a shame that the Magnus part was so weird. It felt sort of forced and like something he normally wouldn't do either. It felt less natural than it should have, which is why it wasn't a good part and more of a "meh" part of the story.

So yeah, overall story was subpar, some good moments, but nothing to stand out above anything else.



Art

Art duties are again taken up by Jack Lawrence, and he is joined by inker John Wycough. Now while I was noted in saying I was taking to the Lawrence art style back around issue 5, this issue felt like a step back. Things didn't feel as focused as they should, and the art didn't feel like it did the story the justice it needed to. This story needed that art lift, but it didn't really get the help. Like the story itself, there were no terrible art moments to place a finger on, but there were no shining moments. While I loved the Whirl/Cyclonus scene, it felt a bit too... I want to say bloated and not as focused, sort of soft when it needed that crisp look.



Coloring duties were handled by Joana Lafuente, who did a good job of working with the lines to paint some beautiful scenery, but again not really a shining moment. Even the sunrise as Skip takes off isn't as pronounced as usual, and the followup scenes with Tailgate and Kaput feature some sort of strange lighting that didn't really sit well with my eyes.

Inks were done by Tom B. Long, and once again we have some good moments and some good speech and sound bubbles. While not an issue on Long, there was a strange moment where Fangry had some "stifled laughter," which was extremely obvious in panel, yet required a funny yellow caption over it. This was the one issue I had with the speech bubbles, but the very last thing written in the bottom right corner of the last page more than made up for it. Someone had a sense of humor about burying someone alive for 6 million years in radiation....again!

Final thoughts



So Lost Light 7... yeah, it was alright, but nothing to write home about yet not something to toss in the garbage. At this point in time, the story needs some major pushing. The plot has dragged, and it was weird to have a breather issue after a 6-issue-long 4 issue series. The plot needs to move, the crew needs to move. The story is already 1/3 the length of the first season of MTMTE, yet those first 7 issues felt much better paced, and it felt like we had got places. This is just like... whatever, we've had some stuff happen, we removed the most interesting part of the book and that part that made season 2 better than it otherwise would have been, and we are still months behind the other ongoings (unless the geobomb stuff has triggered a jump forward in time).

In short and in finale, the pace needs to pick up, the fiddle-farting around needs to be cut down, the art needs to get closer to what issue 6 was (and still add a little something), it needs bigger moments that don't take forever to build up when they really didn't need it, and if we are to be rid of Megatron so we can focus on the old crew again, don't start throwing in new characters that are annoying, feel forced, and cheat death to once again derive death of the meaning it is supposed to have, and stop killing off the new ones that really didn't do those sorts of things.