IDW Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #55 Review

Randomhero wrote:I said seven months ago this story will probably be much better in trade all together. I was very unhappy with certain individual issue but as a whole it came together just fine

i love the fact that once tarns mask came off underneath was exactly why I imagined, he looked like everyone else. Other than his scars there's nothing that would have identified him to anyone. "Once we pull that mask off it'll be Roller!" Roller looks like everyone, it's the generic face. and Glitch! Anyone who says they saw coming is a liar!im honestly not disappointed I was wrong about him being proteus. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right

Randomhero wrote:I said seven months ago this story will probably be much better in trade all together. I was very unhappy with certain individual issue but as a whole it came together just fine

i love the fact that once tarns mask came off underneath was exactly why I imagined, he looked like everyone else. Other than his scars there's nothing that would have identified him to anyone. "Once we pull that mask off it'll be Roller!" Roller looks like everyone, it's the generic face. and Glitch! Anyone who says they saw coming is a liar!im honestly not disappointed I was wrong about him being proteus. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right

MrBlack wrote:

Randomhero wrote:I said seven months ago this story will probably be much better in trade all together. I was very unhappy with certain individual issue but as a whole it came together just fine

i love the fact that once tarns mask came off underneath was exactly why I imagined, he looked like everyone else. Other than his scars there's nothing that would have identified him to anyone. "Once we pull that mask off it'll be Roller!" Roller looks like everyone, it's the generic face. and Glitch! Anyone who says they saw coming is a liar!im honestly not disappointed I was wrong about him being proteus. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right

It being Glitch makes sense. The powers are an evolution of his earlier ability to stop non-sentient machines (I would guess his earlier power was never displayed because there was just never a chance for him to use it), the evolution of his powers harkens back to his first appearance where Shockwave said his powers would continue to grow, Skids recognized his voice at Grindcore because he previously knew Glitch, and recruiting him would hurt Optimus Prime because Glitch was one of his earliest allies.

I'll admit that the reveal lacked some emotional resonance because we never got to know Glitch in his two appearances in the book. That said, I think I'm okay with it. If it had been, say, Roller or Terminus, Tarn's quick end would have felt anticlimactic. Tarn being an almost non-entity in the book seems fitting: He truly is just a thug who thinks too highly of himself. Plus, it means we get both Roller and Terminus in the cast of Lost Light, thanks to a twist I did not see coming.

Randomhero wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Randomhero wrote:I said seven months ago this story will probably be much better in trade all together. I was very unhappy with certain individual issue but as a whole it came together just fine

i love the fact that once tarns mask came off underneath was exactly why I imagined, he looked like everyone else. Other than his scars there's nothing that would have identified him to anyone. "Once we pull that mask off it'll be Roller!" Roller looks like everyone, it's the generic face. and Glitch! Anyone who says they saw coming is a liar!im honestly not disappointed I was wrong about him being proteus. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right

It being Glitch makes sense. The powers are an evolution of his earlier ability to stop non-sentient machines (I would guess his earlier power was never displayed because there was just never a chance for him to use it), the evolution of his powers harkens back to his first appearance where Shockwave said his powers would continue to grow, Skids recognized his voice at Grindcore because he previously knew Glitch, and recruiting him would hurt Optimus Prime because Glitch was one of his earliest allies.

I'll admit that the reveal lacked some emotional resonance because we never got to know Glitch in his two appearances in the book. That said, I think I'm okay with it. If it had been, say, Roller or Terminus, Tarn's quick end would have felt anticlimactic. Tarn being an almost non-entity in the book seems fitting: He truly is just a thug who thinks too highly of himself. Plus, it means we get both Roller and Terminus in the cast of Lost Light, thanks to a twist I did not see coming.

Exactly, how many times has tarn been accused of being a nobody and a thug? Turns out he's exactly what everyone said he was.

Honestly it comes down to everyone falling in love with the DJD and getting their hopes up on something that really didn't need to be. I've never been a fan of the DJD. They've always been something I've never cared for and it's mostly due to the fandom blowing them out of proportion. Someone sneezes in the comic and 3 people on message boards scream "ITS BECAUSE OF THE DJD!!!"


It got tiresome for me

Dr Va'al wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Randomhero wrote:I said seven months ago this story will probably be much better in trade all together. I was very unhappy with certain individual issue but as a whole it came together just fine

i love the fact that once tarns mask came off underneath was exactly why I imagined, he looked like everyone else. Other than his scars there's nothing that would have identified him to anyone. "Once we pull that mask off it'll be Roller!" Roller looks like everyone, it's the generic face. and Glitch! Anyone who says they saw coming is a liar!im honestly not disappointed I was wrong about him being proteus. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right

It being Glitch makes sense. The powers are an evolution of his earlier ability to stop non-sentient machines (I would guess his earlier power was never displayed because there was just never a chance for him to use it), the evolution of his powers harkens back to his first appearance where Shockwave said his powers would continue to grow, Skids recognized his voice at Grindcore because he previously knew Glitch, and recruiting him would hurt Optimus Prime because Glitch was one of his earliest allies.

I'll admit that the reveal lacked some emotional resonance because we never got to know Glitch in his two appearances in the book. That said, I think I'm okay with it. If it had been, say, Roller or Terminus, Tarn's quick end would have felt anticlimactic. Tarn being an almost non-entity in the book seems fitting: He truly is just a thug who thinks too highly of himself. Plus, it means we get both Roller and Terminus in the cast of Lost Light, thanks to a twist I did not see coming.

Exactly, how many times has tarn been accused of being a nobody and a thug? Turns out he's exactly what everyone said he was.

Honestly it comes down to everyone falling in love with the DJD and getting their hopes up on something that really didn't need to be. I've never been a fan of the DJD. They've always been something I've never cared for and it's mostly due to the fandom blowing them out of proportion. Someone sneezes in the comic and 3 people on message boards scream "ITS BECAUSE OF THE DJD!!!"


It got tiresome for me

Despite not entirely agreeing here - I think there was some legitimate reason to appreciate a new big bad in the stories - I do agree with you that the 'nobody-ness' of Tarn plays well into that side of things. I don't think it's to spite the readers or fans, but it does address the overhype phenomenon within the story itself.

That said, and as MrBlack points out, Glitch is not entirely a nobody.


Also. Also. Can we talk about Ravage? And those three panels of Soundwave being hurt to his precious core?

MemphisR56 wrote:Aaaaand we get another panel with Nautica overwrought in the background, weeping for her fallen kitty friend ravage. Not to mention the panels with Soundwave feeling his death and crumbling to his knees.

Once again:

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ScottyP wrote:So who wants to chat about why Overlord left and why it was because of what happened at the end and not what he said was the reason? Not that I should ask such things with a full day of work ahead where I won't be online...

MemphisR56 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:So who wants to chat about why Overlord left and why it was because of what happened at the end and not what he said was the reason? Not that I should ask such things with a full day of work ahead where I won't be online...

So you're saying that the Galactic Council was responsible for the Geo Bomb?

If so, that would make sense for Overlord to turn tail. Plus we already know that The council has had access to killmasters geobomb designs... iirc, that was set up in an earlier issue, right?

Kurona wrote:By the way, before Megatron killed Tesarus, he called him "Crucible".
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Crucible
I'd say it's a coincidence, but this is James Friggin' Roberts here.

MrBlack wrote:

MemphisR56 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:So who wants to chat about why Overlord left and why it was because of what happened at the end and not what he said was the reason? Not that I should ask such things with a full day of work ahead where I won't be online...

So you're saying that the Galactic Council was responsible for the Geo Bomb?

If so, that would make sense for Overlord to turn tail. Plus we already know that The council has had access to killmasters geobomb designs... iirc, that was set up in an earlier issue, right?

The Galactic Council guy was waving the Geobomb around on the first page of this issue, referring to it as the backup plan.

Not sure if that is what prompted Overlord to leave. Perahaps it's as simple as what he said: He saw Megatron seeming to cower before him and realized that there was no point to killing him. Perhaps the distress signal had some subtle effect on him.

Randomhero wrote:going back and rereading Glitchs free scenes just makes it more tragic. The poor guy was an outlier which made him an outcast, he had his head and hands removed. He's had it rough.

Cute nod is the fact that when Orion tells Roller to read Megatrons writing in the elegant chaos story, glitch is standing between then listening to Orion's advice.

Dr Va'al wrote:

Randomhero wrote:going back and rereading Glitchs free scenes just makes it more tragic. The poor guy was an outlier which made him an outcast, he had his head and hands removed. He's had it rough.

Cute nod is the fact that when Orion tells Roller to read Megatrons writing in the elegant chaos story, glitch is standing between then listening to Orion's advice.

Yep, as we said above, not entirely a nobody, but enough of one to support your point!
I was initially a little miffed at the reveal, but I appreciate it more and more.

Now, can we talk about the Council's insignia, also seen in the TR one-shot, and the symbol that the Sentinel Prime toy sports? And Overlord's rebuild? And..?

Dr Va'al wrote:

Randomhero wrote:going back and rereading Glitchs free scenes just makes it more tragic. The poor guy was an outlier which made him an outcast, he had his head and hands removed. He's had it rough.

Cute nod is the fact that when Orion tells Roller to read Megatrons writing in the elegant chaos story, glitch is standing between then listening to Orion's advice.

Yep, as we said above, not entirely a nobody, but enough of one to support your point!
I was initially a little miffed at the reveal, but I appreciate it more and more.

Now, can we talk about the Council's insignia, also seen in the TR one-shot, and the symbol that the Sentinel Prime toy sports? And Overlord's rebuild? And..?

Dr Va'al wrote:They are not identical, it's true, but close enough - in my view - to fuel the speculation engines.
I'm revving hard here, people.

Noideaforaname wrote:Exposition! Twist! Exposition! Twist! Exposition! Twist!

Meh, I dunno, nothing really felt satisfying this issue. Took too long to get to some of these plot points, but then everything got rushed. The Necrobot found the time case that Megatron buried and saved Roller and Terminus and put them in organic bodies that coincidentally resemble those buried under Demus' place that those guys with the gear symbol found in 's portal dimension were looking for! "Wait, what?" OOPS Ravage died look at sad Soudwave!

Tigertrack wrote:I'm fairly satisfied with the end of this arc.

The deaths felt real, and caused the right emotions. Ravage is hard to deal with. I never cared about him at all, until he joined Megatron here, and started to change as well.

When he tells Megatron not to change back with the fresh new Decepticon charm symbol on his chest, does he mean don't change back to a Decepticon, or don't change back to being an Autobot again???

Thoughts? I'm pretty sure I know what I think it means... don't change back to Decepticon Megatron of recent old, but I think it was left to be a little ambiguous purposely.

Is Tarn truly dead? Rod and Megs left before the explosion. It seems like yes, but...???

Okay, Terminus and Roller joining up... And ROLLER should be a bit more unsure about Megatron, right? Wonder if there is a story to tell about ROLLER still.I've tried to decide on a toy to represent Terminus in my collection, before he showed up here, I was going to use Armada/Energon Treadshot (repaint of Armada Scavenger) kind of an older version of a treaded digger vehicle...oh well, it was good for about two seconds.

ricemazter wrote:Okay, this issue bothered me quite a bit on reflection. There's no doubt that MTMTE has pacing issues, and I know that the character moments are supposed to make up for it. That said, this has been a problem for a long time and its getting irritating that it hasn't been fixed by now. It feels like there's always a ton of things the writer wants to do, but with 20 pages there's never enough room. Instead of cutting unnecessary things, Roberts goes and does all of them anyway.

The root of the problem, I think, might be that he plants so many seeds with no immediate payoff or seem relatively inconsequential. Then, he's put into a position where he needs to do something with them. Don't get me wrong, it can, and has been, pretty cool to see some seemingly minor detail become uber important later. However, did a lot of people, in their heart of hearts, care about what happened to Terminus or Roller? Why do they need to show up at the end when they already fulfilled their story purpose? Way back when, I was fine with Terminus being another motivator/character element in Megatron's history. We didn't need him to come back. I was similarly fine with Roller falling off the face of the earth. It's pretty clear clear that, until now, his purpose in the MTMTE sotry was to be a red herring for Tarn, and to that end it's fine if he doesn't come back. With all the tiny little things that have been back loaded into the story by previous issues, this one feels like: "Hey, remember that thing we mentioned a while ago? Well, here's how its going to solve our current problem. Now excuse us while we set up more things."

I've also been pretty vocal about how much Roberst misuses Megatron. Every time I think something interesting could happen with his character, Roberts does almost the opposite. This issue, I was really enjoying the confrontation with the DJD. Last time, I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "I hope Megatron turns around and punches Overlord/Tarn into submission without any other characters coming to save him." Partly because I was hoping that the payoff to Megatron's character would be that he learns that it's possible for him to achieve balance between peace through tyranny and his newfound pacifism. He should learn that it's possible for him to control himself and his baser urges without turning into the old Megatron. So, this issue when he turns the tables on the DJD himself, I was exited. Then, when Ravage dies, I was thinking okay, another test to see if he could put down the gun. He couldn't do it. It took the timely arrival of Terminus to defuse the situation. He's still the same Megatron, and once again, he needs some other force to stop him.

Rant over. This isn't to say that I necessarily dislike MTMTE or Roberts' writing, but I gotta admit that I'm pretty disappointed with what's been billed as more or less a conclusion.

Randomhero wrote:

Tigertrack wrote:I'm fairly satisfied with the end of this arc.

The deaths felt real, and caused the right emotions. Ravage is hard to deal with. I never cared about him at all, until he joined Megatron here, and started to change as well.

When he tells Megatron not to change back with the fresh new Decepticon charm symbol on his chest, does he mean don't change back to a Decepticon, or don't change back to being an Autobot again???

Thoughts? I'm pretty sure I know what I think it means... don't change back to Decepticon Megatron of recent old, but I think it was left to be a little ambiguous purposely.

Is Tarn truly dead? Rod and Megs left before the explosion. It seems like yes, but...???

Okay, Terminus and Roller joining up... And ROLLER should be a bit more unsure about Megatron, right? Wonder if there is a story to tell about ROLLER still.I've tried to decide on a toy to represent Terminus in my collection, before he showed up here, I was going to use Armada/Energon Treadshot (repaint of Armada Scavenger) kind of an older version of a treaded digger vehicle...oh well, it was good for about two seconds.

Of course he dead. Why would you think he's not? There's a panel dedicated to him being ripped apart and disintegrated by the antimatter. You don't get more dead than that

ricemazter wrote:Okay, this issue bothered me quite a bit on reflection. There's no doubt that MTMTE has pacing issues, and I know that the character moments are supposed to make up for it. That said, this has been a problem for a long time and its getting irritating that it hasn't been fixed by now. It feels like there's always a ton of things the writer wants to do, but with 20 pages there's never enough room. Instead of cutting unnecessary things, Roberts goes and does all of them anyway.

The root of the problem, I think, might be that he plants so many seeds with no immediate payoff or seem relatively inconsequential. Then, he's put into a position where he needs to do something with them. Don't get me wrong, it can, and has been, pretty cool to see some seemingly minor detail become uber important later. However, did a lot of people, in their heart of hearts, care about what happened to Terminus or Roller? Why do they need to show up at the end when they already fulfilled their story purpose? Way back when, I was fine with Terminus being another motivator/character element in Megatron's history. We didn't need him to come back. I was similarly fine with Roller falling off the face of the earth. It's pretty clear clear that, until now, his purpose in the MTMTE sotry was to be a red herring for Tarn, and to that end it's fine if he doesn't come back. With all the tiny little things that have been back loaded into the story by previous issues, this one feels like: "Hey, remember that thing we mentioned a while ago? Well, here's how its going to solve our current problem. Now excuse us while we set up more things."

I've also been pretty vocal about how much Roberst misuses Megatron. Every time I think something interesting could happen with his character, Roberts does almost the opposite. This issue, I was really enjoying the confrontation with the DJD. Last time, I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "I hope Megatron turns around and punches Overlord/Tarn into submission without any other characters coming to save him." Partly because I was hoping that the payoff to Megatron's character would be that he learns that it's possible for him to achieve balance between peace through tyranny and his newfound pacifism. He should learn that it's possible for him to control himself and his baser urges without turning into the old Megatron. So, this issue when he turns the tables on the DJD himself, I was exited. Then, when Ravage dies, I was thinking okay, another test to see if he could put down the gun. He couldn't do it. It took the timely arrival of Terminus to defuse the situation. He's still the same Megatron, and once again, he needs some other force to stop him.

Rant over. This isn't to say that I necessarily dislike MTMTE or Roberts' writing, but I gotta admit that I'm pretty disappointed with what's been billed as more or less a conclusion.

MrBlack wrote:I have been pretty happy with Megatron's character arc, and this issue continues that. He's really struggling to be the person he was before the war, and I can see why he would almost be ready to throw that away after this issue. He not only gave up his newfound pacifism, which had given him great relief, but he violently killed his former followers. To top it off, the bot he desperately wanted to save died anyway. He was emotionally distraught and had lost the one real friend he had left. Of course he was ready to crack. And, of course, his old pre-war mentor, someone who knew the old Megatron, is the one to snap him back.

I'm excited to see more of Roller and Terminus. I liked what little we have seen of Roller so far, and he seems like another good foil for Ratchet (his best friends always seem to be the ones that annoy him most). It will be interesting to see what Terminus thinks of Megatron's actions over the past 5 million years, and how his presence may affect Megatron's continued change of heart.

Tigertrack wrote:

MrBlack wrote:I have been pretty happy with Megatron's character arc, and this issue continues that. He's really struggling to be the person he was before the war, and I can see why he would almost be ready to throw that away after this issue. He not only gave up his newfound pacifism, which had given him great relief, but he violently killed his former followers. To top it off, the bot he desperately wanted to save died anyway. He was emotionally distraught and had lost the one real friend he had left. Of course he was ready to crack. And, of course, his old pre-war mentor, someone who knew the old Megatron, is the one to snap him back.

I'm excited to see more of Roller and Terminus. I liked what little we have seen of Roller so far, and he seems like another good foil for Ratchet (his best friends always seem to be the ones that annoy him most). It will be interesting to see what Terminus thinks of Megatron's actions over the past 5 million years, and how his presence may affect Megatron's continued change of heart.

Well said MrBlack. I also have been a fan of Megatron via MTMTE. Never before from any fiction did I really care about him as more than the extreme bad guy leader who plays foil to the Autobots I sided with. Seeing him grow and change really, and the characterization of many characters including Starscream,and Thundercracker, and Prowl have made it so that the sides are not always so black and white, or red and purple. Each side has their monsters, each side has those that are on the fringe (Whirl and Drift), nobody's character can really be taken for face value anymore, they are complex beings with complex motivations, and that IS AWESOME, and really what I have wanted out of Transformers characters for a long time!

RandomH, are you okay? I'm reading your posts like you are very defensive, emotional, and on edge. Did the book hit you that hard, or are we being that bad?

Randomhero wrote:You obviously hasn't read the dozens and dozens of posts about roller and terminus. A lot of people wanted to know about roller and terminus.

So you're a bit disappointed about being surprised? So what if things arnt the same as how you envision it. It means you're not right and you get a surprise.

I thought for a year Proteus was Tarn and was damn certain he was only for that to be the complete opposite. I was wrong and couldn't be happier that I wa wrong because that means this book continues to be fresh and unpredictable.

ricemazter wrote:::Snip::

ricemazter wrote:

Randomhero wrote:You obviously hasn't read the dozens and dozens of posts about roller and terminus. A lot of people wanted to know about roller and terminus.

So you're a bit disappointed about being surprised? So what if things arnt the same as how you envision it. It means you're not right and you get a surprise.

I thought for a year Proteus was Tarn and was damn certain he was only for that to be the complete opposite. I was wrong and couldn't be happier that I wa wrong because that means this book continues to be fresh and unpredictable.

Again, this is just my personal opinion on things, but I should probably explain my thoughts a bit more. Again, again, Roberts really, really likes to set things up so that they can payoff later, but with him it's too much of a good thing when you're trying to conclude a narrative. I know that this isn't really a conclusion to the series, but for this particular story and in terms of things leading to this story both Roller and Terminus played their part. I don't begrudge anyone for wanting to know what happened to them, and I won't deny that you could something interesting with their fates later. However, previously terminus showed up in a single issue. Here he acts as a motivator for Megatron's later worldview, not to compromise or give in to authority. Sometimes, change must be forced, by force.His disappearance, and the fact that no one cares about it due to him being some crippled miner, drives this point home to Megatron and the audience. Beyond that, he only just shows up now to diffuse Megatronand to refute what I saw, in my opinion, as positive character development for Megatron. It showed that, deep down, he hasn't really learned anything about real restraint or moderation, and is resorting to binary extremes, again. That said, it's fine for a character to have flaws, but they need to develop eventually or address it in some way.

With Roller, the vast majority of everything going on with him has been a red herring for Tarn. He feels the need to latch onto a charismatic authority figure, Optimus then Megatron, and is insecure about his ability to please said authority. He bemoans the fact that he doesn't have a particularly special ability, and resorts to an addictive performance enhancer to compensate. He's billed as one of Prime's and Ratchet's original friends. He has a similar silhouette and build to Tarn. He disappears, and no one knows what happened to him. Tarn also attaches to a charismatic figure, has a highly addictive personality, uses performance enhancers, was a member of Optimus' circle at one point, and has memories that could feasibly have been Roller's. No one save Megatron knows who he really is, and a guy with his build as well as reason to hate Optimus' and crew for leaving him hasn't been seen in millions of years. Basically, in my view, Roller's position in the story has been solely to mislead the reader, and to counter it with the actual reveal. Him showing up now doesn't add much to this arc, except for the audience to go "What!?" when he appears right before Tarn's mask is removed. From a narrative perspective, knowing what we know now, his disappearance served its purpose. It would almost be better ifhe didn't show up, drama wise, because it really slaps the audience in the face with the reveal while I think more subtlety would have been better.

If you really think about, Terminus' and Roller's appearance now and in this way means that their original departure means less. There isn't any mystery anymore. For instance, we can't have a dramatic reveal to the effect that the circumstances behind Roller's and Terminus' disappearance are actually part of a larger plot by the Cog or something. We know they were just plucked from the time stream by the Necrobot. Interesting stories about why they were missing can't be told now in a future arc. For people who really wanted to know what happened, this can't be the kind payoff you wanted. It's just not an interesting twist.

In terms of the story confirming to my expectations, you have a point. The writer doesn't owe me anything. But I can be disappointed. To elaborate, there's a difference between the plot and character development. I'm not necessarily irritated that Megatron didn't do the exact thing plot wise that I would have wanted, but I am miffed that his character, at the conclusion of the arc, didn't actually progress entirely. He's still stuck in extremes. Unless of course, the writer addresses this character flaw where another character goes "you haven't changed!" That could be interesting on its own, but it isn't addressed. Instead it feels like all the development the character has gone through is sort of wasted. You can play with my expectations, fine. I actually like the fact that Tarn isn't Roller. It's a good twist that drives home a point to that character, given the unsubtle way Roberts delivers it. I didn't expect Ravage to die either. I won't say I necessarily liked it, but it was emotional and works well enough.

Second Rant over, Primus this chain is long.

TLDR, the twist with Tarn not being Roller isn't the issue. The issue is that Roller and Terminus, having served their narrative purpose for this particular story, appear in such a way that either doesn't do much for the arc or regresses character development. For future arcs, this also means there can't be a better payoff. In my view, it would have been better for them to show up after dying of the light is over so we can have a better, impactful revelation than this.

Like Megatron, it isn't perfect, but there's a great deal to love despite a few rough edges.

Tigertrack wrote:When he tells Megatron not to change back with the fresh new Decepticon charm symbol on his chest, does he mean don't change back to a Decepticon, or don't change back to being an Autobot again???

Thoughts? I'm pretty sure I know what I think it means... don't change back to Decepticon Megatron of recent old, but I think it was left to be a little ambiguous purposely.

MrBlack wrote:To be honest, Roberts doesn't always do endings well. The final issues of major arcs tend to be rushed, and they don't always answer all the audiences questions.

The thing is, one thing Roberts is good at is delivering a really good epilogue to each story. The prose story at the end of "Remain in Light" and issue #40 both provide much more satisfying conclusions than the true final endings of each story arc.

The real problem I see is that I am not sure if we are going to get that, unless Roberts plans to include an epilogue in the Titans Return tie-ins. Otherwise, I have a feeling that Lost Light #1 is going to start in media res, and we'll have to wait to see how the cliffhanger in this issue was resolved.

Randomhero wrote:

But they are part of the story as a whole. They appeared in season 2 and the dying of the light became something of a pay off to almost everything that happened in season 2 with the exception of the Cog Faction.

As for Tarns reveal, it's heavily implied that his it wasn't a mystery to the universe much like how the mysterious senator was only a mystery to the audience. Tarns identity was implied to be public knowledge hence why there was no jaw dropping panel of the crew watching. Only velocity asked who he was and then got interrupted by Roller walking in. That's Not just roller saying "that's not important" that's Roberts saying it's not important. Roberts has spent all day on Twitter answering questions and one question he answered was "tarn is Tarn 'nuff said" who tarn used to be was never suppose to be a mystery. We made it a big deal and because Roberts was hounded for 3 years "I bet this guy is tarn!" or "ROLLER IS TARN I KNOW IT IS!" He messed with us. That what Roberts does. I've said every time someone brought up the argument and used issue 38 with all the red herrings that roller is Tarn that it's all just to throw us off and tossing blatant clues is not how he writes. And that's exactly what happened.

People have been blowing the DJD up for years and expected this grand reveal when it never was suppose to be. That's just my opinion but apparently that's also how the guy who created the character also waned it to be.

ricemazter wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

But they are part of the story as a whole. They appeared in season 2 and the dying of the light became something of a pay off to almost everything that happened in season 2 with the exception of the Cog Faction.

As for Tarns reveal, it's heavily implied that his it wasn't a mystery to the universe much like how the mysterious senator was only a mystery to the audience. Tarns identity was implied to be public knowledge hence why there was no jaw dropping panel of the crew watching. Only velocity asked who he was and then got interrupted by Roller walking in. That's Not just roller saying "that's not important" that's Roberts saying it's not important. Roberts has spent all day on Twitter answering questions and one question he answered was "tarn is Tarn 'nuff said" who tarn used to be was never suppose to be a mystery. We made it a big deal and because Roberts was hounded for 3 years "I bet this guy is tarn!" or "ROLLER IS TARN I KNOW IT IS!" He messed with us. That what Roberts does. I've said every time someone brought up the argument and used issue 38 with all the red herrings that roller is Tarn that it's all just to throw us off and tossing blatant clues is not how he writes. And that's exactly what happened.

People have been blowing the DJD up for years and expected this grand reveal when it never was suppose to be. That's just my opinion but apparently that's also how the guy who created the character also waned it to be.

Yes, they are part of the story as a whole. My argument is that they played their part in said story and that they didn't need to be brought back for the conclusion. If they weren't brought back, that's a page or two Robert's can use to tighten the chronic pacing problems this series has had for a while now. That's in addition to my personal thoughts on Megatron's character development which, in my opinion, Terminus' halts. I understand that a lot of other people like him more as an extreme demagogue and don't care to see something else. Fine. I would have preferred that the character arc be completed with him finding a middle ground that's a nice bow string to tie up his arc with. I would have been happy if Robert's wrote the story so that Megatron is able to somehow get out of the situation while sticking to his pacifism. It wouldn't have been my ideal arc, but it would have been a completed arc. I would have been happy if somehow it was pointed out that Megatron is stuck between two extremes in the story by another character or something. It wouldn't have necessarily been an arc, but it would have been an examination of his character flaws.

I completely agree with you that Tarn not being Roller is a positive thing. That's what Roberts is going for. The point is, it doesn't matter who Tarn is. To that end, he plays with audience expectations which I can also appreciate. However, consequently Roller's entire purpose since Days of Deception has been a red herring since Roberts kept dropping false hints. Him showing up now doesn't do anything for dying of the light, except to hammer in the nail. If Roberts really wanted to stick to his "who cares about Tarn?" guns, it would've been better for him to just have Megatron reveal Glitch without sticking Roller into the scene. Roller doesn't need to be there for us to get the point.

Additionally, because both characters are brought back in the way they are, there's no impact. That's something Roberts could have saved for the next arc, so we can
read an interesting story about the disappearance.

Randomhero wrote:

Well they did need to come back though because they were part of the necrobots story in the end. Personally yes I do think it's wasn't necessary but if this is it for the necrobot then they did kinda need to pop up I guess. Best I can'conclude is while they did show up at the end they-more terminus than roller- will be very important in third season

ricemazter wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

Well they did need to come back though because they were part of the necrobots story in the end. Personally yes I do think it's wasn't necessary but if this is it for the necrobot then they did kinda need to pop up I guess. Best I can'conclude is while they did show up at the end they-more terminus than roller- will be very important in third season

Yeah, it really seems to be that Robert's has the need to tie up every loose end he makes. I would argue that Nightbeat confronting the necrobot in the first place about his passive approach was enough for that character, and the fact that he elected to warn the lost light crew instead of allowing the djd to corner them was enough to prove that he had changed. But, because of that Roberts itch, he finds a convenient way to connect the two and kill two birds with one stone, even if it doesn't jell with pacing.

Personally, it would've been cool to bring Roller and Terminus back once season 3 actually starts. Then their disappearance could be explored in terms of the larger plot, and not resolved in a page of exposition.

Red herrings are fine too. Roberts can be clever, but he has a tendency to get too clever. His meta commentary always kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

MemphisR56 wrote:So you're saying that the Galactic Council was responsible for the Geo Bomb?

Quint wrote:And Pol Pot was a cheeky scamp.

A well-thought analysis, otherwise; something of an epitaph. Kudos

MrBlack wrote:I have a feeling that Lost Light #1 is going to start in media res

Randomhero wrote:I guess what I mean to say is, if anyone is upset about tarns identity not being what they expected or it not being a big page reveal of his face, kinda get over it.

• A reddit post from last year.
• In right under the bell!
• And the oldest correct guess I've found so far, two years ago on someone's Tumblr.

ScottyP wrote:

• A reddit post from last year.
• In right under the bell!
• And the oldest correct guess I've found so far, two years ago on someone's Tumblr.

that say they're totally and utterly wrong and that Roller's not that obvious so it has to be him

Kurona wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

• A reddit post from last year.
• In right under the bell!
• And the oldest correct guess I've found so far, two years ago on someone's Tumblr.

Woah.
It's also kinda funny reading all the responses to them that say they're totally and utterly wrong and that Roller's not that obvious so it has to be him

ScottyP wrote:The Death of Optimus Prime, which ushered in what has arguably been the best long-form run of Transformers comics in history