Spoiler: mtmte 54 A couple things! One, returning back to that Lugnut thing, someone on tumblr linked me to an Alex Milne tweet about MTMTE Lugnut's alt mode, and it's totally him. You can see his bellybutton guns. The tweet itself said something about planning to post a fullbody picture for him soon, but I can't find that art, so I'm not sure it ever got put online :P Now I want the lorge man to meet his lorge TFA wife, and then some kind of mutually satisfactory arrangement with Lugnut and Strika and Obsidian, because even if I haven't watched Beast Wars yet, I want E V E R Y O N E adoring the fuck out of Strika. Strika deserves all the love. Also, apropos of nothing, clumsily transplanted from PM: Autistic Strika who perseverates on people and how they tick, which makes her a very effective military commander who doesn't get hung up on emotion when practicality is needed, but who also has a deep understanding of the people she commands and their needs. Double extra perfect on Carcer, where resources are super tight and their existence is precarious. And then, something sad I realized. The first time everybody visited the Necrobot's planet, he said they were all killers. Now, that's true for practically every non-colony Cybertronian (even in cases like Brainstorm where he talks about how yeah, he's a weapons engineer and is responsible for lots of indirect deaths even if he isn't usually pulling the trigger), but it really isn't true for Tailgate. And we don't know for sure about Nautica, but Caminus seems like it's too short on resources to indulge in lots of pointless fighting. So there, arguably, are two innocents. Well, then there's this page. So that's kind of sad. Also, oh my god, I didn't notice how they patched up Ten's shoulder. He went into that battle down an arm with just a rough patch job. We don't know how robo-pain works, but Overlord just talked about how by the time he pulled off three of Rewind's limbs, Rewind was in so much pain he was begging Chromedome to come save him. And Ten went out into a hopeless last stand like this. Annnnnnnnd you know what, I went back to check in on who's safe at the end, and okay. So you see this huddle coming together, right before Megatron's big epic entrance. Rodimus, Nautica, Brainstorm, Whirl, Velocity, and Chromedome. Same group on this escape here (and Ravage). I thought at first that Nautica was riding Tailgate, but that definitely looks like a plausible alt mode for Velocity, and makes more sense, since she was in the last shot of them Also Ten is presumably safe, since he shows up when Nautica is grieving later. Drift too, watching the screen next to Rodimus. But you know who's missing? Tailgate and Cyclonus, yeah. But... also Ultra Magnus. With Rewind and Swerve. That CHOOM, CHOOM at the end seems kind of suspect, because I don't think Megatron is going to die in such an anticlimax. But... Cyclonus has built-in guns. And Ultra Magnus has even bigger built-in guns. And both of them seem like the sort of stupidly honorable assholes to take a hopeless last sacrificial stand. I don't think Cyclonus is going to die, but I am PRETTY WORRIED about Ultra Magnus :C Okay, from a plot perspective, though. If that CHOOM isn't Tarn and Overlord shooting Megatron (triple point-blank fusion cannon to the head seems kind of a stretch for survival), what else could it be? It could be Overlord or Tarn turning on each other... but it really seems like kind of an unlikely time for that to happen. It could be Deathsaurus turning on Tarn... and I do think he's headed in that direction, but I don't think he's been pushed QUITE far enough yet. It could be Rewind shooting Overlord. He presumably knows what went down with Rewind 1, but I don't know whether he'd really go for it quite at this moment. Hm. Though I could maybe see it as partly baggage from Rewind 1, partly as repayment to Megatron for shooting him in the spark when he was just a baby. But what I think is most likely is that either Cyclonus or Ultra Magnus is going to go for Tarn/Overlord. And I'm so goddamn nervous, because whoever tries that is going to get FUCKED. UP. It seems like a less-hopeless attack for Ultra Magnus, but even with the new armor, especially given how huge and buff Tarn and Overlord are (especially Overlord), but I still don't think he'll get far before he's overrun. I'm most nervous on his behalf, because it looks like a LOT of his emotional arc has been resolved. The only real reason to keep him around is because he can tell Rewind about Dominus, and... he's already told us the basics. They could kill him now and it wouldn't put any giant holes in the plot. But I don't want him to go. Or Cyclonus. Cyclonus just has standard-issue onboard guns, like Whirl does, which is nice, but I doubt it's going to do much good against Tarn or Overlord. He's got that flying alt mode, so he's maneuverable, but there are plenty of flying Decepticons, he's already crashing from the boost, and if he and Tailgate find each other on the battlefield, like HELL is either of them leaving the other behind. Basically, if either of them attacks and allegiances stay the way they are, I don't think they have a snowball's chance in hell. BUT. What if they try to defend Megatron, even when things look hopeless, and Deathsaurus is struck by his opponents' honorable conduct, and the way Tarn and Overlord are... not at all honorable. He's already uncomfortable over the way Tarn is commanding his men (and so is Nickel, I'm pretty sure). Ultra Magnus has a Reputation, and honesty isn't quite the same as honor, but I could see Deathsaurus being moved by that kind of attempted sacrifice. OR, even moreso, Cyclonus is still unaffiliated. He's not a Decepticon, but he's sure not an Autobot, so he has no preexisting reason to be loyal to Megatron. Seeing him defend his comrade despite that seems like the kind of thing that Deathsaurus would really respect. Also Tailgate. How can anyone be mad at Tailgate. Bluhhhhhh, I'm not articulating this great, but! I thought this seemed like an interesting way forward and another way to get emotional leverage over Deathsaurus, which I think must be the way forward to surviving the battle.
Spoiler: More spoilers sadly I don't think it can be the scavengers. We see them finding out about the battle three weeks later in 50 Still would be the best possible outcome though
Fuck. I fucked up. They play Taylor Swift, and Tarn blasts Bad Blood at every traitor he sees for next ten thousand years
HA, so I have the nostalgia critic on in the background while I cross-stitch, and the jurassic world review was just wrapping up, and the motherfucking t-rex song was playing over the credits, and I could have SWORN I heard 'grimlock' and 'metroplex' get name-dropped, but I was like nooo no no, I just have misheard. Grimlock maybe, but not Metroplex. But let me check just in case-- And I was totally right. The line is 'I'm a Grimlock bigger than Metroplex.' Factually inaccurate, maybe, but Metroplex is an awesome rhyme for T-Rex. Catching pop-culture references gives me happy tingles, so I'm really pleased with myself right now.
I can't stop thinking about that full-page Megatron tho. It has temporarily overridden my sexuality. Please rescue me from the Megatron stan trash heap. *lies down and stares off into the distance* I want a poster version of that to hang behind the Robot Collection Shelf I'll be starting in my new house
Spoiler: still mtmte 54, outliers speculation The whole thing could still be an asspull though, it woukdnt have taken ling to mention the outlier thing while the process was being explained. Ive been thinking about it more, what if being an outlier meant that there was some mutation in your spark, but you are only born with the potiential to have a super ability, rather then, say, being a super learner from the offset. What if they all had to go through a tramatic experience to gain their abilities? The powers represent something the outliers needed to do desperately in the distant past. That would explain why tailgate's wish to be stronger was somehow granted by his spark. Now i want a Tarn version of "die young"
Anyway, thoughts on JRo's twitter talk about the next few issues? Spoiler: apparently MTMTE 56 and 57 Renumbering the issues for season 3. Also PROWL, my problem child ;-;
