IDK, I feel like it's a very deliberate THEME. Or more specifically, the theme is what defines your identity and how does that change in response to things, including external stuff like Spoiler mind control of various types.
Also Spoiler: 2017 Annual I'm not convinced Onyx caused the rift. I'm not convinced he DIDN'T, but by Pyra's own recollection, he pulled her out of danger. And his companions weren't marauders, but they WERE attacking. But we see them attack after Rust Dust has already killed one of their fellows. But she did that because she was attacked. And we don't know why that initial link in the chain happened, even though I'm assuming she isn't like secretly a serial killer or anything and was just trying to mind her own business. Basically I'm not convinced Onyx is an ally, but I don't think we can prove he's behind this whole black hole thing either, esp when we know what caused the one on Cybertron, or at least who pulled the trigger for that. Him pulling Pyra roughly back from the danger zone and talking to her could either be a threat to a messenger he ensures lives, or a rescue and a warning, or something in between. The Mistress of Flame continues to hella creep me out.
Spoiler: 2017 annual - I really love the art this issue. - "Or I could land. I CHOSE to land." is like. Peak Starscream, his entire character summed up in one panel and a sulky facial expression. Starscream is that cat who rolls off a table and gives you the evil eye because YES, human, he meant to do that. - Wow, Bee, way to elbow Soundwave directly in the junk. - "Not believing that you are the only one with an answer." GEE GOLLY OPTIMUS GOOD THING YOU NEVER DO THAT, HUH. - "And you believe nothing, yet you use belief to manipulate others." Oh snap. - "You don't believe in anything." "You know where I come from." What does this meeeeeean? I have so many questions. I mean, yes, Megatron, but it almost sounds like Starscream might be talking about before he joined the Decepticons. Where DID he come from? I don't necessarily want the comics to give a firm answer, but it's interesting to think about.
So I haven't read the annual yet but-- Starscream is a cold-con, and we know that he was around for that period of time when cold constructed were basically considered unnatural and unloved by Primus. If anything would foster a resentment and bitter sort of atheism, I think being told "you are an offense to Robot God" would probably do it.
There´s also a screenshot i do not currently have acess to, where he says: "The only thing that controls the universe is enthropy." (It´s early in ExRID) So atheist Starscream sounds pretty likely.
I do love that line about entropy, because yes. I knew he was cold-con but I hadn't thought about the fact that people considered them against the will of Primus. Ouch, yeah, that would certainly explain his atheism and his saltiness over Optimus's role in government as a religious authority. A quasi-related thought: man, Cybertronian conspiracy theories about Starscream as the Antichrist. Opposed to and by Optimus, the representative of Primus? Check. Mark of death during the whole Dark Cybertron arc? Check. Vague prophesies about him causing the apocalypse ("the stars will scream")? Check.
So apparently there's a phone game coming out in April??? That has Windblade in it and may or may not be set in IDW Comics-verse???? Promo site, trailer Spoiler: recent comics plot things Especially given how much mind control shenanigans have apparently been going on (I'm only caught up on MTMTE and am vaguely absorbing things through the crossover and yall liveblogging the annual), the "old friends turned against us" line of the trailer makes me think even more that we're getting a comic-verse game
Hey, check it out, it's overlord stripped down to bare bones, doing his best to protest as Megatron talks about how they've nonconsensually hijacked his brain and are about to nonconsensually modify his body Which comes right after a nice montage of megatron pounding his face in, of course
Ha, check it out. I'm too lazy to crop down the two page spread (I just finished editing a godawfully long meta piece that's going up tomorrow), but Spoiler: large Exhibit one: By the usual mtmte art conventions, Whirl pretty much starts angry-crying when he sees the mechs who destroyed his watch shop Exhibit two: Take a good hard look at the violence he does. It is pretty darn brutal, and more... angry than usual Whirl levels of angry Exhibit two point five: Holy shit I just realized he ripped their hands off Exhibit three: Whirl asking why he shouldn't kill these two, when they killed him first
Don't worry, I know exactly which part you would want it cropped down to Perfect Also, "But they killed me first" :') HahahahhahhahahFUCK
Heyyyy check out this giant meta thing that I spent all of yesterday evening creating. Because it is literally impossible to give Brainstorm too much love. Edit: now with a ridiculous midnight typo fixed :p
I am very late with this issue liveblog, becauuuuuuse i was sick when it went up and then the donation drive happened and then i forgot but! Better late than never Spoiler: LL3 My gosh. Whirl is so handsome on this cover. My boy. Oh he is... so cute... oh gosh. Swerve darling. "Nothing is another word for boring." Whirl bby "You did that on purpose!" "Did I? (That's a genuine question by the way)" DFGH I love. Them. So Much. Awww Nightbeat. Brainstorm u dick. KAPUT IS A UNICYCLE. THIS JUST MADE MY ENTIRE WEEK. MY HUSBANDIS A FUCKING UNICYCLE I CAN'T. AND A HEART SURGEON. A UNICYCLE HEART SURGEON. "Because like me, you're much better comapny when you're occupied." ilu brainstorm you fucking asshole. Brainstorm squealing about parallel universes, more like: me this entire arc. NIGHTBEAT IS SQUEALING TOO I LOVE THE NERD SQUAD "It's either that or 'Primus waved a magic wand'." "Malfunctioning geo bomb it is." pfffffff WHO ARE YOU, DEAR COUNCILLOR!! LEMME KISS YA!! WELL THAT IS A LARGE AND ANGRY MECH "PEOPLE LIKE HIM DON'T RETIRE!" I... love... whirl... NOT TEN YOU BASTARD bless swerve and whirl so much. Nine-of-Twelve is a loveable primus fanatic if I've ever seen one. "Saviours? No, no. Tourists. Strictly Hi and Bye." I love roddyyyy ....... okay but Megatron praising the rebels for their acts of protest is so precious. AND SELF INFLICTED OPTIC REMOVAL. I LOVE IT. IT'S COOL AF. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANODE! Okay that's... u guys.... functionist cybertron is a small isolated festering mess... not that that's new but still. ohhhhhh my god okay so. Most Cold Cons are dead then. Dead or never born. mmmmmh. "The council started to break their own rules" NOPE NEVERMIND. Just due to the destruction of sparks these are different coldcons! Exciting! And of course Six-Of-Twelve has fucking lost it. "Transplanting pre-existiing sparks into purpose built bodies" I CAN'T. BELIEVE. BRASS AND SHADOWS IS BECOMING FUCKING CANON. A BLACKSMITH? GASP SHE'S... BASICALLY... SOLUS PRIME???? OMG okay so Anode and Lug confirmed for camiens, at least we have that. AN INERT PROTOFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM YELLING DARK IDW GIVE ME THE FUCKING SPARKLINGS OH MY GOD???? ANODE???? CAN MAKE PEOPLE?????????? THAT'S SICK AS FUCK???? I LOVE BLACKSMITHS!!!!!!! THAT'S INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Widowed Metal" the words they throw around are fucking great here. oh fuck Ohhhhhh fuck... CY NO WHAT THE FUCK Roddy you absolute disaster, just because you wondered doesn't mean you should know. Rung had reasons not to reveal it probably. I am.... incredibly grateful for this arc being written by JRO. The council speeches are *incredibly* written and paced. I love this. oh BULLSHIT that is so obviously bullshit. RUNG IS NOT A WEAPON OF HOLY WAR WHAT TEH FUCK WELL THEN. HI LUNA-2
Hey hey guys hey So I saw these panels go yesterday when I was collecting screenshots for the brainstorm meta (I ran into a lot of interesting panels, actually, I'm just still pulling those together), and I was thinking about prowl/soundwave, because I am a shipping trash panda. And I was thinking about sketchy medical experiments being carried out on soundwave, because I'm just a trash panda in general, and I like seeing my faves suffering. But then I realized a thing. Soundwave was captured and brought to the New Institute. He was put in the hands of two highly skilled mnemosurgeons, and Trepan was actually in the act of slicing into Soundwave's head before Overlord swooped in for a last minute miracle rescue. No wonder he's all 'sorry not sorry' over his own adventures in hijacking Prowl's brain. ps also check out Soundwave's face in that top panel, look at how much it looks like the decepticon symbol. It's like Tarn, but tasteful! (the story of soundwave's life, t b h)
Spoiler: long First, check out the body language with Rung and Fort Max when Rewind hits him with the Garrus-9 footage And look at Swerve's face when Rodimus orders him to take the shot Old timey bodies for Starscream and Thundercracker! My pretty boys! They look so nice and sharp and crisp :') Look at Soundwave taking Starscream by the hands to pull him to his feet, right when Starscream has just given up And check out how into this jump Soundwave is This isn't actually that off-model for this artist. They draw Shockwave with a seriously flat head and a wasp waist, and it looks like his gun arm would be like... down to his ankles. But anyways this makes me laugh. This. At first Tailgate called him an OCD control freak who uses learning to hurt people. And then he was so upset when he was dying and there was no way to save him, and he was cleaning his legs while he was in his coma, because Tailgate knows he hates dirt. And this. Look at that pair of gentle touches. I can't even handle this. It's not a good view, but check out how Pharma was doing after Delphi. You can even see a little bit of the stumps of his arms. And check out Pharma on his knees, bent over, because that is a delightful piece of body language all on its own. And finally, Prowl and Starcream, not crying, but... basically crying. My pretty, awful, damaged boys :( This is mostly #aesthetic, but note that this is happening to Prowl right after he had a traumatic experience with losing control of his own mind, so this sudden out of nowhere painful almost-death with no apparent cause has all kinds of extra baggage tacked on. Which probably doesn't help with his later issues, honestly. Even if he gets an explanation for this later, it doesn't undo how it felt in the moment, that experience doesn't disappear. And okay, so Starscream's immediate thought when he started dying was that it was Megatron doing it. Given the way we see Megatron toy with him, keep him alive, keep him around... at this point after the killswitch is disabled Starscream doesn't know it was happening to other people, he doesn't know that it wasn't Megatron doing this. As far as he knows, Megatron is hurting him for the sake of hurting him again. In these panels, Starscream's body language is closest to Kaon's, who's holding the pet for comfort. But Starscream doesn't have anyone who could comfort him, and given his history, if Megatron is behind this, there's no reason to believe anyone would comfort him. Basically, consider this panel from the perspective of someone who thinks his abuser has forced their way back into his life, and is either trying to kill him or just make him suffer. And maybe the pain has stopped. The pain has stopped for now. As far as he knows, his abuser has just found a new way to hurt him. He has no idea why it's happening or how it's happening. He has no way to know what he did (if he even did anything) to provoke this, and he has no way to know when it might happen again. So maybe the pain has stopped, but just imagine how he must feel. Afraid, unsafe, and alone. (and it's very shortly after this that he fields rodimus's call from the lost light. even when he's been hurt this badly, he pulls himself back together so quickly, without any external support, and he's trying so hard)
Annnnnnnd now I have Overlord meta! With warnings for abuse and nonsexual noncon, but surprisingly not much robogore unless you count a flaming skeleton man. Because if I'm too off-balance to write or draw, for whatever reason, at least I can still use my powers of information compiling to create some sort of fan content. Also because I have a massive transformers to do list and I am trying desperately to make it shrink instead of grow. Side note: look at what overlord looked like in tfa! angry cylinder head man! (additional side note: asdfsdasffds I hate it when someone leaves a nonsensical comment on something you make and you... think they're trying to correct something you said, but what they typed has no relation to what I wrote, I didn't say a word about post-issue-55 brainstorm why are you talking about mood suppressants)
Gah, I knew I was forgetting something. Also check out Deathsaurus's expression when Tarn tells him that they're going to work with Overlord and this is definitely a good plan that will end well
So I don't usually drink, but I decided to have some vodka and watch the first Transformers movie, which I have never seen before. Solid life choices right here. Spoiler: is this even worth spoilering Bumblebee, you are a diva of a wingman.
Hgggggggghhhhhh. One not so good thing and then some less not good things to make up for it. Spoiler: bitchy? I always forget that non-art/fic posts are more likely to inspire discussion and disagreement, and I'm really not bad at arguing my case, but I also always forget how much conflict of any kind in a public forum freaks me the heck out. So I've been a little stressed watching some of the Brainstorm comments go by, but people are being pleasant and thoughtful even when they want to quibble with some points. But then comes THIS bullshit on that silly little nothing post about Soundwave that I put up yesterday. What??? I passed zero moral judgments here, I haven't tried to justify jack shit. I just said that wow, so there's this person who was once in the process of getting lobotomized before there was a miracle rescue? No wonder he isn't falling over himself to apologize for doing sketchy brain things to Prowl. What the fuuuuuck, and I don't think Soundwave is any kind of unrepentant, unfeeling hardass, I have been wailing about his emotions in the tgwp quarantine for MONTHS. What. What even is this. I hate fighting, but I hate having this in the notes of my post, but I hate blocking people, but I feel like I need to say something to defend myself. FUCK. Why couldn't they have decided to fite about Overlord instead? I wrote an excitingly sympathetic essay about one of the worst people in this series, it's just begging for outrage over bluh bluh overlord apologist, I'm prepared to fite about Overlord. UGH Anyways! Minimus Ambus has a Ten doll in his office! And he plays with it while he's talking to Rewind! Spoiler: large Nightbeat and Nautica being adorable and tactile while they're excited over a mystery! Megatron giving Ravage scritches!!
