Spoiler: ll7 That pun is beautiful but also how dare you on this, the day of my son's wedding death--
Spoiler: LL07 Upon further examination, rather than living up to his name, it looks like he's actually been deKaputated.
Spoiler The numb, disbelieving shock of an autistic person being dropped into sudden, miserable, awful, drastic CHANGE. I've never been so attached to this autism headcanon. (and this all happens after cyclonus was so good with people and interacting easily in the last issue ;n;) (make him suffer more, jro, I live for his pain)
Spoiler And all this happens not that long after Whirl told Cyclonus to his face that he wasn't entitled to anything from Tailgate, and why would Tailgate want him. Sure, he came around in the meantime, but do you think Cyclonus is going to forget those words? :3c
Spoiler: LL7 I find it remarkably suspicious how...central Kaput has been to so many problems, this issue, and the fact that he's apparently dead at the end doesn't make me any less suspicious about the whole damn thing. A lot of this is off the cuff and throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks, so take it with a grain of salt, but... But first? A quick tangent. First and foremost - this is a massive red flag to me that the comic is very aware that things have gone wrong, starting with the fact that Brainstorm teleported Swerve back to figure out how to bring everyone back from the Functionist Universe because Swerve was the one affected by Brainstorm's meta-bomb. The last time Swerve was overwhelmed, he found his 'happy place' on Swearth. Now, he's taking hits of those emotional suppressants, and god only knows how that's interacting with whatever lingering effects there might be from the meta-bomb if it hasn't really worn off. Swerve and Brainstorm are at the crux of some of the most physics-breaking, meta-aware points in MTMTE, and the thought of Brainstorm 'tricking' science and 'breaking the rules' in this past arc? Right when we know Swerve is emotionally compromised? Also? 'A teleportation wand infused with temporal energy' leads me right to this: A magic wand. Falling under someone's spell? And then, most damning of all: The End. With an exclamation point. This is getting fairy tale-esque all up in this shit. I'm trying to draw thematic connections to Luna-1 (though that's a little more speculative on my part) because Killmaster's speciality is copy and paste, bilocational weaponry and his moongun plans were the basis for the geobomb that sent everyone to the Functionist Universe in the first place. The only fairy tale concerning moons that I've found in a quick google search is one I remembered vaguely from No Rest For the Wicked - the moon is buried/trapped under a stone after helping a man, and the world is dark at night so that evil things are free to roam at will until she's found and freed Spoiler: wiki summary Once upon a time, the Carland was filled with bogs. When the moon shone, it was as safe to walk in as by day, but when she did not, evil things, such as bogies, came out. One day the moon, hearing of this, pulled on a black cloak over her yellow hair and went to see for herself. She fell into a pool, and a snag bound her there. She saw a man coming toward the pool and fought to be free until the hood fell off; the light helped the man make his way to safety and scared off the evil creatures. She struggled to follow until the hood fell back over her hair, and all the evil things came out of the darkness, trapping her under a big stone with a will-o'-the-wyke to sit on the cross-shaped snag and keep watch. The moon never rose again, and the people wondered what had happened until the man she had rescued remembered and told what he had seen. A wise woman sent them into the bog until they found a coffin (the stone), a candle (the will-o'-the-wyke), and a cross (the snag); the moon would be nearby. They did as the wise woman said, and freed the moon. From this time on the moon has shone brighter over the boglands than anywhere else, and the evil things were chased from the Carland. Which, considering that Tailgate was just buried alive? Worries me, even if it is a stretch. It's also possible to link this to Sleeping Beauty - the princess is cursed to fall asleep for ~100 years, etc, while the castle is surrounded by brambles and thorns. Having flowers grow over your 6 bazillion year tomb is again a stretch, but still...troubling But back to Kaput being hip deep in a bunch of shit, when Ratchet and Velocity are literally right there to do the doctor thing and yet keep getting sidelined: Kaput says this. Kaput says that. Kaput is the one everyone consults for spark related shit. Which makes sense, since he's the magical spark guy who conveniently arrived just in time to help with all these spark related problems! And...optic eyepatches? Proof of personality connections in a giant person suit? Uhhh... (One of the last times we had explicit personality related dissonance, Swerve had split into three mental personas. Again - I am CONCERNED ABOUT SWERVE. It's also making me think thoughts about the personality ticks from earlier issues of MTMTE, but that's even less coherent than what I'm rambling about here) And the instant Cyclonus is gone, Tailgate falls under Kaput's spell. Fangry exacerbates the problem, but he's not the one who literally talked Tailgate into a hole in the ground. He's been buried alive on a planet of the dead, a planet that was the mold of Cybertron where Tailgate was buried and forgotten originally, and these parallels just keep stacking up Let's not forget that the word kaput literally means 'broken/useless' - when we're just coming off an arc about Functionism, and the Useless One(s). Who the fuck is this unicycle man, goddammit Also, Kaput and Killmaster both start with a K. ERGO QUID PRO QUO, Kaput is clearly the Doc Scratch incubator to Killmaster's time travelling Lord English, and it's all fucking Homestuck all the way down (Joking. Mostly) (Except when I'm not)
(pssst you should put this all together into a tumblr post so I can reblog it) Spoiler: LL07 Our world has been filled, FILLED with seemingly-good boys, who were secretly not good boys at all. I want to trust him... but I don't trust him. I've been hurt too many times!! Also Kaput was up to his elbows in Lug's miraculous resurrection where things started to go wrong and Anode had no experience but oops then it all went "suspiciously" well. Also the functionist ENTIRE MOON OF LUNA II is in the necrobot's planet, and things have been so hectic that I forgot, but uhhhh. What the heck? What the actual heck? (maximum conspiracy theory: the moon contributes material to get a start on something planet-sized, which is shaped by the inside of the necrobot's planet, and then gets booted off across the space-time continuum that Brainstorm broke to become the original Cybertron) On an unrelated note, I've been talking Scavengers for the crew's next meetup....... But these guys are flying the corpse of one of Deathsaurus's men. Who is a commander who cares deeply about he people he leads, and feels intense guilt over how he let so many of them die supporting Tarn's murderbaby tantrum. I'm wondering if he'll pick them up before anyone else does.
Spoiler: LL07 Whoa hey actually... Kaput volunteered to stay behind and study the sparks. The sparks which are people's souls, of questionable amounts of personhood, if Lug is any indicator. And the sparks that can be used as a power source, like with the shield generator. And he's got a basement with a quantum teleporter. I am so suspicious of this fucker, if you don't want to do a tumblr writeup, let me know and I'll suspcious...cize the heck out of him.
....wait Spoiler why the hell was Kaput telling Fangry about Tailgate's Thing? and more to the point, WHEN. Supposedly Kaput only came up with it a few days before starting, but Fangry is kind of making it sound like it's been happening before that conversation. eta: so when did he actually start planning this? why tell Tailgate 'maybe i can come up with something' if he already knew what to do? and why tell Fangry, a decepticon with anger issues and a grudge against tailgate? medical confidentiality aside that's an obvious bad idea.
Spoiler: LL07 And what the heck is he doing with Nautica's eye? I know we haven't been given much detail on purpose, but bolting a metal plate over her eye doesn't exactly seem like the most on-the-level treatment to be giving her. Especially when he's sitting at tier three in the ranks of 'doctors here that nautica knows'. This is weird.
Spoiler yeah, when it happened to breakdown in TFP wasn't it because Megatron was annoyed with him? i know medical supplies might be low but.... wasn't her eye intact at the end of the battle?
Spoiler Her optic lens looked intact, while the rest of her face was kinda...messed up. WHO ARE YOU, UNICYCLE MAN?!?! (I'll clean it up real quick and add some stuff, then post to tumblr Spock!)
Spoiler: LL07 yeah, breakdown's eye was removed completely and used as a camera, which is why he got the patch. Nautica's eye was intact even when her face got shredded, and it stayed that way. This seems more likely to be something mental healthy than purely physical, and he sure hasn't nudged her in any mental health directions. And seriously, Ratchet knows all the things and can fix all the things. Why has he not been dealing with this? Additionally, Kaput was meddling around with the magnus armor and suddenly minimus is having even MORE trouble using it :O Crazy how that happens! And I was too emotional to read his explanation very thoroughly the first time around, but..... side eye......... I am side eyeing that explanation with all my soul................
Spoiler: LL7 man I really hope the Rodimus crew DO run into The Scavengers next because I really really REALLY want to see Rodimus and Misfire bounce off each other.
WAIT A SECOND Spoiler not ONLY is her optic lens intact, they repaired HER ENTIRE FACE. so what even!
what the heck Spoiler Kaput: "He said you attack yourself when you recharge. He blamed an abnormal spark." THE SKETCHY JUST KEEPS GETTING DEEPER Since when is Cyclonus making medical calls? Since when is he qualified to make medical calls? Since when does he tend to usurp experts in their own field as versus, I dunno, respecting their knowledge, experience, and judgment? The isolation chamber is creepy as shit. Not telling Tailgate what was going to happen is creepy as shit (not even telling him how long or if he'd be able to use comms or anything--). And all the way back to the very beginnings of his explanation of why it's necessary, all of this is creepy. as. shit. Ksput: I built an isolation chamber. They're impenetrable-- or inescapable, depending on your perspective :) Auuuughhhh noooooooooo Kaput there are increasingly slim odds that you are even a decent boy
Spoiler And since when is Cyclonus the kind of person to share stuff like that! Remember what Whirl and he went through to get to the point where he'd confide that? and cyclonus didn't even mention the abnormal spark theory to Whirl, so where was Kaput getting it from? because I'm doubting it was Cyclonus.
