TFs: DARE TO BE STUPID

Spoiler: titans return

I'm just really sad, because the one good panel we've got of Sentinel in Alex Milne's art is so pretty, and now we get to see him in action and it's Ramondelli :<

RAVAGE AND MEGATRON

I mean, they're on the LL, so I know this is time shenanigans, but you can't do this to me, writers :C You can't tease me this way. Especially with both of them talking about Soundwave. I s2g, if I hadn't had the tgwp update yesterday to soothe my aching heart, I would be very vexed right now

AWWWW, CYCLONUS IS AT MOVIE NIGHT

Next to Tailgate! In the back so they can make out!! (actually, chromedome and rewind are right next to them, so it looks like this is the makeout row for serious)

Also, Whirl, you're one of the tallest bots here. Sitting right in front of Tailgate. I choose to believe this is deliberate and teasing. (O-T-3! O-T-3!)

And omg, the banter between Whirl and Megatron! I am happy for them.

Oh nooooo, Rodimus's sad, empty exhibition hall XD Is that a hat stolen from a Galactic Council military alien? Like, from the 2012 annual? Regardless, two items of memorabilia in three years makes me sad for my poor theatrical ambitious leaderly baby. But sad in a laughing way.

Aaaaaaaaaa, Megatron being annoyed at documentary bias and Rewind being the filmmaker! I like this. This issue is FULL of excellent things, just like everything they give to Ramondelli

But yeah, this is not very nice to Megatron. At least invite the guy on a less loaded night?? I am with Megatron on this, even though I know it wouldn't conveniently advance the plot. And it's very interesting with it being from Megatron's idealistic era. Extra emotional baggage for him to deal with. Though seriously, this is not a nice thing to pull on him, guys. Call him in for some philosophical earth cinema or something.

SOUND-WAVE! SOUND-WAVE! SOUND-WAVE! My beautiful husband is here, everything is okay now

Guys, don't build a city on an inhabited planet you've just annexed. Dick move. Isn't that titan spaceworthy? Just fuck off to space together or something. Come on.

BOB! BOB IS ALSO HERE! And also OPTIMUS IS BEING SWEET WITH BUSTER AND THE OTHERS! I swear to god, his likeability just increased by a factor of ten.

Okay, now what I'm seeing here is that Starscream and Windblade are on a romantic pitch date together. Any disagreement? No? Good :3

Huh, I dunno if the glowy face bits are supposed to look like extra eyes, but they sure come off that way. Nice and creepy. I like it. Though I'd like it even more if Alex Milne's art had the same thing on his prettypretty face.

Yeah, Ramondelli's art is definitely improving, though. Compare this to his early exrid chapters, and he has come a long way. It's still not as dynamic or elegant as I'd like, but it looks sooooo much better than it used to.

AAAAAAAAAA WINDBLADE! I was all excited to see who was gonna save Starscream, but! Not like this! Okay. Okay, though, that's alright. Oh my god, these two are totally pitch for each other. (but arrrgghhh, with the Ramondelli art, I'm still not sure exactly what went down, this is very frustrating :T )

But now I need Windblade and Knock Out being buddies together. Very important.

IF AILERON IS DEAD, I AM GOING TO BE UPSET. IF BOB OR BUSTER OR THE DRONE PUPPY END UP DEAD I WILL BE EVEN MORE UPSET

And oh my god, Sentinel's dialogue is framing Optimus's annexation as a good thing, which means the writers have to realize it's a bad thing, right??? I just want Optimus to be shot down for once

And waitwaitwait, hold on. Hooooold on. Again, the art is not easy to follow. But... was Sentinel doing the Minimus Ambus thing.... but with his actual head sticking out the top???? No no, that can't be it, because we don't see the cool-ass eye things, and this face looks much closer to Milne's original. But seriously, wtf, you can't just leave off on that is-this-supposed-to-be-funny note. And why would he get out of the giant exosuit now? What is happening here?

 

Spoiler: mtmte 56

This secondary cover. With one Red Alert in red and one in grey. This puts me in mind of the time ghost mini-installment that showed up in issue 50. Is some of that happening here? Because I'd kill to see healthy!Red Alert and healthy!Fort Max watching their old selves go about their business. I guess both of them were doing better by the time they set up on Luna 1, but still.

OH! All the sparks from before! It looks like... they're not dead? If they're being described as embers, maybe that means it's possible to reignite them at some point? And if that's the case, between the natural hot spot the dinobots found on Cybertron, the attempted importing of Camien sparks to Cybertron, and Luna 1, the future of the Cybertronian race is looking up, for sure.

THE DOMESTICATED BOTS! Including a snake menacing a little tiny rodent bot! This is so cute. I am glad they have a home and Fort Max can keep being a disney princess

Also, Red Alert! I am in love with my baby. And this series continues to surprise me with how nicely it handles mental health issues. I was kind of lukewarm on Red Alert, and it took like... two pages to turn me around. This is always my problem with large-cast series. It takes me so little to tip me from 'eh' into 'I shouldn't have drunk whiskey.... I can't protect them.... *weeps*'

Pffff, Red Alert calling attention to comic-style weird bolding. I am pleased.

Oh. Oh no. I'm not pleased anymore. Oh noooo, baby, let me hold you. Let me put you in touch with a therapist. Pretty please don't try to kill yourself again.

!!!!!!!!!! Un-domestication!!!! But that does have to be sad, seeing them all leave one after another, just as you've gotten fond of them, and they're finally themselves again. Plus, even with the space bridge there, Luna 1 has to be horribly lonely.

Alsooooooo Cerebros, within a few pages, you've gone into the apparently-unlocked door of Red Alert (and it's hard believing he would forget to lock his door), and listened in on Fort Max's conversation through his supposedly-open door. I want to like you, buddy, but that's a little suspicious.

Oh no, now I feel bad about not trusting him D: Cerebros is so adorable! He wants to be liked! I feel so guilty :CCCC

PROWL, YOU ASSHOLE

But good job, Max, that was a very satisfying kick

OH MY GOD, PROWL, YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER

Holy shit, why do I love you so much. But also, hold me, you arrogant bag of dicks.

Oh my god, I wonder if Prowl is still punch-drunk on his SOTW high. Because all of this dialogue is hilarious. I'm almost crying from laughing at Prowl. This is amazing. I always have high expectations for this series, and I didn't know what I'd be getting here, but I am so pleased.

He can be my transformers oc who dates Fucksaurus

I love Outrigger

OH NO, IT'S FUCKING SENTINUS MINIMUS OR WHATEVER

Nooooooo, don't let Outrigger be dead, he was a sweetheart! And had sixteen subscribers!! He was having such a good time living his life, don't kill him now :CCCCCC

What the fuck is even happening here. And who is dumb enough to be friends with Sentinel. Why does Sentinel transform into a larger version of his own goddamn head.

BUT YES. PUNCH HIM RIGHT IN HIS STUPID FACE

Aww, even Prowl doesn't think that all the dead people deserved to die! Sentinel must be a real asshole (but yes, I am a fan of having people make Prowl look good in comparison, because that's sure the only way Prowl is going to look good)

As much as paranoia sucks, with Prowl in the equation, I think it's pretty dang reasonable

AWWW RED ALERT TRIED TO CALL SWERVE

I wonder if this is the issue where they find out everyone isn't dead?

And oh oh oh, oh no, my heart hurts now. Oh shit. Prowl. Oh no, baby, I'm so sorry. I really want the two of you to have a meaningful reconciliation.

Fffff, his face right there is making me so sad. Oh nooooooo. God, that hurt more than I expected.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, a titan with LASER EYES

Pious Maximus? I want to know more. This is a name that intrigues me. Watch, I'll look it up and turns out it'll be something really obvious I'm forgetting.

This whole 'mongrel' thing is making me pretty uncomfortable, Sentinel ol' buddy. You're reaaaaaaaaaally hitting that talking point hard. Kinda awkward.

OH HO HO, CONJUNX ENDURAE SWAP FUEL, DO THEY? *tucks away in xeno pile*

Okay, um. I am even more uncomfortable with what you did to your friend there. And this is happening because he felt awkward about eating someone else's spark? This is pretty dang uncomfortable sentinel ol' buddy ol' pal

I mean the guy is merged with the titan's brain, this is mad science shit going down here

Yessssssssss shoot prowl. Good good good

BUT RED ALERT? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DDDDDDDDD:



BUT OH MY GOSH, WHAT A RIDE! So many emotions, for such a transitional issue! I AM SO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED RIGHT NOW! And oh man. Prowl. My heart aches for Prowl. He was at the cutest and dorkiest that we've seen him, even in the flashback issues. And... he thinks Chromedome is dead, and he wasn't even able to call him on the off-chance he might have survived, just to check on him, because Chromedome changed his number and didn't tell Prowl his new one. Just like. I feel for Chromedome, because Prowl is an ass, but I am also an ass and I feel sympathetic emotional pangs for Prowl here. I nnnnneed to write some cdprowl. Work through my feelings. Very frustrating, because I don't have a clue where to start or where to take it :T

 

Oh!!! An image search also turned this up!



From the flashback episode when Prowl and Chromedome were creeping around the New Institute. And there we go, Pious Maximus. On a bed with built-in restraints. So now I have to wonder what was done to him there :DDDDDD

 

Spoiler: Mtmte 56

WAIT THO, where's the big of the comic, where Tailgate was talking about how there was this guy he used to know names [head-related word], and someone was like 'why, what did he turn into, a head?' and Tailgate was like 'dude, insensitive.' 'So what did he turn into?' 'A head.'

So... How many robots HONESTLY transform into heads in this series? I doubt it's many (outside of combiners). Maybe just one. I can't for the life of me remember when that conversation happened, but didn't this issue JUST bring up the question of how old sentinel even is? Maybe he's six million years old or so c: I need to try to track this down when I have a chance, but I can't even remember what season it happened in, gahhh

 

Actually, it's really interesting, because there are references to a ten million year old transformation sequence taking like ten minutes, and characters talk about Tailgate having pulleys and junk on the inside. But also in one of the LSOTW text stories, Rung thinks to himself about how bots have gotten bigger and bulkier as the war stretches on! He's thinking about it particularly because he's been seeing Guzzle, I think, who had himself modded to pretty much the furthest extent of what his frame could handle. But Rung also draws attention to it as a general societal trend. Iirc, he thinks about how he's on the very small/slim end of the general population now, because he's avoided those kind of upgrades himself.