Yeahhh, I'd say for except his first few appearances in phase one, before the stakes took off, phase two is actually a significant improvement for him? :p It still sucks, but a little less aggressively so. Now there aren't aliens patching sketchy alien hardware into the systems of you and yours, while Optimus Prime lounges around like 'no, it is the right thing for me to place myself in human custody, bumblebee's in charge now'. At least after DC, he gets to take a bit of a rest :ppppp
Oh! He has a decent time in the Hearts of Steel miniseries! You could try that. It's a slightly different timeline, but it's still IDW and it's pretty fun.
Okay so I've been slowly rereading MTMTE and I noticed this adorable thing: Spoiler: MTMTE #11 This is during the time where Rung is recovering from a head wound and Rewind has gathered a group together to tell stories about history to try to help him get better. It comes out that this is not the first group of bots that Rewind has attempted this with. Here is attempt 1, featuring Perceptor, Blaster, Siren, Gears I think on the far right, and Sunstreaker with Bob: Please observe that while everyone else is shielding their ears from Siren's enthusiasm, Sunstreaker is protecting Bob's ears instead.
okay okay I can do this ima chunk through some more of OP Is A Dick: The Series Spoiler: OP 5 well hi arcee Jazz honey "disagreed with something that ate him" I'm sorry cosmos but that's still a gr8 intro "about to become air force 1" the intro writer is just having a ball with this issue oh my god spike shut up "what it means to cross a prime" oooooooooooooooptimuuuuuuuuuuusssss you bag of diiiiiiiiiiiiicks SOUNDY SOUNDY ILU BUT NOW MAY NOT BE THE TIME FOR DECEPTICON TAKEOVER ............arcee honey I don't think murdering jhiaxus indefinitely makes you friends Soooooooundyyyyyyyyyyy <3 Spoiler: OP 6 "dead as chic chips" awwwwwwww now I'm sad Oh boy Oh boy is that a split Devisiun pair I see fuck off optimus OOOOOOOOOPTIMUUUUUUUUSSS FUCK OFF I like how rumble and frenzy are just popcorning in the background excellent trash sons Optimus continues to be an excessively heavy-handed personification of the US that's a lot of pretty words but how bout you back em up for more than half an isse "can I bring my bass" jazz ilu Spoiler: OP 7 okay it's a new arc can we have a new art style pls WE CAN, HALLELUJAH jetfire pls JETFIRE IS SO GOOD OPTIMUS PUT YOUR MASK BACK ON YOU LOOK WEIRD WITH A FACE I like nosecone but also be nice to jetfire pls bless aileron comics continue to be bad at scale also flint's a douche TC AND BUSTER tc ilu "fluent in linux" I'm dying honey :c JETFIRE D8 BEEEEEEE jetfire is Trying okay nosecone Spoiler: OP 8 Jazz on tv! Jazz on tv! "it has four letters and two of them are z" never change jazz !!!!!!!!! JAZZ!!!!!!!!! INTERVIEW!!!!!!! !!!!!! Jazz!! Has a canon hometown now!!!! JAZZ!!!!!!!!! HONEY!!!!!!!!! Slide :c sweet sweet clampdown details <3 "it's a long story" I know starscream wasn't in jail when this issue went out but also The Irony "I'm not a flier or a scientist. I'm both. And that's something 'normal channels' won't let me be." maybe I'm reading too much into this but be still my enby heart .... do we know jetfire's construction status, actually? JAZZ!!! SPECIFICALLY BRINGS UP PROWL!!!! SHITTY DIAMOND SONS!!! orion honey you are a little baby "see transformers annual 2017 for what happens next" see what now Jazz honey :c "thunderwing and bludgeon" are...... are you sure you want to hold those two up as paragons of rationality I like how everyone assumes horri-bull and needlenose are together dammit spike Jazz :c Spoiler: derail to the 2017 annual I GUESS Bee!! ooooh DC callback, nice. STARSCREAM!!!!!!!!!! On Velocitron, it looks like? starscream and bee bitching gives me life oh, no, there's..... just...... a desert on cybertron now #0kay BEE!!!!!!! BACKSTORY!!!!!!!!!!! that starscream gets to listen to oml oh jesus bee honey "if he told them he was seeing ghosts...." OH HOW THE TABLES HAVE TABLED honey ......is this where wait, no, wasn't bombshell made mid-war in idw hm HM the contrast is real SOUNDY LOOKS WEIRD WITHOUT THE TOP HALF OF HIS HEAD goddammit prowl don't step on the cat you monster "other guy" very precise, prowl soundy <3 bEE BEE AND SCREAM GIVE ME LIFE I feel like I know the name Dust Up ONYX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mmmmmmmmhhhhhhh I am Very disappointed that Onyx is getting set up as a villain Let Chaotic Demigods Be Good 2k18 on the other hand, A+ propaganda Solus wow starscream that hurts me in my heart Spoiler: OP 9 Aaaaand back to the shitty art That's unfair, the linework is fine, but the coloring is b a d SIDESWIPE! I still love wreck-gar tbh :c sides no awww okay good SIDES NO ..........why is soundwave here FIXIT CAMEO WHAT W H A T I REFUSE Spoiler: OP 10 I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE SOMETHING THAT BEGINS WITH "TWO OF THE THIRTEEN" ...............and phrasing it that way makes me Wonder about the "X-of-Twelve" naming conventions for the council hm HM TRION A+ STARSCREAM FUCKING RAMEN MAN GO AWAY "septimus prime"? I am..... Intrigued "The first who was named[...] from the shadows and the darkness" M3G4TRONUS 1S TH1S YOU the implication of linguistic drift even though we obviously aren't reading in one language or another is very nice [Grease voice:] tell me more, tell me more ................UH reincarnation #confirmed, I guess "Origin Myths" I am Hype but also why did you give this to ramen man alchemist is indeed a laid-back grandpa solus doesn't know what a burn is and I Dislike Nexus's design, tho he might look better if he weren't............ drawn by the ramen man.............. and Vector has Too Much Gold, what is this [grump grump] and again I say: who the fuck is septimus if it were a fancy fake name for optimus 1.0 he'd have known who the prime fuckin his shit up was the growing list of things ramen man doesn't know how to draw: horse legs (yes this is what I'm nitpicking in my comics about semimythical space robot dragon-centaurs) (you can't just plonk hooves onto biped legs that's not how horse front legs/arms work, where are his rear legs bc his hocks at least should be visible just for proper balance) (also did onyx....... just flare his wings out for Dramatic Effect once he got through the door or bc those would not have fit through the door already spread, no matter how much ramen man wants to copy/paste other people's work nerd horse) ............solus solus you should know damn well who maximo is, and he sure as shit ain't nobody's crony Alchemist snarking brings life back to the party A+ bro singlehandedly saving this issue fuck you too nexus uuuuuuuuuuugh fine I will accept the thirteen not being direct demigods in this canon LIVIO MOTHERFUCKING RAMONDELLI YOU STOP DRAWING HORSE LEGS LIKE PEOPLE LEGS THIS INSTANT, ONYX IS QUADRUPEDAL YOU DENSE FUCK ...........he 100% is absolutely just copy/pasting that same shot of Onyx's wings and randomly slapping it on behind him Every Fucking Time RAMEN MAAAAAAAAAN okay so this is a sign that IDW gives 0 fucks about the personalities and history established in Aligned mmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhh I'LL SMASH THE CANONS TOGETHER ALL I LIKE FUCK YOU oh hey it's that birdfucker panel everyone was up in arms about OH MY GOD THIS ONYX IS ACTUALLY BIPEDAL WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN IDW ONYX HAD HIMSELF MODIFIED TO BE A CENTAUR OH MY GOD OH MY G O D IT WAS MEGATRONUS FUCK YALL ..........I am really fucking interested to see how Onyx got tangled up on the Designated Evil Side this run through, given he's supposed to be the first to try and wreck Megatronus' shit after Megs wrecks Solus ALCHEMIST JUST TAKES A FUCKIN SIP ALCHEMIST FOR PARTY DAD awww the origin of the Dark Cybertron prophecy <3 welp as if we needed any more proof that idw has completely abandoned the idea of sticking close to aligned cosmology it seriously says something that I'm actually glad to go back to the bad coloring BUSTER IS AN INTERPLANETARY AMBASSADOR I AM OKAY WITH THIS awwww Let Buster Be A Diplomat 2k18 I guess we'll get confirmation as to whether cybertron is safe for humans in idw Spoiler: OP 11 I'm so close to the end.......... so close.......... glad to see the "boredom-fuelled wiki dive" is a pastime that transcends species "I wanted to come up with a good line[...] but all I came up with was 'UH'" ME HOW MANY TIMES WE GOTTA BOMB THE SPACEBRIDGE YALL LET WHEELJACK REST FOR TWO DAYS AILERON KICKING ASS AND TAKING NAMES YOU GO HON I see that nod to Bee's Train Adventure poor jimmy I. Didn't remember that Dirge didn't have a trine anymore :c buddy "Camien Decepticon" I have Concerns Where Is Starscream or windblade for that matter or wheeljack can we stop focusing on dicktimus prime's crew for two pages "Compromised Autobot-in-all-but-name government," says a presumably Decepticon mech captioned/subtitled in the Autobot script welp Spoiler: OP 12 two..... more......... issues......... BIRD CHILDREN THROWIN SHADE BUT ALSO: LET SKYBYTE AND TC BE FRIENDS let buster have a pee break WOW SLUGSLINGER COSMOS HONEY "The good news is we found Jazz! The bad news is everything else." #me OH MY GOD YOU LITTLE TWERPS YOU LITTLE TWERPS "I think Soundwave does [have jurisdiction over Rumble and Frenzy]. I throw myself on his mercy." YOU LITTLE SHITS jazz honey :c rmble and frenzy are the best part of this and they're taking the sting out of JAZZ FEELINGS "ultimate truth," huh..... who founded Devisiun, I wonder? aileron honey, you tried :c
aaaaaaaand I think I have to cut it there, because the recap at the start of "OP 13" is entirely stuff I haven't seen, and naturally none of it's labelled. Anyone know where Ramen Man got the chance to draw Dinobots?
Without trying to go into all the continuity details right here and now, the top panels are from Transformers: Salvation and the bottom ones are from Transformers: First Strike.
Also on the subject of Onyx's Legs and How Do They Even Work: https://twitter.com/Golby_mkII/status/953724243102986240 Here's what the artist for the current arc has decided to go with.
Spoiler: OP 15 The funny thing is, he's right. He fucked up but he fucked up way less bad than any previous leader of Cybertron by confessing his crimes and stepping down.
Spoiler: OP 15 Also I like how very clear it has become that Bumblebee isn't a figment of Starscream's imagination, if only because he can get information that Starscream absolutely couldn't. And he can wander around!
It is shitposting hour for me, please consider: cyclonus as The Final Pam *shoves energon in tailgate's face* "BABY NEED SNACK" "i will take my sword and FIX the baby"
anyone read the preview for Lost Light 13? Spoiler: LL#13 the beauty of having robots as protags: making "she has a head up her ass" a LITERAL THING. i nearly died wheezing. i'm actually 12 /s
I still need to finish one more chapter, but for now here are three chapters of Functionist Universe!Fort Max making friends, guarding Rung, and having a Bad Time
