Spoiler the titans aren’t really mentioned at all but I’m pretty sure they were eaten Spoiler: Edit actually on rereading carcer’s still in orbit but Caminus is almost certainly gone
Spoiler Right, so I'm going to go with carcer saving caminus at the last moment and they look like only one ship right now because they're never letting go of each other again. Yeah, I think I'm just going to keep wedging bits of windfic into the actual plot until it's a shape that doesn't make me actively upset
YO, IT'S OVERLORD META TIME AGAIN (not as long or as picture-y as the first one, but I accidentally an essay. I was really dissatisfied with where his character went in ROTW, until I slowed down to think about his life as a whole. on second consideration, I did actually enjoy where the writing took his character. I might have liked other things better, but I did still like this considerably) Spoiler: mention of the canon suicide stuff OKAY, OVERLORD. I’m not doing a whole long sequel meta with pictures, because the only new visuals would be from ROTW and lots of my thoughts are from the space between DOTL and ROTW. But I wanted to articulate my thoughts. So. Overlord in MTMTE was going HARD on Megatron being the key thing that gave his life definition. It was all about Megatron. Megatron’s dead? time to start asking everyone I meet to kill me pls. Megatron’s alive? HOT DIGGITY DOG WE’RE BUSTING OUT OF THIS PRISON AND GOING ON A MURDER FIELD TRIP! Plus there’s all the backstory that led him up to this point, but in the present, he is FOCUSED on that being the only thing he really Cares aboutHe’ll have his . torture fun as an afterthought, and wreak casual havoc on his way to Megatron, but everything is about MEGATRON. That lasts until DOTL, where he meets Megatron, and Megatron is refusing to fight and kinda just sitting there like ‘watcha going to do, kill me? jokes on you, that’s what I asked for as a birthday present’ When Megatron refuses to engage on the level they want, Tarn refuses to let go. But Overlord is like ‘ugh, well my boner is gone’ and peaces out. He decides that Megatron, as he is now, is not worth it. Very fair! Good job to him for seeing that! And good job on him for ACTING on it, instead of digging the hole even deeper like Tarn! The world is Overlord’s oyster!!!! But, consider. He’s rejected Megatron as something to drive his life. That’s gone. Now… what else does he HAVE? He’s got no friends, no cause, no allies, not really any other passions or interests that we know of. 'I like…. violence? does violence count as a hobby?’ I’m still so proud of him for trying to point his life in another direction. But given the backstory we see from him, he’s trying to uproot his entire mind and reorient himself on some new (undefined) goal. I have real doubts that he even knows what he wants, or has any idea to start thinking about what he COULD want. He doesn’t have any kind of support structure to figure this all out either. On the contrary, he’s done a pretty solid job of alienating as much of cybertronian society as possible, and he just yeeted out of the deal with the GC, so he is INCREDIBLY alone while trying to deal with all this. Now, I’ve misplaced the link, but there’s a delicious piece of meta out there about Tarantulas, and how he’s a pretty tragic figure. The guy was an asshole, but he got dicked over pretty good. He didn’t really deserve nice things, but the nice things he made for himself, and that he cared deeply about, were taken from him. Especially his child. He’s another person sitting outside society, without any friends, and without anyone who’d be likely to consider being his friend. He’s been shut out by the only person whose attention really MATTERED to him, and he’s trying to find something to do. He shrinks down real small so he can lurk inside Springer’s life without actually participating, which is really sad and creepy at the same time, and I feel super bad for him as a character. So, Tarantulas and Overlord, huh? They’re coming at the situation from different angles, but they each got their last social door slammed in their face by the person they cared about most, and they’re alone and aimless and neither one was in a GREAT mental place even before that happened. I’d need a refresher on what Tarantulas wanted to do with Overlord in the meat suit to discuss him in depth, but this is about Overlord. Overlord. He’s got nothing in the present. Life is empty. The thing he cared about MOST for millions of years has been taken from him, pretty permanently. It’s… not forward development that he goes seeking the old Megatron, but it makes sense, and it’s tragic. Maybe if he’d played Tarantulas’s game a little more patiently, there would have been something in his future to catch his attention, but it’s a lot of waiting to do for a MAYBE. He wanted to kill Megatron so so badly. He thought he’d lost that chance and wanted to die. When everything turned around again, and he DID hunt down Megatron, he realized that Megatron had become a person who just…. couldn’t MEAN that much to him, the satisfaction of killing him wouldn’t be there. He’s lost his chance again. Megatron’s in front of him, but he’s not the same as the person that Overlord is so desperate to fight. When Overlord lost his chance the first time, in LSOTW, he started asking people to kill him. When he lost his chance this second time, I’m not surprised he went veering off in a bad direction. It’s a different bad direction than being suicidal, but he made it pretty clear before that the entire point of his existence is killing Megatron. With that gone, what else is left? What is the POINT? So I’m sad that Overlord went looking to time travel and kill old school Megatron as his next step, but it’s not a surprised sad. It’s a disappointed sad, but not surprised. It’s a tragedy, just like Terminus sinking his claws back into Megatron is a tragedy. So it makes me sad, but from a characterization standpoint, it gives me emotions and moves me. I haven’t figured out what I want to do with those emotions yet, and it’s not the same as continued positive development, but just because I like happy endings better than tragedies doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy a good tragedy when it’s placed in front of me. I can think of things I would have liked to be different, but I do still like the story we got for this character.
So I just learned that tfcon usa is being held in Chicago this year, which is only half the country away from me instead of the entire thing (4 hour flight instead of 8 hour). I'm trying to figure out if it would be worth it, is anyone planning on going? Has anyone ever gone? The guest list is REALLY sparse compared to the canada and uk cons. https://www.tfcon.com/
I'd really like to see a schedule for this year, although to be honest I'd probably spend the entire time on the show floor trying not to buy more plastic anyway. Since they don't have a schedule up I'm tempted to believe the "more guests will be announced" bit, although it feels kind of late for them to still be announcing guests since the con is only three months away.
Daaaaamn that’s amazing. (It’s a hell of an upgrade from stepped-in-doody face. I mean if you’re comfortable calling a hole in the chest a foot stank upgrade. The in-progress was so cool to see.)
I think it’s about the coolest thing. I can draw things I’m looking at but I have very little clue how actual art works. It’s like it just magically materializes if you put a talented person near supplies. It’s always extremely interesting to me to see the in-progress. (Doesn’t make it one bit less magical, just way more specific magic.)
Spoiler: LL21 HE’S BACK!!! Also Pharma appears to be the Grand Architect? I’m not sure how that works timeline-wise but ok
Spoiler: LL21 "Four or five times." Also, this whole "villain sent back to the past, disguises self, does a bunch of nonsense to prepare for a threat in the future" was kind of already done and I wasn't impressed with it the first time. It's like this is Scooby Doo, in that "the monster is actually just a loser wearing a mask" is the big reveal of every single episode. Which means that we should be taking bets: is Pharma actually Shockwave in disguise, or is Shockwave actually Pharma in disguise?
Spoiler: LL21 asdfafsdfsd this made me snort-laugh but also, this was pretty gr8. I am loving ultra magnus having his ultra magnus mojo back. I am also living for Sunder's expression when Froid says he can't do even basic mnemosurgery anymore, but I'm too lazy to screencap. I am NOT down for Scorponok being dead, so he'd better have done some weird head science or I'm going to be super sad. I NEED MORE WEIRD SCIENCE DAD IN MY LIFE. Also, where is the baby?????? I NEED HER BACK, this is important, you can't just include canon mechpreg and expect me to wAIT for gratification. Ummm, PHARMA, I am very excited to see Pharma, but I want more details on timelines here, and who's controlling who. The flipped dynamic between Tyrest and Pharma needs more explaining. Also I know Megatron didn't mean to stay away, but I see him with his fusion cannon back, and baby, please, TALK OUT YOUR ISSUES before this ooooooh total war is all about friends fighting friends. Words. Use your words. You are good at punches but you are SUPER GOOD at words. Also Swerve and the planet and 'this is a new vintage' yes good I am liking this banter. More Swerve+Misfire content posthaste, pls. OH THAT'S RIGHT. TEAM WHIRL. I AM LIVING FOR THAT MOMENT ABOVE ALL ELSE. That is a very, VERY good moment.
Spoiler Okay, follow up on a previous post: which villain went back to the beginning of the universe, put on a really big mask, and started calling himself Unicron? I'm gonna guess...uh...(who's not explicitly dead? Terminus? Airachnid? Tarantulas? He's all about the size changing.) Ooh! It's half of Overlord, the half that got sent back to the past. It's part of a really long-range plan for him to find his other half, who he thinks put on a really big mask and became Cybertron. I understand everything.
Spoiler: LL21 liveblog MY ROBIT ID IS FAILING ME BUT LOOK!!!!!! AT SOMEONE!!!!!!! CARING ABOUT SWERVE!!!!!!!!!!! ENOUGH TO KNOW THE ORDER OF HIS QUESTLIST!!!!!!!! "What did Whirl spill on the console?" "Tailgate." I'M DID ANYONE ELSE CATCH THIS I THINK THE IMPLICATION IS SUPPOSED TO BE BLOOD BUT HOO BOY THAT IS NOT WHERE MY BRAIN WENT squints suspiciously Are we sure Mederi isn't back up and functioning with a new hallucifactor Let them think they escaped and give them a new fantasy to break "I am definitely a random element" is the most rodimus fucking thing RODDY HAS LEARNED THE VALUE OF TEAMWORK BLESS HIM ....they fought through the lost light and NO ONE THOUGHT TO CONTAIN SUNDER OR FROID????? ohhhhhh my god MAGNUS HONEY WAS THAT A JOKE BABY AW SHIT (also look, a full view of Rung's natural alt......... HMMM.......) more confirmation that he's connected to vector sigma somehow even if it's not how the functionists wanted At least SOMEONE accounted for them Just once I'd like a robot conspiracy theory to not be right I know, I know, conservation of narrative, but like C'mon Well there's two thirds of Drift's vision. Time to Repel. (Are we sure jro's been doing the writing? The pacing's been janky since we got out of the Functionist arc...) Yup, there's Pharma and his chainsaw hands (Autocorrect wanted to make that "chainsaw handsome" and Not Wrong) YOU KNOW FUCKING WHAT ALL HAIL MEGATRON AT LEAST I WON'T HAVE TO READ OP TO UNDERSTAND HIS PLOT, UNLIKE UNICRON
Spoiler the janky pacing is because the series is ending prematurely and roberts is scrambling to at least tell an ending right after the filler arc that was the FU. i frikkin hollered at "pharma's" return, just...slice and dice that mofo, yes good! p sure that's not le actual pharma. clue number one is that his head minion seems to be flame who talked something about techy needing and one or two hands, flame who stood trial with aequitas and one if his crimes displayed across multiple screens? "illegal spark transplants". and no one actually knews who techy was, either, there could at least be a vocal recognitoon is it actually was mad doc infinityhands. (seriously, the guy has hands that turn into anything and he always uses chainsaws? talk about uncreative!)
I've acquired a late copy of Unicron #0, which makes No Sense if you're not caught up with OP but does have a reading order for the upcoming Crossover Event Spoiler: three month list May: -Unicron #0 July: -Unicron 1 -Unicron 2 -Lost Light 21 August: -Unicron 3 -Unicron 4 -Lost Light 22 -Lost Light 23 -Optimus Prime 22 -Optimus Prime 23 September: -Unicron 5 -Unicron 6 -Lost Light 24 -Lost Light 25 -Optimus Prime 24 -Optimus Prime 25
Spoiler: Unicron 2 I like how Optimus was all "It's not an Autobot fleet, it's a Cybertronian fleet. But also there are no Decepticons in it because Decepticons can go fuck themselves." I wonder what the stars going out means this time around. The Maximal designs are kind of interesting. If you've read the Rom crossover Shining Armor then you might recall the design of the Wraith-infected Cybertronians. The Maximals look kind of like that, but less chaotic. Given the memories that Bumblebee accessed, that might not be a coincidence. And once again, Bludgeon is going to kill everyone in the name of Cybertronian evolution.
