Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #15: "Under Cold, Blue Stars"

[arbre_rieur]

In the previous issue, Overlord, one of the darkest and most dangerous Decepticons ever, freed himself from his secret cell aboard the Lost Light. And none of the crew even realize it. None the wiser, they're just going about their daily business:













Overlord vs. ship's second-in-command Ultra Magnus:

Comments

[alexanderlucard]

Unfortunately, I was really disappointed in this issue. Besides the somewhat nonsensical need to kill off several characters for shock and gore(?) value, The jobbing of Ultra Magnus to Overlord really ruined my suspension of disbelief with this issue. This is the guy has gone toe to toe with Decepticons at or above Overlord's power level and won. Not to mention Overlord just came out of the equivalent of suspended animation. I've enjoyed the series up to this issue, but everything from the pages posted here to the "Till All are One" catch made me roll my eyes and groan at how horrible the writing was.

Poor Rewind and Chromedome though. That was the only part of the issue that made me feel something.

[icon_uk]

I thought the whole point was that he wasn't in suspended animation, he was awake and alert and oeprating at full capacity, it was localised time that was manipulated, so what he perceived as a second took several months on the outside.

[alexanderlucard]

He mind was active, but he was by no means alert and his body was completely locked up. That's why he was saying "Kill me" for what felt like (was, it's hard to know for sure with temporal displacement) eons. For any living thing, being held in the same position for just an hour can do severe and permanent harm. For a robot, let's say not permanent, but when you factor in he was immobilized for what would have been the equivalent of several centuries or millennium, there's no way he would have been at full, or even half strength after escaping his prison. This is all taking place within minutes of escape. I mean, I love Overlord, but mentally and physically, there's no way he could have accomplished any of that after the trap he had been locked in. A robot of Magnus' power level should have Guy Gardner'd him in that situation and not the other way around.

[the_phantom]

No... he was saying "kill me" because he was told Megatron was dead and all he wanted to do was kill him, so when Chromedome told him megs was not dead that gave he something to live for.

andeven back in Transformers 1984 cartoon they were shown crashing their ship not moving for 4 mil + years and being fine.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I fail to see how being held immobile would impede Overlord physically, once he freed himself. Transformers have gone millions of years without major strain, and Overlord's rebuilt body isn't even a decade old.

[arbre_rieur]

You have the time dilation field the wrong way around. Time was slowed down in Overlord's cell, not sped up. Thirty minutes outside was only five seconds in there, or something like that.

[kamino_neko]

This is the guy has gone toe to toe with Decepticons at or above Overlord's power level and won.

There ARE no Decepticons above Overlord's power level. He's a Phase Sixer (and a special one, at that). They are the most powerful Decepticons around, the guys whose job is to singlehandedly sterilize whole planets.

There are three known Phase Sixers, Overlord being the only one who's fought Ultra Magnus. None of the three have been defeated by a single regular Autobot - the only one defeated by a single 'bot at all was Six Shot, who was taken down by Metroplex (also by Megatron, who activated a kill-switch he had installed during Phase Sixer conversion). Overlord was brought down by the Wreckers, the last time, costing several of them their lives, and another one his face. Even the easiest takedown of a Phase Sixer - Black Shadow by the DJD - may have involved another Phase Sixer (whether Tarn is one of them is unclear).

[alexanderlucard]

Wow, I must have missed the one issue in IDW where they specifically explained that. Still, for a Phase Sixer to be that powerful,it doesn't seem to be a constant. Sixshot couldn't even dent a Reaper for example, and if he's a planet killer, what the hell does that make them power level wise?

I could also swear Megatron took down Overlord in the IDW continuity as well (although there are SO MANY at this point, I could be remembering a different one) and Magnus has held his own with him, Galvatron and other heavies in IDW comics, so to one punch him from Overlord, even at that power level, is still quite unrealistic especially with how extremely weak Overlord should be from his ordeal and ESPECIALLY with how he finally gets beaten here. It's poor writing to me that SURPRISE Overlord is that much more powerful than Magnus despite previous encounters and the fact Overlord should be at his weakest EVER.

I get that the long term idea here is for Magnus to slowly stop being Cameron from Ferris Bueller tight-ass wise as he comes to term with his ever approaching death (since he's dying and not dead from the results of this issue) but to make Magnus the Guy Gardner to Overlord's Batman just felt really hackneyed.

[arbre_rieur]

Do you remember Black Shadow's introduction earlier in the run? In a flashback, he was shown fighting an entire *battalion* of Autobots, of which Ultra Magnus was a member.

The idea of Phase Sixers being massively more powerful than other Transformers has been firmly established.

[kamino_neko]

Wow, I must have missed the one issue in IDW where they specifically explained that.

That would be 'every single appearance of a Phase Sixer, including the rather humiliating death of Black Shadow'.

Sixshot couldn't even dent a Reaper for example, and if he's a planet killer, what the hell does that make them power level wise?

'Powerful enough to make everybody who knows what they are crap their pants' - which, no surprise, is exactly what the Reapers are.

It's also what the Phase Sixers are.

And, yes, Megatron can bring down a Phase Sixer - he includes a killswitch in them when they're converted to Phase Sixers - he's shown using it on Six Shot in one of his early appearances, and explicitly shown having it installed on Overlord when we see his origin, after Rossum brings up the possibility of Overlord rebelling and killing Megatron.

[the_phantom]

Wow, I must have missed the one issue in IDW where they specifically explained that. Still, for a Phase Sixer to be that powerful,it doesn't seem to be a constant. Sixshot couldn't even dent a Reaper for example, and if he's a planet killer, what the hell does that make them power level wise? errr thats why OL was on the ship. The bots wanted to find out waht made them so powerful!

[kamino_neko]

And here's a bit on the Phase Sixers from the previous issue:

Some Cybertronians are markedly more powerful than others: Optimus, Grimlock, Megatron. Fort Max on a good day. I think those are your "once-in-a-generation" bots. But they pale in comparison - all of them - they pale when compared with Overlord and Sixshot and "Tarn"

Notice who Prowl does and doesn't include in the 'Once in a generation' bots - Fortress Maximus (who was defeated and tortured by Overlord before Last Stand of the Wreckers) is there, Ultra Magnus is not.

Obviously, neither the list of 'OIAG's nor the list of Phase Sixers is complete, but it is telling that Fort Max would come to mind before Ultra Magnus.

[alexanderlucard]

See, I just figured For Max was exceptionally nerfed in IDW continuity due to the fact he's not Metroplex/Trypticon size. See also Scorponok.

Also, Magnus is almost always considered on par with all of the aforementioned 'bots in terms of power level regardless of continuity, and since he had done battle with Overlord before and walked away pretty unscathed from what I've read, so this complete and utter jobbing him out to Overlord just felt like crappy retcon writing to me.

[q99]

-Notice who Prowl does and doesn't include in the 'Once in a generation' bots - Fortress Maximus (who was defeated and tortured by Overlord before Last Stand of the Wreckers) is there, Ultra Magnus is not.-

I'd say he's simply not making a complete list, Magnus is pretty unstoppable to most bots and can run around solo and obvious arresting 'Cons.

[q99]

-There ARE no Decepticons above Overlord's power level. He's a Phase Sixer (and a special one, at that). They are the most powerful Decepticons around, the guys whose job is to singlehandedly sterilize whole planets.
-

Well, Thunderwing, and the Combiners, arguably. But yea, no normal ones.

[damar148]

It is rather boring and annoying to see a 'Badass Villain' kill several character to showcase just how 'Badass' he is.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I know, poor Pipes!

[arbre_rieur]

I wouldn't say that's what it's showcasing. This book has always been about the characters first and foremost -- the personalities of the Lost Light and all their charms and foibles -- and this story's no exception. Overlord's like a tidal wave or volcano here. He's the unstoppable force, but it's not about him. Look where the focus is. It's on how our heroes respond and react to this desperate situation, about new layers of personality being revealed by the crisis: Ratchet, after all the religious debates, finally acknowledging Drift as a friend; Ratchet's overriding concerns being about others even in the face of death; Tailgate, who's never seen war, getting his first taste of tragedy as a contrast to his jaded, war-worn crewmates; what Chromedome, who can alter memories, chooses to do about impossibly painful ones; Brainstorm for the first time peeking through his shell of amorality and callousness because his only friend needs him; Rodimus coming face-to-face with the ugly side of his savior complex; etc.

[biod]

I'm with this guy.

[the_phantom]

Goodbye Pipes... You saved the ship

[sindra]

You know....because Last Stand of the Wreckers wasn't enough of a heart-jerker with all the deaths in had in that by Overlord's hands. Nope, lets kill off another group of likeable bots just to *cement* the fact he's a ultra-baddass villain.

Sorry, one massacre was enough for me. This was just overkill....especially when the writers built up all these 'bots to be said likeable characters, just to get them killed off. Ugh.....

[q99]

Well, Magnus isn't dead *yet*.

Pipes, extremely minor.

Rewind... yea. Though that's setting off major stuff with Chromedome.

[quatoria]

Also, making me bawl my eyes out. Just thinking about the end of Under Cold, Blue Stars gets me on the verge of tears.

[the_phantom]

"massacre" Really? you know a lot people in the TFfandom want him to kill more (I'm not one of those death lovers) but really i think one bot doesn't count as a massacre

[biod]

One, plus a self-sacrifice and several in critical condition.