Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #32 - "Slaughterhouse"

[laughing_tree]

"First and foremost, MTMTE is supposed to be fun. ‘Fun’ doesn’t mean it has to be lighthearted all the time, and it doesn’t mean we can’t have moments of real horror. We can, at times, be bleak and shocking and terrifying. But underpinning it all – and acting as a sort of narrative rocket fuel – is a sense of adventure and – dare I say it, in these grim-dark times? – joy." -- James Roberts

Comments

[janegray]

James Roberts does seem like an awesome guy. He spoke highly of fanfiction, saying that he started out as a fanfiction writer himself and so he encouraged fans to write their own stories with their favourite characters. and he introduced the concept of Conjunx Endura (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Conjunx_Endura), which by human standards is basically canon gay marriage in Transformers.

Although, I have to disagree with his personal opinion on joy... While many lines and exchanges in his comics ARE awesome, I find that there is often an extremely depressing foundation. Terrible, terrible things happen to beloved characters. It's heartbreaking, and it's the thing that has kept me from reading MTMTE despite the objective high quality of the stories. I want a happy ending, and I'm definitely getting the impression that the series won't get one :(

Speaking of, Transformers continuities in general do tend to end crappily. The original G1 cartoon brutally killed off 90% of the cast for no other reason than "NEW TOYS!!!". The original marvel comics left it vague whether their timeline would follow the extremely depressing events of the TF animated movie. The Regeneration comics killed off most of the characters, and even though technically the last page was supposed to be one of rebirth it still completely skipped over whatever happy things may have happened to the survivors in the meanwhile. The Transformers + GIJoe comics always kill off most of the characters. Goddamnit.

Anyway, that exchange with Megatron and Ravage was extremely interesting, but also pretty uncomfortable. Technically, Megatron IS a monster. He has committed genocides. Plural. If you only count Transformers the victims are over 4 billions, but he has destroyed whole worlds, exterminating countless sentient beings. It's awkward >_>

[jlbarnett]

I agree with this completely.

[devastron]

The original Marvel run couldn't follow the events of the animated movie as they had already killed Unicron. It actually had a pretty happy ending with the resurrection of many Autobots and vanquishing of the Decepticons.

Regeneration did end up killing almost all of the Decepticons but there were quite a few Autobot survivors. It also had a final defeat of all the dark forces against them and gave the Transformers a true lineage. I would call it more bittersweet then anything else.

Most of the TF/GI Joe comics are kind of throwaway. If you do prefer something a bit more lighthearted then maybe check out the ones that were published by Boom Studios I believe it was. They did a whole series of them, 4 different storylines I believe, that were all pretty wacky fun. Transformers turning into Cobra vehicles, Time Travel, Serpentor and even Cobra-La show up.

As for MTMTE, its probably the best Transformers related media I have ever read. Some terrible things do happen, but I don't think its as dark as you think it is. Honestly I think there was only one really dark, depressing issue and you have pretty ample warning for when its coming.

[janegray]

I guess the biggest problem for me is that, while I like the Autobots and root for them as the good guys, I find the Decepticons far more entertaining and interesting and by far my favourite characters. So an ending where the Decepticons are lethally annihilated is most definitely a depressing ending for me. I do want the 'Cons defeated, but I very much don't want them dead.

So far, the IDW Continuity solution of ending the war and making the faction cooperate (except for Galvatron and his new team, but Galvatron is quite possibly the only Decepticon I can't stand so I couldn't care less if he dies, I just hope Soundwave and Skywarp and the others manage to get away) has come the closest to my idea of a happy ending. It was still sad when Shockwave died, but at least Optimus promised him to remember him as a friend.

...Of course, the IDW Continuity is ongoing and might very well go the Kill 'Em All route for its finale.

The original Marvel run couldn't follow the events of the animated movie as they had already killed Unicron.

Really? I didn't know that. Thank you for the good news :D

If we assume that the events of the movie won't take place, then the ending of Generation 2 is a pretty happy one too!

[icon_uk]

I only have to look at what happened to Rewind to sort of see your point, but it's the fun and adventurous side that gives the darker times their impact. It doesn't focus on any one particular approach, it incorporates many, and the fun seems to come out on top.

The Rewind/Chromedome relationship was beautifully depicted and Rewind's farewell to his Conjunx Endura was perhaps the most beautiful, emotional sequence I can recall seeing in any Transformers comic. The tragedy only worked because of the joy, I believed in the emotions of these characters in multiple situations.

Agreed on the Megatron bit though, but it does seem to be being addressed in story.

[zechs80]

The thing is when stacked up together when it comes to the IDW universe. I always wonder who just is the worst monster of the bunch? Megatron is bad and exceptional but he was born in the fires of the corrupt and nasty ways of the Primes and the Senate at the time.

Then there's Shockwave, Nemesis Prime, Nova Prime, and Galvatron who as we've seen are also equal monsters.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I know people like to pretend that Seasons 3 and 4 of the cartoon don't exist, but they do, and ended pretty well, all things considered (animation quality notwithstanding). ;P

Also, I don't see anything specifying Conjunx Endura as the equivalent of gay marriage, just marriage... period. Unless the comic has addressed that where the wiki hasn't.

[janegray]

I really couldn't care less how post-S2 seasons ended. The ending could have been "rocks fall, everybody die" and it wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference to me.

It's like... Imagine that you have a puppy you love very much. One day, as you are happily playing with your puppy, somebody runs over your it, then reverse drive over it, then runs over it again. Your parents buy you a new puppy, and hey, the new puppy can even be a perfectly good puppy, cute and friendly and knows lots of tricks! The new puppy can be the most awesomest puppy ever! But it's not your puppy. You know what I mean?

It's even worse when you consider that the characters weren't killed because the writers genuinely wanted to tell that story, but because a bunch of executives wanted to sell new toys and figured that killing off the old characters would make the new ones stand out more. I may dislike Kill 'Em All stories like Game Of Thrones, but at least I respect that the authors of those stories are sincerely expressing themselves. How I am supposed to respect a decision that was made over "we haven't completely squeezed little Timmy's parents like lemons yet!"

So yeah, I'm going to keep pretending that the show stopped at S2 and read fanfiction about those characters. Though it's just my very personal way to handle it, to each their own :P

I consider Conjunx Endura the equivalent of gay marriage by human standards. Because when 99,999999999999% of Transformers are male (yes, I know that the official stance is that they are genderless, but my stance is that the official stance is bullshit), the percentage of mech/femme CE is negligible. I mean, the characters had to be explained what "she" means.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Fair enough, though to be honest, Season 3 was what really cemented my love of the series.

And I do know about the whole male/female issue therein, but I'm just saying that I don't think there's so much distinction between the ideas of "marriage" and "gay marriage" at work here-- just "marriage," period, regardless of who the two are.

[q99]

Ah, the briefcase- and the two of course do not notice whatever was happening


The DJD must've *really* gotten a drop on the crew to win like that.


Also Ravage is great ^^

[icon_uk]

Well, the DJD are pretty much the definition of badass...

[q99]

Sure, but even so, the LL crew has a rather high badass quotient itself!

There's a reason the Decepticons didn't win even with them having all the phase sixers.

[icon_uk]

And the DJD took down at least one Phase Sixer themselves... Black Shadow.

He was melted by Helex, lost his legs to Tesarus, was electrocuted by Kaon, and was ultimately talked to death by Tarn, his spark exploding spectacularly as he expired.

as the tfwiki puts it.

[q99]

Indeed. Still, the Lost Light Crew is full of enough strong bots (Ultra Mag, Cyclonus, Drift, etc.) that even if the DJD won, admittedly not out of the question, I'd expect casualties among them... unless they had an additional advantage or two.

[thezmage]

They did have an advantage. Someone let them in.

[q99]

I wonder if he did more than that too. Or how many of them they got before they revealed themselves.

[devastron]

You should see the Ravage-Nautica exchanges.

[q99]

No small part on why I want to see Ravage hang around ^^

[bewareofgeek]

First, I agree with his "joy" thesis entirely.

Secondly, is there some sort of time shenanigans around the briefcase? I thought the panels were reversed, but it's more complex than that.

[grumman]

Yeah. You can figure it out by following the conversation and the movement of the briefcase, but you can also just watch the elevator count down the levels.

[bewareofgeek]

Ah, I actually hadn't noticed the background. Neat. Very FF#352.

[terrykun]

I assume there are quantum shenanigans going on as this area of space is going wibbly-wobbly.

[icon_uk]

Sad Ravage is sad.... look at that little face on the fourth panel of the fifth scan under the cut... :(

[icon_uk]

Oh, and I guess that Nautica's wrench is perhaps a little nod to the Doctor's pretty much omni-functional sonic screwdriver.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I love that, and now I hope that if we get a Nautica toy that she comes with the wrench, because anything less is now unacceptable.