Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #53 - "The Dying of the Light, Part 4: At Close of Day"

[laughing_tree]

Later:

Comments

[dustbunny105]

I misremembered his little nap there as a coma then, but my incredulity stands. He's laid out and having very little or no response to efforts to help him back onto his feet. That he goes from that to literal seconds away from death to walking around normally defies reason.

My thinking isn't that it can get them directly to an enemy ship straight out of the gate, it's that it can at least get them closer. Nothing off-track about that. Teleporting in general was never dismissed as an option, only teleporting off-planet and leaving the pod people defenseless (also silly; Brainstorm can make a fusion cannon out of it but can't widen the door?). That the potential use of the teleporter as anything other than spare parts is dismissed out of hand after that is mind-boggling. At least use the thing to flank your enemies.

Those are good reasons it might not have worked, yeah, but I personally would've been much more credulous reading it. And fighting ultimately doesn't amount to a hill of beans either, so.

And all the reasons in the world why stealing a ship might not work or why it would be risky doesn't change my main quibble: Rushing out to fight like they do is a bad plan, and not even a logically bad plan.

[q99]

-My thinking isn't that it can get them directly to an enemy ship straight out of the gate, it's that it can at least get them closer. Nothing off-track about that.-

Still, that's not a win. That gets one into an internal ship battle on one front while there's another active enemy ship, and which lasts until the enemy pulls back- which, having full mobility of shuttles and such, won't be long.

Even if it's a plan that'd cause the enemy a fair amount of pain, it's not one that prevents things from turning into full, doomed combat.

-
Those are good reasons it might not have worked, yeah, but I personally would've been much more credulous reading it. And fighting ultimately doesn't amount to a hill of beans either, so.

And all the reasons in the world why stealing a ship might not work or why it would be risky doesn't change my main quibble: Rushing out to fight like they do is a bad plan, and not even a logically bad plan.-

Note, we didn't even get through the full plan. The plan was basically, Spark Supercharge, run out and do damage, retreat behind storm shield, *then* they'd have time to recover and repair and prepare again.

The supercharge thing + shield means they were able to inflict heavy casualties in exchange for light casualties, and then reset the situation so the enemy still isn't closer to coming in. Maybe they'd try the supercharge again, maybe something else, but it wasn't an all-or-nothing plan. The damage they dealt means it'd be easier to enact future plans- fewer foes to stop them.

[dustbunny105]

Well, yes, either way puts them in danger and presents complications. My reading of the situation is that trying to steal a ship, which has an actual end goal beyond "avoid dying for as long as possible," is still potentially the better way to go. It's definitely the plan that would have been more engaging to me as a reader.

As it is, the light casualties felt cheap to me and not worth the damage they dealt in return. I just was not, am not and probably never will by convinced by the writing that the decision to fight as they do is something all involved would agree is the best way to go. The losses fall flat for me because I don't feel they should've been in position to suffer those losses.

The plan was basically, Spark Supercharge, run out and do damage, retreat behind storm shield, *then* they'd have time to recover and repair and prepare again.

It really wasn't, though? The supercharge only even came up after they'd decided to go outside, for starters. And the fight is treated as a last stand. Even when the power-up wears off, they don't retreat to regroup; Rodimus calls for "bright ideas" as they all stand and keep shooting. They only go back inside because Megatron orders them to, and Rodimus tries to argue against it at first.

[q99]

-
Well, yes, either way puts them in danger and presents complications. My reading of the situation is that trying to steal a ship, which has an actual end goal beyond "avoid dying for as long as possible," is still potentially the better way to go. It's definitely the plan that would have been more engaging to me as a reader.-

It doesn't have a realistic chance of success of rescuing the organics, though. Come back to the Necrobot base- right where the enemy is- and load 'em? Even if they somehow managed to steal a ship, which I don't feel is doable, it still pretty much requires "beat all the enemies," with the added complications of "on their turf."


With the supercharge, maybe they could beat enough of the enemy bosses to convince the others to retreat (they weren't counting on it ending so soon), and they definitely have the option to buy more time- which, as Autobot history has shown, results in plenty of last-minute rescues.

[dustbunny105]

Rushing out to fight doesn't stand a realistic chance either. They die there, the pod people are at best stuck in stasis on a planet that, until this arc, everyone ignored. And Megatron is still inside when the rest go out, which means that someone would be going in after them. Going into battle after he refuses to join them actually puts the pod people in more danger. Stealing a ship-- which would be tricky, but still doable, imo-- at least leads the Decepticons away from the fortress and also means that, if nothing else, the group has a chance to alert someone. And if they'd suffered losses in that scenario, I'd have been able to roll with it a lot better. Which is to say, at all.

The supercharge isn't part of the original plan and that's a major sticking point for me. Until Velocity gets the idea, they're intending to go out as they are. It's not a good plan or even a plan I can believe they would all agree to with hardly a moment's discussion. And then when the supercharge idea does come up, I still can't get into it because a) the fact that it can be reliably replicated at all makes me roll my eyes just thinking about it and b) there's still no appreciable change to their strategy (such as it is).

[q99]

One thing I strongly get the impression of- heck, that Prowl has outright complained about in the past- is the Autobots are *used* to daring last-minute ideas and heroics turning the tide.

They don't have a plan, but Rodimus has pulled out enough rabbits from his hat, and the other Autobots have seen Optimus and similar do the same, that on some level they're assuming some brilliant move will save them, especially with such an extraordinary crew as they have with them.

[dustbunny105]

I don't disagree that Autobots seem to tend to rely on last minute miracles to some degree, but I don't at all get the impression that that's what's happening in this scenario. And it isn't what I'd expect all the characters involved to fall back on either, general attitude notwithstanding. Heck, that could've been a perfect chance to spotlight Nautica and especially Velocity's outsider status, for instance.

[q99]

Yea, missed opportunity there. With Nautica, she's got the reason of her ring of very close friends. With Velocity, there's staying with Nautica, but are they that close? If she is, that'd be worth noting.

[dustbunny105]

Well, Velocity is among Nautica's amica circle, so they are presumably that close (though I wouldn't have thought so before that scene, tbh). But both of them, Velocity especially, are still getting used to the weirdness and danger. Even if they stayed, it's weird to me they wouldn't object to or even seem reluctant about going out into such a lopsided battle when it isn't necessary yet. Then there's Brainstorm, who's a committed coward and reluctant to use a weapon himself. Ultra Magnus and Skids should both have a better appreciation for considered strategy than they display. Rewind and Chromedome were previously said to be giving each other the cold shoulder over both remaining in danger. I'm still scratching my head that Ravage not only went out into the battle without Megatroin but also actually stuck around to fight.

Honestly, it isn't even just that they go out to fight that gets me, it's that they settle so quickly on doing so. Like they're beholden to Tarn's time limit despite having found a way to hold the DJD and company at bay. They could give Chromedome more time to recover, have Brainstorm make some more weapons, wait for Rung and Nightbeat to get back, try to convince Megatron to join the fight, come up with an actual battlefield strategy since they were relying on the shield right up until the last minute, see if the enemy will waste energy and ammo on the shield and force them to rethink their own strategy. Idk, I'd think the opportunity to say, "Screw you, we'll come out and fight when we feel like it," at least would be appealing. Like, I harp on about the shipjacking because it's my personal favorite alternative to the way the story went, but the base level is that I can't get into the way the story went.

[q99]

Yea, things did seem a bit crammed and in need of more time (or perceived time at least) deciding on it.

Ravage I get- The DJD is there, they'll kill every con with Megatron, period. And he's no coward, he fights pretty often, so he'd rather go down swinging- which is part of why Megatron's not was so disappointing to him.

The shield thing? Waiting til a more surprising time to strike would make sense, I'm with you there.

[dustbunny105]

Fair point about Ravage. I think what was throwing me off where he's concerned is that, by the time of the battle, he's kind of faded in with the rest of the group since he's not a big focus (disappointment in Megatron notwithstanding) and so I was reading it as him fighting with them, not fighting for his own life.