#Mtmte issue 15

[micespaceart]

Wowwww animatioooon

But just 5 seconds cuz I don't have the perserverance💜(((:

[rayven-ray]

Random thought: i cannot stop thinking about this scene despite having read it first time months ago

It's interesting from a point that Rewind had to ponder about the value of his relationships with Dominus and Chromedome in a hypothetical situation where only one could live

And the pondering resurfaces in the final issues, where the situation is not hypothetical anymore

I love this parallel

[lovingly-lightbulbs]

Hey boss sorry i cant come into work im crying about dead robots

[keferon]

Hi! I already read MTMTE and currently half through LL but I really want to read something about Prowl and Constructicons because the concept sounds cool but I've never read anything about them. Can you reccomend where for me to start?

Ahm okay let’s see

I believe their dynamic is established in Robots in disguise . Issue 14 or 15 is where they form Devastator and merge their minds for the first time.

This comic is where all the funny screenshots with them came from :D

(It’s also very much full of complicated lore and politics and plot lines crossing each other I have to warn you. But Prowl and his BTS squad have pretty simple dynamic that you could enjoy even if you don’t understand the whole plot line)

[mnemo-sick]

mtmte things I love: rewind and his relationship with split-second decisions

(spoilers obv)

issues #15, #38, and #53

[autosuns]

Of Ambulon and Pharma and doomed amica endura

I'll preface that I'm the last person to try and explain my ships by how canon they are and this is very much the same case of me just entertaining the idea and what their relationship represents and what role they play in a wider story, this is not an invitation for discourse or a debate. It's just me rambling on why I like the ship so much, think Pharma and Ambulon are narrative foils, while using some canon stuff and word of god.

Jokes about hamburger or hot dog or literally anything regarding Ambulon's death will end in block idc I think it's obnoxious 👍

CW for robot gore, discussions of torture, you know, the package that comes with DJD and Decepticons and MTMTE.

When it comes to Ambulon and Pharma's relationship, I think it's fair to start with bare bones, yeah?

I'm going to start with each character individually, what my take on them is, so we're all on the same page.

Ambulon

So, the basics are:

Ambulon was part of the failed combiner project of decepticons, the first combiner at that. He has horrible alt mode, that brings him a lot of shame, so he prefers to keep it a secret. He switched to the Autobots, eventually.

We don't know for certain if he was created for the project, or was one of the "volunteers". What we do know though, is that he's an MTO specifically, not just constructed cold, and MTOs were a concept of war.

Meaning, he cant be older than the war. Meaning, in my personal opinion, he was either made for some operation, then snatched by Shockwave for the project, or was created already specifically for the project.

There, I think, comes a timeline conflict. It feels unfeasible, to me, that MTOs were made this early into the war, by Decepticons. What I think happened, is that Shockwave did try to experiment on other Decepticons to figure out and develop on Jhiaxus' research, but once MTOs as a concept came into the picture, it became infinitely easier to just have an alt mode pre-made for a mech.

Unless when Shockwave said he was going to give Megatron a gestalt he meant he'll postpone it for 4mil years and do it a little before he succeeded with Devastator so Ambulon deserting LITERALLY as he is picked out for the combiner project JUST to avoid it makes this line from him especially funny:

Boy for all we know you're not even 15 years old.

Also the idea that character like Ambulon did that out of some sort of cowardice, that THIS was his breaking point to join Autobots, feels wrong.

In-text it becomes even less likely Ambulon had a life before the project, as his name "Ambulon" seems to be the only one he ever had (judging by his statue post on Necroworld).

I think why I'm getting a Little long-winded explaining Ambulon is to draw a better picture on his experience with Decepticons, Specifically Shockwave.

That to say, he had a horrible one. He knows better than anyone what Decepticons are capable of and how far they will go/what Megatron would allow. Especially once DJD comes into the picture.

And it just emphasizes the way Ambulon in the end of it all chose kindness. The first issues he appeared in cement it very well, especially since most of his intro we get from First Aid's point of view.

Ambulon is tetchy, can be a gearstick sometimes

Ambulon took pity on the Decepticons he thought were hunted down by the DJD

Ambulon convinced Pharma to let them stay

The Genericons showed their scars to Ambulon specifically

Ambulon gets passionate about hate crimes concerning one's shape/alt mode

Ambulon is "tetchy" and rejects First Aid's idea because he's concerned that it's too risky

For Ambulon to put your own life on the line to save a single life is an act of selfishness (also stemming out of his concern for First Aaid, imo)

Ambulon let the Genericons share a cell

To sum it up: Ambulon is very greatly concerned for the greater good and treating people without bias, Decepticon or Autobot, especially when there's any sort of discrimination involved.

(Using Genericons and Triple M as a tool with Ambulon was a very clever foreshadowing for Ambulon's situation, but it is a general theme that runs in these issues and Ratchet's/medics character arcs, it's the functionism, one's shape and purpose in life, but it is a completely different post to make. Just let's keep the theme of one's shape and purpose in mind.)

The thing is, Ambulon is who he is by choice. His Decepticon past is always showing, whether he wants it or not, but all he wants, essentially, is to help people and treat them with kindness. He's a "gearstick", but he's a gearstick with a big spark. He saw the greater cruelty in Decepticons and made a choice to never participate in it.

Ambulon is an MTO who made his life and became what he wants to be despite everything: Decepticons, his alt-mode, biases, all of that. He's true to himself and his intentions.

I'm gonna also get this out of the way that Ambulon's established character is continuously ignored, dumbed down and twisted: the point is that I do believe JRO didn't think about him that much or that deep, and what he did with him did not retain with him into further issues. That is to say, "You're gonna let Dr DJD cut us in half?" is a dumb fucking line to come out of Ambulon specifically, makes no sense, too snarky and cruel all things considered, and while I think it's also very funny it jsut shows Ambulon's accidental insignificance. Ok. That's all.

Pharma

Oh boy this one's a doozy. Okay, listen, I'll try to get more brief with it, try to get straight to the point, but Pharma has so much nuance around him on a greater scheme of things that it might also just be it's own post. SO we'll just try to focus on his persona and relations to others.

Pharma is a doctor of talent on par with Ratchet, if not actually better. He used to be friends with him, he's implied to have used to do medical service in the new institute, and eventually was stationed on Delphi by Prowl, practically abandoned by Ratchet. There, he ends up being blackmailed by Tarn, ending up killing his patients to meet the increasing quota, being led to the brink of creating a virus that he exposes the facility to in hope to close it down and escape it scot-free. Obviously, because of Ratchet, it didn't work, the rest is history.

Unlike Ambulon with his 3 panels and a half of screentime worth talking about character-wise, Pharma is a combination of multiple things at once, his place as an Autobot, his connection to the DJD, his act, and most of his actual character we get from very few shots of him from the past and what people say of him, and just a little of his behavior at Delphi before his crime is revealed.

So I think we'll focus specifically on the Decepticon part when it comes to Pharma cuz it's much easier to talk about.

Pharma vehemently, without hiding it, hates Decepticons.

It will go into even bigger field of speculations than trying to piece Ambulon's character together for why he hates them so much. It could both just be a thrown in line for the story to flow (Genericons) and act as a foreshadowing (DJD blackmail), the fact of the matter is, he hates Decepticons, he does not have pity for Decepticons, and if DJD did not play into his hatred, years of war for sure did.

(Also worth mentioning that in the issue #4, the paralleling story is Tailgate learning about the war and backing off on his decision to be a Decepticon. The entire build up works very well, imo, and plays into just how much it should hit you when Pharma turns out providing for DJD, along with the choice of Ambulon to not be a Decepticon anymore.)

You see, I think Pharma is incredibly caring person. He cares for his patients and he cares for his people. He takes his work extremely seriously. He's willing to be a donor for his patient and he's still conducting research to cure illnesses when there was no legitimate point for him to do that anymore. He's not just a surgeon, but he's a virologist/epidemiologist.

But, probably when we ask ourselves, "So if he was such a wonderful doctor, equal to Ratchet, someone Ratchet recognizes, why wasn't he the Chief Medical Officer in the first place?"

I think it's mostly his personality. It's his hubris and ego. It's also the inherent societal bias of Cybertron when it comes to jets - though this part of worldbuilding isn't that consistent, he is a forged jet AND a doctor.

And that's also why I think he doesn't believe in that "forged" functionism bullshit. BUT thats another post of its own (take a shot every time i say that in this post).

Let's just bullet point this:

Pharma is a talented doctor who's good and dedicated to his job. Practically nothing is impossible for him and it becomes a focal point of his conflict with Ratchet, too.

That said, Pharma's shape is what, I think, is responsible for his hubris. He's a jet, he's forged, he's a doctor, but he's a doctor because HE, PHARMA, is good. Nothing to do with some God. (which is different from Ratchet's internalized functionism)

Pharma hates Decepticons, he tried to kill the DJD, and it may seem like he pushed it all on Ambulon because he was a Decepticon, but I don't think that's the case. Specifically because of this:

He does not see Ambulon as a Decepticon, and it was just panicked shitty lie he had to quickly come up with on the spot.

Pharma feels guilt for his actions, and after killing Ambulon, he's actively taunting First Aid to kill him.

Pharma is a jet doctor trapped in the loop of self-sabotage after being exploited, psychologically tortured and left for dead, after a poor attempt of saving face. Pharma is a jet doctor who embraced his new look, but couldn't live with it, far from accepting it. Furthermore, his body is used by Adaptus himself, where the only thing he could do is trying to get his body back, to help his comrades, only to end up dying, again.

That's where I'm going to use a single word of God that makes, all in all, a lot of sense.

"Grurdging respect" is about best way to describe Pharma and Ambulon.

Now since I've reached the image limit on this post it's relentless rambling and speculations time!

You probably can already tell where I'm going with this. I think Pharma and Ambulon direct inversions of each other.

Decepticon gone Autobot as a choice - Autobot gone rogue out of blackmail and fear of failure

MTO doing what he wants to do and taking control of his body and life, disconnected from a gestalt or his "purpose" - A forged jet trying to continue his career of a doctor despite all the odds but who's agency is continuously taken, not only by others but by his own ego

Where they overlap, is their desire to do what they want. Where they differ, is one's sincerity and other's toxicity.

Ambulon is someone Pharma would never be, and someone he, on meta level, wishes he was more like. He doesn't want to be Ratchet, even if we think a little about his obsession and desire to prove to Ratchet that he's better, he wants to be someone Ratchet would respect. And in the end of the day, it all didn't matter anymore, because clearly Ratchet never respected him enough in the first place: "waging a war on his body", taking body parts for his own gain (hands), that Pharma didn't even really care about anymore. It was personal. He wanted Ratchet to hurt.

All of this, ultimately, is justified. Little who would respond to knowing someone who betrayed you (and whom you, also, betrayed) also breached boundaries of your autonomy. It's just basic decency. I don't believe TFs never heard of that or don't follow it, in some fashion. Maybe it's more loose, but for the purpose of drama and villification of Pharma, it was convenient, I guess.

See, Pharma is just inherently, like anyone, very flawed. The circumstance he's put in and the war led to the worst of his qualities spike. And in relation to Ambulon, it's the inverse of a person who, having seen the horrors of the war, having been through the horror and the existential dread of being in a gestalt, chose kindness anyway.

"Grudging respect". A jet doctor, a genius, and an ex-soldier MTO, who made the choice of helping people. An ex-Decepticon, too, no less.

See how it could've developed into something more?

Both eager to do their job, Ambulon is a perfect stabilizer for Pharma's general emotional response to things. He may be a good doctor, but he's prone to acting and saying things before really thinking about it. Ambulon is capable of convincing him and giving a good argument, without it being personal.

"Grudging respect" with Ambulon working with one of the best doctors out there, who's work is going to be invaluable even after his death.

And if things worked out differently? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't be there to sympathize with Pharma's trauma regarding DJD? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't pity Pharma for what Tarn put him through? Ambulon? The Decepticon who was there? The one who even should fear DJD the most? The one who might've even triggered DJD once he was so close on the radar?

He might've confided in Pharma in the first place, as someone literally second in charge after him.

Pharma and Ambulon are defying Adaptus as a societal concept, among with the existential idea of your shape dictating your purpose. And within the text they don't just defy, they end up suffering the most out of it - Pharma ends up in a position where his hands are praised more than he, as a person, is, Ambulon dies by these hands, and his death dooms Pharma as well.

I hope it was comprehensive enough, i WISH i could include more images to prove my point. The amica endura would've been insane. If only the circumstance was different.

[transformersbrainrot]

Finally got around to reading post-war idw and like 15 issues into MTMTE I thought to myself "this is really good but I feel like I should read the first part of this continuity" so I went back and started the IDW Collections and... damn these are not as good...

[ratchets-old-hands]

MAJOR MTMTE AND LOST LIGHT SPOILERS

MTMTE issue #15 vs Lost Light #25.

Ratchet kept his promise.

[decepti-thots]

OHOHOHO. I am always ready to help enable someone's reread, anon!

The way I'm gonna do this I think is, I'll put down a list of what I think is worth reading if you want to follow the IDW Prowl arc in a way that hits the main beats that wind up paying off in retrospect, with the luxury of examining the entire continuity from the vantage point of it being complete.

I'll also mark some of this stuff as "optional". Some of this is optional because it is not very relevant to the overall arc, or is out of sync with later depictions in some way; some of it is frankly just optional because it's bad, and forcing yourself to read endless shit TF comics is something that should never be demanded of anyone with limited time on this Earth if you aren't the kinda freak who wants to. LMAO.

Finally: I'm gonna write this as though it's for someone totally new to the whole thing. Because that way I can have fun infodumping. Hehe.

Below the cut is an excessively long explanation of what I would suggest and why. But the short, just-a-list version is:

[OPTIONAL] Transformers: Infiltration Spotlight: Kup [OPTIONAL] 99% of All Hail Megatron All Hail Megatron #15 specifically Last Stand of the Wreckers [OPTIONAL] Read all of Costa's run on the ongoing (#1-#31), inflicting horrific psychic damage on yourself Read just issues #8, #25-29 and Spotlight: Prowl The Death of Optimus Prime The early MTMTE Prowl stuff (#1, all of Shadowplay, #14) Robots in Disguise ("exRiD") in full Combiner Wars crossover event Sins of the Wreckers Titans Return crossover event [OPTIONAL] Requiem of the Wreckers Optimus Prime ongoing issues #1-7, #13-14, #22 Unicron (+ Optimus Prime #25)

[OPTIONAL] Transformers: Infiltration

Up front: Infiltration is a miniseries that is mediocre at its best and pretty bad at its worst IMO. It is, yanno. A Simon Furman comic, so.

Why am I putting this here anyway? One, it's the literal start of the IDW continuity and contains a shitton of stuff that will go on to be referenced through even comics like MTMTE. Two, it establishes Verity's character, which is obviously relevant for Wreckers later for our purposes here- and more specifically how she and Prowl actually know each other, which gives some context to their interactions. And three, it establishes the "original" Prowl characterization for IDW1, prior to Roche coming in and mucking about with him later on. Rather than be something which later retcons and developments undermine completely, this is more something where if you've been reading from the start, it makes it feel a bit less weird that every other character isn't constantly going 'why the fuck would we trust Prowl, though'. You get a sense of like 'oh OK, he was being Fucking Normal around them', haha.

Spotlight: Kup

Prowl is actually barely in this page time wise, but it still has big implications for stuff later down the line by way of setting stuff up, and since it is 1) only a single issue and 2) Actually Fucking Good, I'm putting it in. This issue works to help set up the eventual Prowl characterization we get, as well as his ties to both Springer and Kup. (Actually, I would generally say that if you've read Wreckers but not this, go back and give it a read, as it contextualizes a lot for the relationship between those three!)

[OPTIONAL] 99% of All Hail Megatron

This is a similar thing to Infiltration, really. Prowl is in it somewhat, it helps establish a kind of baseline characterization for him at this point in the comics. None of it is super important down the line but it gives more context if you want it for some later choices, and there's a few bits that establish stuff like e.g. his unpopularity with certain segments of the Autobots, that sort of thing. Also uhhh. Spike is in it! Y…ay. But I mean, he WILL be unavoidable in this overall trajectory; and he starts off here.

You can skip it though. Or skim it; again, it's soooo goddamn LONG. Sigh. You know, this series was what was coming out when I got into TF, it put me off IDW for years, hah.

All Hail Megatron #15, specifically

The one bit that's not optional because this is where his entire post-AHM characterization hinges, basically. The first half of this issue, which contains two 'coda' stories, is basically just one long inner monologue of Prowl showing himself to be someone who lies his ass off and manipulates people around him using his position and resources to do whatever he thinks is necessary, and it sets up a major plot point in Sins of the Wreckers with Kup and Springer. So, this is where Prowl goes from being kinda an asshole interpersonally to actually a war crimes man in-canon, haha. …well uh, sort of… we'll get to that later.

Last Stand of the Wreckers

Duh. He's not in this one as much as its sequel but this is still the first 'full' story to explore the version of Prowl detailed above and to cement him. He's an ambiguous little asshole whose presence in this story is less rooted in how much he shows up on the page proper, and more in how much his actions ripple out to effect other people.

Also like. Last Stand is great, it's just a good comic! Treat yourself to a (re)read sometime. Especially with the extras and the like.=

[OPTIONAL] Read all of Costa's run on the ongoing (#1-#31), inflicting horrific psychic damage on yourself

Prowl is in Costa's run of TF and it ties in to the above, sometimes controversially! It seems he was something of an author's favourite, honestly. Anyway it's awful. Actually doing this is a terrible idea. Costa's run of TF sucks so bad it actually kind of fascinates me, but 31 issues of terrible, badly-paced comics is way too much for most people, and rightly so.

The thing is though, Barber DOES pick up on stuff from this run in his exRiD stuff. He often makes sure to try and reintroduce it so you don't have to have read the Costa run to get it, but there genuinely is more stuff in there than you might assume given how much the fandom as a whole would go on to mostly just sort of ignore it. This includes with Prowl, who Costa seems to have latched on to a bit.

Of course, mooost of this run isn't about Prowl. So instead of doing a whole re-read, you can just read…

Read just issues #8, #25-29 and Spotlight: Prowl

Issue #8 is not actually an issue with Prowl in it. It's the issue where Spike kills Scrapper. This matters both because it gets picked up in Costa's run later, and also because Barber is gonna lean hard on a storytelling opportunity for this in early exRiD. Also, this issue is really awful, but will instill in you a loathing of IDW Spike that I think is part of being a well rounded person.

Spotlight: Prowl also sucks. It's basically a comic that exists because Costa didn't want to write the new Prowl characterization but everyone got mad he retconned it for his comic, because the Roche take from AHM's coda was wayyyy more popular than Costa's 'idealistic sort-of-noir-ish-not-really cop' take. Spotlight: Prowl tries to give an in-universe explanation for Prowl's complete personality 180 by giving us a story about how Humans Are Super Special or whatever. However, Barber doesn't retcon it, and in fact will treat this as an important if brief moment in Prowl's life in exRiD.

Issues #25-#29 are the 'Police Action' storyline which involves Prowl finding out about the above murder and confronting Spike about it. This betrayal will be something Barber also leans into very hard, though he's gonna recontextualize it a bit. Similar to the above, all this stuff is gonna get mixed up by Barber into a big old 'Prowl's having Issues around projecting his hopes for being better onto humans and getting burned' later on. So retrospectively, this is when Prowl's most recent attempt to turn a new leaf goes sour, in-universe.

The Death of Optimus Prime

This is the prelude to both MTMTE and exRiD and is sometimes overlooked when people talk about phase two these days. It sets up the new, phase two status quo for the ongoings. This is your introduction to Prowl as written by Barber and Roberts.

The early MTMTE Prowl stuff

Read the first issue, Shadowplay in its entirety, then at least issue #14 (the mnemosurgery/flashback one) from the Overlord arc. I talk about these on here all the time, whatever, you know the drill, it's Prowl And Chromedome Are Awful Exes ft. War Crimes AND Regular Crimes! Roberts has a take on Prowl that is actually pretty distinct IMO, it's fun to read alongside Roche and Barber's work in this period. They're not totally out of sync with each other, just... individual. (Sidenote: this, combined with a chunk of IDW1 fandom not reading exRiD in full or honestly at all, means that IMO a lot of disagreement over Prowl boils down to folks only knowing the Prowl in this comic and taking it as fully representative of the whole canon. Shrug.)

Robots in Disguise ("exRiD")

AKA 'the phase two ongoing where Prowl was one the main characters' so yeah, this one, obviously. This is where like… a good 70% of the Prowl stuff is in IDW, honestly. Anyway, Prowl is especially in focus at the start, where Barber gives us a lot of focus on him in the aftermath of the Earth stuff Costa did with him. The first arc of his runs through issue #16, the end of 'season one' before Dark Cybertron starts. (exRiD has a lot more arcs overlapping at once than MTMTE does, so its arcs tend to run along more issues as they take turns.) But he's around the whole time basically, right through to the end of Barber's time on IDW1. If you want to talk IDW1 Prowl, you basically gotta read everything Barber did with him. And if you want to understand it, you ought to read it fully.

(Note: exRiD underwent mandated name changes etc that mean at some point, the collected editions turn into 'The Transformers'. Use tfwiki if you get confused, haha. Also, Dark Cybertron gets its own trades as a crossover event- but that's the one everyone remembers, so I'll put it here. Buuut speaking of this comic being confusing...)

The Combiner Wars event, which includes but is not limited to exRiD, oh god this comic is so complicated.

There's an event that's set mostly around the exRiD parts of phase two called Combiner Wars. It includes some exRiD issues but is collected in a seperate trade called "Combiner Wars" and crosses over with the Windblade comics. Spoiler alert, Prowl is very important in it, because it deals with combiners and in exRiD he became a combiner. It's also kind of a mess because errrr, a HUGE amount of it was editorially mandated and in multiple cases basically required backtracking and retconning stuff to make work within what was requested for advertising purposes. Not... the series' highest moment, but there you go.

Sins of the Wreckers

Yaaaaay it's the Prowl divorce story! My favourite one!!! Anyway, you can actually read this one whenever after LSotW. The Wreckers stories exist as their own thing really. But this falls soooometime around, oooh, middle of exRiD, gestures at Combiner Wars, etc etc. (Basically: SotW was written while the ongoing was coming out, obviously, and by the time it was complete and being released, the timeline got a bit wobbly, so nailing it down to a super specific timeline in-universe is a bit 'eh'. The final page of SotW #5 was edited to reflect this but just read it sometime after CW, it's fine, whatever.)

This series actually has like. No meaningful impact on the broader universe's plot. But it has so many crimes and schemes! And divorce! And the one big thing: it's when Arcee gets properly sick of Prowl, after their relationship in exRiD was established throughout that comic's run up to this point.

The Titans Return event, mostly for the MTMTE bits, which I guess a lot of people skipped???

Same as CW except, thank god, smaller scale. Has its own trade, and the main bit of interest winds up being that the last two issues of MTMTE before it relaunched as LL were issues with Prowl in focus as part of this event. Apparently some folks reading MTMTE in trades these days have nooo idea these two issues exist because they're in a totally separate trade, oops. Anyway, Roberts puts Prowl on the moon and picks up some dangling MTMTE plotlines. TR makes no sense but these specific issues are fun because they are ridiculous in a way that is enjoyable to read if you just ignore the plot.

[OPTIONAL] Requiem of the Wreckers

...OK, fine, he's not really in this one. You should take the excuse to read it and conclude the Wreckers saga though, I mean. Why not.

Optimus Prime ongoing issues #1-7, #13-14, #22

I'm being nice and not telling you to read all of the OP ongoing even though I kinda want to. A lot of folks skipped out on that comic, even folks who liked exRiD, for a great many reasons. So I'll keep it to the essentials. The first arc includes some flashbacks to Prowl's early association with Orion and gives some insight into Barber's take on his backstory; he's not in every single one of those issues, but you may as well read 'em all, it's a full story. #13-14 is when Prowl comes back from his moon vacation and re-enters the exRiD playing field. And #22 is the issue that features Prowl that leads into Unicron, and. Well.

Sidenote: if the plots don't make sense this is pretty normal, and might not be meaningfully changed by reading the whole series, I'm not gonna lie.

Unicron (+ Optimus Prime #25)

Read the Unicron miniseries! It's what finishes off the IDW continuity and, crucially, is Barber's grand finale. Lost Light had its own ending where everything was at something of a remove, as a series that was able to exist a little more as its own thing. The other series, however, had Unicron. Prowl's in it, he does stuff. Some people hate this miniseries, I really like it, regardless it's the capstone to the entire segment of the comics Prowl has been a major player in. And then read Optimus Prime #25, the IDW1 universe's epilogue of sorts, which ties it up not so much in plot terms but thematically. Prowl gets his last word in there.

---

'James', you may ask. 'Did you know all this off the top of your head???' Of course not; I had to look up some of the issue numbers. Anyway, if you need a ludicrously specific reference list of stuff worth checking for specifcially IDW1 Prowl across the 17 odd years of IDW comics, here it is, for no good reason. Does this reading list result in a coherent story? No, but it does give you maximum schemes per page, I guess.

[potato-sauce]

Currently thinking about mtmte issues 15 and 16

My heart cannot take this

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 53-55

MTMTE 53

very cute how many people are calling Tailgate “slugger” now

SKIDS AND SWERVE ARE SO SWEET... I'm just soaking up as much time with Skids as I can, either this issue or the next one is the one where he dies and I know it's gonna hurt all over again

it's also sweet that Drift suggested everyone record a final message. It's funny in a very bittersweet way how he's actually pretty emotionally intelligent, he just never applies any of that to himself

aww, Nautica's improptu amica ritual... she loves them and wants them to know, to make it official........

“Yeah. Later, eyebrows.” bites my knUCKLE SO HARD IT BLEEDS

god the tension in the scene where Chromedome and Rewind separately but simultaneously find out exactly where Dominus went is killing me lmAO good on Drift for calling Rewind anyway. Good on Rewind for giving Rodimus a good punch too, it's been a long time coming

god. Rewind having to make the choice between losing Dominus for good or losing Chromedome... so fuckign good. It was so good to see all the “Rewind is a bad husband who cares more about Dominus than Chromedome” talk just fuckin hard stop after this issue came out lmAO Issue 44 spelled it out with words but people straight up didn't read those so this one made it crystal motherfucking clear and I am still so grateful

fdsjkghfjk goooOOODDDD, THE FUCKIN PARALLELS TO ISSUE 15... The use of one of Drift's swords, Rewind making a life or death choice, Chromedome losing the same fucking arm, the panel of Chromedome curled up on the ground in the exact same way but Rewind is with him this time, fuckgfhjsdks this arc fuckign rules it's so gOOD

love this conversation between Cyclonus and Whirl too, love that Whirl just comes right the fuck out and says it, “Hey are you dating that guy you like yet? Did you talk about the trauma? Like, actually talk??? Bitch???????? Tell me about your gayass feelings, I am going to force you to say it out loud” he's RIGHT and he should SAY IT!!!!!!!!

“I suppose I'm afraid.” “Good! Me too! You think anyone here isn't scared?” TELL HIIIIMMMMMM

“You're a good captain, Rodimus. The better captain...” CORRECT. ALSO GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND FIGHT

“Thanks for traveling with me” *salutes* anythign for you........

MTMTE 54

“I'm sorry, Rewind- I can't deal with that right now.” ehuehuehuehuehue I know that reference

Overlord's petty bullshit is significantly less entertaining when he's doing it at Chromedome, you keep Rewind's name out of your slutty, slutty mouth

“I thought someone I love had died.” punCHES THE ARM OF MY CHAIR REPEATEDLY

“Is it getting hot in here?” GNAWS MY ENTIRE HAND OFF

yeah nope just Skids remembering Grindcore has started the waterworks, it still hurts just as much lmAOgfhjdsk

jhdfkjsthank you Tailgate for making me laugh, hell yeah, punch that dude's head off

that panel of Roddy breathing fire is still so hot lmAO

I do love the confirmation that Megatron's change of heart was all Megatron, the “fool's energon” may have made him think he was being drugged, but it was never the case, it was all in Megatron's head and that is very much the point

Oh, Skids... Ohh, Skids........

oh you fuckin slimy bitch, I forgot that Tarn orders Deathsaurus to throw all his men at Megatron while secretly having his own guys fall back

I do find it kinda funny that after so long of wanting Megatron to stop fighting and killing people, the comic now makes us want very much for Megatron specifically to Kill These Fucking Guys So Hard Please

oughdfjk Nautica holding Skids's body...

MTMTE 55

man it's so fucked that the crew saving some organics came back to bite them in the ass, they were just trying to do good...

ooh I forgot that they used the distress signal on Deathsaurus. Well, more like they used it in general and Deathsaurus was particularly vulnerable to it

still fuckin LOVE Nickel abandoning Tarn, I gather up all the canon instances of Tarn being a cringefail loser and I roll around in them like a pig in mud

I TAKE ALL THESE PANELS OF MEGATRON KILLING THE DJD ONE BY ONE AND I SNORT THEM LIKE CRACKED COCAINE

“Everything you did was for nothing.” MOANS AGGRESSIVELY

sorry okay I'm normal now, love Rodimus going out of his way to rescue Megatron lmAO this was another thing I saw people complain about, they should've just left him, he killed the DJD so he had his big moment and now he can die for his crimes, but nah, that ain't what it's about. It's about Roddy being a good person, that's all there is to it, he could save him so he did

Megatron is going through it. I'm trying to remember the nuances of this moment because just taking it at face value, it looks like Ravage used his last words to beg Megatron to stay a Decepticon and then Megatron proceeded to immediately throw the Decepticon badge/mask away the instant he saw Terminus but I'm trying to remember if that was the case or if Ravage was saying “don't go back to being a Decepticon,” OR if he was even talking about factions at all and he meant for Megatron to never doubt himself so much again and the badges are merely symbolic

still sucks that Censere took Nightbeat's advice and started saving people instead of just cataloging them and it got him killed so fuckin fast

oh shit that's right, the fuckin Galactic Council threw a geobomb at the Necro planet ghjdfks well rip I guess, hell of a way to end this arc

god. This arc really was just a constant stream of dubs for me personally lmAO so many bad faith theories and takes were debunked, like Rewind valuing Dominus over Chromedome, the fandom's poor understanding of Tarn was fucking obliterated, I got my boys Drift and Ratchet back, it was great lmAO It was especially great because like I said waaaaaaaay way back in the preface for this whole retrospective, this fandom made me feel like a complete fucking idiot for having faith in this comic and this arc not only affirming all of my theories and feelings (except for Tarn being Roller) but explicitly debunking a lot of takes and theories I thought were bad was pure fucking magic lmAO it made me start to realize that I'm NOT an idiot, actually, my reading comprehension is good, better than all these people who are so rude and aggressive about asserting their opinions, and this is a good fucking comic that I was right to have faith in. THAT'S why the Dying of the Light is my favorite arc

[yogurtlid10000]

I wish I could read MTMTE again for the first time… (I say this about every media I get obsessed with) anyway I was rereading issues 15 and 16 and

Hmmm I didn’t realize brainstorm and quarks thing was foreshadowed here already with his little “Take it from someone who knows” I THIBK THATS WHAT ITS IMPLYING?? 🤔interestinf

Anyway this conversation (the brainstorm and chromedome one) is so underrated and really good

Also THIS ooorrrghhpainful. Brainstorms lines slap

[lovingly-lightbulbs]

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

[elfelt-valentine]

Hi! 3, 6, 9 and 12 (TF) and 8 and 15 for Ambulon please

Aecho Hi!!!!!

Transformers

3...which scene I would like to erase from the universe and why.

Auuughgh I'm not even gonna try and think too much but like half the deaths and deaths fake outs in mtmte are grating me, I think if i sat down and actually tried to tell you i wouldn't come up with anything concrete or really worse erasing. Despite how much criticism i give to tf media there's barely anything that makes me mad enough to erase it from existence.

6...which is my favorite platonic or familial relationship in this world.

Charlie and Bumblebee is the biggest comfort to me!! I can't just keep talking abt idw1 LMAO their friendship is so wonderful and I hope we get to see them interact again at least briefly.

9...which characters I think should have interacted more in canon.

Oh man. It'd take another list. I think i would've loved to see Shockwave and Ambulon and combicons in general interact. Would've loved a little more into Shockwave working on the combiners and flashback on the combicons even if vaguely.

Amb got some daddy issues i know he does /j

12...what attracted me into checking it out.

It's actually been with me my whole life i was a HUGE transformers kid with the first two live action movies and tfp, i just kind of fell off when i started using internet much more. I had a HUGE crush on Bumblebee, esp Animated one, even wrote Ded Moroz a letter asking for an animated bumblebee toy. With a drawing. With me and Bee.

I didn't get the toy though and my parents never indulged me cuz they weren't big fans of me being into "boys" things so fucking jokes on them now.

Though if i had to say why i got so much into it recently (its going to be exactly a year since tomorrow. LMAO) its cuz I've had a passing interest in rewatching tfp and then i kind of got Really into starbee and found out about idw1, watched the live action Bumblebee, got Transformers devastation on my laptop, started reading a Lot of starbee fanfiction and eventually started reading idw1 and watching tfa, which became an actual rabbit hole for me. And here I am........

Ambulon

8...if I'm most interested in fics about them that focus on fluff, angst, humor, smut or actual plot?

I'll be real I mostly read fanfiction for smut cuz when it comes to anything non-shippy I'm very picky and particular w the way my favs are characterized and how things are written, but smut is somehow much less commitment to me lmao. Especially w Ambulon I'm very territorial w him.

So yea most fic I've read w him was smut.

I don't mind non-smut/ship fic recommendations I'm just bad at finding fic like that I would like lmao. Which is very funny to me cuz most stuff I write isn't really about shipping.

15...how I wish their story would go/would have gone.

He shouldn't have died like that, my entire Ambulon blog is a fix-it fanfiction. He's such a low stakes character from like. Narrative stand point, that his death is a tool for other characters "development". I don't really like how much his character was warped and twisted in general cuz Jro cannot be consistent w Ambulon for the life of him. But also I get it, y'know? His death was stupid but also not like, getting rid of another bg character is that much of a deal, even though it's insane how much personality and story he was given as a one-off character lmao.

I love the angst around his death though he makes a good story ghost.

[mtmte-bracket]

[ROUND ONE] The Dying of the Light vs The Ties That Bind

A quick summary/refresher for each storyline is under the cut including TFWiki links:

The Dying of the Light: the MTMTE finale (if not quite the actual last issues published before the relaunch). The cast gets kicked out and stranded by a mutinous Getaway, and the DJD show up to make their day literally the worst it could possibly be. Tarn’s here, Overlord’s back, there’s a lot of people the Necrobot has been keeping cryogenically frozen in his basement, you know the drill, this one is usually remembered. TFWiki link.

The Ties That Bind: the “third Scavengers story”. This wraps up the story between the Scavengers and Grimlock and leads into the Lost Light finale; this is where they run into Scorponok and his weird little baby, accompanied by Nickel. Agonizer sends them off to find the Magnificence and, and, and look- nobody remembers this arc for that. This is the “Scorponok is fucking pregnant” arc. Okay. You remember. It’s the pregnancy one. TFWiki link.

[convoy914]

IDW1 Reading List

For New Readers/A Way to Keep Track

More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light/All of James Roberts’ Work (And, optionally, all of Nick Roche’s writing. Altogether, it adds up to a nice 113 i think)

(Optional) Spotlight: Kup

(Optional) All Hail Megatron Issue 15 Story 1: Everything in Its Right Place

Last Stand of the Wreckers Issues 1-5 (And bonus features from the Trade)

Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 22 and 23 “Chaos Theory” 

(Optional) Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 24, 26, 28, 30 (Only included as Roberts co-wrote them) 

The Death of Optimus Prime

MTMTE Issues 1-5

Spotlight: Trailcutter

Spotlight: Hoist

MTMTE Issue 6-8

MTMTE Annual 2012: Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations

MTMTE Issues 9-13

Signal to Noise Prose Story

MTMTE Issues 14-21

The Sound of Broken Glass Prose Story

MTMTE Issue 22 (Accompanied by Josh Burcham's rendition of the deleted scene)

(Optional) Spotlight: Megatron

(Optional) Spotlight: Orion Pax

Dark Cybertron Issues 1-12

MTMTE Issues 28-46

(Optional) Sins of the Wreckers Issues 1-5

MTMTE Issues 47-49

Transformers Holiday Special: Silent Night

Titans Return: The Last Autobot Section 1

MTMTE Issue 50-55

MTMTE Issue 50 Backup Story: No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases

MTMTE Issues 56-57

MTMTE Revolution: Nothing Will Ever Be The Same!

Lost Light Issues 1-15

(Optional) Requiem of the Wreckers

Lost Light Issues 16-25

Robots In Disguise/The Transformers/Optimus Prime/Windblade/Till All Are One (John Barber and Mairghread Scott’s works.)

(Optional) Transformers Vol. 1 Issue 31: Pax Cybertronia (Context for Ironhide’s “Vision”)

The Death of Optimus Prime

RID Issues 1-9

RID Annual 2012: Primus: All Good Things

RID Issues 10-16

(Optional) Spotlight: Thundercracker

(Optional) Spotlight: Bumblebee

RID Issues 17-22

Dark Cybertron Issues 1-12

Windblade Vol. 1 Issues 1-4

RID Issues 28-34

Transformers Vol. 2 Issues 35-38

Transformers: Punishment

Combiner Wars Issues Opening Salvo-5 (Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 39, Windblade Vol. 2 Issue 1, Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 40, Windblade Vol. 2 Issue 2, Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 41, Windblade Vol. 2 Issue 3) 

Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 42-43

Transformers: Combiner Hunters: An Uneventful Night

Windblade Vol. 2 Issues 4-7

Transformers Vol. 2 Issues 44-46 (In between 44 and 44 + 1 is Sins of the Wreckers)

Transformers: Redemption

Transformers Vol. 2 Issues 47-49

Transformers Holiday Special: Choose Me

Transformers Holiday Special: The Thirteenth Day of Christmas

Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 50

Transformers Vol. 2 Issue 50 Backup Story: New Worlds Order

Till All Are One Issues 1-4

Transformers Vol. 2 Issues 51-55

Titans Return: The Last Autobot Sections Prologue, 2, 3

Transformers Vol. 2 Issues 56-57

(Optional) Revolution Issues 0-5

(Optional) Revolution: Transformers: Thundercracker & Buster Save the World

(Optional) Revolution: Till All Are One: Informed

(Optional) Revolution: Action Man: The Modern World

Till All Are One Issues 5-8

Optimus Prime Issues 1-6

Till All Are One Issues 6-12

Optimus Prime Issues 7-8

Transformers Annual 2017: Ghost Stories

Optimus Prime Issues 9-10

Transformers: Salvation

(Optional) Revolutionaries 1-8

(Optional) First Strike Issues 0-6 (Accompanied by Origins of Evil Issues 1-5)

(Optional) Optimus Prime: First Strike

(Optional) Transformers: First Strike

(Optional) The Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook Issues 1-3

Optimus Prime Issues 11-12

(NOT READING) Transformers vs the Visionaries Issues 1-5 (Just included for completion’s sake. I have nothing against Magdalene Visaggio, more so the editors for forcing her to write that thing that never happened because it would be a monumentally stupid thing to do. Like, unbelievably stupid. Like, how could….) 

(Optional But Highly Recommended) Rom vs. the Transformers: Shining Armor Issues 1-5

Optimus Prime Issues 13-14

Till All Are One Annual 2017: The Chosen One

Optimus Prime Annual 2018: Starscream: The Movie

Optimus Prime Issues 15-21

Transformers: Unicron Issue 0

Optimus Prime Issue 22

Transformers: Unicron Issues 1-4

Optimus Prime Issue 23-24

Transformers: Unicron Issues 5-6

Optimus Prime Issue 25

Autocracy Trilogy

Transformers: Autocracy Issues 1-12

Transformers: Monstrosity Issues 1-12 (Print Issues 1-4)

Transformers: Primacy Issues 1-4

BONUS: Phase I Reading List

Simon Furman’s Run

Spotlight: Shockwave

(Optional) Spotlight: Blaster

Spotlight: Ultra Magnus

Spotlight: Soundwave

Stormbringer Issues 1-4

Infiltration Issues 0-6

Spotlight: Hot Rod

Spotlight: Nightbeat

Escalation Issues 1-6

Spotlight: Optimus Prime

Spotlight: Galvatron 

Spotlight: Sixshot (Accompanied by a summary of Spotlight: Arcee, because seriously Furman what the)

Devastation Issues 1-6

Spotlight: Grimlock

Maximum Dinobots Issues 1-5 (With an interlude)

Revelation Issues 1-4 (Spotlight: Cyclonus, Spotlight: Hardhead, Spotlight: Doubledealer, Spotlight: Sideswipe)

Stories in This Era Not Made By Him (Or Roche)

Megatron Origin Issues 1-4

(Optional) Spotlight: Ramjet

(Optional) Spotlight: Mirage

(Optional) Spotlight: Tracks Jazz

Spotlight: Wheelie

Spotlight: Metroplex

Avengers crossover don’t interact

Hahaha we’re skipping over shane mccarthy (He did Spotlight: Blurr, Spotlight: Donut Steel Drift, Spotlight: Cliffjumper, some terrible 12 issue nightmare, some extra issues of that which other, more talented people contributed to, and Donut Steel: Origins. And then a sequel to that in Phase II)(Oh, and there was that one Mars Attacks crossover, but that’s not in this universe, which makes sense as I hear it’s the only thing he made that’s actually good)

Mike Costa’s Run (Mike no understand robits. Welcome to the Dork Age!)(Just do the wiki articles for this era)

All Hail Megatron Issue 13 Story 1: Old Ways

All Hail Megatron Issue 13 Story 2: Uneasy Lies the Head

All Hail Megatron Issue 14 Story 2: Rebirth

Spotlight: Prowl (Sadly, yes, this is kinda needed. At least John Barber made it work later)

Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 1-3

Transformers: Bumblebee Issues 1-4 

Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 4-7

Transformers: Ironhide Issues 1-4

Transformers: Heart of Darkness Issues 1-4

Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 8-13

(Optional) Infestation Issue 1

Transformers: Infestation Issues 1-2

Transformers Vol. 1 Issues 14-30

Transformers Vol. 1 Issue 31: Pax Cybertronia