#but it shouldn't just be left unaddressed when it was this egregious a lot of the time!

[arceespinkgun]

Slowly getting deeper into my reread of MTMTE and man, issue #34 feels like the worst. Not the most incomprehensible or with the most poorly-written dialogue or whatever, but from a thematic standpoint I feel like what it was trying to convey is the most disgusting out of the issues so far. I do remember people being pissed about the character death in this issue, but I feel like it's a lot worse than that, and that it's so bad it ought to be dissected. Rant below the cut:

Okay, so there is some of the usual dumb bullshit and writing oversights that I keep seeing, like how did nobody notice Vos was missing his face until they found it on the floor? Why did First Aid just let Trailcutter start to donate all that energon when he's just said it was a huge risk and that it was a bad idea? Sure, it's Trailcutter's choice, but he didn't even say anything? Was there really a possibility that Rung would sign-off on what's essentially a lobotomy? That seems OOC based on how he's been characterized so far. That message in the flashback over the intercom—does JRo think people say the quiet part out loud to that blatant a degree? And how contrived was it that nobody noticed the electric chair in that pile of stuff and that Kaon just happened to be there to kill Trailcutter?

But all of those are minor issues that pale in comparison to the overall themes here. Trailcutter is demonstrating a belief in the sanctity of life by putting himself at risk to save Vos. This is something I feel like is sorely lacking among the Autobot faction in this continuity and JRo's work especially—a break from horrific war crimes and shit is a relief. Then Trailcutter gets immediately punished for it in a horrifically gruesome way, getting his "brain" and "spinal column" ripped out. Already, I don't like what that's implying from a narrative standpoint.

Then in flashbacks, we see a young Megatron talking to Terminus and then nearly being lobotomized, escaping due to a technicality. I hate this. First of all, JRo tries to sell us on Megatron being sympathetic by suggesting that he was 100% pacifistic and it was Terminus who told him there's only room for one guy at the top and to use his fists and all that. This is stupid for many reasons, not the least of which that this is totally pulled out of JRo's ass and doesn't fit with any previous portrayal of the character, but also, it's a cheap trick and stupid because violent revolution against an oppressive system is not something inherently unsympathetic.

More importantly, though, I hate that these flashbacks are here at all. What JRo is clearly doing is trying to deflect a potential reader response of, "Holy shit, the people who are essentially the Decepticon police force that Megatron personally trained just killed a nice, innocent guy! He needs to answer for this!" by showing us how much trauma Megatron went through in his past. Even aside from the fact that I don't personally care what trauma a guy who committed genocide and ran prison camps etc. experienced in his past, it's not relevant to the horrible thing that happened to Trailcutter in the present!

Even worse, JRo pulled this only like... a few issues after Megatron messed with Trailcutter's mind without his consent and it was portrayed as a joke! It was portrayed as both a joke and a favor because Trailcutter was an alcoholic! Trailcutter even pointed out that he had "rights" in that moment and Megatron explicitly ignored him... as did a huge number of witnesses! So with that context, choosing the issue in which Trailcutter is brutally murdered by the DJD to show Megatron's mind being altered as a traumatic, serious, life-altering event is so fucking gross.

Inconsistent characterization (of which Megatron in this series seems especially affected by, as do Cyclonus and Rodimus so far) also doesn't help, since again, just a couple of issues ago Megatron both said he "trained" the DJD to be "thorough" and that they are "the greatest monsters" of all. It's like JRo can't decide how accountable Megatron is for anything, or just picks an interpretation scene-by-scene based on whatever he wants him to say.

I feel like it's especially bad from an extrinsic perspective, since Megatron is one of the franchise's most prominent characters. In no way was he lacking in any sort of exposure. But you know who is underappreciated? Trailbreaker, a funny, sweet guy with a really cool ability, whose original bio seems to position him as a self-conscious disabled person. He was on the Ark and yet gets almost no attention. And not only did this series really do his design dirty (they took away his dark face and cute stripes!) but it also did this to him?!

Because I read this series back when it came out, I remember that Megatron eventually uses Trailcutter's forcefield ability against the DJD in a later issue. In another context, that might be nice poetic justice. But instead, I feel like it comes across as disrespectful to the guy's memory and like literally stealing from him and using him because of everything I've pointed out. Worse, it became yet another way to make Megatron look "cooler" because I remember that other characters pointed out that you can't just use someone else's power like that, and Ravage is like, well it's because Megatron's just so special, if anybody could figure out a way it would be him. Terrible.