#get a tiny rung for your tiny tyrest

[zephyrrhiesfyrian]

All the rowdy tinyformers are so cute, but imagine also having a tiny Rung. Baby is just quiet and tranquil in his little habitat, and you're not really sure if he's really happy to be there or just being polite until you offered him snacks and saw him store them all away like an extra orange squirrel. (he is. after all, 90% subspace xD) I'd also imagine he'd love any and all little toys you can offer him that he can assemble, and he'd be a banger puzzle partner (oh, to have a tiny little guy brave a pile of puzzle pieces to dig out a particular one you need for a corner of the puzzle)

You also wouldn't have to worry about him running off if you take him outside, but most of the time he's so quiet that if you do put him down anywhere for him to check stuff out and get distracted u better not forget to pick him up again once you're done, he has no alt mode to come to you-

TINY RUNG TINY RUNG TINY RUNG

Not him storing away the snack, that's so precious

I am in love with the image of Tinyformers Rung helping out with a puzzle; if you put him on the puzzle table he will instantly start finding corner and edge pieces for you. He's very good at puzzles, but while he can do harder ones, he prefers the ones with bright colors and varied patterns.

tiny rung on his little scooter

[ur-illogical-simp]

MTMTE personalities / characteristics from someone who never read MTMTE.

spoilers btw, also these r all from what I got from the fanfiction, and fan art(etc) I've seen so yeah...

Rodimus: A cute but dumbass captain twink, who gets talked(looked) down upon bc hes not like Optimus Prime, and for being "immature"(I call bs)

Tailgate : a smol but strong minibot that has a stoic ex-con boyfriend

Cyclones : stoic mf who friends with a chaotic ass bitch and got turned into a autobot by a cute ass minibot

Swerve; a cute & funny bartender who is also depressed. And is also friends with Skids aka the vent rat. And apparently obsessed with human things

Whirl: an ex-wrecker, who liked making watches before going through Empurata, who now goes to therapy and regularly gets put in the brig(?) for being a chaotic mf

Rung : apparently hes primus??? I like his goggles, a very cute therapist. Idk why ppl forget his name its easy af to remember

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus; hes a small green boi inside a big ass frame/body thing. I like his mustache, but he has a huge stick up his ass. And apparently hes apart of the "tyrest acord" idk what that is

Megatron: a ex-con warlord leader who apparently swore pacifism???? At least he regretted his actions(took him long enough), he likes poetry and I vibe with that

Tyrest: a primus obsessed bottom, I kinda feel bad cuz he punishes him self since he thinks he's not being prefect in the eyes of primus

Ratchet; a grumpy medic who reminds me of TFP ratchet due to personality and design. Like tailgate also has a cute con bf. He's good with guns

Drift: also an ex-con with an autobot bf, I read his 4 issue comic and I vibe with him, he's cute af and would totally pet the things on the side of his head. He seems very cat liked ngl

Ten: a tall ass mech, who likes Mags, and making things. He's very cute

Brainstorm: a chaotic science nerd, who simps for Percy, and i think tried to save his crush by creating the multiverse and going back in time ig???, makes cool ass weapons

Preceptor: also a science nerd who prob keeps brainstorms inventions in check, he's very cute i like the lil mini gun thing on his shoulder

Red Alert: haven't seen much about him, but hes cute and the chief security officer

Trailbreaker; dunno much bout him but hes cute

Chromedome; hes very cute! And is conjuxes(married) to rewind i believe.

Rewind: hes also cute

Skids: hes a gremlin who lives in the LL vents, and is buddies with swerve

Gateway - someone who tired to kill Roddy apparently, and the ship??? He's kinda cute but If I met him irl its on site :)

Overlord: a mf with some big ass lips and is butt hurt Megatron never paid any attention to him despite his efforts, he murder some important characters(idk who), he has some big ass lips and hes kinda handsome would totally sleep in his shoulder cones

Tarn: a Megatron stan, who is also the leader of the DJD, and has a sexy ass voice, and apparently is sexy enough to torture ppl with. He's cute I like his face

Kaon: the cybertronian equivalent to an electric eel, apparently his alt mode is a electric chair which is pretty rad ! when your not the victim at least, unless your into it

Vos; a fucking gremlin with a face that has a viraity of nail things. And he puts them on ppl👁👄👁, which is terrifying but hes cute so it kinda makes up for it??? Hes also has a sniper alt mode which makes my hunter heart go boom(snipers r my go too weapon in d2)

Helex; a walking furnace apparently. I think his tiny arms are pretty rad ! would hold if he didn't try to kill me

Tesarus - has some cool ass blades in the middle of his chest. Its fucking terrifying, and I feel bad for his victims. But he looks cool

Nickel: she's like the over protective friend in the group???? She would totally be the most terrifying to piss off

The Pet: apparently this guy in a turbo fox which i think is pretty rad. But what's not rad is that he used to be a person so that kinda sucks :/, would cuddle tho

Sunder : I like this mf, though he scares the absolute shit out of me when he does his mortis shit or whatever. But hes pretty cute! Would give a snuggle

Trepan: haven't seen much about him, but hes rlly cute, I like his frame and color pallet the most honestly. I feel bad since he got kidnapped by OL

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #30 - The Cybertronian Judicial System is a Friggin’ Joke

Have I mentioned that I’m not a huge fan of court case stories? I think they’re pretty boring, on average, so the last couple of issues have been slightly dragging for me.

Anyway, back to Megatron’s trial. 

Our issue opens up with a full back shot of Ultra Magnus.

Artists take note, he really is built like a capital T.

As Magnus reads out Megatron’s statement retracting his “guilty” plea, we get some decent points as to why. See, telling a guy that you’ll stab him in the brain, so his trial can be over as quickly as possible, maybe isn’t such a hot idea. Megatron wasn’t a huge fan of that, or of how those memories they would’ve yanked outta him would have been used to fuel the Autobot propaganda machine. Why, you may ask?

Well, I don’t know if you knew this or not, but Megatron… doesn’t particularly care for the Autobots, nor the rhetoric they uphold.

I know, I was surprised too!

There’s also the fact that Optimus Prime is the judge on this whole thing. You know. Optimus Prime. Off and on leader of the Autobots, whenever it suits him. The guy who fucked off into space for a year after the war. The guy who threw a hissy fit when someone pointed out that he was compromised the last time they did something like this with Megatron. This guy:

Yeah, there might be a slight conflict of interests here. Remind me again why this had to be a military trial?

Anyway, enough of that, it’s time for a fight scene.

A swarm of Decepticons storm the arena, going after Megatron so they can help him escape. Magnus, though acting as Megatron’s defense, cannot abide by this disorder in the court.

Wild to think there’s a tiny little Pringles man with anxiety in there, isn’t it?

Optimus joins the fray, because there really are, just, so many guys to deal with here. A dude goes to collect Megatron, stating that they brought teleport packs for this little shindig. Megatron isn’t super jazzed about that though, not bothering to grab on before the dude gets shot to death. There’s a brief recess, I guess so the janitorial staff can deal with the mess of corpses littering the courtroom.

Meanwhile, in the present day, Rung’s building a model spaceship in Swerve’s, which is a very brave thing to be doing, seeing how sticky and gross bars can be. Brainstorm’s brought a flask to the bar, and proceeds to pour the contents into a funnel sticking out of his arm.

Our bartender for the evening- I’m assuming it’s evening, but I doubt the concept of time has any real weight in space- is Bluestreak. Bluestreak was stationed on Earth for a while, which is some Phase One stuff, and took a liking to human media while he was there. He’s the guy who handles movie night these days, seeing as Rewind’s too busy being dead to do it, and I doubt Chromedome has the emotional bandwidth to take over for his late spouse.

Bluestreak’s favorite movie is Zulu, a film glorifying the colonialism of the English over the native populace of an African kingdom. Make of that what you will.

Whirl wants to watch À Bout de Soufflé, or Breathless, as it was translated for the English-speaking world, which is a French New Wave film about a criminal who shoots a cop, hides from the police in a journalist’s home, who he seduces and likely impregnates. She eventually finds out what he did, reports him to the police, but then has a change of heart and lets him know what she’s done. He runs, but is shot, and dies in the street. The film is notable for its final scene, in which the following dialogue happens, between the dying criminal Michael, his lover Patricia, and an officer.

Of course, any poignancy would almost certainly be lost on the average comic book reader, and is also somewhat nullified by Whirl praising the film with internet lingo.

Then again, I suppose Whirl would be the type to dismantle any deeper reading of his interest in such a film, lest he be subjected to the horrifying ordeal of being known.

Over with Skids and Riptide, it’s revealed that Megatron’s been teaching classes on the Lost Light, specifically on the Knights of Cybertron. Riptide’s getting an education, because he’s been feeling pretty lost since the war ended- we’ll get to the potential whys of that later on. Swerve isn’t a fan of this community college thing that’s going on, stating that Megatron’s using it as a distraction, so he can devise plots most foul.

Back in the past, Autobot high command is having a talk about what Megatron’s demanding, and man is it a doozy— turns out, since the trial’s happening on Luna 2, the trial proceedings are subject to the laws of the moon. One of these moon laws is the right to request being judged by the Knights of Cybertron. Now, this is a problem, seeing as the Knights of Cybertron have been AWOL for the last several million years, but the law is the law, and you can’t just go ignoring it when someone’s pointed it out.

Bro, your SIC just suggested y’all pull the trial so you could slap it on Cybertron, thus negating any need to pay attention to the Knight law. That’s such a gross miscarrying of justice, it’s genuinely baffling. You’ve got bigger issues going on than flouting. My god, Optimus, you were a cop—

Oh wait, that’s right. Carry on, then.

Back on the Lost Light, First Aid’s checking to make sure that the coffin Rodimus they revealed last issue is true and proper dead. Now, this may seem like a given, but you’ve got to remember that Brainstorm was mostly dead for over a year and a half, and nobody fucking noticed, so it’s probably for the best that they’re checking.

First Aid’s been pretty withdrawn since Ambulon died, so this autopsy is really good for him, since it got him out of his room. Pretty fucked up that it would take a dead body to get him out and about. Has Rung checked in on his poor son of a gun, or has he been spending the last six months getting his professional rocks off psychoanalyzing a genocidal warlord?

Our coffin Rodimus died from having parts of his brain removed, and potentially died screaming.

Yes, that is a Furmanism, thank you peanut gallery, moving on—

Ratchet hands the phone over to Ultra Magnus, saying that a call has to be made, and it can’t be by him, because the callee is mighty upset with Ratchet at the moment.

Oh, I guess he’s fine after all. This must be where the sci-fi bullshit really starts kicking in for the series.

Because seeing your own dead body is likely very traumatic and awful, Rodimus is taking a while to string together his thoughts on the matter. Megatron doesn’t particularly care, because he’s not terribly sympathetic to this sort of thing, and the two get into a spat, where it’s revealed that they’re co-captaining the Lost Light.

Because things weren’t chaotic enough on this fucking ship. Need to mix in some peacocking between the McDonalds twunk and the man who killed half of Beijing.

Back in the past, Optimus Prime visited Megatron in prison to have a little chat. It’s not about that little rescue attempt, though the fact that those Decepticons may have been released from the Lost Light’s brig is certainly interesting. No, Optimus is here to sit way too close to his mortal nemesis on the floor of his room and talk about how Megatron is a sneaky bastard.

You remember the Hellraiser puzzle box from a couple issues back? Yeah, that was a communicube, one that was passed to Optimus to suggest that the trial be held on the moon, so the arena there would be able to hold all the people wronged by Megatron. This seems pretty damn convenient in hindsight, but Megatron swears that the legal loophole wasn’t his only intent when he sent the cube.

Because it’s all about you, isn’t it, Megatron? It’s all about how you’re perceived by future generations. Fuck the guys who had to actually deal with what your personal choices caused to happen.

Megatron wants to make amends with all those who were wronged by him. This doesn’t include being acquitted of his crimes, which, y’know, good- at least he’s being slightly realistic about how this is going to turn out for him.

What he wants to do is find Cyberutopia, so the Cybertronians have a replacement planet, since Cybertron kind of sucks now.

Oh, sorry, did I say realistic? I take it back.

In the present, Rodimus is still bummed out about being dead. Still, the day doesn’t stop just because it’s a bad one, and he calls in the experts.

CHROMEDOME YOU PROMISED TO STOP THIS SHIT

Yeah, no, Chromedome’s fallen off the wagon again, and does his thing on the coffin Rodimus. As he does, Megatron suddenly gets squeamish, Brainstorm pulls out his early early-warning device to lean on the fourth wall, and it’s revealed that the coffin that coffin Rodimus was in was built in the fashion of the Spectralist faith.

All Chromedome can suss out of coffin Rodimus’ memories is the really big important stuff, which includes the speech at Rivet’s Field inviting folks to come join the Knight Quest. Aww, that’s sweet.

With the analysis of the innermost energon complete, the results are in— the coffin Rodimus is a Rodimus. A real one, from the near future. Bummer.

I suppose denial is one of the seven stages of grief, isn’t it?

As everyone argues over whether or not Rodimus is going to die, Nightbeat brings up a good point— there aren’t any numbers carved into the coffin Rodimus’ hand. Rodimus is about to reveal some Ratchet-original wisdom, when things start getting really weird; whole sections of the Lost Light are disappearing.

Over at Swerve’s, Tailgate is regaling his peers with the story of his derring-do against Chief Justice Tyrest. Everyone is very impressed, and this includes our good buddy Getaway.

Jeez, think you’ve got enough antagonist shadows on this guy? It’s almost as if the art’s trying to tell us something about him.

Getaway lays it on real thick, saying that Tailgate could totally be the next Prime, with how courageous and awesome he is, all while completely ignoring Tailgate’s personal space and having a weirdly tiny hand. This seems to seriously bother Cyclonus, who is watching this shit go down from the doorway. Our purple space jet leaves once the drinks start being poured and conversation starts happening. God knows he hates talking about his insecurities.

Then the Pipes is Friggin’ Dead alarm goes off. But Pipes has been dead for a while now, so that must mean something else awful is happening.

Back during the trial, I guess because Optimus has a soft spot for Megatron, he allows him to join the Lost Light’s Knight Quest… even as he says that he could keep the guy locked up until Rodimus and pals find the Knights. However, there are rules to this, and one of the rules is that Megatron must publicly denounce the Decepticon cause.

It is a slow and painful experience for everyone involved, as he reads the statement he was given. It’s an immediate call to action- or rather, inaction.

Geez, think they could’ve made it any more obvious that this was being ghostwritten? I can’t wait to see how long it takes for “Megatron was blackmailed into saying this by the Autobots” to be a plotpoint.

Outside the prison, Ratchet and Rodimus are taking in the brand new Rod Pod, which is genuinely ridiculous in how large it is. Rodimus admits to having taken Atomizer’s list, though he knows that trying to use it to keep those who voted him off would be a pretty shitty thing to do.

Also, no one’s told him about Megatron coming along on the trip. As captain.

Or you could, I dunno, lock him up from the start. Or, if you want to give him a chance to prove himself, slap him into a bottom-rung role, like bilge cleaner, or sewage mucker, or whatever the equivalent would be on a spaceship full of giant gay robots. We don’t have to give the guy any power to hold him to scrutiny— any minimum wage worker will tell you that scrutiny comes far harsher for those who actually carry out orders than those who give them.

But what do I know? I’ve never fought in a several million year war, and I don’t plan to.

Getting back to the list, it seems as if Ratchet and Rodimus are on the same wavelength, in that both agree it’s only going to cause trouble and hurt feelings to keep the thing around. Rodimus destroys it with his usual flare, only to be blindsided by the fact that it was fake this entire time. How does Ratchet know this?

Because his name wasn’t on it.

...Man, that’s gotta sting. No wonder Rodimus was upset enough to not take his calls.

In the present, everyone’s in a panic, as they all bolt for the shuttle bay and start pouring into shuttles. The Lost Light is disintegrating around them, which is sort of a problem. Despite this nightmare scenario happening, Rodimus and Megatron still find the time to be assholes to each other. That’s dedication right there.

As the two bicker, multiple shuttles zip away from the rapidly disappearing ship, including the Rod Pod.

Man, now it really is the Lost Light.

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 21

and here we go w/the end of the remain in light arc! 

TAILGATE COMIN THRU W/THE SAVE, AS SOON AS THE ISSUE BEGINS...my BOY!!!!!!!!!!!

real Q is how tg managed that 9 ft vertical leap to reach tyrests head

tailgate is so brave and smart I love him ;_; 

don't!!!!!! hit him tyrest!!!!!!! bastard!!!!!!!

AUGHHHH seriously tailgate is so brave, telling rodimus to kill tyrest even if it means tailgate will die even sooner - cause we know that even tho tg technically has a day and a half to live, he was hoping to find a cure on the moon - so he’s choosing to sacrifice that chance, however slim, to save everybody ;_; I love him

BUT THEN THE BIG SAVE FROMMMMMM - MINIMUS!!!!!!!!! HE ISNT DEAD, YAY!

‘fully deserved’ MINIMUS ILY 

‘this calamitous life,’ the amazing titles continue. jro seriously has a knack for titles 

OOOOH NOW WE GET THE SUPER SEXY PANEL OF CYCLONUS...the one where he’s half-shadowed with his sword, walking towards star saber as he challenges him...fucking epic you goth gay

and then the fucking ICONIC part where star saber is like ‘so I'm a religious zealot and that's why I fight, why do YOU fight?’ and cyclonus, never one for meaningless battle talk, just says ‘its personal’ and STABS OUT STAR SABERS FUCKING EYE WITH HIS HORN. CAN YOU SAY ICON??????

aughhhhh and then he says ‘[primus] lets the best of us get sick and die...,’ he’s talking about tailgate AUGHHHH he’s already in so deep, phewww

also can I just say. the harsh black shading/shadowing around cyclonus on these pages? fucking fantastic, it looks so damn good 

especially cause star saber isn't shaded like that, so he looks brighter/lighter compared to cyclonus - that contrast is just [chefs kiss]

don't worry, cyclonus, you'll get your rematch. eventually

OHHHH I love the panel of rodimus like DAD WTF????? and minimus is just SO TINY 

also I like the contrast of rodimus being covered in like, various chips and nicks and then minimus looks pristine bc he’s been russian nesting doll’d for who knows how long

minimus punching his way out of his own body shell? fucking gnarly 

oh okay so we DO see brainstorm dying cause of the killswitch

wow pharma really escaped from his restraints like 4 seconds after being tied up, jesus guys he was RIGHT THERE how did nobody notice that

rung, is the reason you cant go thru the portal bc you feel guilty about the many hipaa violations you've committed? is that why?

SKIDS MAYBE YOU SHOULDNT GO THRU THE MYSTERY PORTAL MADE BY A CRAZY ZEALOT??? MAYBE THATS A BAD IDEA???

who am I kidding, this is skids we’re talking about, this is the kinda stuff he does

pharma why does everything you say and do have such horny energy to it

oh first aid looking SCARY AS HELL over here

again, love the harsh shading on first aid’s face here as he solidifies his murderous intent into actual murder

and there he goes blasting pharma’s entire head off. phewwwwww. so pharma definitely deserved that, but poor first aid

rung watching this happen: welp there's another extremely traumatized person to add to my mile-long list of ‘people who really really need therapy’ 

alternatively...rung: don't worry first aid he probably isn't dead, the same thing happened to me and I survived :) 

first aid: biTCH WHAT [grabs gun]

rlly tho poor first aid, even tho pharma really did deserve that, that's still really tough for somebody who, yknow, dedicated their life to healing people

like, pharma is out here disregarding the hippocratic oath in the most extra and horny way possible, but first aid is putting aside his vows in the saddest way possible (sad for him, not pharma)

also the fact that even if pharma is dead, that doesn't make ambulon any less dead either, PLUS all of the bs w/delphi...first aid’s rlly been thru it huh

good thing perceptor is here to whip up a completely ridiculous sci-fi device at the last possible second

also, rodimus t-posing...or rather jesus-posing...I see it

oh my god minimus is so fcking tiny. I cant...I love it. I'm so sad we never got to see his alt mode 

percy: yeaahhhhh this might kill you. anyways, FOR SCIENCE! 

NOOOO DONT LET TYREST SPEAK

oh god and then minimus tells rodimus that he disapproves of his leadership skills, just as rodimus is about to maybe die. phewwww brutal 

and then minimus just tears into him about specific incidents (including possibly mentioning thunderclash? I cant remember the timeline on all that lmao)

ooooof I completely forgot that magnus DID lure them there - though obviously he thought things would go a bit different

HHHHHHHHHHHHH MANNNN and then rodimus admits to it - he brought overlord on board. whoa! 

I remember that shocked me when I first read it. I was also like, damn how many people brought overlord on board????? it seemed like a lot lmao

god and the fact that prowl goaded rodimus into doing it by being all like ‘what are you SCARED?????’ oooof. that's a blow, the fact that rodimus let that get to him instead of saying ‘uh yeah why would I NOT be scared of overlord’ and telling prowl to screw off

GOD I love rodimus, he’s such a flawed and interesting character

perceptor, who probably heard all of that and really wishes he didn't: ok guys ready to do science????

but rodimus, self-sacrifice is the (optimus) prime way!

now we go over to skids, to see what he’s up to...I fucking ADORE the scenery, mannnnnnnnnn

skids is such a good boy, he just sees this weird glowy orb and is like ‘hi there! hello!’ so GOOD

and then the orb starts talking in pictures, which is sure something!

ahHA I see that symbol!!! I see what's going on here!

and the last-minute science McGuffin worked! woohoo!

the tiny swerve in the corner of the panel where the legislators storm in....TINY

mannn I just love the lighting in the panels w/cyclonus and whirl. so atmospheric

cyclonus, you cant kill whirl, he’s gonna turn out to be your ultimate wingman 

oh god the panel of skids running out of the portal just reminded me that his feet are so wack hbvsdjkhfbhjksdf and that one post talking abt it where someone edited crocs onto him...never forget

pharmas body being stolen 👀👀👀

ALSO look I figured out emojis on the computer! I'm such a tech genius lmao 

I love minimus firing a gun that's as big if not bigger than he is

there goes tailgate being tiny and brave again 😭

THE SEMI COLONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

TAILGATE MVPPPPP

but then he just falls over 😭😭😭

and we’re back on the lost light! time to figure out what’s happened in the meantime

GODDDDDDDDDDDD IM LOSING IT IM STR8 UP LOSING IT....cyclonus singing to tailgate the whole time that he’s dying....im gonna cry

oh god the panel where cyclonus is bowing his head over tailgate, and the death clock is just There, reading 11 minutes....HHHHHH

GOD GOD GOD and then the heartcrushing reveal that tailgate was literally fucking 2 WEEKS OLD when he was trapped for 6 million years, so essentially he’s been alive for like a year and a half, GOD, 

and it’s like, tfs aren't ever really babies or children - I mean, tg may be 2 wks old but he clearly was operating as an adult right before he was trapped - but still man, STILL

and godddd tailgate’s whole little speech about how saving the day is overrated compared to the little moments in life, like movie night or hanging out at the bar with friends....that GETS ME man, that's so poignant and real and relatable, bc often the best things in life are the small moments...AUGH 

seriously I've talked a lot about how much I commend jro for writing the cybertronians as such Aliens, with their own completely unique culture and world that arose from them being quasi-immortal alien robots, but I also have to admire how relatable and human a lot of the writing is - the emotions come through so solidly, and really pack a punch. there's a perfect balance of completely foreign sci-fi worldbuilding and touchingly relatable emotional beats....fantastic stuff

anyways. time to continue to feel Big Emotions 

fuck that's so messed up, tailgate asking cyclonus to mercy kill him...like it isn't fucked up for tailgate to ask that, because he’s dying and of course he doesn't want it to be worse than it already will be, but the situation is just so fucked up and tragic

hhhh but cyclonus would never kill tailgate because he’s holding on to hope until the very last minute....

I fuckgin love that panel of cyclonus enthusiastically running thru the halls. he has great form

‘yeah we found a cure but it’s too late for tailgate’ that's fucking brutal, jesus

also, swerve taking a break from bartending to bust out some science and cure cybercrosis, nice

I know I literally haven't shut up about it this entire time but the whole page where cyclonus comes in and stabs tailgate thru the chest just looks so 👌🏼👌🏼

now that I've figured out emojis I'm unstoppable 

anyways, cant believe they really let us think that cyclonus mercy killed tg like that, jesus

tho iirc jro really WAS gonna kill tailgate originally, but then decided not to which, thank god

and there's magnus, back to being Large and In Charge

and rodimus didn't die! nice. you've still got plenty of character development in store for you my boy 

looking very sinister and mad-scientist-y there, brainstorm....

god I love brainstorm. I cant fuckign wait til the time travel arc

ok wtf happened to tyrest???? I mean we’ll eventually find out what happened to him but like, did rodimus & co just leave him there? he clearly wasn't dead...shouldn't they have arrested him or something?

ooooh the ominous shot of luna 1 with The Symbol and stuff....hellooooo

then we flash to cyclonus - now sporting two horns!!! - saying that tailgate is ALIVE!!! thank goodness.....

ah, I love magical alien robot medical nonsense so much

see cyclonus? aren't you glad you didn't kill whirl now?

so cyclonus basically has the spark of a newborn, and tailgate is essentially a newborn - yet they're both also old men...they're a perfect match 

and the final panel of magnus telling cyclonus ‘welcome aboard’ 🥰🥰

so, this issue! THIS ISSUE....this ARC....ill talk about the issue first - as I said frequently above, I feel like the art and colors were especially strong this issue, with all the different settings having very unique palettes and visual tones. the shadowing stuff was my favorite, and I also think the paneling was really good - there were multiple pages where the entire page was one drawing, and it was overlaid w/other panels and then the background drawing is visible in the middle/bottom - it’s hard to describe but I think it looks so dynamic and cool

as for the actual story this issue...SO good. things were tied together so nicely, both for this arc and the entire series as a whole so far, and we got plenty more intrigue for future issues even as we closed out a lot of big plot points, and had a lot of status quo changes (no more matrix map! we found luna 1...but lots of crazy shit happened there! etc!)

particularly, the reveal that rodimus was in on the whole overlord thing...that was shocking and perfect, and puts all the previous issues in a new light. this is where I feel like mtmte is a series you absolutely need to read twice (at least), preferably in quick succession (which is what I did - I read it once then before I even finished started reading thru w/ruth, which also helped me pick up on a lot bc I had to explain stuff to her)

anyways, that reveal makes drift’s banishment even more brutal, bc rodimus got off basically fine, along with brainstorm and chromedome (though cd losing rewind was certainly punishment enough). I love the scene of magnus tearing into rodimus about his leadership skills, right as rodimus is ABOUT TO MAYBE DIE. magnus thats kinda brutal, I love it.

as we’ve seen in the series so far, rodimus is definitely a Flawed Hero (all the incidents that magnus brings up prove that), but I feel like this reveal takes it to the next level, and I love that. and I love rodimus saying that he doesn't want to die, he wants to live so he can atone - also, looking at the series as a whole, I adore that this wasn't like, The Final Turning Point for rodimus - it wasn't like he went all uphill from here, development wise...nope, he goes on to make plenty more mistakes, and has to learn from those too, because that's how it works! and I love that 

oh man what I also love about rodimus - he seems at first to be the ‘overly confident loose canon action hero star’ type who thinks on the fly and gets it right every time, even if things realistically shouldn't always go his way - but we quickly find out that that isn't quite the case, and I feel like it culminates here w/the overlord reveal. like, yeah, that was a huge fuckup, and you wouldn't really see the blandly perfect 80s blockbuster protag do something like that - or rather, it wouldn't be framed as a big deal 

my last liveblog was for hxh, a show that subverts a LOT of shounen anime tropes, and I feel like rodimus’s complex, flawed approach to heroism feels a bit like a genre subversion a la hxh - at the very least, it’s a subversion of what you expect from him as a character upon introduction and first impressions 

anyways - I talked abt it above, but I feel like this arc is really the culmination of the whole blending of ‘very human emotions’ with ‘completely alien sci-fi worldbuilding.’ we get to learn a lot about the tfs with the reemergence of luna 1, and we get a lot of threads for future worldbuilding here - but we also get some really fantastic, complex emotions - like tailgate and cyclonus’s (seemingly doomed) romance starting to blossom, ratchet and pharma’s showdown which culminates in tragedy, magnus having the grapple with his identity, rodimus’s deathbed confession, even smaller moments like whirls speech about why he doesn't get ‘fixed,’ and first aid killing pharma then collapsing with grief - there's so much good stuff 

also, I gotta talk about magnus bc I love him...the whole russian nesting doll lore is one of my absolute favorite things that mtmte brought to the table, the whole concept is fantastic and adds so many layers to magnus’s character

I just love the magnus armor as this literal physical embodiment of a job - its like minimus is wearing his ‘work clothes’ All The Time. so obviously, storytelling wise, you gotta take that away and see what happens. and I love how this begins minimus’s arc of self-acceptance that spans basically the entire series - it’s seriously one of my favorite character arcs in the whole series, in part because of how subtle it is - it never really takes center stage at any point, we just see the slow progression as the story more forward. aughhhh I just love magnus, he’s such an interesting character

also, Latin talk - I adore the fact that ‘magnus’ basically means ‘big’ (or ‘great/greatest’) - like in your skull, the largest hole that your brainstem passes through in your ‘foreman magnum’ (translation: ‘big hole’) - meanwhile ‘minimus’ is Latin for ‘small/smallest’ (or something along those lines). it’s so poetic, I love it

ill defs talk more about rodimus and magnus and stuff at a later point - ill also do my biological/reproductive spiel at some point, bc I couldn't really find a good chance here. bummer 

more at the end, but I gotta read the short story first!

oh man I almost forgot about the canon fanfic here at the end, so: the sound of breaking glass! let’s do it!

so we pick back up during the span of time right after all the on-page Drama - glad we’re filling that stuff in, mostly bc I love the characters and want to see more of them

love the snippets of all the calls that rodimus makes

minimus noting that rodimus has ‘given more orders in the space of 3 minutes than he had in the last 12 months,’ wow. I feel like that has to be in response to minimus criticizing his leadership - and rodimus definitely looks up to magnus as a leader (and bc magnus is his dad ok) and took what he said to heart

goddddd minimus and rodimus having a serious and depressing convo about how many people have died in the last day or so, and then brainstorm skips into the vicinity and dances around (I'm assuming bc SCIENCE!)....glad you’re having a good time, brainstorm, because literally nobody else is. I fuckgin love brainstorm. king of not reading the atmosphere

I feel like rung meeting w/max for an unofficial therapy session in a busted up bar perfectly represents the state of the mental health facilities of cybertron/its affiliates

rodimus talking about redecorating - aw my boy, but that stuffs part of your personality, you don't have to suppress it to be more professional 

I do find it interesting that rodimus’s idea for what he’d have instead in his office - only the basics, and a memorial - seems like the kind of thing that magnus would do. I feel like in telling magnus about the overlord stuff, and magnus criticizing rodimus, rodimus is (consciously or not) trying to make himself more like magnus 

also, rodimus my man, changing your office to be more ‘serious’ isn't the kind of atonement you should be looking to do - in fact, that seems more performative than anything, trying to change people’s perception of him as a leader rather than making changes that will actively prevent similar mistakes from repeating in the future. I'm totally overanalyzing but I love rodimus okay, he’s so interesting bc he’s always Trying, in some way 

oh god I forgot there's a little flashback to drift and rodimus’s final convo w/the whole overlord thing

hhhhhhhhhh rodimus and drifts relationship is so fascinating and I could talk abt it for ages. the fact that drift basically always tells rodimus what he wants to hear, and that's an arrangement that benefits both of them, but they're also surprisingly aware of it? and there's a lot more depth too, with rodimus being very aware of the fact that drift had to spend a lot of time gaining trust w/the autobots, and drift likely thinking about how rodimus trusting him probably gave him cred in this respect...

AUGHHHH and the fact that rodimus seems 100% ready to take the fall for this and resign as captain and whatnot....

and then drift wont let him - but even so, drift taking the whole fall and being exiled was pretty rough (which is talked abt in brainstorms trial later), and rodimus has to feel super guilty for that too, wondering if there were other options...

meanwhile at swerves bar...does brainstorm not remember the whole thing where getaway took the briefcase clamps to use in the escape from the cell? I'm assuming brainstorm consented to this...there was a lot of wacky thought warfare type stuff going on this arc so who knows. or maybe someone did tamper w/the case aside from that - I genuinely don’t remember lmao

‘brainstorm laughed and clapped swerve on the shoulder, agitating an old injury and making the bartender flinch’ OOOH I SEE THAT 👀👀👀

god I love how threatening and sinister pre-time travel arc brainstorm is, god. I love brainstorm 

and the 0.1%er spark!!! helloooo

the mental imagine of minimus with just the lower leg part of the magnus armor on lmao...He Boot Too Big For He Gotdam Feet 

oooh I love that ratchet knew about the armor this whole time...

oh man I love what ratchet says about how people who’ve known ultra magnus for a long time ‘make allowances’ to account for differences in personality brought on by different suit wearers...that makes a lot of sense actually. the kind of retroactive thinking of like, ‘yeah I've known this person for ages, could've sworn they quite weren't like this before, but...yknow, it’s not like they're THAT different, I'm probably just remembering wrong/time changes people’

its trippy as hell to read getaway and rodimus interacting in a way that isn't absolutely rife with conflict and drama

oh I see getaway casually wondering about being a matrix-bearer, I SEE that

I do really like fort max becoming the new enforcer, and as rodimus says, just bc tyrest lost his marbles doesn't mean the position isn't still important - it still holds a lot of weight and power 

RED ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭💕 I'm so glad he came back and also gets to go retire and join a polycule. blessed

‘he pictured ultra magnus listening to him and nodding sagely at his words’ rodimus ily

oh ok so tyrest is like, in a (possibly medically induced) coma of sorts

and they FINALLY got comms up and running - that only took most of the story 

oh my god and the reveal that STARSCREAM is the one leading cybertron....bro bvhjakdhnfjksdf

omg outrigger, isn't he the youtube vlogger guy?

welp, that coma sure didn't keep tyrest down for long. first pharma escaping his bonds within seconds, now this...

also I'm assuming the implication here is that tyrest clenching his fist like that activated the same type of switch as in the magnus armor - I wonder if there were theories about tyrest also being a small dude in armor lol

THE END! of this arc that is. and s1 of mtmte I believe? or I think issue 22 is the end of the season proper? ill do my s1 retrospective then, this particular liveblog is already so long

anyways, final thoughts - as I talked about above, I love this arc SO much, the overarching story was great, the way it tied together so much of the series so far was great, the characters and relationships were great - I love it. 

reading it now, I feel like so much bonkers stuff happened this arc, and yet even CRAZIER stuff happens later, and often in much quicker succession, so this arc feels kinda normal in comparison bvjahdknfajksdfnkjl

but I do think that mtmte does a great job building up to that craziness - things do get pretty crowded in lost light just bc it had to be rushed, but other than that factor, I think the scale/ambition of the plotlines are perfectly built up to as the story moves along

so yeah, I still love this arc. I'm curious if it’ll still be my fav arc alongside the time travel arc - idk, I feel like I might end up being surprised by another arc I didn't consider that'll knock remain in light out of its spot

tho I will say, the arcs are all so different in a lot of ways that its hard to really compare them, even tho its all the same story. I love all of it tbh 

so yeah, this liveblog ended up being super fucking long but mannnn great arc! cant wait for more!

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #21- Situations in Which it is Appropriate to Stab Your Roommate

You know what’s generally considered bad for your health?

Getting fingers stuck into your brain meat.

Tailgate reveals himself to be immune to Tyrest’s “fall down on the floor” signal, because his hearing’s gone to complete shit due to Cybercrosis. Tailgate then turns off the “fall down on the floor” signal, allowing everyone back up. Tyrest dislikes this turn of events every much- so much so, in fact, he’s turned into a Nazgûl out of sheer rage.

Rodimus, feeling a bit bolstered by the fact that he’s gotten his hands on one of the massive guns the Legislators dropped, tries to talk a big game at Tyrest, before being reminded that a lot of their party is still at risk of dying, by way of their souls cheese-wizzing out of their heads.

Tyrest, now using Tailgate as a hostage, tells everyone to back off so he can go hang out with the Guiding Hand, otherwise he’s gonna poke holes in Cyclonus’ morality pet. Tailgate screams for Rodimus to fire, finally revealing that he’s been dying this whole time. Rodimus has a weird moment where the plot overrides his knowledge of his situation as a character, as he claims shooting them both is unnecessary, as it looks like someone’s already working on it.

Not sure how he saw the gun and not the man it was being held by. And Minimus has some fucking explaining to do.

Outside, Star Saber is yelling about everyone being unworthy of God’s grace, save for himself, because Real Bastard Hours are 24-fucking-7 with him around. Cyclonus decides that he’s going to deal with the stress of not being able to find his dying roommate through violence, and agrees to a religiously-inclined sword fight.

Star Saber has a good start, sucker-punching Cyclonus in the chin, holier-than-thou as he goes. Cyclonus turns the tables however, when he uses his remaining helmet horn to gouge one of Star Saber’s eyes out, revealing his fashion statement to be a deadly weapon in its own right.

Then we get a taste of Cyclonus’ personal brand of faith.

That’s a mighty high opinion of Tailgate you got there, pal. Quite the jump from “I think you’re pathetic.”

Unfortunately, having this little character moment gives Star Saber enough time to warp the hell away from Cyclonus’ Nazgûlian wrath.

Back with Zombie Bullshit Part 3, we get some friggin’ answers.

Minimus looks super tiny here, but remember that he’s still at least ten feet tall. This is not a man you can invite inside your house for a tea party.

After Minimus’ head got crushed, he had to Alien chest-burst his tiniest self out, which allowed him to grab that gun that’s as big as he is and shoot Tyrest in half. Rodimus has to be reminded again that people are still dying, including Brainstorm, which is weird, because he made it seem like he was forged a few issues back. Perceptor runs off to try and parse the Killswitch, and Pharma offers to help, striking a weirdly sultry pose as he does. Everyone ignores him, because that’s just what happens when you become evil and cut your old coworker in half hotdog-style- you get ignored.

Off in the corner, Swerve is talking to Tailgate about the fact that he didn’t tell anyone he was dying, then makes a joke about his impending demise, because Swerve has a lot of trouble handling serious situations. No one has helped him pop his nose back into place, either. This entire team is just falling apart.

Skids stares blankly at Ratchet and First Aid as they check to make sure all the cold-constructed ‘bots are still dying- they are- then remembers that he’s supposed to be watching Pharma.

Prowl only hires the best, clearly.

Skids runs for the portal, with First Aid right on his tail because there’s a gotdang score to settle, and also Rung for some reason. They find Pharma chilling in the tunnel, completely unable to get through to the other side, not because he’s guilty, but because there’s a forcefield in place.

Of course, because Tyrest was an engineer, and you can always find a running theme with everyone’s work, Rung theorizes that the forcefield is working with Aequitas rules, and actually can sense guilt- not of the legal sense, but of the personal variety.

Which sort of implies some unfortunate things about the Aequitas trials as a whole.

Skids starts sinking through, whereas Rung is hitting a wall. Rung, the hell you got to feel guilty about? What sort of horrors have you inflicted upon the world, you skinny creamsicle of a man?

Skids, people are dying. Can your personal nirvana not wait until after this galactic-scale crisis is resolved?

While Skids fucks off into the portal, First Aid’s taking care of Pharma, as Rung watches and has a Nam flashback to issue #6 in the distance.

Sometimes I wonder if First Aid is somehow aware of how Eugenesis went for him, and that’s why he’s so aggressive all the time in MTMTE.

With his revenge exacted, First Aid finally has that breakdown that’s been a long time coming.

You know what we haven’t had in a while? Gratuitous religious imagery.

“They call it the Eugenesis Code. Has something to do with intellectual property, I dunno.”

So this move they’re about to pull might kill Rodimus, and is for-sure going to annihilate the half of the Matrix they have. Bummer. Perceptor goes to finish setting up, leaving Rodimus and Minimus alone to discuss that thing Getaway brought up about Ultra Magnus luring the Lost Light to Luna 1.

Over on the floor, Tyrest isn’t dead, because of course he isn’t, and enacts the homophone game with Swerve and Tailgate as he relays an order to the Legislators.

Outside, all the Legislators stop whaling on Whirl with their swords and start parroting prime numbers at the sky.

Back with Rodimus and Minimus, it’s revealed that Magnus/Minimus/Miniminimus DID lure the Lost Light to the moon, but it was to have Tyrest yell at Rodimus for being a crappy captain. He didn’t know that Tyrest had gone completely bonkers.

The worst part is that Minimus doesn’t know the half of all the bullshit Rodimus has pulled since the end of the war.

No wonder Rodimus was so upset before the funeral- Overlord was partially his fault.

Prowl, prior to the Lost Light’s launch, had wormed his way into Rodimus’ brain, convincing him that an Autobot Phase Sixer was absolutely necessary for the safety of everyone. He, along with Drift, Brainstorm, the Duobots, and eventually Chromedome, assisted in what culminated in one hell of a bad day.

Rodimus would really prefer if this whole space-crucifixion didn’t kill him, because he’s feeling like he’s got a lot to make up for. Which, yeah. I’m guessing all of Tripodeca’s friends are going to be mighty sore about this whole thing once it comes to light.

And that’s a series wrap on Rodimus!

We get a brief intermission, as we find out where exactly Skids got to. It’s… somewhere. Not even he’s sure. He tries to ask for directions, but it would seem there’s a language barrier.

It really speaks volumes to Skids’ sense of self-confidence, that he’d see a giant ball of technicolor light and decide he’s gonna go try to talk to it.

Back at the current crisis at hand, Rodimus screams some more, the Matrix shatters alongside any hopes of finding the Knights of Cybertron, and Ratchet has himself a little smile, because that did the trick.

The reason we aren’t seeing Crankcase in this set of panels is because his head wound was also spewing oil, and he looks super nasty right now. Well, nastier than any of the Scavengers usually are on a day to day basis. They regularly drink corpse juice, they can’t NOT be nasty.

Unfortunately, we aren’t out of the woods yet, as that whole Legislator thing still needs to be taken care of. They pour into the room, throwing Swerve along with the steel door, as he shrieks in terror.

Back outside, Cyclonus and Whirl are having a little breather up on the edge of the smelting pool, since all the Legislators they were fighting went inside. Whirl, who is looking just awful, brings up that little deal he cooked up in issue #19, where Cyclonus would stop trying to murder him if they got through this fight. It’s important to remember that verbal contracts aren’t binding, and that Cyclonus didn’t agree to anything.

And that’s a series wrap on Whirl!

Actually, no, Cyclonus was just daydreaming. He agrees to put the past behind them, then shoots off to go find Tailgate.

Back in Legislator City, things are getting dicey, as Rung screams for Skids to come back, because if nothing else, he knows he can depend on Skids when the chips are down.

Skids, playing to Rung’s expectations, vaults over Pharma’s headless body out of the portal, and starts kicking ass. In the background, some creepy tentacle nonsense pulls Pharma through the portal. This, surely, will never come up again, nor will it be a major plot point down the road.

Because Tyrest decided he was going to play fast and loose with the law, Minimus has no idea what “one one” is meant to refer to. Tailgate decides that cram school did serve a purpose after all, and books it towards that massive computer off in the corner. After a bit of combing through the index, he finds what he’s looking for and makes a few choice edits to the Autobot Code. The Legislators freeze in place, and Tailgate reveals that he’s just completely voided a section of the law.

Just off panel, Minimus barely contains the urge to pop Tailgate’s cubic little head off of his neck. Not that he’d have much time to do it anyway.

Smash cut to the next day, where Tailgate’s laid out in a dark room, Cyclonus sitting by his side. Chromedome is also there for some reason. Rung is nowhere to be seen, despite him likely being a better fit for this situation than the guy whose husband died less than a week ago. Chromedome leaves, because this is a very intimate moment between these two guys who are roommates.

Tailgate, who has developed an honest-to-god “guy-who-is-going-to-die-by-the-end-of-the-movie” cough, tells Cyclonus that he made him something, and it’s waiting in their room for him. I’m going to guess it’s a macaroni art picture of the two of them fighting a dragon.

Tailgate has literal minutes to live, and Cyclonus just sits there, Nazgûling with grief, until Tailgate decides that NOW is the time to reveal his hand.

…Well, there’s the answer to the Babygate question.

Tailgate’s come to the conclusion that all his wanting to be important and a hero was a bit misguided, because as it turns out, it kind of sucks when it’s your final act in the world of the living. He really would have preferred to do just about anything else with his last days, even if it had been just chilling in his room with Cyclonus.

Tailgate asked Cyclonus off-panel to do him a solid and kill him before the Cybercrosis did, a plea which Cyclonus couldn’t agree to. Then he gets a call, and the tension of the scene is somewhat ruined by some goofy-ass cinematic parallels.

Where the hell is Tailgate, that Cyclonus has to book it down the hall to make it to the medibay? That isn’t clear, but what is is that Tailgate has the rottenest luck in the world; they figured out a cure for Cybercrosis, but his case is too advanced for treatment to be effective.

Cyclonus thinks that this is a major bummer, but thanks Ratchet for trying anyway. Whirl tries to talk to him, and he better watch out, before that little deal he made gets thrown out the friggin’ window.

Tailgate hits the final two minutes, as Cyclonus returns, sword in hand.

And that’s a series wrap on Tailgate!

…That was almost a sincere one, you know. Tailgate was supposed to die here, in an earlier draft of the story. He didn’t, because Roberts realized it would completely nerf Cyclonus’ character development. I can’t even begin to imagine who Cyclonus would have been if both the Rewind/Chromedome thing hadn’t gone over well, AND Tailgate got offed.

Later on, Ultra Magnus is back in action, Minimus Ambus having redonned the armor to reassume his position as S.I.C. of the Lost Light. He discusses the changes that have come about as a result of their time on Luna 1 with Rodimus, who’s pretty bummed about the whole situation. A quick rundown of all the nonsense that happened:

The mystical portal to the Guiding Hand no longer works

Hot Spot faded out and won’t come back on

Ambulon is dead

First Aid is very sad about Ambulon being dead

The ship is falling apart

The only person who seems to have had any sort of a positive experience is Brainstorm.

…James, did you put that baby inside that robot?

Anyway, so yeah. Luna 1 sucks butt. One star, would rate zero if I could, I don’t care if it has sweet rocket thrusters strapped to the back of it and is super mysterious, and might potentially be an idea pulled from the delightfully earnest Children of a Lesser Matrix.

Later on, Magnus makes his rounds, stopping by Cyclonus and Tailgate’s room to check the vibe. Turns out that stabbing sick people is considered medicine on Cybertron, at least when you’re using a Great Sword to do it.

Whirl had the awesome idea to slap Cyclonus’ weird spark energy into Tailgate’s frail body, so it could kickstart his heart and give him enough time to actually get treated for Cybercrosis.

Ultra Magnus is impressed, and perhaps a bit concerned with how easily Cyclonus was willing to risk dying so that Tailgate could potentially live. So much so, in fact, that Cyclonus gets an achivement- he’s finally collected enough good karma to be allowed to have friends!

Looking mighty fresh-faced there, Cyclonus. And is that a new horn? Someone’s got a plastic surgeon on speed-dial.

No, this is actually the gift that Tailgate made him, the one he was working on in Hoist’s workshop back in issue #15, just before the Overlord attack. The one we never got to actually see, probably because it would be very easy to tell what it was and who it was for if we had. The set up for our slowburn romance has to be just so, no shortcuts allowed.