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MTMTE #38 Recap: Elegant Chaos, Part 3: [Title Redacted]

The Elegant Chaos arc reaches its end here. Five million years in the past Brainstorm stands before a half-finished Megatron, finger on the trigger, as Rodimus and the others rush to save reality as they know it by saving one of the universe’s greatest tyrants. In the present Megatron, Ultra Magnus, and Perceptor can only stand by and watch as the fate of their entire timeline plays out in the past.

Just what is Brainstorm thinking? Can Rodimus’s team stop him? And is Megatron even worth saving?

Spoilers ahoy!

MTMTE #37 Recap: Elegant Chaos, Part 2: STET

It’s never easy to assess the middle chapter of a story. The potential of a setup is at least somewhat apparent, and a grand conclusion can sweep the audience away, but middle chapters can falter in so many ways that aren’t even apparent until the story reaches that grand conclusion. In the heat of the moment, sometimes you just have to settle for enjoying what is there, especially the character beats, until you can return with the benefit of foresight and do it all over again.

MTMTE #36 Recap: All our parlous yesterdays – Elegant Chaos part 1

It’s been mentioned elsewhere that sometimes not a whole lot happens in MTMTE. Don’t get me wrong, stuff happens, lots of it, feels and pain and sadness and funny stuff, but the plot, the overarching plot arch that Roberts has all penciled out somewhere is moving at a rather relaxed pace and this felt especially obvious with this one issue, which truly felt like a first part of a longer arch (which it is, I know).

Spoilers below.

More Than Meets The Eye #35 Recap – The Custom-Made Now: An Elegant Chaos Prologue

Revealed to be a Decepticon sleeper agent, Brainstorm is now loose in the time stream! But what kind of damage does he intend to do four million years in the past? Just what did he do to everyone at Swerve’s bar? And is ~~Trailbreaker~~ Trailcutter really dead or was that just a particularly graphic JRo fakeout?

But while MTMTE #35 answers all those questions, they aren’t the core of the issue. Just like the last two, this issue is split into the present day story and “Shadowplay”-style flashbacks — but with a twist. This time we get a tale of Rewind and the Brothers Ambus in a terrible ~~history~~ present that may yet come to pass if Brainstorm isn’t stopped.

Alex Milne is back and Everything Is Fine as we jump into More Than Meets The Eye #35!

More Than Meets The Eye #34 Recap

Last month’s More Than Meets The Eye ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. Questions abound. Brainstorm, implicitly fingered as a Decepticon mole by a marking underneath the faceplate of his alternate-universe corpse (though still, confusingly, slaughtered in the DJD’s rampage), enters Swerve’s, opens his briefcase, and announces that he can do “whatever the hell I want” amongst the limp bodies of the bar’s patrons. It was shocking. So many questions unanswered. I had to know what happens after the shocking end to MTMTE #33.

After reading More Than Meets The Eye #34… I still want to know what happens after the shocking end to MTMTE #33, because MTMTE #34 sure doesn’t seem to care.

BotCon 2015 Announced, Will Be Vaguely in the Vicinity of Chicago

Fun Publications has officially announced the dates and location of BotCon 2015: It’ll be held June 18th-21st in Chicago…sort of.

The actual location of the convention will be the Pheasant Run Resort, which describes itself on its own web site as “less than one hour from Chicago”. The “Beautiful 250 acre setting in historic St Charles Illinois” features “18 holes of championship golf including a resort course, driving range, golf academy and pro shop” but no mention of the sort of amenities the 20-to-30-something Transformers convention-goer actually wants, such as “cheap food” or “maybe a Target”.

Is this a swing at TFCon, who is holding their first US convention this weekend near Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare? Or does Brian Savage just want to get in a few rounds of golf?

Why G1 Arcee Still Matters

Not Your Pin-Up Girl

In the wake of the Fan-Built Bot poll that told Hasbro loud and clear that we want more female Transformers, the Generations toyline is getting a huge shot of robo-estrogen as new character Windblade is joined by her bestie Chromia and, to the surprise of many, a slavishly G1-accurate Arcee.

When the new Arcee toy was revealed at BotCon 2014, a lot of people were surprised that Hasbro was making that version of the character. Some said they would have preferred the newer, more relevant IDW design. The original Arcee has spent decades attached to problematic art and a dismissive view of her as a token character. But for us older women in the fandom who grew up with G1, she’s the toy we’ve wanted since we were kids.

More than Meets the Eye #33 Recap – Morality is shades of grey.

TF_MTMTE_33_cvr I love it when literature makes me think. Whether it’s books, articles, essays, comics or poetry, it is like hitting the gym, only with my brain, challenging me to think and ponder things in new ways. One of the reasons why I like to rank MTMTE extremely high on my list of favorite comics of all time is for this very reason, that besides engaging my emotions, there is always something in every issue which makes me think. This ongoing story line with Autobot Megatron has been particularly stimulating in how it makes me think about morality and good versus bad. And this issue was no exception. Spoilers below!

More Than Meets The Eye #32 Recap – Here there be monsters

I have a long standing love/hate relationship with horror and splatter films, particularly the ones from the 80s. Though they near always result in bad sleep and nightmares, I still watch them, coming back for that surge of adrenaline and the feeling like your heart is about to leap from your chest (and there is something to be said for watching them with someone who doesn’t mind if you cling to them in your fright).

With all the hints about this upcoming issue that trickled down to me via friends and social media I knew I was in for something more than just “a hit to the feels”. With my reptile brain fully engaged, heart beating in my chest I made the dubious decision to sit down and read this issue late at night. And yea beware, for below there be monsters (and spoilers).