#ALL HAIL STARSCREAM / * THREADS . ❞

[sunoflegend]

@megalomaniatron , continued from x !

She hadn't meant to say that out loud. Yes, whatever idea he was spouting off was absolutely unhinged, but how bluntly she felt about it was meant to be kept to herself. Seeing his reaction however, she clearly sees it must've slipped due to her instinctual habit of insulting him. She takes a few steps back as he approaches, wings tilting downwards as she practically bends herself backwards to maintain some distance when he leans in. He's fuming. Her voice raises a few octaves when she speaks, and she attempts to make herself look as small as physically possible.

"Well, I didn't - I didn't mean it like that! I was just thinking you should try a different approach? I - you, you could think of something better!"

[aircommndr]

"Ya know, We ALL did things we aren't proud of during the war. For some, it was the killings. For others, the one's we didnt save. Perhaps things we said or advocated for!"

"Not me though, only thing I regret was Karaoke Night on the Nemesis with Soundwave."

[aethergate]

@anomalystudy​​ asked ; "Your name’s Miss Starscream? I hope I pronounced that right." From Xellos, to Starscream ! / from the animal crossing meme ! accepting .

She’s looking around at that voice, before realizing the voice comes from downwards rather than at eye level. She scowls down at the human looking figure, clearly not all that excited about the conversation about to take place.

“Yes, that’s correct - but I don’t remember giving you my name. Where did you get it?”

[popculturebuffet]

More than Meets the Eye Retrospective: Dark Cybertron Part 1

Hello all you happy autobots and welcome back to my long look at Transformers More Than Meets The Eye. When we last left I looked at the sister comic, Robots in Disguise.

But a necessary one for Today's review: Dark Cybertron, a crossover between both books.

Dark Cybertron is the cumilation of a plot that had been slowly building in the background of Robots in Disguise while Bumblebee dithered, Prowl tried to install a dictatorship long before he got a bug in his brain telling him to keep going with that, and Starscream was awesome. Shockwave has been up to SOMETHING over the issues, working with his mentor Jhiaxus.

Chasing Jhiaxus in the best part of RiD was Optimus Prime, redubbing himself Orion Pax out of disgust with the legacy of the primes, alongside his friends Hardhead, Wheelie and Garnak, who soon found themselves chasing Jhiaxus. Mr J eventually lured them to a dead planet, where he and Waspinator, yes the boy himself, ignited a titan and made tracks for cybertron while leaving our heroes to their deaths as Shockwave held back Soundwave and his decepticons , igniting his final plan.

It's here that mystery plan comes to fruition as the lost lighters split up gang to help save the unvierse, while Bumblebee and his Cavlcade of Fuckups, and also Arcee try to stop the apocalypse and Starscream gets a new paint job as he tries to hold on for dear life to his throne with a big ole event.

This crossover's notable for a few reasons: it's the first proper event comic for the transfomers: While there had been previous event style arcs with All Hail Megatron and Chaos and crossovers with the IDW wide Infestation and the marvel crossover Transformers/New Avengers, which also means the new avengers and likely all of marvel exisit in this unvierse.

But this is the first crossover between books within the line, something that would become a tradition as IDW liked money and Hasbro liked free advertising for whatever they were doing in the toys at the time, either threading in designs from their current lines or in the case of combiner wars and titans return, just straight up having IDW model their events to match the toyline. . This lead to the ambitious and failed Hasbro Universe with Revolution, and the universe even ends on one with Unicron.

Ironically though.. this is the ONLY one to loop in more than meets the eye. And thank Primus for that. Look i'm not anti-event comic, sometimes an event can be a total banger. For a recent example see Marvel's Judgement Day. But the big two tend to do events and crossovers EVERY damn year, not giving books a chance to rest or status quos to breathe for a bit. So having More than Meets the Eye sit that shit out is a fucking relief.

It's also from a practical standpoint as this crossover shows both creative teams had trouble meshing the two together: the narrative splits into four plot threads, one in the dead universe with Optimus, Rodimus and CO, one with the rest of the lost light , one with the cavlcade of fuckups and one with god emperor starscream. the latter two evnetually intersect and the two casts DO interact towards the end of the crossover.. but in the six issues i'm covering today the only ones to interact with the lost lighters are Starscream in a brief video call and Optimus in one of the main plots. It's clear that while the two writers liked each other.. they may not of known entirely how to make the two casts function together, and thus kept them to their corners.

The result isn't a bad story but a fractured one. I will say upfront I won't be able to judge the story as a whole till next time, but I needed to do it in two parts as it's a big boy and there's a lot to go over. So join me under the cut as darkness falls over cybertron, titans rise, and rodimus gets a new toy so stupid it will bite him in the ass for the rest of the comic. IT's Dark Cybertron and it's under the cut.

We open with Nova Prime's crew. Nova Prime was a prime who was seen as a great one.. but in reality was an supremacist piece of scrap who wanted to conquer all other forms of life. He will not be missed. Among him are our boy Cyclonus and Jhiaxus, who tells Shockwave to FINISH MY WORK.

In the present.. Shockwave almost has, having seeded ores aroudn the galaxy and experimenting on a titan, both the same one that declared Starscream chosen one and then vanished.. and that Waspinator just brought home. It starts screaming in terror and bleeding out it's eyes

Elsewhere on Cybertron, Starscream woke up from a nap to find a few hours ago the sun rose.. and hasn't gone down. He also has a new all red everything paintjob, a familiar one

As i've been told and found out.. this is Starscream's look from Transformers Armada, which I did watch when it was coming out but entirely forgot this is what Starscream looked like because my memory is quicksand and only few things escape it like X-men trivia.

It's.. not my faviorite. It's almost ENTIRELY red and whlie it does look better in later shots, it's just not as fun to look at as his classic look and while he'll keep this look for the windblade mini series, i'ts telling the artists reverted to his old standby as soon as they could. The Armada look isn't bad and looking at stills from teh anime it loks GREAT there.. but it's a bit too one note for the page, at least these pages.

Starscream decides to call the autobots for help.. not the ones he exiled, an I told you so from prowl is death in it's purest form, no OUR autobots.

For now though we cut back to Optimus. Since we last left him he and his crew are trying to escape.. and luckily run into some old friends

I love this so much. Unsuprisingly Swerve made it his ring tone. Naturally Rodimus dove in anyway to save his old friend/boss/dad.

Rodimus shows his dad around, which really feels like a teenager accidently exposing his dad to all the stuff his dumbass friends do while trying to be respectible. The wind's taken out of his sails by Ultra Magnus who asks if Optimus is taking command with all the tact and grace he's known for.

Optimus isn't, he's only here for the guest spot , he's got his own leading roll to play in the other books, but he is happy to get the tour. .until Starscream calls. Screamer of course can't help but passively agressively brag about how he was elected in by popular demand after bumblbee fucked up hard

Then asks Cyclonus for help since he knows the dead universe better than anyone. The Dead Universe is a parasite, a universe that should fucntion right but is instead both sentient and EVILLLL. And it's hungies.

Back on Cybertron, Team Fuckup is starring in horror and the Dinobots want to punch the fuck out of the sun. Bumblbee tells them to wait for it... and granted he's telling them not to punch a bright light on the horizon, something even prowl can tell is stupid which tells you something, but honestly after the last two years worth of comics, the bar for Bumlebee's competence is low.

He ends up being right as the necrotitan lands. Meanwhile Shockwave goes into a whole rant about hwo this is all ineveitible that has a bunch of vauge images and two optimus primes about ot throw hands for some reason. none of this is relevant to the rest of the crossover, it's a clear misdirect and it sure does exist. The real point is who he's talking to: Nova Prime and Galvatron, who somehow returned. Also Galvatron and Megatron are two seperate people in this continuity, happens a lot, moving on.

Onto chapter 2 and Team Fuckup's strategy is now suns out guns out.. though Bumblebee's redemption arc continues as when the Autobots want to punch the giant, Bumlebee tells them no and tells them to either get in line or fuck righ toff, which actually gets them to listen. Seems Bee got a spine with his new form and I like it. After 20 some issues of him listening to whoever yelled the loudest while ignoring the people he's supposed to be serving, this is nice. It's clear field command fits him better.

He does have a bit of an exestial crisis wondering if this is the titan that choose starscream and I THINk it is. I'm not sure. But either way it's here and i'ts big.

Back with Team Rodimus, Brainstorm tells Optimus the dead unvierse is alive and that's why going into the dead universe is tricky: it'll kill anything it senses shouldn't be there. Luckily he has a plan.. and a weird creepy parsite in a jar. It's also so fun seeing the straightlaced optimus interact with the lost lighters. So dang good seeing Chromedome resisit the urge to condescend to Optimus.

Back with Starscream he's doing what any sensible cybertronian would do in this situation: GET HIS GUN. Or a lot of them hidden in a closet Rattrap is telling him to come out of. Please everyone knows Starscream as pansexual as fuck. Rattrap urges caution.. which is like saying it's tuesday but still when Starscream is whiffing it you know it's .. also tuesday but also probably an issue.

Back on the lost light we get a great scene as Rodimus, Magnus and Optimus hit swerves. Magnus is curious if they should be having command discussions in a bar but Rodimus for once isn't snippy, which tells us deep shit is a comin: he simply wants to be by his men.. granted he regrets that when he finds Swerve taking photos but for once Swerve is also not as flip: it's three of the greatest autobots of all time, on the preciipce of SOMETHING happening, something they call feel.. that shared feeling of dread. Something's coming and it ain't good.

The trio get a text from brainstorm: He's ready. This being brainstorm the most he has is a palm thing that keeps the dead universe from killing you using the venom of a monster from there he keeps in a jar. Granted this is only because it's short notice.

So our heroes come up with a plan: split up. Rodimus, Optimus, Hardhead and Cyclonus (Since he has experince) will go into the dead universe to plug whatever stygian hole is leaking. Wheelie and Garnak will stay by in Optimus' ship to pick them up after. Meanwhile the Lost LIght will head after Jhiaxus. Magnus is doubtful he can lead.. but Rodimus perks him up, assuring him he can do this: he may of been thorugh a lot.. but this is his comfort zone: "You're chasing a war criminal and i'm leaping into the unknown"

Back on cybertron Starscream talks with Scoops, a cybertronian ratrap framed for him and who belivies in screamer's prophecy. And as it turns out Screamer REALLY shoudl've payed attention to what that prophecy was or asked or.. anything other than accept it as face value as it turns out he's pegged as a "false leader" one who will bring on the coming darkness... "The stars shall scream and the symbol of the uncreator shall become clear" and said symbol is.. not encouraging to screamer or us

Anyways back to Shockwave: he's talking to Nova, and reveals the space bridge in the Necrotitan isn't working.. but luckily he has a backup plan: megatron.

We end the issue with two more cut tos: in the dead unvierse, Team Rodtimus fight some parasites hoping to snack on them since the signal their using reads "FOOD' to them and while they get away from them fine.. someone else notices. more on him soon. Back with Team Fuckup, the Calvary arrives: SOUNDWAVE BABY.

Part 3 begins with Starscream, whose assuring his adoring public.. only for a meteor to apparnetly land near the titan.

Speaking of shooting the Autobots wage a war to destroy the not so evil forces of Soundwave, only for the metor thing ot distract them too.

Before our next plot point let's talk about this series pacing as you might of noticed the last paragraph or two was just "this plot point, now this". And that's because the series likes to jump around, jump around, get up get up and get down. It has FOUR plots it's juggling and rarely do the issues just.. focus on one or two, especially early on. So each issue is bouncing around several subplots often for just two pages at a time. I don't mind a big story having to move around, but you have to let things settle for a minute. Let a plot point marinate a bit. I shouldn't feel rushed in a 12 issue crossover. 12 issues is a LOT for a story, again why this is a two parter. We do get some good character stuff like Bee growing a spine, a lot of it feels like a reahash. For instance did we need the starscrema going to get his gun scene? no we coudl've had rattrap suggest talking to scoops earlier. None of this is bad and some of the character stuff is necessary: Rodimus showing optimus around both moves the plot along with starscream's call and is objectively hilaroius. But a lot of it feels like thumb twiddling to get to the next plot point. We probably coudl've compacted most of team fuckups scenes into half an issue, if that. It feels like their cutting to each plot to make it seem important instead of carring how a story should progress. It feels like the writers took turns with scenes instead of truly colaberating on the crossover an das a result we just jump jump jump.

So we jump! Jump for the plot to our next point: the lost light where their being pushed off course... turns out Metroplex's thumb what got embedded in the ship after the annual is alive again.. and Getaway knows why: Tyrest, for all his madness, once said you can find a titan with a titan.. and figures Metroplex is trying to reunite with itself.

At the Necrotitan, Team Fuckup sadly gets back to buisness as usual.. arguing with each other. Fortuantely this time, Bumblebee.. is still a compitent leader. He's still on "wait for it" mode.. because they really CAN'T do anything and attacking a giant statue is a death warrant, and he's taken Team Soundwave's help as while they aren't on great terms, they have the same goal: Stop Shockwave. Prowl takes this with the grace, dignity and cool he's known for

God it's good to hear ANYONE, especially Bumblebee, tell Prowl to "shut up for once". And Bee's not wrong. While wait and hope things go well was a TERRIBLE strategy when Bee was running the planet and all it did was get starscream on the throne and all of them exiled, in this case.. their facing a giant cybertronian with weird glowing eyes who they can't really understand. As we'll learn shortly titans function SORT'VE like regular transformers, but are so giant, massive and ancient their hard to parse. A small band of semi-reformed fuckups, an asshole, and a bunch of casette tapes and their player/dad isn't REMOTELY enough to stop that thing and interacting with it might just piss it off.

And sure enough Starscream seemingly prooves that hypothesis as he tries to manipulate it by talking to it.. only for it to explode into 2 or 3 pages of purple light. And This.. I like> it lets the MAGNITUDE of this thing's power play out, it's sudden, and it's shocking, and the effects afterwords aren't good as Arcee is out, the death wave having taken down their forces. once again Prowl won't shut the fuck up, wanting them to attack... and bee brushes him off essentially asking

He points out the death wave, his words not mine, is heading towards the city and despite Starscream's efforts.. it goes off. Shooting the titan would've eithe rdone nothing or set this off SOONER. There is NOTHING they can do and that.. works for me. As douchey as Prowl's being which, par for the course and all that aside, you understand his want to do SOMETHIGN.. but their in a situation where all they can do is just sit, wait, and HOPE they can figure something out. Shockwave said it best as Starscream tried talking to the titan. "We were all too late from the beginning". Unlike the bulk of the comic thus far sitting and reacting is all they have. .because they don't know the full scope of what's going on here. WE as an audience don't know what the hell the necrotitan just did: I only have it's name thanks to the wiki.

The wave not only hurt the living.. but wakes the dead as Metalhawk is back, on the bad guy's side now.. and pisssssseeed. Starscream to his credit reacts more with "Oh goody another cherry on the shit sundae that is today." but he still gets stabbed and Metalhawk is taking Megatron, bye. While Scoops goes to help people, the citzens surround starscream, his star falling.

On the lost light thei rleft with a decision: follow Jhiaxus.. or follow the severed thumb. Ratchet dosen't wanna as he feels their back in the "autobots mainstream" again... but Brainstorm disagrees.. and Perciptor shockingly AGREES: an ancient god has asked them to come find him, and given the end of days is going on back at home, an ancient god could REALLY come in handy right now. Magnus agrees and they head to a planet full of blood red water. At least I hope it's water. THey go deep into planet danzig, and find a horde of microbots ready to tear them apart. These are the amonites from the 25th issue adn they aren't happy.

Closing out the issue Shockwave prepares to make Megatron into a spacebridge. It's very impressive and not at all healthy.

Chapter 4 begins back with the lost light and with good art for those portions again! Yeah while i've glossed over it because this is a LOT of comics to go over and i'm already behind, the art for the lost light sections of parts 2 and 3 is once again by James Raiz, who has a very sketcyhy lifeldian style.. and not bein ga fan of those styles in general, I like it even lest on the quippy, weird lost light. It dosen't fit at all and the lack of expresssion dosen't really work with characters who thrive on expression even when they got no mouths.

It also works as we get bits like Brainstorm trying to hop onto Perciptor's exposition and Magnus announcing himself as "duly apointed enforcer of the tyrest accord" before remembering "Oh yeah the horrifying events of the last arc right. Just an autobot now". I'ts a bit funny but also very sad. All it gets is the super combinining amonites blowing up their window.

Back on cybertron the mob turns on starscream, with Scoops rightfully calling him out for dooming them and pointing out the black mark on him as a sign.. whne really he just tried to schmooze an elder god of a robot, but semantics. poitn is time is running out for our faviorite boy.

Back on planet Danzig, Skids remembers the amonites and wonders why their pissed.. forgetting they you know, ended their forever war and one of them tried to kill thunderclash, something the lost light prevented. Take your pick.

With the Lost Light too big a target the crew decides to split up: they have a few water vechiles and half of the aquabots, so they should be fine, but they still need more... so Magnus gets an idea: they'll take the rodpod. Like the audience Getaway wonders "what the fuck is that" before we gaze on it in all ti's glory.. or as glorious as it is as for some reason we're suddenly back to raiz art.

Yes the rodpod, which Magnus was worried about as naturally Rodimus loves this stupid fucking thing as mucha s I do. But Skids is banking on Rodimus' short attention span.

The important thing here, besides this very hilariously stupid thing happened in a major crossover and that's awesome, is Getaway's reaction. His disguist, his sheer confusion.. for now it just comes off as most people's reaction to this ego piece who aren't used to Rodimus shit by now. But true to roberts.. this bit is one of the MAIN REASONS why we still had to cover this crossover. It's not the only one but this one small character moment.. ends up changing the entire course of this entire comic and our heroes lives forever. Yes the RODPOD is so rediculous and breaks a man's brain so bad, it has deep lasting conseqeunces that will last to the finale of this comic. I love that more than words.

Our heroes take the rodpod out for a spin, and while Rung kills a guy, and it's awesome, our heroes blow up a giant super combined amonite as they apparently have no upper limit but no upper limit dosen't mean "can't blow up real good"

Back to the dead Universe where Optimus deals with some squabbling from the kids

See this.. really shows the contrast between the two styles: the bickering over with Team Fuckup is annoying at times, bette rin this series but still annoying. The banter between the lost light on the other hand feels both more genuine and funnier. And I get the quippy style isn't for everyone: The MCU has gotten some fatigue fo rthat.. but I like a bit of back and forth. it shoudln't be the whole thing, and MTMTE succeeds largley because the characters are deeply made as well as deeply hilaroius, but a little humor helps. It breaks up the dark exesntial terror of everything to occasoinally have things like Rodimus' stupid headship he built for his own amusment or Optimus being about 5 mintues from turning this dead universe around so help me god.

Yet the questions he brings up .. arne't unfair as his next cuts deep: if Optimus had asked him to stay, would he have? And the answer.. is yes. Yet what cuts deeper.. is optimus response: He has the utmost faith in Rodimus and the progress he's made.. and it's clear form his silence he both regrets he's hardly made any and the choices he HAS made. He saved the world, something he rightfully rubbe din Hardhead's face as he was one of the many who nearly died thanks to Tyrest's attmepted genocide, but it's clear the thigns he's done weigh on rodimus: Would staying have helped? Could he have made a bette cybertron?

And the hard answer is.... no. Him staying wouldn't of been a good thing: he didn't want to be there, none of the bots who left really had ideas for a new better cybertron and MORE autobots wasn't going to fix a situation where autobots being there at all was causing tension with the nails. The sad truth is Bumblebee failed not because Rodimus left, but because he didn't have any plan other than "We want to retain power" , and with a throng of people crying for a better government and something NEW that was never going to happen.

The ironic thing is while Rodimus is on a quest for the old... his going out, exploring, doing daring due war or no war.. IS something new. He's letting his bots be who they are, having down time, movie nights, open bars. Sure he's also shoved some of them into very bad situations, the whole overlord mess was a waking nightmare and should never have happened and swerve shooting rung is ENTIRELY his fault. Rodimus, like Bee, often tries to lead like this is war time instead of a shaky peace. Yet despite also operating from that style.. he's casual enough and caring enough deep down that his bots.. get to have lives. Be who they want to be. He's not yelling tat them for daring to want to not shoot people or trying to create infastructure, he's just like "when I need you, do your fucking job bro". He may be embarassed around optimus.. but his letting his crew be people instead of weapons is better than Bee trying to lead like this is a war of attrition and not "what comes after" or Prowl acting like the war neve rended and a shiny new police state is better and not what caused the war in the first place.

OUr heroes soo seen Cyclonus is bleeding.. and soon have bigger issues as Nightbeat has arrived.

Back on cybertron Prowl sucks suprising no one wanting AGAIN to attack the giant robot that just wiped out hal fof them despite having no plan other than "shoot it REAL hard" Bee once again calls him out

He brused Prowl's ego enough to actually get him to pause.. well huff like a child but Prowl does have soundwave scan the city, which picks up something bad: Megatron SCREAMING as Shockwave both turn shim into a bridge and tries to get him to join. He naturallyr efuses ESPECAILLY since the primes are involved, so instead of joining in the new world order.. he gets prime coming out of his chest.

We end the issue on Team Magnus as they find Metroplex.. and end up in his eye socket.. which is hollowed out. Which is impressive but horrifying. And also not very healthy.

Onto part 5, and Shockwave is helping his pawns out of a screaming megatron's chest

When Team Fuckup arrives... Bumblebee has no idea what Shockwav'es doing but it end snow.

It dosen't though because Metalhawk is here, and Bumblbee's attempts to pull an "I know your in there somewhere fight", failed as Metalhawk is consumed by vengance and purple stuff. Skywarp attempts to just free megatron but his teleporting fails.

Prowl questions WHY Shockwave is helping nova.. not getting that maybe, just maybe the One Eyed Two Horned Grounded Purple Plotter whose already manuvered you all like chess pieces.. is using them as pawns for something much worse. Either way he gives Nova time to escape and his best buddy Waspinator time to bring him the staff Waspinator used to awaken the titan and summons it as if it were one of his x-men.. and has it crush them as if it were his juggernaught.

Back to the dead universe, let's talk about Nightbeat: Nightbeat is an autobot detective. During Nova Prime's previous plot, he had a thing installed in Nightbeat's head to turn the poor guy into his sleeper agent. Unfortunately for him he again picked a detective and one of the best at that so while he coudln't do much, Beat at least figured out he was being brainwashed and after shooting Hardhead had enough will to beg heardhead to shoot him.

So naturally his sudden return is a lot for everyone to process. As for how the shore he died on WAS connected to the dead unvierse, Optimus correctly guesses he got swept in with the tide. We get a sense of Nightbeat's personality too, as doing a simple look at Cyclonus tells him about Tailgate's near injury: he has facial scars, they were self inflicted, and they were patched recently. Cyclonus responds to this invasion of privacy mixed with genuine sympathy by trying to choke a bitch.

Back with team fuckup they TRY to count up their wounded.. but they hav ebigger issues: Megatron is craddling Ironhide crisis on infinite earth's style, before Galvatron rips him the fuck in half, starting his streak at one and declaring WHOS NEXT.. and somehow that's not their biggest issue as the titan is still active and shockwave is now in control.

Back in the dead universe, we find out how Nightbeat survivied: he was dead going through the portal and sense dead equals alive in this universe, he's spared. Sorta like how a healing spell usually hurts a zombie in an rpg just reversed.

At any rate he has some bad news for cyclonus: his hand generator thingy broke nad the Dead Universe has reclaimed him.. and he also has time to ominously say "your all home now" before triggering a giant force field around them. Turns out his death didn't undo his sleeper agent brain thing and Nova has come for them.

Before we move on to our final chapter for this batch, let's look at this cover. Which I rarely do for tim's sake but this one well

It looks like Nova Prime is playing with his dolls again.

At any rate we're back with what's left of Team Fuckup: bumblbee' smissing while what's left is running from the titan. The Dinobots plan to lead it away.. but it was already going this way they just were running away from it and are only pulling a prometheus because their genuinely not fast enough to get out the side, especially with some of them carrying wounded.

Back with Team Magnus, they notice Metroplex is decaying... partly due to age as getting spare parts is hard for titans and partly due to the weird blood water all around Planet Danzig. Theya lso find that Metro's BRAIN is missing: he's still alive but without that he's clearly dying. Getaway notices something in the water and calls Swerve for help but h'es a bit busy getting his groove on

They do however find a place to drydock. Back in the dead universe, Hardhead tells his friend he's going to rekill him while Optimus fakes a fight with rodimus to tell him there's a hidden barrier. While Hardhead tries to reach him Nova arrives.

Back on cybertron Starscream's no good horrible very bad day continues as he finds not only is his mark of shame spreading, but he's not the only one dying. After getting yelled at by his second tankor today he finds the titan heading right for him and the wounded

Back on Planet Danzig, our heroes find some arrows in the dry dock.. but it takes them around in circles.. then an Amonite blows up the ship, leaving them stranded.

We end this issue and the first half of dark cybertron with Nova Prime megomanically gloating... Hardhead escapes to shut him up.. only for it not to go well> Turns out PRime is not only crazy strong, but he CRUSHES Hardheads fist in his hands and then watches the poor guy desintgrate. He has plans for those left though: he's taking them to see a new friend he's made: bumlbee whose the shiny new space bridge.

So that's where we end it? Can Team Fuckup somehow save cybertron? Did any of team magnus survivie? Can Optimus shut this dude the fuck up. Find out in april folks! Thanks for reading

[allspark]

Dengeki Hobby has released a lengthy reveal on the opening waves of TakaraTomy’s Power of the Primes, and the surprising lack of surprises offers one more confirmation for rumors about TakaraTomy’s treatment of the upcoming line, which seems to be a straight import of Hasbro’s including names and decos – with a few tantalizing omissions.

You know the drill: whether it’s under the Generations, Unite Warriors, or Legends brand, TakaraTomy have always had their own set of priorities with the lineup of figures Hasbro markets as Generations. The figures are a bit pricier even domestically, with more lavish paint budgets and none of Hasbro’s recently-adopted foil stickers. Accuracy to media sources is paramount, without the concessions to classic toy decos that Hasbro often makes – even when the media source the character hails from is US-exclusive, like The Rebirth or the IDW comics. Gimmicks may be refactored, sculpts might be adjusted, and in the occasional case like Computron, whole characters might be approached from entirely different base molds. The just-completed Titans Return treatment cannibalized whole pricepoints into accessories for other figures and introduced a slew of new-mold partner figures.

Choosing between Hasbro and TakaraTomy releases of figures is a personal balancing act for fans, a careful weighing of budget, preferred source material, and impressions of the gestalt effect of a figure once it hits preorder galleries or video reviews. And that’s before considering differences of packaging presentation, instructions, or pack-ins.

Enter Power of the Primes.

Dengeki Hobby’s solicitation for the TakaraTomy Power of the Primes lineup reveals no surprises for anyone familiar with Hasbro’s US presentation. The lineup includes Prime Masters Micronus Prime, Vector Prime, and Liege Maximo; Legends Dinobot Slash, Windcharger, and Beachcomber; Deluxe Jazz; and Leaders Rodimus Prime and Optimus Prime, all using the US names and with the same Prime Master and Spark Core lore. The “Legends” branding is nowhere to be seen, replaced with the “Transformers Generations” brand. And if the images themselves are placeholders awaiting finalized TakaraTomy decos, they’re not a one-off; Amazon.co.jp is using stock images from the same gallery.

A few selected images below include unchanged presentation for the Prime Masters, our new Dinobot friend Slash, an animation-inaccurate Orion Pax, and a foil-sticker-slathered Hot Rod.

There are some notable omissions here, of course. There are no Dinobots aside from Slash, and no Voyager figures at all, which hints the combiners might launch under another release strategy. That could hint at a return of Unite Warriors … or simply indicate as-yet-unsolicited box sets in the style of Unite Warriors, but under this Power of the Primes brand and presentation. Jazz is present, combiner fist and all, but his fellow combiner component without a combiner team, Starscream, is absent. While the bulk of the line seems destined for strict parity with the Hasbro releases, there’s still some room to speculate on where these missing molds might be going.

Have your own theory about the missing combiners, or your own feelings on a newly unified and Hasbro-driven treatment for the Generations lineup? Join our discussion in the TakaraTomy PotP Rumors thread. If you’re a new release yourself, stop here first to create an account.

The End of “Make Mine Takara”? Dengeki Hobby Solicits Unchanged TakaraTomy Releases for Power of the Primes Dengeki Hobby has released a lengthy reveal on the opening waves of TakaraTomy's Power of the Primes, and the surprising lack of surprises offers one more confirmation for rumors about TakaraTomy's treatment of the upcoming line, which seems to be a straight import of Hasbro's including names and decos - with a few tantalizing omissions.

[sunoflegend]

@trcubleshooting asked ; were you following me ? from zantetsu !

She's acting a little too nonchalant, standing a distance behind the other for.. reasons not yet apparent. Or at least, ones she isn't disclosing. In truth, she was a little bit curious - she'd never seen another mechanical life-form so.. small before. She couldn't help wanting to be just a little nosy about what it's deal was. Not that she'd admit that.

"No - why would I be following you? You're hardly worth my time. Or effort. Or much of anything else, really."

[sunoflegend]

@maledigestion sent ; ❝ something is troubling you, yes? ❞ from the conversational sentence starters !

She isn't sure why she's entertaining this session, really. Sure, every bot she's extended trust towards both in the present and past might've suggested the idea once or twice, but that doesn't mean she had to listen to it. Now that she's actually here, she feels like cursing her past self and just walking out. She's already done plenty of healing on her own, what's some stranger going to do to help? A human stranger of course, because the only two cybertronian therapists are either on a joyride through space, or horribly busy and somewhat suspicious.

A steely scowl works to hide her apprehension, but the thrumming of digits tapping against her forearm quickly undoes such efforts.

"Isn't that what most people come into these things for? Or do you have a lot of people come in here feeling totally fine and normal?"

[sunoflegend]

@shxkespexre asked ; " hey! what did you do that for? " for pacific rim verse starscream !

She could hardly help that her startup process was a bit jumpy; maybe William - that's the name their mental bond provided her with - should've expected to get bruised or banged up somewhere in the process of climbing into a Mark 0. Her first guess is that it's Scotty doing yet another test and sending yet another.. huh, this.. isn't a person - ? At least, not in the way of flesh and blood. Weird. Either way, this.. android is the word helpfully supplied, he doesn't seem to have been sent by Scotty.. strange.

"I didn't do anything - that was all on you. Speaking of you, what are you doing here? Are you supposed to be here? I can and will kick you out, or I'll fry your brain trying, I can promise you that much!"

[sunoflegend]

@bcnes , continued from x !

The neck pain was a fun surprise for the both of them, given she'd thought the lingering pains would've went away with her previous drift severed; how lucky for her to be proven wrong. Hopefully Scotty sending people in just means some troubleshooting, and by the end of the whole affair it'll be dealt with. At least there's none as her arm moves, just the standard stiffness that Leonard was probably expecting.

She's used to the feeling of just her mind and her pilots, but she doesn't exactly seem to welcome it with open arms. It's kept open more out of obligation, and a strong feeling of you don't talk about what's in my head and I don't talk about what's in yours. She wasn't used to the other person on the end of the handshake really caring about what was going on in her head, and she's perfectly content not prying further than the surface of his thoughts if he'll do the same.

She shrugs at his question, not having much of an answer herself. She doesn't remember being programmed with an AI of any sort, but she doesn't have much of an explanation for what could make up for it. She sort of just.. does. She hasn't thought about it that hard.

"Well it's how it works for me, so you'll just have to live with it so long as Scotty sends you over! If you have an issue with my mind melding, you should take it up with him."

[sunoflegend]

@turnabovt asked ; tell me the truth, at least once.

"The truth is that it doesn't matter. Is that the crime I asked you to look into? No, and it's your fault that you stuck your nose where it didn't belong. It doesn't have anything to do with this anyways, so why mention it?"

This is the first - and probably last, now - time she hires a human defense lawyer. Really, she wasn't even supposed to be here. It's very bold that the person framing her for this political sabotage is willing to make it a real ordeal. She knew she was Cybertrons favorite scapegoat, but really? A whole trial? She'd feel honored if it wasn't so inconvenient. She thought hiring a human to the case would give her some brownie points, a nice look, wow, she's gotten so much better she's letting a human defend her honor, but honestly? Maybe she's annoyed enough about this other thing getting uncovered that she'll swear off it from now on.

[aircommndr]

So…You and Teebs got a thing going on or..?

"I fail to see how this is any of your buisness."

[sunoflegend]

@peonywell asked ; " what happened back there? " from knockout !

An even deeper scowl makes itself evident as she hobbles into the doctor base of operations, seeing as Knockout almost certainly already knew the answer; he always did, and yet he always asked regardless. The response is snippy as always, although a response detailing any specifics was more than she'd usually give most.

"What do you think happened!? The moment I told Megatron he could've afforded even a bit more tactical prowess rather than charging directly over to Prime, he did THIS to me!"

As if on cue, her left wing gave an erratic twitch, sending a few sparks flying. Accompanied with that was no small amount of new dents and scratches, some going deeper then others. A few even had small streams of energon leaking from them.

[sunoflegend]

@mixed-up-multiverse​ , continued from x !

Her face instantly scrunches up in offense, somehow not expecting to be met with so much vitriol at the comment. There’s another shake at the container to throw her off balance, and her grimace is only more set in stone by the end of it. Well if she wanted to take a jab at tempers, she had no issues returning insults.

“Says the one who just blew up! You don’t have any room to talk as far as tempers go, so I’d shut my mouth if I were you. If words are the only way you have to defend yourself, then you’ll wish you were going splat on the ground rather then what would happen to you if you mouthed off to someone less merciful then me.”

[sunoflegend]

@shxkespexre asked ; " what good has ever come of it? " from the crane wives sentence starters ! accepting .

The question causes her to pause in her current actions and look down at the bard, a mix between amused and offended that he'd ask such a thing.

"Plenty of goods come from it - clearly you've never went through with a good sabotage before if you're asking that. What do you care anyways?"

[sunoflegend]

tag dump !

[aethergate]

@bcmbus​ asked ; " admit it, you had FUN today! " for starscream ! / from the grump/sunshine starters . accepting ! 

She scoffs at that statement, looking away from the smaller bot to try and keep her growing smile hidden. It wasn’t that she was against him knowing; in reality she was just trying to be stubborn to tease him a bit.

“Me? Having fun? Never. Wouldn’t dream of it, actually.”