IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them"

Monday, November 12th, 2018 7:02PM CST

Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal Views: 18,802

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Thanks to a multitude of sources, we have word that the ending of IDW's Transformers: Lost Light has garnered some major attention.

BBC News, a fairly well known news outlet, has published a story about Lost Light and how it broke down so many barriers in the Transformers fandom, particularly the gender barrier. In the article, much is discussed related to how the representation of women attending Transformers conventions and getting involved in the fandom has grown massively in the past few years, and More Than Meets The Eye / Lost Light has been the reason for much of this change.

The article of course features James Roberts, the writer behind MTMTE/LL, and he talks about how is comic was meant to be something completely different, something new, and based on the critical acclaim and the fandom's response to the many years of Robert's ongoing, it has been a success.

You can check out some sections of the article below, and follow the above link to read the whole story!

ransformers started out as a boy's toy. The robot characters, which could be quickly reconfigured into guns and cars - tapped into the young male zeitgeist of 1984.

Those children have grown into today's adult collectors. But thanks to a cult comic, the franchise's male-dominated audience has crossed the gender divide.

At Europe's largest Transformers convention this year, TFNation, women accounted for almost half of attendees aged 21 to 31. It caps a three-year trend in which female attendance grew by a third. Taking the credit is the comic Lost Light.

.....

Responsible for much of this is the comic's author, James Roberts, who penned all 80-odd issues.

Although the stories are infused with a British sci-fi humour - BBC TV comedy Red Dwarf was a major influence - his ambition for the publication, which tackled topics such as same-sex relationships, freedom and self-determination, was "unashamedly political".

"Misfits and also-rans, in an enclosed space with a pitch-able quest - it's a good way into a story," says Roberts. "This is the difference between American and British sci-fi and comics, and TV shows like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the new Doctor Who - their love of language, puns, banter.

"You can get away with more swear words if they're British."

.....

The publisher wanted the comic "to speak to Transformers fans and beyond," he says.

Roberts was given the freedom to look beyond the A-list of characters. And with that came the opportunity to take more chances.

An initial positive reception emboldened Roberts, leading to his favourite moment - issue 16, the "declaration of love" between two same-sex Transformers characters, Chromedome and Rewind. It was "a first".

"In the nicest possible way, it became normalised. The world didn't come to an end. That reaction gave me and others the confidence to tell more stories like this," says Roberts.

There was some concern about what Hasbro, a toy maker with a long history and a wholesome, family-friendly image, would make of this turn of events. But head office appeared remarkably unruffled, says John Barber, Lost Light's publisher.

"The company's vice-president of global publishing said something to the effect of: 'I asked you guys to make the characters human and you have'," recalls Barber.

Credit(s): BBC News

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Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1993895)
Posted by Coptur on November 13th, 2018 @ 4:41am CST

And where's the BBC article about the boys/men that love MLP? oh right they did't get one they just get mocked and under represented within MLP.

James is a nice guy in person but LL was part of the reason I turned away from IDW comics.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1993913)
Posted by ZeroWolf on November 13th, 2018 @ 9:47am CST

Coptur wrote:And where's the BBC article about the boys/men that love MLP? oh right they did't get one they just get mocked and under represented within MLP.

James is a nice guy in person but LL was part of the reason I turned away from IDW comics.

To be fair, mlp didn't have a long running comic that's ending, hence the article.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1993977)
Posted by Sagitta on November 13th, 2018 @ 6:41pm CST

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Thanks to a multitude of sources, we have word that the ending of IDW's Transformers: Lost Light has garnered some major attention.

BBC News

Hasbro may have wanted what they call a "more human" comic. But Transformers themselves are living alien robotic lifeforms. Not organic. Inserting LGBTQ issues were rather out of place, a glaring inconsistent destraction, and took away from exploring various other aspects of the mythos that could have more enhanced tales.

I didn't buy the entire run and, as was my choice, preformed personal editing. Little was missed IMHO.

In relation to the BBC article will only say stating the series promoted gay characters as if that was it's sole achievement was saddening to read. There were many of the stories that were character driven that stood on their own varied merits.

I found the article offensive as if there were little to no females of the fandom beforehand. Some of us gals have been hanging around since the mid80s when TFs were introduced alongside G.I. Joe & Jem. :-?

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1993979)
Posted by Burn on November 13th, 2018 @ 7:06pm CST

Sagitta wrote:Hasbro may have wanted what they call a "more human" comic. But Transformers themselves are living alien robotic lifeforms. Not organic. Inserting LGBTQ issues were rather out of place, a glaring inconsistent destraction, and took away from exploring various other aspects of the mythos that could have more enhanced tales.

This has been a point I've been stressing, they're alien robots, but we're applying human traits to them.

That being said, LGBTQ issues are important, and have been for a number of years. While I personally felt they weren't needed in the book, I can't deny or fault what it meant for the LGBTQ community as they had characters they could relate to.

It was either that, or try to be a fan of Iceman, and no one wants to admit to liking Iceman.

In relation to the BBC article will only say stating the series promoted gay characters as if that was it's sole achievement was saddening to read. There were many of the stories that were character driven that stood on their own varied merits.

That's what these forums are for, for us to discuss all the other aspects that made up the run.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1993994)
Posted by Sagitta on November 13th, 2018 @ 8:28pm CST

Burn wrote:This has been a point I've been stressing, they're alien robots, but we're applying human traits to them.

That being said, LGBTQ issues are important, and have been for a number of years. While I personally felt they weren't needed in the book, I can't deny or fault what it meant for the LGBTQ community as they had characters they could relate to.

While not getting behind the concept, I will say it was poorly executed. There were two series which formed the foundation for MtmtE & RiD in which the concept was nonexistent. When MtMtE & RiD begin they not only seemed to exist but were not exactly as rare as one of the authors of the series had claimed.

The writers could have introduced the topics at some point during )or more than likely after) Dark Cybertron when the Cybertonians were first learning of the outside colonies. Or even further back in RiD's beginning when the planet's citizen population was returning. (I at least have 1 trade paperback of the first few issues.) The civilians would have had dealings with outsiders certainly. But neither happened.

Thus, the existence of that and other attempts to "make the Transformers more human" or rather "lets make them more current for today's society" goes unexplained within the comic. Hence little reason for the sudden appearance.

It was either that, or try to be a fan of Iceman, and no one wants to admit to liking Iceman.

Awww, what;s wrong with Bobby...other then him giving a cold shoulder? :lol:

That's what these forums are for, for us to discuss all the other aspects that made up the run.

Wouldn't be as interesting otherwise.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994297)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on November 16th, 2018 @ 11:51am CST

Sagitta wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:Question: do the duplicate crew know that they're a duplicate? I mean, it doesn't make them any less real, but do they have the memories they had before the quantum jump? This may have been explained previously, and just don't remember it.

I forgot to mention this last time, but I was glad to see the Protectobots alive and well.

I seem to recall back in the "The Path Not Taken" arc when Nautica worked out the mystery of the 2 Lost Lights she mentioned one was as real as they other. So up until the actual point of the jump both sets of characters would hold the same type of memories.

From what Rewind, from the other Lost Light, and what Nightbeat mentioned it sounded like everything was the exact same until the jump was initiated. Two Lost Lights, same backgrounds, sane crews, separate experiences.

So then the crew in space can't really be called the "duplicate crew," because who's to say that the crew that was there before the quantum jump isn't the one in space? Or at least they think they are the original.

And I agree with you and Burn on the LGBT aspect.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994345)
Posted by Sagitta on November 16th, 2018 @ 6:39pm CST

Rodimus Prime wrote:So then the crew in space can't really be called the "duplicate crew," because who's to say that the crew that was there before the quantum jump isn't the one in space? Or at least they think they are the original...

Quantum mechanics. No one said it wasn't confusing. :lol:

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994452)
Posted by DeadCaL on November 17th, 2018 @ 9:06pm CST

Did they ever explain what point was of a Deception baby hiding in the chest of a giant robot dinosaur, or did I miss that bit? :???:

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994557)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 18th, 2018 @ 9:29pm CST

DeadCaL wrote:Did they ever explain what point was of a Deception baby hiding in the chest of a giant robot dinosaur, or did I miss that bit?

Scorponok wanted to remove the sparks of Cybertronians and put them in organic bodies so they could reproduce, and once numbers were high enough, remove the sparks from all the organics to make a new larger force of Cybertronians.

It was a bit strange.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994561)
Posted by william-james88 on November 18th, 2018 @ 9:46pm CST

this question is regsrding the issue from Mtmte when fort max took rung hostage : why did it take 3 years for the autobots to respond to one of their main prisons (the one with Impactor and a Magnificence wearing Grimlock were held no less) being taken over by the Decepticons?

Also was the magnificence epistomus or an Omega guardian? I dont think i ever read the actual amswer.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994563)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 18th, 2018 @ 9:52pm CST

william-james88 wrote:this question is regsrding the issue from Mtmte when fort max took rung hostage : why did it take 3 years for the autobots to respond to one of their main prisons (the one with Impactor and a Magnificence wearing Grimlock were held no less) being taken over by the Decepticons?

Also was the magnificence epistomus or an Omega guardian? I dont think i ever read the actual amswer.

To answer the first one, apparently it simply was: it wasn't on the top of Prowl's to do list at the time. It was taken over when they were marooned on Cybertron, and then they fought on Earth, and then they had to get off Earth and then the Wreckers had to be assembled properly again and all that and the Earth situation had to stabilize somewhat before Prowl ended up getting to it.

And I don't think it was really answered, I took it as it was Epistimus but the Omega Guardians were able to take it over from him. But I don't know, the Omega Guardians were kinda lame

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994564)
Posted by william-james88 on November 18th, 2018 @ 9:55pm CST

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
william-james88 wrote:this question is regsrding the issue from Mtmte when fort max took rung hostage : why did it take 3 years for the autobots to respond to one of their main prisons (the one with Impactor and a Magnificence wearing Grimlock were held no less) being taken over by the Decepticons?

Also was the magnificence epistomus or an Omega guardian? I dont think i ever read the actual amswer.

To answer the first one, apparently it simply was: it wasn't on the top of Prowl's to do list at the time. It was taken over when they were marooned on Cybertron, and then they fought on Earth, and then they had to get off Earth and then the Wreckers had to be assembled properly again and all that and the Earth situation had to stabilize somewhat before Prowl ended up getting to it.

And I don't think it was really answered, I took it as it was Epistimus but the Omega Guardians were able to take it over from him. But I don't know, the Omega Guardians were kinda lame

they were ultra lame, easily the bit i liked least from that final arc.

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994620)
Posted by DeadCaL on November 19th, 2018 @ 1:38pm CST

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
DeadCaL wrote:Did they ever explain what point was of a Deception baby hiding in the chest of a giant robot dinosaur, or did I miss that bit?

Scorponok wanted to remove the sparks of Cybertronians and put them in organic bodies so they could reproduce, and once numbers were high enough, remove the sparks from all the organics to make a new larger force of Cybertronians.

It was a bit strange.

I'm guessing it didn't go any further than that then?

Re: IDW Transformers: Lost Light BBC Article "Transformers: Misfit Robots and the Women who Love Them" (1994654)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 19th, 2018 @ 5:11pm CST

DeadCaL wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
DeadCaL wrote:Did they ever explain what point was of a Deception baby hiding in the chest of a giant robot dinosaur, or did I miss that bit?

Scorponok wanted to remove the sparks of Cybertronians and put them in organic bodies so they could reproduce, and once numbers were high enough, remove the sparks from all the organics to make a new larger force of Cybertronians.

It was a bit strange.

I'm guessing it didn't go any further than that then?

Nope, only happened once before Grimlock and the Scavengers disrupted that and then Scorponok died