Lost Light #5 iTunes Preview
Wednesday, April 26th, 2017 7:32PM CDT
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Posted by Randomhero on April 26th, 2017 @ 7:40pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on April 26th, 2017 @ 8:03pm CDT
However... that said, while this doesn't excuse everything, I'm kinda putting this down to forced editorial mandates. It just so happens that a plot that's... well, as I just described; arguably a drop in quality, happens right when they're forced to restart the numbering, essentially tasked with bringing in new readership and the creative team is reshuffled? I'm not familiar with how everything works, but I don't think this was a good thing for the comic and I think if we'd gotten MTMTE #58 instead of LL #1, things would have been different. That's why I've been a bit easier on this than I really should be; maybe it's me being a bit too optimistic or biased, but I can't look at the negatives of the comic recently, compare it to how incredible MTMTE was and not look towards the editorial mandates.
Also, Nightbeat and Rung. That's reeling me back in as that little talk between them is looking very interesting and Nightbeat's showing his nicer side.
Posted by Randomhero on April 26th, 2017 @ 8:31pm CDT
My biggest issue has always been and will always be unless it changes is that Roberts writes this like a television show and not a comic book and those are two very different medias. The structure is an utter mess at times. The ideas and characterization have always been its strengths where as it's structure has always been something to be desired. I'm not going to go as far as some and accuse James of writing knock off red dwarf fan fiction but it's hard not to see it. I've talked to James, he's a great guy but I wish he'd work on his storytelling and grow from it instead of making tongue and cheek remarks from characters in the book like hes done a bit whenever "community" was referenced.
I used to get furious for so long at this series because it never does anything with the quest and I finally gave up by season 2 because there wasn't a single issue in those 2 and half years that actually had any form of progress with the quest. They got a map halfway but we had to have more deviations. James said with lost light he's making the quest priority. Now we know for the next few months thanks to solicits and probably for the rest of the year we will be in functionalist universe and all I can do is toss my hands in the air and ask "well why did you even say that James?"
He said it a few times in interviews and podcasts by the way.
Posted by ScottyP on April 26th, 2017 @ 9:47pm CDT
I loved everything in those three pages and just cannot wait for more. Y'all go have your 'We want Milne and plot resolution' pity party, I'll be over here with my robot pals enjoying the ride
Posted by bodrock on April 26th, 2017 @ 11:00pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on April 27th, 2017 @ 5:36am CDT
Posted by Randomhero on April 27th, 2017 @ 6:09am CDT
Posted by Big Grim on April 27th, 2017 @ 7:24am CDT
ScottyP wrote:I loved everything in those three pages and just cannot wait for more. Y'all go have your 'We want Milne and plot resolution' pity party, I'll be over here with my robot pals enjoying the ride
I'm with you Scotty. I'm having a blast with Lost Light and will continue to enjoy it.
Kurona wrote:I actually really like the art myself. I still prefer Milne and think he's a better fit, but it's not like Lawrence is a slouch or anything; he's a fantastic artist and in my opinion he works well for the comic.
Pretty much exactly how I feel too. Lawrence is doing a great job in my opinion.
Posted by Randomhero on April 27th, 2017 @ 8:37am CDT
Posted by ScottyP on April 27th, 2017 @ 11:28am CDT
That may indeed have been the initial plan (or it was smoke and mirrors for PR reasons, who knows) but with Milne on ROM vs TF it's a safe bet this plan has changed. Until further notice I'm operating under the assumption that Lawrence is to Lost Light as Pitre-Durocher is to TAAO and as Zama is to OP.Randomhero wrote:Is Alex not returning at all? I know he's doing that miniseries with John and Josh Perez but wasn't Alex suppose to return for the next arc and then Jack would do the one after?
Posted by ricemazter on April 27th, 2017 @ 3:50pm CDT
Randomhero wrote:The renumbering and renaming doesn't bother me. I've been reading comics since I was 6 and it's something you have to just get adjusted to. This wasnt batman or Spider-Man getting in the 700s and 800s and going back it issue one, it was issue 56 and then changing. Wasn't that big of a deal.
My biggest issue has always been and will always be unless it changes is that Roberts writes this like a television show and not a comic book and those are two very different medias. The structure is an utter mess at times. The ideas and characterization have always been its strengths where as it's structure has always been something to be desired. I'm not going to go as far as some and accuse James of writing knock off red dwarf fan fiction but it's hard not to see it. I've talked to James, he's a great guy but I wish he'd work on his storytelling and grow from it instead of making tongue and cheek remarks from characters in the book like hes done a bit whenever "community" was referenced.
I used to get furious for so long at this series because it never does anything with the quest and I finally gave up by season 2 because there wasn't a single issue in those 2 and half years that actually had any form of progress with the quest. They got a map halfway but we had to have more deviations. James said with lost light he's making the quest priority. Now we know for the next few months thanks to solicits and probably for the rest of the year we will be in functionalist universe and all I can do is toss my hands in the air and ask "well why did you even say that James?"
He said it a few times in interviews and podcasts by the way.
That's interesting because I seems to me he has started writing things more like a comic, just not in a good way. One of the best things about Roberts' writing in the early MTMTE was that it was episodic, so we would get a more or less complete mini story in one or two issues, unlike other modern series where every single issue would end on a vital to the current plot cliffhanger. At the same time, each episode would lead into the next more or less, like when the fall out from Fort Max's therapy session lead into the next issue or the lead into the spark eater story.
It was annoying that the whole quest thing was a loose framework to hang the story on, but as long as the individual episodes were decent I could deal with it. Ever since season 1 ended, however, plots have gradually gotten more drawn out in some areas and severely truncated in others, and in some cases the payoff for the episodic stories don't have immediate consequences until a few issues later. For instance, the way I saw it, the episode with Froid and Sunder's main point was Skids' memories which doesn't come into play until the ending bits of Dying int the Light. This makes the lack of quest progress even more noticeable in the grand scheme of the series.
Now, as of LL, we're in full comic mode. Where the Functionist universe plot seems to be going on for 6 issues, and has almost nothing to do with the main threads introduced in the last series. Meanwhile, in just these 4 issues of LL, we've gotten so many new plot points to deal with, and it's infuriating that none of them are related to the quest or the Lost Light Mutiny, imo one of the most interesting things that happened in the last season.
To count every new thing that's been introduced, trapped in the Functionist universe, embroiled in the conflict of said universe, possible addiction to mood altering drugs for several characters, tailgate going nuts, whatever is going on with Anode, swerve and ten displaced to somewhere else entirely, future visions of pharma doing something. It's super exhausting.
Posted by Kurona on April 27th, 2017 @ 3:53pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on April 27th, 2017 @ 3:56pm CDT
I did kind of have my doubts before - Nightbeat and Rung's conversation having no lead-in especially with James Roberts' tweet; Rodimus being electrocuted seeming an odd way to start the issue for reasons I can't quite explain - but I didn't quite expect this. Mistakes happen I suppose; nice to see that the issue is built much more competently than I previously thought. All my previous criticisms - at least in regards to this particular issue - go out the window
Posted by Deadput on April 27th, 2017 @ 5:31pm CDT
Probably going to take 10 years to finally reach the knights at this pace.
Will Rodimus actually grow up and will we get character's who don't joke in every other line?
Are we getting Milne back you know an actually good artist?
Posted by Kurona on April 27th, 2017 @ 5:35pm CDT
Deadput wrote:When is Lost Light actually going to go back to the Lost Light?
Probably going to take 10 years to finally reach the knights at this pace.
Will Rodimus actually grow up and will we get character's who don't joke in every other line?
Are we getting Milne back you know an actually good artist?
We're going back to look at the Lost Light in a few issues as confirmed by Roberts, Rodimus' character is actually growing and Lawrence is a fine artist. I can understand why many feel his art style doesn't fit the book (a lot of people have said it's a bit too cartoony for the tone of the comic; I disagree with it myself but the criticism does make sense) and I can certainly understand preferring Milne for the comic, but in what way is Lawrence's art bad? Because personally I'm seeing some gorgeous lineart. Well, gorgeous lineart a little obscured by the image quality because iTunes previews do that for some reason; but gorgeous lineart nonetheless.
Posted by SG Roadbuster on April 27th, 2017 @ 6:53pm CDT
Kurona wrote:Deadput wrote:When is Lost Light actually going to go back to the Lost Light?
Probably going to take 10 years to finally reach the knights at this pace.
Will Rodimus actually grow up and will we get character's who don't joke in every other line?
Are we getting Milne back you know an actually good artist?
We're going back to look at the Lost Light in a few issues as confirmed by Roberts, Rodimus' character is actually growing and Lawrence is a fine artist. I can understand why many feel his art style doesn't fit the book (a lot of people have said it's a bit too cartoony for the tone of the comic; I disagree with it myself but the criticism does make sense) and I can certainly understand preferring Milne for the comic, but in what way is Lawrence's art bad? Because personally I'm seeing some gorgeous lineart. Well, gorgeous lineart a little obscured by the image quality because iTunes previews do that for some reason; but gorgeous lineart nonetheless.
could be worse, idw could be letting Livio Ramondelli ruin this book, the way he's ruined so many others.
Posted by SureShot18 on April 27th, 2017 @ 7:10pm CDT
I'd argue that Lawrence is a little too cartoony for the tone of the book but he still has really good art. It took some getting used to but I like it.
Should they get back to the LL ,deal with the mutineers, and continue the quest? Absolutely but I've always seen MTMTE/LL as a book mostly for the characters and exRID/TAAO/OP as the plot based books. And besides, if they finished the quest where would my favorite TF fiction be?
They have thrown a lot at us since the re numbering but in due time all of the loose ends will be tied up. I can wait a while for that too, keeps continuity and shows that there are plans in place for the future.
We'll all know whether this arc has been useless or not in due time. And I'd bet it won't be useless at all. Some consider Swearth to be the bottom of the barrel and I actually like it but I also read it in the volume format.
Posted by Deadput on April 27th, 2017 @ 7:28pm CDT
Kurona wrote:We're going back to look at the Lost Light in a few issues as confirmed by Roberts, Rodimus' character is actually growing and Lawrence is a fine artist. I can understand why many feel his art style doesn't fit the book (a lot of people have said it's a bit too cartoony for the tone of the comic; I disagree with it myself but the criticism does make sense) and I can certainly understand preferring Milne for the comic, but in what way is Lawrence's art bad? Because personally I'm seeing some gorgeous lineart. Well, gorgeous lineart a little obscured by the image quality because iTunes previews do that for some reason; but gorgeous lineart nonetheless.
I was exaggerating about going back to the lost light but I'm still annoyed that apparently confirming Rodimus and Co being obviously not dead and introducing more pointless oc's like Anode cluttering up the story is more important then Getaway and the Lost Light.
Roberts can't write character progression without resetting it most of the time like bringing Rewind back from the dead or copping out on death for important characters, Rodimus reverting to spoiled child every time he does something responsible and leader like.
Lawrence is a good artist himself it's that that his art would be more suited to more light hearted stories that's what I mean.
Posted by Kurona on April 27th, 2017 @ 8:04pm CDT
SureShot18 wrote:I'll admit something has felt off to me but I figured it was just that this is the first arc I've read issue by issue and not in a set of 5 books in a volume. I still really enjoy LL and Issue 3 was excellent in particular.
I'd argue that Lawrence is a little too cartoony for the tone of the book but he still has really good art. It took some getting used to but I like it.
Should they get back to the LL ,deal with the mutineers, and continue the quest? Absolutely but I've always seen MTMTE/LL as a book mostly for the characters and exRID/TAAO/OP as the plot based books. And besides, if they finished the quest where would my favorite TF fiction be?
They have thrown a lot at us since the re numbering but in due time all of the loose ends will be tied up. I can wait a while for that too, keeps continuity and shows that there are plans in place for the future.
We'll all know whether this arc has been useless or not in due time. And I'd bet it won't be useless at all. Some consider Swearth to be the bottom of the barrel and I actually like it but I also read it in the volume format.
Another fan of Swearth! I thought I was the only one; and that all others existed only in myths and legends of the old world lost to time.
Posted by ArmadaPrime on April 27th, 2017 @ 8:37pm CDT
Kurona wrote:Another fan of Swearth! I thought I was the only one; and that all others existed only in myths and legends of the old world lost to time.
Swearth was self-indulgent, incredibly silly, and arguably didn't add a great deal to the overall story, and I won't have a bad word said against it
Personally I love that MTMTE/LL can have that kind of farsical fun whilst driving home some really solid emotional character points. Swearth fans unite!
Regarding the art I definitely prefer Milne's but Lawrence has done a fantastic job overall, in fact in this preview I feel it's easily as strong as Milne. The "cartoonish" idea is thrown around a lot and I see where people are coming from but I think I have however figured out where my (minor) personal issues lie: its the big boys. Most small or regular-sized bots I've no trouble at all with, but to my eye Lawrence seems to draw bigger bots- Megs, Magnus, and their ilk- in a slightly squatter, softer, less imposing way (the panel in issue 1 of Magnus on stage boring the newbies to death springs to mind). Particularly considering many of these can be the more stoic bots among the cast, this can feel a little jarring.
I'm no artist so I couldnt tell you whether this is down to a stylistic choice, having space in the panels, or even just perspective messing with my perception of them, but I think that's personally what's throwing me off slightly.
Also to quell some fears, Roberts mentioned recently in a podcast (Soun.wav cast I believe?) that after this arc wraps up, we're going to have a brief story on Troja Major, which has been name-dropped a few times in the comic but never significantly, and then back to the Lost Light by I think Autumn/Winter time this year.
Posted by Terrsolpix on April 28th, 2017 @ 1:17am CDT
Posted by WreckerJack on April 28th, 2017 @ 2:04am CDT
Posted by Big Grim on April 28th, 2017 @ 7:04am CDT
ricemazter wrote:Meanwhile, in just these 4 issues of LL, we've gotten so many new plot points to deal with, and it's infuriating that none of them are related to the quest or the Lost Light Mutiny.
None of it is related that we know of. If there's one thing Roberts has been good at, it's laying down little pieces of information that become relevant at a later point.
SG Roadbuster wrote:could be worse, idw could be letting Livio Ramondelli ruin this book, the way he's ruined so many others.
Harsh. I personally believe Ramondelli has come on leaps and bounds since his early work.
SureShot18 wrote:Some consider Swearth to be the bottom of the barrel and I actually like it but I also read it in the volume format.
I like Swearth for what it was. It was interesting and led somewhere. It was quirky, which is something I love about MTMTE and now LL. And gave us so many awesome holo-matter avatars. (Megatron and Rodimus in particular!)
Posted by SG Roadbuster on April 28th, 2017 @ 10:02am CDT
SG Roadbuster wrote:could be worse, idw could be letting Livio Ramondelli ruin this book, the way he's ruined so many others.
Harsh. I personally believe Ramondelli has come on leaps and bounds since his early work.
that is true i suppose. it used to be runny diarrhea, now its a solid, healthy turd.
nothing destroys my enthusiasm for an issue of a Transformers comic than seeing Ramondelli's name in the art credits. IDW has a stable of amazing artists. Lawrence, Milne, Su, Burcham, Coller, Durocher, Stone, Griffin, Guidi, Sakamoto, Zama. and so on. I dont understand why they keep letting Ramondelli ruin books. at this point i'd rather see Pat Lee or Rob Liefeld doing art.
Posted by Kurona on April 28th, 2017 @ 11:03am CDT
SG Roadbuster wrote:SG Roadbuster wrote:could be worse, idw could be letting Livio Ramondelli ruin this book, the way he's ruined so many others.
Harsh. I personally believe Ramondelli has come on leaps and bounds since his early work.
that is true i suppose. it used to be runny diarrhea, now its a solid, healthy turd.
nothing destroys my enthusiasm for an issue of a Transformers comic than seeing Ramondelli's name in the art credits. IDW has a stable of amazing artists. Lawrence, Milne, Su, Burcham, Coller, Durocher, Stone, Griffin, Guidi, Sakamoto, Zama. and so on. I dont understand why they keep letting Ramondelli ruin books. at this point i'd rather see Pat Lee or Rob Liefeld doing art.
Honestly, thinking of Lee or Liefeld's art makes Ramondelli seem like heaven to me...
Posted by Big Grim on April 28th, 2017 @ 11:14am CDT
Kurona wrote:Honestly, thinking of Lee or Liefeld's art makes Ramondelli seem like heaven to me...
Agreed. Wholeheartedly.
Posted by Quint on April 29th, 2017 @ 11:27am CDT
Why couldn't we discover the key's obsolescence at the same time as the council?
Even if that revelation is a fake out, I'm sure that will probably unfold off panel too.
I'm actually at a point where I'm hate reading this comic.
Posted by Skullcrunchberries on May 2nd, 2017 @ 2:54pm CDT
So, I agree with Scotty P's supposition that something will happen to Terminus (probably the only reason they brought him back, to be honest) which will cause Megatron to fly into a rage, probably killing most people sans the Rod Pals, and potentially bring him back to his old ways, thus complicating their inevitable return to the standard universe.
But what if Megatron decided to stay in the Functionist universe?
This is, of course, assuming he has some sort of psychotic and/or character break. But think about it: the Functionist doctrine is reigniting his original principles and philosophies. The populace is already in a subjugated mindset, making a transition to a new, "cleaner and freer" way of living an easy one. Megatron could easily justify it as needing to guide these people into a new way of living (after exterminating the Functionists, of course), seeing it as essentially a clean slate version of Cybertron. The war never happened here, and neither did the atrocities he committed. In this way, he would return to the despot he's classically been, but in his mind be completely justified in doing so. It's also a way for the writers to bring back "evil Megatron" without just saying "graaaggghhh he's evil now for some reason *coughcoughhasbrotoldustocoughcough* buy more toys plz" and potentially adds some interesting stories when Prime others find out.
If this is the wrong place for this kind of post, I apologize and would appreciate a redirection. If not, thoughts?
Posted by Kurona on May 5th, 2017 @ 5:55pm CDT
Posted by ArmadaPrime on May 5th, 2017 @ 6:05pm CDT
...have we just had our first look at the (partially transformed) key to vector sigma?
Posted by SureShot18 on May 5th, 2017 @ 6:22pm CDT
Posted by griftimus prime on May 5th, 2017 @ 7:44pm CDT
Posted by bodrock on May 5th, 2017 @ 8:48pm CDT
Posted by DecepticonFinishline on May 5th, 2017 @ 11:25pm CDT
griftimus prime wrote:aside from the overly human looking face. this is a very awesome.
Lol, the only reason I came here was to say that Megatron and I have the same nose.
Posted by Kurona on May 6th, 2017 @ 4:59am CDT
Posted by Va'al on May 7th, 2017 @ 8:49am CDT
Posted by bodrock on May 7th, 2017 @ 12:06pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 7th, 2017 @ 10:14pm CDT
Posted by Rodimus Prime on May 8th, 2017 @ 7:30am CDT
So the 1st story arc of Lost Light is about to come to a close. Has it met your expectations?
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 8th, 2017 @ 11:31am CDT
Rodimus Prime wrote:So the 1st story arc of Lost Light is about to come to a close. Has it met your expectations?
For me, no. It's felt subpar and I haven't really gotten into it. I'll read through the story once or twice, but that's it, just wait for the next one. OP and TAAO: I'll read through them multiple times over the course of many days. Those 2 books are just far more interesting right now, and Lost Light it feels just hasn't found the bite for me yet
Posted by Kurona on May 8th, 2017 @ 11:39am CDT
Even aside from that though there's been some great character moments. We're continuing Megatron's dilemma, I've been loving Anode; and of course we really can't not mention Brainstorm and Nightbeat squeeing.
Posted by ScottyP on May 8th, 2017 @ 12:29pm CDT
It's written as a trade and that'd be more OK with me if Dying of the Light, Titans Return, All Hail Optimus, and New Cybertron weren't also the same way. I'm kinda looking forward to the upcoming stretches of standalone stories and two parters/etc. Those are the bricks that make it all work and let creativity really flourish when it comes time to unveil the house that they've built, and right now this parade of homes is starting to get too long.Rodimus Prime wrote:G2. Always a good decision.
So the 1st story arc of Lost Light is about to come to a close. Has it met your expectations?
I love having three good ongoings but when they're all in full-on trade paperback epic longer form story arc mode for 12 months+, it starts to make you miss, say, Spotlights.
Edit: to actually answer your question, I don't know. Because it's written as this six issue story, I feel like I need all six to appropriately judge its merit. :stares at unfinished review for 5, wondering how to not make the last part a copy/paste of 4's review:
Posted by Va'al on May 8th, 2017 @ 7:26pm CDT
Transformers: Lost Light #5
James Roberts (w) • Jack Lawrence (a & c)
It's TEAM RODIMUS versus a universe gone wrong! An alternate Cybertron is being torn apart as the malevolent Functionist Council implement a plan that's been millions of years in the making. But with victory within their reach, they find themselves up against someone who really shouldn't exist: MEGATRON.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
The end times are here for the crew of the Lost Light!
Variant cover by Jin Kim!
Posted by MrBlack on May 8th, 2017 @ 8:23pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 8th, 2017 @ 9:28pm CDT
Posted by Diaboragon on May 8th, 2017 @ 9:38pm CDT
Posted by Rodimus Prime on May 9th, 2017 @ 6:42am CDT
Agreed. Rung sux.Diaboragon wrote:God I hate when the story focuses on Rung. He's such an intrusive OC.
Posted by Va'al on May 9th, 2017 @ 7:57am CDT
Rodimus Prime wrote:Agreed. Rung sux.Diaboragon wrote:God I hate when the story focuses on Rung. He's such an intrusive OC.
I think you'll find you're all wrung.
Posted by Big Grim on May 9th, 2017 @ 8:05am CDT
ScottyP wrote:It's written as a trade and that'd be more OK with me if Dying of the Light, Titans Return, All Hail Optimus, and New Cybertron weren't also the same way. I'm kinda looking forward to the upcoming stretches of standalone stories and two parters/etc. Those are the bricks that make it all work and let creativity really flourish when it comes time to unveil the house that they've built, and right now this parade of homes is starting to get too long.Rodimus Prime wrote:G2. Always a good decision.
So the 1st story arc of Lost Light is about to come to a close. Has it met your expectations?
I love having three good ongoings but when they're all in full-on trade paperback epic longer form story arc mode for 12 months+, it starts to make you miss, say, Spotlights.
I came to say this basically. Now I don't need to! Awesome! While there has been gold (like the aforementioned squeeing of Brainstorm and Nightbeat. And the fact we see Nightbeat driving around the walls in his excitement!) I'm ready for a few smaller arcs. I enjoyed the issues of dancing and personality parasites, the Scavengers and the like. Fun little breathers. And yes, I wanna know what's happening on the Lost Light.
The preview looks good and I daresay that's Megatron co-ordinating the attack and being a military genius. And Rung rocks.