Variant Cover for IDW Transformers: Lost Light #14 by Roche / Burcham

FINALLY we get to see MTMTE Megatron's alt mode. I like it

I saw those, I should have shot them forward

Today seems like a comics news day, as we have another variant cover for the same issue of IDW Publishing's ongoing series Transformers Lost Light #14 - this time by Brendan Cahill and Lauren Bennett (presumably - can we start getting cover credits too, please?), also prominently featuring a Grimlock this time in full robot mode. Check it out below!




And while we're here, we also have some line art by artist Alex Milne, who is covering some of the interior artwork of issue #13 of the series, as seen in the three-page preview newsed here - and a look at the never actually seen alt-mode for Megatron in his More Than Meets the Eye redesign. Both are mirrored below!

Wow, that cover is beautiful! I wish my comic shop had 10 people buying this comic, so I could get this covers. Alas, I am the only person ordering any Transformers titles.

Thanks to Previews World, we are getting the first look at the alternate covers for Lost Light #15!

(W) James Roberts (A) Alex Milne (CA-Cvr B) Nick Roche (CA-RI) Brendan Cahill;
SECRETS AND LIES! As the Scavengers' journey reaches its ignoble end, the architect of their downfall puts the fate of half the Cybertronian race in their hands. Only one question remains: Are the worst Decepticons prepared to become the ONLY Decepticons?

On Cover B, Nick Roche gives us a spectacular shot of the long-absent (until recently) Scorponok, who looks all too happy to be greeting Misfire and Fulcrum.




And taking a look at the Retailer Incentive cover, done by Brendan Cahill, we see what seems to be one of the greatest mismatches of all time! Scorponok vs.....Nickel?!?




Coming sometime in the next several weeks (thanks, IDW!), do these covers whet your appetite for the Scavengers misadventures?

Right on with comic book news! Thanks to Seibertronian Sunstar pointing us towards artist Brendan Cahill's Twitter account, and a post that shows the lineart for the upcoming fourteenth issue of Lost Light! It's a shot of Grimlock in robot mode, looking very imposing while the world burns around him. Set to be released on February 7th (though with #13 coming next week, that date of the 7th may not hold), this issue promises the return of the Scavengers (and Grimlock, one would assume). Let us know what you think!

MACGUFFIN QUEST! The Scavengers have never had it so good. The war is a receding memory, their patchy service records have been forgotten, and the five of them can roam the galaxy as they please. All's well that ends well? Not quite. Because unbeknownst to Krok and Co., their next adventure... will be their last

This cover reminds me why I really hate every single thing about Nickle.

Ugh

Deadput wrote:This cover reminds me why I really hate every single thing about Nickle.

Ugh

*Nickel

Another hour tonight, another post about comic art! Thanks go to Seibertronian Sunstar for again pointing us towards the Twitter account of artist Brendan Cahill, and this time, after the reveal of the Retailer Incentive cover art for issue #14 of Lost Light, and then the line art, we now have the line art for his Retailer Incentive cover of issue #15, featuring a feisty Nickel confronting Scorponok! It's always fun to see a part of the process that goes into creating Transformers comic books, even if the covers don't always necessarily reflect the story inside, as is often the case with RI (Retailer Incentive) covers. Check the tweet out at this link or by clicking the picture below, and let us know what you think!

so cute

That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

Grimlock smash! Then Grimlock sit down and have nice warm drink.

Targetmaster Kup wrote:That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

How so?

@Deadput what's so bad about Nickel? Please don't just answer back saying "everything", I'm genuinely curious as to why you don't like her.

As for the covers, the grimlock one is awesome and I do find the scorpoknok v Nickel cover hilarious, even if it would always be a one sided fight.

I’m not even to Revolution in my reading, but hasn’t Scorponok been absent for a while? Or at least was absent for a while?

Va'al wrote:

Targetmaster Kup wrote:That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

How so?

How is it not horrendous?

shill

It reminds me of the days of the original Marvel comic, or more precisely the UK transformers annuals. Still don't see why they are horrendous

misfire19d wrote:

Va'al wrote:

Targetmaster Kup wrote:That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

How so?

How is it not horrendous?

shill

It would help if you actually described your problems with it.

Daniel Adkins wrote:

misfire19d wrote:

Va'al wrote:

Targetmaster Kup wrote:That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

How so?

How is it not horrendous?

shill

It would help if you actually described your problems with it.

Indeed! I was just asking to see if I understand the misgivings, whether I accept them or not.

ZeroWolf wrote:@Deadput what's so bad about Nickel? Please don't just answer back saying "everything", I'm genuinely curious as to why you don't like her.

Late reply but the answer is...

Everything


There is nothing I like about Nickel, I hate her personality and find it annoying as hell, I hate how she bosses the DJD and god damn Deathsaurus (Commander Nickel god kill me or actually better yet kill her), I hate how she basically ruined the DJD by being one of the first things that took away any credibility the DJD had as a threat and made them pathetic with her role being their team "mom" (Later other aditions ruined them further), I hate how she's this "cute" character similar to how far they took Tailgate (And ruined him as well).

Why the hell did she take command over Deathsaurus when she did absolutely nothing to deserve it literally nothing she's a prime example of a really bad oc.


The only thing I don't hate is her design instead I just simply don't like it since it's a "chibi" design I don't think works well.


Sorry I don't like badly written shoehorned in Robert Oc's (I only like Rung out of the "main" oc's he's introduced in MTMTE/LL the others I either hate such as Anode (Who I almost hate as much as Nickel), think are stale and boring (Nautica and Ambulon the only other ones I don't hate but I still don't find them great, Tyrest who is a generic insane bad guy among a sea of generic insane bad guys who so happen to be the only kind of character Roberts can attempt to write), have been ruined by bad writing (The DJD, Rapidfire as an example of wasted potential) or have not had enough time to be shown for me to have an opinion such as the rest of Thunderclash's and Firestar's Oc crew.

Edit: I forgot about Riptide and Fulcrum...probably because of how forgettable and bland they are.

I just irrationally hate her, every time I see or remember her my blood boils, I hate her more then any bad human in a Micheal Bay Transformers movie and is in my top 3 most hated characters in the whole franchise.

I agree with people that Nickel suddenly being the commander of Deathsaurus's forces comes from out of nowhere. But, I give James Roberts enough credit to expect that an explanation is forthcoming, and it will probably be delightfully humorous and interesting. Or I'm wrong and Nickel's the biggest Mary Sue ever.

Lore Keeper wrote:I agree with people that Nickel suddenly being the commander of Deathsaurus's forces comes from out of nowhere. But, I give James Roberts enough credit to expect that an explanation is forthcoming, and it will probably be delightfully humorous and interesting. Or I'm wrong and Nickel's the biggest Mary Sue ever.

Not with this series track record, it's gonna be a stupid explanation.

Deadput wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:@Deadput what's so bad about Nickel? Please don't just answer back saying "everything", I'm genuinely curious as to why you don't like her.

Late reply but the answer is...

Everything


There is nothing I like about Nickel, I hate her personality and find it annoying as hell, I hate how she bosses the DJD and god damn Deathsaurus (Commander Nickel god kill me or actually better yet kill her), I hate how she basically ruined the DJD by being one of the first things that took away any credibility the DJD had as a threat and made them pathetic with her role being their team "mom" (Later other aditions ruined them further), I hate how she's this "cute" character similar to how far they took Tailgate (And ruined him as well).

Why the hell did she take command over Deathsaurus when she did absolutely nothing to deserve it literally nothing she's a prime example of a really bad oc.


The only thing I don't hate is her design instead I just simply don't like it since it's a "chibi" design I don't think works well.


Sorry I don't like badly written shoehorned in Robert Oc's (I only like Rung out of the "main" oc's he's introduced in MTMTE/LL the others I either hate such as Anode (Who I almost hate as much as Nickel), think are stale and boring (Nautica and Ambulon the only other ones I don't hate but I still don't find them great, Tyrest who is a generic insane bad guy among a sea of generic insane bad guys who so happen to be the only kind of character Roberts can attempt to write), have been ruined by bad writing (The DJD, Rapidfire as an example of wasted potential) or have not had enough time to be shown for me to have an opinion such as the rest of Thunderclash's and Firestar's Oc crew.

Edit: I forgot about Riptide and Fulcrum...probably because of how forgettable and bland they are.

I just irrationally hate her, every time I see or remember her my blood boils, I hate her more then any bad human in a Micheal Bay Transformers movie and is in my top 3 most hated characters in the whole franchise.

Thank you for replying and admitting it is irrational. See if don't find her annoying and maybe it's a sign that Roberts sense of humour isn't to everyone's tastes. I'm all for adding original character's especially more fembots and I know that people say there's still a lot of characters who were introduced in the toy lines that haven't seen any love but I think there's room for more.

Still I'm now curious as to who your other hated characters are.

Legitimate question here: did Roberts ever talk about the major issues of Anode's origins on Twitter?

I got my LL V1 last week and I read it, and I tolerated Lawrence's art more, but it also brought up a huge question for me: Anode. I have really disliked this character since her intro, but after issue 8 and then rereading Volume 1, there are some major issues.

Volume 1 our universe establishes her as being from Caminus. She was in the same sorority as Velocity, she was a blacksmith, she abandoned the place and left after failing to create a protoform. The same volume also had her knowing about Cybertron and Luna 2 and the Decepticons 500 years ago thanks to her leaving Caminus.

Volume 1 Functionist universe had her as being from Cybertron, still a female, still a blacksmith. But with the new functionist order, the colonies were not found. the history was altered well after the colony titans left, so that is not an issue, just that her colony would not have been found. Yet here she is a resident of Cybertron, still female.

Issue 8 then has her from Cybertron in our universe, and she traveled around a lot and decided to switch over from a he to a she.

So in short, in the space of 8 issues, she was shown to be from Caminus as a she, from Cybertron as a she, and from Cybertron as a he that became a she. Was this discrepancy ever brought up to Roberts and he answered? I'd really like to know.

I /might/ be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that main-universe anode had always been originally from Cybertron, moved to caminus and from spending a lot of time there and discovering the concept of a non-single-gender species realised she was female.
As for the functionist-U anode, I'm not sure it's been directly addressed. It /could/ be that simply through talking with those who'd visited multiple-choice planets (organic or metallic), she realised what fit for her in much the same way as if she'd visited herself (as discussed in LL8), but I don't think that's been stated outright.
This is all of the top of my head, so I could well be wrong! There's a Tumblr account which collates all of Roberts' MTMTE-related answers to twitter questions, I'll see if I can find it when I get home

Its said in issue #8 that she learned about gender from the Primal Vanguard, so she had already transitioned prior to going to Caminus. Same thing easily could've happened in the FU.

Lost Light's fill preview had been posted at https://www.newsarama.com/38256-meet-ne ... eview.html

It's looking better and better!

That... was unexpected...

It would be nice if Grimlock actually was a prominent part of the story instead of just a cover tease.

Thanks to fellow Seibertronian Targetmaster Kup pointing us towards Newsarama, we now have a full five-page preview for the upcoming thirteenth issue of IDW's Lost Light! Due out this Wednesday, January 24th, the story picks back up with Rodimus & Crew as well as Fortress Maximus, Red Alert and Cerebros coming to the rescue of those left on Necroworld! Check it out below, and come back to the Energon Pub on Wednesday when it's released to discuss what happens!

Transformers: Lost Light #13
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a) • Jack Lawrence (c)
CABIN FEVER! Crammed into a dead Decepticon astropod that's ten sizes too small, the displaced crew of the Lost Light face their most serious threat yet: each other. As tensions rise and tempers fray, only one Autobot is arrogant enough to think he can save the day. Enter Rodimus, expert mediator.

UGH. After reading that preview, I'm glad I canceled my subscription to Lost Light. After last issue, and the way super-powered super strong Star Saber took out Defensor like a chump (where was his forcefield??) and sliced Mirage to pieces....not to mention Rook being blown to bits......we go in this issue with Anode and she's back to being annoying as all hell. Does Roberts genuinely think he's so hilarious making everything that comes out of her mouth so "clever" and "witty"? The way she's being written, I seriously hope she meets up with Star Saber, too. An extra head up her robo-a**?? Are you KIDDING me?? It's almost over-the-top embarrassing to read her dialogue and storylines because the way it's written is so cringeworthy.

Bounti76 wrote:UGH. After reading that preview, I'm glad I canceled my subscription to Lost Light. After last issue, and the way super-powered super strong Star Saber took out Defensor like a chump (where was his forcefield??) and sliced Mirage to pieces....not to mention Rook being blown to bits......we go in this issue with Anode and she's back to being annoying as all hell. Does Roberts genuinely think he's so hilarious making everything that comes out of her mouth so "clever" and "witty"? The way she's being written, I seriously hope she meets up with Star Saber, too. An extra head up her robo-a**?? Are you KIDDING me?? It's almost over-the-top embarrassing to read her dialogue and storylines because the way it's written is so cringeworthy.

Seconded. I still read the synopsis on TFWiki though, because I guess I LIKE punishment...

BeePrime wrote:

Bounti76 wrote:UGH. After reading that preview, I'm glad I canceled my subscription to Lost Light. After last issue, and the way super-powered super strong Star Saber took out Defensor like a chump (where was his forcefield??) and sliced Mirage to pieces....not to mention Rook being blown to bits......we go in this issue with Anode and she's back to being annoying as all hell. Does Roberts genuinely think he's so hilarious making everything that comes out of her mouth so "clever" and "witty"? The way she's being written, I seriously hope she meets up with Star Saber, too. An extra head up her robo-a**?? Are you KIDDING me?? It's almost over-the-top embarrassing to read her dialogue and storylines because the way it's written is so cringeworthy.

Seconded. I still read the synopsis on TFWiki though, because I guess I LIKE punishment...

I do, too. I can skip the far-too-clever dialogue and still get the gist of the story, but I'm convinced Roberts has lost his touch, and is now making his original characters do and say the most over the top crap..... if it turns out that there's some spectacular story he's building, and I just can't see it, I'll eat my words gladly, LL is too silly, over the top and all over the place with story to earn my money.

Va'al wrote:

Daniel Adkins wrote:

misfire19d wrote:

Va'al wrote:

Targetmaster Kup wrote:That coloring on the B Covers is horrendous!

How so?

How is it not horrendous?

shill

It would help if you actually described your problems with it.

Indeed! I was just asking to see if I understand the misgivings, whether I accept them or not.

Lack of depth.

I didn't think she was annoying, but I guess my humour aligns quite well here in what is supposed to be the lighter half of the tf comics. Also not all the blame falls on Roberts as there is someone above him, checking all these ideas. The editor is someone who seems to never get the blame I'm these circumstances, I wonder why that is...

The star saber thing, I've got a couple of theories:

1# he's received a power up to make him more of a threat, he was injured in his last fight so it makes sense that tryest would repair him and make him stronger.

2# this is based on the theory that getaway is stuck in a memory loop as well. Now starsaber was only able to do that to Defensor due to getaway believing that would be the result, basically, starsaber is as strong as getaway thinks he is. Although starsaber would have no trouble with mirage at all.

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't think she was annoying, but I guess my humour aligns quite well here in what is supposed to be the lighter half of the tf comics. Also not all the blame falls on Roberts as there is someone above him, checking all these ideas. The editor is someone who seems to never get the blame I'm these circumstances, I wonder why that is...

The star saber thing, I've got a couple of theories:

1# he's received a power up to make him more of a threat, he was injured in his last fight so it makes sense that tryest would repair him and make him stronger.

2# this is based on the theory that getaway is stuck in a memory loop as well. Now starsaber was only able to do that to Defensor due to getaway believing that would be the result, basically, starsaber is as strong as getaway thinks he is. Although starsaber would have no trouble with mirage at all.

Or option three: bad writing.

You’re giving way too much credit and thinking way too hard

Well at least the artwork looks good.

Randomhero wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't think she was annoying, but I guess my humour aligns quite well here in what is supposed to be the lighter half of the tf comics. Also not all the blame falls on Roberts as there is someone above him, checking all these ideas. The editor is someone who seems to never get the blame I'm these circumstances, I wonder why that is...

The star saber thing, I've got a couple of theories:

1# he's received a power up to make him more of a threat, he was injured in his last fight so it makes sense that tryest would repair him and make him stronger.

2# this is based on the theory that getaway is stuck in a memory loop as well. Now starsaber was only able to do that to Defensor due to getaway believing that would be the result, basically, starsaber is as strong as getaway thinks he is. Although starsaber would have no trouble with mirage at all.

Or option three: bad writing.

You’re giving way too much credit and thinking way too hard

No, he isn't. Robert's is probably the greatest Transformers writer we've ever had. I may not like the direction the story is going, but that does not make it a bad story.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't think she was annoying, but I guess my humour aligns quite well here in what is supposed to be the lighter half of the tf comics. Also not all the blame falls on Roberts as there is someone above him, checking all these ideas. The editor is someone who seems to never get the blame I'm these circumstances, I wonder why that is...

The star saber thing, I've got a couple of theories:

1# he's received a power up to make him more of a threat, he was injured in his last fight so it makes sense that tryest would repair him and make him stronger.

2# this is based on the theory that getaway is stuck in a memory loop as well. Now starsaber was only able to do that to Defensor due to getaway believing that would be the result, basically, starsaber is as strong as getaway thinks he is. Although starsaber would have no trouble with mirage at all.

Or option three: bad writing.

You’re giving way too much credit and thinking way too hard

No, he isn't. Robert's is probably the greatest Transformers writer we've ever had. I may not like the direction the story is going, but that does not make it a bad story.

Did you read Till all are one? In my opinion Scott wrote circles around Roberts last year. Ever since John Barber stopped editing him, James has continued to make bad decisions and add poorer dialogue.
I don't know if Barber was holding him in check, or he's lost his touch, or what, but Lost Light feels like a poor shadow of mtmte.

"Noggin" has to be going somewhere, this is altogether too far-fetched to just be a bizarre joke.
The cloak though, now *that* interests me. The Benzene cluster is roughly where the LL is, and the Warren, which is presumably the cause of the cloaks inaccuracy. If this is a thread to bring Max, Red, Outrigger/Beak and (most importantly) Cerebros into the main plot again, I am super on board.

Ironhidensh wrote:No, he isn't. Robert's is probably the greatest Transformers writer we've ever had. I may not like the direction the story is going, but that does not make it a bad story.

If Transformers greatest write is James Roberts then that just means Transformer is always a horribly written franchise.

The only decently written parts of MTMTE was the first season right up to Remain in Light after that is when things started to fall apart narrative wise.

Lost Light is miles wide but has the depth of a puddle.


He can get a story and characters going but he sure as hell can't stay on course and it doesn't help that his ego has been fed by the rabid fans who clamor for more silly random crap.

ArmadaPrime wrote:"Noggin" has to be going somewhere, this is altogether too far-fetched to just be a bizarre joke.
The cloak though, now *that* interests me. The Benzene cluster is roughly where the LL is, and the Warren, which is presumably the cause of the cloaks inaccuracy. If this is a thread to bring Max, Red, Outrigger/Beak and (most importantly) Cerebros into the main plot again, I am super on board.

I'm going to guess that "Noggin" is just velocity playing a joke an Anode. Probably the next page will start with her smiling and saying gotcha. The whole other head thing is too stupid to be real.

LE0KING wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't think she was annoying, but I guess my humour aligns quite well here in what is supposed to be the lighter half of the tf comics. Also not all the blame falls on Roberts as there is someone above him, checking all these ideas. The editor is someone who seems to never get the blame I'm these circumstances, I wonder why that is...

The star saber thing, I've got a couple of theories:

1# he's received a power up to make him more of a threat, he was injured in his last fight so it makes sense that tryest would repair him and make him stronger.

2# this is based on the theory that getaway is stuck in a memory loop as well. Now starsaber was only able to do that to Defensor due to getaway believing that would be the result, basically, starsaber is as strong as getaway thinks he is. Although starsaber would have no trouble with mirage at all.

Or option three: bad writing.

You’re giving way too much credit and thinking way too hard

No, he isn't. Robert's is probably the greatest Transformers writer we've ever had. I may not like the direction the story is going, but that does not make it a bad story.

Did you read Till all are one? In my opinion Scott wrote circles around Roberts last year. Ever since John Barber stopped editing him, James has continued to make bad decisions and add poorer dialogue.
I don't know if Barber was holding him in check, or he's lost his touch, or what, but Lost Light feels like a poor shadow of mtmte.

Ditto on Scott and TAAO. It's a shame that book was canceled. At the least the annual was a beautiful send off. I really wish the rest of IDW would catch up and confirm "lord" Windblade and nice Starscream.

Gentle reminder (before we get to that point) that criticism of people - be they users or creators or anyone else - is fine, but also to make sure we don't fall into name-calling and uncalled for insults.

@Randomhero you may consider it bad writing but I don't, it's more you don't like his story choices which is fair enough. Not everyone will agree with story direction, I mean look at the last jedi.

@Deadput not to be that guy but G1 is hardly good writing so yeah...the franchise has been all over the place in terms of writing, even Simon Furmans run on the marvel G1 comics was patchy in places. Beast wars was good writing, and again with Beast Machines (though, again you can argue about direction)

I’m trying to avoid LL spoilers here (although MTMTE has pretty much been entirely spoiled due to my own fault), but I have a question. On a purely objective level, is James Roberts, in general, a good writer?

For example, while not everyone is a fan of Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare, they were most definitely good writers (Not that someone in the comic book industry could live up to that level).

Thanks in advance!

ZeroWolf wrote:@Deadput not to be that guy but G1 is hardly good writing so yeah...the franchise has been all over the place in terms of writing, even Simon Furmans run on the marvel G1 comics was patchy in places. Beast wars was good writing, and again with Beast Machines (though, again you can argue about direction)

Never thought G1 had good writing ever but it was still entertaining sometimes, to me the only good written things in the whole franchise is Beast Wars, Animated, and some comic issues from some of the comics we have gotten over the years. (No I do not think Transformers Prime had good writing)

I don't consider writing to be everything that makes something good (I love the Room) but it has to be the number 1 most important thing...

if it is entertaining

This is why I've liked the Bay movies over the years, they are written horribly on the most part and some parts were bad but there were plenty of things that were very entertaining which is all that matters to me.

MTMTE in the beginning had some good writing but it was also entertaining to read as well with great art, good characters, some good world building and presenting some mysteries and questions.

But Over time we either lost things such as Alex Milne's great art (Although it's nice to see him back) which is a big part of MTMTE being replaced by overly cartoony or just bad looking art, the characters are now either stale, don't do much and are just there or have had their character development dropped and forgotten such as the obnoxious Rodimus, the story no longer went to other places and was very self confined compared to before, things were either not answered or if they were they were they had lackluster answers such as Tarn's identity being a red herring and the actual answer having little build up.

Oh yeah and we keep on getting obnoxious oc's like Anode that are just annoying as hell and take page time away from other characters, there are other people on the Lost Light like Inferno and Smokescreen who have done nothing why not use them or bring more obscure characters from the franchise instead of having to come up with characters nobody likes?

So I'm not entertained anymore and the only reason I'm sticking around is in the hopes the end of Lost Light is good...not that I'm optimistic about those chances.

Thank you for explaining your views deadput. Im still entertained and I was never bothered by the reveal about tarn as it was clear given Roberts writing that it was never who everyone thought it was.