Revisitation 120: Surrender.

8/4/2023

This week, Megatron and Optimus are either going to kill each other or fuck each other and, considering the issue ends with Megatron strung up in Prime's dungeon, I think we know where it's going.

Plus, smiling Magnus and Mike Costa's favourite podcasters as I look at the conclusion to Revenge of the Decepticons!

4 Comments

Post Mordor

9/4/2023 09:08:28 pm

I gotta say, I'm not a fan of the way Costa writes Optimus Prime, and this issue only solidifies that feeling. First off, Optimus acts all surprised when Spike kills a Decepticon, but it's not like Spike and his team haven't been trying to off those guys from the get-go. Remember when they almost killed Ironhide back in issue #1, after they already tried to kill a rogue 'con in the start of that issue?

And then there's the whole Megatron situation. Optimus decides to confront him all alone, even though Prowl tells him it's a bad idea (and for once, he's right). But does he listen? Nope. He charges in with the kinetic harpoon, and when it fails, he's all shocked and dismayed that Megatron's still standing. Come on, man! You've been fighting this guy for 4 million years, you should know better than to think it was that easy!

Not to mention, if that thing was actually the equivalent of a nuke, one would think Optimus of all people would weigh the risks & benefits of such a plot, listen to his team's advice, and make informed decisions based on that information. Nope.

I think I finally understand my problem with Costa's writing for Optimus. He's way more interested in making him look like cool & heroic leader instead of an intelligence and strategic one. No wonder I enjoyed when he wrote Optimus in Ironhide #1 instead of this.

Ah well. It's still not a bad issue really, none of Costa's issues are imo. But some are more painfully mediocre than others. Anyways, Happy Easter folks!

Llama God

12/4/2023 08:28:37 am

I don't dislike this issue, but that may be down to the illusion that things are actually happening thanks to the art and having a couple of actual moments of incident in the issue - such as the kinetic bomb.

The ideas, as ever with Costa's work, could have been interesting if someone else was writing them. Unfortunately, they're not. So, as you say moments of drama come from nowhere. "Costa is throwing his biggest moments at the wall without having built the wall first" is probably the best way of describing his writing.

The big problem, really - especially since it becomes A Thing - is indeed the "shock revelation" that Spike murdered a Decepticon. It made no sense that this was a shock when I first read this issue, and reading it now on a slightly tighter timeframe it makes even less sense. Sure, Skywatch's mandate was always to capture, but to find out that one of the bad guys was killed? Not a shock at all.

Speaking of Skywatch, wasn't there some drama about how they'd disobeyed the President's orders, and that they might be in trouble? And that Spike was in danger of a big telling off from his dad? Did Costa remember this? Will any of that ever be followed up? I very much doubt it.

So we've got an arc here that's lurched from the bad "geopolitical drama" with the Predacons and the Combaticons in the East to this, a story that seems to exist purely to give Prime some angst and make Jazz look like a bad guy. And, one suspects, for Megatron to be captured, which is exactly where he wanted to be, because that was all the rage in films two years before this was published.

The only real positive thing to stay about this storyline is that it will ultimately lead to something far more interesting. By other writers. But on its own.. I think I can best sum up my feelings about this by just sitting here deep in gloomy contemplation.

LiamKav

14/4/2023 11:59:49 pm

Is it ever explained exactly WHY Megatron's stealth bomber body is so ridiculously powerful, even compared to his normal body? And why he seems to downgrade back to his regular power-level when he goes to the one he gets in RID?

JeremiahEcks

31/10/2024 09:19:20 pm

@LiamKav - basically, no. His upgrade is never explained beyond 'Shockwave Science' and his downgrade is simply because his Stealth Bomber body is wrecked and his rebuilt one is just what they could do with what they have.

Revisitation 120: Surrender.

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