“We should’ve known. Being happy: always a sign that somebody was about to die.” —From Knight Quest: The Quest for the Knights, by SWERVE of Helex.
IDW have sent us the full-length preview for tomorrow’s More than Meets the Eye! More than Meets the Eye 42 sees things on the Vis Vitalis take a turn for the macabre. Will the bots make it out alive? Check out tomorrow’s new issue from master Transformers scribe James Roberts and find out!
In the meantime, check out the preview after the break!
payres
James Roberts: MTMTE #43 – Commentary and SPOILERS
ktousis
Simply LOVED the "Soundtrack". Made a playlist in the exact same order and listened to the songs while reading this issue.
SMOG
Yup… apparently when you populate half a colony with "female" TFs, suddenly it becomes BFF drama all the time. I also find it funny how Caminus is depicted as a warrior society full of religious fundamentalists on the verge of a total energy crisis in the other titles, but in MTMTE, it's apparently the school from FAME.
Right. It seems like any of the actually intriguing questions about Caminus are being completely avoided. Sigh.
I was going to ask who you mean, but I haven't read the latest issue yet, and I'm assuming some of Nautica's friends come along. Hopefully with a few more fembots on board, we can actually dump the "Naughty Nautica New Girl" flirting with the readers nonsense… I mean… I HOPE. If it goes the opposite direction, I'll be so depressed.
Well, from what we've seen in the other titles, that's not quite the case.
On the other hand, racism is partially a "first world" problem though… so let's bring on the Shapism!
zmog
scubaboy31
This looks like a great issue of Doctor Who…
Autovolt 127
You do make a lot of great points however i need to correct in one place.
What if Caminen society is just first world problems?
Wheeljack_Prime
You know, as much as James Roberts keeps saying "I'm not pairing her up with anybody", the solution to him is apparently "pair her up with EVERYBODY!"
RIPTIDE: Dibs on Tuesdays!
thewiredknight
Nautica's nose is creepy as shit on that cover, it is WAY too human.
SPLIT LIP
You're playing with fire, man! :O
But seriously, I agree with everything you've said. It totally feels "high school drama" which, as I pointed out in the actual thread, seems a bit weird for a series that dealt with planet-wide prejudice, slave labour, self-serving politicians, etc. It wouldn't be so bad if these highschool-esque problems weren't one of the main parts of Caminen society we've been shown. There's a been a certain established… dichotomy with the pre and post war social behaviours, that also shows a solid connection. The shapism that led to so much cruelty is still prominent on a smaller scale. It's like even the small problems of Cybertronian society echo the large-scale ones, so you can understand where animosity would grow from them and make them a big deal. Caminen society just seems like small-scale problems being treated as large-scale problems. It seems trivial.
SMOG
Oh, I know. Just playing on the ol' sex-positive politics.
But still, I think that we're getting an awkward over-emphasis on the "socialization of adorkable popular-nerd Nautica". It feels like 90% of her page time is devoted to shipping bait, which is conspicuous since she's the only "girl" on board, even though that's not really supposed to matter to Cybertronians.
So in a way, she really is becoming the G1 Arcee of this book… the ONE girl, who is then narratively defined by her mating potential, rather than her other traits as a character. She has more subjectivity, but otherwise it's kind of the same trope.
Metaphorically, of course. But I think that's still germaine, considering how Roberts often uses analogies to converse with the fandom through his writing.
And yeah, the "nerdy girl escapes paralyzing high-school politics, comes to new college, makes new friends, flourishes socially" analogy plotline is just… really… not that interesting. Maybe for readers still in high school, but I think most of us have already lived through that. It's not a fresh perspective.
Symbolically, yes. Narratively… no.
And it falls apart when you try to apply a term like "bi" to the situation at large (not just Skids)… because unless Caminus has gender-normative pairing conventions, then the "gender" of individual characters is actually irrelevent to mate selection. You could say that ALL TFs are "bi"… except that would imply a more rigid association. Instead, it's not just that they are attracted to both genders… it's that they don't really see a difference between them (or that gender is not seen as a romantic factor).
Of course, the end point of this line of reasoning is always the same… it makes zero sense for them to have binary pseudo-sexual genders to begin with. It's only there as a narrative conceit.
Oh, I understand the distinction you're making between -romantic and -sexual there. My objection is more directed to the 'bi' label in general. It doesn't really apply here, because Skids (and ostensibly all Cybertronians) does not distinguish gender in 'his' romantic inclinations. It's not that they're all "gay" and Nautica represents an introduced "female" to the context. They are not choosing between two options; for them Nautica is just another Transformer… who happens to have a weird attachment to pronouns.
In other words, Skids can't be considered "bi" because he literally doesn't even perceive/recognize gender.
That's why it's a really huge, critical divide between Cybertronian and Camien culture.
I mean, as you say… it COULD be determined that Cybertronians DO see Fembots as inherently different (though the dialogue in this scene suggests otherwise) and that some simply prefer normal male/ungendered types OR prefer these new "female" types for some reason… but it doesn't make much sense. And it hurts the overall progressive gender project.
I mean, here is the root of the quandary here… in introducing fembots, we have tried to be progressive in saying "look, there's no difference at all between female and male Transformers!" (which is good… biology is the same, we're seeing more unrestrictive fembot body types, etc).. while also simultaneously saying "but there are different genders"… without actually establishing anything that's different about them. This is because gendered differences don't don't have any place in-fiction… they only really serve our meta-associations.
I'm getting bored with it not being handled properly. I'd probably be interested if it were integrated into the story better, and was actually intellectually and conceptually interesting, instead of it just being peppered through the series as facile rom-com shipping bait.
Well, to be fair… this is just the first 4 pages. I suspect there will also be invisible space vampires in this story.
But arguably last issue was mostly about relationship drama. Really facile, juvenile relationship drama. I mean, when I say 'juvenile', I mean it literally. Roberts is plumbing some young adult lit material there… and not the good stuff. It's some serious Sweet Valley High shit there.
I don't mind when we get some of that. We've had some really good issues this year so far… the whole "time crisis" had some fantastic stuff in it. However, I think that lately, the social aspect is really where Roberts is losing his footing. It's not really sharp or on-point.
Yeah, many of overarching plots have lost any sense of urgency or relevance… and they're always getting shouldered aside for some new crisis. Even minor interpersonal subplots seem to hang dead in the air for so long, you stop caring about them (like for example, Getaway's creepy mind games… you spend that much page space focusing on his sketchy behaviour, but then never really follow it up in a way that indicates a direction).
I feel like I'm feeding off some of the negativity expressed here… but at the same time, I think that the issues people are responding to here are palpable. It does feel like Roberts is spinning his wheels a bit more this past year, and mostly reaching for the low-hanging fruit along the way.
I hate being so critical… but in spite of the high-points, I feel like there has definitely been a drop in energy, focus, and direction. I hope he's not hitting the "I'm starting to burn out on this series/premise" stage.
zmog
ultramagnus1
Nautica wont be killed off until a figure of her has been out for at least six months lol.
spiritprime
Nautica is a really good teacher at dancing. Skids is also a fantastic dancer. Cute!
ultramagnus1
Anyone getting bored of the whole gender issue in MTMTE?
Or TFs in general.
We wait 4 sometimes 5 weeks for a MTMTE issue (which nearly always gets delayed by at least a week) only to have an issue about relationships. There are big threats out there.
I would rather see the DJD or the Galactic Council then have a story about Camien society and relationships.
Plus the so called jokes are wearing thin as well.
Coffee
Well, that's why I said Cybertronian equivalent. We know the Cybertronian race is completely asexual with uncommon cases of romantics here and there, but even though we know Chromedome and Rewind are best defined as a homoromantic, asexual, couple, we still perceive them as the equivalent of two men in a relationship, ergo gay.
From Skids perspective he had no qualms with hitting on someone who he might have thought to be of the same gender, nor did he have any upon finding out/remembering she was a she. When I say Skids could be bi, I mean biromantic more than I do bisexual. From a human perspective, Skids hinting at hitting on other Cybertronians who identify as "guys" but also trying to hit on a woman can be compared to a bisexual/romantic human doing the same, just as we can compare Chromedome and Rewind's relationship to homosexuality. Maybe all romantics in the Cybertronian race are technically biromantic, unless they still cling onto gender preferences (which could actually be an interesting discussion albeit a risky one for Roberts to indulge in), but examples such as Skids would still be considered bi-romantic nonetheless based on their romantic preferences.
Megastar
I was thinking promiscuous.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, "the fanfiction/art pretty much makes itself".
backlash3906
Shut up, Rattrap.
payres
Out on Comixology
UK https://www.comixology.co.uk/Transformers-More-Than-Meets-the-Eye-2011-42/digital-comic/250377
US https://www.comixology.com/Transformers-More-Than-Meets-the-Eye-2011-42/digital-comic/250377
Yobuster
I see Nautica dancing and i can only think of "naughty nautica". hahaha. Come on Hasbro we need to have Nautica as a toy!
She's easily tuning out to be one of the best characters. Can't wait to pick up this issue.
SMOG
Well… not really. TFs don't have sexual relations, and native Cybertronians don't observe gender. Their pair-bonding seems to be somewhat in line with platonic love, so it could be argued that it really doesn't matter to Skids who he may fall for.
This is not to say that he is "bi"… but rather that as a Cybertronian, he really doesn't see any difference between Nautica and Firestar, and say… Brainstorm, or Wheeljack, or any other TF.
Or rather, to the point, the appearance of Camiens (who do have different genders) doesn't change anything for Cybertronians… they don't suddenly become "bi" or "gay" or "straight" bots. A Cybertronian would only see Camien gender as a superficial affectation.
It's sort of like gender on a puppy. You want to hug the puppy either way, and whether it's male or female is completely obscure and irrelevant.
I'm sort of curious about Camiens, looking at it from the other perspective… since they DO arbitrarily have gender, based around binary sexual tropes… do they have normative gender matches? Do they see Cybertronians as "all male", or are they confused by them because they have no gender? That's the kind of stuff I'd be more interested in seeing explored.
Well, that depends… Skids isn't really a "man", for all the reasons discussed above. He's just a big androgyne.
Would have been nice to see a bit more imagination applied to the idea of "cybertronian dancing". These are beings who contort their bodies in impossible ways just to drive across a room. You'd think that kind of body awareness could yield some interesting recreational exercises.
I think that technically, that is exactly the case with IDW Transformers. Not only are Cybertronians pretty much indifferent to "gender"… they tend to be oblivious to it. They don't really see or understand it.
YES, I agree.
And even if we accepted this conversation as a bit of world-building, I can think of about a hundred other topics that would have been more validating than "Camien Band Camp" politics. It's not only not interesting… it's also not very imaginative. I feel like Roberts has slipped out of using parallelism as "socio-cultural allegory" and fully into "fuck it, I couldn't be bothered" territory.
Yes, thank you. Exactly something like that.
Or, like… REALLY SLOW Sparkeaters.
I mean… yeah, it really, really is. It's getting to be a bit much. I hate to throw the term "mary sue" around, but Nautica is starting to fall into that territory… not as an author insertion character, necessarily, but as unmitigated fanbait.
Buffy with robots, basically.
I liked it, in so much as it reaffirms the way-too-often ignored HUGE difference in how Cybertronians and Camiens construct social identities.
To that end, I'd love to see a story where bots show up on Caminus and just utterly fail at gender, calling even the male Camiens "her" and needing to be corrected and stuff. If IDW is going to open this can of worms, it's long past time they started chowing down on that worm sandwich.
It really… sounds… like the same damn thing, doesn't it?
Though I guess, considering the earlier set-up with the discussion of attention-deflectors and Brainstorm's new detection system, I figure it's all going to end up coming together. JRob's just being a bit obvious about it. Or, being a big obvious about trying not to be obvious, I guess.
Hey hey! No slut-shaming!
zmog
Megastar
"Naughty Nautica" indeed. She gets around like G1 Arcee.