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#mtmteread ...but the snag of 'seriously, WHAT was the blackmail?' is basically insurmountable.
which wouldn't be so much of an issue really if exRiD didn't make this completely un-retconable, and then Dark Cybertron did a whole ass crossover reminding you of it.
#mtmteread but also, it's honestly much more interesting to roll with in the finished product IMO, bc it makes them both just BONKERS characters in the context of what actually happens. but not in a bad way.
#mtmteread one of the things about this scene is it reads SO much like yes, prowl and cd are, however reluctantly, regularly working together, hence his assumption CD will go along with this. obviously at one point that was literally just. true.
#mtmteread and we get to That Scene, the last gasp of the original plot for this lot that will never quite be solved.
#mtmteread ...and CD in the chair now.
his splayed pose now being menacing rather than restrained is a neat touch. CD trying to keep control is also great.
#mtmteread remember how cd nearly fucking lobotomized soundwave
with trepan
him reaching fruitlessly for his past self is a neat touch. seriously, this issue deserves a proper breakdown re: what it does with him, it sells all the backstory as immediately *true* very cleanly.
#mtmteread overlord slowly getting bigger relative to CD, and looking less like a man cuffed and more like he's lounging on a chair as the scene goes on.
Mmmm. Excellent shit.
#mtmteread and now we get the start of where this comic really gears itself up.
this worldbuilding will be VERY important later. in particular though, that second panel will get a very meaningful parallel with the functionist universe later, a looong time from now.
#mtmteread god, this miscommunication moment too. these are two characters who WOULD get each other, and that it goes like this is both perfect and infuriating (in a good way). the bittersweetness on a very funny issue for two characters it WILL pay off for. mwah.
#mtmteread i love this. it's what mtmte does best: those moments of absolute sincerity, fully earned. nothing big. but it matters that they have it. the larger stakes undercut by what the little moments that really count bring.
#mtmteread mate, you do not want to know the shit bee and prowl are going through.
#mtmteread i love him. also yeah that IS often what having ocd is like, can confirm, you get in a vehicle like 'what are the structural weaknesses i need to worry about for the next 30 minutes' unfortunately
#mtmteread pure fanservice, the good kind; gets in the way of nothing, tonally fine for a lighthearted issue, means the teens/kids reading have something easier to draw and cosplay. people who rag on this are haters, tbh, it's the place for it and it's fun.
#mtmteread this issue seems like classic filler, except of course for the part where it implicitly sets up swerve's entire arc. which is early mtmte in a nutshell.
#mtmteread payoff two: reversing the cause and effect of whirl's guilt induced good deed just has SUCH a different impact. making it a 'hold on a second now' twist stops it feeling trite, despite the in universe events being the same either way, and makes it work better imo.
#mtmteread not sure how well the pseudo-cinematography works tbh. But this is seeding a relationship which... it’s wild to think was originally only planned to go as far as RiL.
Like, til he sat down to write its last issue.
#mtmteread this feels like the moment the nonlinear storytelling was built for: the reversing of the 'whirl ain't so bad really' moment's cause and effect is what this issue builds to.
#mtmteread swerve is god's perfect schmuck. i do love the payoff being 'he was just being a dumbass', only for us to find out this is a bit of a misdirect and what happened to the others is a lot more pertinent.