i liked his expression in that one panel

guzzliron , if you care ( i wouldn’t, they explode two seconds later )

comic below if you are diseased

Obsessive mech finds obsessive mech. world ends

read the last stand of the wreckers. you shouldn’t read it .

wee wreckers below

just kidding, just gay

emotionally constipated creature

the masochist road

or the sadist road. the illusion of choice

idiot thumbtack haunted by himself

Also a few weeks ago I had a back and forth with my best friend about What If Verity Knew 2020s Internet Slang And Taught It To All The Wreckers and documented everything on twitch or twitter and this led to the creation of. which she would post. publicly I think.

the last stand of the wreckers gang!!!

colorless line art under the cut

Rotorstorm sketch *sobs softly*

[spinning webs.]

HAD TO REMAKE THE POST BECAUSE I FORGOT TO LENGTHEN THE TIMER. but. cannot believe nobody’s done this yet

i fear he wrecked, i fear he ruled

ROTORSTORM!!!!!!1!1!1!1!!1

GIFs are free to use, just wanted to make some silly gifs with him. I watched a Last Stand of the Wreckers dub and he became an instant fav😭

My try on snare

TF IDW2005 plot: Autobots we need to Defeat the Decepticons

Verity Carlo subplot:

Rereading: Last Stand of the Wreckers

This must have been a shock to the system when it came out for the first time  and, in terms of quality, I think this clears everything from IDW1 so far. I have so many good things to say about the art. I love the use of upward angles to get you into a certain perspective, the creative panelling and the way that Roche will cram so much detail into every page. I loved the colour swap between the present timeline and the invented story that Ironfist tells about Impactor and Springer. I also love Pyro’s design, especially how there are areas where his Optimus-esque paint-job have chipped and you can see black and yellow underneath.

The pace is borderline frantic from the beginning with set-up being blunt and fast, especially compared to the likes of All Hail Megatron and Costa’s decompressed run. Some of the comics from this point in the continuity are borderline apocalyptic in terms of the way they talk about the status quo of the story, but this is one of the ones that actually sells it. The way the Wreckers are introduced has so many telling contradictions in it, between the new members’s enthusiasm versus Dipstick’s reaction versus Ultra Magnus’ exhaustion and frustration. In fact, particularly Ultra Magnus’s reaction: ‘Look, it’s easier for me to turn a blind eye to the wreckers’ methods when I’m not in the same bloodbath as you guys’. The idea that the Wreckers are at a point where they are picking up some of the most obviously ‘disposable’ candidates possible is also really helpful in that regard, plus the references back to earlier events like the number of people lost trying to rescue Kup, you actually get a broader sense of how the faction can be warped by what is, effectively, the celebrity-worship of certain members (RIP Guzzle’s friends). Another thing is that LSotW is surprisingly well-integrated into the wider canon, which is interesting, because I’m so used to thinking about it as more of a standalone, one of the things that people recommend to you as separate from the likes of the ongoing or MtMtE.I have also had the horrifying realisation that the ‘Dipstick’ in the beginning might be the unfortunate ‘Dipstick of Operation Doom Patrol’, in which case, no wonder he’s so angry. 

It’s interesting to see Fortress Maximus prior to Overlord, as limited as it is, and a little sad to see how much more assertive he is here. I continue to be mildly baffled but entertained by Verity. I’d always assumed that there was an explanation for how she ended up on Ultra Magnus’ ship earlier in IDW1 and I simply missed it because I hadn’t read those parts of the continuity… But no. I would do terrible things for more stuff focused on Verity and Magnus, as I am deeply curious as to how they came to be such good friends. 

Speaking of characters I would do terrible things for, Ironfist and Snare. The flashback with Ironfirst is wonderful, I love his conversation with Prowl and that Prowl’s face is always at a bit of an off-angle on the screen and ‘Thank you, but I’m done’ is up there as one of the saddest lines of the continuity so far. I had also forgotten how sad Snare made me - the fact that Impactor offers to ‘take you somewhere safe’, the question of whether he really means that, the fact that Snare’s mask is partially blown off so you can see his face, but only as he dies…

Meanwhile, not even other Decepticons are happy to see Overlord, the faces on the Predajets behind him whenever he is speaking are a sight. Overlord’s whole philosophy here, ‘I grant you freedom, Decepticons - in every sense of the word’ (a.k.a. chaotic ultraviolence through freedom) sets up an interesting contrast to Megatron’s ‘peace through tyranny’ thing. Overlord is delightfully weird about watching other characters fight, especially with the way Roche/Roberts lean into more eroticised language quite consciously with his character, lending him a sadistic enjoyment  of gladiatorial combat that is ideologically interesting for a Decepticon and especially one with such a fraught relationship with Megatron. There’s not a ton of backstory for Overlord besides the whole point one-percenter thing, but it’s such a strange state of being: immediately identified as useful at birth (before birth?), presumably kept by the Senate/Council for many years, fascinated by gladiatorial combat, desperate for Megatron’s attention… There’s a lot there. Him being intensely powerful and self-willed but not politically power-hungry is quite an interesting combination, as his goals are so comparatively petty and passive. That idea of a lack of agency or interiority is what I think Kup is supposed to be getting at with his comment: ‘I remember lookin’ into his eyes and seein’… Nothin’. An absence, y’know? Like his mind was someplace else’.

The book includes a few references to real historical events or atrocities, the same kinds of WWI/WWII/mid 20th-century imagery of war and dictatorship that’s somewhat common in Roche and/or Roberts works. It’s infrequent but a little underwhelming, especially as references to things like concentration camps don’t really serve much of a purpose except to tell me that Garrus-9 is a unpleasant place to be, which I think I could have deduced just fine. On another level, I have some mixed feelings about the utility of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ allusions that become so dominant towards the end, as it provides a recognisable cultural touchstone and a lot of rhythm and inspiration for phrasing in that closing issue. However, there is a bit of a detachment between the respective narratives there, as although both focus on a suicidal charge in order to achieve a strategic goal, I would argue that ‘Charge’ is ultimately more about loyalty to incompetent and undeserving commanding officers than LSotW, because although Prowl’s mission has a significant body-count essentially baked into it, that’s not really a sign of his incompetence, it’s a sign of his callousness and his willingness to choose ‘more disposable’ team-members.

I do enjoy the narration with Prowl at the end, though, as it shows the areas where things didn’t go to plan (Springer nearly dying, Ironfirst not donating his spark), as both could be interpreted as Prowl underestimating those characters (Pyro’s capacity for actual selflessness and Ironfists’s willingness to reevaluate his admiration of the Wreckers). The way this story muddies the waters for Springer is also very interesting to me, as he knows he sent Impactor down so hard to help cover for the rest of the Wreckers, and the fact that the other Wreckers knew they could count on him to, let’s say, creatively interpret the truth in front of high command? I’m fascinated to learn that this story was originally going to incorporate Grimolock, which I feel I would have loved, even if it was just for a cameo. If anything, the original plan for the story described on TFwiki might be even bleaker.

The extras are lovely if you want a few more looks into the wider continuity, adding in some fun bits of world-building, and Skyfall is an interesting character to meet in terms of how he reflects certain Other Characters later on… Skyfall walked so that Getaway could run, etc. Additionally, this is an absolute shot in the dark based on very little, but ‘Pale Fire’ struck me as an interesting name for Squadron X’s ship, I wonder if it’s a Timon of Athens reference or if there’s something more obvious that I’m missing?

Do villany, do, since you protest to do’t,

Like workmen. I’ll example you with thievery.

The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction

Robs the vast sea: the moon’s an arrant thief,

And her pale fire she snatches from the sun…

snare and pharma <З

idk i just dont wanna even try to do high quality content