#ll7

Clark’s footsteps had been quick and short. Since he’d awakened a few hours ago he’d decided to make his morning as breezy as superspeed could manage. Three lunches were packed, downstairs was clean-- well, all of it except the kitchen. Though Clark wasn’t a cook there were few things he couldn’t master just at the thought. Pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, bacon-- it was all the recipe for the perfect start to a good day. The corner of his lips twitched upwards when the floorboard on the top stair creaked. “If you think it smells good from there, wait until you come downstairs.”

Oh

I finished reading Lost Light #7 half an hour ago and had to scribble this very quick for some reason, huh, I wonder why

I’m glad we got this epilogue issue. It reminded me of the prose-only epilogue from the end of MTMTE season 1. I love the prose, but it was good to see the second epilogue in comic form. I feel like after two long and plotty storylines in a row, it’s good to get a breather.

 There’s a lot of deception and manipulation going on in this issue. Tailgate lies about his feelings to Cyclonus, in a misguided attempt to protect him. Rodimus manipulates Ultra Magnus into viewing Megatron simply as a villain, reinforcing his emotional issues in the process. And Fangry manipulates and lies to Kaput in order to get his revenge against Tailgate.

 It feels to me like in this issue, Rodimus is falling back onto a lot of his old bad patterns. He’s ignoring the concerns of his crew, and he’s manipulating his second in command into falling in line with his own opinions…I expect better from him at this point, and I know he’s capable of better, despite his claim that he “can’t stop himself.” The contrast between his best and worst self frustrates me.

The stuff with Tailgate and Cyclonus was a gut punch that reminded me a lot of MTMTE S1. Tailgate has had a tendency to lie since the beginning, and even after everything with Getaway, he lies again here. Much like Cyclonus did earlier in the storyline, Tailgate decides to mislead Cyclonus instead of just speaking honestly to him about the situation. Cyclonus initially just accepts this and begins to leave... But when he changes his mind and comes back, it reminds me of that moment in the end of S1 where he considers killing Whirl, nearly does, but decides not to. Despite his attempt at honest conversation, Tailgate just can’t or won’t meet him there.

And as usual in this series, the use of reckless violence to solve problems ends up being more complicated, more costly in terms of future ramifications, and less effective in the long term than expected...

I don’t know what will happen with Tailgate, but I suspect we’ll see him again. I have a feeling Necroworld (and/or the moon inside of Necroworld) will have show up again, and also I’m not sure how many other people stayed behind who might affect this situation. Rodimus mentions that some people could stay behind and get picked up later, but it’s never really clear who ended up staying behind beyond the three characters we do see...

Also, Whirl’s character development continues to be wonderful. The one page with Whirl and Cyclonus was absolutely my favorite in this issue.

  It was good to see everyone’s different responses to Megatron’s absence. It makes sense that everyone would experience this in different ways, and that someone like Velocity, who only knew him recently, would have a very different perception of him and his absence than someone like Rodimus, Drift, or Ultra Magnus. It makes sense that some people miss him, some people are relieved that he’s gone, some people have complicated feelings, and some don’t even seem to notice or care.

  Small details that I enjoyed included:

Chromedome and Rewind telling Rung about the other Rung. The last time they told Rung a story to help him out was in Shadowplay. I like that they got a chance to do this again in a completely different way.

Rodimus standing on Megatron’s now-empty holo-statue platform to give his speech. I guess “in another universe” counts as dead for whatever technology makes them work.

Nautica being the only one who has an issue with mutilating a person’s corpse and then riding around inside of it. This sure says a lot about what the war has done to their culture.

Fangry’s alt mode is SO CUTE.

Other things:

I do think Nightbeat is right that something here will have ramifications later. Specifically, I suspect it’ll have something to do with there being an extra Luna 2 in this universe now. Back when Skids talked to whatever that was in MTMTE season 1, it mentioned what looked to me like five moons. I have a feeling this extra moon will have something to do with this at some point.