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Trivia / The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye

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  • Ascended Fanon:
    • A lot of the finer details of the setting are lifted from James Robert's time with the "Transmasters" fanfic group/Shared Universe. The portrayal of Star Saber as a villain (Transmasters reimagined him as an Anti-Villain), the time system used by Cybertronians, locations such as Delphi, Chromedome and Prowl as partners, the method of Cybertronian reproduction (though that one had some changes from the original idea) etc.
    • When asked by a fan-letter if Railspike was a crewmember on the Lost Light, this was basically the creators' response, with the addendum that he didn't have his Earth altmode.
    • Pipes has 113 shannix saved in his account.
  • Colbert Bump: A lot of the songs and bands featured in the soundtrack saw significant upswings in downloads and search interest.
  • Defictionalization: My First Blaster is available from a third-party vendor to be used with the Swerve figure. Takara Tomy also recolored the minicon packaged with swerve to match My First Blaster colors as a nod. Hasbro, sadly, did not.
  • Executive Meddling:
    • At TFcon 2017, Jame Roberts revealed that the decision to have Megatron become an Autobot was a mandate by either Hasbro or IDW and Roberts was tasked by his higher ups to put Megatron in the comic and "sell" the former Decepticon leader, who up to that point had been portrayed as one of the most genocidal and tyrannical versions of the character, as a repentant and sympathetic figure.
    • IDW deciding to reboot the Transformers universe impacted Lost Light quite severely, as Roberts had to heavily compress many of the arcs and stories he had planned to make them all fit into the number of issues he was given to wrap up.
  • Fandom Nod: The opening of season 2 has an amusing Lampshade Hanging about how Dark Cybertron was a massive Plot Detour for the Lost Lighters, referencing how a good number of fans were complaining about MTMTE getting derailed for several months for a Crisis Crossover.
  • Line to God: James Roberts, Alex Milne, Josh Burcham and Nick Roche are all active on twitter. In fact, James Roberts is sometimes, way too active.
  • Promoted Fanboy: Two cases from Japan.
    • Kotteri, known for her fanarts on pixiv, was tasked to do several covers for not just MTMTE but also RID.
    • Hayato Sakamoto, known for his botcon art, did the art for issue #39 and #44 of MTMTE
  • Reality Subtext: Issue 28 starts off with Nautica saying "Aaaaand we're back!" This is the first issue after the The Transformers: Dark Cybertron and the plot get's back on track with the comic's second season.
  • Running the Asylum: A well-received example, as it follows on the steps of The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers.
  • Shrug of God: When people in twitter suggested that Ultra Magnus and Tailgate's holo avatars were really female, he just shrugged and said ok. He also noted that although not shown in the series, at the time at least, he intended for Cyclonus' avatar to also be female.
  • Trolling Creator: James Roberts LOVES to mess around with the fans and he constantly cracks jokes about the comic and the fan reactions. He once pulled a "From a Certain Point of View" about issue 13 just to freak out fans into thinking that Rewind and Swerve would die in issue 12. Here is what he posted on Twitter after the incredibly intense and heartrending issue 20 was released.
    "Please save your tears for issue 21."
    • Alex Milne has recently started to do this in light of his work in Issue 32. So far he has mentioned a high body count and gouged eyes.
    Alex Milne:"Starting to really enjoy horror movie MTMTE."
    Alex Milne:"joy, a page with corpses 13 corpses. what fun"
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Originally Powerglide was supposed to have Tailgate's role. However Livio Ramondelli, one of the artists, was unaware of this and drew Powerglide into a battle scene during the previous ongoing. To avoid continuity issues his role was given to Tailgate, though Powerglide is still a crew member.
    • James Roberts wanted several Decepticons on the crew like Blitzwing, Soundwave, Mindwipe, and Ravage, but ultimately they appeared in RID instead. Only Ravage made it into the final product. Dreadwind would've been part of the crew as well if Mike Costa hadn't unexpectedly killed the character off during his run.
    • Chromedome, Drift and Ultra Magnus were all going to be killed in Overlord's rampage at different points in planning. Brainstorm, however, was never going to die!
    • According to an interview with James Roberts, the Annual could have included extended conversations between the characters in Crystal City where they discussed their attitudes toward religion, their faiths, and various experiences that shaped their stance towards Primus. Tailgate would've been with them, and Cyclonus would have explained to him that he disapproved of his branding ceremony because he thought it was the same as entering a cult, with the Autobots forcing their sets of values on him. The conversation between Skids and Chromedome would've also mentioned different Cybertronian takes on religion, such as nihilists, evangelists, atheists, agnostics, and would have had a more existential tone.
    • Word of God says that Fort Max was going to do a very morally questionable thing in order to defeat Overlord, but such action would've been so terrible that the only outcome for him would've been death or life imprisonment.
    • Fireflight, Ironhide, and Wheeljack were all supposed to be part of the crew during the planning process, with Ironhide being part of the Command Trio. However they all ended up being claimed by John Barber for Robots In Disguise so Fireflight and Wheeljack were purged from the story entirely, while Ironhide's role got swapped out for Ultra Magnus's role in the final product.
    • Skids was supposed to be introduced in issue 1 rather than issue 2, but space issues forced Roberts to push it back. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, since it allowed Roberts to give some more establishing moments and characterization for the main cast, Swerve in particular as he had only gotten a single panel introduction in issue 1.
    • Issue 9 was supposed to have a scene showing when Drift first met his old best friend Gasket, who's death caused Drift to initially join the Decepticons. This had to be cut for space. Similarly, issue 10 was supposed to have a scene where Tailgate learned about the Decepticon movement.
    • James Roberts admitted that originally Tailgate was actually going to die in issue 21. In fact this had been planned from issue 1, but Roberts changed his mind at the last minute because it would've been a waste of a character and it would've crippled Cyclonus's character arc. This explains why Tailgate's recovery is off-screen and he's absent in Dark Cybertron.
    • Issue 22 was supposed to have a hilarious B-plot that had to cut for space, involving Ratchet tricking Drift into thinking that his hands were possessed by Pharma.
    • Issue 31 went through two different names before the final issue title; "The Cybertronian Menagerie" and "Take One".
    • Issue 36 was supposed to have a scene showing that Zeta was secretly trying to negotiate with Sentinel to get more power and was willing to sell out Orion and company to do so.
    • Roberts had initially wanted Prowl to join the crew as a major player, but later admitted that he would have distorted the comic's dynamic.
    • Roche and Roberts were initially going to collaborate on a spotlight for Octane (now renamed as "Tall" Tankor) all the way back in 2007. The comic never saw the light of day but some ideas from it were used in Fulcrum's backstory.
    • What was it that Prowl threatened to blackmail Chromedome with in Issue 14? Originally, it was that Chromedome had been involved in helping Dominus Ambus become Agent 113 and had erased the event from Rewind's memory; their encounter at the Relinquishment Clinic would've actually been their second meeting. Plus, it would've been revealed Chromedome had confessed his secret to a comatose Rewind in issue 12—unaware that his camera was still on.
    • Rewind was also supposed to have survived his encounter with Overlord and like him would have been captured by the galactic council. He would subsequently have been transported into another dimension by an experiment gone awry and a story would have been made about him trying to find his way back, learning about Chromedome's secret in the process and culminating with him being forced to choose between the two Rewinds. It was cut out both because the reduced amount of issues for Lost Light and because Roberts weren't sure how to implement it.
    • Additionally, the Galactic Council would've put Rewind inside armor designed to look like Primus, intended to use him as a kind of psychological weapon against the Cybertronians. Also, while dimension-hopping, Rewind would've briefly visited the Marvel UK continuity during the "Target:2006" storyline where he would've taken out Omega Supreme and taking his power so that he could continue on his journey.
    • According to James, while the DJD encountering Team Rodimus was always in the cards, the reasoning for the confrontation was different. Originally, the plot was for the DJD to come after the Lost Light due to Drift, specifically hunting him on their list for his past as Deadlock. After the mandate that Roberts sell the idea of a remorseful Megatron, Rogers changed the plan to instead have the DJD going after Megatron following Getaway leading a mutiny to kick Team Rodimus, Megatron included, off the ship. Traces of the original idea can be found with the Quantum Duplicate Lost Light, where the DJD arrive at Brainstorm's request to take Overlord, but lose it upon seeing Drift while dosed on Nuke, causing them to slaughter the duplicates with the exception of Rewind.
    • Lug and Anode were supposed to be protagonists of a plotline involving the mutineers. This was cut due to the relaunch of the comics.
  • Word of Gay: James Roberts confirmed in an interview that Prowl is indeed attracted to Chromedome (and suggested that the two may have once been in a relationship), which is implied in the comic itself but not said explicitly.
  • Word of God: James Roberts keeps a steady stream of this through interviews and his own websites to explain certain details that couldn't be fit into the comic, such as the reasons the DJD members are so powerful.
  • Writers Have No Sense of Scale: A Running Gag of sorts. The Size of The Lost Light in perspective based on Ultra Magnus comments and artwork.
    • On a two-dimensional perspective, the Lost Light is 15 miles long and 10 miles wide, giving it a rough surface area of 150 square miles, roughly the equivalent of the Bronx and Brooklyn combined. However, because its a tri-dimensional figure, and based on the artwork, it has roughly a height of 3 miles, thus giving it a rough estimate of 450 square miles of total exterior surface area, about the total of ALL OF NEW YORK CITY.
    • The rough number of the crew hovers at around 300 cybertronians, each cybertronian would technically have 1.5 CUBIC MILE of space for themselves.
    • If you consider just width and length alone, each Ammonite must cover 2.85 sq miles by themselves just to surround it.
    • And if the Lost Light were to have a single rivet for every square foot of surface to keep it together, and Swerve and Rewind were to be punished by making them replace all the rivets in the exterior surface of the ship, it would take them 198.97 years were they to do it non-stop at a rate of 1-rivet per second. Although... that's probably part of the idea of the punishment.

The Promo Images

  • Season 1:
    • Red Alert - Is hearing things
    • Brainstorm - Has a suitcase
    • Swerve - Doesn't know
    • Cyclonus - Is key
    • Ultra Magnus - Won't make it
    • Ratchet - Knows his time is up
    • Rodimus - Believes his hype
    • Rewind - Does things he shouldn't
    • Rung - Wants to be remembered
    • Whirl - Hates Everyone
    • Drift - is trying too hard
    • Chromedome - is being used
  • Season 2:
    • Megatron - The Apostate
    • Nautica - The Savant
    • Riptide - The Knave
    • Trailcutter - The Catalyst
    • Tailgate - The Ingenue
    • Nightbeat - The Inquisitor

The Music

    Season 1 
  • Issue 1
  • Issue 2
  • Issue 3
  • Issue 4
    • Suede - "The Next Life"
    • The Editors - "Smoker's Outside the Hospital Doors"
  • Issue 5
    • Belle and Sebastian - "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying"
    • Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - "Carries On"
    • Tindersticks - "City Sickness"
  • Issue 6
    • Lonely, Dear - "Sinister in a State of Hope"
    • Beulah - "A Good Man is Easy to Kill"
  • Issue 7
  • Annual
    • Echo & the Bunnymen - "Nothing Lasts Forever"
    • Gene - "For the Dead"
    • Departure Lounge - "Too Late to Die Young"
  • Issue 8
  • Shadowplay Arc
    • Mew - "Comforting Sounds"
  • Issue 9
  • Issue 10
    • Choir of Young Believers - "Action/Reaction"
    • Hjaltalin - "Traffic Music"
  • Issue 11
  • Spotlight: Orion Pax
    • Frausdots - "Softlight"
  • Spotlight: Trailctutter
    • Cloud Cult - "Nobody Said This Would Be Easy"
    • Carter USM - "The Only Living Boy in New Cross"
  • Spotlight: Hoist
    • The Books - "Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again"
    • Cake - "The Distance"
  • Issue 12
  • Issue 13
  • Issue 14
    • Pulp - "The Fear"
    • Magazine - "A Song from under the floorboards"
    • James - "Born of Frustration"
  • Issue 15
    • Morrissey - "The First of the Gang to Die"
    • Johnny Cash - "The Mercy Seat"
    • Duels - "Brothers and Sisters"
  • Issue 16
  • Remain In Light Arc
  • Issue 17
  • Issue 18
    • Clearlake - "Winterlight"
    • Drugstore - "El President"
    • Holm - "Afterglow"
  • Issue 20
    • Shakespeare's Sister - "Hello"
  • Issue 21
    • Ballboy - "Stronger Hearts Than Mine Lie Empty"
    • John Murphy - "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)"
    • Morrissey - "Nobody Loves Us"
    • Soulsavers - "Longest Day"
    • Arcade Fire - "No Cars Go"
    • (The Real) Tuesday Weld - "Dreaming of You"
  • Issue 22
    • Laptop - "End Credits"
    • Frank Turner - "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous"
    • Black Box Recorder - "Goodnight Kiss"

    Season 2 
  • World, Shut Your Mouth Arc
    • Julian Cope - "World, Shut Your Mouth"
  • Issue 28
    • Their Hearts Were Full of Spring - "A Question of Trust"
    • Electric Light Orchestra - "Mr. Blue Sky"
    • Frisbie - "Let's Get Started"
  • Issue 29
    • The Ladybug Transistor - "Words Hang In The Air"
  • Issue 30
  • Issue 31
  • Issue 32
    • Low - "The Dark"
    • Death in Vegas - "Dirge"
    • Simon Warner - "Waiting Rooms"
    • The Divine Comedy - "Note to Self"
  • Issue 33
    • Smog - "Teenage Spaceship"
    • Spiritualized - "Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space"
    • Lightning Seeds - "Pure"
    • Pelvis - "Light and Day"
  • Issue 34
  • Issue 35
  • Issue 36
    • Clem Slide - "Fontanelle"
    • Julian Cope - "An Elegant Chaos"
  • Issue 37
    • The Radio Dept. - "Where Damage Isn't Already Done"
    • The Divine Comedy - "The Certainty of Chance"
    • Catherine Ireton - "The Psychiatrist Is In" (from the concept album and accompanying movie God Help the Girl)
    • Ballboy - "A Europe-Wide Search For Love"
  • Issue 38
    • R.E.M. - "It's The End Of The World (As We Know It)"
    • Aqualung - "Good Goodnight"
    • Guillemots - "If The World Ends"
    • Gene - "Where Are They Now"
  • Issue 39
    • Kate Rusby - "Village Green Preservation Society"
    • Earl Brutus ‎– "The S.A.S. And The Glam That Goes With It"
    • Ludovico Einaudi - "I Giorni"
  • Issue 40
  • Issue 41
    • Beth Orton - "Sweetest Decline"
    • The Breeders - "Cannonball"
    • Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - "Call Me Ishmael"
    • Iron and Wine - "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
  • Issue 42
  • Issue 43
    • Ben Lee - "I Love Pop Music"
    • Gary Portnay - "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" (Cheers theme song)
    • Adem - "There Will Always Be"
  • Issue 44
    • The Smiths - "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want"
    • A Camp - "Song For The Leftovers"
  • Issue 45
  • Issue 46
    • Babybird - "It's Not Funny Anymore"
    • Strangelove - "Living With The Human Machines"
    • Bright Eyes - "Bowl of Oranges"
  • Issue 47
    • Kate Bush - "Wuthering Heights"
    • Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken"
    • Rachel's - "Water From The Same Source"
  • Issue 48
  • Issue 49
    • Thee More Shallows - "Monkey vs. Shark"
    • Suede - "The Living Dead"
    • R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion"
  • The Transformers Holiday Special: Silent Light
    • Andy Williams - "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
  • The Dying of the Light Arc
  • Issue 50
  • Issue 51
  • Issue 52
    • Michael Nyman - "Franklyn"
    • Clinic - "The Return of Evil Bill"
    • Massive Attack - "[[Music/Mezzanine Teardrop]]"
    • Fariña - "Twilight of the Empire"
  • Issue 53
    • The Delgados - "Make Your Move"
    • Scott Walker - "Little Things (That Keep Us Together)"
    • Mazzy Star - "Into Dust"
    • Blur - "Out of Time"
  • Issue 54
    • Broken Records - "Slow Parade"
    • Cinerama - "Superman"
    • Ed Harcourt - "The Birds Will Sing For Us"
  • Issue 55
    • I Monster - "Daydream in Blue"
    • The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"
    • Villagers - "Everything I Am Is Yours"
    • Ben Folds Five - "Missing the War"
    • The Divine Comedy - "To the Rescue"
  • Issue 56
    • The Jazz Butcher - "Rosemary Davis' World of Sound"
    • Lambchop - "It's Not Alright"
    • James - "Out To Get You"
  • Issue 57
    • Gene - "Who Said This Was The End"
    • Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Bobby Malone Moves Home"
    • Michael Head and the Strands - "Something Like You"
    • Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat - "The Copper Top"
    • The Divine Comedy - "The Dogs and the Horses"

    Lost Light (Season 3) 
  • Dissolution Arc
    • Lost in the Trees - "Neither Here Nor There"
  • Issue 1
    • The Decemberists - "This Is Why We Fight"
    • The Go-Betweens - "Magic In Here"
    • Rachel's - "Water From The Same Source"
  • Issue 2
    • British Sea Power - "It Ended on an Oily Stage"
    • Liquid Liquid - "Optimo"
    • Lisa Hannigan - "Lille"
  • Issue 3
    • Anthony Reynolds - "Those Kind of Songs"
    • Okkervil River - "A Stone"
    • Andreas Mattsson - "The Summer of Speed"
  • Issue 4
  • Issue 5
    • Orlando - "Just For a Second"
    • Pedro the Lion - "Of Up and Coming Monarchs"
    • Tarwater - "All of the Ants Left Paris"
  • Issue 6
    • Damien Jurado - "Cloudy Shoes"
    • Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - "Everything You Paid For"
    • Tom Brosseau - "Favourite Colour Blue"
    • Sixpence None the Richer - "I Won't Share You"
  • Issue 7
    • Goldmund - "Threnody"
    • Daughter - "Medicine"
    • Tobias Jesso Jr. - "Without You"
  • Issue 8
    • Emmy the Great - "Mahal Kita"
    • The Blow - "Get Up"
    • MUNA - "I Know a Place"
    • Would-Be-Goods - "Sad Stories"
  • Issue 9
    • Her Space Holiday - "Sleepy California"
    • Mojave 3 - "Who Do You Love"
    • Hefner - "Goethe's Letter to Vic Chesnutt"
    • Pernice Brothers - "The Weakest Shade of Blue"
  • Issue 10
    • The Vaccines - "A Lack of Understanding"
    • McAlmont and Butler - "Yes"
    • Destroyer - "Introducing Angels"

    Character Songs 
  • Rodimus: My Friend the Chocolate Cake - "I've Got a Plan"
  • Tailgate: Mark Oliver Everett - "Hello Cruel World"
  • Chromedome and Rewind: Kenickie - "I Would Fix You"
  • Ultra Magnus: Jon De Rosa - "True Men"
  • Megatron:
  • Nautica: The Lucksmiths - "Fiction"
  • Brainstorm: Pet Shop Boys - "Left To My Own Devices"
  • The Scavengers: The Ballet - "Meaningless"
  • Cyclonus: Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago"
  • Whirl: James - "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)"
  • Getaway: Pulp - "I Spy"

Listen to the MTMTE on Spotify here.

Alternative Title(s): Transformers More Than Meets The Eye

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