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Back in July of this year (2017) the eighth issue of The Transformers: Lost Light, titled An Axe to Break the Ice, was released. For the whole day, the Transformers blogs I follow on tumblr talked about nothing but the big reveal: Lug and Anode, two new cast members, are married trans women. I didn't realize until later that almost everything I saw about this was within the fandom, barring a small handful of "congrats on the trans lesbians" posts. I spoke to a few friends of mine, asking if they'd seen anything that I had missed. I was told they hadn't really seen anything either.
As a result, I started looking up LGBT/Queer comic recommendation lists, trying to find if any had Lost Light (or More than Meets the Eye, since Lost Light is merely a continuation after a rebranding) on it. I understand the reputation Transformers has, that it's a franchise for the dudebro-iest of dudebros with cool cars and hot women and lots of explosions, so it wasn't exactly a surprise that I can't find it, but it's no less disheartening. It feels like this comic (and the other IDW Transformer titles) gets passed over merely because it flies under the Transformers banner, which is hardly fair. The representation in More than Meets the Eye is not lesser because of the franchise it's in.
To begin, More than Meets the Eye (which ran for 57 issues, before being retitled Lost Light) is the story of the Lost Light, a ship that departed from Cybertron soon after their war without end, well, ended. Headed by Rodimus, around two hundred 'bots begin a quest to find the legendary Knights of Cybertron, who could either find them a new a home or help repair their old one. They've made very little progress. Which is fine, because the true point is all these losers finding love (romantic and platonic) and saving the day.
The first and main relationship in the story so far is between Chromedome and Rewind. Established as being close, with Prowl calling Rewind Chromedome's best friend in the title's very first issue, the two are very rarely seen without each other. In issue 12, Chromedome is stated to be Rewind's conjunx endura, which translates out to "enduring spouse" (this was first mentioned in relation to Rewind being in critical condition and Chromedome needing to make a medical decision for him, to boot). Issue 16 made this more explicit, with Rewind actually saying the words "I love you." Chromedome has three ex-husbands, all of whom passed away in the war (with an implied ex-boyfriend in Prowl), and Rewind has one ex-husband who's been missing since early on in the war. So they're all gay, too.
[Rewind sits on the shoulders of his much taller husband, who has hold of his legs while Rewind folds his arms on top of Chromedome's head]
There's also the relationship between Cyclonus, a grumpy purple plane who was on neither side of the conflict, and Tailgate, who spent the entirety of the war underground and is just trusting and naive. Their contrast is cute, and Cyclonus would "split the world in two and tear down the sky if [Tailgate] came to even the slightest harm" [his words]. The love between them drives a lot of their character development, and played pivotal to major plot progression near the end of More than Meets the Eye season 2. Of course, part of the drama is that neither admits their feelings to the other. It's led to a lot of great drama and wonderfully sad moments, even if the two got off to a, well, rocky start would be putting it mildly.
[Whirl and Cyclonus lean in, practically touching foreheads. Whirl says "So why aren't you guys a couple?" Cyclonus replies "... ... He deserves better. He's kind. He cares about people. The more he's pushed away, the more he reaches out." Whirl, who is kind of an asshole, says, "So it's not the height difference." And Cyclonus: "It is in a way. He towers over me."]
The newest couple in the title is Lug and Anode, the previously mentioned trans lesbians. I really can't say much about them without spoiling parts of the story but they're great and cute. Anode is reckless and runs into danger, while Lug is more restrained and a(n attempted) grounding force for Anode. We're only a few issues in with them and they're such a wonderful delight.
[Two panels, side by side. In the first, Anode presents Lug with a small instrument, saying, "Anyway, here. Survival present." Lug has two floating hearts near her head and she replies, "Aw, thank you!" In the second, Lug hugs Anode while Anode and Nautica talk. The speech bubbles are blank.]
The Revolution one shot featured the Scavengers, and the central plot of it revolved around Crankcase meeting his online boyfriend. They were really cute, despite the catfishing and the usual shenanigans, but the Scavengers only appear everyone once and a while, so who knows when this will crop up again (though Roberts says they're still in touch).
From then on the comic has several single characters stated or implied to be gay/bi. Brainstorm, the Lost Light's resident mad scientist, is the most prominent Single Gay in the whole comic. The exact extent to how gay he is, is actually a spoiler, but he's very, incredibly gay. The implication is, at current, that he has a massive crush on the ship's resident scientist, Perceptor. This takes the form of extreme attempts to impress him, or imitate him. Brainstorm has a type, but I can't tell you more than that without spoilers.
[A panel of Brainstorm and Perceptor. Brainstorm has a finger against his head, and is prodding Perceptor on the forehead with a "TNK" sound effect above it. Brainstorm says, "See? You and me - simpatico." to a surprised Perceptor]
There's evidence that Perceptor is starting to like Brainstorm back, but the exact extent is unknown. Issue 40 of More than Meets the Eye had Perceptor showing support for Brainstorm, and an issue of Lost Light had Brainstorm mention that Perceptor asked him to be his lab partner. Then, issue 10 of Lost Light sent the fandom into a bit of a tizzy because we got even more evidence. But at this point, this one is mostly just fandom hoping and speculation.
[Jackpot jumps in on a conversation about who had left the Lost Light, excitedly adding, "Brainstorm! You should've seen Percy's face when he found out..."]
Skids and Getaway, in issue 41, tease each other over flirting with the same person (who did turn out to be a woman- Cybertronians are majority men and assumptions are made. Skids didn't make a big deal about being corrected). Then there's Pipes, who rattled off a list of traits he'd like in a potential significant other in the story "No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases" that appeared in the end of issue 50, was implied to be attracted to Riptide, who matched most of his criteria. Sadly, Riptide didn't know this and Pipes died before Riptide joined the crew.
I think Jackpot and Mainframe, two background characters, are together but I can't find the tweet and don't exactly want to point to "Word of God" as proper proof.
My favorite part, though, my absolute favorite part is how casually gay everyone is. There are "assumed relationship" jokes that come off as that, as opposed to "wouldn't it be funny if he was gay." Like the time Lug said "you made the pretty one with the swords faint in front of his conjunx!" after Drift fainted in front of Rodimus, or...well, a lot of what was going on in the holiday comic Silent Light between Megatron and Ultra Magnus.
[Megatron, having accidentally turned on the ship's PA system, says over the speaker, "-you think you're doing, Ultra Magnus, but I've never given anyone a hug in my life." Rodimus, who is stepping into his BED chamber, says "I knew it." Megatron continues, "This is your final warning! You're a solitary individual and you get lonely - I can empathise - but now is not the time!"]
This post is getting long enough, but my point is is that James Roberts' has created a work with a wonderful variety of lgbt characters that it's unfair that it goes as unnoticed as it does. There's a casual ease to it. The dialogue reads differently with the knowledge the character's aren't straight. Nautica saying "What's your name, I'd like to worship you like a god" would come off as fetishistic or queerbait in a lot of other things. Blades saying "Do I like him. Do I like him" in Lost Light 10 wouldn't come off as him wondering if First Aid was asking him if he was attracted to Getaway. It's funny, and charming, and has a million other reasons I'd recommend it (politics, treatment of mental illness, excellent world building). Maybe I'll write about them at some point.
Comics to read, if I managed to convince you to give IDW Transformers a try:
- Last Stand of the Wreckers by James Roberts and Nick Roche - story of the Wrecker's last stand, with plotlines that Lost Light carries on. Nonessential.
- Chaos Theory by James Roberts - two issues of the 2009 Transformers title. A modern day conversation between Megatron and Optimus Prime, with scenes in pre-war Cybertron. Essential world building.
- Death of Optimus Prime by John Barber and James Roberts. Directly leads into the Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye titles. Essential.
- Maximum Dinobots by Simon Furman. The story of the Dynobots "last stand." Can't really say how essential it is or not.
- Spotlight: Kup by Nick Roche. Not really tied into More than Meets the Eye at all (though you get to see how different Perceptor is before "Persniper" happened) but it's a one shot, it's good, and it's got Familial Emotions.
- Spotlight: Mirage. Want a really weird time? Read this comic. Nonessential. It really just exists in its own little universe.
- Not a comic, but the TFWiki is your best friend
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