On the day of their interview with James Roberts, Matt discovered he'd been sitting on a goldmine of juicy secrets concerning original plans for Lost Light. With James' blessing, we're breaking them down now.

From minor tidbits to major revelations, we pull back the curtain a little on what might have been had Lost Light not been cut short. Plus some of our own speculation of course.

If this whets your appetite, make sure to pick up the final volumes of James' notebooks in 2024, which will go into even greater detail.

And that's it! Podcast over. Thank you for joining us for our Transformers journey. If you'd like to keep listening to our podcasts hijinks, make sure to subscribe to Untitled BoJack Horseman Project, available everywhere you get podcasts NOW.

Outro Music: 'This Is Why We Fight' (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks

After dissecting his books for 14 weeks, Ben & Matt had the privilege of sitting down with James Roberts to discuss all things More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light.

From the origins of his Transformers fandom (and how it differs from Ben & Matt's!), to his influences when building the cast, to incredibly specific questions about Mnemosurgery and Empurata, we tried to cover as much ground as possible in an hour. Don't worry, we made sure to ask 'Why do you hate Beast Wars, James?!?'

Please consider checking out some of our other work (Ben & Matt's Marvellous Journey and There Will Be Movies), available everywhere you get your podcasts, and don't miss out on your chance to order Volumes 3 and 4 of James' notebooks for an even deeper look behind the curtain on these comics by checking his social media.

Outro Music: 'This Is Why We Fight' (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks

Just because the crew of the Lost Light appear to be dead, doesn't mean this is the end! Death? Sparkeaters? Infinites? An Evil Alliance of Past Foes? A Planet-Sized Transformer? Unknowable Ancient Beings Trying to Eat the Universe? Pfft. How about a challenge next time?!?

It's also NOT the end of this podcast, as next week we will be joined by James Roberts himself to answer some of our burning questions about his run on the books.

At last the movie side of our journey has come to an end as Matt finally watches Rise of the Beasts.

We discuss the awkward fit of the Maximals into what is clearly a soft Transformers reboot... or should that be the awkward fit of the Transformers into what is clearly a Beast Wars movie? Plus mileage on Pete Davidson, some sad Peter Cullen truths, the return of blah human protagonists, and the future of a Hasbro Cinematic Universe.

Outro Music: This is Why We Fight (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: Lost Light Issues 13-25 (Vol. 3 & 4)

New Name! New Issue 1! Same old lovable crew!

We discuss why Rodimus is purple now, whacky adventures in a parallel universe, IDW's controversial history with gender in Transformers, the nature of grief, and a much-lauded mutiny.

Outro music: ‘This Is Why We Fight’ (The Decemberists Cover) – Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Two Weeks: Lost Light Issues 13-25

For ten weeks we have suffered, but at long last it's time for an Actually Good movie! We could tell you about our discussion of Travis Knight's rap career, the much-lauded opening, the best human character in the series, our mildly heated 80s nostalgia debate and how much they get out of no-name villains...

But really, The Thing Is... He's Just A Lil Guy.

Outro Music: 'This Is Why We Fight' (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: Lost Light Issues 1-12 (Vol. 1 & 2)

Two Weeks: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

The end is in sight as we discuss the final issues of More Than Meets The Eye ahead of its revamp. Don't let that knowledge take the drama out of the crew's impending death though!

Love Triangles, Big Returns, Long Term Continuity and Cute Animals with Dark Pasts... truly this episode has it all!

Outro music: ‘This Is Why We Fight’ (The Decemberists Cover) – Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: Bumblebee

Two Weeks: Lost Light Issues 1-12

It took 9 weeks, but Ben & Matt finally disagree about the quality of a movie. For Matt, The Last Knight is one of the worst things he has ever seen in his entire life and potentially permanently altered his brain chemistry. Ben contends that while it's bad, it's not only not the worst Transformers movie, but not even the second worst!

They discuss Cogman, 'Hot Rod' (it ain't right what they done to our boy), sozzled Merlin, poor Gemma Chan, awkwardly smushing two ideas together (again!) and generally become delirious.

Outro music: 'This Is Why We Fight' (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: More Than Meets The Eye Issues 45-55 (Vol. 9 & 10)

Two Weeks: Bumblebee

In which we discuss The Ethics of Withholding Medical Treatment, The Ethics of Killing Baby Robot Hitler, The Ethics of Charisma Parasites, The Ethics of Dated Sitcoms, and the Ethics of War (As Expressed Through Flowers)

Plus Ben tries to break Matt by mentioning too many characters from books we aren't reading, and it works better than he could have imagined at the time!

Outro Music: ‘This Is Why We Fight’ (The Decemberists Cover) – Saskia Parks

Homework

Next Week: The Last Knight

Two Weeks: MTMTE Issues 45-55 (Vols. 9 & 10)

Time to dust off one of our favourite debates on this podcast network: Is it worse to be Boring or Bad?

Michael Bay submits his evidence to the latest hearing, Age of Extinction, which literally has another movie tacked onto the back of it. Hard to believe a movie could be Bad OR Boring when it features Dinobots, Bounty Hunters and Stanley Tucci, but here we are!

Homework

Next Week: MTMTE Issues 34-44

Two Weeks: The Last Knight

Outro Music: 'This Is Why We Fight' (The Decemberists Cover) - Saskia Parks