LL13 Spoilers
I can’t believe Tailgate is dead. I also think he may not be alive either. With all the quantum physics references in this darn series I propose: Schrödinger’s Tailgate. I mean, come on, he’s in a box and everything.
Plus: we haven’t seen the body. I know he’s been “blown to pieces” in a tiny space thanks to power surges from his spark, but since when does IDW Transformers hold back on robogore? And of course we’ve had characters believed to be dead return. Pharma (I’m awaiting his second return still), Scorponok most recently… Alternate LL Rewind…. Overlord’s return! And that’s just in the MTMTE/LL series alone!
For the emotional effect we didn’t see Taolgate’s body the way Fort Max and the others did. We we’re told about his demise from Max off panel, a second hand account to Rodimus over the phone, and then in detail to Cyclonus from Roddy. This was intentional.
The rule many fans have set themselves is that if ya don’t see the body or what’s left of it, you can’t confirm the death. Ratchet’s gone “death-grey” and as far as we know he’s still alive. We cannot trust that Tailgate is truly gone.
Maybe I’m completely in denial (as I still am about Skids. I mean, he was once believed to be dead too, right?) but I refuse to accept Tailgate’s fate.