All Hail Megatron Issues 1 to 6 (Vol 1)

I just read the Wheelie Spotlight and the more it all seems out of place w/ AHM being in continuity. In the AHM Preview book back in April, it was indicated that Reflector and his three component robots would form part of the line up. In Wheelie's Spotlight they just bought the dust.

With that in mind, I'm more convinced that IDW are just pursuing a new independent story and trying not to alienate the existing fanbase. I mean, the Wheelie Spotlight was just one month prior to AHM. It'd be a major oversight to tell us they'll be appearing in AHM and killing them off in the Spotlight. And the more u look at IDW's AHM Decepticon line up, it screams first two seasons of G1 which is exactly what I believe they're going for.

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Originally Posted by STL

they just bought the dust.

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Bit the dust my friend...bit the dust.

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Originally Posted by STL

I just read the Wheelie Spotlight and the more it all seems out of place w/ AHM being in continuity. In the AHM Preview book back in April, it was indicated that Reflector and his three component robots would form part of the line up. In Wheelie's Spotlight they just bought the dust.

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Good point there, I'm certain that McCarthy pitched AHM as a stand alone, Evolutions style story, but IDW have shoe-horned it to partially fit in with Furmans existing universe.

That being said, if Reflector is to appear in AHM, we could assume that they will eventually end up on Wheelie's planet (meaning Wheelie has been stuck there for a very long time), or the more likely option that McCarthy has no desire to fit his story in continuity.

I think Wheelie was there a very long time. Optimus Prime received his distress call in Spotlight:Optimus Prime, and then Wheelie spotlight started with that message going out and then a significant time passed on that planet.

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Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger

Bit the dust my friend...bit the dust.

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I need lessons. I'm too fobby. Could u help? :p

And i have to look back at the Prime Spotlight, I don't remember seeign Wheelie. Great eye, Paulbot.

You have confused the idioms "bit the dust" and "bought the farm." Both refer to someone being deceased although to "bite the dust" implies a more violent death, particularly in combat. Reference

I think he actually attempted to put 'bit/bite the dust' into past tense.

Bit, bought.
You can see how this could be done, albeit mistakenly?

I like it though.
'Bought the dust'.
I'm going to use it elsewhere and see if anyone picks up on it.
And then use it so much and subvert others to its common use as to have it added it to the vernacular.:)




So anyway is it stone cold fact now that AHM is in the Furman-verse but with massive continuity errors?

Ryall, McCarthy say so. That's the official position.

But I say you should question that position very carefully in light with the continuity errors.

Try not to be too harsh on the guy people. He's living a fanboy dream in contributing to the official Transformers universe in some way, like Dan Khanna or Don Figueroa, or that aussie guy working for Takara.
Unless we know for sure, give him the benefit of the doubt, in that it could have been a what-if story idea pitched to IDW (Megatron ruling earth unchallanged), and the comic company wanted to work it into their main universe.
I think it would be a great opportunity for a real fan to have a creative input to Transformers officially, and we shouldn't take away from him that feeling of pride he must have.
Try to keep criticism reasoned and constructive, with evidence, not mere opinions. Most of you have been doing that, and I'm not here to make a fuss. I just want to make sure it is kept civilised enough so that non-members don't see this place as a fanboy whinge-fest forum, and avoid it or complain about it to others.
Thankyou. :)

As you've said, the criticisms here have been reasoned and constructive and backed with evidence. tbh if McCarthy is going to write a story then go on public record as saying that it's meant to be in continuity with what Furman's writing, yet create continuity conflicts, then he's going to attract criticism from readers.

I'm currently undecided as to whether I think this story is in-continuity or not. If McCarthy says it is, then I'm willing to believe him and give him the benefit of the doubt until at least Furman's current work with IDW G1 is completed - because there may be future events that Furman introduces that could make McCarthy's stuff make more sense.

Time will tell. :)

I don't think with comics its really fair to give the creative team a benefit of the doubt, bossbot. Across the entire comic community these days there's a fair amount of misrepresentation and deception that is intended to lure fans into buying certain comics thinking one thing but giving them totally another. There are instances when writers and editors flat out lie to the fans via news reports and whatnot that one thing is the case and then as you read you realise that's not the case at all. For instance, Marvel's X-Men First Class was touted originally as fitting into original X-Men continuity. They were supposed to be stories between the original stories of the X-Men. That's turned out to not be the case. And Marvel have never come out and admitted that. Yet in all their pre-advertising that's how they marketed at. There are countless more examples across the bolard.

So I don't blame some of the others for being harsh on the writer and editor. He might be an Aussie but I don't like the practice of most comic companies today. There's a high level of misrepresentation that goes on to lure and compel readers to buy stuff even when the editors know the cold hard fact that they're not telling the truth. In fact when they are confronted by an interviewer they give a very frustrating "We knew it all from the start but b/c the story was..." line.

So a lot of the time you have to draw inferences and can't rely on the words of even the writers and editors and I hold firmly to the view that this isn't meant to be in continuty but IDW are trying to maintain that it is to keep hold of the existing readers following their line while attracting new readers as IDWs TF stuff has been on a heavy decline for over two years now.

I think you'll notice too that AHM is much more DW styled. And I think they're trying to stick to that nostalgic G1 feel unlike Furman who was creating his own universe. Furman's story which wasn't very G1-esque though it used G1 characters.

I just hope IDW doesn't buy the dust the way DW bought the dust.
I am absolutely loving this interpretation of TF fiction. Definitely my favourite by a long shot.

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Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger

I just hope IDW doesn't bite the dust the way DW bought the dust.

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Don't cha know an explosion of that magnatude only occurs once in a stella cycle... :D

http://images.wikia.com/transformers.../Dreamwave.jpg (hopefully ;))

If IDW goes belly up I say that Hasbro should give Marvel back the rights to publish Transformers and Marvel should include TF with their Ultimate universe! ;)

I think Hasbro prefers working with smaller independant publishers because they would be able to have a greater say and be able to nix and demand things without the publisher getting their little feelings all butthurt.

It never seemed to bother Hasbro or Marvel back in the old days. :p Furman has commented about the surprising about of freedom they got from Hasbro. Everything was meant to be approved by Hasbro but Furman never had anything knocked back so he started wondering if they were even bothering to read his scripts, so he wrote this utterly ridiculous story which he thought should never be approved as it would utterly trash Transformers continuity... and sure enough, it was flagged by Hasbro. Heh. :)

The amazing Trevor Hutchison propaganda covers are the redeeming feature of this series. From the solicitations and those images it seemed like this was going to be a comic about an Earth ruled by the Decepticons with Megatron as a dictator. That would have been a great comic. Unfortunately this comic starts too early and it's not about a world or even a city run by Megatron. It's about the Decepticons fighting humans on a small scale. Sigh.

McCarthy himself said "While this isn't a complete reset it's certainly a new direction for the universe IDW has established and we're taking giant steps forward in establishing a new tone, new outlook and new approach to the license." Unfortunately by "new tone", he seems to have meant "Dreamwave Year One". This is far too bright, sunlit and human with puffy-robot art. It doesn't focus on the character of any of the Decepticons - they're generic 1984-85 toyline robots who smash things. And the comic seems to believe that an unoriginal line about a toothpick is a positive development for Daniel Witwicky, almost the most universally loathed character in Transformers fiction. It's not. The only intriguing two pages in the first two issues were the silent pages with the Autobots at the end of issue one. That isn't yet followed up in issue two and by contrast the 'cliffhanger' at the end of issue two is more like... I don't know... a coathanger? Something that's not a cliffhanger, anyway.

This series has not been worth my money so far. Hopefully it will improve. And if IDW ever do produce that series about Megatron ruling the world (with Trevor Hutchison propaganda art) then I'll be there.

i just read #2 a bit odd that the demise of the machination is quickly mentioned, do you think we will ever see how the machination collapsed?

Is this the main problem you all have with the series? The year long jump into the future with minimal explanations to certain changes? EG: seekers new bodies, humans forgetting about the tfs-like the shuttle crash etc

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

From the solicitations and those images it seemed like this was going to be a comic about an Earth ruled by the Decepticons with Megatron as a dictator. That would have been a great comic. Unfortunately this comic starts too early and it's not about a world or even a city run by Megatron. It's about the Decepticons fighting humans on a small scale. Sigh.

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Yeah... I found G1's "Rhythms of Darkness" where the Decepticons ruled the United States with remainder of humans and Autobots forming a struggling band of resistance fighters to be a far more interesting story. Ditto the destructive awe of the 2nd Generation Decepticons... phwoar!

http://images.wikia.com/transformers...ranciscog2.jpg
San Francisco is pwn'd by Jhiaxus in one strike

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Yeah... I found G1's "Rhythms of Darkness" where the Decepticons ruled the United States with remainder of humans and Autobots forming a struggling band of resistance fighters to be a far more interesting story. Ditto the destructive awe of the 2nd Generation Decepticons... phwoar!

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Exactly. G2 actually did establish "a new tone, new outlook and new approach to the license." And Transformers #67 contained a real sense of drama because it was a handful of underdogs against the Doomsday Clock and Galvatron's empire (and it had a Jim Lee cover.) There was actual characterisation of the Pretender Monsters as Decepticons who fear and resent Galvatron's regime but aren't strong enough to challenge him, and an Autobot resistance that consisted of Chainclaw, Getaway, Inferno, Crossblades, Jazz, Guzzle, Prowl and two humans. That's an interesting cross-section of characters and it came out in 1990, with only seven years of Transformers history. Eighteen years (which reminds me: I'm clearly getting old) later, the most interesting Decepticon army IDW can conceive is Megatron, the Seekers, the Constructicons, the Insecticons, two triple-changers, Soundwave and the cassettes. I was bored to death with that line-up two-and-a-half decades ago. I don't want to see them again, not as a group. Just once I'd like to see a Mainframe-equivalent Transformers comics revamp with actual "giant steps forward". A Transformers Generation 3, so to speak.

Yes the AHM cast is 1984 revisted, and it is a shame since IDW had been doing good though with the assortments of characters. I liked that Hot Rod, Hardhead, Nightbeat were hanging on Earth with Prowl, Ratchet and Bumblebee (and that the former all had new Earth modes). I liked that the Decepticons on Nebulous included Thrust as well as Powermaster characters. I liked Hound's team of assorted Autobots etc.

I too thought the series was going to start with the conquering of Earth already taken care of.

Roller, the Dinobots limited series should show us the demise of the Machination, I think...

Thought I should mention when I spoke to Shane and commented how I enjoyed the 'reimaging' of Frenzy in issue 2, he replied about Perceptor showing up in issue 5 and that, 'He's a completey new take and design on the character'... to which I replied, 'Wow sounds cool, but I bet that'll be popular'... His reaction was not one of amusement.:p

All in all, I'm enjoying AHM... I don't know where the story is going and that is a good thing, imo. Plus, I'll support it so it doesn't end abruptly after 12 issues. Shane mentioned he's signed on for 3 series... but only if there is interest.

So (sorry for the lack of finding out myself here but...) what is going on with the Furman titles/story of Infiltration, Stormbringer, Spotlights etc??

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Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger

So (sorry for the lack of finding out myself here but...) what is going on with the Furman titles/story of Infiltration, Stormbringer, Spotlights etc??

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The current storyline across the four spotlights cyclonus, hardhead, doubledealer and sideswipe will wrap up the Revelations story arc of the Dead Universe. After that, Furman's next project is Maximum Dinobots which continues the story on Earth from the end of Devastation.

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Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger

So (sorry for the lack of finding out myself here but...) what is going on with the Furman titles/story of Infiltration, Stormbringer, Spotlights etc??

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His current storyline arc, Revelations, finishes with Spotlight Sideswipe, apparently. Kind of rushed since IDW switched gears to AHM.

To be released is Maximum Dinobots, which happens concurrently with Revelations.


After this Furman will move onto The Thirteen, which isn't connected to any particular continuity, yet is connected with all ofn them due to Primus and Unicron.

As noted above, Shane McCarthy takes over IDW's main G1 comics (spotlights and such).

I'd hate to break it to IDW but it looks like its too late for them. The September Sales figures came in and AHM came in at spot #139

139 15.68 $3.99 IDW Transformers All Hail Megatron 1 15,699

That's a bare increase on the 11,000 odd units that were selling for Escalation. A great decline for the franchise since the DW days and its even more so appalling given the success of the movie.

Source:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=17852

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Originally Posted by FFN

As noted above, Shane McCarthy takes over IDW's main G1 comics (spotlights and such).

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Really? Isn't he like a noob to TFs comics, with just 2 published issues under his belt? Are IDW that impressed with this relative unknown, or is Furman just running out of ideas (pitched one too many Unicron stories to the editor perhaps)?

This was the only bio I could find (other than on his website), suggesting that he has been writing for comics for 4 years, but there isn't a huge list of his works that made it to print. Maybe he just does it in his spare time, or the list is incomplete.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_McCarthy
Maybe IDW thought it was enough experiance to take point on their biggest (I think) selling title.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Maybe IDW thought it was enough experiance to take point on their biggest (I think) selling title.

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Okay, I take that back. I looked it up and as big as TFs started out, they are now being beaten easily by IDWs Angel series (wraps up the loose ends of the axed TV show), Star Trek and even their Doctor Who comics.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Okay, I take that back. I looked it up and as big as TFs started out, they are now being beaten easily by IDWs Angel series (wraps up the loose ends of the axed TV show), Star Trek and even their Doctor Who comics.

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I don't blame you though. IDW's most notable books are TF. However, I think they've dropped the ball in terms of sales. I haven't liked certain parts of Furmans work but overall I've liked it. However, I don't think the mass market agrees and even the hardcore faithful aren't backing it up anymore.

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Originally Posted by STL

I'd hate to break it to IDW but it looks like its too late for them. The September Sales figures came in and AHM came in at spot #139

139 15.68 $3.99 IDW Transformers All Hail Megatron 1 15,699

That's a bare increase on the 11,000 odd units that were selling for Escalation. A great decline for the franchise since the DW days and its even more so appalling given the success of the movie.

Source:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=17852

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I should also add that this is not even factoring in the four alternate covers that comic industry experts suggest can add up to 10% of a books sales for a month. With that in mind, the book sold closer to 14,000 units. Yup, I think the damages been done.

Yeah but you fellows must keep in mind, people today 'need' a popular character to 'look up to' role model i think its called

"And giant robots dont look like me, so i shall buy the comic with the human or human looking characters,hey! Lets go surf the internet!" says little 21st century timmy :)

Comics still ahve the "nerd" stigma attached to it, so no matter how popular the movie/s are I dont think the sales would have improved all that much because of them.

Plus the Furmanverse title was a very hard one to get into if you missed Infiltration, not to mention that during the Movie/s release when there may have been some impulse buys that the Furmanverse titles were on their "break". AHM looks to be a title that you can drop in and out of without much problem in terms of losing the basic plot.

Thanks for the info on Perceptor Firecracker, As long as Perceptor is still a know-it-all, I'm sure McCarthy won't be torn into too many pieces! :)

SPOILER WARNING!








Hoist will be appearing in the series, from the horses mouth

Few writers have ever really played on the fact that Perceptor's meant to be absent-minded... the cartoon portrays him as a bumbling professor, but not necessarily forgetful (but a geek). And Perceptor was pretty darn cool - even charismatic in the comics! But he's seldomly ever portrayed as being absent-minded!

Perceptor is awesome. He's heavily armed, is evidently a sharpshooter and rallies the troops during Decepticon attack.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Really? Isn't he like a noob to TFs comics, with just 2 published issues under his belt? Are IDW that impressed with this relative unknown, or is Furman just running out of ideas (pitched one too many Unicron stories to the editor perhaps)?

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IDW obviously hopes a new writer with a new storyline would give them the sort of sales Dreamwave achieved in its heyday. Hell, even Guido Guidi is drawing AHM like his Dreamwave days, rather than say, his fantastic, different-looking work in Spotlight: Galvatron and the Hearts of Steel series.

Furman has kept Unicron out of IDW since he began in 2005. Unicron will likely show up in the The Thirteen, though, given that's a Hasbro canon project.

Hi guys,

I'm dropping in to say thanks to Roller and the Perth crew for attending the Perth signing and for their generous gift. I also thought, since I was invited here by the guys (and since I'm an Aussie), I'd stick around long enough to at least try and clear up some of the conjecture I've seen on the board.

Firstly, even though we've stated this many times before, yes AHM is in continuity and no it was never pitched as an Elseworlds or What If story. I was brought in by IDW because they were looking for a new take on the franchise/continuity as sales on the book were dropping to an all time low. This doesn't mean that what was out there was bad, it just meant that for whatever reason it wasn't catching people's interest and IDW wanted something that would.

AHM was always in continuity, right from the start; our comments in interviews and on forums explaining that fact weren't 'damage control' or any such thing, we were simply trying to clear it up as, obviously, it's been somewhat confusing for many fans.

Now, regarding the continuity, Chris Ryall and I worked hard in the early planning stages to try and make a good blend of what the existing readers would want, and what new readers would be interested in. Some things we've changed (some of which you've seen, others you've yet to see), some things we've gotten rid of and other things we've kept. Regardless of whether or not people think it is, AHM is definitely tied in with previous continuity. I've read all of the previous IDW books and have brought much of that through into AHM; again, some of this you just haven't seen yet.

Ok, some quick replies to some points (sorry I couldn't reply to all of these personally, Guys, I hope you understand):

Body count - As much as I would have loved to have shown extreme death and carnage Hasbro, understandably, won't allow it. At the end of the day kids are reading this and Hasbro need to be careful about how their property is portrayed to all audiences.

Megatron's goals - Yes Megatron has planned all of this out; he's not just attacking New York city for no reason. The previous protocols he had in place for attacking planets were all well and good but now, according to him, he's won the war; the Autobots have been defeated. As far as I'm concerned he's a military genius and an incredible leader; there's more to this than blowing things up.

Devastator - I've read Spotlight: Optimus Prime. AHM is a full year ahead of the end to Revelation so there's plenty of room for advancements in tech.

AHM Sales - As stated elsewhere the 15, 000 or so listed in the sales figures were far from the final amount. We sold over 20, 000 copies of AHM #1 and are just (agonizingly) short of selling out of the entire print run.

Spotlight: Wheelie - Wheelie takes place well into the future which allows for Reflector to be in AHM with no continuity problems.

Hoist - I'm not sure what 'horse' you got that from, Roller, but it's not me. Hoist isn't in AHM.

I hope this has helped to clear some things up. Obviously there's nothing wrong with anyone disliking this series but I'd like to make sure you're fully informed about what's going on before anyone leaps to conclusions.

At the end of the day myself and IDW are big fans of the property and are working our arses off to bring you something that you'll hopefully enjoy and that will sell copies. Obviously change can be startling, especially to those of you that have been supporting the books, but sales weren't up and IDW needed to do something to reignite the line. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't (so far it's exceeded expectation) but IDW is simply trying to do something so all of you can keep reading Transformers (and, as has happened, we gain a few new TFs fans along the way).

Cheers.

Great to hear direct from the writer on these points Shane. Much appreciated.
I haven't picked up AHM yet as am waiting for the TPB to come out but I definitely will.
Just one thing you said there that if we could get clarification on would be excellent.

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some things we've gotten rid of

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Have we gotten rid of these things by just not writing them into the continuity or are they deemed that unnecessary to the story that we wont miss them at all?
Also, what are these things that we've gotten rid off?

Cheers.:)

Hey there! Isn't this a wonderful surprise? Do you still collect the toys much? Which lines? I've always wondered how many writers still collect the toys. Artists always seem to but i'm never sure about the writers

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Originally Posted by Shane McCarthy

AHM Sales - As stated elsewhere the 15, 000 or so listed in the sales figures were far from the final amount. We sold over 20, 000 copies of AHM #1 and are just (agonizingly) short of selling out of the entire print run.

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I agree. Thuugh IDW never made mention of it, I suspected all along that was the reboot and looking at the vibe of AHM from the marketing, it seemed IDW were making a change of direction.

And I agree the 20K figure is probably higher b/c of re-order amounts which aren't always included in those figures. The only distortion I'm really worried about is all the variant covers and how much that could've given it a healthy boost b/c as is chronic in the comic industry, there's always a massive drop in decline after the numero uno issue.

I'm hoping the implied re-order volume though means we see a slightly higher second issue. It's a pity that at such a time when the brand is doing so well our comics can't do well.

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Originally Posted by Shane McCarthy

Spotlight: Wheelie - Wheelie takes place well into the future which allows for Reflector to be in AHM with no continuity problems.

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And that's one of the frustrations, I think, for existing readers. I didn't know that until now. But I guess to the new reader you guys are trying to attract that won't really matter all that much.

I personally don't mind the change (even though I haven't read AHM yet to see how jarring it actually is) b/c I've always been of the school of thought IDW should have two main Transformer titles. One for the aged reader who wants to see a more complex Transformers brand that we never got in G1, and one that's more of the nostalgic, big bang ilk like the DW books were

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Originally Posted by Shane McCarthy

At the end of the day myself and IDW are big fans of the property and are working our arses off to bring you something that you'll hopefully enjoy and that will sell copies. Obviously change can be startling, especially to those of you that have been supporting the books, but sales weren't up and IDW needed to do something to reignite the line. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't (so far it's exceeded expectation) but IDW is simply trying to do something so all of you can keep reading Transformers (and, as has happened, we gain a few new TFs fans along the way).

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I support the books regardless. Now, I do have the 1st AHM issue in my mountain of comics that have yet to be read and I think i better get around to it.

Thanks for stopping by Shane!

Hey Shane! :)

Woah! An actual TF celebrity stopping by our little ol' place in the universe... :D