All Hail Megatron Issues 1 to 6 (Vol 1)

[Hereticpoo]

Wow, GoktimusPrime you know your comics! As Ali G would say....

"RESTECPA"

[STL]

I think continuity can be a source of wonder and pleasure but it can also be a hindrance. If you have at DC or Marvel, there are certain titles that really struggle. Marvel struggled for a long period with it and then downright abandoned it before returning to it where it was convenient. DC is just lost in continuity now.

I don't care if AHM is incontinuity or not. I'm happy to read it as a book in its own universe. What's really important is if its a good story or not. Furman's storyline will no doubt continue (in fact its been solicited as such) so I think in the final analysis to hell w/ continuity.

It's not like TF writers are crazy enough to have Rodimus Prime the eternal leader of the Autobots and Optimus Prime as the up and coming turbo revving young punk. Those are stupid things DC or Marvel would try. I think TF mythos has some certain pillars but around that its all really flexible b/c they've never had that depth and texture that made them hard properties to play with.

[GoktimusPrime]

I think continuity can be a source of wonder and pleasure but it can also be a hindrance. If you have at DC or Marvel, there are certain titles that really struggle. Marvel struggled for a long period with it and then downright abandoned it before returning to it where it was convenient. DC is just lost in continuity now.

Infinite Crisis'd!

It's not like TF writers are crazy enough to have Rodimus Prime the eternal leader of the Autobots and Optimus Prime as the up and coming turbo revving young punk. Those are stupid things DC or Marvel would try.

I have to disagree with you there. I don't recall Marvel ever portraying Rodimus Prime as a "up and coming turbo revving young punk" - Rodimus Prime was actually a reasonably decent character in the G1 comics. He wasn't a flawless character, but flawless characters are boring! I don't believe he ever acted with reckless abandon as Rodimus Prime.

He did act recklessly when he lost the Matrix to the Quintessons and reverted back to being Hot Rod - but again, he was no longer Rodimus Prime at that stage - and to Hot Rod's credit, he did remember his responsibility though (thanks to prompting from Arcee).

[Paulbot]

It's not like TF writers are crazy enough to have Rodimus Prime the eternal leader of the Autobots and Optimus Prime as the up and coming turbo revving young punk. Those are stupid things DC or Marvel would try. I think TF mythos has some certain pillars but around that its all really flexible b/c they've never had that depth and texture that made them hard properties to play with.

Although in Animated Optimus is the new inexpeirenced commander and Ultra Magnus is the wise and mighty eternal leader of the Autobots... But I guess you mean if they did a DC style reboot of G1 right?

That's why I like Marvel, 40 years and one universe (plus a self contained Ultimate-verse).

[Sky Shadow]

My biggest problem with Dreamwave and IDW has been the limited series(eses) and the reboots. I can understand that people buy issue #1's and see them as a 'jumping on point', hence the constant rebooting. But Marvel US made sense – You start at issue #1, end at #80 (and you can read Headmasters, Vs. G.I.Joe and Universe in the middle if you like.) UK was even easier: pick up issue #1 and don’t stop until you get to #332. Now that I'm going through my comics, Dreamwave is ridiculously difficult to work out what goes where, with multiple covers for each issue and tripling up of issues #1-6 from the two limited series and then the ongoing. The IDW Spotlights should never have stopped being numbered like normal issues – from looking at the front covers of the issues themselves it's completely impossible to work out a reading order. Aaargh!

And I've worked out what the main problem is with All Hail Megatron. The way it's been outlined as a concept, any of the drama hinges on us caring what happens to the humans. Unless they're really 'fleshed' out (like Sam Witwicky in the recent movie) Transfans really don't care what happens to humans, particularly Daniel Witwicky (one of the first characters against the wall as soon as the fandom got any sort of official revolution over the Transformers universe [see the appalling, yet canonical Transformers: The Wreckers #1.]) And we're never going to care more about humans who were introduced to us two issues ago than we do about robots we've known and grown attached to for over two decades, even if they're not really getting characterisation this time around. Maybe this comic was never going to be about a dystopia ruled by the Decepticons, but All Hail Megatron could have worked if it was a 'Marvels' style comic of a sci-fi invasion actually drawn from the perspective of humans, looking up at the giant robots who've appeared in their world. Or an underdog story from Megatron's point of view where he and a handful of Decepticons are desperately struggling against the military to take the Earth - that would work too. The whole thing could just do with a bit of perspective and focus.

[Sky Shadow]

UK was even easier: pick up issue #1 and don’t stop until you get to #332.

Although now that I think about it there were also the the Annuals and G.I.Joe crossover. Which were a @!%$# to get at the time.

[Paulbot]

Although now that I think about it there were also the the Annuals and G.I.Joe crossover. Which were a @!%$# to get at the time.

Yep. I still don't have any of the UK annuals.

[GoktimusPrime]

I only have the 1987 Annual. :/

The way it's been outlined as a concept, any of the drama hinges on us caring what happens to the humans. Unless they're really 'fleshed' out (like Sam Witwicky in the recent movie) Transfans really don't care what happens to humans,

This is also important when Decepticons are distributing whole sale destruction and carnage to what would otherwise be faceless numbers. As Joseph Stalin once said, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - we care more about mass tragedies when we start learning about the suffering of individuals (and are thus able to more easily empathise with individuals). There are plenty of examples of this from TF lore.

[FFN]

The IDW Spotlights should never have stopped being numbered like normal issues – from looking at the front covers of the issues themselves it's completely impossible to work out a reading order. Aaargh!

I worked out the order of the currently-released books awhile back.

Pre-War
Megatron Origin 1-4

War
Spotlight: Shockwave

1984
Spotlight: Soundwave
1988
Spotlight: Ultra Magnus

No obvious date
Spotlight: Sixshot
Spotlight: Hot Rod

The present
Infiltration
Infiltration 0-4
Stormbringer 1-4
Spotlight: Nightbeat
Infiltration 5-6
Spotlight: Kup

Escalation
Escalation 1-6
Spotlight: Ramjet (sort of takes place during the events in Brasnya, but Megatron has to recover from his fight with Prime before he can punish Ramjet)

Spotlight: Optimus Prime
Spotlight: Galvatron

Devastation
Spotlight: Blaster
Spotlight: Arcee
Devastation 1-6
Spotlight: Grimlock

Maximum Dinobots 1-6 (apparently this runs concurrently with Revelations)

Revelations
Spotlight: Cyclonus
Spotlight: Hardhead
Spotlight: Double Dealer
Spotlight: Sideswipe

Spotlight: Mirage (Hound and Mirage are in their Earth bodies, even in the 'real' world, but the comic is confusing enough...)

All Hail Megatron - 1 year later
All Hail Megatron 1-12

???
Spotlight: Blurr (I don't know where this goes)
Spotlight: Wheelie (Wheelie's distress signal is ignored by Prime in Spotlight: Optimus Prime, but the issue itself concludes meta-cycles later, if I recall correctly [1 meta-cycle = 13 Earth months].)

[Paulbot]

Looks good but you missed out New Avengers / TFs (which I admit is questionable to include) but would happen between Escalation and Ramjet (as Ramjet is new on Earth during the crossover).

Looking again at Spotlight Wheelie it is possible that the message Optimus saw wasn't the one Wheelie sent while crashing, but the one he sent with his makeshift transmitter? However Wheelie sent that messages for Deca-cycles, Mega-Cycles, Stellar-Cycles, and finally Meta-Cycles. Since Stellar-Cycles are a year (although a year of the particular planet) I thought Meta-Cycles would be a larger grouping of Stellar-Cycles? (Decades?) The last two pages are noted as being a "year" later from the main events.... but either way the story happens where you've noted it as far as I'm concerned too.