MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Hail and Farewell

2009-07-06T13:00:01Z

202.156.10.230: /* Items of note */ I feel this is worth adding

'''Hail and Farewell''' is a ''[[Transformers: Mosaic]]'' strip written by [[Simon Furman]], drawn by [[Steve Buccellato]], and published on Furman's blog.<ref>[http://simonfurman.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/mosaic-a-go-go/ "Hail and Farewell" at Furman's blog]</ref> It is set some two years after the general time of ''[[Infiltration]]'' and ''[[Escalation (IDW)|Escalation]]'' in the [[IDW continuity|IDW ''Generation 1'' continuity]], foreshadowing a number of events to come. Unfortunately, not all of Furman's plans ended up coming to fruition, so as time has gone on, more and more of this story has been contradicted.

It is unclear just how [[canon]]ical this story ever was. Furman declared it "emphatically" canon in his blog post, but IDW editor-in-chief [[Chris Ryall]] later claimed that it was never approved by [[Hasbro]] and thus was never in continuity.<ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=81277#81277 Ryall comments on "Hail and Farewell" canonicity (and Mosaic canonicity in general) on the IDW forums]</ref> So take this with as many grains of salt as you deem appropriate...

==Synopsis==
Hunter O'Nion touches some family photographs on a dresser, musing to himself about how he's saying goodbye to what little of a life he'd had. He stands in a bedroom, dressed in a trenchcoat and trucker cap, and thinks about his lost family: His father died when he was eight, and his mother descended into alcoholism. He and his sister had put on a good face, but she split as soon as she could. Hunter, on the other hand, had stayed right to the end, his only source of sanity being his dream of finding something bigger. Then, two years ago, he ''did.''

As Hunter heads to the front door, he loosens his trenchcoat to reveal his metallic chest. He ponders how everything had changed back then — how ''he'' had changed. Stepping outside, he drops his jacket and hat and leaps into the air, transforming into Sunstreaker's head. As the Autobot catches and attaches him, he thinks about how "Hunter" had ceased to be, as an individual, his memories overlapping with Sunstreaker's. Since the fusion, the merged Autobot/human had traveled to other worlds (even another dimension), battled [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], allied with the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, and faced a [[Decepticon]] invasion. This house had become so very small, and truly he couldn't go home again.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (2)
|c3=
* [[Hunter O'Nion]] (1)
}}

==Errors==
{{spoilers|All Hail Megatron issue 12|July 22, 2009}}

* These are only errors in retrospect, but several events have been made impossible (or at least ''severely'' unlikely) in the time since this was published:
** Hunter and Sunstreaker are shown still being partnered two years after Hunter met the Autobots and became a Headmaster. Yet ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'', set only one year after that general timeframe, begins with their bond having already been fully severed and ends with both of them dead.
** The "other dimension" that Hunter said they'd gone to was probably going to be the [[Dead Universe]]. However, that storyline was heavily truncated in the rushed ''[[Revelation (IDW)|Revelation]]'' miniseries, and neither Hunter nor Sunstreaker ended up going there.
** The only "full scale Decepticon invasion" to happen yet is the one in ''All Hail'', which, as previously stated, is the series that makes this Mosaic strip so impossible.
** Hunter hasn't even been seen on another ''planet'' at this point, though he has been on a [[Ark-32|spaceship]], so there's still a chance for some as-yet-untold tale of interplanetary travel to surface.
** Hunter turns into the same type of head as the [[Machination]]'s [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]]s, but in ''[[Devastation (IDW)|Devastation]]'' he turns into a replica of Sunstreaker's original head. This mistake occurred because "Hail and Farewell" was drawn before [[Devastation issue 6|the relevant issue]] depicting Sunstreaker's Headmaster head had been released.

==Items of note==
* The foreshadowing that ''did'' come true was the Scorponok-facing and the Dinobot-allying, both in the ''[[Maximum Dinobots]]'' miniseries.
* As nothing has yet contradicted Hunter's childhood history, TFWiki.net is counting at least THAT bit as applicable to the IDW ''Generation 1'' continuity. The rest, if we consider it canon at all, is relegated to a [[splinter timeline]] (an idea suggested by Ryall's comments).<ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=81293#81293 Followup comment from Ryall]</ref> Or perhaps the line about Hunter preserving his sanity via mental escape is a hint that this is actually his dream world while [[Bombshell]] experiments on him during ''All Hail Megatron''. The whole thing is very much open to reader interpretation, and all bets are off.
* All we know is, considering how horrible Hunter's mainstream fate turned out to be (Thanks a lot, [[Shane McCarthy]]), this story has only grown more painfully bittersweet over time.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Generation 1]]
[[Category:Stories]]

Shane McCarthy

2009-07-06T10:41:48Z

202.156.10.230: lololololol

[[Image:ShaneMcCarthy.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Tonight on ''Top Gear'', Richard Hammond will drive a jet-powered dragster...]]
{{bigquote|I wouldn't read anything I wasn't enjoying either.|Shane McCarthy<ref>[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=51978&view=findpost&p=1053581 Comment made on the Allspark.com forums, on November 2, 2008]</ref>}}

'''Shane McCarthy''' is an [[Australia]]n <s>hack</s> comic book writer. He has written for DC Comics's Batman in ''Detective Comics'' and was responsible for the reinvention of the Riddler during the five-part "Riddle Me That" storyline in ''Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' (which was subsequently ignored by the "One Year Later" event). He has recently started writing ''Transformers'' comics for [[IDW Publishing]], with his first series being ''[[All Hail Megatron]]''.

The first details of ''All Hail Megatron'' were revealed by McCarthy in a television interview on the disreputable Australian tabloid current affairs programme ''Today Tonight'' on January 16, 2008. He was quoted saying that the story would be about a "world without the [[Autobot|Autobots]]", but later retracted his comments, claiming he had been misquoted.<ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=3076&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90S Shane McCarthy clarifies ''All Hail Megatron'' details on February 20, 2008 on the IDW forums]</ref> Considering the quality of ''Today Tonight's'' journalism (trust us, it's terrible), it's hard not to give Shane the benefit of the doubt on this one.

One of Shane McCarthy's passions is swing dancing. He is a regular instructor at the Swing It! swing dancing school in Perth, Western Australia.<ref>[http://swingit.com.au/?page_id=6 Swing It! About Us/Teachers page]</ref>

He is not a fan of the [[Transformers (2007)|2007 ''Transformers'' movie]].<ref>[http://www.smactalk.com.au/?p=64 Based upon his pleasure in a blog post about a fan praising ''All Hail Megatron'' while deriding the 2007 Movie]</ref>

==Comic bibliography==
===IDW Publishing===
* ''[[All Hail Megatron]]'' #1–12 + some part of issues 13–16.
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]'' [[Spotlight: Blurr|#20 ''Blurr'']]
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]'' [[Spotlight: Drift|#22 ''Drift'']]
* ''[[Spotlight (comics)|Spotlight]]'' [[Spotlight: Cliffjumper|#23 ''Cliffjumper'']]<ref>[http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090301-wondercon09-IDW-movies.html Cliffjumper announced at Wondercon]</ref>''

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://www.shanemccarthy.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.smactalk.com.au/ Shane McCarthy's blog]
* [http://9am.ten.com.au/video.htm?vxSiteId=4a40990c-a06c-401b-8663-6f890bb8f3dc&vxChannel=9am%20Books&vxClipId=1427_9am-774LG1-220509&vxBitrate=300&CMP=LEC-DANCEgetVideoLink Television interview on 9am with David & Kim]

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Shane}}
[[Category:IDW]]
[[Category:Writers]]

Hunter O'Nion

2009-06-25T09:40:56Z

202.156.10.230: /* IDW comics continuity */ You know that is why McCarthy got rid of him

:''Hunter is a [[human]] [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] in the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Hunter ONion.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Yeah, and the first part is "Hoon-Tear". Alright.]]

If you crossed ''Scooby-Doo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Shaggy with ''The X-Files''' Fox Mulder, '''Hunter O'Nion''' is who you'd get. With scruffy ginger hair, a green "Alien Death Ray" T-shirt and a VW Kombi van, you'd be forgiven for writing him off as some hippie slacker, but Hunter O'Nion (that's Oh-Nigh-On, not ''un-yun;'' he's a little sensitive about his last name) is really a modern-day questing knight. He runs the [[Mechatopia.com]] website, a repository for information about the presence of gigantic extraterrestrial mechanoids on Earth, and is willing to personally scour the back-roads of continental North America for further evidence.

If there's one problem with Hunter, it's that he's not the most sensitive of people; also, in his drive to uncover the truth, he can get very blunt and direct when someone who may know more than they let on gets evasive—even if that someone has good reason to dissemble.

A chance encounter with [[Verity Carlo]] in Arizona, though, gives him more than he could have wished for: Not only does he achieve personal contact with an actual alien robot in disguise, he's dropped right into the middle of a covert war. The question is, now that Hunter's found his proof, what will he do with it?

==Fiction==
===IDW comics continuity===
{{ongoing}}
Hunter's family was shattered when he was eight — his father died and his mother descended into alcoholism as a result. His sister left when she was old enough, while he stayed until his mother's death. The only thing that kept him going was "a dream of something else, something bigger". {{storylink|Hail and Farewell}}

{{note|That information comes from a story of dubious canonicity; see [[#Hail and Farewell|Hail and Farewell]] below.}}

After picking up Verity Carlo in the North American desert, he was surprisingly thrust into the war between the [[Autobot|Autobots]] and [[Decepticon|Decepticons]]. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 0}} After being rescued from a Decepticon assault by [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], he offered assistance to the Autobots in an... "unofficial" capacity, spying on an abandoned Decepticon base before it was destroyed by [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]], under orders from [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 5}} Hunter saved Verity's life with the help of [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and at great physical risk. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 6}}

After this mission, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] ordered that Hunter and the other humans be sent home. However, as the Autobots escorted them away from the Autobot base, a [[Machination]] assault team attacked. It appears that Hunter and [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] were killed by the Machination {{storylink|Escalation issue 1}}, but upon examination of Sunstreaker's husk, Ratchet discovered that it was a fake. {{storylink|Escalation issue 2}}Meanwhile, Hunter was being operated on by the Machination, his body becoming the host for mysterious implants. [[Dante]] presented Hunter to a pleased, mysterious, and damaged Transformer (later revealed to be [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]]) who ordered mass-production to begin. Dante, gesturing to a wall of headless Sunstreaker bodies, implied that Hunter may still play a role in the Machination's "new world order." {{storylink|Escalation issue 6}}

[[Image:Devastation5 THOK%21.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"I SAID, ''OH-NY-ON, OKAY?''"]]
The Machination subjected Hunter to an extensive regimen of brainwashing, after which Dante was informed that the boy was a blank slate, an organic machine that they could do with as they wished. Quality control for this process was apparently lacking, as Hunter was able to retain his own thoughts through a mantra of useless science fiction trivia. Skulking unseen through the Machination facility, Hunter was surprised to discover the severed but still functioning head of Sunstreaker, begging him for death! {{storylink|Devastation issue 2}} In order to fight back against the Machination, Hunter submitted himself to the process of becoming a Headmaster, which Sunstreaker warned would hurt. A lot. (It did) {{storylink|Devastation issue 4}}

{{bigquote|We're-I'm... SUNSTREAKER! And I'm out!|Hunter gets to grip with his new abilities|[[Devastation issue 6]]}}

[[Image:HunterSkorponok.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Followed by tea time, nap time, play time, and bed time.]]
Hunter emerged a Headmaster, finding his physical abilities greatly enhanced, and immediately headed for one of the Machination's Sunstreaker bodies. {{storylink|Devastation issue 5|Devastation issue 5}} Just as a freshly restored Scorponok, head of the Machination, broke through a wall to kill him, Hunter was able to transform to Sunstreaker's head. The clone body attached the new head, transformed to vehicle mode, blasted a hole in the wall, and escaped. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}

Hunter, now carrying all of Sunstreaker's mind, began running raids on Machination facilities in an attempt to track down Sunstreaker's real head. Unlike Scorponok, the pair still existed as distinct individuals, and were both set on breaking up their partnership once they found a way to set everything right. At one facility in Massachusetts, Hunter found data relating to "[[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]," and, hoping it would be a lead, they headed for Dallas. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 1}} Hunter later wondered if they shouldn't head for [[Fallon]] instead, given that's where the Dyno/Dinobots actually were, but Sunstreaker argues that by retrieving his head, they'll be able to disable all the Headmasters at once. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 2}} When they arrived in Dallas, seeing that the facility was far bigger than anything they had come across before, Hunter realised they needed a plan and forced Sunstreaker to sit it out while they watched and waited, citing that he was the more level-headed of the pair and that it was nice to just be Hunter O'Nion every now and then. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 3}} When the time came, he reconnected with Sunstreaker and barged into Machination Central to find his head (stopping to talk with a damaged Hot Rod and slagging a couple of [[Sunstreaker clones|his clones]]). Hunter disconnected after Scorponok found them and blasted a hole in Sunstreaker's chest. Reluctantly and remorsefully, Hunter severed the connection to Sunstreaker's original head, deactivating him. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 4}} Hunter, however, stayed conscious and survived the rest of the battle. He accompanied Sunstreaker aboard the ''[[Ark-32]]'', where the comatose Autobot was put into a [[CR chamber]] for heavy repairs. Sunstreaker's original head was reattached, and his battered body was rebuilt into a [[Sunstreaker (G1)#Universe (2008)|slightly different form]]. Ratchet claimed that "though physically separated, Sunstreaker's spark sustained him." Ratchet was able to minimize the mental link between Sunstreaker and Hunter, but he was afraid to try removing Hunter's implants, and the human was left feeling like half of himself was missing. However, he still enjoyed a happy reunion with Verity and Jimmy. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 5}}

[[Image:Hanging_Hunter.jpg|left|150px|thumb|You ain't [[GEEWUN]] enough for [[Shane McCarthy]]]]

Eventually Ratchet did successfully sever their link, but the Headmaster experience had left deep wounds on Sunstreaker's psyche. He turned his back on Hunter and never wanted to speak of the incident again. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7}} In fact, Sunstreaker eventually helped Starscream in a plot that, while intended to result in Megatron's death, had the side-effect of banishing the Autobots from Earth. Sunstreaker had hoped that all the humans would die under Decepticon rule, but Hunter's actual fate was arguably worse: He was victim to [[Bombshell]]'s experiments, half-dissected in a lab. Numerous cables streamed in and out of his torso; even his right eye socket had a tube coming out of it. His expression was of slack-jawed horror, and he looked very much like Sunstreaker did under the Machination's experiments. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8}} Somehow Bombshell was able to use Hunter's hybrid body to create a "hub" that helped the Decepticons find the Autobots and deactivate their defenses. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 10}}

====Hail and Farewell====
In what may be a [[splinter timeline]], two years after either becoming a Headmaster or meeting the Autobots (Hunter's wording is unclear), Hunter and Sunstreaker went back to the human's house. As Hunter gathered a few effects, he reminisced on how much had changed and how much had happened. He had been to other planets, even another dimension. He'd fought Scorponok, allied with the Dinobots, and faced a planetary Decepticon invasion. And now he wasn't just Hunter; he had become one with Sunstreaker in both mind and body. As he converted back to Sunstreaker's head, he mused that it was true what they said about never being able to go home again. {{storylink|Hail and Farewell}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onion, Hunter}}
[[Category:Comic-only characters]]
[[Category:Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category:Headmasters]]
[[Category:Humans]]

Insecticon swarm

2009-06-25T05:47:23Z

202.156.10.230: Undo revision 317667 by 86.144.113.206 (Talk)You know it's true, they were unimportant redshirts

{{Noname-unconfirmed}}
{{disambig3|Swarm}}
[[Image:AHM7 Swarm.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Hasbro]], will we get these as [[Robot Heroes]]? Pleeeeese?]]
'''The Swarm''' is a horde of <s>unimportant redshirts</s> horribly mutated insect-like robots created by the Decepticons, stalking about the surface of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] looking for victims to devour.

==Fiction==
===IDW Comics continuity===
{{ongoing}}
The Swarm were a side-effect of the Decepticon's attempts to create [[Insecticon (G1)|the Insecticons]], and their existence was seen as horrific torture by [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]]. The process created one successful Insecticon for every ''thousand'' Swarm clones, with the Swarm growing to be three thousand strong {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7|All Hail Megatron issue 7}} before being dumped to scamper around on Cybertron. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6|All Hail Megatron issue 6}}

[[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] stated he and his crashed crew were lucky to avoid the Swarm. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 5|All Hail Megatron issue 5}} Bowing to narrative effect, two of the Swarm chose that very day to walk over to the Autobot's temporary base, allowing [[Drift (G1)|Drift]] and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] to show how cool and violent they were. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6|All Hail Megatron issue 6}}

The Autobots retreated to a fallback position {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7}}, needing only to destroy a bridge to keep the Swarm at bay. The Swarm took out [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], forcing [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] to sacrifice himself manually blowing the bridge. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8}}

The Swarm crossed another bridge.

And then this happened:
[[Image:Omega Arrives in AHM.jpg|thumb|left|300px|We were important to the plot, honest!]]
{{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 10|All Hail Megatron issue 10}}

[[Category:Generation 1]]
[[Category:Insecticons]]