MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

The Reign of Starscream issue 4

2009-04-11T06:46:01Z

71.207.138.74: /* Featured characters */

{{picsneeded|Cover A & RI}}
{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Reign of Starscream|''Transformers: The Reign of Starscream'']] #4
|prev=The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Three
|next=The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Five
|title="Transformers: The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Four"
|image=ReignOfStarscream4 CoverA.jpg
|caption=Chicken tonight! Chicken tonight! Chicken tonight!
|publisher=[[IDW]]
|date=August 13, 2008
|coverdate=June 2007
|written by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|art by=[[Alex Milne]]
|colors by=[[Josh Perez]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[Movie continuity]]
}}
'''Starscream's horrific plan is revealed, and a ragtag band of Autobots is all that stands between him and galactic conquest!'''

==Synopsis==
The new [[All Spark (Movie)|All Spark]] Cube is nearly completed, as [[Starscream (Movie)| Starscream]] continues to make preparations to rebuild the planet of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. In the process of chiseling the hieroglyphics on the new All Spark cube, [[Grindcore (Movie)|Grindcore]] collapses from exhaustion. [[Warpath (Movie)|Warpath]], concerned about the well-being of his comrade, tries to help him up, but is immediately incapacitated by two [[Payload (Movie)|Payload]] Drones. Warpath begins to express his discontent when [[Stockade (Movie)|Stockade]] shows up and kicks him. He tells the Payload drones to get him back to work and make more room on the line because [[Dreadwing (Movie)|Dreadwing]] is gathering more help.

Elsewhere, [[Signal Flare (Movie)|Signal Flare]] flees for his life through a desolate wasteland when Dreadwing warps in front of him and knocks him out with a single punch. He then contacts Starscream via built-in communicator and informs him of the new "test subject" that he just acquired. Starscream commends Dreadwing for his excellent work and informs him that they are almost ready to begin.

Meanwhile, in the Decepticon capital city of [[Trypticon (Movie)|Trypticon]], Starscream, muses on his status as supreme ruler of the Decepticons. Although he's held this position for nearly a [[Units of time|quartex]], he begins to wonder if those who already oppose his rule will ever realize the good that he will bring them.

Starscream begins to imagine a world without factions or needless sacrifices. Starscream promises Cybertron a new start, a fresh beginning for a dying planet. With the new All Spark cube, he plans to unite all of Cybertron under his rule and make Cybertronians a proud species again once the planet has been restored. Starscream then declares that Cybertron has been wanting for a leader like him to restore her power, declaring himself to be her champion, as he welcomes all who wish to serve him. As for those who wish to oppose him, Starscream simply states, "Let them try." As Starscream ends his narrative, a Decepticon cruiser makes port at the docking station on the outskirts of Trypticon.

Two drones disembark the space cruiser at Trypticon, the Dreadwing drone initiates an inquiry of an audio anomaly, while the Payload drone maintains security protocol. The Dreadwing drone, having turned up nothing on the audio anomaly, begins an analysis of the ship surface. He detects an intruder and attempts to notify Master Dreadwing. The Payload drone is not so lucky; as he asks the Dreadwing drone to repeat the last transmission, he is eviscerated by [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]]. The Dreadwing drone also meets a similar end. Arcee muses on being back home but doesn't like the feeling, and begins to think that it may have been best for her to have remained on [[Mars]].

Arcee flashes back to the moment when Starscream suckerpunched her. She thought that her life functions were going to stop, but instead she just went blank. When she came to, Arcee saw that [[Thundercracker (Movie)|Thundercracker]] and Starscream were preparing to leave. Going against common sense, she grabbed onto a piece of the landing gear as it was taking off. Arcee had hoped to break into the ship before the beam from the [[space bridge]] connected with the ship, because she thought anything not fused to the ship would not teleport. She turned out to be wrong and managed to hitch a ride back to Cybertron.

In the midst of her self-loathing due to her recent failure to prevent the destruction of four of her Autobot comrades, Arcee goes off in search of a safe zone, or a place where she would be able to regroup with an Autobot. She states that most of the Autobots had left with [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]], but some Autobots had chosen to stay behind, and that she hopes that she can find them.

Back at Lord Starscream's palace, Starscream is condemning [[Wreckage (Movie)|Wreckage]] (who had been rebuilt by [[Sector Seven]] for their own purposes) for telling Sector Seven everything about Cybertronians. Starscream begins to wonder just how many more have betrayed the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing walks in and informs Starscream that he has returned and that the cube is finally ready. Dreadwing tells him that it is and the only ones who know are himself, Starscream, Stockade, and the unlucky workers who were forced to build it. Starscream commends Dreadwing, and decides that the time to activate it has come.

Meanwhile at the cube construction site the enslaved Autobots try to negotiate their release with their Decepticon captors. [[Ramjet (Movie)|Ramjet]] bluntly states that if any of them try to run, they will be liquefied. Signal Flare and Warpath are having trouble trying to get a distress signal out; something might be blocking their transmitters. Starscream, Thundercracker, and Dreadwing arrive at the construction site. Starscream impatiently asks where Payload is and that he should have the generator by now. [[Elita-One]] attempts to beg Lord Starscream for mercy, only to find that Starscream has none to dispense.

Payload finally arrives with the generator, apologizing for the delay, stating that Dreadwing's drones weren't much help, and some of his comrades weren't cut out for hard work. [[Crankcase (Movie)|Crankcase]] doesn't respond well to that remark. Having grown tired of Crankcase's incessant bitching, Starscream promptly puts an end to it by destroying his vocal processor. Ramjet places Crankcase with the other test subjects.

Arcee comes upon the ruins of an old training facility to look for a weapon, but instead chances upon [[Clocker (Movie)|Clocker]]. Arcee briefs him on the dismal events that led up to her return, including the death of [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] and Starscream declaring himself the new leader of the Decepticons. They are joined by [[Crosshairs (Movie)|Crosshairs]]. Surprised to see that he is still alive, she asks of the whereabouts of Elita-One and the others. Crosshairs tells her that they were lost in a raid not too long ago, and that he, Clocker, and the others who stayed behind are planning a rescue.

Meanwhile, back at the cube construction site at [[Simfur]], Starscream prepares to greet the masses of Cybertron with the newly constructed All Spark cube. As the Autobots reach Simfur, Arcee can't believe what her optical receptors are seeing, Starscream has the new All Spark cube and the captured Autobots, including Crankcase, are strapped to it.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters|c1=
* [[Grindcore (Movie)|Grindcore]] (1)
* [[Warpath (Movie)|Warpath]] (2)
* [[Signal Flare (Movie)|Signal Flare]] (5)
* [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] (8)
* [[Elita-One]] (12)
* [[Clocker (Movie)|Clocker]] (15)
* [[Crosshairs (Movie)|Crosshairs]] (16)
* [[Armorhide (Movie)|Armorhide]] (17)
* [[Breakaway (Movie)|Breakaway]] (18)
* [[Wingblade]] (19)
* [[Strongarm (Movie)|Strongarm]] (20)
* [[Skyblast (Movie)|Skyblast]] (21)

|c2=
* [[Stockade (Movie)|Stockade]] (3)
* [[Payload (Movie)|Payload]] (4)
* [[Dreadwing (Movie)|Dreadwing]] (6)
* [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]] (7)
* [[Wreckage (Movie)|Wreckage]] (9)
* [[Ramjet (Movie)|Ramjet]] (10)
* [[Thundercracker (Movie)|Thundercracker]] (11)
* [[Swindle (Movie)|Swindle]] (13)
* [[Crankcase (Movie)|Crankcase]] (14)

}}

==Quotes==
"This planet has waited for a leader like me to restore her power, her glory, and her strength. I shall soon be her champion. Let all who wish to serve me do so without hesitation. And let those who wish to oppose me, well... Let them try."
:—'''Lord Starscream''' has some really big plans... or a really big ego.

"There's no place like home, but this is not good at all. Maybe I should have stayed on the red planet."
:—'''Arcee''' wonders if staying on Mars would have been the better decision.

"I reached for the stars, but settled for a piece of landing gear."
:—'''Arcee''' musing on how she made her way back to Cybertron.

"Wreckage, you traitorous worm! No wonder they knew so much about us... You've told them everything!"
:—'''Lord Starscream''' does not take kindly to [[Starscream (G1)|treacherous scrapheaps]].

"You will address me as '''Lord''' Starscream, OR YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK AGAIN!"
:—'''Lord Starscream''' appropriately responds to Signal Flare's plea for mercy.

"Hey, I'm not cut out for that kind of work. If it's heavy lifting that you want me to do, then I need an '''upgrade''' or a '''thank you...''' or more——"
:—'''Crankcase''' doing what he does best, complaining about everything.

==Errors==
*On page 12, the word "liquefied" is misspelled "liquified."

==Trivia==
*Ramjet makes his first appearance on page 12, and he even has a distinct [[Conehead|cone-shaped head]].

*[[Dropkick]] appears on one of the alternate covers, but has no appearance in the series at all. His autobot counterpart [[Salvage (Movie)|Salvage]] is shown being kept in a secret military base in Issue 3.

*Starscream holds a can of Kremzeek after Dreadwing captures Signal Flare. It gives you wings!

== Items of note ==
===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Starscream triumphant; art by Alex Milne & colors by [[Josh Perez]]
* '''Cover B:''' Starscream, Dreadwing, Payload, and [[Dropkick]]; art by [[James Raiz]] & colors by [[Kieran Oats]]
* '''Incentive Cover RI''': Starscream photo cover

<gallery>
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverB.jpg|
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverB.jpg|
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverRI.jpg|
</gallery>
===Advertisements===
* ''[[Transform and Roll Out]]'' DVD (inside front cover)
* [[The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Five|''The Reign of Starscream'' #5]]
* ''Doctor Who'' in the [[IDWords]] section
* ''Sparrow'' art books
* ''Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine McAlistaire''
* ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten''
* ''The Dreamland Chronicles''
* ''Spike: After the Fall''
* ''[[All Hail Megatron]]''
* ''Welcome to Hoxford''
* ''Galaxy Quest''
* DrawerBoxes (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Movie issues|Reign of Starscream 4]]

The Reign of Starscream issue 4

2009-04-11T06:45:35Z

71.207.138.74: /* Featured characters */

{{picsneeded|Cover A & RI}}
{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Reign of Starscream|''Transformers: The Reign of Starscream'']] #4
|prev=The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Three
|next=The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Five
|title="Transformers: The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Four"
|image=ReignOfStarscream4 CoverA.jpg
|caption=Chicken tonight! Chicken tonight! Chicken tonight!
|publisher=[[IDW]]
|date=August 13, 2008
|coverdate=June 2007
|written by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|art by=[[Alex Milne]]
|colors by=[[Josh Perez]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|edits by=[[Denton J. Tipton]]
|continuity=[[Movie continuity]]
}}
'''Starscream's horrific plan is revealed, and a ragtag band of Autobots is all that stands between him and galactic conquest!'''

==Synopsis==
The new [[All Spark (Movie)|All Spark]] Cube is nearly completed, as [[Starscream (Movie)| Starscream]] continues to make preparations to rebuild the planet of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. In the process of chiseling the hieroglyphics on the new All Spark cube, [[Grindcore (Movie)|Grindcore]] collapses from exhaustion. [[Warpath (Movie)|Warpath]], concerned about the well-being of his comrade, tries to help him up, but is immediately incapacitated by two [[Payload (Movie)|Payload]] Drones. Warpath begins to express his discontent when [[Stockade (Movie)|Stockade]] shows up and kicks him. He tells the Payload drones to get him back to work and make more room on the line because [[Dreadwing (Movie)|Dreadwing]] is gathering more help.

Elsewhere, [[Signal Flare (Movie)|Signal Flare]] flees for his life through a desolate wasteland when Dreadwing warps in front of him and knocks him out with a single punch. He then contacts Starscream via built-in communicator and informs him of the new "test subject" that he just acquired. Starscream commends Dreadwing for his excellent work and informs him that they are almost ready to begin.

Meanwhile, in the Decepticon capital city of [[Trypticon (Movie)|Trypticon]], Starscream, muses on his status as supreme ruler of the Decepticons. Although he's held this position for nearly a [[Units of time|quartex]], he begins to wonder if those who already oppose his rule will ever realize the good that he will bring them.

Starscream begins to imagine a world without factions or needless sacrifices. Starscream promises Cybertron a new start, a fresh beginning for a dying planet. With the new All Spark cube, he plans to unite all of Cybertron under his rule and make Cybertronians a proud species again once the planet has been restored. Starscream then declares that Cybertron has been wanting for a leader like him to restore her power, declaring himself to be her champion, as he welcomes all who wish to serve him. As for those who wish to oppose him, Starscream simply states, "Let them try." As Starscream ends his narrative, a Decepticon cruiser makes port at the docking station on the outskirts of Trypticon.

Two drones disembark the space cruiser at Trypticon, the Dreadwing drone initiates an inquiry of an audio anomaly, while the Payload drone maintains security protocol. The Dreadwing drone, having turned up nothing on the audio anomaly, begins an analysis of the ship surface. He detects an intruder and attempts to notify Master Dreadwing. The Payload drone is not so lucky; as he asks the Dreadwing drone to repeat the last transmission, he is eviscerated by [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]]. The Dreadwing drone also meets a similar end. Arcee muses on being back home but doesn't like the feeling, and begins to think that it may have been best for her to have remained on [[Mars]].

Arcee flashes back to the moment when Starscream suckerpunched her. She thought that her life functions were going to stop, but instead she just went blank. When she came to, Arcee saw that [[Thundercracker (Movie)|Thundercracker]] and Starscream were preparing to leave. Going against common sense, she grabbed onto a piece of the landing gear as it was taking off. Arcee had hoped to break into the ship before the beam from the [[space bridge]] connected with the ship, because she thought anything not fused to the ship would not teleport. She turned out to be wrong and managed to hitch a ride back to Cybertron.

In the midst of her self-loathing due to her recent failure to prevent the destruction of four of her Autobot comrades, Arcee goes off in search of a safe zone, or a place where she would be able to regroup with an Autobot. She states that most of the Autobots had left with [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]], but some Autobots had chosen to stay behind, and that she hopes that she can find them.

Back at Lord Starscream's palace, Starscream is condemning [[Wreckage (Movie)|Wreckage]] (who had been rebuilt by [[Sector Seven]] for their own purposes) for telling Sector Seven everything about Cybertronians. Starscream begins to wonder just how many more have betrayed the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing walks in and informs Starscream that he has returned and that the cube is finally ready. Dreadwing tells him that it is and the only ones who know are himself, Starscream, Stockade, and the unlucky workers who were forced to build it. Starscream commends Dreadwing, and decides that the time to activate it has come.

Meanwhile at the cube construction site the enslaved Autobots try to negotiate their release with their Decepticon captors. [[Ramjet (Movie)|Ramjet]] bluntly states that if any of them try to run, they will be liquefied. Signal Flare and Warpath are having trouble trying to get a distress signal out; something might be blocking their transmitters. Starscream, Thundercracker, and Dreadwing arrive at the construction site. Starscream impatiently asks where Payload is and that he should have the generator by now. [[Elita-One]] attempts to beg Lord Starscream for mercy, only to find that Starscream has none to dispense.

Payload finally arrives with the generator, apologizing for the delay, stating that Dreadwing's drones weren't much help, and some of his comrades weren't cut out for hard work. [[Crankcase (Movie)|Crankcase]] doesn't respond well to that remark. Having grown tired of Crankcase's incessant bitching, Starscream promptly puts an end to it by destroying his vocal processor. Ramjet places Crankcase with the other test subjects.

Arcee comes upon the ruins of an old training facility to look for a weapon, but instead chances upon [[Clocker (Movie)|Clocker]]. Arcee briefs him on the dismal events that led up to her return, including the death of [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] and Starscream declaring himself the new leader of the Decepticons. They are joined by [[Crosshairs (Movie)|Crosshairs]]. Surprised to see that he is still alive, she asks of the whereabouts of Elita-One and the others. Crosshairs tells her that they were lost in a raid not too long ago, and that he, Clocker, and the others who stayed behind are planning a rescue.

Meanwhile, back at the cube construction site at [[Simfur]], Starscream prepares to greet the masses of Cybertron with the newly constructed All Spark cube. As the Autobots reach Simfur, Arcee can't believe what her optical receptors are seeing, Starscream has the new All Spark cube and the captured Autobots, including Crankcase, are strapped to it.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters|c2=
* [[Grindcore (Movie)|Grindcore]] (1)
* [[Warpath (Movie)|Warpath]] (2)
* [[Signal Flare (Movie)|Signal Flare]] (5)
* [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] (8)
* [[Elita-One]] (12)
* [[Clocker (Movie)|Clocker]] (15)
* [[Crosshairs (Movie)|Crosshairs]] (16)
* [[Armorhide (Movie)|Armorhide]] (17)
* [[Breakaway (Movie)|Breakaway]] (18)
* [[Wingblade]] (19)
* [[Strongarm (Movie)|Strongarm]] (20)
* [[Skyblast (Movie)|Skyblast]] (21)

|c1=
* [[Stockade (Movie)|Stockade]] (3)
* [[Payload (Movie)|Payload]] (4)
* [[Dreadwing (Movie)|Dreadwing]] (6)
* [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]] (7)
* [[Wreckage (Movie)|Wreckage]] (9)
* [[Ramjet (Movie)|Ramjet]] (10)
* [[Thundercracker (Movie)|Thundercracker]] (11)
* [[Swindle (Movie)|Swindle]] (13)
* [[Crankcase (Movie)|Crankcase]] (14)

}}

==Quotes==
"This planet has waited for a leader like me to restore her power, her glory, and her strength. I shall soon be her champion. Let all who wish to serve me do so without hesitation. And let those who wish to oppose me, well... Let them try."
:—'''Lord Starscream''' has some really big plans... or a really big ego.

"There's no place like home, but this is not good at all. Maybe I should have stayed on the red planet."
:—'''Arcee''' wonders if staying on Mars would have been the better decision.

"I reached for the stars, but settled for a piece of landing gear."
:—'''Arcee''' musing on how she made her way back to Cybertron.

"Wreckage, you traitorous worm! No wonder they knew so much about us... You've told them everything!"
:—'''Lord Starscream''' does not take kindly to [[Starscream (G1)|treacherous scrapheaps]].

"You will address me as '''Lord''' Starscream, OR YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK AGAIN!"
:—'''Lord Starscream''' appropriately responds to Signal Flare's plea for mercy.

"Hey, I'm not cut out for that kind of work. If it's heavy lifting that you want me to do, then I need an '''upgrade''' or a '''thank you...''' or more——"
:—'''Crankcase''' doing what he does best, complaining about everything.

==Errors==
*On page 12, the word "liquefied" is misspelled "liquified."

==Trivia==
*Ramjet makes his first appearance on page 12, and he even has a distinct [[Conehead|cone-shaped head]].

*[[Dropkick]] appears on one of the alternate covers, but has no appearance in the series at all. His autobot counterpart [[Salvage (Movie)|Salvage]] is shown being kept in a secret military base in Issue 3.

*Starscream holds a can of Kremzeek after Dreadwing captures Signal Flare. It gives you wings!

== Items of note ==
===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Starscream triumphant; art by Alex Milne & colors by [[Josh Perez]]
* '''Cover B:''' Starscream, Dreadwing, Payload, and [[Dropkick]]; art by [[James Raiz]] & colors by [[Kieran Oats]]
* '''Incentive Cover RI''': Starscream photo cover

<gallery>
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverB.jpg|
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverB.jpg|
Image:ReignOfStarscream4 CoverRI.jpg|
</gallery>
===Advertisements===
* ''[[Transform and Roll Out]]'' DVD (inside front cover)
* [[The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Five|''The Reign of Starscream'' #5]]
* ''Doctor Who'' in the [[IDWords]] section
* ''Sparrow'' art books
* ''Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine McAlistaire''
* ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten''
* ''The Dreamland Chronicles''
* ''Spike: After the Fall''
* ''[[All Hail Megatron]]''
* ''Welcome to Hoxford''
* ''Galaxy Quest''
* DrawerBoxes (back cover)

[[Category:IDW Movie issues|Reign of Starscream 4]]

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-17T12:39:02Z

71.207.138.74: /* Pages "recovered" list */

Additional discussion on this situation can be found on these Allspark.com threads:
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56439 "TFWiki Problems, Any idea what's going on?"]
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&st=400&p=1155749&#entry1155749 "Major Wiki Work, A thread for additions to Transformers wikis."]

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Even if it doesn't overwrite the cache, I see no reason to have the site up given the state that it's in. I say take it down until the head-honchos figure out how to clean up this mess. '''(Undecided)''' [[Special:Contributions/67.185.148.107|67.185.148.107]] 16:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::'''Dudes'''. I noticed our front page's google cache has been updated to our current broken wiki page. So it's already begun. That's just great. --'''FFN'''

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I just saved as many of the Masterforce character articles as I could from Yahoo and MSN's cache (Google throttled me again) --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:15, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Henkei's articles - toys, pack-in manga, and Comic Bun Bun are lost as well. Typing "henkei" in the search redirects back to the old Classics (2006) with it's last mod date May 2008. Cache helps a bit though. --[[User:Lonegamer78|Lonegamer78]] 00:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Pick a page. Stick <nowiki>{{bookworm}}</nowiki> at the top, it'll give you a link to that page's google cache. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 16:33, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

I've been wiping out those Wikia credits at the bottom of each page. Is this helpful, or should I stop? -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:04, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Work on saving at least one 100-page set of Google cache pages first... every set we get is that many less we won't lose completely. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:43, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I would if I had any idea what that meant. I'd never even heard of a Google cache before yesterday. -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:55, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Just check out [[#Pages .22recovered.22 list|this section]]. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== How do I properly add info to an article's "recover" page? ==

I've done the bookworm tag on some articles and saved the google cache to my harddrive... question is, how do I post this data to the articles' /recover sections? Just copy'n'paste the text, or go nab the source code? Detour --[[Special:Contributions/70.26.248.28|70.26.248.28]] 18:22, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I expect source code would be more useful. It will preserve the formatting, and someone can probably write a script to convert it back to wiki code. Plus, if I'm wrong, it's trivial to convert the source code to text, whereas you can't really go the other way. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I do both, one after the other.
:The first is easier to re-format, but you'll often need to be able tog et the links out of the source code. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Automated Cache Recovery ==
Will this program I happened upon help any? [http://warrick.cs.odu.edu/warrick.html Warrick]. It's supposed to be something that can automate getting websites from various web caches. I put a job in their queue, but if someone who has web stuff (it needs Perl 5 installed) set up on their comp can run the program themselves right now, that would help. Or is that the sort of thing Derik and Suki are already doing? (Basically, I'd like to help, but I don't even know what "phase" we're on...) --[[Special:Contributions/96.240.212.69|96.240.212.69]] 18:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:It's being run. It'll take some time, and e3ven then... that's just grabbing a copy of the google cache before it vanishes.
:(Personally I'm banking on a localized reversal of [[The Fallen|the second law of thermodynamics]].) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, if we're in the midst of saving the Google cache, than what we should do is... 1. Get a copy of as many cached pages as we can. 2. run them all through some sort of preprocessor 3. get a list of editors willing to help, give them each a chunk of the processed pages, and tell them to go to town reposting them. There's no sense in having people running around doing things piecemeal instead of being systematic about it.
::Which is why I was wondering if there was some sort of system already for having people grab cache pages, rather than just doing it randomly. I've been using [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm this page] based on Abates' list to grab cache links for the Main namespace, and I have the first 400 links opened so far. Maybe if everyone took so many pages? (Although I have the advantage that I can force change my IP every time I run into Google's annoying throttle wall.)
::Also, I was thinking that we might consider just simply making a fresh install of the wiki software with an empty database, then simply recreating everything, if we're going to have to repost everything by hand anyway... --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.233.179.58|96.233.179.58]] 20:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Make that the first 500, which I'm going to work on saving now. Do our various editors want to post here and lay a claim on a set of numbers on the list and work on opening and saving them? (They link straight to the cache page.) Not all of the links converted cleanly, but it's probably easier to just manually fix them as you go instead of me trying to spend time manually cleaning and reposting the list. I figure, once we know we've got the Main namespace pages saved, we can then work on trying to figure out the other namespaces. (Template and Help at the very least.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.218.239|72.79.218.239]] 21:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Restoring account status ==

Is it better to recreate an account, possibly messing up the caches for one's User Contributions, Talk Page, etc., so uploading images and such is possible? Or should we just sit tight a bit longer on that aspect until more restoration is done?--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 19:24, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Re-create. -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 20:02, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Feh. Okay, done.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 20:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Pages "recovered" list ==

In the however likely case we are not able to get a full set of backups from Bookworm, we should probably keep a list of pages somewhere that have been at least partially recovered via Derik's bookworm template and google's cache or other caches. This way any rank-n-file editor who wants to help out can just look at the list to see what's been done so they can go save other pages. Another way is to get that listing of all the pages and have users check them off when they've been partially recovered. Thoughts? --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 19:53, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Well, here's a list of all pages that need to be ''recovered'' from the Main namespace: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm with links straight to the cache pages. I've opened the first 500 links so far, and am half done with saving them, then I'll work on the next 500. Anyone else want to pitch in, lay claim to a range of numbers to save, and get on it? (Note: Not all of the links coverted over right, though most of them did. If you get an error, just fix any goofs in the link and try again. And keep a list of any pages where, even after checking the link was correct, it just didn't have a cache to save.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.240.208.203|96.240.208.203]] 21:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've written a Perl script to convert the HTML back to Wiki markup. It's not perfect, and I need to test it on more cache files, but it's faster than reformatting by hand. It could be provided as an online tool, maybe. --abates not signed in [[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 22:00, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Okay, I'm starting on the 7000s. I'll see how far I can get before I need to get to bed. I'm still holding on to hope that all this cache work is for nothing, but not expecting it. [[User:Bluestreak7|Bluestreak7]] 22:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll start the 6500s. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT) I got up to 6600 before it stopped me. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::I'll at least be doing up to the first 1000 myself. And, I've found that if you have any way to change your IP, that will reset Google's throttle stop. (People who have rotating IPs can likely do this simply by disconnecting/reconnecting.) I also went and fixed all the broken links that didn't convert right, so feel free to refresh my list for the latest version. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:50, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I have a feeling we shouldn't worry about the early ones. Both Derik and Scout have automated scripts for this, and I'm sure that's where they started. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I'll try and do from 6000 to 6499, then. I've also got a bunch of other pages saved already, mostly G1 character pages. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:56, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Well, in my epic suckitude coupled with having other engagements I need to get finished... I've only made it to 6050... maybe someone can pick up my slack? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 23:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Starting with 6601. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT) Ended at 6710. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:55, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
Do we have a simple, automated way to grab this stuff? '''Chip'''
:Not automated, but, efficiencied:
#Open list in a new Opera window.
#Open up the "Links" panel.
#Select 50 links and "Open in Background tab"
#Select another 50 links after those load, and again "Open in Background tab"
#Drag the list tab to the taskbar to create a new window
#Reset my modem (to get a new IP)
#Repeat these steps until I have 5 windows (100 pages each) open, then go through each window saving everything as HTML.
--[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 01:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you're using Firefox, you can also use an add-on called "Snap Links" to open multiple links at a time. With it installed you just hold down your right mouse button to drag a selection box over all the links you want to open. - Magnus Maximus 03:24, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I'll start with 5000-5100. Hope I can help -- G1MarvelBlaster
===Status Report===
====Main Article Namespace====
Jeysie: 
Working on: 
Completed: 1-1000, 6400-6499, 6900-7000, 7140-8292 
Unrecoverable: <s>1984 media</s>, 2008 media, Akari Hibino, All Fall Down (disambiguation), Alpha Trion (disambiguation), April 6, April 16, April 19, Autofire, Automatic timer, <s>Banjo-Ginga</s>, <s>Bat-Rob</s>, <s>Binbo-gami</s>, <s>Break Is a Predacon?</s>, <s>The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!</s>, The Big Book of Coloring Fun, <s>The Final Battle (RID)</s>, The New Battle Begins!, The Smashing Pumpkins, <s>The Strongest Tag Team?</s>, The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons, The Victory Warriors Enter!!, Thundercracker (Shattered Glass), Tight Shot

<s>Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!</s>, <s>Susan K. Williams</s>, Swarm (G2), Tlaloc, Toaster bot, Tow-Line (Energon), Transcendent: Part 4, Transformers Comic issue 19, TransWarped (Part Two), TransWarped (Part Three), Trevor Hutchison, Trust (Cybertron), Tsutomu Kashiwakura, Ultra Magnus (Universe Spy Changer), Vector, Where Is Thy Sting?, Wyatt's Roadsideaganza

Slaves of the Insecticons

Detour 
Working on: 
Completed: 6000-6050 
Unrecoverable: <s>Ryo- Naito-</s>, <s>Ryo-ichi Tanaka</s>, <s>Ryo-ka Yuzuki</s>

ItsWalky 
Working on: 
Completed: 6500-6600 
Unrecoverable: <s>Small Foot</s>, <s>Sojourner's Passage</s>

Chip 
Working on: 
Completed: 6601-6710 
Unrecoverable: Spark (episode)

Bluestreak7 
Working on: 
Completed: 6711-6791, 7000-7140 
Unrecoverable: Staff Sergeant Tracy, <s>Takuro- Kitagawa</s>, <s>Teiyu- Ichiryu-sai</s>, <s>Tessho-Genda</s>, Team Ironhide, Tech-Spec Manual, Tentakil (disambiguation), Terrorcon (disambiguation)

abates 
Working on: 
Completed: 1001-1300, 1500-1800 
Unrecoverable: Crown, Cybertron Redux, Charlie Bodin, Cheyne

Magnus Maximus 
Working on: 
Completed: 6792-6899 
Unrecoverable: Studio 4˚C

====="Unrecoverable" pages=====
Those are actually recoverable. They're just searched for with the wrong characters, since whatever program we're using isn't equipped to handle odd characters like macrons. I'll be working on them. (Interrobang) [[Special:Contributions/69.23.135.79|69.23.135.79]] 00:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, if pages are absent from the Google cache, try Yahoo or MSN. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:31, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

::I think I've gotten all of the macrons, circumflexes, accents, et al. [[User:Interrobang|Interrobang]] 01:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Unrecoverable: Kazuhiko Gōdo, Yukiyoshi Ōhashi?

=====Finish Summary=====
1-1000 Jeysie 
1001-1300 abates 
1301-1499 '''Needed''' 
1500-1800 abates 
1801-5999 '''Needed''' 
6000-6050 Detour 
6051-6399 '''Needed''' 
6400-6499 Jeysie 
6500-6600 ItsWalky 
6601-6710 Chip 
6711-6791 Bluestreak7 
6792-6899 Magnus Maximus 
6900-7000 Jeysie 
7000-7140 Bluestreak7 
7140-8292 Jeysie

====Template Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/templates.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Template:</nowiki>" on Google. (Dunno how much good it'll do, considering, but I wager it's better than nothing.)

====Help Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/help.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Help:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Transformers Wiki Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/transformerswiki.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers Wiki:</nowiki>" on Google.

== Synchronize watches! ==

Hey techy type folks, I know y'all are busy right now, but there's a few things that need to happen so we aren't wasting people's effort and good will:

* We need a site-wide page-top banner with a short note on what's happened and quick links to the relevant threads, pages, instructions on restoring pages, etc. Also maybe an update on things as required.
* We need to coordinate Google cache pulling, if it isn't happening already behind the scenes. So far it sounds like Scout, Jeysie, Derik, Abates, and maybe some others have been pulling stuff en masse. It suck if like, everyone was pulling the same stuff and missing the same other stuff.
* The cache pull results need to be pooled into one big conglomerated mess somewhere. And auto-stripping/formatting, but y'all already know that.
* We need a temporary tag/template that can be slapped on top of a page when it's restored. Just a small text note would be adequate.

Sorry if I'm nagging and/or telling you stuff you already know, but everyone's efforts seem kind of random at the moment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 21:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Yeah, agreed. Like I said above, I'd prefer to:
#Have everyone right now just work on saving the Google cache before it changes. This is really the important thing right now, IMHO... we can't recover pages unless we have something to recover ''from''.
#''Then'' we can work on divving up the cached pages, sending them through a processor, and having people repost their batch of page code on the pages themselves (or on a clean install, would be my preference), doing any necessary manual cleanup as they go along.
:The current state of people sort of saving and restoring random individual pages on "recover" subpages isn't really all that helpful, IMHO. The wiki's going to look ugly for a while regardless; better to just be patient on making stuff look good and just tackle this in a somewhat organized fashion instead. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:10, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::This lack of coordination and general secrecy is hurting efforts. Since I requested help, people on TFW2005 have offered to help out, including people from beyond the board, but they're all asking me what they are supposed to do with their saved browser cache pages/google cache pages. I've been telling them to sit tight until *somebody* tells the people on the wiki what to do. Hopefully, something will be salvaged and this effort won't be needed... but what do I know? I have no idea what the status of things are beyond this page. I do have one suggestion - if and when we get things back to some form of normalcy, we better post a thank you message on the front page for all of those people who offered us help and/or best wishes. --FFN
:::Ask Scout. I think she's trying to organize something. (8000+ pages is kinda a logistical nightmare.) -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 06:08, 17 March 2009 (EDT)