Editing Hearts of Steel

[[Image:HOS TPB.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Bumblebee attempts to be a Really Useful Engine.]]

'''''Hearts of Steel''''' is a comic miniseries published by [[IDW Publishing]] in 2006.  It was the first (and thus far the only) story in IDW's ''[[Evolutions]]'' series.  It is set in an alternate ''[[Generation 1]]'' [[continuity]] in which the Transformers' first contact with humanity is in the late Nineteenth Century, rather than the Twentieth.  
{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">''Hearts of Steel'' issues:</font>'''
 |- align="center" 
 || [[Hearts of Steel issue 1|#1]] | [[Hearts of Steel issue 2|#2]] | [[Hearts of Steel issue 3|#3]] | [[Hearts of Steel issue 4|#4]]
|}

==Overview==
The story opens with the Transformers engaged in a battle on Ice Age [[Earth]], and having adopted bizarre animal alternate forms as a result.  When the climate cools, both sides retreat underground and enter a period of stasis, not awakening until the 19th Century.  Soon both sides are making alliances with humans and utilizing the technology of the age to continue their war, with the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] attempting to reach an electrical generating station in [[New York City]] to fuel their war machine.  [[John Henry]] and [[Mark Twain]], along with other historical figures, play prominent roles in the book.

The series is explicitly set in an alternate continuity.

===Timeframe===
It is not possible to pin down exactly when this story takes place.  The Civil War is not mentioned, so it is most likely after 1865.  Mark Twain lived in San Francisco from 1864 to 1866, and he appears to live there in this story.  However, he claims in issue #4, to have ''one'' daughter, which would place the story between 1872 (the birth of Susy Clemens) and 1874 (the birth of Clara Clemens).  In this wiki, we've picked the arbitrary compromise date of 1867.

==="Ice Age Wars"===
The first few pages of this story show that the Transformers came to Earth immediately prior to an (unspecified) ice age, and fought a war there and then using dinosaurs, giant insects, and (possibly) other beast-forms as [[Alternate mode|alternate modes]], before going into hibernation until the 19th Century.  Many of the main characters wear these distinctive spiky bodies for the first half of the story, before taking on vehicle-based forms.  Where necessary in this wiki, this prelude to ''Hearts of Steel'' is referred to using the (unofficial) term "Ice Age Wars".

===Alternate modes===
[[Image:Hearts of Steel 1ri.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Shockwave and his alternate mode of an ironclad ship.  Toy please, Hasbro?]]
In this story, most of the Transformers take the form of 19th-century locomotives and railway cars, rather than 20th-century automobiles, airplanes, and the like.  Some notable exceptions are [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], who becomes an ironclad ship, [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], who transforms into a blimp, and the [[Seeker]]s, who becomes  biplanes (which is [[wikipedia:First_flying_machine|a bit of an anachronism]]).  [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] only appears in slumber and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] does not appear at all, though concept drawings for both of them are included in the trade paperback.

The Transformers portrayed in the story seem to adopt not only the appearance of Earth's machines, but its technology level as well.  Locomotive-form Bumblebee is fueled by coal, Scourge flies using a real gasbag, and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] is sufficiently vulnerable that a gas explosion is enough to incapacitate him.  This is not unprecedented; a similar phenomena is hinted at in Dreamwave's GI Joe crossover, while in some original G1 stories, the Transformers coveted supplies of gasoline.  Still, whether this is an actual story point or merely a stylistic choice is not clear.
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==Creative team==
The series was penned by [[Chuck Dixon]], with pencils by [[Guido Guidi]] (except for the third issue, whose art was provided by [[Antonio Vasquez]] and [[Luis Czerniawski]]). Guidi also designed the characters' new 19th Century forms. 

==Collections==
* ''Hearts of Steel'' TPB <small>(Dec 2006) ISBN 978-1600100550</small>

: Includes concept art and all covers for each issue.

[[Category:IDW titles]]
[[Category:Generation 1]]