Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection

4/5 of a grand tale.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection is a fortnightly 100-volume partwork from Hachette, edited by Simon Furman. Partworks are a Hachette specialty: a series will be collected out of order (the first Definitive was volume 6) for commercial purposes but can be collected on your shelf in order with a fancy picture on the collective spines. The collection aims to republish every single "Generation 1" comic ever made, including the original Marvel Comics run—UK and US—in order for the very first time. Each issue has a special cover and bonus content, and Fantastic FREE! Gifts are provided for subscribers. Marvel UK strips which were originally printed in black-and-white have been given brand new colours by John-Paul Bove using emulations of both 1980s American and latter-day Marvel UK techniques.

The series was initially announced in September 2016 to contain 60 issues—ending with the Dark Cybertron crossover—but by the time of its launch in December, it had already been extended to 80 issues, with volume 80 providing some closure in the form of Till All Are One and Requiem of the Wreckers. In 2018, upon the conclusion of IDW's first continuity, fans observed that it would take around ten extra volumes to reprint the entire IDW catalogue—and on the 18th of July 2019, Simon Furman confirmed on Twitter that the collection had been extended by twenty issues for a total of 100.

Sounds great, right?

Well... not if you live outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. The partwork was given a trial-run in parts of the UK before a national release started in early 2017. In August 2017, the subscription also became available in Australia, but became unavailable in July 2018 due to the closure of the Australian distributor. In January 2019, it became available in Poland, with volumes being released in proper chronological order.

Even for those who were able to subscribe, the partwork ended up not being quite as definitive as advertised, suffering from strange ordering and editorial choices, and from some major printing errors. Hachette's notoriously bad customer service made it a nightmare to obtain corrected replacements.

Volumes

Each volume contains cover art from the original issues, plus a new introduction by Simon Furman. The bonus features below are in addition to these.

Vol.	Issue	Title	Contents	Bonus Features	Release date
06	01	Target: 2006	Marvel UK #78–83 "Cybertron: The Middle Years!" Marvel UK #84–88 Marvel US #21–23	A guide to the launch of The Transformers: The Movie in the UK and its marketing purposes for Marvel UK, a "Meet... The Wreckers" feature, a behind-the-scenes look at the development of "Target: 2006", and a spotlight on Geoff Senior.	12/30/2016
36	02	Stormbringer	Spotlight: Shockwave, Spotlight: Soundwave Stormbringer #1–4 Spotlight: Nightbeat, Spotlight: Hot Rod	An article on the beginning of the IDW1-verse production and several sketches by Don Figueroa.	01/11/2017
16	03	The Primal Scream	Marvel UK #198, #213–222 Marvel US #56–61	An overview of the change in the format of the UK series, the introduction of 5-page black-and-white strips, and an article by John-Paul Bove on the coloring techniques used at Marvel UK and Marvel US in the 1980s and how he emulated them for colorizing the UK strips.	01/27/2017
18	04	Edge of Extinction	Marvel US #67–75	An overview of Marvel Unicron and a spotlight on Andrew Wildman.	02/08/2017
29	05	The War Within	The War Within #1–6 & Preview	Various character design sketches by Don Figueroa and an article on the making of The War Within.	02/22/2017
37	06	Escalation	Spotlight: Sixshot, Spotlight: Ultra Magnus Escalation #1–6	Sketches by E. J. Su, bios on IDW1 Ultra Magnus & IDW1 Sixshot, an article on creating the IDW Spotlights, and an interview with Su.	03/08/2017
08	07	Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive	Marvel UK #113–120 Transformers Annual 1987: "Vicious Circle!" Marvel US #27–28	An overview of the Marvel UK Annuals and a bio on Marvel Goldbug.	03/22/2017
39	08	Hearts of Steel	Hearts of Steel #1–4 Spotlight: Galvatron, Spotlight: Optimus Prime, Spotlight: Mirage	Concept art by Guido Guidi and an article about the creation of Hearts of Steel.	04/05/2017
10	09	Trial by Fire	Headmasters #1–4 Marvel US #38–39 Marvel UK #130–132	A retrospective of the Headmasters mini-series and an overview of how Marvel UK handled toy marketing.	04/19/2017
21	10	Regeneration One	Regeneration One #80.5–85	A commentary on issue #81 by Simon Furman, an overview of production leading up to Regeneration One, and several cover sketches.	05/03/2017
31	11	The Iron Fist	Transformers/G.I. Joe #1–6	Various character design sketches by Don Figueroa and an overview of the many G.I. Joe crossovers across comics.	05/17/2017
50	12	Heart of Darkness	Heart of Darkness #1–4 The Transformers: Infestation #1–2	A post-mortem on "Zombots" across various comic series and a bio on IDW1 Hardhead.	05/31/2017
59	13	Dark Cybertron, Part 1	Dark Cybertron #1 More than Meets the Eye #22–25 Robots in Disguise #23–24	A bio on the Titans and the making of Dark Cybertron with John Barber and James Roberts.	06/14/2017
01	14	Power Play	Marvel US #1–4 Marvel UK #9–21	The alternate ending of Marvel US #4, unused artwork from issue #1 by Frank Springer, and an overview of how Marvel UK first approached The Transformers.	06/28/2017
26	15	War and Peace	Generation 1 vol. 2 #1–6 & Preview	The Top 10 Easter eggs for "War and Peace" and scorecards listing each faction and the crew members during the arc.	07/12/2017
35	16	Primacy	Monstrosity #1–4 Primacy #1–4	An interview with Flint Dille about his work on the G1 cartoon and his involvement in the Autocracy Trilogy.	07/26/2017
64	17	Windblade	Windblade (2014) #1–4 The Transformers (2012) #35–38	A bio for Windblade, an overview of her conception, pictures of her Thrilling 30 toy, and early design sketches by Hasbro.	08/09/2017
19	18	Perchance to Dream	Marvel UK #240–260 Marvel US #76–77	A Marvel UK Classic Heroes Competition! page, an overview of Simon Furman's attempts to connect Marvel UK's black-and-white strips to the US stories and how he would eventually have to abandon doing so, an article on the "Two Megatrons!" confusion, and a bio on Marvel Thunderwing.	08/23/2017
40	19	Maximum Dinobots	Maximum Dinobots #1–5 Spotlight: Grimlock, Spotlight: Wheelie	Dinobot sketches by Nick Roche and Klaus Scherwinski's Spotlight: Wheelie sketchbook.	09/06/2017
22	20	Natural Selection	Regeneration One #86–90 Transformers Annual 1989: "Peace"	An overview of the Marvel Generation 2 comic and several cover sketches.	09/20/2017
46	21	Things Fall Apart	The Transformers (2009) #2–8	Character design sketches by Don Figueroa, an extract of Decepticomments from The Transformers (2009) #4 by Mike Costa, and a bio on IDW1 Swindle.	10/04/2017
07	22	The Harder They Die	Marvel UK #96–104 Marvel US #24–26	An analysis of the many deaths of Optimus Prime in Generation 1.	10/18/2017
33	23	Megatron Origin	Megatron Origin #1–4 Spotlight: Blurr, Spotlight: Orion Pax	A discussion on the production stages of Megatron Origin by Eric Holmes.	11/01/2017
14	24	Space Pirates	Marvel UK #172–173, #180–189 Transformers Annual 1989: "Altered Image!" Marvel US #51	How Marvel UK incorporated US #43: "The Big Broadcast of 2006" into their timeline.	11/15/2017
43	25	All Hail Megatron, Part 1	All Hail Megatron #1–8	An article on creating All Hail Megatron, character design sketches by Guido Guidi, and the series pitch by Shane McCarthy.	11/29/2017
52	26	The Death of Optimus Prime	The Transformers (2009) #24, #26, #28, #30, #31 The Death of Optimus Prime	An interview with James Roberts on how he worked to become an ongoing writer and character design sketches by Livio Ramondelli.	12/13/2017
44	27	All Hail Megatron, Part 2	All Hail Megatron #9–16	A "Decepticon Roll Call" with mini-bios and trivia about All Hail Megatron #13–16, pointing out notable plot points in the Coda issues.	12/27/2017
20	28	End of the Road	Marvel US #78–80 Marvel UK #261–289	Articles about the ends of the US and UK series, including a discussion of "Another Time & Place," the final letters page from #80, and script pages from #80.	01/10/2018
72	29	The Dying of the Light	More than Meets the Eye #50–55	The bonus story "No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases" and essential background material on the DJD.	01/24/2018
75	30	Titans Return, Part 1	Till All Are One #1–4 Titans Return #1 The Transformers (2012) #56–57 More than Meets the Eye #56–57	"Creating the IDW1-verse", a two-page article on the beginnings of More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise.	02/07/2018
60	31	Dark Cybertron, Part 2	Robots in Disguise #25–27 More than Meets the Eye #26–27 Dark Cybertron Finale	A blow-by-blow account of Dark Cybertron's hidden secrets.	02/21/2018
71	32	All Hail Optimus	The Transformers (2012) #50–55	Background material on the Council of Worlds.	03/07/2018
02	33	New Order	Marvel US #5–8 Marvel UK #29–32 Marvel US #9–10 Transformers Annual 1985: "And There Shall Come...a Leader!"	Insights into Marvel UK's efforts to ease the transition with the US and UK material.	03/21/2018
03	34	Dinobot Hunt	Marvel UK #41–50 Marvel US #11–12	A look at the UK Christmas story tradition.	04/04/2018
23	35	Destiny	Regeneration One #91–95, #0 Transformers Annual 1990: "Destiny of the Dinobots!"	A feature on Regeneration One issue #0 and rare/unseen sketchbook art.	04/18/2018
30	36	War Within: The Dark Ages	War Within: The Dark Ages #1–6	A synopsis of War Within: The Age of Wrath, including art from unfinished issues.	05/02/2018
45	37	Last Stand of the Wreckers	Last Stand of the Wreckers #1–5 Spotlight: Prowl The Transformers (2009) #1	An interview with Nick Roche, pre-production sketches, and story drafts.	05/16/2018
49	38	The Iron Age	Ironhide #1–4 The Transformers (2009) #19–21: Space Opera—Final Tableaux: Orphans of the Helix.	Casey Coller's Ironhide sketchbook.	05/30/2018
11	39	The Legacy of Unicron	Marvel UK #133–134 Transformers Annual 1987: "What's in a Name?" Marvel UK #135–138, #146–151 Transformers Annual 1987: "Ark Duty" Marvel US #40–41	A feature on the development of the origin of the Transformers.	06/13/2018
17	40	Matrix Quest	Marvel US #62–66 Marvel UK #223–239 Transformers Annual 1990: "The Chain Gang!"	Features on the stories behind "Matrix Quest" and Marvel UK's crossover "Deathbringer" saga.	06/27/2018
73	41	Transformers vs G.I. Joe, Part 1	Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #0–7	A creator commentary on issue #0 and an exclusive interview with Tom Scioli.	07/11/2018
76	42	Titans Return, Part 2	Till All Are One #5–11	An article on Revolution.	07/25/2018
62	43	Earthfall	Robots in Disguise #28–34	The lowdown on the (new) human cast and rare promotional posters for the "Dawn of the Autobots" event.	08/08/2018
04	44	Second Generation	Marvel US #13–16 Marvel UK #59–65 Transformers Annual 1986: "To a Power Unknown!"	The story behind Marvel UK's Special Teams promotion.	08/22/2018
32	45	Infiltration	Infiltration #0–6	An article on "Creating the IDW1-verse, From the Ground Up: The Pitch", Simon Furman's original pitch to IDW for Infiltration, and some sketches by E. J. Su.	09/05/2018
24	46	The War to End All Wars	Regeneration One #96–100	The prose story "King of Shadows" and rare/unseen sketchbook art.	09/19/2018
28	47	Worlds Collide Part 2	Armada #14–18 More than Meets the Eye #8	A brief overview of Dreamwave's Energon comic and a bonus glossary section dedicated entirely to background material from the Dreamwave G1-verse.	10/03/2018
42	48	Revelation	Spotlight: Arcee, Spotlight: Cyclonus, Spotlight: Hardhead, Spotlight: Doubledealer, Spotlight: Sideswipe, Spotlight: Jazz, Spotlight: Metroplex	"-Ations" retrospective, sketchbook art from Alex Milne and E. J. Su reprinted from individual Spotlights.	10/17/2018
65	49	Combiner Wars	The Transformers (2012) #39–42 Windblade (2015) #1–4	An article on the Prime Wars Trilogy.	10/31/2018
79	50	Primeless	Optimus Prime #9–12 Lost Light #9–12	A one-page editorial by Simon Furman that notes the 2005 IDW universe's impending end.	11/14/2018
12	51	Cosmic Carnival	Marvel UK #152–153, #160–161 Marvel US #42, 44–46 Marvel UK #145	A behind-the-scenes look at the UK-only return of Megatron.	11/28/2018
25	52	Prime Directive	Generation 1 vol. 1 #1–6 & Preview	A two-page article on "the in-between years" covering the time no one had the Transformers license for comics.	12/12/2018
53	53	Liars, A to D	More than Meets the Eye #1–6 Spotlight: Trailcutter, Spotlight: Hoist	An all-new interview with James Roberts, rare archive material from the dawn of More than Meets the Eye, and Alex Milne's sketchbook.	12/26/2018
55	54	Shadowplay	More than Meets the Eye #7–13 & Annual 2012	The second of a new three-part interview with James Roberts, early pages of scripts, and design sketches from Alex Milne.	01/09/2019
13	55	City of Fear	Marvel UK #164–171 Marvel US #47–50 Transformers Annual 1990: "Dreadwing Down!" Transformers Annual 1985: "Plague of the Insecticons!"	A behind-the-scenes look at a sea change moment for the US comic (Simon Furman's takeover as head writer) and a Bob Budiansky sketchbook.	01/23/2019
41	56	Drift	Drift #1–4 Spotlight: Drift, Spotlight: Blaster	An article on creating Drift and some design sketches by Guido Guidi.	02/06/2019
74	57	Transformers vs G.I. Joe, Part 2	Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #8–13	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	02/20/2019
47	58	International Incident	Bumblebee #1–4 The Transformers (2009) #9–12	An interview with Zander Cannon and breakdowns for pages 1–4 of each issue of the Bumblebee mini-series.	03/06/2019
05	59	The Smelting Pool	Marvel US #17–20 Transformers Annual 1986: "Victory!" Marvel UK #74–77	Background material on the planet Cybertron with a map.	03/20/2019
54	60	A Better Tomorrow	Robots in Disguise #1–7	A new interview with John Barber.	04/03/2019
48	61	Revenge of the Decepticons	The Transformers (2009) #13–18 Spotlight: Megatron	A Spotlight: Megatron sketchbook.	04/17/2019
15	62	Time Wars	Transformers Annual 1989: "All in the Minds!" Marvel UK #199–205 Marvel US #52–55	A behind-the-scenes look at Galvatron's storyline.	05/01/2019
58	63	Shockpoint	Robots in Disguise #15–22	A 2-page history of IDW1 Shockwave's history-setting plans.	05/15/2019
80	64	Requiem of the Wreckers	Till All Are One #12 & Annual 2017 Transformers Annual 2017 Requiem of the Wreckers	A Wreckers sketchbook and notebook material from Nick Roche.	05/29/2019
63	65	Elegant Chaos	More than Meets the Eye #35–42	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	06/12/2019
09	66	Toy Soldiers	Marvel UK #125 Action Force #24–27 Marvel US #29–32, #35–37	A one-page behind-the-scenes feature on "Man of Iron" and how it got reprinted in the US comic.	06/26/2019
78	67	New Cybertron	Optimus Prime #1–8	A sketch gallery by Kei Zama.	07/10/2019
67	68	Conquerors	The Transformers (2012) #43–49 Combiner Hunters #1	Development art by Andrew Griffith.	07/24/2019
38	69	Devastation	Devastation #1–6 Spotlight: Kup, Spotlight: Ramjet, Spotlight: Cliffjumper	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	08/07/2019
57	70	Remain in Light	More than Meets the Eye #14–21 Prose stories "Signal to Noise" & "The Sound of Breaking Glass"	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	08/21/2019
77	71	Dissolution	Lost Light #1–8	A sketch gallery by Jack Lawrence.	09/04/2019
69	72	Sins of the Wreckers	Sins of the Wreckers #1–5 The Transformers Holiday Special	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	09/18/2019
56	73	City On Fire	Robots in Disguise #8–14 & Annual 2012	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	10/02/2019
34	74	Autocracy	Autocracy #1–12 Spotlight: Thundercracker	A one-page article on Autocracy, including an interview with co-writer Chris Metzen.	10/16/2019
70	75	Punishment	Punishment #1–5 Redemption #1 Salvation #1	An article about the Motion Book Tool app used for the digital version of Punishment, a brief history of the IDW1 Dinobots, and a Livio Ramondelli sketchbook.	10/30/2019
27	76	Worlds Collide Part 1	Armada #8–13 More than Meets the Eye: Armada (select material)	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	11/13/2019
68	77	Empire of Stone	Drift - Empire of Stone #1–4 Windblade (2015) #5–7	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	11/27/2019
51	78	Chaos Theory	The Transformers (2009) #21: "Police Action: Prologue", #22–23, #25, #27, #29 Spotlight: Bumblebee	A one-page article exploring the origins of the "Chaos" arc and beyond.	12/11/2019
66	79	Speak, Memory	More than Meets the Eye #43–49	A one-page article about the Scavengers.	12/25/2019
61	80	World, Shut Your Mouth	More than Meets the Eye #28–34	A page of "Season 2" character posters.	01/08/2020
84	81	The Falling: Part 1	Optimus Prime #13–17 & Annual 2018	A one-page article about the Primes.	01/22/2020
90	82	Generation 2: Part 1	Generation 2 #0–6	An article about Fleetway's UK Generation 2 comic, including [small-scale scans of] "War Without End" – their first UK-original G2 strip.	02/05/2020
81	83	Revolution	Revolution #0–5 The Transformers (2012): Revolution #1 Till All Are One: Revolution #1 More than Meets the Eye: Revolution #1	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	02/19/2020
89	84	Realignments	G.I. Joe and the Transformers #1–4 G.I. Joe #138–142	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	03/04/2020
82	85	Revolutionaries	Revolutionaries #1–8	A two-page timeline of major IDW1 continuity events from issue #1 and the character profiles from the same issue.	03/18/2020
92	86	Transformers: The Movie	Marvel's Transformers: The Movie #1–3 IDW's Transformers: The Animated Movie #1–4	A one-page article about the Movie-verse in comics.	04/01/2020
83	87	First Strike	First Strike #0–6 Transformers: First Strike #1 Optimus Prime: First Strike #1	A one-page "Prelude to...Unicron!" article preceding the reprint of "The Signal".	04/22/2020
95	88	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 1	G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #1–6	A one-page article about Devil's Due, a two-page article about creating the "Devil's Due-verse" – and three pages of Mike S. Miller's sketchbook art.	05/13/2020
85	89	The Falling, Part 2	Optimus Prime #18–24	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	06/03/2020
93	90	Beast Wars: The Gathering	The Gathering #1–4 and material from Beast Wars Sourcebook	An introduction by Ben Yee, a 2-page "Unleash the Beast Wars" feature detailing the origins of the show and toyline, a 3-page "Creating the BW-verse" interview with Bob Forward, a 2-page "The (G1) roots of the Beast Wars" feature detailing the G1 elements in the show, 4-pages of Don Figueroa's design sketches, and a reprint of the "Optimus Primal vs Megatron!" toy pack-in comic.	06/17/2020
86	91	The Everlasting Voices	Lost Light #13–18	The first half of Historia (up to Last Stand of the Wreckers), including the Windblade profile copied from the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook.	07/01/2020
96	92	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 2	G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1–4 The Art of War #1–2	A two-page sketchbook of Don Figueroa's original pencils for the first 8-pages of The Art of War.	07/15/2020
87	93	Crucible	Lost Light #19–24	The second half of Historia, including the Optimus Prime profile.	07/29/2020
91	94	Generation 2, Part 2	Generation 2 #7–12	A profile on Derek Yaniger, an outro by Simon Furman, including [small-scale scans of] "War Zone" – their second UK-original G2 strip.	08/12/2020
88	95	Unicron	Unicron #0–6 Optimus Prime #25 Lost Light #25	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	08/26/2020
94	96	Beast Wars: The Ascending	The Ascending #1–4 and material from Beast Wars Sourcebook	A 7-page Beast Wars Glossary (from the Sourcebook trade) and a 5-page behind-the-scenes proposal of Simon Furman's planned third Beast Wars mini-series to be titled The Revisiting.	09/09/2020
97	97	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 3	The Art of War #3–5 Black Horizon #1–2	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	09/23/2020
98	98	The World In Your Eyes	Transformers (2019) #1–7	A Q&A with writer Brian Ruckley.	10/07/2020
99	99	The Cracks Beneath Your Feet	Transformers (2019) #8–14	No bonus except for Simon Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	10/21/2020
100	100	Constructicons Rising	Transformers (2019) #15–17 Galaxies #1–4	A 2-page afterword on the collection as a whole, a tiny cover gallery of the series, and a retrospective on the various publishing companies.	11/04/2020

Curation

Although this collection was curated by Simon Furman, the man directly responsible for many of the stories it contains, many of the decisions it makes seem to be far from ideal.

Presumably as a result of these being the master copies in Hasbro's possession, Marvel US reprints are drawn from IDW's The Transformers Classics 'remasters', complete with newly introduced typos, haphazard attempts to 'fix' errors, washed-out linework, and less authentic coloring than John-Paul Bove's brand new efforts! In a similar vein, cover galleries include the covers for both the US and UK stories, but not the UK-exclusive covers for US stories. This focus on presenting the 'unmodified' versions of US comics means that many of the minor edits made to those stories for their original UK printings (to better jive with Furman's expanded continuity) are absent.

Reading order

The actual ordering of the Marvel material is far from straightforward, for various reasons:

• The two Furman-penned comics from the 1985 annual don't have a particular place in the continuity: "And There Shall Come...a Leader!" is a standalone flashback that isn't referenced until UK #44, while "Plague of the Insecticons!" is a non-canonical present-day story written to promote toys that weren't appearing in the comic at the time. Presumably for reasons of space, they're included as backmatter in volumes 2 and 13; the latter consists mostly of stories released three years later!
• Volume 3 presents UK #41–50 before US #11–12, when they should be the other way around. Apparently this was a deliberate decision to place focus on the UK story the volume was centred around!
• The minor Marvel productions "The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas" and "The Special Teams Have Arrived" are absent—but of course, the latter was completely retold in UK #63–65, included here in volume 4. The former story's absence stands out, since, in his panel at TFNation 2016 Simon Furman specifically mentioned that it would be included in the collection, the first time it would have seen a reprint anywhere, but this ultimately didn't occur, for unknown reasons.
• The two comic stories from the 1986 annual aren't directly connected to specific issues; "To a Power Unknown!" doesn't really fit into continuity, but certainly takes place after UK #65—which is where the partwork puts it—while "Victory!" (which explains what happened to the Dinobots between UK #50 and #65) is placed before UK #74–77, another Dinobot-centric story.
• "The Gift", UK #93's seasonal story by James Hill, is omitted; it should be placed in volume 6 between US #22 and US #23.
• Volume 8 reshuffles things slightly relative to publication order; US #27 was originally published before UK #113–120, but is moved afterwards. As the stories aren't connected, this doesn't really affect anything.
• The stories from the 1987 annual are scattered. "Vicious Circle!" is placed in volume 8 alongside UK #113–120, collectively forming the first "post-movie" storyline. "What's In a Name?" is placed in volume 11 directly before UK #135–136, which developed its premise further. "Ark Duty" is also thrown into volume 11, after UK #146–151... despite chronologically taking place some time before that story.
• In a move that actually improves readability, the Action Force crossover "Ancient Relics!" (which originally interrupted the unrelated two-part story told across US #29–30) is moved before #29.
• UK #130–131 was written as an introduction to the Headmaster concept to UK audiences; it's recontextualised here as a flashback, letting the Headmasters mini-series lead directly into US #38. Keeping UK-original strips in publication order however then causes trouble with UK #137–138, which set up the Combaticons' appearance in... US #32, and UK #152–153, which takes place before the launch of Club Con in US #39.
• UK #145, a fairly standalone Christmas story, is thrown in at the end of volume 12.
• When Furman took over the US comic, the UK strips (having switched to black-and-white) generally stopped tying directly into the US material. Exceptions included UK #215–218 setting up US #56, Thunderwing's rise to power across UK #230–231 and #241–242 paying off in US #60, UK #240 following on from US #59, UK #243–244 further explaining Megatron's appearance in US #56–59, UK #249 being nodded to in US #62, and the events of UK #235–236 being directly referenced in US #65. This collection includes these comics in clumps during breaks in the action, ignoring most of this connective tissue.
• Starting with UK #255 (as noted on the Earthforce page), the UK material effectively diverged into an entire alternate timeline; most of these stories are placed together at the end of volume 20.

The ordering of IDW's comics, meanwhile, can only be described as impenetrable to a new reader. As Infiltration was the starting point for that continuity, it is presented as the first volume, but in a stab towards chronological ordering the next volumes are devoted to prequels such as Megatron Origin and Autocracy, which were released well after the fact and don't really mesh well here. Even Furman's own work isn't safe: Maximum Dinobots is placed before Revelation, and the other Spotlight issues are thrown in haphazardly wherever space allows. How much of the material following his run Furman has actually read, only he can say.

Omissions

It's apparent that when the partwork was planned out, Hatchette intended to be the first company to reprint the latter-day Dreamwave material such as the Sunstorm arc, Micromasters, and the Summer Special in volumes 27 and 28—but those volumes wound up containing issues from Dreamwave's Armada comic, which merely guest-starred G1 characters and seem very out of place in a "Definitive G1 Collection" (unsurprisingly, the rest of the Armada and Energon material is omitted). Presumably, this late change occurred for the same reason those stories have never been reprinted in the first place—nobody's sure whether the creative teams were actually paid for their work. A summary of The Age of Wrath was included, but none of the finished issues of that series or of Transformers/G.I. Joe: Divided Front were reprinted.

Many of the collection's other omissions can easily be considered editorial choices:

• The prose stories from Marvel UK's annuals are omitted, although it bears mentioning that most of them were written by authors other than Furman and are tricky to reconcile with the continuity proper anyway. Furman's stories are more conspicuous by their absence: "The Magnificent Six!" from the 1991 annual was part of the Earthforce storyline, and the 1992 annual's "Another Time & Place" was effectively the original coda to his Marvel run. UK #302's "Dreadwind's Xmas!" is absent too, notable for focusing on Dreadwind's time answering letters for Marvel UK.
• At most, only small extracts are given of the various profile books released over the years: Marvel's The Transformers Universe, Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye, and IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook and Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook.
• None of the material released by 3H Productions or Fun Publications was printed in this collection.
• Various obscure one-off comics like Milton Bradley's The Transformers mini-comic, Grandreams' "The Dinobots!" (from The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual), Metrodome's "The Beast Within", Madman Entertainment's "The Transformers" and IDW's "Rodimus vs. Cyclonus" are understandably left out. Furman would have liked to include the one-page comic advert for the Beast Wars video game, but he didn't know about it at the time.
• IDW's non-G.I. Joe crossover mini-series are all omitted: New Avengers/Transformers, Aw Yeah Revolution!, Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor, Transformers vs. Visionaries, Angry Birds Transformers, Star Trek vs. Transformers, and Transformers/Ghostbusters. So too are most of the tie-ins to their once-annual multi-property events: Infestation 2, Mars Attacks, The X-Files: Conspiracy, and Deviations.
• The end of the series at volume 100 meant that much of the 2019 IDW continuity material went unpublished. Though the series technically wraps up story arcs with Transformers #17 and Galaxies #4, the omissions of the stories told in Transformers #18 and Galaxies #5–6 meant that subscribers couldn't just hop straight across to IDW's own hardcover collections!

Less forgivable is the omission of the ancillary material from Transformers vs. G.I. Joe ("FCBD Funnies", the four-page "Black Cybertron" prose story from issue #10, and "The Movie Adaptation"). The various prose stories, profiles and comics first printed with the collected editions of Last Stand of the Wreckers are also absent.

Coloring

Colorist John-Paul Bove, known for his work on Regeneration One, was hired by Hatchette to give color to black-and-white UK-original stories. The first of these was "Raiders of the Last Ark", included in volume 1. Like many of the earliest UK strips, only some of its instalments were printed in color, but this was the only story not to be later colourised in a reprint at the time. For this collection, Bove colored the entire comic in a style as close to the original marker-pens as possible, with the only edits being to correct an error and to put Guardian's colors in line with the character's later appearances.

For the black-and-white strips printed following the UK comic's format change in 1989, Bove colored the stories depending on whether their plots tied into the UK or the US continuity. He cites "Race with the Devil" (the first black-and-white story of this kind) and "Fallen Star!" as examples of US-relevant stories. Meanwhile, stories like "Survivors" emulated the richer colour combinations employed by the UK teams. "Aspects of Evil!" and the Earthforce stories were colored to look like they could've been rendered with inks and airbrushes.

In some cases, Bove made choices with regards to color schemes based on in-universe reasoning, most notably with Xaaron and Soundwave in volume 19.

The handful of the stories from the black-and-white era to have been colourised at the time ("The Big Shutdown!" in issues #330–1, and the Mayhem Attack Squad storyline told across "The Hunting Party", "Way of the Warrior", "Survival Run", "A Savage Place!", "Cry Wolf!", "Wolf in the Fold!", and "Where Wolf?" in Transformers Annual 1992) were not re-colourised from scratch, but instead presented as they were at the time.

Notes

• The free gifts shipped to subscribers with the first five deliveries (each consisting of two isses - except the first, which included a third issue free) were:
  • Autobot/Decepticon insignia keyrings!
  • A wallet!
  • A tin-plate version of the cover to "Dark Star", featuring a cosmically empowered Starscream!
  • A mug!
  • A pair of metal Autobot/Decepticon insignia bookends!
• Before the partwork launched, the second free gift was advertised as an Autobrand belt buckle.
• The first issue collected "Target: 2006", and was coincidentally out at newsagents thirty years after the story originally ran.
• The printings of Marvel material aren't really identical to those released by IDW—for instance, issue 1 (volume 6 - confused yet?) includes various Marvel trademarks (such as the superheroes around the edge of the cover to "Heavy Traffic" and the kid wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt in "Decepticon Graffiti") which were painted out of IDW's reprints due to rights issues.

Errors

• When the website launched, it accidentally credited Andrew Wlidman.
• The poster included with issue 1 includes a bio for Jazz... which uses an image of Prowl.
• The trial versions of issues 1 and 2 had the inside cover art swapped: the "Target: 2006" book had artwork for Stormbringer, and vice versa.
• A feature in issue 1 states that the Marvel UK comic sold 200,000 copies per week, when really it only sold 100,000 per week at its peak. This error presumably stems from the fact that Marvel (and other publishers at the time) multiplied their circulation figures by 2.5 to calculate their readership, as they estimated that many issues would be shared between friends and siblings. This error was not present in IDW's original reprints.
• The bio for John Paul Bove included in issue 3 (volume 16) was apparently written by himself in the first person, then edited into the third person—one of the sentences written in first person remains!
• Some copies of volume 22 had a number erroneously printed on one of the pages.
• Copies of the first issue provided to general retail and initial subscribers had an error on the spine, with the black volume number box at the top being the wrong size. Subscribers received free corrected copies, while those who bought theirs at newsagents had to wait for replacements which were included with issue 7. Hachette were seen giving away error-stricken copies for free at a signing event at a London comic shop. This error shouldn't be confused with the change in spine art for the first four issues made between the limited trial run and the mass release, which means that anyone who subscribed to the series from its trial will end up with three different copies of issue 1.
• Some other printing errors that led Hachette to reissue volumes were:
  • Volume 28 erroneously used the same speech bubbles for two pages in a row.
  • Volume 35 swapped the last two pages of Monstrosity #11 with two from "War and Peace" #3.
  • Volume 64 printed the first page of Windblade #4 at the wrong size, cutting off some of the speech bubbles. Additionally, some of the issues of Robots in Disguise were printed out of order.
  • Volume 75 printed a page with Bruticus twice.
  • Volume 81 printed the intro at the back of the book, rather than at the start.
• Many volumes include pages which are stuck together, though this is easy enough for the reader to fix.
• Though some readers may try to convince you otherwise, Mister Johnson is not an error.

Covers

Each issue of the series used the same format for its cover: a piece of art of a character (usually one who appeared in the book in question, if not necessarily the most significant character in the volume), with a lower panel extracted from one of the included comics, washed over in a block colour. Most of the character art pieces presumably come from some large stock library at Hasbro, with the vast majority being reused from Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile series. The covers not sourced from Dreamwave are as follows:

• Early toy-inspired promotional art drawn by Guido Guidi for IDW Publishing:
  • Banners for San Diego Comic-Con 2005: Vol. 19 (Megatron), Vol. 64 (Starscream), and Vol. 50 (Prowl)
  • Postcard-sized pieces featuring the cast of Infiltration: Vol. 1 (Ironhide), 26 (Blitzwing), Vol. 35 (Optimus), and Vol. 59 (Ratchet)
• Many pieces of stock art done by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham circa 2007 for Hasbro, in the style they used for the The Animated Movie adaptation. The pieces were most notably used for Shout! Studios's DVD releases of the '80s cartoon, with artist Andrew Griffith later taking over from Don in the same style. The pieces used for Definitive are: Vol. 6 (Megatron), Vol. 8 (Soundwave), Vol. 10 (Devastator), Vol. 16 (Optimus Prime), Vol. 18 (Grimlock), Vol. 21 (Optimus Prime with axe), Vol. 29 (Jazz), Vol. 31 (Megatron with mace), Vol. 36 (Hot Rod), Vol. 37 (Starscream), and Vol. 39 (Bumblebee)
• Profile art from the Beast Wars Sourcebook: Vol. 93 (Optimal Optimus) and Vol. 94 (Beast Wars Megatron)
• Cropped from artwork of one of the collected issues: Vol. 41 (Drift), Vol. 48 ("stealth bomber" Megatron) and Vol. 95 (Wheeljack)

• Marvel (US & UK)
• 
  Vol. 1: Power Play
• 
  Vol. 2: New Order
• 
  Vol. 3: Dinobot Hunt
• 
  Vol. 4: Second Generation
• 
  Vol. 5: The Smelting Pool
• 
  Vol. 6: Target: 2006
• 
  Vol. 7: The Harder They Die
• 
  Vol. 8: Wanted: Galvatron - Dead or Alive
• 
  Vol. 9: Toy Soldiers
• 
  Vol. 10: Trial by Fire
• 
  Vol. 11: The Legacy of Unicron
• 
  Vol. 12: Cosmic Carnival
• 
  Vol. 13: City of Fear
• 
  Vol. 14: Space Pirates
• 
  Vol. 15: Time Wars
• 
  Vol. 16: The Primal Scream
• 
  Vol. 17: Matrix Quest
• 
  Vol. 18: Edge of Extinction
• 
  Vol. 19: Perchance to Dream
• 
  Vol. 20: End of the Road

• Marvel's Generation 2
• 
  Vol. 89: Realignments
• 
  Vol. 90: Generation 2 Part 1
• 
  Vol. 91: Generation 2 Part 2

• IDW's Regeneration One
• 
  Vol. 21: Regeneration One
• 
  Vol. 22: Natural Selection
• 
  Vol. 23: Destiny
• 
  Vol. 24: The War to End All Wars

• Dreamwave Productions
• 
  Vol. 25: Prime Directive
• 
  Vol. 26: War and Peace
• 
  Vol. 27: Worlds Collide Part 1
• 
  Vol. 28: Worlds Collide Part 2
• 
  Vol. 29: The War Within
• 
  Vol. 30: War Within: The Dark Ages
• 
  Vol. 31: The Iron Fist

• 2005 IDW continuity
• 
  Vol. 32: Infiltration
• 
  Vol. 33: Megatron Origin
• 
  Vol. 34: Autocracy
• 
  Vol. 35: Primacy
• 
  Vol. 36: Stormbringer
• 
  Vol. 37: Escalation
• 
  Vol. 38: Devastation
• 
  Vol. 39: Hearts of Steel
• 
  Vol. 40: Maximum Dinobots
• 
  Vol. 41: Drift
• 
  Vol. 42: Revelation
• 
  Vol. 43: All Hail Megatron, Part 1
• 
  Vol. 44: All Hail Megatron, Part 2
• 
  Vol. 45: Last Stand of the Wreckers
• 
  Vol. 46: Things Fall Apart
• 
  Vol. 47: International Incident
• 
  Vol. 48: Revenge of the Decepticons
• 
  Vol. 49: The Iron Age
• 
  Vol. 50: Heart of Darkness
• 
  Vol. 51: Chaos Theory
• 
  Vol. 52: The Death of Optimus Prime
• 
  Vol. 53: Liars, A to D
• 
  Vol. 54: A Better Tomorrow
• 
  Vol. 55: Shadowplay
• 
  Vol. 56: City On Fire
• 
  Vol. 57: Remain In Light
• 
  Vol. 58: Shockpoint
• 
  Vol. 59: Dark Cybertron, Part 1
• 
  Vol. 60: Dark Cybertron, Part 2
• 
  Vol. 61: World Shut Your Mouth
• 
  Vol. 62: Earthfall
• 
  Vol. 63: Elegant Chaos
• 
  Vol. 64: Windblade
• 
  Vol. 65: Combiner Wars
• 
  Vol. 66: Speak, Memory
• 
  Vol. 67: Conquerors
• 
  Vol. 68: Empire of Stone
• 
  Vol. 69: Sins of the Wreckers
• 
  Vol. 70: Punishment
• 
  Vol. 71: All Hail Optimus
• 
  Vol. 72: The Dying of the Light
• 
  Vol. 75: Titans Return, Part 1
• 
  Vol. 76: Titans Return, Part 2
• 
  Vol. 77: Dissolution
• 
  Vol. 78: New Cybertron
• 
  Vol. 79: Primeless
• 
  Vol. 80: Requiem of the Wreckers
• 
  Vol. 81: Revolution
• 
  Vol. 82: Revolutionaries
• 
  Vol. 83: First Strike
• 
  Vol. 84: The Falling Part 1
• 
  Vol. 85: The Falling Part 2
• 
  Vol. 86: The Everlasting Voices
• 
  Vol. 87: Crucible
• 
  Vol. 88: Unicron

• Miscellaneous
• 
  Vol. 73: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 1
• 
  Vol. 74: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 2
• 
  Vol. 92: Transformers: The Movie
• 
  Vol. 93: Beast Wars: The Gathering
• 
  Vol. 94: Beast Wars: The Ascending
• 
  Vol. 95: G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 1
• 
  Vol. 96: G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 2
• 
  Vol. 97: G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 3

• 2019 IDW continuity
• 
  Vol. 98: The World In Your Eyes
• 
  Vol. 99: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet
• 
  Vol. 100: Constructicons Rising

External links

• Official website