Replay

« The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #14 »
Communist propaganda about a bodiless Autobot
"Replay"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 19, 2009
Cover date	August 2009
Written by	Shane McCarthy
Art by	Emiliano Santalucia
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	All Hail Megatron

Sunstreaker mulls over his sins.

Synopsis

On a distant world, Sunstreaker and his squad have driven a Decepticon army off the planet. Sunstreaker tells one of his squad units to inform Optimus Prime of the victory, and as he climbs on a stack of energon crates, the rest of his squad chant his name in victory. The squad member returns and tells him of Prime's congratulations, as well as giving him co-ordinates from Prime, as he is now reassigned to another squad on another planet called Earth.

On Earth, a scientist named Douglas is talking to his superior. It seems he and his crew are having difficulty in shutting up the robot the Machination have captured. Douglas suggests taking it offline, but his superior will have none of it, as it would erase all the data it contains. The superior wants the readings immediately, and he reminds Douglas that it's a machine and that its "screaming" is an automated response. Douglas doesn't care, as he find the noise distracting. The superior then suggests that he get some earplugs and get the job over with.

At night, a scientist tries to seduce his girlfriend, but she is creeped out by the head of the robot, thinking that it's looking at them. The scientist tries to reassure her that it's not looking at anything, but she isn't convinced, as the robot is the most hideous thing she has ever seen, although the scientist retorts that she had wanted to see it. Suddenly, it speaks, calling for help. The scientist is amused, while the girlfriend is disgusted. Excited, the scientist prods the robot head to speak again.

Hunter O'Nion, who has been turned into one of the Sunstreaker Headmasters, confronts Sunstreaker's head. Sunstreaker begs for the human to kill him, but Hunter refuses. Sunstreaker begs once more, but Hunter refuses again and asks Sunstreaker to teach him how to be a Headmaster, while Sunstreaker begs for a third time for Hunter to kill him...

At an Autobot repair bay, Ratchet is giving Sunstreaker his diagnosis. The CR chamber has done wonders to Sunstreaker and everything looks good, but Ratchet needs to do more tests to be certain. Sunstreaker asks if he can go and Ratchet permits it, saying he will let 'Streaker know when the tests are done. Ratchet next mentions that he's about to finish restoring Hunter to normal if Sunstreaker wants to see, but Sunstreaker turns his back. In response to Ratchet's query, Sunstreaker turns and, with a false smile, says that being in the CR chamber made him unsteady and he just wants to go for a walk. Ratchet reminds him that it wasn't easy to undergo, as this had never happened to him (or anyone) before. Ratchet is concerned that Sunstreaker might have neural trauma, due to the bonding with and separation from Hunter, and he's worried about what else the Machination scientists might have done with him. Sunstreaker once again says that he's fine—couldn't be happier, in fact, thanks to having his head and body back together again. But as soon as he leaves the repair bay, Sunstreaker walks down the corridor, looks at himself, then staggers to an empty room and holds his head.

The images repeat themselves through the eyes of Sunstreaker's disembodied head on Cybertron, as it, along with pieces of the deactivated Insecticon swarm, lie in ruins below, where above, a bridge once stood...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Sunstreaker (1) Bumblebee (4) Jazz (5) Prowl (6) Ratchet (7)	Insecticon swarm (8)	Douglas (2) Hunter O'Nion (3)

Notes

Continuity notes

Retconviced.

• In Sunstreaker's first flashback, there's a female Transformer in his squad. This stood out as a continuity error at the time of publication, as Spotlight: Arcee had established that female Transformers did not exist on Cybertron, but many years later, a retcon performed by Lost Light #8 would provide an explanation for the handful of such incongruous appearances dotted through IDW continuity by glossing them all as transgender.
• Sunstreaker's second flashback depicts him being cut up following his captured by the Machination, in a scene which falls somewhere between Escalation #1 and #6.
• The fourth flashback is a replay of a scene from Devastation #3, in which Hunter urges Sunstreaker to teach him how to be a Headmaster. The context of the scene is a very different in this issue, however, as additional dialogue added to this version of it reveals that Sunstreaker continued to beg for death afterward. This rather suggests that Hunter somehow forced Sunstreaker into their Headmaster partnership, which really doesn't fit well with how Devastation and Maximum Dinobots handled it at the time, but which seems intended to retroactively justify Sunstreaker's assholishness throughout All Hail Megatron.

Transformers references

• Sunstreaker's squad is made up of generic Transformers, but some have borrowed the color schemes of more famous characters. Mostly notable is a blue 'bot with red chest-pipes, who's been colored to look like Robots in Disguise Side Burn, and the aforementioned female Transformer, who seems to have the colors of Universe Roulette.

Reprints

Other than full or partial collections of All Hail Megatron.

• N/A