All Hail Megatron issue 7: Difference between revisions

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* Deluge is the only ''[[Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]'' character to appear in ''All Hail Megatron''.  Some fans suspected that E.J. Su had drawn him into the scenes of his own accord, but Su confirmed that Deluge was specifically part of the script.<ref>[http://tfarchive.com/community/showpost.php?p=643920&amp;postcount=12 Post by E.J. Su on TFArchive.com]</ref>
* Deluge is the only ''[[Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]'' character to appear in ''All Hail Megatron''.  Some fans suspected that E.J. Su had drawn him into the scenes of his own accord, but Su confirmed that Deluge was specifically part of the script.<ref>[http://tfarchive.com/community/showpost.php?p=643920&amp;postcount=12 Post by E.J. Su on TFArchive.com]</ref>
* It's unclear what happened to Dirge and Deluge, but since the Autobots only seem worried about the Swarm, they must have been either incapacitated or killed.  The latter possibility would carry on the tradition of Dirge dying in pretty much every continuity he appears in.  [[Shane McCarthy|''Someone'']] must be reading this wiki...
* It's unclear what happened to Dirge and Deluge, but since the Autobots only seem worried about the Swarm, they must have been either incapacitated or killed.  The latter possibility would carry on the tradition of Dirge dying in pretty much every continuity he appears in.  [[Shane McCarthy|''Someone'']] must be reading this wiki...
* This is the first issue of the series to attempt to rectify some of the continuity issues with [[Simon Furman]]'s work.  Facsimiles are briefly mentioned, as is the environmental damage Cybertron suffered from [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] (with a mention that Cybertron is slowly healing); Sunstreaker's tenure as a Headmaster is a major point; the bitter rivalry between him and Sideswipe is also mentioned and dealt with; and flashbacks include [[Abraham Dante]] and Hunter.  The environmental issue is addressed rather clumsily, as the reader must accept that the storms had died down tremendously just in time for the Autobots to be stuck there, and that the Autobots had been walking around in pain all the while without mentioning it at ''all.''
* This is the first issue of the series to attempt to rectify some of the continuity issues with [[Simon Furman]]'s work.  Facsimiles are briefly mentioned, as is the environmental damage Cybertron suffered from [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] (with a mention that Cybertron is slowly healing); Sunstreaker's tenure as a Headmaster is a major point; the bitter rivalry between him and Sideswipe is also mentioned and dealt with; and flashbacks include [[Abraham Dante]] and Hunter.  The environmental issue is addressed rather clumsily, as the reader must accept that the storms had died down tremendously just in time for the Autobots to be stuck there, and that the Autobots had been walking around in pain all the while without mentioning it at ''all'' (on panel, at least).
* Assuming that Bombshell is correct, the Decepticons had a working laboratory on Cybertron even earlier than the Autobots' arrival.  So at what point, exactly, did Cybertron jump from being an instant deathtrap to merely having a disagreeable climate?
* Assuming that Bombshell is correct, the Decepticons had a working laboratory on Cybertron even earlier than the Autobots' arrival.  So at what point, exactly, did Cybertron jump from being an instant deathtrap to merely having a disagreeable climate?
* The ambush plan relied upon Optimus Prime (as well as two [[Prowl (G1)|unit]] [[Hound (G1)|commanders]]) thinking it would be a good idea to send the entire Autobot force after a handful of Decepticons in an enclosed space with no back-up, then declining to [[Orbital jump|orbital-jump]] away when the battle went south.  And yet the ambush ''worked!''
* The ambush plan relied upon Optimus Prime (as well as two [[Prowl (G1)|unit]] [[Hound (G1)|commanders]]) thinking it would be a good idea to send the entire Autobot force after a handful of Decepticons in an enclosed space with no back-up, then declining to [[Orbital jump|orbital-jump]] away when the battle went south.  And yet the ambush ''worked!''

Revision as of 21:35, 27 March 2010

« The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #7 »
File:AHM-7cvrA.jpg
Ouch... that's going to leave a mark!
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published February 4, 2009
Cover date January 2009
Written by Shane McCarthy
Art by Guido Guidi & E. J. Su
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Neil Uyetake & Chris Mowry
Edits by Denton J. Tipton
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology All Hail Megatron

The truth behind the Autobots' downfall revealed!

Synopsis

All passages in italics are flashbacks.
Don't worry Homer. We just want to eat your skin, nothing else.

"They're almost in," someone said as the Swarm tried to claw its way through a wall. Megatron, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp walked down a hallway (the Seekers notably in their F-22 Raptor bodies), and Thundercracker commented on how there were nearly three thousand of them "out there," and that it "was gonna happen eventually." Defying Megatron's order for silence, he told Megatron that the Swarm was an obscene and twisted defilement of their own kind that should be killed as an act of mercy. Megatron only glared back at him before continuing to walk with Starscream, leaving the other two behind.

They approached Deluge standing in front of a laboratory door. Deluge giddily announced the success of their experiments, saying that their venture into the creation of deliberately tortured life-forms had produced a startlingly intelligent and malicious specimen at a one-in-a-thousand chance. Inside the lab, Bombshell sat on a med-table while two others lay prone. Megatron asked him his name, location, and purpose, to which he replied, "Bombshell," "Cybertron," and "torment." This pleased Megatron, who said that there was someone he wanted him to meet.

On present-day Cybertron, the Autobots are on the move in vehicle mode. Kup sits on Roadbuster's hood while Perceptor keeps watch in the back. Kup asks Jazz to relate what happened "from the beginning."

With Optimus Prime and Megatron on the same planet, the front lines had been redrawn into an escalated stalemate. Everyone was looking for a way to tip the balance, but the Decepticons were staying out of sight and no longer exhibiting their usual tactics of manipulation and Facsimile-usage. Then the Autobots got a break: Mirage delivered news of an apparent power struggle between Megatron and Starscream that was verified by other sources. Thinking the Decepticon ranks had been split, the Autobots invested all of their forces in an attack on Starscream's location. They believed that they would outnumber the handful of Decepticons with Starscream, and they were impatient to get back into action.

But as they prepared for battle in a canyon, they were suddenly attacked from above. Megatron and Starscream (then in his F-15 Eagle body) stood together as the Decepticons, Constructicons, and three primary Insecticons swooped from the canyon edges onto their Autobot prey. The Autobots fought back courageously, but then the Decepticons played their trump card: Devastator. Unprepared for a "gestalt," the Autobots fell and Megatron tore the Matrix from Prime's chest.

Kup cuts Jazz's story short with a call for a break. The Autobots stop and transform, spreading out into the ruined landscape. Kup says that he'll give the unseen Blurr and Drift time to scout around them before they move on. Jazz hopes that they'll make to base without a sign of the Swarm, but Kup wonders if they're trying harder to outrun the Swarm or to outrun their own mistrust and tension. Inside a small building, Sideswipe tries to talk to Sunstreaker, but Sunstreaker wants to be left alone. Sideswipe says that they need to put their old rivalry behind them, and that's not the only thing. Sunstreaker asks what he's talking about, and Sideswipe tells him that he and Ironhide are just making things worse. He tries to sympathize with Sunstreaker over the pain of the Headmaster incident, but even that quickly turns into an accusation: The Autobots had managed to reverse the process that bonded Sunstreaker with Hunter O'Nion, but Sunstreaker had turned his back on Hunter. As Sideswipe describes the way Sunstreaker had once been merged with the human, Sunstreaker shouts back that the matter is completely irrelevant and that he never ever wants to hear about it again.

Meanwhile, Jazz continues his story...

The Decepticons were gloating at them, laughing. Prime had been tortured to the point of hardly being able to stand up, and Devastator still loomed over them. But the coup de grâce to their morale was the Decepticons' announcement that the Autobots had been betrayed by one of their own. Prime bore the news particularly badly. The Autobots were taken to a wormhole device created by the Insecticons (Kup mentions that the Autobots were trying to build something like that too) and all the Autobots were to be dropped through to Cybertron, where the Swarm would feed upon them. Two Decepticons, Dirge and Deluge, went through first, and the Autobots followed. Last through was Optimus Prime, who summoned enough fight to sabotage the portal even as he was falling through. With the portal sealed and Prime lying nearly dead on the Cybertronian ground, the Autobots turned toward the two Decepticons who were suddenly trapped in hostile territory.

Jazz explains that with no energon or means of escape, the Autobots could only hide. Luckily, the storms had gotten considerably less severe than they used to be, merely causing constant pain instead of deactivation.

Ironhide notices Sunstreaker storming off and stops him. Ironhide asks him what's wrong, and Sunstreaker describes Sideswipe's attempt to talk to him. He relays Sideswipe's accusation that he and Ironhide are taking things too far regarding Mirage, dividing the group. This only enrages Ironhide, who fumes that he hasn't taken things far enough. He walks up to Mirage and grabs his arm, slamming him against a wall and punching his face. Sunstreaker tries to dissuade Ironhide ("The others will see"), but Ironhide ignores him and accuses Mirage of tearing the group apart. Mirage tells him he's not going to fight, but that suits Ironhide just fine, and he punches him again. Mirage says that he didn't betray the Autobots, that he just overheard Starscream talking. Ironhide says that that's awfully convenient, and Mirage retorts that overhearing information is his job. Ironhide accuses him of never having really been an Autobot. Mirage says that disagreeing with "certain elements" of the war doesn't constitute treason, but Ironhide declares that he doesn't deserve to wear the Autobot badge. In demonstration of the point, he beats Mirage's chest-sigil into unrecognizability, punches him in the face again, and kicks his head when he falls, all the while declaring that Prime is dying because of him.

By this time, other Autobots have arrived, but Ironhide simply stalks off as they look on in shocked silence.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans
At one point Kup speaks to Blaster, who replies from off-panel but otherwise does not actually appear in this issue.

Quotes

"He knows what he's doing."
"That's what bothers me."

—Skywarp and Thundercracker have read their own bios.


"What is your name?
[pause]
"Bombshell."
"Do you know where you are?"
[pause]
"Cybertron."
"Why you were created? What is your purpose?"
[pause]
"Torment."
"Excellent."

—Megatron and Bombshell play The Dating Game.


"A portal, a wormhole... one-of-a-kind."
"Our side's been trying to build—"
"Exactly."
"If Ultra Magnus knew—"
"I know."

—Jazz and Kup need not mention, especially to the audience apparently, what Ultra Magnus would do if he knew about this.


"I didn't sell us out! I overheard them talking—I'm a scout! I overheard Starscream—I don't know!"
"Pretty convenient. You overhearin'."
"I'm a scout, how is that—"

—Mirage and Ironhide, debating the merits of doing one's job.


Errors

Items of note

  • E.J. Su drew the flashback sequences for this issue.
  • On page 5, panel 1, a cracked lamppost is an homage to Soundwave's Generation 1 cartoon Cybertronian alt mode.
  • Both the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth are seen to have bolstered their numbers considerably, post-Revelation.
  • Deluge is the only Generation 2 character to appear in All Hail Megatron. Some fans suspected that E.J. Su had drawn him into the scenes of his own accord, but Su confirmed that Deluge was specifically part of the script.[1]
  • It's unclear what happened to Dirge and Deluge, but since the Autobots only seem worried about the Swarm, they must have been either incapacitated or killed. The latter possibility would carry on the tradition of Dirge dying in pretty much every continuity he appears in. Someone must be reading this wiki...
  • This is the first issue of the series to attempt to rectify some of the continuity issues with Simon Furman's work. Facsimiles are briefly mentioned, as is the environmental damage Cybertron suffered from Thunderwing (with a mention that Cybertron is slowly healing); Sunstreaker's tenure as a Headmaster is a major point; the bitter rivalry between him and Sideswipe is also mentioned and dealt with; and flashbacks include Abraham Dante and Hunter. The environmental issue is addressed rather clumsily, as the reader must accept that the storms had died down tremendously just in time for the Autobots to be stuck there, and that the Autobots had been walking around in pain all the while without mentioning it at all (on panel, at least).
  • Assuming that Bombshell is correct, the Decepticons had a working laboratory on Cybertron even earlier than the Autobots' arrival. So at what point, exactly, did Cybertron jump from being an instant deathtrap to merely having a disagreeable climate?
  • The ambush plan relied upon Optimus Prime (as well as two unit commanders) thinking it would be a good idea to send the entire Autobot force after a handful of Decepticons in an enclosed space with no back-up, then declining to orbital-jump away when the battle went south. And yet the ambush worked!
    • Issue 15's first story would imply this happened because Optimus let himself be talked into it by Ironhide, instead of following more cautious advice from the likes of Prowl.
  • Prime's sacrifice is of dubious merit. All of the Autobots had already been transported, and the Decepticons were presumably going to close the portal after them anyway, as it was the Decepticons' stated intention to leave them to the Swarm. All Prime really did was guarantee that the Autobots had no way out. Even damaging the wormhole machine is a limited gain, since there's no reason the Decepticons can't rebuild it.

Covers

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References

  1. ↑ Post by E.J. Su on TFArchive.com
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