Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection is a fortnightly eighty-volume patchwork from Hatchette, edited by Simon Furman. Partworks are a Hatchette speciality: 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 plan is to republish all Generation 1 comics (as of 2016) and all of the original Marvel Comics run, UK and US, as one run again. Wow! That's great, right?

Only if you live in the United Kingdom and Ireland, suckers!

However as of August 2017, the subscription also became available in Australia.[3]

Each issue has a special cover and bonus content, and older strips will have recoloured artwork. Fantastic FREE! Gifts are provided for subscribers, to make you buy all of them; the fourth delivery for subscribers would have Autobrand and Deceptibrand bookends to hold your collection.

This was given a trial-run in parts of the UK before a national release started in early 2017. The first volume was a collection of Target 2006, coincidentally out on newsagents thirty years after the story originally ran! The extra features included character profiles and The Middle Years that ran in the original issues.

US reprints are taken from IDW's Transformers Classic 'remasters', complete with desperate attempts to 'fix' errors. Instead of running the black and white UK strips in their original form, John-Paul Bove has coloured them with emulations of both 1980s American and latter-day Marvel UK colouring techniques.

Volumes

Vol.	Issue	Title	Contents	Bonus Features
06	01	Target: 2006	Marvel UK #78-88, Marvel US #21-23	A guide to the launch of The Transformers: The Movie in the UK and its marketing purposes for Marvel UK.
36	02	Stormbringer	Spotlight: Shockwave, Spotlight: Soundwave, Stormbringer #1-4, Spotlight: Nightbeat, Spotlight: Hot Rod	An article on the beginning of IDW-verse production and several sketches by Figueroa.
16	03	The Primal Scream	Marvel UK #198, #213-222, Marvel US #56-61	An article by Bove on the colouring techniques used at Marvel UK and Marvel US in the 1980s, and how he emulated them for colourising the UK strips.
18	04	Edge of Extinction	Marvel US #67-75	An overview of Marvel's Unicron and a spotlight on Andrew Wildman.
29	05	The War Within	The War Within #1-6 and preview	Various character design sketches by Don Figueroa and an article on the making of The War Within
37	06	Escalation	Spotlight: Sixshot, Spotlight: Ultra Magnus, Escalation #1-6	Sketches by E. J. Su, bios on IDW Ultra Magnus & IDW Sixshot, an article on creating the IDW Spotlights, and an interview with Su
08	07	Wanted: Galvatron—Dead or Alive	Marvel US #27-28, Marvel UK #113-120, "Vicious Circle!"	An overview of the Marvel UK Annuals and a bio on Marvel Goldbug.
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
10	09	Trial by Fire	Headmasters #1-4, Marvel US #38-39, Marvel UK #130-132	A retrospective on the Headmasters miniseries and an overview of how Marvel UK handled toy marketing.
21	10	Regeneration One	Regeneration One #80.5-85	A commentary on issue #81 by Simon Furman, an overview on production leading up to Regeneration One, and several cover sketches.
31	11	The Iron Fist	Transformers/G.I. Joe #1-6	Various character design sketches by Figueroa and an overview of the many G.I. Joe crossovers across the comics.
50	12	Heart of Darkness	The Transformers: Infestation #1-2, Heart of Darkness #1-4	A post-mortem on "Zombots" across the various comics and a bio on IDW Hardhead.
59	13	Dark Cybertron, Part 1	Dark Cybertron one-shot, 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.
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.
26	15	War and Peace	War and Peace #1-6 and preview	Top 10 easter eggs for War and Peace and scorecards listing each faction and their crew members during the arc.
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.
64	17	Windblade	Windblade vol. 1 #1-4, The Transformers vol. 2 #35-38	A bio for Windblade, an overview of her conception, pictures of her Thrilling 30 toy, and early design sketches by Hasbro.
19	18	Perchance to Dream	Marvel UK #240-260, Marvel US #76-77	A Marvel UK Classic Heroes Competition! page, an overview of Marvel UK's background stories to the US series, an article on the "Two Megatrons!" confusion, and a bio on Marvel Thunderwing.
40	19	Maximum Dinobots	Maximum Dinobots #1-5, Spotlight: Grimlock, Spotlight: Wheelie	Dinobot sketches by Nick Roche and Klaus Scherwinski's Spotlight: Wheelie sketchbook.
22	20	Natural Selection	Regeneration One #86-90, "Peace"	An overview of the Marvel Generation 2 comic and several cover sketches.
46	21	Things Fall Apart	The Transformers vol. 1 #2-8	Character design sketches by Figueroa, an extract from Decepticomments from The Transformers #4 by Mike Costa, and a bio on IDW Swindle.
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.
33	23	Megatron: Origin	Megatron: Origin #1-4, Spotlight: Blurr, Spotlight: Orion Pax	A discussion of the production stages on Megatron: Origin by Eric Holmes.
14	24	Space Pirates	Marvel UK #172-173, #180-189, Marvel US #43 & #51, "Altered Image!"	How Marvel UK incorporated The Big Broadcast of 2006 into the timeline.
43	25	All Hail Megatron, Part 1	All Hail Megatron #1-8	An article on creating All Hail Megatron, character design sketches by Guidi, and the series pitch by Shane McCarthy.
52	26	The Death of Optimus Prime	The Transformers vol. 1 #24, 26, 28, 30, 31, The Death of Optimus Prime	An interview with James Roberts on how he worked his way up to become an ongoing writer, and character design sketches by Livio Ramondelli.
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.
20	28	End of the Road	Marvel UK #261-289, Marvel US #78-80
72	29	The Dying of the Light	More than Meets the Eye #50-55
75	30	Titans Return, Part 1	The Transformers: Till All Are One #1-4, Titans Return one-shot, The Transformers vol. 2 #56-57, More than Meets the Eye #56-57
60	31	Dark Cybertron, Part 2	Robots in Disguise #25-27, More than Meets the Eye #26-27, Dark Cybertron: Finale one-shot
71	32	All Hail Optimus	The Transformers vol. 2 #50-55
02	33	New Order	Marvel US #5-#10, Marvel UK #29-#32, "And There Shall Come...a Leader!"
03	34	Dinobot Hunt	Marvel UK #41-50, Marvel US #11-#12
23	35	Destiny	Regeneration One #91-95, #0, "Destiny of the Dinobots"
30	36	War Within: The Dark Ages	War Within: The Dark Ages #1-6	Synopsis of War Within: the Age of Wrath, including art from unfinished issues.
45	37	Last Stand of the Wreckers	Last Stand of the Wreckers #1-5, Spotlight: Prowl, The Transformers vol. 1 #1	Interview with Nick Roche, pre-production sketches and story drafts
49	38	The Iron Age	Ironhide #1-4, The Transformers vol. 1 #19-21.
11	39	The Legacy of Unicron
17	40	Matrix Quest
73	41	Transformers Vs GI Joe, Part 1
76	42	Titans Return, Part 2
62	43	Earthfall
04	44	Second Generation

Notes

• When the website launched, it accidentally credited Andrew Wlidman.
• Copies of the first issue (volume 6 - this will get confusing in the long run) provided to general retail and initial subscribers have an error on the spine, with the black volume number box at the top being the wrong size. Subscribers received free corrected copies. Everyone who bought it at a newsagent has to wait for a replacement copy to be included with issue 7 (which is not volume 7, if you see). 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.

Covers

• 
  Vol 1: Power Play
• 
  Vol 2: New Order
• 
  Vol 3: Dinobot Hunt
• 
  Vol 6: Target: 2006
• 
  Vol 7: The Harder They Die
• 
  Vol 8: Wanted: Galvatron - Dead or Alive
• 
  Vol 10: Trial by Fire
• 
  Vol 14: Space Pirates
• 
  Vol 16: The Primal Scream
• 
  Vol 16: The Primal Scream
• 
  Vol 19: Perchance to Dream
• 
  Vol 20: End of the Road
• 
  Vol 31: The Iron Fist

Extended cover gallery

External links

Official website