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 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], but became unavailable in July 2018 due to the closure of the Australian distributor.

Starting in January 2019, it became available in Poland. [4] Unlike the UK release, volumes will be released in chronological order, starting with Vol 1.

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

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 #78–88 Marvel US #21–23	A guide to the launch of The Transformers: The Movie in the UK and its marketing purposes for Marvel UK.	30/12/2016
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.	11/01/2017
16	03	The Primal Scream	Marvel UK #198, #213–222 Marvel US #56–61	An overview of the change in format of the UK series and the introduction of 5-page black-and-white strips, and 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.	27/01/2017
18	04	Edge of Extinction	Marvel US #67–75	An overview of Marvel's Unicron and a spotlight on Andrew Wildman.	08/02/2017
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.	22/02/2017
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.	08/03/2017
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.	22/03/2017
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.	05/04/2017
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.	19/04/2017
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.	03/05/2017
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.	17/05/2017
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.	31/05/2017
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.	14/06/2017
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.	28/06/2017
26	15	War and Peace	Transformers: Generation 1 vol. 2 #1–6 and preview	Top 10 Easter eggs for "War and Peace" and scorecards listing each faction and their crew members during the arc.	12/07/2017
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.	26/07/2017
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.	09/08/2017
19	18	Perchance to Dream	Marvel UK #240–260 Marvel US #76–77	A Marvel UK Classic Heroes Competition! page, an overview of 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.	23/08/2017
40	19	Maximum Dinobots	Maximum Dinobots #1–5 Spotlight: Grimlock, Spotlight: Wheelie	Dinobot sketches by Nick Roche and Klaus Scherwinski's Spotlight: Wheelie sketchbook.	06/09/2017
22	20	Natural Selection	Regeneration One #86–90 "Peace"	An overview of the Marvel Generation 2 comic and several cover sketches.	20/09/2017
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.	04/10/2017
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.	18/10/2017
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.	01/11/2017
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.	15/11/2017
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.	29/11/2017
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.	13/12/2017
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.	27/12/2017
20	28	End of the Road	Marvel UK #261–289 Marvel US #78–80	Articles about the ends of the US and UK series, including discussion of "Another Time & Place," the final letters page from #80, and script pages from #80.	10/01/2018
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	24/01/2018
75	30	Titans Return, Part 1	Till All Are One #1–4 Titans Return one-shot The Transformers vol. 2 #56–57 More than Meets the Eye #56–57	"Creating the IDW-Verse" — a two-page article on the beginning of More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise.	07/02/2018
60	31	Dark Cybertron, Part 2	Robots in Disguise #25–27 More than Meets the Eye #26–27 Dark Cybertron: Finale one-shot	A blow-by-blow account of Dark Cybertron's hidden secrets	21/02/2018
71	32	All Hail Optimus	The Transformers vol. 2 #50–55	Background material on the Council of Worlds	07/03/2018
02	33	New Order	Marvel US #5–#10 Marvel UK #29–#32 "And There Shall Come...a Leader!"	Insights into Marvel UK's efforts to ease the transition between the US and UK material	21/03/2018
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 "Destiny of the Dinobots!"	A feature on Regeneration One issue #0 and rare/unseen sketchbook art	18/04/2018
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.	02/05/2018
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	16/05/2018
49	38	The Iron Age	Ironhide #1–4 The Transformers vol. 1 #19–21.	Casey Coller's Ironhide sketchbook	30/05/2018
11	39	The Legacy of Unicron	Marvel UK #133–138, "What's in a Name?", #146–151 "Ark Duty" Marvel US #40–41	A feature on the origins of the origin of the Transformers	13/06/2018
17	40	Matrix Quest	Marvel US #62–66 Marvel UK #223–239 "The Chain Gang!" (from Annual 1990)	Features on the stories behind "Matrix Quest" and, Marvel UK's crossover "Deathbringer" saga	27/06/2018
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	11/07/2018
76	42	Titans Return, Part 2	Till All Are One #5–11	Article on Revolution	25/07/2018
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 "To a Power Unknown!"	The story behind Marvel UK's Special Teams promotion	22/08/2018
32	45	Infiltration	Infiltration #0–6	An article on "Creating the IDW-Verse: From the Ground Up", "The Pitch" - Furman's original pitch to IDW for Infiltration, and some sketches E.J. Su.	05/09/2018
24	46	The War to End All Wars	Regeneration One #96–100	the prose story "King of Shadows" and rare/unseen sketchbook art	19/09/2018
28	47	Worlds Collide, Part 2	Armada #14–18 Dreamwave's 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	03/10/2018
42	48	Revelation	Spotlights: Arcee, Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer, Sideswipe, Jazz, Metroplex	"-Ations" retrospective, sketchbook art from Alex Milne and E.J. Su reprinted from individual Spotlights	17/10/2018
65	49	Combiner Wars	The Transformers vol. 2 #39–42 Windblade vol. 2 #1–4	An article on the Prime Wars Trilogy	31/10/2018
79	50	Primeless	Optimus Prime #9–12 Lost Light #9–12	A one-page editorial by Simon Furman that mentions the IDW universe's impending end	14/11/2018
12	51	Cosmic Carnival	Marvel UK #145, 152–153, 160–161 Marvel US #42, 44–46	A behind-the-scenes look at the UK-only return of Megatron	28/11/2018
25	52	Prime Directive	Tranformers: Generation 1 vol. 1 #1–6 (plus Preview)	A two-page article on 'the in-between years' covering the time when no-one had the Transformers licence for comics.	12/12/2018
53	53	Liars, A to D	More than Meets the Eye #1–6, Spotlight: Trailcutter and Spotlight: Hoist	An all-new interview with James Roberts, rare archive material from the dawn of MTMTE, Alex Milne's sketchbook.	26/12/2018
55	54	Shadowplay	More than Meets the Eye #7–13, plus the 2012 Annual	The second of a new three-part interview with Roberts, early pages of scripts, and design sketches from Alex Milne.	09/01/2019
13	55	City of Fear	Marvel UK #164–171 Marvel US #47–50 "Dreadwing Down!" (from Annual 1990) "Plague of the Insecticons!" (from Annual 1985)	A behind-the scenes look at a sea change moment for the US comic (Furman's takeover as head writer) and a Bob Budiansky sketchbook.	23/01/2019
41	56	Drift	The Transformers: Drift #1–4 Spotlight: Drift, Spotlight: Blaster	An article on creating Drift and some design sketches by Guido Guidi.	06/02/2019
74	57	Transformers vs G.I. Joe, Part 2	Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #8–13	No extras, but still has the cover art and intro from Furman present on all issues.	20/02/2019
47	58	International Incident	The Transformers: Bumblebee #1–4 The Transformers vol. 1 #9–12	An interview with Zander Cannon and breakdowns for pages 1–4 of each issue of the Bumblebee mini-series.	06/03/2019
05	59	The Smelting Pool	Marvel US #17–#20 The 1986 Annual's "Victory!" Marvel UK #74–77	Background material on the planet Cybertron with map.	20/03/2019
54	60	A Better Tomorrow	Robots in Disguise #1–7	A new interview with John Barber	03/04/2019
48	61	Revenge of the Decepticons	The Transformers vol. 1 #13–18 Spotlight: Megatron	A Spotlight: Megatron sketchbook	17/04/2019
15	62	Time Wars	Marvel UK #199–205 Annual 1989's "All in the Minds!" Marvel US #52–55.	A behind-the-scenes look at Galvatron's storyline	01/05/2019
58	63	Shockpoint	Robots in Disguise #15–22	A 2-page history of IDW Shockwave's history-setting plans	15/05/2019
80	64	Requiem of the Wreckers	Till All Are One #12 Till Are Are One Annual 2017 Transformers Annual Requiem of the Wreckers	Wreckers sketchbook and notebook material from Nick Roche.	29/05/2019
63	65	Elegant Chaos	More than Meets the Eye #35–42	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	12/06/2019
09	66	Toy Soldiers	Marvel US #29–#32, #35–#37 Marvel UK #125 and Action Force #24–27	A one-page behind-the-scenes feature on "Man of Iron" and how it got reprinted in the US comic.	26/06/2019
78	67	New Cybertron	Optimus Prime #1–8	A sketch gallery by Kei Zama	10/07/2019
67	68	Conquerors	The Transformers vol. 2 #43–49 Combiner Hunters one-shot	Development art by Andrew Griffith	24/07/2019
38	69	Devastation	The Transformers: Devastation miniseries Spotlights for Kup, Ramjet and Cliffjumper	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	07/08/2019
57	70	Remain in Light	More than Meets the Eye #14–21 Prose stories "Signal to Noise" and "The Sound of Breaking Glass"	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	21/08/2019
77	71	Dissolution	The Transformers: Lost Light #1–8	A sketch gallery by Jack Lawrence	04/09/2019
69	72	Sins of the Wreckers	Sins of the Wreckers miniseries The Transformers Holiday Special	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	18/09/2019
56	73	City On Fire	Robots in Disguise #8–14 2012 Annual	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	02/10/2019
34	74	Autocracy	The Transformers: Autocracy miniseries Spotlight: Thundercracker	"Creatng the IDW-Verse - Optimus Origin" - One-page article on Autocracy, including an interview with co-writer Chris Metzen; Cover gallery	16/10/2019
70	75	Punishment	The Transformers: Punishment miniseries (UNCONFIRMED) The Transformers: Redemption one-shot (UNCONFIRMED) The Transformers: Salvation one-shot (UNCONFIRMED)		30/10/2019
27	76	Worlds Collide			13/11/2019
68	77	Empire of Stone	Drift - Empire of Stone miniseries (UNCONFIRMED)		27/11/2019
51	78	Chaos Theory	The Transformers vol. 1 #22–23, 25, 27, 29 (UNCONFIRMED)		11/12/2019
66	79	Speak, Memory	More than Meets the Eye #43–49 (UNCONFIRMED)		25/12/2019
61	80	World, Shut Your Mouth	More than Meets the Eye #28–34 (UNCONFIRMED)		08/01/2020

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.
• When the series was originally mapped out, it's apparent that Hachette believed they were going to be the first company to finally be able to reprint latter-day Dreamwave material, like the Sunstorm arc and Micromasters, in volumes 27 and 28. That evidently didn't pan out (presumably for the longstanding reason these stories have never been reprinted; that is, nobody's quite sure if the creators got paid for them), because the two volumes would wind up containing issues from the Dreamwave Armada comic that merely guest-starred G1 characters—comics that it's very hard to believe anyone would have considered worthy of inclusion in a "Definitive G1 Collection" at the planning stage.
• The series was initially announced in September 2016 to contain 60 issues, which would have ended things on the Dark Cybertron crossover, but by the time of its launch in December, had already been extended to 80 issues, to enable the series to include more of the currently-running IDW Publishing comic books. With the IDW Universe's conclusion in 2018, fans observed that it would take around an extra 10 volumes to reprint the entire IDW catalogue and bring the series to a definitive end, causing speculation it might be expanded—which it was in 2019, when Simon Furman confirmed by an announcement on Twitter on 18/7/2019 that the collection had been extended by 20 issues to a total of 100.
• Before the expansion was announced, volume 80 did provide a closure of sorts—it reprints the final issues and annual for the Till All Are One series and wraps up the Wreckers arc with Requiem of the Wreckers.

Covers

• 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

• 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 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 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 62: Earthfall
• 
  Vol 63: Elegant Chaos
• 
  Vol 64: Windblade
• 
  Vol 65: Combiner Wars
• 
  Vol 67: Conquerors
• 
  Vol 69: Sins of the Wreckers
• 
  Vol 71: All Hail Optimus
• 
  Vol 72:
  The Dying of the Light
• 
  Vol 73:
  Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 1
• 
  Vol 74:
  Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 2
• 
  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

Extended cover gallery

External links

• Official website