Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection

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.<ref>"A Different Approach to Colour", Vol.16</ref>

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,<ref>Ozformers Transformers Club of Australia: UK Definitive Comic collection from Hachette now in Australia</ref> but became unavailable in July 2018 due to the closure of the Australian distributor. In January 2019, it became available in Poland,<ref>Polish version of official site</ref> 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.	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 UK #113–120 "Vicious Circle!" (Annual 1997) Marvel US #27–28	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	Heart of Darkness #1–4 The Transformers: Infestation #1–2	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" (Annual 1989)	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 "Altered Image!" (Annual 1989) Marvel US #51	How Marvel UK incorporated The Big Broadcast of 2006 (US issue #43) into their 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 US #78–80 Marvel UK #261–289	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 #5–8 Marvel UK #29–32 Marvel US #9–10 "And There Shall Come...a Leader!" (Annual 1995)	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!" (Annual 1990)	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 ("Space Opera—Final Tableaux: Orphans of the Helix" only).	Casey Coller's Ironhide sketchbook	30/05/2018
11	39	The Legacy of Unicron	Marvel UK #133–134 "What's in a Name?" (Annual 1987) Marvel UK #135–138, #146–151 "Ark Duty" (Annual 1987) 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!" (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!" (Annual 1996)	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 by 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 #152–153, #160–161 Marvel US #42, 44–46 Marvel UK #145	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!" (Annual 1990) "Plague of the Insecticons!" (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 "Victory!" (Annual 1996) 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	"All in the Minds!" (Annual 1989) Marvel UK #199–205 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 UK #125 and 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.	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	A one-page article on Autocracy, including an interview with co-writer Chris Metzen.	16/10/2019
70	75	Punishment	The Transformers: Punishment miniseries The Transformers: Redemption one-shot The Transformers: Salvation one-shot	An article about the Motion Book Tool app used for the digital version of The Transformers: Punishment, a "Brief History of the (IDW) Dinobots", and a Livio Ramondelli sketchbook.	30/10/2019
27	76	Worlds Collide Part 1	Armada #8–13 More than Meets the Eye: Armada (select material)	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	13/11/2019
68	77	Empire of Stone	Drift - Empire of Stone miniseries Windblade vol. 2 issues 5–7	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	27/11/2019
51	78	Chaos Theory	The Transformers vol. 1 #21 ("Police Action: Prologue" only), #22–23, 25, 27, 29 Spotlight: Bumblebee	A one-page article exploring the origins of the "Chaos" arc and beyond.	11/12/2019
66	79	Speak, Memory	More than Meets the Eye #43–49	A one-page article about the Scavengers.	25/12/2019
61	80	World, Shut Your Mouth	More than Meets the Eye #28–34	A page of "Season 2" character posters.	08/01/2020
84	81	The Falling: Part 1	Optimus Prime #13–17 Optimus Prime Annual 2018	A one-page article about the Primes.	22/01/2020
90	82	Generation 2: Part 1	Transformers: 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.	05/02/2020
81	83	Revolution	Revolution #0–5 The Transformers Revolution one-shot Till All Are One Revolution one-shot More than Meets the Eye Revolution one-shot	No bonus aside from Furman's intro.	19/02/2020
89	84	Realignments	G.I. Joe and the Transformers #1–4 Marvel's G.I. Joe #138–142	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	04/03/2020
82	85	Revolutionaries	Revolutionaries #1–8	A two-page timeline of major IDW continuity events from issue #1, and the character profiles also from issue #1.	18/03/2020
92	86	Transformers: The Movie	Marvel's adaption of the 1986 animated movie IDW's adaption of that same movie	A one-page article about the movie-verse in comics.	01/04/2020
83	87	First Strike	First Strike #0–6 First Strike: Transformers one-shot First Strike: Optimus Prime one-shot	A one-page "Prelude to...Unicron!" article, preceding the reprint of "The Signal".	22/04/2020
95	88	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 1	Devil's Due's 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.	13/05/2020
85	89	The Falling, Part 2	Optimus Prime #18–24	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	03/06/2020
93	90	Beast Wars: The Gathering	Beast Wars: The Gathering #1–4 and material from Transformers: 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.	17/06/2020
86	91	The Everlasting Voices	The Transformers: Lost Light #13–18	The first half of Transformers: Historia (up to Last Stand of the Wreckers, including the Windblade profile, which was itself copied from the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook.	01/07/2020
96	92	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 2	Devil's Due's G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1–4 G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War #1–2	A two-page sketchbook of Don Figueroa's original pencils for the the first 8 pages of The Art of War.	15/07/2020
87	93	Crucible	The Transformers: Lost Light #19–24	The second half of Transformers: Historia including the Optimus Prime profile.	29/07/2020
91	94	Generation 2, Part 2	Transformers: Generation 2 #7–12	A profile on Derek Yaniger, a outro by Simon Furman including [small-scale scans of] "War Zone", their second UK-original G2 strip.	12/08/2020
88	95	Unicron	Transformers: Unicron #0–6 Optimus Prime #25 The Transformers: Lost Light 25	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	26/08/2020
94	96	Beast Wars: The Ascending	Beast Wars: The Ascending #1–4 and material from Transformers: Beast Wars Sourcebook	A 7-page Beast Wars Glossary (from the Sourcebook trade) and a 5-page Behind the Scenes proposal of Furman's planned third Beast Wars miniseries to be titled The Revisiting.	09/09/2020
97	97	G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Part 3	DDP's G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War #3–5 G.I. Joe vs, the Transformers: Black Horizon #1–2	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	23/09/2020
98	98	The World In Your Eyes	Transformers #1–#7	A Q&A with writer Brian Ruckley	07/10/2020
99	99	The Cracks Beneath Your Feet	Transformers #8–#14	No bonus aside from Furman's intro and a cover gallery.	21/10/2020
100	100	Constructicons Rising	Transformers #15–#17 Transformers: 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.	04/11/2020

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.<ref name=RyanFTarget2006>Ryan F on the TFW2005 forums: "In order to smooth over the continuity cracks between the UK and US stories, the US books were usually edited (US#16-24 were especially affected) for their UK printing. But rather than the UK edits of the American stories, we get the familiar US versions. [...] Oh, and on page 214, there's a factual error as well, when it states that Transformers UK sold 200,000 copies per week. That's actually completely false. It actually sold 100,000 copies per week at its peak. That said, each individual comic sold would tend to be read by a number of people, as kids lent or gave their comics to siblings or school friends. It was calculated that, on average, each comic sold would be read by two-point-five people. Marvel (and other comic publishers such as Fleetway or IPC) would therefore take the actual circulation figures and apply this 2.5 multiplier to give a total readership that did exceed two hundred thousand on occasion. So whilst the readership was arguably 250K-plus, the actual number of copies sold was nowhere near that figure.</ref>

Reading order

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

The two Furman-penned comics from the 1995 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!<ref>Facebook post quoted by Andy Turnbull on the Transmasters UK forums: "While we make every effort to maintain the original flow and continuity of the Marvel UK/US TRANSFORMERS stories, the self-contained identity and integrity of each individual volume is of paramount importance, especially as the collections aren’t released in chronological order. So, in a heavily UK-centric volume titled Dinobot Hunt, we took the decision to lead with the main/bulk of 'Dinobot Hunt' (and preceding issues) itself. Both UK and US strips are prefaced with a dedicated Story So Far to ease readers into the respective narratives, so they can be enjoyed together or in and of themselves. Naturally, we regret any inherent ‘spoilers’, but our policy is to create coherent and self-supportive volumes that anyone, casual reader or long-time fan, can pick up and enjoy."</ref>
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 miniseries 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<ref>Simon Furman on WordPress: "all the Dreamwave G1 material that saw print in single-issue form will be collected, including the rare Summer Special story, Welcome to the Jungle, and their ongoing G1 series"</ref> 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 "In the Transformers", 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.<ref>Template:Twitter</ref>
IDW's non-G.I. Joe crossover miniseries 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.<ref>John-Paul Bove on the Transmasters UK forums: "Raiders has been coloured to match as closely as possible the original. As far as I can tell the original was coloured in marker pen! This involved some exceptionally detailed hi res scans and taking the texture and colour choices from the original (including a Megs with a lot of gold!). There were two changes made to the originals, one was a colouring error pointed out by Mike Collins himself that affected the linework (see if you can spot it) that I corrected and the other was that the Guardian colours were changed to match all subsequent appearances. When he is taken down he is left a solid colour in that Yomtovy way of doing things."</ref>

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.<ref>John-Paul Bove on the Transmasters UK forums: "As stated in the colour commentary in vol 3, the style of colouring for the strips depends entirely on the continuity it follows regardless of which country it originated in. So Race with the Devil and Fallen Star follow US continuity despite being a UK originated strip. So the colour ref will follow what was in the Underbase Saga and the stories containing the classic Pretenders (so background Soundwave is Magenta as Ed said). At a certain point along the way the UK was instructed to follow the US way of colouring, so the techniques becomes the same though the guys and gals in the UK were geniuses in making combinations to generate richer pallets. That's why Survivors etc has been done in a richer, denser style."</ref> "Aspects of Evil!" and the Earthforce stories were colored to look like they could've been rendered with inks and airbrushes.<ref>John-Paul Bove on the Transmasters UK forums: "For Aspects of Evil (coming soon!) the colouring style is not bound by continuity. I felt doing something like Regen would be too far removed from the time, but instead I have coloured it in a way that could have been rendered with inks and airbrush but that still feels modern without any computer trickery. It's a style based a little on contrast and is hopefully both bold and subtle."</ref>

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.<ref>John-Paul Bove on the Transmasters UK forums: "With Xaaron I was pretty sure that his appearance here was chronologically the first we'd seen him so I decided to make him his UK colours and leave his all yellow look something he got shortly after. This was partly because his all yellow look was awful and there was enough wiggle room to do it. Soundwave on the other hand had appeared magenta before the events of Starscream's Pretender process and after so to change him to blue for this moment between other moments requires a bigger ask. There is a whole complicated reasoning that had to apply to Thunderwing precisely because he appears in different colours in between coloured appearances. I reasoned that he was burned then jumped into the sea which lead to one colour change, got repaired and recoloured when he got back to the ship and then got given a final upgrade when he got made leader. I spent forever working out a logic that would make sense of all the colour schemes he had that I had to jump between. There was definitely method to the madness and many, many hours were spent making it as consistent, justified and sympathetic as possible."</ref>

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!<ref>Archived copy of official site</ref>
Before the partwork launched, the second free gift was advertised as an Autobrand belt buckle.<ref>Archived copy of official site</ref>
The first issue collected "Target: 2006", and was coincidentally out at newsagents thirty years after the story originally ran.<ref>Solar Pool: "The Target: 2006 book is already out... if it doesn’t [finish], Target: 2006 was back on at least some newsagents shelves towards the end of its 30th anniversary week. How cool is that?"</ref>
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.<ref>Ryan F on the TFW2005 forums: "The weird thing is, though, these aren't the IDW versions. The cover to Heavy Traffic has all the Marvel characters around the edge, and the little kid in Decepticon Graffiti is wearing his Spider-Man t-shirt. This stuff was painted out of the IDW trades due to rights issues with Marvel."</ref>

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.<ref>fishpop on the TFW2005 forums: "Also: the poster that comes with Volume 1 (Target: 2006) shows some small character bios but goofs up the "Jazz" bio by using a picture of Prowl."</ref>
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.<ref>drmick on the TFW2005 forums: "On anybody else's copies, is the inside cover art wrong? I've got Stormbringer art inside the Target:2006 book, and Target:2006 art inside the Stormbringer book."</ref>
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.<ref name=RyanFTarget2006>
Hatchette's own masterings of the comics introduce yet more errors. In issue 1, for example, an instance of '[[Skids (G1)|]]' in dialogue is misspelled as 'Skips'.<ref>Bass X0 on the TFW2005 forums: "In Decepticon Graffiti, Skids is called Skips on the second page."</ref> This error was not present in IDW's original reprints.<ref>Magnus' Mate on the TFW2005 forums: "Except the IDW "Transformers Classics" volume 2 with issue #23 in doesn't have this same problem - Skids is still Skids, not Skips! I know there are other problems with them, but this one is on Hachette."</ref>
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!<ref>drmick on the TFW2005 forums: "There is also a half page bio on JP, which was obviously written by himself in the first person, and then edited to be the third person- but they missed one of the first person senetnces and it is still in there!"</ref>
Some copies of volume 22 had a number erroneously printed on one of the pages.<ref>rodster6 on the TFW2005 forums: "Got volume 7 today (which I think is issue 22) and there is a weird number printed randomly on one page that shouldn't be there."</ref>
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.<ref>ultra badness on the TFW2005 forums: "I just got an email from Hachette to say they had misprinted the spine art on issue 1. And hey will send a replacement. Hurrah! Im going to have 3 issues!"</ref> Subscribers received free corrected copies, while those who bought theirs at newsagents had to wait for replacements which were included with issue 7.<ref>Magnus' Mate on TFW2005: "Incidentally, the 'corrected' #1 will be available to non-subscribers as well, included free with issue #7!"</ref> Hachette were seen giving away error-stricken copies for free at a signing event at a London comic shop.<ref>Millarworld forums (dead link)</ref> 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,<ref>Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection on Facebook</ref> 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.<ref>[https://tmukhub.proboards.com/post/425882/thread

Danlevan on the Transmasters UK forums]: "Volume 28 - The speech bubbles from another page were repeated, but the art was still correct. It's a page with Prime and the human kids at the top, and the Minicons transforming at the bottom from issue 18. The speech bubbles are from the next page. One sits over Rad's face so is pretty easy to spot."</ref>

- Volume 35 swapped the last two pages of Monstrosity #11 with two from "War and Peace" #3.<ref>fishpop on the TFW2005 forums: "The last two pages of Monstrosity #11 have been swapped with the ones from W&P #3"</ref>
- 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.<ref>[https://tmukhub.proboards.com/post/425882/thread

Danlevan on the Transmasters UK forums]: "Volume 64 - The first page of Windblade #4 is zoomed in and has cut off speech bubbles, the issues of ex-RiD are out of order. An incorrect printing starts with a page with Sideswipe, Cosmos and Prowl instead of Blackrock."</ref>

- Volume 75 printed a page with Bruticus twice.<ref>[https://tmukhub.proboards.com/post/425882/thread

Danlevan on the Transmasters UK forums]: "Volume 75 - A page from earlier in the issue with Bruticus is reprinted. Really easy to spot if you flick through the black bordered pages, these stick out as they're white and again aren't Livio art."</ref>

- Volume 81 printed the intro at the back of the book, rather than at the start.<ref>[https://tmukhub.proboards.com/post/425882/thread

Danlevan on the Transmasters UK forums]: "Revolution (Volume 81) had the intro printed at the back of the book"</ref>

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)<ref>"IDW banner for SDCC 2005 booth - and later re-used on 2006 as TF Infiltration variant cover!"—Guido Guidi on DeviantArt, 2006-12-08</ref>
- Postcard-sized pieces featuring the cast of Infiltration: Vol 1 (Ironhide), 26 (Blitzwing), Vol 35 (Optimus), and Vol 59 (Ratchet)<ref>"This is from a set of postcard-sized pieces I did for IDW publishing back in 2006, featuring the cast from the "Infiltration" miniseries by Simon Furman and ~EJ-Su. Designs were heavily inspired by the '80 toys."—Guido Guidi on DeviantArt, 2010-10-28</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Twitter</ref> The pieces were most notably used for Shout! Factory's DVD releases of the '80s cartoon, with artist Andrew Griffith later taking over from Don in the same style.<ref>Template:Twitter</ref> 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)