The Transformers: All Hail Megatron

I read everything that had been put out by IDW and there's no disrespect of what Simon's done coming from me. I grew up reading Simon Furman books and still have those big format TF comics in my back room. There's no way I'm going to spit on anything that man's done.Shane McCarthy

All Hail Megatron is a 12-issue maxi-series published by starting in July 2008, and set in the primary IDW continuity. Intended as a "soft reboot" for IDW's ongoing storyline, it is meant to provide a convenient jumping-on point for new readers, requiring no familiarity with the increasingly complicated storylines that have preceded it. The story is meant to be a radical shift in tone, showing a victorious Decepticon army on Earth, with the Autobots absent and defeated.

The first advertisement for the series was simply a red Decepticon symbol on a black background with "Swear Allegiance 2008" written in red. Follow-up ads used the visual style of post-revolutionary Communist propaganda. The first details of the series were revealed on the trashy Australian tabloid current affairs programme Today Tonight on January 16, 2008.

All Hail Megaton was promoted by the standalone issue, "Focus On Decepticons".

Preceded by: Maximum Dinobots

Followed by: All Hail Megatron Coda

Overview

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

A traitor in the Autobot ranks has given the Decepticons the means to conquer the Autobots, win the Great War, and do as they will on the unprotected planet Earth.

As the Decepticons cause death and destruction in New York City, the United States Military proves unable to stop them. The Decepticons obliterate both ground and air forces in deliberately humiliating displays of power before cutting off every way out of the city, while broadcasting it to the world. Meanwhile, the Autobots are in a sorry state on Cybertron, with Optimus Prime in critical condition.

The Decepticons continue their assault on the United States, crippling other major cities, including the capital, disabling the Navy, and killing the President of the United States. Megatron stands essentially victorious.

On Cybertron, the Autobots are lashing out at each other in frustration and are trying to deal with the suspected traitor when Hot Rod arrives, after being shot down by the Decepticons over Cybertron and believing the others are here to rescue him.

He reveals the Decepticons were informed of Autobot access codes, allowing mass Decepticon victory. Hot Rod's squad commander, Kup, takes charge of the two groups of Autobots on Cybertron, whilst Jazz reveals that the Matrix has been stolen by Megatron. When a group of monstrous, insect-like Transformers start appearing, the Autobots decide to move to another bunker.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons are beginning to question their place now that the war is apparently over, finding their victory to be Pyrrhic. Starscream begins to doubt Megatron's goals and secretly teams up with some Decepticons in another bid to overthrow Megatron.

While the Autobots are trying to avoid the Swarm, Sunstreaker reveals that he was the traito and sacrifices himself to save the others. However, another probable reason for the betrayal is that Hunter O'Nion is now a captive of the Decepticons...

Discrepancies

“	I knew from day one that this was going to piss some people off.	”
—Shane McCarthy on fan reaction to the changes in All Hail Megatron

All Hail Megatron (as published to date) has some odd discontinuities with the preceding storylines. These may or may not be resolved by the contemporaneous Maximum Dinobots series or the follow-up All Hail Megatron Coda; in the mean time, the following changes stand out as incongruous:

• The three Seekers have traded in their top-of-the-line F-22 jet modes for the much older and technically inferior F-15 jet modes. Shane McCarthy had promised that an explanation for this would be provided at some point, but to date, this hasn't happened. While it's possible they chose to emulate the older and more common F-15...
• ...Astrotrain has also traded in his previous Earth-based alternate mode. Instead of transforming to a very common American diesel freight locomotive as seen in Devastation, he now turns into a steam locomotive, the last of which were retired from common use circa 1965.
• Ratbat is also in on the backdating action, trading in his contemporary MP3 player alternate form for a cassette tape—a recording media which has virtually disappeared from the public eye. This could possibly be explained as a result of Soundwave's reappearance on Earth.
• Hot Rod has traded his Dodge Viper mode for his G1 cartoon mode. Various other Earth-based Autobots are in new bodies as well, such as Prowl, Sidewswipe and Sunstreaker, who are in forms based on their Universe toys. Guido Guidi has confirmed that the Universe models were because Hasbro asked in order to promote the line. Oddly enough, Ironhide and Ratchet retains their E. J. Su-designed bodies instead of their Universe toy designs.
• The series does not yet mention the previous plot point of Ultra Energon. Though it is the original reason for the Decepticons' unusually strong interest in Earth, it has yet to get any kind of closure.
• In the wake of the Autobots' defeat, the Decepticons have seemingly abandoned their usual infiltration protocol, launching a full-out assault on Earth's major countries.
• Previous robot encounters such as the publicly broadcast Transformers battle and Grimlock stomping through the countryside are briefly hand-waved away as the work of the now-defunct Machination. Yet Air Force representatives also state that they thought the giant robots were a hoax, which makes little sense considering that a news station filmed them and the Air Force has seen them fighting the Reapers.(Worse, the people of New York react to the Constructicons by thinking they're part of a movie being filmed, rather than understanding what they're seeing.
• At the end of Revelation, the Autobots controlled both the all-knowing Magnificence and the powerful Pretender technology. Neither seems to be accounted for.
• Soundwave's speech patterns have returned to the cartoon-inspired pattern from Megatron: Origin, after a brief stint of fluent internal monologue in his Spotlight.
• In Stormbringer, Jetfire said Cybertron was healing itself, but that it would take hundreds of years. In reality, this has taken roughly a year to happen, with the Autobots now able to exist on the planet, albeit in pain.
• Kup—last seen undergoing rehabilitation in Spotlight: Kup for his mental disorder—is now not only calm and sane, but actually leading the Wreckers. Shane McCarthy and Denton J. Tipton have both stated that this will be addressed.
• The Great War is apparently about the Matrix of Leadership though it had no bearing on Megatron's rise to power in Megatron Origin, nor mentioned as motivation.
• Bombshell was created a year ago, though featured as a plot point in Spotlight: Blaster. Kickback also had a minor cameo in Megatron Origin. (Much like Blaster and Bluster, this must be... Sitback! (Evidently his cousin.)

In a rather flagrant admission of the glaringly broken continuity, the All Hail Megatron Coda series is planned specifically to bridge the gaps between this series and the continuity started by Simon Furman.

Items of note

• Originally, the series was said to be issues #35–46 in the IDW overarching "sub-numbering", picking up 12 issues after Devastation (a gap which to be filled by the four Revelation Spotlights, the 5-issue Maximum Dinobots miniseries and 3 unnamed issues). However, Simon Furman later reported that these 3 issues were "to be confirmed" and the sub-numbering may not still apply. Eventually, Chris Ryall said that IDW had decided to drop the sub-numbering entirely.
• A persistent rumor among fans is that the series was originally conceived as an Evolutions title—a parallel universe, and the decision to incorporate it into the existing IDW storyline came later. However, no statements from the creators have backed this up, and the writer himself has claimed that it was never meant to be a reboot.
• When July sales data came in, it turned out that issue #1, the heavily promoted, new-reader-friendly jump-on point to draw in new readers had sold one copy less than Devastation #6. (IDW and McCarthy have repeatedly said All Hail Megatron has sold extremely well and more than the Diamond figures suggest, but there has been no statement of what those sales are.
• Simon Furman confirmed that there is no collaboration or communication between himself and Shane McCarthy, and it was up to IDW editor Denton J. Tipton to sort out the continuity.
• Like Infiltration and Escalation, the series uses a primary cast of characters released from 1984-1986 with the occasional wild-card character thrown in (In this case, Deluge and the Insecticon swarm, though the latter is a new concept)

Creative team

Written by Shane McCarthy and drawn and colored by Guido Guidi and Josh Burcham respectively. Casey Coller and E. J. Su have provided back-up lines as well.

Collections

• All Hail Megatron Volume 1

Collects issues 1–6

Bonus material includes a cover gallery (not including the sketch covers). Also included is an art gallery consisting of Drift in both Cybertronian modes, and sketches of Cliffjumper, Perceptor, Soundwave, Ratbat, Frenzy, the Constructicons and Devastator.

• Volume 2 TPB

Collects issues 7–12

Bonus material unknown (Likely a cover gallery).

References

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