All Hail Megatron issue 11

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File:All Hail Megatron 11a.jpg
"Asskicking: imminent"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published May 20, 2009
Cover date May 2009
Written by Shane McCarthy
Art by Guido Guidi
Colors by Josh Burcham and Felix Serrano
Letters by Chris Mowry
Edits by Andy Schmidt and Denton J. Tipton
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology All Hail Megatron

The Autobots return to Earth to save it from the Decepticons.

Synopsis

In a ruined parking garage, Cmdr. Spike Witwicky hoists the duffel bag containing the super-weapon onto his back. He tells Bridge, Sarah and Charles that they don't need to risk their lives by helping him, but Sarah protests. As dirt and debris fall from the ceiling, Bridge insists that the European Union's impending nuclear strike will mean their deaths anyway, so they might as well try to help the fight while they can. Spike relents and leads his three companions in a dash outside, where they see Devastator fighting off a swarm of European jets.

Meanwhile, Megatron and Starscream stand side-by-side, firing up at the planes. Starscream says that the attack's timing seems suspiciously convenient, and Megatron replies that it's the remaining human forces' last-ditch attempt at victory. Starscream is shocked that Megatron had known this, and Megatron explains that it had all been planned meticulously from the beginning: When the Great War started, Megatron needed an army so ruthless it could conquer a planet. But when the Autobots rose up to stop them, he needed more than just ruthlessness; his army had to become a "vile machine" for whom no cost was too great in the service of victory over their enemies. Once the Autobots were defeated, Megatron planned to "kill" what he had created. He would remake the Decepticons into what he had first meant them to be, at which point their reign would truly begin: no infighting or dissent, but rather a "perfectly controlled peace through unparalleled strength."

Just as Megatron declares that "nothing comes as a surprise" to him, he is shocked to find himself harried by blaster-fire from above. Optimus Prime and his Autobots fall from Omega Supreme's rocket mode and face off against the Decepticons, first with their guns and then with their fists. Starscream chides Megatron on having not anticipated this, but Megatron simply reassesses the situation, deciding that the Autobots are scattered and desperate enough that the Decepticons still have a chance to win if they can quickly regroup. But before he reenters the battle, Megatron tells Starscream one last thing: He predicts that someday Starscream will overthrow him and take command of the Decepticons, and in fact this is the only rightful way for power to change hands. But that day is not today; today Megatron holds the power, and if Starscream helps him create "a new age" now, then later Starscream will rule. After a moment of consideration, Starscream radios battle orders to the Decepticons, ending with the fist-raised cry of "all hail Megatron!"

As Starscream joins the battle in command of the aerial forces, Ironhide worries that Devastator and the others will be on the Autobots in seconds. To the Autobots' relief, Prime responds with a plan: Blaster is to block the Decepticons' communications as the Autobots fall back, misleading the Decepticons into thinking it's a retreat. This allows room for Omega Supreme to plow through the Decepticon column in robot mode and slam Devastator into a building. Optimus, fearing further damage to the city, orders Omega to take their fight elsewhere. Omega obeys, grabs Devastator in a bearhug, and flies into the air.

In Central Park, Gen. "Sparkplug" Witwicky expresses confusion at the sight of two building-sized robots soaring above the skyline. Col. Hawke thinks that the new one is on the humans' side, based on EU reports that a rocket ship had dropped off a bunch of robots who started fighting the original invaders. Witwicky says that it doesn't make any sense, and he orders the evacuation to continue. When Hawke protests, Witwicky explains that nothing has truly changed: They have no control over the EU plane carrying the nuclear bomb, so they still need to move everyone to a safe distance away. Moreover, there's no way for them to know if the new robots are friendly or hostile to the humans anyhow.

Back in the city, Roadbuster slams into Astrotrain, who hits a wall and falls to the ground. As Roadbuster stands over his foe, Megatron blasts the Autobot through the chest from behind. Optimus Prime then calls Megatron out, and the two begin circling each other. Megatron accepts that Prime somehow survived the space bridge ordeal, but he doesn't understand why he came back to Earth. When Prime speaks of the planet being under Autobot protection, Megatron insists that Prime cares nothing for it, that all he wants is his Matrix back. After all, Prime had already abandoned Earth once, and they both know that war means "acceptable losses." Prime rejects this, declaring that he will stop perpetuating a war that destroys innocent worlds. Megatron mocks him for developing a conscience at the wrong time, since the "innocent" race he's trying to save is about to kill millions of its own members to destroy the Transformers. Prime doesn't believe him, but Megatron explains about the EU bomb, boasting that the Decepticons have the ability to take control of it. Once he has finished Prime, he plans to use the nuke to kill the humans.

Shane McCarthy is a shoo-in for this year's Best Use of Chronic Shelfwarmer award.

The evac continues, but one soldier has trouble moving his tank. Suddenly, it transforms into a Decepticon and fires on the soldiers. As Sparkplug and Hawke drag a wounded soldier away, they remark on how the robots had been playing with them, hiding in plain sight. Sparkplug begins shouting hysterically, asking where else they might be hiding. Meanwhile, the nuclear bomber soars above the ocean, a Decepticon symbol displaying on a screen in the console of its empty and very Cybertronic-looking cockpit.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"When the war first began, I needed an army, one ruthless enough to overthrow a planet. With the rise of the Autobots, my army had to become much more—a ruthless, vile machine capable of winning at any cost. The goal was to defeat the Autobots no matter what. Once the Autobots were defeated, I would kill the very creature I created to wipe out my enemies in the first place. Once the Decepticons were remolded, recreated into what I originally intended them to be, then and only then, would our reign begin. No infighting, no dissent, nothing but perfectly controlled peace through unparalleled strength."

—Megatron's master plan


"One day, you will lead the Decepticon armies. You will rule over them as you've always wanted and will have done so by crushing me beneath your heel. The right to lead is one that cannot be given, it must be taken. This is something I see before you."

—Megatron gives Starscream way too much credit.


"None of this makes any sense!"

—General Witwicky pretty much sums up All Hail Megatron for us.


"Freedom is the right of all—"
"Oh, shut up."

—Optimus Prime's catchphrase fails to catch on with Megatron.

Errors

  • When Dropshot reveals himself and starts destroying stuff, Hawke mistakenly gets a word bubble clearly meant for Gen. Witwicky. ("Where else...")

Items of note

  • The missile tank revealed to be Dropshot was first seen in All Hail Megatron issue 5. For a guy who loves to fight all the time, he was surprisingly patient while his comrades were tearing up the globe.
  • The juxtaposed dialogue implies that the bomber is actually a Decepticon (confirmed as Octane by McCarthy),[1] but how he managed to come to be carrying the bomb without a crew is unclear. Presumably he could've reconfigured his alt-mode to be whatever vehicle the EU had chosen, but he's still lucky they decided to only use one bomb.
  • It is also unclear why Megatron would need to use the EU's nuke at all, since Stormbringer revealed that the Decepticons already have enough nukes and other WMDs to shatter whole planets. Perhaps this Megatron is as much a lover of irony as other incarnations.
  • Apparently, the EU uses propeller-driven nuclear bombers. Out here in the real world, prop-powered bombers disappeared in the 1950s (though Russia, not an EU member, continues to use the turboprop-driven TU-95 bomber). But hey, if Astrotrain could find a steam locomotive to emulate, maybe it all makes some kind of bizarro sense.
  • When Megatron talks about Prime having abandoned Earth in the past, this refers to Prime's decision to divert his Earth-based troops to investigate the Garrus-9 incident at the end of Devastation. Indeed, Prime had appeared remarkably detached about the planet's fate until now. Where in other continuities Prime tends to immediately bond with humanity and put their welfare above all, this incarnation of Optimus has needed to grow into that mindset.
  • Megatron's view of the Decepticons' early days seems a little rosy. He blames the Autobot resistance for forcing him to turn the Decepticons into a "vile machine" with no regard for the costs of victory, but considering that they started as a band of murderous pit fighters and criminals, it doesn't seem like they had far to fall.
  • Megatron's view of the Decepticons' future is a little blurry. The context of Megatron's speech to Starscream seems to indicate that he thinks openly fighting the humans will bring about the redemption of the Decepticon army, eliminating internal conflict and ushering in a tightly-controlled peace. How this is meant to happen is uncertain.
  • The theme of Autobots and Decepticons both having been twisted into something wrong and needing to change had been previously raised in All Hail Megatron issue 9 and "Spotlight: Drift". This seems to indicate both sides are going to stop following the infiltration/phases model and change to something closer to the 1980s more ideologically-driven.

Covers (2)

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  • TBD

References

  1. ↑ Post by McCarthy on the IDW Forums
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