The Transformers: All Hail Megatron

This didn't happen

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 16-issue maxi-series published by IDW Publishing published from July 2008 to October 2009, 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 Megatron was promoted by the standalone issue, "Focus on Decepticons".

«	All Hail Megatron issues:	»
Focus #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 Coda: #13 #14 #15 #16

Overview

One year after the events of Maximum Dinobots, 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. The Decepticons conquer New York City and hold the population hostage, and the United States military proves unable to stop them. The attack spreads to other cities as well.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are in a sorry state on Cybertron, with Optimus Prime in critical condition, the Matrix of Leadership in Decepticon hands, and a traitor suspected in their ranks. Tensions and tempers flair. The arrival of a second group commanded by Kup finally provides them with the energon needed to repair Optimus Prime, as well as more information about the betrayal, but the coming of the Insecticon Swarm drives the combined Autobot forces onto the defensive. During a running battle with the Swarm, Sunstreaker reveals that he was the traitor and sacrifices himself to save the others. However, another reason for the betrayal is that Hunter O'Nion is now a captive of the Decepticons...

The Decepticons question their place now that the war is apparently over; Starscream begins to doubt Megatron's goals and secretly teams up with some Decepticons in another bid to overthrow Megatron. A rebellion soon ensues.

The Autobots are saved from the Swarm by the timely arrival of Omega Supreme, who transports them to Earth. A pitched battle with the Decepticons follows. It is revealed that Sunstreaker betrayed the Autobots due to Bombshell messing with Hunter. The Decepticons are driven off; the intervention of a disgruntled Thundercracker prevents the European Union from nuking New York City, though he pays for this "betrayal" with his life. Megatron is severely damaged, possibly killed, by the combined efforts of Optimus Prime and the humans. The captive Hunter is euthanized by Sideswipe, and everyone angsts.

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 has some odd discontinuities with the preceding storylines. These may or may not be resolved in the future, but in the meantime, the following changes stand out as incongruous:

Unexplained redesigns

• 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 medium which has virtually disappeared from the public eye.
• Hot Rod has traded his Dodge Viper mode for his G1 cartoon mode. This is explained at the end of Maximum Dinobots, when he got smashed by Scorponok. It's likely he got repaired and a new alt-mode was scanned for him. Guido Guidi confirmed that the logic behind giving Hot Rod his classic G1 design was that the character had previously had a purely Cybertronian vehicle mode and then a purely Earthen vehicle mode in earlier stories, so his G1 design was a nice mixture of Cybertron and Earth sensibilities.
• Various other Earth-based Autobots are in new bodies as well, such as Prowl, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who are in forms based on their Universe toys. Sunstreaker's new body was at least explained by the end of Maximum Dinobots, but no in-story explanation has yet come for Prowl or Sideswipe. Oddly enough, Ironhide, Ratchet and Bumblebee retain their E. J. Su-designed bodies instead of their Universe toy designs.

Guido Guidi has confirmed that the Universe models were because Hasbro asked in order to promote the line. IDW would later say the redesigns were all to make the characters more recognizable to bring readers in , because clearly Sunstreaker and Ratbat are very easy to confuse with other people.

Ignored technology

• The series does not mention the previous plot point of Ore-13/Ultra-Energon. It was the original reason for the Decepticons' unusually strong interest in Earth, and subsequently Megatron's only reason for staying on Earth after putting down Starscream's rebellion. Although one could argue the power depletion caused by its use shown in Stormbringer and Escalation is reason enough not to use Ore-13, the matter has not received any explicit closure.
• At the end of Revelation, the Autobots controlled both the all-knowing Magnificence and the powerful Pretender technology. The Magnificence is not accounted for, while the Pretender technology seems to be used only to revive Kup.

Unexplained continuity glitches

• The Decepticons have seemingly abandoned their usual carefully planned infiltration protocol where they attempted to manipulate humanity into wiping themselves out. This is in accordance with Escalation and Devastation where it is repeatedly said to have been thrown out of the window. Unlike before however, the Decepticons don't seem bothered that Megatron's thrown out their strategy this time.
• 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 going "Oh no, the Machination is back!"...
• In Stormbringer, Jetfire said Cybertron was healing itself, but that it would take hundreds of years. Apparently what he meant was one year, since the Autobots (and a swarm of Insectithings) have been hanging out on Cybertron without special shielding, and haven't died yet. Much later in issue 7, the explanation given was that the storms coincidentally died down just as the Autobots arrived on Cybertron, and that living on the planet now merely causes them pain, but evidently not enough pain for them to complain about or even mention in the six previous issues, or anytime afterward. Okay then.
• The Great War is apparently about the Matrix of Leadership though it had no bearing on Megatron's rise to power in Megatron Origin, and nobody ever mentioned it as a motivation (or barely at all) until #6 of All Hail.
• Energon was once considered a rarity, believed to exist only on Cybertron, with Ore-13/Ultra Energon being the closest thing found, and Cybertronians instead had to resort to artificial derivatives or "foul local brews", yet now Kup is able to quickly acquire a ship full of the stuff.
• Bombshell was created a year ago, though featured as a plot point in Spotlight: Blaster's flashback sequences. Kickback also had a minor cameo in Megatron Origin. (Much like Blaster and Bluster, this must be... Sitback! Evidently his cousin.)
• Soundwave's speech patterns have returned to the cartoon-inspired pattern from Megatron Origin, after a stint of fluent internal monologue in his Spotlight, as well as in Maximum Dinobots.
• During Furman's run, Starscream, the Seekers and the Triple Changers were little more than an Infiltration unit, with plenty of guys much higher-up in the command structure (Banzaitron being the head of the Secret Police and everything, for one), but now it seems Megatron has little command structure beyond the aforementioned Seekers and Triple Changers, along with a few other characters from seasons one and two of the original cartoon.
• Verity Carlo and Jimmy Pink are nowhere to be seen.

In a slightly jarring move, issue 7 of All Hail began chucking in and mentioning parts of previous IDW continuity that the comic had not acknowledged for a full half of its run. This included the Sunstreaker plot from Maximum Dinobots (thus blowing part of the ending for that miniseries), which was brought up in issue 7 as a lead-in for him being revealed as the mysterious traitor in issue 8... after having no focus in the previous six issues of All Hail.

Coda

In a rather flagrant admission of the glaringly broken continuity, the All Hail Megatron Coda series was planned specifically to bridge the gaps between this series and the continuity started by Simon Furman. IDW later decided to incorporate this series as part of the main title, making it issues 13–16. Each of the final 4 issues contain two short stories. They attempt to tie together the numerous discontinuities between All Hail Megatron and the preceding series, and to set the stage for future stories.

However, this begets some more glitches, including:

• When Ironhide and Optimus first met, Ironhide didn't think much of him or his chances. Old Ways Except issue 4 of the same maxi-series has Ironhide claim otherwise about their first meeting, and the tie-in "Spotlight: Blurr" has Ironhide and a pre-Prime Optimus working together!
• It's implied that Ironhide was passed over and ignored by a lot of Autobots. All Hail Megatron #8 Then we're told Optimus Prime took his advice from the start Old Ways and Prowl knows Optimus will listen to Ironhide over him. All Hail Megatron #15
• After seeming to come around to Megatron's way of thinking All Hail Megatron #11, defending a wounded Megatron, and declaring he will take leadership properly instead of exploiting chances, All Hail Megatron #12 Starscream immediately goes on to slag off Megs in his internal thoughts, tries to have him killed, and plots about how to cement a leadership properly that he's gained through random chance! Uneasy Lies the Head Was he faking everything before?
• The scene of Sunstreaker's dissection by the Machination depicts the scientists as ignorant of the Autobot being a living, sentient entity, callously referring to him as a "piece of metal" and to his screams of pain as simply an automated response. While it is noted in "Spotlight: Ultra Magnus" that Scorponok, a Decepticon, ran his operations through front companies whose employees might not all know whom they ultimately served, it strains credibility that the scientists working on the top-secret Headmaster project would be so clueless. Furthermore, the Machination are amazed when Sunstreaker speaks, despite the fact that Machination operatives in the field have heard the Autobots speak and did not take this as an unusual occurrence. Unsurprisingly, this short story was written by Shane McCarthy as an attempt to explain Sunstreaker's abrupt betrayal of the Autobots and his hatred of humans in issue 8. Replay
• In a rather insulting change, #14 partially rewrites a scene from Devastation issue 3. It cuts out Hunter proposing to become a Headmaster so they could both fight back against Scorponok's plan to use Sunstreaker to hurt Autobots, and adds a plea for death after Hunter's last line. This gives the impression that Hunter's deliberately ignoring Sunstreaker's wishes and forcing him into something, when the original scene had Hunter hitting on a way to get back at the Machination (and Sunstreaker had a semi-agreeable response to the idea in Devastation issue 4). Also, in Maximum Dinobots issue 4, Hunter did unplug Sunstreaker, so he's hardly unable to bump the guy off if necessary. (This scene is oddly absent from the Coda.)
• Galvatron is unique among the Dead Universe Transformers, being able to spend far longer in the living universe than any of his comrades. Spotlight: Cyclonus And by that we mean Cyclonus is unique among the Dead Universe Transformers, being able to spend far longer in the living universe than any of his comrades. Rebirth. Andy Schmidt admitted this was simply an error on his part, due to a misreading of Revelation which was never caught in time We're also ignoring that Cyclonus realized in his spotlight that he's not noble and patriotic, as AHM #14 says, but that this is a facade.
• Scourge is introduced, presented as a Dead Universe guy we just never saw. Except in issue 6 of this very series, Starscream mentioned Scourge as a Decepticon who might be a challenge to Megatron's authority! (Shane has said he originally intended Scourge to be a Decepticon equivalent of Kup, but this plan got nixed beyond Starscream's one line [1] )
• Stormbringer and Revelation presented the Decepticon Pretenders as uncontrollable, hideously destructive monsters that could devastate whole regiments, and Bludgeon as having lost his mind. Well, without any explanation, he's got his mind again, he's now being loyal to the Decepticons, and he retreats from a small Autobot squad instead of using his power to wipe them out. Lost & Found The last part, embarrassingly, is an obvious error because the first story of the same issue has Springer rant about how horrifyingly dangerous Pretender technology is...
• Thrust was somehow part of Megatron's crew on Earth, in spite of not having been present during any of the Decepticon rallies, the attempted Decepticon coup or the Autobot/Decepticon battle... yet got damaged and hid in a ravaged building. The Man of Steel
• Skywatch, an American government agency staffed with Americans that dealt with aliens on American soil, will now be better because the new commander is... American. The Man of Steel
• The story "Hidden" refers to Decepticons attacking human refugee camps and refugees in the present sense, after the Decepticons have left. While this could just be baseless paranoia on a refugee's part, the strip also refers to "these cities" being ruined and evacuated, which implies more than one city in the same area, not just New York. On top of that, Devastator is said to have destroyed Manhattan Bridge when it was the Seekers hitting the bridges in issue 2. Hidden
• The United States Army's anti-Transformer team turns up in both stories in issue 16. Except they're using Shockwave-based laser guns in one story and conventional firearms in the other; they're also a unit under Spike in one story, and a battalion (with units that Spike isn't leading) in another! We were used to glitches by now, but not to an issue contradicting itself. All Hail Megatron #16

Items of note

• Shane has stated in an interview that he was deliberately asked by IDW to pitch a series that would change the whole direction of the line, and that he and IDW saw it as solving "problems" with how Transformers had been going. Everything about it, especially the early '80s cast, was very deliberately done to achieve this, though some of it never got to come out on the page. While he's said it was originally pitched as a six-issue miniseries and Ryall asked for it be a twelve-issue, he says the pacing is exactly what he wanted it to be.
• In the same interview, he said the "one year later" gap was to give Simon Furman room to play around with his own stuff.
• Guido Guidi had personal sickness, family sickness, and too short a lead-in...and still tried as hard as possible to draw as much as he could. What a guy!
• 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 was 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. Contrary to this, IDW and McCarthy later repeatedly insisted that 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.
• Every issue has multiple covers, one of which is always drawn in Soviet-propaganda style. This is an interesting choice for a series written by someone named McCarthy.
• Like Infiltration and Escalation, the primary cast hails from 1984-86, with only the occasional wild card thrown in, such as the Generation 2 character Deluge and the entirely new Drift.
• Titan reprinted the series and some of the covers in their Revenge of the Fallen comic, in issues 1–8. From the fourth issue, they started making up titles for the parts. To finish the reprints in #8, they hacked up, edited, and pasted together three pages into one page.

Creative team

• Issues 1–12: Written by Shane McCarthy and drawn and colored by Guido Guidi and Josh Burcham respectively. Casey Coller, E. J. Su, Robert Deas & Emiliano Santalucia provided back-up lines as well, while Deas also helped with coloring.
• Issue 13: Optimus Prime & Ironhide's story was written by Simon Furman with art by Don Figueroa, and Starscream's story was written by Mike Costa with art by Chee Yang Ong. Furman and Figueroa had previously collaborated on many projects, including Beast Wars: The Gathering and Stormbringer. Mike Costa would later become the writer on the ongoing series, with Figueroa providing line-art.
• Issue 14: Sunstreaker's story was written by Shane McCarthy with art by Emiliano Santalucia, and Galvatron's story was written by Andy Schmidt with art by Andrew Griffith.
• Issue 15: Kup's story and art were by Nick Roche (with some assistance on the story by James Roberts, and Perceptor's story was written by Denton J. Tipton with art by Casey Coller.
• Issue 16: Spike Witwicky's story was written by Mike Costa with art by Guido Guidi, while Bumblebee's story was written by Zander Cannon with art by Chee Yang Ong, who would also work together on the Bumblebee miniseries.

Collections

• Volume 1 TPB: (March 4, 2009} ISBN 1600103715 / ISBN 978-1600103711

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: (September 16, 2009} ISBN 1600105246 / ISBN 978-1600105241

Collects issues 7–12

Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a 2-page art gallery featuring sketches of Reflector, Frenzy, Kup and Hot Rod.

• Volume 3 TPB:

New cover art by Trevor Hutchison

Collects the Spotlights: Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper and Metroplex.

Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a 1-page art gallery featuring the Throttlebots.

Volume 3 is actually the fifth volume of Spotlights, but presented as a collection of AHM for marketing.

• Volume 4 TPB: (January 29, 2010 Scheduled) ISBN 1600105920 / ISBN 978-1600105920

Collects issues 13–16

Bonus material unknown (Likely a cover gallery).

Covers

• 
  Megatron's wet dream.
• 
  I want to be in that number... when the 'bots, go marching in!
• 
  "Aw mannn, why'd they have to throw us in with AHM?"
• 
  Kickin' skidplate and takin' names since 6 million steller-cycles ago.

Trivia

• Guido Guidi made modernized designs for at least two characters which were eventually not used. The characters were Soundwave, who would have turned into a modern microcassette recorder — which reporters still use today — and Wheelie who was cut from the series due to "Spotlight: Wheelie".

• 
  A modern alt mode? GET OUT.
• 
  Me Wheelie say, it lucky day when not used for AHM...ay.