All Hail Megatron Discussion thread

[Onslaught Six]

Except he did! Perceptor almost died!

[Dominic]

The thing is that McCarthy is explaining what is going on. The story is about leadership, not what happened to one C-lister. The important parts of the story are being explored.

Dom

[BWprowl]

Actually, I had a crazy thought the other day: What if Perceptor is the other traitor?

No seriously, think about it. He almost gets killed because the Wreckers dragged him along to fight Decepticons, so he starts to think "Well maybe we should just let the Decepticons HAVE their victory, and I won't have to worry about getting shot so much anymore. And I'll supplement that by becoming a total badass with guns in the meantime". This would also explain why he didn't help Prime.

[Dominic]

Hmmmm, interesting theory, but the other Autobots seem to have accounted for the changes in Perceptot. And, the vibes I git from Drift's comment was more "there are plenty of moles, some worse than Sunstreaker", more than "there is another, and it is a guy you know".

-Dom: sleep now.

[Sparky Prime]

Except he did! Perceptor almost died!

He got hurt, but I dunno that he almost died. And that still doesn't really explain anything. Like I keep saying, we've seen Transformers in worst condition brought back to as good as new. What makes Perceptor different? Assuming that's the actual cause for him being 'different' now.

The thing is that McCarthy is explaining what is going on.

Doesn't look that way to me. About all he's explained so far is how the Autobots got trapped on Cybertron. And after 9 issues, that's ridiculous that's all we know so far.

The important parts of the story are being explored.

Which would be what exactly? All I see is a bunch of 'bots standing around with no direction.

[Dominic]

The point of AHM is the importance of leadership and purpose. The scenes with the Autobots on Cybertron, or the Decepticons (equally adrift) on Earth illustrate this. McCarthy is mostly avoiding the "look how cool TFs are" elements that dominate much of the franchise. McCarthy is actually telling a story, rather than showcasing characters for the sake of using the characters everybody likes. For example, AHM is worth reading not because McCarthy is using Thundercracker for sake of saying "omfg, Thundercracker has doubts!!11!!1!!", but for the fact he is writing a story where Thundercracker's doubts are conceptually and thematically relevant.

I agree that the early issues of AHM suffered for being "written for the compilation", but they still had more to say in a few pages than whole issues of say...."Beast Wars", or the entirely of the movie.

Dom
-is very optimistic about the upcoming issues of AHM.

[Sparky Prime]

McCarthy is actually telling a story, rather than showcasing characters for the sake of using the characters everybody likes.

What story? A story has progression. This is a bunch of bots sitting around with nothing to do. It hasn't really said anything beyond the first issue and after 9, that's just pathetic.

Sparky -
is very pessimistic about the rest of AHM.

[BWprowl]

All Hail Megatron #10

Well, we all knew it was coming, and while the turn of events in this issue won't surprise anyone, it should still impress. Gentlemen, we have a full-on Decepticon mutiny. And it's awesome. Extra awesome is the way it's creatively overlapped with the Autobots' struggles. More of the series trademark character tidbits work their way in (it's Roadbuster in this issue, and it's delightful), and the little interactions and play between the characters continue (still loving the whole thing between Mirage and Ironhide). There are some moments that lack clarity (I really have no idea what Ironhide is talking to Prime about at the beginning of their conversation), and one big sticking point (Omega Supreme as a literally huge Deus Ex Machina), but the sheer spectacle of it all helps to make up for it. The title of the series finally comes into literal play as well, and is done so quite cleverly.

As an aside, both this and this week's (final) issue of Maximum Dinobots featured Hot Rod being amazed that his 'call for help' had gotten through. Kinda surreal. I almost hope it becomes a running in-joke.

[Onslaught Six]

I don't even mind Omega as much because I was scratching my head earlier, going "How the hell 'are' they going to get off Cybertron, anyway?" The thought of Omega showing up hadn't even crossed my mind.

One thing I noticed, though, is that McCarthy kinda seems to rely on this character device of "Are you kidding? I'm [say my own name]! Clearly I am indestructible." I mean, it works with Megatron, because he's arrogant (and if his battle with Devastator is any indication, he has the power to back it up) but when Omega says it, it just sounds dumb. That said, I'm glad to see the big orange guy, and don't even mind his Deuxyness. (OH WHAT A PUN.)

Speaking of Megs Fighting Dev, I'm disappointed we only get two pages of that, I'd love to see more. Hopefully that's next issue. The bit about the humans flying in feels tacked-on and an almost RL Stine-esque "Jimmy opened the door to find...! *end chapter* ....A newborn kitten!"

That said, it's a great issue and definitely makes up for Issue 9's flaws. Megs is shown here having thought out Starscream's movements, and even when his attempt to berate what looks like a futile coup fails, he doesn't fall down into any kind of woe-is-me weakness--he just gets 'more pissed off.' And this is the same Devastator that apparently took out all of the Autobot forces involve in AHM thus far. So that either means Megs is *insanely* powerful, or Dev got significantly weaker in the last bit. I'm leaning towards Megs being insanely powerful.

[Dominic]

Given that I am still a bit tired, and have a good deal of catching up to do on several other things, this will be a light round of reviewing.
All Hail Megatron #10: The last few issues were a great ride, consistently wowing me. Sadly, what goes up must come down. While still worth reading, (and still on the path to possibly being my favorite TF series), a few points in this issue seem to be setting up for a "back to the way it was" type ending. The reconciliation between Mirage and Ironhide was especially irksome. On the Decepticon side of things, things begin to fracture. However, the humans are setting up to accidently re-unify Megatron's army.

Omega Supreme's "I am invincible" line works because of the fact that Omega is pretty well invincible. As for the Dinobots, the impression I got from the end of "Maximum Dinobots" is that Slag and co will leave Earth after repairing their ship, getting them out of the way for the events of AHM.

Grade: B

Dom
-beaten to the punch again this week.