All Hail Megatron Discussion thread

[Dominic]

The worst thing here was the very Furman-esque Prime/Megatron battle. It may have been a stylistic decision by McCarthy. It may have been laziness. Either way, it was jarring.

I am a bit suprised Sparky did not mention the last page. (I forgot to as well though. Hey, I am tired, and Sparky probably is too. RotF came out recently you know.)

Spoiler

Sideswipe discovers O'Nion in an abandoned building, and kills him. It is not a vengence killing, as evidenced by his face, but more of a mercy/closure killing.

That scene with Thundercracker and Skywarp left me a bit choked up. I can see Skywarp's point. Given his limited intelligence, it would make moral sense to shoot Thundercracker as a traitor. It was also interesting that Thundercracker, for all of his concern with being idealogically honest, completely missed the point as well. Skywarp never quite figured out what was "wrong", (as shown in issue 4 I think). Thundercracker bought the bill of goods from Megatron, and believed it. Then, he was actually disappointed when it was not delivered. There where bits of this sort of thing in DW volume II, but it is much more direct here. (In that case, TC is along for the ride. Here, we tries to get off the bus, and winds up under it.)

Thundercracker is loyal in the theoretical sense, but disloyal operationally.

I am pretty sure Megatron had the Matrix on his person. So, the 'bots are still down a trophy. (I am pretty sure none of them heard Megatron announce he had the Matrix, but I could be mistaken.)

I rather liked Bumblebee's line about running. (Prime may have changed since appearing in IDW, but many of the rest of the 'bots have not.)

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

That scene with Thundercracker and Skywarp left me a bit choked up. I can see Skywarp's point. Given his limited intelligence, it would make moral sense to shoot Thundercracker as a traitor. It was also interesting that Thundercracker, for all of his concern with being idealogically honest, completely missed the point as well. Skywarp never quite figured out what was "wrong", (as shown in issue 4 I think). Thundercracker bought the bill of goods from Megatron, and believed it. Then, he was actually disappointed when it was not delivered. There where bits of this sort of thing in DW volume II, but it is much more direct here. (In that case, TC is along for the ride. Here, we tries to get off the bus, and winds up under it.)

It's Skywarp's abandonment issues that does it. I've always seen him as the youngest of the trio--he's not yet old or mature enough to ponder his existance or his place in the war, he just likes making things explode and being a jerk. So when his two best friends, who have arguably been like brothers to him, start going off and moving other things--Starscream making a bid for Megatron's throne while Thundy is upset with the whole situation--Skywarp gets left in the dust. It's really sad and it makes him a 'far' more enduring character than I've ever seen Skywarp be.

I am pretty sure Megatron had the Matrix on his person. So, the 'bots are still down a trophy. (I am pretty sure none of them heard Megatron announce he had the Matrix, but I could be mistaken.)

Eh, it's cool. They have the Magnifiscence, after all!

[BWprowl]

The Thundercracker/Skywarp scene was probably the highlight of the issue. And Dom's right, it got to me too. Skywarp's been in a downward spiral since the beginning, and he finally loses it and kills Thundercracker (who he saw as a close friend in the first half) in the heat of the moment. I suspect that he'll heavily regret that later. It's the final installment of the Decepticons unraveling.

That scene between Prime and Starscream was good too. It made the point that the Autobots and Decepticons will always be fighting because they simply *don't understand each other*. The fight-versation between Prime and Megatron contributed to this.

Spike's sentiment at the end echoes similar points made in the first Dreamwave mini, but it's much more effectively demonstrated here, especially as it's shown parallel to Sideswipe's mercy killing of Hunter. That should be an indication, if nothing else is, that the Status Quo has changed at least somewhat.

I am very excited for the September issue of AHM Coda. Why? Another Kup story written and illustrated by Nick Roche! Finally we get to see if he was just a one-hit wonder (I'm keeping optimistic and thinking it'll be awesome just like Spotlight Kup was). That issue also has to Perceptor story, so hey.

[Sparky Prime]

I am a bit suprised Sparky did not mention the last page. (I forgot to as well though. Hey, I am tired, and Sparky probably is too. RotF came out recently you know.)

I was actually about to while I was writing my previous post but I was a bit rushed because I was going to see RotF again.... But anyway, I was thinking they might use him to bring Sunstreaker back to life somehow, but instead Sideswipe just puts him out of his misery.

I am pretty sure Megatron had the Matrix on his person. So, the 'bots are still down a trophy. (I am pretty sure none of them heard Megatron announce he had the Matrix, but I could be mistaken.)

That isn't the impression I get from an earlier scene in the series. In issue 3, the Constructicons inform Megatron construction has begun on something in New York despite qualms, to which Megatron reassures he wants it built here because that city is the humans "shining light". Later, in issue 5, we see that apparently they've built a Cybertronian building, which Megatron enters and enters another door to a room where he admires the Matrix.

That suggests to me that building is where he was keeping the Matrix rather than on his person.

[Dominic]

No excuse for being rushed Sparky. You can sort out the Bayformer fights later.


I never saw Skywarp as young, so much as stupid. But, he was smarter, or at least less naive, than Thundercracker. Skywarp and Thundercracker were just regular guys. I disagree with Prowl on one point, Skywarp will not regret what he did. He will lament Thundercracker's treason, maybe his own inability to stop TC or talk him out of it, (by making him see how it was "like old times"), but Skywarp will not regret killing him.


As far as the Matrix goes, Megatron's dialogue during the fights with Devastator and Prime makes me think he has the Matrix. And, there is preview art showing Starscream holding the Matrix.

[Sparky Prime]

No excuse for being rushed Sparky. You can sort out the Bayformer fights later.

Fights? I just wanted to see the movie again.

As far as the Matrix goes, Megatron's dialogue during the fights with Devastator and Prime makes me think he has the Matrix. And, there is preview art showing Starscream holding the Matrix.

I don't see anything in Megatron's dialog to suggest where he was keeping the Matrix. I don't see that his fight with Devastator even had anything to do with the Matrix. That was their rebellion against Megatron's command and as explained, Decepticon command has to be taken, which I believe is what Megatron is referring to, not the Matrix. In his fight with Prime, again, nothing really suggests where it is. The closest thing Megatron says is simply that he's taking the Matrix with him but he is then promptly blinded and knocked out, leaving no indication if he had to go get it first or if he actually had it with him at the time.

As for preview cover art, that's not exactly indicative that the Decepticons took the Matrix with them at the end of AHM either. Covers often lie about what we actually see in the story. Not to mention, many of the Coda stories are going to take place before AHM to fill in continuity holes AHM caused, so it's impossible to say what that cover is all about.

[JediTricks]

Quick question. As someone who just spent part of his day reading the TFwiki.net synopses of each of the 12 issues (a longer than expected part because the site keeps crashing), we get to this stuff about Megatron telling Starscream that he fully expects Screamer to become leader of the Decepticons, and that leadership can only be TAKEN, not inherited or given. Ok, an interesting take on Megs and Screamer (having not read the comic, I can't tell you whether Megs was just blowing smoke up Screamer's ass to keep him in check, but the synopses definitely didn't read that way, and either way, Screamer clearly believes it at the end of the story since he says he's only there to defend his leader in a way no Autobot would, whatever that means). So my question is, when Prime defeats Megatron and Starscream comes to yap-yap with Prime, why doesn't Prime just say he's taking over the leadership since he just defeated the mighty leader of the Decepticons? I mean, probably won't work, but it's worth a shot, right?

[BWprowl]

Quick question. As someone who just spent part of his day reading the TFwiki.net synopses of each of the 12 issues (a longer than expected part because the site keeps crashing), we get to this stuff about Megatron telling Starscream that he fully expects Screamer to become leader of the Decepticons, and that leadership can only be TAKEN, not inherited or given. Ok, an interesting take on Megs and Screamer (having not read the comic, I can't tell you whether Megs was just blowing smoke up Screamer's ass to keep him in check, but the synopses definitely didn't read that way, and either way, Screamer clearly believes it at the end of the story since he says he's only there to defend his leader in a way no Autobot would, whatever that means). So my question is, when Prime defeats Megatron and Starscream comes to yap-yap with Prime, why doesn't Prime just say he's taking over the leadership since he just defeated the mighty leader of the Decepticons? I mean, probably won't work, but it's worth a shot, right?

Because (A) Prime doesn't know that that's exactly how things work with the 'Cons (Starscream makes a big point of this) and (B) Prime probably figures that trying to deal with an entire army of evil backstabbers who wanted him dead when he *wasn't* in the coveted-and-attainable-only-by-assassination Leader position would probably be more trouble than it's worth.

[Sparky Prime]

I'd add that it appears to be a "Only a Decepticon can defeat the leader of the Decepticons to become the Decepticon leader" sort of a thing.

[onslaught86]

The Decepticon ideology here owes more to the retconned ideals of the warrior caste and honour systems that the likes of Cyclonus and Dinobot touted to much appreciation from those who, like myself, appreciate them as being more than just The Bad Guys. AHM has been a grand study of the Decepticon ideal in action, with multiple facets from Starscream, Megatron, Thundercracker, Skywarp, the Insecticons, and even Sunstreaker and Mirage. Perhaps for the first time, we get a consistent look at the way both factions operate, for better or worse.

Both sides have points to make - the humans neither wanted nor, apparently, needed the Autobots' help, and as Megatron explained, their willingness to destroy themselves made them poorly suited to the Autobots' unconditional and almost irrational behaviour. It almost felt as if the whole idea had been to present Prime with this ultimatum, yet they didn't make us suffer through a crisis of faith, showing instead that their differences are ones that neither side will ever truly understand, Megatron's ideals had become larger than Megatron himself, and even Starscream could understand how important that was.

While the Autobots' focus is on the individual roles and appreciation for those individuals, the Decepticons are a more single-minded machine, and they understand that cutting off one head to grow two more is a bad move. This was perfectly shown for the Autobots as well, Jazz and Kup's conflict did not instill in the troops the same morale and hope that Prime did.


The art felt a bit rushed here, the colouring moreso than the pencils. Still very nice, yet sketchier, Guido working to a schedule. It certainly didn't jar as much as the change in art from previous issues, though. I'm still a little shocked it's over, this is on many levels the Transformers movie I wish we'd had instead of the ones we got. The quick-fire summaries of all that had gone before were a little Furmanny in their tie-up, yet it wasn't bad Furman by any means. I'm glad the loose, relaxed nature of the story's evolution over twelve issues has allowed for the padding and space for fight scenes that we've got, it's so much better than the cram-everything-into-one-issue problems that TF comics have been suffering for years. I'd rather things happen slowly than everything be chucked together at once and lose its impact.

This was suitably, hm, conclusive. I kinda wish Coda had its own numbering. Glad to have been a part of this. Bring on the hardcover collected edition, heh.

Now to pose Masterpiece Skywarp shooting Masterpiece Thundercracker.