TF Views

This fits in with what Megatron says to Starscream later about how his time to lead will come, and Screamer's actions in #12 where he says leadership of the 'Cons must be taken honourably. (Then he turns around and does the exact opposite--but let's be fair, McCarthy didn't write that story.)

Back one issue we go to AHM #14, and here I'm feeling a bit lost.

Story 1 is about Sunstreaker, and his experiences during the Furman-written run of comics. I'm assuming a lot of what happened to him took place during "Devastation", which I missed entirely. I remember that he was captured at the start of Escalation and was apparently going to be turned into a Headmaster. The title of the story is "Replay" so I assume we're watching Sunstreaker relive his most recent memories, from winning a battle before being transferred to Earth, to being disassembled by the group who were developing the Headmasters, to what is either a memory or a fantasy about being restored and made whole. The last two pages show him lying in a pile of scrap at the bottom of a chasm beneath a broken bridge.

Here's where coming in late to a story does me no favors, since I don't really know what happened. I assume he died fighting, or else is in very bad shape and is expiring as we watch, and this story is the equivalent of his life flashing before his eyes. Either way, it's a grim storyline for a character I'd rather have seen more of. I get the feeling we won't be seeing Sunstreaker again any time soon.

Story 2 is about Galvatron, and shows him recruiting Cyclonus and Scourge, and creating the sweeps as his own private army. I guess these three characters are bound to be associated with each other from now on, ever since the 86 animated movie. At least Galvatron and Megatron are two different characters in this continuity, and that's a good thing.

Not as good as issue 15, but interesting all the same.

Yeah, Sunstreaker dies around Issue 8 of AHM. You can always go read the summaries on the Wiki, too.

Onslaught Six wrote:Yeah, Sunstreaker dies around Issue 8 of AHM.

That bites.

He sacrifices himself heroically to save the rest of the Autobots, though, to pay them back for the fact that

Spoiler

he's the traitor.

Onslaught Six wrote:He sacrifices himself heroically to save the rest of the Autobots

And yet, despite that one bridge being the "only way to and from" the Autobot's, the Insecticons simply cross *another* bridge a couple issues later and apparently the Autobots figured it'd happen sooner or later. So Sunstreaker's "save" was cheapened to be nothing more than stalling for time.

They crossed another bridge? I thought it was a delaying tactic because with the bridge out they'd have to crawl down one side of the chasm, across the bottom and then crawl up the other side. And I'm pretty sure Sunstreaker knew it was a delaying tactic when he did it.

The guy helping Guido Guidi screwed up and drew them crossing a bridge.

Also, this may actually have been an attempt to rectify the mistake in the issue previous, where in the background, there's...another bridge.

Admittedly, the Swarm chase scenes are the worst bits of AHM. The Swarm is never shown to be a significant threat in anything but numbers, and every time they showed up, I was waiting for the Autobots to inevitably defeat them without breaking a sweat.

Shockwave wrote:And I'm pretty sure Sunstreaker knew it was a delaying tactic when he did it.

No, it was clearly said that bridge was the "only way to and from" the base in the issue he did it in, implying the Autobots would be safe with the bridge taken out. Then 2 issues later the story changes to they expected the Swarm would find a way around, and it was as simple as crossing another bridge.

So you keep saying but I see little evidence that was what Megatron was actually trying to accomplish. Getting his army to fight each other is hardly a way to team build.

The purpose of the attack was to keep the Decepticons from killing each-other by giving them other things to do. He expected, and was hoping to prevent, fratricide.


Sunstreaker may well come back in the big stupid, "everything is just like was in 1984, no really" relaunch. I am not happy abot it, but I am accepting it now. (Of course, the more like any of the Big 2's books "Transformers" becomes, the less interested I am beyond habit. And, as I proved with "GI Joe", habit does not guarantee that I keep coming back.)


I actually blame McCarthy, more any artist, for the bridge. He wrote the story, and knew the Swarm would have to find a way to get to Kup's redoubt. There would be no reason for the Autobots to have been fighting them at all, if there were not an immediate and credible threat. (The Autobots evacuating could have been done just as easily by having Omega land on their side of the chasm, or by having them need to go back across, to get ot Omega's landing site.)

Had McCarthy phrased the earlier description of the bridge to the fortress differently, (not as "absolutely and positively the only way across we guarantee it"), the second bridge would not be so problematic.

McCarthy knew that the Swarm would have to get across the chasm some way or another, and should have planned accordingly.


Dom
-never said AHM was perfect.