Shane McCarthy interview

[Dominic]

I found it through Allspark.

McCarthy answers for many fan questions re: "All Hail Megatron".

http://www.allspark.com/content/view/5330/20/

[Onslaught Six]

Ooh ooh ooh! *fangasm* >.>

...Alright, no, it's not like that at all. McCarthy plays fast and loose with his continuity and his explanations, but the story itself has such substance and style that it makes up for it. Besides, they're giant robots from outside space. We don't understand everything about how they work anyway.

Well, time to go and read this and aww it's a video dammit. Alright, let's ride it.

....An hour and a half? My God! I can't watch this at work at all. Guess it must wait until I'm at home.

These things really ought to be transcribed.

[Onslaught Six]

Listening now. I'll put anything I want to comment on Here, and try to summarize stuff a little bit.

-Start off talking about Shane's past history and getting into the business. Mostly boring crap, nothing TF-related. Has an interesting story about his work on Batman--"Sure, there's been 70-odd years of Batman stories, but there's never been a Batman story by me." It sounds arrogant the way I wrote it there but he clarifies that it's not.
-Clarifies that AHM #12 is The End Of The Story Itself and IDW basically tacked on #13-16 (Coda) as an afterthought. Not that he's angry.
-About 12 minutes in, he gets asked about AHM early plans (Six issues, non-canonical) and refuted that--always planned to be 12 issues, always in continuity. Furthermore, it wasn't McCarthy's impetus--IDW wanted a Megatron Owns The World story and asked him to do it.
-AHM was brought up in the first place to "solve the problem" of less attention on Furman's -ation serieses.
-Guy asked him if McCarthy made the characters more G1-oriented in their characterizations or if it was IDW's mandate. Most of it was McCarthy coming in with ideas and Chris Ryall going "Yeah, this is good stuff, do it."
-The year-long gap between What Happens In Devastation and What Happens In AHM is mostly there to clear the air in-canon (explaining why the TFs aren't as well-known, I guess) and also give Furman time to fill in events (presumably with Maximum Dinobots).
-Always supposed to focus on the Decepticons? Yes. Interesting concepts. "Who's to say that Lex Luthor doesn't have a better idea of how things should work?"
-VERY good explanation around 20 minutes in. Decepticons meant to devour themselves once the Autobots aren't there as a scapegoat. McCarthy describes the Decepticons as fascists. 'Awesome.' McCarthy very clearly gets what he's doing.
-...He refers to Megatron as "Megs." Oh my God, I know I was joking about fangasming over McCarthy earlier, but holy shit I'm starting to do so now for real.
-Points out that, yes, Starscream is a capable and strong warrior, and that's why Megatron keeps him around.
-The one thing McCarthy wanted was for people to really want the Decepticons to win, and to understand their viewpoint. (And in my opinion, he definitely achieved it.)
-Sunstreaker as the traitor: Was it just because of Furman's stuff, or was it just "because Sunstreaker's a tool?" McCarthy doesn't like the accusations that he hadn't read Furman's run, because he totally did and that's part of why Sunstreaker was the traitor.
-But originally, in the pitch, Kup would be the traitor, because of his insanity in Spotlight: Kup, but Sunstreaker made more sense, was less obvious, and had more material to draw on. Claims what Sunstreaker had done to him was "far worse than rape," which I don't agree with entirely but what do I know.
-Apparently McCarthy gave Guido Guidi huge notes on why every 'Bot was there and why they aren't a 'Con and why they're still there and everything, which sounds like great background material that definitely should make it into a TPB or an omnibus.
-On Sunstreaker's death: "Well, they're robots...so they can always come back, y'know?"
-Where'd Drift come from? "Apparently me wanting to put myself in the comic."
-Real point: "If we can't introduce new characters occasionally, it's a dead universe." He even points out that Drift isn't that pivotal of a character, and he's not supposed to be. "We didn't even think they'd let us do Drift, and then Hasbro said yes, and I was all, 'Cool! I get to have him in thebackground!'"
-Cliffjumper's supposed to be a Mini Cooper now, and they never got a chance to have him transform. He's sad about that.
-McCarthy loves Roadbuster, and that's awesome.
-Perceptor's Different because he got his ass kicked. Yes, that's the explanation. It was done to show off that, yes, War Changes Everything. Also he points out that, y'know, these guys don't generally change their characters--they don't evolve. He wanted to push that.
-He thought of Perceptor as kind of innocent and shielded from the war--now he got hurt, and now he's all Whoamg Badass, and Perceptor's still dealing with that.
-47 minutes in. "Let's talk about the humans." *pause* "...Augh, they're so booooring!" Heheheh.
-Human deaths show, again, the ramifications of the war. "Here's these characters! Now they're dead!"
-Why make the Witwickies into military dudes? Chris Ryall asked this too, initially. Answer: Why not?
-The interviewer guy says Hunter's last name wrong. I'm not disappointed. It's a stupid name.
-Was Hunter's addition last-minute? No, he was always going to be there.
-"The Insecticons are basically nasty serial killers."
-Anything he'd go back and change? "Anyone who says 'no' is full of shit."
-Where's Scourge? Starscream mentions him. "If I were to continue the series after AHM, that's me planting seeds to use later."
-Had an idea for Scourge to be "like an evil Kup," super-ancient, and possibly show up and try to take leadership from Megs. Hasbro didn't like this, so it'd never happen.
-Anything else Hasbro refused? "We wanted more wholesale destruction of the planet, and Hasbro didn't want that stuff onscreen." McCarthy agrees--they're still toys and they're still, in the end, for kids.
-McCarthy was really sad that Issue 9 wasn't done by Guido; particularly mentions the Soundwave thing, and the fact that he doesn't have a face. "We can't get him to show any emotions! He doesn't 'have' any!"
-Favourite character? "Cliffjumper and Megatron."
-Where'd the cigar come from? Just a fun idea Shane had. "If you take this shit too seriously, you're going to die." He does have an explanation, but he can't talk about it because it might come up later.
-Oh my God he has Twitter I must follow him.
-"If anyone wants to email me, feel free to, I've got all the time in the world."

All in all, a really cool interview, and I'm glad I took the time out to listen to it, primarily because I love AHM and everything it stands for, so I'm happy.

[Dominic]

I listened to it in the computer lab yesterday. I should have been looking for a new job, but I took time for this, and it was well worth it.

I plan to contact Shane McCarthy at some point.

-VERY good explanation around 20 minutes in. Decepticons meant to devour themselves once the Autobots aren't there as a scapegoat. McCarthy describes the Decepticons as fascists. 'Awesome.' McCarthy very clearly gets what he's doing.

The sad thing is that I wonder how many people still would not get the "need for an other" idea that McCarthy is using here. In some ways, at least thematically, this does tie in with "Megatron: Origins".

-But originally, in the pitch, Kup would be the traitor, because of his insanity in Spotlight: Kup, but Sunstreaker made more sense, was less obvious, and had more material to draw on. Claims what Sunstreaker had done to him was "far worse than rape," which I don't agree with entirely but what do I know.

I have only met one person who has been raped, (and frankly, this person is a tool). And, a friend of mine knows a guy who who had been raped. Said guy did a few years time for his reaction to the attack. (As I understand it, the police waited to charge him, contingent on if the rapist died or not.)

I can see what McCarthy is talking about in terms of Sunstreaker's ordeal being worse than rape. If you go with the "rape as a power trip" idea, (which I do agree with), then McCarthy's comparison makes sense. Sunstreaker's autonomy was compromised for far longer, and to a greater degree.

Oddly, I would defend Sunstreaker more than McCarthy would. I would argue that Sunstreaker's plan was not only defensible, but elements of it were in fact morally incumbent. As McCarthy stated, getting rid of Megatron would be a huge benefit. I would agree there. In terms of wanting all humans dead, well, who would not under those circumstances? History actually provides precedent for this sort of thing.

[Onslaught Six]

I plan to contact Shane McCarthy at some point.

I'm already following him on Twitter, and not just because I like his writing and he has it, but because there's some legitimately funny stuff in there.

The sad thing is that I wonder how many people still would not get the "need for an other" idea that McCarthy is using here. In some ways, at least thematically, this does tie in with "Megatron: Origins".

I think at this point, you either understand AHM and like it, or you don't get it and you hate it.

I have only met one person who has been raped, (and frankly, this person is a tool).

This is one of the best sentences ever written. I'm still laughing, a little bit.

And, a friend of mine knows a guy who who had been raped. Said guy did a few years time for his reaction to the attack. (As I understand it, the police waited to charge him, contingent on if the rapist died or not.)

Go go Gadget American Justice System!

I can see what McCarthy is talking about in terms of Sunstreaker's ordeal being worse than rape. If you go with the "rape as a power trip" idea, (which I do agree with), then McCarthy's comparison makes sense. Sunstreaker's autonomy was compromised for far longer, and to a greater degree.

Oddly, I would defend Sunstreaker more than McCarthy would. I would argue that Sunstreaker's plan was not only defensible, but elements of it were in fact morally incumbent. As McCarthy stated, getting rid of Megatron would be a huge benefit. I would agree there. In terms of wanting all humans dead, well, who would not under those circumstances? History actually provides precedent for this sort of thing.

Yeah. I think that's part of the point anyway--McCarthy isn't telling us outright What Sunstreaker Did Was Good or What He Did Was Bad. He simply did it, and he had his reasons, and it's more or less up to us to decide, independently, if this was the right or wrong thing to do. And that's what 'good writing' makes you do--it makes you think.

That said, I think we can all agree that trusting Starscream was a pretty dumb move.

[Dominic]

McCarthy seems to be taking a "it was wrong" stance. But he is not hitting us over the head with it. Beyond trusting Starscream, it can also be pointed out that Sunstreaker put his friends in terrible danger. (This is consistent with him being a sociopath, but hardly a nice thing to do.) The real trick here is not just making readers think, it is making them think in a way that they can understand the wrong act.

I think at this point, you either understand AHM and like it, or you don't get it and you hate it.

I am not going to say everyone who hates it does not get it. (I say this as somebody who dislikes 2/3 of what Grant Morrison writes. I "get" what Morrison was doing with "Final Crisis", but that does not mean I like FC at a literal or metaphoric level.) Some people may firmly disagree with some of the political ideas in AHM, or with the idea that comics should have ideas beyond "big robots are awesomeness".

Go go Gadget American Justice System!

In fairness to the police and courts, there is a bit more to it than that.

I can agree with attacking, or killing a rapist. I can even see going after their family.

But, this was not simply a question of self-defense, or even a retaliatory raid.

The rape happened when the guy was drunk. He went back later to attack his rapist. (I likely would have done the same thing.)

After slicing up his attacker, (a day or so after the fact), he stole the guy's car. This is likely a large part of how he got caught. (If nothing else, the rapist may well have lied to the police about having simply been assaulted, in order to avoid a rape charge.)


Dom

[Onslaught Six]

McCarthy seems to be taking a "it was wrong" stance. But he is not hitting us over the head with it. Beyond trusting Starscream, it can also be pointed out that Sunstreaker put his friends in terrible danger. (This is consistent with him being a sociopath, but hardly a nice thing to do.) The real trick here is not just making readers think, it is making them think in a way that they can understand the wrong act.

True enough.

Interestingly, I'd kinda like to see a story now where Prime sells out. I mean, I kind of did that already, but y'know.

I am not going to say everyone who hates it does not get it. (I say this as somebody who dislikes 2/3 of what Grant Morrison writes. I "get" what Morrison was doing with "Final Crisis", but that does not mean I like FC at a literal or metaphoric level.) Some people may firmly disagree with some of the political ideas in AHM, or with the idea that comics should have ideas beyond "big robots are awesomeness".

I'll concede that, yeah, you can understand it without liking it, but at the same time, most of the complaints I've seen against AHM are along the lines of "lol continuity."

In fairness to the police and courts, there is a bit more to it than that.

I can agree with attacking, or killing a rapist. I can even see going after their family.

But, this was not simply a question of self-defense, or even a retaliatory raid.

The rape happened when the guy was drunk. He went back later to attack his rapist. (I likely would have done the same thing.)

After slicing up his attacker, (a day or so after the fact), he stole the guy's car. This is likely a large part of how he got caught. (If nothing else, the rapist may well have lied to the police about having simply been assaulted, in order to avoid a rape charge.)

Wow. Cool story, bro.

[Sparky Prime]

-Sunstreaker as the traitor: Was it just because of Furman's stuff, or was it just "because Sunstreaker's a tool?" McCarthy doesn't like the accusations that he hadn't read Furman's run, because he totally did and that's part of why Sunstreaker was the traitor.
-But originally, in the pitch, Kup would be the traitor, because of his insanity in Spotlight: Kup, but Sunstreaker made more sense, was less obvious, and had more material to draw on. Claims what Sunstreaker had done to him was "far worse than rape," which I don't agree with entirely but what do I know.

Sunstreaker was the less obvious? I felt he was the most obvious, especially given what Scorponok did to him. Although I'd agree, I don't entirely agree what happened to Sunstreaker was far worst than rape.

Kup as the traitor, now that would have been interesting and much more unexpected. He is presented as having fully recovered from being crazy, but it would have been nice if they showed he wasn't completely recovered and back to such a confident commander position.

-Perceptor's Different because he got his ass kicked. Yes, that's the explanation. It was done to show off that, yes, War Changes Everything. Also he points out that, y'know, these guys don't generally change their characters--they don't evolve. He wanted to push that.
-He thought of Perceptor as kind of innocent and shielded from the war--now he got hurt, and now he's all Whoamg Badass, and Perceptor's still dealing with that.

That explanation is weak. Sure, war changes a per.. 'bot, but common. That doesn't account for Perceptor refusing to use his skills as a scientist to help save Optimus' life.

I'll concede that, yeah, you can understand it without liking it, but at the same time, most of the complaints I've seen against AHM are along the lines of "lol continuity."

I understand AHM but don't like it. And of course one of my complaints is a lacking in areas of continuity. If you're writing a story that is "always in continuity", it should certainly fit with that continuity, more so than AHM has.

[Onslaught Six]

Well, you're in luck, because at least one story from Coda is going to focus on Perceptor.

[Dominic]

Sunstreaker was less obvious because of two things. One, he was so obvious that people might have thought, "nah, too obvious". And, he is one of the classic Autobot cars. Many fans would reflexively see him as a good Autobot, Dreamwave's sourcebook aside.

I get the feeling that Pereceptor lost something when he was damaged in "Spotlight: Drift". He either lacked the ability, or possibly the will, to help Ratchet with Prime's repairs.


Something in McCarthy's phrasing, about the intended length (12 issues v/s 6) and context (in or out of continuity) of AHM, makes me wonder exactly *when* the intention to have the series be 12 issues in context was formalized. I do not recall it off-hand, but there was defintely a part where McCarthy could have been telling the truth strictly, yet fibbing idiomatically.

Dom