No All Hail Megatron #14 Thread? Is anyone still reading?

[Predakwon]

For those who bought/read it, the Sunstreaker story was so depressing, not in a good way. I guess if I had no prior knowledge of the 80s character, it might work, but I had no such luck.

[Spoon]

Was it just torture porn?

Also, have you got any juicy spoilers for the Galvatron story?

[Vangelus]

Sunstreaker story felt like a truly valiant attempt to tie AHM and Max Dinobots, but really didn't help me buy Sunstreaker's crazy turn any better. :/ Great art and colours, though!

I liked the Galvatron story though. Maybe because it was so disassociated from everything else going on. My crappy summary: Cyclonus is alive in the dead universe, preparing to dispose of bodies. Nemesis Prime is dead, Jhiaxus is apparently missing, Scourge and Straxus are dying, and Cyclonus is lamenting their shameful state. Scourge is kind of freaked out by Cyclonus' intention to give him an honourable out by recycling his soon-to-be-dead body. Galvatron shows up, and demands to know what's going on. Cyclonus starts to explain that he wants to give them an honourable send-off, and then Galvatron blasts Scourge and the corpses into the molten metal himself. Cyclonus delivers the incredible line of "HAVE YOU GONE BINARY?!" Scourge, literally melting alive, and all like "WTF ARE YOU DOING HELP ME". Galvatron grabs him by the head, implants energy from 'the darkness', and tells Scourge to make him an army. Scourge rises from the smelting pit alive and well, but confused. Galvatron says his army approaches, but then is annoyed when he sees that they aren't copies of himself, but Scourge. He tells Scourge that his Sweeps are now bonded to him. Cyclonus flips out about the Sweeps' sparkless existance, and says that won't happen to him, and goddammit he was a Seeker. Galvatron tells Cyclonus that Cyc is the only one among them who truly remained alive in the dead universe, and that that's his strength. "Join me. SEEK FOR ME." Galvatron then says that they once were explorers, yadda yadda, insane speech, the universe had its way with us, now it's our turn. He leaves. Cyclonus and Scourge (especially Scourge) look confused and bewildered. Scourge doesn't know what Galvatron is talking about, and doesn't know what to do. Cyclonus didn't understand either, but says that their function is to seek, and they will follow Galvatron.

[Spoon]

Thanks for the summary.

Hmmm.

Sounds... well, kinda bleugh.

[Chrono Grimlock]

So... they just threw out the idea of Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge being their own characters and are making them into their movie counterparts? Shitacular.

[Boo]

Originally Posted by Vangelus

Sunstreaker story felt like a truly valiant attempt to tie AHM and Max Dinobots, but really didn't help me buy Sunstreaker's crazy turn any better. :/ Great art and colours, though!

Yeah, it was a decent effort, but it still only really makes sense if you ignore the traitor turn and the genocidal behavior. It makes sense that he'd have some psycological trauma from what was done to him... and his suicide (in a somewhat heroic fashion) follows nicely from that. But I cannot make the leap to him betraying his comrades and wishing death on all humans. Given what actually happens in Maximum Dinobots, with him knowing that it was Scorponok behind everything and wanting revenge on him and those that worked with him, it just doesn't compute to me that he'd team with a Decepticon at all.

*sigh*

As it is, I kind of just wish they'd go the easy route and make everything that happened a result of one of Bombshell's Cerebro Shells .

And there's still no explanation of how Hunter was captured and what the hell he was doing back in his Headmaster gear...

Originally Posted by Chrono Grimlock

So... they just threw out the idea of Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge being their own characters and are making them into their movie counterparts? Shitacular.

I wouldn't go quite that far. I mean, it's not like they retconned it so that Galvatron is a rebuilt Megatron or anything... at least not yet.

*sigh*

[UltraMagnus3786]

i was going to do a full review but seems like a lotta points have been touched already.

i dunno i actually really liked (/felt really depressed about) the sunstreaker story. i thought it actually connected the early -ation series to MD and AHM quite nicely. Remember, SS had never wanted to be on earth and was spiteful in being forced into any interaction with the humans. he was a cybertronian hero (the opening sequence plays to his vainity) forced onto a dirtball against his will and then tortured by the people he was supposed to protect. yes, the machination was led by scorponok, but the humans were doing all the dirty work. furthermore, at his lowest point, he was refused death by hunter and coerced into being a headmaster even longer. The bonding/separation resulted in nerual trauma and deep psychological damage, and the extent was unknown by both ratchet and SS.

All this helps me understand the betrayal so much more. SS didn't "willingly" (his mental state prevents rational actions) betray the autobots. Remember, Hunter's mind (and therefore SS's) was picked apart by Bombshell, revealing SS's dreams, desires, fears, personality traits and memories, and the Decepticons aptly used this to their advantage. It was easy to get SS to strike a deal with the devil-- the humans/earth for Megatron's defeat-- and ended up leading the Autobots into a trap due to starscream's deception. The rest is history from there.

to wrap up, I think furman/mccarthy portrayed sunstreaker as a tortured soul quite well. he was physically and mentally broken, and almost led his race to extinction. the last two pages were heart wrenching as he redeemed and sacrificed himself, and he finally had peace.

on another note, the art in this was amazing, capturing the bright colors of SS and his victory in the beginning, the contrast between him and his dark, drab human captors, his mental breakdown and his defeat and final tear at the hands of the swarm. it reminded me of the dark cybertron art early in AHM.

the galvatron AHM spotlight story and art left a little more to be desired, but it's meant to plant seeds rather than do a lot to advance the story. a fun read, and i'm glad to see scourge.

[UltraMagnus3786]

Originally Posted by Predakwon

For those who bought/read it, the Sunstreaker story was so depressing, not in a good way. I guess if I had no prior knowledge of the 80s character, it might work, but I had no such luck.

to get a better sense of this whole arc, i'd say it's necessary to read all the -ation stories, as well as max dinobots and the first half of AHM.

[Beastbot X]

The Sunstreaker story was utterly, completely pointless. It really didn't tell us anything and wasn't a complete story in and of itself.

The Galvatron story was fairly good, though probably part of that is because I was so starved for more Dead Universe stuff after Revelations was crushed into 4 issues. I wish Scourge hadn't come out of nowhere and they had revived Straxus or something instead, put a spin of originality to the trio.

...I have to admit though, Scourge's constant confusion WAS hilarious. Like he didn't know what he was doing in that comic either.

[SPLIT LIP]

Damn, they just try so hard to fix the fuckups in this series... I try to like it, but it's really kinda falling apart in slow motion.