The previous government whether it was the Primes/Functionalists/Senate had to be bad to make Megatron and the Decepticons look initially justified to a degree for doing all the stuff they did. This is the whole deal with the IDW material: that the Decepticons and Megatron had justified reasons for fighting the Autobots initially, which is where the negative depictions of the Autobots and their society come from.

But that is kind of the thing, they are trying to move away from the depictions of Megatron solely as a warrior, conqueror or foil to Optimus. Trying to give him some depth outside of just fighting Prime. I think they suceeded.

What they failed is trying to add more depth to Prime. In IDW he is aimless, he let Starscream walk all over them and is unable to control the reckless and renegade elements amongst the Autobots most notably Prowl who really embodies many of the Pre-War problems that was there.

 

I have read only bits and pieces of non-RID (mostly Dark Cybertron and a little bit of CW) but I think what they should do with Prime is slowly have him become more of a fascist and extremist. Have him face several terrible tragedies in a row in order to convince him that he needs to take on extreme measures to avoid future tragedies. Maybe that's too similar to Prowl?

The never ending problem with Prime was that he's too perfect, too flawless and unless he has the perfect solution to every situation he looks stupid/inept. The problem with that is anyone else would look normal if they failed-- but Prime is high up on a pedestal. It's very hard to humanize him. Get rid of the Matrix or any "chosen" business.

Or put him an impossible situation where someone always has to lose. A Battlestar Galactica scenario.

He worked well as a "super cop" because he could fail or make mistakes and he was still learning.

 

If no one else has said it, I feel like a plea for sanity needs to be made. These OCD hardcover collections really do not present the IDW continuity (at least the early stuff) in the best way.

Megatron: Origin is, as people have said, somewhat included in the continuity, but as noted on the TF Wiki, was actually not actually part of the IDW gameplan: "as revealed by Eric Holmes himself - Megatron: Origin ha(d) been written and was originally intended to be a story set in the Dreamwave Transformers Generation 1 continuity. However, Dreamwave's bankruptcy put an end to this plan. After IDW decided to have the comic written and drawn, the original script which was 6 issues long, has been truncated to 4 issues."

So it's fine as a first volley. But nothing you read afterwards will tie into it in any way for many dozens of issues/series after. The "chronological" order in the hardcovers, as well, means that you're reading about characters who have no bearing on the main story line (Infiltration, Escalation, and Devastation) before you have any context for their side-stories.

If you're willing, here's the order I would suggest for the first few hardcovers:

Infiltration
Stormbringer
Spotlight: Shockwave, Ultra Magnus, Nightbeat, Hot Rod, Soundwave
Escalation
Spotlight: Sixshot, Kup, Galvatron, Optimus Prime
Devastation
Spotlight: Blaster, Arcee, Grimlock, Wheelie
Revelation (Spotlights Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer, Sideswipe)
Maximum Dinobots

I suggest skipping Spotlight Ramjet (as it only served the TF/Avengers Crossover) and Mirage (which was a What If, at best, and has no place in the overall continuity).

After this, you can read everything, pretty much, as presented in the hardcover. But the first Era (above) really reads best when the spotlights come in between the miniseries, and not before.

 

Looking forward as well. Also, I appreciate your "older" writing style as it comes across as more thoughtful than some other review threads. I'm not knocking anyone else for their threads but we will be talking about literature here  

Haha, well, most of the time.

 

The ramifications of the ending to Spotlight Ramjet actually popped up recently in the Blackrock storyline so it isn't entirely ignored.

Although Mirage's has been retconned into a vision/hallucination that Mirage once had. (This is brought up in Combiner Wars.) Similarly the final issue of the original ongoing (the last one in the 8th volume of the IDW collections) was retconned into a vision that Ironhide had.

 

The fact isn't that he is perfect. The problem is that he is caught in a classic superhero conundrum, in the comics he gets walked over by Prowl and Starscream. He is made out to be a reactive personality or force because they need to build up events like Combiner Wars or Dark Cybertron.

But he is the freaking political and military leader of the Autobots for over 4 million years, this depiction of him doesn't make him any sense in my opinion. Megatron at least has an excuse, but Optimus doesn't. You had him trumping and claiming to have a brand new way to deal with stuff in the beginning of Dark Cybertron yet he is back to square one post-DC in RID. I hate to say it, but Prowl is acting more like a leader of the Autobots than Optimus.

 

This is really interesting to me, because two issues in, and I feel that Megatron was already pretty unhinged before the uprising, and he's just using these societal injustices as a mere excuse to by the tyrant he wants to be.

it's like when you get serial killers who happen to like heavy metal and violent video games, and then campaigners have a pop at Marlyn Manson and Grand Theft Auto for being the root cause of violence.

They're not - many people enjoy heavy metal and violent video games will no ill effect - I think you have to be a twisted in the first place to carry out these violent acts.

And that's how I see Megatron in Origins #2, he's a psychopath who loves killing. While he's had a tough life, with society treating him like dirt, I think he's the kind of thug who was always spoiling for a fight, and the fracas at the mine camp was just an opportunity to let these feelings out into the open.

One point I didn't mention is that there's a scene in Issue 2 where Ratbat speaks of planting operatives amongst the miners, deliberately there to stir up trouble. The skirmish in Megatron's mine began when a nameless loudmouth started arguing during the meeting - was this unnamed Transformer really a disaffected miner, or one of Ratbat's plants? Has Megatron's rise to power been guided by Ratbat from the start? I'd love to know!

If so, then this is yet another link to the old G1 comics - there's a great little UK annual story called 'Peace' in which a Decepticon infiltrator starts an argument during a meeting that ends up leading to a full-blown war.

 

Really liking this series you're doing! I haven't read the early stuff so this is fun exploration for me too.

To avoid spoilers but restate what some have said, this portrayal of Megatron doesn't 100% gel with what comes later, but for now it's what you have.

 

Really loving this so far, will definitely follow and will read along each issue you're reading so I can refresh myself of the overall IDW saga.   I will avoid posting spoilers of the following issues because good god, there's a lot of great stuff here that no one should spoil, even if it might take you a year or two to get there.  

Megatron Origin is alright, it just doesn't give a whole lot of depth to the character, it feels like there was an origin before this origin (and there was). With issue 1 I feel as if they did a really good job at first with a look into Megatron's morality a bit when he kills a guard and then looks at his bloodied hands and asks the cliche what have I done, but then 2 minutes later Rumble and Frenzy get him to kill again. And while I love Alex Milne's work in later issues, this does have a muddy look to it at times, especially when Rumble transformed his hands and I was just left confused at first as to what that image was about. XD

Decimus is an intriguing concept in terms of being a corrupt douche, but Sentinel Prime doesn't feel like a corrupt Prime in this one, he just feels like a militant who won't disobey orders, not really someone who cares about power just order. Having said that this is my favourite design of Sentinel Prime bar none.

Senator Ratbat, I find his motivation confusing in issues 3 or 4, but I also love his design, I wish we got to see more of it, it is just fantastic. It's like a gothic Transformer vampire. Remake the carwash of doom with this version of Ratbat.

Megatron fighting in the gladitor pit harkens back to the Marvel era which I love, but that scene where he takes off his helmet and lets his 'hair' flow in the sunlight... That was just weird. Did a Megatron fangirl write that bit? XD

The rest of the mini series you'll enjoy in terms of action and cameo appearances from classic characters but there still won't be a large amount of depth in terms of Megatron's origin, it's more like the Decepticon's origins.

 

Megatron Origin #3

One thing not mentioned in my previous reviews is just how efficient this series is: every panel is vital to the plot, no line is wasted, there's no filler. My one previous experience with IDW is their Regeneration One title, which did meander a bit before getting to the point - compared to that book, this is refreshingly direct.

Having done some reading-up on this series, I discovered that it was originally pitched as a six-parter and then condensed into four. This would account for the directness of the plot, but it also means we have many vital scenes get cut for time. I already mentioned how it was a bit jarring when Megatron goes from reluctant killer in #1 to psychopath in #2. Here we get another example of 'lost' information, as Decimus shows up here alive and well, seemingly none the worse for wear after his shuttle crash at the end of #1 - whilst this story lacks filler, the 'streamlining' of the plot means that a number of vital scenes seem to have been excised.

With all the set-up out of the way, issue #3 gets down to business: Megatron is well on the way to 'officially' founding the Decepticons, Starscream has been added to the ranks and what was initally a series of underground gladiatorial bout has now become a fully-fledged movement. It's at this point when Sentinel Prime's forces swoop in and arrest the combatants; the treacherous Starscream offers to cut a deal and he is let out of his cell, whilst Megatron glowers angrily.

The feeling I get is that everything is ramping up a gear, as events come to a head. For entertainment value alone, this is the best issue of the series so far, simply because there's so much going on. Even though the story is quite 'busy', however, there is still room for one or two character moments: Starscream being a traitor is totally out of the G1 cartoon (though I wonder whether his 'betrayal' here is all it seems - I predict this is all part of some master plan), and the funeral of Fastback and Bumper is nicely played. The best Transformers stories are those that successfully combine plot, action and characterisation, and this does well on all three counts.

• Orion Pax and Elita-One make such a cute couple.
• In a nod to his G1 toy, Ironhide's head is behind his windscreen.
• Rubsigns!

This is an issue with a lot crammed into it, but it works well and is good fun. Hopefully the fourth and final part can tie everything up satisfactorily. 4/5

 

Right, so assume that's not Elita-One. In fact, forget you've seen any fembots. They're feminine looking malebots and that's Elitus-One with OP who dies off panel the next day in a tragic, but forgettable accident. This'll all make sense later.

 

Hahaha okay... I'll bear that in mind. Presumably something changes down the road then, for us to get Windblade and Victorion later on?

What I'd like to know is, how is Megatron Origin perceived, generally speaking? I've spoken to some people who said it was a bit ropey, but then in some of the posts upthread it seems to have a few fans. Is there a general concensus, or is this seen as a 'love-it-or-hate-it' thing with mixed reviews?

At the moment I'm quite liking it despite a few flaws, but for me a lot rides on how it ends.

 

I love your fresh take on this---this was not well-received when it came out!

Admittedly I struggled a lot with taking this as a genuine Megatron Origin type of story, and so many things of it have been retconned ever since.

Thankfully due to the retcons a lot of things make more sense and are fleshed out.

Interestingly enough the story was supposed to be 6 issues but was shortened down to 4, so there is some backstory of Megatron missing [he was supposed to be shipped to a prison facility for an issue, between 1 and 2]

 

Yeah that Orion Pax and Elita One cameo, yeah that... We'll talk about that when we get to MTMTE and Combiner Wars. We're massive continuity nuts unfortunately. XD

But I loved seeing Ironhide in his original toy form in this issue it was cool to see something that stupid looking look like it makes sense in this world. This is also the first appearance of Alpha Trion in this saga as just a cameo.

The artwork on Megatron and Starscream is fantastic too.  

 

I say it's generally liked, it's a good read. But I think it'll always be known for how much it's gotten retconned through the years.

 

I think that in terms of the general content, Megatron Origin is pretty decent. I think it actually brings some fresh themes to the TF fiction, and paints some nuance into the universe by making the Decepticons an uprising against a legitimately corrupt society... but as we know, revolutions are not necessarily any kinder or gentler than the regimes they replace. When you have a somewhat nihilist and iconoclastic view of society coupled with fanaticism, you can see why the Cons were so extreme.

On the flip side, it did clash with what I'd always assumed was the foundations of the Decepticons... elitism, extreme nationalism, manifest destiny, quasi-racist superiority. Of course, such movements always start out by casting themselves as victims to justify their actions, and nationalism is sort of a broad bonding agent for movements trying to establish a new order.

What I find interesting about it is how it actually shifts the Cons from Naziism allegory, reflecting an underlying conservatism, trying to "re-establish the glories of the past (mostly invented), to something closer to a Communist allegory, with a radical rejection of tradition and history, and a focus on class struggle... which allows some of the players to be more sympathetic while still reminding us of how horrible things can get among those kinds of "idealists".

Plus, over 4 million years, the game can change... a lot.  

Wait... so you're saying that Megatron:Origin didn't make any sense for at least 4 straight years after it was published?  

Because all of that stuff came later, and was largely just building on the implied foundation of Megatron:Origin.

I think the later stories do a much better job at fleshing out the world of Megatron:Origin, but I think the broad strokes are there.

On the down-side, I think the storytelling really is heavily compressed (as well as the art, which is dark and cramped). It's hard to form an emotional bond with anyone in this story... it's mostly a historical piece. Megatron seems to shift gears VERY quickly between being a sensitive, uncertain miner, to being a cold-blooded arena killer. There's a gap of time there, so I can accept it, but it doesn't help you get into his character.

For much of the next 4 years' worth of writing, Megatron Origin feels like a bit of an orphaned bit of continuity... rarely referred to. Once Roberts starts dipping into it, it becomes a lot more relevant and vivid.

I agree. Chronological order of events does not account for the fact that these stories were written at different times, and in the context of other stories that they no longer are presented next to. If I had time to kill and a real desire to do so, I'd be curious to see how the "chronological" arrangement suits the material, but my first impression is that something would be lost.

Plus, it was pretty terrible.  

There are hints of that... and I think it's good because it keeps him ambiguous. He's both a crusading hero, and a volatile psychopath. I don't think that he's simply a murderous thug looking to hang a cause on his violent impulses... I think there's a conflict there between the two sides. There's something very adolescent about it... the idealism crossed with the anger and the need to aggrandize himself. And of course, everything starts because he can't control his rage. I wonder how many "great leaders" through history had similar psychologies. It takes a particular type of person to seek out that kind of conflict and place themselves in that kind of position.

If anything, in the recent comics that you already know about, we lose sight of that aspect perhaps too much. Granted, he's much older and more in control of his emotions... but while I was surprised to find that I really liked the "Autobot Megatron" stuff, he does feel a bit too reformed.

zmog

 

I think a lot of the political allegory would have worked better with an expanded canvas. We know about Decimus and the slaughter in the mine, we know about Ratbat pulling the strings behind the scenes (including springing Soundwave from prison), but I'd like to more about what's driving the rest of Megatron's followers.

Are Sentinel's Autobots really that blind not to notice society's injustices? Do they know they're working for a corrupt state? Do they care? Is Cybertronian society bad in general, or are we just looking at two corrupt officials who aren't really representative of the rest of the senate?

Yeah, I understand from other posters that the order of the comics in the trades isn't exactly ideal. But this order has at least been 'sanctioned' by IDW. For newbies such as myself who weren't into IDW from the start, this is the order in which the material is being presented to us, rightly or wrongly. Megatron Origin may not be the best or most logical place to start, but IDW (in their infinite wisdom) have put the story at the beginning of the first trade, so who am I to argue with that?

Whilst I know a few bits and pieces from modern IDW stuff (Megatron becomes an Autobot, Brainstorm has a mysterious briefcase), this is just random stuff I picked up in passing. I haven't yet read a single piece of TF fiction written by James Roberts!

I suppose it comes down to the fact that, even in IDW, Megatron's had a number of writers over the years, each bringing their own take on the character. Megatron is a bit of an enigma here: he kills a guard then instantly regrets it, but later he brutally murders Fastback and Bumper without flinching. In some scenes he's almost monosyllabic, in others he comes across as a great orator. So whilst Eric Holmes's Megatron isn't the most settled of characters (I don't really have a handle on him yet), his many different 'moods' leave the door open for future writers to pick and choose which aspects to keep and which to discard.

 

I went for an odd order too when I started reading these comics, first picked up All Hail Megatron #1 and Spotlight #1 Shockwave for free from comixology, and read a couple more of the Spotlight issues of characters that I cared about and Megatron Origins. I read the next several issues of All Hail Megatron, but when it got to a certain character I suddenly felt lost in this series and decided to go back throughout the series from the beginning after picking up the first Omnibus volume and a Humble Bundle collection of Spotlights before catching up with the rest of the series.

I'd say any manner of reading the saga is okay as long as you're patient enough to read through each one that you want to provide some backstory on.  

Also about Brainstorm's briefcase, just a precaution, but I don't want anyone here to DARE spoil that revelation, mainly because it's so fun reading the series constantly asking: Okay seriously, what is the deal with that shit?  

 

You get answers to most of these by the time you've caught up with MTMTE and RID; both feature side-stories that heavily tie into M:O and expands upon it.

Stuff is also retconned so don't think too much of it until the time you're reading both series/getting further up to date.

One of the things [without spoiling anything] that gets retconned is the nature of Sentinel's Autobots. And you get to see the "pool" that Megatron's followers in the revolution originate from.

 

MTMTE is both great, and a little uneven and hand-wavey at the same time.

The uneven pacing, swinging from goofy comic relief to Phantom-Menace-style protracted political exposition in the course of a few pages, was tolerable and didn't really dampen my enthusiasm for the story, but some blindingly obvious points were over-labored to make sure no reader was left behind whilst setting up a given story arc's big reveal.

still the best TF comic i've read in years.