Ive only read Furmans run on MArvel US, but was wondering what the sequence of leaders were (for earthbound crew) Is this correct: Autobots Optimus -Grimlock-PM Optimus--Grimlock Deceps Megatron- Shockwave - Megatron- Shockwave - Ratbat-Scorponok-bludgeon
You forgot Blaster and Fortress Maximus before PM Optimus. I happened to just have read that a few hours ago *g*
When was Blaster leader of the Earthbound crew? He was asked to be, but ultimately never was. It's kind of implied that Fort Max sort of "caretaker"-ed the leadership before PM Prime came (after "Totalled!" in US#41/UK#174-175) but even he didn't sound overly keen. Can't remember the exact quote, but he basically says "if there's any hope for the Autobots leadership, it lies on a small disk labelled Optimus Prime."
That's a tough question because Marvel was even more bound to Hasbro early on than IDW. Sentinel Prime was before Optimus Prime and there was also a Council of Elders that had Xaaron and some other 'bots who showed up long enough to die. While Prime was away, it was more of a few Autobots surviving here and there with no defined leadership (Perceptor led he and Blaster's group, the Throttlebots were off on their own, Fortress Maximus and his merry men) except for MAYBE Xaaron. And after Optimus died the first time, Grimlock took over and squabbled with Fortress Maximus. When Prime comes back, he takes the reigns again. When Prime died fighting Unicron, he appointed Grimlock his heir, and then came back to life. The 'cons kind of followed the strongest in an almost feudal fashion. Megs, Starscream, Soundwave, Straxus, Scorponok, Shockwave, Ratbat, Thunderwing, Bludgeon, the weird Trimvirate guys all kind of seized power at some point but its all really kind of nebulous because again, Marvel's run of the comics, while awesome, really existed to sell toys. Marvel has some great stories, but it's really hard to tell good stories when you have to match toys on shelf and the backstory your given is 64 MILLION YEARS long (IDW struggles with four million years, but at the rate their Transformers die, I'm not sure how they managed that). You also have to remember that Marvel's initial contract was for four issues and they pulled out 80 in the US and over 300 in the UK, so there was even more making it up as they go along than now. So, when you through in the Sunbo cartoon, it can get crazy quick.
Autobots Optimus > Grimlock > Optimus > Grimlock > Optimus Though characters like Blaster, Fort Max, Prowl, and even Ratchet were given leadership roles by default status for one reason or the other. Decepticons Megatron > Shockwave > Soundwave > Megatron > Shockwave > Ratbat > Scorponok = Thunderwing > Scorponok > Bludgeon > (Uk Future story leap) Galvatron > Shockwave > Galvatron > Soundwave. I'm preeeetty sure that's how it goes.
Let's see if I can do this right. Autobots Optimus Prime -> Ratchet -> Optimus Prime -> Grimlock -> Blaster -> Powermaster Optimus Prime -> Grimlock -> Action Master Optimus Prime -> Optimus Prime -> Rodimus Prime At one point, around the time Grimlock -> Blaster was happening, there was another crew led by Fortress Maximus and Galen, who then gave control of the big bot to Spike, who then joined up with Powermaster Optimus Prime right before the Underbase saga. Now, the Decepticons are a little more ... hard to figure out. Decepticons Megatron -> Shockwave -> Megatron -> Shockwave -> Ratbat/Scorponok -> Scorponok/Megatron -> Scorponok/Thunderwing/Shockwave -> Bludgeon -> Bludgeon/Soundwave/Scorponok/Megatron -> Bludgeon/Soundwave -> Soundwave The Decepticons went through periods where they had multiple factions. When Shockwave died in Earth's atmosphere (but not really), Ratbat took control but then made a deal with Scorponok's forces, until Scorponok betrayed Ratbat and killed him. He then took control of the Earth Decepticons, but Megatron ended up still being alive was ruling Cybertron. Megatron was apparently destroyed again, leaving Thunderwing in charge of the Cybertron Decepticons while Scorponok continued to operate on Earth. After Thunderwing perished, Scorponok had to fight a not-so-dead Shockwave, who was starting a Decepticon Civil War to bring back pride to the Decepticon name. They all joined forces for the battle against Unicron, but then Scorponok died, Shockwave and Starscream stole the Ark, and then a battle royale between Megatron, Galvatron, and Shockwave, with help from Ratchet, crashed the Ark on Earth once again. Bludgeon ruled all the Decepticons, started a new war with the Autobots, lost, and retreated. In the Re-G1 20 issue series, Bludgeon had his War World, Soundwave led the Cybertron Decepticons, and Megatron led an army of zombies on Earth. After Megatron died, Bludgeon and Soundwave got together to invade Cybertron. The wake of that battle left Bludgeon dead, Hot Rod had become Rodimus Prime, and they were fighting Jhiaxus, who wasn't a Decepticon but the whole G2 story line shoved in for fan service. Confusing, but I hope that helps.
They voted for him and he finally accepted, then he challenged Grimlock and then their fight was interrupted by the Decepticon attack.
My favourite bit of leader trivia: Thunderwing had at least two separate stints as leader, according to the UK comics. Basically, the chronology of the stories means that 'A Small War' (in which he was leader) is set before 'The Big Shutdown' (in which he's not leader, but on the verge of leadership). So he somehow lost leadership after 'A Small War' and then regained it in 'Rage'/'Assault on the Ark'.
Prowl was leader in the Marvel run after Ratchet defeated Megatron and before Optimus was rescued from Shockwave. He did some battle planning with GB Blackrock