AHM is probably my favorite TF comic, but it still leaves me confused about how the Autobots got in a near death situation with Prime in critical condition. I get that it was supposed to be the "soft reboot" for readers to get into the IDW-verse at the time, but it still brings confusion to the table.

All the answers online just say "It's a year after Maximum Dinobots" but what I mean is:

Spoiler

Sunstreaker reveals that he betrayed the Autobots with the aid of Starscream, and the Decepticons used Devastator to ambush the Autobots which exiled them to Cybertron leaving Prime wounded.

But yet even with this reveal it's still weary, are there any official comics that show what entirely happened in the Canyon instead of the small panel flashback?

 

Nope. It was all just “explained” in that exposition.
You are correct, this was a soft reboot. But everything that “happened” after Max Dino’s happened off screen.

 

Damn that sucks then, they could've made that into a spotlight comic for Sunstreaker. One can only dream.

 

I remember people gushing over AHM simply because the characters were drawn to sorta look like their MP toys.

Conceptually it was an interesting take. The execution left a lot to be desired. It didn't help that it threw out all the infiltration protocols for cheap explosions.

 

IDW really could of worked a lot better at bridging the Furman-verse with AHM. I really don’t understand (a lot) of their decisions.

 

I think they could only have written it after the series ended, because it is very well possible that Sunstreaker being the traitor was not the initial plan, but an attempt to connect the AHM storyline more to the Furman era.

The whole situation and the dialogue preceeding the "revelation" makes it unlikely that Sunstreaker really is the one who sold them out. Considering that the Cons got codes that could shut down all Autobot defenses means that they got those codes from a very high ranking Autobot. Very high. Sunstreaker was a drill sergeant and a soldier in Prowl's unit. And even if Sunstreaker was also a unit commander (and note, we only have the memories of the egomaniac himself to confirm that he was, while his very personality and previous portrayel says otherwise), there's no way that a Unit Commander would have such far reaching codes. It would be like a simple captain of a Naval vessel having command codes that could shut down the entire USA army.

(My guess is still Jazz: he's very high ranking and as Special Ops he would have those kind of codes. Actually, only Optimus, Prowl and Jazz would be likely to have codes that could affect such a shutdown of all Autobot security systems.)


But fans (rightly so) complained that AHM ignored all continuity from the Furman era and thus in the second half of the series a few things were added to confirm that it was the same continuity. And I think Sunstreaker being the traitor is one of those elements since it tied it with his fate in the Furman era.

 

This is an interesting take that would have made AHM more enjoyable to me. Jazz or Prowl or someone like that making it look like it was Mirage who betrayed them only to double bluff and set up Sunstreaker while all the time engineering everything. It would have been a truly brave take on the story.

 

It was explained that the codes to shut down the autobots were actually obtained by hacking into the cybertronian parts in Hunter's body - so even if Sunny didn't have the codes themselves, the link between he and hunter was used to access the codes. Sunny was only part of - and aware of - the canyon ambush, he had no idea of the galaxy wide coordinated attack.

 

Sunstreaker was just betraying Earth. The Decepticons used Bombshell to hack into Hunter's body and mind, using the headmaster tech in him to basically backdoor themselves into the Autobot main hub, possibly using Sunstreaker's codes to get their foot in the door, and from there, were able to establish a galactic-wide shutdown of all Autobot systems, resulting in 'The Purge', a complete abandonment of the infiltration protocols in favour of mass genocide. With each Autobot group cut off, they were easy pickings for the Decepticons.

Or that was the theory. Given how many characters survived, I question just how effective this purge was. Prime was in critical because he was at the centre of a space bridge explosion he triggered to cut off his Autobots from the Decepticons, giving them some escape. I think one of the AHM coda issues had Sunstreaker reflecting on his life and how he got to that point when he was lying dead on the bottom of the canyon, but there's some retcons in it (or possibly unreliable narrative is at play?) but nothing major is shown about the initial canyon ambush.

 

Reading this now.

it’s weird to go from everything happening to BOOM Autobots stranded on Cybertron Prime dying. Kept wondering if I missed something.

 

This explanation never really sat well with me. If Sunstreaker had no knowledge of the codes necessary to shut down the entire Autobot army then why would parts of him grafted to a human be capable of such a thing.

Also just the idea of the Autobots having such crap security that any one Autobot would somehow possess the codes for systems spanning an entire galaxy if not more so is pretty ridiculous. If we were talking just about Autobot City or the Ark then maybe, but IDW established the Autobots having regional command hubs in addition to various space-based cells on a multitude of worlds and space-stations. Do they all really have the same passcode to their defense networks? If so why hadn't the Decepticons been able to crack the code through interrogating one of the many prisoners that were established to have been held at Grindcore?

 

Speaking of sunstreaker, Im genuinely surprised he didn't turn full on bad guy after he came back, humans basically fucked his psyche, the autobots treat it like another misadventure and hunter even wants the whole process to be permanent. Machinations employees were having sex right in front of him while he begged to be killed, dude that is some fucked up shit and then he spent a few years in his own purgatory in cybertron. totally missed an opportunity for idw to not give him a spotlight issue in RID where he wanted revenge on machination.

 

I actually wondered whether the Coda issues would show what happened, because Sunstreaker is CLEARLY not a superior enough officer to access every single bit of Autobot intelligence, enough even to affect Garrus-9 on the other side of the galaxy.

Hunter was close with Ratchet, and it might make sense that Ratchet had some classified info in a database of medical information that he didn't even know was in there, but Bombshell's tech might have been able to hack.

But AHM was very much in that Force Awakens model of storytelling:

1- Whoa, things are so bad! What happened!
2- Now we tell you what happened.
3- Lol no we are not going to tell you what really happened--later writers can deal with that

 

Actually, McCarthy said in interviews that it was meant to be Kup, having found out that Prowl had turned him into a sleeper agent and getting back at him for that. It was changed when either IDW or Hasbro (I forget which) said no to that plan.

 

Interesting. I had never heard that. Of course, McCarthy has said more things in interviews, like absolutely respecting Furman's continuity, and we know how that ended.

But it does make more sense than it being Sunstreaker. That said, the motivation seems problematic, because Kup's previous portrayel seems to run counter to such an act. If it had been because he felt betrayed by the Autobots for leaving him on the planet for so long, that I could understand.

Likewise, though I've always thought that the original plan was for Prowl or Jazz, I cannot think of a reason whythey would be the traitor: it doesn't fit in eithers character to betray the Autobots like this. Maybe Prowl to ensure Optimus would be more willing to listen to him in the future. With Sunstreaker you at least have the motivation (getting back at the humans) but the explanation that they used Hunter's implants to hack the Autobot system is complete nonsense.


EDIT: Okay, just thought of this, but it being Kup in response to what Prowl did to him, does present one problem. AHM was originally not going to be part of the IDW timeline, but take place in an alternate reality. Bit strange then that there was going to be this connection to the main time line.