THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #6
Reviewed by Inflatable Dalek

Who would have thought the worst move you could have made would be to win?

This issue has one great idea that is completely undone by the poor work in the series so far. The concept that the Decepticons start to fall apart once they’ve won is a nifty one. However, it doesn’t feel like they’ve won anything...we didn’t see them beat the Autobots and so far on Earth they’ve barely managed to take over one city. Showing cracks now just makes them seem rubbish. Megatron spending the entire issue just wandering around aimlessly is a good metaphor for the title as a whole.

Meanwhile, back on Cybertron we reach the halfway point with the Autobots exactly where they were at the end of issue 1. Padding is evident in Kup having to tell Jazz things he should already know and in the way the resolution to their leadership squabble last issue is completely ignored. And the fact that Perceptor (of all people) is now a gun-toting macho man as well suggests McCarthy can only write one character.

It’s hard to tell at this stage if the Swarm is going to be another pointless distraction; my money would actually be on the Autobots taking them over somehow and setting them on the Decepticons. Though them showing up all of two pages after Skywarp sets them up shows some very poor plotting.

There is some good stuff here, mainly Skywarp and Bombshell’s interaction, but there’s no hiding the fact nothing has really happened since issue one. The entire first half of the series could have been done in 22 pages and results in what is rapidly becoming the dullest Transformers comic ever. One cube for denying Origin.


The mysterious traitor helped the Decepticons defeat the Autobots by giving them codes that brought down their defences.

Starscream only appears this issue in Megatron’s head, though it’s not 100% clear if this is a conversation they had in the past or entirely imaginary. During these chats Starscream mentions Scourge.

We finally see some action outside of the USA, Megatron trounces Israel and Skywarp claims to have killed half the population of Beijing.

The Insecticons were built in great numbers but only the three we know and love were any good. The rest, now called the Swarm, were dumped on Cybertron. How this gels with Bombshell and Kickback’s prior appearances is, I suspect, one of those things that will never be explained.

Kup claims Megatron has killed two Primes, presumably Sentinel and Zeta. He also claims the war started over the Matrix, which, along with how Grimlock remembers meeting Slag in Maximum Dinobots, effectively retcons Megatron: Origin out of this continuity.

Drift gets his first line here. Despite McCarthy claiming to be amused by people assuming the character will be some stereotypical bad ass Ninja character, the first thing he does is hack off someone’s head with his bad ass Ninja sword.

The people at Versailles aren’t referred to by name or country, though one is presumably from either China or Japan. The guy disgusted by the idea of putting honey in tea is probably supposed to be British as they’re a crazy bunch of tea fanatics. They’re likely high ranking ambassadors rather than the countries' main leaders as any of them travelling by air in these circumstances would be insane, especially after what happened to Air Force 1. The entire Versailles sequence is very like one in issue 10 of Titan’s Furman-written movie comic.

This is the first issue to feature none of the regular human cast.

And with issue 6 we reach the point where the first trade collection of the series will end.


Jazz has to have what the traitor did explained to him, so how did he know there was a traitor in the first place if they covered their tracks that well? And would the prime suspect, Mirage, really be so high ranking as to know these vital codes anyway?

How stupid does Skywarp look firing his arm guns with his hands on his hips like a Transsexual Transylvanian?

Kup telling Jazz to respect the chain of command is hilarious after the bitch fight last issue. Plus, in the chain of command wouldn’t Jazz outrank him anyway?

Where are the Swarm getting their Energon?

Blitzwing claims Megatron has ordered everyone to take a cassette with them to jam the humans' guided missiles, but there’s no sign of one in Beijing.


Dream Starscream: A reward then? This is a reward? I am a fool because to me this looks very much like a distraction.

Bombshell: Look at you. Weak. Scared. Desperately wanting to be a part of something important.

Drift: Hello.

Tracks: That was scary. Perceptor - Perceptor is scary. When did Perceptor become scary?
Cliffjumper: That was so cool.