I recall Monstrosity was my favourite instalment of the Autocracy-Monstrosity-Primacy trilogy, and upon rereading it I think that is going to remain the case. It’s a fun story featuring batshit crazy Decepticons, swarms of beastly monsters, dire and deathly places, and Megatron being a BAMF. Watching Megatron transform into Garbage King of Trash Planet and go on a quest of self-discovery with his riddle-spewing pet Quintesson in tow was quite entertaining, and it was the kind of setting and storyline where Livio Ramondelli’s artwork is quite appropriate. The Quintesson, Pentius, was a fun character, even if there was pretty much no explanation for any single thing that he said or did. He was like some sort of spirit-guide/sensei character who guides another character on a journey towards enlightenment, only instead of guiding Megatron towards enlightenment he guides him towards a greater clarity of evil…which I guess is enlightenment from some people’s point of view. There is no clear reason why he does this, although he is a historian, and some of the cryptic things he says are somewhat reminiscent of Metroplex’s comments to Optimus about the cyclic nature of history and Optimus’s role as a recurring player in it. Maybe Pentius recognised Megatron as another one of those major players and wanted to see him fulfil his destined role, or maybe he just gets his kicks out of encouraging people to be evil, who knows.
Quintessons are also established as having (green) sparks in this series, which raises questions about the nature of Quintesson life and their connection to the Transformers in the IDW continuity. If I recall there are some continuities in which the Quintessons are descendants/creations of Quintus Prime, so maybe that is true of this continuity as well. The fact that the end of the IDW continuity means we’re going to miss out on the opportunity to properly explore this version of the Quintessons is one of the many things about the reboot that makes me thoroughly upset.
The current Optimus Prime series established that Junkion was blown up in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons at some point after this, but turns out that at this point Junkion was just a goddamn shard anyway, so not much of a loss really.
Autocracy made Megatron look like a little bit of a chump (and the Decepticons clearly agreed, given their decision to get rid of him), but Monstrosity quite pointedly reaffirms his terrifying badassitude, while making him look outright sane and heroic next to the nutcase that is Scorponok. It could be said that Megatron (somewhat thinly) veiled his desire for endless violence behind a motive of social change, but Scorponok didn’t make the slightest effort to disguise what he was after, and took it WAY up to 11. Scorponok basically wanted to turn Cybertron into what Junkion already was, and after getting banished there Megatron seemed to decide that he’d had quite enough of that. I guess that what Monstrosity ultimately establishes is that while Megatron has most definitely fallen to his bloodlust (energon-lust?), he hasn’t gone completely loopy; he still has goals beyond simply killing things, or at least still believes he does. I find it kinda weird that Megatron’s character arc on Junkion is meant to be about becoming truly monstrous, yet the whole story is also about establishing him as a much better alternative to Scorponok. In fact he seems less villainous and nutty when he gets back from Junkion than before.
Then again, Megatron’s “revelation” on Junkion is that what he truly wants is dominance, “the only truth in existence”. Perhaps the contrast that the story was trying to establish between Megatron and Scorponok is that while Scorponok was basically “chaotic evil” and wanted to create a primordial wasteland where only the strongest survive, Megatron wanted to establish a more ordered evil, with himself at the top. That being said, I can’t believe that Megatron wasn’t to some extent driven by the same sort of lust for violence that seemed to motivate Scorponok, as there are several moments throughout the continuity that heavily imply/basically outright state that Megatron was more interested in killing than actually winning the war. However, I guess that while Scorponok was nothing but that lust for violence and twisted might makes right philosophy, those elements of Megatron’s character were somewhat tempered by other aspects, such as his desire for absolute dominance. I do wonder how much of Megatron’s desire for dominance stemmed from the moments he had felt helpless, like on Trepan’s table, which spawned the desire to never feel that way again.
We saw Starscream being pretty damn critical of and fed up with Megatron in Autocracy, which seems to culminate in him helping overthrow Megs here. That being said, it’s not made clear how much say Starscream actually had in the coup – whether he was one of the first people calling for Megatron’s blood, or if he watched Scorponok blow the heads off anyone defending Megatron before deciding to play along. Either way, it doesn’t take him long to start hitting Scorponok with the same sort of criticism he had recently been levelling at Megs, although he also offers some pretty valid advice, and even tries to break up in-fighting between the Cons. It just seems like he earnestly wanted the Decepticons to be successful in doing what they set out to do, but unfortunately for him Scorponok was everything he seemed to hate about Megatron concentrated and amplified.
I guess we don’t actually know for sure if Starscream was Megatron’s SiC at this point, though his interactions with Megatron certainly made him seem as much, but either way it’s interesting that he just lets Scorponok take command. It comes across as though he initially wasn’t actually that interested in being the leader at this point in history, but rather preferred an advisory role from behind the scenes. Unfortunately none of the leaders he gave advice to were interested in listening to him. While I think there are a number of factors underlying Starscream’s eventual ambition for leadership, I tend to think that one of the most major factors was the fact that all the other leaders he followed continuously let him down. He was fucked over by the Senate, Megatron, Scorponok, until eventually he thought “fuck it, I’ll do it myself”.
He doesn’t seem quite at that point yet however, as he doesn’t use Scorponok’s raging incompetence and unpopularity as an opportunity to seize control of the Cons himself, and he looks outright delighted when Megatron shows up again to take power back from Scorponok, which is a great scene by the way:
I love how Megatron’s silhouette makes him look like fricking Dracula or something in that panel.
Anyway, Megatron is understandably upset with Starscream after this, and promises him that they would discuss his role in the coup, which is something we never get to see. I find this really frustrating given that Megatron and Starscream’s relationship is made up of many more questions than answers, and this seems like it would have been a major turning point between them assuming this was Starscream’s first major betrayal. I have to wonder what went down between them after this so that Starscream not only survived, but maintained his major ranking in the Cons. I could imagine Starscream arguing/pleading to Megatron that Megs had constantly reiterated that the leader of the Decepticons must be strong and indomitable, so by discarding Megatron in favour of another leader after his defeat, Starscream was only following the doctrine Megatron wanted him to follow. If Megatron was won over by this argument, I wonder if this could have been the beginning of their dynamic of Megatron keeping Starscream around to challenge him and so give him the opportunity to reaffirm his dominance as leader. I also wonder if this is around the time their relationship turned violent.
Assuming Starscream’s initial loyalty to and idolisation of Megatron was genuine, and I’m inclined to say it was, it would seem that this initial “positive” stage of their relationship was over by this point in time. But was their relationship as simple as an initial, relatively short positive period in which Starscream was loyal, followed by a really long, horrible period in which Starscream was treacherous? I’m inclined to think it was more complicated than that. Starscream may have welcomed Megatron back in Monstrosity just because he could be used to get rid of Scorponok, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Megatron’s strength and determination in returning from Junkion and reclaiming the Decepticons had restored some of Starscream’s eroded faith in him. I could imagine Starscream going through another period of loyalty to Megatron after this, although it probably wouldn’t be as strong as his initial loyalty, and their relationship would be tainted from that point on by Starscream’s betrayal. I bet their relationship would have gone through a number of such phases of Starscream warming back up to Megatron to some extent before souring to him again and trying to get rid of him, but with an overall downwards trend as their relationship for the most part deteriorated. In fact, we kind of saw another instance of this at the end of All Hail Megatron, if I recall, with Starscream saving Megatron’s life shortly after he had attempted a coup.
Also Scorponok noted that Megatron had apparently kept Starscream at arm’s length (something Starscream puts down to Megatron not having much trust for politicians, an explanation that makes a lot more sense now that we know Starscream used to be a senator even before the Decepticons), but this seems like a kinda odd thing to say given that Megatron apparently made Starscream his SiC, trusted him with a number of important duties, and had him alone by his side several times. If Starscream’s early passionate fixation on Megatron hadn’t just been for show, then maybe he wanted to be emotionally close to him as well (not necessarily in a romantic way if that’s what you assume I mean…although also maybe that) but Megatron kept his distance in that respect. If that were so, I wonder if that could have been a contributing factor towards Starscream’s attitude towards Megatron going sour.
Meanwhile poor Optimus Prime has been contending with Dai Atlas’s bitching, and to be fair I guess he kinda has a point; Cybertron was a bit of a shitshow so perhaps packing up and leaving was a reasonable thing to do. On the other hand, if your solution to all your problems is to pack up and run off to someplace else and start over, you’re never going to achieve much. The vision of unity that The Matrix granted Optimus when they bonded makes him pretty insistent that Cybertronians ought to all stick together. I imagine that Optimus would have felt that Cybertronians leaving the planet and scattering would have also amounted to them abandoning each other, and he didn’t want to leave anyone behind, as illustrated by his refusal to give up on the Dynobots and their monstrous predicament.
Optimus does however wonder if he’s just jealous of all the people leaving Cybertron’s problems behind while he’s stuck there dealing with it all, which is really sad because that’s pretty much the same sort of sentiment of frustration with his position of responsibility that he expresses 4 million years later in The Death of Optimus Prime. So Optimus was done with the position of Prime from more or less the day he got it, and he’s probably been sick of it for the entirety of the 4 million year war. Honestly when the continuity ends I really hope he gets to survive and quit all his responsibilities and go and live somewhere way out of the way of any drama and just like…garden or some shit.
Seems kinda weird that the Dynobots were trying to avoid getting too riled up to stop hulking out into their monstrous alt-modes, but had also been involved with the Decepticons via the gladiatorial death-matches; surely gladiatorial death-matches would be a sure-fire ticket to hulking out. Maybe that’s why they didn’t go through with joining the Decepticons; if death-matches weren’t gonna do it, a revolution just might. On the other hand, given that The Dynobots joined in Optimus’s uprising against Megatron, and that Scorponok pointed out that Grimlock’s “fatal weakness” is compassion, maybe the Dynobots left the Decepticons because they noticed that the movement had got a bit shit. The dynamic between the Dynobots is pretty endearing; they’re like a bickering but incredibly loyal and loving family.
So Trypticon was manufacturing monsters in his innards…doesn’t that kinda make them his babies? Certainly seems to be further evidence that Titans can produce life of their own. Also, what’s the deal with Trypticon and babies? In his first appearance he’s making all these monster babies, then in his more recent appearances he’s adopted a bunch of babies. Is that just IDW Trypticon’s thing? Everyone views him as this horrible, terrifying monster that does nothing but wreck death and destruction, but in actual fact his just wants to have a bunch of babies and see them grow up strong and healthy with pack lunches and name labels on all their stationary.
On a final note, let’s all laugh/cry at the first panel of the series:
I remembered being rather disappointed with this series when I first read it, which may have had something to do with the fact that we never saw Megatron and Starscream’s confrontation following Starscream’s betrayal, or even the fallout of an unseen confrontation. This time, reading the series without the expectation that we’d be getting that follow-up, I did find that I enjoyed the first three issues more than I remembered, but when I got up to the last issue I found myself disappointed again. The previous issues reveal that Megatron and Trypticon are both connected and tainted by Pentius’s spark, which has granted Trypticon some of Pentius’s memories and identity, and has in some vague way apparently has purportedly made Megatron more than he was before. The penultimate issue reveals that…you know what? I’m not even sure. Pentius is alive in Megatron and manipulating him to destroy Cybertron (not that Megatron ever needed that manipulation)? Pentius is alive in Trypticon and is about to wake up and wreck everyone’s shit? Whatever it is, it makes Megatron very upset. But don’t worry, whatever this kinda vague but apparently terrifying threat is, it can be resolved by Optimus flashing his Matrix at Megatron. Basically it was a rather anti-climactic end to a story thread that was pretty vague in the first place, which could have perhaps actually been pretty interesting if it had been properly explored.
The issue then ends with Megatron in custody and apparent Autobot victory over the Decepticons, which I guess is going to remain an unexplained cliff-hanger now unless Barber or Roberts somehow manage to address it in the precious few issues they have left. Don’t get me wrong, I think it makes a lot of sense that there were probably many points over the course of the war where it would have seemed that one side had triumphed over the other, with major players of both sides being taken prisoner. However, showing one of these points without then going on to show how the situation then resolved itself to return things to the familiar status quo of the war is really annoying; it’s an incomplete tale.
Primacy seems to start almost immediately after the end of Monstrosity, while Monstrosity started almost immediately after the end of Autocracy. We saw Hot Rod join the Autobots at the end of Autocracy and he is revealed to have graduated by the beginning of Primacy, which seems to mean that either Monstrosity took place over a longer period of time than it seems, of they really fast-track bots through Autobot Academy. One of the sub-plots of the series involves newbie Hot Rod chafing up against crusty old veteran Grimlock, before they finally seem to reach some sort of understanding by the end. Given that Grimlock and Rodimus are probably going to meet up by the end of Lost Light, I wonder if this dynamic will be referenced at all.
Can we take a moment to appreciate scary Thundercracker:
What a character arc that ended up being eh?
I did like how the Seekers were the ones tasked with actually seeking out and retrieving the scattered Decepticon forces, like Megatron’s little Cocker Spaniels. Starscream seems pretty upbeat throughout most of this series, and his interactions with Megatron are relatively amicable, with Megatron trusting Starscream to round up many of his major players. Whatever would have had to of gone down between them following Megatron’s return must have worked out surprisingly well for Starscream…somehow. Maybe he was just so astonished that Megatron let him live and keep his position that he was walking on sunshine while considering how much worse it all could have gone, at that point not realising that he was stepping into a soul-crushing cycle of betrayal and abuse. But given we probably won’t get a chance to see what actually happened between them, I guess this is yet another thing we’ll be left to wonder about.
I liked the little character detail we got about how Optimus’s preferred leisure activity to unwind when he’s not busy being an ultra-leader superhero is going free-climbing in the most desolate and unforgiving environs he can find. I always like getting details about what characters actually enjoy and have an interest in when they’re not being forced to save the universe, and how those interests perhaps relate to other aspects of their character. Like in this case, part of the reason Optimus enjoys spending his free time in the frozen void is because it’s one of the few places where he can forget he’s a Prime. Again, ouch, he’s only been a Prime for what – a couple of months – and he’s already sick of it, and he’s still got 4 million years’ worth of it ahead of him. I take back my previous comment about hoping that Optimus gets to retire and do a bunch of gardening at the end of the continuity; I hope he gets to retire and climb the highest, most isolated, most brutal, most unforgiving cliff-faces he can find until his vaguely masochistic spark is content.
This series pretty much outright confirms my previous surmising that the contrast between Megatron and Scorponok that was established in Monstrosity is that Scorponok is chaotic evil while Megatron is a relatively ordered evil that seeks control and dominance. Still, for all his evil ways, Megatron is overwhelmed by the visions of destruction Pentius has to show him, which is reminiscent to me of how he freaked out when he heard the screams of all the organics the Decepticons had killed, or looked rather put out when he saw the DJD’s handiwork first-hand. While Megatron certainly doesn’t shy away from getting his hands dirty, he’s still one of those warmongers who ultimately isn’t able to directly confront the sheer extent of the suffering he’s caused with a steady stomach (or whatever it is Transformers have).
Via Pentius, Megatron seems to have some kind of vision of his future in which he quite correctly predicts that he and Optimus will battle each other for millions of years, ravaging Cybertron in the process. It’s not clear if he has an actual vision of the future, or just correctly extrapolates the path they are set on, or if he has some sort of vision of a possible future that then becomes self-fulfilling as Megatron seems to resign himself to the idea that this is just how it’s gonna be. Then again, Megatron really seems like a “frag destiny” kinda guy, so I don’t think a vision of the future would compel him to fulfil that vision if he didn’t want to. On the other hand, maybe the vision provided him with an excuse, because on some level battling Optimus Prime for millions of years while Cybertron burns around them is exactly what he wanted.
I gotta give it to Megatron, his plan against the Autobots that involved distracting Metroplex with Trypticon before impaling the Titan with a massive pointy spaceship which then unloads an army of cannibalistic junk hillbillies and creates highly corrosive acid rain for attack sharks to maneuverer through, was pretty cool. I could imagine even Starscream being impressed with that one. What was far less impressive was how Megatron managed to plan out all of those elements, and somehow not foresee that the acid rain used as a weapon against the enemy would be even more crippling to his own Seekers. I could imagine Starscream being not so impressed with that.
Overall I think the Autocracy-Monstrosity-Primacy trilogy had a reasonable beginning and an entertaining middle, but ultimately the ending was something that left me wondering “well what was the actual point of that?”. I feel that there were a lot of elements that would have worked better if they’d been properly fleshed out and explained, but given the reboot it’s probably too late for that now. Ah well, fanfiction fodder it is, I suppose.
