Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

This volume doesn't really follow up the previous two parts of All Hail Megatron, instead it moves backward, filling in some of what we know about its characters, though some of the stories here are about Transformers who don't have anything to do with All Hail Megatron at all. Like any collection of standalone comics, it's a mixed bag.

I liked the tale of Blurr, the narcissist racer who doesn't even notice that society is unraveling around him (as we saw in Autocracy) until it directly impacts his need for speed and his livelihood.

The rest were so-so. The story of Jazz is framed as a story told by Tracks during All Hail Megatron to cheer up the Autobots trapped on Cybertron. It's unclear to me where this is supposed to take place, mostly because there's no point where the Autobots are ever cheerful, and besides, it's pretty much an action story that reveals little of character anyway. (Plus I can never remember which one is Jazz.) Cliffjumper's story is also dull, being a stereotypical tale of a soldier from an neverending conflict washing up on an "island" (i.e., planet) and tended to by a loving female native, until the war comes back for him. I know a lot of Transformers fans hate Drift, the Decepticon-turned-Autobot-with-"badass"-swords, and I don't, but his story here didn't win me over.

The story of Metroplex is designed to communicate his size with a lot of two-page spreads, which is neat idea. Unfortunately, the e-version of the story I read split them all in half, really ruining the effect.

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