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Transformers (IDW) Collected Series
Transformers Ongoing TP Vol 1 For All Mankind
It's been three years since the devastating events of All Hail Megatron. The Earth has been rebuilt, the Autobots are in hiding, and the next great era in the Transformers saga is about to begin! Critically acclaimed writer Mike Costa is joined by superstar artist Don Figueroa for IDW's biggest book of the year - the launch of the first ongoing Transformers title in five years!
Comic
First published June 29, 2010
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About the author
Mike Costa
701 books31 followersMike Costa is an American comic book and television writer.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 4, 2016
Storyline: 3 stars
Artwork: 3,5 stars
Mecha design: 5 stars
A more than decent start of the series following IDW's "All hail Megatron".
The mecha series, a blend of classical Transformers comics and cartoons with Michael Bay's movies one is just weird and awesome.
Enjoyed a lot the evolution of all characters (Ultra Magnus took rookie lessons by Judge Dredd!).
Thundercracker's story about what happened to him after the events of "All hail Megatron" is the best part of this volume.
August 7, 2021
Following on from Transformers: All Hail Megatron, the Autobots and Decepticons are marooned on Earth and on the run from humanity. Not the most exciting run of Transformers issues, low on action and heavier on character interplay, but it's better on a reread. (The author's dislike for Hot Rod is pretty blatant, though.) A note on the art: while I'm not a big fan of the Bay-inspired redesigns for the characters, I do have to applaud how intricate said designs are. (B)
August 7, 2018
A decent shift into a post-war continuity. I admit, I really dislike Figueroa's shift to Bayverse-style character designs, but he still does a better job with such translations than the movies ever did.
The series is a bit slow but issue 6 is a solid payoff that establishes a lot in terms of developing Bumblebee, Rodimus and Optimus. These "peace-time" changes in their thinking goes a long way towards developing the runs of Barber and Roberts to come down the road.
The series is a bit slow but issue 6 is a solid payoff that establishes a lot in terms of developing Bumblebee, Rodimus and Optimus. These "peace-time" changes in their thinking goes a long way towards developing the runs of Barber and Roberts to come down the road.
March 8, 2023
Three years after the devastating end of the war between Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, the remaining Transformers on both sides are in hiding and humanity's Skywatch is systematically hunting them down.
Adrift in this new political reality, Optimus Prime renounces leadership of the Autobots and surrenders to the humans. Without Prime, the Autobots divide between those who choose to remain on Earth as hidden protectors and those who wish to return to the stars.
The core theme of this book is a really engaging one; what happens to soldiers who've been fighting their whole lives when the war is finally over?
Autobot and Decepticon alike are faced with the challenge of discovering who they are when the war which has always defined them is missing. Some find themselves trying to reignite hostilities, some simply want to run away in search of a new life and some, like Optimus, find themselves confused and without purpose.
I enjoyed the moral ambiguity of the character in this story too.
Where the Transformers franchise could all too easily be rendered down to Autobots=Good, Decepticons=Bad, here we see that there are more grey areas than we might initially imagine. A good example of this is Ultra Magnus, a single-minded enforcer of the law who is faced with situations where the law no longer applies or no longer aligns with morality. The human characters, like Spike Witwicky, also play into this ambiguity as they're responsible for brutally capturing, torturing and, in one case, killing beloved Autobots, but they're also doing what they feel has to be done to protect the world from alien robots whose war has already devastated the planet.
The only thing I'd really criticise this book for is Don Figueroa's art style. It's entirely subjective, but I really didn't like the over-designed look of the Transformers and felt they had just a touch too much of Michael Bay about them.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Adrift in this new political reality, Optimus Prime renounces leadership of the Autobots and surrenders to the humans. Without Prime, the Autobots divide between those who choose to remain on Earth as hidden protectors and those who wish to return to the stars.
The core theme of this book is a really engaging one; what happens to soldiers who've been fighting their whole lives when the war is finally over?
Autobot and Decepticon alike are faced with the challenge of discovering who they are when the war which has always defined them is missing. Some find themselves trying to reignite hostilities, some simply want to run away in search of a new life and some, like Optimus, find themselves confused and without purpose.
I enjoyed the moral ambiguity of the character in this story too.
Where the Transformers franchise could all too easily be rendered down to Autobots=Good, Decepticons=Bad, here we see that there are more grey areas than we might initially imagine. A good example of this is Ultra Magnus, a single-minded enforcer of the law who is faced with situations where the law no longer applies or no longer aligns with morality. The human characters, like Spike Witwicky, also play into this ambiguity as they're responsible for brutally capturing, torturing and, in one case, killing beloved Autobots, but they're also doing what they feel has to be done to protect the world from alien robots whose war has already devastated the planet.
The only thing I'd really criticise this book for is Don Figueroa's art style. It's entirely subjective, but I really didn't like the over-designed look of the Transformers and felt they had just a touch too much of Michael Bay about them.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
October 17, 2017
Mike Costa’s take on this Transformers story was really well done. I normally don’t like it when a creative team comes in and messes with an already established time line and story. But this new telling of how the Autobots and humans build their alliance really works for me. It makes a bit more sense than the cartoon version of the 1980’s(because honestly how many parents would have let their teenage son and his handicapped friend just run around with giant alien robots). Figueroa’s artwork was pretty solid. It’s not my favorite artistic interpretation of the Transformers, but it was still good. Lastly my favorite part was the addition of Thundercracker in a much different role than I’ve ever seen before. I’m going to continue reading this title simply because I want to see where Costa is going with Thundercracker’s part of this story arch.
December 9, 2017
Liked the story, hated the art
I liked the story but I hated the art. Here the Transformers are drawn in a god-awful "Bayformers" art style. Their faces all look exactly identical. Super ugly, monstrous, hideous even. With cold, dead, jacko-lantern eyes. Ugh. It's the worst! Well drawn, but looks horrible. But the story is still pretty good.
I liked the story but I hated the art. Here the Transformers are drawn in a god-awful "Bayformers" art style. Their faces all look exactly identical. Super ugly, monstrous, hideous even. With cold, dead, jacko-lantern eyes. Ugh. It's the worst! Well drawn, but looks horrible. But the story is still pretty good.
July 6, 2020
The pacing is a little uneven in this book, and sometimes the “in medias res” of it adds more distraction than drama. But it hits some interesting beats and sets up some interesting conflicts down the road.
January 18, 2018
The story is OK, self-flagellating Optimus: yay! I don't like the art at all though and those 3 stars are here mostly for the very good Thundercracker story.
October 31, 2018
Three words: Optimus Prime's entrance.
January 8, 2019
Bridging Differences Brilliant to Come! :D
February 26, 2022
It was a compelling story but kind of a downer tbh. Everyone questioning themselves and unsure what to do next. Hoping this kicks off a worthwhile story arc.
December 7, 2024
Is this how enstars fans feel when another writer takes the torch and completely mischaracterizes their faves?
October 10, 2019
Nothing has made me appreciate the craftsmanship of Phase Two of IDW Publishing's initial run of Tranformers comics than going back and reading Phase One.
It's completely lacking in anything of substance, aside from the pages including Spike Witwicky-- which are so terrible they could pass as pages from a parody of comics from the early to mid-2000's. The "Last Stand of the Wreckers" mini-series, #22 and #23 of this series, and Spotlight: Megatron are the only good things to come out of this era of the comics.
Unless you're a dumb completionist like myself, who must consume literally every piece of media under the Transformers brand, you have no reason to waste your time with anything outside of those seven issues I recommended.
It's completely lacking in anything of substance, aside from the pages including Spike Witwicky-- which are so terrible they could pass as pages from a parody of comics from the early to mid-2000's. The "Last Stand of the Wreckers" mini-series, #22 and #23 of this series, and Spotlight: Megatron are the only good things to come out of this era of the comics.
Unless you're a dumb completionist like myself, who must consume literally every piece of media under the Transformers brand, you have no reason to waste your time with anything outside of those seven issues I recommended.
August 9, 2025
Not much to say here. It's a sequel series to some other comic that seems to be a mix of G1 and Bayformers. As in, it's got the aesthetic of the former, but some of the premises of the latter (Transformers have been revealed, human military is capturing Autobots and Decepticons alike). Either way, I was indifferent to it. There's nothing to distinguish the 'bots from each other bar their appearances, and the human characters don't fare much better. It tries to inject some gravitas into its plot, but it falls flat. There's certainly ways you can do that with Transformers, but this isn't one of them.
Meh.
Meh.
July 23, 2013
Do not read this unless you have read the "All Hail Megatron" series.
I loved seeing the mix of classic G1 characters interacting with some G2.
The only thing missing as far as I am concerned is seeing Jetfire in vehicle mode - he's my favourite character as he was the first tf I was given as a kid.
I loved seeing the mix of classic G1 characters interacting with some G2.
The only thing missing as far as I am concerned is seeing Jetfire in vehicle mode - he's my favourite character as he was the first tf I was given as a kid.
November 2, 2019
The writing holds together a bit better than previous volumes but it's disappointing to see that the series is backtracking from the most promising bit of the end of "All Hail Megatron." The humans really should want nothing to do with any Cybertronians.
November 17, 2014
Spike as a robot fighting bad ass is actually pretty cool
March 23, 2020
Rough start, weird art. A direct follow-up to All Hail Megatron.
April 22, 2018
Artwork was great. Story and characters sucked.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews