All Hail Megatron issue 9

	; Mine!
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 25, 2009
Cover date	March 2009
Written by	Shane McCarthy
Art by	Robert Deas & Emiliano Santalucia
Colors by	Josh Burcham & Robert Deas
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Edits by	Andy Schmidt & Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	All Hail Megatron

As the Autobots try to revive Optimus Prime, Spike Witwicky leads a fight against the Decepticons.

Synopsis

On a rainy New York evening, Bridge and Sarah are in a Gloomingdales, looking for supplies for the human refugees. After getting a few large sized clothes, they notice Soundwave walk by a window, but he thankfully doesn't bother to look inside the store. Bridge and Sarah talk more about their current situation when they notice someone else in the store... it's Commander Spike Witwicky, making a light joke about hating button fly jeans, to which the three introduce themselves.

The next day, Cmdr. Witwicky, Bridge and Sarah talk about how they can stop the Decepticons with an classified experimental weapon that the army, along with mentioning that New York City might be nuked, as agreed to by world leaders. If the group can get the weapon, they may have a chance to stop the Decepticons. Another refugee named Charles, an ex-army soldier turned cop, arrives and wants in on the action, due to the fact that a red-and-black colored robot with a loud mouth did something to him. With that, Spike smiles and says that it's time to save the world.

On Cybertron, as the Autobots load up a weapon, Ironhide tries to apologize to Mirage, who sits silently. After trying to explain about their predicament, Mirage turns around and Ironhide is shocked; the Autobot symbol has been torn from Mirage's chest! Mirage angrily tells Ironhide that he was right; he doesn't deserve to wear the badge, and storms off. In the CR chamber, Ratchet tells Kup that although everyone is 100 percent operable with some requiring medical attention, their morale is what is troubling. Kup says that they need Optimus Prime, but Ratchet says that fixing Prime is problematic, as he was already damaged before the space bridge fried him. Ratchet tells Kup to prepare himself, as Prime might not survive the procedure that he and Wheeljack are doing to him.

On Earth, Spike acquires the weapon, which was made from one of the Decepticons, whose arm was the weapon. The first prototype was as big as a house, but lately they've had some outside help to create a more portable one. With the gun, Spike hopes that he can make a difference, but then Rumble attacks them. As the humans are running from Rumble, Spike distracts the Decepticon with a motorcycle chase, but Rumble simply swipes at the bike, knocking Spike down. Before Rumble can kill Spike, Charles shouts out to him and uses a rocket launcher to shoot Rumble point blank in the face. With Rumble out, Charles has avenged the death of his son. Suddenly, a piercing noise distracts them.

Back on Cybertron, the Autobots end up getting into an argument about how if Optimus Prime doesn't make it, they would still continue to battle the Decepticons. Bumblebee and Hot Rod nearly come to blows, but Blaster separates them. He tries to give the two a pep talk, but Sideswipe interrupts them, saying that Sunstreaker died because he finally understood what the Great War had done to him psychologically. He wanted to die, and as far as Sideswipe is concerned, the Autobots all deserved to die as well.

Back on Earth, loud footsteps make Spike and the others cover their ears again, as Soundwave runs toward the source of the noise and finds the downed body of Rumble. Picking him up, Soundwave lets out a "sound wail" that shatters glass, then walks off with Rumble's body. The radio blackout has ended, and Spike is excited that he can finally call his worried father.

On Cybertron, Sideswipe continues with his war rhetoric. Since the Great War began, the Transformers have gone from planet to planet, fighting and killing, with nothing for their efforts. Decepticons fall, Autobots fall, and yet, it was all for nothing. They've put other races in danger, and it was a disagreement to uphold a way of life, and for what? Their planet is in ruins, along with countless others, Sunstreaker among them, mainly because his spirit had been broken. Sideswipe asks the Autobots if they are better than the Decepticons, but a voice stops him...

...it's Optimus Prime, alive and fully functioning! He says that Sideswipe may be right after all. They've stood against the Decepticons, and yet have cast aside the weak and allowed others to suffer for their actions. Prime has fought alongside the Autobots more times than he could count, and was always proud. Prime then asks that if they falter now, where would it lead them? Optimus doesn't have all the answers, but he plans to stand, and fight with pride if one of his troops have the courage to stand at his side, and he still wants to win the Great War.

On Earth, Sarah asks Spike if he got through to his father. At first, Spike is a little dazed, but shakes it off and said that he did talk to his dad, who freaked out. Unfortunately, he goes on to say that his father passed on a coded message to go ahead with the nuking of New York City...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Springer (6) Perceptor (7) Roadbuster (8) Trailbreaker (9) Prowl (10) Tracks (11) Blaster (12) Mirage (13) Ironhide (14) Kup (15) Ratchet (16) Cliffjumper (18) Bumblebee (19) Hot Rod (20) Drift (21) Hound (22) Sideswipe (23) Optimus Prime (24) Jazz (25)	Soundwave (3) Rumble (17)	Bridge (1) Sarah (2) Spike Witwicky (4) Charles (5)

Quotes

"Like this war needed another clown with a gun."

—Ratchet gives his high opinion of the new Perceptor.

"What have we done? We has any of us done since this all started? Kill. Destroy. All we do is go from one planet to another. Fighting. Killing. And where has it gotten us? What have we got to show for it? We take some ground, the Decepticons take some ground. We suffer losses, they suffer losses. And for what?! How many races have we put in danger? How many have we wiped out in our pursuit to kill some more?! It was a disagreement! We fought to uphold a way of life, an ideal, and now what? Our planet is in ruins along with countless others. How many have died for our war, how many "acceptable losses" have we allowed to gain a little more ground?! He was fighting for an ideal, fighting for a better way, and he broke. 'Streaker was a casualty of this war well before his death. If we don't uphold the sanctity of life, all life, how are we any better than the Decepticons?!"

—Sideswipe makes a big damn speech

"Maybe you're right, Sideswipe. Maybe we have lost our way. How do we differ from the Decepticons if our methods so closely echo their own? We stood against them, we said no, and yet during all of this, we too have cast aside the weak. We too have allowed others to suffer as we strive to put an end to what we have deemed to be evil. I have fought alongside all of you, more times than I could count. And each time I have done so I have been proud. I have been amazed. But ask yourselves, if we falter now, if we give up, where does that leave us? Where does that leave those in need? If we really have lost our way, how does welcoming death ensure our return to righteousness? I don't have all the answers, but I'll say this... I plan to stand, I plan to fight... And I will do so with pride if even one of you would have the courage to stand at my side."

—Optimus Prime makes a bigger damn speech

Notes

Continuity notes

Spike's description of the secret weapon he was sent to find clearly indicates that it was based on Shockwave, who had been in Skywatch captivity for a time. It is unclear, however, who gave the engineers "outside help" to reduce the gun from house-sized to hand-held.
Sideswipe's monologue about the Great War and the Autobots' role indicates some criticism of the galactic Cold War style of conflict and the Autobots' rather detached approach. When he speaks of "acceptable losses," it's likely in reference to the end of Devastation, when Prime orders the Autobots to leave Earth unprotected against the Decepticons in order to investigate the perceived greater threat of the Garrus-9 breakout.
According to Ratchet when he was talking to Kup, Prime was in really bad shape and might not make it. However several pages later after Sideswipe's speech Prime is suddenly all fixed and in perfect health in what appears to be less than a day. Didn't Ratchet mention it was not that easy to fix Prime? Or did Perceptor suddenly decide to help? We may possibly never know.

Transformers references

Hound has been updated to his Universe design.

Real-world references

The story opens at a store called Gloomingdales, a parody of Bloomingdale's.

Trivia

This is the first issue of the series without art by Guido Guidi, and the art style of the scenes set on Earth are quite jarring compared to Guidi's.
Readers' letters are answered by Denton J. Tipton in the Decepticomments section.

Covers

Cover A: Rumble grabs at Spike; art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente.
Cover B: Optimus Prime lives; art by Trevor Hutchison.
Cover RI: Optimus Prime at a computer; art by Don Perlin. The cover was previously to be used for "Spotlight: Optimus Prime", but was not published.