{"id":9135,"date":"2025-12-15T19:04:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fantasyactionfigures.com\/?p=9135"},"modified":"2025-12-26T14:50:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T19:50:37","slug":"shockwave-stole-megatrons-crown-and-why-it-almost-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fantasyactionfigures.com\/en_au\/shockwave-stole-megatrons-crown-and-why-it-almost-worked","title":{"rendered":"Shockwave Stole Megatron\u2019s Crown \u2013 And Why It Almost Worked"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shockwave Stole Megatron\u2019s Crown \u2013 And Why It Almost Worked<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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A 40-year mystery finally solved, one fusion-cannon blast at a time<\/p>

Picture this: it\u2019s 1985. You\u2019re ten years old, clutching your brand-new issue #5 of The Transformers<\/strong><\/a> at the corner drugstore. You\u2019ve just watched Megatron rule the first four issues like the silver-plated tyrant he was born to be. Then, in a single page, a purple cyclops drops out of the sky, punches Megatron so hard his head spins, and calmly declares, \u201cLogic dictates that I now lead.\u201d<\/p>

You blink. You re-read the panel. You whisper the words no child should ever have to say:<\/p>

\u201cThey\u2026 they just jobbed Megatron?\u201d<\/p>

For decades, that moment haunted an entire generation of fans. Why did the Marvel US G1 comic spend two straight years treating its flagship villain like yesterday\u2019s recycling? Why was Shockwave \u2013 cool, yes, but hardly poster-boy material \u2013 suddenly the Decepticon emperor? And why did Megatron keep coming back like a glutton for punishment only to get dunked on again?<\/p>

The answer, it turns out, is gloriously petty and wonderfully human: the writer simply didn\u2019t like Megatron very much\u2026 and really, really liked Shockwave.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Act I: The Four-Issue Experiment That Changed Everything<\/h2>

When Marvel launched The Transformers as a four-issue miniseries in 1984, nobody \u2013 not Hasbro, not Marvel, not even the writers \u2013 expected it to become a juggernaut. Editor\/writer Bob Budiansky was handed a box of toys, a stack of tech specs, and roughly 48 hours to invent personalities for everyone. He did the impossible: he gave Bumblebee pathos, made Optimus Prime noble without being boring, and turned Starscream into the patron saint of back-stabbing.<\/p>

Then came the ongoing series. And with it, creative freedom.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Act II: Bob Budiansky\u2019s One-Man Shockwave Agenda<\/h2>

Bob has never been shy about it in later interviews. Paraphrased brutally: \u201cMegatron felt one-dimensional \u2013 just a loud guy with a cannon. Shockwave, on the other hand, was pure logic, no emotion, terrifying efficiency. I thought he\u2019d make a better leader.\u201d<\/p>

Translation: Bob had a favorite, and the favorite got the spotlight.<\/p>

The timeline of Megatron\u2019s suffering reads like a pro-wrestling burial:<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Issue #5 \u2013<\/strong> KO\u2019d in one punch, dumped in a swamp.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Issues #6\u20139 \u2013<\/strong> Literally a broken statue while Shockwave runs the show.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Issues #10\u201311 \u2013<\/strong> Ratbat patches him up, he challenges Shockwave\u2026 loses again.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Issues #12\u201318 \u2013<\/strong> Still not the boss.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Issue #19 \u2013<\/strong> Starscream finally coups Shockwave and dumps him in the exact same swamp. (The irony was delicious.)<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Then Ratbat, a fuel auditor the size of a bat, takes over because spreadsheets > charisma.<\/p>

Megatron doesn\u2019t regain permanent control until somewhere around issue #40, after being blown up, turned into a tank, and briefly possessed by a snake demon. Yes, really.<\/p>

Meanwhile, the letters pages exploded. Eight-year-olds wrote in ALL CAPS: \u201cBRING BACK MEGATRON!!!\u201d Hasbro started getting nervous phone calls. But Bob, bless his heart, doubled down. This wasn\u2019t corporate meddling; this was one man\u2019s vision \u2013 a vision where the Decepticons were ruled by a glowing purple cyclops who spoke like a supercomputer with a grudge.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Act III: The Wilderness Years (Issues 20\u201355)<\/h2>

Once the Shockwave shock value wore off, the book entered its chaotic middle period \u2013 the one that made many of us (myself included) drop the series around issue #26. Characters vanished for months. The UK stories were reprinted with zero context. Headmasters and Targetmasters appeared out of thin air because the toy aisle demanded it. Spider-Man showed up for two issues. Circuit Breaker happened. It was the Wild West with occasional robot fights.<\/p>

The combiners \u2013 Stunticons, Aerialbots, Protectobots \u2013 were genuinely cool when they debuted, but then promptly disappeared into the void. Compare that to Larry Hama\u2019s G.I. Joe over at Marvel, where every new figure got a backstory, a personality, and sometimes a body bag. Hama treated continuity like gospel; Transformers treated it like a suggestion written on a napkin.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Act IV: Enter Simon Furman, Stage Left \u2013 With a Vengeance<\/h2>

In 1988, British writer Simon Furman \u2013 who had already been writing far superior Transformers stories for the UK weekly \u2013 took over the US book with issue #56. Furman walked in, looked at Megatron rusting in the corner, cracked his knuckles, and basically said, \u201cHold my Unicron.\u201d<\/p>

What followed was a masterclass in course correction:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Megatron returned as a cunning, ruthless, apocalyptic warlord \u2013 no more comedy beatdowns.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Deaths mattered. Betrayals had consequences. The Matrix became mystical instead of a fancy battery.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0The stakes went cosmic: Primus, Unicron, the Swarm, time rifts, planet-eating gods.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Characters fans hadn\u2019t seen in years came back with actual arcs.<\/p>

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0Shockwave? Quietly shuffled into the \u201cloyal but creepy lieutenant\u201d role where he always belonged.<\/p>

From issue #56 to the final #80, and especially in the UK material Furman wrote in parallel, Transformers finally became the sweeping sci-fi war epic we always knew it could be. Issue #75 alone \u2013 \u201cOn the Edge of Extinction!\u201d \u2013 remains one of the most gut-wrenching single issues in 80s comic history.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Epilogue: Regeneration and Redemption<\/h2>

In 2012, IDW gave Furman 21 issues to finish the story Marvel never got to tell. Regeneration One is the true ending to the G1 Marvel continuity, and it is glorious, dark, brutal, and everything the original run only flirted with being.<\/p>

So\u2026 Was Bob Budiansky Wrong?<\/p>

Here\u2019s the wild part: no, not entirely.<\/p>

His Shockwave experiment was bold, weird, and gave the comic an identity completely distinct from the Sunbow cartoon. For a while, it worked \u2013 sales stayed sky-high even with kids screaming in the letters column. Sometimes an auteur swinging for the fences, even if they whiff, is better than playing it safe.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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But in the end, Megatron is Megatron for a reason. He\u2019s the face on the lunchbox, the voice that made us flinch when we were six, the tyrant we love to hate. Shockwave is a fantastic enforcer, a cybernetic Darth Vader, but he was never the leading man.<\/p>

Simon Furman understood that. And when he took the wheel, he didn\u2019t just restore Megatron \u2013 he forged him into something greater than even the cartoon ever managed.<\/p>

Where to Jump Back In (Without Pain)<\/p>

If you, like so many of us, dropped the book in the late 80s and swore never to return, here\u2019s your cheat sheet:<\/p>

Essential reading order for the good stuff:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

1.\u00a0\u00a0Issues #1\u201312 \u2013<\/strong> the raw, strange Budiansky beginnings (worth it for historical value).<\/p>

2.\u00a0\u00a0Jump straight to #56\u201380 \u2013<\/strong> Furman\u2019s golden era.<\/p>

3.\u00a0\u00a0UK stories \u201cLegacy of Unicron\u201d and \u201cSpace Pirates\u201d (collected in trade).<\/p>

4.\u00a0\u00a0Regeneration One #80.5\u2013100 \u2013<\/strong> the finale you didn\u2019t know you needed.<\/p>

Or just grab the two massive IDW Compendiums and treat the middle like a speed bump.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Final Thought<\/h2>

Forty years later, the Great Shockwave Usurpation remains one of the ballsiest moves in licensed comic history. One man looked at the most iconic villain of the 1980s, said \u201cNah, my purple guy\u2019s better,\u201d and somehow got away with it for two years.<\/p>

It shouldn\u2019t have worked.<\/p>

It kinda did.<\/p>

And when it stopped working, another writer picked up the fusion cannon and reminded us why Megatron will always wear the crown.<\/p>

Welcome home, old friend. The war never ended \u2013 it just got a lot better at telling its story.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Transform and roll out. \"\ud83e\udd16\"\"\ud83d\udc9c\"<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Forge Your Path with Us!<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Shockwave Stole Megatron\u2019s Crown \u2013 And Why It Almost Worked A 40-year mystery finally solved, one fusion-cannon blast at a time Picture this: it\u2019s 1985. You\u2019re ten years old, clutching your brand-new issue #5 of The Transformers at the corner drugstore. You\u2019ve just watched Megatron rule the first four issues like the silver-plated tyrant he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bios","category-transformers","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t