The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers

They're all gonna die.

The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers is a 5-issue limited series published by IDW Publishing in 2010 set in the 2005 IDW continuity.

It follows the re-assembly of the Wreckers team after the events of All Hail Megatron maxiseries, among other things.

The premise of the series was generated editorially. Nick Roche asked to do art for the series, only finding out later that he would also be writing the series. James Roberts is his co-writer, but only started being credited for the script from #2 (though he did #1's Rotorstorm profile). The prolific Josh Burcham provides the colors. Incentive covers were provided by Trevor Hutchison.

A sequel miniseries again written and drawn by Roche, The Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers, was announced at San Diego ComicCon 2015. It began release in November 2015.

Overview

Notes

• In an interview, Roche said that he would be playing with the idea that the Wreckers has "an ever-changing line-up".^[2]
• This series is like Christmas if you love minor characters. New Wreckers Ironfist and Pyro had not been in any previous fiction before, and Rotorstorm had only had a minor cameo; the same is true of most of the evil Predators, and Overlord's only previous English-language fiction had been cameo appearances. Hell, even Fearswoop shows up at one point. All of these guys had European toys in the early 90s: it's time for a new decade to get the nostalgia!
  • Then add in Ultra Magnus (who worked with the Wreckers in Marvel UK), Guzzle (a frequent Marvel UK character), the first issue cliffhanger, Squadron X...
• The violence is deliberate, to make it absolutely unambiguous when Transformers are getting killed.^[3]
  • The deaths of protagonists are uniformly all horrible and potentially avoidable, and none of them are glorious battles to the death. A recurring theme, brought up in #3 and #5, is of good people dying in pointless ways.
• Overlord was chosen as a villain since Roche and Roberts figured nobody else would be using him, so there'd be no contradictions.
• Both Scorponok and Grimlock were originally intended to be large players in the series. Scorponok (his consciousness taken out of Abraham Dante and put back in his body by Shockwave) would have acted as Overlord's go to guy for crazy science and would develop Nucleon as a steroid analogue. The nucleon would power fighters up but damage their mental state. Scorponok would have solved the problem of not having a head by stealing Fortress Maximus'. Grimlock would have been dosed up on nucleon, trapping him in his dinosaur form, and rendering him a psychotic beast. Overlord was to have gone on to use him as the final opponent for anyone who progressed far enough in the arena. It was then intended that Overlord's defeat would come from the Wreckers knocking him into the arena with the enraged Grimlock. Although Grimlock did indeed have a minor part in the series, it was decided to deliberately minimalise any 'big name' characters at Garrus-9 so as not to overshadow the Wreckers.^[4][5]
• In the first draft, Springer, Perceptor and Kup all die. In later plans, one of them was going to die during planning, but in the end Roche and Roberts weren't allowed to do it^[6] and one they could do, they say in the trade, they chickened out of. Impactor, however, was never going to die!
• The back of the comic features character profiles, designed as entries on an internal Autobot database called "Autopedia". The entries are stubs, but you can help the Transformers' wiki by expanding them!
• The trade paperback features different profiles than the individual issues. The TPB profiles use British spelling.

• At least two panels featuring Verity are edited from the trade paperback release in the hardcover. Her shocked face after Kup tells her about Overlord is altered in the hardcover, and the panel of her rolling past the room where Springer and Impactor are arguing gives her a redrawn head. These changes appear to be for aesthetics.^{[Comparison images please.]}

Collections

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers (September 1, 2010) ISBN 1600107168 / ISBN 978-1600107160
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • Bonus material includes the 11-page prose story "Bullets", Mosaic: Dead Men's Boots, profiles for Snare and Overlord, a "movie poster" of the series, a page of "Fisitron's Facts", and a page of sketches called "Prison Slops".
  • A cover gallery is not included, but in light of what we got, who cares!
  • The profiles that were in the miniseries aren't in the trade. Roche told Moonbase 2 in 2010 that this was deliberate because he and IDW want to sell more comics. We still love ya, Nick!
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers (February 22, 2012) ISBN 1613771266 / ISBN 978-1613771266
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • Bonus material includes the 11-page prose story "Bullets", "Out of Bullets", Mosaic: Dead Men's Boots, 7 pages of profiles, series covers, script extracts, guest artwork, a page on Squadron X, the 2-page comic "Escape", 2 pages of promotional artwork, a page of "Fisitron's Facts", 2 pages of Pin-Ups, a first draft, the 5-page prose story "Zero Point" and the 1-page comic "In Word and Deed".
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Six (May 9, 2012) ISBN 1613771835 / ISBN 978-1613771839
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #1–6, Bumblebee issues #1–4, Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5, and Spotlight: Prowl.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers Red Label Edition (August 21, 2013)
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • On top of the regular Hardcover extras, the Red Label extras include a mounted signature page signed by Nick Roche, Guido Guidi and James Roberts and hand-numbered to 250. This special edition also contains a portfolio of six lithographs featuring the team-up illustrations Guido Guidi and Nick Roche drew for the Blue Label edition. Stamped with the IDW Limited Red Foil Imprint, this edition also includes: an exclusive cover only available through this IDW Limited release; a limited-edition, custom-designed tray case; a vellum title-page overlay; new end pages; and a red satin ribbon bookmark. The original price was $125. More info here
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers Black Label Edition (August 21, 2013)
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • The Black Label Edition was limited to only 50 copies and cost $250.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers Blue Label Edition (August 21, 2013)
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • The most rare of the 3 labeled editions, the Blue Label was limited to 10 copies at $350 a pop. A detailed "unboxing" of the set is described here.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Wreckers Saga (July 4, 2018) ISBN 1684052211 / ISBN 978-1684052219
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5, Sins of the Wreckers issues #1–5, and Requiem of the Wreckers.
  • Bonus material includes all of the covers, the 11-page prose story "Bullets", Mosaic: Dead Men's Boots, the 2-page comic "Escape", the 5-page prose story "Zero Point", the 1-page comic "In Word and Deed" and profiles for Rotorstorm, Pyro, Guzzle, Ironfist, Impactor, Snare and Overlord.
  • The profiles are all curtailed, some ending awkwardly in the middle of sentences, presumably to fit two profiles on a single page for this release.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 45: Last Stand of the Wreckers (May 16, 2018)
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5, Spotlight: Prowl, and The Transformers (2009) #1.
  • Bonus material includes an interview with Nick Roche, pre-production sketches and story drafts.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Last Stand of the Wreckers – cover art by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham.

• 

  Last Stand of the Wreckers – cover art by Trevor Hutchison.

• 

  The IDW Collection Volume Six – cover art by E. J. Su

• 

  The Wreckers Saga – cover art by Nick Roche.

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 45: Last Stand of the Wreckers – cover art by Don Figueroa, Nick Roche and John Wycough

International reprints

• Transformers: Wreckers sista strid (June 8 2018) ISBN 978-91-88131-23-2
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • Swedish reprint volume published from Ades Media, translated by Johan Boström.
  • Includes all extras from the English hardcover, as well as Spotlight: Kup and "Everything in Its Right Place" plus Wreckers: Sweclassified, a short article from Boström.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Wreckers: Complete Version (January, 2019) ISBN 978-7531959953
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • Chinese reprint volume published from DMAN.
  • The hardcover version is based on its US counterpart, and the collected content is also based on it.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers (July 31, 2019) ISBN 978-4864914437
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers issues #1–5.
  • Japanese reprint volume published from Villagebooks, translated by Eugene Ishikawa and Keisuke Tsubono, includes a booklet with a commentary written by Akihisa Koike and Eugene Ishikawa.
  • The hardcover version is based on its US counterpart, and the collected content is also based on it.
  • Trade paperback format.

• 

  Wreckers sista strid – cover art by Trevor Hutchison.

• 

  Last Stand of the Wreckers – cover art by Tasuku Tajima.

References

External links

• Moonbase 2 interview with Nick Roche about the series — AutoAssembly 2009, August 24, 2009
• One Shall Stand interview with Roche and Roberts