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I've purchased the following comics as part of the Humble Transformers Bundle offer and now wonder whether I should read them in some specific chronological order or not:

  • Transformers Classics, Vol. 1-4
  • Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Vol. 1-4
  • Transformers: Autocracy, Issues 1-12
  • Transformers: Spotlight, Vol 1
  • Transformers: More Than meets the Eye, Vol 1-2
  • Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Vol 1-2

A second set added as a bonus:

  • Transformers: Regeneration One, Vol 1
  • Transformers: For All Mankind, Vol 1
  • Transformers: Prime - Rage of the Dinobots
  • Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (obviously standalone expanding on the games series)

Is this already the proper order? Or would there be some back/forth required? I'm aware that this doesn't include every single issue published so far.

I grew up watching Generation 1/2 on TV, so I'm pretty sure the classics would be the starting point, but how about the others? Is there some generally accepted (or canon) continuity/order? Or are there spin-offs?

Wikipedia has some chronological list, but to be honest, I can't really associate all titles found in it besides the obvious ones like Spotlights or Robots in Disguise.

Edit: Just to be a bit more specific, I'm looking for a recommended reading order so there's no unnecessary back/forth in the story time wise. I'm not looking for a perfect "this happened first" even though it's intentionally revealed at a later point only.

Edit 2: If you want, feel free to include comics not in the list above, just try to mark them as such.

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  • Just note that I'm aware that the link to the bundle is just temporary, but I thought it might be helpful right now in case anyone wants to lookup the specific contents or grab their own copy (it's also for a good cause after all). I'll remove it next week to avoid linking to the "wrong" page.
    – Mario
    Jul 28, 2014 at 19:30
  • If you want to get into the IDW books, I would personally not recommend reading stuff chronologically. There's a lot of continuity hacking going on with basically two soft reboots in the series so far, one initiated by All Hail Megatron, and the other by The Death of Optimus Prime (which is really a continuity un-rebooting). So I always prefer to read IDW stuff in publication order. Jul 29, 2014 at 17:11
  • @SystemDown That's actually what I'm looking for. I'd try to avoid back and forth "oh, hey, this happened before", i.e. a recommended order; but I don't want a strict chronological order that would spoil stuff or anything like that (but I don't want to read stuff in wrong order either).
    – Mario
    Jul 29, 2014 at 18:06
  • If you're interested in reading the IDW G1 books in publication order then you should take a look at this list Jul 29, 2014 at 18:26
  • A better list. The first list is good for catching up with the new (better) stuff that's happened since the second reboot, and the second one is the completist's list (still good, but with a lot of uneven patches). Jul 29, 2014 at 18:29

1 Answer 1

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Since "suggested reading order" questions are so subjective, I'm going to simply list them in chronological order. Reading them in this order is safe as far as spoilers go, but may not necessarily be as fulfilling or enjoyable.

The Transformers Humble Bundle includes comics from three separate continuity/canons. Which continuity you read in which order makes no difference, though I would suggest reading through the entire continuity before moving onto the next.

Marvel Continuity

  • Transformers: Classics Vol 1-4. You can read this before or after the IDW books. It's a completely separate continuity. I would personally suggest reading this continuity first, but there's no real benefit or detriment either way.
  • Transformers: Regneration One Vol 1. A conclusion to the original Marvel Gen 1 continuity.

IDW Rebooted G1 Continuity

  • Transformers: Autocracy 1-12. This deals with Orion Pax becoming Optimus
  • Transformers: Spotlight Vol 1. This is a collection of 6 one-shot issues, the timelines jump around a bit, but this is a pretty safe time to read them.
  • Transformers: All Hail Megatron. This was technically the first published story in the reboot of the IDW canon, but basically started the universe in media res. You can alternatively start here and then jump back to Autocracy/Spotlight for some extra shock value.
  • Transformers: For All Mankind Vol 1. Takes place two years after the events of All Hail Megatron
  • Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Vol 1-2 & Transformers: Robots in Disguise Vol 1-2. These run concurrently and pick up after Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime (which is not currently included in the bundle). Technically, you should read these intertwined, as the stories are also intertwined. More Than Meets the Eye is published earlier in the month than Robots In Disguise, so you should A-B them in the same sequence.

Aligned Continuity

  • Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron. This is a prelude to the video game of the same name.
  • Transformers Prime: Rage of the Dinobots. This takes place after the Fall of Cybertron game, and before/during the events of the Transformers Prime TV show.
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  • All of the Spotlights in Volume 1 happen before AHM, so you are correct sir. Jul 29, 2014 at 14:59
  • Think this is as good as it will get for now.
    – Mario
    Jul 29, 2014 at 18:07
  • They've added four more batches of comics if you'd like to include those as well in your listing.
    – Mario
    Jul 30, 2014 at 18:58
  • @Mario - Regen One follows (and concludes) the Marvel continuity. For All Mankind follows AHM. Rage of the Dinobots and Fall of Cybertron are from other continuities (TF: Prime and the War for Cybertron games, respectively). Jul 30, 2014 at 19:06
  • Ah okay, so essentially all separated.
    – Mario
    Jul 30, 2014 at 19:12

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