ThatOneMoose wrote:Sorry, another question, is there some sort of omnibus that collects the stuff before the MTMTE and RID era?
The following IDW Hardcover collections are your best friend:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600106676/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600107516/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600108563/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600109381/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613770529/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613771835/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613774060/http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613776276/As is this hardcover volume of "Last Stand of the Wreckers", as it contains stories not found anywhere else:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613771266/As for a reading order, I HIGHLY recommend that the stories be read in as close to publication order as possible, but not in exact publication order since there's too much overlap with several mini-series.
Therefore, I recommend the following reading order for all this pre-2012 stuff, which uses publication order as a base, but is modified to prevent too much overlap and keep the story mostly going in a smooth enough path, with any stories set in the past instead of the present being treated as "flashbacks" that pause the main story to let these past stories be told along with the present ones.
And everything listed below can be found in the above-linked hardcover volumes, except for "Spotlight: Megatron" and "Spotlight: Bumblebee", which were both written after all of rest was. However, reading them in any other places than where they are listed below has them make less sense than they're supposed to, so those two are the only post-2012 ones to be read with the pre-2012 stuff (so you'd have to track them down in addition to the volumes linked above, but that shouldn't be too hard).
Simon Furman era:Infiltation
Spotlight: Shockwave
Stormbringer
Spotlight: Nightbeat
Spotlight: Hot Rod
Spotlight: Sixshot
Spotlight: Ultra Magnus
Spotlight: Soundwave
Escalation #1
New Avengers/Transformers
Escalation #2-6
Spotlight: Ramjet
Spotlight: Kup
Spotlight: Galvatron
Spotlight: Optimus Prime
Spotlight: Wheelie
Spotlight: Blaster
Devastation #1-4
Spotlight: Arcee
Devastation #5-6
Spotlight: Grimlock
Revelation
Maximum Dinobots
Spotlight: Mirage
Megatron Origin
Shane McCarthy era (All Hail Megatron):Spotlight: Blurr
Spotlight: Cliffjumper
Spotlight: Metroplex
All Hail Megatron #1
Spotlight Jazz
All Hail Megatron #2-14
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 1
Spotlight: Drift
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 2
All Hail Megatron #16
Mike Costa eraOngoing #1-3 ("Things Fall Apart")
Bumblebee
Ongoing #4-6 ("Things Fall Apart")
Spotlight: Prowl
"Dead Men's Boots" Mosaic
Last Stand of the Wreckers
Last Stand of the Wreckers bonus content from the 2012 Hardcover collection:
"Bullets"
"Out of Bullets"
Character Profiles
Series Covers
Script Extracts
Guest Artwork
Squadron X
"Escape"
Promotional Artwork
Fisitron's Facts
Pin-Ups
First Draft
"Zero Point"
"In Word and Deed"
Ongoing #7-8
Ironhide
Drift
Infestation
Ongoing #9-13 ("International Incident")
Spotlight: Megatron
Ongoing #14-18 ("Revenge of the Decepticons")
Ongoing #19-20 ("Space Opera" Parts 1-2)
Heart of Darkness
Ongoing #21-23 ("Space Opera" Part 3 and "Chaos Theory")
Ongoing #25, 27, 29 ("Police Action")
Spotlight: Bumblebee
Ongoing #24, 26, 28, 30, 31 ("Chaos" & "Pax Cybertronia")