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News Credits: 4496 · by **william-james88** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:12 pm

Comics Alliance has recently interviewed Mairghread Scott, writer of Windblade, about both Windblade and the upcoming Combiner Wars crossover.

Key news emerging from this interview includes the following:

- Combiner Wars will be a six issue crossover taking place over the course of three months.

- Scott has long term plans for the Windblade series and character.

You can read the whole interview here.

Va'al's housekeeping edit:

Combiner Wars Synopses
(TF#38 will end the Onyx Interface and Enigma of Combination storyline, as seen in February.)

March

Transformers #39—Combiner Wars Opening Salvo—SPOTLIGHT
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
OPENING SALVO! The Autobots and Decepticons’ uneasy peace is threatened by the flames of war! STARSCREAM—ruler of CYBERTRON—makes contact with WINDBLADE’S homeworld—and the only defense against a new CYBERTRONIAN EMPIRE are COMBINERS—multiple CYBERTRONIANS forming together into huge, dangerous forms!

Bullet points:
• Tying in with Hasbro’s 2015 Transformers: Generations toy line, this 6-part epic will be supported across multiple media platforms!
• STARSCREAM’s scheming collides with WINDBLADE’s past!
• OPTIMUS PRIME takes control!
• Who will be the first Combiner to strike?
• Continues in this month’s TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE—COMBINER WARS #1
• Variant Cover by Transformers game and toy artist Sara Pitre-Durocher!

Transformers: Windblade #1 (of 3)—Combiner Wars Part One—SPOTLIGHT
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sarah Stone (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
THE WAR BEGINS! The first strike in COMBINER WARS is against WINDBLADE’S homeworld—and she’s not happy about it! Her long- lost CYBERTRONIAN colony is found… and the only thing that can protect it is SUPERION.

Bullet points:
• The creative team from the first smash-hit WINDBLADE series returns!
• WINDBLADE is the biggest new TRANSFORMERS character in years—don’t miss out!
• All the drama and pathos of the original WINDBLADE series—plus more COMBINERS!
• Variant Cover by Transformers game and toy artist Sara Pitre-Durocher!

April

Transformers #40—Combiner Wars
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
The COMBINERS have arrived! STARSCREAM wrestles for dominance with OPTIMUS PRIME as surprising reinforcements approach—from the Lost Light!

Bullet points:
• Tying in with Hasbro’s 2015 Transformers: Generations toy line, this epic will be supported across multiple media platforms!
• Combiner Wars Part 2!
• Variant Hasbro Combiner Wars poster cover

Transformers: Windblade—Combiner Wars #2
Mairghread Scott (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
PROWL makes his move… and the galaxy will never be the same. Can WINDBLADE stand against the threat of the COMBINERS?

Bullet points:
• Combiner Wars Part 3!
• The biggest battle on CYBERTRON is about to get bigger!
• Variant Hasbro Combiner Wars poster cover

May

Transformers #41—Combiner Wars
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
DESPERATE ACTIONS! As the SPACEBRIDGE reaches across the stars, will anyone stand against STARSCREAM? The answer is yes—but the cure might prove worse than the disease.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
COMBINER WARS part 4
OPTIMUS PRIME versus PROWL—one on one!
The biggest battle ever between COMBINERS!
Variant Hasbro Combiner Wars poster cover!

Transformers: Windblade—Combiner Wars #3
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sarah Stone (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
FINAL BATTLE! The last of the Combiners face off… but who is in control of the ultimate combiner? And who will emerge with the key to dominating the galaxy?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
COMBINER WARS CONCLUDES!
WINDBLADE battles for CYBERTRON—and her homeworld!
The stage is set for the next era of TRANSFORMERS greatness!
Variant Hasbro Combiner Wars poster cover

And the graphic:

News Credits: 4 · by **padfoo** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:05 am

I still like that promo artwork. Is this a poster? the combiners are absolutely massive!

by **BumbleDouche** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:54 am

padfoo wrote:I still like that promo artwork. Is this a poster? the combiners are absolutely massive!

While the characters look imposing and the colours are great, I stand by my old rant: I wish they'd get rid of Ramondelli. His Transformers look like they're made out of wrinkled paper mache and it's often difficult to follow his story progression. Aside from that, the mass displacement "explanation" for why the combiners are so huge is pretty weak in my opinion, as their sizes vary widely depending on who is drawing.

by **Desslok2201** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:05 am

MegaDump wrote:
padfoo wrote:I still like that promo artwork. Is this a poster? the combiners are absolutely massive!

While the characters look imposing and the colours are great, I stand by my old rant: I wish they'd get rid of Ramondelli. His Transformers look like they're made out of wrinkled paper mache and it's often difficult to follow his story progression. Aside from that, the mass displacement "explanation" for why the combiners are so huge is pretty weak in my opinion, as their sizes vary widely depending on who is drawing.

Yeah, kind of like that first Hulk movie; is he 7ft tall, or 30 ft tall? Decide something and stick with it!

Website · by **Flux Convoy** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:03 am

The whole purpose for artwork in comics is to tell a story visually. Ramondelli is terrible at it. I hate his Transformers work. What was wrong with Sarah Stone? I could tell what was happening in her work. It was certainly more pretty to look at. Seriously, where did they dig him up from and why can't they put him back? I've seen some terrible Transformers comic artwork but his is the absolute worst.

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 11:34 am

Courtesy of IDW Publishing, and their official Facebook page, we get the official press release for the soon to be unleashed Transformers comics event Combiner Wars! Spanning across The Transformers and returning series Windblade, the story will also weave in with Hasbro's Generations toy line. Find out more below!

An All-Out Arms Race Takes Hold Of Cybertron!
The Combiner Wars Loom…

San Diego, CA (February 5, 2015) – The biggest TRANSFORMERS publishing event of the year kicks off this March when Cybertron becomes the battleground for the COMBINER WARS! An all-star creative team is bringing along fan-favorite characters and all-new dangers to this battle royale that will shake both factions to their core.

The “Opening Salvo” is fired in TRANSFORMERS #39, and the war begins in earnest in the debut issue of the brand-new WINDBLADE series from the acclaimed creative team of Mairghread Scott and Sarah Stone. The shaky peace between the Autobots and Decepticons is threatened when Cybertron’s leader, Starscream, stands against Optimus Prime and raises an unstoppable army of Combiners, threatening Windblade’s long-lost homeworld..

“We're blowing the TRANSFORMERS universe wide open with this series: showcasing new characters and new worlds in a battle with some of the biggest 'bots you've ever seen,” said WINDBLADE writer, Scott. “Anyone who thinks they know what to expect from a Transformers event will have to think again.”

The ongoing TRANSFORMERS series written by John Barber welcomes PRIMACY artist Livio Ramondelli on to the series for this epic arc. “From day one of this series,” says Barber, “we’ve been seeding the mystery and power of Combiners—multiple Cybertronians who form together into bigger, more powerful wholes. Starscream realizes he needs one of his own to protect Cybertron… but why stop at one Combiner—or one world?”

The arms-race of Combiners will bring fan-favorite TRANSFORMERS characters to the pages of IDW comics for the first time ever—and introduce a new Combiner guaranteed to melt the internet. Featuring standard covers by Casey W. Coller and subscription covers by Ramondelli, the epic COMBINER WARS event will be an integral part of Hasbro’s 2015 TRANSFORMERS: GENERATIONS COMBINER WARS toy line, reaching a massive fan-base and will be supported across multi-media platforms.

If retailers order 250 copies each of TRANSFORMERS #39 and TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE #1, they’ll get two special covers by Travis Sengaus depicting that retailer’s store being protected by Superion (on TRANSFORMERS #39) and destroyed by Devastator (on TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE #1). And best of all… those two covers COMBINE into one mega-image!

News Credits: 112 · by **megatronus** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 10:14 pm

I wish Menasor's toy headsculpt looked like the illustration...

News Credits: 1 · by **Blozor** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 10:14 pm

"A brand new combiner that will melt the Internet"?

The Dinobot combiner that fans have been fantasizing about for decades?

News Credits: 2 · by **BERSEKAEL** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 11:48 pm

I bet is Devastator...

by **synapse** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:23 am

I don't get it. "Windblade #1"? There was a Windblade miniseries already. Is this "Combiner Wars: Windblade" or something like that?

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:05 am

synapse wrote:I don't get it. "Windblade #1"? There was a Windblade miniseries already. Is this "Combiner Wars: Windblade" or something like that?

Yes.

Like steve2275 on Facebook · by **steve2275** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:03 am

yay

by **synapse** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:10 am

Va'al wrote:
synapse wrote:I don't get it. "Windblade #1"? There was a Windblade miniseries already. Is this "Combiner Wars: Windblade" or something like that?

Yes.

Ok

by **Rated X** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:23 am

Why cant Menasor's toy look more like the artwork and less like the plastic pile of suck that it appears to be in the promo pics ?

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:59 pm

Comics and geek culture website The Mary Sue was also able to have a chat with IDW writer Mairghread Scott about the upcoming Windblade return with the beginning of Transformers: Combiner Wars - and we've copied a couple of snippets below! Read the full story here, and take a look at some preview art by Sarah Stone, too.

TMS: Combiner Wars seems like it might offer more of a chance to examine the Metrotitan Caminus and the culture of his planet, being the only Transformers society (in the IDW continuity) to have developed gender. Or is that the kind of thing that might be left until after the event dust settles?

MS: Combiner Wars is going to be our first real introduction to the planet Caminus (where Windblade is from) and the ‘Bots that live on it. It’s also our first time meeting transformers who are completely unlike the ones from Cybertron. Camiens are proud, devout and desperately in need of help and we see how that affects their dealings with Autobots, Decepticons and Starscream himself.

In fact, we have an exclusive sneak peek at of one of the most important members of Camian society, the Mistress of Flame. The Mistress of Flame is the leader of the only faith on Caminus, The Way of Flame, which worships a female Prime said to be the mother of all Camiens. But fire can be as dangerous as it is helpful and the faith of Caminus burns hotter than any Cybertronian realizes.

[...]

TMS: And finally: Is Windblade combining with anyone in the series? Are we looking at a potential metrotitan combiner (several bots transforming into a single larger bot)?

MS: Now that would be telling. But there will be a brand new combiner in our series. Who it is and how it gets made are things you’ll just have to read to find out.

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:03 pm

Holy sweet mother of Camiens. That is fantastic art, and a great, intriguing concept.

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:08 pm

Interesting

I'm glad IDW is not afraid to evolve and make history go by just how real life does it.

by **Moosey** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:12 pm

Pleeease please please give us a figure of that!!!

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:13 pm

It's almost as if they are aware of GASP change being the fundamental aspect of a race of mechorganic beings that can change into other things. Surely not though.

Only Alpha Bravo is that awesome.

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:14 pm

ThatOneMoose wrote:Pleeease please please give us a figure of that!!!

It would be extremely inaccurate though.

Not that it's a bad thing just something to point out.

News Credits: 25 · by **SW's SilverHammer** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:15 pm

So I'm going to guess she's going to be a bit like Doctor Zaius in that whilst leader of the faith and also progression of Caminun society; also she knows some deep terrible secret about the society present. Or Hell maybe she'll be like Father Comstock and might be a leader of a cult of sky racists I don't know at this rate.

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:20 pm

SW's SilverHammer wrote:So I'm going to guess she's going to be a bit like Doctor Zaius in that whilst leader of the faith and also progression of Caminun society; also she knows some deep terrible secret about the society present. Or Hell maybe she'll be like Father Comstock and might be a leader of a cult of sky racists I don't know at this rate.

Or she manipulates the faith/cult/power to her own ends. IDWverse has not shied away from showing religion under a negative light (e.g. Star Saber), but this would be the first critique of organised faith systems.

And I would love that. A great addition to the complex world-building at hand in the publisher's output since 2005!