The Energon Pub

[ScottyP]

Color me optimistic! The build to this has been going on for years (unless you ask Randomhero who vehemently disagrees - it's all good!) and I think the Transformers of this universe need an actual kick in the pants rather than the ants in the pants of Ironblood's coalition. This also provides an ample, appropriate opportunity to bring together some disparate plot threads, resurrect others, and maybe even change out the casts of the ongoings a bit like Dark Cybertron did.

To those worried about the look: it's promotional material. Nothing says Unicron will actually look like this. Their first promo shot from SDCC was very different. Besides, a Luna 1/Necroworld/Rung hybrid would probably be messy at the outset anyhow. Armada Unicron was a rocky moon before becoming Sideways' Gentlemen's Lounge For Wayward Mini-Cons And Definitely Not A Trap.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I'm thinking and wondering: will this tie in to the destruction of LV-117? I mean, I'm pretty sure a lot of us can agree that that was a Unicron teaser

[ScottyP]

I'm thinking and wondering: will this tie in to the destruction of LV-117? I mean, I'm pretty sure a lot of us can agree that that was a Unicron teaser

I think so. Given that Dark Cybertron's finale had a Unicron tease considered for inclusion at some point, I'd go so far as to say this is more likely than not.

[Bronzewolf]

It's been long rumored that Unicron would finally be making an appearance somewhere in the IDW Comic Universe, and that day finally came with the release of First Strike #6! Today we have a little behinds the scenes clip of the production of that dramatic reveal in the most recent issue from the artist that drew it, James Raiz! The video, sent to us by James himself, is quite spectacular, and shows his amazing seeing and drawing process. Watch as the bringer of chaos seems to come to life before your eyes via a time lapse, while James gives a bit of an insight on how he came to be drawing Unicron professionally for IDW!

Check out the full video below, read Seibertron.com's review of this issue here, and tell us in the comments what you thought of Unicron's entrance into IDW!

[Va'al]

More Unicron news in this story: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ore/39920/

[EunuchRon]

OK, THAT Unicron I can live with. Having him be metal underneath the rock makes sense if he's been asleep for a long time. Awesome art job by that guy, too.

[Va'al]

If you're into comics, be they about giant transforming being from a planet called Cybertron (or Velocitron, or Caminus, or Earth) or not, you might be aware of an initiative called Free Comic Book Day - it takes place on the first Saturday of May at participating comic book stores, not only in the US, and involves what it says in the title: Free comic books supplied by various publishers.

Transformers comics from IDW have participated once before, with the first issue of ReGeneration One, but it looks like 2018 is bringing us an even bigger splash in the Hasbroverse. According to Newsarama, IDW Publishing will be releasing our introduction to Unicron, who was awakened at the end of First Strike #6, in Unicron: The Darkest Hour #0! Written by John Barber, with interior art by Alex Milne and cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher, you can give a read at the blurb below, and check out the cover, and the new logo in particular!

TRANSFORMERS: UNICRON: THE DARKEST HOUR #0
(W) John Barber (A) Alex Milne (CA) Sara Pitre-Durocher
Not a whimper, nor a bang-the end comes with a squall of entropy shrieking from the ravenous maw of death itself. The message is clear: Unicron has arrived. The Transformers lock into a desperate bid to save Rom’s homeworld from the world-killer — but why has Unicron chosen this world on his path to Cybertron... and Earth? The biggest story in the history of Transformers starts now: for Unicron’s arrival can mean nothing less than the end of a universe.
Rating: TEEN
32pgs, FC FREE!

[TreyTable]

Bumblebee back from the dead?

[ScottyP]

Assuming the usage of "entropy" has something to do with the entropy cloud from Micronauts, and considering Unicron's target is Elonia, my excitement for the Rom vs Micronauts miniseries just went up. This would also leave some remaining hope for a Micronus <-> Unicron connection of some sort. I am ready for some Unicron dandruff adventures.

[Rodimus Knight]

Finally an IDW transformers book I'm interested in.

[Flashwave]

Bumblebee back from the dead?

That ld be Centurion,

[partholon]

stuff like this makes me glad ive gone trade as ive absolutely NO idea how the hell im meant to collect it in terms of reading order.

why the hell is it become so hard to figure out how to follow an IDW event?

revolution baffled the hell out of me when i was still buying monthly and i STILL havent bought it in trade yet, let alone first strike

even their ordinary series when collected end up packaging an annual in with the numbered run so god knows how this is all going to be collected for the event proper.

i do like the idea of ROMS home world getting attacked as his crossover with the TF has been the most sucessful so far and given from how anytime ive seen him he's never bloody there we can have a genuine doubt as to whether itll survive or not. which is handy on the drama front. so it sounds good.

but ill wait till its collected so i dont end up getting something twice (like what im facing with vol 2 of Optimus Prime.)

on the vid further up the page i am somewhat baffled as to why james riaz had to go looking for work like that though. i mean jesus the art on the books has gone RIGHT down hill the last few years. . i thought IDW would be calling up everyone they ever employed to see who'll come back to the fold.

i mean is EJ Su Don Fig et al potentially laying aobut by the sidelines doing nothing cause no one in editorial thinks to ring them?

Kinda mad.

[Randomhero]

stuff like this makes me glad ive gone trade as ive absolutely NO idea how the hell im meant to collect it in terms of reading order.

why the hell is it become so hard to figure out how to follow an IDW event?

revolution baffled the hell out of me when i was still buying monthly and i STILL havent bought it in trade yet, let alone first strike

even their ordinary series when collected end up packaging an annual in with the numbered run so god knows how this is all going to be collected for the event proper.

i do like the idea of ROMS home world getting attacked as his crossover with the TF has been the most sucessful so far and given from how anytime ive seen him he's never bloody there we can have a genuine doubt as to whether itll survive or not. which is handy on the drama front. so it sounds good.

but ill wait till its collected so i dont end up getting something twice (like what im facing with vol 2 of Optimus Prime.)

on the vid further up the page i am somewhat baffled as to why james riaz had to go looking for work like that though. i mean jesus the art on the books has gone RIGHT down hill the last few years. . i thought IDW would be calling up everyone they ever employed to see who'll come back to the fold.

i mean is EJ Su Don Fig et al potentially laying aobut by the sidelines doing nothing cause no one in editorial thinks to ring them?

Kinda mad.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeah about that. Hate to break it to you but you’re never gonna see Don back on transformers probably ever and it’s not because IDW doesn’t call him. It’s becuase IDW won’t call him but because he’s not reliable and he refuses to. He doesn’t want to draw transformers anymore and IDW doesn’t need him walking out like he's done twice.

Don has seriously walked out on IDW not once but twice. Halfway through the beast wars second mini he said he was done and didn’t want to draw anymore transformers. He was tired of being only known for transformers so they had to have Guido Guidi finish the series. Jump a couple years later and the ongoing happened and Don was back with his over complex redesigns with monster faces because he really wasn’t that good and wasn’t doing anything else and once again halfway through a big story he walked away again and said he was done with transformers and they had to get Alex Milne to come on and finish the story.

[Insurgent]

So if we can't get to a comic shop on that particular day, we'll miss Unicron's debut? That's a bit naff. And why is bottom left blacked out? I do like the look of the chaos bringer.

[Va'al]

So if we can't get to a comic shop on that particular day, we'll miss Unicron's debut? That's a bit naff. And why is bottom left blacked out? I do like the look of the chaos bringer.

Full image from IDW:



The issue will obviously be included in any collected trade at a later date, and is not a full 20 page issue, in any case. More of a long teaser, really.

[Insurgent]

Good for those who get the trades. But the point is, this is the biggest bad of the bad. This is literally the end of worlds. And the first piece of fiction in this continuity to feature Unicron. I'm not against FCD, I think it's a great idea, I just think it shouldn't be used to start major events. Although I understand the logic behind it from a marketing perspective. Regeneration 0 was the same. All the important world building that explained what happened between marvel #80 and Regeneration 1 was in the FCD book. Guess I'm just looking forward to Unicron, I don't want to miss any of it.


And who is that between Starscream and Prime?

[Randomhero]

They also make some of the stuff available online through comixology and iBooks later on for maybe a dollar so there are ways to get it and yes yes “I like physical comics” it’s still available through other means.


It’s also an IDW comic. They usually don’t sell out on free comic day. I managed to get to regeneration one and transformers vs Gi Joe a week or so later

[D-Maximal_Primal]

And who is that between Starscream and Prime?

I think a weirdly drawn Arcee

[ScottyP]

So if we can't get to a comic shop on that particular day, we'll miss Unicron's debut? That's a bit naff.

I would bet money it gets reprinted in the backs of other books later on like the Revolution and First Strike "0" issues. Or at the start of issue 1 of the actual series, like what happend with Action Man and Rom a couple years back.

In general, there is something really funny to me about comments on a news story about a free comic being so terrible and negative, but maybe that's just me.

[Randomhero]

So if we can't get to a comic shop on that particular day, we'll miss Unicron's debut? That's a bit naff.

I would bet money it gets reprinted in the backs of other books later on like the Revolution and First Strike "0" issues. Or at the start of issue 1 of the actual series, like what happend with Action Man and Rom a couple years back.

In general, there is something really funny to me about comments on a news story about a free comic being so terrible and negative, but maybe that's just me.

There’s something to be said about the negativity over a certain show that’s completely free and optional to watch to watch and people treating like it like the worst thing ever and feeling entitled to more.

[Insurgent]

Maybe I've just got stuff going on that's got my head in a funny place and i need to vent somewhere. But hey, guess folks should only be online when everything is happy roses and all that crap.

And no, i wasn't saying it was terrible abd negative,simply that it it would be nice if the first appearance of such a major character wasn't in something that gave you one day to get it without resorting to secondary market BUT I UNDERSTAND FROM A MARKETING REASON WHY.

Bye.

[Va'al]

So is Unicron actually devouring the whole IDWverse? Looks like it might be the case after all...

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ytf/40719/

We are wrapping up current IDW continuities this year, Unicron is coming to devour everybody. The intention is to continue after that, whatever comes next. Towards end of year we should know more, but we will collaborate on more stories.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I'm hoping the emergence of Unicron will also Right a few wrongs of IDW-verse too IE Galvatron, Scourge, Cyclonus.

If Unicron devours the Organic side of IDWverse... No great loss...

[Va'al]

Courtesy of Previews World's catalogue, we have three page preview of the Free Comic Book Day issue provided by IDW Publishing for the first Saturday in May event, given out to customers in comic book shops for free - Unicron:The Darkest Hour #0!

The images are mirrored below, but please be aware there are some spoilers concerning a well known Transformers character on the second page, alongside Rom the Space Knight, Optimus Prime, Pyra Magna, Arcee, and Wheeljack. With the recent news that the IDW continuities currently running may be coming to an end, do you think this is its beginning? Join the discussion!

Not a whimper, nor a bang-the end comes with a squall of entropy shrieking from the ravenous maw of death itself. The message is clear: Unicron has arrived. The Transformers lock into a desperate bid to save Rom’s homeworld from the world-killer — but why has Unicron chosen this world on his path to Cybertron... and Earth? The biggest story in the history of Transformers starts now: for Unicron’s arrival can mean nothing less than the end of a universe.

[Randomhero]

Oh hi bumblebee...hi Soundwave. I guess everything works out in The Falling story arc...


I’m very bummed after hearing from the QnA panel that everything is coming to an end this year for IDW. I know they also said the comics will continue but it’s still sad to know we’re probaly more than likely getting rebooted next year.

I blame ScottyP...this is all your fault dude. Wanting Unicron for so long