IDW Transformers: Unicron Mini-Series Thread
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Daniel Adkins - Fuzor
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
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I took it to be a signal from Vector Sigma caused as a reaction to what Binaltech Villain Wizard Gob did.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Forgive me, but I could have swore that the signal sent out that Unicron heard and was awakened by was the result of Merklynn activating the Talisman and beginning the transformation of Cybertron into new Prysmos, not Primus himself
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ScottyP - Guardian Of Seibertron
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
Binaltech villain?
Maybe we've got Unicron pegged wrong, maybe he's eating other world's to convert them into energon which he then plans to use to recharge cybertron...at the cost of almost every other species there is. I mean the message was "welcome. (As in hello) Death. (This could be a keyword that links Unicron with the right response which is destroy worlds, recharge cybertron)
Maybe we've got Unicron pegged wrong, maybe he's eating other world's to convert them into energon which he then plans to use to recharge cybertron...at the cost of almost every other species there is. I mean the message was "welcome. (As in hello) Death. (This could be a keyword that links Unicron with the right response which is destroy worlds, recharge cybertron)
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Weapon: Battle Blades
IDW's Merklynn is disguised on Earth as Garrison Krieger. In Binaltech, Garrison Krieger is a member of the Concurrence, the villains of that story.ZeroWolf wrote:Binaltech villain?
I think John Barber was a little inspired by it and had First Strike not bombed, it would not have shocked me to see the story moving closer to Binaltech's main ideas in other ways.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
Thanks for the info
can't remember the last time I saw binaltech actually referenced.

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
ScottyP wrote:IDW's Merklynn is disguised on Earth as Garrison Krieger. In Binaltech, Garrison Krieger is a member of the Concurrence, the villains of that story.ZeroWolf wrote:Binaltech villain?
I think John Barber was a little inspired by it and had First Strike not bombed, it would not have shocked me to see the story moving closer to Binaltech's main ideas in other ways.
I'd imagine Barber was more just mining less-known G.I. Joe lore in general than Binaltech specifically. Sure, he brought in Kreiger and Iron Klaw, but he also brought in Sgt. Savage, Atomic Man and Bulletman, Baron Ironblood, etc. Plus, according to the man himself (http://hasbrouniverse.libsyn.com/episod ... -never-die), by the time Kreiger showed up in Revolutionaries, his dual identity was already planned out.
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Daniel Adkins - Fuzor
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Weapon: Battle Blades
All these facts - I want to believe it was going to magically circle back around to cool/obscure Transformers concepts! 
Edit: this page does the destination of the story no favors either. Lots of nonsense here now.

Edit: this page does the destination of the story no favors either. Lots of nonsense here now.

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
I liked shockwaves little cameo there
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
ScottyP wrote:All these facts - I want to believe it was going to magically circle back around to cool/obscure Transformers concepts!
Edit: this page does the destination of the story no favors either. Lots of nonsense here now.
Counterpoint: Visionaries hexagram.
But nah, I totally get it. Barber does love little references like that. Honestly, it more just makes me wonder why Ichikawa decided to pull in two random 90s era Joe villains for the Concurrence. Was Sgt. Savage and G.I. Joe Extreme just really big in Japan?
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
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Always Guilty..." - Weapon: Particle Beam Cannon
Possibly Bayformers Decepticon symbol at the top of the panel too?

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Possibly Bayformers Decepticon symbol at the top of the panel too?
Nah it might be the symbol of megatronus; -)
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Daniel Adkins - Fuzor
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "Guilty or Innocent?
Always Guilty..." - Weapon: Particle Beam Cannon
ZeroWolf wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Possibly Bayformers Decepticon symbol at the top of the panel too?
Nah it might be the symbol of megatronus; -)

Daniel Adkins wrote:Holy cow, I didn't even notice that.
It's funny, I saw that before the Shockwave "face" or Visionaries Hexagon.

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Possibly Bayformers Decepticon symbol at the top of the panel too?
Nah it might be the symbol of megatronus; -)Indeed.
Daniel Adkins wrote:Holy cow, I didn't even notice that.
It's funny, I saw that before the Shockwave "face" or Visionaries Hexagon.
What's even funnier is the fact that a couple panels later you get the con symbol more of less shoved in your face

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
Guess the Shockwave, Micronauts, and Visionaries just stuck in my head better.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Weapon: Battle Blades
No idea here either! That said he's also famous for that Chronicle story linking G1 and G2, and has been around forever making cool/obscure stuff like Linkage so it isn't super surprising to think he would use oddball characters.Daniel Adkins wrote: Honestly, it more just makes me wonder why Ichikawa decided to pull in two random 90s era Joe villains for the Concurrence. Was Sgt. Savage and G.I. Joe Extreme just really big in Japan?
Oh nice catch! Man, had I noticed that earlier the "Project Iceman" stuff in the solicits for 4 or 5 would have had me in full-on conspiracy modeZeroWolf wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Possibly Bayformers Decepticon symbol at the top of the panel too?
Nah it might be the symbol of megatronus; -)

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Spoilers for IDW Publishing Transformers #FCBD Unicron: Darkest Hour #0
- Motto: "Till All Are Pun!"
You'll remember that in a couple of weeks, specifically Saturday May 5th, it will be Free Comic Book Day and IDW Publishing has included in the lot of free comics that shops will be giving to their customers in store the first issue of the new, conclusive Transformers mini-series - Unicron: Darkest Hour!
The Bleeding Cool 'website' has received early copies of Unicron #0, and in an attempt to keep themselves relevant through clickbait, have taken images of some of the interiors of the book and spoiled some of the elements of the story concerning Rom and the Solstar Order, all while forgetting to spellcheck the name of the characters. If you want part of the issue spoiled for you, go find it for yourself. Bleeding Cool sucks.
The Bleeding Cool 'website' has received early copies of Unicron #0, and in an attempt to keep themselves relevant through clickbait, have taken images of some of the interiors of the book and spoiled some of the elements of the story concerning Rom and the Solstar Order, all while forgetting to spellcheck the name of the characters. If you want part of the issue spoiled for you, go find it for yourself. Bleeding Cool sucks.
FCBD 2018 TRANSFORMERS UNICRON #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.
Teen Audiences.
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Va'al - God Of Transformers
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
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So will this issue not be on digital?
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
- Weapon: Battle Blades
I take it you're annoyed with Bleeding Cool?
click bait sadly is very effective for generating traffic to a site, because we're such implusive creatures

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "Till All Are Pun!"
Ironhidensh wrote:So will this issue not be on digital?
They are usually not. I'm not sure how they will be collected or distributed once FCBD is over!
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Va'al - God Of Transformers
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "Tell those damned kids to stay off my lawn!!!"
- Weapon: Big Cannon
Va'al wrote:Ironhidensh wrote:So will this issue not be on digital?
They are usually not. I'm not sure how they will be collected or distributed once FCBD is over!
*cries in the corner*
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
Va'al wrote:Ironhidensh wrote:So will this issue not be on digital?
They are usually not. I'm not sure how they will be collected or distributed once FCBD is over!
They usually are, they just go up about a month later on sites like Comixology.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
- Motto: "Till All Are Pun!"
Daniel Adkins wrote:Va'al wrote:Ironhidensh wrote:So will this issue not be on digital?
They are usually not. I'm not sure how they will be collected or distributed once FCBD is over!
They usually are, they just go up about a month later on sites like Comixology.
They are usually not *released on the same day as the physical copy*. But as Daniel so kindly rectifies, they will be available at a later date. This will also mean I will not be able to read the issue until much much later, either, as Italy does not do FCBD, nor does it have direct anglophone imports.
It's also worth considering that all issue #0 have been collected in the first trade of the series, so they'll also appear then. But we have no actual confirmation that this is the case, as of right now.
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Va'al - God Of Transformers
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Review of IDW Transformers Unicron #0 - #FCBD
- Motto: "Till All Are Pun!"
The Beginning of the Beginning of the End
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
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.
Story
First things first: this issue is part of the Free Comic Book Day initiative, in which participating physical comics stores give out free copies of comic books from a number of publishers. If you don't know where to find a store near you, try this tool (works relatively accurately outside of US and Canada too)!
Second: even just the opening, and the preview, of this book will spoil at least one and a half storylines from the current Optimus Prime ongoing series. The cover does too. So that's that, and we all know now. I will not dwell on it further, but if you'd rather wait for the next two issues of OP to hit before finding this issue, do so!
Now, into the main course: John Barber brings Unicron to the Transformers universe, fully, entirely, wholly and viciously . And I really mean that last one. There is no sympathy from me towards those asking for the entire IDW universe casts to be annihilated as the continuity ends, but it looks like Barber is definitely starting to trim those down from the get go (a recurring theme since David Mariotte's arrival on editorial, now that I think about it...) - and not even in the main part of the story.
Optimus Prime is the more or less de facto narrator (his caption tag says so), and the technique is one that will be familiar to all of Barber's readers - but even so, this ..thing, this threat is new to him too. He does not have prior knowledge. None of the characters beside him do, nor does the Solstar Order, nor does the reader. And that narration helps us - established fans of Transformers, and in the know about the mythos in general - see this new Unicron, this IDW version of him, in a different light.
There are of course some lighter moments, where possible, mostly in the form of wit quickly truncated by the events taking place around the characters (Rom's deadpan behaviour, Wheeljack being himself, Pyra Magna's shade towards Optimus), but for such a short story, there are so many heavy beats that you will most definitely be wanting some more.
Art
Alex Milne, who has had a taste of Elonian blood already in the Shining Armor mini-series that saw the first collaboration between Cybertronians and Rom's Solstar Order (including specific characters in this issue, who reference that fact), returns to similar worlds to bring some painstaking detail to the frames he lays out with almost dark glee. And, most admirably I thought, he gives us a sense of the sheer scale that Unicron holds compared to everything else on the page, without ever fully showing the planet - this is not Unicron's story, after all, but that of the people facing him.
Colours are provided by a previous collaborator of Barber's and a new for Milne, Sebastian Cheng, last seen in Revolution and Revolutionaries. While showing the same vibrancy of some of those series, in fact, he manages to convey some truly dark moments for everyone involved with some impressive lighting angles and surfaces.
What else can I add about Tom B. Long's lettering, really, at this stage - other than reiterate his necessary role in something as vast and encompassing as the entire Hasbro Universe and its unmaker, with captions placed right, dialogue paced out, and a new title redesign that ..just works.
There is just the one cover, being a FCBD comic, but the composition - one that we have seen many a time, is a pretty good reminder of the immense powers at work on the universe right here, and Sara Pitre Durocher delivers.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
As I said above, the pacing that Barber has created - by dropping us into the story exactly as it's happening (unavoidable, given the scheduling of the book compared to the ones leading into it) and building to it through Revolutionaries and Optimus Prime, Shining Armor, and the early days of exRID - allows for some pretty breakneck reading and experiencing of the heavier moments taking place in the pretty short issue. And it's done in such a way that will allow several readers to really want to get into the main story come July, while not relying on senseless shock value twists or carnage for its own sake (yes, we all know what I'm referring to here).
Milne and Cheng work really well together too, which is a low-key relief. Having seen both of their work apart from each other, I wasn't entirely sure it would end up looking this good, and am excited to see more (even just on covers, like for Unicron #1). The extra treat in the book, though? John Barber's letter at the very end, tidying up a lot of the threads that have lead to this moment, and initially written in January - there's Revolutionaries, Dark Cybertron, exRID, First Strike, and more, laid out for readers who wanted to follow up without keeping everything at hand. It's good. It's Barber. It's good Barber.
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Va'al - God Of Transformers
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - Road to Unicron
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I'm looking forward to this more than I thought I would. Such high expectations.
Good review Va'al!
Good review Va'al!

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