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[Ironhidensh]

I'm pretty sure the interview person just mis-used the word continuity. About 90% sure. Like how they ended 'continuity' with Death of Optimus Prime and Revolution.

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.

I took this as: Unicron is coming to devour stuff, everybody has to fix the problem. And then there will be the aftermath, where things start happening again.

That is indeed a possible reading of what is meant!

The entire TF comics Twitter is buzzing right now, with Roberts talking of News, Griffith tweeting a new Barber scripted issue #1 of Something.. we'll find out as soon as the solicits are out this week.

There is still just so much left unfinished in LL, I don't think know I can handle a massive direction change.

Optimus Prime, I'm not so invested in, so that will be fine, but I barely survived (as a reader) the shake up of MTMTE changing to Lost Light. I really don't want to do it again.


Rebooting has gotten way to popular in comics. If that is what is required for survival, maybe it is time for the industry to fade away.

[Big Grim]

That's gorgeous art. Looking forward to this. See how things go.

[Galactic Prime]

I am so glad they are doing this. IDW has just been one terrible shitshow.

I want to read about TRANSFORMERS, I don't want G.I.Joe, M.A.S.K., Rom, Visionaries, or Micronauts.

I want Autobots VS Decepticons.

I don't want Autobots Shooting down other Autobots or hacking them in Half with a sword (Here's looking at you LOST LIGHT GARBAGE).

They should take the ENTIRE license from IDW, it started out as GARBAGE and was barely readable and now it's just a poopy ass bunch of books. Good riddance.

[ZeroWolf]

Errr you do realise that IDW are still going on with tf afterwards and they are still part of the connected universe with gi joe and co. You may not like the direction the stories have gone and the idea that there is bad players on both sides (remember sentinel prime in the Movie?) But any thing that comes after will still do these things. Doing just autobots vs cons will get old. You may feel that the comics aren't for you which is perfectly fine, you can't please everyone after all just don't get your hopes up that hasbro/IDW will cater to your personal wishes. Remember don't like don't buy it

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Which brings up the reason reboots exist. What if the next upcoming IDW TF Writers don't want to write about Autobot Megatron, Metrotitans, Functionism, Autobot psychiatry, Colony worlds with oddly gender specific Transformers etc etc

What if they want to write about the Beast Wars? Or the rivalry between Fort Max and Scorponok? Exploring the potential of a symbiotic hive mind between Scourge and the Sweeps?

They can't do that in present IDW, let's also be clear about this: Indie books can continue a narrative for years, decades etc Licensed properties don't have that luxury.

Maybe this potential "End of Days" for IDWverse and the recent cancellation of future Bayformers isn't coincidental??

[Va'al]

Sighs.

[ZeroWolf]

Which brings up the reason reboots exist. What if the next upcoming IDW TF Writers don't want to write about Autobot Megatron, Metrotitans, Functionism, Autobot psychiatry, Colony worlds with oddly gender specific Transformers etc etc

What if they want to write about the Beast Wars? Or the rivalry between Fort Max and Scorponok? Exploring the potential of a symbiotic hive mind between Scourge and the Sweeps?

They can't do that in present IDW, let's also be clear about this: Indie books can continue a narrative for years, decades etc Licensed properties don't have that luxury.

Maybe this potential "End of Days" for IDWverse and the recent cancellation of future Bayformers isn't coincidental??

The IDWverse is still continuing though...they will all still be connected plus if writers wanted to write those stories they could pitch it to IDW who could put out a miniseries for that.

@Vaal I can understand your frustration.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

The IDWverse is still continuing though...they will all still be connected plus if writers wanted to write those stories they could pitch it to IDW who could put out a miniseries for that.

@Vaal I can understand your frustration.

Of course the IDWverse is still continuing, that's obvious, it still makes money. But that doesn't mean it will stay as it is. People make too big a deal out of this whole "shared universe" gimmick that Marvel made profitable through the MCU. It's inherently lazy writing. Propping up lesser things, not on their own merits, but because they are share a singular platform that guarantees either complete success or total failure.

I've been there with the Frustration myself. I wanted Furman to continue IDWverse with the -Ations. Aside from Last Stand of the Wreckers, I found nothing of interest in IDWverse post-Furman, so I walked away. Even slowly reading other stories via the Part Work, I don't regret that decision. The more I read of RiD/Optimus Prime and MTMTE/Lost Light, I am reassured I wouldn't have enjoyed reading them independently.

Comics always change. Status Quo forever restored etc etc It's happened as long as the medium has existed. I've read X-Men since the 80's, the fact has been hammered home to me on many occasions.
If this is a reboot, prepare yourself for the fact that concepts and ideas unique to this era of Transformers IE Rung, Buster The Dog, Windblade, Non-Decepticon Cyclonus, Minimus Ambus, Politician Starscream et al might not be returning.

[Wolfguard]

I blame ROM.


Sorry, never been a fan of that IP.

[Va'al]

The IDWverse is still continuing though...they will all still be connected plus if writers wanted to write those stories they could pitch it to IDW who could put out a miniseries for that.

@Vaal I can understand your frustration.

Of course the IDWverse is still continuing, that's obvious, it still makes money. But that doesn't mean it will stay as it is. People make too big a deal out of this whole "shared universe" gimmick that Marvel made profitable through the MCU. It's inherently lazy writing. Propping up lesser things, not on their own merits, but because they are share a singular platform that guarantees either complete success or total failure.

I've been there with the Frustration myself. I wanted Furman to continue IDWverse with the -Ations. Aside from Last Stand of the Wreckers, I found nothing of interest in IDWverse post-Furman, so I walked away. Even slowly reading other stories via the Part Work, I don't regret that decision. The more I read of RiD/Optimus Prime and MTMTE/Lost Light, I am reassured I wouldn't have enjoyed reading them independently.

Comics always change. Status Quo forever restored etc etc It's happened as long as the medium has existed. I've read X-Men since the 80's, the fact has been hammered home to me on many occasions.
If this is a reboot, prepare yourself for the fact that concepts and ideas unique to this era of Transformers IE Rung, Buster The Dog, Windblade, Non-Decepticon Cyclonus, Minimus Ambus, Politician Starscream et al might not be returning.

They may not, but they may very well be embedded in any new fiction.

Windblade is here to stay. She's everywhere, to varying degrees of success, but she's most definitely staying.

Starscream as a ruthless politician has always been the case, IDW writers just took the concept from a different angle.

I can agree on the others probably not finding a dominant space in a new universe, but I'd personally like to see a lot of themes - some groundbreaking - from the current IDW incarnation to become the base level from which all new stories might spring forwards.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

[ZeroWolf]

The IDWverse is still continuing though...they will all still be connected plus if writers wanted to write those stories they could pitch it to IDW who could put out a miniseries for that.

@Vaal I can understand your frustration.

Of course the IDWverse is still continuing, that's obvious, it still makes money. But that doesn't mean it will stay as it is. People make too big a deal out of this whole "shared universe" gimmick that Marvel made profitable through the MCU. It's inherently lazy writing. Propping up lesser things, not on their own merits, but because they are share a singular platform that guarantees either complete success or total failure.

I've been there with the Frustration myself. I wanted Furman to continue IDWverse with the -Ations. Aside from Last Stand of the Wreckers, I found nothing of interest in IDWverse post-Furman, so I walked away. Even slowly reading other stories via the Part Work, I don't regret that decision. The more I read of RiD/Optimus Prime and MTMTE/Lost Light, I am reassured I wouldn't have enjoyed reading them independently.

Comics always change. Status Quo forever restored etc etc It's happened as long as the medium has existed. I've read X-Men since the 80's, the fact has been hammered home to me on many occasions.
If this is a reboot, prepare yourself for the fact that concepts and ideas unique to this era of Transformers IE Rung, Buster The Dog, Windblade, Non-Decepticon Cyclonus, Minimus Ambus, Politician Starscream et al might not be returning.

They may not, but they may very well be embedded in any new fiction.

Windblade is here to stay. She's everywhere, to varying degrees of success, but she's most definitely staying.

Starscream as a ruthless politician has always been the case, IDW writers just took the concept from a different angle.

I can agree on the others probably not finding a dominant space in a new universe, but I'd personally like to see a lot of themes - some groundbreaking - from the current IDW incarnation to become the base level from which all new stories might spring forwards.

I completely forgot windblade for a moment there (its been a rough day before anyone gets snarky) I think Va'al is more right on the money with this, in fact they may use this to put right the gender thing by having them both be natural to cybertron instead of only the colony world's having gender. This will bring it into line with all the other fiction funnily enough

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Sighs

[Va'al]

Sighs

I'm sure you'll be okay with one extra fictional female character.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

"Female" character or not is irrelevant to me. It just brings up the old idea that Gender in Transformers only exists through the Fembots. I've never understood the need to sexualise Giant alien robots, but it exists now and can't be undone.

[Flashwave]

I am going to miss the old. IDW did a lot of things right. Spottlight Prowl and Cliff are two of my favorites. ending the war was a brave, risky thing, but it allowed them to do something different and relatable, and stuff that you cant neccesarily do with a childrens cartoon. I am glad we got shades of good in the Decepticons (Scavengers, Rhundercracker), and moral ambiguity in the "Good" Guys. We got a reason for Megatron and the Decepticons beyond just "He's evil hur dur".

we got real, raw PTSD, we got Wreckers. we got some powerful emotions and deep relationships. (Can you honestly say that the Chromedome grieving moments werent anything but raw with emotion?). We've mourned good bots (Skids) and explored the value of a life lived (Sideswipe). We got Whirl; lovable, laughable, maniacal, Whirl who has been an incredible character arcover MTMTE and LL.

we got to see the cultural and religious significance of the Matrix, which has always been said to be a mystical talisman but how much of that did we really see, as well as the impact that has in the bot bearing it, even though I didnt neccesarily like the direction that they took Optimus in.

But, I am excited for something new. And I am excited for the chance to weave the other hasbro properties in RIGHT. I remember when the first teaser for TF1 dropped in 2007. Everyone loved Blackout vs. the US Army. Lennox and his crew were good characters, even some of the purists were excited. If IDW can give us that with GI JOE, I am down. If IDW can fill out the Galaxy with with ROM source alien cultures for extra flavor, I am down. We have new writers and old guard whobprobably would do well in a blank canvas, and I am down.

Whatever comes next will no doubt be just as rich, after all, even though everything is changing, nothing at IDW is. So whole I will be sad and mourn all of the good that has come out, but I am confidant that whetever we get next will be worth it.

You know what else I am excited about? Unicron might actually get to be a successful villian. I mean, I am sure the Good Guys will win, they always do, but Unicron might actually succeed in ending the Universe. Thats a rare thing.

Some folks are upset about Reboots, but the reality is that no story medium today save a few holdouts last more than 5 seasons. The... Is it polite to say "attention span"? isnt there for that anymore. Not in Comics, not itln TV, even in the oft-praised MCU they are shedding a lot of original stories for the new phase. Some of that is actor contracts, but you know if they wanted to they could tell more Iron Man movies. But its burnt out; on to the next idea. Gone are the days of the 187 issue runs, or the continious story. Waning are the 15 season TV shows, the Star Treks of yesterday, thats justbthe way of things.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I am going to miss the old. IDW did a lot of things right. Spottlight Prowl and Cliff are two of my favorites. ending the war was a brave, risky thing, but it allowed them to do something different and relatable, and stuff that you cant neccesarily do with a childrens cartoon. I am glad we got shades of good in the Decepticons (Scavengers, Rhundercracker), and moral ambiguity in the "Good" Guys. We got a reason for Megatron and the Decepticons beyond just "He's evil hur dur".

we got real, raw PTSD, we got Wreckers. we got some powerful emotions and deep relationships. (Can you honestly say that the Chromedome grieving moments werent anything but raw with emotion?). We've mourned good bots (Skids) and explored the value of a life lived (Sideswipe). We got Whirl; lovable, laughable, maniacal, Whirl who has been an incredible character arcover MTMTE and LL.

Let's not forget the ONE time they showed the actual War between the Autobots and Decepticons in cartoon form, "fans" complained because the Autobots rightly got slaughtered by a stronger military force.

Yeah, Megatron got fleshed out more in Origin then ever before. Just a miner rising up to challenge oppression, yet lost himself to his darker impulses, a fascinating character study. I ignore pointless retcons made by MTMTE/LL, as I haven't read them nor feel the need to dilute Origin's message. Likewise the -Ations and initial Spotlights gave a lot of depth to the Decepticons in general.

Too much emphasis on Autobots following AHM, but clearly I'm not the intended audience of such books, so I continue to remain indifferent to them. Last Stand of The Wreckers was fantastic, it's a shame we never got an ongoing series with that tone.

Hopefully the Next IDWverse will have writers treat Decepticons with a bit more respect than the latter years of the current one and not as disposable foils and Red Shirts for Autobot Fan-wankery. Nor sanitize them into Space Hippies and/or proto-Autobots.
Transformers is made up of two equal sides and should be respectfully treated as such.

[ZeroWolf]

Sanitize them? I call that developing them especially looking at the original goals (something that hasn't changed since origins). Also I take it the one time depiction if the war you mentioned AllNewSuperRobot is the assault at the beginning of the movie? Where megatron is pretty much the only thing killing everyone. I wouldn't use that as an example as that had just one purpose...to clear shelves. After all he didn't prove very effective in the series (neither did galvatron in s3).

Also look at it this way, they fought for over four billion years and no side was actual getting close to winning with both needing energy. It was only through offscreen magic that the cons took over cybertron in the Movie. Now that I think about it, that meant a lot of the people killed by unicrons attack were cons...sucks to be a bad guy don't it.

Also you mentioned you didn't like it that gender was introduced well you can just thank season 2 for that one when it introduced us to elita 1 and her group

All in all it seems like you rather them stick to gen 1 type story telling with easily definable sides, I'm not sure you'll get that as i can see them taking megs the way of magneto who (as I'm sure you're aware) bounced between good and evil. Are you saying tf characters can't be developed like that? We can't see their fears? Their hopes? What they would rather be doing instead of fighting? You mentioned before about how you think they are just people in robot suits now but that's how Furman had them in the 80s and that's what he did with them at the beginning of IDW.

@Flashwave thank you for your post, if we had a like button, I would like it a billion times.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Hnn, wow, wonder how they are going to do the whole Unicron thing and TFs after that. Lost Light has so much left to finish, and OP really has a good ball rolling, so this'll be sad if they end up ending.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Sanitize them? I call that developing them especially looking at the original goals (something that hasn't changed since origins). Also I take it the one time depiction if the war you mentioned AllNewSuperRobot is the assault at the beginning of the movie? Where megatron is pretty much the only thing killing everyone. I wouldn't use that as an example as that had just one purpose...to clear shelves. After all he didn't prove very effective in the series (neither did galvatron in s3).


Also look at it this way, they fought for over four billion years and no side was actual getting close to winning with both needing energy. It was only through offscreen magic that the cons took over cybertron in the Movie. Now that I think about it, that meant a lot of the people killed by unicrons attack were cons...sucks to be a bad guy don't it.

Well, Megatron was responsible for most of the Autobot Shuttle kills, aside from Prowl. But the Autobot City kills, no. Wheeljack, Windcharger etc was down to others. Sure we can cynically say, as adults, it was just advertising new toys over old ones. In the moment, at the right age however, the death toll of The Movie can't be so easily dismissed as ..aggressive marketing. On an actual battlefront, not even hardened soldiers survive every offensive and the Autobot ranks contained few of those. That's the facts of Season 1 & 2.

And Yes, the whole point of the Autobot Shuttle launch was that Megatron controlled Cybertron, something Optimus never accomplished in Sunbow. Shockwave and the Coneheads were the only visible fatalities of Unicron's assault, alongside the crew of the Junkion ship (did they ever specify who that was?) They weren't all that memorable before the attack, in Sunbow at least.

Also you mentioned you didn't like it that gender was introduced well you can just thank season 2 for that one when it introduced us to elita 1 and her group

Indeed and to re-iterate, I preferred G1 Post-Movie and aside from Soundwave, I have no affinity to the cast of Season 1 & 2.

All in all it seems like you rather them stick to gen 1 type story telling with easily definable sides, I'm not sure you'll get that as i can see them taking megs the way of magneto who (as I'm sure you're aware) bounced between good and evil. Are you saying tf characters can't be developed like that? We can't see their fears? Their hopes? What they would rather be doing instead of fighting? You mentioned before about how you think they are just people in robot suits now but that's how Furman had them in the 80s and that's what he did with them at the beginning of IDW.

Origin already took Megatron the way of Magneto. That was the first conclusion I took from reading it.
What I took from Transformers was a parable of War and it's escalation. It started with ground level skirmishes, onto Gestalts, to City Bots, to Planet Bots to their very limbs becoming weapons of destruction. A spreading madness across the galaxy, an allegory for the corrupting nature of war itself

As was explored in IDWverse itself from the very beginning there is no good and evil in a Civil War, only collateral damage in the crossfire. The Autobots wrought evil, which was returned upon them through Megatron and his rebellion. Optimus and Megatron are exactly the same in IDW. This was even touched on in the -Ations, where Megatron calls Prime out on his hypocrisy.

So no, I have no interest in the basic 'morality for kids' of G1, because G1 is dead. While I have high regard for The Movie and it's subsequent series, it pales in comparison to Beast Wars. Which arguably presents the most humanised Transformers to date, but doesn't hit you in the face with it by giving you the TF equivalent of West Wing and/or Cheers.

You don't need to force upon them specific human emotions, coping mechanisms and weaknesses to explore character and growth in a sentient robotic alien race. Much as you said writers often discount the "Robots in Disguise" attribute of the series, so too do most writers who can't grasp how to make 'The Alien' aspect engaging and relatable. Instead they give them dogs, screen plays and model collections

[ZeroWolf]

To be fair to Thundercracker, cybertron had movies so I don't see the issue. In fact I don't see the problem with the characters having hobbies. Everyone has something they like doing on their downtime.

D-max@ Im hoping that should a galaxy/timeline reset happen then LL will have wrapped up nicely before then. But an alternative scenario is one like va'al and someone else said where things aren't going to change as much as we're worrying, which case LL can continue with little worry. I do wonder if the war for Cybertron tie in will be a flashback to pre-thunderwing screwing up cybertron days showing some old war stories

[Va'al]

Gentle reminder that IDWverse is (still) not the G1 fiction.

If something happened in G1, comics or cartoon, it has no bearing on IDW.

[Big Grim]

Man, where is all this bile coming from? IDW has done a great job with the TFS over the years. Sure it went a little down hill with the forced introduction of the rest of the Hasbro universe (save ROM. ROM Vs Transformers was super enjoyable.) but all in all, IDW has friggin' killed it with TFs. I've enjoyed damn near the whole thing. Long may it continue.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Gentle reminder that IDWverse is (still) not the G1 fiction.

If something happened in G1, comics or cartoon, it has no bearing on IDW.

That's where it excels, when it does things not done before. Not always successfully EG Heart of Darkness, but IDWverse has broken more ground than much TF fiction before it. The status quo of G1 really holds Transformers back more often than it should.

Like I said, my main frustration is how one sided TF Fiction is at present. Transformers should be: 50/50
That's how it was sold from Day One. Over the years many writers have understood this EG Beast Wars crews having equal numbers etc Reading what I've read of IDWverse post-DoOP, the Cons have been marginalised in favour of colony worlds and those that have been given a higher profile aren't allowed to be Decepticons anymore.

I've always said the Decepticons need their own ongoing. One Bot book, One Con book. Have Roche & Roberts apply the tone of LSoTW to the Con book and Barber cover the Autobot one.

[ZeroWolf]

Some are just bitter that it never gave them what they wanted, others didn't like certain plot turns or that characters were killed. Funny thing is, writing the general complaints as generic like that means a lot of hate is actually applicable to all the comic industry. Marvel knows a lot of these woes