The Energon Pub

[ebonyleopard]

They could have done this like Rom vs the Transformers, set the story in the past so it doesn’t directly impact the now, establish some sort of reason why Merklynn would want revenge and do what he did in a First Striken then, if you wanted, shoe him teleporting g their city to a Cybertron because their world is dying due to something the Transformers did in the past.

I’ll say this though, thanks to this issue and discussion I’ve since watched a number of clips from YouTube of Visionaries to refamiliarize myself with it. It is a very typical 80s Sunbow Animated show.

[partholon]

ive been thinking alot more about this and whats really starting to annoy me is how shambolic the roll out of the shared universe is.

i mean you literally have marvel sitting there with 50yrs plus, and DC with 70yrs plus SHOWING you how to do a shared universe that doesnt feel forced or restrictive yet IDW KEEP buggering it up.

the comparision i keep thinking of is marvel trying to launch an inhumans series by having tony stark find them squating in the basement of the avengers mansion.

now its not that you cant tell a story like that, but it really doesnt lend itself to introducing a race of half alien hybrids who live on the moon does it?

topic in point the visionares shouldve had a mini series to worldbuild its narative. thats why ROM/Transforemers worked. i mean i havent even read IDWs ROM but i know the broadstrokes of it in the same way anyone who wouldnt be au fait with transformes STILL knows its a war between shape changing robots. so when they met it was very easy to get into the meat of the story quickly.

just LOOK at how many pages in this were dedicated to catching people up the whole first strike thing which ostensibly has NOTHING to do with the visionares real story/ origin !

You cant blame the author for this as thats where theyre stuck storywise. ok you can make a parallel with immigrants/asylum seekers going this route but is that REALLY what you want your relaunch of these characters to be built on? is that the grandeur of the world you want to build for them?

the 80s premise was bigger in scope than that and so should this.

and i gotta say the armour designs suck. have a gander at this link

https://imgur.com/gallery/dNpHz/comment/370977531

thats based on what WE were doing in the 15th century. what alien wizards in the modern day could come up with should look ALOT better. its comics FFS, the best thing this medium HAS going for it is the skys the limit on the designs front. they shouldnt look like cosplayers. i agree with what one of the other posters said too. its meant to be magic, IDW needs to come up with a design for the use of it ala Dr Strange in marvel i.e you know its magic being used and NOT just some random mutant power.

visual ques like this can help differentiate whats going on

all in all though this just feels like a missed opportunity. visionares always struck me as being like actionmasters. goddamn stupid idea for a toy but transformers with super powers? GREAT idea for fiction. ditto for leoric and co. a post apocalyptic world where the laws of physics have changed and basically given you the "shanara chronicles"?

theres scope there.

[ZeroWolf]

ive been thinking alot more about this and whats really starting to annoy me is how shambolic the roll out of the shared universe is.

i mean you literally have marvel sitting there with 50yrs plus, and DC with 70yrs plus SHOWING you how to do a shared universe that doesnt feel forced or restrictive yet IDW KEEP buggering it up.

the comparision i keep thinking of is marvel trying to launch an inhumans series by having tony stark find them squating in the basement of the avengers mansion.

now its not that you cant tell a story like that, but it really doesnt lend itself to introducing a race of half alien hybrids who live on the moon does it?

topic in point the visionares shouldve had a mini series to worldbuild its narative. thats why ROM/Transforemers worked. i mean i havent even read IDWs ROM but i know the broadstrokes of it in the same way anyone who wouldnt be au fait with transformes STILL knows its a war between shape changing robots. so when they met it was very easy to get into the meat of the story quickly.

just LOOK at how many pages in this were dedicated to catching people up the whole first strike thing which ostensibly has NOTHING to do with the visionares real story/ origin !

You cant blame the author for this as thats where theyre stuck storywise. ok you can make a parallel with immigrants/asylum seekers going this route but is that REALLY what you want your relaunch of these characters to be built on? is that the grandeur of the world you want to build for them?

the 80s premise was bigger in scope than that and so should this.

and i gotta say the armour designs suck. have a gander at this link

https://imgur.com/gallery/dNpHz/comment/370977531

thats based on what WE were doing in the 15th century. what alien wizards in the modern day could come up with should look ALOT better. its comics FFS, the best thing this medium HAS going for it is the skys the limit on the designs front. they shouldnt look like cosplayers. i agree with what one of the other posters said too. its meant to be magic, IDW needs to come up with a design for the use of it ala Dr Strange in marvel i.e you know its magic being used and NOT just some random mutant power.

visual ques like this can help differentiate whats going on

all in all though this just feels like a missed opportunity. visionares always struck me as being like actionmasters. goddamn stupid idea for a toy but transformers with super powers? GREAT idea for fiction. ditto for leoric and co. a post apocalyptic world where the laws of physics have changed and basically given you the "shanara chronicles"?

theres scope there.

Actually there is another way they could of gone with this that would have worked(it popped into my head at the end of your post). A world where magic and technology are forced to coexist, Shadowrun.

Still I'm going to cut IDW some slack as Marvel and DC didn't have someone breathing down their neck with editorial decisions... (okay maybe they both have now with Disney and Warner).

[Daniel Adkins]

ive been thinking alot more about this and whats really starting to annoy me is how shambolic the roll out of the shared universe is.

i mean you literally have marvel sitting there with 50yrs plus, and DC with 70yrs plus SHOWING you how to do a shared universe that doesnt feel forced or restrictive yet IDW KEEP buggering it up.

Eh, not really a fair comparison. The DC and Marvel Universes as we know them today were born out of decades of writers and artists randomly throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. A lot of the times, the set-ups and introductions of characters who are now staples were conceived as random one offs, like Hank Pym being a scientist in a short before getting remade into a superhero. To use your example, the Inhumans just kinda showed up one day in an issue of Fantastic Four, which also had to retcon a pre-existing characters backstory to make her part of the Inhumans. Marvel and DC didn't really have any grand architectural plan, they just did it on a whim.

[Deadput]

How long until IDW makes a Transformers series where they come up with the dumbest ways to mass kill characters for no reason at all?

[Targetmaster Kup]

How long until IDW makes a Transformers series where they come up with the dumbest ways to mass kill characters for no reason at all?

Apparently you aren't reading IDW comics right now.

[ZeroWolf]

How long until IDW makes a Transformers series where they come up with the dumbest ways to mass kill characters for no reason at all?

Wheelie kills the hasbroverse.

That would be pretty funny actually. Still I think the movies has the dumbest deaths of characters.

[Va'al]

We have news of an interview with Magdalene Visaggio, the writer of the current crossover series from IDW Publishing and its Hasbroverse - Transformers vs Visionaries - looking at how the team was made to arrive to the current status quo, the process behind two very old franchises, the ways in which the characters are approached, and addressing the scenes that most Transformers fans and readers have had a hard time accepting: the death of Kup.

You can read some extracts below, and the whole piece directly on the website Women Write About
Comics, and enjoy the lineart for Brendan Cahill's variant cover (and colours by Lauren Bennett) for issue #4 of the series, too!

Firstly, how long have you been a fan of Transformers? Was it always your dream to write a comic for them?

I’ve been a Transformers fan to varying degrees since I was very little; they’ve always been around, and G2 was airing when I was eight or nine years old. But Transformers was never a passion of mine, nor was writing it a lifelong dream; when I was pitched this book, IDW EIC David Hedgecock asked me if I wanted to write Visionaries; the Transformers came in later. What got me excited was the idea of reviving and reinventing a largely forgotten franchise; the Transformers were the object they’d be acting against, but the actors would be the Visionaries.

The Visionaries have been silent for 30 years, did you have any say in any changes made to any characters?

Fico and I got basically all the say. Reinventing the Visionaries was very much done internally between me and Fico, and we presented what we wanted to do to IDW and then to Hasbro, and got the sign-off. We looked seriously at the characters and their situation, and then had to think, well, how do we integrate this into the IDW Hasbroverse, which is very sci-fi heavy, and have it still feel organic? We played a lot with more overtly sci-fi angles—at one point, the Visionaries, which are aliens, I might add, were much more obviously so. We decided to move away from the high fantasy aesthetic and worked to develop one that might make sense for a society forcibly removed from its technological origins. We had a very free hand.

[..]

Like I said, I haven’t been up to date on Transformers. But I knew and loved Kup from the 1986 movie, and so when they told me he was going to die, I was just shocked. Utterly, utterly shocked that the responsibility for taking out friggin’ Kup was going to be landing in my hands. Kup has always been one of my favorites (Kup, Springer, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, and yes, even Hot Rod are my TF dream team), so I immediately understood this wasn’t going to be a small thing. So I never took this lightly.

That’s why I structured the first issue the way I did; Kup takes a lot of the spotlight, and I showed him as the one pushing for something better; the old seen-it-all got to play idealist at the end, and I loved being able to do that for him.

[Rodimus Knight]

Another chick who looks like she came out of Jem and the Holograms.
Honestly, they might as well have added Jem and the Holograms to the Hasbroverse.

[kurthy]

Another chick who looks like she came out of Jem and the Holograms.
Honestly, they might as well have added Jem and the Holograms to the Hasbroverse.

That would be truly, truly outrageous! Hasbro should be on top it all.

Do you think they'll ever have a change of heart?

[Daniel Adkins]

Jem does exist in the Hasbro Universe. Rock 'n Roll used to be the Holograms' roadie.

[LE0KING]

I don't want to just be negative, but come on, even the writer didn't want the crossover. You don't build new franchises by butchering your successful one. I kind of hope unicron will mean an ending to the idw universe, because if not I'm afraid I'll wind up quitting a series I've followed for half my life.

[Daniel Adkins]

even the writer didn't want the crossover

???

I don't know where you're getting this idea, dude. Visaggio was asked to pitch for Transformers Vs Visionaries.

[LE0KING]

even the writer didn't want the crossover

???

I don't know where you're getting this idea, dude. Visaggio was asked to pitch for Transformers Vs Visionaries.

This part of the interview here all but says that she just wanted a visionaries book.

"But Transformers was never a passion of mine, nor was writing it a lifelong dream; when I was pitched this book, IDW EIC David Hedgecock asked me if I wanted to write Visionaries; the Transformers came in later. What got me excited was the idea of reviving and reinventing a largely forgotten franchise; the Transformers were the object they’d be acting against, but the actors would be the Visionaries."

[DeathReviews]

Well, considering Virulina and Galadria (NOT Galadriel) were never part of the toy line, they're sure going out of their way in this crossover to make sure everybody knows that they're 'strong independent womaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan'!

[Daniel Adkins]

even the writer didn't want the crossover

???

I don't know where you're getting this idea, dude. Visaggio was asked to pitch for Transformers Vs Visionaries.

This part of the interview here all but says that she just wanted a visionaries book.

"But Transformers was never a passion of mine, nor was writing it a lifelong dream; when I was pitched this book, IDW EIC David Hedgecock asked me if I wanted to write Visionaries; the Transformers came in later. What got me excited was the idea of reviving and reinventing a largely forgotten franchise; the Transformers were the object they’d be acting against, but the actors would be the Visionaries."

Alright, I found the interview this is from http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2018/0 ... -visaggio/. Interesting.

[Va'al]

even the writer didn't want the crossover

???

I don't know where you're getting this idea, dude. Visaggio was asked to pitch for Transformers Vs Visionaries.

This part of the interview here all but says that she just wanted a visionaries book.

"But Transformers was never a passion of mine, nor was writing it a lifelong dream; when I was pitched this book, IDW EIC David Hedgecock asked me if I wanted to write Visionaries; the Transformers came in later. What got me excited was the idea of reviving and reinventing a largely forgotten franchise; the Transformers were the object they’d be acting against, but the actors would be the Visionaries."

Alright, I found the interview this is from http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2018/0 ... -visaggio/. Interesting.

Always pleasing to see my news posts (with links and extracts - including the one quoted in the comments above) ignored entirely.

[ZeroWolf]

even the writer didn't want the crossover

???

I don't know where you're getting this idea, dude. Visaggio was asked to pitch for Transformers Vs Visionaries.

This part of the interview here all but says that she just wanted a visionaries book.

"But Transformers was never a passion of mine, nor was writing it a lifelong dream; when I was pitched this book, IDW EIC David Hedgecock asked me if I wanted to write Visionaries; the Transformers came in later. What got me excited was the idea of reviving and reinventing a largely forgotten franchise; the Transformers were the object they’d be acting against, but the actors would be the Visionaries."

Alright, I found the interview this is from http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2018/0 ... -visaggio/. Interesting.

Always pleasing to see my news posts (with links and extracts - including the one quoted in the comments above) ignored entirely.

It's okay Va'al, I didn't ignore it

Interesting to note that the writer wasn't keen on writing Kup off so I'm curious as to who's decision it was and why.. (unless he's getting rezzed at the end as a good will gesture or something)

@whoever said about unicron ending the IDW verse.
Unicron at best (or worse) will reset the universe but they will still all be connected, till the licenses are split up again, which could be never. In fact all Unicron may do is eat up all the inconsistencies that have cropped up over the decade long run of IDW Transformers (sort of the same way that Crisis on Infinite Earths was supposed to do for DC)

[Rodimus Knight]

Jem does exist in the Hasbro Universe. Rock 'n Roll used to be the Holograms' roadie.

Seriously? Two questions:
1) what issues does it cover that?
2) was that before or after IDW put out the comic book for Jem and the Holograms?

I am honestly curious since you don't really see anything about the crap going down in the other comics mentioned in the Jem and the Holograms Comic and if Rock 'n Roll mentioned them, before the comic series, then it could have just been one of them Easter egg kind of things.

[Daniel Adkins]

Sorry, Va’al, I missed that part of your post while on mobile.

Jem does exist in the Hasbro Universe. Rock 'n Roll used to be the Holograms' roadie.

Seriously? Two questions:
1) what issues does it cover that?
2) was that before or after IDW put out the comic book for Jem and the Holograms?

I am honestly curious since you don't really see anything about the crap going down in the other comics mentioned in the Jem and the Holograms Comic and if Rock 'n Roll mentioned them, before the comic series, then it could have just been one of them Easter egg kind of things.

It was in the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook. Rock mentions them again Scarlett’s Strike Force #1 and Ian Noble had a Misfits poster in his room in the Action Man miniseries.

[Rodimus Knight]

Sorry, Va’al, I missed that part of your post while on mobile.

Jem does exist in the Hasbro Universe. Rock 'n Roll used to be the Holograms' roadie.

Seriously? Two questions:
1) what issues does it cover that?
2) was that before or after IDW put out the comic book for Jem and the Holograms?

I am honestly curious since you don't really see anything about the crap going down in the other comics mentioned in the Jem and the Holograms Comic and if Rock 'n Roll mentioned them, before the comic series, then it could have just been one of them Easter egg kind of things.

It was in the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook. Rock mentions them again Scarlett’s Strike Force #1 and Ian Noble had a Misfits poster in his room in the Action Man miniseries.

So I'm going to admit that I do read Jem and the Holograms, and I haven't seen Rock n' Roll in the comic anywhere. So I think as far as the current comic series go, it doesn't really connect to the rest of the Hasbroverse, but I think they are still using those names and images in it because they are Hasbro Properties.

So Jem and the Hollograms and the Misfits may exist in the Hsbroverse, the comic itself is not part of it.

[Va'al]

The comics has indeed not been explicitly included, you're right, but the characters have been acknowledged in passing a number of times, as Daniel said!

[ZeroWolf]

So basically, don't get surprised if on the near future if the series gets a soft reboot and suddenly finds itself part of something bigger well as big as it can fit in really (unless they go the macross route and music is suddenly very important to the well being of the universe)

[Daniel Adkins]

Sorry, Va’al, I missed that part of your post while on mobile.

Jem does exist in the Hasbro Universe. Rock 'n Roll used to be the Holograms' roadie.

Seriously? Two questions:
1) what issues does it cover that?
2) was that before or after IDW put out the comic book for Jem and the Holograms?

I am honestly curious since you don't really see anything about the crap going down in the other comics mentioned in the Jem and the Holograms Comic and if Rock 'n Roll mentioned them, before the comic series, then it could have just been one of them Easter egg kind of things.

It was in the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook. Rock mentions them again Scarlett’s Strike Force #1 and Ian Noble had a Misfits poster in his room in the Action Man miniseries.

So I'm going to admit that I do read Jem and the Holograms, and I haven't seen Rock n' Roll in the comic anywhere. So I think as far as the current comic series go, it doesn't really connect to the rest of the Hasbroverse, but I think they are still using those names and images in it because they are Hasbro Properties.

So Jem and the Hollograms and the Misfits may exist in the Hsbroverse, the comic itself is not part of it.

First off, of course you read the Jem comic. Everyone should read Jem. Because its a great comic.

And yes, as Va'al said, the Jem stories have never been explicitly stated to be in the Hasbroverse with Transformers and Joe, but we do know at least that A VERSION of those characters (with the same character designs) exists in the universe.

Actually, when you think about it, in order for Rock to have been a roadie for the Holograms before joining G.I. Joe, that means the Holograms and Misfits formed in the early 2000s rather than the 2010s.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

On an off note, and I went back through the past 2 pages and didn't see it and y'all are talking right now: who is the chick here?