The Energon Pub

Everyone, please welcome Mairghread Scott to Robots With Coffee!

You are part of the first all-female team to produce a Transformers comic book...unless you and artist Sarah Stone were ghosting for Pat Lee at Dreamwave and haven't been paid yet. But this isn't your first TF comic. How did you get involved with IDW, and did you choose Sarah to be your artist?

I got involved with IDW through an elaborate series of heists perpetrated by myself and Mike Johnson when we...I mean...when we co-wrote Rage of the Dinobots together. <nervous laugh>

As far as Sarah is concerned, I have to be serious. There are certain things I really wanted in an artist on Transformers Windblade: vibrant color, a sense of movement, diverse and identifiable body designs, and an emphasis on facial expressions. Sarah hit the nail on the head in each of these areas and they all combine to make (what I think is) a dynamic, emotive and easy to follow book perfect for old-school fans and new readers alike.

Windblade was a 'fan created' character, in that the fans got online and voted for what kind of figure it would be. What did you bring to the character once the fan voting had been tallied?

Quite a bit actually. Dark Cybertron was still being written when I came aboard and outside of the knowledge that she could speak to Metroplex, everything else was kind of free reign.


The most important thing for me was to make sure that even though Windblade was a fan-made character, she didn't feel like a composite or generic person. Windblade has a very clear character in my mind: hopeful, determined, empathetic, a little naive and in way over her head. If she was human she'd be the girl that puts on fancy eye shadow for a date and then keep forgetting she has it on and touching her eyes...

…and that's probably the first make-up to Transformer comparison ever made in a professional interview so...milestone?


Your series addresses the gender issue in the IDW TF comics continuity, beyond there originally being no gender (perceived to be "he") and Arcee being the lone female by forced transgender surgery. Was this something that IDW wanted to change, or something you were happy to grab the reigns and 'retcon'?

Argh! Don’t say the ‘r’ word! IDW definitely wanted to do a Windblade book and that obviously required a bit of a think to get Lady Bots back in continuity (outside of Arcee’s unique situation, as you mentioned), but 'retcon-ing' (actually saying something didn’t happen that’s already been established) is something I think of as a weapon of last resort. I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeve besides that and, while new information will be revealed, retcon-ing is not happening in Transformers Windblade.

[...]

I know Windblade is going to be a mini but, hey, if it does well enough, there's a possibility of a NAUTICA ongoing? How awesomely true is this? #nauticafanclub #ftw!

So awesomely true that I have no idea if it will happen/control if it does happen/information on the subject. Although I will take this moment to say that Windblade and Nautica fans should not be snipping at each other online. There's room for everyone in the pool, kids. Mom's watching.<points to eyes, points at you>

Flux Convoy wrote:Abhors the word retcon yet worked on the Dinobots comics which was a grand shoehorning/retconning of WFC/FOC into Prime. Words mean things.

Dead Metal wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:Abhors the word retcon yet worked on the Dinobots comics which was a grand shoehorning/retconning of WFC/FOC into Prime. Words mean things.

Those two games have been part of the Aligned continuity (Prime) even before Prime came out, so it's not a retcon.

Flux Convoy wrote:I know that's what we've been told and is the official line but they contradict themselves far too much to be the same continuities.

T-Macksimus wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:Abhors the word retcon yet worked on the Dinobots comics which was a grand shoehorning/retconning of WFC/FOC into Prime. Words mean things.

Those two games have been part of the Aligned continuity (Prime) even before Prime came out, so it's not a retcon.

Not to mention the fact that when you are in a business basically revolving around the "arts", you take whatever work will bring in a paycheck regardless of whether you find it abhorrent or not.

Which, by the way Dead Metal, goes a long way towards explaining her preference of coffee. I know you're not a fan of Folgers (obviously) but I'm sure that she and the other artists (writers/pencilers/inkers etc) aren't exactly pulling in big bucks doing this kind of work and can afford to be choosy. Nobody does in that industry unless they have been at it for years and are working multiple books or work for DC or Marvel.