Since posting a very small
news story in the Comics section - about the role of ROM the Spaceknight in IDW's REVOLUTION crossover event - we've been mulling over this piece from
Forbes, in which the author links the new The Last Knight font with ROM's traditional one in the Marvel comics.
Several Seibertronians have thrown around a comment about ROM being the titular Last Knight in jest, but thinking about it - is it not possible that this is indeed the beginning of the
wider Hasbro universe? Why the sudden change in fonts? Why does
Galvatron/Megatron look like a Dire Wraith - ROM's main antagonists in the comics - made out of metal?
While we're at it, compare the tagline in the image below, with the one used for the
Morse code teaser, 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. And remember the creators?
As the author of the Forbes piece says, there are some parallels in the visual - but is that where it stops? According to
Chris Ryall, definitely maybe. Check out more below, and rev your speculation engines in the Energon Pub!
As I said before: “we know
Hasbro has movie plans for Rom, the old Parker Brothers toy that was one of the first action figures to include electronic lights and sounds. He’s slated to be part of a shared cinematic universe that will also include the Micronauts, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., and the Visionaries. It was assumed that Transformers would stay out of it, having previously announced plans for a spin-off universe of their own, and generally not needing the help. Even Age of Extinction, the lowest-grossing Transformers movie domestically (besides the animated one from the ’80s), raked in $1.1 billion worldwide, while the last G.I. Joe movie pulled in a ‘mere’ $375 million internationally. And yet: isn’t that how Marvel launched their cinematic universe? Using the popular character to segue into the riskier ones?”
Even if Rom isn’t happening, his iconography is being used. And as Rom is the least-known to the casual toy collector – aside from some convention exclusives, he hasn’t had a proper action figure of his own in decades – he is the one who needs the biggest push.
It’s time to transform him for the modern world…and roll out.