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While I was unable to attend in person, the wonderful world of social media (and the eyes and ears of El Duque, who was able to attend) has allowed us to put together a brief outline of the things discussed during the IDW panel that took place at BotCon.

The speakers were John Barber (editor, writer), John-Paul Bove (colourist), Jim Sorenson (writer), Alex Milne (artist), Livio Ramondelli (artist), Andrew Griffith (artist), Mairghread Scott (writer), Michael Kelly (Hasbro publishing), Carlos Guzman (editor).



Beast Hunters
(Scott)
With issue 6, comic and animated series will join up somehow; the mini-series will see story arcs of two issues each, to be more accessible to readers. Scott's soundtrack for issue 1 is Amanda Palmer's The Killing Type. The next arc will be written by co-author Mike Johnson.

Monstrosity
(Ramondelli)
Not really a reveal for those following the cover updates or have read the digital issues so far, but Trypticon is going to show up. Ramondelli mentioned that he really enjoyed conveying the character's scale in the series.

ReGeneration One
(Bove)
Mostly focused on issue 0: as previously mentioned, five artists will collaborate on Furman's script for five different stories - Geoff Senior, Jose Delbo, Jeff Anderson, Casey Coller and Nick Roche (who we know for sure will be drawing the Hot Rod section).

More Than Meets The Eye
(Milne)
The story set up so far - Remain in Light - will continue, ending with #20-#21. Issue 22 will then be more of a summing up of where-we-are-now, and will hint at what's to come (see below).
Fun Fact: Mad doctor Pharma has Mark Hamill's Joker's voice, at least for Alex Milne!

Robots in Disguise
(Barber, Griffith)
Barber states that his inspiration for RID is both realistic and fictional: post-war scenarios in history and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire/HBO's Game of Thrones. As we saw in the preview, #19 focuses on Gorlam Prime, and features Waspinator. Issue 20 will include Rattrap, by the looks of it! Issues 21 and 22 will focus on Shockwave and Soundwave, and set off the big event with Shockpoint, leading to...

Dark Cybertron
...the big crossover, co-written by James Roberts and John Barber (remember? The Death of Optimus Prime?). The arc will run for 12 issues, across both titles, starting with a one-shot (Dark Cybertron #1, the Annual substitute for 2013) and then continuing in MTMTE #23. No word on the artistic team, but James Raiz (from DW's Armada comics and IDW's Spotlight: Sixshot) was mentioned.
UPDATE: Andrew Griffith has tweeted what looks like an indication that multiple artists will be working on the story arc.
As suggested by the Spotlights collected in the Prelude TPB and the link with recent events, Metroplex and maybe the other Titans will take centre-stage for the story, as well as Shockwave.

Other
Jim Sorenson talked about how he went through selecting stories from all Transformers comics eras, to put together the 30th Anniversary Collection.
Marvel Classics UK and US will both continue, and a book will be released collecting the Art of Transformers Prime.

That's all we could pull out of the Twitter madness!
Come back in a short while for the slides used during the panel, and thanks to Robbie Robbins from IDW for the panel photo.

12 issues for the Dark Cybertron arc?!

This is a huge event all right... 6 each RiD and MTMTE?

Henry921 wrote:12 issues for the Dark Cybertron arc?!

This is a huge event all right... 6 each RiD and MTMTE?

That's what it looks like!
Two trades that is, two trades.

(Similar to Chaos, I suppose, but Police Action was ..forgettable.)

I'm glad they are feeling their groove thing and are keeping this going. I remember the Dreamwave days and at the time, it was a refreshing cool time for TF comics and its abrupt end was horrible. Now, we know just how wrong we were and that it was a good thing that it came to an end, and things went the way they did to get to this point.

I love that they are paying attention to the comics to make some toys. Not enough yet, but it's a start.

Keep going IDW and get to work on a GI Joe vs. TF crossover please, and a mini as good as Last Stand of the Wreckers...

tigertracks 24 wrote:I'm glad they are feeling their groove thing and are keeping this going.

It's very nice to hear from all the creators involved (artists, writers, colourists, editors, etc) that they're enjoying the experience, love dealing with fans, and just see the level of engagement and relation with readers and between them. I think it all contributes to a better working and creative environment!

One point I didn't write up: they don't have any plans on closing the two titles any time soon.

What the actual f*** is the deal with Ultra Magnus?! Who the hell is that in his armour?!

Please note: I don't actually want answers. I'd rather find out for myself. I'm simply thinking aloud (you know, through my fingers).

Sodan-1 wrote:What the actual f*** is the deal with Ultra Magnus?! Who the hell is that in his armour?!

Please note: I don't actually want answers. I'd rather find out for myself. I'm simply thinking aloud (you know, through my fingers).

You seriously need to catch up!

Va'al wrote:

Sodan-1 wrote:What the actual f*** is the deal with Ultra Magnus?! Who the hell is that in his armour?!

Please note: I don't actually want answers. I'd rather find out for myself. I'm simply thinking aloud (you know, through my fingers).

You seriously need to catch up!

Tell me about it.