IDW Exclusive #SDCC2018 Transformers: Unicron #1 Alex Milne Cover

ZeroWolf wrote:So primus vs unicron it is though I was expecting more back story then that and I am wondering if there's more than what's being said. Also I thought they had no info on him...

There’s gotta be more. Probably the final issue of the Falling because optimus is saying this like he knows all this but in issue 0 they say his name and everyone-Optimus especially- is like “who? What is this thing?” And here it’s “so here’s unicron, hes robot Satan, our god Primus fought and defeated him” so I imagine the falling ends with a ton of exposition by shockwave. And look! You can see shockwaves ship under unicron which is kinda bumming because that means shockwave is allied with him? Maybe it’s just ledge Maximo? I can hope.

I just realized I thought that was Cybertron he’s approaching and thought “well that was quick” that’s caminus!” The gas giant behind it was throwing me off and the fact it’s a metal world but no, that’s caminus.

Also Primus is totally colored wrong.

I didn't see shockwaves ship there, good catch. Is the falling finished in this issue of op?

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't see shockwaves ship there, good catch. Is the falling finished in this issue of op?

Unfortunately no there’s like 2 issues left. The scheduling is really bad right now. They should just delay unicro . The 2 issues a month was canceled so we’re kinda getting an overlapping story here not unlike Revelation/all hail megatron/maximum dinobits and that suuuuuuucked so bad ten years ago

I think we can conclude Antilla and Unicron are one in the same. Didn’t seem coincidence that Anitlla orbits a black hole and unicron awakens around one and has a very organic body.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: Unless they suddenly drop the ball and lean heavy into the naff Primus/Unicron angle.

I called it... How incredibly disappointing and EXTREMELY lazy of Roberts. I might drop my subscription to this series now

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: Unless they suddenly drop the ball and lean heavy into the naff Primus/Unicron angle.

I called it... How incredibly disappointing and EXTREMELY lazy of Roberts. I might drop my subscription to this series now

Roberts isn’t the writer...

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: Unless they suddenly drop the ball and lean heavy into the naff Primus/Unicron angle.

I called it... How incredibly disappointing and EXTREMELY lazy of Roberts. I might drop my subscription to this series now

Roberts isn’t the writer...

Shouldn't flick between two tabs while writing...

Oh well, I suppose this hammers home why the Reboot came to be in the first place. D-Void may have been terrible, but at least it was something different. Much like the previously stated reinvention of Thunderwing, Overlord etc

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: Unless they suddenly drop the ball and lean heavy into the naff Primus/Unicron angle.

I called it... How incredibly disappointing and EXTREMELY lazy of Roberts. I might drop my subscription to this series now

Roberts isn’t the writer...

Shouldn't flick between two tabs while writing...

Oh well, I suppose this hammers home why the Reboot came to be in the first place. D-Void may have been terrible, but at least it was something different. Much like the previously stated reinvention of Thunderwing, Overlord etc

Not really. D-void was just unicron that wasn’t called unicron. Anti-life godlike being that was sleeping till it woke up and screamed I hunger and used Galvatron, scourge and Cyclonus as proxy’s to destroy cybertron and all life in the universe.

Yeeeeeeeah...very different.

I was thinking more conceptually, as a Gestalt of Sweeps. Clearly a lot of that era had been omitted from memory.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I was thinking more conceptually, as a Gestalt of Sweeps. Clearly a lot of that era had been omitted from memory.

Was probably on purpose chaos wasn't that great. Imagine if barber was able to retcon d-void into being an aspect of unicron?

This does seem very bad scheduling, aside from completism, there's no point in the storyline as you know the fates of characters before its revealed.

ZeroWolf wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I was thinking more conceptually, as a Gestalt of Sweeps. Clearly a lot of that era had been omitted from memory.

Was probably on purpose chaos wasn't that great. Imagine if barber was able to retcon d-void into being an aspect of unicron?

This does seem very bad scheduling, aside from completism, there's no point in the storyline as you know the fates of characters before its revealed.

Well the DeceptiGod wasn’t even d-void. It just used the energies of Cybertron and the decepticon loyalty of all the Decepticons to its advantage to force the Decepticons to combine. It was just a pawn too.

I'll buy it when it comes out for sure, I still highly enjoy IDW's TF comics, but much like with Unicron #0 I probably won't be reading it until it lines up with the latest issue of Optimus Prime.

Guys, just because Optimus Prime tells the "story" of Unicron, that doesn't make it true. Hell, we still don't know whether or not the Guiding Hand was real or not. Especially when the solicit for issue 3 literally says the character discover what Unicron is.

Daniel Adkins wrote:Guys, just because Optimus Prime tells the "story" of Unicron, that doesn't make it true. Hell, we still don't know whether or not the Guiding Hand was real or not. Especially when the solicit for issue 3 literally says the character discover what Unicron is.

Problem is this story jars with what was said in unicron 0 where no one knew him. Also it's a bit daft to tell one tale which the characters have never heard of just to do a fake out and say: "hah that wasn't real!" Plus I think unicron 3 may just reveal that unicron is a giant tf.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Daniel Adkins wrote:Guys, just because Optimus Prime tells the "story" of Unicron, that doesn't make it true. Hell, we still don't know whether or not the Guiding Hand was real or not. Especially when the solicit for issue 3 literally says the character discover what Unicron is.

Problem is this story jars with what was said in unicron 0 where no one knew him. Also it's a bit daft to tell one tale which the characters have never heard of just to do a fake out and say: "hah that wasn't real!" Plus I think unicron 3 may just reveal that unicron is a giant tf.

EXCEPT for the fact that one of the biggest recurring themes in this universe is that myths, legends, and religions ARE FALSE. From the Guiding Hand to the Thirteen, every major myth or legend about Cybertron is at best unconfirmed and at worst outright revealed to be lies.
As for Unicron #0, if I may compare it to my own religion for a second, if I saw a firey wheel with wings and eyes all over it, I would say “holy crap, what the hell is that?” I of course know that flaming wheel with wings and eyes is a description of a Biblical angel (seriously, look it up) but that wouldn’t be the first thought to pop in my head. I 100% believe that everyone took Unicron as “a giant fricking planet is eating another planet.” Before they thought about a religion that most of the bots on board don’t even practice.

To be fair, the necrobot turned out to be true I do understand what your saying but it's a dangerous thing to keep pulling the same trick. Though having thought about it, the legends have been true in a sense, i mean the thirteen existed, it's just that shockwave created them.

If all this means though they are going the primacon route though then I'll not be happy. I'll happily take him as the robo satan then the creation of a monkey.

No offense, ZeroWolf, but I think you’re letting your knowledge of past lore cloud your judgement. You assume it’s going to be Primus vs Unicron, you assume it’s going to be Primacron, but the one thing you don’t assume is that it’s just going to be something new.

Honestly, I’m so tired of TF fandom never wanting anything new. Everything has to be an homage or a reference or pulled from something else. Especially when the IDW universe has always predicated itself on reinventing and subverting character interpretations: Galvatron isn’t Megatron, Elita One is a ruthless warlord, Ultra Magnus is tiny dude with a mustache. And it’s by thinking outside the box that IDW has been so successful.

Oh I love new things, I'm a staunch defender of the new characters we got in combiner wars, even if they never got a chance to shine like Rook, and alpha bravo. However I can easily see hasbro leaning in here and giving advice on what to do with unicron. I want to be wrong, I want a new take but I'm pessimistic in what's going to happen. Id much prefer a more lovecraftian approach to unicron.

Now that issue aside there's been something else that's been making me think. We know from future solicitations that the dire wraiths are stadding against the bots but the bestial army comment in this preview makes me wonder if all the beast formers that were with onyx wave are now working for unicron...

Uh, we actually have had NO word on Dire Wraiths appearing in this at all. Now, there are those guys who have Unicron horns that make them resemble Vekktral and his crew, but they actually shapeshifted to distinguish himself from the other Dire Wraiths (becuase Alex Milne just felt like drawing something different.) As a reminder, here’s what Dire Wraiths are actually supposed to look like.

Okay that's a little confusing but thank you for the clear up

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Honestly, I’m so tired of TF fandom never wanting anything new. Everything has to be an homage or a reference or pulled from something else. Especially when the IDW universe has always predicated itself on reinventing and subverting character interpretations: Galvatron isn’t Megatron, Elita One is a ruthless warlord, Ultra Magnus is tiny dude with a mustache. And it’s by thinking outside the box that IDW has been so successful.

Couldn't agree more. G1 is a noose around the neck of this series, preventing it from growing into something more. IDWverse began with reinvention yet over the years they have heavily backpeddled at times. AHM was the biggest example but there have been others. It went as far as Barber and Roberts chose to write the stories they wanted to, under the banner and skin of "Transformers", yet still fell back on the same tired tropes.

The fact they mentioned this "legend" was an outright bad idea. To even mention it, I don't see them deviating with Unicron in the same way as with Galvatron or Thunderwing. Time will tell, yet from this preview alone, I am very skeptical now.

Also, Ultra Magnus was reinvented twice in IDWverse. First as "Judge Dredd in Space" which seemed an awesome concept. Then as a fake suit with a tiny mustached Bot inside.

To be fair the idea that he was just someone in the suit didn't lessen the dredd in space idea as
It just meant that the guy who was dredd bite the big one somewhere along the line. Makes sense to me anyway besides um started off as someone in armour though dw stated it was just a white prime in the armour, going very toy accurate with that.

ZeroWolf wrote:To be fair the idea that he was just someone in the suit didn't lessen the dredd in space idea as
It just meant that the guy who was dredd bite the big one somewhere along the line. Makes sense to me anyway besides um started off as someone in armour though dw stated it was just a white prime in the armour, going very toy accurate with that.

Of course it lessened the idea, his entire personality was changed and diluted. How would it make sense for the character introduced through his Spotlight in 2007 to have died offpanel between Escalation and Last Stand of The Wreckers? (all of these events set chronologically within a year or so)
The MTMTE mustached Bot was in a suit of armour, nothing written prior even remotely suggested the actual Ultra Magnus was.

He could have easily died before he got on the lost light besides he had some good monents, he just learned to loosen up as well. Also to be fair tryest also didn't like how up himself he got, hence why he wanted to replace him with legislators. As I've said though I'm okay with the change and don't think it lessens anything but then being a dwarfer, I like the homage to ace rimmer your milage may vary

I thought Thunderclash was supposed to be Ace Rimmer?

At the end of the day, it's a cop-out. Clearly Roberts didn't want to write Judge Dredd in Space, he wanted to write about OCD bureaucrat with an inferiority complex.

Maybe the New continuity will give us an Ultra Magnus that lives upto the pedigree of the name, not a Joke Pretender Shell

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:The MTMTE mustached Bot was in a suit of armour, nothing written prior even remotely suggested the actual Ultra Magnus was.

I might be in the minority on this, but I never got used to Minimus Ambus. Any time I saw Magnus on the page, I saw Ultra Magnus. Whenever I read his dialogue, Robert Stack's voice was in my head. That's not being a Geewunner, because I don't have a problem with the concept of Minimus Ambus. I just never got used to it. Maybe the old version is too ingrained in my memories. Ironically, back in G1 I didn't like the Magnus character much, but I like IDW's characterization of him. Also, I thought the "white Prime in the armor" concept was cool, especially the way it was revealed.

Little bot in a suit of Armour = Pretender.

Transformers Lore 101.

If they had Robocop'd him, that would have been a different story (and not a bad idea, actually). I generally found while reading the dialogue of MTMTE/LL, I couldn't "hear" the character voices saying those lines. It all goes with the general disconnect I had with the ongoings post-DoOP.

I said ace rimmer because of what was revealed in season 7 of red dwarf, namely that the original ace was dead and that a sucession of rimmers took the mantle. Though now I type this I'm also reminded that an old comic hero has done this before...the ghost that walks...the Phantom. Regardless there's also another possibility in play regarding magnus, that of he didn't have a place really post death of Optimus Prime. Barber clearly had plans for rid, and magnus didn't fit in any of them. Prowl, bee and Starscream were the big players of pre-dark cybertron robots in disguise. Roberts was the only one who had an idea of what to do with him.

Now there was an option of doing nothing with him but fans would kick off that a character like um wasnt getting used, so he had to be used...

I suspect we'll get a different take on him next time anyway but I do want to see more of an animated slant again, with him being higher then op in the chain of command. If they do the white prime thing then I want a good storyline why.

ZeroWolf wrote: Regardless there's also another possibility in play regarding magnus, that of he didn't have a place really post death of Optimus Prime.

Ok everyone, here's a fun game, Sound Off how many characters you think this applied to?

Well, we got 9 of the 13 colonies eaten, and it looks like #10 is about to go. So that leaves Earth and Carcer (in orbit around Cybertron). Man, this is gonna be destructive.

Also really glad Milne is drawing the series. His detail is what can make Unicron perfect in IDW

Unicron has never looked better

We finally have the full previews for this week's comics from IDW Publishing featuring Transformers, and we're headed for a number of endings - and we finish with Unicron #1 below! Check it all out, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub as we prepare our review for the release date this new comic book day.

Transformers: Unicron #1 (of 6)—Cover A: Alex Milne—GEM OF THE MONTH
John Barber (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
The Darkest Hour has come. Optimus Prime stages a desperate gamble as the world-eater, Unicron, approaches Windblade’s homeworld—but that’s just the appetizer. The main course is Cybertron (with a side of Earth)... and it’s starting to look like no force in the galaxy can stop the end from coming.
FC • 32 pages • $4.99

Transformers: Unicron #1 (of 6)—Cover B: James Raiz—GEM OF THE MONTH
John Barber (w) • Alex Milne (a) • James Raiz (c)
FC • 32 pages • $4.99

Bullet points:
The end is nigh!
Variant covers by Andrew Griffith, Francesco Francavilla, and Bill Sienkiewicz!

this looks epic cant wait for the trade

Unless the issue does something really interesting, I'm definitely dropping the subscription, from the preview alone.

I see the Dark Syde! I can't wait to see the rest of this story develp.

So we're going to see prime fight primal...or will primal turn and fight alongside the good guys leading bw megs to be turned into bw galvatron in a bizarre mish mash of homages...

That aside thus doesn't add anything other than the page of fighting which we already knew was coming and that page summarising everything to this point.

@AllNewSuper what's made you drop it considering this is pretty much what we've seen in the other preview?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Unless the issue does something really interesting, I'm definitely dropping the subscription, from the preview alone.

Yeh you said that 2 days ago when you thought Roberts was the writer

I was planning to drop it from the first preview. This one hasn't altered that but I will wait for issue one to arrive. The hamfisted Beast Wars cameos really leave a bad taste in my mouth (yes I am aware they come from Shockwave/Onyx Prime in the OP book)

ZeroWolf wrote:So we're going to see prime fight primal...or will primal turn and fight alongside the good guys leading bw megs to be turned into bw galvatron in a bizarre mish mash of homages...

That aside thus doesn't add anything other than the page of fighting which we already knew was coming and that page summarising everything to this point.

@AllNewSuper what's made you drop it considering this is pretty much what we've seen in the other preview?

Man I have no idea what’s the deal with primal. I’m all about new interpretations of characters but having primal as a bad guy leaves some sour taste in my mouth. I’d like to see him switch sides but he’s been a follower of Onyx for 12 million years and is pretty much just a generic robot in ODW.

Randomhero wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:So we're going to see prime fight primal...or will primal turn and fight alongside the good guys leading bw megs to be turned into bw galvatron in a bizarre mish mash of homages...

That aside thus doesn't add anything other than the page of fighting which we already knew was coming and that page summarising everything to this point.

@AllNewSuper what's made you drop it considering this is pretty much what we've seen in the other preview?

Man I have no idea what’s the deal with primal. I’m all about new interpretations of characters but having primal as a bad guy leaves some sour taste in my mouth. I’d like to see him switch sides but he’s been a follower of Onyx for 12 million years and is pretty much just a generic robot in ODW.

WELL, i doynt we'll get thr expose for ot, but maybe since Unicron ate Eukaris, Primal Died, Unicron enslaved the Body.

......I've been wondering if Unicron would have Minions/Heralds but this is not what I hoped for.

Even Shoehorning Shockwave in as the mastermind over everything felt lackluster. And I never liked BW's at all. So I'm not all that hyped about buying this book anymore..

But if they violently kill Pyra Magna, I'll buy that issue twice!

Robot sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!!

Flashwave wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:So we're going to see prime fight primal...or will primal turn and fight alongside the good guys leading bw megs to be turned into bw galvatron in a bizarre mish mash of homages...

That aside thus doesn't add anything other than the page of fighting which we already knew was coming and that page summarising everything to this point.

@AllNewSuper what's made you drop it considering this is pretty much what we've seen in the other preview?

Man I have no idea what’s the deal with primal. I’m all about new interpretations of characters but having primal as a bad guy leaves some sour taste in my mouth. I’d like to see him switch sides but he’s been a follower of Onyx for 12 million years and is pretty much just a generic robot in ODW.

WELL, i doynt we'll get thr expose for ot, but maybe since Unicron ate Eukaris, Primal Died, Unicron enslaved the Body.

Primal isn't from Eukaris though, he was part of onyx's entourage. Good news is that he's just an extra in this with no personality, but still...

The Darkest Hour has come. Optimus Prime stages a desperate gamble as the world-eater, Unicron, approaches Windblade’s homeworld—but that’s just the appetizer. The main course is Cybertron (with a side of Earth)... and it’s starting to look like no force in the galaxy can stop the end from coming.

Story

So here we are at last, the end of a dream, the end of 14 years of Transformers, the end of the longest running Transformers comic series in history. And here it goes out not with a bang nor a whimper. It goes out spectacularly and in glorious Big Screen Milne-D TV (that's a 2D 3D joke folks).

But we'll get to art later. First, let's focus in on the story shall we?



The story is sort of odd, but also pretty spectacular all in one. I will start with the odd: With the final Chapter of The Falling, over in IDW's Optimus Prime book, has not yet finished, meaning this book spoils some things but also sort of feels at odds, like you jumped into the action a bit too soon, like the first part of a 3 part finale from a TV show came before the 3rd to last episode. It may be a bit jarring, but that is hardly the book's fault.

Something that is also a bit strange is how this issue just feels like a slightly larger, more violent version of Unicron #0. Which I mean, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the amount of action and Beast Wars cameos we get (though add a sin for only cameos at this point). But it also is a bit weird playing the script again. But at least (redacted as it is a spoiler, see the final thoughts)*.



That all being said, we still get a great and fun story. Something you might not have seen coming, and shown pretty much front and center on the front of the page, is the comparison between Optimus Prime and Unicron. In many ways, these 2 characters are quite similar. And in this issue, we get plenty of Optimus, though we are still in the early days of Unicron, but that's OK! We are building up, as Unicron is building himself up, and I have to say, the 2nd half of the book had some pretty awesome things about Unicron.

All the character moments we get as well are incredible. Dirge, the Mistress, Soundwave and ROM, even Pyra Magna at the end. The characters are driving the story as much as the pictures and action on the page, and to that end, Barber once again delivers the goods.



See final thoughts for 1 more story thing that is best left unsaid at this juncture.

Overall though, good story, slightly repetitive, but still freshened some, and ready to speed onward to the final 5 issues. And we even get a Furmanism!

Art

What would a comic be without art you might ask? It would be a book that's what. And while books are cool, comics drawn by Alex Milne and colored by Sebastian Cheng are even better. These 2 guys right here? They kill the book. They kill the book almost as well as Unicron killed the colonies and Wheeljack! (too soon?...)



The art, as to be expected on a Milne book, is fantastic. Bold lines, insane attention to detail, not a wide shot or a background missed. And the work on Unicron is the 2nd half of the book is awesome, properly great, kinda like the Transformers version of Bosch's Visions of Hell (maybe a spoiler, depends if you've seen that). The whole book is filled with great detail, great character moments, both story and art wise, and some great backdrops, even if we are literally in space for half the issue.

The coloring really helps bring out all those details too. I envy not a person who has to color Milne art, but Cheng did an amazing job, stellar. All the detail Milne provided was intricately carved out in detail and wonderful colors. He made the fires burn bright and the darkness nearly consume the reader themselves.



And the art would not be complete without our resident Letterer, Tom B. Long. Long still kills the varied speech patterns, and I love the colors and fonts chosen for Unicron. He also is one of the best at making sure you miss as little art as possible while catching your necessary speech bubbles.

For even more information, you can check out our Unicron database entry for this issue

Final Thoughts
Majorly spoilerish ahead



Ok, so as promised from the story section, the final 2 notes before we plunge on:

1) We are pretty much out of filler. Cybertron is next, and the action is going to only heat up from here. Both we and Unicron had the appetizers, it's time for the giant main course guys.

2) Starscream. oh man Starscream. It feels good to have him around for this final push of the storyline. And once again, it's just the way Milne draws him, but the Steve Blum just oozes all over the speech bubbles. This is the Starscream we've always needed in a comic, Transformers: Prime personified in a "G1" comic. It is brilliant.

With that, I wrap things up with this: This is the end, the great finale, the Unicron event that will end a universe, as Unicron's actually pretty rarely do. And the threat is large, it has power, it isn't showing weakness, it isn't showing any cliches, and it knows that only a few, if any, can truly have that happy ending. Heroes will fall, the action will heat up even more, the pace will pick up even more. The final enigma of the universe will be solved.

It is a great read, a part 2 if you will to the Free Unicron #0, one that provides a bit new, repeats some stuff, but still kills you with what it is intended to do. Great job here, let's keep shooting to the stars (so long as Unicron doesn't eat them).



PS: in case you're interested, I felt this song was perfect for this issue. (Obviously)

glad to know i'm not the only person that likes that song

D R E W wrote:glad to know i'm not the only person that likes that song

I'm really glad someone can appreciate the music/lyrics/references I tag into my reviews. It is a great some, and perfect for the issue itself. there is gonna be a high body count...

Not in a place where I can click on the link so what is that song? Good to know things are starting well in unicron. Good review dmax!

ZeroWolf wrote:Not in a place where I can click on the link so what is that song? Good to know things are starting well in unicron. Good review dmax!

Skillet - Not Gonna Die!

Thanks Va'al

Va'al wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not in a place where I can click on the link so what is that song? Good to know things are starting well in unicron. Good review dmax!

Skillet - Not Gonna Die!

I kinda want to lay claim to the other 5 Unicron issues as well simply because I have a line of Skillet songs lined up for reviews, and I think most if not all line up greatly with Unicron!

As for other thoughts of mine on the issue other than those in the review, I know we haven't seen Dirge in a bit, but I was still sad to see him bite the dust.

Also, the scenes inside Unicron were fantastic. I love how he uses the inhabitants of the planets he's eaten as his immune system, all fused together and such. Maybe we'll see a part Wheeljack Antibody.

Also looking forward to learning more about Unicron.