John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron

Tuesday, May 8th, 2018 9:29PM CDT

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Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal Views: 24,960

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Comics WebsiteThe Beat had the opportunity to sit down with the newly appointed Editor-In-Chief of IDW publishing and continuity master extraordinaire John Barber to talk about the upcoming Transformers: Unicron series, which saw it's issue #0 released this past Saturday at Free Comic Book Day. You can find a review of that issue HERE.

Over the course of the interview, Barber talks about his upcoming role in the IDW Transformers comics following the end of the current continuity, where he states that he will have a guiding hand involved with whatever new series is set to start. This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity. So while he may not be writing the new stories, he will be responsible for overseeing them.

You can check out the full interview by following the link above, and you can catch some of the content quoted below!

Alexander Jones: How do your new responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief effect your contributions to the Transformers franchise?

John Barber: My recent return to IDW as Editor-in-Chief won’t impact Unicron—I’m still writing the event (along with the Optimus Prime series) through to the end, and my excitement and commitment to this story could not be higher. But I’m also incredibly honored and excited to have the opportunity to take a guiding hand on where the Transformers comics from IDW and Hasbro go next—and on where we take all of IDW’s amazing comics. I’ve been at this job for about a week, and it’s been thrilling working with our partners. The future of IDW—and of comics—looks very, very bright. Unless a big metal planet eats the whole universe, but we’ll have to see how that goes.

.....

Jones: Why was Unicron chosen as the story to close out the current Transformers Universe?

Barber: Unicron is a really iconic piece of the Transformers mythos. If you’re old enough to have lived through the original Transformers cartoon in the 1980s, you remember what a massive, disruptive thing Unicron was in the movie. That movie was one of the most apocalyptic cartoons you were going to see as a kid in the 1980s—it was devastating watching those familiar characters die. And that’s intrinsically linked with Unicron—in my mind, at least—even though, as editor David Mariotte likes pointing out, Unicron didn’t really kill very many Transformers. He still ate whole planets!

Unicron is something we’ve thought about doing in the IDW universe for a long time but always held off. The time never felt right, and I think the chance to do something really big—something where genuinely anything can happen, and will—was a chance, really the first chance we’ve had, to do Unicron right.

Credit(s): The Beat

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Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958348)
Posted by DeadCaL on May 8th, 2018 @ 9:38pm CDT

Va'al wrote:And it's done in such a way that will allow several readers to really want to get into the main story come July, while not relying on senseless shock value twists or carnage for its own sake (yes, we all know what I'm referring to here).

Could you explain for those of us that don't know?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958358)
Posted by Sunstar on May 8th, 2018 @ 11:22pm CDT

DeadCaL wrote:
Va'al wrote:And it's done in such a way that will allow several readers to really want to get into the main story come July, while not relying on senseless shock value twists or carnage for its own sake (yes, we all know what I'm referring to here).

Could you explain for those of us that don't know?

visionaries comes to mind.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958378)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 9th, 2018 @ 2:47am CDT

DeadCaL wrote:
Va'al wrote:And it's done in such a way that will allow several readers to really want to get into the main story come July, while not relying on senseless shock value twists or carnage for its own sake (yes, we all know what I'm referring to here).

Could you explain for those of us that don't know?

Just read Lost Light. I'll just say there is a lot of OMG your favorite character(s) are dead! Oops we lied they just fine - tune in next time for more cheap shock value. :SICK:

Granted I quit reading LL after the 15th issue because I could just not take the cheap attention grabbing and incessant politics being inserted into it. I'm hoping it's gotten better since then. I know no one is forcing me to read something that isn't my cup of tea but it still bums me out that something that started out good took such a nosedive.

By the way how far into LL do I need to read Unicron 0? I picked it up at my local comic shop and I have been hanging onto it just in case.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958379)
Posted by Va'al on May 9th, 2018 @ 3:05am CDT

I was specifically talking about Visionaries. But that was an interesting reaction I had not expected!

So far, there is very little LL plot feeding into Unicron, thought that may of course change.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958386)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 9th, 2018 @ 3:54am CDT

Va'al wrote:I was specifically talking about Visionaries. But that was an interesting reaction I had not expected!

So far, there is very little LL plot feeding into Unicron, thought that may of course change.

Guess I don't have to force myself to read it then. Oh happy day! :BOWDOWN:

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958406)
Posted by ScottyP on May 9th, 2018 @ 8:14am CDT

They've been planning this longer than any of us realized, which is enough to allay any fears I had about a rush job.

(How do I know this? You will know soon! Horrible shameless plug: watch this space in ~12 days)

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958411)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 8:47am CDT

ScottyP wrote:They've been planning this longer than any of us realized, which is enough to allay any fears I had about a rush job.

(How do I know this? You will know soon! Horrible shameless plug: watch this space in ~12 days)

Now I'm curious, but does that mean they knew it would end this continuity when it first was talked about? Or is that something that changed

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958435)
Posted by BumbleDouche on May 9th, 2018 @ 10:28am CDT

"Unicron didn’t really kill very many Transformers" - That's absurd! While they may not have been specifically shown onscreen, they were certainly implied!

When Unicron revealed his robot mode and slammed his fist into Cybertron, the occupying Decepticon forces were decimated to the extent that the pitiful Autobots were finally able to regain control of the planet, something they'd failed at repeatedly over millions of years.

Further, the army of Decepticon survivors exiled to Chaar in the first few episodes of season 3 were too few to be considered a planetary occupation force, so it stands to reason that their absent comrades were in fact destroyed in defense of Cybertron by Unicron.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958441)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 9th, 2018 @ 10:54am CDT

^Shockwave suffered worse than most. Not only was he implied to be directly under Unicron's hand when it hit, but he was never seen or heard of again. Not even by animation error! Let alone there are still some that don't list him among the dead in The Movie.

As an aside, it would be nice if Kranix appears in this mini, in some meaningful way. His concept art did have an altmode after all...

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958461)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 12:41pm CDT

Never realised he had an alt mode,, wonder if there was ever talks of a toy of him from back then.

So I re-read 0 today, and I thought of something that was said at the end of it.

they said that he's getting bigger and stronger the more planets he's consuming (though from what pyra says, I'm also guessing suns aren't off the menu). So how's this for a theory, unicron will only be able to transform into his robot form once so many colony worlds have bit the dust. Additionally what I'm thinking is that the planet mode is more of a lavaral state while the robot mode is his true form.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958463)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 9th, 2018 @ 12:53pm CDT

As echoed by others, I do hope when Unicron transforms, he does more than just stand there and leer...

Another cool tidbit I read up on Kranix was how he ended up on Quintessa, in the original draft:

TFWiki wrote:A deleted line of dialogue explained that the Quintessons hunted down those who escaped the wrath of Unicron and put them on trial, with the sentence always being the same—death!

Which gives the trials of Quintessons actual purpose :-?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958483)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 2:19pm CDT

If they went with that, they would have to explain what the connection was between the qunits and unicron was, which depending on how it was handled, could have been fun.

Seeing unicron that big in robot mode makes me hope that someone does fan art down the line of equally big (or bigger) anime mechs taking him apart like tenga toppa gurren laggan (I haven't spelt that right at all) :lol:

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958490)
Posted by Bounti76 on May 9th, 2018 @ 3:04pm CDT

WreckerJack wrote:
DeadCaL wrote:
Va'al wrote:And it's done in such a way that will allow several readers to really want to get into the main story come July, while not relying on senseless shock value twists or carnage for its own sake (yes, we all know what I'm referring to here).

Could you explain for those of us that don't know?

Just read Lost Light. I'll just say there is a lot of OMG your favorite character(s) are dead! Oops we lied they just fine - tune in next time for more cheap shock value.

Granted I quit reading LL after the 15th issue because I could just not take the cheap attention grabbing and incessant politics being inserted into it. I'm hoping it's gotten better since then. I know no one is forcing me to read something that isn't my cup of tea but it still bums me out that something that started out good took such a nosedive.

By the way how far into LL do I need to read Unicron 0? I picked it up at my local comic shop and I have been hanging onto it just in case.

I stopped reading when they had Star Saber off Defensor like he (Defensor) was some weak, powerless chump. It reeked of shock value.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958496)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 9th, 2018 @ 3:34pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:If they went with that, they would have to explain what the connection was between the qunits and unicron was, which depending on how it was handled, could have been fun.

It certainly would have been better than Primacron :roll:

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958512)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 9th, 2018 @ 4:32pm CDT

"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958523)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:06pm CDT

Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

No one paid me to, it's simply 100% true. We can disagree about this, but Barber has proven for years to be the master of continuity. He has made things work that really shouldn't while still doing a lot of his own stuff

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958524)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:08pm CDT

Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

Do you have any examples or is this just your opinion? I agree with the original statement. I mean, Barber cut his teeth making sense of the live action movies since the writers of those films weren't interested in continuity (or explaining things clearly)

@AllNewSuperRobot Anything is better than Primacon. That's why I was thankful that Furman wrote an alternative origin for unicron during his work on the marvel series. At least hasbro seem to favour the primus/unicron origin more than the primacon one. I swear that even I'll lose faith in IDW if they go with the toon origins...I bet the writer's thought they were being really clever when they added that bit in. That episode would have been fine leaving out all mentions of unicron.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958531)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:25pm CDT

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

No one paid me to, it's simply 100% true. We can disagree about this, but Barber has proven for years to be the master of continuity. He has made things work that really shouldn't while still doing a lot of his own stuff

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

sure.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958532)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:27pm CDT

Galactic Prime wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

No one paid me to, it's simply 100% true. We can disagree about this, but Barber has proven for years to be the master of continuity. He has made things work that really shouldn't while still doing a lot of his own stuff

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

sure.

True. Barber is almost universally praised for his continuity work. Heck, he made Spotlight: Mirage canon after almost a decade. He is good, I really don't understand what you have against him other than he's part of IDW

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958533)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:30pm CDT

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

No one paid me to, it's simply 100% true. We can disagree about this, but Barber has proven for years to be the master of continuity. He has made things work that really shouldn't while still doing a lot of his own stuff

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

sure.

True. Barber is almost universally praised for his continuity work. Heck, he made Spotlight: Mirage canon after almost a decade. He is good, I really don't understand what you have against him other than he's part of IDW

Ummmm he's a terrible writer? I honestly don't see how you can see him as good. The continuity of the IDW TF comics has been terrible. Utterly terrible.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958534)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:34pm CDT

Galactic Prime wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:"This is a comforting piece of news, seeing as how Barber has proven to be one of the best, if not the master of continuity."

How much did he pay you to write that garbage?

Because it's simply not true.

No one paid me to, it's simply 100% true. We can disagree about this, but Barber has proven for years to be the master of continuity. He has made things work that really shouldn't while still doing a lot of his own stuff

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

sure.

True. Barber is almost universally praised for his continuity work. Heck, he made Spotlight: Mirage canon after almost a decade. He is good, I really don't understand what you have against him other than he's part of IDW

Ummmm he's a terrible writer? I honestly don't see how you can see him as good. The continuity of the IDW TF comics has been terrible. Utterly terrible.

It really hasn't? It was bad between AHM and the 2009 ongoing because soft reboots and such. Since Death of Optimus Prime, it has been very streamlined, and things have been worked so all of the previous stuff does fit in. So it's been great, there hasn't been anything remotely terrible about the main Transformers titles since the 2009 ongoing.

Some of the (not all, some) crossovers, I will give you, but those that are are very much ignorable

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958537)
Posted by Nexus Knight on May 9th, 2018 @ 5:46pm CDT

Galactic Prime wrote:Ummmm he's a terrible writer? I honestly don't see how you can see him as good. The continuity of the IDW TF comics has been terrible. Utterly terrible.

His run didn't even start until The Death of Optimus Prime, so he can't even be blamed for anything before. If I remember properly, his stories helped smooth over some of the headaches from before. It would be nice, though, if you gave a more specific example of how he is bad, instead of just telling people they are wrong to like him, especially with such a well loved author like Barber.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958635)
Posted by Sunstar on May 10th, 2018 @ 12:04am CDT

Va'al wrote:I was specifically talking about Visionaries. But that was an interesting reaction I had not expected!

So far, there is very little LL plot feeding into Unicron, thought that may of course change.

great minds think alike then.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958658)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 10th, 2018 @ 2:02am CDT

I hadn't bothered with visionaries due to the previews looking kinda meh (and robots dying in stupid and or pointless ways is my pet peeve!)

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958666)
Posted by Sigma Magnus on May 10th, 2018 @ 5:37am CDT

WreckerJack wrote:I hadn't bothered with visionaries due to the previews looking kinda meh (and robots dying in stupid and or pointless ways is my pet peeve!)

Guessing you didn't like the Wreckers saga then :lol:

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958719)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 10th, 2018 @ 11:51am CDT

So I just read issue 0. That.. was interesting. Obviously the context of most of the dialogue, characters and relations to each other was lost on me. But it didn't actually matter in the end, because they are all largely fodder, as they should be.

I like this Unicron already. I like the preamble to him. That he is an unknown quantity. Wasn't crazy about the Galactus Quote at the end. They should definitely keep his speech to a minimum. Other than that, he is finally a relentless Destroyer. I approve.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958721)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 10th, 2018 @ 12:22pm CDT

I think they'll end up giving him a full voice once he's eaten more planets...not saying that's what I want but it's something I can see them doing, probably has something to do with his voice being so iconic (now that I think about it though, did unicron talk during the unicron trilogy, or was it only through sideways?)

Now I'm probably overthinking it but was there another reason emissary tried to stop them from getting out of there?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958723)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 10th, 2018 @ 12:28pm CDT

In league is a possibility. As I've mentioned before the true significance of this Unicron is that Cybertron called for him. That suggests some kind of ancient failsafe?

His voice via Orson Welles is iconic. Yet his dialogue on the printed page... Not so much.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958731)
Posted by AlphaBass on May 10th, 2018 @ 1:49pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:I think they'll end up giving him a full voice once he's eaten more planets...not saying that's what I want but it's something I can see them doing, probably has something to do with his voice being so iconic (now that I think about it though, did unicron talk during the unicron trilogy, or was it only through sideways?)

Now I'm probably overthinking it but was there another reason emissary tried to stop them from getting out of there?

It's probably related to that energy spike Wheeljack saw when he was starting the space bridge. But also consider he was paralyzed from the crash, so he may not have been able to switch the signal off even if he wanted to.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958732)
Posted by bluecatcinema on May 10th, 2018 @ 1:54pm CDT

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:If they went with that, they would have to explain what the connection was between the qunits and unicron was, which depending on how it was handled, could have been fun.

It certainly would have been better than Primacron

I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually prefer the Primacron origin. To me, it sounds a little more believable than Unicron being this god-like being who destroyed the previous universe.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958733)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 10th, 2018 @ 2:00pm CDT

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the Primus/Unicron Creation origin either. I think it's one of those situations where less is more. Like in The Movie, he was just there, keeping the enigma and mystery, enhancing his character.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958742)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 10th, 2018 @ 2:42pm CDT

bluecatcinema wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:If they went with that, they would have to explain what the connection was between the qunits and unicron was, which depending on how it was handled, could have been fun.

It certainly would have been better than Primacron

I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually prefer the Primacron origin. To me, it sounds a little more believable than Unicron being this god-like being who destroyed the previous universe.

Is there such a thing talking about unbelievablilty when we're talking about shape shifting alien robots that can alter mass?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1958753)
Posted by Galactic Prime on May 10th, 2018 @ 3:49pm CDT

Nexus Knight wrote:
Galactic Prime wrote:Ummmm he's a terrible writer? I honestly don't see how you can see him as good. The continuity of the IDW TF comics has been terrible. Utterly terrible.

His run didn't even start until The Death of Optimus Prime, so he can't even be blamed for anything before. If I remember properly, his stories helped smooth over some of the headaches from before. It would be nice, though, if you gave a more specific example of how he is bad, instead of just telling people they are wrong to like him, especially with such a well loved author like Barber.

OK, let me try to say it this way. Every reason that you like him, is why I don't. Does that help?

I haven't been impressed with the IDW Transformers at all. The characterizations on many of the characters are WAY off. The pointless and stupid deaths of characters that served no purpose.

I mean Mirage, Trailbreaker, Sideswipe, and so many more all terrible deaths.

But the characterizations, my god.... so terrible.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1959205)
Posted by WreckerJack on May 13th, 2018 @ 5:05am CDT

Sigma Magnus wrote:
WreckerJack wrote:I hadn't bothered with visionaries due to the previews looking kinda meh (and robots dying in stupid and or pointless ways is my pet peeve!)

Guessing you didn't like the Wreckers saga then

To be honest I have not read it yet. I bought it about a month ago and it's been on my to-read pile on my shelf. Maybe I should screw over my sleep cycle a little more and read it now haha.

Getting back to the subject, I read Unicron 0 and it was pretty good. There were some slow parts but it does make me curious for this series. I liked that they gave us a re-cap and some other cool stuff in the back of the book. I am glad I picked it up.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1960909)
Posted by ScottyP on May 22nd, 2018 @ 8:10am CDT

WreckerJack wrote:
Sigma Magnus wrote:
WreckerJack wrote:I hadn't bothered with visionaries due to the previews looking kinda meh (and robots dying in stupid and or pointless ways is my pet peeve!)

Guessing you didn't like the Wreckers saga then

To be honest I have not read it yet. I bought it about a month ago and it's been on my to-read pile on my shelf. Maybe I should screw over my sleep cycle a little more and read it now haha.

:clears throat, taps your shoulder:

Anyhow, I was thinking about it earlier and Trypticon + the Dinobots might be some of the IDW Transformersverse's most important characters going into this event. Protoform children and their 5 dino-dads (and 1 dino-mom in Strafe!) that may be the future of the Cybertronian species just hanging out in the background - for now, at least.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961123)
Posted by Va'al on May 23rd, 2018 @ 7:18am CDT

More covers all together (from James Raiz) plus solicits for #3 and #4.

Solicits: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... 018/41273/

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961387)
Posted by starfishy on May 24th, 2018 @ 3:50pm CDT

Is that cobra commander?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961418)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on May 24th, 2018 @ 8:46pm CDT

Yep!

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961733)
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on May 26th, 2018 @ 10:50pm CDT

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Barber: Unicron is a really iconic piece of the Transformers mythos. If you’re old enough to have lived through the original Transformers cartoon in the 1980s, you remember what a massive, disruptive thing Unicron was in the movie. That movie was one of the most apocalyptic cartoons you were going to see as a kid in the 1980s—it was devastating watching those familiar characters die. And that’s intrinsically linked with Unicron—in my mind, at least—even though, as editor David Mariotte likes pointing out, Unicron didn’t really kill very many Transformers. He still ate whole planets!

I far, FAR preferred the Marvel comics storyline where due to various events, Unicron ends up arriving many years sooner than in the film and does kill many notable characters all beautifully drawn by Geoff Senior. In fact I can't even recall which characters died in the film by Unicron (most died way before he turns up) I might check out this thing just to see it finally end the IDW G1verse that I've had such great difficulty trying to enjoy the several times I've tried my hardest to over the years.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961754)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 27th, 2018 @ 3:24am CDT

We did see unicron kill some bots at the end where daniel saved spike and bumblebee other than that he was supposed to have killed Shock wave but we don't techincally see it. I mean it's implied with unicron raking cybertron surface but it's not shown shockwave getting crushed. Plus we never see his body, it's just that we never see him again.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961791)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 27th, 2018 @ 8:35am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:Yep!

So did Baroness become the new Cobra Commander?

ZeroWolf wrote:We did see unicron kill some bots at the end where daniel saved spike and bumblebee other than that he was supposed to have killed Shock wave but we don't technically see it. I mean it's implied with unicron raking cybertron surface but it's not shown shockwave getting crushed. Plus we never see his body, it's just that we never see him again.

Shockwave and the Coneheads too (kind of). Likewise you could argue Reflector died here, as they vanished after this point too. Wasn't that Gears that got melted inside the acid vat as well?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961810)
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 27th, 2018 @ 11:38am CDT

I think it was gears...but I'm sure there was a couple more.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961826)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 27th, 2018 @ 1:26pm CDT

ZeroWolf wrote:I think it was gears...but I'm sure there was a couple more.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961837)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on May 27th, 2018 @ 3:02pm CDT

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Daniel Adkins wrote:Yep!

So did Baroness become the new Cobra Commander?

Yep!

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961838)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 27th, 2018 @ 3:04pm CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Daniel Adkins wrote:Yep!

So did Baroness become the new Cobra Commander?

Yep!

The original didn't go all Cobra-La again, did he?

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961844)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on May 27th, 2018 @ 3:31pm CDT

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Daniel Adkins wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Daniel Adkins wrote:Yep!

So did Baroness become the new Cobra Commander?

Yep!

The original didn't go all Cobra-La again, did he?

Nope. He got shot in the head by Chuckles back in 2011. Baroness is actually the third person to claim the mantle since then.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1961845)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 27th, 2018 @ 3:33pm CDT

That's fine then. The Cobra-La stuff was always one step too far for me.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1962234)
Posted by Va'al on May 30th, 2018 @ 1:52am CDT

Part of the IDW Publishing all-ending new event, taking place this summer up to September, and for which we saw the beginning on Free Comic Book Day, we have not only the fully combined variant cover art for the mini-series by James Raiz - thanks to the IDW Publishing Instagram account - but the artist has also reached out to us to share his behind the scenes video of the suitably gigantic work that went into this piece (which is actually six covers in one)!

Check out both the full art and the video by Raiz below, and share your thoughts in the Energon Pub discussion boards - will you be picking up these variants, or do you have your eye set on some of the other covers seen so far?

The end is nigh!
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. Transformers: Unicron #1 is coming this July.

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1962235)
Posted by Bounti76 on May 30th, 2018 @ 2:05am CDT

That's a gorgeous piece of art. The solicit makes me sad, though,to be honest. I have LOVED this version of the Transformers universe, perhaps more so than any others, and I've been around since the beginning of the brand. I have so enjoyed the world-building that's gone on, and the introduction of different planets (Caminus, Eukaris, Prion,etc) so it sucks that they're being eaten before a good author can explore them. There are so many stories that won't get told about those planets and 'bots, that could introduce brand new characters alongside existing ones. It's just.... *sigh*

Re: John Barber Talks IDW's Unicron Event, Role in IDW Transformers Comics After Unicron (1962240)
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on May 30th, 2018 @ 4:33am CDT

Interesting, I don't think I see anyone associated with the Lost Light series.

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