Interest in Transformers 81 Continues

Anyone have the petition link handy? Is this something we should link to?

I think it would be awesome to have a timeline divergence, ala the new Star Trek movie, where the course of issue 81 on takes a different route than the Classics route or the G2 route.

Though now that I mention Classics, this could be an amazing opportunity for some of the Classics toys to be worked into the Marvel storyline. Could that work even?

While I love this idea, I hope we're all being honest about what drove the original Marvel run. It was the continual onslaught of toys for 7 years from the same series. Without the push from toys and that continued direction, I'd be concerned about what could happen with that overall storyline that has been "complete" for 20 years. I do think this could be a neat opportunity to introduce characters that were never brought into the American comics such as the Wreckers, the Autobot Triplechangers, the Jumpstarters, Whirl, Roadbuster, the Deluxe Insecticons, the vehicle Pretenders, Slugfest, Overkill, and so on. They could all be introduced over various storylines in a similar fashion to the way the other G1 characters were introduced to us, which could keep the storyline going. Obviously not all of the older characters would work if Furman wanted to stay true to the UK run or even just the late Marvel run, but it could be one of the many ingredients to keep this great recipe going.

Other potential storylines that easily get you to issue #100 ...

Circuit Breaker (could IDW/Hasbro work out something with Marvel?
JB Blackrock
Whatever happened to Sparkplug and Buster Witwicky?
Preventing the path of #67 from unfolding
Returning to/Rebuilding of Cybertron
The Last Autobot
Revisiting the Straxus character (relevant because of Classics toy)
Return to Earth
Bludgeon versus Megatron done right!
Ratchet's "coming of age" after fisticuffs with Starscream
What happened to the Nebulans?
Undoing the effects of Nucleon
Grimlock vs Optimus Prime while Prowl calculates from the sidelines
Just for a fun one-off issue ... return of the Scraplets!
Other human tie-ins ... 10 years later, what happened to those kids that were with Blaster/Sky Lynx?
No more Prime doubting himself! But this should be part of the story! Why is he more sure of his decisions now? What happened?
Psychological problems from Unicron ordeal
Legacy of Emirate Xaaron ... what secret did he leave behind?
Spike Witwicky and Fortress Maximus ... coming to terms!
"Who are the Wreckers?" (ignoring UK continuity) or "Return of the Wreckers!" (acknowledging UK continuity)
Hasbro/IDW buy the rights to DEATH'S HEAD!!!
Working toward or against the Movie storyline


All stories I've thought of for the past twenty years. Would love to see some of these ideas see fruition.

No. Sure, I know my anti-Furmanism is notorious but, srsly, have you guys READ Nefarious? o_O

That plotline is wrapped up.

Also, I heard that the major franchise holder (NOT IDW) has NO interest in this happening.

I'd much rather give a younger writer with fresh new ideas *cough cough mowry* the reins, or start a new storyline.

HK, SUBTLE!!!

We need some fresh writers for The Transformers comics, I'm sick and tied of Simon Furman and James Roberts (I that TLSotW is good but it's not great by any means and is highly over-rated) being apparently the only 2 guys in the world that "can write" the series.

They shouldn't be the be all and end all of Transformers comic book writers.

I don't want Mike Costa to write the ongoing series until he dies but I like his work because it's new direction that is actually NEW and to me it's far more exciting to have a writer where you don't know where he's going with and that makes him a more dangerous writer because the reader doesn't know what he is going to do with the series and with Furman it's safe, predictable, and really boring.

New writers bring new ideas and fresh perspectives that Furman can't which is what the Transformers comic needs to survive.

IDW also needs to create some ongoing spin-offs from the ongoing series (like they did with their G.I. Joe titles) because lets face it with so many characters in the G1 TF Universe to play with it makes sense to have more than one G1 TF book.

However reviving the Marvel series is not a good idea because it will only create a bigger division in the fanbase than there already is and I doubt that IDW can maintain a G1 Transformers multiverse (and the same with G.I. Joe) I think ultimately one will get pushed aside for the other.

I mean even Marvel and DC can't maintain separate comic book universes outside of their established super-hero universes.

Stormwolf wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:However reviving the Marvel series is not a good idea because it will only create a bigger division in the fanbase than there already is and I doubt that IDW can maintain a G1 Transformers multiverse (and the same with G.I. Joe) I think ultimately one will get pushed aside for the other.

The fanbase will always become more divided whenever a new series/comic gets introduced. You can't please everyone.

Hell, we even have stupid discussions about what colors Rumble and Frenzy are, back then we only had the G1 cartoon, US comic and UK comic.


You and I for instance seem like polar opposites when it comes to which stories are good or bad. And we aren't even the worst of the lot. Cough

DW back in the day never had any problems with running G1 alongside the Armada/Energon comic. Having IDW publish two series wouldn't be all that different.

I meant 2 different G1 Universes (IDW publishes the movieverse).

Which will in the long term will doom one.

It has happened many times with Marvel and DC and chances are it will happen to G.I. Joe in the future.

F Prime wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:
I meant 2 different G1 Universes (IDW publishes the movieverse).

Which will in the long term will doom one.

What are the two G1 universes? Besides the Marvel-verse are you counting ongoing as the other G1? Just curious.

Yup, IDW's Ongoing and a continuation of the Marvel G1 series. They're both G1, though IDW's take and the ever-changing appearances of the characters makes one wonder...Not that I think that's necessarily a bad thing.

Two series might doom one to fail, but I think failure tends to comes more from lame stories and unenthusiastic art - which of coarse leads to disinterest in the series (I'm sure there's lots of other factors, I'm just trying to simplify). Though, I really can't argue with the point that two G1 series would interfere with the continuity and cause some fan rifts. Better maybe to have mini-series that tie in with the current universe but also explore where Marvel G1 left off.

Fortress Rodimus wrote:That is true i never thought of the idea that one G1 series would cancel the other out. Oh well i would still like a miniseries on the finish off the original marvel.

I don't think they would cancel each other out. They have entirely different versions of how the TFs came to be on Earth, so they are already not the same continuity. I think they can easily co-exist.

Hell, yes. I love Furman's vision of TF characters. Although I agree with Cyberstrike's sentiment that Furman certainly should not be the be all and end all of TF comic book writers, I do believe that there is a sense of 'unfinished' business for his storylines and would like to see them completed.