IDW Transformers #4 John Gallagher Cover Now Available

That looks AWESOME

I love his Shockwave pistol I want that thing. If ever they did Shockwave in a Voyager scale this would make way cool box art. Always love Shockwave news - thank you sir!

Ugh, does this guy do anything that isn't traced?

00Stargrave00 wrote:That looks AWESOME

I love his Shockwave pistol I want that thing. If ever they did Shockwave in a Voyager scale this would make way cool box art. Always love Shockwave news - thank you sir!

That IS Shockwave in Voyager scale. Yeah, he was sold as a leader due to all the extra crap that came with him, but the figure itself that this rendering is based on is a Voyager sized figure.

Oh for sure I meant if they stripped down all the leader armor and just released him with like a mini Shockwave blaster. I think that would make so many fans happy. I’m fine with the leader class I’m probably of the minority who dig the Doctor Shocktapus look

00Stargrave00 wrote:Oh for sure I meant if they stripped down all the leader armor and just released him with like a mini Shockwave blaster. I think that would make so many fans happy. I’m fine with the leader class I’m probably of the minority who dig the Doctor Shocktapus look

I see what you mean. Yeah, I wouldn't have minded that either. I wouldn't get it now, since I already bought the 'leader' version, but I guess you can try having the small Shockwave that came with the MP figure and see if that works, or maybe the CW legends one.

A Bold New Era Continues! Today we bring you a three page preview from #7 of IDWs Transformers reboot! This comes via Apple's Book website (R.I.P. iTunes).

In this small preview we see Bumblebee staring at the sun when Windblade appears...and that's pretty much it. Check out the preview for yourself below, which we have mirrored for your convenience!

Publisher's description of IDW Transformers #7

When another body shows up, Chromia and Prowl feel the pressure to get answers. Bumblebee, meanwhile, applies for a new job—as a bodyguard. But first, he has to impress Elita-1.

What do you think of these events? Are you looking forward to reading this issue? Click here for our take on issue #6 and share your opinions in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Calling it. Rubble is (snip)

Damn, [redacted] hits that hard?

"A bold new era..."

Ouch Scotty hahaha
I’d love to see Bee in a new toy I’m tellin’ ya.

So can we start taking bets this is getting cancelled for being boring and uninteresting? Honestly, I think we're done with TF comics for a while. They had their run. Put 'em to rest for now.

Alright, IDW, you've got me back on board for now; I'm intrigued enough to keep going. But, please, please inject some actual character into your characters.

I know people felt last issue was another regression in pacing, but I was satisfied with it. It was an open and shut issue that told a complete short story, one that actually had a little bit of pathos and some nice character moments.

With this book, I could handle the slowness so much better if the character voices didn't all read the same, and if they actually did things that told us about who they are.

Is Bumblebee excitable, does he get into mischief, does he have any defining character quirks? Just show me something other than him being vaguely sad. If I'm supposed to empathize with him at his lowest, I should at least have been shown, not told, what he was like at his highest.

As another example, take Prowl. He has an organic pet, that's neat. Let's see more of how he interacts emotionally with his surroundings. In the last series, we understood immediately who Prowl was because he flipped tables.

Sorry, rant over.

Dude I don’t think that was a rant at all that was a thoughtful take on it. Well put and not unreasonable at all.

Bumblebee: about to become Bumblejumper?!

Well, I liked 7 a great deal more than 6. Hernandez needs to improve fast or sit on the bench for a bit, their art is distracting when it has to sit next to the work of a legend like Griffith.

Full review later, or maybe tomorrow. Staff is stretched pretty thin so shoot me a PM if you're an active board member in good standing interested in coming on to do comics reviews.

Just in from PopCultHQ is a full six page preview of Transformers #7. Also duplicated here are the awesome alternate covers for this issue including the always incredible Guido Guidi with his Elita-1 featured Retailer Incentive Cover. As listed on the cover images, don't forget: This issue comes with a free Transformers Card Game booster pack. Check out the details and images below and be sure to share your view with the Seibertron crew in the forum!

Transformers #7
Writer: Brian Ruckley
Artists: Ángel Hernández, Andrew Griffith, Anna Malkova
Colorists: Joana Lafuente & Josh Burcham
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Cover Artist:
Christian Ward (Cover A)
Livio Ramondelli (Cover B)
Guido Guidi (Retailer Incentive Cover)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
When another body shows up, Chromia and Prowl feel the pressure to get answers. Bumblebee, meanwhile, applies for a new job—as a bodyguard. But first, he has to impress Elita-1.

I'm really digging the story so far. I agree that I would like to see more character moments for the main cast, but that can be challenging when advancing the plot. Bumblebee has been tied up in most of the major story beats, and we're seeing him react to those, not develop an independent emotional arc. By contrast, we're seeing a lot of Orion's personality, and he has been more of an observer than participant.

There are two elements in the new series that I really like: the increased presence of female Transformers and a much deeper context for the coming war. In addition to Siege toys Chromia and Greenlight, there's also mainstays Arcee and Elita-1. Add in Nautica and deep cuts like Road Rage and Flamewar, and it's clear that gender diversity is here to stay. Hopefully we'll continue to see more neuro-atypical characters like Geomotus. There is no reason that robot bodies can't be every bit as diverse as organic ones.

I was a little underwhelmed at the worldbuilding at first. I loved the moon energy elevator thing and the Cybertronian wastes, as well as the organic enclaves in the cities, but the planet still basically seems like the same one that's appeared in other media. I now feel like I was taking "worldbuilding" too literally - it's not primarily the physical structure of Cybertron that's changing, but the social and cultural structure, which in turn informs the nature of the core conflict. Issue 6 was not just a great character study of two leaders destined to lead a horrible conflict, it also rooted that coming conflict in practical systemic concerns. IDW and even other continuities have played at that with the Senate and social strata, but issues like Energon rationing and population control provide additional justifications for character choices and conflict.

I mean, at the end of the day, do you really need something more complex and less binary than good versus evil to sell kids' toys? Maybe not, but I get more sucked into the drama and personalities when there's more complexity, which deepens my relationship to the characters.

AcademyofDrX wrote:In addition to Siege toys Chromia and Greenlight, there's also mainstays Arcee and Elita-1. Add in Nautica and deep cuts like Road Rage and Flamewar, and it's clear that gender diversity is here to stay.

I think I forgot someone kinda important ...

AcademyofDrX wrote:I'm really digging the story so far. I agree that I would like to see more character moments for the main cast, but that can be challenging when advancing the plot. Bumblebee has been tied up in most of the major story beats, and we're seeing him react to those, not develop an independent emotional arc. By contrast, we're seeing a lot of Orion's personality, and he has been more of an observer than participant.

There are two elements in the new series that I really like: the increased presence of female Transformers and a much deeper context for the coming war. In addition to Siege toys Chromia and Greenlight, there's also mainstays Arcee and Elita-1. Add in Nautica and deep cuts like Road Rage and Flamewar, and it's clear that gender diversity is here to stay. Hopefully we'll continue to see more neuro-atypical characters like Geomotus. There is no reason that robot bodies can't be every bit as diverse as organic ones.

I was a little underwhelmed at the worldbuilding at first. I loved the moon energy elevator thing and the Cybertronian wastes, as well as the organic enclaves in the cities, but the planet still basically seems like the same one that's appeared in other media. I now feel like I was taking "worldbuilding" too literally - it's not primarily the physical structure of Cybertron that's changing, but the social and cultural structure, which in turn informs the nature of the core conflict. Issue 6 was not just a great character study of two leaders destined to lead a horrible conflict, it also rooted that coming conflict in practical systemic concerns. IDW and even other continuities have played at that with the Senate and social strata, but issues like Energon rationing and population control provide additional justifications for character choices and conflict.

I mean, at the end of the day, do you really need something more complex and less binary than good versus evil to sell kids' toys? Maybe not, but I get more sucked into the drama and personalities when there's more complexity, which deepens my relationship to the characters.

Sweet Christmas what a thoughtful review sheesh that makes me want to check it out even more now. Thanks!

Stargrave, did you read the IDW tf series before this?

All of it except for a few of the Dead Universe era one shots basically everything that came with the Humble bundle package offered a few months ago. I collected the old G1 comics and still have most of those even that funny 3D comic with Imperious Delirious, the G2 comic, and some of the Dreamwave books but not a lot.

AcademyofDrX wrote:I mean, at the end of the day, do you really need something more complex and less binary than good versus evil to sell kids' toys? Maybe not, but I get more sucked into the drama and personalities when there's more complexity, which deepens my relationship to the characters.

To be fair IDW doesn't seem all that interested in kids buying their TF comics, IMHO a lot, if not all of them since they got rights have been more focused towards the adult fans which seems more likely given the sad state of comic books now of days and even the Generations/Prime Wars/War for Cybertron/Siege toys seem to be aimed at older fans as well, with Cyberverse seems to be more kid friendly show and toyline.

Happy Tuesday Seibertronians! Just in from IDW's homepage we have a quick detail summary of issues #8 and #9 of IDW's Transformers!

Here's the summary for #8:

"As Megatron seeks to bring about change to Cybertron, he meets with Termagax, a living piece of Cybertronian history and founder of the Ascenticon movement. Will she set him on the path to peace, or lead him to an unrepairable rupture with the Senate?"
AVAILABLE: June 2019
CREATORS:
Brian Ruckley (Author) • Cachét Whitman (Artist) • Beth McGuire-Smith (Artist) • Anna Malkova (Cover Artist)
IMPRINT: IDW
COLOR: FC

And here's the summary for issue#9:

COMING SOON!
"Time is running out! Orion Pax, his friends, and the Autobot security forces have to get a grip on their murder investigations as their superior, Sentinel Prime, makes his return to Cybertron!"
AVAILABLE: July 2019
CREATORS:
Brian Ruckley (Author) • Cachét Whitman (Artist) • Beth McGuire-Smith (Artist) • Umi Miyao (Cover Artist)
IMPRINT: IDW
PAGE COUNT: 32
COLOR: FC
CATEGORIES: (2019) Transformers , Transformers , Upcoming Releases

Then Thanks to a few posts from IDW Manager, Creative Development / Senior Editor Tom Waltz at #Transformers on Twitter we have this nice preview page showing the introduction of the new character Termagax! Per Mr. Waltz's summary:
"In #Tranformers #8 (in stores, we finally meet the enigmatic #Termagax! Turns out she likes to talk smack about #Starscream behind his fuselage just like everyone else."

Sounds like she just may be the mother of all Decepticons, literally!
Is she the new Fallen?
Is she the new Terminus?
Will she help Megatron finally find his love for violet chest mounted iconography?

Mr. Waltz also posted this nice image of Cyclonus from issue #8 on his own Twitter account with the tag line:
"In #Transformers #8 #TheCracksBeneathYourFeet Part 2, #Cyclonus has some serious #Flamewar issues he needs to tackle. Literally."


And lastly also from Mr. Waltz's own Twitter page he's also provided a nice black and white preview image of Chromia from issue #9 with the summary:

"Join #Chromia to find out what dangers lurk in the shadows below #Cybertron in #Transformers #9."

Hopefully that means the series is gonna start to really pick up. At the moment it's meandering a bit too much. They need to focus a bit more, in my opinion.

Big Grim wrote:Hopefully that means the series is gonna start to really pick up. At the moment it's meandering a bit too much. They need to focus a bit more, in my opinion.

I agree with this, a bit more focus would help the story feel better

I have a question: is the writer brand new at this? Or has he had previous experience?

Rodimus Prime wrote:I have a question: is the writer brand new at this? Or has he had previous experience?

He has previous experience.

From IDW Publishing, we have news of a brand new Transformers ongoing book set to debut in September! Titled Transformers: Galaxies, the new series is set to explore the origins of various 'bots in the rebooted IDW continuity via story arcs that focus on one character or group- think of it as a series of extended Spotlight-style stories. Galaxies will be written by Tyler Bleszinski, and art duties will be handled by longtime Transformers artist Livio Ramondelli.






The first arc to be featured in the series will focus on the fan-favorite Constructicons (and a certain original combiner is teased) ! Long Haul, Scrapper, Mixmaster, Hook, Scavenger and Bonecrusher long ago emerged from the aftermath of the war against the Threefold Spark to help rebuild Cybertron. But what has become of them since? Find out this September when the series is released. For now, check out the images below, and let your fellow Seibertronians know what you think in the Forums!

Interesting concept, i can get behind it! Just hope the main story picks up so this can take the spot of filling in the background

i like it

I'm mostly a fan of Ramondelli's work, I know nothing of the author. Hopefully this will be better paced than what we have now, I find the concept interesting.

I feel like this is an extension of sorts to the original Spotlight idea, depending on the bots it covers, it could be a good read.

I'll give this a shot but it does feel like a shot in the arm for the main series which is just dawdling along. They need to pick up the pace and make the book a touch more interesting and exciting.

Sounds interesting but I'm not a fan of Ramondelli's art. Along with Wildman, he's my least favourite artist.

The nuIDW stuff has had some deeply questionable art but those Constructicons are looking rather nice.

After getting a 1-page teaser as Tuesday, we have another teaser page for you for the upcoming IDW Transformers #8! Issue #8 appears to be a very Cyclonus-heavy issue, as our prior preview showed us him engaging Flamewar in a very violent showdown, and this page gives us a very worried looking Froid following by a flying Cyclonus totally smashing his way into some sort of building.

This preview comes to us from Tom Waltz on Twitter, and with an apparent delay the issue is set to come out next Wednesday, July 3.

Check out the page below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Thanks to artist Winston Chan from his Twitter account we have a great image of the cover for issue #13 of the current IDW Transformers! You can see Starscream along with a particular pumpkin-hued Prime in the background with a nicely drawn Prowl and Chromia on the run in the foreground. Check out the image and as always share your view with the Seibertron crew in the forums.

From Winston's Twitter:
"The cover drawn and coloured by me for issue 13 of
@IDWPublishing's new #Transformers comic.
I'm so grateful for the chance to realise a dream. Much thanks to
@IDW_David_M and @TomWaltz.
Hope you all like it."

The perspective on Chromia's legs makes me physically ill. Nice colour work though.

TR Sentinel Prime? Ok then, I guess

Nice art, but I feel like we had better art before.

Nathaniel Prime wrote:TR Sentinel Prime? Ok then, I guess

Nice art, but I feel like we had better art before.

Yes I agree with sentinel. I’ve been looking forward to his official introduction even though a small part of me wondered if TR toy would be used. I have the toy. I like it but it’s not the best translated in art. I am hoping for heroic Sentinel Prime and not robot nazi sentinel. Worked for the first IDW but let’s go back to a bot Optimus looked up to.

I do like the art on the cover though

Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

Like a sentinel from Megatron Origin who was alluded to being a smug A-hole but because he had a duty and didn’t care about the politicians. I’d be fine with that.

I still enjoyed Sentinel Prime from IDW but now that it’s all said and done I see errors. He revealed that like Sovereign he was an agent of Nexus Prime and then Onyx Prime and was preparing for Onyx’s return. His plan was to bring an army of titans and wipe out everyone on Cybertron. colonists and planet born Cybertronians. When Onyx returned and Shockwave revealed himself, sentinel and the plan to use titans to go all attack on Titan and trample everyone is not mentioned and none of that seemed to gel with shockwaves plans. It didn’t make any sense in the end.

One big criticism I have for the end of IDW was a lot of things didn’t end up getting resolved. Mainly plots with sovereign and Centurion. No time. They just got dumped. Woulda been nice if we’d gotten some interaction with Shockwave and those 2

Randomhero wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

Like a sentinel from Megatron Origin who was alluded to being a smug A-hole but because he had a duty and didn’t care about the politicians. I’d be fine with that.

I still enjoyed Sentinel Prime from IDW but now that it’s all said and done I see errors. He revealed that like Sovereign he was an agent of Nexus Prime and then Onyx Prime and was preparing for Onyx’s return. His plan was to bring an army of titans and wipe out everyone on Cybertron. colonists and planet born Cybertronians. When Onyx returned and Shockwave revealed himself, sentinel and the plan to use titans to go all attack on Titan and trample everyone is not mentioned and none of that seemed to gel with shockwaves plans. It didn’t make any sense in the end.

One big criticism I have for the end of IDW was a lot of things didn’t end up getting resolved. Mainly plots with sovereign and Centurion. No time. They just got dumped. Woulda been nice if we’d gotten some interaction with Shockwave and those 2

All the stuff with Shockwave/Onyx/whatnot still reeks of an eleventh hour pivot to simplify a more complex, pre-planned plot and move it towards a rushed conclusion to make way for the Unicron wrap-up event.

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

Like a sentinel from Megatron Origin who was alluded to being a smug A-hole but because he had a duty and didn’t care about the politicians. I’d be fine with that.

I still enjoyed Sentinel Prime from IDW but now that it’s all said and done I see errors. He revealed that like Sovereign he was an agent of Nexus Prime and then Onyx Prime and was preparing for Onyx’s return. His plan was to bring an army of titans and wipe out everyone on Cybertron. colonists and planet born Cybertronians. When Onyx returned and Shockwave revealed himself, sentinel and the plan to use titans to go all attack on Titan and trample everyone is not mentioned and none of that seemed to gel with shockwaves plans. It didn’t make any sense in the end.

One big criticism I have for the end of IDW was a lot of things didn’t end up getting resolved. Mainly plots with sovereign and Centurion. No time. They just got dumped. Woulda been nice if we’d gotten some interaction with Shockwave and those 2

All the stuff with Shockwave/Onyx/whatnot still reeks of an eleventh hour pivot to simplify a more complex, pre-planned plot and move it towards a rushed conclusion to make way for the Unicron wrap-up event.

Well said. I wanted to like Optimus Prime’s go at a title in his name and that whole 11th hour push/arc as you accurately called it but it was very busy and muddled then ooo inky Junkions then ooo lots of Aileron then oo Onyx and boom done. And Shockwave just didn’t feel like Shockwave. In retrospect I was left wanting a bit.

Having read the whole thing in a big whoosh like I did looking at it as a whole I think there were a lot of factors at play but nothing bored me more than the crossover stuff. Crap. Crossover crap. And I love each of those properties from my childhood dearly but it just was wrong it did not belong.

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

Like a sentinel from Megatron Origin who was alluded to being a smug A-hole but because he had a duty and didn’t care about the politicians. I’d be fine with that.

I still enjoyed Sentinel Prime from IDW but now that it’s all said and done I see errors. He revealed that like Sovereign he was an agent of Nexus Prime and then Onyx Prime and was preparing for Onyx’s return. His plan was to bring an army of titans and wipe out everyone on Cybertron. colonists and planet born Cybertronians. When Onyx returned and Shockwave revealed himself, sentinel and the plan to use titans to go all attack on Titan and trample everyone is not mentioned and none of that seemed to gel with shockwaves plans. It didn’t make any sense in the end.

One big criticism I have for the end of IDW was a lot of things didn’t end up getting resolved. Mainly plots with sovereign and Centurion. No time. They just got dumped. Woulda been nice if we’d gotten some interaction with Shockwave and those 2

All the stuff with Shockwave/Onyx/whatnot still reeks of an eleventh hour pivot to simplify a more complex, pre-planned plot and move it towards a rushed conclusion to make way for the Unicron wrap-up event.

Well that’s the thing. John did that interview with Mike and Andy on the Moonbase 2 and he said that Shockwave and Onyx was planned in 2015. He was year into season 2 of RID when he figures out how to bring back Shockwave. John still had everything planned with a Onyx and Shockwave but he decided to leave the book after “the falling arc” but when they decided to end the continuity they tossed in a unicron at the end.

You can see there was a bigger story that was gonna he told. Onyx does show up and claims to have a cure for the corrupted Energon the talisman did. He’s even holding a via of something all through the arc but in the final issue Shockwave just says he had no cure and liege Maximo’s power of deceit was rubbing off on him. Even I said “wait..what?”

I still enjoy how IDW ended very much. I still love the unicron story and everything but you can totally see there was waaaaaay more that gonna go on if it hadn’t ended.

All of Scott’s plans for till all are one.
The arisen
The colonies
The stuff that for crunched into the last 6 issues of Lost light.
Sovereign
sentinel

A lot of stuff got axed but I still think they did the best they could with a 12 month notice to end it all.

00Stargrave00 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Can I ask for a sentinel prime of the middle ground or one more akin to his Animated incarnation?

It would definitely help show that this is a new continuity and not just a redo of what we already got.

Like a sentinel from Megatron Origin who was alluded to being a smug A-hole but because he had a duty and didn’t care about the politicians. I’d be fine with that.

I still enjoyed Sentinel Prime from IDW but now that it’s all said and done I see errors. He revealed that like Sovereign he was an agent of Nexus Prime and then Onyx Prime and was preparing for Onyx’s return. His plan was to bring an army of titans and wipe out everyone on Cybertron. colonists and planet born Cybertronians. When Onyx returned and Shockwave revealed himself, sentinel and the plan to use titans to go all attack on Titan and trample everyone is not mentioned and none of that seemed to gel with shockwaves plans. It didn’t make any sense in the end.

One big criticism I have for the end of IDW was a lot of things didn’t end up getting resolved. Mainly plots with sovereign and Centurion. No time. They just got dumped. Woulda been nice if we’d gotten some interaction with Shockwave and those 2

All the stuff with Shockwave/Onyx/whatnot still reeks of an eleventh hour pivot to simplify a more complex, pre-planned plot and move it towards a rushed conclusion to make way for the Unicron wrap-up event.

Well said. I wanted to like Optimus Prime’s go at a title in his name and that whole 11th hour push/arc as you accurately called it but it was very busy and muddled then ooo inky Junkions then ooo lots of Aileron then oo Onyx and boom done. And Shockwave just didn’t feel like Shockwave. In retrospect I was left wanting a bit.

Having read the whole thing in a big whoosh like I did looking at it as a whole I think there were a lot of factors at play but nothing bored me more than the crossover stuff. Crap. Crossover crap. And I love each of those properties from my childhood dearly but it just was wrong it did not belong.

See I all about shockwaves character in the falling arc and unicron. This isn’t senator Shockwave and it’s not logic driven Shockwave. It’s a mixture of both that’s also 18-19 million years old. Much like the change in Megatron in MTMTE/LL, he’s completely different character.