IDW Transformers: Till All Are One Annual iTunes Three Page Preview

I do think the reign of Starscream is coming to an end. I hope not but I tend to not hold much hope for him. I only hope that I am wrong because Starscream leading is quite entertaining. I love watching his struggles.

Could we be seeing the team of Female Autobots minus Elita One coming together as Chromia's team?

They wanted her to do a soft reboot? THAT's why? Ugh. Stupid stupid stupid. Why? Why not let her tell the story she wanted to tell? It was selling well, right? This is why I was against the Hasbroverse when they started it. I knew it was going to interfere with what we had going on. Still, I'm glad they've given her this annual to finish the story. I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Nik Hero wrote:Could we be seeing the team of Female Autobots minus Elita One coming together as Chromia's team?

Possible (especially with the mention of Firestar), though not likely, methinks. Greenlight and Lancer are loyal to Elita, and Moonracer is Velocitron's council representative. But from the looks of it, at least one fembot will be joining her- Lightbright and Sparkstalker are loading the ship behind Chromia.

Insurgent wrote:They wanted her to do a soft reboot? THAT's why? Ugh. Stupid stupid stupid. Why? Why not let her tell the story she wanted to tell? It was selling well, right? This is why I was against the Hasbroverse when they started it. I knew it was going to interfere with what we had going on. Still, I'm glad they've given her this annual to finish the story. I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Because sales continued to drop more and more every month. Look I know it would have been nice to continue but as someone who works in retail and sees stuff the not many see when something doesn’t sell you either rebrand and change it or you cancel it. It’s business. You can’t just continue producing something that won’t turn around no matter how good the content is.


They offered her options and she chose to end the series on her own accord. That’s more respect some some books get. Look at the Scarlett GI joe book. While there’s a lot of controversy there and justifiably so that team was told the series was canceled before issue one even hit. Scott was at least allowed to finish the current story and are nice enough to make this annual. They value her creativity and respect her and her fans enough for that.

Randomhero wrote:

Insurgent wrote:They wanted her to do a soft reboot? THAT's why? Ugh. Stupid stupid stupid. Why? Why not let her tell the story she wanted to tell? It was selling well, right? This is why I was against the Hasbroverse when they started it. I knew it was going to interfere with what we had going on. Still, I'm glad they've given her this annual to finish the story. I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Because sales continued to drop more and more every month. Look I know it would have been nice to counter but as someone who works in retail and sees stuff the not many see when something doesn’t sell you either rebrand and change it or you cancel it. It’s business. You can’t just continue producing something that won’t turn around no matter how good the content is.


They offered her options and she chose to end the series on her own accord. That’s more respect some some books get. Look at the Scarlett GI joe book. While there’s a lot of controversy there and justifiably so that team was told the series was canceled before issue one even hit. Scott was at least allowed to finish the current story and are nice enough to make this annual. They value her creativity and respect her and her fans enough for that.

It's probably for the best. What would a soft reboot even look like for this series? This way it at least ended with some dignity.

Insurgent wrote:I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Well, make sure you're store has it down to pull TAAO for your pullbox. And if you don't have a pullbox, get one, it helps both you and the store.

Daniel Adkins wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Well, make sure you're store has it down to pull TAAO for your pullbox. And if you don't have a pullbox, get one, it helps both you and the store.

Or just go digital. I haven’t bought a physical comic book in 4 years now. I had over a few thousand and finally said I can’t do this anymore. It’s taking up too much space so I sold my collection and now everything is eithe on iBooks or comiXology. I feel bad not supporting my local shops anymore but it’s not like comics are their primary thing anymore. It’s all about the gaming stuff now. Magic, Pokémon, you-gi oh, D&D heroclix warhammer. That’s the money makers for comics and collectible shops.

ricemazter wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

Insurgent wrote:They wanted her to do a soft reboot? THAT's why? Ugh. Stupid stupid stupid. Why? Why not let her tell the story she wanted to tell? It was selling well, right? This is why I was against the Hasbroverse when they started it. I knew it was going to interfere with what we had going on. Still, I'm glad they've given her this annual to finish the story. I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

Because sales continued to drop more and more every month. Look I know it would have been nice to counter but as someone who works in retail and sees stuff the not many see when something doesn’t sell you either rebrand and change it or you cancel it. It’s business. You can’t just continue producing something that won’t turn around no matter how good the content is.


They offered her options and she chose to end the series on her own accord. That’s more respect some some books get. Look at the Scarlett GI joe book. While there’s a lot of controversy there and justifiably so that team was told the series was canceled before issue one even hit. Scott was at least allowed to finish the current story and are nice enough to make this annual. They value her creativity and respect her and her fans enough for that.

It's probably for the best. What would a soft reboot even look like for this series? This way it at least ended with some dignity.

Probably would have just given a more focused direction, introducing new characters to interact with Cybertron. Who knows but honestly, transformers has been softly rebooted about four times in IDW. Good writing can make it work. We saw it happen in 2012 with RID and MTMTE

Insurgent wrote: I just hope my comic shop gets it in. He doesn't seem to get annuals.

I preordered mine, you could try that even.

Sales were dropping? Didn't know that. Guess i was just frustrated this series ended as i was enjoying it the most of the three series at the time. And RL stuff has me very frustrated and on edge constantly too so I'm prone to over reactions.

I prefer physical items for my comics. Yes they take up space but digital ones just don't feel right. I don't enjoy them as much as physical ones. I'm going to pick up my LL today, I'll make sure to order it.

Insurgent wrote:Sales were dropping? Didn't know that. Guess i was just frustrated this series ended as i was enjoying it the most of the three series at the time. And RL stuff has me very frustrated and on edge constantly too so I'm prone to over reactions.

I prefer physical items for my comics. Yes they take up space but digital ones just don't feel right. I don't enjoy them as much as physical ones. I'm going to pick up my LL today, I'll make sure to order it.

The issue with sales is that: people counting sales don't tend to include digital, domestic, international, trade vs single issues as the same number. If pre-orders are not done via the absolutely idiotic DM system (Diamond, essentially) it counts as 'it's not selling'. Never mind how well that same title may be doing in the total amount of actual all copies of it being sold across a period of time.

It's a very stupid, monopoly-based system that leads to all sorts of narrow marketing decisions.



ALSO - IDW, as most comics publishers, do not know how to actually fully push any title. Creators should not be the ones bearing the brunt of the marketing.

(Slightly OT message, but wanted to get it off my chest.)

Looking forward to the Annual!

Insurgent wrote:I prefer physical items for my comics. Yes they take up space but digital ones just don't feel right. I don't enjoy them as much as physical ones. I'm going to pick up my LL today, I'll make sure to order it.

I have a room where I sit back and enjoy my comics. And I leave the newest copies on the table until I put them onto their shelves, so I identify with you.

Sunstar wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I prefer physical items for my comics. Yes they take up space but digital ones just don't feel right. I don't enjoy them as much as physical ones. I'm going to pick up my LL today, I'll make sure to order it.

I have a room where I sit back and enjoy my comics. And I leave the newest copies on the table until I put them onto their shelves, so I identify with you.

I feel about the same. I do not like reading digital copies of books, it actually hurts. And I like having my comic shelf where I can just grab one at any time.

As for the story, I'm glad we're getting the annual. I did really like the series, and I'm hoping the annual gives the end of it justice

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Sunstar wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I prefer physical items for my comics. Yes they take up space but digital ones just don't feel right. I don't enjoy them as much as physical ones. I'm going to pick up my LL today, I'll make sure to order it.

I have a room where I sit back and enjoy my comics. And I leave the newest copies on the table until I put them onto their shelves, so I identify with you.

I feel about the same. I do not like reading digital copies of books, it actually hurts. And I like having my comic shelf where I can just grab one at any time.

As for the story, I'm glad we're getting the annual. I did really like the series, and I'm hoping the annual gives the end of it justice

I am just hoping they allow him to remain leader... I love his struggles. I do have a pile of digital copies I got from humble bundle, which was how I got back into the stories.

It draws ever near.........the great dread......the end......no, not Unicron, the end of the Till All Are One series, in the form of its first (and last) annual! Set to be released this coming Wednesday, December 20th, we now have the full five-page preview, thanks to fellow Seibertronian Sunstar, who pointed us towards Newsarama's article on the book.

Transformers: Till All Are One Annual 2017
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sara Pitre-Durocher (a & c)
Elita One, Windblade, and Starscream fight to gain ultimate control of Cybertron! Dark secrets will be revealed in this series finale!
FC • 48 pages • $7.99
Bullet points:
· The shocking finale to the epic Cybertronian saga from Mairghread Scott and Sara Pitre-Durocher!
· A happy ending! For some…

Reactions? Thoughts? Feelings? Come back to the Energon Pub forums on Wednesday to discuss, and in the meantime, share your feelings about this preview and the Till All Are One series below!

Looks like Mairghread Scott is getting to partially fulfill at least one of her wishes for the series, had it continued. With Greenlight and Lancer (and possibly Firestar) joining Chromia, only Moonracer and Elita One will be absent a G1 fembots team-up.

I am SO excited for this book. It is SO good.
The review is SO almost ready, too!

I'm wondering, since Onyx Prime returns next month and it is implied that the Liege is with him, what will happen with the Chromia search team

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:I'm wondering, since Onyx Prime returns next month and it is implied that the Liege is with him, what will happen with the Chromia search team

So many stories start in this book. So many.

This Windblade looks like a fusion between her generations t30 toy and the titans return one. Not sure how I like it.
She seems too squat and thick.

I am looking forward and dreading this book at the same time.

Synopsis
Elita One, Windblade, and Starscream fight to gain ultimate control of Cybertron! Dark secrets will be revealed in this series finale!



Story

I gushed a lot of my appreciation for a story and a series like Till All Are One once already, in my final review of the ongoing series a couple of months back - you can read that review here, if so inclined, but I want to quote myself to make a major point about this annual:

Till All Are One #12 gave us the best story it could probably and possibly ever deliver; it gave us a resolution between Starscream and Windblade that is not a conclusion; it brought elements together that no other book had really done so far; it redeemed characters without offering them salvation.

In my original conclusion to that line of thought, I said that I wished we'd had more time to appreciate, encounter, and explore what lies ahead of all of them much sooner than we actually would. And in that respect, the Annual delivers on changing my mind entirely, just as it revolutionises the stage and status quo of the series' setting - I actually want to see it even more, now.



As it is an issue that I think is best experienced in its entirety and lack of information, I do not want to go into any detail about the plot or the characters here, but I will say that there is a culmination of an incredible number of plots - from the very start of the series way back when it was just Windblade - and one of the best developments in the Hasbro shared universe, as a consequence of First Strike's effect on Cybertron and Cybertronians.



I can't really speak of a 'happy ending', not in the strictest sense of the term, and there are some very heartfelt joyful moments, but (and I'm pretty sure I'm tapping into my thoughts of other media that has come out this month) this long, utterly enjoyable and satisfying read has gone from the 'best ending' TAAO could've had (issue #12) to A Good Ending. A good ground to build a much positive, much wider, much better universe.


Art

There was no other way to conclude the story without artist Sara Pitre-Durocher, who has been involved in the franchise for so long people tend to forget just how much material she's covered in her work, be it comics or packaging art. And what we have here is a testimony to that proximity, with nods to the first Windblade series in opening sequences, revisitations of the glorious Starscream of issue #12, and perhaps the happiest, tiredest, positively relieved Windblade, but also several Cybertronians that have populated the stage this far.



And the feeling of light, the legeresse and relief that come with some of the aspects that are not to be understated - can never be underestimated - throughout the story, among the different inhabitants of the story and the city, could not be possible without the amazing lighting work that Joana Lafuente brings in her colours. The symbolism of dawns and dusks is one that runs all through the TFverse, but we see it here as a full revolution - and you may take that however you want.



In Scott's letter in the backmatter of the issue, the writer acknowledges Tom B. Long's excellent contribution to the issue and the work on the series as a whole, something I was glad to see as a fan of the letterer's work across the board - no less in this annual, where some of the more poignant moments are silent, and handled with extreme masterful care. There is only one variant cover - by artist JN Wiedle - to the main Pitre-Durocher one (which is so full of callbacks that I cannot even), and I've used it to spotlight the thumbnail. Both are glorious. Both deserve visibility. Look at them, and enjoy.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

This is a story of leadership. We have three potential leaders, all of whom are actually, surprisingly, fitting possibilities for this new Cybertron. All three are potential stories to be told about a city, a planet, a civilisation - and by extent, an entire universe that involves more than just the Transformers. One of these is the winner, one of these is the loser, one of these wins something else entirely, and we have the immense pleasure and privilege of being along for the ride with at least two out of three. Pay attention to the dialogue. Pay attention to the words, including the author's letter in the back of the issue. It's all there, all along.



I've had comments on the pacing of the book, that it feels a little rushed in parts - and while I can recognise that, I do not think it detrimental to the story, at all. If anything, it heightens the sense of frenzied anticipation for the events taking place, the urgency of it all, and the buzz of a build-up with finally a resolution that can lead to a different future from the pasts and presents we have known in the stories of Transformers so far. And for that, I have to thank the writer, the artists, the colourists, the letterers, the editors.

So thank you, again.

Just finished it. And I agree entirely. It will probably take me days, and multiple readings, to take it all in. It's almost overwhelming....and in such a good way.

Thank you, Mairghread, Sara, Joana, and Tom, for a book I couldn't WAIT to enjoy every month. It was a pleasure to appreciate your work.

Va'al nailed it. Well said! This was tremendous. So many little threads tied up neatly and with purpose.

To echo the others - to the creative team, thank you!

I could cry, I got light headed, I will need to read it again to get the full impact. But wow.

I bawled my eyes out.. I actually bawled my eyes out.

I don't post about IDW transformers in any board, I prefer to sit back and read through most discussion boards to see how people feel about what today's transformers comics have become.

Some people's opinion I agree with, some I disagree with, and some I don't think will be able to understand their opinion, but I don't say my piece because my opinion is unnecessary and unneeded.

I say this because whatever I say about IDW transformers, it won't change anything, I won't wake up tomorrow and see all the things that I find personally distasteful and/or wrong about the comic changed into something different and interesting, my opinion won't stop it from continuing.

However, I feel a great desire to share with this board my feelings towards this comic annual.

I love it.

I flip-flop-pity, hop-tactically love it.

I love it because it brought a hope inside me since things began to fall apart when RID became EX-RID, but my irritations started after that, Windblade 1-4 was my starting point in IDW, never read primacy, autocracy, monstrosity, chaos theory, Dark Cybertron or any other comics before Windblade.

Never even heard of IDW Transformers comics until after dark cybertron.
Now your might be wondering, why did I get into IDW, well one word really or one name exactly.

Windblade.

When I was in High school browsing pinterest in my spare time looking up concept art, I found pictures of windblade in a art style that was just so beautiful, the work of Sarash Stone (man I miss her work) I had to find more, and I did, I found a website that uploaded comics and Read windblade 1-4 and after reading it, I thought to myself, Your to good for this world windblade, I wish your were the leader of cybertron, someone with no history would help a lot, and then I thought, WHY IN THE FLYING BAGEL ROLL ON SWISH CHEESE IS STARSCREAM LEADER OF CYBERTRON AND HOW?!

So I looked up more Transformers comics on the site, I read for days, in and out of high school, I read until it was all I could think about, I researched the tfwiki to understood parts and pieces I could find, how the order of the story went, how things worked.

When I did finally catch up, I toke a break to process everything.

My first thoughts about IDW was this is awesome finally a dark and interesting transformers story, then me and my brother started to talk about it, and love doing so, but then the bliss started to fade rereading some of the comics, then it started to stared to become boring, then annoying, then infuriating, then heartbreaking and finally bad.

By that time I realized somethings, IDW is all over the place, the art is all over the place,the writers, the characters, the story, the concepts, the ideas, the universe, the crossovers, the world, the universe, but why.

Maybe because of Hasbro, Maybe it's IDW themselves, both or some other third thing, I don't know, but what I do know is it was pushing me and my brother away and it did.

Then we started to looking at other people perspective and realized, IDW transformers universe is dark and fucked up, and not in a good way.
Even thou we check in every now and again we keep our standers low.

So now today's another day checking in on IDW, and I was happy as a bat on Halloween night, when I read this, I was jumping with joy when windblade won the election, for so long I was hurt and sad to see what windblade had to go through with...well everything and still want do good for a hopeless cybertron and now shes leader of cybertron.

I hope to see more of this in the future and I wish windblade all my luck.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for listening to my feelings, have a nice night.

It was a great story until the end.
*Not My President!*

I feel that Starscream in the end displayed nobility, selflessness, extreme courage and self sacrifice...

I had always personally felt that TAAO had become the best of the three Transformers series because it was giving me everything I wanted, Transformers of all generations interacting with one another, nice political intrigue that goes beyond the war, and some great takes on new characters and old established ones and I'll never understand why it didn't get the sales numbers it needed to continue. But mark my words, we're losing a hell of a series and creative team that we may come to regret letting get away.

What a great finale. That ending was very touching.

I really really wanted to Starscream to spell out that he loves her. Add some romance into the mix. Even though he didn't have to say it, it was clear imo. I sincerely hope they maintain the course and never go back to the old Starscream. It was demeaning to always see him abused by Megatron and crew. Scott's creative team from the dawn of Windblade has put significant effort in defeating evil Starscream...by making him good....and honestly I love that. This is the powerful writing that could change a perception of the character for ever. What he did in the end was for love and for the greater good.

How come they ended TAAO? Is M. Scott leaving Transformers?

The replies to this thread are warming my very cold cockles (due to outside temperatures, nothing else!). It's lovely to see how many enjoyed the issue and the series.

How come they ended TAAO? Is M. Scott leaving Transformers?

They're ending the series because it reached a natural point of 'conclusion' for a number of arcs, and Scott was asked if she was interested in soft-rebooting to continue with the rest of the IDW line from here onwards. We'll probably see this in Lost Light too, at some point.

She said no, so the series got the Annual to cap the previous arcs off.

That said, I have no idea if she's leaving the franchise for good (she does have a lot of work coming up with Marvel and other things), but nothing we've seen so far suggest she might be working on any of the titles currently announced.

budmaloney wrote:What a great finale. That ending was very touching.

I really really wanted to Starscream to spell out that he loves her. Add some romance into the mix. Even though he didn't have to say it, it was clear imo. I sincerely hope they maintain the course and never go back to the old Starscream. It was demeaning to always see him abused by Megatron and crew. Scott's creative team from the dawn of Windblade has put significant effort in defeating evil Starscream...by making him good....and honestly I love that. This is the powerful writing that could change a perception of the character for ever. What he did in the end was for love and for the greater good.

I completely agree with that.

He would not do something like that without a reason. He loved his world, he loved her. He never would have risked himself unless he had feelings for her. And it was clear she had feelings for him. Both are too Stubborn and proud to admit it. He sacrificed himself for the love of many things. I also hope they do not revert him - this is how I believe he should end up. I also feel he is scared to admit affection for anyone on the chance he'll lose it forever - its more in character for him if he doesn't spell it out. If you love someone, you'll do anything for them. I am sure he feels she'll look over his ideas and plans and execute them, because he knows she was born to create something new.

Sunstar wrote:

budmaloney wrote:What a great finale. That ending was very touching.

I really really wanted to Starscream to spell out that he loves her. Add some romance into the mix. Even though he didn't have to say it, it was clear imo. I sincerely hope they maintain the course and never go back to the old Starscream. It was demeaning to always see him abused by Megatron and crew. Scott's creative team from the dawn of Windblade has put significant effort in defeating evil Starscream...by making him good....and honestly I love that. This is the powerful writing that could change a perception of the character for ever. What he did in the end was for love and for the greater good.

I completely agree with that.

He would not do something like that without a reason. He loved his world, he loved her. He never would have risked himself unless he had feelings for her. And it was clear she had feelings for him. Both are too Stubborn and proud to admit it. He sacrificed himself for the love of many things. I also hope they do not revert him - this is how I believe he should end up. I also feel he is scared to admit affection for anyone on the chance he'll lose it forever - its more in character for him if he doesn't spell it out. If you love someone, you'll do anything for them. I am sure he feels she'll look over his ideas and plans and execute them, because he knows she was born to create something new.

Well thought out points, and sound reasoning! However, a counterpoint: that love is not romantic, just deep respect and trust - a proper, solid friendship.

Va'al wrote:

Sunstar wrote:

budmaloney wrote:What a great finale. That ending was very touching.

I really really wanted to Starscream to spell out that he loves her. Add some romance into the mix. Even though he didn't have to say it, it was clear imo. I sincerely hope they maintain the course and never go back to the old Starscream. It was demeaning to always see him abused by Megatron and crew. Scott's creative team from the dawn of Windblade has put significant effort in defeating evil Starscream...by making him good....and honestly I love that. This is the powerful writing that could change a perception of the character for ever. What he did in the end was for love and for the greater good.

I completely agree with that.

He would not do something like that without a reason. He loved his world, he loved her. He never would have risked himself unless he had feelings for her. And it was clear she had feelings for him. Both are too Stubborn and proud to admit it. He sacrificed himself for the love of many things. I also hope they do not revert him - this is how I believe he should end up. I also feel he is scared to admit affection for anyone on the chance he'll lose it forever - its more in character for him if he doesn't spell it out. If you love someone, you'll do anything for them. I am sure he feels she'll look over his ideas and plans and execute them, because he knows she was born to create something new.

Well thought out points, and sound reasoning! However, a counterpoint: that love is not romantic, just deep respect and trust - a proper, solid friendship.

This I also agree with because, I am in love with my husband and its a good solid friendship with a lot of respect and trust. We're not the most romantic of couples. But I tell him often that he is my best friend and my everything. 100%

it was interesting but, and maybe i am a cynic but, how long until star scream returns to himself?

I sat down last night and read the windblade through to the Annual- a long but good read. I must say the art progressed since the first windblade issues. I will really miss this arc and I hope they allow Starscream to continue to grow and not keep him rotting in a cell - there is far too much they can do with him at this stage.

So Starscreams in prison for life...and were getting an annual about him hiring Thundercracker to make a movie about how great he is in a couple months...

Not like that sort of thing doesnt happen in real life.

That annual was just sublime. I missed the last four issues of TAAO and picked em up, read the whole arc until the end of the annual. That really was a damned good series. Seriously sad to see it go.

Big Grim wrote:That annual was just sublime. I missed the last four issues of TAAO and picked em up, read the whole arc until the end of the annual. That really was a damned good series. Seriously sad to see it go.

Isn't it just so good read all in one go? 10-12 plus annual? So good.

Va'al wrote:Isn't it just so good read all in one go? 10-12 plus annual? So good.

It really, really is! Such a shame to be losing it! Hope we're not losing the team altogether! They worked wonders on the book.

I reread the whole winblade series and later after finishing the annual and I could see the lead up.

This series ended on an archetypal female preoccupation of 'taming the bad boy', as Lisa Simpson once mentioned on 'The Simpsons'. The ultimate aim is for the boy to be tame enough to become a good father (in this case a father figure) yet still be capable of ruthlessness when necessary.

Which is beautiful when considering Starscream. He was not always a bad boy - she re-directed him to a former potential.

Yeah, he could have been a great peacetime noble. Now he has a terrible reputation.

he always has had a terrible rep. He came out and was open with his crimes. He still could be released at some point in the near future and still do noble things. At the moment, being in jail keeps him safe for later. I'd rather that then someone offing him with stupid terrible magicks.

Actually, jail is no defence against magic.

No, but my logic is, if he is there, then he might be safer than if he was ruling Cybertron and getting himself into trouble. The real way he'd get involved is if: Windblade needed his sort of skill set or if the bad guy magic users decided, "lets break out the baddies and get them to help us."

'Ace-in-the-hole', they call it. Just have to hope that he doesn't make a blunder when they let him out! Winter Unicron is coming! [This time, his body will be composed mainly of illegally scanned/downloaded e-comics.]

Why did so many Decepticons join the movement in the first place? They wanted to eliminate all the corruption, etc. and make Cybertron a better place. We shouldn't be surprised if they become better characters after their LONG war.