Variant Covers for IDW Transformers: Till All Are One #9 by Jin Kim, Priscilla Tramontano

That last cover is beautiful.

Nik Hero wrote:That last cover is beautiful.

It really is

Much as I don't like the idea of devolving to G1 adherence and teams, that second cover does make me wonder if they're starting up the female autobots team...

I love the first cover, its not the best art but I feel like it captures the attitude of El presidente' starscream perfectly.

I really like both of them

Via the usual fruity suspects, we have a three-page preview of next month's issue of Transformers: Till All Are One, from IDW Publishing - featuring the aftermath of the Titans Return arc, and more on Chromia's actions all in the very first Windblade series. Check it out below!

After the costly victory against the Titans, Iacon is in shambles and Starscream finds himself on shakier ground than ever. The key to his political (and likely literal) survival rests in the outcome of a very unlikely event: the trial of the Council's first official war criminal—Chromia of Caminus!

Damn, I was hoping they were leading toward elita and her people moving into Kaon especially since that was one of the first things brought in this story with obsidian saying kaon needs taken care of. With viligem out I figured they'd move in and that was moving toward that.

Can we just.

Also, alternate sketch for that last cover:

is it out yet?

Sunstar wrote:is it out yet?

Which one do you mean? The last issue released was #8, as reviewed here.
Next one to come out is #9, and as we saw the iTunes preview last week, expect a couple more weeks before actual release.

I really wish they would get a sort of set date. I hate sitting in a puddle of drool

By popular demand, IDW artist Sara Pitre-Durocher has tweeted out her design for the big bad that was there for three panels (but he means so much more) in Transformers: Till All Are One: the big green horned evil himself, Liege Maximo!

Check the image out mirrored below, and compare it to the first look we had at the Loki-esque character in the Covenant of Primus art by Ken Christiansen and the very first appearance in the Marvel G2 comic by Geoff Senior and Sarra Mossoff!

I've always loved Senior's version. Looks beyond a Transformer and more like a god-like being. And actually wouldn't look out of place in the movieverse come to think of it.

I really like the TAAO version best personally. Something about it just sings awesomeness

Another lazy Loki rip off..."snore!"

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:I really like the TAAO version best personally. Something about it just sings awesomeness

Guess we got very different ideas about what awesome is cos I think that's the lamest one.
I didn't realise I was in the IDW sub-forum. I only clicked here cos it was on the news bit and I was so happy to see that glorious G2 page for first time in ages. I'll leave ya to it. Bye bye!

Yeahhh... the Liege's original design is imposing as all hell, and the new one takes away literally everything in favor of Robot Loki for whatever inexplicable reason.

G2 version looked so Liefeldian. I'am grateful for new design. It looks more smooth.

Noideaforaname wrote:Yeahhh... the Liege's original design is imposing as all hell, and the new one takes away literally everything in favor of Robot Loki for whatever inexplicable reason.

For a while now (solidifying around the mid-40s of ex-RiD), IDW's Thirteen seems to have adjusted to matching the Aligned line-up - why that is I'm not sure; was there anything said officially about Hasbro saying they had to? - so more than likely that includes the designs resembling Aligned's versions as well. Hopefully it doesn't also mean IDW's Fallen matches how lame he was in RiD; a demi-god with unlimited telekinesis and he gets beat up by standard prison equipment...

Regardless, if that's the direction they had to go in, I'm glad it was executed well no matter what I might think of the concept (which I'm not entirely sure on myself). Basically the Aligned Maximo but better.

Kurona wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:Yeahhh... the Liege's original design is imposing as all hell, and the new one takes away literally everything in favor of Robot Loki for whatever inexplicable reason.

For a while now (solidifying around the mid-40s of ex-RiD), IDW's Thirteen seems to have adjusted to matching the Aligned line-up - why that is I'm not sure; was there anything said officially about Hasbro saying they had to? - so more than likely that includes the designs resembling Aligned's versions as well. Hopefully it doesn't also mean IDW's Fallen matches how lame he was in RiD; a demi-god with unlimited telekinesis and he gets beat up by standard prison equipment...

Regardless, if that's the direction they had to go in, I'm glad it was executed well no matter what I might think of the concept (which I'm not entirely sure on myself). Basically the Aligned Maximo but better.

Probably because Hasbro doesn't want the effort that went into the failed aligned continuity to go to waste so their going to copy and paste to do whatever they can to salvage the mostly abandoned ideas which will ultimately mess IDW's universe more instead of giving it any benefit mostly.

I do like some of their original ideas though like the Arisen sounds like a cool concept such as a Prime who is literally chill with him constantly making the areas around him freeze and a good counterpart for The Fallen which I'm waiting for it's eventual butchery like IDW's been doing with good ideas lately.

As for the Fallen their probably going to do this...thing


Instead of the first two more original designs that should make the Fallen unique instead of a direct Megatron rip off and say what you will about movie Fallen but at least his design was original and unique to him as a skinny guy instead of a bulky brute like Megatron.




I hope they don't give him true telekinesis but maybe magneto styled magnetism or something like Windcharger's abilities but stronger but also not overpowered since he is most likely going to be a villain so he has to either be defeated or give up on evil.

Also make him legitimately bad and not aligned's Anakin/Darth Vader rip off with the whole "I'm evil and angry cause I killed my love!" with maybe some justification to hate the other 13 like they neglected him for something or he wasn't anyone's favorite.

If they had to bring something from aligned for him how about this helmet cause that was pretty bad arse which makes his actual face underwhelming in comparison.


Maybe Windcharger is the Fallen's grandson or something.

Have a little faith. These guys have done some pretty great things with characters in the past.
...right?

I assume Hasbro wants to avoid a repeat of the whole Unicron/Primus/Quintessons/Primacron/naturally-occurring-gears mess from G1, and have an established canon 'epic backstory' going forward. Part of that would be to keep the designs same-ish across the board (Unicron and Optimus don't change all that much, after all). Which is understandable... but the big question here is why they'd disregard the unique design for something that so blatantly apes a far more popular rival franchise. That's kinda counter-intuitive.

Or maybe Mairghread/Sara just wanted to use the handsome version.


I do appreciate that Sara added in the blue cable things, as well as toning down the Loki-ness. A small change, but you can kinda see him grow into the G2 design maybe one day.

Noideaforaname wrote:Or maybe Mairghread/Sara just wanted to use the handsome version.

These days IDW seem to have the idea that the tumblr fan base is the main audience or at least they pander to them heavily with atrocities like Swerve's world and the whole god damn Conjunx Endura mess.

IDW Tailgate and his suspiciously retconned "female" status and the biggest mistake ever made with Chromedome and Rewind who while they have a great relationship and I enjoy it as well for being a good relationship said relationship opened a can of worms that should of never been opened.

I don't mind that stuff in real life people can do what they want but why do people keep shoving it into a goddamn robot franchise that I use for escapism.

Deadput wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:Or maybe Mairghread/Sara just wanted to use the handsome version.

These days IDW seem to have the idea that the tumblr fan base is the main audience or at least they pander to them heavily with atrocities like Swerve's world and the whole god damn Conjunx Endura mess.

IDW Tailgate and his suspiciously retconned "female" status and the biggest mistake ever made with Chromedome and Rewind who while they have a great relationship and I enjoy it as well for being a good relationship said relationship opened a can of worms that should of never been opened.

I don't mind that stuff in real life people can do what they want but why do people keep shoving it into a goddamn robot franchise that I use for escapism.

*pat-pat*

I know! I'm tired of Hasbro and IDW shoving this stuff down our throats. First we had Sparkstalker and Lightbright, but that was just in the background so I'm willing to let it slide. But now there's hints of it in main characters? Chromia and Ironhide? Brainstorm and Nautica? Arcee and Sideswipe?

I'm tired of them forcing this straight agenda upon me. It just opens up a can of worms that never should have been opened and ruins my immersion and escapism so much.

Kurona wrote:I know! I'm tired of Hasbro and IDW shoving this stuff down our throats. First we had Sparkstalker and Lightbright, but that was just in the background so I'm willing to let it slide. But now there's hints of it in main characters? Chromia and Ironhide? Brainstorm and Nautica? Arcee and Sideswipe?

I'm tired of them forcing this straight agenda upon me. It just opens up a can of worms that never should have been opened and ruins my immersion and escapism so much.

For the record I'm pretty sure there are more same gender couples in idw transformers.

I dont mind same gender couples in stories but I do mind politics being forced in as well as forced romances both straight and not.

Rewind and Chromedome is a good relationship with good development unlike say Tailgate who is borderline creepy since season 2 of mtmte with the whole Getaway thing especially with Tailgate being a baby in holomatter form which raises possibilities I never wanted to think of also the book is treating him like a female both in the book and outside of it.

I hate tacked on empty romances like in the Bay movies and every action movie these days.

Ironhide and Chromia have always been a pointless couple and from what I read Sideswipe and Arcee seem pointless as well.

Brainstorm and Nautica have good chemistry but I think Nautica is a "genki" chick type which I don't usually like in stories.

Then again I also think romance between robots and most stereotypical fembots to be a dumb idea in the first place.

No art is apolitical. Not all art is political. Nothing is created in a vacuum.
As for 'escapism' (jesus you people love using this excuse), here's some good wording on it, by Aliette de Brodard.

I just went through the entirety of this thread, for reasons, and I noticed a giant discord in what you were saying at the beginning, Deadput, and what you're saying now.

As Kurona said, and as RevTibe said a while back: if you create a race that is mostly male, you're inevitably going to have mostly same-sex relationships.

I personally see nothing empty in any of the relationships shown in TAAO or any of the other books, except for the bland one between characters I cannot be bothered to find names for in the Redemption one shot. There is nothing forced that I can see in any of these stories either, except for Hasbro corporatism and publishing events. I see most of your opinions are very angry, skimming the surface, and flip around a lot of the time.

Many of us have told you already: learn to step away from stuff that upsets you. Calm down. Come back to the conversation later. Read the piece I linked to above, all of it. Come back later. With the same opinions, with the same thoughts, with the same ideas. No one is saying you can't think or say any of those things. But you're starting to sound more and more like a person I want nothing to do with.

I have no problems with this stuff. If anything, it makes it easier for readers to relate to these characters. Who's to say that other alien races out there aren't like the human race we're used to here? That's my opinion, anyway.

I do like that Leige Maximo design. I like it more than both the aligned and G2 versions. I'm not sure that it that similar to Loki, considering a lot of big bad guys tend to have horns as part of their characterization, like Unicron or Menasor.

Much like Kurona said, I like the artist's take on the original Christiansen design - but it's the latter that I'm not a fan of. So the starting point is 'eh' and on top of the 'eh..' there's an 'oh ok!'. Meaning my overall opinion of the IDW Liege Maximo is 'eh ok'.

I can't shake the feeling that it's Hasbro doing a Marvel, and feeding it to IDW.

Yeah, I do get the idea of the body-type and the subsequent jump to being Loki-inspired; the whole 'big bad evil dude that's really imposing' thing is already filled by Megatronus, and Liege Maximo's single appearance in G2 basically showed he was manipulating things behind the scenes - so being a trickster makes sense. But they went just a wee bit too far with the whole idea in latching onto something that's popular. They're smart enough to focus on the only good villain from the Marvel movies, I'll give 'em that.

'They' of course meaning the peeps who made the whole Aligned series bible. I wonder if there's anything else interesting in there we'll get to see in IDW other than the Liege Hiddleston.

Kurona wrote:Yeah, I do get the idea of the body-type and the subsequent jump to being Loki-inspired; the whole 'big bad evil dude that's really imposing' thing is already filled by Megatronus, and Liege Maximo's single appearance in G2 basically showed he was manipulating things behind the scenes - so being a trickster makes sense. But they went just a wee bit too far with the whole idea in latching onto something that's popular. They're smart enough to focus on the only good villain from the Marvel movies, I'll give 'em that.

'They' of course meaning the peeps who made the whole Aligned series bible. I wonder if there's anything else interesting in there we'll get to see in IDW other than the Liege Hiddleston.

I kinda want to see IDw TF's 'purple bot in the floating chair' now.



(This was definitely Elita for a couple of issues.)

I still really like Durocher's design for the Liege, and I think it is the best of the 3. The G2 one isn't my style, and the aligned one was a bit too Loki. this one feels like a better balance, I like the colors, I like the helmet design, and I like that she had other ideas for it before settling on that one. When I saw the different helmet designs I was actually hoping for a TLK Megatron thing with the horns adjusting to facilitate some sort of faceplate (I love faceplates). Her design has basis, but still feels somewhat original, plus I believe those are wheels in the lower legs, so a hint at an alt mode! The colors actually work for me too.

It also helps me in that it looks enough like TLK Megatron that the voyager from that line will serve as my "G1 battle-damaged new-armor Liege Maximo"

Deadput wrote:Ironhide and Chromia have always been a pointless couple and from what I read Sideswipe and Arcee seem pointless as well.

Aren't all relationships?
sorry, that was too good to resist

Va'al wrote:No art is apolitical. Not all art is political. Nothing is created in a vacuum.

BATTLEMASTER IIC wrote: Who's to say that other alien races out there aren't like the human race we're used to here?

Both very true.

Sorry for the previous posts I took a look at them and I can't believe how idiotic I sound and I do think you guys are right I'm just saying what the mind's thinking and I'm bad at explaining.

I still dont think there has to be as many romances as there are I want them to be charismatics like Rewins/Chromedome and Brainstorm/Nautica or Skids/Nautica and not just have a relationship there just for it to be "there" and nothing is done with it.

Just means I shouldn't make posts while tired out and in a bad mood.

Va'al wrote:But you're starting to sound more and more like a person I want nothing to do with.

If I knew me as a separate person IRL I wouldn't want anything to do with myself either.

Because I'm literately mental, have frequent emotional meltdowns and shouldn't have access to a computer just stating this just in case I do something worse and no this is not a looking for "sympathy" post I'm sure some of you are going to think that in fact I don't care much for sympathy towards myself.

But thanks for the article Va'al I read it and I do understand it I should say I often use the wrong words to describe what I mean like political and escapism since their just words that sound right to use yet I usually ignore the definition of said words.

As a complete stranger to IDW who probably shouldn't even be in this thread...

Liege Maximo is booooooring. He's literally Marvel's Loki except A ROBOT LOLOLOLOLOL. Seriously, the sooner we get a return to the demonic robo-Cthulhu of the original design, the better. That dude was iconic despite only appearing in a single panel.

As for the whole relationships kafuffle, again I don't actually read the comics but I will admit there is something a liiiiiittle bit weird about Tailgate being in a relationship and having a holomatter avatar fashioned after a baby. As far as the whole gay robots thing, I don't hugely care, though as a relative social conservative I obviously have my slight misgivings about it. I am glad they have been evening out the balance so there's some more fembots and some actual normal relationships though. I just hope they don't completely leap down the social justice rabbit hole and start introducing genderbending-based LOLdrama. Quite aside from anything else, being robots and all, turning into the opposite sex is a piece of the proverbial- a few chassis adjustments and a replacement gearbox and voila, drama-free reassignment.

Though after the mansplaining debacle I don't think they'd dare.

There's a podcast episode coming up that will be talking about allllllll of the things for this second arc!


Also, once that is up, I want to do a breakdown of the 9-12 covers, too.
There's some great stuff in there that I really want to get my critical hands on, but I start explaining it in Mainframes, so will wait for that to be uploaded.

One of those covers, as shown before, in sketch form before edits.


A fan recreating it with toys.





afdhfg

I think I love the toy recreation even more. Starscream looks so unimpressed.

"Get off me you filthy little second-rate Thrust."

Maaan do I wish the CW Seekers could be downsized to Voyager... this is just another reason it'd be so perfect.

Black Hat wrote:"Get off me you filthy little second-rate Thrust."

Any idea how DIRTY that sounds? LOL

Sunstar wrote:

Black Hat wrote:"Get off me you filthy little second-rate Thrust."

Any idea how DIRTY that sounds? LOL

Easy tiger.

This is the podcast episode I mentioned!

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... con/37901/

Give it a twirl, why doncha.

As March has passed, but IDW scheduiling is what it is, we skip the month that was skipped and go straight to the next issue of Transformers: Till All Are One, number #9! Check out below a full preview, and come back to Seibertron.com next week for a review of this first issue in the next story arc.

Transformers: Till All Are One #9
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sara Pitre-Durocher (a & c)
After the costly victory against the Titans, Iacon is in shambles and Starscream finds himself on shakier ground than ever. The key to his political (and likely literal) survival rests in the outcome of a very unlikely event: the trial of the Council's first official war criminal—Chromia of Caminus!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
Variant cover by Jin Kim!

2 issues in a row to puck up on free comic book day

Va'al wrote:One of those covers, as shown before, in sketch form before edits.


A fan recreating it with toys.





afdhfg

*cough* *cough well i tried something

Synopsis

After the costly victory against the Titans, Iacon is in shambles and Starscream finds himself on shakier ground than ever. The key to his political (and likely literal) survival rests in the outcome of a very unlikely event: the trial of the Council’s first official war criminal-Chromia of Caminus!



Story

Till All Are One is a book that thus far has managed to exceed expectations. Between the first arc involving old fan-favourites the Combaticons in a grand political drama and the second arc bringing in a Titan invasion straight from Luna 1, the comic has not only managed to beat out its predecessors in the Windblade volumes, but arguably it has been the best of all three Transformers ongoings this year. However, after two world-shattering arcs, it's time for the book to slow down a little and deal with the aftermath - and it isn't short on things to deal with. This issue balances so many dangling plot threads - the aftermath of the Titan invasion; the repercussions and explanation of the Liege Maximo and Elita's crew; a trial concerning a Badgeless' allegiance with the Combaticons; a decision on what to do with Chromia, and where Starscream will stand in all of this. Oh, and they somehow managed to bring in a plot thread from Combiner Wars too. So after such a fantastic arc, it might be one's worry that this issue in trying to balance so many bullet points may not be up to snuff. But oh, my friends, there is no worry to be had. For this might just be the best issue of Till All Are One so far.



With Windblade ominously missing from this issue, the narrative mic is handed to Starscream - and as you'd expect from the silver-tongued manipulator he somehow finds a way to talk for ages and ages and ages... without mincing his words. The Windblade books have done a fine job of building up just the sort of person Starscream becomes when he's essentially gotten all he's ever wanted and this continues that development following the huge events in the last eight issues. I won't spoil it all here; but all the interesting introspection and dilemmas he plagues himself with throughout the pages makes it all the more satisfying when he finally reaches a conclusion on what to do and how exactly to play around all his foes - it's exactly the kind of thing that could only come from a guy called Starscream.



Talking of his foes, let me give this last little drabble to Elita One. Ever since she first appeared way back in 2015 the mystery surrounding her, the crew she commands and the ship she captains has been played up - and in the last arc it all came to fruition. And as the mysteries of 'Carcer' have now been borne to all the public, Elita lays out all the cards of her goals, her motivation and her backstory to Starscream and what remains of the council. While a lot of it does show her roots on working on the Aligned continuity, Mairghread Scott nevertheless manages to weave in some very interesting worldbuilding to an already very interesting world. And by the time it's done, by the time it's clear where exactly she stands; Elita has in this reviewer's opinion been turned into one of the most interesting characters in the comic.



Art

Sara Pitre-Durocher and Joana Lafuente handle lineart and colours in this issue, respectively; as they have done almost the whole book. As such, a lot of what has been said about them the past issues can be said here - they're very good at what they do, they have a great understanding of composition and sequential art; and their style fits the book and helps make the characters pop. There is, however, one particular section of the issue very much worth commenting on art-wise - and that's the flashback to the age of the Primes.



This only goes on for two pages, but it shows they can go for another very different style extremely well. The section stands out for its darker, sharper colours and lines; creating a great contrast between then and now - the blurred figures and misty panel separation help create an aura of mystery and wonder without veering too far so that it feels like a smudge. While I adore Pitre-Durocher and Lafuente's style employed for most of Till All Are One, this is some beautiful artwork the likes of which I would be very excited to see in future issues.


Final Thoughts

As far as aftermath issues go, this is one heck of a good one. Starscream is interesting. Elita One is interesting. Chromia is interesting. The way the consequences of last issue are dealt with are interesting. This is an interesting issue! We got so much character development and revelations and story advancement in so few pages - this creative team has come a long way since Windblade volume 1 and I truly believe they're at the top of the game and know exactly what they're doing. And what they're doing is some truly excellent work.



And even with all it managed to give us, it still leaves me wanting more. The repercussions wrought by both Starscream and Elita are shaping up to be some very interesting development for Cybertron, and there's still characters we haven't checked in on yet. But if the upcoming issues dealing with said characters are anything like this one, then I can look forward to excellent storytelling with masterclass character studies and some absolutely stunning art.

This was an awesome issue!

I like that they keep going on like Windblade is dead.

I'm sending out my husband to pick this up for me - CHIRR! *excited!*

Starscream is just so perfectly Starscream-like in this. This incarnation is creeping up on Armada Starscream as my favorite. Scott has such a handle on the character that it's astounding, and really damn fun to read!

This issue was peak Starscream. Clever, ruthless, and manipulative. I like the fact that he knows that what he's doing is wrong, but that he's also self-aware enough to know he'll never change. His statement to Chromia closes the character arc that started way back in Robots in Disguise under John Barber. Starscream has changed, but he's never going to be a good guy, and both he and the readers understand that now.