Energon Universe - ongoing Transformers and G.I. Joe comics from Skybound
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
Laserbreak never fails, and thus earns a position on the roster.
Please ignore all those times Laserbeak failed.
Please ignore all those times Laserbeak failed.
They're too frightened of him to use him.
The comic is just starting. They need to give the Autobots a fighting chance.
Rumble is Blue (Purple), Frenzy is Sir-Not-Appearing-On-this-Cover
Who's gonna be the mystery Seeker? Put your bets in now!
If it's anyone by Skywarp I'll be a little surprised. if it's anyone but Skywarp or Thundercracker I'll be amazed.
Still pulling for Slipstream.
Who's gonna be the mystery Seeker? Put your bets in now!
If it's anyone by Skywarp I'll be a little surprised. if it's anyone but Skywarp or Thundercracker I'll be amazed.
Still pulling for Slipstream.
ComicPop got to interview Daniel Warren Johnson about working on Transformers.
(36:33 is when they actually start talking about Transformers, but the earlier half DOES have some interesting stuff in it just about DWJ's process)
Just by how he talks about his own creator owned projects...I'm not sure if we should count on DWJ being on this book for the long term. It'll be fun to have him on it, but, from the sounds of things, he tends to want to move on after about 8 to 12 issues.
Apparently, this book is supposed to be a "return to the classic vibe" for Transformers. And he does mention he mostly watched Seasons 1 and 2 of G1 as a kid. So, that's definitely going to be the inspiration, I guess.
It's just so heart warming to listen to his fan-stories about when he was a kid. Just hunting for old comics in back issue bins.
He thinks these cast reveal pin-up teasers look awful now, since he drew them REALLY early when he was still finding his style with these characters. It's going to be interesting to see how it's evolved.
Hasbro actually asked him to give the characters his own designs, but he wanted to stay with the more G1 aesthetic.
Most of the tie-in seems to be with GI Joe, not really Void Rivals. And even then, just from the sound of things here, they're keeping the connection pretty light.
He doesn't even know who Soundblaster is. I don't know if we should expect anyone showing up more obscure than the 86 Movie cast. That's a bit of a shame, since I REALLY want to see him draw Bludgeon, because he could probably make that look amazing!
His favorite Decepticon is Skywarp....so...that MIGHT spoil a little about who that final Seeker is.
Sounds like we will be getting a human character in the book.
He's using the 86 Movie as his visual bible. So...hmm..
Oh, he confirms he's only writing and drawing 6 issues of Transformers and they'll see what happens from there. Okay, that tracks with what he's said earlier.
Apparently, this book is supposed to be a "return to the classic vibe" for Transformers. And he does mention he mostly watched Seasons 1 and 2 of G1 as a kid. So, that's definitely going to be the inspiration, I guess.
It's just so heart warming to listen to his fan-stories about when he was a kid. Just hunting for old comics in back issue bins.
He thinks these cast reveal pin-up teasers look awful now, since he drew them REALLY early when he was still finding his style with these characters. It's going to be interesting to see how it's evolved.
Hasbro actually asked him to give the characters his own designs, but he wanted to stay with the more G1 aesthetic.
Most of the tie-in seems to be with GI Joe, not really Void Rivals. And even then, just from the sound of things here, they're keeping the connection pretty light.
He doesn't even know who Soundblaster is. I don't know if we should expect anyone showing up more obscure than the 86 Movie cast. That's a bit of a shame, since I REALLY want to see him draw Bludgeon, because he could probably make that look amazing!
His favorite Decepticon is Skywarp....so...that MIGHT spoil a little about who that final Seeker is.
Sounds like we will be getting a human character in the book.
He's using the 86 Movie as his visual bible. So...hmm..
Oh, he confirms he's only writing and drawing 6 issues of Transformers and they'll see what happens from there. Okay, that tracks with what he's said earlier.
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I don't know how I feel about nearly half the Decepticon forces here being made up of cassettes.
It's like 1984 all over again.
There's nothing to say this will be the only line up of Bot and Cons to appear, I get the impression that these are just the starting major cast.
ZacWilliam, minor characters and cast additions are quite possible.
ZacWilliam, minor characters and cast additions are quite possible.
Basically like how Challenge of the GoBots used its cast.
Twitter made it so you need to be logged in to view tweets now, so I'll just say the mystery seeker was indeed Skywarp, so Arcee and Cliffjumper are the only real surprises here.
Surprised they didn't put a female character onto the Decepticon cast. Hopefully Arcee doesn't wind up being the only major female character who shows up.
Surprised they didn't put a female character onto the Decepticon cast. Hopefully Arcee doesn't wind up being the only major female character who shows up.
And this is why it's called "Twitter"
It's still early with this. And we don't have much to go on. So far it's just the cast on each side and a "back to basics" approach with a heavy G1 look.
So far it's not giving me personally anything to be excited for. There's no real "hook" for me yet. It'll need to do more to get me excited enough to pick up issue 1. Otherwise I'll give it a few issues before I take a look. See how the community is vibing with it.
So far it's not giving me personally anything to be excited for. There's no real "hook" for me yet. It'll need to do more to get me excited enough to pick up issue 1. Otherwise I'll give it a few issues before I take a look. See how the community is vibing with it.
Oh, just a thought but what if the Sacred Ring is Unicron? What are the chances?
Same.
Like, literally the only thing that really grabs me is Cliffjumper being a part of the starting lineup.
Yeah, I've had a random thought around the same lines. Maybe the Ring isn't Unicron itself, but something that's keeping Unicron out of this dimension, sealing him away.
I just don't know if they want the Sacred Ring to be a "crossover excuse" thing, or if they want it to be just a Void Rivals thing. But, we only have one issue to go on and we haven't even seen the Ring properly yet, outside of covers. I think there's a decent chance it could be Unicron, but we really have nothing to go on. For all we know, the Sacred Ring might be all that's left of Cybertron after a million years.
Another thing of note is that we have seen tentacles on these Void Rivals covers, so the Quintessons might be showing up in Void Rivals. So, they might be more connected to what's going on than Unicron...or not. We'll see.
The title of the shared universe, "Energon Universe," is kind of an anti-hook for me.
I like shared universes, but not when they just hit you over the head with them. I don't like Joe/Cobra being "Let's mine energon," and I don't like Earth having Energon... at least not enough for an arms race.
G1 was lightning in a bottle; a science fiction cartoon about an energy crisis... following not long after the 70s oil crisis. The bad guys literally wanted to strip our planet of our resources and didn't care about the costs.
Furman's Infiltration also works as a concept - they're transformers; of course they'll infiltrate! However, the fact the autobots and decepticons were fighting an endless war for millions of years really does kind of blur the lines between the two factions. The Military/Civilian divide in G1 made the autobots out to be the underdogs and relatable. In the (first) IDWverse, though, the autobots are just as war-hardened as the Decepticons; near immortal warriors who have seen the rise and fall of countless worlds at their own hands.
This Energon Universe makes me think of the worst parts of Infiltration - drawing a connection between Earth and Cybertron independent of our character's actions while making the autobots invaders.
Never quite understood how this lost viability as a theme, in favor of chasing the Allspark over and over again.