IDW merging Transformers with Joe, other Hasbro comics

[Sparky Prime]

As terrible as AHM and Costa's run were, I can't see them throwing either of them personally, given it'd also mean they'd have to ignore a lot of what's going on right now in the story. The whole idea in the current storyline with Optimus annexing Earth, making it part of the Council of Worlds, is largely due to the events of those stories. I know the interview says there will be some degree of a revision of history, but with Ore 13 being the at the center of this "Revolution", I get the feeling the Transformers universe will be getting the priority here.

[Dominic]

Putting aside the never ending argument about AHM and Costa, it depends on how much IDW wants to keep.

They might want to handle TF the way that DC handled "Batman" and "Green Lantern". But, that would require an awful lot of baggage, which IDW may not want. The point of "Revolution" or any reboot (even if it is totally not a reboot) is to get new readers. New readers might not react well to a TF comic that has Megatron as a good guy and.....

Even before "Dark Cybertron", we knew that "Transformers" would go back to some kind of traditional standard. IDW partially changed direction post-Furman. (We know, from that one page story, that Furman would have had shades of AHM in his run. The most obvious difference is that Hunter died in AHM.) The changes in direction were most post-hoc. (As much as I like AHM, there is no denying that IDW was not sure what they were doing with it, not even being sure if it was connected to Furman's run.)

Costa brought back Thundercracker (albeit with good results). Kup got sent to the Dead Universe (more or less cutting off some dangling threads). Sunstreaker came back. (There may have been a good reason planned. But, it was abandoned when Costa's run was winding down.) Wheelie came back. "Chaos" was a standard, run-ending, banner event.

All of the above is stuff one would expect form the big two, changes in direction that end up cutting off runs of comics, and (to varying degrees) undoing the previous runs.

With "Dark Cybertron", Kup came back (with far less baggage than one might expect, all things considered). Optimus is leading the Autobots again (putting him where he was early in Costa's run). Kup coming back from the Dead Universe is more than enough precedent for Shockwave and Bumblebee to come back. The Hasbro mandated events ("Dark Cybertron" and "Combiner Wars") are bringing the faction lines ever so slightly back to traditional spec.

Autobots are mostly good guys, or at least only "so bad". Prowl's default is "sort of" bad guy. He is never going to go "too far" (in the present tense). (He will flirt with it, but never make a commitment.) Remember that time Sunstreaker betrayed the Autobots? (Nobody else seems to.)

TF has been slowly shedding baggage. I am expecting significant back-writes that streamline the TF backstory. Not saying it is inherently bad. But, it is very likely.


Similarly, I fully expect the multiple "Cobra" series to get wiped out. Crossing, blurring and dissolving the lines between factions is not going to work for a reboot. Alternatively, if IDW folds the Hama series in, the original Snake Eyes is coming back.

[Shockwave]

I actually don't think they would necessarily have to contradict anything. They could just have it as establishing that, up till now, everything was in their own self contained universes and from here on out will be taking place in a shared setting. That would allow them to just have the event, not shed the baggage and continue on without any backwrites or retcons.

[Dominic]

That would cause more problems in the long run.

[Shockwave]

That would cause more problems in the long run.

How so? It would still be easy enough to reference previous stories while still leaving the door open for whatever new stories they want to have with everyone existing together. It would certain cause less problems than some convoluted story that somehow leaves some backstory but dumps others. At least this way everything before counts, everything new counts, there's no rewrites, no retcons and no confusion.

[Sparky Prime]

Putting aside the never ending argument about AHM and Costa, it depends on how much IDW wants to keep.

They might want to handle TF the way that DC handled "Batman" and "Green Lantern". But, that would require an awful lot of baggage, which IDW may not want. The point of "Revolution" or any reboot (even if it is totally not a reboot) is to get new readers. New readers might not react well to a TF comic that has Megatron as a good guy and.....

Who says "Revolution" is a reboot? According to the interview: "Chris Ryall insists this isn’t a reboot". The idea is to put all of Hasbro's properties into one shared IDW universe. That's it. Chris Ryall says that they don't want readers to forget all of the history of the character's they've been following for years.

Costa brought back Thundercracker (albeit with good results).

Thundercracker never left.

TF has been slowly shedding baggage. I am expecting significant back-writes that streamline the TF backstory. Not saying it is inherently bad. But, it is very likely.

I don't think that's the direction they're going in with this at all. As the interview says, they're not looking to majorly revise history with this, just unite them in one shared universe.

I actually don't think they would necessarily have to contradict anything. They could just have it as establishing that, up till now, everything was in their own self contained universes and from here on out will be taking place in a shared setting. That would allow them to just have the event, not shed the baggage and continue on without any backwrites or retcons.

Yeah, that's the direction I see them going in as well.

[Dominic]

How so? It would still be easy enough to reference previous stories while still leaving the door open for whatever new stories they want to have with everyone existing together.

As pointed out on other forums, it is really hard to reconcile anything in Joe with "All Hail Megatron". Would the Joes be that worried about a shake-up in Cobra's leadership ("Cobra Civil War")? Would "Cobra Civil War" have happened? Van Lente's run would not work. And, having the characters remember the old timelines would leave the question of why nobody has gone crazy open.

It would certain cause less problems than some convoluted story that somehow leaves some backstory but dumps others.

All they need is some kind of plan, and to release whatever the revised history is. No fuss, no muss.

Who says "Revolution" is a reboot? According to the interview: "Chris Ryall insists this isn’t a reboot".

Yeah, and "Flashpoint" was not a reboot either.

Thundercracker derp never herp left derp.

Yup, sure. He never got shot in the face and the explanation given in Costa's run was not a retarded back-write. (I like Costa's run more than anyone on this forum, and am calling a spade a spade.)

I don't think that's the direction they're going in with this at all. As the interview says, they're not looking to majorly revise history with this, just unite them in one shared universe.

Wait and see.

[Sparky Prime]

As pointed out on other forums, it is really hard to reconcile anything in Joe with "All Hail Megatron". Would the Joes be that worried about a shake-up in Cobra's leadership ("Cobra Civil War")? Would "Cobra Civil War" have happened? Van Lente's run would not work. And, having the characters remember the old timelines would leave the question of why nobody has gone crazy open.

You're thinking that their histories will merge along with the universes, like DC has done with their "Crisis" events. But that's not necessarily how IDW will handle it. What Shockwave is saying that their histories could remain separate. There'd be no need to reconcile anything between the universes histories in that case, with them just living in the same universe after this event.

Yeah, and "Flashpoint" was not a reboot either.

IDW is not DC. Just because DC has claimed something was not a reboot (even though it clearly was), it is no reason to assume the same for IDW.

Yup, sure. He never got shot in the face and the explanation given in Costa's run was not a retarded back-write. (I like Costa's run more than anyone on this forum, and am calling a spade a spade.)

Why when ever this comes up do you say he got shot in the face? That's not what the art shows. All we see is Skywarp's weapon firing, not where Thundercracker was hit. It's a classic fake out.

Wait and see.

Indeed.

[Shockwave]

As pointed out on other forums, it is really hard to reconcile anything in Joe with "All Hail Megatron". Would the Joes be that worried about a shake-up in Cobra's leadership ("Cobra Civil War")? Would "Cobra Civil War" have happened? Van Lente's run would not work. And, having the characters remember the old timelines would leave the question of why nobody has gone crazy open.

You're thinking that their histories will merge along with the universes, like DC has done with their "Crisis" events. But that's not necessarily how IDW will handle it. What Shockwave is saying that their histories could remain separate. There'd be no need to reconcile anything between the universes histories in that case, with them just living in the same universe after this event.

Exactly. I think trying to merge the backstories together would cause both the characters AND the readers to go mad.

As for Thundercracker... I can kinda see Dom's point since the panel before the shot did show Skywarp aiming for TC's head, but the actual panel showing the shot didn't show where Thundercracker got hit. And my attitude with any comic is that if we don't see the death on page, you can pretty much assume that whatever it was is non fatal. Heck, when I showed that to my Mom, even she agreed that she wouldn't have assumed that Thundercracker was dead.

[Dominic]

Thundercracker surviving is a classic example of fanboys looking for a way out and bad writing rewarding them. Somebody at IDW wanted Thundercracker back (maybe Costa, maybe someone higher up), and the slightest ambiguity was the way he was brought back. Piss poor writing. (And, again, I like Costa's run. But, I will call a spade a spade.)

Exactly. I think trying to merge the backstories together would cause both the characters AND the readers to go mad.

There is no way that most of the characters can remember a multiversal buggerization without that having an impact on the comic for years. And, carrying that much baggage (from nascent or largely failed runs) would defeat the purpose of the reboot.