SDCC displays and reveals

[griffin]

One of the Hasbro display cases updated with Kreo Battlechangers, Walmart 3-pack, and Target's Silver Knight First Edition Optimus.

[griffin]

IDW's comic panel at SDCC, including their upcoming Transformers comics (quite a lot of them).

Trasformers: Robots in Disguise – John Barber still writing, Andrew Griffith still the main artist. Back on Earth with Optimus Prime in command, fighting new Decepticon leader Galvatron. Hunting for 'mysterious object" on Earth. Everyone loves Thundercracker and Buster.

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye – James Roberts still writing, Alex Milne still the main artist. Rodimus and Megatron leading the Lost Light in search of the Knights of Cybertron. Teases return of old favorites, plus more horror and sci-fi elements in addition to personal drama, which will all come togerther to make for an epic story.

Transformers: Windblade – Mairghread Scott wrote it. Sarah Stone was on art. Character was introduced in Dark Cybertron; Windblade series itself just finished up her first adventure, but she will return in other stories like RID and Windblade Returns (which Scott & Stone will be working on). Stressed that the response to both the character and series has been extremely positive. Said issue #4 contained lots of twists.

Transformers: Primacy - Conclusion of the Cybertron war prequel trilogy (the first two being Autocracy and Monstrosity). Written by Flint Dille and Christ Metzen with art by Livio Ramondelli. Adds lots of crazy ideas and stories to the series, and the war will really start to heat up. One of the biggest battles! Livio had a hand in the story this time, co-plotting along with the other guys - he notes he was able to add things to the book which he thinks are really fun.

Transformers: Punishment - Digital series written by John Barber, with art by Livio Ramondelli. Currently available on Madefire (Windows 8) for free, but will be coming to other platforms too.

Transformers Drift: Empire of Stone - Written by Shane McCarthy and drawn by Guido Guidi, with covers by Alex Milne & Josh Perez. Will be a new story that is closely tied into MTMTE. Drift leaves after taking the blame for the Overlord incident and now, after one whole year, he's on his own.

Combiner Wars - Unfortunately, details on this were a bit vague and sketchy. It sounds as if it will be a series that John Barber, Mairghread Scott, Sarah Stone, and Livio Ramondelli will all be working on. It will be a toy tie-in event. Seeds for this have been being planted for a while now in the comics. The war is over... but now it's time for a new one to start. Things will escalate quickly. They noted that combiners are popular with fans.

Humble Bundle - Hasbro's Michael Kelly detailed the previously-reported Transformers Humble Bundle, and its charity purpose. You can name your own price for the comics, and the proceeds will go towards charity - it benefits the Hasbro Children's Fund, and in addition you will also get access to a catalog of comics. Many titles and series are available. Overall, it has already collected over $100,000 so far.

Transformers: Angry Birds - Crossover comic. Written by John Barber with art by Livio Ramondelli and Marcelo Ferreira. Covers will be by Livio Ramondelli, Casey Coller, John-Paul Bove, Guido Guidi, and Sarah Stone. A spin-off of the game and toys that are coming. The premise is that the Allspark falls to Piggy Island, and the Transformers' personalities merge with the inhabitants. It's meant to be a comedic comic - it is in fact very funny, the panel says. Should be a lot of fun. One of the Piggies might have Starscream's qualities.

Transformers vs G.I. Joe - Written by both John Barber and Tom Scioli, the latter of whom is also on art duties. Trypticon will show up in issue 2! Meant to be classic and old-school and capture the look of the original 80's comics. Tom created an outline detailing the first 4 years of the timeline. Issue #1 sold out before it was released, and the SDCC Rob Liefeld cover exclusive version also sold out. Barber was unsure if Scioli wanted to do the project in old-school style at first, but Scioli was on board. He told Tom not to get too excited, and that it wasn't set in stone. Tom immediately began working up a 100+ page outline, which became the first four years outline as noted above. Scioli noted that the TF comics haven't looked like this since the 80's, and that it's the best comic he's made in his life. He drew the Diamond Edition cover, and the 2nd printing of convention edition cover.

[griffin]

IDW's press release, noting that the "Combiner Wars" story arc is spread over RID #39-42 and the first three issues of the second Windblade comic.

Since we are at #31 this month, the Combiners story is another 8 months away... which is probably when the toys are expected (March).

Actually, I just noticed that they even say March in the Press Release...

Transformers: Combiner Wars
A new Transformers event, Transformers: Combiner Wars will start March 2015 from writers Mairghread Scott and John Barber and artists Sarah Stone and Livio Ramondelli. It’s an arms-race of truly titanic proportions as a long-lost ancient artifact allows the Cybertronians to unite into more powerful, gigantic forms. Will Cybertron—or the galaxy—be able to withstand the onslaught? Find out with a prologue and 5 issues, running in TRANSFORMERS #39-41 and the new TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE #1-3, which will be packed in with select TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS toys.

Angry Birds / Transformers
Announced earlier this year, Rovio and Hasbro have teamed up two beloved properties in Angry Birds and The TRANSFORMERS! This fall IDW will bring the mayhem to comics with the brand new series, Angry Birds Transformers, expanding on the unexpected backgrounds of this explosive crossover! Written by The Transformers mastermind, John Barber, with art by Marcelo Ferriera, this crossover will be one for the record books!

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[Paulbot]

IDW's press release, noting that the "Combiner Wars" story arc is spread over RID #39-42 and the first three issues of the second Windblade comic.

Hooray, no halting MTMTE for a RID story this time!

[kup]

Hooray, no halting MTMTE for a RID story this time!

They kind of still are, only that just for fewer issues. Hopefully won't incorporate some event that disrupts the flow of the main story.

[Trent]

Transformers vs G.I. Joe - Written by both John Barber and Tom Scioli, the latter of whom is also on art duties. Trypticon will show up in issue 2! Meant to be classic and old-school and capture the look of the original 80's comics. Tom created an outline detailing the first 4 years of the timeline. Issue #1 sold out before it was released, and the SDCC Rob Liefeld cover exclusive version also sold out. Barber was unsure if Scioli wanted to do the project in old-school style at first, but Scioli was on board. He told Tom not to get too excited, and that it wasn't set in stone. Tom immediately began working up a 100+ page outline, which became the first four years outline as noted above. Scioli noted that the TF comics haven't looked like this since the 80's, and that it's the best comic he's made in his life. He drew the Diamond Edition cover, and the 2nd printing of convention edition cover.

Why? The guys 'art' is a joke. Even back in his heyday, when I was a kid, I thought his drawings were terrible. How having him attached to any project can be viewed as a positive thing eludes me

[Sky Shadow]

Why? The guys 'art' is a joke. Even back in his heyday, when I was a kid, I thought his drawings were terrible. How having him attached to any project can be viewed as a positive thing eludes me

That cover is the second greatest crime to Transformers that Rob Liefeld has ever committed.

His greatest crime was giving Pat Lee a start in comics.