IDW's Dead Universe? And where should I start, to catch up? (spoilers)

[Verno]

Can someone fill me in on The Dead Universe, Galvatron and The Darkness without simply pointing me to TfWiki, that place is no help.

[Paulbot]

Can someone fill me in on The Dead Universe, Galvatron and The Darkness without simply pointing me to TfWiki, that place is no help.

What's on the Wiki is pretty much it. There's another universe were everything is dead, and a group of Transformers, including Galvatron (older than Megatron, no relation), went there and got twisted by being there and became evil. You die or go evil. (Or wear a Pretender Shell as armour to stay alive for a short period.) D'Void, IDW's equivalent of Unicron, seems to be the cause, an anti-life presence that consumed all 'life energy' in the universe, and then tried, during the Chaos story, to break through and consume the IDW universe too.

[Verno]

What's on the Wiki is pretty much it. There's another universe were everything is dead, and a group of Transformers, including Galvatron (older than Megatron, no relation), went there and got twisted by being there and became evil. You die or go evil. (Or wear a Pretender Shell as armour to stay alive for a short period.) D'Void, IDW's equivalent of Unicron, seems to be the cause, an anti-life presence that consumed all 'life energy' in the universe, and then tried, during the Chaos story, to break through and consume the IDW universe too.

So the Galvatron in there is different to the one that Unicron turned Megs into in TF:TM?

[Paulbot]

So the Galvatron in there is different to the one that Unicron turned Megs into in TF:TM?

Yes. In the IDW universe Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus are older Transformers (older than the regular cast) and never had anything to do with Unicron. The events of TF:TM (and the rest of the cartoon) have not and can not occur in the IDW Universe.

[Verno]

Yes. In the IDW universe Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus are older Transformers (older than the regular cast) and never had anything to do with Unicron. The events of TF:TM (and the rest of the cartoon) have not and can not occur in the IDW Universe.

The beauty of starting all over again huh?

Do you think this D-Void will end up being some kind of manifestation of Unicron that IDW is saving up for later? Or something else?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the info Paulbot, I'm thinking of playing catch-up with the IDW universe (I know I'm a long way behind)

[Paulbot]

The beauty of starting all over again huh?

Do you think this D-Void will end up being some kind of manifestation of Unicron that IDW is saving up for later? Or something else?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the info Paulbot, I'm thinking of playing catch-up with the IDW universe (I know I'm a long way behind)

D-Void fills the role of Unicron, god that want's to destroy everything, for the IDW stories. After Heart of Darkness mini-series it looked like they were going to make it more explicit but it didn't happen.

They could still get away with Unicron appearing eventually next time they want a big epic story (likely to be a later crossover between the two new books if I was to bet).

[Verno]

Would you recommend getting the issues like Transformers IDW Collection 1 to get up to date?

[Paulbot]

If you want to read all the IDW comics, then yes that series would be the way to go, but you could also start with "#125" and just read the new ongoing series.

Also, if you don't need a physical copy, back issues are really cheap on ComiXology, $2 per issue, which is a cheaper way than buying the comics and you can pick and choose and skip things like Spotlight Cliffjumper and Spotlight Mirage that don't have importance to the overall story.

[Paulbot]

I should add you don't need to catch up either. IDW stories are self contained and (Drift toy aside) unlikely to have much influence on the rest of the broader TF univers, since the Prime cartoon and toy series are the main thing now.

[Verno]

Where does the IDW universe start? All Hail Megs?