I was VERY confused to have been quoted in this because I had no recollection of asking the question. But then my brain is mush these days, so I had to check -- the "see original post" link went to an unrelated post of mine in a totally different thread, and the question quoted here was asked by ZakuConvoy. Funny mixup.
Huh. Apparently when you delete quoted comments from a response the board software doesn't actually delete the comment anchors with them.
When I was replying to Zaku, I had a couple of older comments queued in the multi-quote thingy, so I cut them out of my comment, but the software obviously didn't get the message and pinged you anyway.
Well, I enjoyed the issue until the last page. I just have very little interest in crossovers of any sort, and Cobra-La (the very little I know of them) always seemed inherently silly, even given this is a story about giant alien robots that turn into cars.
I definitely think the project in Wheeljack's box is the Dinobots, especially given the comment in the letters page. Don't see them doing a bait and switch there.
Wheeljack's opposition to using Decepticon parts to keep Shredhead alive does seem odd. There doesn't seem to be any physiological differences between the two sides - Optimus used Megatron's arm fine (until finding out it was possessed), Thundercracker has integrated with the Autobots, etc.
Speaking of the letters page, interesting that they apparently came up with the idea of "Optimus uses someone else's arm" but didn't decide the who until later. One choice was Ironhide (which would've visually been boring), another was Grimlock (somehow giving him a BW Megs-esque T-rex head arm, which would've required quite the new body for Grimlock...) before they decided on Megatron. Kinda surprising, since Megatron seems like such an obvious choice, being Optimus' opposite number, iconic cannon, and so forth.
Shredhead: I kinda agree with Archevile here. There weren't many good options, so using spare parts from another "robot" to keep him from off lining completely makes sense. Like I can understand why it'd bother Wheeljack or others, but when the choice is between life and death, you need to try whatever works.
Yeah, I'll admit, this "not swapping parts" thing feels like it's coming out of nowhere. Especially with Optimus literally using Megatron's arm for half the series. Then again, maybe that's exactly WHY Wheeljack doesn't think it's a good idea. What with Megatron's arm taking over Optimus's mind for a bit there. But, it really hasn't been focused on enough for me to really acknowledge it as a major plot point. Even though, I guess it is.
So....do you think the whole exosuit thing was done to tease us because we all thought Wheeljack was working on Dinobots? Which he still probably is.....also...what is up with Beachcomber? He seems distracted and sad.
Yeah, I kind of feel like Kirkman is enjoying making people wait for the Dinobots, since people probably keep asking him about it. Kirkman does enjoy teasing his audience at times.
As for Beachcomber...it's possible that we're starting to get a tease for some future plotline involving him. But, this version of Beachcomber is kind of weird. He spent SO LONG alone, I have to wonder if he kind of just misses nature and NOT having other Transformers around, sucking him into their war. Plus, he did almost die back in issue #23, and we never really addressed that. So, maybe all this is just...too much for him? I don't know. Maybe we'll get a "Dark Beachcomber" arc? "Beachcomber Nights"!
Man, I really know nothing about cars. Despite reading a LOT of stories about robots that transform into them, no knowledge about them has passed through into my skull.
Yeah, I'd like to see the Visionaries, at some point, too. Inhumanoids would be nice, but I guess that's still in right's limbo. Although, if there's anyone who could make that work, it might be Robert Kirkman. (Or Hasbro could just officially change the name, whatever.)
Are there any other Hasbro properties that we want to add in, here? I guess we haven't gotten Action Man in here, yet. And, technically, Pound Puppies did make a appearance in the old IDW Hasbroverse. Power Rangers would be fun, but Boom has those rights. Battleship would slot in pretty easily, though I don't know what you'd do with it. I'm not sure what the rights situation is for Duel Masters/Kaijudo, but that'd be a fun addition that would bring something new.
I guess it's probably going to be a while before we get to see too much of the other Micronauts, though. I guess they're just going to be effectively MASK side-characters for this first year, which is odd to think about. Since, I feel like Micronauts are actually more popular than MASK, if only because of how beloved the original Marvel comic was, but I could be wrong about that.
Jem to show up, with Synergy begin based on cybertronian technology and energon, since that seems to be how everything technological in this universe works. Jury's out on
BOOM! Studios, in collaboration with Hasbro, a leading games, IP and toy company, is thrilled to announce that it has licensed the publishing rights to the “Truly Outrageous”fan-favorite franchise JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS. Fans can look forward to all-new stories with Jem and all her friends coming...
www.boom-studios.com
I guess Kirkman wasn't interested? We're still waiting to see what Boom does with it, outside of collections of IDW's old comics.
And this is kind of a big one, because this is the start of the showdown between the main Joes and the Night Force team. As they point out in the book, they've been building up to this for YEARS!
It's a fun issue. It feels like they tried to make this as new-reader friendly as possible, even though they've been building up to this for a while. So, you could jump onboard if you wanted to. But, it is really nice to see some of these plot threads come together here. So, yeah, it's a solid time.
We start off with Night Force fighting some SNAKES during a training exercise! Now, originally, these were just power armor for Cobra soldiers, so I guess Night Force actually ADDED more robot-parts to them, so no one had to drive them. Kind of feels like this is a test run for any showdown between the Joe teams and the Transformers, but we'll see what happens.
Continuing from last issue, Baroness now know that something funky is up with Hawk. But, even SHE doesn't think anyone will believe her, so she immediately goes on the lamb. She doesn't even TRY to explain what's going on to the other Joes, she's just bookin' it. And...fair enough, I guess.
Meanwhile, Cobra Commander tests out the DIRE Tech he stole from Crystal Ball on some unfortunate lackies. And he's giving that power to...MAJOR MEDUSA! (Not to be confused with the villain from The Rescuers!) She's the Valkyrie that's been getting a lot of spotlight recently. And I THINK she's new. I can't find anything on the character, so I think this is a original character for the Energon Universe. Neat!
Meanwhile again, Hawk orders the Joes to KILL BARONESS! But, Duke thinks this is all pretty suspicious so he politely declines that particular order. Which doesn't go over very well. So, Hawk decides to call in Night Force!
Baroness decides trying to explain things to Night Force is the best course of action, after they cancel her cruise. And, of course, that goes about as well as you might expect.
But, then Duke swoops in to save Baroness! At this point, I kind of wonder if I should be shipping Duke and Baroness or not?
And Night Force is NOT prepared to deal with Hound. I guess Hawk/Zartan never let them know about the giant robots invading Earth? I guess that's "need to know" and they didn't need to know?
So, Night Force decides to call in THEIR robot. Meet...GI BAT! (A robot made for combat!) Honestly? This robot gives me some Snake Eyes vibes. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not. It's not like he has a katana or anything, but he is all in black with a visor. So, hard to say what they're planning, here.
Image Comics Official Full November 2026 Solicits And Solicitations... from Chainkata to Transformers
bleedingcool.com
The images:
And some commentary:
Seems like Duke and Flint are going to have to make up if they want to stop whatever it is that Zartan has planned. Classic crossover rules, first they fight, then they team up. Even though, one of the variant covers really makes it seem like Night Force had the upper hand, here.
Over in MASK, it's the end of the first story arc. The solicitations and covers don't really give anything away, so there's not much to comment about. But, given recent issues, I wouldn't be surprised if we get some "small" surprises, eh? (...Micronauts, I'm expecting the Micronauts to show up on the last page, in some form.)
In Void Rivals, it looks like we have a bit of a sibling rivalry going on with Proximus and Solila. Are we going to have to separate you two across the vast chasm of space? Also, ROM is still here! Will ROM get a Handroid of his very own? Who knows?
And finally, there's Transformers, which is easily the most exciting of these solicits. It looks like Megatron's finally hatching from his cocoon! And he's become a beautiful, flaming butterfly of death! That silhouette feels VERY G2 coded, to me. With a little bit of IDW's Black Stealth Bomber look in the arm cannon. But, chances are, they're going to be adding little touches of their own to this design. I am excited to see what he looks like after waiting so long for him to finally get out of his chrysalis. Seems like Optimus is going to have a hard time of it, going by one of the variant covers.
The two books from the blindbags and Void Rivals #33 are out in comic shops!
Let's start with MASK Origins, because I'm not even going to have a spoiler tag for this. Because there's nothing to spoil. This isn't a "new" book. This is basically a collection of the MASK-related Free Comic Book Day stories and a few key scenes from past Transformer comics. There's not even a new framing device book-ending all this. Not even any new narration that gives us a new perspective on the stories. It's just these stories, collected in case you missed them.
On the one hand, I guess I can appreciate this? If you only happened to care about MASK and none of the other Energon Universe properties, this would be a good way to catch up. There's...someone out there who this would be useful for. I don't know who, but I guarantee there's at least one person out there who appreciates this.
But, on the other hand...this is going to be one of the few times I recommend you skip a book. Because, chances are, you probably already have this. Save your $5, if you have the other FCBD books and are following Transformers. The only "new" thing here is a letter in the back of the book explaining what this is. And it's not even terribly insightful.
But, then there's the ROM Special, and this one IS worth picking up, in my opinion. (And, if you're wondering, I'd recommend reading this issue before today's issue of Void Rivals).
It's a solid issue. Even though, it's mostly just setting up what ROM's deal is in this universe. We get a few interesting teases of what we can expect. And I'm expecting a few things to get paid off down the road.
Technically, you could probably skip this, since it's a little light on plot, but I recommend picking it up. ROM's new status quo in this universe is interesting enough to carry the issue. It's mostly a excuse to see ROM in action, but it's solid enough action, and the mysteries they're setting up are interesting ones.
We start as all great stories do...with our hero being attacked by a giant mantis! Say hello to Kulgith the Devourer! But, don't get too attached. I'm PRETTY sure this is a new character? I can't find anything online, at least. Maybe Kulgith's from the original ROM comic, but I don't recognize him.
Anyway, Rom gets thrown into a dirty jail cell while missing a arm and a eye. And who should comfort him in his hour of need but Kranix the Lithonian from the original animated Movie! These Transformers movie references are coming fast, between Autobot City getting built and this. All we're missing is one little, itsy-bitsy planet sized world-eater.
Fortunately, this was all part of ROM's plan! REALLY! ROM's trying to save some alien kids, and he needed to get captured in order to do it. And we find out that ROM has a little helper in the form of Carpet! That's a REALLY cute name for a disgusting slime-poncho. And ROM...does NOT know what kind of creature it is. hmmm....
Only ROM can seem to hear Carpet. Which is as equally funny as it is ominous. They bicker like a old married couple.
Anyway, ROM finds the alien kids, but Kulgith finds him, and Kulgith is not happy about ROM trying to steal his groceries. AND THEN THEY FIGHT! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to recognize these alien kids or not? They're generic enough that they could be new. Or they could be a reference to something in the Sunbow cartoon that I've long forgotten. I'm just not sure.
We do get confirmation that ROM is a cyborg in this universe. Since Kulgith draws blood. But, ROM ends up slicing his head off! Hey! That's pretty forward for a first date in mantis-alien culture there, ROM! He even gives the alien kids a thumbs up afterwards, that Lothario!
ROM needs a arm. The corpse of the mantis-alien has a arm. Things work themselves out.
ROM returns the kids. And then asks the locals to keep their eyes out for Dire Wraiths...even though he doesn't know what they look like, anymore, since it's been so long since he's seen one. Double-Hmmm...
The alien locals also give ROM back his Neutralizer, which he left in their care to protect them while he was gone. Even though, he doesn't even remember what it does, anymore. We're going for the Triple-HMMM....
Then we get a montage of a punch of fun adventures that ROM goes on, which we'll probably never elaborate on. Saving a mermaid princess from a army of shark-knights. Fighting in a gladiatorial arena. Saving more kids from another monster trying to eat them. Feeding some hungry fleshy chick-hobos. Towing a spaceship away from a black hole. You know, pretty average week. And that's how the issue ends, leading us into Void Rivals.
So...Carpet's a Dire Wraith, right? I mean, he almost has to be. Chances are, Carpet is the one giving ROM his memory problems. Erasing any "problematic" memories that might lead them to fight each other, like memories of the Neutralizer and what Dire Wraiths look like. Also, Carpet's probably a "girl" Dire Wraith. Because every hero needs a Catwoman-type rogue to seduce them. I'm calling it now!
It's either that or Carpet's a Inhumanoid. Because I COULD see Kirkman also deciding to seed in ANOTHER franchise right under our noses. But, meh...why not both? Turn the Dire Wraiths INTO the Inhumanoids, I say. The most memorable thing about the Inhumanoids is the designs. So, just give us Dire Wraiths that LOOK like the classic Inhumanoids. That might fix any rights problems with the name. Or maybe not. I don't know. But, you have the Inhumanoids, which have cool designs that you can't use because of the legal problem with the name. And you have the Dire Wraiths, which have a cool name, but kind of forgettable designs, usually. Let these two problems fix themselves! But, what do *I* know?
And finally, there's Void Rivals #33!
This sees ROM introducing himself to the main cast. And it goes pretty much the way you'd expect. This is a comic, after all. We need pointless fights, which only leads to bonding later!
Plus, we get a showdown between two characters that you'd NEVER expect! Unless you've been reading this book for a while. Then you might expect it. But, I'm still looking forward to it!
So, yeah, this is solid enough. The teases about what's going on with ROM really carry most of the issue, for me. But, it's looking to be a fun start to this new arc.
Turns out the Rivallians have NEVER heard the universal greeting before. So much for that "universal" part. Although...ROM somehow recognizes their language. So...either he's been to their planet before...OR...the Sacred Ring might have originally been Galador! I wonder if that's what Kirkman is planning, here. Because, if that's the case, it WOULD kind of make sense if the Sacred Ring was the original home of the Space Knights. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this? *SHRUGS*
But, again, ROM doesn't remember what Dire Wraiths look like. So, he keeps asking EVERYONE if they're a Dire Wraith. It's actually kind of adorable, in a weird way.
But, then, the awkward moment passes, thanks to their fight being interrupted by a giant alien frog. Thank you, Giant Alien Frog of Understanding, for teaching us your ways.
ROM doesn't even mind getting attacked. Really understanding guy, that ROM.
Anyway, their ship-pet is still dead. So, ROM sees if there's any ships just lying around the planet for them to use to get off-world again. As you do. I guess ROM can just FLY everywhere himself, since he's a cyborg. Must be nice.
Also, Darak and Soleila don't know what wood is. I mean...they WERE raised on a metal world. So...fair enough, I guess. Although, that just raises questions of what their ancestors originally used to make fire, back in the distant past. But, then again, there are city folk who don't understand that chocolate milk doesn't come from brown cows, so maybe this is actually pretty accurate to what people are like.
Meanwhile, Bola's got some weird green fungus growing on his living armor. And it feels...RIGHT! And when Grakula tries to remove it, it hurts him. So, I'm sure this is all FINE. Nothing potentially sinister or worrying here, AT ALL!
ROM returns, but he wasn't able to find them a ship. I guess there's going to have to find some other way to get off planet. Probably involving that alien bounty hunter Predacron, who Kirkman seems really excited about in the letters page.
But, in a really strange moment, they mention that they're going to Earth. And Rom says he's..."Never heard of it"...in a full-page splash zoomed in on his face. So...I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean. That was a weird moment. It felt kind of sinister? So, here's some options. Option #1), it could just be that Kirkman's teasing ROM going to Earth for the first time, since he spent most of his time in the original Marvel comic there. It's supposed to feel like a big hopeful "moment of destiny" for ROM. Option #2)...ROM is actually originally FROM Earth, but doesn't remember, because of his memory problems. Maybe Galador is more like "Atlantis" on Earth or something? A civilization that existed in Earth's distant past? Or, Option #3)...ROM going to Earth is a BAD THING! Because, again...chances are that Carpet IS a Dire Wraith. So, maybe bringing Carpet to Earth will allow Carpet to repopulate the Dire Wraith species using the Energon found on the planet? Or something like that? Or, of course, there's Option #4) I'm overthinking it all again. But, we'll see. We...shall...see.
But, enough about all THAT! Because the REAL star of the show is back in the book! That's right...SKUXXOID here! Skuxxoid's looking for his Rockeroid and skuxxs to give. And there aren't any skuxxs to give in sight! He lands on Junkion and demands that Wreck-Gar give him is Rockeroid or so HELP HIM, he'll open up this can of skuxx on him! SKUXX YEAH!
And, yeah, like I mentioned, Kirkman is VERY excited about Predacron showing up next issue over in the letters page. I hope he lives up to the hype.
Regarding certain franchises that have not yet appeared in the series
Apparently Hasbro doesn't have the rights to the Inhumanoids for some weird reason. IDW were going to use them but were told they couldn't.
Fans started to spot Inhumanoids nods in G.I. Joe in 2017 (and so did industry sites looking at the solicitations[2]), which ended up not going anywhere. Aubrey Sitterson revealed on his Patreon that the plan had indeed been to bring the Inhumanoids in, but at the eleventh hour Hasbro learned they didn't have the rights to the characters anymore either, not just the name! The comic swiftly changed them into the Fatal Fluffies, beasties from a Joe episode.
Huh...I really thought it was just because of the name similarity with Marvel's Inhumans. I wonder how they lost that? Just failed to renew the rights, or what? Because they even put out a comic with them in it back in 2011.
Huh...I really thought it was just because of the name similarity with Marvel's Inhumans. I wonder how they lost that? Just failed to renew the rights, or what? Because they even put out a comic with them in it back in 2011.
Failure to renew rights applies to trademarks (so they might have lost the rights to the name), but not to characters or concepts. Those would be protected by copyright, which does not need renewing, and lasts for decades. My guess is that someone else either bought some of the rights, or there were underlying rights that conflict with usage today.
Turns out the Rivallians have NEVER heard the universal greeting before. So much for that "universal" part. Although...ROM somehow recognizes their language. So...either he's been to their planet before...OR...the Sacred Ring might have originally been Galador! I wonder if that's what Kirkman is planning, here. Because, if that's the case, it WOULD kind of make sense if the Sacred Ring was the original home of the Space Knights. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this? *SHRUGS*
Given the sacred ring was apparently made by Zerta Prime, the residents probably speak some variant of cybertronian, which I imagine ROM has run into a transformer a time or two in his travels.
We don't really have a separate thread for this, but I picked up the Powerplex graphic novella from the Battersea Transformers store yesterday.
Just for anyone unaware of the background, initially this was a Simon Furman penned story intended to be published in six oversized poster/comic book hybrid issues, but it seems like the feedback was just that these sucked as a format and didn't sell, so they've scrapped those after two issues and just put the entire story in one issue.
In terms of continuity, mild spoilers follow (at least one of which is spoiled by one of the variant covers) -
It doesn't really fit into any established setting as such - it "feels" like the Marvel G1 comics, but Shockwave is in it reporting to Megatron, so it doesn't fit anywhere neatly. The cast is broadly some of the 84 show cast, but with a member of the thirteen making an appearance.
It's a nice little self contained story really, I quite enjoyed it, it wraps up nicely in the end.
I personally picked Guido's cover, which has the spoiler, but it also has the design of the Power Station itself embedded into it unlike the others, which I think is a nice touch. There's like six covers if you'd prefer another.
The biggest downside is that it has several foldout pages, which is presumably because of the original poster format, but none of them are used for story! They're just text pieces with creator bios or the history of the project. I have no idea why these couldn't just have been reformatted and put in normal pages at the back of the book.
Still, it's a nice little curio, and I'm glad I picked it up.
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I just have very little interest in crossovers of any sort, and Cobra-La (the very little I know of them) always seemed inherently silly, even given this is a story about giant alien robots that turn into cars.
www.boom-studios.com
tfwiki.net
