Transformers Legacy toyline

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

If I were Hasbro I'd have just asked for a Titans Return miniseries or something, disconnected from the main comic. Or run it as backup stories in the main comic.

Yes! This is what I meant before. I'd rather have just had like a 3-year story or something covering Prime Wars as its own thing, rather than shoehorning sometimes clumsily into the regular IDW continuity (and making it even harder to follow in retrospect from all the titles they had floating around. Primus help you if you weren't reading these as they came out...).

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

The Hasbroverse killed late IDW1 for me. I don't care about Visionairies or MASK or Rom or whatever else, I just wanted to see Transformers.

 

[Destron D-69]

yeah, when what's her name -the hot one- from Visionairies killed Ironhide I was like well okay now I don't need to read this anymore

 

[Sabrblade]

I believe I've said it before and I shall say it again: Not every Transformers fan is also a G.I. Joe fan.

 

[LordGigaIce]

Churning out another book per month might have not been seen as a good use of money (debatable), considering they also had Revolution and TAAO and other events and series going.

That's on IDW. More Transformers content might have juiced sales (even if it was a one-off Titans Return tie-in) than that G-d awful MASK series. Or trying to make the Visionaries a thing.

And yeah, it is IDW's fault. They went to Hasbro to pitch the shaded universe idea, not the other way around.

 

[Rhinox]

So I went to another city yesterday for other things and managed to find new toys. Found Slipstream (yay for preorder cancellation!) and MotorMaster. I wasn't going to get Motormaster, but, well I was depressed and desperate for some dopamine so I grabbed him and Ratchet, his wavemate.

It's still the animated Prime mold, but that's not a bad thing. And the new headsculpt is just awesome. He looks great. And the mold he uses is one of the best to come out of Legacy.

 

[LordGigaIce]

The Hasbroverse killed late IDW1 for me. I don't care about Visionairies or MASK or Rom or whatever else, I just wanted to see Transformers.

I'd say that Skybound does it properly. One, they're not flooding the market with concepts and titles.
Two, because of this they've just focused on Transformers and GI Joe (as far as Hasbro properties go, I know there's also original IP in the Energon Universe).
Three, because the focus is just on those two, each can tell its own story. You don't need to read the GI Joe stuff to follow the Transformers ongoing. It's there. They do tie in now and then, but you can skip all the GI Joe comics and still fully follow the Transformers stuff.
IDW tied so many things together and tried to make so many things interconnected and relevant and it's like... if you're just there for Transformers then no you don't care about the Space Knights or Matt Tracker's vigilante urban infrastructure repair crew (I'm not kidding) and the rest is just unwanted noise.

The era of big event crossovers in comics really did a number on "shared universes" because Marvel and DC kept pumping out mega crossover events to the point that they lost all meaning and the comic industry is, ultimately, one of follow the leader(s).

The reality is that the best way to handle a shared universe is just let different titles exist in the same fictional world but let them do their own things. Have an overall editor to make sure there aren't any huge contradictions across multiple creative teams, but let each title just exist and tell its own story, with a few connective bits here and there for the people who dig that thing.

This is especially true where Hasbro is concerned. The list of potential IPs for a shared universe is long, but it's a mile wide and an inch deep. Most of these IPs- Visionaries, Rom, MASK- are dead brands that can't be revived just by welding them to Transformers.

If you're going to do a shaded Hasbro universe then you need to start small. Transformers (their most viable and visible brand) and GI Joe (struggling but probably #2 by default) are the best choices. And just let them grow on their own.

And MAYBE, if things break right, you try a Rom comic down the line or something, and see how that does as a self-contained story before having him meet Optimus Prime.

 

[Shadewing]

I'd say that Skybound does it properly. One, they're not flooding the market with concepts and titles.
Two, because of this they've just focused on Transformers and GI Joe (as far as Hasbro properties go, I know there's also original IP in the Energon Universe).
Three, because the focus is just on those two, each can tell its own story. You don't need to read the GI Joe stuff to follow the Transformers ongoing. It's there. They do tie in now and then, but you can skip all the GI Joe comics and still fully follow the Transformers stuff.
IDW tied so many things together and tried to make so many things interconnected and relevant and it's like... if you're just there for Transformers then no you don't care about the Space Knights or Matt Tracker's vigilante urban infrastructure repair crew (I'm not kidding) and the rest is just unwanted noise.

The era of big event crossovers in comics really did a number on "shared universes" because Marvel and DC kept pumping out mega crossover events to the point that they lost all meaning and the comic industry is, ultimately, one of follow the leader(s).

The reality is that the best way to handle a shared universe is just let different titles exist in the same fictional world but let them do their own things. Have an overall editor to make sure there aren't any huge contradictions across multiple creative teams, but let each title just exist and tell its own story, with a few connective bits here and there for the people who dig that thing.

This is especially true where Hasbro is concerned. The list of potential IPs for a shared universe is long, but it's a mile wide and an inch deep. Most of these IPs- Visionaries, Rom, MASK- are dead brands that can't be revived just by welding them to Transformers.

If you're going to do a shaded Hasbro universe then you need to start small. Transformers (their most viable and visible brand) and GI Joe (struggling but probably #2 by default) are the best choices. And just let them grow on their own.

And MAYBE, if things break right, you try a Rom comic down the line or something, and see how that does as a self-contained story before having him meet Optimus Prime.

I could pretty easily see Rom working with Void Rivals and the Space stuff if done right. Set up the Space Knights as something like the Green Lanterns or Nova Corps; and them be kinda law enforcement for space. Have them slowly get pulled into things through other missions they are on. Like maybe ROM is investigating Skuxxoid's dealings, which leads him to the VR main characters which also ends up leading him to Springer and eventually Hot Rod.


Heck, with Cobra-La being a thing, I could see them maybe working in Inhumanoids or Visionaries and saying Cobra-La is part of that, like a rogue faction or something. Not saying I would want it; just that I think Cobra-La could be a natural door to introducing one or both of them with out them feeling out of left feild or too forced.

 

[Sabrblade]

Matt Tracker's vigilante urban infrastructure repair crew (I'm not kidding)

V.U.I.R.C.?

 

[LordGigaIce]

V.U.I.R.C.?

Someone get ToyHax on it.

I could pretty easily see Rom working with Void Rivals and the Space stuff if done right. Set up the Space Knights as something like the Green Lanterns or Nova Corps; and them be kinda law enforcement for space. Have them slowly get pulled into things through other missions they are on. Like maybe ROM is investigating Skuxxoid's dealings, which leads him to the VR main characters which also ends up leading him to Springer and eventually Hot Rod.


Heck, with Cobra-La being a thing, I could see them maybe working in Inhumanoids or Visionaries and saying Cobra-La is part of that, like a rogue faction or something. Not saying I would want it; just that I think Cobra-La could be a natural door to introducing one or both of them with out them feeling out of left feild or too forced.

I agree with all of this.... I'd just like to see them take their time. IDW pushed the Revolution-verse out at once and in retrospect there were too many IPs not enough people cared about.
I think making Visionaries or Inhumanoids or Rom and the Space Knights work would require it taking time, and rolling them out slowly to let them feel established first.

 

[unluckiness]

Late stage IDW was when it became very apparent that somebody at the company desperately needed to tell the writers no.

 

[Sabrblade]

Maybe after the failure of Unit:E and the Aligned continuity Rik Alvarez snuck into the backdoor of IDW and clandestinely planted the idea of Revolution into everyone's minds there, just so he could finally get his stealth M.A.S.K comeback one way or another.

 

[Shadewing]

I agree with all of this.... I'd just like to see them take their time. IDW pushed the Revolution-verse out at once and in retrospect there were too many IPs not enough people cared about.
I think making Visionaries or Inhumanoids or Rom and the Space Knights work would require it taking time, and rolling them out slowly to let them feel established first.

Oh I agree it needs to be a slow and staggered release, just that unlike IDW, I can see how these properties could get folded in without feeling forced. IDW's TF and Joe books were completely seperate, till they decided to do this shared world. Then they also forced everything else in. But with EU, you have things like Skuxxoid and his black market-esque dealings, and secret underground society that is very anti-tech and otherworldly. Both of which can be doors to intro other stuff, it jsut feels like there is natural room for things to slot in if they wanted to use them. It could be interesting seeing Cobra-La as part of Inhumanoids lore considering how monsterous some of them can look.

 

[lastmaximal]

Maybe after the failure of Unit:E and the Aligned continuity Rik Alvarez snuck into the backdoor of IDW and clandestinely planted the idea of Revolution into everyone's minds there, just so he could finally get his stealth M.A.S.K comeback one way or another.

It stings because I really really wanted a MASK comeback. But it always made more sense as something that could happen as a subset of GI Joe (an impression helped along by the Matt Trakker they did for 25th) rather than as one of many things they spun up out of nothing and then expected people to care about.

 

[Sabrblade]

It stings because I really really wanted a MASK comeback. But it always made more sense as something that could happen as a subset of GI Joe (an impression helped along by the Matt Trakker they did for 25th) rather than as one of many things they spun up out of nothing and then expected people to care about.

It might sting more to hear that Alvarez's plans for MASK as a subset of Unit:E actually changed the acronym for seemingly no reason. Instead of the "Mobile Armored Strike Kommand", the were to have been the "Mechanically Advanced Secret Knights".

Or at least, that's what he claimed at one of his TFcon panels among many other bonkers claims pertaining to the Aligned continuity.

 

[lastmaximal]

Oh, that doesn't affect me at all. I've long known to try and keep Alvarez' ideas at arms' length. He might as well have come up with "Muscular Aardvark Saves Kalamazoo" and I'd be like of course he did.

That might actually be less dumb than this one.

 

[Shadewing]

Oh, that doesn't affect me at all. I've long known to try and keep Alvarez' ideas at arms' length. He might as well have come up with "Muscular Aardvark Saves Kalamazoo" and I'd be like of course he did.

That might actually be less dumb than this one.

It may be me, but how is Alvarez's one more dumb the forced original?

 

[lastmaximal]

I'll be honest, that was almost entirely facetious.

I mainly don't like the replacement, with an immediate distaste for it that isn't strictly rational. But here's my current entirely subjective best effort at pinning down why.

I mean, the idea alone that you have to go back and "fix" this thing so that it's cool enough to bring back, rather than just leaving it be this quirky inherited bit, is silly enough. The original is forced in order to spell MASK, but coming up with any new backronym is still conforming to the need to spell that word, so at most it'd be a lateral move. Just lampshade it and move on, maybe.

Mobile, armored, "strike c/kommand" - strong words that hearken to a military squad or strike force with special equipment (masks that are actually helmets) and vehicles (so they're mobile) in particular. The original's main flaw is kludging the spelling of Command so it fits.

Mechanically-advanced, secret knights - the first, compound word is too broad to speak to the specific brand or identity of this group, and can just as easily describe a theme park animatronic or a Rube Goldberg machine. "Secret" just about works; I don't think their agent work was public, since they had day jobs and ducked out to do MASK stuff. So it applies.

And Knights, well. I like knights as an aesthetic and it's a cool word, and "Mobile Armored Strike Knights" is perhaps a decent compromise, if only just to avoid the "Xtreme Kool Letterz" raps. But "Secret Knights" doesn't really click for me with MASK; the sudden swerve into metaphor seems like an attempt to make the first half of the name seem cooler than it is.

But all that's just me, and I'm the sort of weirdo who puts a bit of effort into working "aardvark" into a backronym.

 

[Sabrblade]

"Muscular Aardvark Saves Kalamazoo"

News at 11!

 

[LordGigaIce]

It may be me, but how is Alvarez's one more dumb the forced original?

I guess it's not any worse, but it's a totally unnecessary change.