Transformers Joins Skybound and Hasbro Pulse Reveals

You are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Springer here, and you are listening to all things

Transformers. This is Optimus Prime, and you

are listening to all things Transformers. Do

that, but I can't do any of those backups now.

They don't exist because I don't have the app

anymore. Ecamm doesn't work with that. That's

ridiculous. It pisses me off. There goes my investment

for Ecamm. I'm like, okay, well, Microsoft, fuck

you. Fuck you. Welcome to All Things Transform.

Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, the first thing out

of the moment. I'm already dropping F -bombs.

I'm already on grumpy pants here, right? We sympathize.

There are plenty of things that companies have

done in the last few years. It's like, why would

you do that? Why would you mess up something

anyway? It's like how Hasbro just doesn't give

proper paint apps or leaves big gaping holes

in the figures. I've noticed going to the toy

aisle that majority of the new toys are super

tiny. Oh yeah. And then they're like, they look

like crap. Like I was looking at the new flash

movie, uh, toys. Cause I was like, I, I kind

of want a new Michael Keaton Batman. And then

I was looking and I'm like, it's so tiny and

it doesn't look very good. Like my, my eighties,

nineties, you know, original one that I had and

look insanely better than this thing. Nope. It's

just, yeah, I can't justify it. So I don't pull

the trigger on any of it, but it's just kind

of annoying that we have to, like, I'm pretty

stoked I got a 3D printer and I finally figured

out how to use it. The thing of the future, to

be honest. Yeah, so I'm like, so if I buy the

Funbee stuff or I get some of the other files,

I can print my own stuff and it'll be better

quality. than some of the Hasbro crap. Absolutely.

Now you want to get nuts? Come on. Let's get

nuts. You want to get nuts? Let's get nuts. All

me such entertainment. Yes. But I suppose while

they are distracted, I should attempt a business.

Hello and welcome to All Things Transformers.

I'm your host, Steve Megatron. And joining me

on this adventure into the Transformers fandom

are... tf2 and mike and lady rack welcome back

welcome back welcome back this is uh episode

445 folks and yes we are staying alive we are

55 away from 500 episodes of all things transformers

staying alive yeah yeah i i thought he was gonna

go there and he didn't i'm glad i didn't say

it first I was like, I thought for sure he was

going there. Cause usually he's the one that

pulls in a nostalgia, but my brain went there

before. Always. All right. So we've got three

news articles tonight, only three because most

of this episode is going to be a discussion on

the news. We finally have been waiting for, for

over a year now or just over a year now. But

first off. We're going to start with the Hasbro

Pulse livestream from June 20th. They revealed

a whole bunch of stuff. Going through the list

here, we have, there will be, let's see, what

does it say here? Studio Series Deluxe Mirage

94 Porsche. So they got the Porsche license.

Yay! Maybe now we can get a real jazz figure.

Maybe. That would be cool. I mean, you know,

Mirage is cool, too. Yeah, well, they're working

on the Deluxe Mirage 94 purse. They're working

on the face to make it more screen accurate,

because apparently when they first started making

it, it wasn't screen. I'm like, how can you not

have a screen accurate face? It's he's in all

of the trailers. Like, come on. Yeah, we have

the like all of the the other detail stuff, right?

Probably not. I don't know. Leader Optimus Primal

will be darker in final production to obviously

fit with the film. He will come with the transwarp

key and Prime's axe. Okay. Cool. More Rise of

the Beast next year for Legacy. This, I think,

is really cool, and I'm interested to hear what

you all say. We're getting Core Class Prime with

trailer and Bumblebee. This is a Pulse exclusive.

I guess I'll go first. Whoever wants to take

it. I kind of like the fact, I mean, don't get

me wrong, I like the Korv class figures just

because they're smaller. And the amount of detail

they're able to still kind of stick with them.

It's funny, they're still a head shorter than

the original basic figures of the 90s. But at

least with this Prime, they painted his waist.

Unlike some previous renditions of him and gave

him a little bit of color and in the head and

gave him the trailer. My my son has the kingdom

core class Optimus Prime. And I don't know. I

like this. Yeah. Well, especially because he's

broken multiple parts of it. And I've had to

do constructive repairs. And then, I mean, they

have the Cybertronian mold Bumblebee. Um, so

I don't think they'll care about this per se,

but like, I, I like G1 characters enough for

their core class. I don't know if I would use

them enough to get like Voyager or deluxes or,

uh, things like that. Now, uh, a Voyager Optimus

movie, you know, studio series 86 Optimus prime.

And they actually did some remolding. I probably

would go for it because it's Prime. But I do

like the fact he comes with this trailer and

and then there's Bumblebee with him. Although

the proportions between the two look really off.

Yeah, they do. Because Prime looks like tall

and narrow and Bumblebee is like short and stocky.

Well, he's always been short and stocky. I know,

but his head is bigger than Prime's. Is it? Oh,

it is. Oh, it is. Wow. It's you know, you know,

it's just it looks weird. You can't avoid that

because he has really big cheeks. But I do like

the fact that Prime's trailer has a spot to hide

all of his gear comes with roller. It's it's

what you would expect out of them. And you can

fit Bumblebee inside. So I guarantee my kids

are going to want this. just because you can

store them, you know, and it just looks cool.

I mean, it's reminiscent. Plus, he's got, you

know, the shield. It's just so much of it's nostalgic,

but it's fun. So I really like this. Amy? I have

to say this was actually the standout thing for

me too. When I, cause I listened to the, the

pulse, the pulse, I have never listened to any

one of them, which is funny because I know that

a couple of fans have been invited on pulse a

couple of times and I've reached out to them

before they get on and say, Hey, I'm so excited

for you. I just never watched just because I

just don't watch anything. I did it. I did it

specifically for the show. And this was kind

of the, the standout thing through the whole

like, Oh, they had all these different things

on there that were kind of cool. And I was like,

yeah, that's kind of cool. But if I was going

to say, what are you tempted? This is tempting

me to go out and buy. Just because it's the right

size. It's got a trailer and the trailer opens

up and it's just every piece is so usable. It's

like, hmm, I'm really tempted with this. I know

they said, oh, it's the core class. It's something

small and something fun that you get your kids.

I'm like, hell, I'm getting that for me. If I

get it, I'm going to get it from me. That's $40

spent for me, not my kids. That's right. I'll

have to fight them for it, though. I mean, you

know, not a death battle fight, but, you know,

close. Every single time I turn around and it's

missing from my desk, I'll be like, okay, who

took it? Yep. I find this really interesting

that they have done this because next year, as

we all know, is 40 years of the brand. 40 years

ago, we started with Generation 1 Optimus. We

eventually got MP -01, which anyone who wants

the Masterpiece Optimus Prime, go for MP -04

if you still can, because that's the one with

the trailer. But the fact that we went from original

Generation 1 Optimus Prime to all the other Optimus

Primes we've had over the years, Masterpiece,

and now this. This is a tiny Optimus Prime that

looks literally like the thing. Like, they did

so good on this Optimus. That is affirmative.

I just wish they'd used some, like, chrome. It's

not just the Optimus. Go ahead. No, it's not

just Optimus, but I'm just highlighting him now.

Chrome what, Steve? I was saying I just wish

that he'd, you know, they would use some chrome

instead of the gray or they'd, you know, actually

paint their mirrors instead of putting those

crappy stickers on. Yeah. you're right and and

i agree with you the only problem is you know

at some point and amy this is probably the one

you can get for your kids you know at some point

this is going to be repainted into dead optimus

prime right that's why it's probably the gray

color it is without being like the metallic looking

silver that it usually is and again this is core

class this is This isn't really for us 40 year

old children. This is for the actual children.

You also know there's somebody, somebody out

there that runs a sticker business, something,

you know, no rub signs and stuff. That'll probably

be able to make, you know, little, they'll make

it look good to put on there because they're

geeky fans too. And they're like, Oh, I bet I

could make this better. Yup. So, and I love it.

Yeah, I love the box art on it, too. It looks

so cool. So fun. All right. So, yeah. So also,

like I said, we've got the Mirage and the Optimus

Primal, which will be better, which will be recolored

for later to match the film more. The other one

I liked out of the film toys is this Primal.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The rest of them are kind of

neat. I mean, they still look better than some

of the Michael Bay stuff. They don't look as

Kibble -y, but they still look pretty bad. You

would think that they would use some influx of

color in any of them to make parts of their body

stand out in robot mode instead of just... They

look like Blah in Vehicle or Beast, and then

they look like Blah when they come out. Pretty

much, yeah. That's the style, though, I guess.

I don't like their style. Which is why I've not

bought a movie toy ever. I have to say, I agree.

They're shelf -warming at all of my Walmarts,

though. Like, they're not moving at all. In,

what are we up to, 15, 16 years since the original

film, I had bought one movie toy for one purpose

only. I bought Revenge of the Fallen Ravage only

because his eye was purple. But yeah, I do not

buy movie toys. As cool as the Optimus Primal

looks, and I can't. It's just a no from me. The

rest of the stuff they announced, like Bombshell,

some more Insecticons, yay, I guess. Let's see

what else is down here. The Core Class Dinobots

that are coming next year or later this year,

whenever they're doing it. Anything else that

piqued your guys' interest? Not only is it Core

Class Dinobots, but it's a combiner. Oh, yeah.

It's going to turn into Core Class Volcanicus.

Which is awesome. Yeah, that is so cool. I have

to say that's the other thing that went, oh,

okay, that's the other tempting thing. Like,

if they have all five of those things, and they

said you could pick up the other two that you

missed last year, I'm like, hmm, that looks kind

of fun. Yeah, so for under $60, you have a mini

combiner. Yeah. But again, you're right. It's

small. I remember back in the day when we had

the other combiner that I ever wanted that I

was really tempted to get, but I never did. It

was the War for Cybertron, the High Moon Game

version. I loved those designs. I loved that

design so much. I never got it. I'm kind of glad

I did, but this is smaller. I'm like, hey, I

could set that up on my desk. That's right. Absolutely.

And then a lot of the other stuff they have for

that Pulse livestream is just repaints with different

heads. Yeah. Here we are. Long time Transformers

fans. Movie just came out. What did we focus

on? Focus on the old stuff. The G1 looking ones.

That's the ones we've been focusing on. Well,

I will say that I love what they did with Antagony,

with the Inferno repaint. Yeah. It's black and

purple. I'm not buying it. I don't want it. So

nobody get it. Not that I expect anyone to get

this thing for me, but it looks so cool. And

I love what they said about this was that they

initially, when they initially designed Inferno,

they put hidden. tooling under part of him or

something so it fits in with whatever this repaint

was going to be at the time but that was like

last year when it first you know and all that

so yeah I think it's funny though some people

I've seen complaining about them coming out with

this antagonite because they worked so hard to

get the convention exclusive And then they're

like, they came out and did this, you know, and

I'm like. But the convention exclusive was what,

97? Something, yeah. The original Antagony BotCon

exclusive was like over 20 years ago. Yeah. It's

like they're going to milk it any way they can.

Well, I mean, yeah. And they should because,

I mean, the tooling has changed and a lot of

it's gotten better. That's the other thing about

a lot of these. toys that we're getting now.

I'm sure there are plenty of things people can

point out that are wrong with the Leader Dragon

Megatron. But still, that Leader Dragon Megatron

that we have now compared to what we had back

in the 90s is so much better. That face is ugly.

Yes, the face is ugly, but that's because it's

not really his face. It's somebody else's. Yeah,

it's Red Megatron. What's funny is the third

-party company is doing an oversized knockoff

of it. And they're giving him his actual face.

And it's going to be larger than that winged

dragon. Oh, my God. Which is funny to me because

I was like, oh, if it's just a little bit bigger,

like optimal size, it'd be kind of cool. But

they're like, no, it's bigger than the Winged

Dragon. And I'm like, well, that's kind of the

penultimate Transmetal 2 Megatron. Like, you

can't top that. Yeah, no, you can't. The other

stuff that they had, I like the Semi Truck Prime,

the Volvo. Yeah, the Pepsi repaint. Yeah, the

red repaint of the Christmas Prime. Yeah, that's

what I meant, the Christmas repaint, yeah. I

like the way that his character looks, the shininess,

the head sculpt looks G1. I like where the wheel

placement is on his back, just to kind of add

something. I don't know, that one really stands

out to me quite a bit. Absolutely, absolutely.

All right. Anything else on the toys? Not for

me. No. All right. July 2023, the Pacific Northwest

will be transformed. Don't miss SibFest Northwest.

Featuring special guest Paul Eiding, the voice

of Perceptor. Panels hosted by Mike Seibert Radio

Podcast. Robotics. Contests and trivia. Local

RSC dealers. Exciting raffle prizes. A Transformers

experience by the fans, for the fans. Get your

own exclusive Generation Zero transforming action

figure. This Cybertronian festival features the

Bumblebee Camaro inspired by the films. July

8th at Kent Commons Community Center. Immerse

yourself in CyBest Northwest. More at CyBestNW

.com. CyBestNW .com. CyBestNW .com. CyBestNW

.com. Hello there. I'm Paul Eiding. Now, some

of you might know me from video games that I

have voiced. Metal Gear Solid, Diablo, StarCraft,

WarCraft, God of War, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, a

whole bunch of video games. Or some of you might

know me from Grandpa Max and Ben 10, or No Zone

and Toxic Crusaders. A bunch of other ones. Most

importantly, I hope you know me from G1 Transformers.

I'm the voice of Perceptor. Now, folks at SideFest

Northwest, they know that. Because I'm going

to be joining everybody up there. Kent, Washington,

July 8th. I'm looking forward to it. It's less

than a month. 25 days, actually. But who's counting?

Listen, if you're in the area, I hope you can

join us. I promise we'll have a good time. We'll

be talking all things Transformers or all things

whatever you want to talk about. So join us.

All right. July 8th. SciFest Northwest. See you

there. Time to get to the comics, ladies and

gentlemen. It has been just under or just over

a year since we heard that Hasbro had a new comic

book partner, but they weren't yet ready to reveal

it. Well, they've revealed it. Speculation abound

and everything else, and I always threw out the

joke in the last year. You know, it'd be really

funny, although I'm pretty sure it's never going

to happen. It would be... Strange and weird and

ironic to see if Warner Brothers and DC got it

because Marvel had it in the 80s. And a lot of

people speculated it would go back to Marvel.

A lot of people speculated it would go to somewhere

else. It is Skybound, which is an imprint of

Image Comics. Now, that's the one thing I didn't

I had heard of Skybound. And the one thing I

knew about Skybound outside of their name was

that it was the Walking Dead guy that kind of.

you know, whatever runs or whatever it does with

that company. But I did not, I've been reading

image comics books for years now. I read all

kinds of titles from image. So I was perfectly

fine. Once I actually found out who the publisher

was now, Amy, what was your first reaction? I

actually was happy with this because this is

the first, like they tease that they had been

talking with Skype already initially, like from

the get go. And then nothing came out of it.

But so, hearing the announcement was like okay

that's no surprise because they teased that they

had been in like contact with skybound they just

never verified and so they let you know they

let fans spin which we can spin let me tell you

we can spin that news and it worked for a good

year right um but yeah that wasn't this was not

a surprise to me. I'm glad that they went with

skybound. Honestly, I don't really want to go

with, I don't want them to go back to Marvel.

I don't want them to go back anywhere else. I

rather have them go to a company that's, that's

going to treat them right. Um, that's, that's

going to, you know, take them in a new direction

and, and go get fun with it and maybe push some

boundaries. I'm all right with that, but yeah,

I'm, I'm, I was fine with this. Yeah. Steve,

initial thoughts. So I'm. I'm fine with it for

now because I really don't know what to expect

from them. Yeah, there's that, too. I've I mean,

I've seen them do, you know, through Marvel,

I've seen through Dreamwave, I've seen IDW. It

makes sense that they went to somebody different

other than like DC and Marvel and. Trying out

a whole new. creative team however it's it's

just another reboot okay everything yes but everything

isn't just another right i know but i mean the

only one that's really getting a fresh reboot

is gi joe out of the deal yeah like how they're

formed yeah but technically it's still not because

i mean transformers and gi joe tie back to The

80s when the G .I. Joe comic introduced Transformers

and blew up Bumblebee. So this is why I love

having Amy on the podcast at times, because she'll

tell me like six hours before we record. Oh,

by the way, I'm doing all kinds of research.

OK, good. You do all the research you want. Bring

it. Let's go. So how many crossovers have there

been? I don't know how many crossovers. There's

been a lot. Yeah, there's been a lot. All the

way. There's been about 12 or 13. Yeah. Yeah.

And different companies, too. They've done it

with Marvel. They've done it with Image. They've

done it with Devil's Due. They've done it with

IDW. So, I mean, there's just been a lot of it.

I think the better stuff that's come out of them

crossing over was on Image. Yeah. But, yeah,

I mean. I don't know what to think yet because

we really haven't seen anything. We don't know

what the team is going to come up with. We don't

know the story. We don't know. We're very much

in the dark. I mean, yeah, there's some story

here, but there's not really. So the solicitation,

and I'm sure by now, by the time I get this podcast

online. I don't know if you guys knew this. No,

I did not know that. Robert Kirkman, this came

from EJ Su, it was a Twitter thing that he put

out, a Twitter post in June of 2021. He said

Robert Kirkman was going to write Transformers

if Dreamweb didn't get the license. These guys

have been sitting in the wind, in the wings.

They already have vied for Transformers. And

they didn't get it, but this time they did. So

I don't know what that means, but I'd say if

they were interested back then and they're still

interested now, maybe something good is going

to come out of this. So they are starting the

Energon universe. And so far we have three titles.

We have Transformers number one, Duke number

one, and Cobra Commander number one. Creative

team on Transformers is Daniel Warren Johnson.

He's doing both the writing and the art on that.

For Duke number one, the new Energon universe

expands in December with Duke number one. So

Duke, the only reason why I'm saying this now,

part of the solicitation, is because Duke is

a limited series. So it's not going to be a full

ongoing like I believe Transformers and Cobra

Commander will be. So Duke's... Duke and Cobra

Commander are both being written by DC scribe

Joshua Williamson. Tom Riley is on the art for

Duke, and Andrea Melania is on the art for Cobra

Commander number one. For Transformers, it begins

an all -new era for the iconic robots in disguise

from superstar creator Daniel Warren Johnson.

Extremity do a powerbomb, DC's Wonder Woman,

Dead Earth. and colorist Mike Spicer Stillwater.

Optimus Prime was supposed to have led the Autobots

to victory. Instead, the fate of Cybertron is

unknown, and his allies have crash -landed far

from home alongside their enemies, the Decepticons,

as the... Wow, this reads like crap, TFW 2005.

Holy crap. I don't expect much. Yeah, well...

As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth,

the one thing is immediately clear. The planet

will never be the same. New alliances are struck,

battle lines are redrawn, and humanity's only

hope of survival is Optimus Prime. This comes

out October 4th, 2023 for a $4 .99 cover price.

Final orders due September 10th. For Duke number

one, New Energon Universe expands in December.

with Duke No. 1, limited series from Joshua Williamson,

etc., etc., and Geordie Belair on art that tells

the story you've never read before, the origins

of G .I. Joe and Cobra in a world grappling with

the arrival of the Autobots and Decepticons.

When Conrad S. Hauser, codenamed Duke, investigates

the mysteries behind the Transformers, the answers

will lead to the birth of forces for good and

evil that the world never imagined. Duke will

be the first of four G .I. Joe limited series

coming from Skybound, setting the stage for a

fresh new take on G .I. Joe, Cobra, and the iconic

characters that you only think you know. Okay,

so this is the first of four limited series.

Hey, I like that they're taking baby steps. I

think that's great. I think not everyone should

immediately start in on... Oh, my God, we're

going to have a 57 -issue run with a bunch of

annuals and whatever else. You know what I mean?

Like, start it off small and let your readers,

let new readers and us old hats, you know, kind

of dig in. Duke, number one, December 27th in

shops. Final order date is December 3rd. It will

be $3 .99 cover price. Cobra Commander number

one. Now, this one is out of the three of them.

Transformers and Cobra Commander are the two

that I am most interested in. I will obviously

still get Duke, but Cobra Commander number one

launches in January 2024 from Joshua Williamson,

Andrea Melania. In a world where Cobra doesn't

exist, one man's sinister plans to utilize the

mysterious alien substance. known as Energon,

will send shockwaves across the globe. Okay,

so if Cobra doesn't exist, I assume we're going

to get some sort of Cobra Commander origin, and

then maybe Shockwave will come in? I don't know.

I'm just guessing. Cobra Commander number one

will be in shops January 17, 2024. Final orders

due December 24, 2023. $3 .99 is the cover price

on this one. So Transformers is the most expensive

book out of the three of these, which is fine

since it's supposed to be an ongoing. Is it supposed

to be an ongoing? I mean, it doesn't really say

that here. Yeah, see, that's what I'm assuming.

It's going to be an ongoing because it doesn't

specifically say. Like, if they are leading to,

because I know also part of the Skybound thing,

getting the G .I. Joe license. Just like with

what IDW did when Dreamwave went bankrupt and

lost the license, IDW picked up the Larry Hama

G .I. Joe Real American Hero as it went through.

So right now, when IDW lost the license, they

were at G .I. Joe Real American Hero 300. So

they, Skybound, are going to continue. So you're

still getting a separate full -on... of G .I.

Joe with Larry Hama that is separate from this.

But as far as these go, I want to assume that

Transformers is the ongoing and that these two

of four miniseries are setting up everything

else, and then maybe we'll get a core G .I. Joe

title later. Again, with G .I. Joe specifically,

small steps. And that Transformers... solicit,

it's essentially 1984 all over again, really.

I mean, the only difference is that they're combining

G .I. Joe and Transformers into one thing. Take

it away. I'm a little skeptical, let's just say

that. And maybe I wouldn't be as skeptical if

I wanted to see these two cross over. And I didn't

know that the movie versus. Hmm. Well, I don't

know. I want to be surprised by something. And

I kind of wasn't surprised by this. I was just

like, and I guess with all of the crossovers,

a lot of it's been hit, hit or miss. Right. And

the, there's only a few that have actually really

done some pretty interesting things that. And

to be fair, it was a very niche thing. Transformers

vs. G .I. Joe by Tom Scioli was probably the

biggest hit of any Transformers G .I. Joe crossover

that ever existed, that has ever been published

in comics. The other one I'd say, I did really

like the ROM crossover. I wanted to see more

of that. Out of the whole revolution thing that

IDW did back in the day. What was it, 2020? I

don't know. Whatever, yeah. I did look at the

date. I just don't remember. It's not right in

front of me. Give me a second and I'll probably

figure it out. Yeah, I mean, again, I think because

it's a new company, they're starting kind of

where most people, specifically to the Transformers.

Most everybody knows War on Cybertron, Fleetour.

Most everybody knows that. And honestly, that's

perfectly fine. We've had many stories over the

last 17 to 20 years of them showing the War on

Cybertron. It was 2017. Sorry, go ahead. There

you go. Yeah, it was 2017 when they had the big

crossover. I have a guarded kind of reaction

to this because back then they said, oh, it's

all a shared continuity. So we've been running

for what? A good decade before suddenly now we

all live in the same universe together. And it

was more like a, hey, this is going to happen.

But you know what? How fans took it? It was like,

yeah, I'm not really into G .I. Joe. I don't

really want to. I mean, the fans that I knew,

the people that I knew that I was podcasting

with, a lot of people just weren't reading it.

They weren't reading G .I. Joe to begin with.

It was. something that they were like hey yeah

this is you know really i don't want to have

to read all of this if if i don't have to and

a lot of people didn't it's like yeah i never

picked up that And I think the thing with this

is they're starting out, again, like I said,

with G .I. Joe specifically and it being the

Energon universe, they're starting out small

with G .I. Joe. They're going, and I could be

completely wrong about this, but they are going

all hog in on the whole standard story of Cybertronians

flee Cybertron, come to Earth, change Earth,

blah, blah, blah. Hey, as long as they don't

make Unicron the center of the Earth, I'll be

fine. That's true. It could get worse. Steve,

any other thoughts for the comics? I'm just hoping

that they do something original once they get

it and not just continue to retread what we've

seen in past companies that have taken the franchise.

We've had too many years. It feels like we're

just retreading constantly anyway, because they're

constantly, oh, we need to reboot. Oh, we need

to start the war again. Yeah, we need to start

the war again. We need to combine this. We need

to do. And it's like, dude, just pick something

and stick with it. I think because this is a

new company, it's a new start, even though it's,

you know, kind of old hat for us. It's also new

hat for a lot of people that have not read. both

like you said amy nobody really cared about reading

gi joe in their transformers because idw didn't

start gi like that's what i like about this and

when i'm kind of cautiously optimistic about

this is they're telling us from the outset this

is the energon universe you're going to have

various crossovers and things happen so they're

basically telling us from the jump that This

is a shared universe. And Daniel Warren Johnson,

from everything I've heard of the guy, he's a

great artist. He's an amazing writer. At some

point, Ryan and I over on the pull bag will do

do a power bomb and maybe oblivion song. I don't

know. I've heard a lot of good things about both

of those. And I know Ryan is excited about do

a power bomb. So we'll probably do that over

on the pull bag. But everything that I've seen,

even on social media, is people that have been

that know Daniel Warren Johnson are like super

stoked. Yeah. Which makes me go, oh, and I've

seen some of the images and stuff that he's done.

And I like when a guy looks legit. Yeah, he's

got great art. And I'm crossing my fingers that

we don't have a Heart of Darkness situation here,

though. Yeah, no, let's not go there. Everybody

was super excited about that, too. And I'm like,

OK, I'm cautiously optimistic. That's yeah, that's

that's my until I actually have it in hand. Yeah.

Yeah. There's just no way to tell one way or

the other. And I'm. I hope that whatever crossover

they do, it can be like contained on its own

and that people are going to have to like, hey,

while you're reading Transformers, more of the

story is going on over in G .I. Joe. I'm like,

I really hope that they don't do that. I hope

they're like, hey, we cross over once in a while.

But, you know, they kind of go off and do their

own thing and there's different conflicts. And

I hope it's not all contained in like, no, G

.I. Joe and Transformers are like married. And

they're together forever. Like Justice League

and all the Batman. Yeah. I just don't want to

see that. I really don't want to see that. Because

I think you will alienate all your Transformers

fans. And G .I. Joe. Yeah. And G .I. Joe. Because

they'll be like, hey, why do we have these Transformers

here? And the Transformers fans will be like,

why do we have all these humans here? But really,

can we really say that going in knowing like

this isn't them springing up like this isn't

a comic book company saying, oh, yes, we have

the Transformers and the G .I. Joe licenses.

We're going to do comic books for each of them.

And then a year later, oh, by the way, boom,

they're mad like they're not doing that. They're

telling us up front. And again, the thing with

the G .I. Joe stuff for. mini -series so i assume

even though it doesn't say on the cobra commander

information i assume cobra commander is going

to be a mini -series duke is a mini -series and

they're going to have two other gi joe mini -series

so like i said earlier those four mini -series

could lead into a new ongoing later down the

line in 2024 whereas hopefully what i assume

the transformers number one is starting a new

ongoing for the transformers what i will say

is before we cut to ryan and his thoughts Because,

yeah, we'll cut to Ryan and his thoughts in a

moment, which are good. It's a good thing. But,

yeah, so I like the way that they are introducing

the Transformers other than doing the number

one. So Jesse, a .k .a. Matrix Prime, and I reviewed

Void Rivals, which is their new whatever. I don't

know if it's a miniseries or an ongoing or whatever.

But in that number one, we have a guest appearance

from Jetfire. So basically, Void Rivals is, I

think Jesse pointed it out or Ryan, somebody

pointed it out to me. Basically, it's two what

we assume are robots stranded on this planet,

and they are both adversaries. They aren't Autobots.

They aren't Decepticons. They are like humanoid

robots. And I'm spoiling the hell out of this

because I know neither one of y 'all are going

to read this, and that's fine. I thought about

it. Steve probably won't. I've got a love hate

relationship right now. I'm trying to figure

out what to do about comics. Cause I know I have

a couple of months until, you know, the transformers

one comes out, but I, I formally digital was

my thing. And now I'm not so digital anymore

because. Yeah. Bad vibes. Yeah. Amazon's killed

it, but yeah, they have. So what rivals number

one. It sets up a whole new thing because it's

these two characters that we don't know. They're

on this planet that we don't know. And then all

of a sudden Jetfire pops up because they find

him and he transforms and he says it's been millions

of years. And the interesting thing for me is

that Jetfire does not have a faction symbol on

him. Gotcha. From the cartoon and from the comics

and from where – specifically from when he started

in the cartoon. He had a Decepticon symbol on

him. Then he had an Autobot symbol because he

couldn't decide which one he wanted to be. And

he finally decided and he decided to go with

– but this Jetfire did not have a faction symbol.

So I'm interested and I like this kind of like,

oh, they're kind of teasing us with seeing Jetfire

at the end of this new comic book thing. And

then, like you said and like we've said, we're

going to get – the new ongoing in october gotcha

we're gonna go to ryan the uneven flow he's gonna

give our thoughts we'll come back and most likely

close the show out unless we have anything else

we want to talk about right after this hello

kids as a man of the people and that is of course

what i am a man of the people i want to give

my thoughts on the news of skybound acquiring

the rights to transformers skybound owned by

robert kirkman or sort of an imprint of image

run by robert kirkman uh the transformer series

going to be written by daniel warren johnson

more on him in a second first i want to preface

it by saying i'm going to pick this up it is

not a matter of i'm not going to try it or i'm

closed -minded to it or anything else what i

will say is i intended a smaller con on the weekend

and i overheard two people at a Transformers

booth talking about how the IDW 1 .0 universe

in a lot of ways encompassed sort of the best

of Transformers. And it's something we've talked

about on the pull bag an awful lot, including

a three -hour podcast on what we enjoyed from

the IDW 1 .0 universe. Hello, Amy. Hello to Jen.

Amy. I miss you. Have Mike give you my email

address. And yeah, tell Jen I miss her, too.

Anywho, man, having to leave Twitter. Yo, dog,

all my peeps. So people were discussing it at

the booth. And yeah, I feel the sort of the same

way as they did, that in a lot of ways, the 1

.0 universe was sort of the end of Transformer

comics for me. at least for a period of time,

we will see. This is a new company with a completely

new direction. I'm hoping it doesn't end up being

a retread of previous storylines or things we've

already seen. I hate to say it, but I feel like

we got spoiled by the IDW post -war stuff in

terms of the war. We've seen it so many times

in different Transformers media and almost every

story, every universe. And I feel like we got

to know the characters a little bit more and

a whole lot differently than ever before after

they were removed from that aspect of the universe

or from that one event. So sort of semi in conclusion,

I guess I'm tentatively interested in it. I don't

know if it's going to be quote unquote, my transformers.

Again, you kind of have to do something different

at this point. And just to be blunt here, too,

I think in terms of the series, it's probably

not going to be as progressive as a lot of the

IDW stuff is and was. So that's, frankly, going

to be another kind of knock against it. If it

can't do anything new and it can't advance it

in either aspect, I'm not sure it's going to

be for me. I'm hoping that I'm totally wrong,

but some of the pre -interviews and that kind

of thing and the reverence they have for the

Generation 1 cartoons, Saturday Morning, etc.,

etc., I don't know. It doesn't leave me feeling

great about it. What does leave me feeling great

about it, Danny Warren Johnson is an excellent

writer and artist. Artist. He's not more than

one person. I have greatly enjoyed his work on

Duo Powerbomb in particular. Hopefully, Mike,

you and I will discuss that at some point. I

enjoyed it a lot. His Beta Ray Bill run was really

good as well, too. So, yeah, I have pretty high

hopes for him. I have fairly high hopes, I think,

overall for the series. I also like really feel

the kind of wait and see attitude at this point.

So, yeah, that I believe is all I have to say

about it. Good luck to Skybound, though. I hope

it does well and I hope people enjoy it. And

we're back. Steve, do you have anything else?

Do we have anything else we want to talk about?

Any toys you've picked up this week or anything

like that? Same for you, Amy. I haven't picked

any toys up. I did get a 3D printer, however.

There you go. He can print his own toys, folks.

I discovered that PLA plastic is a little brittle.

It's hard, but it's brittle if you're trying

to bend it into something. I printed an adapter

for my G2 Megatron so I could put his cannon

on his shoulder. I ended up having to scrape

it a little bit deeper because it Broke. I did

print leg extenders for Rhinox to make him scale

with Masterpiece, basically. Oh, wow. I've seen

them. Basically, I hoarded all of the free stuff

that I found right off the bat. There's an IDW

3D printed Megatron. Like from the comics that

somebody made? Yeah, from the Josh Bertram designs.

Yeah, I am fully intending on printing that at

some point. I'm sure you are. I am. Well, now

that I fixed my printer issue that I was having

because I tried printing it and then I realized

that I didn't have the Z -axis set up and I needed

an add -on to make it work properly because whatever

the kit was that it comes with just wasn't. It

wasn't working. It wasn't working. And so I was

like, you know what? I'm going to get this because

I was watching enough videos. And they kind of

said, you know, if you're going to be doing a

lot of printing and you want a smoother print

and you want to not have to mess with this thing

as much, get this part and it will take care

of your problem. And it did. So, yeah, I'm planning

on printing that at some point. I'm planning

on printing some, like, Star Trek ships. I've

already test printed a comm badge. Yeah, so I'm

going to eventually buy from Fun Beast Studios,

and I'm going to print a stasis pod. Nice. Yeah,

they were the ones that did the 3D. Yes, yes,

yes, yes. They make all the Beast Wars in the

3D printed. So eventually I'm going to get all

of the little gap fillers, and at least for some

of them, I'm going to print the stasis pod. I'm

going to try scaling it down smaller so my kid

can put his core class figures in it and not

have them swimming in it. And I really, I really

want to print Megatron's chair so I can have

my masterpiece sit in it. Nice. Oh, boy. What

about you, Amy? What have you been doing? Well,

it's a compliment to what he just said. I misplaced

a box of BotBots recently and found it. So I

opened up and I bought this specifically because

it had quackles in it. Which is a rubber duck.

Exactly, Megatron. Exactly. So, yeah, that's

what I've been kind of playing with. But I have

a few things, kind of I'm waiting on a few things

that are supposed to come through at some point.

Don't know when, but I don't have a lot of figures.

But when I find something I really, really like

and I can't get out of my head, I do go out and

buy it. So, yeah. That's cool. That's cool. As

for me, I haven't gotten anything this month

that's Transformers related. I refuse to buy

the Funko Pop Rise of the Beast figures because

they're ugly. All the movie Funko Pops are ugly.

I don't mind buying the regular Funko Pops for

anything else, including the Retro Toys Transformers,

but those... No. Can't do it. Can't do it. Just

no. The other Transformer thing I did this week

was I took my kids to see Rise of the Beasts.

So that was my second viewing of the movie. And

yeah, good times. Good times. Very cool, very

cool. I'm waiting for Digital. Digital should

be here soon, I think. Yep. Because Fast X is

already on Digital and that movie came out what?

Earlier this month or the end of last month or

I forget when it came out. So if Fast X is already

on like Fandango at home digital on Vudu, then

Rise of the Beast isn't far behind. Nope. Anything

else? Well, the last thing I will say is, and

I know I've kind of already said it, and I don't

know if we're. Spoiling. I didn't ask before

we started. I probably should have. Steve's seen

it, so I don't care. So, like, I guess in a sense,

just because these two news reports kind of came

out very quickly. One, the movie came out. The

Rise of the Beast movie came out. And then Skybound

had their news. I kind of feel like the movie

is kind of stealing a little bit of their thunder.

Because it's like... the surprise is kind of,

and I know it's not like, Hey, you know, I'm

sure it wasn't planned, but just that's how the

cards fall. Cause two things that don't even

have anything to do anything either, but yet

they're both kind of connected in a different

way. And so it's just like, I just really feel

like that's kind of stealing a little to the

thunder, but also don't because. Because everything

Transformers on the next year is going to be

tied together with G .I. Joe. I just don't know

if that's a good move. Well, again, it's a wait

and see kind of caution. I'm surprised Rise of

the Beast has not broken a billion yet. A lot

of movies right now are not doing very well.

I'm not. It's still COVID. The lockdowns are

still having a huge... I know we're not locked

down anymore, but it's still having a huge effect

on the industry because people got out of the

habit. And I think it was they're doing other

things or they're waiting for it to come to streaming

because, oh, I don't have to go to the theater.

I mean, every single time I've gone to a movie

theater, it's, you know, it's not full. It's

not packed. I can tell you that. I think people

are, you know, streaming like it has. Being forced

to be at home has caused a lot of people to re

-evaluate and change their habits. And that is

still continuing to have an effect. And I think

it's doing good for what it's presenting and

the fact that it's actually doing really well

compared to other movies that have been out this

year. So I'm like, okay, that's a good thing.

Does it mean that everybody's running back? If

they run back to see one movie, maybe this is

it. I don't know. I haven't checked to see in

the last week if Transformers is still on the

top one for this week or is another one. Did

Elemental come in with theirs or The Flash? If

The Flash kicked it off of its pedestal. I don't

know. I haven't checked to see. I heard that

didn't do very well either. And they're losing

mega money on that one. Yeah. Which doesn't surprise

me either. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many variables

like, you know, with with success or not success.

And and that's why I'm kind of like I'm really

cautious. The good thing that I have heard is

that it seems like Stephen Cable is. the one

that's like hey i've got some great ideas and

he seems to be the drive behind this and he kind

of has some ideas and so i'm like okay i like

passion so that makes me feel a little less worried

but i also know that sometimes you know when

you have to like i said look at the evaluation

of all of the stuff that's been out there and

like i said the one that really seemed to hit

home that did the best that had the best reaction

was the Transformers vs. G .I. Joe, which was

very niche. It was from somebody, again, who

had a lot of passion. Tom Scioli, when he went

and did that, it was his passion. He was the

one that came up with the ideas. He's the one

that came to IDW and said, hey, I've got this

great idea. Of course, Barbara was just waiting

for the right guy to come up and say, hey, we

need to... You know, it was part of his vision

to see Transformers be more legitimate. I don't

know if that has stayed, though. And so there's

so many there's so many topics to talk about

with this. It's just such a hot thing with me

because I'm like, oh, there's so many things.

I mean, I wonder sometimes like, OK, the Skybound,

are they on that vision? Because I know Barber

was. And there's nothing out yet. And I'm like,

I would really like to talk to somebody. I'd

really like if I was podcasting right now, I'd

be like, I want to really ask some of these questions

and, you know, say, hey, I want to interview

for you for this because I would love to help

build this up a bit. I'd like to be excited about

it. And it's just wow. There's just if I, you

know, I'd like to ask questions. So maybe I should

just reach out to the writer and just say, hey.

How passionate are you about this? What can you

say? Yeah, absolutely. We can always put it on

this show. The thing about the movie news and

the comic news... I know they're separate, but

they're still... They're tied together. Yeah,

no, absolutely. You're right. But I just think

that... I know, because for me, I only will watch,

like, I don't watch the 30 -second, 15 -second,

unless it's a Super Bowl spot, I will not watch

TV spots. I want to see a teaser trailer, a full,

like, theatrical trailer number one, and then

maybe a final trailer. That's it. That's for

any movie, not just Transformers, but for any,

like, that's all I really want to see, because

I want to be able to see the movie without seeing

every scene in clip form. And so for me, the

movie news has been exciting. But the comic news

has been more exciting, even though I'm cautiously

optimistic. It's been more exciting because we

finally now like we've known about Rise of the

Beasts for like, what, a year and a half or longer.

Like the movie news is nothing. Yeah, exactly.

That's the point. The movie news is always in

the news. Like that's not any it's not anything

new. The comic news, however, is like, oh, my

God. Look at me. Look at me. Pay attention. Pay

attention. Let's go. It's time to pay attention

to Transformers comics again. And like Ryan said,

he's going to pick this up. And I'm going to

pick it up, too, because I'm curious to see what

it is. Now, whether I stick with it or not is

a completely different story because I completely

fill off IDW's 2019 continuity. Look. Once you

bring Unicron in and try to destroy the universe,

there really is no going back. I know they still

had the license for a couple of years after that,

but Steve and I made it to Volume 3, which I

think was issues like 12 to 18 or something in

Volume 3. I forget what it is. But, like, we

made it to the third volume of the 2019 continuity,

and I was like, I really don't want to go back

to this because I didn't like it in the first.

It was just too weird. And I haven't read all

of it yet. I only got through the first volume

before. I'm like, oh, kids keep interrupting

me. I can't sit down and read this. So it never

fails. Like the minute I try to like, okay, I'm

going to get back into this and read for an hour.

Like, nope. Every 15 minutes in that hour. Chaos

just hits every single time. So it's like I am

getting set up. I'm getting set up. I like what

they started, but I'm like, okay, well, yeah.

I should do it right now while I have a kid down.

There you go. Oh, goodness. All right. I don't

know when the next ATTF is going to be. Probably

a couple of weeks, folks, because the news is

just kind of – the movie's out. The comics are

coming. The comics are coming. The comics are

coming. Comics are coming, yes. I know it's exciting.

It's good to be excited to guess again for like

– But I just I have reservations. I have so many

reservations. Oh, no. Yeah. No. Wow. Absolutely.

Yeah. No, we haven't. And like in this what Ryan

said, where he's like, you know, hey, the best

that we have ever gotten with was the IDW run

with Barber and Roberts. And he's not wrong.

Those fans are not wrong. That's what they have

to contend with. Those are the fans. And I know

a lot of G1 fans are like, oh, that's where they

went woke. And I'm like, shut up. Shut up. I

find it's either you like the story or you don't.

Yeah. They did a lot of new stuff that brought

people in. Whether or not you want to agree with

that or not, it brought a lot of fans in. Those

are the fans that you need to keep. Let's be

honest here. My generation of Transformer fan,

we're going to be hitting our 50s. We're not

going to be around. We're going to start dropping

like flies. Sorry. That's a fact. It's going

to happen. We might have the money, but the longevity

is what comics needs. So they need to bring in

the younger fans. As much as I think it's great,

and I've heard some rumors too, and I can't say

where my sources are. I think they're going to

play more toward the G1 fan. I think that's great,

but you gotta think. Long term. It's not like,

oh, great, we get to write and do Transformer

comics. Well, two years from now, you're still

going to have that. And I'm like, you better

make an opening to bring in new fans or fans

that are fans of other parts of what Transformers

has to offer. Because if you don't have a plan,

you're just looking at another reboot. And to

be fair, that's... You're going to get a lot

of people drop off at that point because that's

what happened with the last one. And past behavior

always predicts future behavior. If you see what's

been done before and you see where it's going,

you've got to be careful about that. I hope that

they keep that in mind, that reboot is not a

reset. You will lose out on some of that. It's

not a bad word, but also, I mean, because that's

basically what the movies are doing. They wouldn't

say it, and I wish that they had. I want to punch

the person in the face that keeps saying, this

is not a reboot. This is not a reboot. I was

like, it's a frickin' reboot. Give me a break.

We're two movies in. Just say the damn word.

I mean, they basically built up Bumblebee like

a prequel to the 2007 movie. So, yes, Rise of

the Beasts is the first. Don't even go there.

Yeah, no, no. It is. It is. Hello. Bumblebee

was the reboot. Because nothing – there's plenty

of – I think there's a few things in Bumblebee

that do contradict the first two trilogies before

it. But Rise of the Beast does nothing to contradict

Bumblebee at all. It's its own continuity. Who

knows? As far as the comics go – That's a whole

other podcast that we could go off on a tangent

on, right? Yup. Yup. The thing with the comics

is what I – and again – They can have their ongoing

with this Transformers new number one and all

of that, like they're doing with these G .I.

Joe miniseries. Maybe in the future we'll get

Transformers miniseries. Maybe. We only got 17

issues of IDW Beast Wars. I'm not saying that's

going to come back under Skybound, but Skybound

could do something else with the old Beast Wars

cast. They could do something. It was well -received,

right? Yeah, it was. And people wanted more of

that. Yeah. And honestly, I hadn't given it a

chance yet because, again, I have a love -hate

relationship with comics right now. I'm trying

to figure out what to do. And I've been just

really getting trades on Amazon. We'll just point

you in the right direction for the ones that

you should be reading, not the ones that you

shouldn't be reading. All right. All right, Steve,

you want to close us out? So thank you, as always,

for listening to All Things Transformers. I've

been your host, Steve Megatron. And again, you

can find out my Twitter at SCP 21 and the show,

all things TFB three and Mike. I'm at TF2 and

Mike. You can also follow that geek cast radio

for all the network updates. And Amy. I'm lady

rec. Find me on Twitter at lady of rec. And you

can of course interact with us on. Not only Twitter,

but on this episode's post on Facebook and geekcastradio

.com. So until next time, transform and transcend.

Excellent. Yes. Yes. I wish to speak to my lawyer.