IDW Transformers Unicron Series Discussion

This is Optimus Prime, and you are listening

to all things Transformers. Spelling a wretched

little planet Cybertron. And now we shall witness

its dismemberment. Hello and welcome to All Things

Transformers. This is episode 162, 163. I don't

remember if Steve's counting the origins as part

of the overall numbering anymore. I am of course

TF2 and Mike and I'm back this week, yay. And

also returning is that... Cartoon real loving

cyclonus fangirl Nicole hailstorm. Hello. Do

you want me here or not? Hey, the chaos bringer

made me say that it's all his fault I'm an acolyte

of unicorn or unicorn or whatever you want to

call the thing Hey unicorns Gundam, so I can't

complain There you go We're here just to do a

little thing folks. This isn't a news update

or anything like that, but For anyone that's

been paying attention over the last 12 years

this in this month currently in July The IDW

Transformers universe is going to end and it

ends with Unicron After 12 years they finally

are bringing the monster planet into the IDW

universe and Normally, I wouldn't do something

like this kind of like a discussion on somebody

else's review of a comic issue or whatever, but

I don't know I saw the headline on my Google

feed on my phone and I'm like really? Really?

Because I read the issue zero which is the free

comic book day issue and I've read the first

issue which just came out as it was recording

this past week and This person's review on IGN,

of all places, and if anyone knows the Gatecast

Radio Network history with IGN, we don't have

any direct ties with them, but half the stuff

they do, in general, as a website, that's why

we even got into the top 100 countdowns, folks,

because the very first thing we were like, does

anyone have a top 100 animated series of all

time list? Oh, IGN has one, we found this in

2009. or whatever. IGN has one. It's a hundred

pages you have to click through to see every

entry. So clickbait, whatever kind of thing.

And it's like, how can we do this better? You

know, so we have, you know, we're always scoffing

at IGN as a whole, not one specific person, but

the website and how they do their website in

specifics. Um, I don't necessarily want to call

the author of the review out. I'm not trying

to bully him. I'm not trying to bully anything

out of this. I just think that this writer's

review, um. Well, it was definitely clickbait

because it made you click on it. Yeah. It, it's

the way that, okay, so besides the title of the

article, the way that Google promoted it to me

was Check out IGN's very scathing review of Transformers

Unicron number one And I'm like scathing review.

Come on now. It wasn't that bad You know, that's

the thing cuz when you linked me to this article,

I was just like I honestly I didn't think the

review was that bad. I'm actually gonna halfway

defend it the author here. Yeah because his review

was cuz I hurried and read the first issue I

didn't like go into depth and everything like

I like to want to do a review but as a person

like he probably is that that just picked up

the issue and said okay if I'm a new person picking

up this issue I don't know heart I just know

the bare minimum about Transformers and he's

and he says And he gave his opinion. I'm like,

okay, I could agree where he's coming from with

a lot of things. The only thing I couldn't really

agree with is when he was complaining about Alex's

scale. It's just like, if there's one thing Alex

is great about, it's scale work. I just wanted

to, and I wish I could. to go back to the author

and say, which panels were you talking about

or where were you coming from about that? Because

I was looking at the artwork and I was just like,

this artwork's gorgeous. Alex, I love to see

Alex come back for this. I've missed Alex. I

know that's hard to say because, you know, me

and Alex, we have a love -hate relationship.

Yeah, you have your own Fifty Shades of Alex

issues. Me and Alex are buddies, okay? But, you

know, I just want to know where he's coming from

when he said that. Like I said, I wasn't able

to go in... and look at all the details but that

two page splash page I wonder if that's what

he's talking about with the big huge explosion

with the arc and all the different characters

I don't know if that's the page he's talking

about if the if the reader was just looking at

from his perspective I don't know again from

I mean it's an opinion article, but yes, it's

scathing review. I'm like Yeah, it's not that

bad of a review And I did post on Twitter when

I before we did this I did post when I first

saw this article I shared it through Twitter,

and I'm like I think at IGN is underwhelming

because again it's not about this person it has

nothing to do with this person it's the company

as a whole and how they obviously get people

like me and like everybody else to look at this

stuff now I'm looking at this and I'm just kind

of going through here looking at the art and

looking at how bots are standing next to each

other or whatever and he's talking about the

scale of Alex's art and how The giant robots

don't feel like they're to scale with Unicron

or with whatever. Um, Unicron's a giant friggin

planet. And the robots are so much smaller than

that, I mean... Well, people have always, always

have complained about that. People have complained

about that with the toys. Like, well, Unicron

needs to be bigger. Well, you're gonna spend

a fortune on a toy then, okay? Um, he's... He's

gonna be a planet -sized robot. Okay, that planet

might be Pluto, but, you know. Okay, if you go,

and I'm saying this to the audience more so than

you, if you go to page 14, there is a section

here, and we're not trying to spoil this, but

I am gonna read the bubbles here. It's Optimus

Bubblebean RC. RC, there's no one I'd rather

follow into a malevolent planet bent on universal

destruction. You really know how to flatter a

bot. Okay, so the reason why I'm pointing this

page out, this panel on page 14 out, they are,

I assume, on Unicron, because even though I've

read this issue for the story already, we're

not reviewing the issue at this point. That's

gonna come later down the line in the pull bag

and here on All Things Transformers. But, you

have Optimus on the left, Bumblebee in the middle,

and RC on the right with her flame swords. You

have Unicron as the background wherever they're

standing. The background is obviously bigger

than they are. I would say Optimus is about six

foot, obviously not, but I'm thinking in human

terms here. I'm thinking in our height, not necessarily

giant. Optimus is supposed to be like nearly

three stories tall. Okay. Okay. So let's say

Optimus is three stories tall, Bumblebee is one

and a half and RC is two stories tall. Okay.

The scale of how different they all are and their

sizes, they're not just giant robots standing

on a giant robotic planet. They fill the space,

but the space also surrounds them. So my point

here is the author of the article is like, um,

they need to, the scale needs to be done better

or whatever it is that he says. And I'm like,

really? Because the scale looks fine to me. See,

that's the only part that I had a problem. I

just want to know what panels he was talking

about. That's the only problem I had with this

author's opinion. With the rest of his stuff,

when he's talking about, you know, It's the first

issue if you're coming into it and you have no

idea about the history or what is going on I

can see where he's probably kind of like exactly

And I get it. I get it. You're talking years

of stuff, especially if you're talking John Barber

stuff John not John Barber James Roberts both

James and not they and This is no knock on either

one of them. They're very wordy their scripts

are very long, and there's a lot of detail that

they've probably missed in the few years that

they've been working on it. So when you do come

into just a single issue like this, like, ooh,

well, look, Unicron's back. I haven't seen Unicron

since I was younger when I saw the 86 movie,

you know? And so coming into it, I can see where

he might be a little... Confused maybe have a

little bit of a lackluster But I'm hoping I'm

hoping that would be like well what happened

who are these new? Fembots who are these other

characters? Hopefully that will stir some interest

for him to go back and reread The previous issues

and so I'm hoping with this author of this article.

I'm hoping that's what it will end up with and

I just don't get why they were saying scathing

review. I don't get that's what ticks me off.

Yeah. And that's more Google than it is IGN.

That's a Google headline thing or whatever. or

whatever like there's certain things on the google

feed on smartphones where you can follow like

transformers or whatever so if you follow the

topic of transformers like i i keep getting all

the news articles even though i don't want half

of them like all the news articles from tfw two

thousand five or something and maybe it was them

that their headlines said it was a skating review

it's not a skating review it's actually a very

good objective review of this person has not

anything in the last twelve years mighty w that's

my question actually think i think this author

did a pretty good job with this article i just

don't get the headline yet yeah i don't think

it's underwhelming uh... well i would say it's

a problem i'd like to see where it's kind of

little confusing to a person that's just walking

into that's that's the thing that's what the

main reason why i wanted to do this episode of

all things transformers is to basically say IDW

has been doing this for 12 years. They've set

up this story for 12 years. Do you have to read

every single thing to be able to catch up? No.

But you have to start somewhere. Like when I

was told to read more than meets the eye, I was

instructed to start with the Death of Optimus

Prime one shot, and then either pick a path,

go with Rodimus the best Prime ever on the Lost

Light, or stay with stars cream and cybertron

in the politics and all that or i could take

both paths and read both well obviously if anyone's

listen to the poll bag auto bali april august

all that stuff everything else we've done that

we've covered all those in robots in disguise

uh... also known as just transformers and more

than meets the eye future lost light and not

to obviously uh... transformers became optimist

prime we're about to go do lost light and optimus

prime it next month on the bali august on the

poll bag in here all things transformers my thing

is the reason why i got upset about the review

is because you have to take into effect into

consideration what exactly john barber as a writer

has to do This is the universe ending story.

Whatever IDW is going to do next, who knows?

Not necessarily who cares, but who knows? That's

not here yet. Focus on this. Here's the thing.

As a writer, he not only has to keep the story

going that has been going for the last 12 years,

he also has to find ways to introduce people

to this. Even though this is the end, he has

to have them be able to get a beginning out of

it. And this... Issue zero was a great setup

because it was a whole mystery thing of like

oh, what's this signal? What's this? What's that?

And this issue what I thought just in general

without really reviewing it is Okay, this is

just setup Unicron is here. He's destroying the

colonies He's munching on the planets like he

always does and whatever else and the bots don't

know how to deal with it because they've never

faced anything like this if You've never faced

anything like this then You're not gonna know

how to deal with it. You know the the writer

says something about the politics on Cybertron

and the fact that they're You know infighting

and war again and whatever else well of course

that's gonna happen I haven't even read a single

issue of Optimus Prime or lost light at this

point yet I need to and I'm going to but as Someone

who has been reading everything up to that point

before the changeover of the titles and still

keeping up with the news and everything else,

I followed this fairly easily. Like, that's the

thing, John has to set this up for new people

and us old fogies as well. Yep. So I, yeah, I

think the, I'm going to, like I said, I'm going

to defend the author. Like I said, I just want

to know which panel he was having a problem,

which panels he was having a problem with. That's

the only question I had about it. But again,

you know, again, but then you go, well, art,

it's all about art. Art is all about the perspective

of the viewer. It's all in the eye of the beholder,

right? So, uh, like I said, I've, I've always

pretty much enjoyed Alex's art. Um, Don't tell

him that. So I was glad to see that he was back,

you know? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, and James and

John both, even though James is not on this,

he's finishing up his story over on the lost

light with the best Prime ever. Everyone knows

that Nova Prime's the best Prime. No, it's Rodimus

or Bust. You gotta throw a little hot rod red

in there, you know, I mean come on But yeah,

I mean the universe is ending like this is Something

this is something that is sad This is something

that it should be met with trepidation because

as I said earlier, we don't know and we won't

know until IDW still I know I remember when the

news came out about this when it first came out

about that the universe was ending and they were

gonna not do this specific transformers type

stuff anymore everyone was like oh my god does

IDW not have the license no they still have the

license folks they're still gonna be making transformers

comics they're just not gonna be making these

transformers this universe IDW universe story

that they've set up there. They're finishing

this and I like that. I think that's cool I think

that's great. You know they started this 12 years

ago It's been a 12 year journey, and I only jumped

on Like I said right there at death of optimus

prime and that was Five years ago with the pole

bag actually when I first started the podcast

yeah, so you know It's it's crazy Don't know

I don't know I'm you know, we'll see what happens

hopefully something is left out of this universe

Well, like I said my my interview that you did

I'm sad and excited to see where this goes I'm

sad because I've enjoyed the journey James and

John have done a great job with the writing all

the artists have done an amazing job and But

I'm a person that that likes change. I'm one

of those few people I look forward to change

and so I I'm looking forward to what's ahead

But that doesn't mean that I can't be excited

to see where the writers and the artists are

going in their future, you know? So... Oh, absolutely,

yeah. It's a great time to be a fan of IDW's

Transformer stuff right now, because you have

so much going on. And at this point, whatever

they do next, that doesn't take away from the

last 12 years. You can still, you know, your

little niece and nephew or whomever... You know

people out there children. Whatever really though

kids should not be reading these transformers

comics, but That's what she does with her kids

Every time there's a new comic she sits down.

She reads them with her kids, and I think that's

great. I mean I I don't think they're too horrible

and too graphic or all is i'm gonna say is lengthways

it's a little graphic graphic parent you know

what your your kids can handle obviously yes

i'm not saying parents don't know i'm just it's

not sex criminals okay here you brought that

into this holy crap wow you know i reviewed the

first two volumes i need to get back to that

series uh... or anyway uh... but yet transformers

unicorn number one is out now uh... basically

folks i'm going to be giving you the uh... the

checklist for how to uh... read the series you

know basically the reading order and i can't

wait until idw does the um... the uh... the collection

the phase two or phase three or whatever collection

to see how they collect all of this because you'll

hear in the first episode of autobotly august

folks uh... we're going to be talking about wind

blade distant stars and how confusing it was

when that was collected Alright folks, so here's

your Transformers Unicron universe ending checklist.

Here's how you read them and this is when they're

going to be released. Transformers Unicron number

zero, which was a free conflict day issue, came

out obviously free conflict day for a Saturday

in May. In July, which I find this hilarious

that they're basically... Starting this in July

and Orson Welles was the original voice of Unicron.

Transformers Unicron number 1 and 2, you read

those. Then you read Lost Light number 21. In

August you read Unicron 3 and 4, Lost Light 22

and 23, Optimus Prime 22 and 23, and then in

September Unicron 5 and 6, Lost Light 24 and

25, and Optimus Prime 24 and 25. So, before the

end of the year, the IDW Transformers universe

will be gone. I know, that's kind of sad and

crazy at the same time. But who knows what goodness

we might be getting. Yes, exactly. Because, and

the crazy thing is, when I just said that, the

first thing I thought of was, ooh, shattered

glass, till all are gone. I hate you. I know,

I know. It's funny. No, so I'm not complaining

about this author's article. No, no, no. I'm

not either. Yep. I think he has some very battle

points. And you know what? I say go and read

it, get your own opinions and, you know, enjoy

the journey. Exactly. You know, have fun. Alright

folks that's gonna do it for us here on this

little mini edition of all things transformers.

I don't know when we're gonna have another new

episode I'm not sure if Steve and I are gonna

do a news episode if I'm gonna get somebody else

to do a new transformers origins episode I have

no clue go back and listen to Nicole's a GTF

origins episode Go back and listen to the shortest

of the three girls Uh, hers is about like ten

minutes longer than mine. Oh, okay. Well. So,

okay, so, as I said last time, and I'll say it

again here at the end of this show. Like I said,

well, let's just, I hate to do this, but I know

this sounds weird. Out of all the three of us,

I think it's really weird that I'm the one that

speaks the least. The least, yeah. The least

of like, if you know me, that's kind of weird

to say. Yeah, exactly. So, I had a plan to do

a triple threat of Fembot All Things Transformers

Origins episode. It was going to be Haji Prime,

Lady Rek, and Beatles Diva here. That's me. Well,

Haji Prime was almost a year ago at this point.

Lady Rek, I don't know when we put out her episode.

March. March. March of this year? Okay. And obviously,

Beatles Divas was last week, this week, whenever

it was, whenever this episode goes live. Out

of the three of them, Lady Rek talks the most

because she took 30 minutes for the first question.

I thought it was adorable. Oh, God. What the

hell are we gonna do with you, Whirl? We're awesome.

yes yes yes yes so as i said folks i'm not sure

what is going to be going on uh... for all things

transformers at some point will figure it out

uh... transform transcend and this september

till all are gone aloha Roll out! Perhaps for

the last time. Come out, Autobot! We all must

die sometime! Not today, Galvatron! Hooray! We

did it! Look! It isn't even dead yet! Oh shit,

what are we gonna do now? It's a pity you Autobots

die so easily. Or I might have a sense of satisfaction

now. You got the touch! You got the touch! Arise,

Rodimus Prime.