BotCon IDW panel; spotlights, Dinobots project, TF: Animated comics and more

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Denyer
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BotCon IDW panel; spotlights, Dinobots project, TF: Animated comics and more

Post by Denyer »

Remember, this is filtered by what people noted down and how they interpreted things...

[edit] More comprehensive write-up by Repugnus:

http://idwpublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3893 [/edit]


Photos at the link, including some Doubledealer art.

http://tformers.com/transformers-2008-b ... /news.html

REVELATIONS
+ The Revelations Spotlights in June will tie up everything relatively well. That is the batch of Spotlights with Cyclonus and some others we've seen.

+ The IDW slide presentation reveals that all 4 of the Revelations Spotlight covers connect.

+ Simon Furman says they are kind of tampering with peoples conceptions of characters in the IDW comics, specifically referencing Arcee.

+ Galvatron is an "undead" Transformer in the IDW universe and a lot of these will be showing up in Spotlight: Cyclonus

+ Arcee is so focused, nothing else matters and we will see how much nothing else matters in Revelations.

EVOLUTIONS
+ There will be no more Evolutions series after Hearts of Steel.

+ The Club Comics will not be released in a TBP.

BEAST WARS
+ They are discussing plans for more Beast Wars comics.

TRANSFORMERS UK
+ Transformers UK comic will continue to tell a story, "Twilight's Last Gleaming," depicting a different ending of the movie where the Decepticons win and the Autobots are fighting a last stand.

FUTURE PROJECTS
+ A Dinobots project from Furman is coming to IDW. The project will have Scoponok, Sunstreaker, and Sun Hunter. Spotlight: Grimlock sets the story for this unannounced project.

+ Star Saber in the IDW comics? Furman says don't rule it out! Star Saber is in the Ark 2, there will be 4 pages with him and Victory Saber. [AWESUM! - ed.]

+ A Doubledealer spotlight is currently in the planning stages.

TRANSFORMERS: ANIMATED
+ A 5-issue mini-series for Transformers: Animated series written by Marty Isenberg is coming starting in August. While the series will be all new stories and not just re-telling the cartoon, it is in continuity with TV. The first issue will be a retelling of the movie pilot with lots of different points of view and stuff you didn't see on screen. The 4 issues after that will be new stories.

+ Dario Brizuela, who has worked on Johnny DC label comics, is doing the art for the Animated comic series.

COMMENTS
+ Furman says there are no plans for Punch, Counterpunch. He continues that other than the Headmasters, no other Masters will appear, other than the Doubledealer Spotlight currently in the works.

+ Any more stories with Cybertron's past? Furman says not to rule it out but the main thrust is to propel forward.

+ IDW says they will continue to do limited series instead of ongoing ones so people don't feel they have missed stories if they skip an issue. They also try and keep each series fairly self-contained.

+ IDW has been discussing doing posters versions of favorite scenes and such from the comics.

+ A second hardcover book will be coming.
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Post by zigzagger »

The Doubledealer Roche cover looks neat. Follows the same abstract feel as his Cyclonus and Hardhead covers. Still prefer Su's covers, but Roche's are still works of art.

Oh boy....more Beast Wars books.....goody. But in all seriousness, I guess there is some potential, scant as it may be. Depends on how relevant the characters are this time around. Really don't see much place for the story to go, especially after The Ascending, other than prelude Beast Machines. Which could be interesting. That, or a retcon, which probably couldn't hurt.
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Post by Halfshell »

Er...
+ The Revelations Spotlights in June will tie up everything relatively well. That is the batch of Spotlights with Cyclonus and some others we've seen.

+ The IDW slide presentation reveals that all 4 of the Revelations Spotlight covers connect.

+ Simon Furman says they are kind of tampering with peoples conceptions of characters in the IDW comics, specifically referencing Arcee.

+ Galvatron is an "undead" Transformer in the IDW universe and a lot of these will be showing up in Spotlight: Cyclonus
We knew...
+ There will be no more Evolutions series after Hearts of Steel.
+ They are discussing plans for more Beast Wars comics.[/quote]

We knew...
TRANSFORMERS UK
+ Transformers UK comic will continue to tell a story, "Twilight's Last Gleaming," depicting a different ending of the movie where the Decepticons win and the Autobots are fighting a last stand.
... erm... as opposed to just being a straight magazine with no story content, I'd presume?
FUTURE PROJECTS
+ A Dinobots project from Furman is coming to IDW. The project will have Scoponok, Sunstreaker, and Sun Hunter. Spotlight: Grimlock sets the story for this unannounced project.

+ Star Saber in the IDW comics? Furman says don't rule it out! Star Saber is in the Ark 2, there will be 4 pages with him and Victory Saber. [AWESUM! - ed.]
Nifty. Would be useful if Ark-2 had actual context at the mo... presumably this'll crop up in Revs.
+ A Doubledealer spotlight is currently in the planning stages.
Uhm...
+ Furman says there are no plans for Punch, Counterpunch. He continues that other than the Headmasters, no other Masters will appear, other than the Doubledealer Spotlight currently in the works.
That makes no sense. Unless he's saying Doubledealer will be a *master. Because we've already had multiple appearances from chars who've been Masters before...
+ Any more stories with Cybertron's past? Furman says not to rule it out but the main thrust is to propel forward.
Ruling it out would make The Thirteen tricky...
+ IDW says they will continue to do limited series instead of ongoing ones so people don't feel they have missed stories if they skip an issue. They also try and keep each series fairly self-contained.
So does that mean we can skip issues of the minis without missing anything? Make your own joke at home...

So, basically the panel's consisted of a few oblique references to new stuff, reiterations of things that are already announced, and also repetition of Ryall and McCarthy's Q&A answers?

How is Galvatron being undead noteworthy? We know that...

Yes, I'm in bastard mode tonight.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Halfshell wrote:Ark-2
It's an art book.

http://tfarchive.com/comics/idw/guide.p ... books#ark2
+ A Doubledealer spotlight is currently in the planning stages.
Uhm...
Yes. It's TFormers, you're expecting someone with the first clue what's going on with the comics line? Silly rabbit. They're just aiming to get something up quickly.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Denyer wrote:Simon Furman says they are kind of tampering with peoples conceptions of characters in the IDW comics, specifically referencing Arcee.
I wonder whether he means conceptions of them before their comic (kinda obvious), or conceptions of her since the Spotlight (which basically means she could be anything other than a mad bitch).
+ There will be no more Evolutions series after Hearts of Steel.
But I had the script for "Flares of Steel" (exactly like MTMTE, but set in the 1970s - the people have flares!) all ready to go :(
+ They are discussing plans for more Beast Wars comics.
Well, if they're planning them this time instead of chucking in hundreds of characters and just seeing what happens, this could be a good thing.
+ Transformers UK comic will continue to tell a story, "Twilight's Last Gleaming," depicting a different ending of the movie where the Decepticons win and the Autobots are fighting a last stand.
This is not news ;)
TRANSFORMERS: ANIMATED
+ A 5-issue mini-series for Transformers: Animated series written by Marty Isenberg is coming starting in August. While the series will be all new stories and not just re-telling the cartoon, it is in continuity with TV. The first issue will be a retelling of the movie pilot with lots of different points of view and stuff you didn't see on screen. The 4 issues after that will be new stories.
This could be interesting - I wonder how well the style will translate.
He continues that other than the Headmasters, no other Masters will appear, other than the Doubledealer Spotlight currently in the works.
I hope that just means they won't appear as TMs/PMs whatever... otherwise that's chucking away some rather good characters.
+ IDW says they will continue to do limited series instead of ongoing ones so people don't feel they have missed stories if they skip an issue. They also try and keep each series fairly self-contained.
I'm going to have to scoff at that a little, though I won't elaborate as there's enough of my views in the AHM thread. Suffice to say I think anyone picking up Devastation #1 would be just as confused as if they'd picked up a comic called Transformers #13 - all the numbering allows them to do is sucker in unsuspecting readers, who are more likely to be driven off by the contents than the numbering system...
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Post by Hennessy »

What happened with Expansion? I thought that was the next story after Revelations.
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Post by Denyer »

AFAIK, some aspects of that will be touched on in the Revelations spotlight four-parter, and after that we're getting series giving us more background wrapped around the All Hail Megatron set-on-Earth arc.

Essentially, AHM is designed as a new-reader-friendly jumping on point, whilst Furman does his thing and gives us more of the rest of the universe.
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Post by AndyTurnbull »

Aside from Nick's upcoming work I'm really looking forward to the Animated miniseries.

To be honest based on the two previous Beast Wars mini-series I'd rather we didn't see any more.

Andy
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Post by AndyTurnbull »

According toSimon Furman's blog the Dinobots mini is entitled Maximum Dinobots.

Andy
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I think the best way to go with Beast Wars would be the Spotlight route, as a way of getting back to the strong character focus of the show, initially with TV characters (because buying a BW comic where someone I've actually heard of has a large role would be nice) and then perhaps branching out into adventures for the IDW established characters set during their time trapped on Earth. Just something to rebuild reader faith really.
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Post by Denyer »

Mmm, BW Spotlights seem an obvious good idea.

More comprehensive write-up by Repugnus:

http://idwpublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3893
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Post by Hennessy »

Denyer wrote:AFAIK, some aspects of that will be touched on in the Revelations spotlight four-parter, and after that we're getting series giving us more background wrapped around the All Hail Megatron set-on-Earth arc.

Essentially, AHM is designed as a new-reader-friendly jumping on point, whilst Furman does his thing and gives us more of the rest of the universe.
Dag, I was looking forward to that Expansion story too. Is it realistic to believe that they'll tie up all those lose-ends in just 4 issues? The Magnificence; Dead Universe; Galvatron’s agenda; Thunderwing being taken; Arcee’s beef with Jhiaxus, etc... I hope all these will be answered.
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Post by Denyer »

I don't doubt Furman will be leaving some plot strands open for the next phase, marketing aside.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Plus it seems as if a good chunk of the Earthside stuff is being held over till the Dinobots series.
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