If you strain your ears, you might hear that familiar piece of music by Vince DiCola on the wind, heralding the arrival of the monstrous Unicron in the IDW comics. A character who, for years, has been described as “on the shelf, but we’re not touching him” has finally moved into the frame. Starting in 2018, Unicron will get his own book from IDW. We’d wager this will be a series that leads into a major crossover event – one that will certainly run through the Transformers books, and depending on how Unicron is brought to bear, it might just affect the rest of the Hasbro universe IDW has been building.

Other Transformers highlights from the IDW panel, care of Newsarama, include:

• First Strike is mainly Transformers VS G.I. Joe, with ROM and the Micronauts only playing a supporting role.
• The First Strike Transformers One Shots will be set on Cybertron and focus on how the characters there respond to the ongoing situation without Optimus Prime to guide them.
• December will bring a Transformers: Til All Are One annual, which will be focused on who should lead Cybertron: Windblade, Starscream, or Elita-1, and we’re promised “an election with dirty tricks”.
• There will be an annual called “Thundercracker in: Starscream: The Movie”, where Thundercracker is given the budget to make a movie about Starscream. Expect shenanigans and humour to follow.

And for those who are enjoying the wider Hasbro universe, you might enjoy some of these bits of news:

• Visionaries are making a comeback, in a new series starting in December by Maggs Visaggio and Fico Ossio.
• There will be a ROM and the Micronauts team-up comic.
• December will also launch G.I. Joe Unmasked, which has Matt Trakker of M.A.S.K. join G.I. Joe to fight against a wild assortment of different characters. Specifically, things like Hasbro’s Army Ants (remember those?!)
• No comment on the possibility of bringing the Inhumanoids into the Hasbro comic universe.