The Chaos Bringer is coming to the IDW universe. Via IGN.com we have our first look at IDW’s take on Unicron in robot mode. The Chaos Bringer has been seen in planet form at the end of the First Strike event, and is here revealed in his robot mode for the first time, as illustrated by Alex Milne.
Unlike previous versions of Unicron, who have generally been smaller than Cybertron which in turn has been smaller than Earth, this iteration is gigantic – big enough to hold the Earth in the palm of his hand. It quite possibly may be the single most gigantic take on Unicron seen to date. Unicron’s skeletal wings in this version are made of asteroids and other rocky debris, and his body has huge stony armor panels, which evoke the concept behind the Transformers Prime version of Unicron. In fact, this iteration of Unicron references just about every past version of the character in some small way.
This image is accompanied by some information about the sage. The Unicron miniseries will be a six issue miniseries (we’re taking that as not counting the free comic book day zero issue), which will be shipping twice-monthly starting in July – so it is shaping up to be this year’s version of First Strike. The event is being teased as “the epic conclusion to the current Transformers comic book universe”. According to John Barber:
“TRANSFORMERS: UNICRON is a culmination of the years of TRANSFORMERS comics I’ve been a part of… and the conclusion of one of the longest continued narrative in TRANSFORMERS history. This is a story of heroism in the face of impossible odds; of a reckoning for an entire universe. I couldn’t be luckier than to have Alex [Milne] right here with me on this—if you know Alex, you know nobody puts more into the TRANSFORMERS than he does, and nowhere before has he drawn drama, action, and pathos at this scale. Tying it all together is the incredible palette of Sebastian Cheng. We’ve never held back before on our TRANSFORMERS comics, but this time we’re pushing ourselves — and each other — harder than ever.”
The continued mention of it being the “conclusion of the longest continued narrative in Transformers history” will surely feed those who have been suggesting that a reboot is on the cards. While that may be the case, it is also worth considering that other statement, “epic conclusion to the current Transformers comic book universe”. It implies that what we might see is less a full reboot, and more a clean break from current stories, to allow new stories to be told free of what is now approaching fifteen years of continuity and lore. However, a reboot is not implausible – truthfully, after you do Unicron, especially a huge, epic version like this – there are few more dramatic places to go to, and the fact certain major characters have been killed off or placed out of the range of stories does suggest that a reset might be beneficial to bringing more casual fans into what has become a fairly closed off series.
Update 25 March 2018: Multiversity Comics reports from the same Wondercon panel where John Barber was quoted above, where it was reported that the decision has been taken to “pull the trigger on the universe, giving it a finale readers could not experience somewhere like Marvel Comics”. So it does appear that this is it for the current IDW continuity of Transformers stories – the conclusion may very well be upon us. Discuss this revelation here.
As always, watch this space for more information.
Soundwave superior 21
My first thoughts: WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!
shamanking282
I mean this one, considering that it's ending, is now a complete beginning-to-end story. I think it's kind of cool we have that.
Magnum Dongus
Wait, by that do you mean the new upcoming universe or this one that is ending now?
deathzero23
Well I hope down the line Hasbro will release a Titan Class Unicron and Primus.
Man, how many times they will milk the last Unicron mold?
shamanking282
I mean, if you’re enjoying the ride, just figure it as you now get to read a complete story from beginning to end.
Magnum Dongus
Sooooooo…… I guess now would not be a good time to say that I just started reading the "The IDW Collection" trade paperbacks in an attempt to catch up with the current comics..? Should I just give up and read the new universe, if they do actually reboot it; or should I keep with my original plan of reading Phases 1 and 2 via TPs?
Silvia
mola
Russian fan
From astronomic and physical point of view this picture is total bullshit. Modern comics become more and more similar to old fairy tales. Evil
god of chaos, wow, what the nonsense!
Captain
This is sad for or us who have followed IDW for 12 years.
It\'s sad because it\'s going to end a lot of stories that could have happened. Lots of good came out of the MTMTE/LOST LIGHT, the Wreckers storyline, multiverse, Megatron, etc…that it\'s hard to walk away from those ideas.
It\'s sad because now they have to shoe horn other continuities like GIJOE and mix them up with TF going forward. We barely got a chance to know Dinobot, Primal, Hotshot, etc…
Prime Aspect
Something about the face doesn't quite look Unicron-y enough to me. Too contemplative, not menacing enough? Not sure, but am willing to wait for other images before judging. The rest of the design is amazing, though.
ScientistSkids
I've wondered this myself. Look at him holding Earth. And yet if you remember in Marvel, Cybertron was allegedly the size of Saturn, and Unicron was about the same size, and could stand on it like a bosu ball at the gym. He could easily be in line with the size of previous Unicron's depending on how large you estimate Cybertron to be.
AlienRadio
This is pretty much my position. Much as I'd prefer a genderless society, and prefer my alien robots to be pretty alien in psychology. I want transformers, and I want it to survive and thrive and a part of that is about representation, hasbro's bottom line is selling toys they'll need to sell to more women (because kids don't buy toys nowadays), I can at least have my cake and eat it too, if instead of a male coded monogender, or absence of gender we can get away from the gender binary at least.
kaijuguy19
This. Even some of the more grounded TF stories in the brand in general always had some level of fantasy in them so it makes no sense why people now want to change that.
NoiseMaker
Does anyone else think Unicron (his head in particular) look a bit Quintesson-y?
The three ridges?
Mako Crab
Exactly.
And really, there was a time when the idea could’ve been explored, when Simon Furman was writing the Marvel TF books. He pushed the idea, but he never did anything with it other than to say, “nothing to see here.”
Bahamut Prime
HOT. DAMN!
Windsweeper II
It's a concept that could have been explored in oscure fiction like Fun Pubs. But that ship has sailed sadly.
Mako Crab
This is the only thing I’m going to say about gender in TFs:
The idea of a totally gemderless machine race is cool. It’s a high concept sci-fi idea worth exploring.
But Transformers is not high concept. It’s a kids’ cartoon based on a kids’ toyline. It’s sci-fantasy in the same vein as Star Wars complete with magic & mysticism mixed in with its science bits. And the boat sailed decades ago on whether or not they have gender. The answer being yes. To try to come in now & put that genie back in the bottle is not going to happen. Especially since Hasbro wants them to be gendered and easily identifiable as boy or girl to its audience of kids.
If you want to see that idea explored, you’re better off looking elsewhere. Like maybe the Geth from Mass Effect.
Not a slam on people that want them to be non-gendered. Not calling anyone sexist or whatever. Just the reality that it’s easier for Hasbro to market & sell toys to kids if they’re more relatable. Hasbro’s bottom line is all about selling toys, not crafting deep literature.
ProtectronPrime
You know, I go back and forth on this one. I'm okay with gendered robots. I'm okay with alien robot romance. Drop them into my stories all you like. Just don't derail my damn story to tell me all about your robot sex change UNLESS the story is about sex change. Still then, don't expect me to sit around when you publish nine sex change stories in a row because I'm frankly not interested in sex change stories. I want to read about Devastator punching Wheelie into a pancake.
In short, what I'm not okay with is agenda. I am dead tired of people using things I enjoy as entertainment as a subversive means to push their moral code on me. As a result, I can definitely understand how you might not like things in your media, or how others definitely want that thing in your media that you don't want.
The problem for me is this: At what point am I just not reading the room, as it were? It's one of those weird social gray areas. It might be 100% legal for me to swear like a sailor… but I probably shouldn't do it in a daycare and I shouldn't roll my eyes and tell everyone about my freedom of speech when people complain. Similarly, if I run a skinhead biker bar maybe the live band I order for Thrasher's "Release From Jail" party shouldn't be the "Magical Inclusive Hugtime Safespace Band".
In other words, is my NOT liking stories with someone's political agenda in it and voicing my displeasure the same as me cussing in a daycare? Is Random Person's love for gay transformers and clamoring for more the same as inviting a pride parade to a skinhead biker rally? With more and more socially conscious younger people being added to the fandom every day, am I becoming an outmoded dinosaur when I roll my eyes at yet another transgendered character? I don't really know. There's enough vocal complaints on both sides to where I'm never sure where this fandom ever stands on anything.
I wish we all got to get what we want, because boy howdy, whatever side we're on I'm sure we're all sick of the arguments. Asking for tolerance is a big ask. To that end, I wish you the loudest voice at your next disagreement.
At the risk of being nitpicky and old, neither Dreamwave nor IDW was "Generation 3". "Generation 2" and any substance from that anemic source came from Furman as a continuance of the G1 comic and a direct sequel which covered Jhiaxus and the Swarm, etc. etc. which was subsequently "supplanted" by Regeneration One. G2 wasn't a mythic story retold again and again – it's basically where we got Jhiaxus, the Leige Maximo, and (possibly) the base inspiration for DVoid in the form of the Swarm.
Do what you like, clearly, but calling Dreamwave or IDW "Generation 3" is about as arbitrary as calling the Wings Universe "Generation 3" or an old banana peel "Generation 3".
AlienRadio
State Games from TFUK , Which is MASSIVELY influential is the first retelling of the origins of the war, Text only uk annual story, Yes Cybertron was stagnant, but also because of the fact that they were all immortal and became more fuel inefficiant with age, cybertron was undergoing a resource crises while in the grip of an inflexible aristocracy, with local aristocacies in each city state.