IDW’s Transformers Beast Wars Volume 1, Available For Amazon Pre-Order

That confirms that it is Razorclaw and not Rockbuster, despite the deco.

Bass X0

if I was writing the Beast Wars comics, I’d be watching the original TV series to get the characterisation and speech mannerisms spot on to what fans of the TV show would expect from a modern comic.

If you have a spare 20 minutes, and are interested, I'd be eager to get your thoughts on the characterisations in a script I've written for a one-issue comic book version of Dark Glass.

Others are more than welcome to read it as well of course.

Despite what looks to be a Rhinox-centric story appearing, I think I'll be giving the Annual a miss.

https://twitter.com/IDWPublishing/status/1507864252559683585

A look inside @transformers: Beast Wars Vol. 1, out now!

https://twitter.com/erikburnham/status/1506762660695744522

Funny behind the scenes on an upcoming Beast Wars. I wrote the script, had a 2 page spread, thought "maybe Josh doesn't want to draw a 2 page spread" so I reworked it. …And then he asked if we could do a 2 page spread. Well heck, I laughed. (It's gonna look cool!)

In the last issue I mentioned a few of the plans we cut. Some of it would've gone the same just a little less condensed. Only thing that wouldn't have happened is Transmetal (it wasn't an available option; I don't know why beyond it's what I was told, so I can't explain.)

Did I miss the listing for Vol 2?

https://twitter.com/jcburcham/status/1499895247329013760

Even tho I wasnt doing art for the issue I DID work up a concept for Blur's design for issue 13 of #BeastWars! [colors inspired by one of Floro Dery's own concepts for the G1 character] Cheetor vs BLUR?? Who's the fastest Cybertronian? We hope youll pick up a copy and find out!

Just for posterity, a closer look at my design for Cybertronian Cheetor, from issue 1!

supernova222

well i have a few reasons that i came up with that choice(and again this is all just my opinion). for one, outside of his blind loyalty, scorponok has no real role as tarantulas corners the technician/science role and waspinator is often the doofus. and even in the new series, his loyalty isnt really highlighted or showcased, not nearly as much as him being a more military/strategy minded bot(and megs can easily also fill that role). skold however has had a lot of focus on her loyalty to the preds and her insistence on staying there, which is a much more layered version of that supposed blind loyalty. her swapping with him would also break up what is, to me at least, a to heavy insectoid pred lineup. and finally, the first thing that made me think about this whole subject, is with how much importance is placed on megs taking the name of great decepticon, and then there's scoponok with the same thing. i get that in the timeline scorponok might not be as important or a real decepticon(city bot) and it fits him but us as the audience notice it and just kinda diminishes the impact of megs' new name i think.

True. The closest they came to giving him his loyal minion charactization (that I remember), was him wearing the coach head. Who else but Scorponok would feel self important and loyal enough to wear that? But, a one off joke is hardly a good reason to keep someone around.
The thought of playing into him sharing his name with the city bot is brilliant and I'm amazed no one has written anything to do exactly that. I hope someone will explore that in the future.

SPLIT LIP

Has Scorponok's loyalty really been a big contributing factor in this book? Has Scorponok himself even been a big contributing factor?

Supernova isn't the first to suggest this. Several people have posited that Skold's entire character could've been transposed onto Scorponok and it would only elevate a character who had no real place in the original cartoon and also no real place in this book. Have his loyalty be something questionable and rooted in his insecurities like Skold, given how the original BW Scorponok had scenes hinting at a similar need for validation that went nowhere. Adding a new character really didn't add anything to the book that couldn't have been accomplished with the original cast. (a similar problem exists with Nyx, as you pointed out)

I mean, they already changed several cast members' personalities, doing something with the near-blank slate that is Scorponok wouldn't have been some taboo thing, especially since it wouldn't really be a big change.

I haven't read that specific suggestion before, which is why I was curious.

Like I said above, other than the hat gag there hasn't been much for Scorponok. But that's probably also due to the limited runtime and the focus the new characters were getting in the beginning. A lot of the characters haven't had that much material given too them. Waspinator is currently literally just a henchman and Cheetor is…fast?
I honestly don't remember anything about Scorponok more subtle things from the beast wars cartoon. I just remember how he tinkered a little, how he was loyal, how Megatron "trusted" him, how there was 1 scene where he sits sullenly as he tells Megatron about how someone dropped boxes on him and obviously how he fell to his doom with glowing hands. So yeah, you're blank slate remark tracks with me. XD I'm not saying you couldn't or shouldn't change him. I was just curious as to why exactly replace him, when based on what we currently know they can both occupy their own character niche.

As another alternative, you could play into their different reasons for loyalty. A simple tweak to explain his blind loyalty would instead allow Skold and Skorponok to contrast even more. Maybe Megatron "saved" him, maybe he told him the same "lies" he told Skold except he's taken them at face value and became a fanatic. There's a lot potential for interplay there that can be used to elevate Scorponok while simultaneously establishing Skold as an interesting new character.
Honestly, I hope we revisit Skold when new comics come along. She was a promising addition.

At the risk of sounding too negative regarding these comics, some of the changed characters, to me, feel more like they're trying to have them be the same but failing in the writing. Like Rhinox.

Darth TNT

Interesting. May I ask why?
As far as I can see they occupy different character niches. With Scorponok being the loyal bootlicker who feels important and looks up to Megatron, whereas Skold is just tricked/bullied into following him and doesn't trust the world at large.
It's not like Nyx and OG Cheetor where Nyx basically took all of Cheetor's newbie qualities leavig him with…err nothing except speed. Lol, we're a research vessel. This is Rhinox, the big philospohical doctor/mechanic, this is Rattrap mechanic/hacker, Nyx is our pilot and Primal is the captain. And this is Cheetor he's the uh…
Replace this beast wars Cheetor with Nyx and you wouldn't miss him and no one would act out of character.

well i have a few reasons that i came up with that choice(and again this is all just my opinion). for one, outside of his blind loyalty, scorponok has no real role as tarantulas corners the technician/science role and waspinator is often the doofus. and even in the new series, his loyalty isnt really highlighted or showcased, not nearly as much as him being a more military/strategy minded bot(and megs can easily also fill that role). skold however has had a lot of focus on her loyalty to the preds and her insistence on staying there, which is a much more layered version of that supposed blind loyalty. her swapping with him would also break up what is, to me at least, a to heavy insectoid pred lineup. and finally, the first thing that made me think about this whole subject, is with how much importance is placed on megs taking the name of great decepticon, and then there's scoponok with the same thing. i get that in the timeline scorponok might not be as important or a real decepticon(city bot) and it fits him but us as the audience notice it and just kinda diminishes the impact of megs' new name i think.