Is SKYBOUND's TRANSFORMERS Worth Reading?

[@DeltaTrion]

The comic blends old ideas with new ones so well. It’s for the G1 fans (DWJ has even admitted this) but there’s also so much for new fans to love as well. It really feels like a G1 2.0 in such a faithful way. Lovely work as always. Happy I convinced you to try out Vol 1.

[@retroandreissue]

I hope it will appeal more broadly than just the G1 fans for sure. I haven't heard opinions from people who aren't already very familiar with G1 so I will be looking out for those. Happy you recommended it also!

[@JetstreamGW]

"... of course they can all fly in the cartoon..." Nah, they could in the pilot (More than Meets the Eye Parts 1, 2, and 3) but afterward it's just the Decepticons and Dinobots that can fly in Robot mode.

[@CyclonusEX]

Yeah this new Skybound stuff is really good. Very imaginative, and the art is perfectfor this gritty and realistic story. However, I HAVE to recommend the IDW books too. All of the stuff you mentioned loving here(minus the "shock killings"), and a deep exploration into the cybertron society before, during, and AFTER the war. Every facet and iteration of Transformers are referenced in one way or another. There's mini-series, One-Shots, a couple concurrent stories... Definitely worth the read. Plus the art by E.J. Su in the first few chapters is SUBLIME.

[@furagnar]

Yes. All of the Energon stuff is worth reading. Especially Void Rivals

[@retroandreissue]

I have seen bits of that from Delta's vids and it does look intriguing!

[@AFCManUk]

Skybound are knocking it out of the park. Worth reading their 'Void Rivals' comic. It's a shared universe,,,,, and certain transformers have been appearing in that too.

[@retroandreissue]

Some very obscure characters too I see!

[@Moonbase3]

Awesome work! It's always great to see more well thought-out takes on this continuity. It's really shaping up to be something special. It's certainly becoming one of my favorite takes on the franchise. You're in for a treat with volume 2!

[@retroandreissue]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm really looking forward to volume 2 - although staying spoiler free is gonna be tough!

[@sh00k3th]

I'm loving it!

[@Paul_the_Bookworm]

I've only recently discovered your channel but I'm glad I did. On the strength of your videos I've bought and liked Steeljaw and have this on the way to me from Amazon

[@schlieffenman957]

12:19 Actually Hasbro specifically asked the team at Skybound to kill off Bumblebee. I suppose even Hasbro is getting tired of so much yellow.

[@retroandreissue]

That's crazy, i had no idea! Thanks for the info

[@rocketeye8683]

I'm really enjoying this comic. I find myself counting days until the next issue of this and Void Rivals drops. I honestly haven't felt that level of excitement over any comic in a long time.

[@gesslegonzales3692]

Hell yeah its worth the read.

[@MikeD974]

My favorite transformers comics ever been great so far and love the void rivals series too

[@retroandreissue]

Everyone who's commented has mentioned Void Rivals so far - I guess I need to give that a look also! Thanks for watching Mike

Yes, it is.

[@stephengray8374]

I can't remember if it's mentioned in the issue, but the pilot that escapes Starscream's attack in the second comic is Duke from GI Joe. I recommend the Duke and Cobra Commander mini series, as well as Void Rivals. You don't need to read them to enjoy Transformers, but they'll give you the bigger picture as well as insight into what has happened to certain characters. Void Rivals in particular is very good, but Duke #1 remains my favourite single issue in the Energon Universe so far. Earlier this year an Energon Universe comic was produced as part of the free comic book day, and I'm not sure if this issue will be included as part of the trade paper backs. I'm sure it will be, but if not it's definitely worth tracking down. It's difficult to say more about this and the other series as I don't want to spoil anything for you, but for the most part I've really enjoyed the Energon Universe so far, and I hope it continues in the same way for you, too. If you ever do decide to look into the IDW stuff, I highly recommend "All Hail Megatron." Quite possibly the best Transformers story ever written, although Target 2006 will always be close to my heart 🙂 All the best. Really enjoyed listening to this one. 👍

[@retroandreissue]

Thanks for the recommendations bud! I was intrigued by the guy being given a lift in the plane then figured he was someone special when he gave Starscream a black eye!

[@stephengray8374]

​@@retroandreissueHa ha, yes I'd forgotten about the black eye! The entire Duke series spins out of this incident and takes him to some interesting places. I have to say though, that while the others are very good, Transformers is always the one I look forward to most. 👍

[@retroandreissue]

@@stephengray8374 I wish I was more into GI Joe but it just never figured heavily for me growing up. The few Action Force toys I did have I really liked but I think other toy lines always pipped it to the post for some reason. Probably the more grounded nature of it - I'd pick up a Rock Lord before a figure of an actual human being for some reason!

[@stephengray8374]

​@@retroandreissueYes, I was exactly the same. I never got into G I Joe/Action Force and was actually a bit disappointed when it was announced that it would become a back-up strip in Transformers back in the 80s. I thought Zoids would have been a much better fit. As a result, I had absolutely no idea what to expect with the recent Duke and Cobra Commander Energon stuff, and was pleasantly surprised when I read it. Cobra Commander especially made no sense to me at all in the beginning, but I stuck with it and thought it was definitely worthwhile - for me at least. He comes across as a very sinister character! More recently I've enjoyed Destro, and while Scarlett hasn't been the best series I've ever read, it's still been quite fun in places. All the Joe mini series have now been consolidated into a single G I Joe comic so it'll be a bit easier on the wallet for me each month 😂 The connections to Transformers are what brought me to the other Energon titles, but they're worth reading in their own right. It's interesting to think about what other toylines could be introduced into this universe as it has quite a wide scope. Rocklords and Gobots could actually work, as would M.A.S.K. How it would all fit together is anybody's guess though!

[@retroandreissue]

@@stephengray8374 I think Gobots should be a lost tribe of Transformers! And the Rock Lords...hmmm, has anything ever been written about how they actually transform? Are they mineral all the way through or is it some underlying tech? I would read a comic all about it anyhoo - great idea!

[@thomaslardinois6383]

Came here to like, leave this comment, and bounce. Yes.

[@sugoman5079]

I love skybond transformers

[@answerer-mo8by]

It's really good, but the IDW series is worth reading too. The issue is the length of it, there's so many story arcs and it lasted almost 15 years. Pretty much every G1 concept from Headmasters to Pretenders appears at some point as well. The difference is that IDW went for an intergalactic space opera feel whereas Skybound are trying to hone in on a character focused narrative that feels thematically in tune with the original cartoon. Both are good in their own right, if you can find a few collections of the IDW books I'd say it's worth a try, especially early stories like Megatron Origin and Infiltration.

[@bblande]

War Dawn is the true canon! 😁

[@SJHFoto]

I loved Dreamwave, but hated IDW. Skybound is somewhere in between (I actually like it a lot, so if IDW was 1 out of 10, and Dreamwave was 10 out of 10, Skybound is a solid 8

[@mitchmegaw7201]

I’m an outlier on this but not a fan. The art is great but ugh… it’s all violence and death. It’s just more of the war between the two sides. It has no sense of adventure. I’m sorry but once you open up stories that take place outside of a war that has lasted millions of years, to me, it’s far better. My apologies but I really miss James Roberts. I do really like Void Rivals and have not seen any of the Joe stuff.

[@retroandreissue]

Don't apologise! Not everyone can like everything - this one just obviously isn't for you but that's okay. Thanks for offering your opinion!

[@FroggoFreg]

Nah yaint an outlier, I’ve seen quite a bit of people with that view myself included. I personally feel like this story struggles at making me care for the characters. Sure it is dark and gritty, but I’ve never really felt particularly attached to anything going on for the most part to the point I really can’t be bothered to care at any of the shock deaths that happen It is a story which is completely reliant on you being an experienced transformer’s fan as it mostly just hits the ground running. We don’t get much time to linger on characters outside of a few scenes here and there and because of that I just feel little for these versions of these characters before the next big event is upon us. Just 13 issues in and we have seen Starscream get overthrown, seen the introduction and death of Shockwave, and have seen the entire Cybertron thing unfold. 13 issues and it feels like we have gone through at least two huge arcs. It just feels like everything is waaaaay too rushed and that characters are killed off just for the sake of being killed off which makes their deaths shockingly underwhelming. Save for the simple message of war being bad or the fact we know these characters from other continuities, why should any of these deaths have elicited any kind of reaction because simply saying “well that persons dead.”

[@Computronimus]

I love the Energon Universe but I hate Transformers. Everyone dies, it’s oft-putting.

[@dinam3236]

Mmm... It had a promising start, but turned much too bleak and gory for my tastes. The entire "Anyone can die" narrative gets tiresome for me; if any character can snuff it why should I get invested in them? Fraid I'll be giving this a miss.