Transformers

If you've been reading Tom Scioli and John Barber's Transformers vs. GI Joe, then it will not surprise you for even a second that there is a scene in the next issue where Duke stands in front of a gigantic American flag, Patton-style, and has a very serious discussion about jet-hook-fu, the art of battling giant killer robots with a jetpack and a grappling hook. And if you haven't been reading Transformers vs. GI Joe, well, in the next issue, there's a scene where Duke has a very serious discussion about jet-hook-fu, the art of battling giant killer robots with a jetpack and a grappling hook. I don't think there's any better way to get you on board than that. Check out a preview.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. Everyone loves Spider-Man, and since almost everything that happens in the Marvel Universe happens in New York City, it’s no surprise that Marvel’s most popular web-slinging New Yorker has run into basically every Marvel character at one point or another. But this week, we’re not just looking for some random time Spidey and Daredevil stopped a bank robbery and got hot dogs. We’re talking about the kind of crossovers that are so colossal or crazy that they only come around once in a great while.

Earlier this year, after decades --- literal, actual decades --- of rolling my eyes dismissively whenever anyone brought up the franchise, I agreed to sit down with a complete run of IDW's current Transformers comics and write about the experience of reading them. By the end of it, I wasn't just a fan, but I had to admit that they were, bar none, some of the best comic books I have ever read in my life. Now I'm a dude who got really excited about paying fifty bucks to buy an Ultra Magnus figure that included Minimus Ambus. The system works. The only way I could've liked it more is if they'd somehow combined what they were doing on those titles with something that I already loved, like, say, Christmas. This week, they did that very thing, so in order to talk about it, I'm reviving The Transformed Man for a very special look at this year's Transformers Holiday Special, in which presents are given, trees are decorated, and Thundercracker tries to kill Santa Claus.

Though most of the attention at Hasbro's New York Comic Con preview event was focused on the latest Star Wars and Marvel Legends figures, Transformers had arguably as many great surprises. With both Robots in Disguise and the more adult Generations lines on display, just about every conceivable character was on display. That includes the newly announced Titans Return line, which played host to a number of great reveals that longtime fans have eagerly been waiting for. Likely the two biggest stars of the show, Galvatron and Blaster have been well worth the wait. Galvatron's design is outstanding, and might be one of the best Decepticon figures released in the past few years. Blaster holds a soft spot in my heart, as along with Hot Rod, he was one of the two Transformers figures I remember keeping around until they fell completely apart when I was a kid. This new iteration is bigger for sure, but that size brings with it an attention to detail and design that the classic figures just can't match. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool Transformers collector, but I might just have to start clearing some shelf space to revisit these updated heroes of my youth.

I've never liked the Transformers. The franchise didn't get its hooks into me as a kid, and while I've tried to give it a shot as an adult, it never really clicked. But now, with a recommendation from almost everyone I know and a well-timed Humble Bundle sale that left me with three years worth (and counting) of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise comics, I'm going on a quest to see if these comics can turn me from someone who has never cared at all about Optimus Prime into someone who uses words like "Cybertron" and "alt-mode" with alarming regularity. And Primus help me, it's working. This week, it's the final installment. We're all caught up, and the man stands transformed by his journey into comics about talking robots that turn into cars and planes.

I've never liked the Transformers. The franchise didn't get its hooks into me as a kid, and while I've tried to give it a shot as an adult, it never really clicked. But now, with a recommendation from almost everyone I know and a well-timed Humble Bundle sale that left me with three years worth (and counting) of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise comics, I'm going on a quest to see if these comics can turn me from someone who has never cared at all about Optimus Prime into someone who uses words like "Cybertron" and "alt-mode" with alarming regularity. And Primus help me, it's working. This week, Windblade embarks on her first solo adventure in the Transformers equivalent of Speed Racer.

It was only a few weeks ago that we learned about Wang Liansheng, a father in China who built a life-sized statue of Bumblebee out of scrap metal after his son saw the Transformers movie and decided he wanted a Transformer of his own. It was a fun story and a cool thing to see, but I will admit that national pride got me wondering if we could step up and close the Transformer gap here in the good ol' US of A. And it turns out, we can --- mostly, anyway. For proof, you need look no further than Stillwater, Oklahoma's G&M Body Shop, whose two locations are now protected by Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

I've never liked the Transformers. The franchise didn't get its hooks into me as a kid, and while I've tried to give it a shot as an adult, it never really clicked. But now, with a recommendation from almost everyone I know and a well-timed Humble Bundle sale that left me with three years worth (and counting) of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise comics, I'm going on a quest to see if these comics can turn me from someone who has never cared at all about Optimus Prime into someone who uses words like "Cybertron" and "alt-mode" with alarming regularity. And Primus help me, it's working. This week, Windblade returns and we get the most toyetic crossover of the year!

I've never liked the Transformers. The franchise didn't get its hooks into me as a kid, and while I've tried to give it a shot as an adult, it never really clicked. But now, with a recommendation from almost everyone I know and a well-timed Humble Bundle sale that left me with three years worth (and counting) of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise comics, I'm going on a quest to see if these comics can turn me from someone who has never cared at all about Optimus Prime into someone who uses words like "Cybertron" and "alt-mode" with alarming regularity. And Primus help me, it's working. This week, everyone hates Prowl.

When you get right down to it, it's not that unusual for kids who see one of the Transformers movies to tell their parents that they want a giant robot of their own. I mean, I don't want to blow anybody's mind here, but that's kind of the point of the entire franchise, to get those impressionable youngsters into toy stores so they can go home with their own Optimus Prime or Megatron. But for one child in China, a toy wasn't going to do it. He wanted the real deal. So his father built him one. After catching the Transformers movie with his son in August of 2014, Wang Liansheng spent a year building a life-size version of Bumblebee out of discarded auto parts --- and now he's working on Optimus Prime.