Going to start picking up the trades/issues on ComiXology. Bought the rest of MTMTE and RID via the trades. What other issues/one offs do I need to pick up to read in the correct order? Is there a flow chart out there? My goal is to get current with LL and Optimus Prime by years end.

 

You will want to get the revolution series which has 3 collected volumes. Other than that you can start the LL and OP i think (unless you haven't gotten the spotlights and Christmas special yet for MTMTE and RID). Someone else will probably post some chart for a reading orfer but I dont have one.

Also get punishment and that whole trilogy

 

lol really? You're going to tell him to read 3 volumes of that. What a pal.

 

I believe you're missing the Combiner Wars TPB; the Transformers: Distant Stars TPB (Windblade vol. 2 and Combiner Hunters); Punishment and Redemption (which are getting collected along with Salvation in "Redemption of the Dinobots"); Sins of the Wreckers; TAAO vol. 1; and the Titans Return TPB.

After that is Revolution. The main series is its own 5-issue trade, and there's a "Revolution: Transformers" TPB that collects the Transformers tie-ins plus the TF Holiday Special. There's ALSO a "Revolution: Heroes" TPB with M.A.S.K., G.I. Joe, Rom, Micronauts and Action Man, but of those, only Action Man really features Transformers characters significantly (Kup, to be precise).

In the post-Revolution era, there's Lost Light, Optimus Prime, and volumes 2 and 3 of TAAO, plus Salvation (collected as part of Redemption of the Dinobots). ADDITIONALLY, there's Revolutionaries (made up of 3 characters from RID, plus Action Man), and G.I. Joe, which has Skywarp as a member, but you don't... particularly need to read either if you don't care hugely about Kup or Skywarp? I would recommend both, though; they're very fun, especially read in trade. As well as that, there's the Rom vs Transformers miniseries, which is really good - it's got Alex Milne on art and you don't need to know anything about Rom to understand it; there's also Micronauts: Wrath of Karza, which has Optimus, Jazz and Arcee... but isn't great, doesn't have anything to do with any of the Transformers storylines, and relies on you having read the entirety of Micronauts, so I'd skip it if I were you.

Lastly there's First Strike, the currently ongoing crossover, in which human supervillains invade Cybertron. It's got a significant Transformers element, but the focus is on the G.I. Joes, so you can probably skip it if you'd like. If you are going to read it, though, be aware that it follows on from a lot of the plot threads from Revolutionaries.

(One more thing: it's not strictly Transformers, but I'd really recommend the Action Man TPB. It's written by John Barber, and it's very silly and very fun; it'll give you a good taste for what Revolutionaries is like. Plus, it contains Action Man: Revolution, so you won't have to get the Revolution: Heroes TPB to read that.)

OP: "Hey, I've read every other IDW Transformers series up to this point, what comes next?"
Rabid Robot: "Revolution comes next, so read that -"
You, for some godforsaken reason: "EEEEEUHHH REVOLUTION, WHY YOU TELLIN HIM TO READ THAT, REVOLUTION SUUUUCKS"

 

He said he wants to read TRANSFORMERS. He wants to get current with OP and LL. Are you really telling me (and him) he needs to read THREE VOLUMES of Micronauts/ROM/MASK crossover CRAP that has been reviewed poorly by almost everyone just to follow the story of the Transformers? Please.

"DURRR HURR HURRRR, IT HAS TRANSFORMERS NAME ON IT, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY IT SIGHT UNSEEN DURRRR."

 

Citation fucking needed, my man.

 

Plenty of reviews to read.

Anyway, my initial post was in response to the op asking if there any ISSUES or ONE-OFFS he needed to read to keep up with the story. Then Rabid Robot's response was that he needed to read three entire collected volumes of stuff that isn't even all Transformers-related. That's just ridiculous.

 

It's barely been reviewed at all.

Anyway, my point is more about you coming in, providing no helpful input or alternatives, and just shouting "REVOLUTION BAD!" and leaving.

 

My input is to skip Revolution (and Revolutionaries) and stick to the comics actually about the Transformers.

 

I get your point that revolution is bad but I (along with most) am a completionist and want it all. And none of your posts have been any help to MrVanimal and have no relation. If you want to rant about revolution, do it in another thread

 

Thank you for this! Is there an order I should read them in for the best continuity?

 

Sure.

• Punishment is after Transformers/RID #35, which is collected in Transformers vol. 7. The end of Punishment leads into where Optimus and Windblade are in Combiner Wars, so read it as Vol. 7 > Punishment > Combiner Wars.
• Distant Stars comes after Combiner Wars, running roughly parallel to Transformers vol. 8.
• Sins of the Wreckers comes between Transformers #44 and #45, both of which are in Transformers vol. 8 (though #45 doesn't spoil anything from Sins other than that Kup and Arcee make it out alive).
• Redemption runs parallel to the first few issues of Transformers vol. 9; if I were you I'd read it Vol. 8 > Sins of the Wreckers > Redemption > Vol. 9.
• Till All Are One vol. 1 runs parallel to Transformers vol. 10.
• Titans Return comes after Transformers vol. 10 and MTMTE vol. 10.
• Revolution comes after Titans Return. The tie-in oneshots are intertwined with the main series, but if you're going trade-by-trade you can just read the main series and then the tie-ins.

And after Revolution:

• Lost Light is off doing its own thing. I think it's still set in early 2016, actually.
• Assuming you don't care about the individual Rom, MASK or Micronauts titles, I don't think there's anything particularly time-sensitive in any of the series with Transformers. You can just read them as alternating trades.
• First Strike runs simultaneously to Optimus Prime #11-12.

 

Sweet! Thank you very much!

 

Oh, crap, right, I forgot - TAAO vol. 2 (#5-8) takes place before Optimus Prime vol. 1 (#1-6). You'll definitely want to read that first.

 

have we and idw given up on the long-running tf idw collection hardcovers?

 

Dude, they're almost caught up. These large hardcovers will never be up to date. That's part of the business model. They want you to buy all the collections, read them to where they've printed them, then find the trades of the next stuff, and finally start reading monthly. There will always be a buffer between when issues come out, to trades, to IDW Collection. And now that they're basically as caught up as they feasibly can be and still have the tpbs being profitable, the wait will only get longer if you stick to the HCs only.

 

Cashel.. you've literally been asking the same question over and over, ever since there was a big gap between Phase 1 Volume 8 and Phase 2 Volume 1. Literally in between every. Single. Volume.
We're all fairly annoyed at 1 release every 6 months (plus delays). Especially with the sheer number of single issues coming out, meaning that the collections slip further and further behind. They'll keep publishing no worries.