It will be interesting to see what people think about this series. I’m just enjoying the hell out of it so far. I’m going to buy it regardless of whether it’s canon or not.
Yeah, canon to most if not all of the above, but we'll see. I'm sure Furman will give an answer at some point. Man of Iron did technically crop up as an issue in the US continuity, though elements like Swoop's name originally being Divebomb (Furman likes to reference this a lot. Except for in IDW strangely), which technically allows it to fit into Marvel UK. I think it'll probably accomodate continuity with UK events where possible.
Nope. Not canon to the actual 80's G1. It's written decades after the original comic series finished and is coming from a completely different publisher. Might be canon to RG1 continuity or it's own splinter continuity.
I mean, given the number of different continuations of and additions to the Marvel series over the years, there's not really any "one true canon" for Marvel, just a bunch of equally-valid stories that are all canon for their own continuities. The more pertinent question is "what is canon to TF '84?"" and the answer seems to be "all of US Marvel plus maybe some ideas from the UK stuff". That's similar to how it was with RG1, which makes sense since Furman said at a TFNation panel that he sees TF '84 and RG1 as more-or-less being the same universe.
You're forgetting one thing though. Marvel doesn't own Transformers. Transformers is not primarily a comic book series, and Hasbro don't write comic books themselves. Whoever is officially approved to write comic books, cartoons and movies for Hasbro is canon. Otherwise, canon is an irrelevant term when it comes to Transformers.
It can be seen as canon to at least one continuity but my question was, is it canon to any of the old continuities or is it seperate?
I like it so I'll just stick to "canon to G1". I don't really care about the details of it all, it seems to fit fine with pretty much any G1 comic universe. But I mean, I also liked RG1 a lot, which others seem to hate, so *shrug*
The question isn't who owns Transformers, but when the stories were written. Decades after this particular continuity ceased to be published any attempts at retcons can't be taken seriously.
I mean, it's absolutely true that the original Marvel run exists in time as a complete work, and that any later stories based upon it are fundamentally distinct from it, but IMO the question of whether TF '84 takes place in the "real Marvel universe" or its own "TF '84 universe" is meaningless hair-splitting. TF '84 cannot literally reach back in time and change the original Marvel run, so even if Furman did declare "TF '84 is emphatically canon for the '80s run", that wouldn't actually mean anything. That wouldn't magically forbid people from continuing to enjoy the '80s run in its original standalone context if they wanted to. Like I said before, all that's really relevant is what stuff TF '84 itself treats as canon, since that's the story that's actually in the progress of being told - the original comics are capable of influencing TF '84, but TF '84 cannot affect them back. TF '84 is "canon" insomuch as it's an officially licensed story - what meaning you derive from that, whether you want to see it as "true" for the original comics... that's something that ultimately only the individual reader can decide for themself.
Yes. :3 It's clearly meant to be a prequel to the Marvel story line, I guess if you don't wanna consider it canon you're free to do as you wish but it's quite evident.
Jalaguy put it best. I will consider it it's own thing until it ends and then maybe it will fit it into the original G1 US/UK timeline (It was one comic run to me, don't hate). Furman has written at least 5? endings to G1 comicsverse so far so I can't really take what he says as canon is defo THE canon. Give it another 10 years and we will have another "canon" ending. > G1 Another time and place (Alternate Future?) > G1 Peace (Alternate, alternate future?) > G2 (Alternate Violent Future) > Regen (Alternate Depressing Future) > Earthforce\Other late UK stories (Who even knows) I will say though, that at the moment: It feels like G1 US/UK.
I'm wondering if Another Time and Place the true ending to the UK continuity. If not, is G2 canon to it? Maybe the Fleetway version?
I think the intention is certainly that it can act as canon for the original Marvel series, explaining some things and expanding on others. There's only one logical gap in my mind - if Prime's motivation for launching the Ark is as presented, then why does he have the Matrix with him? We know he can pass it on as he gave it to Buster in the Marvel books. Otherwise seems to fit very well.
I feel like there's been so many different continuations of both Sunbow and the Marvel comics G1, it would be nice if we had some more attention given to some other continuities. Granted, these are kind of "The Big Two," and the foundation the rest of the franchise has been built off of. That being said, this new series is pretty cleverly written, and my goodness that art is to die for. Everything is basically canon as far as Transformers is concerned. We go a little crazy with splinter timelines to the point where even toy bios for crazy repaints are considered canon in some form. I really like how Jalaguy put it. If I remember correctly, this TF'84 is being built with the idea that it ties into both the US G1 run and RG1, while maybe alluding to some UK stuff here and there. I could be wrong, but I think that's the plan.
