I think this art would be perfect for an Animated revival comic, personally.

 

This art is seriously so cool.

 

I want Josh to do a MACHINE WARS comic! Make it a whole new continuity with its small cast... Heck, even a crossover or be a spin off of BW.. @Josh

 

I was wondering where I'd seen this dudes art before, but seeing it's inspired by some of Skotti Young's Rocket Racoon art I can definitely say he's on the money lol. They're easily some of my fav comics and I hope this comic can be as creative in its art, if not its vocabulary  

 

I wonder if any non-Beast Wars, Beast Transformers will appear in the comics?

Like Leobreaker or Quackles or Sky-Byte.

 

I’ve been out on comics for a while but this is going to get me back on board. Can’t wait to get my hands on this.

 

Pandering is never okay - unless it’s pandering to you. Then it’s not pandering, it’s good storytelling.

 

Why call it "token?"

Using a new character instead of Airazor is smart. Airazor has expectations based on the original story. If they want to work those elements in then fine, use her.

But using a new character instead means they're free to do whatever they want, and that helps change up character dynamics within the team we're already familiar with.

I wouldn't mind seeing a new character on the Predacon side, and it wouldn't have to be female.

There should be new characters *period* because it'll be interesting and give us stuff we haven't seen before.

By introducing this new character up front, they're telling us this isn't just a retelling of the original series. Which is good.

I'm also not about to start keeping a tally of which side has original characters, either. Let them come as they fit in to the story.

 

While I know this isn't going to be a 1:1 remake of the cartoon (which honestly is a good thing because that would be extremely limiting) there is one scene that I'd love to see revisited, especially with Josh's mastery of coloring and light sources:

This is my favorite of Cheetor's trippy dream sequences, and probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. This scene makes the concept of the Spark feel majestic, even if I know "Cybertron" was likely a script error and should've been "Cybertronian". More than introducing us to the concept of the Spark in the best way they possibly could have, it shows us how Cheetor perceives Rhinox-- he's a big dude, sure, but in Cheetor's dream he's enormous. If Cheetor's precognitive abilities are revisited I'd love to see more of that kind of thing, his dreams giving the reader insight as to how he views the world.

 

I'm sure we'll see Airrazor and other classic BW characters both show and toy wise in the comics eventually. Just because we get new characters doesn't mean it stops established characters from showing up. The big advantage the new comic series has over the original BW show is that it doesn't have to worry about budget limitations. So they can add as many characters as they want as long as they do it in moderation and not sacrifice character development over it.

 

Yeah like that's ever going to happen.

 

But on the flip side, if they introduce new characters and don't do anything with them people will complain they're worthless.

Or look at how fans of certain existing characters responded to how they were used in IDW. (Star Saber, Getaway, etc). So there's a risk there as well.

There's a balance to be struck, but it's weird to panic about one character before the comic has even started.

I should add, I dunno if it was a Hasbro decision or not, but basing Nyx on the Bat Primal design means if she's popular they can quickly make a toy for her that'd have some easy reuses. Smart decision. It'll be interesting to see if they continue that with other new characters or if they get a bit of room to go off the board completely.

 

I'm fine with the art style. I'm more interested in how the story will play out. I hope it's different enough to be worth my time. If I wanted to watch the show again, then I'd go watch the show again. I don't want to experience the same thing in an abbreviated comic book narrative. In that spirit, I welcome any new characters they want to drop into it. Or if they want to leave out the whole, "we saved G1 timeline" aspect I'd be fine with that too. Beast Wars was still good before all of that happened.

 

That's where I'm at, too. Just an alternate universe entirely where the Beast Wars happen on modern Earth or Eukaris, or whatever. IDW already played around with them in a new continuity so going that route would be easier and more entertaining than even "BW but slightly different."

 

So I'm fine with them messing around with these ideas.. but I'd honestly prefer it be on ancient earth for the simple reason I don't really want to see humans involved. One of my favourite parts of Beast Wars is the lack of humans to represent "us". I'd rather connect to the characters because they are good characters rather than see it through the eyes of a human who I don't really like or care for because their main job is "ground" the story.

If they can find some other way to keep that aspect of it, I'm all for it, but it's literally the only transformer property to not involve homo sapiens, and I really appreciated that.

 

while I agree didn’t the article mention the Predacons stealing a time machine? We might still have to deal with that plot line eventually.

 

Yeah the article did mention it, but I'm hoping they do something novel with it.

 

I wouldn't say it's the only transformer property to not involve humans. Cybervers had humans in what, one scene? And the current IDW continuity has a distinct lack of humans as well

 

You know what I'd like to see?

A Star Trek 2009 style continuation/reboot of Beast Wars.

After losing the Beast Wars, at some point before Beast Machines (since it was obvious he spent a bunch of time on Cybertron before the maximals arrived), he set up a contingency plan and left a message for his past self to find provided he loses once again. His past self finds the message and that message gives him a leg-up on in this itteration of the Beast Wars. Dinobot doesn't switch sides, since Megatron starts off in a more competent way. Beast Wars happens again, but differently, with a new ingenious plan from Megatron.

I think something like that would be super cool

That's fair, but it's definitely a rare element of transformers, one I prefer.

 

A storyline where the Predacons successfully changed the course of G1 and we're all living in the result would be interesting.

Sorta like season 1 of Man in the High Castle. Maximals find out this timeline is "wrong" and now they have to make the choice of how to undo it without dramatically altering/erasing the lives that have come since.

Think Endgame, even. Can Primal bring himself to change the timeline if it means erasing Nyx (among others). Or do they have to accept what's happened and move forward with their revolution.