2018 was a year of crossover stories. From Smash Bros. and Ready Player One to Wreck it Ralph 2 and Into the Spider-Verse. As much talk as there's been about audiences not showing up for this stuff outside of Marvel, crossover media has never been more popular with the general public. How would you handle the Hasbroverse in the new Transformers IDW continuity?

I would avoid the big events for at least two years with the only connection between all these things being background references and an occasional team-up here and there.

 

Honestly, I think the properties should stand on their own. IDW has some interesting GI Joe stuff coming up (RAH still doing it's thing, and a Michael Fiffe mini that should be pretty wild) that certainly doesn't need TFs as a crutch. Presumably, when Micronauts is on track to be a cartoon or whatever, they might test the waters with another book for that, and again, it should be it's own thing. I'd much rather they concentrate on giving us a good Transformers experience before worrying about how anything else with huge casts of their own fits into it.

 

Mm. I'm a little torn. Ultimately, I think it depends on what the approach of the new universe is - do they want to try and Tell A Story, No Distractions, or do they want to set up a "status quo" sandbox for authors to play around with? In the former, yeah, no crossovers other than possibly easter eggs. If the latter, I think G.I. Joe could easily fit the role of the universe's "human military faction" in the same vein as RAAT, the EDC, Skywatch, etc. And then, you know, tease other stuff by, like, showing M.A.S.K. vehicles and Centurions suits in the Joes' R&D department.

 

Leave out magic/Kirby-level Science Fantasy.

I like Visionaries as much as the next dude, but it's hard to weld them to a story when one guy with a holographic care bears sticker on his chest can fart and knock out an entire regiment of Transformers. Similarly, Transformers loses a bit of it's sheen when a dinky guy in a chrome battlesuit can take on a Transformer in hand to hand combat.

If Rom/Visionaries/Micronauts want to hang out in their own corner, cool. But unless you're going to do the plumbing and/or massively depower them, they should stay the heck away from Mask/Transformers/GI Joe/Action Man. The only Hasbro "fantasy" property I could see kicking it with TFs is maybe the Inhumanoids, if only because there seemed to be a lot of limitations on what they could and couldn't do.

 

The properties can't rely on the event crossovers as a launching point. MASK was the Fredo of the Hasbroverse. It benefited the most from Revolution, but their role in the story kind of complicated things. I can't even remember what happened in the first two issues of their ongoing.

I think ROM can still work if he stays away from Earth, the "wraiths in disguise" plot can still happen on an alien world. Though I'm saying this because he's been my favorite Hasbroverse addition. His own ongoing was decent and his crossovers were fun, and at the same time actually added to to the TF mythos.

 

I think they all work, provided that you place the Hasbroverse into the hands of someone or a very small group of someones that honestly loves all the properties and are willing to put in the necessary work, AND hold all subsequent authors/editors to that vision.

I don't think IDW can do it. That's not a rub on IDW - I doubt many could manage it. As a result, I'd hazard that the easier thing to do is to stuff the superhero-level stuff in one corner and the Jello (flexible but still having some kind of shape) Sci-Fi in the other.

 

As much as I liked Revolution, I do think a more slow-burn approach would work better for a rebooted continuity. With the previously established Transformers and G.I. Joe stuff in the last universe, it made sense to do a big splashy introductory story to bring in the new guys and give people a little taste of everything. A from-the-ground reboot, however, can allow for a more subtle growth.

Obviously, the start would be Transformers. However, you can start seeding the idea of the other characters in minor cameos, like Joe vehicles being seen amongst military forces or even some minor characters like "General Abernathy" or something. G.I. Joe gets introduced as the military task force that is designed to deal with higher-level stuff. Then they get spun off into their own book where they fight Cobra. Other characters, like Action Man and M.A.S.K. can then be introduced in those books as recurring characters or spun-off into their own titles. Other series like Rom or Micronauts can basically just do what they did before and establish that they exist in the same universe through minor characters and references. Heck, maybe set up the Dire Wraiths as an insidious force on Earth in the pages of Transformers or Action Man before Rom even gets to Earth.

 

ROM was the only property that really worked paired with TFs precisely because of a similar scope and power level.

 

Well if you want a successful Hasbroverse it would help to for more than one of the properties to be relevant. Using the Transformers to buoy dead and dying properties simply isn't going to work. These properties need to be revitalized if you want to attract anyone outside of the small groups hanging onto to the memories of the once viable property.

 

I'd do it by not doing it. A shared universe benefits none of the properties. I mean, Transformers would be a sales crutch for the less popular franchises, but what they lose in autonomy outweighs any slight, temporary sales gain. It certainly doesn't make for better GI Joe stories, or better Micronauts stories. It makes GI Joe demonstrably worse, and that's even with all the things IDW was already doing to make their Joe continuity worse.

Maybe MASK could be incorporated into the TF universe in an interesting way, but I have a feeling I only think that because I have never given a crap about MASK. If I actually cared even a little bit about MASK, I might feel the same way as I do about GI Joe and Micronauts sharing a universe with Transformers.

It's mind-boggling to me that anyone could look at the shared IDW Hasbroverse we did get as anything but a failed experiment, but clearly a handful of people do, and even want another one >shudder<

 

I wouldn't.

 

this post is exactly the problem that happened with the crossover event the first time. im an 80s baby and even then these things just weren't that interesting. it is all subjective of course.

but instead of visionaries i was playing with sectaurs and he-man and thundercats. all the while i was buying the comics for like 75 cents.

same with visonaries their problem was it just always felt like a rip off of gi joe. especially at that time maybe now it might seem cool because of nostalgia. but why would i want to play with little guys with holo stickers in there chest when i could go full on gi joe with all the vehicles to boot every afternoon while watching the cartoon.

mask it was only a filler toy at best...at best

hasbro just wont have a huge movie universe or even a print universe. it just wont happen and they should let that ship sail and focus on what they do best which is sell shitty toys at big chain stores. if it aint broke dont fix it.

 

I'd be down if it was just ROM, Joe, and Transformers. Really by this point I think the Joes make up of 90% of competent military dudes than even Spike who only got cred for killing one Constructicon. Plus ROM and Transformers are equal grounds in terms of tech and power. Plus the angle on one of the Titans creating Space Knight civilization was a cool touch and the ROM vs Transformers comic helped feel like it WAS part of a shared universe. Kudos for John Barber for making it work.

If they kept that, plus keeping the balance of power the way they were, I think a reboot like this could work.

 

The very idea of a crossover depends on an audience being familiar with lots of independent properties. If you launch the Hasbroverse to a world that's mostly unfamiliar with everything outside Transformers, what you're really doing is launching one incredibly overpopulated new franchise with five different logos and no focus.

So there's no avoiding it: start with independent titles and build an audience for each one.

 

Pretty much this.

Transformers can stand on it's own. The rest need to build an audience, without using TF, or each other, as crutches.

 

And even as crutches, they're only sales crutches. Storywise, none of them benefit from the inclusion of any of the others.

 

In response to the OP, I wouldn't handle them at all - if IDW wants to launch those comics, then let them do so separately from Transformers - the only crossover I'd go for would be G.I.Joe, and that's only because of the two franchises' history.

 

I read through a lot of those books based solely on how much you said you liked them. Honestly, they were all fairly good, but the way it happened, the execution, was terrible.

I think you're right on the money, though, when it comes to a slow burn. Introduce characters but do it slowly. Have each character in their own separate book and just throw a wink and nod every now and again.

 

I haven't thought about the entire Hasbroverse as a whole, but I have thought about MASK and how I would do it this time around. Of course, this is not the approach they'll take, but I think if they did to this or similar it would be wonderful.

Notice how each book generally has the same theme running though it? That being a sort of serious adventure story with light doses of drama, comedy, suspense, horror and so on? Most of the books try to balance it all and do manage to stand on their own whilst doing it. Some to their detriment (G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K.) others to their benefit (Transformers and ROM). That said, I think that MASK could have benefited with a mostly comedic lighthearted comic style point of view.

A variety of comics have employed this sort of theme like Booster Gold and Blue Beetle from DC or Deadpool and Cable from Marvel as small examples. There are other examples but I can't seem to think of them. Regardless, I believe that the MASK comic would benefit from a move like that. The super serious approach could still work, but I feel like really pushing the ideas on this considering the style of the original cartoon and comics.

In a sense, they were like serious comedies. The general idea behind MASK is kind of hilarious and cliche. A bunch of guys who have normal day jobs whom take rain checks on their jobs whenever VENOM is terrorizing? They battle vehicle to vehicle, mask to mask for ancient relics. The MASK team travel around around the world and still manage to keep their jobs! I mean when they leave they MUST take days off when they travel to places like South America or Africa to stop VENOM! It could be so much gold to explain it away in this kind of story how they came to KEEP their jobs to begin with.

The story of how they got the masks and how the masks are specifically connected to each vehicle could be explained due to the existence of aliens and other magic from the mysterious relics. The cartoon has no end to how it could be explained with all the phenomena they witness. I mean, Andy Trakker is brilliant, but he must have applied some relic energy or FOUND the MASKS I don't know. If he found them, it would explain how they had those particular unique looks. For why each vehicle is so unique? I dunno. Maybe the Masks transformed them once connected to them. Blah. It could be funny if explained.

VENOM could get part focus on why they want money and world domination so bad. Their plight could have a very human perspective over the overly 'evil' Manheim we got in the original take. Gyad he was just annoying to read. Not more annoying than Matt Trakker and co. Wow. Let me not start on that flaming.

Back on trakk  , I think that it would be a cool idea to make it the comedy comic of the bunch. Have it happen AWAY from the Transformers. Let them discover this tech and magic on their own then meet the Transformers and others later. T-Bob could be an amnesiac Transformer and their link to that franchise. Maybe he was built from reverse engineered tech and the dude has a spark. I rather this than the stupid Ore 13 used to power the masks and Blitzwing triple change vehicle connectons any day. Gyyyaaahhhh! Let MASK stand on its own!

Anyway, this is how I'd handle MASK. For the other brands... I'll respond again when I'm not so tired.

 

I just wouldn’t.

Eh. Eh...

What else can I say that hasn’t already been said? Connecting all the different franchises doesn’t really benefit any of them long term.