Anyone else see this?
Leaked Document Shows New Transformers Cyberworld Show for 2025 and Earthspark Continuing Until 2026

According to the storytelling roadmap part, it looks like they don't have any plans for the comics past 2025.

 

Assuming this is still accurate, I would guess that was an initial contract. That way if the EU didn't take off, Hasbro could take the license to someone else. Considering how it is going, I think it has been / will be relicensed to Skybound to continue the story.

 

Maybe, but it seems telling that there's nothing at all in that row after Skybound. No unspecified comics like they have in the TV show row.
I hope it's a 'wait and see' situation. I wouldn't be happy if the next comics wouldn't come out until 2029 at the earliest.

 

I think the slide is just incomplete as far as publishing details. I don't see any good reason why Hasbro would suddenly pull all Transformers comic and book publishing contracts at the end of 2025, in the middle of one of the highest-selling comic runs in decades, and then refuse to let anyone have the license for at least three years. Plus a lot of Skybound's decisions only make sense with the assumption that they have the license for a lot longer than the end of 2025, like starting a middle grade graphic novel series in July 2025, or saying that they're going to have "the most comprehensive Hasbro backlist publishing program possible" when the first volume of that program comes out in April 2025.

 

Hope so. I wouldn't want to wait years for new comics to be published.

Btw, what do you mean by backlist publishing program?

 

That's what they referred to their reprinting initiative as in the press release for the first Marvel compendium. Fancy way of saying they want to get all of the old Transformers and G.I. Joe comics back into print.

 

Sigh.

You guys DO understand that the Skybound Transformers launch has been the most successful Transformers comics have been in years, right? Like by a HUGE margin? And that Skybound has long term plans?

We're adding two and two and coming up with five

 

On one hand, I can only possibly imagine that Hasbro is ecstatic about how successful the Skybound Transformers has been, but I also can't help but remember that Hasbro canceled Marvel Transformers despite it still outselling a significant number of Marvel titles that weren't being canceled. (They expected a minimum number of sales numbers, didn't matter if the title was still profitable, if it didn't hit that mark, canceled.)

Mentally I know that it was 35 years ago and most of the executives that were at Hasbro at the time are likely dead now, but part of me still thinks that the executives that are there now will look at some myopic view that casts Skybound in a bad light and they'll pull the plug.

 

Yeah I’m not panicking at all, the fictional universe is just getting started and it’s selling well.

 

Forget about the Skybound stuff. What are they doing with *Viz* in 2025?

 

Viz has the license for the Transformers manga, could be they'll reprint that again or some of the other ones. They also published "Transformers: A visual history" a few years ago, so it could be more artbooks.

 

lol same

On top of selling well, the comic literally won an EISNER - er, two of them - so I sincerely doubt they’d cancel it now

 

How well is void rivals doing ?

 

I've seen good reviews from a number of sources but idk if that translates to sales. I know Transformers #1 sold really well.

 

Idk, but it must be well considering they’re doing a 10th printing of issue 1

 

Skybound’s Transformers Comic is Currently Outselling Every DC Comic Book

Not that it's a huge achievement these days but outselling the number 2 publisher isn't bad at all, chances are they're keeping the comics separate from the animated series and films to streamline presentations, let's be real, most folk don't read comics anymore, we're a dying breed so we aren't catered to as heavily as the real money drivers of the franchise.

 

Keep in mind that Daniel Warren Johnson stated his run on the book is for 24 issues. That (obviously) breaks down to two years of story. This graphic could literally be a reflection of that as Skybound would go to Hasbro with a two year outline and build from there.

Also, the Transformers title selling more than DC is a pretty big deal. Regardless of timing, DC has some of the most recognizable and popular characters EVER. They’ve got some really strong titles right now, so Transformers outperforming them is nothing to balk at.

 

I'm going to be honest, part of me wonders whether outselling DC is thanks to the quality of Skybound's story and ability to resonate with people, or a damning indictment on how much DC has tarnished their own brand.

This is true. In another thread I mentioned reasons why I completely dropped IDW (e.g. Lost Light introducing a focus on stuff like romance and bringing up stuff like transgenderism was stuff I wasn't looking for in my Transformers media, I disliked what was happening in the Optimus Prime book with stuff like the insufferable Aileron and Pyra Magna), and a side effect of that is that I'm extremely unlikely to ever buy an issue of Skybound's Transformers or Void Rivals et al.

But I do feel that Skybound is lucky in that they aren't beholden into acting as advertising. No need to suddenly get the Protectobots together just because Hasbro wants to push Combiner Wars Defensor.

 

Outselling DC hasn't been a big deal since Image did it in the 90's, once the speculator bubble burst and what was left was we few actual fans of comic books, the market heavily contracted then sales figures became a bit of a joke. Now the amount of units Skybounds TF #1 has sold is quite impressive by todards pretty pathetic standards but I'm inclined to believe quite a few of those sales are from modern day speculators looking to try to sell an overproduced comic for a profit in ten years time, I'm sure they can pair them with one of the billions of copies of X-Men V2 #1 that speculators all bought too, maybe stick a death of superman armband in to seal the deal.

And this is not to take away from what Skybound have achieved, just to put it into perspective, the real way to look at these things is always in retrospect, we never know what might happen tomorrow, but I don't think comics as a medium is ever going to reach the heights of consistent sales they had in the golden age ever again, they aren't cheap anymore and there are a plethora of alternatives that didn't exist back then.

 

So what do you think of the chances of maybe skybound not continuing transformers comics post 2025 ?