Generation 1  Generation 1 / Comics

IDW Live Panel Part 2 - The Return of Grimlock, BotCon 2014, and More!

"More Than Meets The Eye Season 2 is going to break your soul." The coverage of the IDW live panel for Dawn of the Autobots continues! Read on to hear Mairghread Scott, John Barber, and James Roberts' favorite characters as kids and as adults and some tantalizing hints of what's to come next in Robots In Disguise, Windblade, and More Than Meets The Eye! This is part 2 of a 2-part article - read part 1 here, then check out part 2 below! While John Barber played down his own ability to track IDW's continuity, crediting Scott and Roberts for keeping things straight, Roberts in turn praised Barber's "terrifying grasp" of the ins and outs of the millions of years of the IDW timeline and the fact that there are still active stories in multiple of time periods, with Chris Metzen, Flint Dille and Livio Ramondelli finishing their ancient Cybertron trilogy soon with Primacy. "He(Barber) has this incredible computer brain," Roberts said. "He's the spine that runs down the back of the books."

When asked if Grimlock would be appearing soon, James Roberts said that he's "got" Grimlock for MTMTE, who was last seen in the custody of the Decepticon Scavengers. Something unexplained placed Grimlock in a vegetative state, and that is "a big fat blank" that will be explored. Grimlock is a big, popular character that needs explored and brought to the fore and Roberts will be doing so "soon. ...ish."

"I hear he might be in a movie too!" Barber added.

Scott was asked about Windblade's homeworld of Caminus, and said she could "talk your ear off" about it but was trying to keep the focus on Cybertron, using only as much information as was needed for the current story.

Barber reiterated that while the casts of the three books can communicate now and trade notes, he's not in a place where he's looking at another full-on crossover, preferring to have more distinct books. Work on Dark Cybertron began in 2011(!) and he'll finally be done with it soon, once the second trade paperback is finalized. Barber said that RID would change significantly with the move to Earth, but the political angle would continue. If anything it'd become darker and murkier- but he also wanted the book to have more humor, as evidenced by Thundercracker's life on Earth dreams of securing an agent and becoming a screenwriter.

When asked to rate the emotional impact of More Than Meets The Eye on a scale of 1 to 10, Roberts said: "Oh, on a scale of 1-10? Season 2 is gonna break your soul. ...if I can pull it off. There will be feels. Season 2: There Will Be Feels- that's the tagline as of now!" MTMTE is about characters, the flaws in peoples' characters and the decisions that they make. In addition to Megatron, Nautica and Nightbeat will be joining the cast, with more characters to follow later. A lot of the focus will be on the "huge engine of consequence that is Megatron."

The writers were asked to name their favorite characters as children and now. Scott is on record as loving Airazor as a kid, but her current favorite to write is probably Fat Tankor (AKA Beast Machines Tankor, and never "Fat Tankor" to his face). Roberts said that his favorite was Prowl as a kid, and that today, his favorite to write is Nautica. Barber said his favorite was Prowl then, to the point that no amount of evidence to the contrary would convince him that Prowl wasn't the main character of Transformers! During Season 1 of RID he'd have said Arcee or Starscream, but he's back to Prowl. He says the end of issue 29 and the beginning of 30 will be a very Prowl moment- the real Prowl. Of Prowl's stint as a puppet of Bombshell, Barber said that "it wears on you that you were controlled by someone trying to destroy society, and nobody noticed."

When asked how characters were claimed post-Dark Cybertron, James Roberts joked that "anyone you haven't seen elsewhere is on the Lost Light until proven otherwise." He'd asked Alex Milne to draw a bunch of characters into the backgrounds of MTMTE to "claim" them. Barber joked that he'd "told Joana (Lafuente) to color them all orange so that they're different characters." It was revealed that Bluestreak's been added to the Lost Light crew, as James Roberts had wanted to do in season one.

Mairghread Scott said that certain characters were more or less mandatory: Windblade (since it's her comic), Starscream, and Metroplex. "Once you get to write for Metroplex and Starscream... you're lucky! You're set!"

John Barber claimed Optimus Prime, Prowl and Arcee immediately. Roberts was fine with Prime going elsewhere, as putting Prime on the Lost Light would end the quest immediately because everyone would be on their best behavior. Conversely, Roberts "stood on a table" and asked to write Megatron. Barber was happy to pare down the cast to a group that made tactical and dramatic sense: Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jazz, Kup, Arcee, Sideswipe, Cosmos, Jetfire, and a drone of Jetfire's whose name we won't hear for a few issues. And, of course, Sky Lynx!

When asked if there were any characters difficult to write, Scott replied that Metroplex was tough. "You're not hearing him speak so much as watching every thought in his brain happen at the same time." Writing Metroplex also meant she had to write poetry, and that was difficult. Barber said that anybody who was tough to write just "wouldn't show up that much." Roberts doesn't dislike writing anyone, but is "hyperaware" of writing Megatron because everything Megatron says will be the object of intense scrutiny. He'd find Wheelie difficult to write for long stretches, "but he's not around- so that's alright."

Response to Windblade has been overwhelmingly positive, with sellouts at comic shops across Los Angeles (as reported by Scott) -and even at the IDW booth at Wondercon! A lot of people are using it as a way to for new fans to connect with Transformers, which Scott is particularly proud of.

When asked if we'd see more of Star Saber, Roberts answered that we'd see him eventually. "If someone isn't completely murdered, they're going to come back for some particular reason." When asked if we'd find out more about the mystery of Rung's alternate mode, Roberts played coy, but said that his goal was "to give answers to mysteries while seeding other mysteries."

It was also revealed that all three writers would attend this year's BotCon!

All three writers were asked what story they'd like to see turned into an animated movie. Barber said he'd like his "Robot Politics" arc to become a movie, even though it'd be kind of a downer. Roberts would like to see his first three issues of MTMTE made into a film- the first of a series, of course. Interestingly, Mairghread Scott -the only one of the three who has worked in animation -said that she felt that the stories they mentioned are best suited to the comic format. She couldn't think of anything she'd want to see cut for adaptation to the screen and would be happier seeing the writers make new works for the screen.

To wrap up on Dawn of the Autobots, Barber reminded us that RID issue 28 comes out tomorrow, and Barber says that things won't play out the way any of the Autobots would want them to see. Six teaser images will be premiered for MTMTE #28 next week. Roberts trumpets "History in the making, Megatron as an Autobot -and that isn't even the biggest spoiler! ...oh, (it) is." Roberts promises a greater degree of planning this time, making season 2 a longer, more interconnected storyline. Of Windblade, Scott said "Well, I just tried to blow up the main character in issue #1... I was unsuccessful." She added that issue #2 had "one of the funniest fight scenes I've ever written. It was just a joy to write."

Thanks to everyone involved for the fun panel and all the great insight into the comics!

Data Center

Transformers Shops

Advertise Here on TFormers.com

Shop Online for Transformers United

Transformers Shopping



More Generation 1 News & Reviews



Advertise on TFormers.com








This site uses cookies for site configuration, advertising, and analysis. By using this site you accept our policies - Read Full Site Policy OK
Sign Up For The TNI Newsletter And Have The News Delivered To You!


Forums Communities: Toy Fans - Marvel Fans - Transformers Fans

@ToyNewsI Socials: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

@MarvelousNews Socials: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

@Tformers Socials: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

@JediInsider Socials: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

Entertainment News International (ENI) is the #1 popular culture network for adult fans all around the world.
Get the scoop on all the popular comics, games, movies, toys, and more every day!

Contact and Support

Advertising | Submit News | Contact ENI | Privacy Policy

©Entertainment News International - All images, trademarks, logos, video, brands and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies and owners. All Rights Reserved. Data has been shared for news reporting purposes only. All content sourced by fans, online websites, and or other fan community sources. Entertainment News International is not responsible for reporting errors, inaccuracies, omissions, and or other liablities related to news shared here. We do our best to keep tabs on infringements. If some of your content was shared by accident. Contact us about any infringements right away - CLICK HERE