IDW Live Panel Part 1 - Windblade, Megatron vs. the DJD, and More!

The Dawn of the Autobots Q&A is over, and we have a wealth of fun anecdotes and previews of the next phase of IDW's Transformers universe as given to us by writers John Barber, James Roberts and Mairghread Scott. https://tformers.com/transformers-idw-live-panel-part-1/23123/news.html
">Read on for more! The virtual panel was moderated by Kahlil Schweitzer from marketing at IDW and attended by John Barber(senior IDW Transformers editor as well as writer of Robots In Disguise), Mairghread Scott (Rage of the Dinobots, Beast Hunters, and currently Windblade), and James Roberts (More than Meets the Eye).

Scott was the first one asked to describe the current situation in her book, and she spoke of the people of Cybertron "figuring out if they can build yet again, again," and working to overcome "institutional fatigue and trying to do better." She sang the praises of Sarah Stone, whose work previously was mainly in the field of game design. "This is her first comic- which she's killing by the way!" She described Stone's expressive work as like "nothing you've ever seen before in a Transformers comic."

John Barber was next, speaking about his plans for RID. He and Andrew Griffith have been working on plans to bring Optimus Prime and the Autobots back to Earth for a very long time, probably as far back as the gestation of Dark Cybertron about three years ago. He's excited to be able to write Prowl as Prowl, most of his appearances in RID to date having been Bombshell speaking through him. Prowl and Prime don't always see eye to eye on some subjects, one of those being the fate of "a certain Decepticon."

Speaking of! James Roberts was asked if it was daunting to be writing Megatron as an Autobot, and he said that it was- and is. The first six issues of More Than Meets The Eye Season 2 in particular will deal with Megatron and the Lost Light crew, and how they react to him becoming an Autobot and wearing their badge- "what is really to them an offensive gesture."

Barber was asked about the difficulties of writing Dawn of the Autobots. "After Dark Cybertron I don't think anything's going to be difficult!" he joked. The biggest challenge for Barber and Roberts is keeping things fresh and interesting after what is probably the longest tenure as a modern Transformers writer- only Simon Furman and Bob Budiansky wrote TF comics longer than either of them. He said "Mairghread's the missing piece we didn't know we were lacking," and seconded her praise of Stone, saying that she "Came out of relatively nowhere and knocked it out of the park" on the Windblade series. James Roberts added that post-Dark Cybertron everyone was feeling reinvigorated, and that Alex Milne was turning in some great artwork for MTMTE.

When asked how much was planned in advance and how much communication and cross-pollination there was between writers, Barber teased James Roberts for having detailed plans for up to issue #50... but that Roberts hadn't even stopped there. "Add a naught to that, really," Roberts said... though we imagine that issue #500 is a bit of an exaggeration. Or maybe not! Barber's plans aren't as concrete- he works in what's commonly known as the "Marvel style" with Andrew Griffith. In the Marvel style, the writer sends a plot outline to the artist, who then does artwork based on that plot with the writer adding dialogue afterwards. Barber went on to say that there's definitely communication between writers, but that each book is meant to have its own distinct authorial "voice."

Roberts added that Dark Cybertron gave him the time to go back and assess his own work, figuring out what worked best and what didn't with the first season of MTMTE. He hopes to push the book into "Weirder and stranger and funnier and more violent spaces, hopefully."

We asked if we'd continue to follow the political situation on Cybertron once the Windblade series was completed. Barber answered with an emphatic "Yes," adding that he loved Starscream and where the character was now. He's also fond of what Scott and Stone have done with the character: "He is so creepy in that book, so sociopathically creepy... I love him." Barber also added that while Earth may be the focus of RID's first story arc, it won't be a situation where the Autobots and thus the book are completely cut off from Cybertron. Speaking of Optimus Prime's return to Earth, he said: "If he wasn't greeted as a conquering hero on Cybertron, he's certainly not greeted as a conquering hero on Earth." Scott picked up the thread of continuing to follow Lord Starscream, and said "Starscream rules Cybertron, and I think that's such a wonderful conflict- to have him be the dog that caught the car." He's forced to run Cybertron more democratically due to the presence of Windblade and Metroplex and we'll see what he'll do with power and what he'll do to hold onto that power- "which is just about anything!"

Roberts was asked a question on many peoples' minds: will we see the Decepticon Justice Division react to Megatron's change of heart? Roberts said we would: Tarn, head of the DJD, is "Megatron's ultimate disciple," and is best versed in Decepticon philosophy. The DJD will find out about Megatron and their paths will intersect. It'll be a clash of ideologies, with Megatron's old philosophy (as embodied by Tarn and the DJD) vs. his new philosophy. We'll see Tarn vs. Megatron "In a huge, huge way. At the right time. Or the wrong time as far as certain people are concerned." MTMTE Season 2 is about fallout, the consequences of Megatron's change of allegiance. Roberts also revealed that we're not done with the message from the future from the first issue of More Than Meets The Eye, and in fact we'll be seeing some tie-ins to that message about eight days from now in MTMTE #28!

Our coverage of the panel continues here, in Part 2!