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Year In Review 2015 - The Best Of Comics

We move past the toys now, because there is surely more to fandom than obtaining merchandise. For another year, IDW's Trransformers comics have delivered us some of the best Transformers fictions that fans have had the opportunity to enjoy in the course of the Transformers brand's more than thirty year history, accompanied by fantastic art to help bring it to life. Below you'll find our picks for the year's highlights, as well as some thoughts on things that turned out not quite the best this past year. Keep reading to see! And of course there is still more to come in our 2015 Year in Review!


  • Best single-issue story: "Headmasters," Transformers vs. GI Joe #7

    There weren’t a lot of self-contained stories in any of the other Transformers comics this year, not counting the standalone short works of the Transformers Holiday Special. But in June, The Transformers Vs. GI Joe took a break from its usual madness to suggest that the previous issues had, in fact, been madness. Scarlett is captured by the Decepticon-Cobra alliance and conditioned to think that she was living out fantasies from her favorite childhood cartoons. A surprisingly lucid and dramatic issue inspired by the earlier works of Frank Miller, "Headmasters" was very much unlike any other issue of Transformers vs. GI Joe - which is unlike anything else out there to begin with.

  • Best multi-issue story: "Elegant Chaos," More Than Meets The Eye #35-38

    The 30’s were a strong time in More Than Meets The Eye. Late 2014 had a stack of interesting mysteries that offered information enough as the story progressed to start piecing the answers together yourself. This culminated in Elegant Chaos, which involved plenty of time travel technobabble to essentially tell the story of the Lost Light crew mostly unintentionally making sure that they and the circumstances of their adventures came to be. It was a multi-part adventure story with a payoff so strong and complete at the end that if you had told me it was the final issue of the series, I could have walked away very satisfied. In reality it would not be the end as the book continues marching along, but Elegant Chaos will always hold a special place in my memory. It’s a point in time that I’ll remember for challenging me intellectually, and provoking a lot of thought about what I’d just read that month. I truly hope that I will see its like again someday.

  • Most Eventful Event Book: "Combiner Wars," The Transformers #39-41; Windblade, Vol.2 #1-3

    The problem with Combiner Wars is that there’s simultaneously too much of it and not enough. In the interview-rich buildup to the event, one thing was referenced over and over: That it would be about the nature of combiners, and how they work. And to a very small extent that was true. At least as far as a magical plot device was introduced to make them work. And aside from a sequence in the final issue of the crossover, virtually no attention was paid to the internal mechanics or mentality of the combined beings. Rather than a war, or even a story really about the combiners, Combiner Wars was simply more political intrigue. And I use the word intrigue loosely here. We’re not against Robot Politics as a story angle, and it’s been done well before. But it’s disappointing to see that take center stage and almost neutralize what the miniseries was itself named for.

  • Best Recovery, Or: How Ex-RID Got Its Groove Back (Not the Protectobot)

    Let’s reach back a couple of years, when (what was then) Robots in Disguise had to put everything on hold and wait for about half a year and the launch of Dark Cybertron. The book’s momentum was pretty much shot, and the book itself was completely consumed by that crossover. But when time came again to plan an event book in the form of Combiner Wars, things went rather better. Now instead of shifting to a holding pattern, important story elements were slowly and carefully woven in to the lead up to the crossover. That becomes important starting around July or August of 2015, when The Transformers went back to what it had been doing, and immediately picked right back up with all the energy it had when it switched gears to Combiner Wars. Ever since, the story the book has been telling has been deeply engaging and clearly building up to a major point of conclusion. A far cry indeed from the slow lurch that accompanied the book’s time skip and setting change with the conclusion of Dark Cybertron.

  • Meanwhile, on The Lost Light...

    Elegant Chaos had many of the qualities of a series, or at least season finale. It answered many questions, gave a feeling of resolution for some characters, and while doors were left open, it could have stopped there. But sometimes shows keep going even after the bulk of their story is told, and most of this year of More Than Meets The Eye has had that feeling. There’s been a certain absence of direction, and a feeling of the larger story of the book not really mattering anymore. For most of the time since Elegant Chaos, we’ve had a lot of focus simply on issues surrounding the characters that while great for developing them, are not so great for plot progression. And that wouldn’t even necessarily be bad, except that it’s almost all that we’ve had since about March. And even the most recent issues shows only the tiniest traces of having anything to do with getting a plot on track. What is now approaching a full year of non-progress is simply too much. Nothing is happening to move the book forward, and it’s miring down farther and farther in the hole it seems to have settled in.

  • Victim of Circumstances: Windblade, vol.2

    The anticipated return of Windblade’s comic was sadly not what most of us were anticipating. While ex-RID had ample time to establish where it was and what it was doing in the lead-up to Combiner Wars, Windblade Volume 2 had to jump right in to being half of a major event miniseries. On top of which, the standout artist from Volume 1 Sarah Stone only drew the very first issue of the new series. While Corin Howell, who drew the book from issue 3 until its conclusion, was a definite step up from issue 2 fill-in Livio Ramondelli, her more cartoony style was for many an acquired taste. Having given over its early issues to Combiner Wars, the remaining run had an interesting concept that didn’t work as well as it would have with more time and space - the time and space taken by Combiner Wars. Writer Mairghread Scott is relaunching the comic in 2016 as Transformers: Till All Are One with artist Sara Pitre-Durocher, which strikes me as a great combination. Now, if only Titans Return doesn’t impose on it too much...

  • The One You Can Actually Give To Small Children: Robots In Disguise Animated

    The companion book nobody read to the series nobody is watching (thanks, Cartoon Network), Robots In Disguise is the other source of satisfyingly self-contained stories this year. Well-written, fun, and easy to follow, it’s good to have Transformers books that you can hand to anybody with no special knowledge needed of continuity - or even of Transformers when you get down to it. Solid character writing from Georgia Ball and clear, strong, reference-rich art from Priscilla Tramontano make this a comic parents can get something out of as they read it to their kids.

  • Best New Artist: Sara Pitre-Durocher
    In most cases, an issue that’s as toy tie-in focused as Combiner Hunters appears would be perhaps just forgettable, even with an excellent writer involved. But this issue, coinciding with the release of the SDCC Exclusive set by the same name, benefitted from interior art by Sara Pitre-Durocher, who up until that point had only contributed alternate covers during the Combiner Wars event. She brought a distinctive style to that issue, equally detailed but also having a stylistic energy that made the art stand out. She has since done interiors for The Transformers, showing the same qualities and making that issue stand out from the rest as well. She will be the main artist for the upcoming title Till All Are One, and if her work there ends up even half as good as what she’s shown so far, I can hardly wait for it.
  • Best New Writer: Georgia Ball

    Writing an entertaining all-ages book isn’t easy. Neither is writing a good TV tie-in comic. Nor is writing self-contained comics that still manage to build towards the satisfying resolution of an over-arching plot. In her debut on Transformers in the animated version of Robots In Disguise, writer Georgia Ball did all of these things. We feel fully confident that, even if she had not been the only new writer to come to IDW’s Transformers comics this year, we would still be nominating her for this category. Whether it’s on future RID stories or something else entirely, here’s hoping this isn’t the last time we

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Member Comments

Last 10 comments - ( Read All Posts )
ExVee 2016-01-13 @ 5:56 am

Hi everybody. Thanks so much for all your responses! We've loved hearing from you and seeing all the different answers everybody had to their top picks for the last year. As of now the entry period for the giveaway is closed, and only replies prior to this post will qualify to win one of the prizes. We're going to start going through the entries and make our selections which will be announced live during the broadcast of Radio Free Cybertron on January 13, which you can watch embedded on the front page here at TFormers, or at tfradio.net/live. Afterward we'll be contacting the winners via private message here on the forum to arrange for delivery of the prizes.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed, and we hope we'll continue to see you around the forums!

Greenboy35 2016-01-13 @ 12:26 am

Best Official Toy (Hasbro): Leader Class Ultra Magnus. ??????1/2 out of 4 stars. Extremely impressive transformation for a non-masterpiece figure.

Best Masterpiece Toy: MP-18B Bluestreak. ???????? Waited most of my life for this and got the perfect Transformer.

Best Unofficial (third party) Toy: MTRM-01 Cupola. ??????1/2. Always wanted a Chromedome with working elbows and knees,

NicodemusLegend 2016-01-13 @ 12:09 am
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) - CarZap w/G.B. Blackrock Kreon (my screen name on *most* TF forums is G.B. Blackrock, so I kind of *have* to say that!)
  • Best Masterpiece Toy - Blue Bluestreak (at last, it exists!)
  • Best Toy Reveal - Nuremberg Toy Fair 2015, CW Devastator obscured by bald man
Starscream369 2016-01-12 @ 11:10 pm

Best Official Toy (H): CW Superion

Best Official Toy (TakTom): UW Devastator

Best Masterpiece Toy: Star Saber

Best Unffocial Toy: Maketoys Cupola

Best Storyline: Sins of the Wreckers

Megops7 2016-01-12 @ 10:48 pm

est Official Toy (Hasbro) - CW Rook

Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) TFA Supreme Optimus Prime

Best Masterpiece Toy- MP Wheeljack

Best Unofficial (third party) Toy- MMC Sphinx

Best Comic Issue Or Storyline- Last Stand of The Wreckers

Best News Item (any category) Masterpiece Beast Wars Optimus Primal

Best Toy Reveal- Titan Return Fort Max

mtma 2016-01-11 @ 3:59 am
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro):

    CW Devastator: I really, really didn't expect to like Devy so much. I bought him expecting disappointment, however was met with great articulation, cool bot and altmodes and a magnificent combiner.

  • Best Official Toy (Takara/Tomy):

    I must admit that Tak has made some awesom stuff this year, but one that caught my attention was the Blackarachnia toy. It's just too nice to see a screen accurate version of the character being produced.

  • Best Toy Reveal:

    The entire load of reveals we got in 2015 was fantastic, but the Leader Class Blaster from Titans Return just blew me away, I never expected to see a Blaster that now only would turn into a boom-box, but also have a cool gimmick like headmasters and also be compatible with the new spy tablet figures.

Erimus Prime 2016-01-10 @ 10:48 pm

Best Toy Reveal: Magnus, since I was in shock to see the IDW body with Minimus Ambus!

Best Hasbro toy: Combiner Wars Bruticus, because I like all the Combaticons separate and combined, but I cannot wait for the Unyte Warriors still!

Best Takara Toy: Legends Ultra Magnus. I would've put Magnus as my favorite Hasbro toy, but then the first three of my favorite things would've been Magnus... So I put Magnus as Takara's best toy since it had a superior paint job in my opinion.

Best Masterpiece Figure: Blue Bluestreak! He's blue and the Masterpiece Prowl mold... Need I say more?

Cybcouncil 2016-01-10 @ 3:21 am
Best Official Toy (Hasbro) Leader Class Thundercracker
Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) Legends LG15 Nightbird Shadow
Best Masterpiece Toy Masterpiece Blue Bluestreak
Best Unofficial (third party) Toy Gundog
Best Comic Issue Or Storyline Sins of the Wreckers
Best News Item (any category) Choosing who is next Omega, trypticon or scorpy
Best Toy Reveal Titans Wars Fortress Maximus
Quaternion 2016-01-10 @ 1:12 am
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro)

Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus

  • Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy)

Unite Warriors Groove

  • Best Masterpiece Toy

Masterpiece Tracks

Chaos-core 2016-01-09 @ 1:24 pm

Best official toy (Hasbro) - Bombshell

Best MP toy (Takara) - Mp Star Saber

Best official toy (Takara) - Unite Wars Devastator

Mattneto 2016-01-08 @ 10:15 pm
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) Ultra Magnus
  • Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) Nightbird
  • Best Masterpiece Toy - Star Saber
  • Best Unofficial (third party) Toy - Unofficial Dinobots
  • Best Comic Issue Or Storyline - MTMTE. All of it.
  • Best News Item - Combaticon Awareness Week
  • Best Toy Reveal - Titans return Powermaster Prime
DjinniMan 2016-01-08 @ 3:01 pm
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) : CW Ultra Magnus
Best News Item (any category) : I loved all the Combiner Week stories, well done!Best Toy Reveal : I had so much fun with figuring out how tall Devastator was from the blurry bald guy pics. It was epic!
kirkman81 2016-01-08 @ 1:26 am
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro): CW Ultra Magnus
Best Unofficial (third party): Toy Maketoys Rear EndBest Comic Issue Or Storyline: Elegant ChaosBest Toy Reveal: Powermaster Prime
RUMBLEBEE 2016-01-08 @ 12:49 am

Hey!! I'm back, baby!!

My picks are:

Best Hasbro Official toy: Combiners Wars Superion! He's / They're just so awesome!! I'm still just not tired of messing with them! Even with Slingshot not in my particular arrangement, they cannot stop being cool! Great figures/ Great Combiner

Best Takara Tomy Official toy: Legends Ultra Magnus! I have the Combiners Wars version but those colors on Legends Ultra...Just as true blue as Ultra Magnus should be! Great Great!!

Best Masterpiece: Diaclone Blue Bluestreak! Nuff Said! He just looks awesome!!

Best 3rd Party Transformer: I can't pick just one so, in all their incarnations, all the Insecticons! Great engineering and just some of the tightest transformation schemes I've seen in a long while!

Best Storyline: Alita-1's arrival! Cans we has more Fembots, please??

Best news story: Combiners Wars Cartoon!! What?! So much awesome!!

Best Toy Reveal: A tossup: Masterpiece Diaclone Bluestreak and Titan Wars Galvatron ... Because, I wasn't expecting either of those guys to hit the shelves! I need both!

Christopher A. Curran 2016-01-07 @ 11:55 pm

Best Hasbro Toy: CW Devastator - It took thirty some years, but Hasbro has done great work in providing fans and new fans to this awesome figure which resembles the beloved Decepticon gestalt we all enjoy. In sculpt design, colors, and functionality it is a good toy. I've watched numerous reviews on this fig and despite the negative comments, I look forward to having this fig in my collection.

Best Toy Reveal: Power Master Optimus Prime. The improved look of this figure is AMAZING looking forward to seeing what Hasbro does with this series Titans Returns

Best Takara Toy: Decepticon Nightbird, I've always wanted to see more of this character when it was introduced in the series episode, "Enter the Nightbird" To see it now done even in the Generations release remolding of Arcee is still amazing. Giving that Fem fatal edge to the Decepticon ranks.

Mazinga_Spidey 2016-01-07 @ 10:44 pm

Best Hasbro Toy: CW Bruticus

Best Takara Toy: MP Bumblebee

Best Reveal: Thunder Mayhem

Rhev 2016-01-07 @ 9:03 pm

Best Official Toy (Hasbro) – Combiner Wars Titan Class Devastator! The articulation of the combined form, despite its size, and the fact it’s a combiner and holds together perfectly is amazing. The sculpts of the combined mode as well as all of his individual Constructicon parts, in both robot and alt modes are superb!

Best Official Toy (Takara Tomy) – Legends LG15 Nightbird Shadow! Great rendition of a previously used mold with newly sculpted head. Additional unique weapons and an excellent homage to the original cartoon character.

Best Masterpiece Toy – MP-11T Thundercracker! The modifications made to the transformation/figure since my first experience with it’s like (Hasbro Masterpiece Starscream) were a breath of fresh air! They made this figure far more like one should expect from a Masterpiece series.

Best Unofficial (3rd Party) Toy – WarbotronWB01-E Fierce Attack (aka Onslaught)! Not only does this figure complete the (not) Combaticons set to make the very impressive “Brute” combiner, but this guy is massively impressive all on his own. The Transformation, sculpting, paint applications, articulation and plastic quality are all top notch!

Best Comic Issue or Storyline – Combiner Wars storyline! It was fun to have a story to go along with the figures being produced outside of the latest animated series.

Best News Item – Voting between Omega Supreme, Trypticon and Scorponok as the next Titan class figure!

Best Toy Reveal – Early shots of Titans Return Leader Class Power Master Optimus Prime!

Adam21 2016-01-07 @ 6:54 pm

Sorry for the double post, I can't edit.......

anyway:

  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) - Voyager Hot Spot - great robot mode, awesome articulation, makes great use of the ladder, and makes a great torso too boot.
  • Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) - Unite Warriors Devastator - the best version of a pretty good toy
  • Best Masterpiece Toy - Blue Bluestreak - he just looks fantastic, and I'm not even a fan of the character
  • Best Unofficial (third party) Toy
  • Best Comic Issue Or Storyline - More than Meets the Eye issue # 44 - awesome story, especially those final couple pages
  • Best News Item (any category)
  • Best Toy Reveal - Skylynx - This came out of nowhere!!!!
Adam21 2016-01-07 @ 6:45 pm
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) - Voyager Hot Spot
Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) - Unite Warriors DevastatorBest Masterpiece Toy - Blue BluestreakBest Unofficial (third party) ToyBest Comic Issue Or Storyline - More than Meets the Eye issue # 44Best News Item (any category)Best Toy Reveal
cvg_600770528 2016-01-07 @ 6:21 pm
  • Best Official Toy (Hasbro) - Ultra Magnus
  • Best Official Toy (TakaraTomy) - Nightbird
Best Masterpiece Toy - Bluestreak (Blue)Best Unofficial (third party) Toy - SpartanBest Comic Issue Or Storyline - Aleta-1's arrivalBest News Item (any category) - Titans ReturnsBest Toy Reveal - Masterpiece Tracks
TheTfboy 2016-01-07 @ 2:03 pm

Best Official Toy: Combiner Wars Prowl. ( He just looks so nice, especially when you compare him to the rest of his team. )

Best News Item: Combaticon Awareness Week. ( I just though it was very interesting to remind myself of all the good and bad that a Bruticus had to offer throughout the years. )

Best Toy Reveal: Masterpiece Optimus Primal ( As someone who doesn't currently collect Masterpiece figures and is a huge fans of Beast Wars, I am excited for this. I home it turns out well. )

jessxtreme518 2016-01-07 @ 1:44 pm

Best official toy. Hasbro: leader class ultra magnus

Best official toy takara: transformers unite protectobots with groove

Best masterpiece: tracks

MalWarp 2016-01-07 @ 6:24 am

Best Official Toy (H): Platinum Insecticons Old look with new plastic just brought back the nostalgia, just what I wanted out of them.


Best Official Toy (TakTom): Nightbird I cant believe they went that far back and made a toy for her after this long you would think everything had been done.


Best Masterpiece Toy: Road Rage Looks gorgeous the colors really pop. I had never known of this repaint.


Best Unofficial Toy: Sever I love the transformation. Looks complicated but super fun.


Best news Item: Combiner Wars animation announcement I cant wait for a more adult styled cartoon.


Best Toy Reveal: Titan Master Galvatron A headmaster Galvatron is just a brilliant idea. Center table was a good call.


Eko Prasetyo 2016-01-07 @ 2:09 am

Best Official Toy (H): CW Rook.

Best Official Toy (TakTom): UW Defensor

Best Masterpiece Toy: Tracks

Best Unffocial Toy: Shuraking Thunderous

Best Storyline: MTME Brainstorm's Arc.

Best news Item: rumor of CW Predaking

Best Toy Reveal: Masterpiece Tracks

Jake Carey 2016-01-07 @ 2:04 am

Best Hasbro Toy: Deluxe Class Rook. Hasbro went all out on Rook,his unconventional weapon ports plus his bulky proportion make for a really good combination.

The Best Toy Reveal: Combiner Wars Bruticus

Best Takara Figure:Unite Warriors Scrapper

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