#void rivals

[jujucomet]

"I was fighting the Quintessons long before your kind existed."

[swervesbarpodcast]

Skybound's Void Rivals Vol 3 Review is out on Patreon! Come join our hosts as we talk about Fun Facts, Trivia, and so much more!

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[dynared]

No new Energon Universe comics this week (next week is the latest Transformers, aka more yelling for Kirkman to announce a new writer and artist at San Diego Comic Con as well as the first issue of Dan Waters’s M.A.S.K., with significantly less Scott and T-Bob), just a reprint of the original Transformers The Movie comic from Ralph Maccio (not that one). So with that and convention season approaching in July, it’s time to ramble about the planned Energon Universe show and if we’ll hear any news.

The first thing of note is that so far we don’t know much of anything about the production, just that we have a showrunner, Joe Henderson, most famous for Lucifer, but also the Stephen King miniseries 11/22/63. He is apparently a regular collaborator with Image Comics and made two comics with them, Shadecraft and Skyward, to the point he got a blurb on their website, even if right now it’s outdated.

Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson is currently executive producer/co-showrunner of LUCIFER on Netflix. He served as a co-executive producer on WHITE COLLAR, GRA

That’s what we do know. Everything else is a mystery so far, including who is actually going to animate the thing.

So why bring up the animation? Well, long time Transformers fanboys Studio Trigger of Gurren Lagann, SSSS.Gridman, Promare, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, and Panty and Stocking fame are having a panel at Anime Expo on July 4, where they will be announcing “our new flagship show” (on top of news for Cyberpunk Edgerunners II and the new season of Delicious in Dungeon). While a long shot, many people immediately began speculating that this could be an announcement that they were animating the Energon Universe show, which would not only be a huge visual boost to the show, but would provide an immense amount of hype given that Trigger’s staff are well known as being huge fans of Transformers including making a 40th anniversary short for the franchise.

Still, we must note that Trigger probably is a long shot given how in demand they are. The most likely candidate for animation is Robert Kirkman’s in-house animation studio, Skybound Animation.

Yeah, that is the reaction I expect if it is Skybound Animation. Since being founded to produce Invincible (taking over for Canadian studio Wind Sun Sky) Skybound Animation has gathered a reputation for being overworked, underfunded, understaffed (with at one point a worker claiming only a staff of four was working on the yearly Invincible seasons), and at one point nearly causing a major international incident when they outsourced production of the season to the infamous SEK Studios in North Korea (which they deny doing purposefully). The end result is subpar animation that is the frequent subject of mockery. So yeah, not a great place to work, and one whose output has been constantly mocked and derided.

Funny enough, the lack of people and the rather strenuous pace of their output might just save the EU from being animated by Skybound Animation. With no staff to delegate a second project to, outsourcing may the only way to get out a consistent product.

Ok, so if it’s not our two initial guesses, who else is there?

Flying Bark Studios, an American based studio that has gotten a lot of praise for projects like Rise of the TMNT and the animation for the leaked Last Airbender movie has been a popular choice for animation studios when people fear picking a Japanese one would be too expensive. I think they have the talent, but they’ve never done mecha before. I also feel like them, Studio Mir (Korea) and Powerhouse Animation (Texas, USA) fall victim to the trend of “Diet Anime” where they make a sanitized version of what they think anime is, minus the things a lot of people in the Western animation industry find distasteful about anime, namely boobs.

Ok, that bit of ranting aside, Flying Bark and Mir are the general go-to choices for a Western/Korean studio. As for Eastern? Studio Orange (Trigun Stampede) have posted a few times on social media they wanted to do a mecha show, and the Robots in Disguise would fit the bill nicely. Lidenfilms is out, because they were commissioned by Takara to work on a new mecha show. And Polygon Pictures, who have done previous animated series for Hasbro/Takara, seem to be on the outs after the dismal reception of the War for Cybertron trilogy.

So, given all these choices, which, if any would be choice? In a perfect world, Trigger, but they are as noted, a LONG SHOT given the demand for the studio, and Robert Kirkman (boo!) wanting to control the designs presumably. Skybound is likely but given how overworked they are, everyone involved might see them as too overtaxed to take on the project. That leaves Flying Bark, surprisingly, as a decent option. But this is all early guesstimation. Who would you want, and who would you see as likely?

[kaontic]

*Part 10*

*Part 9*

Void Rivals (#1–#30) Part 5: Cobra-La + End of the Quintesson War

I almost never talk about the quality of any artwork in the EU (cuz um, I would be one to talk, if you’ve seen my art 🥀), BUT—

Ig Pythona is just one of those characters who for me noticeably (so I’m not saying this isn’t the case for any other character of course)—no matter who draws them—always looks good.

Also here’s some unfinished Pythona cuz hell yeah she’s purty and a baddie (always has been btw) and more people should post about her:

(Yeah. Yeah it’s the long ponytail for me— 🥰)

Ok gotta focus uuuuuuuuuuh—

You’re prob wonderin’ what this qween has done so far—

Well first, she got CC (who she considers a “psycho”) outta bed after the little incident where he incinerated himself oof—

Then after Megs escapes a short time later, she decides to go on a space excursion on the Leviathan for totally innocent purposes where she tracks down Cybertronians using Energon signatures along with the Royal Guards (which…I feel like we can use another more unique name here for a more unique civilization that supposedly values the organic but ok) Vipria, Bola, Grakula and Akronus.

During this, Grakula comes into contact with space debris that has since been causing her armor to mutate and “speak” to her (you’ll see what I believe it becomes later, in the Quintesson War arc)—

Then after that Skuxxoid tries to take the Leviathan (the way he tried to take the ship Solila and Darak used to get off the planetoid), but ends up sliced in half by Grakula (don’t worry he’s fine, we’ll discuss his storyline ig when Issue #31 releases)—

Akronus’ armor gets damaged during the fight tho, and Pythona suggests putting him out of his misery since she doesn’t believe in his chances of survival (Grakula couldn’t bring herself to do it tho)—

The Leviathan then spots a Quintesson ship and Pythona gets a gut feeling to follow it cuz plot lol—

(Also she seems to be doing rather well for someone who supposedly has never been to space before…or has she? Have any of Cobra-La traveled through space before? Were they originally from another world and had to settle on Earth?)

Meanwhile, when the Junkions find Skuxxoid (or rather Skuxxoids…more on that when next issue releases) and bring him to Junkion, Akronus follows them and attacks him Thundercracker style—

And in Thundercracker style is also forced to cool down and access the situation.

Akronus: Damn I’m outta luck.

Junkions: U want some new armor?

Akronus: I shouldn’t, but…

*MEANWHILE*

/ Warning: the summary of this storyline’s gonna go by very fast. Def make of that as you will as a fellow reader.

Pythona: *Meets Wheelie on Quintessa*

Wheelie: *Rhymes*

Pythona: *Rhymes back*

Quintessons: *Leaving*

Wheelie: *Proceeds not to rhyme* >:(

Pythona: 👀

*Follows Quintessons to Sacred Ring (by herself but the crew catch up) and proceeds to watch them conduct their war*

This is stupid, I’m leaving. 😑

Quintesson: ⁉️

Pythona: *SLICE*

Proximus:

/ (Yeah. Yeah that was hella convenient lol)

Grakula:

Me: *Fights the sudden urge to rant about IDW Sunstreaker and how I feel like he ruined everything (I mean, at least in a narrative sense) and how much I wanna ask any Skybound Elita haters what they think of him. For research purposes*

(Flagg, I ain’t gonna apologize for any of my sh*t talkin’…but boy should someone else get even more of it)

(All I’m gonna say is that Grakula should also have Bob instead ☺️)

Zerta: 👀

*Saves Darak (not Dulin tho… ✨ anyway— ✨ from the Quintesson trial since he got caught*

Yo Solila we’re losing big time go with Pythona and locate more Cybertronians.

Solila: Ok.

Three-faced Quintesson (Tritesson?): *SLICE*

Pythona: 😱

Me: For your sake Kirkman, please…please do not make this the start of some love triangle oh my God—

Solila: Yeah obv we’re gonna help? 🤨

Proximus: *Sees that they left*

/ I SEE THE VISION HERE LET’S GOOOOOOOOO—

Ok. Ok. Ok— *Takes breath*

(Warning: brutal(?) honesty)

I really hate to say this, I really do, but yeah I feel like going to Earth is the most interesting thing they can do at this point (even if it may go against the appeal of the comic of it being set in space, unlike the other comics), if we’re not going to flesh out the Sacred Ring.

Do I feel anything about the Quintessons winning currently (and Zalilak surrendering)?

Tak sobie. (So-so.) 👋

They are the reason, after all, why they’re going to Earth to hopefully be able to be fleshed out a little more in terms of reacting to things we’re already familiar with as humans. That can be fun.

(Sorry but it’s hard to care as a reader about a world you’ve learned very little about so far)

Do I feel anything about Dulin?

“Wait, were we supposed to?”

I hope not? 🤨

Not to say that Darak grappling with last seeing his “father” get supposedly eaten by a Sharkticon can’t be written in an interesting way going forward—.

It’s just ya gotta provide some flashbacks. Actually flesh out their relationship. Cuz I just found it satisfying and funny (until you remember how Agorria’s fate is pretty bad now).

Def interested to see Golobulus again he’s fun; it’d be nice to see him take his defensiveness to the extreme in a comedic way.

“What about Pythona? What do you make of her personality?”

There’s enough of a foundation there to see the potential with her’s def, so I’m glad she can finally have an opportunity to establish a dynamic with other characters aside from her crew. Maybe see another side to her that’s more vulnerable.

“How do you feel about a potential major crossover event in the future?”

Hell yeah!

(Despite well, the people who apparently hate the idea of reading the other comics and just want to stick to one, and while I know the writers want to appeal to those people…it gets to a point where you now for example have Duke not acknowledging something that that you feel like he should’ve in the moment

Not even a panel of him feeling some typa way about Opps having apparently made an alliance with the gov

Tho that could def be the lack page space issue tho, coupled with that fear of potentially making things confusing for readers who haven’t read everything)

Am I expecting it to be an emotional masterpiece with any sort of thematic catharsis?

Nope, but if that’s genuinely what Kirkman wants to go for (in which the show, if it ever gets made, will act as a sort of second draft for that—and yes you can def make of that as you will, as I believe potential source material should be written well regardless), it’s going to require a level of setup.

Ig that’s all I really have to say for now until things pick up again but yeah.

I like Pythona, and I like the new direction and feel that it is necessary by this point even if once again, it felt abrupt.

(I didn’t like how Zerta just got her legs back again tho, esp if she’s still not really gonna do anything.

I mean it is really… really too much to ask, for a character to remain disabled?

“I’m gonna hold your handroid here when I say this about the nature of comics”

*Sigh*

Eh. Feels like we’re really missing out on a running theme here)

*To be continued*

[cirex101]

terrorcons in the Energon Universe

So, in the latest issue of Void Rivals, a fan letter brought up that in the G1 cartoon, the Terrorcons are Quintesson creations. Kirkman responded by saying that he loves the Terrorcons, and if he remembered that factoid, he would have worked them into the Quintesson War somehow.

While for now he's kicking himself for the missed opportunity, I have a feeling that, when we finally return to the Sacred Ring, the Terrorcons will make an appearance for sure.

[cirex101]

Rom in the Energon Universe?

So, previews for the covers of Void Rivals #32 and #33 feature a character whose very presence is such a spoiler, that they've been completely blacked out.

So the big question is, who is it? Some in the circles I frequent suspect, based on the outlines that greatly differ from one another, that this could be a Dire Wraith, Rom's archenemies, disguised as a Space Knight.

While I'd love to see Rom in the Energon Universe, and Void Rivals would be the perfect book to introduce him, I don't know how likely this is. I'm not even sure if Skybound even has the license or if Marvel still does.

[yogsothoththekeyandthegate]

wow they made a cover for the only person in the world that ships this (meeeee ^_^)

[cirex101]

Void Rivals #30

The Quintesson War is over.

The Sacred Ring lost.

I was actually surprised; I thought that the good guys were going to pull off a win at the last minute. Nope. The Tribunal and his forces were too strong, and now Zerta is sending Darak and Solila out into space to get help from her people.

It's a tall order to begin with, made even more complicated thanks to Darak and Solila being forced to hitch a ride with Pythona, who has her own agenda, while also being followed by Proximus and Ultum.

Oh, and then there's the tiny little fact that Zerta's probably completely unaware that her people have been spending the past few million years tearing each other apart in a civil war.

So yeah, while the Quintesson War has at times felt a bit rushed, I enjoyed it, and the fact that Void Rivals is now being set up for greater integration in the wider Energon Universe.