From 2007 until 2017, Paramount’sTransformersfranchise was one of the most reliable brands at the global box office, delivering a solid string of hits for director/producer Michael Bay. That’s no longer the case - and as the studio struggles to reinvent the brand, it might be a good time for them to look toward the recent Transformers comics for ideas.
It has beenover a decade since the last billion-dollarTransformersmoviehit theaters (2014’sTransformers: Age of Extinction), and at this point, the franchise has been struggling for longer than it was a hit. Whether it’s misfires likeTransformers: The Last Knightor fan-favorites likeBumblebee, the movies can’t seem to connect with a mass audience anymore. Meanwhile, Skybound - the publisher behindThe Walking DeadandInvincible- has put togetheraTransformerscomic by Daniel Warren Johnson and Jorge Corona and a larger universe that feels like a summer blockbuster.
Following their failed animated rebootTransformers One, producers should consider what’s working in other media, and how they might use it to their advantage in the Transformers franchise.
The Transformers Movies Are a Franchise in Disarray
Paramount Can’t Seem to Find an Appealing Approach
After years of poorly-reviewed movies that made a killing at the box office,Michael Bay decidedhe was done directing the Transformers franchise. While remaining an executive producer, Bay’s final film as a director wasTransformers: The Last Knight, which earned a little over $600 million at the global box office. That number sounds impressive on its own,but it was also more than $500 million less than its predecessor,Transformers: Age of Extinction. At the time,The Last Knightrepresented the franchise’s low at the box office. A new record low has been hit by each new movie since.
By 2024, the animatedTransformers Oneopened with just $24 million and went on to gross only $128.3 million, which is the worst Paramount/Transformersperformance by a wide margin; it closed out closer to 1986’s animatedTransformers: The Movie- which raised $5,849,647 - than any of the Paramount-era films.The lowest-grossing live-actionTransformersis 2023’sTransformers: Rise of the Beasts. That movie served as an “in-between-quel,” connecting theBumblebeeprequel movie to the rest of the franchise. It also introduced characters from the belovedBeast Warsspin-off series, so its failure at the box office was a stinging surprise.
The CurrentTransformersComic Blends Nostalgia With Contemporary Storytelling Sensibilities
Skybound’s Energon Universe Has Quickly Become a Fan-Favorite
Skybound’s Energon Universe is a family of titles based on Hasbro properties with Transformers at its core.The comics have earned praise from fans and critics, as well as bestseller status - not something that’s easily accomplished for a licensed title. Skybound’s comics take classic characters and concepts from the “Generation One"era ofTransformersand modernize their adventures. The look and feel is a little grittier, which helps keep middle-aged fans of the original animated series engaged, but the stories themselves are not so R-rated that they would turn off young readers, or so insulated by lore that new readers are out of reach.
To launch a single best-selling licensed book is impressive; to launch an interconnected universe of them all at once is doubly so.
The result has been undeniable. Reviews have been strong, fan response has been ecstatic, and sales have been enormous - especially given the context of the current single-issue comics market.Not only isTransformersdoing well, but so isVoid Rivalsby Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici, a space comic about a war between competing alien races. To launch a single best-selling licensed book is impressive; to launch an interconnected universe of them all at once is doubly so. The fan response has been even more impressive when you consider thatmany hardcoreTransformersfanswere very sad to see the long-running IDW universe go.
The Energon Universe Already Has the “Shared Universe” the Movies Have Only Hinted At
Yes, G.I. Joe Is There, Too
Wherever there’s trouble, G.I. Joe is there, and that includes in the Energon Universe. Following the success ofTransformers,Skybound has started fleshing out the world, launching a number of G.I. Joe-related titlesalongsideTransformersandVoid Rivals. The crossover is baked into the universe’s DNA, and they share space and story elements right from the start, making it an easy and obvious crossover to do, putting the Energon Universe at a distinct advantage versus other potential franchise crossovers. After all, there’s not only no question that they share a space, but no need to spend any time or pages building it up and justifying it.
Don’t forget to check out the Energon Universe’s miniseries, too, including titles forCobra Commander,Scarlett,Destro, and more, all available now from Skybound Entertainment.
While G.I. Joe and the Transformers have met up numerous times in the comics going all the way back to 1987 and even had a stealth 1986 cartoon crossover,their live-action ties have been more or less nonexistent. There have been rumors for years that the strugglingG.I. Joemovie universe could be paired up withTransformersin the hopes of giving it some life, but by the time they attempted it (inRise of the Beasts), theTransformersfranchise was in bad shape, too. A fresh start, using the Energon Universe as a blueprint, is probably the best way forward for a shared movie universe.
The Movies Could Ground the Energon Universe - or Embrace the Sci-Fi
More Than One Way to Approach Adapting These Stories
Kirkman, who publishes Skybound and writesVoid Rivals,launched the Energon Universewith that title in a surprise move that thrilled readers. The story centers on a war in space - but not the one between Autobots and Decepticons. Instead, it uses the setting and some characters from Hasbro’sTransformersuniverse to explore pockets of space thatsometimes feels like aStar Warsstoryand sometimes feels like Brandon Graham’s radicalnew take onProphetfrom the 2010s - a property that hasn’t managed to limp its way across the finish line as a movie.
Embracing the look and feel ofVoid Rivalswould instantlyset a newTransformersmovie apart from the Bay franchise, giving it aLogan-style feeling of being new, exciting, and taking itself seriously. As fans know, though, any franchise has to deal with a nostalgia market. That means new, exciting, and serious can backfire spectacularly, leaving older fans feeling alienated. The good news is that, whileVoid Rivalsis exciting and ambitious, the coreTransformersandG.I. Joetitles are well-executed but true to the look and feel of the 1980s takes on the characters. That is, after all, what fans have asked for from day one.
There’s a Minefield That Even G.I. Joe Would Struggle To Navigate
G.I. Joe#1 Cover by Tom Reilly and Jordie Bellaire
Of course, what fans say they want and what the audience actually responds to isn’t always the same. For years,Transformersfans made fun of Michael Bay’s character designswhile turning out in droves for his movies. They clowned on messy, complicated, overly-violent storylines and then decided it wasn’t worth it to show up forBumblebee, which told a clear, concise story that felt like an Amblin movie from the ’80s. If producers were to adapt the Energon Universe, then, they would have to do so carefully. But it’s hard to say what that might look like after a decade of failure.
Who Is Transformers' Strongest Decepticon? A New Smackdown Is Settling the Debate
The Combiners are going to war in the Energon Universe, as the Decepticons fight their own battle in Skybound’s shared Transformers continuity.
That’s the hardest thing to judge, of course. What works in comics won’t always work in film. History has shown that fans demanding fidelity to the source material still turned out forGuardians of the Galaxybut notTransformers One. So what one really has to focus on is simple: quality. The Energon Universe could be a useful guide, particularly since it has done such a great job of breathing life back into these beloved characters, but compelling characters and a clear story are the most important elements to any stand-outTransformersstory.
Transformersis available now from Skybound Entertainment.
Transformers (2023)
Optimus Prime was supposed to have led the Autobots to victory. Instead, the fate of Cybertron is unknown, and his allies have crash-landed far from home, alongside their enemies—the Decepticons. As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth, one thing is immediately clear: the planet will never be the same. New alliances are struck. Battle lines are redrawn. And humanity’s only hope of survival is Optimus Prime.
