TRIPLE TAKEOVER | #67: Skybound's Energon Universe (Transformers / Void Rivals)

It's still early days for Skybound's new 'Energon Universe', but there's plenty to talk about already! Kicking off a new miniseries on the comics, today the team examine the first two issues of Daniel Warren Johnson's acclaimed new Transformers series, along with Robert Kirkman's Void Rivals. It begins here... spoilers abound!
Welcome to the Triple Takeover Toycast, a fun and informative fortnightly podcast about Transformers and other amazing toy properties! Whether you're a seasoned collector or you just love big robots, there's plenty here to enjoy, from vintage toys and prototypes to modern releases, cartoons, comics and films, all discussed with enthusiasm by your hosts, Sixo, Liam and Jason (along with special guests!).
We also run a fortnightly UA-cam series named Short Circuits, where we look at Transformers cartoons from the past & present, and there's plenty more on our Patreon, including additional bonus episodes and ongoing miniseries on comics & various other toy lines.
If you like cartoons, comics, toys and robots, this podcast is for you!
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[@lorcannagle]

I gotta say, I don't get the love for Void Rivals. There's some good stuff in there, as you note the art of the Sacred Ring is really cool, but I've found no reason to care about the characters. Every issue is generic things happening to generic characters and a page or two of Transformers characters showing up. And while I'm OK with abrupt endings to a comic in the middle of an arc, it's unforgivable for the first arc to end with a guy making a portentious statement about some stuff that we literally know nothing about. Like I went to check if he was talking about something from the cartoon I'd forgotten about, but no, it's all new and why should I care?
But Transformers itself is off to a very solid start. I thought issue 1 was a decent enough retelling of the back half of the first episode of the cartoon, but the character work in issue 2 was fantastic, anchored by a really excellent kinetic fight scene to boot. There's a really good sense of purpose and energy here. Not gonna lie, I miss IDW a lot but this is a really solid replacement so far.