#anna malkova

[artverso]

Anna Malkova - Storm

[extraordinary-heroes]

My Little Pony / Transformers II #1 (Cover art by Anna Malkova)

[arutai]

Storm by Anna Malkova

[theimaginauts]

THE VISION

Art by ANNA MALKOVA

[donnatroyprincessofthemyscira]

Art Credit to Anna Malkova

[positivelybeastly]

A very refined Hank McCoy enjoying an early morning coffee and his newspaper. Credit to Anna Malkova, whose Twitter can be found here!

[prince-toffee]

We all love the big hits: Alex Milne, Jack Lawrence, Nick Roche, Don Figuroa, Daniel Warren Johnson. But I have to say some of my favourite TF artists have to be some of the more overlooked ones, Beth Mcguire-Smith, Anna Malkova, I could look at their art all day. Gorgeous stuff.

[hasbr0mniverse]

IDW Tales Of The Transformers - The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Act Two By Anna Malkova

[blueikeproductions]

So this mystery image from Legacy was floating around:

And people were stumped on what it was or whether it was even official.

FJ DeSanto and Anna Malkova would confirm it’s legit and it was meant to be Straxxus.

Apparently the idea was Straxxus was to be the main bad guy of the proposed Legacy cartoon, and they had a lot of plans for him… but when Netflix passed on the show, Hasbro simply decided Legacy wouldn’t have a story… which explains… a lot.

I was wondering why Legacy was so weird and random with its concepts and “trilogy” if you can even call it that. Hasbro simply not having a story to go with it tracks, but I’m also wondering why they didn’t just make one up anyway. I get the sense Legacy in its first phase was SUPPOSED to, because of the loose theme of harvesting Energon and some of the character choices and gimmicks loosely reflecting it (while not his role in the anime, GF Metroplex mining for Energon for the Autobots tracks if you ask me). But like Earthrise, I guess they quietly ignored any story they had in mind and pressed on.

Going by Straxxus’s final design, I get the sense he was repurposed into Skullgrin and G2 Trooper since the body shape is similar.

But here’s my main problem: Straxxus doesn’t work as a multiversal big bad. He was always nothing more than a violent thug put into a leadership role in the absence of Megatron and Shockwave. His biggest claim to fame beyond that was creating a clone of Megatron he intended to use as his new body after his defeat by Blaster.

I’m assuming his ramshackle appearance for Legacy is intended to be a reference to this, and in fairness to the concept, his major role in the use of the Spacebridge in the Marvel comics probably was meant to tie into his multiversal role for the show…

BUT.

Jhiaxus is a much better fit in this proposed role, and indeed earlier comments about Legacy suggest Jhiaxus was the main villain, described as a Thanos type, alongside Dragon Megatron (who I assume was to be based more on his BM counterpart).

It would frankly make more sense to have Straxxus instead be Jhiaxus’ general leading the Vehicon-esque troopers against the Autobots and Maximals. Sort of the General Klump to Jhiaxus’ King K. Rool.

The other option I can see is Straxxus became a Herald of Unicron, and his role is comparable to ROTB Scourge. Unicron I believe was also supposed to have a role in Legacy as the reason the universes were colliding in the first place. I feel like this would be the most fitting, because I just don’t see Straxxus doing any thing of his own and would need Unicron to nudge him in the right direction.

Just to make sense of the Infernac Universe, I could see Straxxus wanting to access it in hopes it will smelt the multiverse to create a clean slate for himself and his Decepticons. Some fans hypothesize that Infernac may also be the Firespace dimension from Galaxy Force.

And while it doesn’t smelt anything that I’m aware, I’m sure a story could have Straxxus manipulate it as his ultimate smelting pool.

[templephoenix]

A thread of stuff I remember from Brian Ruckley's IDW2 retrospective panel from TFNation this weekend, in no particular order:

• Brian scoured the TFwiki for all the female TFs that he could use; he was very clear on presenting them as a normal part of TF society from the start, no weird 'explanations' needed

• He planned out the main story beats he wanted to hit in his head, but didn't make extensive notes or anything

• If it hadn't been truncated, the Exarchon plotline would have - pending Hasbro approval - dealt with the Quintessons and their region of space, cut off from the rest of the universe. They wouldn't have been involved with Cybertron's origins

• He praised the work of all the artists but in particular Anna Malkova, who he considered the best thing to come out of IDW2 and particularly impressive for moving from artwork to comic storytelling

• Flamewar was an obvious favourite, one of many characters without much existing fiction which allowed for more freedom

• One of the main themes of the series was trauma, embodied in characters like Cyclonus and his ghosts

• Geomotus and others showed that neurodivergence exists in Cybertronians; he wanted to show that there was a variety of ways in which characters could see the world

• The Technobots annual was condensed down from a full story arc which would have featured the Terrorcons; the Technos were chosen as Brian's favourite combiner team

• He didn't want loads of combiners running around too soon, hence the Enigma being thrown into the sea; it would have resurfaced eventually

• He considered one of his biggest weaknesses to be that he didn't make individual issues read as well on their own rather than 'in the trade'; he hoped that he had gotten better at it as the series went on

• Favourite TF character types included female transformers and teleporters; he wanted Skywarp to be a trickster-type figure

• As the series went on Starscream would have remained neither a true Decepticon nor in any way an Autobot, trusted by no one and yet charming/threatening/maneuvering them into keeping him around

• A continuing theme would be the gap between how Cybertronians see themselves and how other species view them; organic planets would consider these giant robots terrifying

• He doesn't consider himself good at big shock reveals and doesn't like bait-and-switches, so tried not to do either during the series

• Despite the long-form storytelling aspect of the book, his personal favourite issues were the one-shots that divided each story arc, like Wheeljack on the moon

• The senate attack that kicked off the war in earnest was originally meant to come earlier in the series

• He didn't originally know that the continuity was being rebooted when he was asked to pitch for a TF comic; there was a lot of back-and-forth at the start as Hasbro kept adding requests

• The series would have gotten to humans eventually, although Brian wanted the TFs to encounter them already in space rather than on Earth

• He enjoys writing comics more than novels, and would happily do only the former if given the chance

• He needed a science-related TF to be the initial murder victim; he sent a shortlist of names to be approved and they chose Brainstorm

• Hasbro did not want too many original characters created for the series; the ones he invented were all done so because they were integral to the narrative

• Once they were told about the license being lost, Brian made a conscious decision not to kill a bunch of characters off before the end; he thinks that it would be too cynical, and that deaths have to serve a contextual and narrative purpose to be meaningful. He also recognises that every character is someone's favourite, and now they can imagine the adventures they might have in the future

All in all, a really interesting and honest panel! Thanks to Brian and all the artists for my favourite TF continuity ever; RIP IDW2

[artverso]

Anna Malkova - Jubilee

[extraordinary-heroes]

Transformers Vol 2 #3 (Cover Art by Anna Malkova)

[arutai]

Rogue by Anna Malkova

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Transformers #39

Transformers #39 preview. Chromia has led a team deep into Decepticon controlled Iacon to rescue a captive Autobot, but how will they get out and back to Crystal City? #Comics #ComicBooks #Transformers

[geekcavepodcast]

IDW Publishing Announces New “Transformers” Comics

IDW Publishing has announced two new Transformers comic miniseries - Transformers: King Grimlock and Transformers: Shattered Glass -  and new story arcs for Transformers and Transformers: Beast Wars starting in August 2021.

Transformers: King Grimlock hails from writer Steve Orlando, artist Agustin Padilla, and colorist Jeremy Colwell. The five-issue miniseries is set in a world of fantastical beasts and magic. Dinobot Grimlock and Arko the human barbarian are in a savage world where the strong rule...a perfect place to prove who is the strongest. But the two will learn that sometimes brute strength just isn’t enough.

Transformers: King Grimlock #1 features a Cover A by Cary Nord, a Cover B by Padilla, and a Retailer Incentive Cover by Mateus Santolouco.

Transformers: Shattered Glass hails from writer Danny Lore, artists Guido Guidi and Dan Khanna, and colorist John-Paul Bove. The five-issue miniseries is set in a parallel universe where war raged from Cyberton to Earth - “a war between Decepticon laborers-turned-freedom fighters and the power-hungry Autobot autocrats. Many kilocycles after the blue planet was devastated and the Decepticons were brought to heel, the evil Autobot bodyscrapper named Blurr hunts a new bounty… one who holds a piece of information that could reignite the war!” (IDW Publishing)

Transformers: Shattered Glass #1 features a Cover A by Alex Milne, a Cover B by Khanna, and a Retailer Incentive Cover by Sara Pitre-Durocher.

Transformers #34, from writer Brian Ruckley and artist Anna Malkova, will begin a new “Sea of Rust” storyline. Set during the early days of the war on Cybertron, Megatron learns that Termagax, Megatron’s former mentor, holds a key artifact that could help eliminate the Autobots once and for all, but first he has to find Termagax.

Transformers #34 features a Cover A by Winston Chan, a Cover B by Susan Margevich, and a Retailer Incentive Cover by Andrew Griffith.

Transformers: Beast Wars #7, from writer Erik Burnham and artist Winston Chan, will begin the new story arc “Pod.” The Maximals and Predacons are regrouping after with first battle when they are alerted to a new protoform pod descending. Enter Blackarachnia.

Transformers: Beast Wars #7 features a Cover A by Fico Ossio, a Cover B by Ed Pirrie, and a Retailer Incentive Cover by Gavin Guidry.

(Images via IDW Publishing - Transformers: King Grimlock Cover A by Cary Nord, Transformers: Shattered Glass Cover A by Alex Milne, Transformers #34 Cover A by Winston Chan, Transformers: Beast Wars Cover A by Fico Ossio) 

[smashpages]

This is Anna Malkova’s variant cover for Transformers: Wreckers—Tread & Circuits #1 (October 2021).