Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: The Movie Adaptation

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Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
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First published	March 22, 2017}}
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Cover date	March 2017}}
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Editor	Carlos Guzman}}
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{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

From comic to movie to comic again, it's the story of the greatest film never made!

Synopsis

Long ago, in the ancient past, the Autobots and Decepticons came to Earth and were worshiped as gods. Viking warrior Aberneth the Hawk-Helmed fought alongside the Autobots in their war, armed with a warhammer made using their technology, but he was eventually slain by the man who would become Destro, an evil warlord who "sold his soul" to the Decepticons in return for technology that made him immortal.

In the present day, Aberneth's warhammer rests in the hands of his descendant Hawk, one of the generals in charge of America's daring, highly trained special mission force, G.I. Joe. Soon after the team welcomes new member Scarlett aboard, the metal planet of Cybertron appears in the Solar System, on a trajectory that takes it dangerously close to Earth. The Joes are deployed to the alien world to investigate, where they learn of the war between the two Cybertronian factions, and ally themselves with the Autobots. Unfortunately, the Decepticons gain human allies of their own in the Joes' enemies, the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra.

Scarlett finds herself growing close to Autobot leader Optimus Prime, but both are wounded in an enemy attack that sees Prime decapitated, his Matrix of Leadership stolen by Decepticon god-emperor Megatron. Scarlett is captured and taken with Prime's severed head to the Decepticon city of Scorponok, where brainwashing sessions carried out by Doctor Venom attempt to convince her that the existence of G.I. Joe and the Transformers is a delusion. Scarlett sees through the mind games, however, and manages to escape, rejoining the other Joes and Autobots. She undergoes binary bonding to link with Optimus's body and replace his lost head, and in this new form, leads the united heroes' charge against their enemies.

During the final battle, Snake Eyes boards Starscream and attempts to stab his pilot, Cobra Commander, but is stopped by the Decepticon's arms, which emerge from his jet mode to grab the ninja's blade. Hawk claims vengeance for his ancestor by shattering the techno-gem medallion that sustains Destro, ending his life. The Scarlett-controlled Optimus then defeats Megatron in battle, resulting in a tense standoff between the now-leaderless two factions. Representatives from both sides recover Optimus Prime's head and reattach it to his body, restoring him to life and bringing the war to an end.

Cobra Commander almost slips away during the heroes' celebrations, but his parachute is snatched out of the air by Wheeljack, and each of the Joes take a turn punching him as he dangles in front of them. Roadblock socks the Commander so hard that his mask shatters, revealing a face that Snake Eyes is shocked to recognize... the face of his father!

Featured characters

{{#if:*Prowl (1)

Wheeljack (2)
Bumblebee (15)
Hound (16)
Metroplex (17)
Optimus Prime (18)
Fortress Maximus (32)
Ratchet (43)
Cosmos (53)
Alpha Trion (56)|

Autobots }}{{#if:*Starscream (13) Shockwave (14) Scorponok (28) Laserbeak (40) Megatron (41) Cyclonus (42) Kickback (44) Soundwave (45) Bombshell (46) Shrapnel (47)\|	Decepticons }}{{#if:{\|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
Scarlett (5) B.A.T.s (6) Roadblock (7) General Flagg (8) Snake Eyes (9) Hawk (10) Duke (11) Stalker (12) Bazooka (29) Shipwreck (30) Flash (31) Breaker? (33) Snow Job (34)	Blowtorch (35) Deep Six (36) Clutch? (37) Lady Jaye (38) Mutt? (39) ? (48) ? (49) Mainframe (50) ? (51) Falcon (52) Low Light (54) Beachhead (55)

|

!! style="background:#fbefde;" | G.I. Joe }}{{#if:*Destro (4)

Doctor Venom (19)
Baroness (20)
Serpentor (21)
Torch (22)
Cobra Commander (23)
Zartan (24)
Firefly (25)
Major Bludd (26)
Storm Shadow (27)|

!! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | Cobra }}{{#if:*Aberneth the Hawk-Helmed (3)

O. Ryan Paxton (56)
Megatron (57)|

!! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:*Prowl (1)

Wheeljack (2)
Bumblebee (15)
Hound (16)
Metroplex (17)
Optimus Prime (18)
Fortress Maximus (32)
Ratchet (43)
Cosmos (53)
Alpha Trion (56)|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
Prowl (1)
Wheeljack (2)
Bumblebee (15)
Hound (16)
Metroplex (17)
Optimus Prime (18)
Fortress Maximus (32)
Ratchet (43)
Cosmos (53)
Alpha Trion (56) }}{{#if:*Starscream (13)
Shockwave (14)
Scorponok (28)
Laserbeak (40)
Megatron (41)
Cyclonus (42)
Kickback (44)
Soundwave (45)
Bombshell (46)
Shrapnel (47)|

| style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |

Starscream (13)
Shockwave (14)
Scorponok (28)
Laserbeak (40)
Megatron (41)
Cyclonus (42)
Kickback (44)
Soundwave (45)
Bombshell (46)
Shrapnel (47) }}{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"

|- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

Scarlett (5)
B.A.T.s (6)
Roadblock (7)
General Flagg (8)
Snake Eyes (9)
Hawk (10)
Duke (11)
Stalker (12)
Bazooka (29)
Shipwreck (30)
Flash (31)
Breaker? (33)
Snow Job (34)

|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

Blowtorch (35)
Deep Six (36)
Clutch? (37)
Lady Jaye (38)
Mutt? (39)
? (48)
? (49)
Mainframe (50)
? (51)
Falcon (52)
Low Light (54)
Beachhead (55)

|}| | style="background:#fbefde;" valign="top" |

Scarlett (5)
B.A.T.s (6)
Roadblock (7)
General Flagg (8)
Snake Eyes (9)
Hawk (10)
Duke (11)
Stalker (12)
Bazooka (29)
Shipwreck (30)
Flash (31)
Breaker? (33)
Snow Job (34)

Blowtorch (35)
Deep Six (36)
Clutch? (37)
Lady Jaye (38)
Mutt? (39)
? (48)
? (49)
Mainframe (50)
? (51)
Falcon (52)
Low Light (54)
Beachhead (55)

}}{{#if:*Destro (4)

Doctor Venom (19)
Baroness (20)
Serpentor (21)
Torch (22)
Cobra Commander (23)
Zartan (24)
Firefly (25)
Major Bludd (26)
Storm Shadow (27)|

| style="background:#ffeeb8;" valign="top" |

Destro (4)
Doctor Venom (19)
Baroness (20)
Serpentor (21)
Torch (22)
Cobra Commander (23)
Zartan (24)
Firefly (25)
Major Bludd (26)
Storm Shadow (27) }}{{#if:*Aberneth the Hawk-Helmed (3)
O. Ryan Paxton (56)
Megatron (57)|

| style="background:#d5e6d5;" valign="top" |

| style="background:#fedeb5;" valign="top" |

}}

|}

Quotes

Flagg: "A planet of giant killer robots. And you've all got a ticket to ride."
Scarlett: "First class?"
Duke: "Not this trip, princess. Joes are lucky to fly coach. Usually they stow us in boxes with the rest of the war toys."

"But is there a Cybertronian word for... love?"

—Scarlett and Optimus Prime grow close

"As it was foretold... 'Autobot and Decepticon together will crown the king of the universe.' All are one."

—Alpha Trion pops in to add some gravitas to the restoration of Optimus Prime

Notes

The "adaptation"

The high concept at work on this one-shot issue is: what if the preceding thirteen-issue series was adapted into a feature film, and then, that feature film received a comic book adaptation of its own? The answer is, you'd get the illustrated version of a Wikipedia summary, a breakneck highlight-reel style reinterpretation of the series storyline in which coherent narrative takes a back seat to unfiltered artistic id. Scioli conceived of this one-shot in 2014, not long after the series began, so it ends up offering a "sideways" look at the saga, based on early story concepts, many of which would wind up going in very different directions in the finished series, or abandoned outright. The result is something that replicates the traditional feel of a movie adaptation—refiltered and reimagined as one might expect a film version to be, but cranked up to eleven by being massively compressed to fit into a single issue—while being pulled off in reverse. Geez, Tom.

In terms of the broad strokes of the plot, Cybertron arriving in Earth's solar system and the Joes to travelling to the planet is about all that remains from the series, with other large major plot-turns (such as Cobra Commander having his own, third Koh-Buru-Lah faction of reptiloids, Optimus Prime being lost between dimensions leaving Grimlock and Hot Rod to fight over leadership, and the complex intertwined history of Earth, Cybertron, and the Quintessons, including Cybertron transforming to consume the sun, only to be stopped by a transformed Earth) all being absent. Notable points of "adaptation" include:

In the series, it was Duke's ancestor, Thor FalkenHauser, who owned the warhammer and fought alongside the gods, and it was merely kept safe by the bloodline of FalkenHasuer's ally Aberneth after FalkenHauser's death. It was Duke who used the warhammer to kill Destro in the same way that Hawk does here.
It is implied that, in contrast to the series, where he plundered their technology years after the war, Destro actively allied with the Decepticons in the war and fought Aberneth during it. Destro dies as in the series, his immortality ended by the destruction of his gemstone pendant, but in the series, that didn't quite seem to jibe with what the rest of the comic had shown, which indicated his longevity was a result of his being a partially-Cybertronian cyborg.
The Joes use B.A.T.s for training. Joe lore normally depicts these robots as Cobra creations, but in the series, Doctor Venom was shown building some for Joe while he was in their custody.
The Baroness has been scarred, leaving her face bandaged. The circumstances of her disfigurement are unrevealed, however; in the series, she is wounded in the plane crash that Snake Eyes causes when he stabs Cobra Commander, but that scene is reworked for this one-shot to occur later in the story, with Starscream taking the place of the jet and stopping Snake Eyes from stabbing the Commander. As such, she never becomes the "Serpentress," and Serpentor is shown to exist alongside the rest of Cobra, in contrast to the series, which presented him as being the Baroness and Cobra Commander's future child.
Scarlett is still taken to Scorponok, the "city of madness," where Cobra attempts to convince her that her life has been a cartoon-inspired delusion, but it is Doctor Venom, rather than Doctor Mindbender, who oversees her conditioning.
Optimus Prime is not absent from Cybertron when the story begins as he was in the series, but is defeated by Megatron and has the Matrix stolen in the same attack that leads to Scarlett's capture.
Optimus is the one to have his head severed and used as a prop as part of the Scorponok story, while in the series, it was Bumblebee.
Scarlett still becomes a Headmaster, but where the series had her binary bond to Scorponok, here, she bonds with Optimus, taking the place of his lost head.
Rather than a reptilian, Cobra Commander is simply depicted as being extremely scarred beneath his helmet in a manner that emulates the scaly skin seen in the series. His being Snake Eye's father is an entirely new plot point for this issue, intended as a movie-ending "cliffhanger" that sets up a sequel.

G.I. Joe references

The "narration captions" for the scene of the Joes arriving on Cybertron take the form of a letter Snake Eyes writes. This was a narrative conceit occasionally employed in the classic Joe Marvel comic book, first seen in issue #4, and later used in issue-long format to bring the series to a close with #155. Scioli notes in the commentary how he emulated the "exquisite handwriting and sensitive writing style" Snake displayed in those stories.
Major Bludd remarks that the Decepticons have given him the "gift of might" while gesturing with his right arm, alluding to said limb's occasional depiction as a cybernetic prosthesis in various pieces of Joe media.

Real-life references

"I'll form the head!" declares Scarlett as she bonds with Optimus, quoting the famous catchphrase from [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Voltron|{{#if:||Voltron}}]].
The image of O. Ryan Paxton in costume mirrors a famous image of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO between scenes on the set of Star Wars.

Credits references

The last page of the story is the "credits" of the film, listing the cast and the "actors" who played them. The names of the "Joe" actors are the real names of the characters (for example, "Scarlett" is played by "Shana O'Hara," while "Snake Eyes" is played by "Francis Witwicky," which was the real name the final issue of the series gave to Snake), but there's a few other references hidden in there:

Optimus Prime was played by "O. Ryan Paxton," a reference to "Orion Pax," Optimus's pre-Prime name as originated by the Generation 1 cartoon episode "War Dawn."
Wheeljack was played by "Al Italia," a reference to Italian airline [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Alitalia|{{#if:||Alitalia}}]], whose sponsorship logo appears on the original Wheeljack toy (rendered as "Alitalla").
Starscream was played by "McDonnell Douglas," which is the name of the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}McDonnell Douglas|{{#if:aerospace company|aerospace company|McDonnell Douglas}}]] that manufactured the F-15 Eagle jet, Starscream's classic alternate mode.
Cobra Commander was played by "William Witwicky." The Commander has never had a known real name in traditional Joe media, so there's nothing to draw upon here; "William Witwicky" is, in fact, the real name of Sparkplug Witwicky (the first of several he would be given over time), as both an allusion to his being Snake Eyes's father, and to voice actor Chris Latta, who performed both the Commander and Sparkplug in the classic Joe and Transformers cartoons.
And lastly, Bumblebee was played by "B.B. Goldbug," alluding to 'Bee's upgraded Throttlebot form.

Backmatter

In the style of classic 1970s and 80s comic book adaptations of films, the issue contains several pieces of backmatter that take the form of "articles" about the making of the fictitious movie. These include:

"Interview with: Scarlett/Shana O'Hara," in which rumors of the actress's on-set fling with Conrad Hauser (the actor playing Duke), and the potential Oscar nomination Francis Witwicky may receive for his portrayal of Snake Eyes, are discussed.
"More Than Real: The Special Effects of Transformers vs. G.I. Joe," in which director Tom Scioli talks about how the majority of the effects in the film have been produced with as little digital imagery as possible, instead using practical sets and actors in robot costumes.
"The Man Who Would Be Autobot King: Interview With Actor O. Ryan Paxton," in which the actor recounts his familiarity with Optimus from watching Rescue Bots with his grandchildren, calls the role the "most challenging of his career," and reveals that Megatron is credited as "himself" in the film because the "actor" is actually a real, working artificial intelligence.

The fourth wall is finally broken for the remaining features, which include the traditional issue-long commentary from Scioli, and his complete thumbnail layouts for all twenty pages. A small gallery of Scioli art rounds out the extras, including a pin-up of Cobra Commander riding Ravage, the original sketch for the cover of issue #0, and some early promotional art for the series.

"Errors"

As usual, it's hard to tell whether what seem to be errors in the artwork are genuine mistakes, or done deliberately as part of the retro-styling. Such instances include:

Megatron's cannon is on his right arm, as is traditional, on page 13, but on his left in the rest of the story.
On page 16, Ratchet is colored all-red, making him look like his mold-mate Ironhide.

Actual errors

The interviews in the backmatter feature a few typographical errors:

Director Scioli misspells "possible" as "posible".
Scioli's interviewer asks, "Is this a return to rubber-suited, bug-eyed monsters." with a period instead of a question mark.
O. Ryan Paxton misspells "artificial" as "arttificial".

Other notes

Though not referred to as such in any promotional material, on the regular cover, or in the indicia, the variant covers for this issue all identify it as an "Annual," though it's only half-as-long as, and several dollars cheaper than, the other Hasbroverse Annuals released by IDW in early 2017.
While previous issues were predominantly lettered digitally, this issue is lettered by hand by Scioli.

Covers (4)

Standard cover: The movie poster, by Tom Scioli.
Subscription cover: Heroes and villains, by Robb Waters.
AOD Collectables exclusive cover: Jazz by Hal Laren. Available exclusively from AOD Collectables.
IDW Convention exclusive cover: Optimus Prime and Snake Eyes, by Tom Scioli. Available exclusively from the IDW booth at various 2017 conventions.

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External links

Preview

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: The Movie Adaptation

Contents

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes