Transformers relaunched only a little over two years ago, and now they’re already heading down the woke path under Robert Kirkman with the replacement of Optimus Prime as the leader of their team. While fans cheered on this relaunch, which started with some of the most successful comics for Hasbro in years, with this and GI Joe, now it appears they’re doing the exact same thing as the rest of the comic industry to their lines.
Originally, this launched as a new Energon Universe with Robert Kirkman creating a new property, Void Rivals, to go in tandem with Transformers and GI Joe. The universe has expanded with several miniseries, crossovers, and more as it’s proven to be one of the comic industry’s top sellers over the last couple of years.
The warning signs were present from the beginning. Robert Kirkman has already been controversial enough with his leftist rantings online, on top of turning the Invincible comic into a lecture on pro-abortion, while adding other woke elements to the comic as well. He’s a rabid atheist who’s pushed for years to try to convert people to his cause.
When he hired Daniel Warren Johnson to write and draw Transformers, many saw a fun independent artist with a cool art style that drew them to the comic, but as we saw, Johnson went off the rails politically, showing Batman attacking ICE agents and going full bore painting MAGA racists as villains in his Absolute Batman annual.
On the GI Joe end, Energon has had problems since the beginning. Joshua Williamson, the writer who lambasted Eric July and Alex Jones in a recent DC Comic, was tapped to write the Cobra Commander comic. This comic featured the origin of Cobra Commander and his ascent into leadership. While the first four issues were action-packed fun, the end of issue #5 revealed an agenda in a panel where the evil character is rallying people for his cause. One might note how that looks:
Clearly, Cobra Commander is recruiting only southern white men with guns – stereotypical conservatives. They’re presented as the angry bad guys who are going to form Cobra. Many readers have become desensitized to the “MAGA Types” being portrayed as villains in media as it’s done so often now, but the complete lack of diversity in this scene is intentional and is part of the anti-white agenda across media.
It gets worse in Scarlett, written by industry darling Kelly Thompson, who’s being held up as one of the new mold of feminists in the industry. Scarlett is portrayed as insubordinate to the male leadership in the military, but she’s “right” making her a cringy girl boss Mary Sue in her adventure so far.
Beyond this, though, there’s a subtle nod that Scarlett is actually a lesbian lover with the villain being set up, Jinx, in a scene where it’s clear they live together. While it’s not explicitly said, it’s obvious that Jinx was the one gardening at their home, and the relationship is emphasized later when the two women have arms around each other like they’re together.
Transformers seemed free from the feminization and leftist propaganda—until now.
Daniel Warren Johnson left the comic and Robert Kirkman himself is taking over proper. One of the first moves he’s making is replacing Optimus Prime as leader with a female robot. Issue #30 released last week and shows exactly how bad this ends up being with the typical strong woman beating up a male trope:
After the fight, Optimus steps aside and Elita, the female character, declares herself to be prime and leader:
This is now starting an Autobot civil war within the book, but it’s clear they’re doing the same feminist trope of replacing a male character with a female, that’s permeating into everything.
When will the comic industry ever learn?
Three free books. No spam. Just new releases, deals, and the occasional update from the front lines of independent publishing. Sign up for the Jon Del Arroz newsletter and start reading today.
This just felt like a slap in the face for me, because Optimus Prime was my idol growing up. Say what you will about Daniel Warren Johnson, at least he was a Transformers fan. Robert Kirkman just didn’t care. He’s just doing his Invincible shtick again.