From 2007 until 2017, Paramount's Transformers franchise 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 been over a decade since the last billion-dollar Transformers movie hit theaters (2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction), and at this point, the franchise has been struggling for longer than it was a hit. Whether it's misfires like Transformers: The Last Knight or fan-favorites like Bumblebee, the movies can't seem to connect with a mass audience anymore. Meanwhile, Skybound - the publisher behind The Walking Dead and Invincible - has put together a Transformers comic by Daniel Warren Johnson and Jorge Corona and a larger universe that feels like a summer blockbuster.

Following their failed animated reboot Transformers 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 decided he was done directing the Transformers franchise. While remaining an executive producer, Bay's final film as a director was Transformers: 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 Knight represented the franchise's low at the box office. A new record low has been hit by each new movie since.

By 2024, the animated Transformers One opened with just $24 million and went on to gross only $128.3 million, which is the worst Paramount/Transformers performance by a wide margin; it closed out closer to 1986's animated Transformers: The Movie - which raised $5,849,647 - than any of the Paramount-era films. The lowest-grossing live-action Transformers is 2023's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. That movie served as an "in-between-quel," connecting the Bumblebee prequel movie to the rest of the franchise. It also introduced characters from the beloved Beast Wars spin-off series, so its failure at the box office was a stinging surprise.

The Current Transformers Comic 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 of Transformers and 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 is Transformers doing well, but so is Void Rivals by 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 that many hardcore Transformers fans were 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 of Transformers, Skybound has started fleshing out the world, launching a number of G.I. Joe-related titles alongside Transformers and Void 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 for Cobra 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 struggling G.I. Joe movie universe could be paired up with Transformers in the hopes of giving it some life, but by the time they attempted it (in Rise of the Beasts), the Transformers franchise 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 writes Void Rivals, new take on Prophet from the 2010s - a property that hasn't managed to limp its way across the finish line as a movie.

Embracing the look and feel of Void Rivals would instantly set a new Transformers movie apart from the Bay franchise, giving it a Logan-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, while Void Rivals is exciting and ambitious, the core Transformers and G.I. Joe titles 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, Transformers fans made fun of Michael Bay's character designs while 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 for Bumblebee, 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.

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 for Guardians of the Galaxy but not Transformers 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-out Transformers story.

Transformers is available now from Skybound Entertainment.