It's a strangely great moment to be a Transformers fan, as long as you know where to look! The movies are between eras, but Season 2 of the free YouTube series Transformers: Cyberworld premiered this past Saturday on the official Transformers channel, and its Energon Surge storyline hands Bumblebee a dangerous new power that the season is building around.
Per the official synopsis, the surge unlocks new areas, abilities, and dangers across the show's digital world while old alliances break apart, and Bumblebee, "once cheerful and loyal," now "finds himself sinking into the depths of his angst" as a new form of energon makes him bigger, stronger, and angrier than we've ever seen him.
A rage-fueled Bumblebee is certainly one way to open a kids' show!
Now, if the word energon has you thinking about comics instead of cartoons, you're not alone. The cartoon's Energon Surge has no connection to Skybound's Energon Universe, which runs on its own continuity, but the shared vocabulary is a handy excuse to check in on the best Transformers storytelling happening anywhere right now, and that's the comics.
Robert Kirkman is writing the main Transformers book himself these days, having taken over as of issue #25 last October alongside superstar artist Dan Mora.
"Holy smokes, I'm writing a TRANSFORMERS comic!" Kirkman said at the announcement, adding that when the previous run ended he "could stand on the sidelines no more." That previous run belonged to Daniel Warren Johnson, whose 24 issues won two Eisner Awards in 2024, the first Eisners in the franchise's history.
Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici's Void Rivals, the book that launched the whole universe by smuggling a Transformer into its back pages before anyone knew a shared universe was coming, hits issue #33 this very week. Joshua Williamson's G.I. Joe just crossed #25, fresh off the historic first meeting between Optimus Prime and Duke this spring. And M.A.S.K. joined the universe in June with Dan Watters and Pye Parr on the new ongoing series.
The numbers back the hype. The Energon Universe has sold roughly 6 million copies across its first 96 issues, an average around 63,000 per issue that stands toe to toe with DC's Absolute line, and Hasbro says it's "really thrilled" with the universe's growth to four ongoing series.
There's some screen potential here too. An adult-animated Energon Universe series has been in development since last October with Lucifer's Joe Henderson attached as showrunner, pitched as a Transformers/G.I. Joe/Void Rivals crossover with the adult sensibility of Kirkman's Invincible. No streamer has picked it up yet, and there's been no update this year, but it could turn out to be something epic if it's able to move forward.
As for Cyberworld itself: the CG series debuted in July 2025 with a 36-episode first season, Season 2's episode count is unannounced, and a tie-in Energon Surge toy line with glow-in-the-dark parts is at retailers now, including an 11-inch Bumblebee Power Spark, a Soundwave with a submarine mode, Autobot Hound, and Cyber Changers of Optimus, Megatron, and Cheetor.
Between a free cartoon, an Eisner-winning comic line, and a Paramount reboot with a new writer at work, the franchise has more storytelling engines running than it's had in years. The comics are the one that's firing on all cylinders.
Are you reading the Energon Universe? What's got you excited?
Sound off in the comments below!
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