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Robo-mance is in the air with IDW's new Transformers Valentine's Day Special #1
This coming week, as Valentine's Day lovers around the globe display their affection to each other via overpriced greeting cards, offerings of red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, and a romantic dinner out, those sentient robots in disguise known as the Transformers will be celebrating Cupid's favorite occasion by shooting off sparks of their own.
Love in the Transformers universe plays out in IDW Publishing's Transformers Valentine's Day Special one-shot, which arrives in comic shops on Feb. 12, with the nerdy, academic Glyph and her underground boxer "bodyguard" Tap-Out teaming up for a new mission that might lead to some amorous cybernetic action — and SYFY WIRE is delivering an expanded peek inside the holiday robo-relationship.
Written by Patrick Ehlers and Sara Pitre-Durocher, then matched with artwork courtesy of Sara Pitre-Durocher and Jack Lawrence, Transformers Valentine's Day Special is an ideal way to see how the Autobots express their loyal devotion in a cold, ever-shifting machine environment.
Its sentimental storyline finds Autobot archaeometrist Glyph seeking other career opportunities beyond her usual data encryption, archaeological dating, and alien cultural studies. She teams up with good-natured former grease pit gladiator Tap-Out, who's also searching for a stimulating new direction, as his boxing career path is not panning out.
When an off-world exploratory adventure presents itself, it offers the pair a sporting chance to boldly meet fresh challenges, but will they elevate each other or simply be burdens distracting themselves from their ultimate goal?
"A major theme I wanted to explore was when friendship takes you by surprise," Pitre-Durocher tells SYFY WIRE. "I’ve always enjoyed stories that delve into long-distance relationships, a situation a lot of us can relate to, except this time it’s about robot spaceships."
For Ehlers, the toughest part of loving someone is trusting them to see your value.
"Glyph and Tap-Out have such different skills and interests, and I thought it would be fun to see those interests at odds with each other," he explains to SYFY WIRE. "They’re on a mission, and the only way to succeed is recognize each other’s value. I think it’s fun to see this part of the Transformers’ recent history. They’re closing down the gladiatorial arenas and exploring uncharted planets -- it’s a shift in their status quo that leads to some bots re-evaluating their place in society. And I’d think the most fun surprise in the issue is Tap-Out bare-knuckle boxing a dinosaur-esque creature!"
Now open your heart for our exclusive 5-page look at IDW's Transformers Valentine's Day Special #1 in the gallery below, then tell us your recipe for a perfect romantic evening to celebrate love in all its incarnations.
