Overwatch 2 is collaborating with Transformers with a comic, skins, and animated cinematic

The next Overwatch 2 crossover event begins July 9, and so far their collaboration with Transformers has featured a whole lot of gorgeous artwork and character concepts. The header image is an Optimus Prime skin for Reinhardt, from the trailer posted to the Overwatch 2 social media sites, done in a style distinctly invoking Saturday morning cartoons. It seems meant to play on nostalgia for the original, and less so to build anticipation for the upcoming movie featuring Chris Hemsworth as the voice of Optimus Prime.

They also released a comic to go with this tie-in, called Transmission. The art is again beautiful and meant to have a strong nostalgia hook. While the story isn’t consequential to the universe of Overwatch per se beyond justifying the skins for the event, it is a decent read.

I would expect some kind of Arcade-based game mode to go along with this, but we don’t have that detail quite yet. I would expect some kind of Autobots squad — Reinhardt, Illari, and Bumblebee Bastion — against a super powered Rammatra, since he seems to be the only one with a Decepticon-themed skin. We’ve seen a few of these now, like the Yeti Hunt mode featuring Winston as the main baddie, so it should be at least fun enough to slog through a handful of matches for a spray.

Would it be too cynical to point out that the original Transformers TV series was conceived by Hasbro to sell their existing line of Transformers toys, and now here we are, purchasing skins in a game all but synonymous for predatory monetization based on nostalgia for that 40 year old merchandising scheme from a company that continually disappoints us? I don’t mean to be a wet blanket for those who are excited about this — and Transformers are fun and exciting — but some days are just more meta than others, I guess. I do get it, though. Really, the only thing I’m a little confused on is why they didn’t wait til September to create a stronger tie-in with the movie as it releases, but I’m clearly not in marketing.