following the bankruptcy and closure of dreamwave productions in january 2005, idw publishing acquired the "transformers" comic book license in may and hired veteran writer simon furman to craft a rebooted continuity based on the toyline. idw's first "transformers" title, set in its own continuity, was "", which was previewed with a #0 in october and formally launched with #1 in january 2006. after having acquired the comic book licence of various other hasbro properties throughout the years—such as "g.i. joe", "action man", "rom", "m.a.s.k.", and "micronauts"—idw announced the hasbro reconstruction campaign in january 2016; a launch meant to converge these franchises in the same continuity, starting with the crossover event "revolution". in april 2018, it was announced that this shared continuity, the hasbro comic book universe (hcbu), would end with "" in november.