Date: Saturday, July 26th 2008 5:52pm CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Event News
Posted by: Tigertrack |
Credit(s): TFormers, The Allspark, TFW
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 55,847
For those who can't make Botcon, SDCC is usually a pretty crucial convention.
Why you may ask? Well, at Botcon they make us promise to not take pictures, basically, so they can use the same slides to impress others at this other future big convention we have gotten to know as SDCC.
So now those who have just been imagining what things like 25th Anniversary G1 Hound with Ravage look like, and that awesome G1 Cyclonus with Nightstick, well you can wonder no more.
Here are the highlights, you can skip them and just check out the
Tformers gallery if you would like.
Animated
-Animated Sentinel Prime, Elite Guard Bbee, Ultra Magnus, and Swoop
-
Animated Activator Cliffjumper new head sculpt!
-
Animated Blurr
-
Animated Swindle
-
Animated Shockwave and
Longarm
-Leader Megatron 'Shadow Blade' Repaint- Purple/black deco
Universe
-25th G1 Optimus Prime Re-Issue Exclusive
-Classics Ironhide, Sideswipe, Robot Heroes, Legends, and Exclusives
All pics seen previously, but in the Tformers gallery.
-
25th Classics Hound and
Ravage. Ravage is supposed to be able to fit in G1 Soundwave's cassette door!
-
25th Classics Cyclonus and Nightstick
-
25th BW Cheetor Notice the more accurate alt mode.
-
25th Classics Inferno Voyager sized.
-
Legends Class Brawn and Beachcomber
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Legends Class Bumblebee and Cosmos
-Robot Heroes 'Cheetor Vs. Tankor', RID Optimus Prime Vs. Megatron
Q/A
-Arcee still unconfirmed (Animated or other)
-Original 13 Toys? Want link to comic things so, possible.
-Animated Season 3 NOT green lit, but content development underway. More Wreck Gar!
-Death's Head TF? Like idea, but nothing yet
-Sari/Bumblebee Robot Heroes- idea is there, just need right time. Archer likes human cast toy ideas.
-Japanese G1 Exclusives or Re-imaginings-- 'Celebration of ALL toy lines' so possible.
-More instruments on way for Animated Soundwave- hinted at
-Universe Unicron is TRU exclusive, and not supposed to have any remolding
-More Mighty Muggs coming
-Not ready to talk about a new Wheeljack figure yet
-MOVIE- no info, but toys will be bigger, badder, and even more awesome than previous movie line
-Animated Starscream repaints likely
-No Animated Omega Supreme plans yet
-Alternators love recognized...wait and see, was answer
-No combiner/gestalt plans
Lots of good stuff in the future for fans of Transformers like us!
Date: Saturday, April 26th 2008 1:02pm CDT
Categories: Site News,
Toy News,
Event News
Posted by: Seibertron Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 117,602
Hasbro announced a slew of goodies for all of us Transformers fans. If you have some questions, please ask in this thread and I'll do my best to answer the questions with what I heard.
TRANSFORMERS MOVIE
Over $700 million box office worldwide
#1 DVD in the USA in 2007
TRANSFORMERS TOY LINE
#1 action figure toy brand (npd data)
Movie Deluxe - action toy of the year
#1 fans
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
2008 Product Update
Toy Launch - June 22nd
Deluxe Sentinel Prime - Sept 08 street date
Deluxe Swoop
Deluxe Elite Guard Bumblebee - Sept 08 street date (going to be doing more themed repaints due to the equity that they have in some of the main characters)
Leader Class Ultra Magnus - Sept 08 (HUGE round of applause)
TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE
Deluxe Ironhide (turns into a red SUV) looks so much better than Botcon version) has a license plate that says Oregon on it)
Deluxe Sideswipe (had wrong head in photo which was a black Sunstreaker head) - August 2008
Ultra Class Silverbolt - everyone laughed that they had his name wrong as "Sliverbolt", 1/2 was through transformation has transformation sound, other sound effects in robot mode such as gun firing
Ultra Storm Cloud - repaint of Powerglide (Numbers on jet say "MM-88" ... guess what that stands for? Basically an updated color scheme for Micromaster Storm Cloud)
Deluxe Hound with Ravage (new mold ... Hound transforms into a green jeep like vehicle, Ravage transforms into a cassette who will fit in Soundwave and also attaches to Hound, Ravage does not have weapons, hound's cannon will fit on shoulder or in hand)
Deluxe Cyclonus w/ Nightstick Targetmaster (new mold) ... looks frikkin' badass! Attaches to vehicle mode or in his hand, also "plugs" into his hand like the Japanese Headmasters series
Deluxe Cheetor (looks pretty cool, new mold, tail is his weapon, no spots on tail due to the type of plastic, will have two throwing star weapons like animated Prowl, little switch on back of cheetah mode that opens jaw and switches eyes from blue to green)
TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE LEGENDS (NEW MOLDS!!!)
Tank Megatron (looks similar to G2 version, realistic dark green)
Jazz
Brawn (looks awesome!)
Beachcomber (looks awesome!)
ROBOT HEROES
Kickback vs. Ironhide
BW Megatron vs BW Silverbolt
Thrust vs Blaster
BM Cheetor vs BM Tankor
RID Optimus Prime vs RID Megatron
2008 EXCLUSIVES
Nemesis Prime (Japanese version will have red windows) (Comic-Con / HTS exclusive)
6" War Within Skywarp (Comic-Con / HTS exclusive)
Breakaway (Cybertron Hot Shot repaint) - Walmart
Fracture (Classics Mirage repaint) - Walmart
Crankcase (Cybertron Red Alert repaint) - Walmart
Mini-Con 12 pack (Kmart)
WW Prowl and WW Grimlock as TRU exclusives (Sept 2008) - have no plans to release Cosmos, Arcee, WW Bumblebee/Cliffjumper or Shockwave. Too expensive to tool up for these molds and they're not profitable enough.
UNIVERSE COMIC 2 PACKS
Target exclusives - include a Voyager and a Deluxe
Deluxe Roadbuster versus Voyager Dirge (Cybertron Hot Shot II repaint / Cybertron Starscream repaint)
Deluxe Ratbat versus Voyager Springer (Cybertron Evac repaint vs Cybertron Sideways repaint)
25 YEARS (1984 - 2009) SNEAK PEEK
Continue with Animated (might show some more stuff tomorrow)
Reissue of Optimus Prime with silver roller (launch November 2008) with reprint of Comic and digitally remastered DVD of More Than Meets The Eye), autobot logo sound box (like GiJoe sound boxes) with some of Peter Cullen's quotes
Flip open packaging looks awesome for 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime
25th Anniversary line will be celebrating all years of Transformers (showed logos for all series from Beast Machines to G2)
(Gearing up for 25th anniversary)
Put out an official G1 Counterfeit toys statement
Here are some off the answers given to the questions Fans asked.
Gestalts – Very hard to design and produce, not for a typical series. There will be a return for Gestalts when the time is right. MAYBE 25th Anni but they don’t want to make any promises. Definitely not the end of them though.
Robot Heroes. Our very own Fender Bender asked the question if the Transformer Robot Heroes would get “more love” like the Star Wars and Marvek guys are. Hasbro said there will be “more love” like possible bigger sizes.
Hasbro wants the new Universe line to expand, so more classics can be made. It will have to take a back seat when TF2 comes out since that will be upfront, along with the continuation of Animated. But the series will return.
TF G.I.Joe. This issue is talked about every year. It is a possibility but the time isn’t right, there is no business sense in bringing the 2 together when both lines are standing strong by themselves. Could be in the future, but not time yet.
Date: Friday, April 25th 2008 12:13pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News,
Event News
Posted by: Air Commander Starscream Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 36,595
I atteded Cartoon Networks Panel at this years Botcon and they had a lot of good Q&A that sheds a lot of light on certain issues. I took notes on the answers, they don't have any particular order I just wrote them down as they were given.
Transformers Animated Panel:
More Deceptions for Season 2.
Swindle, Ratbat, Galvatron and Waspinator: 3 of the 4 will be in Animated.
Why Animated style? Working with Cartoon Network usually means animated work. Wanted to get back with the roots of drawing Transformers.
Animated done in a widescreen format, but clipped for standard.
Looking Forward. More obscure characters, more of Cybertron.
Ad-Lib is a big part to story dialogue.
Last Scene in Season 2 finale is completely ad-lib.
Allspark to stay mysterious.
Ultra Magnus figure exactly like he is on the show, completely tricked out. Expect each wave of Animated to be better than the last.
Oil Slick – Not a cartoon character, toy only but will probably be in around comic #3. MAY make it into later seasons.
Exec Producer decided on female human lead character decision. Tried really hard to make her a fun and different character, but not annoying like previous human characters in past cities. Detroit is a diverse city, one reason why the show takes place there. Cast and crew of Animated is also from diverse backgrounds.
Theories about who or what Sari is on the internet. Some have come close, many however are WAY OFF. But none are exactly right to who or what she is.
Season 3 – Nothing definitive, but looking like a pretty good possibility.
Season 1 ratings – “Doing very well”
Arcee second appearance. Nothing for Season 2, but would like to bring back in the future.
Omega Supreme: Can not confirm nor deny e will be in series.
Waspinator: Would not be voiced by Scott Mcneal.
Sentinel Prime was originally going to be Rodimus with the attitude that Sentinel Prime currently has. Hasbro did not want Rodimus to have that attitude, so they changed Rodimus to Sentinel Prime.
Combiners not likely. Though names from Combiner members may be used. Lots of talk about wanting Combiners, but not likely.
Hasbro working really well with Aniamted team.
Soundwave being a van. Best vehicle to have the same shape, likeness to a cassette player. Big debate over what his Alt should be, but they knew they wanted to have Soundwave.
Bringing Primal back, has been talked about but nothing solid. If he were to show up it would be a completely new character.
The Arc is not the Arc, it’s a repair vessel.
Unicron is a no.
Big plans for Soundwave, look forward to 3rd season.
Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 9:30am CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Event News
Posted by: Seibertron Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 108,418
I WILL BE UPDATING THIS THREAD THROUGHOUT THEIR PRESENTATION. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE INFORMATION
WE COULDN'T TAKE PICS OF THEIR PRESENTATION.
Transformers Animated
ALLSPARK POWER
Incinerator - Osprey, Voyager
Landmine - Sector Seven looking buggy
Stockade - Sector Seven GMC Envoy, Decepticon
Desert Attack Brawl (Leader Class) with X-ed out Autobot lgos
Nightwatch Prime
New Robot Heroes - Galvatron, BW Megatron, BW Cheetor
Transformers Animated stuff
------------------------------
Going to give us a sneak peak
Better timeslot for TV show than with Energon and Cybertron
Hasbro thinks that we shouldn't be worrying about things as much as we are.
Worked very closely with Cartoon Network.
People working on cartoon are big fans ... I got the impression that they are moreso than the folks at Hasbro
Wanted to diversify, freshen things up.
It's our new Cartoon series for 2008
Production has been brought back to US
Writing Style
------------------------
Return to character development and story telling similar to BW.
Action driven show - very fluid.
Episodic but ties into an overall Seasonal Arc
Smaller cast of Bots with signifciant character development for each individual character.
Action driven with a dose of Humor.
Major fcosu on personality and abilities
Rich action sequences
Familiar and New characters
Human super-villains and Decepticon villains.
Artistic Style
----------------------------
Highly stylized and fluid animation
More energetic and expressive bots.
Major focus on personality and abilities
Grow from Mechanical to Emotive designs
Familiar and New characters
Realistic and Stylized transformations.
1 transformation is tasmanian devil styled.
Will not be anime cut transformations.
You will really see them transform
Summary
----------------------
Set on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the alien Transformers are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to Earth, the Transformers -- Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Bulkhead and Ratchet -- work in the human world interacting with the 'natives' in exciting and humorous ways. Transformers Animated has been created to showcase the heroic Autobots working together to battle the evil Decepticons and save Earth with kid-relatable plot lines filled with humor, distinctive characters persaonalities and dynamic action.
AUTOBOTS
----------------------------
Ratchet - season Autobot, legitimate combat, cybertronian version of the military, like the guy from Full Metal Jacket
Ironhide will be like the Fantastic Four's Thing.
Prowl is like a ninja.
Grimlock is a T-REX!!! HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE!!!
THERE WILL BE TWO OTHER DINOBOTS IN THE SHOW.
They are 3 crazy dude.
Grimlock looks awesome
DECEPTICONS
-------------------
Megatron is a gun in his Cybertronian mode.
Starscream kind of resembles Cyclonus in jet mode.
Has kind of like a Chris Latta voice
Voiced by Tom Kenny
We will be seeing most of the Transformers in their Cybertronian modes at the beginning of the series.
Blitzwing is a triplechanger (tank, jet, robot) - looks f'in awesome!!!
Kind of a new spin on his character, fun personality quirk: has a split personality
Spinning face gimmick on the toy
Lugnut (similar in body style to Bulkhead)
If Bulkhead is like the Thing, then Lugnut is like the Incredible Hulk.
Lugnut has missiles for hands,
Jet of some sort
BLACKARACHNIA!!! HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE
Different origin story for BA than in BW.
Starts out as a different character entirely, flashbacks, one of the more complicated Decepticons, you'll care more about her.
HUMANS CHARACTERS
------------
Cpt. Fanzone - Police Chief
Sari (girl) and her father Isaac Sumdac
Sari's interaction with the Autobots is unlike her interaction in the past shows. It works out better. Not the typical human sidekick.
Sari is an outcast. Looks to the Autobots for friendship.
Human villians - "Angry Archer" (applause), NOT your typical run-of-the-mill Dr. Archeville character. Super villains ...
OTHER STUFF
-----------------------
The Autobots WILL have their Ark. It looks like a stylized G1 Ark. Crowd: Will there be a toy? No response from Hasbro.
The Decepticons WILL have the Nemesis.
Nemesis dwarfs the Ark. It's GIGANTIC.
The Ark is about the size of one of the spikes on the Nemesis.
Nemesis has a purple lighting and black interior.
Ark had warm colors, circular, multi-level
Showed us some shots of what Detroit looks like.
Showed us a shot of the Sumdac Tower's interior.
What will the toys look like?
Toys developed at the same time as the animation designs.
Animation style allows us to show more personality with each character.
90% animation/toy accuracy.
Takara has really helped out with these designs.
New sculpting style.
No more full line gimmicks!!! WOO HOO! Big round of applause ...
Transformation is the feature.
Signature weapons and poses - attitude and stance.
Range of motion is great!
Allows for the characterization to stand out more.
There are some things they won't be able to do because of joints and stuff.
Accessories will transform?
Convey a greater range of style with these characters.
Wow ... just showed us what deluxe and Voyager Optimus Primes. Look awesome. The stylistic sculpting is there ... match up extremely well with the animated versions. Wow. Just wow! I wish you guys could see this.
Deluxe Bumblebee and Voyager class Bulkhead - really staying faithful to animated look.
Archer: can't thank Takara enough for their help with this line.
Really paid off by working daily with Takara and Cartoon Network.
Deluxe Prowl and Deluxe Ratchet
All figures have great articulation.
Artist rendition (3-D model) of Voyager Grimlock.
Voyager Megatron and Starscream: Megatron is a vertical take off Cybertronian vehicle in this image. I'm confused with the gun mode drawing of him from earlier. Maybe the gun mode Megatron is his earth mode.
Deluxe Blackarachnia looks great!
Lugnut and Blitzwing pics ...
The future
-------------------------
Working on season 2 already.
More familiar and new characters.
Possibility of season 3 and 4.
Desire to create brand new characters ... with cameos by G1 favorites.
Toys will have a "matte" finish like Batman Animated.
Marty Isenberg is on clip they show us.
AllSpark looks like a Matrix/
Optimus has an axe.
Megatron has a sword.
The animation is really slick looking. Everyone is going to love this.
Optimus Prime doese have a mouth and a face shield.
The transforrmation of Optimus Prime looked really cool.
My opinion has officially changed
Optimus says: "transform and roll out."
Opening audio is very cool: hip hop, rock type style.
No transformation audio yet.
The Optimus Prime axe is awesome.
Showed us a space scene.
Optimus pole-vaulted with an extended version of his axe.
HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
FALL 2008 ... CLASSICS??????????????????
CLASSICS 2.0
Showed us Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.
Want to continue realistic look with Classics.
"Transformers Universe" in G1 styled font.
Deluxe scale.
Will not be licensed vehicles
In early development.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will not have the same chest, head or design. They look just as different in robot mode as their G1 selves.
Showed us Octane (triple changer): military tanker vehicle and looks like the gun ship from TF Movie that took out Scorponok.
Looking to add an ultra scale to Transformers Universe.
They are planning on doing a new Galvatron figure that is not a repaint of Megatron.
2 segments for fall 2008: Transformers Animated and Transformers Universe (Classics 2.0). I have the impression that the G1 styled font "Transformers Universe" is the official name for Classics 2.0. The fans shouted ... Hasbro heard.
------------------------------
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Why not a cartoon based on the movie? The movie is it's own Universe.
Robot Heroes: wanted to see how well it did before they committed to more figures.
They are a big hit.
Will make a decision in a few months on how to expand the line.
Any chance for an Ultra Magnus that isn't a Prime repaint? YES!
No mentions of Alternators or Titaniums - had to make some choices based ... $2 million dollars invested in Alternators and die-cast in Titaniums ... Hasbro wasn't getting a return on their investment with those lines so they decided to focus on Classics 2.0.
Larger scales for Classics.
Similar number of figures as wave 1 in last fall's Classics line.
Animated Optimus Prime has a detachable trailer.
Classics Jazz or Arcee? Jazz is likely as a Classic. Not sure about an Arcee yet.
Getting more and more difficult to make just a trailer without a feature.
Probably will not do a character in Animated and Classics at the same time.
Probably won't see the Dinobots in the upcoming Classics line.
Grimlock performed really well in the Classics line.
Fan: please make Arcee a real car and not a bike.
There will be an upcoming Combiner. Not sure if they meant Classics or Animated.
The unproduced Titanium molds (Bumblebee, Cosmos, Shockwave and Arcee) could be used for other lines.
Will not be a vending machine Transformer (in reference to the Mountain Dew vending machine Transformer).
Skywarp and Thundercracker might turn up in Animated. Still working with Cartoon Network on this.
Cosmos could end up somewhere. Hasbro said they will keep trying to get us that figure/character.
Titanium will end with WW Prowl and WW Grimlock.
One of the problems with the Titanium and Alternators is that the momentum is hard to keep up. Sounds like those lines just weren't selling.
There will be redecos in the Universe line.
Prowl in the Classics line as a police car?
Said something about Ironhide as well but I didn't catch it.
Susan Blu is the voice director for Transformers Animated.
Hasbro has little to do with voice casting (which translates to they really don't have anything to do with it).
Weird Al will be voicing a character in the Animated series.
The BotCon exclusives will NOT be released at retail. Hasbro will never release a convention exclusive at retail.
It was unknown at the time when the BotCon exclusives were decided if the Classics line would continue later down the road.
Toy trademarking only lasts for a few years which is why they keep reusing the names. It's kind of a "use it or lose it" type of thing.
Could possibly be more female Transformers in later episodes of Animated.
Takara apparently claims they can't find the Dinobot molds.
Might be a garbage truck or school bus type vehicle mode Transformer in Animated.
Fans keep bringing up Arcee to Hasbro. They just want one down right.
Working internally at Hasbro to figure out how to do the cross-over lines with Star Wars or G.I.Joe.
Grimlock will have his familiar talk in the Animated series.
Reaction to Animated and Movie ... let's wait to react until we actually see this stuff. Hasbro: just trust us. Seibertron: they're 100% correct. We spend a lot of time bitching about stuff that we just need to see more visuals of.
Looking to do more than just the G1 season 1 and 2 core characters in the Classics 2.0 line.
Elita-One from comic: Hasbro hasn't discussed it with anyone yet. Lots of people from convention are hoping it will released as a club exclusive.
Leader class Movie Bonecrusher hasn't been decided yet.
Brawl/Devastator error in Movie is just a continuity error. It is supposed to be Brawl.
Archer's favorite character is Lockdown, a Boba Fett-like character.
Classics Decepticons: GALVATRON that is not a redeco of Megatron (Hasbro forgot to mention it earlier).
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