Date: Monday, August 3rd 2009 7:59pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
People News,
Interviews
Posted by: Skowl |
Credit(s): William Kenefick, RetroSBK.com
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 91,740
Seibertron.com news crew member (and resident motorcycle enthousiast) Skowl recently spoke with Will Kenefick, the owner of
RetroSBK, and the creator of the three Arcee motorbikes (Arcee, Chromia & Flareup) from
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen about his experience working on the Transformers movie sequel.
Mr. Keneficks provides some behind-the-scenes details of his experience working with Dreamworks and Michael Bay - and what it was like to have his work become firmly established as part of the Transformers universe. He also reveals that some pieces from one of the bikes will be put up for auction, and the money will go to charity - so stay tuned to seibertron.com for more on that!
Thank you to William Kenefick and his staff for granting us the interview!
Skowl: How long have you been building custom bikes?
RetroSBK: I built my first custom bike at 7 years old with the help of my father, but my first REAL custom bike was named Isabella, in 1996. She was a Ducati Monster 900, and won the Del Mar Concours d’elegance.
Chromia - Suzuki B-King
Skowl: How and when were you approached about working on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?
RetroSBK: Early in 2008, with a phone call. I spent the first five minutes of the call trying to figure out who was pulling my leg. They had seen my work in a magazine.
Skowl: How much did you know about Transformers beforehand?
RetroSBK: I grew up playing with the Transformers toys and watching the cartoons. Loved them when I was a kid, but when I discovered girls and cars and motorbikes, I think all that went out the window. I hadn’t even seen the first movie, after having been so disappointed with some of the other adaptations from my youth. Needless to say, I watched it, and loved it, the day after my first meeting with Dreamworks.
Skowl: Is this the first time your bikes have been used in a movie?
RetroSBK: No, bikes I have built have been used in other movies and television shows in the past.
Skowl: Does your company have any forthcoming marketing tie-ins that relate to the Transformers film?
RetroSBK: Dreamworks and Michael Bay are extremely protective about the characters in the movie, and rightfully so. We don’t have any direct tie ins with the movie, however they have been very accommodating with any requests we have had. All in all this is a VERY enthusiastic group of people, and they take the TF2 brand very seriously.
Skowl: What information, if any, were you given about the bike characters before you started working on them? Rumour is the bike characters were meant to combine but it was cut from the film, were you told about that?
RetroSBK: I was given pretty much the low down on the bikes and the big plan for them. I cant comment on any rumors about the bikes or what they may or may not do.
Arcee - Ducati 848
Skowl: We know you and your team worked long hours to get the bikes finished on time. How difficult was this project compared to your usual work?
RetroSBK: These bikes are more of a styling exercise, where the normal bikes we build are much more performance oriented. Our last bike was built in 4 weeks for my television series, taking more than 400 man hours to complete. The unique thing for me was these really were the first bikes with such unreal paint, and so much graphic detail. Our painter, Chris Wood, from AirTrix came up with new techniques just to do these bikes.
Skowl: What was your level of involvement in the process? Were you given creative liberties with the look of the motorcycles, or was it strictly a "build this for us" thing?
RetroSBK: We weren’t given any, but we still took some. Having our painter, who is the best in the world, we were able to do things that the guys who work in CGI full time couldn’t believe were possible. Usually the CG is far beyond the ability of the real world, but not in this case.
We did work on other scenes in the movie, supplying many of the bikes in the “Mikes Custom Cycles” scene with Meagan Fox painting the bike. That was another scene where we brought in our painter, Chris Wood, to consult, and he worked the entire day teaching her how to airbrush and setting up the shot. Funny part is that in the “goofs” sections on the IMDB website, it says that the airbrush is being held sideways and wouldn’t work, but it’s a very special airbrush that Chris actually uses, and works on its side, just as he showed her to use.
There were other things we had our hand in as well, and it was a great time, and a great way to express ourselves.
Skowl: How do you feel about the motorbikes being female Transformers?
RetroSBK: Its great! How could you not like a beautiful, fast woman! Even if she is made out fo metal...
Skowl: Were you disappointed by the little amount of screen time your motorcycles had in the movie?
RetroSBK: Actually, I was quite happy with it. Knowing where the movie was shot, and where it takes place, the bikes play a pivotal role in the opening sequence, and have the most beautiful shot in the entire movie, the dolly around the newly introduced characters. That shot really showed just how beautiful the bikes came out. Motorcycles don’t go to well on the desert sand, so I knew the time would be limited, but there is always TF3!
Skowl: We heard Michael Bay say he wanted to kill-off the bike characters because he didn't like them - how did that make you feel?
RetroSBK: I thought it was awesome! I knew how much he liked the bikes, he really went out of his way to tell me how pleased he was with the bikes in person, so I knew he was doing his thing about keeping the fans on their toes.
I got to hang our with Bay, under his canopy in Bethlehem, and it was a great experience. He actually inspired me to direct, and produce, both of which I have started to do in film and television. Despite his reputation, he is a genuine guy, and a perfectionist. Bring him perfection and he is thrilled, anything less doesn’t meet with his approval, and you suffer the wrath of Bay!
Skowl: We've seen plenty of the other new Transformers vehicles (Trax, Beat, Volt, Stingray concept) in car shows and photo ops leading up the film's release - but we never saw the bikes anywhere, why is that?
RetroSBK: We worked VERY hard to keep it that way. The ONLY thing that wasn’t leaked in the movie, the ONLY real surprise was Arcee. It was great! In that part of it, reading the forums, and the speculation about the bikes and some of the plot lines about them was awesome, I loved it. The best part was the huge amount of mis-information that was out there about the bikes. Honestly, they generated such an enormous amount of press pre-release that it made it really hard to hide.
Flareup - MV Augusta F4
Skowl: Do you know how Michael Bay felt about doing action scenes with motorbikes? Bikes can be very dangerous, were you comfortable with the stunt crew pushing your bikes to such limits?
RetroSBK: The real limits that these bikes keep are MUCH higher than the stunt guys can push them to on the set. These are race bred motorcycles, and I have ridden each of them on the track and street, although not THESE bikes. You can go MUCH harder and much faster than the camera can get to do the stunt orient shots. I think Bay was enamored with the bikes from the get go, and wanted to use them more, but the story takes on a life of its own and just grows and grows. So some of the “good stuff” gets trimmed for other “good stuff.”
Skowl: Speaking of pushing the bikes to the limit, we heard about one of the motorcycles crashing while filming in Bethlehem, PA - what happened?
RetroSBK: It was just a simple low speed miscue. No one was hurt, but maybe a bit shaken up. Part of riding is falling down sometimes, and the rider wasn’t quite prepared. Quite a bit of damage was done to the bike, but it was quickly fixed, and we had a backup bike as well. We actually have the crash damaged pieces of the bike, and will be auctioning them off for charity and other fund raisers over the next few months. A good chance to own a bit of the REAL movie and help some great causes, like the Pediatric Brain Tumor foundation.
Skowl: Have you seen any of the Hasbro toys based on your bikes yet? What do you think of them? One of them has a Burger King kids meal toy, what do you think of that?
RetroSBK: I think the toys are awesome! We did use some special race type parts on the bikes, Leo Vince Exhaust, SpeedyMoto triple clamps and race parts, CRG levers, and Pirelli tires. They carried over most of the parts to the toys and the models, which is great to all of us!
Skowl: And finally, who is your favorite Transformers character?
RetroSBK: Arcee of course!
Date: Thursday, April 16th 2009 11:43am CDT
Categories: Site News,
Toy News,
Site Articles,
People News,
Transtopia
Posted by: First Gen |
Credit(s): Dead Metal
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 257,728
Hello and welcome to the April edition of the
Transtopia Newsletter. Sadly Stormrider who's usually in charge of the Newsletter is not with us for this issue, he is currently moving home from one country to another and has left it in my hands to take over till he comes back.
Remember, to check out the
Transtopia forum for the latest action.
How to Showcase Your Work
The newsletter is your opportunity to show off your work and talent. We rely on your articles, artwork, and customs to make it interesting. Entries will be reviewed on a monthly basis. You can submit your work here:
Repaints,
Kitbashes,
Scratchbuilds
Fan Art
Fan Fiction
Guides
Make a Difference, Join the Newsletter Team!
Want to contribute to help out with the Transtopia newsletter? Join our team. We have a couple roles to fill. Duties require a few hours each month. PM Dead Metal if interested:
Dead Metal
Newsletter Credits:
Design - Flix
Formatting - Stormrider
Fan Art/ Guide - Mykltron
Interview - Burn
Editing - Stormrider, Dead Metal, hellkitty
They're the curse of every TF collector's life. I often keep things, just in case I can find a use for them one day, and boy am I glad I do this! Here are three uses I've found so far for these troublesome little blighters:
1) DRY LAUNDRY
My washing line was sagging under the weight of bed linen and trailing on the grass so I took a garden rake that has a hole at the end of the handle. Using a twisty-tie I secured the middle of the washing line to the handle so the line could be held high enough to keep the laundry clean without danger of the line slipping off.
2) HOLD TF PARTS WHILE APPLYING PAINT
If the part has a convenient hole it helps keeps fingers clean and paint finish smooth.
And now the one I'm particularly chuffed with:
3) FULLY ARTICULATED HANDS FOR DELUXE FIGURES
Using a 1/100 gundam hand and twisty-ties I have made a new hand for Universe Sunstreaker. This size is also suitable for Prowl, Cliffjumper, Voyager Megatron and Ultra Powerglide, maybe others too! This is my first attempt and I have an idea that will make it look slightly better and easier to pose.
As can be seen, this hand can make a pretty good fist:
It still fits inside his car mode:
Of course, it can still hold a gun but I forgot to take a photo of that.
So, anyone got any other ideas of how to use those horrible twisty-ties?
Do you have modeling or art tips to share with other members? Why not write a guide? Feature tips from - repainting, kitbashing, drawing, sculpting, and even computer graphics: Send an email to
Transtopia.Guide@gmx.de for details.
This months repaints section brings us some more great work from resident Transtopian omega666. Here he treats us with his versions of Classics 2.0 Shockwave and Soundwave:
omega666's version of Soundwave holds a very sweet third alt mode G1 enthusiasts will definately get a kick out of:
Our next Transtopian repainter flix brings us a custom Movie Soundwave:
Flix also gives us a good look at his take on Movie Swindle too:
What would custom work be without Kitbashes?! This month features some amazing work by Transtopian L_K, the same kitbasher that brought us the custom
Unicron of Lightfigure. Here he gives us his take on Arcee of the Transformer Movie, both of them that is:
Newsletter contributor Mykltron also added to the mix with a more movie accurate version of Barricade:
Even Frenzy got the treatment:
Sitting down with us and breaking his interview virginity is zero-kaiser, who, for the record, volunteered willingly for this and I didn't have to stalk or harass him for it. (In fact he was so enthusiastic he was bordering on harassing me!)
Burn - So tell us a bit about yourself.
zero-kaiser - Well, as of the 15th of February I'm 24 years old. Originally I'm from the south of England but I've lived in the northwest since I was about 4... yet I've somehow managed to keep the 'posh' southern accent--make of that what you will.
When I'm not wandering around Seibertron.com or looking for a job, I can usually be found playing either my Wii or DS lite; reading; painting either Warhammer 40K models or Transformers; shooting TF video reviews for my YouTube channel; or spending time with my wonderful fiancee
...good to keep yourself busy right?
B - I'm finding myself too busy to work on my own kitbashes, unfortunately! Now tell us how you got into Transformers and a little about your own collection.
z-k - Like most fans I had some of the older toys when I was a child and foolishly gave them away.
Back when I was in college I stumbled across BWTF.com and saw photos for some of the Robots In Disguise toys. The designs and detail on the Autobot Brothers alone are probably the main reason I got (back) into Transformers. That summer I picked up the Super (blue) repaint of Prowl and I was hooked. It took some time for my collecting to really take off though, mostly due to only working part time whilst I was at college.
As it stands my collection stands at just over 100 TF's ranging from RiD right through to the current Universe and Animated lines.
(Photos of my collection are here if you're interested)
I can honestly say there isnt really one single character I go for above all others…it depends on the mold and the line. Classics 2.0/Universe/Henkei is really impressing me at the moment; there’s very few characters from that line that I wouldn’t pick up. That said there’s a couple of TF's from past lines that I wouldn’t mind hunting down someday...mostly from the Cybertron range and a handful from RiD.
B - So give me at least five toys and characters you like the most.
z-k - In no particular order what so ever....
Toys:
1• TF Cybertron Leader Class Optimus Prime
2• Primus
3• Henkei Convoy
4• Movie Leader Class Optimus Prime
5• Masterpiece Optimus Prime
Characters
1• If it wasn’t obvious from the above list: Optimus/Convoy. Which continuity? Probably Cybertron, I'd say.
2• Galaxy Force Starscream: his Japanese voice is brilliant and he goes toe-to-toe with Primus—if that isn’t cool I don’t know what is!!
3• Kup: I had a newfound love for that character after reading his IDW Spotlight.
4• Grimlock: him king, got it?
5• IDW Galvatron: it’s as if that’s the way he should have been all along—a brooding badass .
B - What would you consider to be "holy grail" for you to obtain for your collection? Aside from Fortress Maximus, because everybody wants a Fortress Maximus.
z-k - Ha! Besides Fort Max? If I had to pick just one...RiD Omega Prime. That thing is awesome beyond words.
Besides him? RiD Rail Racer and the Classics Devastator Giftset. I'd be pretty chuffed if I could find any of those without killing my wallet
B - Moving onto your creative side, when did you first start churning out your creations and where did you learn to do what you do?
z-k - I suppose it was about 12 years ago now. When I started high school I made friends with someone who got me into the Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 range. It took me a long time to get any good at painting but one thing I did a lot were conversions—think of them as kitbashes for 40K. Twelve years later and I still have a lot of the miniatures I have made from various bits and pieces I had lying around.
As for where I learnt to do the things I do? Trial, error, practise and patience. Even if I did something 'wrong' or it didn’t come out the way I wanted it to, I learnt from the experience. I like to think that something is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it.
Band-Aids/Plasters have proven invaluable over the years, too, but that’s just me occasionally being a bit ham-fisted.
B - You mention band-aids/plasters: tell me more about your injuries you've sustained kitbashing over the years! I have a lovely bump on one of my fingers where I kinda missed the plastic and found finger instead….
z-k - Well…there’s a nice deep scar on the tip of my left index finger. I got that from trying to cut a Space Marine arm in half. The blade snapped and plunged straight into the side of my finger. I didn’t realise how deep it was until I ran it under a tap to wash it and saw the bone…yeah, that needed stitches. Still don’t have all the feeling back in it either.
On another occasion I managed to saw the skin on the knuckle of my thumb off…which was pretty stupid of me.
Most of my other injuries are minor cuts or burns where I've tried to pull freshly dremeled plastic off, forgetting that it’s red hot.
I guess you could say I suffer for my art.
B - With the amount of TF-related artists there are out there, who has influenced/inspired you the most?
z-k - I guess my inspirations come from a lot of places really. E.J Su is amazing. I picked up Infiltration issue 0 a while back and was fascinated by the interview in the back, especially the technical drawings he had done.
I was equally blown away after reading Stormbringer and seeing Don Figueroa's amazing artwork. Same goes for Alex Milne and Nick Roche; I love their styles and can spend hours looking over their work.
Yoji Shinkawa is name that definitely springs to mind, too. He did the concept artwork and designs for the Metal Gear Solid series of games, as well as Zone of the Enders. With the exception of Metal Gear Rex, his blending of organic and mechanical is really quite awesome.
One other thing I will mention when it comes to inspirations, is my fellow Seibertronians who submit their work to the Transtopia section. If I named names I would be here all day, but suffice to say there are some extremely talented people out there and the caliber of their work is something I kind of aspire to.
B - When looking at the creations of others, do you prefer to see their takes on a canon character or a fan-made character?
z-k - I'd honestly say it’s half and half. Seeing people’s takes on a well-established character is always fun and can sometimes take more planning and thought than some might think! On the other hand I have a lot of respect for people who create their own characters. With such a diverse and rich roster of existing characters, it’s hard not to come up with something that’s not similar to an existing TF.
B - You draw, but you seem more inclined to kitbash a figure. If you could do this sort of thing for a job, what genre (kitbashing, drawing, scratch-building) would you prefer?
z-k - Man, that’s a tough one to answer, Burn. To be honest I love creating things in many mediums, but given the choice of the three I would probably say scratch-building. Over the years I've had so many ideas that so far I've only been able to commit to paper. Some day I'll hopefully have the skills, funds, and parts to give them form.
A job where I spent all day in a workshop building things? That would be awesome! (More so if it was building TF's!!)
B - And what would be your dream design if you could pull it off?
z-k - Thats easy: a scratchbuilt combiner. I love combiner teams and I don’t so much as have a problem with Hasbro's efforts, but I have always wanted to try my hand at it. Truth be told I've been wanting to get my hands on the ROTF Constructicons that have individual robot modes so I can see if there’s a way of getting them to combine.
Failing that I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at making a Headmaster from scratch. I drew up some designs a couple of years ago that I might revise and have a go at.
B - So the one question that everyone is dying to have you answer: how did you stumble across Seibertron.com?
z-k - Believe it or not, kitbashes and repaints. Doing a Google image search for them one afternoon kept leading me back here. After that, I came to the site to look at what is now the Transtopia section on a regular basis. Eventually I registered and started posting. Almost two years have fallen off the calender and here we are.
B - So out of all your creations, which one would you consider your favourite?
z-k - I would have to say one of my recent pieces, a
Rodimus Major custom...
He's been a headache to work on in places -coughlegscough- but as soon as the whole thing was together and working I felt very very proud of myself
His rifle looks wicked, too. lol..
B - So let's wrap this up with a couple of games, first up: Word Association!
B - Machine Men/GoBots -
z-k - That annoying scooter thing.
B - Starscream Fangirls -
z-k - caution.
B - Unicron -
z-k - "Hunger" - Spectre General
B - Machine Wars -
z-k - Tiny Megatron..
B - Action Masters -
z-k - 'They're alive ALIVE
ALIVE!!'
B - Michael Bay -
z-k - Lolsplosions!!!
B - Simon Furman -
z-k - ..likes ending things with -tion.
B - Stalker -
z-k - Loud.
B - And now for something a little different: VERSUS!
B - Megatron -vs- Optimus Prime -
z-k - Optimus.
B - Starscream Fangirls -vs- Jazz Fangirls -
z-k - Ack!! Damnit, Burn. Er,…Jazz Fangirls? (Hell my mum’s one after the first movie.)
B - Mini-Cons -vs- Micromasters -
z-k - Mini-Cons.
B - Animated -vs- Generation 1 -vs- Beast Wars -
z-k - Man, that’s a tough one.. I'd probably have to say Beast Wars..
B - Well, I just have to say a big thank you to zero-kaiser for a great interview. I hope you all enjoyed it. For those of you who haven't seen z-k's work, here's a sampling!
Animated Galvatron
Classics Nightbeat (WIP)
War Within Ironhide (WIP)
Scourge/Nemesis Prime Fan Art
Un-named Female Cyborg (WIP - non-tf)
And if YOU are interested in being interviewed, just drop me a pm, otherwise, I'll just have to start stalking people!
Date: Saturday, December 6th 2008 1:20pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News,
People News
Posted by: Dead Metal |
Credit(s): Bassbot
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 88,555
Transformers comic writer of past, present and future Simon Furman has answered questions that fans have asked.
The first 15 questions and their respective answers can be found
here on the idw boards.
The other 5 questions - yes he answered 20 questions don't pretend I didn't mention that before - can be found
here on his blog.
Oh if you're too lazy to click those links here they are:
1. Victory Saber -Would you please disable the Magnificence possessed by Autobots in IDW/verse? If they still hold it, they will get the answers to so many puzzles so easily.
SF) One story angle I just never got to cover properly in the four-part Revelation arc was the ‘price’ that comes with using the Magnificence. A bit like the Monkey’s Paw scenario, the Magnificence does give you exactly what you want/need, but the information or what information precipitates mostly turns out to be a poisoned chalice. That side-story got sidelined, I’m afraid. Originally, there was going to be a Hot Rod payoff, in which he goes well and truly through the wringer as a consequence of his mining of the Magnificence. There’s an element of that in Maximum Dinobots, though. Also, at some point, I was aiming to get into where the Magnificence comes from and who created it. Hopefully, down the line, I’ll still get to do that.
2. Zaku Prime: Are the Quintessons and the Magnificence connected somehow? Both involve ancient civilizations on alien worlds, so…?
SF) I did consider making it a Quintesson artifact, but ultimately rejected that. The Quintessons do have a big role to play, but I imagined the Magnificence as pre-dating even them, coming from a time when BIG universal forces were in play. Between The 13 series and another thing that’s in the pipeline that’s too early to talk about yet, we’ll get to understand more about where/how the Quintessons fit in to the new IDW/TF-verse, and maybe what those ruins were all about on LV-117 (from Spotlight Wheelie).
3. Quickswitch - There have been some incredible insights and development of Sixshot in IDW. The last time we saw him, he was under the now-dead Jhiaxus' neural control, and now I wonder, who 'has' him, and what's going to happen in his story now that he doesn't seem to have the Decepticons or the Reapers anymore--anything we couldn't see coming?
SF) Again, I would have liked to follow up on the status of the various ‘big guns’ post-Revelation but there just wasn’t the room. All of the ‘guardians,’ Sixshot, Thunderwing and Monstructor were pretty much inactive, mentally, when appropriated by Jhiaxus, and he did little more than artificially animate them with a preset series of commands and responses to certain situations, so the assumption is that once that control is gone they lapse back into that ‘offline’ mode. I quite like the idea that Banzaitron manages to hold onto Monstructor and the Autobots put Sixshot and Thunderwing somewhere safe… like the nearest black hole!! Given that Devastator seems to be active in All Hail Megatron, we have to assume that somewhere along the line the Combiner tech is refined and gets into Megatron’s hands, so it makes more sense that the Decepticons have Monstructor.
4. Praul - Hello! Just spinning off from a debate we were having in another thread - Was Prime getting beat against Sixshot or were things pretty much even when they finished fighting? In other words 'oo's 'arder!!!!
SF) I reckon honors even, just about. Sixshot’s very powerful but Prime’s a Prime, and would fight on to the bitter end. Things were just getting warmed up in Devastation, and because of the proximity of bystanders, we can also figure Prime was holding back some. And we know that Sixshot’s not indestructible, just very, very adaptable. My money’s still on Prime in a straight fight with no collateral to worry about.
AND –
5. Zaku Prime - What were you planning to do with Straxus and Grindcore? All the other Dead Universe guys got some characterization, but these two just seemed to be generic heavies. Care to give some back-story/thoughts on these two?
SF) I’d have loved to do more, backstory-wise, with both Straxus and Grindcore, and here I admit a bit more culpability than simply using my “I didn’t have enough room” get out of jail free card. Both were a wee bit on the padding out the Dead Universe numbers side, especially Grindcore, as he wasn’t really a reinvention, more just a cool name (IMHO) and the team ‘big guy.’ But what I originally intended to happen was to have more of the Dead Universe cast survive Revelation and roll onwards into Expansion, and Straxus I’d have definitely kept around. Did I have his character and backstory all mapped out? I’d love to say yes, but the truth is I’d have probably just worked harder to drop character ‘seeds’ into Revelation and then, er, expanded on them in Expansion. I have a great affection for the old Marvel version of Straxus, so I would have definitely striven to make him a little more than just the extra body he turned out to be.
PLUS –
6. ROSSUM asks: “If they don’t happen to show up in Max Dino’s, what may have been Jimmy and Verity’s fate?”
SF) I realise events in the real world have kind of overridden the Verity/Jimmy story thread, but I promise to at least bring them back before Maximum Dinobots wraps, so we know how/where they are. It’s pretty important, as I doubt Shane has plans for them, to get them back to Earth, where they belong, hopefully in good health. But no promises on that score! There’s a big development for Hunter at the end of Maximum Dinobots, which kind of touches upon another dangling story thread. I know, I know! It’s my own fault there’s so much stuff to tie up! I’m a child of the Claremont X-Men era, when there were always a dozen or more story threads running concurrently.
7. Simon, quite a few people (Brett_bass, Commander Shockwav amongst others) have asked if there has been any collaboration or communication between yourself and Shane McCarthy, regarding All Hail Megatron and December’s “Maximum Dinobot’s” – so, I guess one of the big questions is – has there?
SF) The short answer is “no.” Shane’s taken his leap forward and pretty much rolled from there. My job has mostly been to tie up my own storylines, though I will be leaping back into the fray for another more ongoing Spotlight soon. In the end, apart from tying things up in Maximum Dinobots, Revelation and maybe another arc, it’s down to IDW editorial (that’s you, Denton!) to make sure the two bits stick together with minimum join showing, and Denton does seem to be keeping a careful eye on things.
8. Second Cybertron, huh? Out of curiosity, is “our” Cybertron the real one, or is it a copy of a “true” Cybertron like Gorlam Prime is of “ours”?
SF) That’s a very good question. And here’s another: was Cybertron once something else? Did the evolution we saw happen on Gorlam Prime happen, in some shape or form, in Cybertron’s past? Could it be that there’s a ‘Cybertron Prime’ somewhere, the original world, and that the dead one we’ve seen in Stormbringer and other issues is simply another Gorlam Prime-like world given an evolutionary push? I know what you’re thinking, is there an answer coming anywhere in all this? Sadly, no, because I don’t even know yet how this is all going to play out. Maybe in the G2-ish way there’s a whole other Cybertronian empire that’s been ticking merrily along all this time the Autobots and Decepticons have been at war. See, that’s what I love about the big, sweeping sci-fi strokes of the Transformers saga, the story possibilities are virtually endless.
9. What’s your favourite TV show right now?
SF) That’s a tough one. There’s a lot I think is good on TV right (and a lot that’s bad). The things I watch fairly religiously are: Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Mad Men, The Wire, The Shield and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I also really enjoyed Rome. And I desperately wished Deadwood had been continued into a fourth season. Here in the UK I’ve been watching a brilliant series set in the English civil war called The Devil’s Whore and a re-tread of a 70s series called Survivors. My favourite? It’s hard to say. What I admire most of all, unsurprisingly, is great writing, and I think The Wire, Dexter and Mad Men are head and shoulders above the others in that respect.
10. What’s your most embarrassing Transformer-related memory?
SF) Probably my first Botcon, which was in 1997 in Rochester. It was a total eye-opener for me. Tucked away over in the UK, I didn’t even know Transformers conventions existed, or that there was an enduring fan base at all. Didn’t even know, until I was asked to do the convention comic, that there was a reinvention in the shape of Beast Wars! I was SO out of touch, and that became apparent in one particularly gruelling Q&A. I’m ashamed to say, having wrapped Transformers twice I’d consigned it to my ‘distant memory’ cupboard, and when people in the audience started asking me specific questions on this issue or that scene, I was floundering, and often had to resort to a lame ‘sorry, I don’t remember.’ It was a nightmare. I could see I was losing any/all support/accolade I’d had at the start of the session. I made damn sure that by the time the 1998 Botcon rolled around I’d re-read/revisited practically everything I’d ever written, Transformers-wise.
11. There’s always one in the bunch(j/k) - Cerebros had some Beast Wars related questions, so I thought we’d better check in on probably the most important one (yes, it is double-barrelled)! What is the next arc in the Beast Wars series? Is it a lead-in to Beast Machines?
SF) The good news is, there is a Beast Wars series in the works right now, but sadly it’s more or less on the back burner for the time being. 2009, being a movie year, is just packed with stuff, other stuff, and it looks likely (nothing is set in stone right now) Beast Wars v3 will get moved back to 2010. Is it a leap forwards towards Beast Machines or a more retrospective piece? Well, let’s just say that it goes backwards in a forward kind of way. How oblique is that???
12. Captain - Mr. Furman, are you designing all new character's to be the "13"? Or is it with character's we all ready know?
SF) Right now, because Hasbro are very involved in The 13 (in a good way, both conceptually and character-wise), there’s still no definitive, locked in line-up. When I did the original pitch, way back it seems, I did come up with a ‘cast’ document, one that I even started to expand upon for Nick Roche, who was the artist attached to the project at the time (and may well be again, who knows). But right now though we’re all hanging fire, though I expect I/we will know more soon. It seems pretty likely that Vector Prime will be amongst the 13, the Liege Maximo too, and possibly Alpha Trion. But nothing’s set in stone here yet. Great pains are being taken on everyone’s part to make this series the absolute best it can be, something that comprehensively underpins the whole TF-universe in a very major and enduring way, so that’s got to be worth taking time over.
13. Oracle1984 - What do you potentially have coming down the pike in IDW's Transformers beyond Maximum Dinobots and The Thirteen?
SF) Well, I’m currently working on the 4-issue comic book adaptation of Transformers 2 – Revenge of the Fallen. And that’s pretty much all I’m allowed to tell you about that. Except to say that I’m enjoying the process immensely. It’s the first film to comic adaptation I’ve done, and it’s stretching me as a writer in interesting ways. Can’t wait to see what people think about both the film and the adaptation. After I wrap Maximum Dinobots, the next thing, Transformers-wise, is a series I pitched to Denton that is suitably epic and sweeping but doesn’t clash with what Shane is doing over on All Hail Megatron at all. It’s still core continuity, spinning out of characters and situations in my ‘ongoing’ run, but kind of has its own distinct framework. It also promises to introduce a character in the IDW/TF-verse I honestly didn’t think we’d get to, but fits here. Oh, and I have a new Spotlight tentatively scheduled as well, though sheer volume of work has meant that I haven’t really had a chance to pitch it properly to IDW.
14. World Prime - How much of what you have planned for the future has been approved by The Powers that Be? Approximately when are we going to start seeing these plans (The Thirteen and beyond) in print?
SF) The folk at Hasbro, like the rest of us, are pretty busy with the whole new movie/25th anniversary thing, so stuff tends to filter through in a steady drip-drip, rather than a torrent. But honestly that suits me. Finding the time to pitch new projects is always an issue, as there’s a fair old volume of ongoing stuff and other projects (TF-UK, Terminator, Starcraft, books, movie scripts) to keep me busy. It’s spinning plates, and right now it’s very much one project at a time. Scheduling is IDW’s end of things, and it’s not an exact science. As I mentioned, the 13 series has shuffled quite a bit, and may shuffle more, so there’s just no point throwing random dates at you only to disappoint down the line. Right now, what’s set is that Maximum Dinobots is Dec 08-April 09. I’m sure Denton or just the Diamond solicitations will apprise you of other on sale dates.
15. World Prime - Which is your favourite issue that you've worked on? Which one came together the closest to what you originally envisioned? And on that note, which issue DIDN'T come out how you expected but was still a pleasant surprise? (add "and why?" to the end of each of those for some elaboration please)
SF) I was hugely pleased, probably out of all proportion, with the way that Infiltration #0 came out. I really didn’t know EJ’s work, so I was a little on edge about how it would play, but I needn’t have worried. We set out to do a kind of Ultimate Transformers thing, the almost complete antithesis of the original Marvel Transformers #1, in which everything happened in 22 packed pages (the whole origin, every character introduced, the first big engagement). We wanted to move stuff through more slowly, gradually build up/ratchet up (no pun intended) the suspense and focus entirely (at first) on the human perspective, casting the Transformers as something huge, mysterious, alien and rarely seen. EJ’s realistic, real world, unflashy (and I mean that in a good way) style/framing was right on the money. I can honestly say, apart from maybe Transformers (US) #68, I’ve never been truly disappointed with the way an issue or series came out. That’s because, as a general rule, I’ve worked talented and often passionate (about Transformers) artists. If there’s one issue that blindsided me, art-wide, it’s Transformers (US) #75, as Geoff (Senior) just turned in the job of a lifetime. It still blows me away even now.
16. Any particular characters you’d like to write Spotlights for in the future?
SF) Plenty. There’s characters I’d have liked to have given the Spotlight treatment to but never got the chance: Jetfire for one (but he was so involved elsewhere it seemed vaguely redundant) and Fortress Maximus for another (but that would have been post-Arcee, post-Revelation). I had an idea for Getaway at one point, but events have maybe superseded the framework I had in mind. Right now there’s a couple of more viable potentials. The first (which is tentatively scheduled) will probably come as no great shock to anyone, the second is a little more ‘out of left field,’ and ties into the ‘big’ pitch that’s with Denton/Hasbro right now. Of course, I may not get to do that latter one (I can see Denton reading this, going “wh-?”), but as and when a slot appears, I’m ready.
17. How do you want to see the Transformers line progress in the future? Continue with mini-series and the spotlights or for it to become an ongoing series with minis that crossover - showcasing work from people not doing the ongoing series? We have had a few months in 2008 with hardly any comics out per month.
SF) Personally, I still think the interconnected but self-contained four or six issue miniseries work best. It’ll be interesting to see if the sales on AHM hold up decently over the whole 12-issue run. That might be the best indicator yet of what works best, TPB-sized chunks of story or something more traditionally ongoing. I suspect those months where little or nothing came out had more to do with blown shipping dates than anything. IDW are pretty good at making the publishing plan work, on paper at least. But there are so many more random variables. Yknow… artists.
18. Are the beings in the beginning of Spotlight Galvatron any relation to the quintessons pictured in the end of Spotlight Wheelie? And are they a hint for something just about to come ie. post AHM or a far off future tease…?
SF) I very rarely tease just for the sake of it, so the fact that there’s a foreshadowing of the Quintessons in Spotlight Wheelie does suggest there’s more to come. Can’t completely guarantee when or even if it’ll happen, but I do have definite plans (and even a role in the grand scheme of things) for the Quints in mind for the next batch(es) of storylines. Maybe it’ll even tie into The 13. We’ll see. In answer to your other question, no the aliens in Spotlight Galvatron are no relation.
19. Is Arcee the only female, or just the first? I mean are thier others hiding underground?
SF) Megatron: Origin notwithstanding, Arcee is the only ‘female’ Transformer we know of. Currently. That’s not to say Jhiaxus didn’t try, try again, and another ‘female’ character is yet to make ‘her’ presence felt. But Arcee was certainly the first. And maybe the last. Only time will tell.
20. You previously mentioned that we’d see Ultra Magnus vs Galvatron. Is this still going to happen?
SF) This was where my plans for Revelation/Expansion really did change, and not just because of the shift in format. Originally, I really wanted to have an Ultra Magnus/Galvatron smackdown in the tradition of the one from Target: 2006, but once I’d arranged all the players in Revelation I realised it just wasn’t going to work. I do have plans for Galvatron, though. And Ultra Magnus for that matter. But whether the twain shall meet in upcoming storylines very much remains to be seen.
Stay tuned to seibertron.com for all your Transformers related news.
![[Valid RSS]](/images/rss/valid-rss.png "Validate Seibertron.com's RSS feed"){kind=small}
