Story Update: Machinima Transformers Combiner Wars Animated Series

Interesting, now starscream and windblade are part of that triumvirate but who else? Are they putting bumblebee in that lofty position?

Also I'm happy to hear that optimus and megs have been retired though it will only be for a few eps as obviously they'll be putting ultra prime in there.

If this were truly based on the IDW comic series, I would think Bumblebee would be part of the triumvirate, but with this series, you never know. It appears to be its "own thing" with the whole "40 years after" portion since the premise doesn't really fit into any established continuity, plus the fact that combiners did exist prior to "Combiner Wars" even in IDW (this series makes them seem like something brand new) . Additionally we don't know for sure if Optimus Maximus will show up considering this is "after" the days of Optimus Prime, and Megatron, but it would definitely be a cool reveal though if they did. The only combiner that has been confirmed so far is Victorion, but of course you cant have "Combiner Wars" without multiple combiners right? --July is not that far off. I am very exited for this.

Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

Still a bit disappointed that this isn't exactly a full series. But I can deal with it. Anyway, I'm glad it isn't an exact retelling of the IDW story. I wonder how this'll all turn out...

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

I initially thought that may have been a possibility, until I read that part about combiner technology being "a new threat"...so that obviously didn't mesh. I honestly still think this should be treated like DC's animated films. Loosely based on an existing storyline, but ultimately, its own entity.


As far as future prospects,...it all really depends on how well this is received. Justice League Gods & Monsters got tons of rave reviews from fans, thus the reason more micro episodes are coming out this year.--For the past decade or so DC has treated fans to roughly 3 PG-13 animated films per year.

If Hasbro could give adult fans ONE film per year, or one micro-series event, based on various different existing continuities, I'd be happy with that.

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

More like 40 years after TF: Prime what with Optimus and Megatron being gone (pretending RID didn't happen) and a new power structure on Cybertron.

Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:Which basically means this will be the first U.S. produced Classics/Generations anime.

If this is an American production, why would it be an anime?

It depends on your definition of anime.

If you just mean an animated series where the physical animation is done in Japan there are plenty of American series that would technically classify as anime then: The Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice, Spider-Man, X-Men, Transformers: Prime and many many more.

There are some series and movies that are made by anime studios based on American/Western properties: X-Men, Blade, Iron Man, Wolverine, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & The Punisher, Halo: Legends, Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, Dead Space, Dante's Inferno, The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knights just to name some.

Hell most of the recent DC Animated movies Justice League: War, Justice League: The Throne of Atlantis, Son of Batman, Batman vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood, and Batman: Assault on Arkham remind me more of anime action movies in how they staged their action set pieces.

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:Which basically means this will be the first U.S. produced Classics/Generations anime.

If this is an American production, why would it be an anime?

snip

Why are you replying to such an old post that was made long before it was confirmed to be an anime-styled series?

Yeah...definition of anime...lets not go down that slippery slope. That is a whole other discussion for a different board.

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:Which basically means this will be the first U.S. produced Classics/Generations anime.

If this is an American production, why would it be an anime?

snip

Why are you replying to such an old post that was made long before it was confirmed to be an anime-styled series?

Because I can and want to. If you got a problem with it, that is your problem, not mine.

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:Which basically means this will be the first U.S. produced Classics/Generations anime.

If this is an American production, why would it be an anime?

snip

Why are you replying to such an old post that was made long before it was confirmed to be an anime-styled series?

Because I can and want to. If you got a problem with it, that is your problem, not mine.

But it's pointless by this point.

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

More like 40 years after TF: Prime what with Optimus and Megatron being gone (pretending RID didn't happen) and a new power structure on Cybertron.

Emerje

I doubt it, after all combiners already happened in that time line.

Sounds like they are making a brand new time line with elements from past universes

ZeroWolf wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

More like 40 years after TF: Prime what with Optimus and Megatron being gone (pretending RID didn't happen) and a new power structure on Cybertron.

Emerje

I doubt it, after all combiners already happened in that time line.

Sounds like they are making a brand new time line with elements from past universes

That's only if you believe the Aligned universe is real and not just the fan theory it is. Honestly I've had a lot of trouble buying into it. There are far too many inconsistencies to believe Prime is a sequel to the Cybertron games and are meant to be mashed together. Even Hasbro themselves want no part in trying to sort it out as a single continuity and even the TFWiki admits they made up the name. The way I feel about it is as two different stories that kinda mesh together based on their story telling being in close proximity to each other, but just like how the G1 cartoon didn't impact the G1 comic it's just two stories about the same characters being told without any real connection between the two. No, Aligned is a disaster and each individual component should be viewed as independent story lines within their own continuity (Cybertron games as one, the two animated series as another, and so on).

If you can't tell I really hate Aligned as a concept.

But my comment before was more of a joke. They seemed to be borrowing from Prime's ending more than the IDW comics they should be referencing. I don't actually believe the shorts are based on Prime.

Emerje

Why are people even mentioning Aligned with this anyway? This is obviously gonna be just another Primax universe and not Uniend.

Sabrblade wrote:Why are people even mentioning Aligned with this anyway? This is obviously gonna be just another Primax universe and not Uniend.

I said why at the end of my post.

Emerje

Is there any release date info for this yet?

YRQRM0 wrote:Is there any release date info for this yet?

Only that it is this summer

I'm surprised nobody noticed or even asked about this, but...

On the right side is Windblade's name in Chinese characters, sorta: 風刀 actually means "Wind Sword", while 風刃 means "Wind Blade". One stroke off guys.

And no, that's not her name in Chinese, that would be 风刃. Aren't Asian characters fun?

I know a lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but I'm glad we're moving away from the whole Optimus Prime vs. Megatron plot and focusing more on new characters in the Transformers universe. I only hope that Windblade will be more like she was in the comics than she was in Robots in Disguise. I guess we'll find out in May.

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:Which basically means this will be the first U.S. produced Classics/Generations anime.

If this is an American production, why would it be an anime?

snip

Why are you replying to such an old post that was made long before it was confirmed to be an anime-styled series?

Because I can and want to. If you got a problem with it, that is your problem, not mine.

But it's pointless by this point.

I don't have to explain myself to you. Why don't you do something else with your time if you're not going to answer my original post, without being a snob about it and if you can't or won't then just shut up about it.

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

Well... The editors of TFWiki might. The Great War is generally the Third War, which ends in the early 21st century not long after Rodimus Prime's era in most G1 toon continuities. That would peg the series as being 2035-2060 or so.

If you are interpreting it as after Optimus and Megatron left for earth, while they're in stasis, that makes characters like Starscream's involvement awkward. Even moreso than if this is a post-Rodimus series.

It's one thing to say he came back or never died. But him being suspended in the volcano is an important detail to almost all G1 continuities.

RodimusRex wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder how many are gonna think "40 years after the Great War" means "40 years after the G1 cartoon".

Well... The editors of TFWiki might. The Great War is generally the Third War, which ends in the early 21st century not long after Rodimus Prime's era in most G1 toon continuities. That would peg the series as being 2035-2060 or so.

If you are interpreting it as after Optimus and Megatron left for earth, while they're in stasis, that makes characters like Starscream's involvement awkward. Even moreso than if this is a post-Rodimus series.

It's one thing to say he came back or never died. But him being suspended in the volcano is an important detail to almost all G1 continuities.

I don't think this series will care about any of that though, it seems like it wants to be it own thing

Thanks to the Digital Fronts Conference, we now have a new sneak peak at Machinima's upcoming Combiner Wars Animated Series! Unfortunately, there is no video preview, but rather a pair of images showing off the scenery and the artwork design for the series. The Director will be Kenji Nakamura and the staff includes Eric Calderon, FJ Desanto, and George Krstic. Below you will find the information and pictures included in the sneak peak. The series will be coming in July.

Lastly but not leastly is passion platform Transformers, which you undoubtedly recognise if you were ever a child. There’s 10bn views of Transformers content on YouTube, not to mention four theatrical films, which saw $3.7bn in global revenues.

Machinima’s contribution to the canon, Transformers Combiner Wars, is 40 years removed from previous events. It’s a time of peace. Cybertron is ruled by a triumvirate … but an ancient technology has emerged, enabling a new threat to take the stage. As in the case of Robocops, there is no trailer we can share for this, but it was worked on by “some of the world’s leading creative minds”: Eric Calderon, FJ Desanto, and George Krstic. It is directed by Kenji Nakamura. License partners are welcome.

Here is some glorious artwork. This is the planet Cybertron, in which you get a sense of the filmlike cinematography (“This is not a children’s cartoon!” exclaimed Gutstein).

Umm...okay... mountainous terrain, and *seemingly* a body of water on Cybertron? it is definitely its own thing...or perhaps 40 years after BM ?

Duuuuuuuuuude...

Purdy!

It's gonna have some nice scenery to blow up won't it

Looks more like comic book artwork than animation artwork.

The dude who directed Mononoke is in this.


I have good hopes for this show.


Edit: Never mind just realized that it's not PRINCESS Mononoke that I was thinking about but some other tv show over there.

Sabrblade wrote:Looks more like comic book artwork than animation artwork.

Concept art I would believe.

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Looks more like comic book artwork than animation artwork.

Concept art I would believe.

Not necessarily! Could also be cutscenes or promotional material.

Dr Va'al wrote:
Not necessarily! Could also be cutscenes or promotional material.

That could very be the case as well!

Concept art was just the first thing that popped into my head thats all.

Deadput wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:
Not necessarily! Could also be cutscenes or promotional material.

That could very be the case as well!

Concept art was just the first thing that popped into my head thats all.

They may also be pulling the Batman: The Animated Series style trick of using fully painted characters with limited animation for some close-ups or special shots. It CAN be a budget saving move but it's stylistically one of those things I like as a gimmick in traditional animation.

It does sound like this will be set in a nebulous post-G2, pre-Beast Wars continuity (albeit one where combiners may be a new thing). All I can say is that this may encourage me to pick up some figures and G2 reprolabels for my G2 shelf.

As a side note: this could be an interesting way to work in the G2 store box sets if the G2 repaints are featured in flashbacks and the idea is that the characters dropped their G2 forms after the war.

As long as they keep working on legion class I am happy. And g1 legion class even happier.

Looks like RiD's animation, never really liked the animation in that show

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:Looks like RiD's animation, never really liked the animation in that show

The animation of either RiD cartoon does not look like that.

Sabrblade wrote:

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:Looks like RiD's animation, never really liked the animation in that show

The animation of either RiD cartoon does not look like that.

What, I swear it does.

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:Looks like RiD's animation, never really liked the animation in that show

The animation of either RiD cartoon does not look like that.

What, I swear it does.

It looks too grim and serious to be like the bright and cheery look of either of the RiD cartoons.

Those are some pretty snazzy images. I'd be proud to slap those on my trapper keeper or more realistically, my phone's background. Either way, gimme some high res version for DL

what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

Sabrblade wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

The "rule by triumverate" sounds like Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt, aka Magnaboss. I can't think of another example of three rulers sharing leadership of Cybertron, particularly in a setting 40 years after the great war and several years after the deaths of Optimus and Megatron.

My guess would be that the convention comic this last year was directed to lead into the Combiner Wars show, albeit VERY loosely. Not the same continuity but one parallel to it in some key ways.

RodimusRex wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

The "rule by triumverate" sounds like Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt, aka Magnaboss. I can't think of another example of three rulers sharing leadership of Cybertron, particularly in a setting 40 years after the great war and several years after the deaths of Optimus and Megatron.

My guess would be that the convention comic this last year was directed to lead into the Combiner Wars show, albeit VERY loosely. Not the same continuity but one parallel to it in some key ways.

Actually the triumvirate is likely to be Starscream, Windblade and one other. Maybe bumblebee, unless they killed him off in this timeline as well. I highly doubt it will have anything to do with the comic from bot con as combiner tech has already been introduced there.

ZeroWolf wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

The "rule by triumverate" sounds like Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt, aka Magnaboss. I can't think of another example of three rulers sharing leadership of Cybertron, particularly in a setting 40 years after the great war and several years after the deaths of Optimus and Megatron.

My guess would be that the convention comic this last year was directed to lead into the Combiner Wars show, albeit VERY loosely. Not the same continuity but one parallel to it in some key ways.

Actually the triumvirate is likely to be Starscream, Windblade and one other. Maybe bumblebee, unless they killed him off in this timeline as well. I highly doubt it will have anything to do with the comic from bot con as combiner tech has already been introduced there.

I got the vibe that Windblade was more of our Bot on the Street, our point-of-view character.

I kinda suspect this will be in an alternate G1 kinda like Devastation but, much like Devastation, will treat some characters as new who might seem odd to be that new. Or when they say that combination is new, maybe they're saying that almost all Transformers are combiners in this setting, not that there were never combiners before. Like, maybe it's an oversimplification to get the point across.

The difference being that Devastation seems to take place a few years before its version of the Battle for Autobot City (they foreshadow TFTM throughout it) whereas this seems to be set in a version of the second Pax Cybertronia.

It's already been said, I think, that this is gpi b good to be closeish to the IDW storyline, which means that combiners are new tech aside from outliers like devy.

Just means the G1 timeline tree has a new branch on it. I don't mind that's it's not connected as I like seeing new takes on the characters and seeing how familiar events can play out under someone else's watchful eye.

ZeroWolf wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

The "rule by triumverate" sounds like Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt, aka Magnaboss. I can't think of another example of three rulers sharing leadership of Cybertron, particularly in a setting 40 years after the great war and several years after the deaths of Optimus and Megatron.

My guess would be that the convention comic this last year was directed to lead into the Combiner Wars show, albeit VERY loosely. Not the same continuity but one parallel to it in some key ways.

Actually the triumvirate is likely to be Starscream, Windblade and one other. Maybe bumblebee, unless they killed him off in this timeline as well. I highly doubt it will have anything to do with the comic from bot con as combiner tech has already been introduced there.

It could be Bumblebee, Starscream and Metalhawk.

Ugh.....windblade. Pass.

Microraptor wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:what previous events are they talking about i seriously doubt BM or G2 have any part

Most likely it's just a nebulous Autobot/Decepticon war whose exact events are unimportant to expound upon, much like how Beast Wars and Animated each took place in a post-war setting.

The "rule by triumverate" sounds like Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt, aka Magnaboss. I can't think of another example of three rulers sharing leadership of Cybertron, particularly in a setting 40 years after the great war and several years after the deaths of Optimus and Megatron.

My guess would be that the convention comic this last year was directed to lead into the Combiner Wars show, albeit VERY loosely. Not the same continuity but one parallel to it in some key ways.

Actually the triumvirate is likely to be Starscream, Windblade and one other. Maybe bumblebee, unless they killed him off in this timeline as well. I highly doubt it will have anything to do with the comic from bot con as combiner tech has already been introduced there.

It could be Bumblebee, Starscream and Metalhawk.

Indeed, that was the triumvirate for a long time, before Dark Cybertron hit the comics.
So there is something in that..

looking forward to this TBH.

should be great fun and with a bit of luck if sucessful will lead to more "mature" TF fare.

(i STILL wish they'd just animate the better comic book arcs of the past ala DC )

christ by the time that this comes out......we'll all have TR Trypticon & Scorponok by then(or it'll have felt like it!)