Orci. Kurtzman Working On CG Transformers: Prime

When the next Transformers cartoon debuts on Discovery Kids this fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Transformers movie writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, "are working on ...the "Transformers" CG-animated series for upcoming Hasbro/Discovery channel the Hub. The CG cartoon is going to be called "Transformers: Prime" according to actor Jeffery Combs website.

It is unknown what style of CG that will be used. Hasbro (and really most cartoons) has used an Anime influenced style for the last decade or so likely to continue that as it’s believed kids prefer it. However, Orci and Kurtzman are clearly fans of the Beast Wars era of cartoons (see use of Sparks as example) which might give hope that Hasbro will move away from this and maybe attempt something that actually takes advantage of advancements in CG since Beast Machines left the air.

Custom Made Devastator Video Reviews

Before Peaugh reviewed Human Alliance Mudflap and Barricade, he did "Devastator Week" which was seven video reviews of a custom figure created by Frenzy Rumble. Below is the final video that shows the combined figure and the result is pretty darn sweet looking. Click the links below for all seven parts. Also FrenzyRumble's YouTube channel has slideshow videos of each figure.

Bonecrusher Hook Long Haul MixmasterScavenger Scrapper Devastator

Next Cartoon Called Transformers: Prime?

Long time character actor extraordinaire Jeffrey Combs may have accidently revealed prematurely the name of Hasbro's next cartoon for Transformers that will likely make its debut on the new Discovery Kids channel that is launching this fall. On his official blog:

TRANSFORMERS: PRIME

Debuting later this fall Hasbro in conjunction with Discovery Communications Inc will release a new Transformers cartoon on a new TV channel currently called Discovery Kids called Transformers: Prime.

Jeffrey will be the voice of Ratchet, a very well known character in the Transformers world. There are 26 episodes scheduled for the first season. Exact details of the show are currently unavailable but will be posted here as soon as they are made available.

Jeffrey is quite thrilled with the opportunity to be cast in the role of Ratchet. He's not able to talk too much about the show this early in the production but did have this quote: "What I can say is that it is an honor and a privilege to be a part of such a prestigious project."

The cartoon has been rumored for a while now so really this posts seems to confirm two things, one the title and two the casting of Combs as the voice of Ratchet. For those that don't know, Jeffrey Combs is the man if a fan of 80s horror films, sci-fi TV and just goofy characters. He played the Dr. West in the Re-Animator films, multiple alien characters for the Star Trek television shows (Weyoun on DS9, Shran for Enterprise, and more), voiced the Scarecrow for Batman: The Animated Series, The Question for Justice League Unlimited, Dr. Burkhoff on The 4400 and much more. This is one of the few bits of TF related casting news over the years that has a real geek grin on my face.

Welcome Mr. Combs to the wild world of Transformers and Transfandom. (image source)

Transformers Linkfest

Voyager Sea Spray Gallery and VideoFrom S250, a look at the new Voyager toy that will be released later this year with an alt mode of a hovercraft that has a deck that is large enough to transport scout class figures. Also above is a video of the figure in action. This is part of the first wave of Transformers toys that dropped the "Revenge of the Fallen" name while continuing the design atheistic from the movies. This one might just join my wishlist, wait and see what Peaugh comes up with.

Voyager Payload in Package
Another Transformers toy for later this year, only this time a yellow repaint of the Constructicon Long Haul.

NEST Global Alliance Ravage Promotion Official
Hasbro has issued a press release making official the NEST Global Alliance mail away offer for a Special Edition Ravage figure (a repaint of the ROTF deluxe toy). As part of the promotion there will be NEST stickers and 12 "Cyber Missions" webisodes that have already started airing at transformers.com. If your in Canada this figure will be easier to get, but may cost more as it will be a an exclusive for Toys R US Canada.

Ironhide Mini-series Planned
IDW's Andy Schmidt spoke with Comics Continuum about upcoming plan for Transformers and revealed that despite his death in the Transformers #1, the character will get his own mini-series. He also reviewed that Megatron returns in issue seven as "a changed robot, if you will." Apparently this is a two part interview (one two).

New Knight Morpher Commander Gallery
From Mastermind Creations is this huge 88 image gallery of what appears to be the final version of the fan made creation the Knight Morpher Commander which is really Optimus Prime from the Heart of Steel comic book. The result is a pretty sweet looking toy.

Simon Furman Teases Nefarious #2
Click the link to read long time Transformer writer Simon Furman's summary of the second issue of Transformers: Nefarious which is a sequel to Revenge of the Fallen. The story follows Soundwave's investigation into the return of Ravage and the Initiative.

Human Alliance Mudflap Video Review

Yesterday was the review for HA Barricade and now Transformers reviewer extraordinaire Peaugh has posted his review of Human Alliance Mudflap with Agent Simmons and Chromia. Any case, the HA Mudflap is essentially a mirror of HA Skids so if like one will probably like the other.

Transformers 3 in 3D?

Thanks to the huge success of Avatar in 3D, it seems a movie isn't even allowed to be released without taking advantage of the format. Even the new Clash of the Titans movie is being converted to take advantage of the new found interest in 3D even though it wasn't designed or filmed for the format.

Hoping to ride that 3D train, Paramount seems to be attempting to force Transformers director Michael Bay to film Transformers 3 in 3D. Bay has said last year he thinks 3D is a gimmick saying "The way I shoot is too aggressive for 3D cameras. It’s a time consuming thing. Who knows… It might be a fad. I’m kinda old school. I’m old school because I like to shoot on film. I like anamorphic lenses, and that is old school.”

According to Variety, "there have been discussions among Bay, Paramount and Industrial Light & Magic about going 3D with the pic. The big stumbling block is the extra time required to do production and visual effects in 3D, as the movie's release date is already set. Having the pic post-converted could alleviate that problem."

At the end of the day money talks and Bay is a business man so I wouldn't be surprised if a 3D version is released. This does create some problems though as Bay was worked on both Transformers 1 and 2 almost up to the last minute, something a 3D conversion wouldn't allow. This means that his theoretical one and half year lead to shoot the film and complete post-production, voice work etc has probably shrunk by a good three or so months. Another question is will this impact how Bay shoots the film? Will he embrace 3D or just ignore the conversion and shoot the film the way he planned to begin with? As always time will tell.

Michael Bay Top Earner in 2009

Michael Bay may have had a few bad days in the awards department with multiple Razzie nominations and only one Oscar nod but he is laughing all the way to the bank with an estimated 2009 earnings of $125 million USD thanks to the success of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and other movies. The info is from a Vanity Fair's Top 40 Hollywood Earners article for 2009 that breaks down the probably sources of revenue for the big players in Hollywood.

Here is Bay's breakdown:
Estimated 2009 earnings: $125 million
- $75 million: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (back-end profit participation for directing and producing, based on worldwide box-office gross of $835 million)
- $28 million: Transformers: R.O.T.F. (share of estimated $280 million in DVD revenue)
- $12.5 million: Transformers: R.O.T.F. (share of toy and other licensing royalties)
- $4 million: Friday the 13th (back end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $90 million, and share of DVD)
- $2 million: The Unborn (back end for producing, based on worldwide gross of $77 million, and share of DVD)
- $2 million: A Nightmare on Elm Street (fee for producing inexplicable remake)
- $1.5 million: Royalties from older films, other income

Remaining Top 10:
2) Steven Spielberg - $85 million ($15 of which from TF2)
3) Roland Emmerich - $70 million (for 2012)
4) James Cameron - $50 million (more coming for 2010 Avatar grosses and DVD sales)
5) Todd Phillips - $44 million (for The Hangover and Due Date)
6) Daniel Radcliff - $41 million (for Harry Potter Deathly Hallows films)
7) Ben Stiller - $40 million (various movies)
8) Tom Hanks - $36 million (Angels & Demons, Toy Story 3, etc)
9) JJ Abrams - $36 million (Star Trek, Morning Glory)
10) Jerry Bruckheimer - $35.5 million (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, etc)

James Avery Casting In Transformers 3?

According to a recent episode of Unscripted, James Avery has been cast to voice Silverbolt in Transformers 3. If James Avery is familiar it might be due to the recent commercial were he is the professor that supposedly has a video lecture go viral. He also played Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

In the video he discusses his career and life. Oddly though is the blurb on the site describing the actor which says "He is also currently working as voice talent for the upcoming "Transformers 3" film (set to release in 2011), playing 'Silverbolt'." This information is not repeated in the video interview so unknown if this is from Avery or some other source.

Silverbolt has been around since the Generation One days with an alt mode of a Concord SST jet liner and leader of the Aerialbots that formed Superion. The name was used again for Beast Wars as a noble knight character that was a fusion of an eagle and wolf. Long story short, the character has history that is a perfect addition to the movie cast of characters.

As for feasibility of the rumor, who knows really but for now I now take it with reservations until more information comes out. With Transformers 3 pre-production underway and at least a draft or two of the script likely completed, it is possible that casting has already begun. However, for the two previous films it seemed that Bay always waited until after the film was nearly complete before he started nailing down the voice roles and their lines. Maybe this time he decided to change up the process. Either way, as a fan of the actor I hope this works out.

Human Alliance Barricade Video Review

Peaugh is back with a review of Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Barricade with Frenzy. Overall, if you like the Deluxe version, this might be worth it as the transformation and look is nearly identical (just bigger).

Transformers: ROTF Receives Only One Oscar Nomination

This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its official list of nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards. The goal - to win the coveted Oscar, which indicates the winners produced the best work in their field for 2009 and of course get to add that line "Oscar winning..." to their resumes from now on.

The Academy gives out a lot of awards with only the prime categories being award live on ABC Sunday, March 7th, 2010. Sadly Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was shut out in all categories except for Sound Mixing. I really thought they were going to get nods also for Sound Editing and Visual Effects. Instead the FX nod is for Star Trek, District 9, and Avatar (which has the easy win here). Click here for the full list of nominees in the various categories.

Sound Mixing
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Revenge Nominated For Seven Razzies

Today was not a good day for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which seven nominations for the Razzie Awards tied it with Land of the Lost as the worst film of 2009. Where the Oscars reward for excellence in film, the Razzies "reward" for making bad films. Clearly their nominating committee did not like the film at all. It seems they didn't like Bay's directing, the script, Julie White's high on brownies performance, anything to do with Fox and more. Some of the nominations (Fox, the script) seem valid, but others do not (White, Bay, etc).

'Transformers,' to me, is the personification of what's wrong with Hollywood right now," [Razzie Author John Wilson] said. "It's all about do what already worked, pander to the audience, put in a lot of special effects. ... It's almost as though when they were editing the thing they had a little egg timer running, and every seven minutes something had to blow up or somebody had to yell, 'Go go go go! Run run run run!'

The "winners" receive a hand-made, spray-painted gold trophy" that is worth about five dollars. Much like the nominations are announced the day before the Oscar noms, so too is the reward "ceremony". The Gala 30th Annual Razzie Awards will be held March 6th at Barnsdall Gallery in Hollywood, CA. The categories and the competition for ROTF is below, click here for find out the rest.

Worst Picture
'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
'All About Steve'
'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'
'Land of the Lost'
'Old Dogs'

Worst Actress
Megan Fox - 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
Beyonce Knowles - 'Obsessed'
Sandra Bullock - 'All About Steve'
Miley Cyrus - 'Hannah Montana: The Movie'
Sarah Jessica Parker - 'Did You Hear About The Morgans?'

Worst Screen Couple
Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox or any Transformer - 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas - 'Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience'
Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper - 'All About Steve'
Will Ferrell and any co-star, creature or "comic riff" - 'Land of the Lost'
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner - 'Twilight Saga: New Moon'

Worst Supporting Actress
Julie White - 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
Candice Bergen - 'Bride Wars'
Ali Larter - 'Obsessed'
Sienna Miller - 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'
Kelly Preston - 'Old Dogs'

Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'
'Land of the Lost'
'Pink Panther 2'
'Twilight Saga: New Moon'

Worst Director
Michael Bay - 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
Walt Beeker - 'Old Dogs'
Brad Silberling - 'Land of the Lost'
Stephen Sommers - 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'
Phil Traill - 'All About Steve'

Worst Screenplay
'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'
'All About Steve'
'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'
'Land of the Lost'
'Twilight Saga: New Moon'

Transformers 3 Filming In Chicago?

Pre-production is in full swing for pre-production and it looks like Bay may have made some progress on his location scouting according to an observation from "jamtron". He reports that while driving by Chicago Studio City, he saw a sign for Michael Bay's office indicating that filming may occur at the site and possibly around the city.

Chicago was also one of the cities Bay mentioned he was checking out for the film. As the name suggests, the facility is Chicago, IL and can be used for the movie production with large spaces for set construction and production offices. Recent productions as the site include Prison Break, Wanted and Public Enemies. If the first two movies are any indication, filming on Transformers 3 is likely to being in May or June.

UK Toy Fair Reveals Power Core Details And More

The UK Toy Fair was held recently and Hasbro was in attendance with details about their future plans for Transformers including Power Core, War for Cybertron, Revenge of the Fallen, and more. Sadly no pictures but thanks to Transformers At The Moon and TFormers, here is a summary of some of the highlights.

- War for Cybertron Optimus Prime and Bumblebee: Prime looks almost Voyager class in size. BB has "awesome vehicle mode" with metallic gold paint scheme.
- Universe Seaspray: Voyager sized toy with blue, white and yellow color scheme with boat alt mode. Image indicates this is a new mold, but not sure. Seems large enough to hold a few scouts on the deck.
- Power Core Combiners is a sub-line for movie based "Transformers" that will come in 2 and 5 packs. The 5 pack combiners form Bruticus.
- New RPM molds including Drift, a Bumblebee track set, and Stealth Force which is deluxe size vehicles with fold out weaponary)
- Transformers: Animated may be "phased" back in for the UK in late 2010.

The Hasbro flyer image is from Private Universe and is the first offical confirmation of the Power Core line, Battle Ops Bumblebee and the new Seaspray. It also shows the official transition from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to just "Transformers" for the toy line.

The Power Core Combiner's line is described as "New segment based on the combination theme introduced in Revenge of the Fallen. Combination play delivers an interchangable system of combiner robots, servering as a range of body parts and weapons."

The new lines will start hitting toy shevles in late 2010.

Legends Devastator, Other Exclusives In February

Hasbro has posted its list of exclusives that will be hitting stores shelves starting in February including Legends class Devastator. Overall, 10 different sets total of exclusives are being released for Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Target and K-Mart. Sadly no exact dates nor pricing is provided for any of the sets. Below is a quick summary, click here for details and images.

Wal-Mart
Legends class Constructicon Devastator - Seven Legends sized transforming constructicons form the evil robot
ROTF: Road Rival Showdown - Two scout class toys named Beachcomber and Deadlift, both repaints of previously released toys.
ROTF Windy City Chase - Two scout class toys named Slap Dash and Trenchmouth, both repaints of previously released toys.

Toys R US
ROTF Shanghai Showdown - Deluxe class Ice Cream Truck Twins and white repaint of Voyager Demolisher.
Transformers Animated Arcee - Deluxe class Arcee.
Transformers Animated Ratchet - Deluxe class Ratchet, with detachable shock paddles that seems more cartoon accurate.

Target
ROTF Bumblebee and Shadow Striker - Two legends class repaints.
ROTF Rally Mudflap and Offroad Skids - Two legends class repaints.
ROTF Smokescream and Starcream - Two legends class repaints.

K-Mart
Nebular Starscream - Voyager class repaint with dark grey and green-something color scheme.

First Look At War For Cybertron Prime And Megatron Toys

Thanks to UGO.com, below are the first official images of Transformers: War for Cybertron Optimus Prime and Megatron toys that will be released with the video game this summer. As you can see, the images retain the classic color scheme of each faction leader while presenting a brand new Cybertronian alt mode for each. (via TFW2005)

Bay: TF3 Location Scouting Begun

Michael Bay has provided to his official website a brief update on his pre-production efforts for Transformers 3 and also assistance he helped provide for the devastation in Haiti. Click here to view images of the team heading to Haiti.

Hello everyone,

Busy scouting - Chicago, Detroit, and Washington D.C. for Transformers last week. Things are going well. The script is feeling very different from the other two. I ended my scout down in Miami this weekend to load my plane with 14 Florida Surgeons, specialists in various fields and flew them down to Haiti. We then returned with a planeload of a team of exhausted Miami Fire rescue. It is proving very difficult for these volunteers to get back home.

They say the news hardly gives the true scope of what really happened. They really feel about 500,000 probably died. One of the worst stories I heard from people down there - because of the huge lack of education in Haiti – when the earthquake struck – everyone ran inside buildings most likely to their graves. The state of Florida is really pulling their weight in this massive effort. Here some pics:

Michael

First TF Unite For The Universe Images

As mentioned the other day, the Revenge of the Fallen line was going to get another release as a Japan Exclusive under the line title of "Unite for the Universe". Toys R Us Japan had descriptions for "JetPrime" combo and Megatron but no images. Thanks to the TFHenkon blog, below are images of those two toys.

They retain the look of the movie line but seem to be either new molds or modifications of existing molds. JetPrime seems to be two parts. One is Optimus Prime with robot and vehicle mode while Jetfire is really just the backpack component that doubles as a gun and trailer or sorts. Megatron appears to be more movies accurate with paint job and detail but also seems to have extra flaps for some unknown reason.

War For Cybertron Toy Line Confirmed (Updated)

Game Informer Magazine reports that it has confirmed with Hasbro that the upcoming video game Transformers: War For Cybertron will have a small line of toys to go with it.

"In 2010, Hasbro will be introducing a limited assortment of Transformers figures tied to Activision’s War for Cybertron game. At this moment, this is all that we can share with you. We appreciate your understanding."

The details of the line such as price, classes, and more have not been released. So far the only now verified figure is Optimus Prime but it is probably safe to assume that Bumblebee, Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream and a few other fan favorites will make the cut. The game is tentatively scheduled for June 22nd release so safe to assume that Hasbro's goal is to have the toys on store shelves by then.

Update: If the word from Hasbro isn't enough, the Transformers Collector's Club cover image (above) with War for Cybertron Bumblebee should be more then enough verification of the new toy line.

Transformers Linkfest

Alternity A-4 and Transforming Buzz Lightyear
The Disney Label is expanding to include a transforming Buzz Lightyear while the Alternity version of Starscream and Skywarp seems to be have been confirmed to be a Mitsuoka Orochi according to the images below from BigBadToyStore.com.

G1 Transformers Game Coming to iPhone
Glu Mobile's Transformers G1: Awakening is "coming soon" to the iPhone. The game is apparently a converted version of a mobile game that was released sometime in late 2008. The game appears to feature many G1 classic characters and looks almost like a version of Advance Wars. Below is a non-audio trailer of the mobile version.



VES Nominates Revenge of the Fallen
The Visual Effects Society has announced their nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen received one for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture" (wow that is a mouth full). The competition includes 2012, Avatar, District 9, and Star Trek. Sadly this is the year of Avatar so Michael Bay and co is going to have to get use to saying "It is just an honor to be nominated."

Transformers: Animated CGI Style
Click the link to view three images of what appears to be a CGI version of Transformers: Animated toys for the Versus sets that will be released with the rest of the line for Japan. The images include Optimus vs. Megatron, Bumblebee vs. Starscream and Ratchet vs. Lockdown.

Transformers XBox Mod, As Clothes Dryer

Transformers related stuff has made a few real life appearances this week that are of note. One is a sweet case mod for the XBox 360, Prime helps explain The Tonight Show fiasco, and Prime also shows up as a dish washer.

XBox 360 AllSpark Mod
As the image shows, the XBox has been transformed into the AllSpark Cube. The mode sports a DVD tray with Decepticon logo, storage compartment, and lighting effects. Click the link above for more images. (via TFormers)

Optimus Prime, Clothes Dryer
A Taiwanese father spent $1,600 for scrap metal and lot of work to create a 14-foot model of the movie version of Prime for his son. Video below, image at link above.