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Casting has begun for a new Transformers cartoon slated for next year or sometime later. Rumors had previously been stirring that a new cartoon would be made next year for Hasbro's joint project with Discovery, and this just about proves them true.

Michael Bell (voice of Generation One Prowl and others) mentioned in an interview on Moonbase2 that he has indeed auditioned for a role in a new project, here. Generation One Arcee's voice, Susan Blu, was also mentioned to do casting.

some spark all site wrote:Michael Bell auditioned for Ratchet, as well as a character under the name "General Fowler"

Sounds like more humans could be involved.

this cartoon is screaming Movie-Verse look at the name General Fowler sounds like a NEST based commander to me also Prowl is suppose to be in Transformers 3 also.

This is a rumor about Prowl I hope he will be in TF 3.

I hope we get a Swoop that actually talks this time. And we need to bring back Astrotrain. He was all kinds of awesome as far as alt modes go.

Does anyone know when the new cartoon will air? also does anyone how the cartoon will look like? G1, beastwars or cybertron! I hope it dont look like TFA, I mean it was ok, but too kiddish for me..

I'm thinking with the technology we have this could be one of a kind cartoon for Transformers...if it's done right...

It's cool to see voice actors who have worked before with Transformers enter the casting!

I'm very curious about what direction the next cartoon series will take. My one and only hope is that the level of treatment from TFA continues with the next cartoon series.

People may hate TFA, mainly for the art direction, but I think few could rationally argue against the way that the cartoon was on a higher level than a typical cartoon made for kids. Look beyond the art direction of TFA and there are signs of the writers writing for young adults and older as well as the numerous nods and homages to past generations of Transformers that most younger kids just will not get.

Sounds good. Let's hope a few more veterans decide to join in.

I hope Mr. Bell is also cast as Prowl and Swoop for this new iteration of Transformers. It would be interesting to see who else is auditioning for who. Also, in a different site known as tformers.com, there's mention of David Sobolov auditioning for a part. For those of you familiar with Beast Wars, David Sobolov voiced Depth Charge. Here's the link:

http://tformers.com/transformers-first- ... /news.html

i wish robert stack was still alive it would have been awesome to bring him back to do the voice of ultra magnus lets just hope ultra magnus will be in this new project and they can find a good replacement actor to do the voice i just thought of something what if the new cartoon is going to be based on the new video game from activision i bet you the next transformers cartoon is called the war for cybertron

Lord Grimlock wrote:i wish robert stack was still alive it would have been awesome to bring him back to do the voice of ultra magnus lets just hope ultra magnus will be in this new project and they can find a good replacement actor to do the voice i just thought of something what if the new cartoon is going to be based on the new video game from activision i bet you the next transformers cartoon is called the war for cybertron

I wished Orson Wells was still alive to do the voices of Unicron and Primus! Oh well a guy can dream...

Convotron wrote:It's cool to see voice actors who have worked before with Transformers enter the casting!

I'm very curious about what direction the next cartoon series will take. My one and only hope is that the level of treatment from TFA continues with the next cartoon series.

People may hate TFA, mainly for the art direction, but I think few could rationally argue against the way that the cartoon was on a higher level than a typical cartoon made for kids. Look beyond the art direction of TFA and there are signs of the writers writing for young adults and older as well as the numerous nods and homages to past generations of Transformers that most younger kids just will not get.

I didn't mind (and still don't mind) the occasional nod or homage but TFA stretched it to the breaking point where in some episodes it felt like that the nods and homage was what I was watching the show for and that IMHO is not how to make a show good. Sure it was great at first but after awhile it becomes kind of annoying because it feel like the creators are saying: "We can't make this show great on it's own merits so here have this homage to another Transformers series."

Cyberstrike wrote:

Lord Grimlock wrote:i wish robert stack was still alive it would have been awesome to bring him back to do the voice of ultra magnus lets just hope ultra magnus will be in this new project and they can find a good replacement actor to do the voice i just thought of something what if the new cartoon is going to be based on the new video game from activision i bet you the next transformers cartoon is called the war for cybertron

I wished Orson Wells was still alive to do the voices of Unicron and Primus! Oh well a guy can dream...

I wish Scatman Crothers and Chris Latta was still alive to voice Jazz and Starscream respectively.

Cyberstrike wrote:I didn't mind (and still don't mind) the occasional nod or homage but TFA stretched it to the breaking point where in some episodes it felt like that the nods and homage was what I was watching the show for and that IMHO is not how to make a show good. Sure it was great at first but after awhile it becomes kind of annoying because it feel like the creators are saying: "We can't make this show great on it's own merits so here have this homage to another Transformers series."

I criticized TFA for this as well and thought I was alone until now.

Sucks I don't have Discovery anymore... maybe they'll put it on an easier to get channel... I'm hoping...

omega666 wrote:

Nekoman wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:I didn't mind (and still don't mind) the occasional nod or homage but TFA stretched it to the breaking point where in some episodes it felt like that the nods and homage was what I was watching the show for and that IMHO is not how to make a show good. Sure it was great at first but after awhile it becomes kind of annoying because it feel like the creators are saying: "We can't make this show great on it's own merits so here have this homage to another Transformers series."

I criticized TFA for this as well and thought I was alone until now.

You are not alone. That show was nothing but nod.

I've never heard anyone criticize TFA for being too reliant upon past Transformers references until this thread.

I'm curious as to which episodes you folks think are the worst offenders of homages because I can't think of an episode out of all 3 seasons that made me think "Wow, that was a collage of nods and homages.".

I hope Bell gets a part in the new show. Hes one of the best voice actors of all time. Still say his best work was in Legacy of Kain (wished they'd make a new one). All we would need after that is Welker, Scott McNeil & Corey Burton. These voice actors alone could voice the entire show. And i want Dinobot & Rattrap to finally return. As long as Burton doesnt voice Prime again. Use that voice for another character. I wonder if the new game coming up has anything to do with the new show?

All I'm hoping for out of this is that Bell will voice Prowl & Swoop again, I miss his take on the characters. Still, Susan Blu is getting involved so I'm hoping several of the Ocean Group VA will get involved in the new cartoon as well.

Convotron wrote:

omega666 wrote:

Nekoman wrote:

Cyberstrike wrote:I didn't mind (and still don't mind) the occasional nod or homage but TFA stretched it to the breaking point where in some episodes it felt like that the nods and homage was what I was watching the show for and that IMHO is not how to make a show good. Sure it was great at first but after awhile it becomes kind of annoying because it feel like the creators are saying: "We can't make this show great on it's own merits so here have this homage to another Transformers series."

I criticized TFA for this as well and thought I was alone until now.

You are not alone. That show was nothing but nod.

I've never heard anyone criticize TFA for being too reliant upon past Transformers references until this thread.

I'm curious as to which episodes you folks think are the worst offenders of homages because I can't think of an episode out of all 3 seasons that made me think "Wow, that was a collage of nods and homages.".

In particular the "Transwarped" parts 1-3, "Garbage in, Garbage Out" and "Three's a Crowd" were the episodes that pushed it to the breaking point in my opinion.

"Three's a Crowd" was the worst episode of season 3 IMHO and the nods/homages to orginal series were about the only good thing in it and even if the nods/homages in it were kind of lame.

Convotron wrote:I've never heard anyone criticize TFA for being too reliant upon past Transformers references until this thread.

I'm curious as to which episodes you folks think are the worst offenders of homages because I can't think of an episode out of all 3 seasons that made me think "Wow, that was a collage of nods and homages.".

I have no issues with "homages" to previous forms of TFs. I'd rather have "homages" then those damn human criminals in 60ish Batman costumes. Like that princess girl, I could have done without being exposed to that.

As for the new TF series rumoured, any word of Frank Welker? That guy seems to have his fingers in the pie of every cartoon out there, and we can't discount his sheer awesomeness in G1.

I had no problem with homages and it was nice to see characters from different series appear like Hot Shot and Blackout.

I did enjoy Animated for the most part but it was the awful human villains that kept it from rivalling Beast Wars as the best TF show. I can't understand why they would write the Transformers themselves brilliantly and then spoil the series with the likes of Professor Princess. Though I didn't like Wreck Gar or the Constructicons. I just can't take TF's with beards seriously. Only Scourge and Unicron can pull that off.

But I digress. Totally agree with Michael Bell being great in the Legacy of Kain games. A series that needs to be revisited. Would make a fantastic film but only by a director who truely respects the source material like Peter Jackson.

Would love to see Mr. Bell reprise his role as Prowl. In fact it would be nice to see him do so in TF3. Totally loved movie Prowl in the Defiance book. Had a nice G1-esque design too.

I also thought Jeff Bennett did a great performance as Ultra Magnus, very similar to Robert Stack. But then I liked him as Prowl too and I became a fan of him in Gargoyles when he voiced 2 of my favourite characters: Brooklyn and Owen.

Having seen the TFCog dubs of the Japanese Headmasters, it's amazing how a different dub can make or break a cartoon. The original dubs were excrutiating yet TFCog took the same episodes and made them thoroughly enjoyable by redubbing them with a great cast and adding G1 incidental music.

It just goes to show the importance of finding a great cast and how they can elevate a series. Animated, Beast Wars and especially G1, all had amazing casts. Lets hope the new series at least equals them.

I don't think that you can "over-nod" something that was great. Remember the core group that was watching TFA didn't realize that they had just seen an hommage to something else because they had never seen that something else. And the ones that did notice it usually want more of it.

Being 30+ years old, G1 is what I grew up on and love. When TFA came out, I made my son aware of it and watched bits and pieces of it never giving it much of a thought. Then I switched to working night shift. On the weekends, I'd get completely bored in the middle of the night. After glancing oover my figure collection, I realized how many of the TFA molds I actually liked and out of boredom, decided to give the show a go. Thanks to the magic of Youtube, I have been able to watch the first 30 episodes in chronological order and here is what I have noticed:

TFA is a much smarter show than the G1 counterpart. Maybe because its modern, but while every cartoon is farfetched to an extreme extent, TFA is much less farfetched than G1. While I realize that it was an impossibility at the time for the original production crew of G1 due to the fact that they were laying the ground work, I get the feeling when watching TFA that the people who worked on that show are actually TF fans.

The animation is way better. Yes again because it is modern. But I remember all of those animation errors from G1, like Prowl having a decepticon logo or Soundwave being all blue and I remember that those really bugged me when I was a kid.

The continuity in TFA is far superior to G1. With G1, each show was a complete seperate entity from another, each its own story. TFA storyline was much more organized. Each episode was a just a chapter in the much bigger story. It gave you the feeling that the show was actually building towards something bigger. New characters were given proper introductions and regular characters often referenced things that had happned in past shows.

Of course, the previously mentioned hommages. In the garbage episode when Wreck Gar got his spark and was voiced by Weird Al, I thought that was pretty cool. I instantly thought of the 86 movie with the Junkions and autobots living it up with Weird Al playing in the background. And when Wreck Gar dropped the line "I dare to be stupid" in TFA, I about fell out of my chair. There was also a Spike cameo in that episode as well. The very first scene of the series was a video clip from G1 when Rachet is watching a "history" video.

I also like the concept of the Autobot Elite Guard.

I like how the toys actually look like their tv counterparts. I'm not sure if any show and its corresponding toy line has matched as well as TFA.

And of course, the voice acting was top notch, with the voices of Megatron, Prowl, Magnus, and Screamer being the best. Of course, the latter two were hommages to their G1 counter parts along with Grimlock, Blurr, Omega Supreme, Jazz, and maybe others.

Admittedly, there are plenty of things to not like about it too. The art style and OP not being the high commander and what they did with certain characters like Soundwave and the speechless dinobots. But people tend to focus on the negatives which prevent them from actually seeing that the powers that be did a pretty good job with TFA. While it won't replace G1, I am looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes.

If there is going to be a new show and a toyline, it better not look a darn thing like TF Animated. I think Megatron is the only toy I'd ever consider purchasing from that series. I have some sort of repulsive reaction to all of the character designs. It looks like Ben 10 or Teen Titans, with the whole "small mouth to the side" thing going on.

Yeah, the art style is problem for older viewers. I give slack for the art though due to the fact that the show is intended to attract kids to buy toys. Toy wise, I really like the seeker mold. Jazz was agood mold as well. I've been thinking about getting my hands on the voyager cybertron Megatron and repainting it into a G1 deco Galvatron. Some are better than others. I think the line over all is pretty solid.

Yeah, the toys were a bit odd. I don't understand the whole very skinny thighs, large shins thing. It looks awkard. And what was with Jazz having arrows pointing to his crotch? Seriously? I never noticed it until I saw a joke on Deviant Art about it.

Although, I have to admit, I really liked the Shockwave toy and am damn annoyed it never showed up on NZL shelves.