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A final story from the main Hasbro Transformers day over at the Times Center in New York City, where Toy Fair 2018 is still taking place, is the group interview with the Transformers brand team - including infamous names like John Warden and Ben Montano - which our Twincaster podcaster megatronus was present for and recorded in full!
The team took questions from a varied assortment of podcasters, fansites, media sites, many of whom we've also collaborated before, on topics such as Masterpiece toys, the relationship with IDW comics, exclusives, the aesthetic of Cyberverse versus what we might see in War for Cybertron, the possibility of Unicron in a crowdfunded effort, the Bumblebee movie and its toyline, and more. We've highlighted below the questions and responses, including the more trivial and brief, for your perusal - take a read, join the discussion, and let us know what you think!
More villains in MPM line? (MPM-1 Starscream already present, but..)
Would love to do that, more MP figures to talk about later in the year, but we do want to balance out the factions.
Difference between MPM and Studio Series, in terms of character selection in particular?
Global accessibility with Studio Series so as many as possible, MPM is more selective by its nature. Trying to catch a new generation of grown kids too. Attempt to create entirely new toys for this demographic, and have fun with the line later down the road.
Bumblebee movie shift affecting the line?
Not in release (April 2018), they were supposed to come out together but only some characters have been moved later to coincide with June release. Studio Series collection will host the movie line, but not intended as a catch-all (Thundercracker an exception). Robot modes are scale-accurate, fit a collector shelf, cautious about the numbering system, a narrative woven into it, including backgrounds and cut-outs.
Future of Generations?
Power of the Primes ends in 2018. War for Cybertron starting in January 2019, no reveal of the new fiction yet so plenty of speculation welcome.
Why another trilogy?
It helps and invites new fans into the franchise, casual fans and kids. Trilogy invites to speculate, not lead to an ecosystem – it’s a storytelling universe, as per Hasbro blueprint.
Comments on unification of Takara Tomy and Hasbro?
The relationship and cooperation has always been there, this just allows for bringing multiple fandom factions – allowing things like Movie Masterpiece and Takara Tomy Masterpiece lines to be accessible to everyone. Cooperation is key, and building on the passions of both teams, in a very genuine way.
Any plans to move away from stickers, or get better?
We hear the concern, but stickers will continue in Prime Wars. Next chapter will be approached with fan feedback in mind – though cannot reveal yet. War for Cybertron is a new take on things, moving a little further away from the callbacks and throwbacks in POTP too, though story can feel a little more familiar.
Masterpiece continuing after the MPM line?
Looking at more Decepticons.
How is Toys R Us situation affecting Hasbro Transformers?
Not much of a comment, though Studio Series Thundercracker is a TRU exclusive. We hope to continue partnership.
Fan-vote: is there an IDW influence, and what is the Hasbro-IDW relationship continuing?
Fans are voting on a pair, not on singles. Yes, the pairings are inspired by elements of IDW, but each can fill in blanks in the toyline in different ways, that those guys can fill them. Fans have a way of organically to play and work in the battleground story. There is intentional conversations, pairings have love/hate elements, and may jar with some.
We are wrapping up current IDW continuities this year, Unicron is coming to devour everybody. The intention is to continue after that, whatever comes next. Towards end of year we should know more, but we will collaborate on more stories.
Do pairings have a gimmick? Are they new molds?
No. War for Cybertron line may include some previous molds, but intention is to give good representation of the characters. Fans are just voting on the idea of which character will best fit a toy.
(TLK Hot Rod, TR Scourge and Highbrow are examples of Partial Tool – technical shorthand klaxon – good deal of model making involved, plans are thought out strategically, already working on War for Cybertron.)
We’re always part of the conversation as partners, but we’re focusing on Bumblebee right now. Lots of toy concepts, lots of Cyberverse, Studio Series, War for Cybertron – we’re just pausing on the movieverse, in no way distracting us.
Bumblebee film will hopefully show what we can do collectively.
Any bets with Star Wars team on who will do best?
Hoping on parents bringing kids to the movies, that’s all. Travis Knight did grow up with G1 like I did [John Warden], so we’re expecting a new fan experience.
Cyberverse: hard G1 inspiration reason rather than RID? Female Decepticon make its way in other aspects of the brand?
Definitely yes on the latter, Shadow Striker in the series. Aesthetic is aimed to engage all generations, for robot mode at least, a currently fragmented fandom interest (BW, G1, etc) – unification of brand, of lines, of generations of fans. Opening up a dialogue and viewership, which is definitely not a G1 story, it starts in current day but there is an element of comfort for parents and older fans.
A lot of families in fan community, it’s exciting to bring them to the brand and share with kids, nieces, nephews. That doesn’t detract from Generations, War for Cybertron appealing more to the older fans and collectors.
Authentics will continue, they’re not tied to any story or fiction – just classic characters for a casual shopper, grandma buying ‘an Optimus’ or you just want ‘a Megatron’.
Exclusives?
Only TRU Thundercracker announced for now, but we do have more lined up for the year.
Would fans want to see a crowdfunded HasLab Unicron? What kind of pricing? Point fans to HasLab, talk about it, read about it, podcast about it. Talk about what you want to see, we’re listening. #Unicron
Recently Den of Geek did an interview with the one and only Peter Cullen. In the article he talks about his role as Optimus Prime and Ironhide throughout the franchise, including the most recent Titans Return animated series. He reflects on the moment when he got word that Optimus would be written out of the Transformers: The Movie (1986). He goes on to talk about how he portrays Optimus and Ironhide in the live action films by Michael Bay.
He later gives some advice in the article to those who aspire to be voice actors. It is worth the read for those who are thinking about being the voice of a character in a show. If you would like to check out Peter Cullen's latest work, Transformers Prime Wars: Titans Return is available on Go90.com.
I was a 1980s kid, and I remember seeing Transformers: The Movie and just being devastated by the death of Optimus Prime. How did you first find out about this plot point, and after Optimus died did you find yourself grieving for the character?
I was stunned when I first read about it. I was reading the script, getting ready to go into recording. I was with Frank Welker and I got to the page, and I just read it and when the dust settled in my brain, i said "wait a minute, this is it, I’m not coming back. Oh damn." Or whatever curse words were available at the time, I chose those that were appropriate.
It was disappointment for sure. As an actor you either learn to put up with rejections or disappointments or you’ll break, you'll succumb. I'm used to that. Most actors are used to that, getting hired for something that means a lot to them. You hope, you hope, you hope. Your hopes shouldn't be dashed because you didn’t get the part. But in my case I was a little disgruntled because there was no explanation, there was no intended meaning behind it, other than years later to find out they were just trying to create a new character to sell more toys. But at the time you interpret that as being “my character sucks, God I must have been terrible in this role.”
We didn’t get fan mail. I never received a letter of fan mail although I was told it did come. And we didn’t have the internet so there was no thermomenter to judge how popular or unpopular something was. So move on, go on to the next job.
Of course now you realize how beloved Optimus is. Jumping ahead a few years when you were first cast for the Michael Bay Transformers movie, was your approach to the film version of Optimus different than his cartoon counterpart?
I think the answer is a two-fold answer. The character traits were ultimately for me going to be the same, but how to enact them and make the change from a small television screen with painted pictures to a full-on, blown up 45-foot character who is talking to human beings in real-life form in a believable way, that was something that had to be contended with. And I might add that Michael Bay and the people in his department were very concerned whether or not Peter Cullen could act. In other words could he act in a real-life situation and the way they were going to conceive it and portray it?
I had to audition a total of three times, they weren’t quite convinced. I don’t blame them, because at the audition Michael asked me if I played any other characters and I said yes, I played Ironhide and Ironhide had a scene with Optimus Prime. There was a girl reading Ironhide not giving it any dimension. I assumed that Michael Bay was at least aware of some of these characters so I said “if you don’t mind I’d like to read that part, I did him two and half years on the television series." She said ok.
With another episode in the Machinima animated series Transformers Titans Return now available, we also have yet another interview with voice actor and Transformers legend Peter Cullen - the voice of Optimus Prime in the series along with many others - courtesy of Comic Book.com!
The brief conversation can be found below, and you can head here for the full piece. Make sure to check back later on Seibertron.com for a review of the latest episode, too.
During a conversation about Transformers: Titans Return, a webseries that brings Cullen back together with Transformers: The Movie co-star Judd Nelson and other legendary Transformers names, the voice acting legend (who long played Eeyore in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise) recalled the wild days of early Transformers seasons when none of the cast were sure anyone was watching.
“I’m a Generation One fan, always have been for many reasons, obviously,” Cullen told ComicBook.com. “It’s the beginning and a successful beginning and a continuing journey of success. Generation One, to see it all happening that way again, reminds me sentimentally of the old days. The only thing missing is the cast; I don’t work with the full cast the way that we used to. I miss the days when we would have laugh attacks and production would shut down for five or six minutes due to everyone laughing so hard they couldn’t stop. Those were the days that I cherished.”
He added that in those early days, working with people like Mel Blanc (in some non-Transformers work) and Frank Welker (Megatron), he was constantly floored by the level of talent that he was working with, even if animation was still considered something of an acting ghetto at that time.
“These creative minds, these vocal geniuses playing multiple characters, inventing them, there’s no greater thrill to be sitting and recording with people who are that capable. You’re just in awe; it’s jaw-dropping,” Cullen said. “I have great appreciation for them; and it's great to get someone like Judd Nelson back. What a great, talented person and a special kind of human being. His approach to acting is a great, great asset to the franchise. We don’t have much opportunity to work with too many other people, but Frank Welker I do. We convene together at conventions, et cetera, and we get an opportunity to back and forth with each other, which is laugh-attack-ville.”
We now have some more behind-the-scenes content regarding Machinima's Titans Return series, thanks to a new video posted over on the Transformers official Facebook page, sent to us by Scottimus Prime and his Toy Hunter Productions! The video features former Power Rangers Star Jason David Frank, who talks about his role as Emissary in the new show. The Green Power Ranger talks about what aspects of Emissary's character he likes the most, how he has a lot of personality for such a small bot, and more! Emissary joins the returning cast of Windblade, Optimus Prime, and Megatron with fellow new characters to the Machinima-verse, Overlord, Preceptor, and Trypticon!
Find the full video down below, and continue the discussion in the Energon Pub forums! Remember to keep your optics and audio sensors tuned to Seibertron.com for all the latest Transformers news!
The Full Force podcast, a GI Joe podcast, interviewed the previous Manager of Global Brand Development at Hasbro, Mark Weber.
While a great portion of the podcast focuses on GI Joe, we do get an insight on his time in the Transformers brand. His very first project that was all his was Bot Shots. He did also participate in the conception of the Prime Wars Trilogy and how they got an idea to bring yearly themes to the Generations line. We learn how Hasbro did indeed choose to extend the Combiner Wars line an additional six months because of how much of a hit it was.
We also learn that Titans Wars was the original name of the second part of the trilogy but that it was changed for legal issues.
There is also a short but awesome discussion on what Mark Weber wanted after the Prime Wars trilogy, which was to simply have a line made of mostly new characters, telling a new story, which would be akin to a G3 (his words). Hasbro often states that the toys are part of a narrative they are telling and the idea is carried forth here with totally new characters. He wanted new styles and new vehicles, like a snowplow and a black and grey hearse Decepticon called Tombstone.
What he really wants to stress out is how the brand (both Transformers and GI Joe) are in desperate need for new characters and fresh ideas. This is interesting since it is also a growing sentiment among fans. Afterall, G1 and Beast Wars have such a long lasting impact among fans and in the brand for the simple reason that it is there that so many characters were introduced while later shows and continuities simply used these existing characters in different ways.
While there is a lot of focus on GI Joe, the discussion of managing the brand is applicable to Transformers and we learn how Hasbro's waves and yearly output is decided. This helps us understand how the lines that come out look the way they do.
The Transformers Specific portion is found at the 6hr 19 mark and you can listen to it here.
Not too long after the last interview with Peter Cullen about his role as Optimus Prime in Machinima's Titans Return animated series, we have another one with the great man, coming from the LA Times! The questions cover how he first landed the role back in the days of Generation One; the changes to the voice-acting process over time since he started his career; his bond with frequent (though not present in Machinima's series) voice of Megatron, Frank Welker; and even more!
The article doesn't touch too much on Machinima's series specifically, but it nonetheless contains a fair few interesting tidbits about Cullen's role, and his feelings on the current acting environment in animation. Check out a couple excerpts below, and of course read the full interview here! And as always, stick around Seibertron.com for more news and coverage of Machinima's series (like our review of the recently-released third episode) as it happens!
Did you ever think you'd see the Transformers characters as characters in a live-action/CGI movie?
No. Not really — especially after the 1986 [animated] movie because I was killed off. Frankly I didn't pay much attention to the show after that. I may have checked out a few [episodes] while I was doing it, but I had a family of my own. And my kids — my son — was not interested in cartoons and animation. He was a motocross and jet ski guy. He was not a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV kid. So I didn't get any feedback for years!
Your animation nemesis — voice actor Frank Welker — isn't in this latest Transformers iteration, but playing against his Megatron for so many years must have created a special bond.
A great bond. There's something about voiceover actors ... they're really underestimated and taken for granted. When I'm in a room with these talented guys ... they're really talented people and humble people. They're just marvelous people. Judd Nelson, who did Rodimus Prime or Hotrod in the newest series, what a great guy. Sensational human being and great talent. A great intellectual approach to a lot of his characters. And Frank — that's a bond that has lasted decades. It's such a privilege to be in a room with those people.
A lot of voiceover now is done, as you said, on a microphone in someone's home nowadays. Most would imagine that performing in-studio with other actors adds a different tone as opposed to being strictly digital.
The way I would express it would be like if you played on a football team and you weren't in the main locker room getting ready for a game around all the other players. You were just put in a room with your uniform and told to meet up on the field. You're missing 98% of the whole thing. You're missing the team, the camaraderie , the energy, the spirits, the willingness to combine efforts together and produce something good. When you're with a full group, you're inspired. And not only that, but the amount of laughter that ensued was just — you can't describe it. If it was school, we'd all be staying in detention.
Because it is so recognizable, have you ever thought of your voice as a liability in terms of getting other roles?
No. I never use Optimus Prime's voice for anything else. I studied voice, so I know I can get down and [lowers his voice] add the timber. It's just something I was capable of doing and I've never looked back.The voice is an instrument like any other. It's just about how you play it.
You should be aware by now that the second animated series from Hasbro and Machinima featuring the Transformers, Titans Return, is being released in the US on the go90 app platform - and surely soon to follow for non-US viewers by other means, like its predecessor Combiner Wars. Our review of the first episode can be read here, and a review of the second will be making its way to the front page later today, too.
With that covered, you may want some more behind the scenes material, and Collider is here to provide the content - namely, an interview conducted and coordinated via Twitter with the voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen, returning to the franchise once more after the live-action movies and the animated shows Robots in Disguise and Rescue Bots. Check out some selected parts below, and read the whole piece here - which touches on a lot more than Titans Return, but always in a Peter Cullen and Optimus Prime shape!
It’s impossible to separate you from Optimus Prime, having voiced the character for over 30 years, but looking into the far-off future, what would make you step away from voicing Optimus?
Cullen: Yeah, well that’s been done before. I’ve already rehearsed that scene. [laughs] I’ve only done five movies since then, so it’s not like we’re talking, in terms of expansive years, since 1986, I’ve done a few games, Machinima, the second series now with them. Other than that, it’s been a very frugal way of making a living as Optimus Prime. What’s in store for him, I don’t know. But I’m not willing to give it up as long as it’s popular and people care for it. I would respect that part and continue on without much debate. But whether or he’s going to? I don’t know. I can’t speak for the multitude of people who are behind the steering wheel of this huge machine. If it all goes well, I’ll be doing it for years to come!
What was his reaction to being approached to play Optimus prime
Cullen: Elation, because I had waited a couple of weeks, which is not uncommon when you’re auditioning for a series and when they inform you that you have that role or that part. But more to the point, I had no idea who Optimus Prime was outside of the small audition that I did. In those days, back in the 80s, we were constantly doing cartoons, Frank Welker and I. We would meet at auditions sometimes or end up on a show and say, “Hey! You got a gig? So did I! That’s great!” That’s how we met by the way. Over the years, you try to add up all those feelings and say, “What actually happened?”
I remember the audition, I remember doing an impersonation of my brother who was a Marine, and heeding his advice, not to be an a-hole. Be real, don’t be Hollywood, that kind of thing. An audition that lasted perhaps a few minutes ended up changing my world, my life. That character has affected many different people’s lives in many different ways; I’m always overwhelmed by that, humbled by it, to tell you the truth.
[...]
What’s his favorite moment or scene as Optimus
Cullen: I would probably have least-favorite scenes. [laughs] I would include, the most important one, when I did the death scene. The other ones are doing all the screaming, yelling, blood-throat scenes; those are my least favorite. My most favorite scenes, which they don’t do enough, are when he’s written to express compassion and understanding. They never really want to express that level of Prime, which I thought was his most important, valuable trait.
Seibertron.com had the pleasure of conducting an exclusive interview with The Sequence Group, a design and animation firm in Vancouver, who recently animated our favorite franchise, Transformers. Teaming up with Kabam, Sequence helped create cinematic trailers for the TRANSFORMERS: Forged to Fight mobile game. Through speaking to Sequence, we were able to gain better insight into the design of these digital 3D characters, not unlike the live action Transformers films. Due to the interview being conducted in a conversational manner, what you will find below is a description of was discussed, followed by two videos showing the step by step process of creating the cinematics for game studio Kabam.
A Love for Transformers
I was glad to hear how overjoyed the entire team was at the opportunity to dabble in the Transformers franchise. These are all people that grew up with the G1 cartoon and the toys, much like the Forged to Fight team, and they poured their heart and souls into the few minutes we have in the trailers.
Speaking of time, this was their main constraint. Sequence and Kabam initially had longer scenes in mind, especially of the characters emerging from the crash landing, but that had to be cut to make the trailer fit within the tight run time. For those curious about other "deleted scenes", Sequence was eager to show a view from inside the Ark as it crashes, rather than seeing it plummet through the atmosphere.
Level of Creativity in Cinematics Based on a Video Game
I was very curious as to what Sequence’s leeway was in terms of creativity, especially since we are talking about an animated trailer sequence based on a game, based on pre-existing characters and designs.
Ultimately, Kabam had already developed a thorough script and a character roster line up (with design cues for the characters to match up with their looks in Forged to Fight), along with prerecorded voice clips of Peter Cullen. There wasn't any leeway in how Optimus Prime appeared, but the rest was up to Sequence, with a little guidance from Kabam’s talented art department.
Working closely with the Art Direction team at Kabam, a huge range of visual elements had to be strategized for maximum impact; including camera angles, lighting effects, particle effects, basically everything in the way a shot is composed and presented.
The example given to me was Megatron's reveal. The script says when Megatron is revealed and his design was provided by Kabam (using his Revenge of the Fallen body), but it was up to Sequence to make this moment stand out as much as possible. Sequence added extra smoke effects, worked with lighting and established the environment to add a sense of foreboding to his reveal, and that of his Decepticon army. By combining creative concepts between Sequence and Kabam, the two companies found a quick but efficient way to establish who Decepticons are (the bad guys), even to someone who may not know these characters.
While the trailer is very quick, a lot of thought went into making each character feel unique, which is important in a fighting game with different classes and different characters that suit different play styles. Sequence aimed to have each main character walk and move in a particular way, for instance, with supervision from Kabam’s game developers.
Lighting and Challenges with Scale
I wondered if Sequence was given any specific directions. It turns out Kabam wanted to use lighting like in a car commercial, highlighting bot shapes to make the models look as good as possible, since many of these models reflect toys we already have. And that is what Sequence was going for, because as I learnt, having 3D models be simpler and smoother makes them lose a sense of scale. Light needs to bounce off of the material in order to make it look realistic to the human eye, so you have to add as many light sources as possible.
This lighting approach ends up working fine if your goal is an awesome toy commercial, which was the goal in this case, but then I realized the big challenges Michael Bay and company may have had with bringing these characters to life. The importance of lighting and its connection to realism was very revealing to me. I will admit, I do prefer a smoother, simpler look to my Transformers over the extremely busy designs in the Michael Bay films, but this helped me understand the choice behind it.
In animation of any kind, it is the studio artists who can control infinite light sources in fictional 3D space but once you mix in live action, the light sources have to be consistent with whatever else is seen on screen in order to keep the realism that both the CG and live action components of a shot are sharing in the same space. So since the light source is limited by the practical environment (for example, take the shot in the 4th movie where Lockdown hunts down Ratchet), the realism of the scale within the shot has to be compensated by the light bouncing off of as many bot faces and facets as possible, hence the very busy character designs. And in a less technical way of seeing it, it is harder to get a sense of scale with a smooth surface so adding a lot of detail, rivets and plating to any design of a robot helps you see and understand how big it is, even in closeups where there is nothing to compare its size to.
Challenges with Posing and Positioning
Lighting and complexity of design isn't the only challenge when it comes to animating Transformers. The thing is, as explained by The Sequence Group, Transformers don't usually have the same proportions as humans. When keeping the more blocky character designs, which they do in this case, the action can be obscured by a bot's chunky features so it's all about positioning and layout. Since the characters are blocky, certain poses will result in the viewer having a hard time understanding the intended action.
Sequence pointed toward a shot of Bludgeon entering the scene. They wanted to capture the most dynamic angle possible as his sword dropped down. After much discussion, Kabam and Sequence decided on having the camera fall under him and off center, so the audience could see as much of his pose as possible. This is very different than having two humans fighting with swords, I was told, where several clean and readable angles are possible.
This also gives me another tip regarding recent choices in the Michael Bay films where the robots have gotten much closer to human proportions starting in Age of Extinction with Optimus Prime, Lockdown, Crosshairs and Drift (followed by all those knights in The Last Knight). Perhaps their solution to having clearer action scenes was to make the bot character models more humanoid than ever before in the franchise, instead of limiting possible camera angles.
Difference between Trailer and Game Graphics and Trailer Breakdowns
From a technical aspect, I was curious as to how these trailers differed from cinematics in the game itself. For instance, why couldn't the game's engine be used for trailer cinematics? As it turns out, the difference lies in the amount of light-sources available and the overall quality. If graphics were all in engine (rather than pre-rendered), you wouldn't be able to run the game.
Now here are two videos showing the breakdown of two trailers. You will see how it starts with an illustrated 2D storyboard, then transforms into rough 3D models, and then rendered models, followed by all the environmental effects.
Special thanks to founder and Creative Director Ian Kirby and Executive producer Dan Sioui for the interview as well as Georgia at Grammatik PR for helping this interview happen and connecting us with The Sequence Group.
Seibertron.com was able to speak with Ben Montano (Head of the Transformers Brand) and John Warden (Transformers Design Manager) from Hasbro's Transformers brand team at HASCON. Below is a transcript of the interview. The interview was done by our very own Megatronus and it includes Hasbro staff using "CHUG" as an actual term and them speaking of Machinima as a source of inspiration for their continued stories within the brand, among other neat tidbits. A video of this same interview can be found below for the full experiences and line dissection, enjoy!
Megatronus: A few years ago you guys released news of a design bible, or the brand bible I should say, that kind of guides the entire Transformers Universe. And I know you guys have a very long road map, so can you tell us about any changes that have been made in this brand bible recently or any other content in that repository that you are thinking of using for the road map 3 to 5 years out?
Ben: There's things, there's characters designs, there's stories, continuity that we have mapped out in this bible, but it is an ever living document. There are certain constants that will be there; like certain characters, what they stand for and their roles they play as they get introduced into content. But 100%, as we look into the Bumblebee film, there's new additions to that, and twists to that, that will have a ripple effect on the brand and we are fortunate enough to be part of those and those ripples in our continuity. Some of the fun is we give creative license to Machinima and the great writers there and on the new and upcoming Cyberverse series that we want to bring freshness to the story so we want to bring freshness to the story so we create the canon but the canon flexes and constricts when it's needed but the constants are there and John is one of the stewards as we go forward.
John: Yah, trying to align the continuity as much as we can in a natural feeling way has always been a challenge on Transformers going way back even before my tenure on the brand. It's kind of a rolling stone and as new toys come out and as the spotlight shifts, we adjust accordingly. And honestly, the brand does too as it's affected by pop-culture and things in the world.
Ben: And the fans are helping us write this book too, like with the fan polls.
Megatronus: When can we expect the next fan vote and can we expect anything to happen with the runner-ups to those fan-votes like Omega Supreme, Scorponok, Deathsaurus, etc?
John: Oh, absolutely. I mean, as you guys have witnessed with a lot of the previous fan-votes, I think it's an opportunity for us to kind of just get a consensus from the fan community. Honestly, it's too early at this time to speak in any kind of definites, but we reach out to the fan community, it's a great opportunity to gauge the excitement level. Also kind of test out, you know, is Beast Wars becoming more popular? Like when we put Deathsaurus and Star Saber in a fan-poll, for example, it was actually an opportunity for us to understand the depth of exposure that people had to the Japanese Headmaster series. Like, is that too deep or as it turns out a lot of people know about Deathsaurus and are asking about it. So a lot of times I say "stay tuned", but in this case really we've got some things on the horizon that will make fans happy.
Megatronus: So you're saying we can definitely expect another one in the future sometime soon?
John: Yah, I think we can safely say that.
Ben: For sure. When? To be seen. But yah.
John: Can't say which one or ones.
Megatronus: We can't probe too deeply here, we can just give crumbs and hope for more. After you exhaust the nostalgic G1 type gimmicks, I mean we're getting to Pretenders even, how do you see the brand moving forward? Do you think that we will be looking at brand new concepts and new characters, adding them to the fold in the vein of Windblade, or do you think that you might integrate other Transformers continuities like Unicron Trilogy, Animated or RID, into the Generations line?
Ben: Can we say all of the above?
John: No absolutely, all of the above. And, you know, one of the things is too if you think of the CHUG characters and things like that, its possible to go back and do figures of again and again and again. Once you get removed from Combiner Wars, you could hypothetically do Combiners again in a couple of years. It's about how do you bring that innovation and freshness back while not corrupting the original intent or awesomeness of the character in the first place. I think we've really tried our best to take the essence of the what made the characters cool in the first place and add detail, add articulation, and take the spirit of somebody like Skullcruncher or Highbrow, and do the ultimate version of it. I think as we look to the future, there's a lot more that we haven't even thought about, a lot of awesome anniversaries on the horizon and things like that, so I think fans can rest assure that even though the Prime Wars Trilogy is coming to an end, there's lots of awesome stuff on the horizon.
Megatronus: That's good to hear. Speaking of Prime Wars and Power of the Primes, you mentioned Combiners, can you tell us what inspired you guys to come back to the Combiners concept after Titans Return?
John: Honestly, it's you guys, it's fans. It's coming to events like this, we talk to fans, we listen, we read online, and we just have to kind of always be cognizant of what people are talking about and thinking about. We heard loud and clear that fans wanted the Dinobots, and we wanted to take it to the next level and make it a Combiner. We've heard loud and clear that fans want Terrorcons and things like that and there's lots of things that we're listening to and even Pretenders, we heard, Pretends are on the horizon. There's things out there that fans want. We're always listening and kind of being aware of it, and what the future holds we can't really say but know that there's always excitement to kind of bring back things so if fans of Titans Return are like "Oh man, I didn't get my Apeface or somebody that I really wanted" don't feel like it's the end-all-be-all at the end because as stewards of the toy franchise we are able to weave these things in where they make sense.
Megatronus: So I know there are a couple of people very high up at Seibertron.com that are quite obsessed with Pretenders, so I'm glad to see that some of them are here.
John: Oh, really? [Laughs]
Megatronus: In Power of the Primes, you have both combiners and Titan Masters present so those are both very independent stand-alone concepts. So what kind of play patterns are you looking to inspire by having them included in a single line?
John: [Laughs] Well, Ben and I, early on, when we were talking about this thing, it's kind of like the last act at a really awesome rock-and-roll show so you've got like the first band comes on stage they do an awesome job and the second band, maybe a different music style ...
Ben: Maybe acoustic.
John: Yah, and then in that final act, it's both of those guys with an encore, they come on stage together. In Power of the Primes, we've got Primes Masters which are the physical embodiment of the Power of the Primes, some of them deceased, some of them missing in action, but it's the power and essence that they carry. So in a sense, those guys still fit backwards compatible with Titans Return. We also wanted to bring to life all of those great things or tidbits with Combiners. There's lots of cool things that we can still do, that we can still explore, so if you combine those two things together, I think it's a great final act and it's a great final act in our rock show which is the Prime Wars Trilogy.
Ben: Right, I think a lot of what inspired and motivated us too, to be honest with you, was Machinima and their writers there in the storytelling too, when we really started Combiner Wars, it was totally rooted in G1 and G2 kind of lore, it was character first. But as we progressed with this toy line and the stories, we started to introduce new spins, new twists, bring new characters together and stories that hadn't been told and a lot of it for us was "Hey, wait a second, we didn't see this character and that character back in the 80s but there's a story that wasn't told" so we're gonna show that to them in Titans Return or the Power of the Primes series with Machinima. And that for us, it was a creative license and we can do something that didn't happen exactly as it did in 84 through 87. We have a new story universe, we have a new fan community that are going to be engaged in this new idea. So I think that part of it, I don't want to say that the shackles are off, but if we did we looked at it and said we're creating new continuity and extension of continuity. Let's have some fun with it and not be as precious with exactly what may have been celebrated back in the 80s. So that was kind of the fun we had.
John: Absolutely.
Ben: So having writers in the new series expanded our minds and hopefully will blow yours.
John: And honestly, the same can be said with our great partners at Space Ape and all of our other aligned partners across the franchise. And I'll be speaking to this at the Prime Wars Trilogy panel on Sunday. We actually feed off each other when you think about all of the different stories that are happening at the games and the animation and it gives us, like Ben said, a license to try awesome new stuff.
Megatronus: That's great! I am very excited for Power of the Primes. It sounds like you are really excited about Power of the Primes as a highlights reel of kind of the last couple of years, which is awesome to think about in that way, so we've seen two Autobots leaders. Are we gonna see some Decepticon leaders soon in the Powers of the Primes line?
John: Uh ... hmm ... [Rubs chin] Leader class right? unfortunately I can't comment at this time, I don't want to break any hearts or anything.
Megatronus: So, that's fine, we'll ask about a different product. Since we are at HASCON, what's the potential for future crossover products? Because we are in the Transformers booth right now, Marvel's over there, Star Wars is just a skip away, and there's a huge Nerf play center over there. Do you see a lot of potential future crossover products like a new Transformers Nerf gun, a Transformers My Little Pony, something like that?
Ben: We are always looking at that and the Comic-Con Revolution is one step in that direction. There is a really awesome Rubik's Cube mash up we just did which is super cool which I have not ...
Megatronus: Rubik's Cube!?
Ben: Yah, it's like an 8 piece Optimus' head, and I have not yet solved it. It's absolutely insane. So, that one might be obscure, but that's kind of the fun we're having. As long as it's brand right, brand relevant, then we're open to those types of plays. But I would say we have a lot of great stories that we're telling on our own right now, so we'll be pumping out a lot of toys to support those.
Megatronus: That sounds great. Well, I think I have one last question. One of the big reveals of recent days has been Predaking, Titan Class, so ...
John: Sort of. I'm not sure what was that silhouette? I have no idea what that was.
Ben: Well, there was a really cool silhouette.
Megatronus: I've seen some interesting art that would indicate that there might be a large Predaking on the way.
Seibertron: You meant that's not Elita-One?
Ben: It could have been a winged Optimus Prime.
John: Yah, I think it's Winged Optimus Prime.
Megatronus: So that's all we're going to say about that. For now. Okay, so I'll let you guys off the hook. Well, I really appreciate you guys talking to us over at Seibertron.com. We're big fans of the work you do, we look forward to seeing more at the panels this weekend. And HASCON has been amazing!
John: Thank you. I can say one thing about that crazy silhouette. It's big. It's bad. And it's the most awesome thing Hasui and I have worked on since Devastator.
Megatronus: So, since Devastator, so ... so that silhouette is Titan Class, no?
John: No, I can't say that. I'm just saying he's big, he's bad, and uh ...
Ben: Except for those who made it to the Villains panel, any Villain is big and bad, right, especially in the Transformers universe.
[Banter continues ...]
John: Honestly, it's been an honor to have a chance to meet you guys, to talk to you again, and honestly I hope you have fun here at HASCON. We're having a lot of fun. It's crazy!
Ben: Yah, we're psyched and we've seen you guys and a lot of your fans and a lot of past events, whether it's Botcon, and this is special for us, a chance to share this. What I think is really great is that we're having a lot of fun in this conversation and that we can joke about things and what excites me the most is that we can talk about or not talk about things in the future. The fact that we're able to do that is because you guys share the love for our brand, what we're doing, and people keep asking for more. So we want to do this at the next convention and the next HASCON, and so the more everyone can support our brand and property and have fun like this the more we can share in news.
Megatronus: That's amazing. You know. the last BotCon was my first BotCon. So I got to go to the last BotCon, which was great, it was a cool honor to be there. It's an even more interesting journey to see how that's transitioned to this HASCON.
Seibertron: [directed at Hasbro] Are you accidentally inadvertently confirming a HASCON 2018?
Ben: No, I think, like I said, there's a lot of conventions we'll be part of. You'll see us at New York, hopefully I'll be able to drag this fine gentleman there as well.
Megatronus: Coming to my home turf!
John: It's just a train ride away!
Ben: Plenty of conventions to get to hang with you guys at.
Megatronus: We're very much looking forward to it.
John: Awesome.
Megatronus: Thanks so much guys, really appreciate it.
John: Thanks a lot.
Megatronus: John, Ben [shakes hands] Be good, enjoy the rest of HASCON!
John: Same to you.
Megatronus: See you at the panels! Thanks guys! Thanks everyone at Seibertron.com. We'll catch you later!
With the third issue of the IDW Publishing Hasbro crossover First Strike out today - review coming soon, too, so stay tuned - we also have some additional information on some of the upcoming tie-in issues featuring the various titles involved: Optimus Prime, Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, the Micronauts and Rom. Check out the backmatter of the issue below, and join the conversation in the Energon Pub!
Welcome back, IDW Faithful! This month, we’re talking to writers John Barber, Christos Gage and Aubrey Sitterson about their First Strike one-shots featuring Optimus Prime, Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, the Micronauts and Rom!
Where do your stories take place around the First Strike event?
CG: Concurrently. Basically, while all the Cybertronian action is occupying G.I. Joe and Earth's other homegrown defenders, the Dire Wraiths see an opportunity to enact a new and exceptionally brutal attack on our world. But Earth isn't completely defenseless...Rom and the Micronauts are still around, and they're our only chance!
AS: G.I. Joe: First Strike and M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand: First Strike both take place concurrently with the main First Strike series. But while First Strike is set primarily on Cybertron, my two-parter with Ilias Kyriazis is Earth-based. With Scarlett and Roadblock both
off-planet, Shipwreck finds himself in charge of the team, and when a Cobra-backed V.E.N.O.M. attacks, things go about as well as you'd expect for someone with the codename "Shipwreck."
JB: Optimus Prime: First Strike starts during issue one of First Strike, in Colton's initial attack on Cybertron. That fight keeps going for the first few issues of First Strike, so it covers some of what's
going on during the whole battle—Optimus doing stuff you don't see in the First Strike comic itself, including a special attack on a particular Cybertronian character.
How is the status quo set up for the new series and new arcs coming out of the one-shots and First Strike?
CG: You're going to see the first encounter of any real length between Rom and the Micronauts, so we're laying the groundwork for them knowing of each other and working together. There are a
number of things Rom has in common with several Micronauts, which we'll touch on. And as the heroes come together, so too do the villains…
AS: Coming out of G.I. Joe #9, we've got a reinvigorated Cobra and a brand-new Cobra Commander, but we haven't really seen them in action yet. That changes in our First Strike issues, where Cobra begins piecing together a devious scheme that we'll see play out in the pages of our new G.I. Joe series, with art by the amazing Nelson Dániel! Additionally, with V.E.N.O.M. getting folded into the evil organization, G.I. Joe counters by bringing M.A.S.K.'s Matt Trakker onboard! and considering Trakker's particular set of skills, you'll be seeing some notable upgrades on the
team's equipment…
JB: These will bring in some of the characters and stuff that's been happening in Revolutionaries into the ongoing Optimus Prime series. We'll see where that leaves us in the next Optimus Prime arc, "The Dead Come Home."
If you could team up any two characters in the universe, who would it be? And have you done
it yet?
CG: I would love to do an entire series that is just Baron Karza and the head Wraith sorcerer, D'rge, being haughty frenemies. Which I guess kind of gives away that they meet up. Oops!
AS: What kind of question is this, when The Crown Jewel of the Hasbro Universe already features the most iconic odd couple duo in not just comics, but all of fictional entertainment?! I'm speaking, of course, of Rock 'N’ Roll and Skywarp.
JB: In the Hasbro universe? Kup and Action Man, and yes I have—right here, in fact!
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