Transformers Event News on Seibertron.com

New Gallery of HASBRO's Movie Optimus Prime Statue From Botcon.

Date: Tuesday, July 3rd 2007 5:17pm CDT
Categories: Collectables, Event News, Movie News
Posted by: Tigertrack | Credit(s): Seibertron

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Seibertron has just posted another fantastic gallery of the very cool, and very large sized Movie Optimus Prime statue that was part of the HASBRO booth last weekend at Botcon.

Check Optimus out here in all his immoratlized glory.

Also be sure to check out our other Botcon galleries here.

Hasbro's Display Area Gallery

Date: Monday, July 2nd 2007 10:55am CDT
Categories: Event News, Site News, Toy News
Posted by: Seibertron

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Views: 15,013

Hasbro had one of their largest display areas ever at BotCon 2007. Everything was on display from Robot Heroes to Real Gear to Masterpiece Starscream to Cyber Slammers and so much more! Click here to view Seibertron.com's gallery of Hasbro's displays.

Hasbro Officially Reveals Target Movie Exclusive Scouts

Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 1:29pm CDT
Categories: Event News, Movie News, Store News, Toy News
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Transformers.com

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Views: 14,650

Hasbro has officially revealed more Target Transformers Movie scouts on Transformers.com. They show official images of the second and third wave figure in package, in robot mode, and alt mode. Click here to view the official announcement.

Hasbro Announces BotCon 2007 Podcast

Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 1:20pm CDT
Category: Event News
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Transformers.com

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Were you one of the many who could not make it to BotCon 2007? Well we have some good news. Hasbro has announced on Transformers.com that they will be posting podcasts of each days events! Click here to download the first two.

BOTCON: LIVE FROM HASBRO'S SUNDAY PANEL

Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 9:30am CDT
Categories: Event News, Toy News
Posted by: Seibertron

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I WILL BE UPDATING THIS THREAD THROUGHOUT THEIR PRESENTATION. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE INFORMATION

WE COULDN'T TAKE PICS OF THEIR PRESENTATION.

Transformers Animated

ALLSPARK POWER
Incinerator - Osprey, Voyager
Landmine - Sector Seven looking buggy
Stockade - Sector Seven GMC Envoy, Decepticon
Desert Attack Brawl (Leader Class) with X-ed out Autobot lgos
Nightwatch Prime
New Robot Heroes - Galvatron, BW Megatron, BW Cheetor

Transformers Animated stuff
------------------------------
Going to give us a sneak peak
Better timeslot for TV show than with Energon and Cybertron
Hasbro thinks that we shouldn't be worrying about things as much as we are.
Worked very closely with Cartoon Network.
People working on cartoon are big fans ... I got the impression that they are moreso than the folks at Hasbro
Wanted to diversify, freshen things up.
It's our new Cartoon series for 2008
Production has been brought back to US

Writing Style
------------------------
Return to character development and story telling similar to BW.
Action driven show - very fluid.
Episodic but ties into an overall Seasonal Arc
Smaller cast of Bots with signifciant character development for each individual character.
Action driven with a dose of Humor.
Major fcosu on personality and abilities
Rich action sequences
Familiar and New characters
Human super-villains and Decepticon villains.

Artistic Style
----------------------------
Highly stylized and fluid animation
More energetic and expressive bots.
Major focus on personality and abilities
Grow from Mechanical to Emotive designs
Familiar and New characters
Realistic and Stylized transformations.
1 transformation is tasmanian devil styled.
Will not be anime cut transformations.
You will really see them transform


Summary
----------------------

Set on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the alien Transformers are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to Earth, the Transformers -- Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Bulkhead and Ratchet -- work in the human world interacting with the 'natives' in exciting and humorous ways. Transformers Animated has been created to showcase the heroic Autobots working together to battle the evil Decepticons and save Earth with kid-relatable plot lines filled with humor, distinctive characters persaonalities and dynamic action.

AUTOBOTS
----------------------------
Ratchet - season Autobot, legitimate combat, cybertronian version of the military, like the guy from Full Metal Jacket
Ironhide will be like the Fantastic Four's Thing.
Prowl is like a ninja.
Grimlock is a T-REX!!! HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE!!!
THERE WILL BE TWO OTHER DINOBOTS IN THE SHOW.
They are 3 crazy dude.
Grimlock looks awesome

DECEPTICONS
-------------------
Megatron is a gun in his Cybertronian mode.
Starscream kind of resembles Cyclonus in jet mode.
Has kind of like a Chris Latta voice
Voiced by Tom Kenny
We will be seeing most of the Transformers in their Cybertronian modes at the beginning of the series.
Blitzwing is a triplechanger (tank, jet, robot) - looks f'in awesome!!!
Kind of a new spin on his character, fun personality quirk: has a split personality
Spinning face gimmick on the toy
Lugnut (similar in body style to Bulkhead)
If Bulkhead is like the Thing, then Lugnut is like the Incredible Hulk.
Lugnut has missiles for hands,
Jet of some sort
BLACKARACHNIA!!! HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE
Different origin story for BA than in BW.
Starts out as a different character entirely, flashbacks, one of the more complicated Decepticons, you'll care more about her.

HUMANS CHARACTERS
------------
Cpt. Fanzone - Police Chief
Sari (girl) and her father Isaac Sumdac
Sari's interaction with the Autobots is unlike her interaction in the past shows. It works out better. Not the typical human sidekick.
Sari is an outcast. Looks to the Autobots for friendship.
Human villians - "Angry Archer" (applause), NOT your typical run-of-the-mill Dr. Archeville character. Super villains ...

OTHER STUFF
-----------------------
The Autobots WILL have their Ark. It looks like a stylized G1 Ark. Crowd: Will there be a toy? No response from Hasbro.
The Decepticons WILL have the Nemesis.
Nemesis dwarfs the Ark. It's GIGANTIC.
The Ark is about the size of one of the spikes on the Nemesis.
Nemesis has a purple lighting and black interior.
Ark had warm colors, circular, multi-level
Showed us some shots of what Detroit looks like.
Showed us a shot of the Sumdac Tower's interior.

What will the toys look like?
Toys developed at the same time as the animation designs.
Animation style allows us to show more personality with each character.
90% animation/toy accuracy.
Takara has really helped out with these designs.
New sculpting style.
No more full line gimmicks!!! WOO HOO! Big round of applause ...
Transformation is the feature.
Signature weapons and poses - attitude and stance.
Range of motion is great!
Allows for the characterization to stand out more.
There are some things they won't be able to do because of joints and stuff.
Accessories will transform?
Convey a greater range of style with these characters.
Wow ... just showed us what deluxe and Voyager Optimus Primes. Look awesome. The stylistic sculpting is there ... match up extremely well with the animated versions. Wow. Just wow! I wish you guys could see this.
Deluxe Bumblebee and Voyager class Bulkhead - really staying faithful to animated look.
Archer: can't thank Takara enough for their help with this line.
Really paid off by working daily with Takara and Cartoon Network.
Deluxe Prowl and Deluxe Ratchet
All figures have great articulation.
Artist rendition (3-D model) of Voyager Grimlock.
Voyager Megatron and Starscream: Megatron is a vertical take off Cybertronian vehicle in this image. I'm confused with the gun mode drawing of him from earlier. Maybe the gun mode Megatron is his earth mode.
Deluxe Blackarachnia looks great!
Lugnut and Blitzwing pics ...

The future
-------------------------
Working on season 2 already.
More familiar and new characters.
Possibility of season 3 and 4.
Desire to create brand new characters ... with cameos by G1 favorites.
Toys will have a "matte" finish like Batman Animated.

Marty Isenberg is on clip they show us.
AllSpark looks like a Matrix/
Optimus has an axe.
Megatron has a sword.
The animation is really slick looking. Everyone is going to love this.
Optimus Prime doese have a mouth and a face shield.
The transforrmation of Optimus Prime looked really cool.
My opinion has officially changed
Optimus says: "transform and roll out."
Opening audio is very cool: hip hop, rock type style.
No transformation audio yet.
The Optimus Prime axe is awesome.
Showed us a space scene.
Optimus pole-vaulted with an extended version of his axe.
HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE.

FALL 2008 ... CLASSICS??????????????????
CLASSICS 2.0
Showed us Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.
Want to continue realistic look with Classics.
"Transformers Universe" in G1 styled font.
Deluxe scale.
Will not be licensed vehicles
In early development.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will not have the same chest, head or design. They look just as different in robot mode as their G1 selves.
Showed us Octane (triple changer): military tanker vehicle and looks like the gun ship from TF Movie that took out Scorponok.
Looking to add an ultra scale to Transformers Universe.
They are planning on doing a new Galvatron figure that is not a repaint of Megatron.

2 segments for fall 2008: Transformers Animated and Transformers Universe (Classics 2.0). I have the impression that the G1 styled font "Transformers Universe" is the official name for Classics 2.0. The fans shouted ... Hasbro heard.

------------------------------

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Why not a cartoon based on the movie? The movie is it's own Universe.
Robot Heroes: wanted to see how well it did before they committed to more figures.
They are a big hit.
Will make a decision in a few months on how to expand the line.
Any chance for an Ultra Magnus that isn't a Prime repaint? YES!
No mentions of Alternators or Titaniums - had to make some choices based ... $2 million dollars invested in Alternators and die-cast in Titaniums ... Hasbro wasn't getting a return on their investment with those lines so they decided to focus on Classics 2.0.
Larger scales for Classics.
Similar number of figures as wave 1 in last fall's Classics line.
Animated Optimus Prime has a detachable trailer.
Classics Jazz or Arcee? Jazz is likely as a Classic. Not sure about an Arcee yet.
Getting more and more difficult to make just a trailer without a feature.
Probably will not do a character in Animated and Classics at the same time.
Probably won't see the Dinobots in the upcoming Classics line.
Grimlock performed really well in the Classics line.
Fan: please make Arcee a real car and not a bike.
There will be an upcoming Combiner. Not sure if they meant Classics or Animated.
The unproduced Titanium molds (Bumblebee, Cosmos, Shockwave and Arcee) could be used for other lines.
Will not be a vending machine Transformer (in reference to the Mountain Dew vending machine Transformer).
Skywarp and Thundercracker might turn up in Animated. Still working with Cartoon Network on this.
Cosmos could end up somewhere. Hasbro said they will keep trying to get us that figure/character.
Titanium will end with WW Prowl and WW Grimlock.
One of the problems with the Titanium and Alternators is that the momentum is hard to keep up. Sounds like those lines just weren't selling.
There will be redecos in the Universe line.
Prowl in the Classics line as a police car?
Said something about Ironhide as well but I didn't catch it.
Susan Blu is the voice director for Transformers Animated.
Hasbro has little to do with voice casting (which translates to they really don't have anything to do with it).
Weird Al will be voicing a character in the Animated series.
The BotCon exclusives will NOT be released at retail. Hasbro will never release a convention exclusive at retail.
It was unknown at the time when the BotCon exclusives were decided if the Classics line would continue later down the road.
Toy trademarking only lasts for a few years which is why they keep reusing the names. It's kind of a "use it or lose it" type of thing.
Could possibly be more female Transformers in later episodes of Animated.
Takara apparently claims they can't find the Dinobot molds.
Might be a garbage truck or school bus type vehicle mode Transformer in Animated.
Fans keep bringing up Arcee to Hasbro. They just want one down right.
Working internally at Hasbro to figure out how to do the cross-over lines with Star Wars or G.I.Joe.
Grimlock will have his familiar talk in the Animated series.
Reaction to Animated and Movie ... let's wait to react until we actually see this stuff. Hasbro: just trust us. Seibertron: they're 100% correct. We spend a lot of time bitching about stuff that we just need to see more visuals of.
Looking to do more than just the G1 season 1 and 2 core characters in the Classics 2.0 line.
Elita-One from comic: Hasbro hasn't discussed it with anyone yet. Lots of people from convention are hoping it will released as a club exclusive.
Leader class Movie Bonecrusher hasn't been decided yet.
Brawl/Devastator error in Movie is just a continuity error. It is supposed to be Brawl.
Archer's favorite character is Lockdown, a Boba Fett-like character.
Classics Decepticons: GALVATRON that is not a redeco of Megatron (Hasbro forgot to mention it earlier).

Detailed Notes From IDW's BotCon Panel!

Date: Sunday, July 1st 2007 1:28am CDT
Categories: Comic Book News, Event News
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Repugnus

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Our own Repugnus has brought us a report from IDW's BotCon Panel. Here is what he reported:


I don't know if something of this nature has been posted yet (I looked around and couldn't find it), so I apologize if this is a similar to anyone else's post(s). The following is a full breakdown of IDW's panel earlier today at Botcon. All questions and answers are paraphrased, but although the quotes are not 100% accurate, I tried to keep my paraphrasing as close as possible to how they said what they said while typing feverishly away on my laptop at the panel.

In attendace from IDW (name spellings may be incorrect): Bill Forrester, Jim Sorenson, Nick Roche, Josh Burcham, Alex Milne, Robby Musso, and Dan Taylor.

They started with Dan Taylor announcing that his notes for the panel were unfortunately lost, and that they'd be winging it (I asked him later at the IDW booth if this was true or just a joke, and he said it's true).

They then proceeded with a slide show, showing artwork for upcoming projects, most of which have already been announced.

While showing cover art for issue #3 of the New Avengers / Transformers crossover (the previously seen pic of Iron Man vs. Skywarp), Dan mentioned that the cover of issue #2, featuring Megatron vs. Spiderman, was rejected by Hasbro, and so they're still working on it.

When they showed the previously seen cover art for the Optimus Prime spotlight, they said that if you've been following the ongoing storyline in the Infiltration/Escalation/Devestation books and the other spotlight issues so far, then you definitely do NOT want to miss this issue! (They had the full issue on display at their booth, but later that day after the panel they gave it away to Mr. Optimus Prime.)

Shortly after that, they showed a slide of a cover by Nick Roche, featuring Swoop, for a reprint of the old "Dinobot Hunt" storyline. Dan said this might "lead into something with Nick Roche that Chris Ryall wants to announce in San Diego." When the fans asked if it was a dinobots book, Dan asked Nick if he wants to do a dinobots book, who of course replied in the affirmative.

Also in the slide presentation they showed several preview pages of pencils from Don's upcoming work on Beast Wars: the Ascending, and cover art (featuring previously seen art from the Stormbringer mini series) for an upcoming Premier Edition hardcover that will collect the Infiltration/etc. mini series and the various spotlights that have come out so far.

Next, on to Q & A:


Q: (for Nick) What was it like to be able to focus on Kup and, two, are we going to be seeing him again?

Nick's answer: "Good fun." He wanted to do Hot Rod, but one step removed is Kup. He didn't want to kill off any characters Simon would use, and if he writes more, there won't be as many decapitations. He has a couple of ideas he'd like to explore with Kup: Nick said he'd imagine Hot Rod would like to know what happened to Kup, and if he ever returns to being the Kup we all know, he'll have to deal with what he's done.

Dan: "When we handed the script to Hasbro, we thought, 'Yeah, this won't make it,' but wow, they approved it."


Q: Any possibility of a follow up to Hearts of Steel?

Dan's answer: They definitely want to do more evolution stories and have talent lined up out the door who want to do their take on Transformers. Dan said they, "totally want to do an H. G. Welles 'War of the Worlds' version," and he'll give Chuck [Dixon] a call on Monday to see if they can't do more with Hearts of Steel.


Q: Where's the ideas coming from for the Megatron Origin story?

Alex's answer: "Collaboration between me and Eric Holmes. when I saw the script i was like, whoa, how much different can I make it? I wanted to make it gritty." Alex then gave the example of the nice, clean, ship descending into the "ghetto" with "Transformers porn" pictures on the walls. (Dan then interjected, "Yeah, hasbro approved that 'cause Richard was out of the office.") Alex then added, "There's stuff coming up in the next few issues you haven't seen before." and, "Giant sculptures of stuff."


Q: Any other origin stories in the works after megatron?

Dan: "I hope so."


Q: How much leeway do you have with printing old Dreamwave stuff, particularly MTMTE?

Dan's answer: IDW is doing their own profile books with Beast Wars right now, but they're definitely going to reprint the MTMTE stuff. He then asked the audience if they wanted a nice, high quality, hardcover edition, to which they applauded.


Q: Will we see an American version of the kiss players line? And can we get a poster of characters like shockwave from Hearts of Steel?

Dan ignored the first question, and then said, "Posters? I love that stuff. We've definitely got a few of those out. 'Cause how many Don posters can we collect?"


Q: Who's idea was it to show Megatron fighting Psy-Kill in the Origin book?

Answer: Alex's.


Q: Any chance of "What if's" from after Beast Machines?

DAN: No current plans, but it's [possibly] on Simon's to do list.

Dan then also mentioned that the Beast Wars profile books will be three issues, 48 pages each, and that the first will be released some time around the last week of August pending any further delays.


Q: Any chance of reprinting story segments from MTMTE?

Dan: "I think we're okay with that." Dan went on to say that Dreamwave's a sticky situation. IDW's pretty much reprinting everything they've been able to at this point. Hopefully they'd like to finish some stories for us, but right now it's "void."


Q: Any chance of reprinting old Marvel stories with new art?

Dan answered that he doesn't think they'll do new art "other than Nick's beautiful covers." "With titan UK doing their books, they've got their niche and we've got ours."


Q: Any chance of reprinting marvel's tf universe guidebooks? Possibly including the profiles at the end of the latter Marvel issues?

Dan: And the ones in the Transformers club magazine, we're trying to add those as well. Marvel? We're working on that.


Q: Is Beast Wars the set future of the IDW Transformers universe?

Dan: Yeah, it's set.


Q: Any possibility of seeing Rodimus Prime?

Dan: "Like a rodimus prime spotlight? Anyone here want to do it?"

Nick: "Yeah!"

DAN: "Okay, nick's doing it."

Nick: "Give Hot Rod a chance. I think it'd be kind of cool to see him be the punk, the kid before he gets all, 'Aw, I can't be the leader." If it's red and has yellow flames, I'm there."


Q: Any chance of seeing Japanese G1 characters?

Dan" I think there's a chance." (Q: Any plans?) "Nothing yet."


Q: How much leeway does IDW have with reprinting Marvel stuff?

Dan: "I can't touch Circuit Breaker, I can't touch the Neo Knights."


Q: [Extreme paraphrasing of this question] Any chance of a Star Trek / Transformers crossover.

Dan: "I would love to write that one." (Audience member: "Then do it!") "We've asked, it's been brought up. Actually it's not Paramount anymore, it's CBS we have to talk to about Star Trek. Their innitial repsonse was no, but i'm trying to wear them down." He continued by saying that the Star Trek / X-Men crossover was so bad that they're warry of crossovers. When the audience then asked which captain they'd use, Dan said, "I'm a big Sisco [sp?] fan... but it'd have to be Kirk."

Nick: "Do you think Arcee would be safe up there?"

Dan: "Any interest in an Arcee spotlight? You wanna do it? Okay, Nick."


Q: Any chance of spotlight issues on human characters, like Verity?

Dan: "I would love that, but i think you and I would be the only ones to buy that issue." "Everybody just wants robot on robot action."


Q: [Extreme paraphrasing of this question] Any chance of a "The End" type of a story set in the distant future?

Dan: "As far as a definative 'The End,' we have a meeting with hasbro in three weeks to talk about something along that line, but that's probably more than i'm allowed to say."


Q: Will we be seeing other autobot females besides Arcee?

Dan: "Of course there's always a chance. You never know what Simon's going to throw at us. In fact... I can't even tell you about that one. It's a definite yes on that one."


Dan then asked the audience if they had any coloring questions for Josh.


Q: How many layers do you use?

Josh: "As many as it takes." He then said that's often around 25.


Q: What's your favorite book you've colored?

Josh: Optimus Prime Spotlight.


Q: Does the Megatron Origin make Optimus Prime into Margaret Thatcher? [I could be wrong on this one, as it was hard to hear, and the answer was confusion over hearing the question correctly as well.]


Q: Will we see Outback again in a "living capacity"?

Nick: "If I go back [before Spotlight: Kup] "I want him to be back alive and be really chirpy and optimistic, someone everone likes to be around. 'I'm just going on a shuttle with Kup! Just goin' on an adventure!'"


Q: Any chance of a Beast Machines comic series?

Dan: "What about it? Wanna pitch your proposal? I'll hit simon up for that."


Q: Any ideas that Hasbro shot down?

Dan: "You're gonna get me in trouble with hasbro. To be honest with you, hasbro's been great to work with. Richard has his good days and bad days... he gave up corrections on Nick's Kup."

The audience then asked, "like what?" Nick answered that the decapitation on page two was originally organic with cute eyes and fluffy hair, but they weren't happy with an organic character getting his head cut off. And they had to fatten Kup up in a few panels.

Dan then also said Hasbro rejected the Spiderman/Megatron cover, saying Megatron looked too organic and they had to make him look more angular. "But they are easy to work with. They've given us free reign on everything we want to do."


Q: Any chances of seeing a Decepticons Orign book, like about how characters like Starscream and Soundwave got behind Megatron?

Dan: "That fall on your plans, Alex?"


Q: How financially successful has IDW been with Transformers considering the licensing fees? Any chance they might just disappear like Dreamwave?

Dan: IDW and Transformers will be together "for a long, long time. No worries."


Q: Any plans of a comic based on the new animated series?
Dan: "The new upcoming, set in Detroit and all that stuff? Yeah we're talking about that. It's in the works." Dan then indicated he may have said more than he was supposed to (my guess is by saying it's set in Detroit).


Nick then asked the audience what they think about the new animated designs. They responded favorably, and Nick said he loves them too.


Q: [to Josh] How do you go about coloring these books?

Josh answered that he starts off with the page and applies the base colors. He uses different reds and blues, but it's pretty basic. "After i read the script I get the tone, kinda basic like that, and render it."

Dan then said that Don's artwork is great, but Josh is the guy who colors his Tri Fold Gates and the Stormbringer poster. "He's our go to guy."


Q: Any chance of breaking out of the mini-series format?

Dan then started joking around, and eventually said, "Botcon exlusive: Chris Ryall's writing the Wheelie spotlight."


Q: What happened with the ending to Hearts of Steel? It just stopped like they ran out of room.

Dan: "Exactly." Hearts of Steel was supposed to be a longer series, but they had to cut it short at the end.



Q: What's the restoration process for the animation models?

This led to a long explanation about how the models they got back were pretty badly degraded, and a lot of them had a big hair across every page. Also, it's easier to thicken lines that are too thin, than to thin out lines that are too thick.


Q: And chance of a "Skyfire one shot"?

Dan: "We will do a spotlight for every single Transformers character if everyone of you promises to buy it."


Q: Sunstorm?

Dan: "Yeah... nothin's... probably..."


Q: Does IDW have the rights to do spotlights for Japanese G1 characters? And who would each of them like to see a spotlight for?

Dan: "Yes, it's a possiblity. It's been kicked around the office. That's the super secret meeting in a couple of weeks. I'd love to see an Arcee spotlight and a Prowl spotlight."

Robby: "Who do I want to do? Anybody? [long pause] Huffer. Or Mirage. Bring them into the mix. I'd like to do Ramjet."

Alex: "Me? I'd like to do Skywarp."

Josh: "I wanna see Devcon."

Nick: "Rumble or Blur."

Jim: "We'd love to do Reflector. We've got a whole Reflector story."

Bill: [I couldn't hear what he said, 'cause by now a few guys in the audience were loudly shouting the names of various characters they'd like to see.]


Q: Any chance of a story set in the prehistory of Beast Wars?

Dan: See how the sales on Beast Wars: Ascending go.


Q: Any chance of picking up where DW left off?

Dan: "Top priority [would be] just to finish everthing. Put closure. All you people who put investment on that story should get to see how it ends. Just as soon as... that's why i hate lawyers."


Q: Will IDW use "Convoy" names in Beast Wars?

Josh: "I think Simon just kept 'Lio Convoy.'"

They also mentioned that they use Big Convoy in the script as well.


Q: Any chance of a Transformers ongoing?

Dan: "Um, pretty much, Infiltration/Escalation/Devestation is our ongoing, just in six issue arcs." He then explained that each issue cover has a little shield on it with the "ongoing" issue number.


Q: Any chance of seeing more writers like Nick Roche and Eric Holmes contribute to Simon's new TF universe?

Dan: "Most def. With spotlights, we've thrown out the invitation to every comic writer: pitch us a story. I love Simon to death, but new writers are a breath of fresh air." He also mentioned that they have a new writer they can't mention until San Diego.


Q: Any comics set in the movie universe?

Dan: "Yes! Next question!"


Q: [Another extreme paraphrasing] Any chance of filling in the gap between G1 and Beast Wars?

Dan: "We don't have anything yet, but it's on Simon's plate. Again, depends on sales of Beast Wars: Asceding. Buy a copy for you and your mother."


Q: What universe does the Avengers crossover take place in?

Dan answered that it's the IDW universe, and has nothing to do with the previous crossover.


Q: Any chance of Transformers / Avengers action figures?

Dan: "You gotta ask hasbro that one."


Q: A movie / G1 crossover?

Dan: "I don't think that'll happen."


Q: Any possibility of numbering the spotlight issues to make it easier to collect them?

Dan answered that the premier edition coming out in October should have them in chronological order.


Q: With Sixshot showing up, will we see Quickswitch, and will he be Sixshot's son?

Dan: "You don't want me to ruin that for you."


Q: Could we see similar numbering on the spotlights like the little shields on the main mini-series?

Dan: "Probably, yeah. I'll bring that up at Monday's editorial meeting."


Q: Any chance of an RID mini series? Or of IDW picking up the Joe Madureira's old "Battlechasers" property?

Dan: "I dug Battlechasers as well, but i think someone else picked that up. RID? Nothin's on the counter yet, but it's a possibility."


Q: [I couldn't make out this question. It was about something Simon Furman posted online. About "The Pack" it sounded like.]

Dan: "I'm not gonna tell you here."


Q: What other creators might we see on Transformers?

Dan: "Everyone's exclusive with DC and Marvel. I'd love to see Mark Waid write a Transformers story. Jennings, I'd love to see write Transformers. A whole Ed McGuiness comic would be great. There's tons of artists out there I'd like to see."


Q: Any chances of appearances by Circuit Breaker or Death's Head.

Dan: "Uh, nope."


Q: Which is better: to buy direct from IDW, or from local distributors?

Dan answered probably local comic shops, both 'cause it supports the local shops, and it helps with IDW's order numbers.


Dan then abruptly closed the panel by saying, "Remember '30 Days of Night' the movie comes out in October."


I hope this was helpful to some of the folks who couldn't make it to Botcon this year.
:mrgreen:

New Music Label Transformers Images From Tokyo Toy Fair

Date: Saturday, June 30th 2007 11:55pm CDT
Categories: Event News, Toy News
Posted by: Air Commander Starscream | Credit(s): Protoform-S, AC Toys

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Fellow Seibertronian Protoform-S was at Toko Toy Fair and was able to snap some pictures from the upcomming Music Label figures!

fresh from my trip to the tokyo toy fair:

close up pics of the MP3 Soundwave as well as the Rumble and Frenzy Earphones




this one had the Convoy Ipod Docking Bay:



Posted it in the Cybertron Philippines website.



Update: June 2, 2007
AC Toys has more images from the Tokyo Toy Fair.

Music Label Prime

Music Label Prime2

Music Label Soundwave

Music Label Soundwave

Music Label Frenzy

Music Label Headphones

Botcon Awards Party and Stan Bush Concert information

Date: Saturday, June 30th 2007 11:45pm CDT
Category: Event News
Posted by: Air Commander Starscream | Credit(s): Lapse Of Reason

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Views: 12,981

I was at the Botcon party tonight at the Westin Hotel. I'm sure there will be an official thread about this with pictures, but for those hanging onto every bit of Botcon news - here ya go:

The goodie bag included a movie poster, Optimus Prime T-Shirt (Party like it's 1984) with Prime holding a Blaster-like radio to his ear), a Bee-otch car air freshener (like in the new movie), some movie figure promo cards, and a Stan Bush flyer/postcard. Very cool goodie bag!

The ballroom was very upscale. There was a cash bar and stations all around with pizza, chicken wings, salad, celery sticks and carrots. There were also free drink stations with sodas and iced tea.

A local 80s cover band performed about 6 or 7 songs, including 867-5309, I think I'm turning Japanese, Rock and Roll all night..., and several others I will probably remember after I hit submit.

There was a break in the music for the awards. Plenty of art awards for various categories. I could not hear much from the microphone and had a 5 year old with me that wanted to keep partying, so I did not hear many names. I'm sure they will be revealed here later.

TFW won two awards, one for news and the other - ? I did not hear the category. Seibertron won another award for best resource site (you guys rock!).

Then the 80's cover band took the stage again, but this time with Stan Bush! He sang Till All Are One (new song), two songs from other albums that were quite good for his retro Bon Jovi-like style, then he sang Dare and The Touch. The Touch is my 5 year old's favorite song and this was his first concert. He loved it and chatted about his two favorite songs (the other is Dare) all the way back to the hotel. Stan Bush continued to play with the band and sang Summer of 69 as I was leaving. I'm sure he kept going and the crowd was all into it. Unfortunatley it was about 10:30 and I had to get my kid to bed.

Overall, a good time was had by all except for one sad guy who lost his goodie bag (stolen). I felt sorry for him, so I gave him mine. That general kind of caring attutude was prevalent at Botcon. Everyone I talked to (and I am quite chatty at times) was very friendly, kind-spirited, and having a good time. This was a very non-judgmental crowd. Everyone was accepted and all walks of life were represented here. The dealers were all nice guys too. Walking around with my son, he was given a free MISB RobotMasters Primal, a free basic knock-off transforming car robot, an Armada Unicron (for $20), and a G1 Seaspray. My two year old got a free Optimash Prime and a Cybertron Legends Prime. All this because they were cute little guys walking aroound with their Daddy and all the people here are just so nice. This has been an outstanding experience, and even my wife, who is not much of a TF fan, thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Seibertron.com Wins Botcon Award For Best Resource Site!

Date: Saturday, June 30th 2007 10:25pm CDT
Categories: Event News, Site News
Posted by: Air Commander Starscream

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Views: 6,345

The awards party kicked off tonight with cocktails at 7 and an 80's cover band at 8. Served was buffalo wings, a variety of Pizza, assorted Veggies and Apple Pie. You could either stand downstairs with the music, drinks and food or head upstairs to 3 different lounges for talk or games. It came down to the Awards ceremony where the winners of the various competitions like 2D and 3d Drawings, Dioramas and kit bashes were announced. Seibertron.com won the Botcon award for Best Resource site, congratulations goes out to TFW2005 for winning the Best Layout Design and News awards. Also congratulations goes out to Transformers Wikia for winning the Board Wars!

New BotCon Gallery: Hasbro Tour

Date: Saturday, June 30th 2007 11:00am CDT
Categories: Event News, Site News
Posted by: Seibertron

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Views: 8,683

The really big news on Friday was the visit to Hasbro's headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Our visit included a virtual behind-the-scenes look at Hasbro, followed
by a walk-through of the building. This MASSIVE gallery includes all sorts of cool stuff so make sure you check it out. Click here to check out all of the pics!