The Energon Pub

I atteded Cartoon Networks Panel at this years Botcon and they had a lot of good Q&A that sheds a lot of light on certain issues. I took notes on the answers, they don't have any particular order I just wrote them down as they were given.

Transformers Animated Panel:

More Deceptions for Season 2.

Swindle, Ratbat, Galvatron and Waspinator: 3 of the 4 will be in Animated.

Why Animated style? Working with Cartoon Network usually means animated work. Wanted to get back with the roots of drawing Transformers.

Animated done in a widescreen format, but clipped for standard.

Looking Forward. More obscure characters, more of Cybertron.

Ad-Lib is a big part to story dialogue.

Last Scene in Season 2 finale is completely ad-lib.

Allspark to stay mysterious.

Ultra Magnus figure exactly like he is on the show, completely tricked out. Expect each wave of Animated to be better than the last.

Oil Slick – Not a cartoon character, toy only but will probably be in around comic #3. MAY make it into later seasons.

Exec Producer decided on female human lead character decision. Tried really hard to make her a fun and different character, but not annoying like previous human characters in past cities. Detroit is a diverse city, one reason why the show takes place there. Cast and crew of Animated is also from diverse backgrounds.

Theories about who or what Sari is on the internet. Some have come close, many however are WAY OFF. But none are exactly right to who or what she is.

Season 3 – Nothing definitive, but looking like a pretty good possibility.

Season 1 ratings – “Doing very well”

Arcee second appearance. Nothing for Season 2, but would like to bring back in the future.

Omega Supreme: Can not confirm nor deny e will be in series.

Waspinator: Would not be voiced by Scott Mcneal.

Sentinel Prime was originally going to be Rodimus with the attitude that Sentinel Prime currently has. Hasbro did not want Rodimus to have that attitude, so they changed Rodimus to Sentinel Prime.

Combiners not likely. Though names from Combiner members may be used. Lots of talk about wanting Combiners, but not likely.

Hasbro working really well with Aniamted team.

Soundwave being a van. Best vehicle to have the same shape, likeness to a cassette player. Big debate over what his Alt should be, but they knew they wanted to have Soundwave.

Bringing Primal back, has been talked about but nothing solid. If he were to show up it would be a completely new character.

The Arc is not the Arc, it’s a repair vessel.

Unicron is a no.

Big plans for Soundwave, look forward to 3rd season.

Air Commander Starscream wrote:Swindle, Ratbat, Galvatron and Waspinator: 3 of the 4 will be in Animated.

I think Galvatron will be the one who doesn’t appear.

Oil Slick – Not a cartoon character, toy only but will probably be in around comic #3. MAY make it into later seasons.

Okay, so Oil Slick is just an ugly toy who doesn’t appear in the show. Since I hate that figure exceptionally, I assume this is good.

Theories about who or what Sorry is on the internet. Some have come close, many or WAY OFF. But none are exactly right to who or what she is.

Its seems to be commonly believed Sari isn’t exactly human, she’s definitely not some kind of robot, but why do I want to think she’s something like Rei from Evangelion? (NO! not the new movie “End of Transformers Animated” with the mass produced “drone” Primes, NOOOOOOOO! Actually, animated characters falling to a sad and depressing fate, sounds good to me…)

Season 1 ratings – “Doing very well”

That makes me want to cringe…

hmmm....Galvatron yes but he needs to be more than an upgraded megatron, Swindle maybe, Ratbat no, Waspinator oh hell yes but only if the original voice actor does him.
and no combiners!?.........they must be retarded or they just dont care what some fans want

Sorry but it's "Sari", not "Sorry". Now apologize! Ugh....
It's funny that they talk about trying not to make her annoying when even her name is annoying.

So far, this has been pure awesome sauce.

I'd be willing to watch a season 3 and 4...oh yes.

I'm on the fence about Oilslick, but I'm glad to here he may show in the comics. Further proof that the comics will be original, not just the screencaps. I can't wait to see how they will build on to the main story.

I am really excited about Swindle, and I hope he keeps his greedy nature in TF:A. He would be the perfect business associate of Lockdown, and I'd love to see those two interact. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for them to be freinds. Ratbat, will probably be an iteresting addition to that mix too. I hope we see some nods to his character in Megatron: Origin.

Very glad to have some clarification about the Ark, not being the Ark. However, it still could be Omega Supreme.

Speaking of characters and their toys...when the appropriate time occurs...can someone ask if we're getting a Leader Class Lugnut? I think that's some info we all could use.

Heck, if they say no, then I'll be one of the first to buy his Voyager Class figure. If they say yes, I'm waiting.

Yes, like Autobot032, I also would like to know if someone could ask if there's gonna be a Leader Class Lugnut figure. Thanks for all the info that's been posted!

Well, I guess this debunks the rumors of Oil Slick being in "A Fistful of Energon" so let's bring back Lockdown! I can't wait to see pics of the Ultra Magnus figure but I'm really bummed that Waspy won't be voiced by Scott McNeil

Air Commander Starscream wrote:Bringing Primal back, has been talked about but nothing solid. If he were to show up it would be a completely new character.

I scared the crap out of the tennants living above me when I jumped for joy and burst through their floor.

I don't like the idea of rehashing the Beast Wars guys for this series, and thank god no Unicron!

I'd love another Unicron, but him in Animated style would piss me off to no end

I have a lot of faith if they try to do galvatron. Considering how much they emphasized Ultra Magnus to have a different mold than Prime, I can only assume they're not going to make galvy a megs repaint...
So with out Unicron, there are three possible ways we can get a galvy-
-megs is super charged- unlikely since he already had the allspark in him
-Galvy is from the animated dead dimension and is a different character- very likely, they've already taken several cues from the movie (meg's cybertronian head cough,) it wouldn't be surprising if they used the comic's idea about the dead zone...
-Galvy is a time traveler- perhaps the most likely, considering how much this was used in the older comics and seemingly underused today.

Now if only we could get some hints for Bludgeon... there are too many autobot ninjas running around... it would be too cool for bludgeon to show up as the evil ninja who kill jazz's or prowl's master...

Galvatron could just be another Decepticon commander. He and Megatron could even have some kind of rivalry going on. I could picture Megatron and company duking it out with Galvatron and his flunkies in some kind of internal struggle over a weapon or energy source.

Sorry, just the idea of Galvatron NOT being Megatron just doesn't sit well with me.

Thats not to say I liked the RID, AEC idea of simply repainting Megatron (razy japanesse).

I never liked that in G1 they had the mental struggle for the character, but never gave us a conclusion on it till BattleStars which was very unsatisfactory!

If they do Galvatron, I'd like to see them take the initial idea and finaly bring it full circle.

Orion_Prime48 wrote:hmmm....Galvatron yes but he needs to be more than an upgraded megatron, Swindle maybe, Ratbat no, Waspinator oh hell yes but only if the original voice actor does him.
and no combiners!?.........they must be retarded or they just dont care what some fans want

Finnaly catching on huh!?!

When the creative staff blatently sayes "...we don't care, this is our Transformers..."

You have to expect them to through the fans a bone or two, then screw it up the way they see fit.

Just for once I'd like to see Hasbro take a loyalty stance for the TF fans like it does for Star Wars.