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[o.supreme]

Um...they're really working hard to make Windblade become the star of The Transformers,

No just typical Hasbro. They did it with Drift, now they are doing it with Windblade. -Put *said* character in Every Comic, Animated Series, Movie & Toys possible.*

[Noideaforaname]

So apart from starring Windblade, still no real info yet?

[Va'al]

So apart from starring Windblade, still no real info yet?

Nup. We will have to wait for more from other panels, or Toy Fair and various releases.

[Evil Eye]

I wonder what Japanese studio they're using?

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

[Sabrblade]

I wonder what Japanese studio they're using?

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Polygon considering Hasbro Studios's present relationship with them in their making both the Prime and RID 2015 cartoons.

[o.supreme]

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

Remember these are robots, not humans. You want a studio that has a reputation for doing Robot/Mecha themed anime well. as far as I can see, Trigger has never done one.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Polygon considering Hasbro Studios's present relationship with them in their making both the Prime and RID 2015 cartoons.

This seems more likely, but I'd love to something new in the mix, as long as it was highly detailed, and not "overly styled" like some of the animated series in recent years

[ZeroWolf]

This sounds like it could be fun. Though I'm more interested in what IDW have planned and how they plan to resurrect Sentinel Prime

[Evil Eye]

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

Remember these are robots, not humans. You want a studio that has a reputation for doing Robot/Mecha themed anime well. as far as I can see, Trigger has never done one.

True, but they are made of ex-Gainax members, specifically guys like Hiroyuki Imaishi, AKA the mastermind behind Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Plus their animation style is simply gorgeous, with hyper-fluid movement one moment and deliberately silly cut-out animation the next, ridiculously expressive characters and shading up the wazoo.

Trigger should animate everything.

[karyuudo]

Thanks for posting the video. It's a shame that they didn't have any preview to show the fans. But from what was discussed this sounds very promising. I'm not sure what's with the Windblade hate in some of the comments. She's a great character and it'll be an interesting perspective to have a series without the main focus being on Optimus.

[o.supreme]

I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

[ZeroWolf]

I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

My avatar wishes to say it loves you to be fair though TTGL mech designs harden back to the early days of the super robot genre like Gaiking, Grendizer and the daddy, Mazinger Z. I think most studios will be able able to handle this well (okay I really want UFOtable, but that's cause after watching Fate/Zero, I think they do beautiful work)

[o.supreme]

You are welcome, I do love The Brave series. But I grew up with Mazinger Z (well called Tranzor Z here in the States), but The original Super Robots series that Go Nagai & Toei came out with in the 70's are my absolute favorites, as "grandparents" to The Transformers, they all hold a special place in my DVD collection. But again, I guess its just me, when I look at stuff like Mazinger Z, then I look at TTGL, I don't see any similarities.

But call my Optimistic. No matter who ends up with this project, If the bots look good, then I'll be into it.

[MagnusLabel]

As long as the live action movies exist, she'll never usurp that position from Bumblebee.

Not so sure about the movies esp. after the 5th movie, I mean, we're not even sure what the creators will do to from the 5th movie onwards, including their plans about Bee (not to mention Bee wasn't focused much in AoE comparing to DOTM).

What I know is Bee's screen-time should be less than Windblade's. Both will star in RID on 2016 but Bee may not be able to appear in this animated series as it's based on IDW comics which Bee was dead way before Combiner Wars, unless there will be a flashback or something (which I doubt as the chance is as small as his further cameos in Rescue Bots). And Windblade is certainly coming back to IDW on 2016. That’s why I really do believe that she is able to go to the position.

No just typical Hasbro. They did it with Drift, now they are doing it with Windblade. -Put *said* character in Every Comic, Animated Series, Movie & Toys possible.*

When Drift was started out as a homeless nobody and creator’s pet (in IDW where he first appeared), Windblade was started as a fan favorite and set to have drawn with a lot of influences from the history of Transformers (Caminus, cityspeakers, etc. in IDW, being sent by Primus in RID). The creators do know how to insert Windblade into different medias which people love to see her, where Drift is still having problems about that (unless being penned by JR). To me Windblade is properly the more successful version of Drift.

I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

I love the arts from Brave Series (esp. Brave Police, GaoGaiGar). But since Sunrise is now owned by Bandai, we’re unlikely to see an TF series animated by Sunrise. Btw, I wonder if the new TF series is animated in 2D entirely or 3D with cel shading, as I miss the 2d TF anime.

[ZeroWolf]

I don't think it's solely going off IDW though as I'm sure it was said somewhere that it would be it's own thing and use the comics and the toy bios as a source

[1984forever]

heard that these guys are JUST NOW starting work on Combiner Wars. First Hasbro drops the ball by not having a Devastation toy line tie-in, now this. Their marketing team should all be fired.

[King Kuuga]

Weren't Devastations designs mostly ripped from CHUG toys and G1 cartoon designs?

I do agree that having the machinima series come out so long after the Combiner Wars storyline is forgotten is strange, but at this point it may well turn into an adaptation of all of the trilogy, or at least a melding of Combiner Wars and Titans Return. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

[ZeroWolf]

A mix up of the two toy lines could work well considering how the titan masters are supposed to work in fiction.

[o.supreme]

Weren't Devastations designs mostly ripped from CHUG toys and G1 cartoon designs?

I do agree that having the machinima series come out so long after the Combiner Wars storyline is forgotten is strange, but at this point it may well turn into an adaptation of all of the trilogy, or at least a melding of Combiner Wars and Titans Return. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

Even the more recent films all based on the new 52 are events that happed 3-4 years ago in comics.

[King Kuuga]

So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

That's actually a very good point I hadn't considered, although on the other hand I would say that Combiner Wars is a much less memorable storyline than most of the DC adaptations.

[o.supreme]

True, but to us as fans hopefully it will develop into a well written story older fans can appreciate.

[JoeMabbon]

What I know is Bee's screen-time should be less than Windblade's. Both will star in RID on 2016 but Bee may not be able to appear in this animated series as it's based on IDW comics which Bee was dead way before Combiner Wars, unless there will be a flashback or something (which I doubt as the chance is as small as his further cameos in Rescue Bots). And Windblade is certainly coming back to IDW on 2016. That’s why I really do believe that she is able to go to the position.

When Drift was started out as a homeless nobody and creator’s pet (in IDW where he first appeared), Windblade was started as a fan favorite and set to have drawn with a lot of influences from the history of Transformers (Caminus, cityspeakers, etc. in IDW, being sent by Primus in RID). The creators do know how to insert Windblade into different medias which people love to see her, where Drift is still having problems about that (unless being penned by JR). To me Windblade is properly the more successful version of Drift.

I wouldn't use Windblade's appearance in RiD as a great example. Her appearance there was pretty much the textbook definition of a "Mary Sue," only slightly better than Spotlight: Drift. And since when were "Caminus" and "cityspeakers" a part of Transformers history? That was all invented in the service of her character. They weren't even part of the original fan poll.

So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

That's actually a very good point I hadn't considered, although on the other hand I would say that Combiner Wars is a much less memorable storyline than most of the DC adaptations.

The DC animated films aren't specifically meant to sell toylines, are they? Those movies are made to build brand awareness with adults, isn't this supposed to promote a toyline that will be over by Q2 2016?

[ZeroWolf]

To be honest though, the addition of camien to IDW TF universe added a lot to it (and for the writers, got them past a writing headache in allowing them to add more fembots then poor Arcee) plus hasbro has wanted to make a big deal out of windblade since her inception, so it's no surprise that her character would start off as a Mary Sue but she has developed since then, helped a great deal with her relationship with Starscream.

As for timing, I wonder if they will be doing combiner wars then rushing head first into Titans Return as a way of making themselves still relevant, hopefully if things go well we may get a prime wars part 3 the same time the toys hit shops (or at least when they are supposed to hit shops)

[o.supreme]

The DC animated films aren't specifically meant to sell toylines, are they? Those movies are made to build brand awareness with adults, isn't this supposed to promote a toyline that will be over by Q2 2016?

In this instance I would , for once say no. The Machinima series is being billed as something to build brand awareness with adults. The best example I can think of, and that I keep coming back to, would be GI Joe Resolute, which for adult fans, is the best animated representation of GI Joe ever. Most adult fans are already aware of the CW line, and are purchasing them in droves. I don't think there's any way to measure, but I'd love to see the statistics as to what percentage of CW toys are being purchased by adult fans vs. children. Every time I go to a store, its always the adults that are purchasing these, and they usually sell out quickly. A few limbs (deluxe class), may hang around, but eventually even they all sell, at least in my area.

So I may be setting the bar pretty high for myself, but as the first TF animated representation made specifically for adult fans, I expect quite a bit.

[o.supreme]

sorry...DP

[JoeMabbon]

To be honest though, the addition of camien to IDW TF universe added a lot to it (and for the writers, got them past a writing headache in allowing them to add more fembots then poor Arcee) plus hasbro has wanted to make a big deal out of windblade since her inception, so it's no surprise that her character would start off as a Mary Sue but she has developed since then, helped a great deal with her relationship with Starscream.

IDW Windblade wasn't a Mary Sue, though. While I don't think the Caminus origin story has been used particularly effectively, Windblade herself has been given a clearly defined set of strengths and weaknesses and wasn't universally loved by all, unlike Drift when he was introduced.

Now, RiD Windblade is a Mary Sue, right down to her unexplained chosen by Primus himself origin story and being instantly good at everything with only one barely addressed and quickly brushed aside character flaw.