The Energon Pub

Forgive me if this is a dumb post but I've been thinking about this for a couple days now.

Instead of Hasbro coming up with a new Transformers cartoon series and toy line every year or so (nothing wrong with that at all), would it be possible for them to just start doing new series of the G1 cartoons? I was thinking that since G1 was canceled after season 3, they could start doing season 4 and beyond (20+ years later), which would allow for stores to still be stocked with G1 figures.

Would anything like that work at all?

They'd have to reacquire a lot of names and copyright stuff. Frankly I thought G1 outlived its days by the movie. As nice as it would be to see how our friends are getting on 20 years later... eh.

Beast Wars tells us how they were getting on about 500 years later. I'll settle for it.

As for the toys.. Look at the Classics line. G1-Updated

Good point. I do have most of the classic figures.

As far as the G1-BW canon goes, there's still a BIG gap in the official story, that could/MUST be filled with a good series. I hope, over time, Hasbro realizes this, and they will complete the story.

It would never fly. Even if they could get the copyrights, etc (and were willing to pay the money), very few people other than hardcore G1 fans would get into it....

Meverix is right, check out Beast Wars and Classics.....

plus the cartoons brought back to life seem worse now then they were actually where in the past and the quality wouldnt be as good

Shockwave06 wrote:Forgive me if this is a dumb post but I've been thinking about this for a couple days now.

Instead of Hasbro coming up with a new Transformers cartoon series and toy line every year or so (nothing wrong with that at all), would it be possible for them to just start doing new series of the G1 cartoons? I was thinking that since G1 was canceled after season 3, they could start doing season 4 and beyond (20+ years later), which would allow for stores to still be stocked with G1 figures.

Would anything like that work at all?

Actually, I think it could work. If they lost the copyright to some names, just avoid them in the show. And make it more adult oriented. Maybe a set of animeesque movies?

If they did do the season 4 thing I would like to see Bumblebee back to Bumblebee. I didn't really like the way they made him into Goldbug.

Depthscream wrote:If they did do the season 4 thing I would like to see Bumblebee back to Bumblebee. I didn't really like the way they made him into Goldbug.

Heh, they could have Galvatron blast him to all hell and have him reconstructed as BB again.

I think they should grab the HM series first off and redo that into English with Cullen and Welker involved in the project and then take it from there.

I really think there would be a market for 60-90 min short movies from HM onwards.

Great idea, Bonger.

Forget TF: Animated! We want G1!

G1 continued for a long while in the Japanese stuff.

Plus there's the old Marvel back issues, the old DW stuff, the current IDW stuff, and the various specials and miniseries.

And toylines ... well there's the Masterpeices, the Titaniums, the Alternators, Robot Masters, reissues, ehobby recolors, Classics, various homages from various lines ....

Yeah, G1 needs a new show like I needs another hole in my head. If they had a new show Welkner would not be Megatron or Galvatron. None of the guys we like would be in there because they're based off 20 year old toys. And it'll never be a fitting continuation of our childhood memories.

We've had loads of new G1 toys using modern toy making atandards. Even new G1 characters thanks to ehobby. And lods of new G1 stories thanks to various comics. I think any attempt to shoehorn a new TV series into a show 20 years gone will just fall flat on it's face. Nobody but truly hardcore fans will be interested in it and half of them will hate whatever has been come up with.

I love G1 ... my collection is 90% G1 based ... but there's soemthing to be said about trying to find new ground.

Want a continuation? Ignore rebirth and find the Japanese stuff.

I disagree. I am not talking making amime for the sake of selling toys. I'm talking about anime for the sake of selling DVDs to adults.

Obviously there is money in anime movies judging by the numbers that are made and bought.

Who says G1 cannot be continued or redone in good style?

Maybe even if IDW started taking Furman's new work and translating that to anime. Anything, I'll take anything. I just want more G1!!!!

I live in Australia and I have been to newsagents etc. but I haven't seen any TF comics. I'm not even sure if they ship the comics to Australia. Sure, I don't look at very many places that sell comic books, but I still think that I will ever be be able to find a TF comic. So I can't turn to that for G1. The Japanese continuation is most likely not in English, so that is kinda useless to me. The show could get a lot of attention from even a younger audience (Teens?) since the movie has got back into the G1 spirit again because of it's story resemblance and characters.

On the otherhand, Gauntlet101010 is probably right about how the show would be a complete failure. Is that because Armada, Energon, etc. didn't cater to G1 fans and that it's continuation would have the same fate?

I am a fan of Beast Wars and I would like to know what happened during the 300 years before the Beast Wars.

I'd like to weigh in on this...

the G-1 cartoon stopped at season 3 in the US, and continued in Japan.. if we were to get great Dubbs of the Japanese Cartoons and possibly a very well done cleaned up version of the animation as well, I think that those DVDs would sell...

conversly, If there were a series of DVDs based soley on G-1 in the Early years when it was simply Optimus Prime versus Megatron, that would be great... I'm thinking 4 movies straight to DVD with highly updated Animation soley for the Adult Market, similar to the art style and direction of Macross Plus..and with a considerable amount of action..

They wouldn't have to get any license rights to certain characters because they could just leave them out of the stories..but the DVDs could be marketed under the Masterpiece Name, and could coincide with Hasbro's Masterpiece releases, and Takara's as well..


What would be cool is to make the 4 DVDs each a 2 to 2 1/2 hour movie, which involved the beginning of the story, Protofroms and such, a retelling of the classic Mythos..leading up to the 1986 Movie, and there after.. kind of a new revised retelling of the entire G-1 saga.. the Cartoon canon from the TV show would be on it's own.. and only the DVDs and the 1986 Movie would be in one seperate canon..

this would also leave open a new ending and a bridge between the new DVDs, the 1986 Movie, and the Beast War era...

I think a straight to DVD G-1 retelling would be wonderful... It'd be cool to see that style animation again, and Protofrom Optimus Prime.. Peter cullen is getting on in age, and so is Welker.. these quality actors won't be around for ever.. so the more we can get as far as acting out of them, the better..

besides a full on Battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron with today's standards.. awwwwwww Man!! that woudl sooo rock!! my Masterpiece Megatron and Optimus Prime would be in positioned Battle glory as I watch those DVDs!!!

That's not so out there of an idea, 'Warp.

A lot of anime series get the "reimagination" treatment, where the same premise is kept but the stories are retold.

Tenchi Miu comes to mind immediately, and I know they did this with Speed Racer and a couple others. It's very prevalent in the world of Manga too.

I for one, would really dig that, or as Shockwave originally suggested, set the story 20 years in the future from the end of the original series. Then they could EASILY ignore characters with name ownership issues, and create while new characters as needed.

500 years between G1 and Beast Wars is a looooong time, clever writers could do a lot with that.

Heck, generic "Giant Robot" series do well. With TF you already have a built in audience.

Dose of reality though, don't expect to even think about seeing something like this till the live action movie series dies out. It would be bad business for HasTak to bleed all the money out of the franchise all at once. If they are smart they'll keep something like this on the back burner for a few more years till the franchise needs another boost.

Oh yes OVA's would be really cool, and I don't see why G1 wouldn't work today, just make new toys, let the bots and cons be as they looked like in G1, then let them get into a battle and get them new updated design with modern vehicles.

Then wile the first season is made not going into detail about the previous shows, the kids get into it and Hasbro could go true all the license sh** to get them guys back.

Then tease characters are reintroduced in a brilliant new story arch, showing stuff of the old G1, just enough for the new fans to get into it.

And that would be G1 revamp, completing the gap of G1 and BW, then rework BW (rasing the amount of the 3D objects polygraphs should do) and while BW and BM shows on TV and Hasbro doing what they do best, reissue and repaint old toys, Transtech is made.

That would make me happy.

What we gotta get - and this is the key to all our woes - is a good new series with decent toys. G1 was a pretty sweet series, and didn't start off in Japanese, but the toys could do with some elbows and knees. Now we've gotten the A/E/C trilogy, which for the most part has made leaps and bounds for toy technology, but the series blow like the autumn wind. Beast Wars had the best writing, the coolest character progression...but the toys all come off as pretty clunky. And then Classics, which has pretty much been embraced as the second coming of G1, has fantastic toys, but NO cartoon behind it at all.

Making a series built "to sell DVDs instead of toys" will never happen, because the toys are the absolute core of what this is all about. Even when they're making stuff like Classics, Titanium, and Masterpiece, it's done with toys. Despite any efforts to appease the collectors, they will NEVER abandon the primary market, being kids and the parents who buy them things. I'd say our best hope will be either Animated being a really good series, or them trying another Beast Wars-esque foray into the TV-before-bedtime middle school bracket.

Sloptank wrote:What we gotta get - and this is the key to all our woes - is a good new series with decent toys. G1 was a pretty sweet series, and didn't start off in Japanese, but the toys could do with some elbows and knees. Now we've gotten the A/E/C trilogy, which for the most part has made leaps and bounds for toy technology, but the series blow like the autumn wind. Beast Wars had the best writing, the coolest character progression...but the toys all come off as pretty clunky. And then Classics, which has pretty much been embraced as the second coming of G1, has fantastic toys, but NO cartoon behind it at all.

Making a series built "to sell DVDs instead of toys" will never happen, because the toys are the absolute core of what this is all about. Even when they're making stuff like Classics, Titanium, and Masterpiece, it's done with toys. Despite any efforts to appease the collectors, they will NEVER abandon the primary market, being kids and the parents who buy them things. I'd say our best hope will be either Animated being a really good series, or them trying another Beast Wars-esque foray into the TV-before-bedtime middle school bracket.

Ahh but the DVD market and suggestion i was talking about would be targeted at adults and collectors.. Animation made specifically for one thing and one thing only, a completely retold G-1 story from start to finish.. with and I say this as a huge plus.. the Hasbro Masterpiece releases, present and future...

I would love to see a new retold exodus from cybertron, the ark crash, updated animation with fluid story and art.. Protoforms, and the back story of the war, a cool new cybertron scape with Iacon and other key places pointed out..

then the war on earth, all leading up to the 1986 movie and events there after, skipping ahead towards the future and Beast wars.. tie in the gaps, and fill in the story.. it would be the ultimate Universe, and Masterpiece of the Transformers canon once and for all.. the cartoon canon, and such could be left to its own devices.. and who knows if the DVDs are successful as the Masterpiece Optimus Prime and Starscream sales, they could continue with G- on into a Beast Wars cartoon direct to DVD series, with a special Beast Wars Premium line (repackaged Takara Reissues) to coincide with the release..and maybe just maybe a hint on the Beast Wars gathering line..

anyways.. give us more G-1 to start on direct to DVD, and market them with the Masterpiece line from Hasbro...

like this:

what is great about that is Takara and Hasbro can share in the DVD glory and Masterpiece sales

If we're talking OVAs, that's another story. While I just don't think there's the clout to do an entire series, a few OVAs would be nice.

However, it still wouldn't be the same, you know. Welkner wouldn't be Megatron .... in fact there would be no Megatron unless that was the focus of the story. Cullen only *might* be Prime, that's never a definate. And we'd definately wouldn't have everyone with their origional voice cast. I mean some people have died, so it's impossible.

It's possible to imagine that an OVA could be based off the classics. I really think that, if they made something like this, it would have to be based off ONE line rather than a mix (like Alts, classics, AND MPs). But TFs have never been about the cartoon. The cartoon really has been only a 20 minute long commercial for the toys, as beloved as the cartoons may be. So an OVA would, by nessesity, have to be either based off a line or have it's own line.

But, let's face it, a continuation of G1 wouldn't see Wheeljack, Brawn, Starscream, and a whole bunch of others because they are all DEAD. And you might get away with bringing back Screamer and Megs, but not all of them. Certainly some of them are so niche that only hardcore fans would even care about seeing them back.

I could see them making an OVA, but if that really something you want to see? Because many of the favorites have died. And it wouldn't be the same flavor as G1 at all. If you've watched it you'll see that G1 is very much a child's show. The closest they get to adult would be the first few minutes of the movie. Not even the entire thing, only the first 20 or so minutes. And that's when they're killing your favorite guys. I mean can you really see the happy-go-lucky G1 cartoonverse go adult? Wouldn't that, by nessesity, change the characters we're grown to love?

Me, personally, I like the comics best. They're all the adult I need, they have ALL the characters I wanna see, despite any deaths shown in the cartoon. They're uncombered by the merchendising gods that rule over just about every other TF universe. I mean they can have Megatron AND Galvatron in the same universe.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:If we're talking OVAs, that's another story. While I just don't think there's the clout to do an entire series, a few OVAs would be nice.

However, it still wouldn't be the same, you know. Welkner wouldn't be Megatron .... in fact there would be no Megatron unless that was the focus of the story. Cullen only *might* be Prime, that's never a definate. And we'd definately wouldn't have everyone with their origional voice cast. I mean some people have died, so it's impossible.

It's possible to imagine that an OVA could be based off the classics. I really think that, if they made something like this, it would have to be based off ONE line rather than a mix (like Alts, classics, AND MPs). But TFs have never been about the cartoon. The cartoon really has been only a 20 minute long commercial for the toys, as beloved as the cartoons may be. So an OVA would, by nessesity, have to be either based off a line or have it's own line.

But, let's face it, a continuation of G1 wouldn't see Wheeljack, Brawn, Starscream, and a whole bunch of others because they are all DEAD. And you might get away with bringing back Screamer and Megs, but not all of them. Certainly some of them are so niche that only hardcore fans would even care about seeing them back.

I could see them making an OVA, but if that really something you want to see? Because many of the favorites have died. And it wouldn't be the same flavor as G1 at all. If you've watched it you'll see that G1 is very much a child's show. The closest they get to adult would be the first few minutes of the movie. Not even the entire thing, only the first 20 or so minutes. And that's when they're killing your favorite guys. I mean can you really see the happy-go-lucky G1 cartoonverse go adult? Wouldn't that, by nessesity, change the characters we're grown to love?

Me, personally, I like the comics best. They're all the adult I need, they have ALL the characters I wanna see, despite any deaths shown in the cartoon. They're uncombered by the merchendising gods that rule over just about every other TF universe. I mean they can have Megatron AND Galvatron in the same universe.

while i see your point there, I will answer a few of your questions...

would I like to see a series of G-1 OVA's?
The Answer yes!!!

Would it be the same flavor as G-1, no but that's okay, as long as we had Cullen an Welker, with a few others who could bring new voices to the table it would be okay.. I'm not looking for a Chris Latta impersonator, but the actor who does Starscream from the A/E/C trilogy will do..

it's not about being more adult, rather up to date animation with a little more grit then normal..after all it's in OVA format, so it can appeal to adults and kids without the rigor of TV censorship...

I would endorse the OVA's as a retelling first, if they go beyond the Galvatron and Rodimus Stage that would have to be seriously looked at.. I hate to say it, but I would want nelson shinn and Simon Furhman on it, to make this Masterpiece OVA series and DVD line up a straight and loop whole free canon to G-1.. the OVA would actually super-seed the animation as the final canon, and updated version..

Plus it's a win win, doing G-1 toys as the Masterpiece to go with it..except megatron who sadly would no be released through Hasbro.. but that's okay, that's what Starscream is for...

Bandai Visual and Toei would be a great company to do the animation, or the producers of the updated Guyver cartoon as well..

I really can't see why a new G1 series wouldn't work. Old skool fanbois would love it, and to the kids getting into it for the first time, well why would it be any different to getting into any other series?

I personally wouldn't be interested in dubs of the Japanese G1 continuations, no matter how good those dubs were. The Japanese went in very different and weird directions that I don't think gel too well with G1. Also not interested in something that connects G1 to Beast era. Best thing in my opinion would be something that begins after G1 Season 2 and then goes on to explain why The Movie and Season 3 hasn't happened.

Sledge wrote:I really can't see why a new G1 series wouldn't work. Old skool fanbois would love it, and to the kids getting into it for the first time, well why would it be any different to getting into any other series?

I personally wouldn't be interested in dubs of the Japanese G1 continuations, no matter how good those dubs were. The Japanese went in very different and weird directions that I don't think gel too well with G1. Also not interested in something that connects G1 to Beast era. Best thing in my opinion would be something that begins after G1 Season 2 and then goes on to explain why The Movie and Season 3 hasn't happened.

nahhh!!! G-1 beginning with Cybertron and protofroms, and the back story of the whole war, then to earth and battles there, covering the big wars in 2 DVDs (intro characters between the 1st DVD and the 2ND) Like Grimlock not being made on earth, where the constructicons came from, Skyfire, ect.., the 3rd DVD leads up to Autobot city and other issues and characters, then the DVD 1986 movie happens, then 2 more DVD's after cover the Rodimus and Galvatron era..

and all this while tied into the Masterpiece toys that Hasbro is going to sell through Wal-mart and other toy stores.. pure marketing genius and pure entertainment and fanboy fun!!

I'm confused. Why would you rather have DVDs of stories that already exist than a new series?

Yeah I can see both pros and cons to the idea. I'm leaning towards more of a redo of the series (after reading my post) , like how they re-did the Batman movie franchise.