The Energon Pub

It has been revealed that the Transformers Prime Japan Arms Micron campaign has a cartoon tie in with the Japanese version of the show. Designers have made known that the end of each Transformers Prime Japan, Super Robot Life Forms, will be an animated short featuring the Arms Micron characters!

In an interview, translated and posted by TFW2005.com member SydneyY, designers also commented on the origins of the AM campaign:

Takashi Nakase: The biggest reason is that we wanted to raise the target age group. In past series, the target ages were small children and their fathers, but the age group which is actually able to enjoy transforming toys is 7 ~ 9 years old. We went back to the beginning and considered appropriate products for that age group, and came up with the concept of "customising". That is why Arms Microns need to be assembled from parts, and stickers are included to be put on the main figure - to give the feeling of "completing" the toy as one's own.
Hironori Kobayashi: We conducted a play session with children where they played freely with Movie series Transformers, mixed with various items such as Minicons, and found that they mostly enjoyed combining Minicons to make larger weapons or to customise the Transformers. We thought it might have some potential.

As for how the Arms Micron integrate with the main show? Kobayashi explained:

We considered their background story from an early stage as we thought the existance of the Microns required an explanation. There were some ideas, and we decided to go with a story that (the Microns) were originally Energon present on Earth, and they adopted the forms of Transformers. In the story, the Transformers in the show ("Prime") are not even aware that their weapons are in fact Microns.

To read the entire article click here.

So basically, everyone's weapons are alive and they have NO idea???
Hmmmmm...

One's gotta love how japanese people do whatever they like! I'm not being sarcastic if is there a sheldoncooper around, I really think it's great they adapt all of it to their own means, ends and beliefs! Well, so I'll expect to see the microns targetmasters OVA, I love they're made of energon and how they hide from the biggest TF's. REally good idea!

wow.. thats eh ... an "interesting" way to tie them into the story .. I have no idea how they are going to work that into an episode where they eventually find out and discuss it..

Action Figure wise ,I love the idea ,and kind of wish HASBRO would of thought of it .As the "add-on" to the show ,
A.I hate that we(the US) is missing out .
B.I feel kind of bad for the Japanese ,for they are not going to get the story as it was intended to be watched by the great writers of Transformers Prime .

I'm curious as to how these shorts will be animated. Will be in the same CG animation as the rest of the show? Or, will they be in 2D animation? Will the Arms Microns look exactly like their toys, or will they be all Chibi style with slapstick comedy bits?

I love the skizzofrenic way Takara handles the brand, all the dark or darkish US shows are made more goofy and slapsticky to appeal to kids more (Beast Wars and now Prime) while the goofy kiddy ones are made darker or at least made to appear darker (Animated).
It's f**king hilarious.

Dead Metal wrote:I love the skizzofrenic way Takara handles the brand, all the dark or darkish US shows are made more goofy and slapsticky to appeal to kids more (Beast Wars and now Prime) while the goofy kiddy ones are made darker or at least made to appear darker (Animated).
It's f**king hilarious.

First, nowhere does it say here that they're gonna dub Prime all kiddie like. It just says that they're gonna create some new Omake for the Arms Microns to feature in at the end of each episode.

And second, how do you mean they dubbed Animated to be all dark and such? In spite of the changes they did make to it (two name changes, 3 minutes cut, new OP/ED, Otobotto Family sketches, etc.), it was dubbed faithful and accurate to the English version (or, at least, as faithful as it could be).

Sabrblade wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I love the skizzofrenic way Takara handles the brand, all the dark or darkish US shows are made more goofy and slapsticky to appeal to kids more (Beast Wars and now Prime) while the goofy kiddy ones are made darker or at least made to appear darker (Animated).
It's f**king hilarious.

First, nowhere does it say here that they're gonna dub Prime all kiddie like. It just says that they're gonna create some new Omake for the Arms Microns to feature in at the end of each episode.

And second, how do you mean they dubbed Animated to be all dark and such? In spite of the changes they did make to it (two name changes, 3 minutes cut, new OP/ED, Otobotto Family sketches, etc.), it was dubbed faithful and accurate to the English version (or, at least, as faithful as it could be).

Firstly, go read my post and tell me where I mention dub.

Secondly, notice the "appear darker" in my post?

I guess I should have added, that all the kiddy stuff is changed to appeal more to adults, while the dark stuff is changed to appeal to kids.

Dead Metal wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I love the skizzofrenic way Takara handles the brand, all the dark or darkish US shows are made more goofy and slapsticky to appeal to kids more (Beast Wars and now Prime) while the goofy kiddy ones are made darker or at least made to appear darker (Animated).
It's f**king hilarious.

First, nowhere does it say here that they're gonna dub Prime all kiddie like. It just says that they're gonna create some new Omake for the Arms Microns to feature in at the end of each episode.

And second, how do you mean they dubbed Animated to be all dark and such? In spite of the changes they did make to it (two name changes, 3 minutes cut, new OP/ED, Otobotto Family sketches, etc.), it was dubbed faithful and accurate to the English version (or, at least, as faithful as it could be).

Firstly, go read my post and tell me where I mention dub.

Secondly, notice the "appear darker" in my post?

I guess I should have added, that all the kiddy stuff is changed to appeal more to adults, while the dark stuff is changed to appeal to kids.

You would have to be talking about the dubs since that's how the Japanese changed stuff in their versions of American-made TF cartoons. How else would they change the tone of the shows without creating all new cartoons of their own from the ground up?

Sabrblade wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I love the skizzofrenic way Takara handles the brand, all the dark or darkish US shows are made more goofy and slapsticky to appeal to kids more (Beast Wars and now Prime) while the goofy kiddy ones are made darker or at least made to appear darker (Animated).
It's f**king hilarious.

First, nowhere does it say here that they're gonna dub Prime all kiddie like. It just says that they're gonna create some new Omake for the Arms Microns to feature in at the end of each episode.

And second, how do you mean they dubbed Animated to be all dark and such? In spite of the changes they did make to it (two name changes, 3 minutes cut, new OP/ED, Otobotto Family sketches, etc.), it was dubbed faithful and accurate to the English version (or, at least, as faithful as it could be).

Firstly, go read my post and tell me where I mention dub.

Secondly, notice the "appear darker" in my post?

I guess I should have added, that all the kiddy stuff is changed to appeal more to adults, while the dark stuff is changed to appeal to kids.

You would have to be talking about the dubs since that's how the Japanese changed stuff in their versions of American-made TF cartoons. How else would they change the tone of the shows without creating all new cartoons of their own from the ground up?

The intro, the intro the intro! Have you seen the intro?

Also, the toys, the animated toys were geared towards adults, while the Prime toys are geared towards children.

Dead Metal wrote:The intro, the intro the intro! Have you seen the intro?

For Beast Wars, its intro gives off the tone that this is a "cool, new, and lively series", which it was in the English version.

For Beast Wars Metals, its intros made it seem like it was "intense, serious, and awesome", also just like the English version.

For Beast Wars Returns, they just kept the American theme.

For Animated, its Japanese intro made it feel like it was gonna be an "awesome, action-packed, and fun" series, which, again, it was.

For Prime, its intro has not yet been shown. Only the song has, but not the sequence.

Dead Metal wrote:Also, the toys, the animated toys were geared towards adults, while the Prime toys are geared towards children.

You used the word "shows". The toys are a different medium.

Though, the Prime First Edition toys were made for an older audience, but the RID figures are definitely for kids.

But, in this interview, it says outright that the Arms Micron toys were given stickers and snap-together model kit Microns to appeal to an older age group. So, no, the Japanese Prime toys are not geared towards little kids.