The Energon Pub

Hot on the heals of the earlier sighting of the Decepticon Barricade mustang comes a new sighting of one of the Transformers Movie vehicles, this time none other than the Autobot leader Optimus Prime, spotted on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles.

Could this mean that steps are already underway to begin filming the sequel, scheduled for release June 26th 2009? Stay tuned to Seibertron.com to find out.

See the photos by clicking on the Optimus Prime image on Superherohype.com here.

Cool Pics, does sending info through the "submit news" link even work anymore?

hmm still scepticle about Barricade but man that truck is sweet! but one question why does he have stub stacks?

Orion_Prime48 wrote:hmm still scepticle about Barricade but man that truck is sweet! but one question why does he have stub stacks?

Removed so he can go thru the underpass, too tall otherwise sittong on a flatbed

Cool, but i hope he gets a upgrade i mean just like an other robotmode or something but its cool if he does not because i got both robot modes.

Good to see you posting news again Skowl! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the tip Robinson et al.!

I'm glad that this hints towards all the characters keeping their same vehicle modes. If they start changing things around, it'll totally ruin the dynamic and coherence of the series. It would be like having a different actor play Wolverine in each new X-Men movie.

If people want new molds, they'll get new molds of new characters - and chances are Hasbro will release new molds of the existing characters (Barricade, Megatron and Starscream definately could be improved upon... maybe that's why the toys were so sucky in the first place, so they could make better ones next time around).

And even if you don't get a new mold for Optimus, who cares? There are plenty of other Movie Prime figures to have. The first leader-class version is perfection, you can't improve on that.

tigertracks 24 wrote:Good to see you posting news again Skowl! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the tip Robinson et al.!

Thank you TT24. I've been quite ill recently, it's hard to keep up with the news...

Cool. And he has flames!

Awesome! Thanks for the news!
The countdown to June 26th 2009 begins!!!

I would not doubt it if they are filming yet.
YAY!

i wouldnt be surprised if they dont change the lok on the orginal transformers that didnt die in the first one film only thing they may change is some minor modifications to robot mode but other than that id see any other changes to the first transformers in vehical mode for that matter to much time and money to do something like that cheaper and little bit faster if they did some changes in robot mode new weapoins posssibly irohide battlemode mask like prime, bumblebee, jazz and others

***Galvatron*** wrote:Awesome! Thanks for the news!
The countdown to June 26th 2009 begins!!!

Yeah, where's the ticker at the top of the page? They already had it at Michael Bay's website.

Do I like the idea of reusing the same designs? You betcha.

Why? They already have the animation models in the computer as a template and since reconstruction won't be required, they'll be able to hit the ground running and get more screen time, not to mention more footage filmed.

Am I surprised that Hasbro wouldn't push for more new molds to work with? Yep.

Why? Because it seems financially stupid not to cash in as much as possible on this juggernaut. Granted, they'd lose money by reissuing the molds for the current figures yet again (especially considering the repaints and remolds are not selling worth a crap now.) But you'd think they'd want to whore these out as much as possible.

So, that leads to a few questions...since they'll have a nearly impossible chance to resell these figures again (due to their incredible shelfwarming...) does this mean that TF2 will have more new characters for them to create and make money off of? (which is bad because the first movie characters will either get left on the back burner in terms of development, or they'll focus on the core characters and leave the new ones without any backstory whatsoever.)

Will Hasbro be as involved this time around? (Compared to other TF lines, the Movie line was definitely smaller than previous lines, in terms of individual molds. Not to mention, if I remember correctly...they broke off their partnership with Paramount? Or a production company did. One of the two. So...my guess is we'll either see less Hasbro influence (which could be a bad thing) or we'll see less new figures this time around.)

Will they include characters like Arcee this time? (they've already got the mold, and the pre-production designs on paper, it would be a terrible waste.)

I for one love the idea of reusing the same designs, it's far more realistic. But it's a double edged sword.

If I were Micahel Bay, I'd hire a couple of guys to drive the vehicles from the first Transformers movie over *there* while I went and made my new movie with my new vehicle mode transformers over *here*. Fans are looking and speculating about what they see *there*, completely missing what is going on over *here*

Also - as George Lucas rightly saw - if you keep the same vehicles in all movies, that's a lot less toys you can sell to the kids that bought all those X-Wings, Y-Wings and Tie Fighters after the first one came out.

That decoy speculation is an interesting one. We saw last week that there are multiple Barricades and it stands to reason that there is more than one Prime. Who's to say that, after Bays announcement regarding purposefully misdirecting the fans, that these vehicles aren't going to point "A" while the filming is going on at point "B"?
Personally, I could care less where they are going. It's cool to see them out and about and even seeing them in person would still not be as mind blowing as seeing it on an IMAX screen. That ROCKED for TF1 and I can't wait to do it again for TF2. That semi is a lot more impressive when it's 70 feet tall!

I doubt Bay would go to these lengths to throw us off.

1.) He can reuse them and save money.
2.) It would be too expensive to move them around just to screw with us.
3.) It's a waste of time.

I think they'll be in the film as is. I certainly hope Paramount and crew wouldn't be stupid enough to do it that way...

[quote="Autobot032"]Do I like the idea of reusing the same designs? You betcha.

Ahhh, you're just worried because you'd have to change your avatar!

Just kidding of course but yes I agree they need to come up with new bots with new toys and they will but if they don't make anymore of the existing toys then it makes them that much more rare and collectible!

Orin_Thomas wrote:If I were Micahel Bay, I'd hire a couple of guys to drive the vehicles from the first Transformers movie over *there* while I went and made my new movie with my new vehicle mode transformers over *here*. Fans are looking and speculating about what they see *there*, completely missing what is going on over *here*

Also - as George Lucas rightly saw - if you keep the same vehicles in all movies, that's a lot less toys you can sell to the kids that bought all those X-Wings, Y-Wings and Tie Fighters after the first one came out.

That seems like going through alot of needless trouble just to confuse fans. What is the simplest answer, that this is all a hoax, or that they are simply moving vehicles around to prepare for filming?

Remember the production of the first movie? They moved Barricade, Brawl, Ironhide and others around on a flatbed truck without even bothering to cover them up, everyone could see them and everyone took photos, all it did was excite people.

As for the Star Wars analogy, it doesn't matter if they re-use the old designs since kids will be buying the toys of new characters and whatever new molds are produced of the existing characters. Hasbro designers would have gotten used to the movie designs by now, so they can probably make better figures - never underestimate them.

Besides, the X-Wings were in all three of the original SW films. They added new vehicles to make new toys, but kept the old classics. Just look at how many different versions of X-Wing toys they are, and people keep buying them.

And I mean really, Scott Farrar said it took 6 months of work to build the CGI model for ONE Transformer. By re-using the designs, you effectively save 54 months worth of man-power, not to mention the money it cost to build those models.

Skowl wrote:

Orin_Thomas wrote:If I were Micahel Bay, I'd hire a couple of guys to drive the vehicles from the first Transformers movie over *there* while I went and made my new movie with my new vehicle mode transformers over *here*. Fans are looking and speculating about what they see *there*, completely missing what is going on over *here*

Also - as George Lucas rightly saw - if you keep the same vehicles in all movies, that's a lot less toys you can sell to the kids that bought all those X-Wings, Y-Wings and Tie Fighters after the first one came out.

That seems like going through alot of needless trouble just to confuse fans. What is the simplest answer, that this is all a hoax, or that they are simply moving vehicles around to prepare for filming?

Remember the production of the first movie? They moved Barricade, Brawl, Ironhide and others around on a flatbed truck without even bothering to cover them up, everyone could see them and everyone took photos, all it did was excite people.

As for the Star Wars analogy, it doesn't matter if they re-use the old designs since kids will be buying the toys of new characters and whatever new molds are produced of the existing characters. Hasbro designers would have gotten used to the movie designs by now, so they can probably make better figures - never underestimate them.

Besides, the X-Wings were in all three of the original SW films. They added new vehicles to make new toys, but kept the old classics. Just look at how many different versions of X-Wing toys they are, and people keep buying them.

And I mean really, Scott Farrar said it took 6 months of work to build the CGI model for ONE Transformer. By re-using the designs, you effectively save 54 months worth of man-power, not to mention the money it cost to build those models.

*BINGO!*

Exactly, thank you. And now that Ironhide and Ratchet have been spotted....it's fair to assume they'll be in the film.

What's up with his smokestacks? Were they a saftey hazard?

lrahaman wrote:What's up with his smokestacks? Were they a saftey hazard?

Removed for low bridges, while up on the flatbed the truck is much higher up of course...they will be added back where ever it's destination is and filming begins.

***Galvatron*** wrote:

lrahaman wrote:What's up with his smokestacks? Were they a saftey hazard?

Removed for low bridges, while up on the flatbed the truck is much higher up of course...they will be added back where ever it's destination is and filming begins.

Thank you, Spock, for ignoring my apparently overly-vague reference to MP Prime's smokestacks.

My thoughts on Bay's misdirection tactic was just a speculative notion. Hell yes it would be a huge waste of money. It would be amusing if he did do something like that, and the fact that he is certainly sitting on a huge pile of dough means that he could do something like that if he felt so inclined. Whether he wants to go to that length just to jerk people around, that's entirely up to him and as I said before, I could care less either way what he does or whatever theories are floating around as to why the cars are out there in the first place. The fact is, they are out there, folks are getting some good, unstaged photo ops. and the fandom gets to enjoy the pics. That's what matters!!

lrahaman wrote:

***Galvatron*** wrote:

lrahaman wrote:What's up with his smokestacks? Were they a saftey hazard?

Removed for low bridges, while up on the flatbed the truck is much higher up of course...they will be added back where ever it's destination is and filming begins.

Thank you, Spock, for ignoring my apparently overly-vague reference to MP Prime's smokestacks.

Spock eh ? well Nimoy voiced the first time we saw Galvatron so thanks for the compliment! Bwahahaha but if you and your MP optimus have short comings of any type too bad but not me!

Take a look at the picture and note the position of the hand as well! hahahahahha



http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff55 ... 0_0154.jpg

Looks like Magnus giving Prime a free ride. Can't Prime drive himself?

Maybe his license is temporarily susupended. After he helped wreck the whole downtown.