The Energon Pub

[El Duque]

The Transformers facebook page has posted a brief Q&A session with Transformers Prime's Executive Producer Jeff Kline. The first question asked was when season two would begin, and contrary to the previously reported November 28th date he replied early 2012. The Q&A session has been mirrored below for you non-facebook users.

Janice Anderson asks: My four-year-old Transformers Prime superfan, Jackson, would love to know when Season 2 will begin!

Jeff Kline: No specific date yet, but keep an eye out for more news soon. We do know it will be "early 2012." I’m hoping that means late January or early February, but the truth is that the folks making the series are often so narrow-focused—with nearly an entire season in various stages of production simultaneously—that we tend to not be as up-to-speed on scheduling or promotional agendas as you might think!



Kapricia Arabella asks: Out of the all the characters in the show, which one do you feel is the most like you?

Jeff Kline: I’d like to say that Optimus Prime and I are practically twins…but that would be overreaching. The truth is, when a writer is crafting an ensemble, he/she often puts a piece of himself or herself in each and every character. Might be a detail of backstory... a goal...a fear... or a quirk. Because, in general, it’s easier to write dialogue for a character you already have something in common with.



Jocelyn Simmons asks: I read in a commentary on the upcoming Season Two that Raf voice actor Andy Pessoa's voice is "changing"... If it's true, is he going to be replaced, or are you guys going to roll with the punches and make Raf grow up with him?

Jeff Kline: We’re definitely not going to replace Andy. We love Andy. And we’re very happy that, despite our best efforts to medically stunt his growth (kidding!), Andy continues to mature—and tower over many of us in the production office. Bottom line: Andy is a strong enough actor that he can hit that slightly higher, younger-sounding voice register even when it’s no longer his normal speaking voice.



Ben Maddison asks: How important did you feel it was to get back Peter Cullen and Frank Welker for the two iconic rolls they play?

JK: Everyone here at Prime, and at Hasbro Studios, felt it was vitally important to try to put the “band” back together. We weren’t certain either actor would be interested, but—thankfully—both responded to the material and, I suspect, the opportunity to work side-by-side once again.



“Scribble TheAppaloosa Pony” asks: With such a huge selection of Transformers to choose from, many of them being fan-favorites, how do you go about selecting which characters get the honor of starring in Transformers Prime?

Jeff Kline: We knew we wanted to keep our ensemble relatively small, bothfor production reasons and so that we would have the ability to really dig into these characters in a way that only television allows. If I remember correctly, we started with three of the "must-haves" (Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron), and then tried to surround them with ‘Bots and ‘Cons that complemented rather than duplicated their personalities, attributes and histories. We knew we could never please everyone; each fan has his/her favorites, and the Transformers universe is huge. So we all came at it from the perspective of, "Who will allow us to spin the most story?" vs. "Who has the highest ‘Q’ Score?"

[Mkall]

And I was looking forward to the end of the month too

Oh well, it promises to be worth the wait!

[ShadowTracker]

season two not this month? V_____V I am disappoint

[Sabrblade]

Daggonit!


...Did I spell that right?

[LadyBug]

I swear.... they really are **** with us fans. This is getting really annoying. They better have all of season 2 completed by the time it airs.

[MINDVVIPE]

Bummer... Although with season 2 coming out, hopefully, around the same time as the figures, thats going to be a lot of renewed hype... a good thing for Transformers I'm sure (not sure about the fans who can't find the figures, though).

[Name_Violation]

Racka frackin *grumble grumble grumble* *expletive deleted*

[prowl123]

MOTHER watches language PIECE OF language alert AND language. WHY THE This is getting annoying DOES THIS ALWAYS HAVE TO HAPPEN?

[Sabrblade]

They either should have started making this show a long time ago, or they shouldn't have decided to make it look so good. Less high quality CGI animation would result in them getting done faster. Yet, they strive for the best, and so force us to keep waiting.

[MINDVVIPE]

They either should have started making this show a long time ago, or they shouldn't have decided to make it look so good. Less high quality CGI animation would result in them getting done faster. Yet, they strive for the best, and so force us to keep waiting.

When you weigh the odds like that, though, I am reassured that it is worth the wait. I enjoy showing other people the show only for them to be like "wow" and realize why I like it so much. Even though animated is such a great show, I feel a little less inclined to show it off, just because you would need to spend some time to get to know the show to really appreciate the value, whereas in Prime, it looks/sounds/plays out well from the get go.

[Darth Bombshell]

To everyone complaining about this, I have one question.

You ARE aware that Season One JUST ended, right? Most TV shows, when they run September-May, don't start their new seasons until the following September. Not to mention that Prime premiered at the start of this year to begin with, along with Christmas and New Years, so waiting till early 2012 doesn't seem that big of a deal.

[Sabrblade]

They either should have started making this show a long time ago, or they shouldn't have decided to make it look so good. Less high quality CGI animation would result in them getting done faster. Yet, they strive for the best, and so force us to keep waiting.

When you weigh the odds like that, though, I am reassured that it is worth the wait. I enjoy showing other people the show only for them to be like "wow" and realize why I like it so much. Even though animated is such a great show, I feel a little less inclined to show it off, just because you would need to spend some time to get to know the show to really appreciate the value, whereas in Prime, it looks/sounds/plays out well from the get go.

In other words, the really good show looks just okay, while the okay show looks really good.

To everyone complaining about this, I have one question.

You ARE aware that Season One JUST ended, right? Most TV shows, when they run September-May, don't start their new seasons until the following September. Not to mention that Prime premiered at the start of this year to begin with, along with Christmas and New Years, so waiting till early 2012 doesn't seem that big of a deal.

Prime premiered at the end of last year. "Darkness Rising" counts as episodes 1-5, and aired in November 2010, with constant breaks taken throughout this year.

[ubertenorman]

I'm not really surprised it'll be next year-I was pretty surprised they were even trying for Nov 28...

What annoys me is that an exact date was given then redacted.

[Darth Bombshell]

What annoys me is that an exact date was given then redacted.

Things happen.

[Varia31]

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

... Oh, well. I'm sure the wait will be worth it.

[MINDVVIPE]

In other words, the really good show looks just okay, while the okay show looks really good.

Hehe, ya, pretty much (but I think prime is better than okay ). Speaking of which, I looovee my animated Blackarachnia figure

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

... Oh, well. I'm sure the wait will be worth it.

That is fun to spam.

[dinogeist]

I had calculated their would be no season 2 in 2011. my estimations was always february 2012. february seems about right because that's a a USA Network sweeps rattings month,hasbro's UK,Canadian & NYC toy fair.

I'm in no rush to see these TF Prime cartoon episodes. the older I get the more patience I get. since i'm only 27 years old,I can afford to wait. After all the average TF fan is not in their 80's & were not leaving earth anytime soon.

I prefer hasbro & the animation studio take their time,don't rush. create decent stories,great CGI & put more fan favorite characters in the series.

[Hypershock]

To everyone complaining about this, I have one question.

You ARE aware that Season One JUST ended, right? Most TV shows, when they run September-May, don't start their new seasons until the following September. Not to mention that Prime premiered at the start of this year to begin with, along with Christmas and New Years, so waiting till early 2012 doesn't seem that big of a deal.

Yes, but the last few episodes were broadcast over a month late. And it didn't run September-May, they had two episodes in november 2010 and three in december 2010, then they picked up in february, so if you wana get technical, it didnt really have a straight run. Plus, christmas is neither at the beginning of the year nor in february my friend

Plans change, I get it, so Im upset but im not majorly freaking out about this. Im a LOST fan, so I was used to long waits lolz. At least well have the toyline to keep us busy

[Sodan-1]

I haven't the foggiest clue why, but I'd gotten it into my head that it wasn't airing until June/July so this is a pleasant surprise. I just hope it doesn't take the best part of a year to show twenty-odd episodes again.

[autobotOG]

Well, that ruined my day. WTF??

[prowl123]

To everyone complaining about this, I have one question.

You ARE aware that Season One JUST ended, right? Most TV shows, when they run September-May, don't start their new seasons until the following September. Not to mention that Prime premiered at the start of this year to begin with, along with Christmas and New Years, so waiting till early 2012 doesn't seem that big of a deal.

We're all why am I still doing this? because we were told that it would be premiering at the end of November, and now yet another delay has been forced upon us like there was between every four or five episodes.

[Zeedust]

Janice Anderson asks: My four-year-old Transformers Prime superfan, Jackson, would love to know when Season 2 will begin!

Jeff Kline: No specific date yet, but keep an eye out for more news soon. We do know it will be "early 2012." I’m hoping that means late January or early February, but the truth is that the folks making the series are often so narrow-focused—with nearly an entire season in various stages of production simultaneously—that we tend to not be as up-to-speed on scheduling or promotional agendas as you might think!

Now read that part again.

Jeff Kline: ...but the truth is that the folks making the series are often so narrow-focused—with nearly an entire season in various stages of production simultaneously—that we tend to not be as up-to-speed on scheduling or promotional agendas as you might think!

As such, I don't think we can say the push-back has been [i]confirmed,[i] per se

I think it's completely possible that someone decided to air a few episodes early and didn't tell Jeff Kline about it, because the first few episodes of Season 2 had been finished or nearly finished by that time, and scheduling is, as Mr. Kline has stated, not his job. On the other hand, until a teaser image or episode summary crops up, I'm going to be ready to sit back and wait. I'm just pointing out that the man himself SPECIFICALLY SAID that he doesn't always have the most up-to-date information in this area, and there's still an outside chance he may simply not have been told of a change in plans.

[Sabrblade]

On the other hand, until a teaser image or episode summary crops up, I'm going to be ready to sit back and wait.

Well, we have had a teaser clip since NYCC.

[Avensis-Mahiya]

Initial reaction:
WHAT THE frag! WHAT KIND OF MONKEYslag IS THIS?! I slagging HATE EVERYTHING. WHY HASBRO WHY?!

Second reaction:
This sucks, no doubt about it. But this gives me plenty of time to work on my epic fanfic I've been threatening to write. Season 2 is going to be great!

[Autobot Megatron]

THAT explains why the guide wasn't showing any new episode on the 28th. Good to know, but bad to know at the same time. Eh, at least now the seasons won't have less of a gap than SOME EPISODES FROM THE SAME SEASON. I mean really, considering that, could we really expect it'd be done? Hopefully they'll just get to the point where they don't need these gaps with this extra time. If there's still gaps, I'll rage when the time comes, but for now, I'm calm.

NOW JUST GIVE US THE BOTCON LOCATION!

*ahem* Sorry. I got a little carried away...