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We had the pleasure to talk to the writer and artist of the new Transformers series from Skybound, Daniel Warren Johnson, to get to know more about what to expect in the coming months along with an explanation for the big spoiler moment. Below is a summary of what was discussed.
Firstly, it was interesting to see that while Johnson grew up with the Transformers brand and was heavily influence by Geoff Senior for his art style, he has been removed from the modern Transformers content and discussion. So don't expect new characters to show up, even those which have retroactively become part of "G1" fiction, like Drift, Barricade or Windblade. The stories will instead have characters he is ore familiar with, though there may certainly be some G1 deepcuts.
The first issue had a passing remark regarding Megatron's absence and Johnson was not going to tell us more about that. BUT he did explain to us why he picked Bumblebee as the character to bite the dust in the first issue. At a basic level, the scene was made to establish to both new readers and the human characters in the story who were the good guys and the bad guys and how ruthless the bad guys are. Plus, since this comic is meant to be as accessible as possible, Johnson wanted to have well known characters, including the one who dies. This had nothing to do with Bumblebee's overexposure in the past 15 years, though it is interesting to note that Johnson never had a great affinity to Bumblebee growing up.
While the book has a very familiar premise for anyone who grew up in the G1 era, the book is meant to be accessible to all and Johnson asks us to leave everything we know at the door. The story he will be telling is fresh and new. It will be written as a series of arcs, with no end planned at the moment. At the same time though, Johnson is adamant to make each issue feel satisfying in its own right, as we saw with the first issue, with a full character arc for Jetfire. This is something extremely important to him.
A change we felt was significant was the talk of time. In most Transformers fiction, eras are measured in "millions of years" be it the Cybertronian war or the time between the Arc crashing and the bots awakening. Johnson changed that to "hundreds of years" in the dialogue since it felt more logical, but the impact story wise is minimal. It wasn't that big a decision for him and Hasbro had no notes on it. Speaking of Hasbro's involvement, they did give him feedback about the way he draws Optimus' hands. While they would want them to look less human, Johnson is sticking to the Geoff Senior school of robot hands, which are simply human hands with some rings drawn on the fingers. It is also less taxing for him, since he does have the double duty of being the writer and artist.
Speaking of that double duty, it gives an added layer to what we see in the comic and which characters appear. For instance, the cassette Soundwave chooses to deploy is Ravage. Johnson, as a writer, wanted to include this character that he loves and Johnson as an artist really wanted him in the story because it adds a different kind of element to draw. Him being an animal makes him fun to draw and adds contrast to the more blocky shapes of the other bots.
Those were the main parts of the interview, if you want to watch the full interview, you can do so below. But please be aware of some issues with framerate and the interviewer going on some random rants/tangents.
We have good news for those liking the retro G1 Reissue line, which has the G1 toys in a cartoon inspired deco. Firstly, they are a main subject of an interview between the ToysareRuss Youtube channel and Hasbro's Transformers marketing team. They go over what we can expect from the line going forwards.
Also, as most of us guessed and hoped, we will be getting a Skywarp. This is great news for all of us wanting to complete a set of seekers in matching deco.
The code for Skywarp was found by JTPrime17.
Tra Gen Retro Skywarp
Product number: F6952
Here is a gallery of the original G1 Skywarp toy for those interested:
Regardless of what you think of the Rise of the Beasts film, it shows that the director and writers did see the robots as the titular characters that they are rather than giant props in the background. Steven Caple Jr, the director was a fan of the source material and did good on his word to provide a Transformers movie with a focus on the Transformers as much as he could (we previously wrote why that's usually not the norm in these films). So it begs to reason why Wheeljack was such a change from his previous look, especially when he had a more accurate look in the Bumblebee movie. Well, it turns out that this decision and push was out of his hands according to this interview from UPROXX. From the interview below, we see that this more nerdy look came from the higher ups, be that Hasbro or Paramount (not that it matters, both companies must sign off on these decisions) and that Wheeljack's look was changed so that he can be more different from the rest of the cast, both in look and the personality inferred by the look. Also, we've gotten early designs of the film which show that Wheeljack's new design was done at a very preliminary stage of production, before Caple was even attached to the film. And it remained this way. Along with Wheeljack, ee have other "previs" designs to share with you from Fred Pashe, who also worked on Beast Machines back in the day. Enjoy!
"When I got into the film, they had already wanted the Wheeljack part of this picture, but they wanted to redesign it and actually lean more into the science and nerdy part of Wheeljack. They felt like the Wheeljack – I don’t know if this is the studio or Hasbro who was here before me – he was kind of falling into the lane of the other characters. Kind of tough. Ironhide, and those kind of vibes. Just didn’t feel like enough variety across the board. And so, for me as a fan, I was like, “All right, how can I keep some of the essence?” But I was like, I’m going to just dive deep into the lore and just gave him his whole sort of personality and a different look as we start to now develop and move on. But yeah, that was it. It was no shade or callbacks to the other Wheeljack at all. But people started calling Pablo Wheeljack, which I thought was kind of funny. And Cristo likes it too. He’s like, “I’m down for that.” Cristo Fernandez, who plays him, which is cool."
We thank White Bear PR for putting us in touch with Jongnic Bontemps (aka JB), the composer for the film Transformers Rise of the Beasts. While we of course hope you watch the interview, we have a summary of the key points below. While we do mostly talk about the film itself, there are some interesting bits that could interest those wanting to compose in hollywood as well as parents who would want their kids more engaged with the musical instrument they are learning. Also, please note that this interview was done before the movie's release.
Summary of key points:
- JB grew up with the Transformers brand and his favourite transformers toy was G1 Optimus Prime (with trailer)
- We go over the basics of composition, how even though it involves an entire orchestra, it all starts with a single melody and then the various instruments are included at various moments or renditions
- JB discusses how they got Steven Jablonksy involved in the score and the transition from themes of the previous films into this new one.
- JB does include parts of the Unicron theme from the original 86 Transformers movie within the film. He also notes the irony of how those chilling notes for this immense being come from a tiny glass harmonica (originally)
- JB then talks about the leap of faith he took and the massive investment he made to show the studio his vision of the theme for this film and how what you hear in the film came to be.
- We end on a extra tip for parents who are bringing their kids to music lessons and want to keep them engaged. The key is to make them play something they like and weave that with the more classical compositions they need to learn to hone their skills.
The Seibertron site assisted a round table discussion today with Evan Brooks (designer), Marc Maher (designer), Delaney Norris (marketting) and Ben MacCrae (marketting) from Hasbro, answering questions related to the recent Legacy reveals. There would be no answers to any questions related to the Rise of the Beasts line (so I would not expect reveals of that any time soon).
Q: When will Shadowstrip and Crasher be formally announced?
A: It’s up to Walmart. Hasbro thought they would be revealed and made available by Walmart at the same time as Galaxy Shuttle but it doesn’t seem to be the case. They are waiting to hear back from Walmart.
Q (my question): Legacy/Studio Series toys are made with which primary audience/market in mind? And which demographic buys the majority of toys from those lines?
A: While the targets are “fans”, that is an internal name for the 8-12 year old market. These would be kids who are fans of Transformers toys since they grew up with the simpler ones in other lines and are ready for a more challenging conversion. While there are characters older fans are more likely to recognize, they are all still designed more with children in mind and the freedom with Legacy lets them bring other characters. Also, that demographic (8-12 year olds) is who these toys are bought for most.
Vehicle form factor is key, and kids gravitate towards the idea of a robot to vehicle conversion so there is no need to have a character that young kids know. The goal is giving 8 year olds the STEM feature of play with legacy and Studio Series. Nothing has changed since John Warden said that toys are designed with kids in mind. They are trying to make toys for kids that older fans also like. They are currently undergoing market research to see the percentage of sales from different demographics.
Q: Will there be more new characters like Scraphook?
A: Scraphook as a new character was easy since he is part of the Junkions who already have a theme/play pattern in the lore. Hasbro is constantly looking for ways to integrate new characters. Junkions are an easy place to mine for new characters and there will be more to come in the new year. Every time we have a chance to do something new, we try it though with Studio Series, that line is linked to pre-existing characters.
Q: Has the plastic type changed?
A: The main plastic types used for toys have not changed since the 80s, and the plastic used now is the same used in the previous Transformers lines (like WFC trilogy, ect). They are aware of the yellowing issue and if you have a product with that issue (or any issue) please contact the customer support team.
Q: Tarn is great, what took so long and how do we get the rest of the team?
A: Tarn is an amazing character, from a fantastic storyline. The Hasbro team are big fans of that. They had to bring him to life after seeing Tarn show up in so many other places. It was obviously the time for Tarn, but the rest of the DJD are a design challenge (not Nickel though, could be a core release). They are looking into it, and finishing off “mini collections” is still something Hasbro wishes to do. They try to have more synergy between comics and toys, hence why Knockout in the comics looks like the Legacy toy. His design (and others) were given to IDW from Hasbro. Legacy finally gave an outlet for freedom of having characters from anywhere, that’s why characters from IDW specifically are being integrated into the line. Just don’t expect the same alt modes.
***Seibertron user William-James88 suggested a Robotic scorpion which can be fan made into an electric chair for Kaon.***
Alex Milne and James Roberts will get a copy of the Tarn toy.
Q: Can you acknowledge the existence of the Legacy Minerva toy?
A: Yes, they can personally acknowledge that it exists. They have not heard from Walgreens as to their plan for releasing it yet. The official date of release would have been October 1st. Hasbro will do their best to continue releasing the Japanese characters, like Galaxy Shuttle and Victory Sabr. Mark apologises for Minerva not being a headmaster, but he wanted to release it in the line. Also, Minerva was chosen as a Walgreens exclusive due to the medical theme.
Q: Core class combining Dinobots, what challenges were there?
A: Lots of Challenges, Sludge is taking the biggest hit with the thunderous thighs needed for combiner mode. Not sure if they could do it at first, but it felt like it could be possible, so they didn’t wish to say “no”. They made it happen at Core class. They added a sixth Dinobot for the proportions to work without it having a deluxe torso.
Bringing them to core class was so that you could have the whole team on the shelf at the same year, harkening back to the G1 era. These toys are perfect for kids. Core class is meant to be well known characters that sell, at a lower price points.
***The Dinobots were not the first intent from the designer (ie. Monstructor/Dinokinginstead), but they were used for an easy sell to marketing.***
Q: Can you give more info on Override being a new mold in a line of redecos?
A: When Takara gets to design a character they have a lot of love for, you can sit back and see the wonder. (Lots of mold mathematics discussion which personally stumped your dear news editor.) Stuff like the Cyberkey hole for Override are design easter eggs made for fans who remember the older toy even though it is still made to sell to kids.
Q: Are there more female characters coming to Legacy and Studio Series?
A: Of course! So many awesome female bots, we will never say no. The female audience for transformers is immense, far bigger than most fans may think.
Q: Can we ever expect proper Pretenders?
A: Classic style pretenders shells are very hard to do (and sell to corporate) since the shells themselves become a mold of their own. Core class Bombusrt can fit into his G1 pretender shell but that is a happy coincidence.
*** Evan then proceeded to more heavily hint to the alternate use of those core class Dinobot molds (ie. Monstructor/Dinoking though nothing officially is said and we do not know how or when they will ever be made and available).***
Q: What criteria goes into choosing a Gobots character in a Transformers line?
A: The goal is to sell to kids so alt mode and colour come into play with the choice. It’s a group conversation to decide if it’s the right move or not. Gobots is still a tricky licence since another company owns what was originally GoBots. So it’s a very muddy situation. Always thinking 3 years ahead, it can take that long to get a toy associated to a toy from another “mini collection”.
Q: Any answers about the woes with Cosmos’ distribution?
A: No news on if we’ll see more cosmos at retail, everything is up to Walmart in terms of case allocation, nothing can be forced from Hasbro. The team was unaware of the solid cases in the UK since the marketing team was trying to get a solid box for the designers to have their own but was told that wasn’t a thing.
Q: Do all molds have second heads just sitting there for the future?
A: Been going on for a long time. It’s weird when there isn’t an alt head in a mold.
***The alt head for Titans Return Seaspray was a merman head from the G1 episode. Ben is a HUGE fan of Seaspray and would want another release before he retires.***
Q: Transformers boxes, can they go full closed box like other Hasbro lines?
A: Unlike Marvel and Star Wars, the Transformers brand skews younger, so seeing the robot inside does bring in more sales than a closed box with the image of the character. Transformers is not as character focused line like Marvel, it isn’t the character itself that sells the toys, it’s how the bot looks. There have been studies done and open windows are best for their target audience of 8 year olds seeing the robots on shelves. The leader class toys are higher priced and thus not likely an impulse purchase by parents, so they can look more like a toy aimed at collectors. Looking into all different boxing options, but right now open box for lower priced toys is the best for Transformers brand.
Q: Will there be more Japanese Beast Wars Characters aside from Leo Prime?
A: Leo Prime was an easy sell to corporate since he is a leader called Prime and a lion, both attributes familiar and appealing to kids. They keep testing the market and audience. The term Convoy is a trademarked name in Japan, so that name cannot be used on packaging by Hasbro.
Q: Is that Lockdown looking car in the poster a hint that we are getting Lockdown?
A: There is no comment on it being Lockdown or not but Hasbro is aware of the thirst for the Transformers animated universe (note from Editor: the toy on the poster is not Lockdown, it’s a deluxe Junkion toy like Scraphook)
And now, dear readers, here is an example of how to ask the same type of “are we getting this” type of question, but to get a better answer. One question was “is Slipstream coming any time soon”, and the answer from Hasbro was “Anything is possible”, obviously. BUT I found another way around that:
Q: Have there been any obstacles to getting the rest of the Age of Extinction Dinobots, since we got none after Grimlock.
A: There may have been at the time if the same characters were available in the Platinum line (not a certainty, memory is foggy on that), but as of right now there is no obstacle, no reason for them not to eventually show up, nothing stopping Hasbro from making them. However, G1 Grimlock appearing in the SS line did put the possible release of Bayverse Dinobots on hold.
The next reveals will be happening on the Premium member exclusive stream happening October 27th. Also, Hasbro is hyped for Eathspark and they hope you feel that too.
The Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast is back again to talk about, you guessed it, Transformers. Join illustrious host ScottyP and his ramshackle band, xRotorstormx, EpicVoiceGuy, and Megatronus as we Wreck N Rule with the high octane energy of a snuggle of sloths. Plus, long-time Transformers comic writer Nick Roche joins at the start to talk about his latest comic!
Episode #300 “Last Pod Standing” is available directly and in our RSS Feed, and should appear on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio and many other Podcatcher sites within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.
Here's what we discuss in this episode:
We kick things off with an interview with the one, the only, Nick Roche. Listen in to hear all about his latest Transformers work, Last Bot Standing
Post-interview, the rest of the crew chimes in on the full reveal of Masterpiece Trailbreaker, in all his everything-but-the-kitchen-sink glory.
Studio Series reveals are in, and we zero in on Arcee and Galvatron as the notable head scratchers and lowlights, respectively.
Now for something completely different: Lego Optimus Prime. Big, fully transformable, and expensive, the corporate synergy is strong with this one.
Bring on the Target exclusives: we briefly touch on the random assortment of WFC trilogy redecos thrown at Target consumers like so much chimken.
Mr.MicroMaster asks: "What if Hasbro is done with Transformers comics. While I highly doubt this is what Hasbro has in mind for the comics, non the less [sic] I think it will be an interesting thought experiment."
We wrap up with a round of bragging rights. But wait...
Our super special 300th episode topic: What is your 300th most favorite Transformer, and why? No seriously, we all pick something we really love, just... less... than approximately 299 other things in our collections.
|Love us? Hate us? Extra Super Love us? Drop us a review on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcatcher. |
| Want to keep the discussion going? You can do so by simply replying to this post! |
| Got a question for the Twincast? Ask the Twincast. |
There has been a lot of talks of reboots by fans, but the truth is Paramount can never commit to that. While the prequel movies like Bumblebee and the upcoming Rise of the Beasts won't directly reference the later (chronologically wise) films aside from Bumblebee's radio voice, face and alt mode choice, they are still part of this broader live action franchise, which has its die hard fans. Steve Caple Jr., the film's director, is very aware of this but and as a G1 fan he will be making this new movie his own thing while still being within the very loose and often contradictory chronology that fans call the Bayverse. The interview below from comicbook.com gives you a sense of how he will be meshing his movie within all this. It talks mainly of Optimus Prime's character and it is our best look yet at how Paramount is juggling this whole franchise and bringing in more classic G1 elements without committing to a full on reboot.
"The main hero is Optimus, as we all know and love," Caple said. "We're bringing Prime back, paying direct homage to Generation One. I care so much about this character that I really wanted to dive into Transformers, and I saw a Bumblebee and I was like, okay, Bumblebee had his own movie, but I want to discover more about Optimus Prime, dig underneath the surface, get underneath the metal, if you would, and like explore who he is and his experience here on earth, you know?"
"I know everyone has been asking like crazy, are we going, G1, are we going to G1?" Caple continued. "The answer is, yes, we are going to G1, the Prime."
The movie takes place about a decade before Michael Bay's Transformers -- and Caple plans to use that as an opportunity to explore a kind of "Year One" approach to Optimus Prime, and give fans a sense of how he became a great leader.
"It's 1994, and in a way, both the animated series and the Bay films treat Optimus the same in the sense of who he is as a leader, what is his drive?" Caple said. "All those things. What we've done is we're bringing it back to where you see how he becomes, what you're familiar with. And that's big new news."
And, yes, it isn't just a question of him spending 10 years on Earth. There's more to it than that, and fans will get to see what his "emotional" tie is to the planet, according to the director.
"When you say got to where he is, you mean 'we need to protect these earthlings and this biological planet,'" Caple explained. "The way to look at it is he's new to earth and he doesn't have a connection to earth the way we met him in the Bay films and the way we met him in the animated series where he's already a protector of Earth. And so in this film, it's forming, why does he have a link to humanity? And why does he have a link to earth? And that's emotional...At the beginning of Bumblebee, we showed, he escaped from Cybertron his home planet. And so in a sense, he's he literally is like an ex-pat here, right? He's landed. He's, he's an alien and he's never been here before. And so it allows us to get underneath say the stoicism of what we're traditionally presented in an Optimus."
Inverse had an interesting interview with Adam Wingard, director of Godzilla Vs Kong. In it, the focus is on Mecha Godzilla, as it is the only new Monsterverse design that debuted in the film. A big part of the article is Wingard recalling watching Transformers Dark of the Moon, which serves as an inspiration to him for what not to do. It is in this excerpt below:
Wingard says that when it came to Mechagodzilla, he was more focused on avoiding the mistakes of previous films than on copying some other classic sci-fi robot. The director is talking about one terrible movie in particular: Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
“I remember watching the third Transformers movie in the theater,” Wingard recalls. “It was one of those things where I was with a date, and we got there late, and the only seats that were available were literally in the front row. And so I'm sitting there watching Transformers 3 in the front row, and I couldn't tell what the hell was going on.”
“The Transformers, they just looked like metal. They looked like a plane crash. So I thought, that's the thing I wanted to avoid. They were too complex. There are too many moving parts, and I couldn't latch on to anything. Nothing felt iconic with that Transformers design.”
“The Transformers animated movie from the '80s with Orson Welles was one of the best movie experiences for me as a kid growing up,” Wingard says. “Period.”
Along with the leader of the dinobots, Gregg also gave Skyfire a voice and did vocal performances in a whole host of other cartoon shows including Argh! Real Monsters and the cartoon adaption of Men in Black, as well as Mysterio in the seminal 90s Spiderman cartoon.
We have embedded the interviews below for your convenience:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
What do you think of this interview? Whats your favourite Gregg performance?
Shout out in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
Greetings Seibertronians! Fellow Seibertron user, futurevoiceactor, has dropped us a line to tell us about a special video he's uploaded to YouTube. In this video,he interviews Michael Bell, who Transformers fans will remember as the voices of Prowl and Sideswipe (and more!) in the original G1 Transformers cartoon! Outside of Transformers he's appeared in many other cartoons and video games (such as appearing as Raziel in the Legacy of Kain series).
The interviewer has already conducted interviews with the voice of Grimlock and Skyfire (from the G1 cartoon) and the colourist from IDW'S Regen One, John Paul Bove. Check out their YouTube Channel here
We have embedded the interviews below for your convenience:
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