Date: Thursday, February 8th 2024 1:31pm CST
Categories: Toy News,
Event News,
Press Releases,
Digital Media News,
Collectables
Posted by: william-james88 Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
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Below is a press release from Hasbro regarding all activities and products that tie into the 40th Anniversary of the Transformers brand. There is another confirmation that the Transformers 1 movie comes out September 13 and it is revealed that there will be a Transformers themed episode of the Masked Singer. In terms of collectibles, they confirm that we are getting more Transformers Funko Pops and they reveal a
non transforming Optimus Prime in Ecto 1 colours from Jada.
HASBRO CELEBRATES TRANSFORMERS 40th ANNIVERSARY WITH MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE PRODUCTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND MORE
For 40 years, the TRANSFORMERS franchise has continuously adapted and redefined itself, culminating in one legacy across generations through innovative products, captivating entertainment, inspiring licensed partnerships, and engaging publishing projects
PAWTUCKET, R.I. – FEB. 6, 2024 – Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, today announced its plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beloved TRANSFORMERS franchise.
TRANSFORMERS made its worldwide debut in 1984 with its revolutionary robot-to-vehicle action figures, bolstered by a comic book series and an action-packed animated series, The Transformers. The launch was a massive hit, and it introduced characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, and others who became fan favorites and the ultimate heroes and villains of Cybertron. Today, hundreds of robots continue to join the franchise and illustrate the brand’s core ability to change and adapt to new environments while offering a variety of ways to play for a new generation of fans.
“Beloved since its inception in 1984, TRANSFORMERS has evolved from an innovative toy line into a powerhouse franchise embraced by millions of fans around the world,” said Alyse D’Antuono, Vice President, Global Franchise Strategy & Management, Action Brands, Hasbro. “The past four decades continuously delivered a … More Than Meets The Eye experience for fans by introducing new toys and games, as well as thrilling storytelling in animated shows, comics, blockbuster films and much more. As we build the next chapter in the TRANSFORMERS universe, we look forward to celebrating one legacy for another 40 years.”
“When you have a franchise that goes 40 years in this business, it’s pretty remarkable,” said TRANSFORMERS voice-over talent and original voice of Megatron, Frank Welker, “to watch the franchise just build and build and build it is amazing to watch.” Added fellow voice cast member and original voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen, “I’ve always had the feeling this was going to go a long time.”
Drawing inspiration from the brand’s origins in 1984, Hasbro will launch an exciting array of products, promotions, experiences and action-packed content throughout 2024, allowing new generations to discover where it all began.
Products:
Hasbro Pulse recently revealed the next HasLab of powerful proportions. Fans can back this TRANSFORMERS HasLab project, Transformers: Legacy Robots in Disguise 2001 Omega Prime, until March 14, 2024, at 11:59 PM EST. If fully funded, the project will begin shipping in Fall 2025. More information can be found on HasbroPulse.com.
Over 40 distinct Hasbro TRANSFORMERS anniversary figures will be available across the year-long celebration. Each product packaging will be branded with the TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary logo, including the recently revealed TRANSFORMERS Generations Comic Edition Shockwave and Grimlock figures. In March, Hasbro Pulse will kick off the 40th anniversary with a Hasbro Pulse Fanstream and weekly fan-focused content.
With the first robot figures “capable of disguising themselves as vehicles, planes, weapons, and communication devices” landing on shelves in April 1984, Hasbro set out to strengthen the TRANSFORMERS brand with multiple partner licensees. Early licensed products included sticker books, TV trays, dinnerware, school folders, notebooks, records and tape sets, gumball banks, kites, and Halloween costumes. Decades later, the brand continues to expand with new licensing, publishing, promotions and entertainment that will be available throughout the year-long celebration.
Music
Fans can jam out with the TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary vinyl album, ‘Hasbro presents Transformers: Music from the Original Animated Series,’ featuring music from 1984’s The TRANSFORMERS classic animated series (seasons 1-3). Originally released in 2019 with over 45 minutes of music, this reissue album includes bonus tracks and a mixture of remastered orchestral and ‘80s inspired synth tracks from the original tapes by composer Rob Walsh. The album will also be available digitally for the first time across all digital music platforms. Pre-orders open July 26.
JLab – The TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary collection includes headphones from top audio maker JLab. The collection includes the newly released JLab JBuds Lux ANC Headphones, providing immersive sound and incredible comfort to TRANSFORMERS fans. It also includes a more compact listening experience with new 2024 active noise canceling true wireless earbuds, the JLab JBuds ANC 3 model. For more information visit
http://www.jlab.com.
Fashion
Mad Engine – A new line of t-shirts has been created for the TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary, which features artwork based on the original TRANSFORMERS comics as well as new designs to commemorate the milestone. Fans can find the full assortment now on Amazon.com.
RSVLTS – A collection inspired by TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary is coming soon from apparel brand RSVLTS.
Toys & Collectibles
Robosen – Robosen is thrilled to not only kick off a huge year in 2024 with Hasbro but, more importantly, utilize the excitement and anticipation of the 40th anniversary of TRANSFORMERS with the launch of its most anticipated robot sequel since the Flagship Optimus Prime.
Jada Toys – Two new 1:24 scale die-cast vehicle mash-ups inspired by TRANSFORMERS and Ghostbusters brands will arrive this Fall: HWR Ghostbusters Ecto-1 with Optimus Prime G1 graphics (Ages 8 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99) and HWR G1 Optimus Prime with Ghostbusters Ecto-1 graphics (Ages 8 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $29.99). Vehicles feature premium sculpt and paint finishes, as well as highly detailed interiors, exteriors and more.
Super7 – New characters in Blind Box, ReAction, and Super Cyborg formats will be available for purchase starting this Fall on Super7.com, HasbroPulse.com, as well as other major retailers, including Amazon, Target, BigBadToy Store, Entertainment Earth, Macy’s and more. Follow Super7’s social media channels for product announcements and launch timing.
Funko – Fans can look forward to additional TRANSFORMERS x Pop! figures this Summer.
FiGPiN – FiGPiN is re-launching their XL collectible enamel pins featuring Optimus Prime and Megatron in a 6″ format. Each pin comes with an exclusive FiGPiN Logo as well as updated packaging to enhance your display. These will be available on FiGPiN.com late spring.
New Zealand Mint: In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the beloved TRANSFORMERS series, Hasbro and New Zealand Mint are excited to unveil a limited edition, pure silver collectible of the first Transformers comic cover. This exclusive piece is not only a nod to the enduring legacy of the TRANSFORMERS universe but also a testament to the fine craftsmanship and attention to detail that New Zealand Mint is renowned for. The release of this collectible marks the beginning of an exciting series of TRANSFORMERS-themed coins, designed to captivate both long-time enthusiasts and new fans alike.
threezero – The limited-edition Transformers MDLX Optimus Prime (Vintage Animation Edition), Transformers MDLX Bumblebee (Vintage Animation Edition), and Transformers MDLX Megatron (Vintage Animation Edition) are threezero’s redesigned versions of the classic TRANSFORMERS characters in celebration of TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary. They feature incredible detailing and a new vintage animation-inspired color scheme with new decals. The Transformers MDLX Vintage Animation Edition line of figures is based on the original 1980s The TRANSFORMERS cartoon and toy line, as redesigned by threezero Art Director Kelvin Sau.
These figures will be available at selected distribution partners worldwide, threezero Store, and threezero Tmall. A limited first batch of 100 units will be available for on-site purchase at the threezero booth on the opening day of TF Con LA on March 8th.
Publishing
Skybound Entertainment – New comic books and graphic novel collections based on the TRANSFORMERS series will be released this year. As part of the new shared Energon Universe from visionary creator Robert Kirkman, TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE and Void Rivals characters come together for a truly special comic book experience that has broken industry sales records. A new graphic novel compendium series collecting the landmark TRANSFORMERS series from Marvel Comics will also launch Fall 2024.
Dynamite Entertainment – Collect a new set of nearly 200 premium trading cards featuring fan-favorite characters from the TRANSFORMERS brand’s “Generation 1” era, showcasing classic art styles from an international array of top artists and Hasbro’s design archives. More information and product previews will be shared in the future.
Promotions
Monro – One of the United States’ leading automotive service and tire providers will offer TRANSFORMERS-themed auto service packages now through March 31. The program will include special offers, giveaways and more at participating Monro locations. For more information, visit
https://corporate.monro.com/overview/default.aspx.
Entertainment
The 40th anniversary celebration shifts into high gear with Paramount’s highly-anticipated animated projects released this year with the second season of the original kids series TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK and TRANSFORMERS ONE, the first-ever fully CG-animated theatrical movie, debuting in theaters on September 13.
Fans can tune in to a special TRANSFORMERS-themed episode during Season 11 of The Masked Singer, premiering this Spring on Fox.
Updates on these projects and other special entertainment content planned during TRANSFORMERS 40th anniversary year will be coming soon.
For the latest information on the TRANSFORMERS , including toys and entertainment, follow @TRANSFORMERSOfficial on Instagram, @TransformersOfficial on Threads, @TRANSFORMERS on Facebook and @TRANSFORMERSOfficial on TikTok.
Fans can now watch the 1984 The TRANSFORMERS animated series HERE on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube Channel. Additionally, TRANSFORMERS photos and video content are available HERE.
About Hasbro
Hasbro is a leading toy and game company whose mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Hasbro delivers engaging brand experiences for global audiences through toys, consumer products, gaming and entertainment, with a portfolio of iconic brands including MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, HasbroGaming, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH and PEPPA PIG, as well as premier partner brands.
Hasbro is guided by our Purpose to create joy and community for all people around the world, one game, one toy, one story at a time. For more than a decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute and one of the 50 Most Community-Minded Companies in the U.S. by the Civic 50. For more information, visit
https://corporate.hasbro.com.
About Hasbro Entertainment
Hasbro Entertainment leverages Hasbro’s leading collection of iconic brands to develop, produce, and finance premium film, television, animation, and digital content for audiences of all ages. Unifying Hasbro’s robust production expertise under one umbrella, Hasbro Entertainment is focused on creating multi-platform adaptations of the company’s brands, including such beloved worlds as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE, NERF, PLAY-DOH, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, PEPPA PIG, and MY LITTLE PONY. Hasbro Entertainment has over 30 active projects, with upcoming titles including TRANSFORMERS ONE, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series for Paramount+, and a broad slate of ongoing animated series, including Peppa Pig, Transformers: EarthSpark, Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes, and My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale. For more information on how Hasbro Entertainment is connecting and captivating generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling, visit:
http://www.Hasbro.com
About TRANSFORMERS
The TRANSFORMERS brand is a global powerhouse franchise with millions of fans around the world. Since 1984, the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons has come to life in movies, TV shows, comic books, innovative toys, and digital media, bringing incredible “MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE” experiences to fans of all ages. The brand’s enduring connection is made possible by its rich storytelling and characters: the heroic Autobots who seek to protect all life, and the evil Decepticons who seek to conquer the universe. The TRANSFORMERS
Date: Monday, August 22nd 2022 7:36pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News,
Event News
Posted by: Sabrblade Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 119,010
A week ago, TFNation 2022 was held in the United Kingdom, whereat Transformers uber-fans Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely held a very special presentation on the Saturday night of August 13, which was followed by an extra panel the next day on Sunday, August 14.
This presentation was, without a doubt, the event of the weekend. Back in June, Chris held a livestream on YouTube in which he momentarily hyped up this event as "one of the most important panels ever held at a Transformers convention." He later made
this post on his YouTube community portal, which featured the following promotional art:
To cut to the chase, Jim and Chris held a live presentation of the long lost, original, very first draft script of Transformers: The Movie (1986) written by Ron Friedman!
For about 12 years, this original script was thought to have been lost to time and gone for good. But about two years ago in the summer of 2020, G1 cartoon writer Flint Dille was going through his storage and unearthed this long lost script. Jim Sorenson then flew out to Los Angeles and spent the next week scanning as much of the script as he could. And now, after all these years, Jim and Chris have finally made the contents of this lost piece of Transformers known to the public!
At the presentation, they provided an in-depth summary of the script's events, accompanied by brand new artwork created especially for the occasion.
While the artwork is unofficial, it provided visual illustrations of several events described by Friedman's script, each interpreted by the artists who drew them. Said artists included Ed Pirrie, Andy Turnbull, James Marsh, and Kris Carter.
While I, myself, was not present at the event, live updates were provided through both the TFWiki Discord server (most notably from uses Jacob McBaggins, Broadside, and Greeby) and the
Twitter of James Bach. It is from these sources that I have compiled the following full report of the presentation.
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By and large, the script is only vaguely resemblant to the final version of the movie. Some broad strokes are similar, but the biggest differences lie in the details. In fact, Flint Dille has previously gone on record calling this script "incoherent". As you will soon begin to see, "incoherent" is the
kindest word one could use to describe it, as it honestly feels like Friedman just made up as he went along.
This script draft was first written in August 1984, before the first episode of the G1 cartoon had even aired. Literally right after the final episode of Season 1, "Heavy Metal War", had been written. Season 2 hadn't even been conceptualized yet. No date is given for when it takes place. Not 2005, not the 1980s, nothing.
The story begins with the Battle of Autobot City. Except, it's not Autobot City, but just a steel mill. The Constructicons steal some steel ore from carts around the plant to build siege towers to attack the place. The Autobots who defend the steel mill are (from left to right):
- Hot Rod – Depicted here using the earliest known design by Floro Dery.
- Tanker – Grizzled old Autobot who's missing an eye, transforms into a Sherman tank.
- Magnus – Not "Ultra" Magnus. Drawn here in Floro Dery's early design that was later used for Orion Pax before the Diaclone Powered Convoy toy was decided to represent him.
- Arcee – Field medic, shown here in an early Floro Dery design.
- Wheeljack – Very sexist and misogynistic toward Arcee throughout the entire script, which is played for "comedy".
As the Decepticons continue their attack on the steel mill, three of them combine into a cannon that begins to shoot "fire snow" at the Autobots. What is fire snow? Napalm. Yes, the Decepticons attack the Autobots... with napalm.
Tanker gets his arm burnt off and, in the heat of the moment, acts rather sexist toward Arcee. Magnus grabs an industrial bucket and, in a very cartoony moment, simply catches the balls of fire snow napalm in the bucket and
tosses it back at the Decepticons. He saves Hot Rod in the process. The Decepticons dive for cover but get blown up by their own napalm tossed back at them, and are clobbered by the steel bucket.
Reinforcements for the Autobots arrive aboard an old locomotive train carrying rocket fuel in flatbed cars.
The train is manned by human allies General Blaze and Colonel Rusty Steel, the latter of whom is described by the script as an "Indiana Jones" type. Hasbro's feedback on the character basically says that his personality would later be applied to Springer.
General Blaze
Colonel Rusty Steele
The train carrying the rocket fuel is meant to distract the Decepticons from their attack on the steel mill, making them think the train is just a simple fuel delivery and an easy target, from which the Autobots can ambush Megatron.
Starscream attacks the train and ties it in a pretzel knot. The train then begins to transform from an old locomotive into a bullet train, a process called "Transformation Alpha". Starscream is then run over. (It is at this point that Jim pointed out that Starscream will have a lot to do in this story, only to clarify that he gets his
butt kicked a lot.) The train is now revealed to be an Autobot Triple Changer named Rails, who commences "Transformation Beta" into his robot mode... A GIANT SNAKE ROBOT MODE!!
Hot Rod soon runs out of ammo... in a
laser gun. A Decepticon charges at him with a laser chainsaw, but Tanker steps in and trips up the Decepticon, who then falls on his own laser chainsaw and is bisected in half by it.
Then the Optimus and Megatron fight happens... basically the same as it does in the final movie, verbatim even. As the Decepticons retreat from the battle following Megatron's defeat (no Astrotrain here, they all just
fly out into space on their own power), Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Arcee perform triage on Prime and determine that the damage is fatal. Rusty Steele objects, stating that they can't make that call in the field. Half the Autobots go with Ratchet to take the dying Optimus back to the Autobots' volcano base, while the other half go with Wheeljack to build ships to chase after Megatron. Gears is here as well, and is an insensitive jerk about the whole thing.
Basically, Friedman was mandated to kill off Optimus, but no other 1984 Autobots die either. The idea behind all this was to make the movie start out like a typical G1 cartoon episode until it
wasn't. Hot Rod is very broken up over Optimus's current state ("I don't know how I'll stand it if Prime dies because of me"), but Tanker basically just tells him to suck it up and not be such a wimp. Jerk.
Meanwhile, the Decepticons make it back to Cybertron by just
flying all the way there. In the final version of the movie, the place at which Starscream's coronation is held is referred to by its script as the Decepticon Hall of Heroes. In
this script, the Hall of Heroes is basically described as a sci-fi version of Adolf Hitler's Nuremburg Rally Hall, in the Third Reich. According to Jim and Chris, the script is practically
dripping with full-on Nazi references all over the place.
Megatron is there with them and dies unceremoniously while everyone argues over who gets to be the new leader. A fight soon breaks out. As Starscream and Skywarp fight, they inadvertently blow up the urn that was meant to house Megatron's "life spark". Without it, Megatron's ghost flies out of his body. As he pathetically begs and pleads for the other Decepticons to preserve his essence, they take no notice and continue their fight. Megatron's purple "life spark" ghost helplessly flies off into space.
Back on Earth, the entire volcano that houses the Autobots' base now opens up like Tracy Island from Thunderbirds. It's now a whole base for both Autobots and humans. Two such humans are Dr. Ellen Prentiss and her young son Daniel. Yep,
that Daniel. In this script, he is not Spike's son. In fact, Spike isn't even in this story at all. Here, Daniel looks up to and idolizes Colonel Rusty, who in turn calls the boy "Dan-o".
Springer is also one the Autobots there, whom the script describes as "a huge, Arnold Schwarzenegger type". He is also described by the script as turning into something like either a jet-powered missile launcher, or a jet-powered steam roller. He also barely does anything in the whole story.
Out in space, Megatron's ghost is summoned to the planet Unicron. In this version, Unicron is the name of the planet and its leader is a mysterious intelligence simply known as "the Entity". Planet Unicron has tree trunks that resemble a big hand, and trees that are like hair. (Attendee reaction to this described it as "horrid".) The Entity agrees to recreate Megatron into Galvatron in exchange for Megatron/Galvatron going back to Cybertron, bringing all of its Decepticon inhabitants under the Entity's will, and then taking all of the Decepticons to Earth for a more important plan.
Galvatron is apparently described in the script as both looking like a bigger Megatron covered in metal scales, and looking like he's wearing a black military uniform. For the accompanying fanmade artwork, however, he is instead depicted in his early Floro Dery design with toy-accurate colors. He also receives a unique insignia on his chest (looks like the artists chose to base their interpretation of it on the Beast Wars Neo Blentron insignia).
And now comes Optimus's death scene. In this version, instead of the Matrix of Leadership, a little green baby version of Optimus in energy form emerges from his chest. It is referred to as Optimus's "Matrix", long before the Creation Matrix was a thing in the Marvel Comics. It's basically Optimus's "life spark", like what came out of Megatron earlier when he died. The Baby Optimus goes into Magnus's body, making him "Ultra" Magnus.
On Cybertron, Galvatron arrives and Starscream recognizes him as Megatron. Starscream gets to live in this version and all of the Decepticons get new upgraded forms by the power of Planet Unicron. For the Seekers, the artists chose to base their interpretation of these upgraded forms off of Starscream's coronation gear from the final movie. In the script, the idea was to just make them bigger.
Cybertron is then destroyed in a beam of light and NOBODY cares. All except for Galvatron for about 30 seconds. The Decepticons then head for Earth. End of Act 1.
---
Act 2 begins with the Autobots building giant metal shields to protect Earth's cities so that they can take their new fleet of ships Wheeljack is building and go after the Decepticons without worry. The shields are said to be made out of metals with ridiculous names like "titano-rubidium steel" and "durabyl-metal". The script apparently takes two or three whole pages to describe the shields.
Colonel Rusty Steele seems to be taking point in this operation, while a bunch of "comedy" bits are going on around him. Namely, Wheeljack has a running "gag" where Arcee will do something really competent behind his back while he is oblivious to this and makes several sexist remarks about "she-bots". And he does this all throughout the script.
When the Decepticons arrive, Teletraan I cannot even compute their newly-acquired power. The Entity fires a green energy blast from space that strikes Galvatron, goes through him into the other Decepticons, and powers them all up enough for them to blast through all the shields the Autobots just built, destroying them in an instant despite multiple script pages setting up the shields.
Oh, and Prowl is here and doesn't die. And Starscream gets beaten up a second time, suffering endless slapstick. Even so, the Autobot base is overrun and they have to retreat.
A time-skip occurs. The Decepticons have a "Sweep Party" of black "Gestapo-like" bots searching for the Autobots, who have since set up a guerilla camp. This is from where the idea of the Sweeps originated.
The Decepticons have apparently taken over and are building an "energy drain cage" around the Earth, in order to siphon its energy and send it all to Planet Unicron.
Daniel gets the camp found by the Sweep Gestapo by accidently setting off Teletraan I, who mistakes him for an intruder.
Now engaged in a guerilla war, Tanker and Hot Rod go off to recruit a crack squad of the best of the best to help everyone get to the one remaining Autobot ship, so they can go find the source of the Decepticons' new powers.
First is Chemico, "the walking laboratory". He literally just pops up to make a smokescreen and never appears again.
Magnus also transforms... into either a truck or a combine harvester. The idea behind what his altmode should be was "What's the coolest vehicle to run someone over with?"
The Autobots knock away the Decepticons with baseball bats and escape via a river raft. Yes, really.
Springer is also here. As is Starscream. You know what that means? It's clobbering time, Screamer! Springer uses his jumping power, which Jim compares to bouncing like Tigger. Springer grabs Starscream and a generic Decepticon and bonks their heads together, which also results in the two 'Cons impaling each other with their limbs. Starscream is furious and threatens to boil the Autobots in their own pee (yes,
really!), and demands "UNKNOT MEEEEE!!" (Chris McFeely did his best and most throat-hurting Chris Latta impression for this line).
Other Autobot recruits include Blurr (who in this version talks reeeeeeeaallly slow, like Jimmy Stewart), Grimlock, Swoop, Sludge (but no other Dinobots) and Mentlar (a "Carl Sagan" type whose role as the "smart guy" is later taken by Perceptor).
Don't confuse his name with "Metlar", who is one of the Inhumanoids. He's "Mentlar", because of his great "mental" capacity. He turns into a radar truck.
Mentlar presses a button that activates a giant energy grid that he uses like a big flyswatter to disable the Insecticons and strip them of their Unicron upgrades, allowing the Dinobots to defeat them. Afterward, this grid is never used or brought up again.
The Autobots reach the last ship they still have, which is hidden inside an ice cave.
As Rusty, Daniel, and Ellen board the ship, Rusty gives Daniel his lucky silver dollar as a promise that they'll get through this. As the ship takes off, Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots are still fighting on the ground and just fly up alongside the ship, flying through space outside the vessel. Bumblebee shows up here just to get blasted off-screen by a cluster bomb. Wheeljack and Arcee remain on Earth to keep fighting the Decepticons and Wheeljack has more misogynist moments with Arcee.
Galvatron is mentally tortured by the Entity, who calls him an imbecile and tells him to destroy the fleeing Autobot ship. He give Galvatron a ship of his own, which resembles an aircraft carrier (this was the prototype version of Galvatron's ship from the final movie). Rusty and Daniel man the Autobot ship's guns like Han and Luke in Star Wars: A New Hope. And then a random space hurricane interrupts the battle, destroying Galvatron's ship and hurling Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots off into space. Galvatron emerges from the wreckage of his ship, sees no Autobots, and thinks he's won. End of Act 2.
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Act 3 begins with the Autobots' ship crash-landing on Planet Unicron's moon, drawn there by a tractor beam brainwave.
Back on Earth, Arcee twirls Starscream around like a wrestler and tosses him at a freeway overpass, collapsing it on top of other Decepticons. Despite this, Wheeljack is still sexist to her. This is also Starscream's last scene.
Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots end up on a planet that would later become Quintessa in the final movie. Sharkticons proceed to eat Swoop, but only nibble on him rather than consume him entirely.
The script keeps cutting back and forth between the moon with Magnus's team, the planet with Hot Rod's team, and Earth with Wheeljack and Arcee, the latter of whom ends up kissing Wheeljack on the cheek at one point.
Galvatron is told by the Entity to go into space and kill the Autobots stranded on the moon. His army flies off from Earth in space cruisers they just suddenly have now. As they approach Unicron's moon, the Autobots there trick the Decepticons with cardboard cutouts as decoys.
Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots witness the arena-style execution of a rock-based alien named Granix. Yep, before he was Kranix, he was Granix, his name based on "granite". And the Sharkticon pit was a battle arena rather than a shark tank.
Here, the Sharkticons have sensors that direct them to eat whatever they bump into, likely explaining what those antennae they have are supposed to be.
When Hot Rod's group stands trial, they are found "Innocent of trespassing but guilty of insolence". Hot Rod blinds the Sharkticons, but the Quintesson uses its mental powers to just make more Sharkticons from scrap. Hot Rod subdues the Quint and orders it to use its mind powers to find the other Autobots. It ends up finding Planet Unicron.
On Unicron's moon, the Decepticons have found the Autobots' three human allies, who all wear exo-suits implied to work by telekinesis. Rumble forces Daniel to watch Dirge try to crush Ellen to death, but Daniel saves his mother by crushing Dirge's torso inward and tossing him onto Rumble.
Then the Junkions show up, the leader of which is literally described by the script as wearing a Nazi helmet. The artists chose instead to draw him wearing a WWI German helmet because there's just
so much Nazi stuff in this script!!!
Elsewhere on Unicron's moon, Galvatron just straight up murders Magnus, Mentlar, and Blurr. Like, he just kills them. Dead. No repairs, no rebuilding them. Just dead. And Hasbro was furious.
Galvatron steals the glowing baby Optimus from Magnus and puts it in a jar around his neck.
What comes next are a couple of big reveals: The Junkions built Unicron! It was originally built to be a protector, but something went wrong. The Junkions then reveal a flaw in Unicron that serves as its weakness. And that weakness is... MISSING from the script! Yep, unfortunately, the script that Flint Dille found in storage was missing three whole pages that detail this very important part of the story. One of these pages also presumably sees Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots reuniting with the others on the moon, with Tanker freeing the Autobots from the Junkions with the Universal Greeting.
As Planet Unicron absorbs the siphoned energy from Earth, the Entity is powered up enough to transform the planet into a humanoid robot form. It heads towards Earth, munching other planets along the way. And at this point, Wheeljack
FINALLY apologizes to Arcee for being such a sexist misogynist.
A Junkion named Scrapo befriends the Dinobots, whose role was presumably later taken by Wheelie in the final movie.
In a surprise twist that shocks absolutely
no one, the Entity and Unicron are revealed to be one and the same. In order to defeat him, the Autobots must fight their way into Unicron's core. Once there, Daniel is the only one small enough to fit into the area they need to get into to destroy Unicron. But then, they suddenly remember that they also need the Baby Optimus that Galvatron still has. So they go
all the way back out to go get it. Hot Rod and Rusty corner Galvatron, who tries to fuse the Baby Optimus with himself into nothingness. But he is defeated by Dr. Ellen.
The Autobots and humans go
all the way back into Unicron's core, where Daniel takes the Baby Optimus and puts it into the core, blowing by Unicron. Galvatron gets blasted off on one of Unicron's severed fingers.
In the aftermath, Earth just gets all better after being shriveled up from its massive energy drain. A parade is held and Hot Rod holds Daniel up on his shoulders. The End.
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The day after this presentation was given, Chris and Jim held a follow-up panel with more information and artwork.
It is speculated that Rails was replaced with the Anibots (Autobot versions of the Predacons before those toys were decided to be Decepticons) in later script drafts, and then ultimately replaced by just the Dinobots defending Autobot City in the final movie. (The concept of Rails as a large, multi-changing transport Autobot with a bestial robot mode may have possibly even evolved into Sky Lynx.)
"Life Spark" came from a memo note from Sunbow to refer to the leadership aspect of "the Matrix", which had yet to be a thing at the time. "'Til all Matrixes are One" evolved into "'Til all Life Sparks are one", which after a game of telephone became just "'Til all are One".
As everyone could probably tell by now, the concept of Tanker would eventually evolve into Kup. Jim reasoned that Tanker changed into Kup because Hasbro, at the time, was looking at the next generation of Autobots and Decepticons being cars and jets, not tanks.
At some point in the script, Grimlock sees Arcee and thinks she's so cool that he want there to be female Dinobots.
A few more pieces of the fanmade artwork:
Granix
Quintesson (the name "Quintesson" originally came from a restaurant)
This Quintesson is based on Floro Dery's early Quintesson design.
Sweep Gestapo-bot
Junkion (who's meant to look like something out of the Road Warrior)
Q&A
The suspected intended runtime for this script is two hours.
Unicron's backstory as having originally been created as a protector is removed from later script iterations, and is ultimate made as vague and undisclosed as it is in the final movie.
Galvatron's original altmode in this script is basically a cannon covered in guns all over.
Hot Rod has no Autobot symbol in these art pieces because the design notes in the script simply don't mention it. The second design iteration does put it on, though.
Now that we know where the Sweeps came from, what about Cyclonus's armada from the later script drafts? They would have been just a bunch of Cyclonus duplicates.
Colonel Rusty Steele was never Daniel's father. Daniel just had hero worship for him.
And most importantly of all, the script itself WILL eventually be uploaded online for all eyes to see. We don't know when, but it is definitely planned to be released at some point later on.
FIN
Date: Saturday, February 22nd 2020 8:35pm CST
Categories: Cartoon News,
Movie Related News,
Toy News,
Event News
Posted by: william-james88 Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
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We have images from the Hasbro Brand panel that was held at Toy Fair earlier today. After those images you can also see what was being discussed during the Transformers panel.
But before that, we also have some extra nuggets from Toy Fair. Below is an image of the upcoming retro handhelds from Hasbro as well as the trading cards on site. You can see
more images of such here.
Here is a link to the entire
brand panel gallery.
While not directly Transformers related, Hasbro is bringing GI Joe back. There will be some new 6 inch figures coming out soon with Roadblock, Scarlet, Duke and Snake Eyes.
Now Transformers!
The panel is introduced by Gregg Berger as Grimlock (and as himself).
Netflix Series
We see a sneak peek at the Netflix War for Cybertron trilogy from Rooster Teeth.
It is three parts and Siege takes place in the final hours of the Cybertronian civil war. This will be a military story, with incredible stakes and the bonds that form on the battlefield.
We see stills from the show where we can see Elita One and Bumblebee.
The character designs are taken from the CAD data of the toys, including their transformation.
The trailer is shown. We see Ultra Magnus, Optimus, basically everyone from the Siege line. They look the same as the Siege toys, as told. The animation does not seem as slow as the previous web series but still not smooth either.
We see the Siege rereleases in new decos that we saw earlier today. All will be sold at Walmart.
The Mirage we saw is a Deception disguise
Each figure comes with a piece of Teletran One and you have to collect all 10 figures to build it.
IDW
The new series will get to number 25 and Orion will finally be called Optimus Prime
Earthrise
This is about the journey to earth. A "story" never told before.
Most of the toys we saw in the leaks of the past 2 days are shown now.
Runumuk is shown first and Runabout will be revealed later this year.
Snapderagon and Double Dealer are part of the mercenaries fraction.
We do see Snapgradon's Kaiju mode. Doubledealer turns into a modular base as well.
3 Quintessons revealed.
The Judge which can switch faces with a switch in the back. Comes with a throne which becomes a battle station. The whole figure becomes a playset. A micromaster can go inside the little cage.
Alicon is there and we see Slither Fang who is a cobra that turns into a shield and modular ramp.
Sky Lynx is shown. Has all his 4 modes plus a 5th mode as a bade and the NASA logo is on the shuttle mode. The shuttle is called "the magnificence"
Scorponok is shown, he will be in scale with Fort Max. Great poseability and double headmaster. G1 base will connect to Omega Supreme and all the other modulars from Earthrise.
Generations Selects
This niche ecomm line was a success. There is a 4 pack cassette pack which will complete your cassettes and also give you Doubledealer's aprtners. Warden confirms the blue cassette is Frenzy.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/gen ... nit-4-pack
Cyberverse
We see deluxe Grimlock, Hot Rod, Arcee and Thunderhowl.
Studio Series
ROTF Soundwave with satelite mode
Topspin
Cliffjumper with a nice cybertronian mode
Scrapper
Sentinel Prime
Blitzwing (Bumblebee)
Skipkack for a movie accurate Devastator
Overload
All these toys are available to preorder for Pulse premium members now and they will be available for non pulse premium members at 4 pm EST. Here is the link:
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/new ... enerations