Date: Tuesday, March 20th 2007 7:14pm CDT
Category: Site Articles
Posted by: Hotrod |
Credit(s): Hotrod
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It has been awhile since we have posted a new article. Well, the wait is over! Our next article comes to you courtesy of staff member Hotrod. In this article Hotrod takes a look back at the early 1980's when both Transformers were competing with another brand of transforming robot, Gobots. Here is Hotrod's article The Transformers Vs. The Gobots:
The Transformers Vs. The Gobots
During the mid to late 1980's there was a war taking place. It was not just a war between Autobots and Decepticons, or Guardians and Renegades. It was a war between Transformers and Gobots. The war was a struggle for fans and ultimately survival. When the dust finally settled there was a clear victor in the contest. As a result of the war Transformers and Gobots have been forever linked to each others history. The conflict has had a lasting impact on today's Transformers fans. Gobots receive a very mixed reaction from the Transformers fandom. Some Transformers fans cringe at the mention of Gobots, because they hate them for some reason. Other fans are indifferent towards Gobots. There is still another group of fans who for some reason or another like something about Gobots. This article will look back at the beginning of the war, how it ended, and the lasting impact the battle had on the Transformers franchise.
The Staging Game Begins
Both Hasbro and Tonka were two of the biggest toy companies in the United States during the 1980's. Both were constantly competing in the market with one another to get parents to buy their products for children. Tonka was popular for their toy trucks and construction vehicles. Hasbro was known for a wide range of games and toys, mainly G.I. Joe. The competition would come to a head in 1984, when both companies released products that on the surface were very similar to one another, robots that could change into something else.
The beginning of the Transformers goes further back then 1984. The idea of Transforming robots was nothing new to Hasbro. Hasbro had already formed a partnership with Japanese toy maker Takara in 1969, when Hasbro, then known as Hassenfeld Brothers was looking to expand into Japan. The two companies worked together to create the Microman line based on Hassenfeld Brothers' G.I. Joe figures. In order to appeal to the Japanese market Stephen Hassenfeld developed a different type of G.I. Joe figure that looked more like a cyborg. Thus, the Microman line was born. However, the two companies were not done working with each other.
Under the direction of Stephen Hassenfeld, Hassenfeld Brothers began working on scaled accessories for either the Microman or G.I. Joe line that could turn into robots. In 1974 the company received the first patent for first transforming toy figure. This toy would later be released as Megatron. In 1981 both Takara and Hassenfeld Brothers would put the patent to use.
Takara decide to reset the Microman line and reintroduce the line as New Microman. It did not stop there. Both Hassenfeld Brothers and Takara decided to combine this line with the transforming accessories Hassenfeld had developed. The result was yet another line named Micro Change. This was just the beginning, because Takara was about to take the Micro Change line a few more steps forward.
In 1983 Takara took the idea of transforming robots to new levels with their Micro Change series. They began to produce robots that could turn into normal everyday objects. Also in 1983 Takara began to market a series of robots that turned into various vehicles know as Diaclone. They would market this line in the United States under the name Diakron. This line was never marketed to the mainstream so it did not enjoy the success of most mainstream toy liens, but it did prove to be successful.
Hassenfeld Brothers, now Hasbro, had been watching Takara's success. Beginning in 1982 the company started to recapture all of the designs, concepts, and works. Hasbro also decided to license parts of the Micro Change and Diaclone lines from Takara and market the two series under one name, Transformers. The Hasbro contacted Griffin-Bacal Advertising Company to help come up with ideas for the new toy line. In 1983 Bob Budianski was brought in to flesh the idea out more and give life to the Concept of Transformers. By 1983 the pre-production of both the Transformers toys and cartoon was underway.
In 1982 Bandai, a Japanese toy company began producing a toy line of transforming robots called Machine Robo. Machine Robo enjoyed moderate success in Japan, and this caught the attention of executives at Tonka. Tonka had by this time heard the news about what was happening at Hasbro. After seeing the results of the Diakron line Tonka officials realized that there was a place in the United States market for transforming robots. So, Tonka entered a partnership with Bandai to bring Bandai's Machine Robo toys to North America. The agreement between Tonka and Bandai allowed Tonka to import the toys to the United States. Tonka changed the name of the toy line to the Gobots. In order to fill the line out for the U.S. market, Tonka created a few of their own toys to be part of the Gobot line. These toys were the Command Center, Thruster, and Zod.
War Breaks Out At Retail Stores
Tonka may have entered the planning phases later then Hasbro, but it was able to beat Hasbro to store shelves. Tonka began to distribute Gobots to retail stores in the United States in 1984. Gobots were released five months before the first Transformers hit the shelves. It seemed like Gobots had an advantage by being the first to the market. However, when Hasbro released Transformers whatever advantage Tonka had was soon gone.
The idea of transforming robots was almost an immediate hit with children, males in particular. Initial sales of both Gobots and Transformers were good. Neither company had a clear advantage early on, sales were about equal. In order for one of the companies to take the lead in the market they would have to address the problem of educating parents and children if they wanted to maximize profits and take the lead. Since both lines were on store shelves at the same time parents were easily confused at first when they went to the toy aisle at their favorite store. To many parents Transformers and Gobots were easily confused with one another. In their minds both were the same because they all were transforming robots. The first company to distinguish their brand as superior would be able to win the battle at retail stores.
Hasbro was smart enough to address the situation. They added faction symbols to their products from the beginning. As time passed parents and their children could recognize Transformers based on the Autobot and Decepticon logos alone. Children and parents alike could tell weather they were buying a heroic Autobot or evil Decepticon. Tonka never added faction symbols to their figures. As a result it was often confusing to kids and their parents as to whether they were getting a good Gobot, a Guardian, or a bad Gobot, a Renegade. After the confusion subsided Transformers sales began to out pace the sales of Gobots. Transformers were clearly becoming the toy of choice.
Another thing that began to hinder the success of Gobots was while Tonka was selling Gobots in the United States, Bandai continued to sell its Machine Robo line in Japan unaltered by the changes Tonka made. There was no continuity between the two companies. Takara on the other hand took a different approach. After seeing the success Hasbro was having with Transformers, Takara would bring the Transformers brand to Japan in 1985 and stop the production of their Micro Change and Diaclone lines. This meant that now both companies would work together on the same toy line to ensure the success of Transformers. This helped make Transformers a world wide brand, where as Gobots was more of a regional brand that, was not challenging the Transformers outside of the United States for the most part.
Though the sales of Gobots were high in 1984 and early 1985 the line was in trouble. Transformers were taking the lead in sales by larger margins each year. In 1986 it was clear that the Transformers were winning out at retail stores. By 1987 Gobot sales dropped dramatically.
The War gets Televised!
In September of 1984 both the Transformers and Gobots would get their own animated television shows. The reason behind this was simple. Each company wanted to advertise their product and what better way to do so then through a thirty minute cartoon aimed at their targeted audience, children.
Tonka turned to Hanna-Barbera to bring the Gobots to life. At the time Hanna-Barbera was one of the most popular animation studios in the United States, though many would argue the studio was in decline at the time. The Gobot cartoon would be named Challenge of the Gobots. The Challenge of the Gobots was the first of the two shows to reach to the airwaves. The first episode aired on September 8, 1984. Once again Tonka would not work with Bandai in this endeavor.
Bandai would go in a different direction. Machine Robo would not have a cartoon until July 3, 1986. The series was produced by Ashi Production. The series was called Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos. This series ended on May 28, 1987. However, from 1988-1990 there were direct to video releases of the series. 1987 also marked the beginning of the second Machine Robo series, Machine Robo: Battle Hackers. The latest edition in the series is Machine Robo Rescue.
Not to be out done Hasbro also decided to create an animated series. They turned to an old partner who had helped them in the past, Marvel Comics. Marvel started to work on the Transformers cartoon with the help of the production company Sunbow, which was run by both Hasbro and Sony though Sony owned the company under the name Sony Wonder. Griffin-Bacal Advertising ran the media aspects of Sunbow. The first episode of Transformers would air nine days after the first episode of Challenge of the Gobots. Episode one of Transformers aired on September 17, 1984. Unlike Tonka and Bandai, Hasbro and Takara would share the cartoon and have it broadcast in both the United States and Japan. Initially Hasbro was on its own with the new cartoon, but after Hasbro started to enjoy success Takara had the series imported to Japan and continued to back it. In fact as many fans know Generation 1 continued on in Japan long after it had reached its conclusion in the United States.
Both shows tried to get some of the best voice actors available. There were voice actors who worked on both Challenge of the Gobots and Transformers. Two of these actors are popular with Transformers fans today. They are Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Many Transformers know Cullen as the voice behind Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Wingspan, and others. Welker is known for doing the voices of Galvatron, Megatron, Mirage, Trailbreaker, Teletraan 2 and many others. Both actors also did a number of voices for Challenge of the Gobots. Cullen did voice acting for Spoiler, Tank, and Pincher. While Welker did the voices for Scooter, Zeemon, and Rest-Q.
Transformers would prove to be the better of the two series. Gobots lasted for sixty-six episodes, while the first Transformers series would span ninety-eight, thirty-two more then Gobots in the U.S. alone with many more episodes in Japan (Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory). There were many reasons behind this. The first is simply many considered Gobots to be campier then Transformers. The writing and animation on Transformers was for the most part better then Gobots. Also the split between Tonka and Bandai over producing a cartoon also did not help. Instead of building a world wide audience both seemed to be after a regional audiences. Hasbro and Takara on the other hand were able to get a world wide audience by working together. This helped to increase the popularity of Transformers.
The War Expands Into Other Areas of Marketing
Hasbro and Tonka advertised their products on almost everything imaginable. Transformers and Gobots appeared on everything from plastic plates, birthday invitations, and bed sheets. Each brand even appeared in children's books. There seemed to be no limit to where Transformers and Gobots could be found. Hasbro, however, would turn to another marketing medium that the Tonka did not.
Hasbro wanted to bring the Transformers into the world of comic books so they signed a deal with Marvel Comics to produce a Transformers comic book. Marvel was one of the most popular comic book companies. Marvel was involved with Transformers from the very beginning. The first issue of Transformers was released in September of 1984, about the same time as the cartoon began to air in the United States. The Transformers comic was set originally to only run for four issues, however, due to early success it would last for eighty issues. The success of the comic would help spread the popularity of Transformers. Transformers were now able to reach people who read comic books but may or may not have watched the cartoon.
The War Erupts on the Big Screen!
Hasbro and Tonka decided to make movies of their properties. Both would in be released theaters. In the summer of 1986 the Gobots would battle the Transformers for box office superiority.
Gobots were the first to grace the silver screen. The Gobot movie was titled Gobots: War of the Rock Lords. Tonka would use the movie to introduce the Rock Lords as a spin off of Gobots. In order to try to ensure box office success Tonka and Hanna-Barbera would look to add well know celebrity voices to the movie cast. They brought in Roddy McDowell, who had done a number of movies before taking the role as Nuggit in the Gobot movie. McDowell had roles in a number of Planet of the Apes movies, The Poseidon Adventure, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Cleopatra, and many other films. They also brought in Telly Savalas and Margot Kidder. Telly Savalas was a very popular actor at the time. He played Kojack in the Kojack television series. In Gobots: War of the Rock Lords, Savalas would do the voice for Magmar. Margot Kidder was a very popular actress at the time. She was best known at the time for her role as Lois Lane in the Superman movies. Kidder was cast as Solitaire in Gobots: War of the Rock Lords. Gobots: War of the Rock Lords was released on March 21, 1986.
Hasbro also enlisted the aid of popular Hollywood actors to voice act for their movie, Transformers: The Movie. Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, and Orson Welles all provided their vocal talents to Transformers: The Movie. Judd Nelson had previously had parts in Moonlighting, St. Elmo's Fire, The Breakfast Club, and other films. In the Transformers movie Nelson would be the voice behind the main character Hot Rod (and Rodimus Prime). Leonard Nimoy was another popular actor at the time Transformers: The Movie went in production. He was best known for his role as Spock in both the Star Trek movies and T.V. series. In the Transformers movie, Nimoy voiced the part of Galvatron. Robert Stack had a long career in Hollywood long before Transformers: The Movie. He was known for his roles in Uncommon Valor, Airplane!, Most Wanted, The Untouchables Parts 1 and 2. His credits also included many other movies and television series. Stacked filled the role of Ultra Magnus in the Transformers Movie. Orson Welles provided the voice of Unicron in the movie. Prior to his work on Transformers, a few of Welles credits were A Man of All Seasons, House of Card, London, and Waterloo. Sadly Welles died of a heart attack before production on Transformers: The Movie ended. On August 8, 1986, a little over four months after the release of Gobots: War of the Rock Lords, Transformers: The Movie was released on the big screen.
Even though it was released later, Transformers: The Movie won out at the box office. In its opening weekend, the movie pulled in over $1,779,559 with an overall gross of $5,849,647. Gobots: War of the Rock Lords only made $531,905 on its opening weekend and made a total of $1,338,264, which was less then Transformers: The Movie made on its opening weekend. To add insult to injury the Gobot movie had a slightly wider release then the Transformers movie. Gobots: War of the Rock Lords was released at 1,045 theaters across the United States. Transformers: The Movie was only released at 990 theaters.
The End of the Road
After being beaten at the box office and at retail stores, Tonka decided to shake things up a little. Tonka decided to release a spin off line call Rock Lords. In their minds this made perfect since they had introduced the Rock Lords in the Gobots movie. So later in 1986 Tonka released Rock Lords which had the slogan Powerful Living Rocks! This line would be a disappointment. It only lasted for three waves of figures, and many planned figures were never released.
Sales on Gobots continued to fall in 1986 and early 1987. The failure of the Rock Lords line did not help matters either. Tonka decided to cut their losses and ended both Gobots and Rock Lords. In 1987 the Gobot line was discontinued, leaving the Dread Launchers as the last Gobots ever released.
The Aftermath
Tonka would be bought out by Hasbro in 1991. This ended the war between Gobots and Transformers. However, it did not completely mark the end of Gobots. Ironically, Hasbro would use the name Gobots in the Transformers line and produce another line transforming robots aimed at younger children that would be called Gobots. It can be argued as to whether this was done out of spite or as a homage.
The first time the name Gobots appeared in the Transformers line was in 1993. A figure named Gobots was released as part of the Generation 2, G2, line. In 1995 Hasbro released a group of Transformers in the G2 line called Go-Bots. Go-Bots were small cars that were simple to transform. The molds used for Go-Bots would later be used as the Spy Changers.
Hasbro and Takara have used the names of Gobot characters as names for Transformers. One example of this was in 2002 when Hasbro released the Transformers Armada line. One of the mini-cons was named after the Gobot leader, Leader-1. Another example occurred in 2004 when Takara release E-Hobby repaints of their mini-bot reissues, Transformers Collection 12. The mini-bots in the set were suppose to have used the names of some of the Gobots who looked similar to them. Renegades were made into Decepticons and Guardians were changed to Autobots. However, due to legal issues the toys were numbered but never officially named. Here is the list of the six repaints with their intended names:
Bumblebee repainted as
Bug Bite, a Decepticon
Cosmos repainted as
Pathfinder, an Autobot
Huffer repainted as
Road Ranger, an Autobot
Gears repainted as
Small Foot, an Autobot
Powerglide repainted as
Bad Boy, a Decepticon
Warpath repainted as
Treads, a Decepticon
Gobots have even made cameo appearances in Transformers comic books. When Dreamwave had the license to producing Transformers comics, they would put Gobots in some of the panels. One of the Gobots that was used most often was Cykill. A few of Cykill's cameos were in Armada #16, War Within #2, and Transformers: Generation #10. Other Gobots also had brief cameos as well.
Hasbro also released another line of toys using the name Gobots. Hasbro made the decision to combine their Playskool brand with the Gobots name. The result was Playskool Gobots. Playskool Gobots were Transformers aimed at younger children.
The End?
The war between the Transformers and Gobots is over. Hasbro has seen fit to use the name Gobots, images of Gobots, and former Gobot names time after time. Who knows when or how Hasbro will use the Gobots next. One thing is for certain, Transformers won the war in the 80's and continue to survive today. Also Gobots may be gone, at least in the same sense as they were in the 80's, but they are not forgotten. They have made a lasting impact on Transformers. In some ways perhaps Transformers fans should thank Tonka for the Gobots. If they never would have challenged Hasbro who knows how hard Hasbro would have pushed Transformers. One thing is for certain the competition from Tonka forced Hasbro to put their best effort forward.
Special Thanks:
I would like to give a special thanks to Raymond T., for all of his help with this article. Thanks you Raymond T. for all of your input and countless edits!
List of sources
http://www.boxofficemojo.com
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.tv.com
http://tfu.info/index.htm
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/faq/history/franchise.php#gobots
http://www.microforever.com/
Date: Monday, February 19th 2007 9:26pm CST
Categories: Site News,
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Posted by: Seibertron Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
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Written by Ryan Yzquierdo
February 13th, 2007
Ok, where to begin? As many of you know, I've been a pretty big naysayer about a variety of issues regarding the upcoming Transformers Movie. Most of my concerns have revolved around the designs of the robots. While I still think the look of Megatron and Starscream is pretty bad, other characters such as Blackout, Barricade and Bumblebee are saving my overall opinion. The leaked script that I read during August 2006 is actually a big part of what started to turn me around about the movie. While I think it's great that Transformers "transform", I've always been more interested in the story behind the Autobots and the Decepticons. I found the script interesting, entertaining, compelling, emotional and true to an alien invasion of Transformers robots coming to Earth. While I found the script up to par, I still had my reservations about the movie.
Until tonight.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
Event Introduction
Let me rewind by about 6 hours. Tonight was the big event that truly brought me from Chicago to a fun-filled weekend in New York that just happened to intentionally coincide with Toy Fair 2007. The event was located at the Walter Reade Theatre on 165 W 65th St in New York city, on the northside of Manhattan and east of Central Park (near WABC's studios). The doors to the event opened at 5:45.
Upon entrance to the event, I had begun to immediately feel underdressed in my black pants and button up shirt. It had become obvious very quickly that the event wasn't designed to cater to guys who run major Transformers fan websites. Regardless that I was missing the attire that most were wearing, I quickly saw some familiar faces from Hasbro, Hunter PR and, of course, several key people within the Transformers hobby.
The walls of the front rooms to the theatre were decorated with various Transformers Movie posters, most of which prominently featured the Autobot and Decepticon symbols. The cardboard cutouts of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were near the place where we checked in our coats. The 4 primary products featured at Toy Fair (Optimus Prime helmet, arm blaster, Leader class figure and Ultimate Bumblebee) were also on display. I expressed to Aaron Archer that I thought the Bumblebee figure was excellent. He seemed to be really proud of the figure. I got the same sense from Brian Goldner during a brief conversation with him at Hasbro's Toy Fair event this past Saturday.
The staff of theatre people operating the theatre were all dressed in black Autobot and Decepticon t-shirts. It was pretty cool to see all of these people wearing Transformers shirts ... and we weren't even at a BotCon or comic book convention. The staff of people handing out drinks had black Autobot and Decepticon napkins which several of us kept as souveniers.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
After a few drinks, we started moving into the theatre to view the presentation. I sat next to Tony Bacala (tfw2005.com) and Rick Alvarez, one row above Brian Savage and one row below Kevin and Jason Lukis (unicron.com). Ben Yee (bwtf.com) was there also but I'm not sure where he sat at the event. I'm assuming that most of the people who were in the theatre were executives of various companies or worked for Hasbro, Hunter PR, Paramount, Dreamworks or various retail chains (the CEO of Toys R Us was apparently there).
Brian Goldner (Hasbro - CEO) took the stage once everyone was in the theatre. He made several comments about the Transformers franchise before making some introductions. I missed the name of one of the people who were on the stage. Tom DeSanto was present, but not on the stage. Brian Goldner was joined by Adam Goodman (Dreamworks), Wayne (didn't catch his last name) and, of course, Michael Bay (Director). Here are some of the things that were said about the Transformers Movie prior to playing the 4 different scenes:
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- This movie will be "Revolutionary" in the same sense of the Matrix trilogy starring Keanu Reeves from Warner Brothers.
- I wrote down in my notes: "Robots in Disguise". If I recall correctly, Brian Goldner was talking about how the movie really plays up the aspect of the Transformers being "robots in disguise." While this might not seem like an important part to some of you, it really is the key idea behind the Transformers. The ability to infiltrate society as everyday objects, cars and planes is what makes the Transformers so unique.
- [You will be] blown away.
- Transformers is a 3 billion dollar brand behind Star Wars and G.I.Joe. I was surprised to hear that Transformers makes less money than G.I.Joe but this might have something to do with Hasbro's brand sharing with Takara Tomy.
- The Transformers Movie is one of the few original franchise flicks that will be released in 2007. Mentioned other franchise films such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man and several others.
- For Dreamworks, this movie will be bigger than War of the Worlds and Mission Impossible 3 (both movies starred Tom Cruise). The Transformers Movie will be a worldwide event.
- Shia Lebeouf (Sam Witwicky) was compared to a "young Tom Hanks".
- The scenes that were previewed were "most ready to show but not finished." This meant that there was temporary sound, music and animation still in place in the scenes that we saw.
- Mentioned that this movie harkens back to the fun days of Steven Spielberg's Back To The Future and other Amblien movies from the 1980s.
- Really stressed that Steven Spielberg is a really big fan of the Transformers and was familiar with the comics and toys from when his kids were into the Transformers during the 80s. For those of you who saw Spielberg's message on the TransformersLive.com website about 1.5 to 2 years ago, it seemed like this was a rehash of things that Spielberg himself said in that video clip.
- Michael Bay stated that this has been a really fun movie to work on. He really seemed to have enjoyed his time with this movie. He told us some about the origin of him getting involved with the movie. His initial reaction was that he didn't want to be involved with a toy movie to "how can I find out more about this franchise" in about 30 seconds.
- I read in some of the existing reviews of this event that people quoted Bay as saying it took 38 hours to render 1 frame of film. I wrote in my notes that it was 38 hours to render 1 second of film. I don't know if I misheard or what, but that's what was in my notes. I'm sure we'll find out clarification at a later date.
- I think it was Bay who said that the movie was "mind blowing." It was also said that the film was ILM's "heaviest digital effects ever." Considering their work on Star Wars, I find this hard to believe but after the full sophisticated transformation of Blackout, I could see how it was more complex than just rendering a shell of a ship (for example).
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
Descriptions of Movie Scenes
There were a total of 4 scenes previewed at the event. If you do not want to read any spoilers, please do not read any futher. Here are my notes and thoughts on the scenes that were previewed:
- Qatar 1: Blackout Transforms and Attacks!
- The tension that builds up to Blackout's transformation (not to mention my anticipation) was excellent. The execution of this entire scene was very well done.
- I noticed the Hewlett Packard logo on a couple of products in this scene. Knowing how movies work these days, I'm sure this was NOT a coincidence. I think we can add Hewlett Packard (HP) to the list of official movies sponsors alongside Pepsi and Burger King.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- Josh Duhamel (Las Vegas) and Tyrese Gibson (Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious) were both prominently featured in this scene. Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break, Mr 3000) was also in this scene. It was a running joke during his scenes that he was always speaking Spanish.
- Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) speaks with his wife over a video phone. His wife recently had a baby during Duhamel's tour of duty. There's some fun cutesy comments shared between the couple. I'm assuming the video connection was lost during the couple's conversation thanks to Blackout's EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) deployment.
- During Blackout's transformation, the original transformation was used briefly during one part of his transformation. I am assuming this is one of the temporary sounds that were mentioned in the introduction. It sounded out of place and much louder than the other transformation sounds. As much as I love the old school transofrmation sound, I would prefer it to be more realistic ... kind of like a cross between the "whirring" sound from Beast Wars when the Maximals and Predacons transformed. The actual sound of the transformation that was used throughout the rest of Blackout's transformation sounded more like I would expect: metal moving against metal, parts moving and shifting.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- Blackout's transformation was more complex than I would have imagined. This was a big area of concern for me originally. I was worried that the robots were going to have parts that "morphed." I was reassured by seeing an actual Blackout truly "transform" from a helicopter to a robot. I couldn't believe the complexity of his transformation on screen. It was unbelievable and much longer than I was expecting. If I recall correctly, Blackout is the first Transformer to transform in the movie. It was everything I could have hoped to see a helicopter transform for the first time on the big screen. It was absolutely amazing and even gave me chills while I saw this incredible event happen.
- When Scorponok "ejected" from Blackout's helicopter mode, there was a round of applause.
- Sam's "first" encounter with Mikeala
- Sam and Mikeala at the Witwickys' house
- I believe all 5 Autobots were in this scene (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz) who took
Spike (Sam, yes, his name is "Sam" in this movie. I hope he becomes codenamed "Spike" at some point.) and Mikeala to the Witwickys' house. - Sam was looking for his grandfather's glasses (Archibald Witwicky is his grandfather's name) which have the code from the AllSpark encoded onto the glasses if I remember the script correctly.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- While Sam was desperately searching his room for the pair of glasses, Optimus Prime lifts Mikeala up to Sam's window with the palm of his hand.
- Sam tells Mikeala that he can't find the glasses. They argue back and forth about who should go tell the alien robots that they can't find what they're looking for.
- Optimus Prime does have a mouth in this scene. While I can't really remember what his mouth looked like in this scene, it reminded me of a really detailed version of Masterpiece Convoy / Optimus Prime's mouth when you removed the toy's face shield. It was very alien looking just like the rest of the Transformers faces. It will take some time getting used to it though I imagine Optimus Prime will mostly have the face shield based on all of the marketing pieces that I've seen so far. I didn't really like it but I knew it was going to happen. It's better for live film (the same reason why Cybertron Optimus Prime and Beast Wars Optimus Primal had mouths.
- There was only one line that I caught as sounding like Peter Cullen. It honestly sounded like a filler voice to me during the scene but everyone I asked about it said that it was indeed Cullen. Apparently, Cullen was talking quietly or whispering to keep quiet during this scene so that could be part of why it didn't sound like the Optimus Prime that I'm used to hearing. Generally, Optimus Prime is "commanding" the Autobots, which he definitely wasn't doing in this scene.
- I especially liked the scene where Sam was attempting to keep the Autobots quiet. The mute Bumblebee acknowledged Sam's request by holding his index finger up to his face.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- It was pretty humorous when the Autobots transformed into car mode to "hide". This is a great example of the Autobots not always being able to pull off being "robots in disguise" which I appreciated as a fan. Sam commented on how transforming into car mode while still on the lawn wasn't "hiding". It was a pretty humorous scene that the audience seemed to genuinely enjoy.
- The Autobots seemed very "real", which I guess is the main objective. This is one of the things that really seemed to gain my interest and trust in what the movie folks are doing with the Transformers property. If they can convince me, one of the most die-hard Transformers fans ever, then I think they've done their job regardless if I feel like the robots could've benefited from better designs in robot mode.
- One of the Autobots almost step's on the Witwicky's Chihauhau. The dog retaliates by peeing on Ironhide's foot. The Autobot turns his weapon on the dog which causes Sam to flip out.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- Sector Seven, lead by John Turturro's character, arrives at the Witwicky's house who want to take Sam with them once they find out he's covered with "isotopes" (??? can't remember if that was the term used) from being around the Transformers. Determine he's had physical contact with them. Sam's father, Ron, tries to prevent them from taking Sam with them. From reading the script, I can tell you that Ron and his wife (can't remember her name offhand) were unsuccessful in their attempt.
- Someone refers to the Witwicky's dog as a Taco Bell dog ... I think it was one of the Sector Seven guys.
- Ratchet trips over some power lines while trying to leave the scene quietly so as not to alert Sector Seven. Ratchet's line that he says after falling was originally supposed to be a line Jazz says from the February 2006 script.
- The Transformers seemed very real and despite some of their odd faces, they seemed to be able to express emotions just fine. Kudos to ILM for being able to pull that off with these designs.
- Qatar 2: Scorponok Attacks!
- This scene was shown as an encore, thanks to Brian Goldner.
- There's a humorous scene during Scorponok's attack of Captain Lennox trying to get a Middle-Eastern Operator to connect him to the Pentagon. Lennox obtained the phone from a civilian. The operator was trying to get Captain Lennox to use a credit card number when he obviously didn't have access to one during the middle of a battle.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- Jon Voight appears briefly during this scene at the Pentagon.
- While Scorponok was one of my least favorite characters from the movie roster, I have to admit that watching him "slither" mechanically in and out of the desert sand was pretty damn cool. Scorponok is really little more than a plot device to show off a pretty cool desert battle scene but it appears they succeeded in coming up with a compelling action sequence that is sure to please audiences.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
- The humans attack Scorponok with an onslaught of weapons. The humans are eventually successful in forcing Scorponok to retreat. Part of Scorponok is left behind which will be used as a plot device during a later scene in the movie.
- For whatever reason, I don't remember as much about this scene as I do the others. It seems like it was pretty action intense. It was just an all-around incredible action sequence.
My Thoughts on the Sneak Peak
After the event, a group of us were gathered near the coat check toward the front of the building. I talked to Paula Walsh (Hasbro's Public Relations Director) for a little bit. Brian Goldner joined the group to ask a few of us what we thought. I said "Remember that little Transformers 101 stunt from my website?" everyone kind of chuckles nervously, not sure where I'm going with that comment. "Let's just say that tonight was Transformers 102 and it was MY turn to get schooled." Everyone in the group laughed and I felt a lot better after acknowledging the Transformers 101 thing directly to Brian. No hard feelings, right? ;)
The Transformers Movie reminds me most of Independence Day (ID4). It doesn't seem to have the stupid slapstick humor that I didn't find appealing in Armageddon but it does retain some of the classic humor that Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum demonstrated in Indepence Day as well as Bruce Willis and Ben Afleck in Michael Bay's Armaggedon. It's not Steve Buscemi type humor.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
The action seems very similar to Indepence Day (ID4 - Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum). ID4 is one of my all-time favorite movies so I'm pretty pleased with this direction. The scenes were absolutely incredible, the transformation of Blackout was fascinating and spectacular, and the mood was exactly what I was hoping for in the movie. I still think some of the robot designs could have used some improvements to be more reminiscent of the original characters but it's too late for that now. From what I've seen and from the version of the script that I've read, I think ILM has done a top notch job with bringing Transformers to life. The robots are designed to look like REAL Transformers, not computer animated or cell animated or toys for that matter. I think this goal was accomplished.
I've read that a few people out there were questioning if Hasbro/Paramount/Dreamworks "bought out" some of the outspoken people such as myself who attended this event. If getting to see a sneak peak of the movie so that I can share my thoughts with all of the fans of my website constitutes as being "bought out", then that's what happened. I think their main objective was to give some key people in the Transformers hobby a taste of what Hasbro/Paramount/Dreamworks have been seeing so that we could share that with you. It's a little different to hear the opinion of a die-hard fan like myself and not from someone who's officially involved with the movie. I saw it. I got it. It's going to be a spectacular summer blockbuster that most of us should enjoy. Ben Yee (bwtf.com), Kevin Lukis (unicron.com), Jason Lukis (unicron.com), Rick Alvarez (Transformers Collector's Club, etc), Tony Bacala (tfw2005.com) and myself all seemed to genuinely enjoy the movie. If I can look past some of the robot designs that I don't really like and was able to thoroughly enjoy myself while I watched the scenes that I saw, then I'm pretty confident that most of you will be able to enjoy the movie as well.
Click here to view screen captures from the trailer ...
The Transformers Movie is going to be a very solid action flick that audiences worldwide will thoroughly enjoy. If you're a fan that is really against this movie, all that I ask is that you see the movie at least once with an open mind. You know the movie is going to be different. If you can accept the Transformers Movie for what it is, I'm pretty confident that you'll find yourself having a great time with the rest of the audience.
Stay tuned to Seibertron.com for all of the latest news regarding the Transformers Movie. I'll see you in theatres starting July 4th, 2007!
Sincerely,
Ryan Yzquierdo
Seibertron.com
Other Links
Transformers Movie - Official WebsiteTransformers Movie News on Seibertron.comTransformers Movie Toy GalleriesTransformers Movie Trailer Screen CapturesUnicron.com's Preview ReviewBen Yee's Preview Reviewtfw2005.com's Preview ReviewTFormers.com's Preview Review
Date: Monday, May 10th 1999 12:01am CDT
Category: Site Articles
Posted by: Seibertron Permanent Link
Views: 354,812
Various sources have relayed information about a Transformers 15th Anniversary toy line to be released later this year. Hasbro has not yet been able to confirm or deny this information as of this printing. Apparently, this rumor began after representatives from Hasbro were promoting the idea at the New Jersey Toy Expo earlier this year.
Hasbro's possible plans will be to produce several popular characters as 7 inch, non-transforming figures. The chosen characters of the Autobots and Decepticons will be styled in manga fashion, similar to the McFarlane Toys Manga Spawn series. Sources gathered that possible target characters might include Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Prowl (or Bluestreak), Bumblebee and Soundwave.
Longstanding Transformers fans will recall a similar concept called Action Masters which Hasbro produced back in 1990. Is this a possible nod back toward this? The staff of Trans-Forum thinks not since this will be a specialty item produced simply for the celebration of the Transformers 15th Anniversary.
As more information becomes available, it will of course be printed in future issues of Trans-Forum. If you have any additional information, please contact Trans-Forum at their mailing address.
Editor's Note: This was a REAL rumor on the 'net back in 1999. Actual prototype designs were floating around the internet. I may have a few of these images saved on CD somewhere. I'll keep looking.
This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #10 (May 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com
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