Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg to be inducted into Transformers Hall of Fame at BotCon 2011
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 5:43pm CDT
Categories: Event News, People News, Collector's Club NewsPosted by: Razorclaw0000 Views: 75,969
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HASBRO TO HONOR MICHAEL BAY AND STEVEN SPIELBERG WITH INDUCTION INTO
THE TRANSFORMERS HALL OF FAME
Bay to attend ceremony at TRANSFORMERS “BOTCON” Fan Convention in Pasadena, California, on June 4
Pawtucket, R.I. (MAY 18, 2011) — Earlier today on its official TRANSFORMERS Facebook page, Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) announced the induction of film industry legends Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg—the director and executive producer of the blockbuster TRANSFORMERS film franchise—into its TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame. The second annual TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame ceremony, which celebrates more than 25 years of “MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE” action, will take place during the 2011 TRANSFORMERS “BOTCON” fan convention in Pasadena, California, and will feature TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON director Michael Bay in person to accept his honor and share some special surprises with the audience.
Founded in 2010 to honor those influential in creating and building the iconic TRANSFORMERS franchise, as well as actual “ROBOTS IN DISGUISE,” the 2011 TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame will induct the two legendary filmmakers who were instrumental in launching the live-action film franchise that brought the TRANSFORMERS brand to more fans than ever before. Bay and Spielberg will join previous honorees Bob Budiansky, Peter Cullen, Yoke Hideaki and Kojin Ohno in the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame.
Michael Bay: For the last sixteen years, Michael Bay has been one of the world’s boldest filmmakers as both director and producer. His films have grossed over $4 billion worldwide. Since his 1995 breakout Bad Boys, Bay has directed a succession of international hits that have redefined the action genre, including The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys 2, The Island, and three Transformers films. The third movie in the franchise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, will hit theaters July 1; it is Bay’s first live-action film shot in 3D. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Art Center College of Design, Bay began his career as a distinguished commercial and music video director. He has won virtually every major award in the commercial industry, including Cannes’ Golden Lion, the Grand Prix Clio, and the Directors Guild of America’s Commercial Director of the Year award. His “Got Milk?” campaign resides in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Bay is also co-owner of production company Platinum Dunes and owner of Digital Domain, one of the entertainment industry’s premier special effects companies.
Steven Spielberg: One of the industry’s most successful and influential filmmakers, Steven Spielberg has directed some of the top-grossing films of all time, including Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and four Indiana Jones films, including the most recent, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Among his myriad honors, he is a three-time Academy Award® winner, earning two Oscars® for Best Director and Best Picture for Schindler’s List, and a third Oscar® for Best Director for Saving Private Ryan. He has been awarded the Academy’s prestigious Thalberg Award. He earned his first Directors Guild Award for The Color Purple and has been nominated by the DGA a record ten times. He has received the Kennedy Center Honor for his body of work. Last year he served as an executive producer on the Academy Award nominated film True Grit, which was directed by the Coen brothers. A principal partner of DreamWorks Studios, he is also the producer of Super 8, directed by J.J. Abrams, an executive producer on TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, directed by Michael Bay and Cowboys & Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau, all of which will be released this summer.
Hasbro will also induct four more iconic robot characters into the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame. Heroic AUTOBOTS RATCHET and IRONHIDE, as well as evil DECEPTICON SOUNDWAVE will join 2010’s class of five robots, as chosen by Hasbro’s TRANSFORMERSHall of Fame internal panel of judges. In addition, TRANSFORMERS fans around the world voted on Transformers.com for a fourth robot to receive the 2011 “Fans’ Choice” honor. The winner, from among the nominees GRIMLOCK, SHOCKWAVE, ERECTOR, WASPINATOR and JAZZ, will be revealed for the first time at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at “BOTCON” on June 4, 2011.
First introduced in 1984 by Hasbro and Takara as a toy line, the TRANSFORMERS brand
has provided kids with hours of MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE fun with their action figures that convert from robot to vehicles and back again. Legions of boys around the world grew up creating fantastic adventures and battles set on both the planet CYBERTRON and Earth that featured the “good-guy” AUTOBOTS and the “bad-guy” DECEPTICONS. Since then, more than 7500 robots have been introduced in countless animated TV series, comic books and two live-action feature films. A third film, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, will be released on July 1, 2011, as the first 3D film in the franchise.
For further information visit the official TRANSFORMERS Facebook page at Transformers.com/facebook.
# # #
About Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is http://www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. © 2011 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Seibertron.com is your ultimate Transformers Hall of Fame and BotCon 2011 resource!
Credit(s): Hasbro
This article was last modified on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 8:12pm CDT
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Posted by Road-hole on May 18th, 2011 @ 5:47pm CDT
Posted by Twitchythe3rd on May 18th, 2011 @ 5:47pm CDT
...anyone know where I can find a lit torch and a pitchfork?
Posted by It Is Him on May 18th, 2011 @ 5:47pm CDT
Stupid grad school.
Posted by Blurrz on May 18th, 2011 @ 5:51pm CDT
Michael Bay and Spielberg deserve alot of credit and in-direct credit for what they've done. They've changed the Transformers franchise. Complain about the movie storyline, it's the writer's fault. Designs.. it's the designers fault. Toy line distribution, blame Hasbro. Michael Bay is a director first and foremost, and visually, he's presented two pretty visually pleasing movies.
And since the Transformers franchise is still going, I'd say it's a change for the better.
Congrats Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg!
Posted by Mkall on May 18th, 2011 @ 5:56pm CDT
I look forward to seeing them at the dinner.
Posted by sentinelprime1234 on May 18th, 2011 @ 6:13pm CDT

Posted by Slashercon on May 18th, 2011 @ 6:15pm CDT
Posted by Gandalf on May 18th, 2011 @ 6:53pm CDT
I couldn't afford to go this year, and I was convinced that this would be the year Frank Welker made an appearance. California. Movie year. Hall of Fame. It just seemed obvious. So I guess it's actually a relief for me, that I won't be missing him. Though I must admit that I'm still pining to go, for all the movie epicness. And I'm not even that much of a movie fan.
Blurrz wrote:Complain about the movie storyline, it's the writer's fault. Designs.. it's the designers fault....Michael Bay is a director first and foremost, and visually, he's presented two pretty visually pleasing movies.
Am I wrong in thinking that the director has final approval over all of that?
Posted by Blurrz on May 18th, 2011 @ 6:57pm CDT
Gandalf wrote:Blurrz wrote:Complain about the movie storyline, it's the writer's fault. Designs.. it's the designers fault....Michael Bay is a director first and foremost, and visually, he's presented two pretty visually pleasing movies.
Am I wrong in thinking that the director has final approval over all of that?
Nah, he's too busy being Michael Bay.
Posted by Burn on May 18th, 2011 @ 7:07pm CDT
And for those of you children who sent Bay death threats after the first movie when he raped your childhood, you know where he'll be, let's see you turn up and tell him how you REALLY feel.
Posted by T-Macksimus on May 18th, 2011 @ 7:29pm CDT
Burn wrote:See, I can get the Michael Bay thing but Spielberg? Hard to fathom because I don't know exactly what he's done behind the scenes.
And for those of you children who sent Bay death threats after the first movie when he raped your childhood, you know where he'll be, let's see you turn up and tell him how you REALLY feel.
The live action films were originally Spielberg's brainchild. He brought Michael Bay in on it and Bays initial reaction was along the lines of "You gotta be f***ing kidding me" until he went through his TF indoctrination at Hasbro HQ. So Steven is the guy we should all be thanking for making the live-action films a reality since Michael would have never even considered it on his own.
Posted by Lord Onixprime on May 18th, 2011 @ 7:30pm CDT
Has David Kaye been admitted to the hall of fame yet? If not, he is much more deserving than Bay and Spielberg.
Posted by MaverickPrime on May 18th, 2011 @ 7:35pm CDT

Posted by RiddlerJ on May 18th, 2011 @ 7:39pm CDT
Blurrz wrote:Gandalf wrote:Blurrz wrote:Complain about the movie storyline, it's the writer's fault. Designs.. it's the designers fault....Michael Bay is a director first and foremost, and visually, he's presented two pretty visually pleasing movies.
Am I wrong in thinking that the director has final approval over all of that?
Nah, he's too busy being Michael Bay.
I love how the Bay fluffers blame everything bad on everyone else but all the good stuff is Bay and only Bay's doing. Just what do they think directors do on films. They're the person in charge of putting all the pieces together to make a decent movie, and are required to fix any problems the writers, designers, actors and all have.
"visually, he's presented two pretty visually pleasing movies"
By your logic then, isn't it the designer and cinematographer and editor and special effects guys and film processors who deserve the credit and not Bay.
What I hate is there are people who made the franchise successful in the first place. Furman, Flint Dille, who knows how many people who designed the toys and cartoons and books. People without whom there would be no Transfomrers today. Instead they give it to some guy who saw a property to fix his own sagging career with, or as he originally called it "a stupid toy movie".
Posted by Mkall on May 18th, 2011 @ 8:00pm CDT
RiddlerJ wrote:What I hate is there are people who made the franchise successful in the first place. Furman, Flint Dille, who knows how many people who designed the toys and cartoons and books. People without whom there would be no Transfomrers today. Instead they give it to some guy who saw a property to fix his own sagging career with, or as he originally called it "a stupid toy movie".
What I love is how quick people are to dismiss Bay's contributions because they think their heroes are better.
Furman and Dille are great people and their past contributions were magnificient and they deserve all the respect they can get for doing something with the Transformers.
But their contributions pale in comparison to Michael Bay's. Do you know why?
Because neither of them have their name attached to the BILLIONS of dollars that are flooding into Paramount and Hasbro because of the movies today.
Bay absolutely qualifies for your statement "without whom there would be no Transformers today" because without Bay we may be back in the dead days post-G2. Instead we're in the hayday of popularity, with a whole new generation of children buying toys and making memories.
Like him or hate him, Bay's name is attached to that in a big way; whatever his reasons for doing so in the first place.
This is coming from someone who really enjoys Furman's work, and not a huge fan of Bay's or the Movieverse in general, but respect is given where it's due.
Posted by Jaynz on May 18th, 2011 @ 8:08pm CDT
Actually, I'm going to take it a step further. Look at the "Iconic Autobots" they chose for this year as well? Ironhide and Ratchet? MAYBE Ironhide, but Ratchet? You mean Hot Rod, or even Hot Shot had less of an impact? Cheetor ring a bell? I'm sure this decision ALSO has NOTHING to do with these two being two of the leads in the new movie either...
Filthy whoring.
Posted by Covenant on May 18th, 2011 @ 8:13pm CDT
RiddlerJ wrote:What I hate is there are people who made the franchise successful in the first place. Furman, Flint Dille, who knows how many people who designed the toys and cartoons and books. People without whom there would be no Transfomrers today. Instead they give it to some guy who saw a property to fix his own sagging career with, or as he originally called it "a stupid toy movie".
Thank you. Could NOT have been said more truer, especially the Bay's words bit at the end, or better. Rock.
Mkall wrote:What I love is how quick people are to dismiss Bay's contributions because they think their heroes are better.
Better? How about here first? How about the reason Transformers is here at all? How about the very reasons the POPULAR/POP CULTURE WORLDWIDE FRANCHISE made it long enough for Bay to jump onboard? What I hate is how quick some people are to dismiss all things past to over protect the new.
Posted by Jaynz on May 18th, 2011 @ 8:22pm CDT
Mkall wrote:Bay absolutely qualifies for your statement "without whom there would be no Transformers today" because without Bay we may be back in the dead days post-G2. Instead we're in the hayday of popularity, with a whole new generation of children buying toys and making memories.
Yes, here's a list of the non-existant 'dead days' of Transformers lines before Bay's movies came out. You may have heard of a couple:
Beast Wars
Beast Machines
Robots in Disguise
Armada
Energon
Only one of which didn't do well (Beast Machines).
Posted by RiddlerJ on May 18th, 2011 @ 8:49pm CDT
Mkall wrote:RiddlerJ wrote:What I hate is there are people who made the franchise successful in the first place. Furman, Flint Dille, who knows how many people who designed the toys and cartoons and books. People without whom there would be no Transfomrers today. Instead they give it to some guy who saw a property to fix his own sagging career with, or as he originally called it "a stupid toy movie".
What I love is how quick people are to dismiss Bay's contributions because they think their heroes are better.
Furman and Dille are great people and their past contributions were magnificient and they deserve all the respect they can get for doing something with the Transformers.
But their contributions pale in comparison to Michael Bay's. Do you know why?
Because neither of them have their name attached to the BILLIONS of dollars that are flooding into Paramount and Hasbro because of the movies today.
Bay absolutely qualifies for your statement "without whom there would be no Transformers today" because without Bay we may be back in the dead days post-G2. Instead we're in the hayday of popularity, with a whole new generation of children buying toys and making memories.
Like him or hate him, Bay's name is attached to that in a big way; whatever his reasons for doing so in the first place.
This is coming from someone who really enjoys Furman's work, and not a huge fan of Bay's or the Movieverse in general, but respect is given where it's due.
I'm not even that big a Furman fan. I just know that in the 30 or so years the brand has been around, people like him have definitely put more work into the franchise than someone like Bay who just jumped on and rode the wave. If that's the case, why not nominate Pat Lee who also could be said to have created a big reinterest in the brand, and who is pretty much reviled now by Transfans because of his antics.
I'm also pretty sure someone like Furman would appreciate it more than Bay who I honestly believe couldn't care less about something like this.
Posted by Megatron Wolf on May 18th, 2011 @ 9:02pm CDT