NYCC 2015 - Machinima Transformers Combiner Wars Details

Windblade will be the main character/perspective, as was for the comics

im out

Well, I was never a huge fan of Windblade, but if this series gives me Combiners fighting all Pacific Rim-style, then I'm in.

They had me at " Japanese anime-style series". Since this story will not involve any humans (hopefully if it is loosely based on IDW combiner wars), then the style should be *hopefully* closer to Toei, who I consider to be the pinnacle of animation when it comes to Super Robots/Mecha, and not so much the goofier looking anime, or even worse, U.S. companies trying to mimic anime, studio 6C being the exception however, they have produced some pretty awesome stuff.

Um...they're really working hard to make Windblade become the star of The Transformers, like hanging 'round with titans, combiners, leaders, beasties, etc. Someday (maybe within a year or 2), she can climb to the top and become the face of the entire franchise.

MagnusLabel wrote:Um...they're really working hard to make Windblade become the star of The Transformers, like hanging 'round with titans, combiners, leaders, beasties, etc. Someday (maybe within a year or 2), she can climb to the top and become the face of the entire franchise.

As long as the live action movies exist, she'll never usurp that position from Bumblebee.

MagnusLabel wrote:Um...they're really working hard to make Windblade become the star of The Transformers,

No just typical Hasbro. They did it with Drift, now they are doing it with Windblade. -Put *said* character in Every Comic, Animated Series, Movie & Toys possible.*

So apart from starring Windblade, still no real info yet?

Noideaforaname wrote:So apart from starring Windblade, still no real info yet?

Nup. We will have to wait for more from other panels, or Toy Fair and various releases.

I wonder what Japanese studio they're using?

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

Delta Magnus wrote:I wonder what Japanese studio they're using?

please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Polygon considering Hasbro Studios's present relationship with them in their making both the Prime and RID 2015 cartoons.

Delta Magnus wrote:please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

Remember these are robots, not humans. You want a studio that has a reputation for doing Robot/Mecha themed anime well. as far as I can see, Trigger has never done one.

Sabrblade wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if it was Polygon considering Hasbro Studios's present relationship with them in their making both the Prime and RID 2015 cartoons.

This seems more likely, but I'd love to something new in the mix, as long as it was highly detailed, and not "overly styled" like some of the animated series in recent years

This sounds like it could be fun. Though I'm more interested in what IDW have planned and how they plan to resurrect Sentinel Prime

o.supreme wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:please be Trigger please be Trigger please be Trigger

Remember these are robots, not humans. You want a studio that has a reputation for doing Robot/Mecha themed anime well. as far as I can see, Trigger has never done one.

True, but they are made of ex-Gainax members, specifically guys like Hiroyuki Imaishi, AKA the mastermind behind Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Plus their animation style is simply gorgeous, with hyper-fluid movement one moment and deliberately silly cut-out animation the next, ridiculously expressive characters and shading up the wazoo.

Trigger should animate everything.

Thanks for posting the video. It's a shame that they didn't have any preview to show the fans. But from what was discussed this sounds very promising. I'm not sure what's with the Windblade hate in some of the comments. She's a great character and it'll be an interesting perspective to have a series without the main focus being on Optimus.

I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

o.supreme wrote:I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

My avatar wishes to say it loves you to be fair though TTGL mech designs harden back to the early days of the super robot genre like Gaiking, Grendizer and the daddy, Mazinger Z. I think most studios will be able able to handle this well (okay I really want UFOtable, but that's cause after watching Fate/Zero, I think they do beautiful work)

You are welcome, I do love The Brave series. But I grew up with Mazinger Z (well called Tranzor Z here in the States), but The original Super Robots series that Go Nagai & Toei came out with in the 70's are my absolute favorites, as "grandparents" to The Transformers, they all hold a special place in my DVD collection. But again, I guess its just me, when I look at stuff like Mazinger Z, then I look at TTGL, I don't see any similarities.

But call my Optimistic. No matter who ends up with this project, If the bots look good, then I'll be into it.

Sabrblade wrote:As long as the live action movies exist, she'll never usurp that position from Bumblebee.

Not so sure about the movies esp. after the 5th movie, I mean, we're not even sure what the creators will do to from the 5th movie onwards, including their plans about Bee (not to mention Bee wasn't focused much in AoE comparing to DOTM).

What I know is Bee's screen-time should be less than Windblade's. Both will star in RID on 2016 but Bee may not be able to appear in this animated series as it's based on IDW comics which Bee was dead way before Combiner Wars, unless there will be a flashback or something (which I doubt as the chance is as small as his further cameos in Rescue Bots). And Windblade is certainly coming back to IDW on 2016. That’s why I really do believe that she is able to go to the position.

o.supreme wrote:No just typical Hasbro. They did it with Drift, now they are doing it with Windblade. -Put *said* character in Every Comic, Animated Series, Movie & Toys possible.*

When Drift was started out as a homeless nobody and creator’s pet (in IDW where he first appeared), Windblade was started as a fan favorite and set to have drawn with a lot of influences from the history of Transformers (Caminus, cityspeakers, etc. in IDW, being sent by Primus in RID). The creators do know how to insert Windblade into different medias which people love to see her, where Drift is still having problems about that (unless being penned by JR). To me Windblade is properly the more successful version of Drift.

o.supreme wrote:I know everyone has their own opinions, but personally the Mecha designs of shows like TTGL & Diebuster are just awful. I guess I'm just a 90's & Prior type person. Now to Gainax' credit, the original Gunbuster was a thing of beauty, and Casshan: Robot Hunter was amazing. But most animation studios like to be "progressive", thus we don't see those beautifully rendered anime series and films anymore. The designs of films like the Rebuild Eva series are pretty good, but of course, I know the story from the original anime, and prefer not to relive that again.

I think every Transformers fan should watch GaoGaiGar, or at least one Brave Series. Sunrise (of Gundam fame) beautifully animated them, and these series (which held Takara over between G1 Transformers and when Beast Wars came to Japan from 1990-1997)I consider the closest cousins to Transfermers series that a non-TF series could be, if that makes any sense...

I love the arts from Brave Series (esp. Brave Police, GaoGaiGar). But since Sunrise is now owned by Bandai, we’re unlikely to see an TF series animated by Sunrise. Btw, I wonder if the new TF series is animated in 2D entirely or 3D with cel shading, as I miss the 2d TF anime.

I don't think it's solely going off IDW though as I'm sure it was said somewhere that it would be it's own thing and use the comics and the toy bios as a source

heard that these guys are JUST NOW starting work on Combiner Wars. First Hasbro drops the ball by not having a Devastation toy line tie-in, now this. Their marketing team should all be fired.

Weren't Devastations designs mostly ripped from CHUG toys and G1 cartoon designs?

I do agree that having the machinima series come out so long after the Combiner Wars storyline is forgotten is strange, but at this point it may well turn into an adaptation of all of the trilogy, or at least a melding of Combiner Wars and Titans Return. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

A mix up of the two toy lines could work well considering how the titan masters are supposed to work in fiction.

That Bot wrote:Weren't Devastations designs mostly ripped from CHUG toys and G1 cartoon designs?

I do agree that having the machinima series come out so long after the Combiner Wars storyline is forgotten is strange, but at this point it may well turn into an adaptation of all of the trilogy, or at least a melding of Combiner Wars and Titans Return. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

Even the more recent films all based on the new 52 are events that happed 3-4 years ago in comics.

o.supreme wrote:So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

That's actually a very good point I hadn't considered, although on the other hand I would say that Combiner Wars is a much less memorable storyline than most of the DC adaptations.

True, but to us as fans hopefully it will develop into a well written story older fans can appreciate.

MagnusLabel wrote:
What I know is Bee's screen-time should be less than Windblade's. Both will star in RID on 2016 but Bee may not be able to appear in this animated series as it's based on IDW comics which Bee was dead way before Combiner Wars, unless there will be a flashback or something (which I doubt as the chance is as small as his further cameos in Rescue Bots). And Windblade is certainly coming back to IDW on 2016. That’s why I really do believe that she is able to go to the position.

When Drift was started out as a homeless nobody and creator’s pet (in IDW where he first appeared), Windblade was started as a fan favorite and set to have drawn with a lot of influences from the history of Transformers (Caminus, cityspeakers, etc. in IDW, being sent by Primus in RID). The creators do know how to insert Windblade into different medias which people love to see her, where Drift is still having problems about that (unless being penned by JR). To me Windblade is properly the more successful version of Drift.

I wouldn't use Windblade's appearance in RiD as a great example. Her appearance there was pretty much the textbook definition of a "Mary Sue," only slightly better than Spotlight: Drift. And since when were "Caminus" and "cityspeakers" a part of Transformers history? That was all invented in the service of her character. They weren't even part of the original fan poll.

That Bot wrote:

o.supreme wrote:So Long? It hasn't even been a year yet. Many of the DC animated films have been made several years, or even decades after the comic book events they are adapted from. (Death of Superman, All Star Superman, JL Doom (based on Tower of Babel), The Dark Knight Returns), just to mention a few

That's actually a very good point I hadn't considered, although on the other hand I would say that Combiner Wars is a much less memorable storyline than most of the DC adaptations.

The DC animated films aren't specifically meant to sell toylines, are they? Those movies are made to build brand awareness with adults, isn't this supposed to promote a toyline that will be over by Q2 2016?

To be honest though, the addition of camien to IDW TF universe added a lot to it (and for the writers, got them past a writing headache in allowing them to add more fembots then poor Arcee) plus hasbro has wanted to make a big deal out of windblade since her inception, so it's no surprise that her character would start off as a Mary Sue but she has developed since then, helped a great deal with her relationship with Starscream.

As for timing, I wonder if they will be doing combiner wars then rushing head first into Titans Return as a way of making themselves still relevant, hopefully if things go well we may get a prime wars part 3 the same time the toys hit shops (or at least when they are supposed to hit shops)

JoeMabbon wrote:The DC animated films aren't specifically meant to sell toylines, are they? Those movies are made to build brand awareness with adults, isn't this supposed to promote a toyline that will be over by Q2 2016?

In this instance I would , for once say no. The Machinima series is being billed as something to build brand awareness with adults. The best example I can think of, and that I keep coming back to, would be GI Joe Resolute, which for adult fans, is the best animated representation of GI Joe ever. Most adult fans are already aware of the CW line, and are purchasing them in droves. I don't think there's any way to measure, but I'd love to see the statistics as to what percentage of CW toys are being purchased by adult fans vs. children. Every time I go to a store, its always the adults that are purchasing these, and they usually sell out quickly. A few limbs (deluxe class), may hang around, but eventually even they all sell, at least in my area.

So I may be setting the bar pretty high for myself, but as the first TF animated representation made specifically for adult fans, I expect quite a bit.

sorry...DP

ZeroWolf wrote:To be honest though, the addition of camien to IDW TF universe added a lot to it (and for the writers, got them past a writing headache in allowing them to add more fembots then poor Arcee) plus hasbro has wanted to make a big deal out of windblade since her inception, so it's no surprise that her character would start off as a Mary Sue but she has developed since then, helped a great deal with her relationship with Starscream.

IDW Windblade wasn't a Mary Sue, though. While I don't think the Caminus origin story has been used particularly effectively, Windblade herself has been given a clearly defined set of strengths and weaknesses and wasn't universally loved by all, unlike Drift when he was introduced.

Now, RiD Windblade is a Mary Sue, right down to her unexplained chosen by Primus himself origin story and being instantly good at everything with only one barely addressed and quickly brushed aside character flaw.

I wonder who's going to voice Windblade? I expect they'll go with the actress who plays her in RID, but I for one would love it if they got Mari Ijima of Lynn Minmay fame (Macross that is, not Robotech) to voice her, at least in the Japanese version. But then I am biased as I like to headcanon Windblade as basically robot Lynn Minmay, except with traditional Japanese music instead of 80s J-pop.

I couldn't find anything Combiner Wars related so I thought I'd put it in here. I have 2 copies of Combiner Wars signed by Livio Ramondelli and Mairghdead Scott.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207028660292924&set=a.2152549771281.126780.1172490195&type=3&theater

From the gang of writers over at the Machinima Transformers Combiner Wars animated series, we have an update on the status of the scripts and writing for the show: all scripts are in, and Eric Calderon, George Krstic and FJ DeSanto have been shooting some behind the scenes material, probably for both promotion and extra additions to the show! No news yet on the animation side of things, but we will update you as soon as we know.

The TRANSFORMERS are coming to Machinima. In an agreement between Machinima and Hasbro, the TRANSFORMERS world will be brought to life on the many2many programming service that kicks off right smack in the middle of The Combiner Wars. The series introduces new lore and all-new characters that, combined with the characters fans have known for decades, will bring the TRANSFORMERS storytelling in a new direction as the Machinima series will deliver raging action and signature humor to legions of TRANSFORMERS fans.

I've heard rumors this is only going to be a 70 minute film.


I doubt since I remember Hasbro saying this was going to be a series but whatever just saying what I hear.

Deadput wrote:I've heard rumors this is only going to be a 70 minute film.


I doubt since I remember Hasbro saying this was going to be a series but whatever just saying what I hear.

That last photo has episode 6 and 7 labels in it. I'd rather believe the actual writers, at this stage.

Va'al wrote:
That last photo has episode 6 and 7 labels in it. I'd rather believe the actual writers, at this stage.

Just noticed that thank you for pointing that out that puts that theory down.


Remember kids don't believe everything someone tells you unless you know it's true.

What are the odds of this being released before the shift to "Titans Return"? Ever since Hasbro announced this, I've been thinking they might not have left Machinima enough time for it. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

On a side note, what's on Thundercracker's head in that first pic?

Nemesis Primal wrote:On a side note, what's on Thundercracker's head in that first pic?

I'm not sure, but to me, it's looks like a Bionicle mask.

Deadput wrote:

Va'al wrote:
That last photo has episode 6 and 7 labels in it. I'd rather believe the actual writers, at this stage.

Just noticed that thank you for pointing that out that puts that theory down.


Remember kids don't believe everything someone tells you unless you know it's true.

Not necessarily... Remember the 2002/2004 Clone Wars and G.I. Joe Extreme? -They were shown as several "micro episodes" (ranging from 3-5 minuets), before being released on home media as a single 70 minute movie.

I really do hope these are full half hour episodes, from a full series, but we wont know for sure until more details are released.

o.supreme wrote:
Not necessarily... Remember the 2002/2004 Clone Wars and G.I. Joe Extreme? -They were shown as several "micro episodes" (ranging from 3-5 minuets), before being released on home media as a single 70 minute movie.

I really do hope these are full half hour episodes, from a full series, but we wont know for sure until more details are released.

True you bring out some good points.

Sabrblade wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:On a side note, what's on Thundercracker's head in that first pic?

I'm not sure, but to me, it's looks like a Bionicle mask.

...That's exactly what it is. Thank you.

Va'al wrote:[center]

Am I going crazy or is that a D.I.A. Stack on his shelf next to MP Magnus?

Well it is short, as expected. But it should make for a nice movie when combined (56 minuets) hopefully to see a wide release at some point.

I'm shocked. I thought we were getting a FULL series targeted for adults in anime style. Short 7-minute episodes is more what I'd expect for some web series. (not to mention just 8 episodes) That's not even a full hour.

I'm DEEPLY, deeply saddened. I feel like it was a big tease for long-standing, loyal, older fans.

And it's not that I haven't enjoyed the younger-audience shows like Rescue Bots or RID2015 (It's great hearing Cullen chime in occasionally), but we need something meatier. More story, more characterization, real stakes, over-arching storyline, etc. (Not to mention some stellar, world-class animation.)

It makes me wonder why they don't do some one-off direct-to-video movies like we see for other franchises. (Batman, Halo, Riddick, Ghost in the Shell, etc.) The franchise is definitely worthy of it. Seems like a great place to explore some more grown-up themes and solid animation... not to mention a chance to pull in original actors like Cullen, Welker, Bell, Gilvezan, Burger.

Someone please pass this up the chain at Hasbro.

And in the mean time, I'll be praying this series of *SHORTS* is well received and gets expanded to a full series in the future.

gothsaurus wrote:I'm shocked. I thought we were getting a FULL series targeted for adults in anime style. Short 7-minute episodes is more what I'd expect for some web series. (not to mention just 8 episodes) That's not even a full hour.

I'm DEEPLY, deeply saddened. I feel like it was a big tease for long-standing, loyal, older fans.

And it's not that I haven't enjoyed the younger-audience shows like Rescue Bots or RID2015 (It's great hearing Cullen chime in occasionally), but we need something meatier. More story, more characterization, real stakes, over-arching storyline, etc. (Not to mention some stellar, world-class animation.)

It makes me wonder why they don't do some one-off direct-to-video movies like we see for other franchises. (Batman, Halo, Riddick, Ghost in the Shell, etc.) The franchise is definitely worthy of it. Seems like a great place to explore some more grown-up themes and solid animation... not to mention a chance to pull in original actors like Cullen, Welker, Bell, Gilvezan, Burger.

Someone please pass this up the chain at Hasbro.

And in the mean time, I'll be praying this series of *SHORTS* is well received and gets expanded to a full series in the future.

But we already have a Transformers series targeted at an older audience!

"8 episodes, 7 minutes each" So not a real show, essentially a YouTube episode type show, instead of a genuine animated series. Has any info been released on how many of those 7 minutes are going to be opening and closing credits? Hopefully when they're all released someone will edit them into one long video.

To all those that are disappointed, please refer back to Machinima's Justice League: "Gods and Monsters" -it started as 3 "5 minute" segments, that lead up to an animated movie. It was so well received, that more episodes are coming out this year.

I agree. I would love for Hasbro to follow WB/DC's model (3 adult oriented animated films per year). heck I'd be happy with just one animated film per year. As it is however, this is untested water for Hasbro. If we want to see more, then we need to show our full support of this project.

-Just imagine, an animated film, once a year, "based" on popular Transformers stories both Past & Present. They could pluck stories from any era (Marvel, DreamWorks, but most likely sticking with IDW)- They could be set in any universe (Beast Wars, Unicron Trilogy, Animated etc...) -Or they could just come up with original stories as well. The potential is limitless, as long as we support it. A mature TF series, or home-release films with quality Animation & Writing is something I have waited a very long time for. I think we got a glimpse of it with TF: Prime. But with traditional cell animation, (good cell animation that is) you can do so much more.

Agreed! It would be a great way to shirk off the "rules" and do a new G1 story, Fall of Cybertron story, or even one set in other niche areas like Animated. Could be a great selling tool for the "filler" lines like Generations that get sandwiched between the live action movie toy lines.

I've been really pleased with CW and Titan Wars toy lines. They're bringing back some nicely sized figures and overcoming the plastic and simplification issues seen in Fall of Cybertron toy era. Seems like they've found their stride.... Point being, I think those are totally deserving of a teen-adult age series.

Hoping, praying, and supporting their efforts purchasing BluRays.

And on that notion, I MUCH prefer a high quality Blu-Ray release instead of the sub-par DVD releases seen for Animated, Robots in Disguise, Rescue Bots... How does that even happen these days when the series were created in high-def? If I'm paying money for the show, I want quality video.

Agreed, but it seems that decision is squarely in the hands of Shout!Factory. -They produced Beautiful Blu Rays for Prime. Probably understanding that Prime was watched by a slightly older demographic, and the CG would look nicer in HD. RiD15 & Rescue Bots have a different animation form that doesn't lend itself as well to HD (though no doubt they are produced in that format for broadcast). Also they probably understand its demographic is a bit younger. Frankly I am pleased/surprised we are getting a season 1 DVD set for RiD. I thought we would be doomed to endless single disc releases, as the idea is that parents are buying these on impulse for kids.

Remember, even MLP which has a sizable adult fan following, doesn't even have Blu ray sets for the TV series, in fact they just started getting full season standard DVD sets within the past year or so...

The only aberration I see in this was GI Joe Renegades. Although the animation was not CG, it somehow got a Blu-Ray release (which I proudly own), but perhaps this was the failed experiment that forced S!F to cut costs and only produce DVD's unless an overwhelming support for Blu Rays is shown.

In any event. Whoever gets the home media license for TF:CW, I sincerely hope there is a Blu Ray release. I'm fearing however that with increasing trends, it will be relegated to downloadable media only via sites like Amazon.

I still think that more than meets the eye should be animated as direct to video releases.