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Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series

Posted by Qwan Nov 12, 2017 at 4:20pm CST 45,552 views

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Via Machinima's official Facebook page, we have another promotional clip for their fast-approaching Titans Return animated series. This time the focus is less on the characters and action of the show itself, and more on the actors bringing these beloved characters to life in the series. Featuring brief comments from actors Abby Trott (Windblade), MatPat (Computron) Michael Dorn (Fortress Maximus), Judd Nelson (Rodimus Prime), Jason Marnocha (Megatron) and more, the unanimous sentiment seems to be that it was an incredible opportunity to portray a modern rendition of the characters they loved when they were younger.

Other specific comments of note include: Trott's joy at being able to play a fan-built character who shares the stage with franchise regulars like Optimus and Megatron; Nelson (who has been involved in Transformers since his portrayal of Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime in 1986's Transformers: The Movie) espousing the benefits of being a voice actor - namely, that he doesn't need to worry about his appearance when he comes in to record; and MatPat assuring younger Transformers fans that they, too, can be Computron when they grow up.

With the series set to debut on November 14, less than two days away, it seems odd that the only notable clip shown from the actual series is a shot of Rodimus (with a robot mode still heavily based on his Hasbro MP-09 toy, albeit with a mouthplate) transforming a vehicle mode much more reminiscent of his Titans Return toy. Do you think there's a reason that Machinima has chosen to focus more on the talent behind their characters, as the release date charges toward us? Check out the video, let us know your thoughts and ideas below, and of course stay tuned for our coverage of the series itself coming very soon!

Get to know the Transformers: Titans Return cast before the show launches on go90 11/14.

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Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Randomhero Nov 12, 2017

Well...he’s not wrong. Bumblebee was released in red as well as yellow

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Qwan Nov 12, 2017

Randomhero wrote:Well...he’s not wrong. Bumblebee was released in red as well as yellow

I found it hilarious looking through the comments on the Facebook page. At least three different self-righteous posts about how clearly he means "Cliffjumper from the G1 cartoon", and how he's not a real fan and should get his facts straight :lol:

:lol:

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Randomhero Nov 12, 2017

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by gothsaurus Nov 12, 2017

Oh, Frank knows knows his bumblebees and cliffjumper apart. He's a long time fan... Great guy and fantastic voice actor. Really glad to see him in this role again. I think he's been nailing the starscream voice/character/acting.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Skritz Nov 12, 2017

You know, oddly enough, Rodimus with a mouhplate...looks cool? I would honestly not mind this as a feature on a future Rodimus toy. At least once, maybe?

While it does make him less distinct from Optimus, I could really see a future incarnation of the character where he has a retractable mouthplate (such as Movie, Animated and Aligned Optimus) as long as his mouthed look remain the default because Rodimus having an exposed face, at least to me, make sense as part of his design because it 'humanize' him (if such thing can be said about a giant transforming alien robot), whereas Optimus can get away with hiding his fear and weakness behind his robo-menpo, which generally fit with modern versions of Optimus as the stoic, fearless, always-serious but tragically-crying-from-the-tragedy-of-the-war-on-the-inside type. Modern Optimus seem to often deliberately have a wall between them, their troops and even the audience, carrying along with a 'sad dignity'. Rodimus' shtick, when he is a Prime, is that he is younger, uproven, even when he's shown himself worthy of the rank and power.

In fact until Transformers Prime there seemed to be a pattern that the more 'vulnerable' Optimus incarnations were generally without a constant mouthplate, with the possible exception of the live action Prime who started the completely exposed mouth look. Before that, an Optimus with a mouth was basically the shtick of Optimus Primal and briefly carried by the Unicron trilogy Optimus in Cybertron, but generally he was in his Super Mode most of the time anyway. It's telling that, to me, the Optimuses (what even is the plural for an Optimus?) who had no mouthplates or some form of exposed mouth who stood out the most to me were Primal and Animated, who were both younger and less powerful. Neither were legendary figures and prove war-heroes and both were simply ship captains who often had to struggle with a disrespectful crew.

Anyway just my rambling two cents on 'should Primes all have mouthplates', I suppose?

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Qwan Nov 12, 2017

Randomhero wrote:

No, you don't understand! If it wasn't in Seasons 1-3 of the original cartoon that I watched when I was a kid, then it doesn't exist and anyone who makes reference to it is patently incorrect and isn't a true fan of Transformers![/sarcasm]

For serious, it is also interesting to note that a lot of people (not on here, but elsewhere) do seem to be under the impression that the CW/TR series are meant to be a continuation of the G1 cartoon. Like, both sides of it: "Oh awesome this is a continuation of G1, I can't wait to see where they take the story from my childhood", all way through to "The characters who were dead/reformatted/etc in G1 are back to normal now and it doesn't make any sense so this show sucks!". Is there something about Machinima's marketing recently that's making people think this, or is it just the nature of doing a cartoon with relatively faithful G1 designs?

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Skritz Nov 12, 2017

Geewunners gonna geewun, man.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Nexus Knight Nov 12, 2017

:lol:

:lol:

:lol:

Oh, Lord, MatPat, you are... absolutely awesome, man. I love your enthusiasm for the role of Computron and I hope that/fully expect you to kill in this part. I hope this show doesn't kill your acting career.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Cmdr. Trailblazer Nov 12, 2017

Uuuuugh. Fine. I'll give this show a chance. At the very least I'll maybe get a few laughs outta Megs again.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Stormshot_Prime Nov 12, 2017

Now if they took this Megatron and used his character for the Megatron in the upcoming Cyberverse show, that might quell some of those complaints too

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by DedicatedGhostArt Nov 12, 2017

Okay. This show just got way better.

MATPAAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!! *flips like a glitched cartoon character*

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by RodimusRex Nov 12, 2017

Qwan wrote:
Randomhero wrote:

No, you don't understand! If it wasn't in Seasons 1-3 of the original cartoon that I watched when I was a kid, then it doesn't exist and anyone who makes reference to it is patently incorrect and isn't a true fan of Transformers![/sarcasm]

For serious, it is also interesting to note that a lot of people (not on here, but elsewhere) do seem to be under the impression that the CW/TR series are meant to be a continuation of the G1 cartoon. Like, both sides of it: "Oh awesome this is a continuation of G1, I can't wait to see where they take the story from my childhood", all way through to "The characters who were dead/reformatted/etc in G1 are back to normal now and it doesn't make any sense so this show sucks!". Is there something about Machinima's marketing recently that's making people think this, or is it just the nature of doing a cartoon with relatively faithful G1 designs?

In addition to the designs (and casting choices for returning actors or soundalikes), Hasbro's initial marketing gushed about how this was further down the timeline than we had seen in animated form before and targeted at adult fans.

It sort of hits that mark vaguely but the idea that combiners are new is a tough pill. Plus as far as "mature" goes, it feels maybe Toonami level mature mostly due to violence. This isn't Alan Moore doing a Watchmen style deconstruction of Transformers or Garth Ennius level raunch. The Bay movies come closer in both respects.

I was kind of hoping for something closer to the moodiness of The Big O in a clearly post-G1 landscape than Dragonball Z in a "G1 post-humans" kind of thing. Eh. It is what it is. No spite for it. I liked the take on Megatron. Confused/ambivalent to everything else aside from Starscream's big plot which was a cool idea executed poorly. I wasn't going to watch the sequel but it's free and the casting caught my eye.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by RodimusRex Nov 12, 2017

Overall, my take on Transformers (which formed the core of the G1 toon and hasn't been prominent since Animated) rests on 4 things:

Transformers are the "human" POV characters.
Humans are their tiny alien sidekicks with a lot of heart who aspire to be as cool/brave/evil as TFs.
Alien sidekicks like Ewoks and such are cool to have on hand although the Transformers, not humans, are the ones we empathize with.
There's nothing morally or plausibly questionable in-universe about typical kids being super-heroes who save the day with their wits.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by DedicatedGhostArt Nov 12, 2017

RodimusRex wrote:Overall, my take on Transformers (which formed the core of the G1 toon and hasn't been prominent since Animated) rests on 4 things:

Transformers are the "human" POV characters.
Humans are their tiny alien sidekicks with a lot of heart who aspire to be as cool/brave/evil as TFs.
Alien sidekicks like Ewoks and such are cool to have on hand although the Transformers, not humans, are the ones we empathize with.
There's nothing morally or plausibly questionable in-universe about typical kids being super-heroes who save the day with their wits.

Animated was amazing. One thing I dislike about Transformers shows since then was, as you said, the humans being regular while the Transformers are alien, instead of the other way around. Though, it does work a little better in the movies with them being alien, we all know how bad the movies have been so far in other areas.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Quantum Surge Nov 12, 2017

The only good thing I would expect is Cullen's voice being used here and the likelihood of a Geewun Redone parody made by Lord Freddery.

You know, G1 is not my cup of tea, and while I was heavily disappointed with watching the entire cartoon, part of me liked reading the Marvel Comics and some elements of Dreamwave (artwork not withstanding). IDW would be cool to read, but I am terrified at how huge the continuity is (plus I feel the artwork gets inconsistent from being patina-like to more soft focus and jovial. What I'm trying to say is that a lot of more expanded G1 stories make up a lot of a G1 style reboot that I imagined in my head, and one where it'd be more like what the Prime Wars cartoon is trying to be. 'Cept it'd be less about obligated nostalgia and more taking cues from current works like the militaristic feel of the Movieverse, a balanced cast like Prime, huge mythos a la the IDW comics, and a mish mash of War Within and War for Cybertron. I appreciate that Machinima wants to appeal to the young at heart, but it feels like a more compromised version of RID '15. Maybe if the episodes were longer and each season were to have a better focus on one certain MacGuffin or event instead of building stuff up and making us wait for the resolution like the MCU, then I'd be down for it.

IDK, we all have different expectations and feelings for this series, but Machinima, don't let us down.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by o.supreme Nov 13, 2017

Glad they got Judd Nelson some work so he doesn't have to go back to the homeless shelter

Judd- "After 30 years I get to go Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime again"

fans- "What about TF Animated back in 2009"

Judd- "What?"

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Sabrblade Nov 13, 2017

o.supreme wrote:Glad they got Judd Nelson some work so he doesn't have to go back to the homeless shelter

Judd- "After 30 years I get to go Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime again"

fans- "What about TF Animated back in 2009"

Judd- "What?"

fans- "Or the script reading at BotCon just last year?"

Judd- "..."

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by skywarp-2 Nov 13, 2017

SillyMcGilly wrote:
RodimusRex wrote:Overall, my take on Transformers (which formed the core of the G1 toon and hasn't been prominent since Animated) rests on 4 things:

Transformers are the "human" POV characters.
Humans are their tiny alien sidekicks with a lot of heart who aspire to be as cool/brave/evil as TFs.
Alien sidekicks like Ewoks and such are cool to have on hand although the Transformers, not humans, are the ones we empathize with.
There's nothing morally or plausibly questionable in-universe about typical kids being super-heroes who save the day with their wits.

Animated was amazing. One thing I dislike about Transformers shows since then was, as you said, the humans being regular while the Transformers are alien, instead of the other way around. Though, it does work a little better in the movies with them being alien, we all know how bad the movies have been so far in other areas.

OMG! it was all told from the bot perspective, when you sit back and think about it, Tho the first 3 episodes were a lot from Spike's perspective and bumblebee. The 1st movie did have such aspects woven in. much of G-1 is in the movies. Cybertron comes to Earth...another one

I suppose you could say, there are aspects of G1 in all Transformer series.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Quantum Surge Nov 13, 2017

Well, I might be crazy, but part of me felt that Judd saying that he's back felt like it was used to lure fans who never saw post G1 TF series (not even the first movie) in watching this show as itf it was a grand return. That or he meant to have referred to G1 Hot Rod and not other roles in general.

Re: Meet the Cast of Machinima's Transformers: Titans Return Animated Series (view post)

Comment by Qwan Nov 13, 2017

Fellow robot-lovers, the day has nearly come. Tomorrow, on the go90 video streaming platform (in the US at least), Machinima's Titans Return animated series - the follow-up to last year's Combiner Wars - will make its debut for all to see. If you're just now hearing about this series, or have forgotten some of the details, here's a brief timeline of the major news leading from its announcement nearly a year ago, all the way up the the show's debut:

- Nov 29, 2016: Machinima announces two sequel series to Combiner Wars - Titans Return and Power of the Primes;

- Jul 18, 2017: New cast for the Titans Return series is announced, featuring Peter Cullen, Judd Nelson, Wil Wheaton, and more (including internet personalities like MatPat and returning cast members such as Jason Marnocha and Abby Trott);

- Sep 10, 2017: Machinima announces that the series will have 11 episodes, and will feature both Trypticon and Overlord (betcha forgot about that tidbit, didn't you?);

- Sep 11, 2017: First official poster for the series, and a few screenshots proving that the visual style will remain similar to Combiner Wars;

- Oct 18, 2017: Behind-the-scenes video listing many of the major roles, and showing our first preview of the show in motion (much the same as its predecessor);

- Nov 5, 7, and 12, 2017: Preview clip of the show, full-fledged trailer, and a meet-the-cast video leading up to the final release date...

...Which brings us fully up-to-date, with less than 24 hours to go until the premiere of this definitely-anticipated series! Check out the latest two bits of promotional material from Machinima's Facebook page below, and chime in with your thoughts in the Energon Pub. Come tomorrow, don't forget to catch the Titans Return series on go90 in the US, and of course stay tuned to Seibertron.com for our very own coverage of the series too!

The first two episodes of Transformers: Titans Return are available TOMORROW on go90.

Perceptor makes a startling discovery in the very first episode of Transformers: Titans Return. Watch tomorrow on go90.

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