Transformers Cartoon News on Seibertron.com

New Legacy 2024 Leaks List Vector Prime, Origin Wheeljack, Potential Rock Lords and More

Date: Wednesday, June 7th 2023 9:36pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Toy News, Rumors
Posted by: Emerje | Credit(s): Jtprime17

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Thanks to Seibertronian Munkky we have a new batch of leaks from Jtprime17 for the 2024 Legacy line. The first two figures take place of the previous leak that called the figures "Rock 1" and "Rock 2". And if you weren't already thinking "Rock Lords" with that clue then the names Bouldercrash and Magneous sounding so close to good and evil Rock Lord leaders Boulder and Magmar should really cinch it. We also have our first mention of a Deluxe Optimus Prime, something we've seen in the child centered lines like Cyberverse and Earthspark, but it's been many years since we've had a new Deluxe Prime in the "main line". And with all the new Unicron Trilogy figures that have been showing up in Legacy it's shouldn't be a huge suprise that we have a listing for Cybertron Vector Prime who should go nicely with the previous Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime from the previous Trilogy and last year's Titan Metroplex and Velocitron Override. Also for a Voyager we have Origin Wheeljack who will mostly certainly be a Target exclusive next year. Final figure in this batch is Armada Galvatron who I'm not sure a lot of people expected to be a retail figure.

Munkky wrote:More leaks for the 2024 Legacy line have been revealed by Jtprime17:

TRA GEN LEGACY UNI CORE BOULDERCRASH
Product Number: F8516

This is the previously leaked Core Class "Rock 1"

TRA GEN LEGACY UNI DELUXE MAGNEOUS
Product Number: F8526

This is the previously leaked Deluxe Class "Rock 1"

TRA GEN LEGACY UNI DELUXE G1 OPTIMUS PRIME
Product Number: F9848

TRA GEN LEGACY UNI VOY CYBER VECTOR PRIME
Product Number: F8546

TRA BB GEN LEGACY UNI VOY ORIGIN WHEELJACK
Product Number: F9688

This is for Buzzworthy Bumblebee, as Origins Bumblebee and Jazz were.

TRA GEN LEGACY UNI ARMADA GALVATRON
Product Number: F8522

Since we're getting four wave in Evolution this year the soonest we'll see any of these figures in store is late winter or early spring 2024 at best. Anything here getting you excited? Let us know in the Energon Pub forums!

First Draft of The Transformers Movie 86 at TFNation 2022

Date: Monday, August 22nd 2022 7:36pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Event News
Posted by: Sabrblade

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A week ago, TFNation 2022 was held in the United Kingdom, whereat Transformers uber-fans Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely held a very special presentation on the Saturday night of August 13, which was followed by an extra panel the next day on Sunday, August 14.

This presentation was, without a doubt, the event of the weekend. Back in June, Chris held a livestream on YouTube in which he momentarily hyped up this event as "one of the most important panels ever held at a Transformers convention." He later made this post on his YouTube community portal, which featured the following promotional art:



To cut to the chase, Jim and Chris held a live presentation of the long lost, original, very first draft script of Transformers: The Movie (1986) written by Ron Friedman!

For about 12 years, this original script was thought to have been lost to time and gone for good. But about two years ago in the summer of 2020, G1 cartoon writer Flint Dille was going through his storage and unearthed this long lost script. Jim Sorenson then flew out to Los Angeles and spent the next week scanning as much of the script as he could. And now, after all these years, Jim and Chris have finally made the contents of this lost piece of Transformers known to the public!

At the presentation, they provided an in-depth summary of the script's events, accompanied by brand new artwork created especially for the occasion. While the artwork is unofficial, it provided visual illustrations of several events described by Friedman's script, each interpreted by the artists who drew them. Said artists included Ed Pirrie, Andy Turnbull, James Marsh, and Kris Carter.

While I, myself, was not present at the event, live updates were provided through both the TFWiki Discord server (most notably from uses Jacob McBaggins, Broadside, and Greeby) and the Twitter of James Bach. It is from these sources that I have compiled the following full report of the presentation.

---

By and large, the script is only vaguely resemblant to the final version of the movie. Some broad strokes are similar, but the biggest differences lie in the details. In fact, Flint Dille has previously gone on record calling this script "incoherent". As you will soon begin to see, "incoherent" is the kindest word one could use to describe it, as it honestly feels like Friedman just made up as he went along.

This script draft was first written in August 1984, before the first episode of the G1 cartoon had even aired. Literally right after the final episode of Season 1, "Heavy Metal War", had been written. Season 2 hadn't even been conceptualized yet. No date is given for when it takes place. Not 2005, not the 1980s, nothing.

The story begins with the Battle of Autobot City. Except, it's not Autobot City, but just a steel mill. The Constructicons steal some steel ore from carts around the plant to build siege towers to attack the place. The Autobots who defend the steel mill are (from left to right):

• Hot Rod – Depicted here using the earliest known design by Floro Dery.
• Tanker – Grizzled old Autobot who's missing an eye, transforms into a Sherman tank.
• Magnus – Not "Ultra" Magnus. Drawn here in Floro Dery's early design that was later used for Orion Pax before the Diaclone Powered Convoy toy was decided to represent him.
• Arcee – Field medic, shown here in an early Floro Dery design.
• Wheeljack – Very sexist and misogynistic toward Arcee throughout the entire script, which is played for "comedy".

As the Decepticons continue their attack on the steel mill, three of them combine into a cannon that begins to shoot "fire snow" at the Autobots. What is fire snow? Napalm. Yes, the Decepticons attack the Autobots... with napalm.

Tanker gets his arm burnt off and, in the heat of the moment, acts rather sexist toward Arcee. Magnus grabs an industrial bucket and, in a very cartoony moment, simply catches the balls of fire snow napalm in the bucket and tosses it back at the Decepticons. He saves Hot Rod in the process. The Decepticons dive for cover but get blown up by their own napalm tossed back at them, and are clobbered by the steel bucket.

Reinforcements for the Autobots arrive aboard an old locomotive train carrying rocket fuel in flatbed cars.





The train is manned by human allies General Blaze and Colonel Rusty Steel, the latter of whom is described by the script as an "Indiana Jones" type. Hasbro's feedback on the character basically says that his personality would later be applied to Springer.

General Blaze


Colonel Rusty Steele


The train carrying the rocket fuel is meant to distract the Decepticons from their attack on the steel mill, making them think the train is just a simple fuel delivery and an easy target, from which the Autobots can ambush Megatron.

Starscream attacks the train and ties it in a pretzel knot. The train then begins to transform from an old locomotive into a bullet train, a process called "Transformation Alpha". Starscream is then run over. (It is at this point that Jim pointed out that Starscream will have a lot to do in this story, only to clarify that he gets his butt kicked a lot.) The train is now revealed to be an Autobot Triple Changer named Rails, who commences "Transformation Beta" into his robot mode... A GIANT SNAKE ROBOT MODE!!






Hot Rod soon runs out of ammo... in a laser gun. A Decepticon charges at him with a laser chainsaw, but Tanker steps in and trips up the Decepticon, who then falls on his own laser chainsaw and is bisected in half by it.

Then the Optimus and Megatron fight happens... basically the same as it does in the final movie, verbatim even. As the Decepticons retreat from the battle following Megatron's defeat (no Astrotrain here, they all just fly out into space on their own power), Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Arcee perform triage on Prime and determine that the damage is fatal. Rusty Steele objects, stating that they can't make that call in the field. Half the Autobots go with Ratchet to take the dying Optimus back to the Autobots' volcano base, while the other half go with Wheeljack to build ships to chase after Megatron. Gears is here as well, and is an insensitive jerk about the whole thing.

Basically, Friedman was mandated to kill off Optimus, but no other 1984 Autobots die either. The idea behind all this was to make the movie start out like a typical G1 cartoon episode until it wasn't. Hot Rod is very broken up over Optimus's current state ("I don't know how I'll stand it if Prime dies because of me"), but Tanker basically just tells him to suck it up and not be such a wimp. Jerk.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons make it back to Cybertron by just flying all the way there. In the final version of the movie, the place at which Starscream's coronation is held is referred to by its script as the Decepticon Hall of Heroes. In this script, the Hall of Heroes is basically described as a sci-fi version of Adolf Hitler's Nuremburg Rally Hall, in the Third Reich. According to Jim and Chris, the script is practically dripping with full-on Nazi references all over the place.

Megatron is there with them and dies unceremoniously while everyone argues over who gets to be the new leader. A fight soon breaks out. As Starscream and Skywarp fight, they inadvertently blow up the urn that was meant to house Megatron's "life spark". Without it, Megatron's ghost flies out of his body. As he pathetically begs and pleads for the other Decepticons to preserve his essence, they take no notice and continue their fight. Megatron's purple "life spark" ghost helplessly flies off into space.



Back on Earth, the entire volcano that houses the Autobots' base now opens up like Tracy Island from Thunderbirds. It's now a whole base for both Autobots and humans. Two such humans are Dr. Ellen Prentiss and her young son Daniel. Yep, that Daniel. In this script, he is not Spike's son. In fact, Spike isn't even in this story at all. Here, Daniel looks up to and idolizes Colonel Rusty, who in turn calls the boy "Dan-o".



Springer is also one the Autobots there, whom the script describes as "a huge, Arnold Schwarzenegger type". He is also described by the script as turning into something like either a jet-powered missile launcher, or a jet-powered steam roller. He also barely does anything in the whole story.

Out in space, Megatron's ghost is summoned to the planet Unicron. In this version, Unicron is the name of the planet and its leader is a mysterious intelligence simply known as "the Entity". Planet Unicron has tree trunks that resemble a big hand, and trees that are like hair. (Attendee reaction to this described it as "horrid".) The Entity agrees to recreate Megatron into Galvatron in exchange for Megatron/Galvatron going back to Cybertron, bringing all of its Decepticon inhabitants under the Entity's will, and then taking all of the Decepticons to Earth for a more important plan.

Galvatron is apparently described in the script as both looking like a bigger Megatron covered in metal scales, and looking like he's wearing a black military uniform. For the accompanying fanmade artwork, however, he is instead depicted in his early Floro Dery design with toy-accurate colors. He also receives a unique insignia on his chest (looks like the artists chose to base their interpretation of it on the Beast Wars Neo Blentron insignia).



And now comes Optimus's death scene. In this version, instead of the Matrix of Leadership, a little green baby version of Optimus in energy form emerges from his chest. It is referred to as Optimus's "Matrix", long before the Creation Matrix was a thing in the Marvel Comics. It's basically Optimus's "life spark", like what came out of Megatron earlier when he died. The Baby Optimus goes into Magnus's body, making him "Ultra" Magnus.



On Cybertron, Galvatron arrives and Starscream recognizes him as Megatron. Starscream gets to live in this version and all of the Decepticons get new upgraded forms by the power of Planet Unicron. For the Seekers, the artists chose to base their interpretation of these upgraded forms off of Starscream's coronation gear from the final movie. In the script, the idea was to just make them bigger.




Cybertron is then destroyed in a beam of light and NOBODY cares. All except for Galvatron for about 30 seconds. The Decepticons then head for Earth. End of Act 1.

---

Act 2 begins with the Autobots building giant metal shields to protect Earth's cities so that they can take their new fleet of ships Wheeljack is building and go after the Decepticons without worry. The shields are said to be made out of metals with ridiculous names like "titano-rubidium steel" and "durabyl-metal". The script apparently takes two or three whole pages to describe the shields.

Colonel Rusty Steele seems to be taking point in this operation, while a bunch of "comedy" bits are going on around him. Namely, Wheeljack has a running "gag" where Arcee will do something really competent behind his back while he is oblivious to this and makes several sexist remarks about "she-bots". And he does this all throughout the script.

When the Decepticons arrive, Teletraan I cannot even compute their newly-acquired power. The Entity fires a green energy blast from space that strikes Galvatron, goes through him into the other Decepticons, and powers them all up enough for them to blast through all the shields the Autobots just built, destroying them in an instant despite multiple script pages setting up the shields.



Oh, and Prowl is here and doesn't die. And Starscream gets beaten up a second time, suffering endless slapstick. Even so, the Autobot base is overrun and they have to retreat.

A time-skip occurs. The Decepticons have a "Sweep Party" of black "Gestapo-like" bots searching for the Autobots, who have since set up a guerilla camp. This is from where the idea of the Sweeps originated.



The Decepticons have apparently taken over and are building an "energy drain cage" around the Earth, in order to siphon its energy and send it all to Planet Unicron.



Daniel gets the camp found by the Sweep Gestapo by accidently setting off Teletraan I, who mistakes him for an intruder.

Now engaged in a guerilla war, Tanker and Hot Rod go off to recruit a crack squad of the best of the best to help everyone get to the one remaining Autobot ship, so they can go find the source of the Decepticons' new powers.

First is Chemico, "the walking laboratory". He literally just pops up to make a smokescreen and never appears again.



Magnus also transforms... into either a truck or a combine harvester. The idea behind what his altmode should be was "What's the coolest vehicle to run someone over with?"

The Autobots knock away the Decepticons with baseball bats and escape via a river raft. Yes, really.

Springer is also here. As is Starscream. You know what that means? It's clobbering time, Screamer! Springer uses his jumping power, which Jim compares to bouncing like Tigger. Springer grabs Starscream and a generic Decepticon and bonks their heads together, which also results in the two 'Cons impaling each other with their limbs. Starscream is furious and threatens to boil the Autobots in their own pee (yes, really!), and demands "UNKNOT MEEEEE!!" (Chris McFeely did his best and most throat-hurting Chris Latta impression for this line).

Other Autobot recruits include Blurr (who in this version talks reeeeeeeaallly slow, like Jimmy Stewart), Grimlock, Swoop, Sludge (but no other Dinobots) and Mentlar (a "Carl Sagan" type whose role as the "smart guy" is later taken by Perceptor).



Don't confuse his name with "Metlar", who is one of the Inhumanoids. He's "Mentlar", because of his great "mental" capacity. He turns into a radar truck.



Mentlar presses a button that activates a giant energy grid that he uses like a big flyswatter to disable the Insecticons and strip them of their Unicron upgrades, allowing the Dinobots to defeat them. Afterward, this grid is never used or brought up again.

The Autobots reach the last ship they still have, which is hidden inside an ice cave.



As Rusty, Daniel, and Ellen board the ship, Rusty gives Daniel his lucky silver dollar as a promise that they'll get through this. As the ship takes off, Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots are still fighting on the ground and just fly up alongside the ship, flying through space outside the vessel. Bumblebee shows up here just to get blasted off-screen by a cluster bomb. Wheeljack and Arcee remain on Earth to keep fighting the Decepticons and Wheeljack has more misogynist moments with Arcee.

Galvatron is mentally tortured by the Entity, who calls him an imbecile and tells him to destroy the fleeing Autobot ship. He give Galvatron a ship of his own, which resembles an aircraft carrier (this was the prototype version of Galvatron's ship from the final movie). Rusty and Daniel man the Autobot ship's guns like Han and Luke in Star Wars: A New Hope. And then a random space hurricane interrupts the battle, destroying Galvatron's ship and hurling Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots off into space. Galvatron emerges from the wreckage of his ship, sees no Autobots, and thinks he's won. End of Act 2.



---

Act 3 begins with the Autobots' ship crash-landing on Planet Unicron's moon, drawn there by a tractor beam brainwave.




Back on Earth, Arcee twirls Starscream around like a wrestler and tosses him at a freeway overpass, collapsing it on top of other Decepticons. Despite this, Wheeljack is still sexist to her. This is also Starscream's last scene.

Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots end up on a planet that would later become Quintessa in the final movie. Sharkticons proceed to eat Swoop, but only nibble on him rather than consume him entirely.



The script keeps cutting back and forth between the moon with Magnus's team, the planet with Hot Rod's team, and Earth with Wheeljack and Arcee, the latter of whom ends up kissing Wheeljack on the cheek at one point.

Galvatron is told by the Entity to go into space and kill the Autobots stranded on the moon. His army flies off from Earth in space cruisers they just suddenly have now. As they approach Unicron's moon, the Autobots there trick the Decepticons with cardboard cutouts as decoys.

Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots witness the arena-style execution of a rock-based alien named Granix. Yep, before he was Kranix, he was Granix, his name based on "granite". And the Sharkticon pit was a battle arena rather than a shark tank.




Here, the Sharkticons have sensors that direct them to eat whatever they bump into, likely explaining what those antennae they have are supposed to be.

When Hot Rod's group stands trial, they are found "Innocent of trespassing but guilty of insolence". Hot Rod blinds the Sharkticons, but the Quintesson uses its mental powers to just make more Sharkticons from scrap. Hot Rod subdues the Quint and orders it to use its mind powers to find the other Autobots. It ends up finding Planet Unicron.



On Unicron's moon, the Decepticons have found the Autobots' three human allies, who all wear exo-suits implied to work by telekinesis. Rumble forces Daniel to watch Dirge try to crush Ellen to death, but Daniel saves his mother by crushing Dirge's torso inward and tossing him onto Rumble.

Then the Junkions show up, the leader of which is literally described by the script as wearing a Nazi helmet. The artists chose instead to draw him wearing a WWI German helmet because there's just so much Nazi stuff in this script!!!



Elsewhere on Unicron's moon, Galvatron just straight up murders Magnus, Mentlar, and Blurr. Like, he just kills them. Dead. No repairs, no rebuilding them. Just dead. And Hasbro was furious.



Galvatron steals the glowing baby Optimus from Magnus and puts it in a jar around his neck.



What comes next are a couple of big reveals: The Junkions built Unicron! It was originally built to be a protector, but something went wrong. The Junkions then reveal a flaw in Unicron that serves as its weakness. And that weakness is... MISSING from the script! Yep, unfortunately, the script that Flint Dille found in storage was missing three whole pages that detail this very important part of the story. One of these pages also presumably sees Hot Rod, Tanker, and the Dinobots reuniting with the others on the moon, with Tanker freeing the Autobots from the Junkions with the Universal Greeting.

As Planet Unicron absorbs the siphoned energy from Earth, the Entity is powered up enough to transform the planet into a humanoid robot form. It heads towards Earth, munching other planets along the way. And at this point, Wheeljack FINALLY apologizes to Arcee for being such a sexist misogynist.



A Junkion named Scrapo befriends the Dinobots, whose role was presumably later taken by Wheelie in the final movie.

In a surprise twist that shocks absolutely no one, the Entity and Unicron are revealed to be one and the same. In order to defeat him, the Autobots must fight their way into Unicron's core. Once there, Daniel is the only one small enough to fit into the area they need to get into to destroy Unicron. But then, they suddenly remember that they also need the Baby Optimus that Galvatron still has. So they go all the way back out to go get it. Hot Rod and Rusty corner Galvatron, who tries to fuse the Baby Optimus with himself into nothingness. But he is defeated by Dr. Ellen.



The Autobots and humans go all the way back into Unicron's core, where Daniel takes the Baby Optimus and puts it into the core, blowing by Unicron. Galvatron gets blasted off on one of Unicron's severed fingers.



In the aftermath, Earth just gets all better after being shriveled up from its massive energy drain. A parade is held and Hot Rod holds Daniel up on his shoulders. The End.

---

The day after this presentation was given, Chris and Jim held a follow-up panel with more information and artwork.

It is speculated that Rails was replaced with the Anibots (Autobot versions of the Predacons before those toys were decided to be Decepticons) in later script drafts, and then ultimately replaced by just the Dinobots defending Autobot City in the final movie. (The concept of Rails as a large, multi-changing transport Autobot with a bestial robot mode may have possibly even evolved into Sky Lynx.)

"Life Spark" came from a memo note from Sunbow to refer to the leadership aspect of "the Matrix", which had yet to be a thing at the time. "'Til all Matrixes are One" evolved into "'Til all Life Sparks are one", which after a game of telephone became just "'Til all are One".

As everyone could probably tell by now, the concept of Tanker would eventually evolve into Kup. Jim reasoned that Tanker changed into Kup because Hasbro, at the time, was looking at the next generation of Autobots and Decepticons being cars and jets, not tanks.



At some point in the script, Grimlock sees Arcee and thinks she's so cool that he want there to be female Dinobots.

A few more pieces of the fanmade artwork:

Granix


Quintesson (the name "Quintesson" originally came from a restaurant)


This Quintesson is based on Floro Dery's early Quintesson design.

Sweep Gestapo-bot


Junkion (who's meant to look like something out of the Road Warrior)


Q&A

The suspected intended runtime for this script is two hours.

Unicron's backstory as having originally been created as a protector is removed from later script iterations, and is ultimate made as vague and undisclosed as it is in the final movie.

Galvatron's original altmode in this script is basically a cannon covered in guns all over.

Hot Rod has no Autobot symbol in these art pieces because the design notes in the script simply don't mention it. The second design iteration does put it on, though.

Now that we know where the Sweeps came from, what about Cyclonus's armada from the later script drafts? They would have been just a bunch of Cyclonus duplicates.

Colonel Rusty Steele was never Daniel's father. Daniel just had hero worship for him.

And most importantly of all, the script itself WILL eventually be uploaded online for all eyes to see. We don't know when, but it is definitely planned to be released at some point later on.

FIN

The Transformers: The Movie 35th Anniversary Limited Edition SteelBook Out August 3 from Shout! Factory

Date: Wednesday, May 26th 2021 7:08am CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Movie Related News, Press Releases
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 152,637

Experience the enormously popular animated feature THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE like never before! In celebration of the film’s 35th anniversary, THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE has been meticulously re-restored from a cleaner-than-ever, brand-new 4K transfer of the original 35mm film elements. Fans now can immerse themselves in this thrilling animated adventure with stunning picture quality for the optimal home entertainment experience, in 4K UHD for the first time.

THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE has captured a special place in the hearts of millions and has been a staple in the pop culture zeitgeist since it premiered in theaters 35 years ago on August 8, 1986. Featuring memorable characters – the heroic AUTOBOTS, villainous DECEPTICONS and UNICRON, thrilling action and a heartfelt storyline, THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE is a cultural touchstone that spans generations. Beloved by legions of fans, this full-length animated adventure boasts the voice talent of Orson Welles in his final voice acting role and an all-star voice cast that includes Peter Cullen, Eric Idle, Casey Kasem, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack and Frank Welker.

On August 3, 2021, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with eOne, a Hasbro company, celebrates the 35th anniversary of this iconic movie with a brand-new North American home entertainment release. Available for the first time on 4K UHD, THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE 35th Anniversary Limited Edition SteelBook (4K UHD + Blu-ray set) comes with highly collectible SteelBook packaging that features striking new key art by celebrated comic artist Matt Ferguson, an all-new 4K transfer of the movie in widescreen with HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, the film in HD full frame on Blu-ray, immersive bonus content including never-before-seen feature-length storyboards, plus 4 exclusive art cards. Fans who pre-order from shoutfactory.com will also receive a limited-edition 18”x24” lithograph with new art by Matt Ferguson, while supplies last.

ShoutFactory.com exclusive SteelBook gift-with-purchase lithograph with new art by Matt Ferguson
On September 28, 2021, Shout! Factory will also issue two additional 35th anniversary editions of THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE —a standard 4K UHD + Blu-ray combo pack, and a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack. THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE 35th Anniversary Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray combo pack includes the all-new 4K transfer of the movie in widescreen alongside the HD full frame version and new bonus material. THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray + DVD combo pack features the movie in HD full frame on Blu-ray as well as a widescreen edition on DVD, alongside new bonus material. These configurations will be available for pre-order later this summer from Shout! Factory.

Under license from Shout! Factory, THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE SteelBook and standard 4K UHD will also be released in the UK this September.

Whether reliving the excitement from childhood or discovering this animated feature for the first time, THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE 35th Anniversary Edition is a must-own for fans and collectors and makes the ultimate fan gift!

THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE 35th Anniversary Edition
Featuring the newly restored movie from a new 4K transfer of original film elements
Special Bonus Content:
· *New Feature-Length Storyboards, including deleted, alternate and extended sequences
· *New Fathom Events 30th Anniversary Featurette, including Stan Bush’s acoustic performances of “The Touch” and “Dare”
· ‘Til All Are One – A comprehensive documentary looking back at THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE with members of the cast and crew, including story consultant Flint Dille, cast members Gregg Berger, Neil Ross, Dan Gilvezan, singer/songwriter Stan Bush, composer Vince Dicola and others!
· Audio Commentary with Director Nelson Shin, story consultant Flint Dille and star Susan Blu
· Featurettes
· Animated Storyboards
· Trailers and TV Spots
*exclusive to the Limited Edition SteelBook and 4K UHD releases

Movie Synopsis:
The AUTOBOTS, led by the heroic OPTIMUS PRIME, prepare to make a daring attempt to retake their planet from the evil forces of MEGATRON and the DECEPTICONS. Unknown to both sides, a menacing force is heading their way – UNICRON. The only hope of stopping UNICRON lies within the Matrix of Leadership and the AUTOBOT who can rise up and use its power to light their darkest hour. Will the AUTOBOTS be able to save their native planet from destruction or will the DECEPTICONS reign supreme?

THE TRANSFORMERS – THE MOVIE is co-produced and directed by Nelson Shin; produced by Joe Bacal and Tom Griffin; supervising producer, Jay Bacal; executive producers, Margaret Loesch and Lee Gunther; music score by Vince Dicola and Ed Fruge.

About eOne
Entertainment One Ltd. (eOne) is a talent-driven independent studio that specializes in the development, acquisition, production, financing, distribution and sales of entertainment content. As part of global play and entertainment company Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS), eOne's expertise spans across film, television and music production and sales; family programming, merchandising and licensing; digital content; and live entertainment. Through its extensive reach and scale, and a deep commitment to high-quality entertainment, eOne unlocks the power and value of creativity.

eOne brings to market both original and existing content, sourcing IP from Hasbro’s portfolio of 1500+ brands, and through a diversified network of creative partners and eOne companies.

About Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory, LLC is a leading multi-platform media company devoted to film and TV distribution, development, and production, as well as the preservation and revitalization of the very best in pop-culture entertainment. Founded by Richard Foos, Bob Emmer, and Garson Foos in 2003, Shout! owns and manages a large portfolio of films, contemporary and classic TV series, animation, and documentaries. The company’s creative acquisition mandate has established it as a leading independent distributor, with partners and properties including GKIDS, Sesame Street, The Carol Burnett Show, The Johnny Carson Show, IFC Films, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, ITV Studios, Major League Baseball Productions, and many others. Shout! Factory Kids focuses on live-action and animated kids and family properties, and the company releases films and television shows in other genres under the Scream Factory and Shout Select imprints. Shout! develops, acquires and distributes new films via Shout! Studios, owns and operates libraries including Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson) and the Roger Corman New Horizon Pictures Library, and operates the acclaimed streaming service Shout! Factory TV. Shout! Factory is based in Los Angeles, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit shoutfactory.com.

New Galleries: War for Cybertron Kingdom Rattrap and Cheetor

Date: Monday, April 19th 2021 4:22pm CDT
Categories: Site News, Cartoon News, Toy News
Posted by: ZeroWolf

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Greetings Seibertronians!

After some away time, capturing the enormity of the Chaos Bringer himself (and a couple of other Unicrons), the Seibertron Galleries turn their focus back to the Kingdom line!

Today, we're looking at Wave 1 Core Class Rattrap and Wave 1 Deluxe Class Cheetor. These two (along with Voyager Class Optimus Primal) gave us three out of the five starting Maximals. In the Galleries (linked below) you'll see them conpared to their past versions, spread across different lines. Cheetor as a character has now appeared in projects outside of Beast Wars, in the Cyberverse TV series and is rumoured to be a character to appear in one of the many Live Action Transformers movies. Rattrap, aside from Beast Wars, appeared as Starscreams aide in the first IDW Transformers universe, when the latter was ruling Cybertron.

Of course, you can also see them in a pitched battle with the rest of the Kingdom Wave 1 releases.

Check out the galleries below:

War for Cybertron: Kingdom Rattrap (131 images) - Core Class
























War for Cybertron: Kingdom Cheetor (153 images) - Deluxe Class























Have you seen any of these, or Wave 2 in your stores? Let us know via our sightings page!

Want to discuss them? Head here to talk about these Kingdom figures and all the rest revealed so far!

Like the galleries?

Shout out in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

New Images Of Commander Class Rodimus Includes Comparison With SS86 Voyager Class Hot Rod

Date: Thursday, March 25th 2021 1:47pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Movie Related News, Toy News
Posted by: ZeroWolf | Credit(s): @UNOYUKIN07153 on Twitter

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Views: 52,653

Greetings Seibertronians! Fellow Seibertron user Sabrblade has pointed us in the direction of twitter user @UNOYUKIN07153 who has tweeted what looks like excerpts from an upcoming issue of Figure King Magazine (Masterpiecenews inbound).

These pictures concern the Commander Class release of Transformers Kingdom, Rodimus Prime, who has proven to be a divisive figure within the fandom. The pictures show a comparison with Studio Series 86 Voyager Class Hot Rod. We also get some new shots of the trailer that Rodimus comes with.

Check out the pictures below:





Do these new images sway you to one side of the debate? Are you still committed to owning Optimus Prime's successor? Will you be getting him to light the darkest hour against HasLab Unicron?

Shout out in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

HasLab Unicron Final Update and Behind the Scenes Video

Date: Friday, February 5th 2021 4:45pm CST
Categories: Cartoon News, Movie Related News, Toy News, Collectables
Posted by: ZeroWolf | Credit(s): Hasbro Pulse, Hobbymizer on YouTube

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Views: 71,926

Greetings Seibertronians! Well it's been a long and wild ride since it was revealed that the first HasLab Transformer project, the chaos bringer himself, Unicron, was successfully funded. Now though, the final update has been sent to the backers of this gargantuan Transformer, asking them to verify their addresses, and that Unicron will be shipping out in late March!

This is what backers received:

We are wrapping up the final production and packaging on your HasLab War For Cybertron Unicron and will begin shipping to you in late March. The packaging and shipping process is a multi-person undertaking, and of course, we want to ensure The Lord of Chaos arrives to you undamaged!

Since you placed your HasLab order back in 2019, and well, 2020 was a long year, we need you to confirm the address on file. To do so, please login to your Hasbro Pulse account, navigate to your orders, and locate your HasLab War For Cybertron Unicron order. When in the order, please confirm the address on file is valid. If you need to update your shipping information, please contact us.

Please note: your signature is required for the delivery, so please make sure you are home on the day of delivery to accept.

We are so excited for you to receive your very own Lord of Chaos!

So soon, the backers will be able to bask in the ultimate version of the iconic character, just in time to celebrate the films 35th anniversary (along side the Studio Series 86 figures)

Thats not all though, as over on HasbroPulse.com, they've posted the fifth installment of their own update about Unicron, in the form of a behind the scenes documentary. The documentary shows us how the parts are assembled and painted, all the way to being placed in the boxes big enough for Solid Snake to stealth in.

Check it out here.

With Unicron inbound, it seems some have been lucky enough to have been given one as youtube toy reviewer, Hobbymizer, has posted a preview to their YouTube channel, promising the review to drop on February 8th. Check out the teaser below.



Special thanks to users Sabrblade, Regimus Prime, and Dominus Prime for sharing these bits of news with us.

Are you one of the lucky people getting Unicron? Share your pictures of this titanic event in the Energon Pub, as we all celebrate his arrival, and that of the the animated movies 35th anniversary!

Share your thoughts in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Peter Cullen and Garry Chalk Chimed In on Netflix Series' Voice Acting and Business Practices

Date: Sunday, August 2nd 2020 8:54pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, People News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88

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Views: 136,219

The Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron Siege series is being well recieved by many fans and critics but you may be curious as to what some of the most prominant Optimus Prime voice actors had to say about it.

Firstly we have Garry Chalk, who was the voice of Optimus Primal in Beast wars and the voice of Optimus Prime in the Unicron Trilogy. Here is what he stated on Facebook:

"Ok I watched the first episode of the new Transformers on Netflix .....um...
Everyone tries to sound like a tough guy and as a result they all have the same pace and delivery. Visually it's pretty good but I am sorry the voices were kind of low energy."





And then we have Peter Cullen who was asked how he felt about other people doing Optimus Prime back in March (when conventions were still a thing that happened). He specifically mentions the Netflix series when mentioning that it hurts that he isn't the one doing Optimus Prime and that it is wrong for the production to be using non union talent in order to cut costs. You can tell he cares deeply for the character he voices and his legacy. Now, while it may seem like he is speaking ill of other voice actors or of the idea of others being Prime, his emotional responses are really towards the producers who are using cost cutting tactics that may hurt actors' wellfare in general. Frank Welker, the voice of G1 Megatron, also shares how wrong he feels it is for others to be hired when the known voice actors are available and willing to work.

Review of Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron Chapter One: Siege

Date: Tuesday, July 28th 2020 4:19pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Reviews
Posted by: ScottyP | Credit(s): Netflix

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Views: 98,963

In a mere two days' time Transformers fans will finally get to watch the highly anticipated, much speculated about first chapter of the Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, known as "Chapter One: Siege". You'll need a Netflix account to stream the show's 6 episodes, and in case you need a brief overview, here's the official synopsis provided by Netflix:

It is the final hours of the devastating civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The war that has torn apart their home planet of Cybertron is at a tipping point. Two leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron, both want to save their world and unify their people, but only on their own terms. In an attempt to end the conflict, Megatron is forced to consider using the Allspark, the source of all life and power on Cybertron, to “reformat” the Autobots, thus “unifying” Cybertron. Outnumbered, outgunned, and under SIEGE, the battle-weary Autobots orchestrate a desperate series of counterstrikes on a mission that, if everything somehow goes right, will end with an unthinkable choice: kill their planet in order to save it.

After the debacle that was the Prime Wars trilogy of streaming shows, fans looking for something different in (perceived) tone from the outstanding Transformers: Cyberverse have eagerly awaited the arrival of this latest installment. Many of us are happy to see toys that we've had for a year and a half reach the silver screen. All of us are wondering if it will be good - read on to find out.


The main plot of the series is summed up well in the synopsis above, and most fans will likely find the "30,000 foot view" of the plot to be about what's expected. While stories about the end of the war on Cybertron are as old as the franchise itself, the past decade or so has created so many disconnected permutations of this story that it's starting to become Transformers' version of Bruce Wayne's parents being killed. It makes sense for this first chapter to play things relatively safe in this context, given the amount of casual fans likely to be exposed to this series that haven't experienced the wide combination of movies, video games, books and other Transformers TV shows covering the same general story as much as those hanging out here on Seibertron.com on a daily basis have in recent history. For the most part, the good guys are the Autobots, the bad guys are the Decepticons, they're in a war which is bad and has been long, and events occur with big, sweeping consequences for the Transformers. The show keeps it simple on a high level, and to be honest, it works.


One of the reasons the somewhat standard main plot works is because the side plots with tighter character focus are then able to grasp the spotlight and provide the series' most compelling moments. The first hour of the show does feature a great deal of talking and walking but it's worth sitting through because the characters you should really be paying attention to, such as Jetfire and Bumblebee, gain foundational characterization that pays off as the episodes progress. The cast is a little big and there's maybe one "B" plot too many running in the middle of this first chapter given its length, but this isn't a problem that sticks around for long.


The aforementioned cast of characters is kept somewhat small and if you're expecting anyone that doesn't have a Siege toy, temper that expectation now. Heck, if you're expecting any Battle Masters or Micromasters from the toy line, I'm going to go ahead and bring you that disappointment now too, because they're not present. Optimus Prime and Megatron receive the most spotlight as expected, with Jake Foushee reprising his role as Optimus Prime after performing him in Cyberverse. It's one of the weaker Optimus Prime performances that I can recall, but Foushee does kick some more emotion in nicely during some of the more action-packed sequences. Marnocha's Megatron sounds tired, which feels character appropriate, but is overall so low and slow that if you were only listening to audio you might mistake the character for Unicron or some other giant Transformer. It's worth noting this could be entirely on the provided direction and not the actor himself, to be fair.


Thankfully, there are standout voice performances surrounding the sub-par ones. Keith Silverstein brings in a fantastic performance as Jetfire, layering in his experiences playing Char Aznable in another globally huge robot franchise to create a take on the character that feels fresh while carrying appropriate emotion. Georgia Reed delivers punchy lines as Chromia in another more subtly notable performance, to me at least, while Frank Todaro's Starscream has evolved into one of the best interpretations of Chris Latta's original take on the character's voice that's ever been recorded.

Now if voice director Philip Bache could just get everyone to actually enunciate the first "r" in "Cybertron" we'll be getting somewhere very good.


Transformers shows are notoriously limited by budget constraints, as making complex CGI models of robots transform into CGI models of vehicles is, presumably, complicated and expensive. There's just enough transforming most of the time that it feels appropriately present throughout, and sometimes this is accomplished through clever-ish use of smoke and other camera panning effects leaving your imagination to fill in the rest. It works fine and is preferable to skipping out on opportunities to have the Transformers, you know, transform. There was only one moment early on where I wanted to pull my hair out because the Autobots were running away on foot from Decepticons, some with flying alt modes, who were also chasing them on foot. The rest of the animation is fine with the movements of characters looking infinitely better than what was seen in Prime Wars, though not quite as nice as other recent forebears such as Transformers: Prime or even Cyberverse with the characters in "Siege" moving their hands a little too much, too often while they speak. The backgrounds are also positively gorgeous at times, with large, sweeping vistas and massive buildings giving Cybertron a sense of grandeur and scale. Occasionally the characters stand out oddly against them, but this was something I only noticed once or twice during interior shots.

I'm going long on this part of the review, but need to mention that the action and battle sequences are crisp, busy, and ultimately quite satisfying.


If there's one thing I found to be a let down, it's the sound. The balance of voices to background music and sound effects was occasionally off, and I had to turn up my 5.1 system temporarily at times to make out what some characters were saying. The classic transformation sound effect from G1 is used effectively in some places, but they forgot to sample more than one version of it making me wonder why they even bothered at all. It's something that should be done with differences in tempo, levels and duration based on the character and what they transform into but here, a lazy, one-size-fits-all approach was used. Edward Bosco's voice performance as Soundwave is ruined by a poor attempt at his voice effect but at least he also plays Ultra Magnus well, proving he's not a slouch. The musical score by Alexander Bornstein is entirely forgettable and sounds like the Tron: Legacy score by Daft Punk was cut into small samples to avoid a lawsuit then rearranged into a generic bore-fest that adds no emotion to anything at any point. My apologies to Mr. Bornstein if generic, derivative music that sounds like everything else while also sounding like nothing whatsoever was precisely the musical direction desired by Hasbro and Netflix.

Producers of Transformers shows, if you take nothing else from this review, please take this: just hire Vince DiCola next time. Barring that, hire a good Synthwave artist that can provide some exciting electronic scoring to go with the action.


:exhales:

It doesn't suck.

All I wanted was for this show to not suck, and it achieves that. The wider story is a bit blasé to this long time Transformers fan who rabidly consumes its media, but the side plots and character work help elevate it. Some of the character models are re-used as generics far too often, but the overall nice visuals make me care less about that. The voice performances are hit or miss and the score is terrible but excellent all-around work on characters like Jetfire, Ratchet, Mirage and even Impactor lead me to forgive. The really important thing here is that it was a fun watch that doesn't ask for a ton of your time. You'll have about 2.5 hours sometime in the next week where the Transformers will entertain you, and for many fans, that's a big increase.

I considered going a notch higher on the score below, but "Tarnhauser Gate" was too cringe-worthy to let go without some punishment.



Seibertron.com was provided with complimentary advance screening access to Transformers Chapter One: Siege by Netflix for the purpose of this review. "Thank you" to Netflix and Hasbro for this access!

Transformers: Armada Episode 40 'Remorse' Discovered to Have a 2nd English Dubbing

Date: Monday, July 20th 2020 6:26pm CDT
Categories: Cartoon News, Digital Media News
Posted by: Bounti76 | Credit(s): Sabrblade on Seibertron

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Views: 61,012

Thanks to our own Sabrblade, we have some interesting news about the
Armada episode 'Remorse'- a second English dub of the episode had been discovered!

Wait.... Armada? And an episode that aired nearly 17 years ago?? Apparently, it was discovered that a streaming service, TubiTV, used the Shout Factory version of the Armada series (instead of the original release on Rhino DVD) and in that episode, a second English dub was discovered that slightly changes some plot details, as well as some lines changing significantly. Read on to discover what Sabrblade found out.

Sabrblade wrote:Soooo... here's something we never knew existed.

According to a discussion on this TFWiki talk page, a discovery has been made that episode 40 of Armada, "Remorse", was given a second English dub that contains some lines altered from its original English version, as well as the Unicron Battles version of the opening that original premiered with episode 41 instead.

The new lines that have been changed feature a new filter on the Autobots' voices that make them sound even more metallic and monotone than before, and now their dialogue mentions Smokescreen's name having been changed to Hoist two episodes earlier than when his name change was first brought up in Episode 42.

Further details on this are as follows:

Fred had his first line extended from "Is there any way we can fix Optimus?" to add, "the way we fixed up Smokescreen? I mean Hoist?", which required starting the line sooner and made his speech overlap with the animation of him just crying. Red Alert's response was then rewritten some to fit in another mention of Smokescreen's deal, going from...

"I'm sorry. It can't be done. Optimus's body released its Spark when it blocked the Hydra Cannon's blast, and without it, there's no way we can bring him back. I wish there was some way we could, but we're just going to have to pull ourselves together and carry on without him."

to...

"No. I'm sorry, we can't. Optimus's body released its Spark when it blocked the Hydra Cannon. We saved Smokescreen's Spark and were able to reformat him into Hoist. I wish there was some way that we could but... we're just going to have to carry on without him."

And sure enough, in the next scene, "Try and be more careful, Smokescreen!" was replaced with, "Please, try and be more careful, Hoist."

This discovery was first found on the Tubi TV streaming version of the episode, and has now been confirmed on Twitter to also exist on the Shout! Factory DVD release of the series, while the original Rhino DVD release had only the first dub version.

This makes me wonder if there might have been any other dub changes made at the time in any other episodes, which could also be found on the Shout! Factory DVD set.

Have any of you Armada fans noticed anything similar, if you have both DVD releases? Let us know below!

Transformers Beast Wars Now Free To Watch on Tubi TV!

Date: Saturday, October 19th 2019 7:37am CDT
Category: Cartoon News
Posted by: Nathaniel Prime | Credit(s): TUBI

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Views: 59,138

Fellow Seibertronians! Yours truly has discovered something worthy of a heavy-metal theme song, and something that may interest a few of our Maximals and Predacons.

Tubi TV, the free show streaming service that has Transformers G1, Beast Machines, and the Unicron Trilogy shows, has now added Transformers: Beast Wars to its roster of shows!.

For those that are unaware, Beast Wars follows the adventures of the Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, as they try to stop the Predacons and their leader, David Kaye Megatron, from starting another Great War.

All 3 seasons are up to watch for free on thier site, making this the perfect opportunity to watch this great show.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go and watch this marvel of a show right now! And as always, keep your receptors tuned for more Seibertron news!