Botcon 2008 Transformers Animated Product Preview, Q&A, and special episode screening

Sol's news update - Noon 04/27/08

What to expect on the show in the coming episodes:

- More Cybertron
- Constructicons
- Lockdown VS Prowl
- Megatron's Master Plan
- What does Megatron want with Cybertron's best Spacebridge Engineer?

The Toys

Blurr - An Elite Guard, he's very aerodynamic, sleek head, winged shoulders, huge wheel feet. He's like a Transtech Cheetor homage.

Swindle - Very G1 in style, he's still a tan jeep with the huge cannon on his arm, and he'll be voiced by Frank Willard

Prowl will be getting a sidecar that turns into samurai armor, it will be sold at the Deluxe pricepoint and will feature in an upcoming episode, probably A Fistful of Energon.

Lockdown Redeco with some really awesome flame paint apps, as well as a new weapon (his chainsaw), Hasbro also said they will fix the problem with the hands if they can.

Scrapper and Mixmaster - both very G1 alt modes, Scrapper is quite slim with the head we saw before, Mixmaster is shorter and more bulky looking, and has what looks like the mixing barrel in his chest. Tom Kenny and Jeff Bennet will be providing the voices.

Skywarp is a straight up Starscream redeco and "not a part of a clone army" (although said in such a jokey way it was implied he might be).

Shockwave is back, voiced by Corey Burton in the same way as the original. He turns into a tank that is very similar to Armada Megatron's futuristic tank mode, he has the classic one eye head, big arms, slim body. Head is a bit slimmer than the original though. I think you will either love or hate this one!

Wreck Gar confirmed as a Voyager Class, he is so close to the show it is unbelievable, the writers said they would like to bring him back.

Arcee was shown, concepts only, robot mode from show, pencil sketches for the vehicle. Very hi tech looking vehicle mode, two wheels at the back, one at the front triangle car style. It's all a work in progress and will probably change down the road.

The presentation rounded out with Jetfire and Jetstorm, a Voyager class two pack of jets. Similar robot designs, different head sculpts, one is orange and the other is blue. They were described as a "fire and ice combiner" although it may be that the jets combine not the robots.

DVD releases

Transform and Roll Out is coming in June 08
Season 1, which includes all episodes from "Home is Where the Spark is" to "Megatron Rising Part 2", will be out in August 08.

Transform and Roll Out will probably not have a commentary track, and while nothing has been done for season 1 yet there is still time so something might come up.

The Q&A Session

- Lockdown had the rub symbol to hide his allegiance. No plans to have him outright declare himself a Decepticon full time.
- The episodes are not delivered in widescreen, so the DVD sets will not be in widescreen, unfortunately.
- There are no plans to do any of the other Combaticons later in the show.
- A Fembot will show up who does not have a tragic past in an upcoming episode.
- I asked about Sari's Rocket Trike for you guys - it was a part of the original plan but was dropped, also the intro was planned to be a full minute long originally without cutting up the tunnel sequence.
- I also asked about Leader Class Lugnut - There are no current plans to do one.
- Swoop and Snarl are unlikely to speak due to limitations on the voice cast budget.
- No current plans to add anyone to the main core group of five characters - maybe if the show goes on for a long time, though, something will be done to shake things up.
- Other Elite Guard beyond the three we already know about will be seen - Blurr is an Elite, and others will also show up or get mentioned in future episodes.
- Waspinator's absence from the presentation was brought up - "we've got to leave you wanting something" and "he'll sort of show up" were the answers given.
- They jokingly denied that there will be either an army of Starscream clones or a Thundercracker.
- They really, really want to work Octopunch in there, somehow. Possibly with boxing gloves.
- They have talked about doing Animated Robot Heroes, though nothing yet, maybe next year?
- If there is demand, there may be a made for DVD movie episode, the team said they would really love to do one if they had the chance.
- Season 3 will kick off in a big way.
- Sixshot was brought up - we will not see him in Animated - the reason given was that he is far too hard to design a toy for, Triple Changers they said was about the limit.
- When asked when the show was set, the team answered "about a hundred years from now in the 22nd century, but we want to avoid setting it with an exact date"
- Captain Fanzone was named after Marty Isenberg's neighbor Carmen Fanzone, which apparently caused a huge stir at Cartoon Network because there were only two or three Fanzones in the Detroit area, so waiver forms had to be signed saying he was not based on a real person etc.
- The comic is all set in season 1 to avoid giving away future plotlines, it is all self contained in each issue, the offscreen stories they didn't get to tell.

- TF Animated will go on for as long as it is profitable, it will not stop or change like previous shows. It's fully ongoing (The team says, "so please buy the toys and watch the show")


Episode Screening - Black Friday (Spoilers abound!)


Stop reading here if you do not want to be spoiled about TF Animated episode 26, Black Friday






- Optimus and Grimlock centric episode!
- Sari and Bumblebee approach Meltdown about Porter C Powell, asking if there is some way to bring him down somehow. Meltdown doesn't give them much help but Powell videos the conversation, especially Meltdown's offer "I'll take care of him if you spring me"
- Blackarachnia washed up on Dinobot Island after Megatron Rising and was taken in by the Dinobots. She found Meltdown's human Transformer notes and is trying to use them to purge her organics.
- The Dinobots are great in this episode, especially Grimlock who really steals the show. He gets some very funny lines, and beats up on Optimus a lot. All three Dinobots are crazy for Blackarachnia, and beat each other up for her. She's got them wrapped round her little finger.
- Bumblebee and Prowl have a sidestory about Bumblebee's inability to keep quiet for long. Bulkhead, Ratchet and Sari barely show up this episode - and there is no use of the Key at all!
- Submarauder and Bomb Burst make an appearance, Optimus fights Submarauder and Grimlock fights Bomb Burst. Swoop and Snarl show up to save the day in that fight.
- Meltdown's Genetic Modifier, which Prime and Grimlock got off of Powell, is integral to purging half of Blackarachnia, but Meltdown doublecrosses and plans to remove her technological half instead. During the fight, Prime grabs the modifier and Meltdown attacks him, causing Prime to drop the modifier. Meltdown tries to grab it, but it sends energy through him and causes him to melt. Meltdown dies! Well, not exactly, the puddle that is left at the end is shown with a very sinister face, but for those of you who didn't like him, he won't be quite the same if he shows up again!

Final thoughts - a great episode, Grimlock stole every single scene he was in. Some good Optimus Blackarachnia stuff too. Meltdown really was second fiddle to everything else that was going on. Good episode!

Jetfire and Jetstorm sound awesome.
Let's hope they're autobots!

They need some more troops in the air.

also I want to see this Sidecar Prowl.
I might just hold off on the first release.

It'll probably depend on what weapons this new prowl has.

Wow. Lots of sweet information there... and it looks like we are going to get an Arcee toy once they work out the alternate mode... I'd like some ketchup to eat my hat with please!

And Jetfire sounds cool too... I guess Jetstorm will be his counterpart?

People should follow the allspark topic also.
http://www.allspark.com/forums/index...howtopic=45645

Always good to get things from multiple sources.

They say the Jets combine.

Also I MUST get Blurr since he is a member of the Elite Guard.

Ah, good stuff... wonder if the Jets combine in robot mode (ala Energon) or if they combine in jet mode (ala Dreadwind and Darkwing)?

Also, interesting to see that the sidecar transforms into Samurai Armor... wonder if that will be in the show?

HOLY SHIT! John Moschitta is doing Blurrs voice! I am in love. *swoon*

haha he did an awesome job in the 86 movie so now this series is all kinds of win.

It'd be cool if they combined in both modes.

All though I hope for robot mode combination,
I suspect it'll be a jet mode combination.

I'm suspecting jet mode combo myself... I'm really not sure I'd want a robot mode combo though... unless it's done better than what we got in Energon. Though, if they could work out a way for them to combine in both forms and look awesomely cool... I'll take that too. Basically, whatever they do... I just want it to be awesome!

And....it's over.


*might be spoilers!*
Hmm they say Starscream is dead,
but also mention him in the season three stuff.

Ghost of starscream?

Shockwave will be an H-tank, apparently...

I'm having flashbacks to when we found out that Energon Megatron would be a gunship.

But: combining elemental jets, prowl with samurai armour, arcee toy, swindle toy, blurr with holo wheels!

So many great ideas in just one toy line, this new "no universal gimmick" approach is really proving how limited the A/E/C gimmicks were.

The Jetfire and Jetstorm news is the most interesting to me.
Since we've heard nothing of them before.

Since my favorite color is blue I might like Jetstorm better.
I hope they're autobots.

If you're interested go read what happened in episode 19 in the Animated thread... don't want to say anything else as it's only aired in Canada right now and some US guys might not want to be spoiled...

There's a torrent up for ep 19 at the very tail end of the torrents & showtimes thread for anyone who wants it.

A question for when the guys that are at botcon see this.
Did they show pictures of this stuff, and if so are the new Prowl's colors a drastic change?

And I've been torrenting epsiode 19 since it showed up, about 60% done.

A nod to Dreadwind and Darkwing would be most cool.

I wonder if these two jets will be a voyager each or two deluxes sold as a voyager under the idea that they combine into one voyager sized robot.

How's the Black Friday episode that is playing?

I was wondering that myself... guess we'll have to wait and see. Surprised no one at the panel asked about that.

I think the info flys by too fast for everyone to take it all in and come up with any questions.

I really want to go next year after seeing how much news there was this year, should be even bigger then 07 next year, what with the 25th aniversary an all.

That and the upcoming movie should make it an awesome Botcon... if it's close I'll be going...

Yeah, I have the same question about Jetfire and Jetstorm. It was a little bit vague in the description there.

How was "Black Friday"?

First post updated with new info.

Jetfire and Jetstorm will be a two pack sold at the Voyager size class, that's two toys in one box. I will reword to make it clearer, sorry for any confusion.

"Me Grimlock liiiiiike"

Very good episode, very funny. A summary is now in the first post.

Ah ha, I thought so, yay me!

Did they look cool or what Sol?

Great info! Not to be rude, but it was a little harsh to edit the first post and entriely remove the link to the news elsewhere, whcih was in all fairness, posted first...

Some very interesting stuff in there. Especialy Prowl's upgrade. I'm not sure if I want to get the origional toy, or wait for the upgraded version. For those who were there, was it shown? If it was, does it appear to be any better than the origional release? Shockwave sounds interesting, and he'll be put on my to-get list here shortly. As for the Lockdown upgrade, I'll probably stick with the origional deco, though that new weapon does sound interesting. Skywarp sounds cool too. I might get him instead of Starscream. The Jetfire & Jetstorm 2-pack sounds interesting too. Depending on how they look, and what this combining thing is all about, I might get them. Here's hoping Shockwave's toy is a Voyager class figure.

and this is why i prefer my news from TFW...much more complete and detailed...thanks

Wow. Tons of great news, about the toys and the show...The Prowl armor sounds AWESOME as does the news on Blurr...

Clone Army? Wow, they're really using every good concept.

Any pics shown?

Toys are awesome, I try to avoid redecos but Lockdown will be a must have for that chainsaw and if they fix his hands. I'll also have to pick up Prowl's aromor and can hardly wait for more of Prowl vs Lockdown(Pirates vs Ninjas!). I can hardly wait for pics of the others, most of them must haves for me.

This prowl armour thing, is the sidecar being sold on it's own as a deluxe sized eqipment piece or with a prowl redeco as a shell that just fits over the figure?

So its going to 09. I hoped that some different show would take it up in 09. A different transformer but well at least we have some G1s back.

Is the side cart seperate? It says it will be sold as a deluxe class?

Are we gonna get any pics of this stuff? Or was no one allowed to take any?

Either way, great news all around! I just hope I'll be able to get all the animated toys I want

I Want Pics.

woooo!

what's wrong with prowl and or lockdowns hands...i'm not sure who they said needed a fix...

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=albu...ze=800&start=0

Swoop and Sentinel on display. Of course Sentinel is mistransformed...

The final panel of the show, the Hasbro dsigners panel is now on:
http://tformers.com/article.php?sid=9359

Black Friday sounds AWESOME! The toys sound really good, too. Shockwave sounds badass. Blurrr sounds neat, though I've ever had any profound intrest in him. (then again, I didn't with Optimus either, and now he's my favourite Autobot this series)

Lockdown redeco with flames and a chainsaw? Dammit Hasbro... making me buy redecos....grumble... naw, just kidding, he sounds awesome.

Jet combiners don't interest me. Skywarp does, kinda, but I may skip him since he's just a straight redeco.

Prowl armour sounds cool, but I'll have to see how he uses it in the show before I buy it for him.


My God, it's like Animated is just making good choice after good choice, it's weird.

Neat. Powerglide has a heart chamber. Awwww....

25th Armada Hot Shot? Why am I excited for this!?

And Animated Perceptor!? HELLS YEAH!

Either i don't know what it looks like or the picture is not on the gallery i looked at.

Yeah but those schmucks at TFormers have no regard for those of us who might not want to be spoiled I wish I had waited for Sol's far superior report

So did they make it clear what faction the Jets belonged to?

I know they like keeping certain names on the same side. So I'd assume autobot.

Animated Perceptor!

Sounds like a lot of great stuff. Shame about the DVDs being 4:3, and Swoop/Snarl not talking. I think everything else I'm cool with though

What are you looking for, maybe I can help?

Can someone PLEASE ask them who Frank Willard is?????

The thing that goes with prowl. I look at every gallery i have access to and nothing of it.

You won't find it, a lot of things shown at Botcon are private, you can only see it if you go. It's a bonus for paying to attend the convention.

The rest of us can see the stuff at the end of July when Hasbro will be showing all this again at the San Diego Comic con. Or it may turn up in the club magazine if we're lucky.

Ya i know exclusive stuff. ill go look at other stuff. I know ill find it.