Jeff Kline Interview - Next Transformers series may be developed by the Prime Creative Team

In before "THERE'S ONLY ONE PREDACON, HE'S FULL OF LIES"

Most interesting news is definitely that there will be a Prime sequel series with the same production crew. Wonder how they are differentiating it though. Hopefully they don't just change designs willy-nilly.

Dude, they are such trolls! Damnit!

Hey, news is news.

Hopefully the sequel will be interesting.

He never actually says it's a sequel...

I hope it is, though.

At least even Kline is saying "Predacons" as a plural now. I feel less crazy now, haha.

That's not what he said. He says the people who did Prime will be doing the next series. Absolutely nothing about it being a sequel series.

^ Good point. Guess it really depends on if Hasbro feels like throwing the "Aligned" baby out with the bathwater.

I'm really interested in finding out more about the next series. I like the fact the same crew will be working on it.

exactly. i really hope its not another reboot though.

hasbro needs to be more careful with the brand. i think they have already done damage by hitting the reset button over and over.

but what do i know, im not an "expert" getting paid to plan out their franchise...

yes, here's hoping they do something along the lines of Prime, but throw in the writers from animated, and we've got another winner on our hands.

As much as I don't really like Transformers Prime, I am hoping it is some kind of continuation of the series. I'm getting really tired of the constant reboots of cartoon shows.

We all know that even if the show is completely impossible to fit with the Prime Continuity... Hasbro will still say it is part of it.

You sort of have to have someone other than Predaking to have the Predacons and a third faction--why are some so certain that Predaking is it?

God i hope not...
TF prime is ok and all, but I haven't liked a single series since Beast Wars

and before that G1 of course

what they NEED to do for the love of god is develop the IDW-verse into a damn TV show

Take G1!!!! character queues and stop with all this god dam! micheal-bay-prime-verse bullshit....

i really cant stand the "kiddy" feel that the CG animation has... I liek hand drawn, anime style animation (like gundam for instance)

a hard nose G1-idw-verse gundamn style animation ....sigh...to dream

I would love for the IDW characters/some story to be made into an animated version of G1, but that's never going to happen.

"If all goes to plan" is a very interesting phrase, I think the framework of the series is pretty much set for the exception of a few details.

I don't think the next series will be a sequel (he didn't say or hint that) instead it will be more about or revolving around the Predacons.

Throw backs to G1 is ok, hopefully its not overdone.

The comics aren't exactly kid friendly. There demographic seems to be young adult to adult...

But the cartoons are FOR KIDS

If you don't like what's on the tube, you probably should just stick to the comics.

Even putting aside my feelings of Prime, this doesn't make me optimistic. We need fresh talent for each series. I feel we may end up stagnating if we don't. An entire second series done by these guys... I dunno.

At the very least, I hope polygon pictures stays on board!

Actually, he said he'd like for them to do the next series.

It seems pretty obvious to me that Hasbro's sticking with Aligned Continuity, considering that Rescue Bots is also part of it and will be continuing presumably alongside this new series.

I don't want to be mean, but I really don't want the Transformers Prime team working on the new series. Yes Transformers Prime could tease the heck out of some really epic ideas, but when it's time to execute the grand ideas it feels like a let down. Or they would get a great idea like Breakdown being in a tight spot between Megatron, Starscream, MECH, and the Autobots only to not know what to do so lets kill him off.

Just felt like the series spent too much time with dull gloomy heroes and not enough time with Ratchet and the Decepticons. Also too damn broke to afford voice actors since the Vehicons could have seemed like individuals like on the minions on the Venture Brothers with just a few lines each week.

If nothing else at least throw a poor fan a bone and say the animation style is over in favor of a style where they can afford more than just a super tiny cast and no extras in the background.

You know, after three seasons of Transformers Prime, I'm going to say it. I haven't hated the writing that much. There are a couple of elements that needed to be worked on, for example, pacing of Season 1, and character development, Optimus Prime's interactions were sluggish. And the kids are useless. But Season 2 showed that once they got a little steam, they were able to find a little more tension where it needed to be. Mech was a good way to add some human tension, some of the episodes had good lines, introducing more characters like Smokescreen was a good idea, and the five part time synchronous quest style writing worked in their favor. So yes, if they kept the same team, I think they have a better idea now than before of what they're writing.

I really dislike the 'reboot' concept. But with Transformers, we've had 25 years of reboots. Every new series created is a retelling of the characters. Otherwise how do you explain Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, and Prime? The Aligned continuity bit is really just to keep this entire fandom happy, because apparently we can't handle our characters having any differences without an explanation to show how they're related to G1. Everyone ultimately wants a continuation of G1. That's getting old. I say give the franchise room to breathe.

I don't know. Their character models are fantastic, but there are other companies that can produce overall background scenes a LOT faster and cheaper with more detail. The only reason they put the team in the desert is because it's easier to draw sky than buildings.

Please let it go to someone else. They'll screw it up like season two...

Yay multiple Preds.

Is this "character arc" in the context of Prime, where getting killed off in a pathetic fashion counts as a conclusion?

I swear, it's like they ran out of half-assed insults in 2011 and have just been repeating themselves since.

Yeah - I have to say, I think the Aligned continuity has a few more years of mileage or so in it, but eventually I would like a reboot.

The big strength of the brand has been its ability to reinvent and update itself every few years.

Hasbro hired them because they weren't only cheap, but also fast...I hope there are no more reboots. Why can't the story just...move forward for once? If change is necessary, introduce upgrades/reformats.

He said Hasbro and The Hub would like them to do the new series.

In fact they already did more series, the Prime crew also produced Rescue Bots.

I think it's pretty safe to wrap that the Prime team will stay for a while with The Hub, specially considering that Season 3 is the last season of Prime yet one of the Prime writers mentioned just the other day that she couldn't wait to show some fan art she found at the Prime office.

If they were out of Hasbro I doubt they would still have a writing office. Doesn't CONFIRM anything but I think it's a fair assumption.

Exactly this --^ Clone Wars soared along for 5 seasons with the same production crew, design aesthetic, core characters, etc., and was quite successful. Probably could have gone on longer if Lucasfilm hadn't been sold. Point being, just because Hasbro normally functions on a 3-4 year cycle of rebooting their boys toys properties lest they lose their minty freshness, this doesn't mean Prime should be a candidate. In other words, if it ain't broke. And I don't see anything overtly broken about Prime, or Beast Hunters, or whatever subtitle they choose to add. Just keep telling great stories, introduce new core characters each season, and keep it lively. So far I've not been disappointed and until they jump the shark, why f-things up?

If they do change pretty much everything I'll still watch, just to see how it all pans out if nothing else. After all, the brand is what draws me in. But I won't like seeing the current iterations of Smokescreen, Arcee, Bulkhead, Optimus, et. al. dissolved down the toilet of toon hell. Seems a very inauspicious end. The kids can go and I'll even hold open the can of 'dip' to do the job, but the bots must stay!

So we're moving from one series that showcases only five Autobots and three or four Decepticons to a new series that with most likely showcase only five Autobots and three or four Decepticons? Why not just stick with Prime?

Because new series name means retailers will be more excited to invest in it's toyline.

I'm not sure if I like this or not. Sequel, not a sequel? Could it be the Justice League Unlimited to TFP's Justice League, or the Batman Beyond to TFP's Batman: The Animated Series/New Batman Adventures, or the Beast Machines to TFP's Beast Wars? The TFP team seems to be great at giving us cool characters and ideas, but managing to do very little with them.

Plus, we don't know exactly what he means by "the Prime group". Maybe it's the voice cast, character designer and producing team? Maybe it's Orci and Kurtzman heading it up again? Doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a continuation or be similar to TFP. I'm interested in seeing what comes of this, but personally, I hope it's a new series that's not a continuation of TFP (unless they plan on having more crossovers with Rescue Bots, then by all means continue TFP ).

"OMG he lied to us he doesn't care about the fans!!1!"

It's funny because it's true.

The next series is probably in full production mode as we discuss this. It's going to be some kind of Beast Wars type show. It will hopefully put the Dinobots in lead roles for the first time. We'll see...

I didn't mean "I hope the next series is a reboot" - moreso "I hope that we do get a reboot eventually."

Beast Wars, though later tied into G1, was a reboot. Armada was a reboot. Movie, Animated, and Prime were reboots. It's one of the things that's helped keep Transformers relevant to new audiences.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

While I agree that I would want new writers (and Animated was one of two of the only good TF shows, so that probably would be great), that would kind of NOT be "the Prime creative team", so it wouldn't be what Jeff Kline said.

That's always been a poor excuse to make terrible stories.

Then again, I'm still trying to figure out if what makes the most business sense MUST be what has the worst kind of social effect. I suspect at least that if you're a visionary, your ideas have the potential to explode with success, if you're able to overcome the status quo; BUT none of that factors in to the equation when you have adequate or moderately good creators who are just wondering whether they even care to push the boundaries at all. (spoilers: they don't.)

Yup.

This is an old question.
Because it becomes more and more inconvenient over time trying to stay in continuity. It's much easier to just... not bother. and "easier" and "inconvenient" don't just translate into "lazy". The more history that builds up, the more work you have to do, and the easier it is to screw something up. Eventually it's just not worth the insane amount of work it would require.

Sticking with? When did they start?

I'm surprised the movieverse hasn't been shoe-horned in

It seems like the Batman cartoons have done well by shaking things up every so often. As much as I love Batman the Animated series I'm really glad we were able to get Batman Beyond for the line about Batman leaving his DNA all over town and Batman Brave and the Bold for one of the coolest versions of Aquaman yet.

Although I'd like it if they could really shake things up instead of everything being some version of G1. I loved G1 and it had iconic characters but sometimes it's nice to have a live Cybertron like in Animated instead of Cybertron having to be mostly dead because it was in G1. It would be nice to have a show that could do it's own thing instead of being a slave to some crazy concept of it all has to be one continuity.

Prime already has members of the Animated creative team.

Hasbro made a big mistake with Jeff Kline, he acts like he is the only one in charge. When he made the remark about the whole when main characters die they stay dead. Especially when Hasbro said they would never keep Optimus dead. So if that guy and his crew is on the next one I will pass on that one as well as the beast hunters. And I know I am not the only one a lot of my friends are fed up with how this is going.

You might want to re-read is very first answer

It's too bad you didn't like the show--your friends too--their are way more children interested in the show, however, so it will go on--not this particular show per se, but the next one and the one after that....

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a sequel. After all it makes sense seeing how Hasbro's keen on sticking with this Aligend countinuity for a while.

For the people who aren't happy about the TFP crew working on the next show let's see how the show turns out first. I know TFP did things a lot of people aren't happy about but most of the flaws may have been due to Hasbro butting in and the flaws that they personally made wll likely learn from it.

I think way too many people wanted comic book story telling in a children's show Not gonna happen.

That's true if they're expecting the story telling to be on par with MTMTE or RID however like some people said that's not an excuse to do lazy work on a show. Though at the same time we can't expect it to go to either HBO style of writing either.

I really do like Prime and if it's a sequel i'll be happy. But as others stated i'd want at least for Hasbro to stick with the aligned continiuty, i'm pretty tired of constant reboots myself.
But for the love of god, let it not be anything like IDW. As much as i find IDW's books to be well written,i don't like the direction many of the original characters are taken to. One good thing though about IDW is Drift. It's always good to have new characters added to the mythos and i'd like to see him intoduced to an animated series.
Come to think of it he would fit better for Wheeljack's role in Prime

The writers can only do so much, you know? The said that they want to have a show in which parents who were fans in the 80s can watch with their children now. Not many parents want to expose their children to a lot of violence and death. The same people I see argue that the writing is lazy are the same points pissed that character X didn't die in this episode or that.

My five year old doesn't want anyone to die, as he likes everyone. I do too Personally, I don't see how killing main characters makes a show better anyway...

I did like the show when it first started I liked it very much, but first of all some of you do not understand what is going on with the show. This guy uses gimmicks and decoys for thie third season, and quite frankly I detest people who use decoys to fool people into staying with a show.
And as far as someone on here saying I want a different style or whatever was stated what I want is TRUTHFUL people not a bunch of BS about telling the fans one thing and doing another plain and simple.

As long as Marty Isenberg is given a promotion to be one of the head writers then that'd be perfect. Seriously the Prime writers aren't the worse I've seen, they actually look like they want to do the franchise justice.

Seriously Jeff please call up Marty.