From: AllSpark.com, tfw2005.com



Not a fan of the super deformed style. I'm not really surprised though, it's been rumored for a while that this was the look they were going to use. I'll take a wait and see stance, the quality of Transformers cartoon series' has gotten steadily worse since the end of Beast Machines. Because of this my expectations for any new show are pretty low. Maybe if this one has some decent storytelling and character development the look of the show can be overlooked.

Here's hoping it's better than the previous Cartoon Network imports: Robots In Disguise, Armada, etc.

I don't think anything can replace the original cartoons for me. I've got them on DVD already, so I'm good to go. I'll probably check this out just to see if its any good or not, but I don't anticipate being into it much.

da op has been updated.

Michael Bay's Transformers suddenly looks a whole lot better.

Autobots revealed, plus premise details (Image from TFW2005):



Press release details from SCI-FI WIRE:

WTF is this?!

Looks like Legion of Superheroes.

Wow. Looks like Optimus is a fire truck and Bumblebee is a taxi cab?

WTF?

That is some shit right there.

From what I read on tfw2005.com (I believe) is that the same people who did Teen Titans Animated are behind Tranformer's Animated. The rumor is when transformations occur there is a flash or puff of smoke and presto vehicle-mode. There is no iconic transforming sound.

Also the Decepticons aren't even the main villians

The whole degenerated animated look is played out and so five years ago. It worked well with cartoon network's Justice League because the stories were fucking awesome but not so much with Teen Titans and some of the Cartoon Network's Batman series. Spawn has even gone the "Animated" route also:

[spoil][web]http://www.spawn.com/features/series30/extras.html[/web][/spoil]

Totally agree. The Decepticons not being the main villans is ridiculous. On second thought I won't be bothering with this series just like the last 3 shows.

I really think Hasbro missed a great opportunity to tie this new show in with movie and keep a new continuity going rather than rebooting it everytime like they're been doing with the last 4 series'.

Yeah I definitely won't be watching if the show isn't Autobots vs Decepticons. Piss on that.

Did anyone see the report on AICN stating that the new cartoon will have less decepticons and more Autobots vs Evil humans? It will be humerous and more "Superhero-esque".

Why must they corrupt my most precious memories!?!?

Yeah, we got separate thread going for the new cartoon series...

Transformers Animated 2008

Not really a big surprise about the quality or direction this show is taking. Hasbro has been neglecting the cartoon efforts since the end of Beast Wars and Beast Machines.

why cant there be a transformers tv series something along the lines of this...

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/bq1_6D9QS9Y[/flash]


that was some funny shit

Nice...

This isn't neglect though. This is like "How bad can we fsck this shet up? That bad huh? OK, do it."

Tons of info from the Hasbro panel at Botcon. Summary from TFW2005


TF Animated

sneak peak of TF Animated
where we are, how we got there and why - partnership between Hasbro and CN
challenged by scheduling of previous series, needed to take a new approach to get back into a good time slot for kids, good time coming off the movie, a whole new way to look at the franchise

Hasbro has been very involved, don't be as worried as some folks seem to be

New series for 2008 - 1st ep in Jan
Production back in US
Partner with CN
New style and tone
Relatable stories and characters
New possibilities with toys
Don't lose tradition, but move with the times

CN has been awesome, great partners, huge fans, very fan-friendly


Set on earth in near future in Detroit, alien TFs are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to earth, the Autobots --Prime, BB, Prowl, Bulkhead, Ratchet-- work in the human world, interacting with the natives

NOT dumbing down the franchise


WRITING STYLE

Episodic, but has overall seasonal arc

Smaller cast of bots with significant character development for each individual character
Action-driver, with a dose of humor
Major focus on Personality and Abilities
Rich action sequences
Familiar and New characters
Human super-villains and Decepticon villains - Decepts will be a much bigger threat/scare for the Autobots, Decepticon influence behind super-villains


ARTISTIC STYLE

Highly stylized and fluid animation
More energetic and expressive bots
Major focus on personalities and abilities
Grow from mechanical to emotive designs
Familiar and new characters
Realistic and stylized transformations
Tasmanian-devil style TF, a little bit, but no cut scenes for TFs, it will be consistent with the toys and you will see them transform


STYLE AND TONE

Optimus Prime
Cybertronian mode - stylized truck - we will get toys for these - ace shield up and face shield down
Earth mode Prime will have trailer, sometimes with, sometimes without

Bumblebee, resembles classics alt mode, human-friendly

Bulkhead - big strong guy, military vehicle, similar to FF's Thing, has big wrecking ball

Prowl - motorcycle - kung fu, into nature, enigma, resident ninja

Ratchet - standard looking ambulance, medic, most seasoned Autobot, the only one who's been in legitimate combat, leader, bold personality

Grimlock - Dinobot, very true to his G1 look, two other dinobots will be appearing - "they are three crazy dudes"


Megatron
Cybertronian mode - fusion cannon intact, will look completely different y the end of the series

Starscream - sleek jet, forward-swept wings, Chris Latta-style voice (Kenny), G1 colors

Blitzwing - triplechanger - G1 colors, been trying to get him into the line--also throwing in a split personality, will have different faces (like Man-E-Faces from Heman)


Lugnut - new character, like Incredible Hulk, devoted servant of Megs, over the top, purple and green, missiles for hands, resembles Cybertron Jetfire alt mode

Black Arachnia - TM2 colors - different origin story, starts out as a different character, very complicated villian, you will care for her


Humans
Cpt. Fanzone (police chief), Sari and her father Isaac Sumdac
Her interaction is nothing like what's been done in the past three shows
Not annoying kid telling robots what to do, Autobots looking to her to learn about Earth, she is also a bit of an outcast

Human villains - four shown - one is the Angry Archer, some can run fast, some can spew acid, etc

The Ark - grey, gold, burgundy - heavily G1-inspired
The Nemesis - similar to the original, more angular, DWARFS the Ark

Detroit looks more futuristic, CN actually sent their designers to Detroit to draw buildings, manufacturing industry in Detroit is now robots instead of cars

TOYS
Hasbro+Takara+CN together worked out the designs, total collaboration on daily basis


Toys developed at the same time as animation designs
animation style allows us to show more personality with each character
90%+ animation/toy accuracy
new sculpting style
no more full line gimmicks, focus on personality
transformation is the feature
signature weapons and poses - attitude and stance - highly poseable, better than in the past, can convey a lot of attitude with the characters

Prime grey proto shown - deluxe and voyager, faces match up well with animated designs, proportions and stance , deluxe is Cybertron, voyager is earth mode

saw BB and Bulkhead (robot mode only for bulkhead) Bumblebee looks like Classics in vehicle mode

Prowl, organic, stylized look

preliminary 3D model of Grimlock and autocad

Voyager Megatron - VTOL alien space fighter (Cybertronian mode)

Lugnut and Blitzwing will be voyagers

Blackarachnia, bulkier alt mode, not kibbly in robot mode


THE FUTURE

Working on Season 2 already (second set of 13 episodes), more familiar and new characters
Possibility of Season 3 and 4
Desire to create brand new characters with cameos by G1 favorites


Animated Sizzle showed all Autobots in action & transforming
Centers around Allspark, have to protect it, Optimus has big axe, Megs has sword
Very well-received by crowd in attendance


Here are some other site reports:

Seibertron.com
Tformers.com

Despite the bizarro design style it sounds at least this series is going to have some coherant storytelling with character development. Exactly what I was hoping for, it's been too long since BW/BM that a TF show has had serious writing. I'm also glad that the production has moved back to the U.S. which means better voice acting since the english voices will be recorded first then animated to. No more Japanese imported shows with bad dubs.

From SDCC, http://enewsi.com

Transformers Animated Clip

[flash width=500 height=300]http://www.iklipz.com/flashplayer/FLVPlayeriKlipz.swf?configFile=http%3A//www.iklipz.com/flashplayer/servers.xml&streamName=71f6b716-146c-46ad-af73-29f339ff0bc1&movieID=b5576226-d48d-40bb-abc5-2d013701e1e8&photoName=f0a655f4-c5a7-435a-8dda-ba9d24e3340b.jpg&isFullScreen=false[/flash]

Looks awful, and bumblebee sounds terrible.

Where's a puke emoticon when you need one?

OMG that was the biggest load of shit ever, what made worse was the people in the crowd that cheered!

I think the cheers are for some faithfulness to the G1 series. THAT shoul be cheered for because they have strayed so far from the G1 series in the past.

The animation sucks balls but its better than freakin' beast wars.

I can't believe that someone came up with that idea, got paid for it and had someone in the higher up give it the ok as well. Utter crap.

Ok, I know pretty much everyone here has written this show off as crap but I'm going to update it anyway since I've been starting to warm up to it quite a bit as you can see from my latest avatar. I'm looking forward to checking out the premiere on Dec. 26th, so far early reviews from fans have been surprisingly positive. I'm digging the toys too. So on with the Transformers: Animated blowout.

AUTOBOTS: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Prowl.



DECEPTICONS: Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing.



DECEPTICONS: Blackarachnia, Lugnut, Lockdown.



Lineart: Jazz, Ultra Magnus bot and vehicle modes, Sentinel Prime vehicle mode.



Lineart: Jazz, Swoop, and Slag.



A collage of shots showing various human characters and Soundwave, Ultra Magnus, Scrapper, Sentinel Prime and Ironhide.



[hr]
CLIPS:

Cartoon Network Podcast clip 2:00

Cartoon Network Sneak Preview 3:00

Ep1 "Transform and Roll Out" Teaser 1:00

Cartoon Network TV Spot :30


REVIEWS:

TFW2005.com's review of Episodes 1-4.

BWTF.com's review Very in depth!

Newsarama article Some BTS info and interviews with story editor Marty Isenberg and Producer Sam Register.


OFFICIAL SITES:

Hasbro's TF:Animated site

Cartoon Network's TF: Animated site

[hr]
Transformers Animated Episode List, Season 1.

[spoil]
[align=left]
01. Transform and Roll Out!, Part 1

Optimus Prime and his small crew of Autobots come into possession of the AllSpark, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies the Decepticons and sends them crashing to a strange and distant planet known as Earth.

02. Transform and Roll Out!, Part 2

Optimus Prime and his small crew of Autobots come into possession of the AllSpark, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies the Decepticons and sends them crashing to a strange and distant planet known as Earth.

03. Transform and Roll Out!, Part 3

Optimus Prime and his small crew of Autobots come into possession of the AllSpark, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies the Decepticons and sends them crashing to a strange and distant planet known as Earth.

04. Home Is Where the Spark Is

The Autobots settle into their new home base - an abandoned automobile manufacturing plant… but the ancient assembly line machinery seems to have developed a mind of its own.

05. Total Meltdown

A bio-engineering genius experiments with some of Bumblebee's hydraulic fluid and accidentally transforms himself into Meltdown, whose corrosive touch can melt anything - including Autobots!

06. Blast From the Past

Professor Sumdac upgrades a trio of animatronic dinosaurs from a local theme park, but the creatures develop minds of their own and become rampaging Dinobots, bent on destroying the Autobots.

07. Thrill of the Hunt

While Autobots encounter a mysterious muscle car creating havoc in Detroit, Ratchet keeps flashing back to his "tour of duty" in the Great Autobot-Decepticon Wars.

08. Nanosec

Bumblebee's self-proclaimed title as "fastest thing on wheels" is threatened by Nanosec, a super speedster crook on a deadly mission that could destroy all of Detroit.

09. Along Came a Spider

Bumblebee and Bulkhead's first Halloween turns even spookier when they encounter a giant spider that turns out to be the deadly Decepticon Blackarachnia.

10. Sound and Fury

Sari's new toy musical robot seems to have an evil streak - and the ability to control other machines - but Bulkhead is the only one who sees it.

11. Lost and Found

The Autobots clash with Decepticons Lugnut and Blitzwing, who come to Earth searching for their missing leader Megatron.

12. Survival of the Fittest

Sari is kidnapped and the evidence points to the Dinobots. So Prowl and Bulkhead head to a mysterious island to investigate - with a highly suspicious Captain Fanzone on their tail.

13. Headmaster

A disgruntled Sumdac employee seeks revenge and profit by taking control of one of the Autobots and sending him on a rampage.

14. Nature Calls

Prowl, Bumblebee and Sari get more than the bargained for when they head out to the remote woods to investigate a mysterious energy signal.

15. Megatron Rising, Part One

Prime begins to doubt his leadership abilities as the Decepticons mobilize for a big invasion of Earth.

16. Megatron Rising, Part Two

The Autobots are decimated by the Decepticon invasion, but still must rally to prevent the AllSpark from falling into their clutches.

17. The Elite Guard

The Cybertron Elite Guard arrives on Earth to retrieve the AllSpark and relieve Prime and his crew of their post, but they prove less than adept at blending in with the human world.

18. Return of the Headmaster

Optimus Prime is forced to team up with his rival Sentinel Prime after Sentinel has a humiliating - and potentially fatal - encounter with the Headmaster.

19. Mission Accomplished

Convinced there are no Decepticons left on Earth, the Elite Guard prepares to take Optimus Prime and his crew back to Cybertron - unaware of the increasing Decepticon activity taking place under their very noses.

20. Garbage In, Garbage Out

AllSpark energy turns junk pile into a sentient robot who tries to help the Autobots, but ends up doing more harm than good.

21. Velocity

Investigating a mysterious race car, Bumblebee gets involved with an illegal underground street racing circuit, which also captures the attention of the Decepticons.

22. Rise of the Constructicons

Bulkhead befriends a pair of construction vehicles brought to life by AllSpark energy. But the Decepticons have their scanners set on the duo for their latest construction project.

23. A Fistful of Energon

Prowl goes off on his own to capture the fugitive Starscream, but finds some competition in the form of a Decepticon bounty hunter.

24. S.U.V. - Society of Ultimate Villainy

Aided by a mysterious benefactor, Detroit's B-level villains team up to take down the Autobots once and for all.

25. Autoboot Camp

On the trail of an escaped Autobot traitor, Bumblebee flashes back to a previous encounter with the traitor when he first met Bulkhead in Autobot Boot Camp.

26. Black Friday

Blackarachnia enlists Prometheus Black - aka Meltdown - to aid her with a dangerous experiment, while Prime and Dinobot Grimlock are forced to team up to stop them.

27. Sari, No One's Home

Left alone in the Autobots' home base, Sari must defend it against an intrusion by the Constructicons.

28. A Bridge Too Close, Part One

The Decepticons kidnap Bulkhead to aid in Megatron's ultimate plan to take over Cybertron.

29. A Bridge Too Close, Part Two

The fates of Cybertron and Earth lie in the balance as Optimus Prime and his Autobots battle Megatron and his Decepticons in a fight to the finish.
[/align]
[/spoil]

Thanks, Thundercracker.

It looks like crap, but I'll give it a shot. What else is there to watch? Celebrity Apprentice? Ha!

Thanks for the update Thundercracker. According to Newsarama, the first episode is going to premiere tommorow (Wednesday December 26). At least Megatron looks somewhat like how Megatron should look like.

I can see why some like this but to me personally looks like total dog shit...

mininova.org transformers animated special transform and roll out dsr xvid-orenji.avi.torrent

update now on dailymotion

I thought the designs were originally a little goofy looking, but after watching a few minutes of the new cartoon posted above, I think it looks okay. Comparing the clips of the original series shown at the beginning as "history videos" er something like that, the look of this version doesn't stray too far away from that to feel connected. In fact it looks almost the same, just 20% cartoonier.

Well, it's not without its flaws and moments of lameness but overall I enjoyed it. I said in the beginning what I was hoping for from this show was coherant storytelling and characters with personality and development. Within the first 15 minutes those traits were apparent to me. It was also nice to hear natural voice acting again rather than forced diliveries due to bad translations and other dubbing constraits associated with the japanese shows.

If the story remains interesting enough people may be able to overlook the designs or at least get used to them over time. Hell, I didn't have many nice things to say about the movie designs when they first came out but now I love them.

As a whole I thought the beginning in space and the finale with Starscream (who was badass) were very good. The middle with the monster and Sari (who is extremly annoying) is where it got tedious. But I'm looking forward to checking out more episodes and seeing where they go with this.

Anyone else thing its a huge mistake to try and link together both animated series? I couldn't keep the mythology straight this way.

As far as continuity goes I don't think they're linked in any way nor should they be. I think they're just homages to G1. For instance, Ratchet in this show is supposed to be a veteran from the Great War but if this was set in G1 continuity it wouldn't work because G1 Ratchet was killed in the 86 movie. Anyone notice the Spike, Carly and Daniel cameo?

Below are the supposedly last two episodes (finale) of the series. There are indications from some that the series will continue after Revenge Of The Fallen is released. The only thing that may turn off some is transformation sequences, which tend be a cross of anime and power rangers.

megaupload: Transformers Animated 41 - End Game Part I
megaupload: Transformers Animated 42 - End Game Part II

Initially fans (we) were way too hard on this series. It didn't help when people who were involved in this show referred to critics as 30-somethings who live in the basement.

There were a lot of original generation one references in the show, along with 1980's movies. Some of the characters were changed although arguably for the better such as in the case of Prowl. Others there was a effort to make them like their original counterparts, such as Jazz and Shockwave. Rodimus is actually voiced by Judd Nelson!




Next up are some shots of the characters and toys. The toys is what turned me around to the series. Soundwave is a SUV whose ALT looks like the original cassette deck. Soundwave also comes with a Flying V guitar that transforms into Laserbeak.





The toys are somewhat on the pricey side with the large "Voyager" Class at around $20.00 and the extra-large "Leader" Class at anywhere from $40 to $50.

There have been reports that retailers are slashing prices for Transformers Animated to clear out space for the new Revenge Of The Fallen stuff.

Heh, I didn't think anyone here gave two shits about this show which is why I didn't bother posting about it anymore. I would have helped keep this thread kicking if I had known I wasn't the only one here who started watching and enjoying this series.

It did turn out to be a decent little Transformers series. Certainly much better than the japanese produced crap that was the Unicron Trilogy. Beast Wars is still my favorite but I'd probably rank this right behind it along with G1.

The show did go through its difficulties which is why Season 3 almost didn't get made and Season 4 is anybody's guess. Cartoon Network gave it a lousy timeslot. The toys were hurt when due to the popularity of the Movie line the first wave of Animated wasn't released until after Season 1 had finished. Distribution for the toys sucked as retailers preferred the more popular movie line so finding the newer Animated figs became a chore. I pretty much gave up after the stores in my area only seemed to stock nothing new past wave 3.

Hasbro and Discovery is going to be starting their own network that will have Hasbro product programming so this show may get a second life, if not a new series will probably debut on it. I think it would be pretty cool to see this show with its stylized designs done in CG similar to Clone Wars.

The finale was good but it felt rushed. If they had maybe an extra 5 minutes or so to do a proper epilogue it would have been better. Even though the show is likely done you tell they wanted to leave themselves an opening since a certain character was not killed even though it looked like he should have been.

Heh ... I saw Season 1 of this on DVD the other day and was wondering if it was worth picking up. Sounds like it might be worthwhile.

The entire series is on YouTube if you just want to sample a few episodes to see if it's your cup of tea or not.

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

A quick fyi on the DVDs, the season 1 set does not include the first three episodes "Transform and Roll Out". Those were released on a separate DVD as a mini movie.

There probably wasn't enough interest in the series to keep it maintained - at least until it was too late. I only took interest in the series when due to the toys and the appearance of Rodimus in Season 3's Transwapred. One problem for the series is it played during early Saturday Morning hours. In fact there appears to be a deliberate Saturday Morning vibe to the show including zany Saturday Morning background music.


tfw2005 actually has a public thread with megaupload download links and torrents, not unlike MF's Clone Wars High Definition forum.

[hr]
Transformers Animated Season III

Transformers Animated Season 3 Premeire: Transwarped

Transformers Animated - 30 - Transwarped, Part 1
Transformers Animated - 31 - Transwarped, Part 2
Transformers Animated - 32 - Transwarped, Part 3
Transformers Animated - 33 - Three's a Crowd
Transformers Animated - 34 - Where is Thy Sting
Transformers Animated - 35 - Five Servos of Doom
Transformers Animated - 36 - Predacons Rising
Transformers Animated - 37 - Human Error, Part 1
Transformers Animated - 38 - Human Error, Part 2
Transformers Animated - 39 - Decepticon Air
Transformers Animated - 40 - This is Why I Hate Machines
Transformers Animated - 41 - Endgame, Part 1
Transformers Animated - 42 - Endgame, Part 2