BotCon!

[beaker]

>>>you don't know?

oh my god you don't know...

it's Transformers: Armada!! all the characters were designed by Dreamwave, and it's going to be on Cartoon Network this fall with the new He-Man. it'll debut in August!<<<

holy *i'll delete the expletive so noone has to* cybertron!!!
There really IS a TF aniem coming out soon absed on the Dreamwave style?!?!!?!?!?

oh man, you got screen grabs or a site to point me toward?

meanwhile, there is another hot little anime show hitting airwaves this fall: ghost in the shell(stand alone complex)
http://www.production-ig.com/Ghost_TV.html

unfortunately, this is course a Japan only thing. But while I seriously have little interest in the non anime stuff on cartoon network(never liked heman or gi joe even in the 80's) this TF armada news is sweet!

 

[grail]

from the FAQ on transformers.com

Q. What time does the TRANSFORMERS ARMADA program air?
A. The TRANSFORMERS ARMADA TV show will debut on Cartoon Network on August 23rd in the form of a 3 part movie beginning at 4:00PM. Starting August 30th it will air on Fridays at 6:30 PM. Look for it to move to the Toonami block Monday-Friday at 4:30PM starting in November.


and here's a copy of the press release, on
BWTF.com

the only people that have seen ANY of the show were at the dinner friday night for BotCon...i wasn't there. i can't wait either though. the only voices i've heard about are that they're the same Optimus and Megatron from Beast Wars/Machines.

 

[Rufus]

Just some of my 2 cents to throw out to you guys... (hate to interupt! heh.)

Yeah, the Dreamwave books look purty, but have you actually tried *reading* them? yech... after four issues, you'd think the story would be a little more developed, especially with only 2 issues left to finish it up. I can't wait for "The War Within", the next G1 comic miniseries. Simon Furman is the god of TF comic book writing.

I saw most of RID, but wasn't all that impressed. I'm not even worried about trying to catch the episodes I missed. The voice actors were terrible, especially compared to the ones we got for Beast Wars & Machines. And the RID Optimus voice actor being at Botcon actually would be a deterrent for me! His Optimus voice just sounded so forced.

The Armada toys that have just come out look soo cheap... the upcoming ones look better, though, especially Blurr! It will be interesting to see what the cartoon is like.

Err... despite all this, I *am* a TF fan! The RID toys were really nice, especially the Trainbots. And I love the new PVCs... hope Hasbro continues with the "Heroes of Cybertron", even though I've gotten most of the Japanese ones. (Held off on the last couple waves, kinda wiating to see what Hasbro does.)

- R -

 

[MaxGoof]

Comments, comments...

In case anyone happened to see me at Botcon, I was wearing the *ONLY* T-Shirt sporting a giant face of Hacker Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tuvrusky the 4th from Cowboy Bebop. That should've stood out. I had on a tamer DBZ Young Trunks & Goten shirt yesterday.

Now then...

okay, this is an answer that didn't come from BotCon. the rights are "no longer available" to make a movie. what that means is that someone has already purchased them. with the 20th anniversary of TF coming soon, the general concensus is that SOMEBODY is working on one, but no one knows who yet. they're keeping it a secret. unless they decided to announce it today, which i decided to skip.

The head of marketing from Hasbro gave a panel, and assured us that the rights ARE available and no movie is currently in production. There have been some parties interested in a movie in some form, but that's it. So unfortunately, don't be expecting to see any legit Transformers: The "New" Movie teasers or announcements any time soon.

An absolutely minimum of 2000 people attended Botcon this year, and I heard that the number may have exceeded 2500 guests. The official numbers haven't been released, but that's pretty dang succesful.

And for the people that don't get why there's a Transformers convention each and every year: Transformers toys have been in production EVERY year for more than 20 years now. It's the second most-popular toy line in the history of the world. The cartoon is fondly remembered by almost every boy and many girls that grew up in that era. The comic book is the most succesful toy-line base comic book ever. The Muppets are great and I love them and all--but as far as fan-bases go they're a minute flash-in-the-pan when compared with the world-wide phenomenon spectacle that is The Transformers.

 

[grail]

well, that shot THAT rumor out of the water...

i wanted very badly to go to the Hasbro panel, but i had a green badge, and my only chance to get actor autographs was the same the panel was going on (sort of, but i'd rather not get into that), and so since i thought i KNEW most of it (and because i was on MY dime, not Zen's or there as press)i decided to get my autographs. i'm glad you told me though, i had no idea.

 

[MaxGoof]

Ooooooohhhh... you missed the Hasbro panel.

News from that panel:

Unicron is in the works. The guy who designs all of Armada heavily hinted at it, and brought up Unicron himself.

Hot Shot will be re-released with a new head that isn't atrocious.

Powermaster Prime and Starscream re-releases are confirmed for Christmas.

The Beast Wars voice actors of Primal and Megs will be Armada Prime and Megs.

And oh yes--we saw a picture of the re-release prototype of G1 Megatron that will NEVER be released. No pictures were allowed and it will never be shown again... but just to whet your appetite... the base color of Megs was fluroscent orange where the black parts should be, and bright metallic blue where the gray parts should be. It got a standing ovation when shown on the big screen.

 

[beaker]

>>>In case anyone happened to see me at Botcon, I was wearing the *ONLY* T-Shirt sporting a giant face of Hacker Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tuvrusky the 4th from Cowboy Bebop<<<

Hey, I thought I was th eonly hardcore otaku on here^_^

>>>The comic book is the most succesful toy-line base comic book ever. The Muppets are great and I love them and all--but as far as fan-bases go they're a minute flash-in-the-pan when compared with the world-wide phenomenon spectacle that is The Transformers<<<

Whoah. I'm not even gonna comment on that. I consider TF a huge part of any essential diehard anime fan's diet, but this statement...anyways...

Ok, so grail, somebody. I appreciate the TF armada info(i knew it was a new manga title by DW, but had no idea there was a show) but IS THERE ANY IMAGES??? I couldnt find one single shot.

Also, you guys said theres no movie planned, but the official tf site said there is a 90 minute movie coming to tv?

Finally, I really hope the new cartoon isnt watered down renderings of the beautiful dream wave title. The Pat Lee, and Armada TF series are to me the coolest thing in TF land since the movie...yet I know how dumbed down American animation can be thats based off something. Heck, just look at the sweet intros to Batman Beyond and Men In Black(or even Savage Dragon) then the *Actual* animation...ugh.

Ok, well anything has to be better than that RiD garbage!

 

[MaxGoof]

No offense to Muppet fans... it's just that the Transformers cult fan-base is beyond anything sci-fi except for Star Wars and MAYBE Star Trek. Transformers isn't just part of an anime fan's diet: it's for the kids that watched it and the all age-groups that play with the toys and adore the old AND new comics.

The Armada cartoon looks VERY good. It's cel-animated, and isn't rushed like RiD. It's also nothing like the Dreamwave art.

The "movie" is the first 3 episodes of the series show together by Cartoon Network.

There ya go.

 

[beaker]

>>>No offense to Muppet fans... it's just that the Transformers cult fan-base is beyond anything sci-fi except for Star Wars and MAYBE Star Trek. Transformers isn't just part of an anime fan's diet: it's for the kids that watched it and the all age-groups that play with the toys and adore the old AND new comics<<<

its ok...i do realize the true hardcore muppet fans are like the last of the jedi. makes it more special i guess. its funny, i bet some of the attendees at botcon arent big anime fans, which is just sad.
i feel sorry for kids these days, most the good stuff is on cable(ie: invader zim, bebop, tenchi, etc) and what they do have on regular tv sucks you know what. (ie: very kiddy pokemon yugioh medibots digimon garbage) no wonder people dont like anime if thats their idea...just wait til spirited away comes out!

The Armada cartoon looks VERY good. It's cel-animated, and isn't rushed like RiD. It's also nothing like the Dreamwave art.<<<

aw, sounds great. but does it have that *anime* look?
also...im sure they showe dlcips of it at botcon...but IS THERE ANY clips or screenshots of it online???


The "movie" is the first 3 episodes of the series show together by Cartoon Network.<<<

yes, but you know they'll repackage it into one 'feature length' for the home dvd market!

 

[MaxGoof]

Rhino currently has no plans to release anything except for G1 and Beast Wars on DVD, so don't worry about it being advertised as one "feature-length" movie.

Pokemon isn't so good, although I shamefully admit I enjoyed the first 75 episodes until Ash lost at Pokemon League.

There aren't any clips or screen shots online that I know of, but look for promos to start showing on Cartoon Network in the next week.