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transingthoseformers · 6 months

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I like mixing rid15 characters into TFP because some of these guys would be so fucking cool in both design and tfp context

Like, Steeljaw would play nicely against the main decepticons and autobots, especially so Starscream because I can see Starscream in her rogue era temporarily joining the Pack, especially because I think Steeljaw would be up for helping Starscream (perhaps Knockout perhaps not, in typical Knockout fashion) try to get Megatron out of the way. Though, they'd run into the issue of both wanting to be in charge of the decepticons and you get this interesting dance of them double crossing each other and wanting to take each other out. Sdfss then there's fucking Soundwave the snitch recording the girlies falling out.

Vertebreak my beloved is lurking around the corner with his cybergrafting experiments playing both Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster, straight up snatching whoever he can. I see the possiblity of Verty working with MECH a couple times not gonna. I honestly wish he got more than just the typical rid creature feature of the week debut episode, he could make a good vague threat that's lurking when you don't expect it.

Plus as we just discussed we could have Zizza as an Insecticon queen and give her both the tfp typical insecticons AS WELL AS a nice amount of the rid insecticons like Saberhorn, Glowstrike, and Scorponok!

We can have the rid mercenaries and their beef, thought I think y'all would prefer if Deadlock / Drift looked more like he did in IDW (I admit a preference for his Deadlock design)

We can have Jazz

We can have Strongarm as Magnus's adopted daughter because I've seen that floated around

We can have the stunticons as again a split off faction of their own who's focused on maintaining road superiority and Breakdown as an ex-stunticon (is this made better or worse by me running SEVERAL SEVERAL plotlines based on Motormaster v Megatron?)

I'm just thinking thoughts about this because it's basically the rid15 decepticons but with the tfp plot and setting.

#maccadam #transformers #deadlock / drift💖💖💖 we love him #LIKE IN MY MIND WE DAMN WELL *SEE* HIS DEFECTION #thinking thoughts #Starscream gets his rid design because I'm so sorry but i think it's more Starscream-ey #so many characters #transformers robots in disguise #tf rid 2015 #transformers prime #jazz is in rid15 and he's amazing even though we don't see him for long #i wonder what drift would look like with his lost light design but rid color palette #is this too ambitious

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melishade · 11 months

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In the beloved timeline, we're at the part where the warriors leave, right? So next comes finding the Neutral Ship and then the whole overthrowing the government arc. There's no way Elita-1 will sit back while her man's out doing who knows what with his sworn enemy. What would her part in this be? Also, your version of Optimus and Elita give me Millie and Moxxie vibes.

Previous Episode of the Beloved Timeline AKA Megatron getting fucking wrecked!

Say my name Grieving Soft shit

Elita?! Sitting out?! Absolutely fucking not!

Look, she had to miss out on the remainder of the war because of what happened on Cybertron, and has been stranded on the AOT world for 20+ years. She is not going to miss out on another conflict where innocent people could suffer (which is definitely not her trying to overcompensate for her absence in the war), she not going to leave her Conjux Endura behind, and she's definitely not going to let Buckethead do whatever the hell he wants!

There are...a few issues unfortunately.

See, Elita wants to see if maybe she could see something on the mainland. Marley doesn't know anything about her, maybe she could spy on Marley for Paradis. But the first part of that issue would require Megatron to take her to the mainland.

Elita pulling out her sword, causing Megatron to take a step back.

Hanji: Oh my god, Elita, keep your murder boner in your pants.

Levi: And if you are going to murder him, do it over the ocean. Less clean up and they won't find his body for a while.

Hanji: Levi!

Megatron: You'll be stuck down there with me.

Elita giving an unsettling grin: Only for a moment.

Optimus has to address them both that they need to stop and to not antagonize each other.

Megatron: I'm trying to stay away from her!

Optimus deadpanning: I am saying this from experience.

Megatron:...fair point.

Optimus: Elita, put the sword away.

Elita glaring at Megatron.

Optimus: Elita.

Elita narrowing her optics as she slowly puts it back on her back.

So once that is addressed, hopefully but unlikely, Elita needs to update her alt mode. She can camouflage her colors just fine, (as proven in RID2015, don't like the show, just some aspects of it), but her vehicle mode is too futuristic. Hanji thinks that it can't be that bad, but Elita just transforms and she's a fucking hovering car. Hanji's completely distracted now, placing her hand in and out in between Elita's hovering wheel and the ground. At one point she just starts rolling under her, giggling like a little kid. So Elita needs to update her alt mode to this time period.

Three, she doesn't have a holoform, and neither Optimus nor Megatron know how to really install it themselves.

Elita: Why do you have one?!

Megatron: Soundwave! Deal with it!

So if Elita wants to help out on the mainland, she and Megatron...have to work together.

Elita:...Is killing him over the ocean still an option?

Hanji: NO!

Levi: Please do!

Hanji: Stop antagonizing!

So once Megatron scopes out the area and finds an area where Elita can find an alt mode to scan without being seen. Megatron has to take her to the warehouse, with Hanji deciding to go with them. Because both are people Optimus cares about, and she can't handle Optimus being upset! So the two of them are going to tolerate each other or else someone's losing a T-Cog!

So they end up going to the warehouse in Marley and its a pretty tense ride to there. Elita looks at the vehicles and picks one that just looks like this:

It's one of the newer models of this time period, but still old and primitive compared to Cybertronian standards. She can still drive extremely fast, the internal components haven't changed, and the windows are tinted. It's still not a model she's entirely comfortable with but it'll do for now. Hanji says that they should head back to the island, but Elita states that she'll start her mission right now and drives off. Megatron's relieved she's gone, but Hanji immediately turns to Megatron demanding some gratitude out of him.

Hanji: I am trying everything that I can to make sure that she doesn't kill you, so I better hear a fucking 'thank you' out of you or else I'm just gonna let her do whatever the hell she wants to you! And I am very eager to see a repeat of what happened last time!

Megatron quietly grumbling:...thank you.

Hanji: What was that?!

Megatron: THANK YOU!

Hanji: YOU'RE WELCOME! LET'S GO HOME!

So now Elita's scouting out other parts of Marley in her new alt mode while Megatron is dealing with the situation in Liberio. A few thing:

-Elita does come back to the island on a monthly basis with Megatron. Hanji has to be with them at all times so they don't kill each other.

-Optimus and Elita have to start managing a long distance relationship. Optimus walks her through some of the human customs that might translate over from Earth while Elita is pretty excited to talk about the sights she's seeing since she's been on the island for so long. Although, Elita's not too happy about the discrimination the Eldians on the mainland go through. She expresses her displeasure at the situation.

-When Elita does come back to the island, she and Optimus are literally spending their time catching up and being in each other's company. The Survey Corps can't help but notice the way Optimus lights up around her.

-Zeke, Yelena, and the Restorationists have no idea that Elita exists and they intentionally keep it that way because they don't trust them yet, and this does allow Elita to spy on them and gather information. Like she did with the Quintessions.

(I probably should write Elita having interactions with the Survey Corps to see why Optimus cares about them so much. Like how Eren feels about her, but that's for another day. And yeah I guess it could be Moxxie and Millie vibes.)

Also Hanji with Megatron and Elita:

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thanksjro · 4 years

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Dark Cybertron Chapter 4: Rung is the Most Dangerous Man Alive

There are so MANY of you.

So, when last we left off, the Lost Light had VOMPFed into a massive body of water, or at least something water adjacent, and was surrounded by guys. Let’s see how this plays out.

Ultra Magnus is dubious about this whole “being completely surrounded by tiny little dudes” thing, but Mainframe’s got a pretty good read on the situation, given that he’s the one actually looking at the screen for the radar. Off in the background, Brainstorm and Perceptor discuss the structural intent of the Lost Light. Perceptor alludes to the fact that there’s more than one way to be alive as a giant space robot, introducing the term “warm-wired”, which I don’t recall ever being addressed after this issue.

Er, well, no, they’re not actually, Magnus, they’re Ammonites. Way to stereotype, dude.

For this issue’s tie-in toy, Hasbro chose the Mini-Con Centuritron. Only problem with that was that Centuritron wasn’t at all established within the IDW universe. Mini-Cons also hadn’t been established, at least not in name. There were little guys running around, but they weren’t Mini-Cons. So, what to do?

In the proper tie-in issue publication- not the issue that was sold in comic shops- certain lines of dialogue were changed to help establish that Mini-Cons were a thing, by calling the Ammonites Mini-Cons. In the standalone issue, the terms are used interchangeably, mainly because none of the folks in the lime-light this issue went to the bar on Hedonia where we met the Ammonites.

So where did these little buggers come from? Perceptor has a theory, which he shouts with so much vim and vigor he briefly turns the world around him into an anime background.

There you go, shippers. There’s where the name comes from. Hope it was worth the last 82 pages.

Anyway, Ultra Magnus decides that he’s going to talk to these guys. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

And that’s a series wrap on the crew of the Lost Light! Let’s give them a hand, folks!

Over on Cybertron, that awful black dusting thing is still going on, so much so that the sky has been blacked out like there’s a major forest fire going. Things are looking rough for ol’ Starscream; even Scoop, the nicest man to ever friggin’ live, is a bit cross with him.

Scoop makes this known by heading a mob to yell at Starscream, pointing out that he’s got a big ugly black mark slapped on his chest, a mark that means he’s obviously going to bring about the end of days. Rattrap attempts to protect Starscream from these harsh words, promising that they’ll figure this thing out. Whether or not Starscream will get to keep his crown after today remains to be seen.

Back on the Lost Light, Roche’s lines have left and been replaced by event-standard artist Raiz, as the hole blasted in the ship hemorrhages water on all our beloved friends.

Skids enters the narrative to fill Magnus in on what exactly they’re facing, and Getaway predicts a pun. Magnus decides that it’s time for recess, because they’ll be going outside for this fight.

Of course, if you’re going to go underwater for a battle, you’re going to need some ability to be evasive. None of these guys turn into submarines or ships though. What to do?

Meet Rodimus’ midlife-crisis within his midlife-crisis, the Rodpod. It’s garish, silly, and very round. Nobody’s terribly impressed with it, but it’s what we’ve got.

Smashcut to everyone outside- Atomizer is firing off arrows somehow, someone let Swerve have a gun that wasn’t his My First Blaster, and Rung has a fucking stick.

In the Rodpod, Skids, Whirl, Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Brainstorm, and Getaway for some reason, are packed in like sardines. We’re really pushing Getaway in this, aren’t we? Their job will be to protect the fuel quills of the ship- those red spiky doohickeys sitting on top of the roof.

Y’all ready to see Rung get scary?

Rung dodges the fist of an Ammonite with a deftness usually reserved for people who aren’t skinny little nerds, spouting off his character stats as he hands this guy his own ass. With a fucking stick.

I want you to imagine a chorus of 50 air horns going off right here. Clearly he is a force of nature not to be reckoned with.

Then the moment passes and he gets bodychecked. Also, he’s got bushy-ass people eyebrows in this. Make of that what you will.

The Ammonites begin combining, becoming larger and larger until they’re bigger than the ship, only for Whirl to blast a hole in them and pass right on through.

Over in the Dead Universe, things aren’t looking so hot, and it’s not for the reason you might think. See, Rodimus and Hardhead have decided to have a go at it, Hardhead poking at the fact that Rodimus just up and left Cybertron for everyone else to clean up, while he went on a space-cruise. Rodimus reminds everyone of the Remain in Light arc, then claims that if needed, he’d come back to Cybertron to take things over, but somehow I feel as if his heart isn’t exactly in that promise. Cyclonus looms in the background, looking like a night demon. He doesn’t contribute to the conversation, but it’s nice to know he’s still here with us.

The conversation gets turned around to the Primes, and how the last several really sort of sucked. When Cyclonus is asked about his opinion on the matter, it’s revealed that he’s fucking dying. So we’re going to have to deal with that. Also, Nightbeat’s here now. No idea how he got ahead of the group, considering he doesn’t seem to have a ship.

Back on Cybertron, over with the Titan, folks are slowly disintegrating. Frenzy looks absolutely terrible. Nobody’s really sure what to do. Ravage wants to fight a guy 800 times his size. Soundwave hears screaming with his special powers. Down in Crystal City, Megatron is the one screaming, as Shockwave pokes at him with something that’s probably medical equipment, but looks like a wrench and a paring knife hooked up to a car battery. Shockwave is still willing to give Megatron a seat at his weird logic table, but Megatron don’t want that shit. Metalhawk is also here, which is nice, I guess. Shockwave lets Megatron know that Nova Prime and Galvatron are still alive. Megatron tries to appeal to Shockwave over the fact that he’s important, but Shockwave has some bad news for old Megsy:

Then he hits a switch and activates the space bridge in Megatron’s chest, and robots start bursting out of his chest as he screams in anguish.

…Roberts wrote this scene, didn’t he?

Back at the Rodpod, the fellas are getting chased by the Ammonites, looking like a giant ammonite themselves. Using evasive maneuvers, they dive into an abyss. Only, it’s not an abyss.

It’s Metroplex’s eye hole.

Ewwwwww.

#transformers #jro #dark cybertron #issue 4 #mtmte #issue 24 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

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shabby-blog · 4 years

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Shouta realised his mistake the second the front door slammed shut.

He was so stupid! Why would he do such a thing?! He'd seen the name come up on his phone, Witching Hour, and since he was planning a surprise for his beloved, he went into another room to answer the call. He knew his fiancée had some issues with trust. He demanded respect, to be seen, to be heard, and shouta was more than happy to give him everything. It was because he wanted to give him everything that shouta found himself here. In an empty flat, the love of his life out on the street alone. He knew his Hizashi well enough to know he would need to vent, cause some chaos to get the anger out, but he was still alone out there where he could get hurt.

So shouta grabbed his knifes and his capture scarf and took to the roofs to protect his soulmate.

Hizashi wasn't hard to find. He was walking down the Main Street, in the middle of the road, singing along to the music blasting through his headphones. His volume loud enough to cause the people still out to cover their ears, not that it would protect them much, shouta was wearing the special earplugs his partener had given him and he could still feel his ears ringing from this distance.

As Hizashi hit a high note the windows of several cars shattered setting off their alarms. Shouta took a moment to admire Dezabel in all his chaotic glory. Tall and handsome with blond hair that flowed like water past his hips, even as angry and upset as he was he was the most beautiful thing shouta had ever seen, surrounded by shattered glass, flashing lights, and terrified people. Dezabel was in his element.

It was when he noticed the blue lights mixing with the white lights of ruined cars that shouta knew he had to move. The police were on their way and Dezabel was very much a wanted criminal so they would be bringing heavy reinforcements.

Dezabels heavenly voice was cut short when the first fireblast past him. Shouta was right, endeavour had been called to try and bring him down. It wouldn't work of course, his Hizashi was unstoppable, but shouta moved closer anyway, jumping from one roof to the next until he had endeavour in his sights.

Dezabel had a smile on his face, ready for a fight, shouting something at the hellfire hero that shouta couldn't catch, not at this distance, not with his ears still ringing from his loves earlier stress singing. As soon as endeavour raised his arm to attack his beloved, shouta activated his quirk and the fire died out. The second Dezabel saw the flames extinguish themselves he burst out into laughter. "You don't stand a CHANCE!" He bellowed, the hero taking the full brunt of a solid soundwave. "NOT! AGAINST! US!" he screamed. Each word hitting the hero harder than any punch could. By the time Dezabel was done the hero lay unconscious on the floor, blood running from his ears, and surrounded by the rubble of the destroyed building he'd been standing on front of. Dezabels power was unfathomable.

Shouta watched as his wonderfully destructive fiancee looked around. "Babe! Come down here! I know you're around!" Shouta dropped from the roof he stood on. He would do anything his love asked of him. Walking over to the god infront of him, he saw Hizashi smile at him. He walked straight into his open arms, wondering not for the first time how he got so lucky to have Hizashi love him back.

"why did you do that babe?" Hizashi asks him quietly.

"Witching Hour found us a minister. We can get married. I wanted to surprise you."

The grin on his sweethearts face at that was so bright, shouta believed it could burn a thousand cities to the ground.

"I love you, my shadow"

"I love you too, my songbird"

#shabby writes #again #gift for a friend and their villian au

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ha-heeprime · 7 years

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Megs-hate vs Getaway-hate

I see posts railing against James Roberts for “letting robot-Hitler get away with it,” and saying we should all side more with Getaway, “who sees past the current woobiness and remembers the full horror of what Megatron has done.” I read those posts with a sense of incomprehension. But then I remember two important things:

1: It’s personal. It’s ALWAYS personal. When anyone has strong feelings about a character, it’s because that char links to something they feel strongly about in real life.

2. My journey’s not their journey. I’ve had ten years to make peace with Megatron, and haven’t given Getaway a chance.

So I’ve decided to throw my two cents in, because, yeah, it’s personal; and because I believe we ought to try and understand each other.

“It’s Personal” As I was growing up, there was this kid at church. He was a weirdo. I did not like him. There was this old gentleman who seemed like everybody’s grandpa, who exuded kindness, gentleness, and love. Then we all found out the old guy had abused the “weird” kid sexually for about a decade. I felt so much horror and betrayal. We’d had that guy at our house! But worst of all was how I’d thought about “the weird kid.” How I had avoided him. How there’d been nobody to side with him against this person everybody liked. And THAT, ladies and gents, is who I thought about each time Getaway appeared in the comic after his first creepy “Bomp” on Tailgate. Getaway fooled us. He fooled me. He started out as this wacky escapist who was maybe too familiar... and then he began “grooming” Tailgate, who is at his best childlike and at his worst childish, but whom I cannot see as a fully-accountable adult like all the others yet, because he refuses to grow up and be accountable for himself. He’s a teenager, maybe. The dynamic is set for both Tailgate and Getaway, all because of one horrible experience I had. It’s personal, and I DESPISE Getaway for it. I feel personally betrayed by him. He disgusts me. And -- importantly to this discussion -- it has almost nothing to do with how he thinks about Megatron.

Megatron... See, I love him. And this predates all the comics stuff. Again, it’s personal. When I jumped headlong into the TF fandom, I jumped in as Optimus Prime. All thanks to an RP forum and great people who ran with that. Prime represents all the things I most want to be. (And I have many strong opinions about IDW’s portrayal of him, but we’re not talking about that now!) As “Prime,” I felt sick about how long past reason and sanity the Autobot/Decepticon war had lasted. I needed some shred of hope that transformers could change more than their outsides. So I embarked on my first writing project, compelled by a desire for something I thought NEVER would be made official. (How wonderfully wrong I was!) I thought about the characters, about Soundwave the quiet telepath who sees and hears all things... and had him one day give up and walk out into the crossfire to his death, because he saw no future worth living for. And THAT was enough to give Megatron pause. When he expressed a tiny wish that things could be different, I-Prime jumped in all willing for self-sacrifice, the way I always do. But I (small i) only know one way peace is possible, and that is total understanding: Truth and Reconciliation on a personal and global scale. So I-Prime challenged Megatron to a spark-bond (which I imagined as an out-of-body total merging of the souls), because if you’ve BECOME another person, you (A) absorb all their memories and the reasons for the things they’ve done, (B) hesitate to hurt them because now they’re part of you, and (C) can’t help loving the heck outta them because goshdarnit, now you KNOW ‘em. It was scary and hard for both of us to take on one another’s crap. I had to forgive Megatron for not just countless deaths -- that was easy, because I had them on my hands as well -- but for personal things like reaching into my chest and squeezing my spark in Escalation, for Agent Smith & Morpheus-ing me in Dreamwave [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6yOklzHMI], and a whole buncha other things. But we did it. And together, for the past decade in my own fictional universe, Megs & Me’ve been trying to undo all the bad stuff and rebuild all the good things lost in the war. He is my Bond-Brother, and I love him like he’s real.

So yeah, this whole IDW “The War’s Over and Megatron’s Trying To Be Good Now!” thing is almost everything I ever wanted. The end of Lost Light #6, where Megatron’s not only trying to do things right this time, but is finally in contact with a Prime who’ll work in concert with him?!? That was a great gift to me.

But My Journey’s Not Your Journey. Would I open my spark to Getaway, the way I did to Megatron? Heck no. And that’s unPrimely of me. I don’t understand Getaway or see the good in him. Sure, he may have a point about Megatron’s evil deeds being too awful to forgive. But it’s his ONE awful deed I can’t personally get past. I know this isn’t balanced. I don’t care. When people post things about James being too blithe about comparisons to past atrocities, I shrug. Those past things aren’t a part of who I am. That nice old guy from my church is. My past pain limits me, and I am letting it, for now.

Tomorrow the first issue of the Mutineers’ Trilogy drops. If James can make me understand and come to love Getaway, I will absolutely take my hat off to him. Not since an adult re-reading of Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Swiftly-Tilting Planet” have I been so taught to forgive a hateful character. It can be done. But it’s not easy. Are you up to this task, James? I hope so.

I really do hope so.

Because beyond the grim fun addiction of righteous rage, I don’t like to hate. “Hate diminishes me. I am lessened by it,” as I-Prime once told Megatron back in Chaos Theory. I’d like to be shown the error of my ways. Not (please!) by having my beloved bond-Brother turn from his new hopeful path, but by showing me how to love this guy I hate for being a manipulative [insert lots of words I don’t allow myself to say here]. Good luck, James. I really, really, really hope you pull it off.

Love to everyone, on both teams.

-Prime out.

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actionfigureinsider · 6 years

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Hey Folks, Captain Collector, reporting for duty! Every Year at Comic-Con International, I’ve given the privilege of interviewing the Brand Manager of my favorite toy line, Transformers! Without further delay, here is my interview from this year, with all the answers to your questions about the new line, War for Cybertron!

CC: Hello Jon, it’s a pleasure to talk with you again about my favorite toy line, Transformers! I know every year we do this interview, and every year it’s one of the most read articles we do.

JW: That’s great! Here we are again!

CC: It’s amazing to see how far Transformers have come, using today’s technology and design innovations being used to bring these great characters to life. Compared to today’s offerings, the original toys seemed like unarticulated bricks! Speaking of the original toys, we’ve learned today that they’re coming back as Walmart exclusives?

JW: Yes, they are! What’s exciting about these G1 re-releases – it’s an exclusive Walmart program -not only is it using the original G1 tools, but the packing is almost identical to the original releases as well. To the parents and fans out there, you want to go to the stores and experience that feeling again of seeing that packaging and those toys again.

CC: Is there any sort of issue with licensing some of those old G1 vehicles? Id’ heard stories about this in the past with certain car companies.

JW: Not really. For example with Bumblebee, we went to Volkswagen and licensed the beetle car from them. This time around it’s an officially licensed vehicle. Part of what’s happening on the G1 series is that we’re limited by what’s available. A lot of the original tools are over 30 years old. They’re made of steel, and steel rusts.

CC: I think this happened with the Takara Encore Jazz, wasn’t his head mold damaged, causing them to resculpt it with a different, smiling face?

JW: Oh yea, that’s right! It’s a real thing…

CC: Wasn’t there an issue with soundwave as well, where they used the SoundBlaster mold, with the dual cassettes, because of the same issue?

JW: Yeah, it’s definitely a real thing. The other thing that we have to do is to modify things here and there to comply with modern safety requirements. Case in point – Starscream. We had to modify hi null ray cannons. The projectiles no longer meet safety standards, so we have to make sure that they’re not only ultra-nostalgic, and recreate that experience, but to also make sure that they’re safe for kids.

Sometimes we use that opportunity to make small improvements too, like including the Megatron blaster with Starscream. Even though he’s got those derpy G1 hands, you can still put Megatron in his hands this time around. The other thing that’s a small detail is that he has painted eyes for the first time.

CC: Oh nice! That old sticker never fit right!! Mine is without the sticker.

JW: Many are! It never did fit right. We actually had to change the material of the head to accept paint. To the fans, it isn’t really a noticeable thing, but it makes a big difference.

CC: Speaking of paint, and shifting gears over to the new line, “War for Cybertron”, I see that there’s a lot of paint deco on them!

JW: Absolutely. That’s due in part to coming to events like this, talking to fans. We received lots of compliments about the Prime Wars trilogy, especially Power of the Primes. But one thing we kept hearing was “what is up with those labels?” So we decided to set a high bar with the new trilogy. Certain characters had to be a certain height. Starting a new trilogy, we decided to make sure everyone was the right height, so that they were in scale with each other. Part of that was also removing the internal gimmicks, like the head masters, moving over to the combat weapon system allowed us to keep the characters more “authentic” to their original representations.

CC: I notice there is an INSANE level of detailing on them!

JW: Exactly! So instead of using the labels, we replaced those flat surface with a religious amount of detail (Laughter)! I’m sure that Takara Tomy was ready to kill me, but I kept going back to them to add more detailing. If you look at Chromia’s vehicle mode, there’s just so much detail. Part of that was the fact that we wanted to add more gritty details, and we used our deco ops differently, which gives the appearance of a more highly decoed figure. Plus because of the grittiness of war, we adding some of these battle damage effects and weathering effects to the figures, just so that it can start to capture a different feeling and tone with this line.

CC: Are there scratches and battle damaged sculpted into the figures themselves, or is it all paint?

JW: It’s all paint.

CC: Fantastic, that’s something the fan base has been asking.

JW: No, it’s all paint, and in most cases it’s on the robot mode only. We tried to do it in a way that’s subtle and not overpowering at all. We’re also doing different things with the deco. For example, Sideswipe, all of his components are molded in red, but then also painted in red. We wanted to make the finish look like an actual car. Oftentimes when you mold something, and then paint something, the colors can look different. I mean, it’s a toy at the end of the day, and you may have to do that, but I’ve learned a lot from working on the masterpiece line working with Takara Tomy. When you take the time to do things a certain way up front, you can achieve different results without costing any more money. It just requires a little more work up front.

CC: I can’t tell you what a relief that is, some of the labels on my new Transformers are already peeling up! Honestly, I think that the Power of the Primes figures were some of the best Transformers ever made. That Optimus Prime is the definitive version, for me. I bought two of them, he’s brilliant. If I have one criticism, it’s that those ankles drive me INSANE!

JW: (Laughter) OK!

CC: At any point, did anyone think of putting ratchets, or something to keep him standing? A stiff breeze and he’s going down.

JW: That guy was a miracle that we were able to get so much into that figure. He’s got a cab that turns into an Orion Pax, who then turns into a torso of a bigger robot, and the trailer that can convert into legs, there’s a lot going on with that toy, with the resources we were given. Obviously, it’s an understandable criticism, it’s just a constant struggle when designing these toys. With War for Cybertron, we are starting over with a brand-new trilogy. We always compare to, if I’m a toy collector, I’m going to have my Prime Wars trilogy shelf, and I’m going to have a War for Cybertron shelf. It’s not going to be in scale with each other. The War for Cybertron stuff has a different philosophy. When we started this two years ago, in its infancy, we met with Takara. We had some great meetings in Tokyo, and they came here for some, and we all got on the same page philosophically. We talked about everything the fans talked about. We put everything out on the table. We’re listening. We’re trying to make it so we are continually trying to push the brand forward, even while we are looking backwards at other characters, if that makes sense.

CC: It makes perfect sense. I think it shows exactly what you’re saying. I DO love the new scale, and I have two questions about that; are there going to be leader class figures in War for Cybertron?

JW: There are, Ultra Magnus is on display now!

CC: OK, so he’s leader class?

JW: I think what’s exciting about the leader class is it’s also a weaponinzing system, but because it’s War for Cybertron, and it’s about trying to do the best versions of the characters, Like Counterpunch, even though he’s in Power of the Primes, that’s the best version of Counterpunch ever done. We’re trying to make the best version. The same philosophy happened with Ultra Magnus. The front cab turns into the white Magnus/Optimus robot, and the trailer turns into pieces of his armor, and throughout leader class you’re going to see that manifest in different ways, while still keeping the scale accurate.

CC: My second question is where are the Decepticons?

JW: We’re only showing Autobots here. The Decepticons are on their way, they’re hiding, so we’re only showing the Autobots here today.

CC: OK, fair enough! Ultra Magnus looks very Robot in Disguise inspired.

JW: The vehicle mode sure does! That’s because he’s on Cybertron. We didn’t want to make all of the vehicle modes looks like slab-front hovercrafts, we wanted to make sure that we have different form factors on shelf. Being able to access the RID vehicle mode for that guy was an easy choice for us, because that’s a very beloved and underrated vehicle mode. It’s brilliant. There’s a lot of stuff from the 200’s, like Armada, that’s just brilliant. Sure it’s G1 inspired, but there’s all sort of easter eggs from all generations spread throughout the line. Case in Point, I was just reading on a message board about how “Jon Warden is a big G1 fan”. Well, I grew up with G1!

CC: Is that supposed to be criticism, like that’s a bad thing?!?!

JW: Right? But I think what’s exciting working on a brand like Transformers, is that you get to do what you want to do, being able to listen to all of the voices that are out there, and we’re all Transformers fans, not just G1 fans. G1, Beast Wars, Armada…

CC: I’m one of those who LOVED Armada! And you and I talk about this every year, so this year wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t make my pitch for Big Convoy!

JW: Heck yeah!!!

CC: I really want an updated Big Convoy!

JW: He’s great, he’s amazing, and a favorite of mine.

CC: Optimus Primal is still coming, correct?

JW: He’s definitely still coming, but he’s at retail, so we wanted to make room for all of the new stuff, and there’s the exclusive here for sale.

CC: One last question; with the demise of Toys R Us, will I still be able to find Titan Class at retail? Will there be any more titan class figures?

JW: Stay tuned! It’s a little too early to talk about some of that. There’s opportunities for fans to get the figures they’re looking for, like Counterpunch on Amazon.

CC: Jon, thank you so much for all of your time again this year.

SDCC 2018 Transformers Interview with Transformers Brand Manager Jon Warden! Hey Folks, Captain Collector, reporting for duty! Every Year at Comic-Con International, I've given the privilege of interviewing the Brand Manager of my favorite toy line, Transformers!

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