Want to discuss these designs? Be sure to discuss this in our forum thread! Want to interact with more Transformers fans? Register for an account on our forums today! Be sure to Follow us on Twitter @AllsparkNews and Give our Facebook page a like as well as our Instagram! Not a fan of Forums? Check out our Facebook Group and discuss with us your thoughts on the discord Discord.gg/allspark

Transformers as a film series has had a very long, tumultuous history. While many loved the action and scope of the Michael Bay films, it came to ahead with The Last Knight being the lowest grossing and reviewed movie in the franchise. As such, most Transformers fare has struggled to find a new creative direction in live-action. And after so long, we now have a new animated film in theaters now. An origin tale of Optimus Prime and Megatron, where before, they were Orion Pax and D-16, miners from the planet Cybertron. Together with their new allies Bee and Elita, they uncover a great secret about Cybertron’s past, and how it leads them down to a familiar path for both characters.

For most Transformers fans, this is probably a dream come true. Newcomers can finally see how both Pax and D-16 become their iconic selves. And how Cybertron works as a whole before they come to Earth. A Pre-War Cybertron works as a nice basis for an origin story. But that’s the main problem with the film: It’s an origin story.

Origin stories usually have a lot of buildup, but not much of a payoff. Many Superhero movies, for example, usually start with an origin story, and take their time to establish their cast, their arcs, and setting up the main conflict past just starting out. Transformers One does fall into these same trappings. There’s many concepts that the film introduces (the Quintessons, Starscream, and the rise of the Decepticons etc.), are brashly introduced to only be saved as a later conflict for a sequel. Maybe I just seen it one too many times before. It also doesn’t help that the humor in this film is a stock, with repeated improv from B-127. Keegan-Michael Key does his best (even if it just comes to rambling improv), and if you like this type of humor, more power to you. He does mellow in the 2nd half of the film, which helps to show the grave situation our protagonists find themselves in. Though, I can’t say he is any more relevant after that point.

The best parts definitely come from Orion Pax’s and D-16’s friendship, how it transforms into becoming true enemies. While Orion is mostly a static character that tries to prove his worth throughout the film (kind of reflected by Chris Hemsworth boisterous acting that has been seen numerous times before), D-16 is made the straight man in their antics, as the more law-abiding citizen that trusts the system. Only when he realizes how much the system betrays everything he’s ever cared about and known, he becomes radicalized to destroy. Brian Tyree Henry provides a good shift to his character when that midpoint happens, and his change in attitude increases to vengeful extremes. Elita-1 doesn’t have much going on, unfortunately, other than to trust Orion near the end, (I guess you can say it’s being more than judt protocol and promotions, but it mostly just culminates to her and Orion.) And Steve Buscemi’s Starscream is just there. His voice isn’t bad (they actually do a small gag with how his voice sounds later in the movie), Screamer just doesn’t have much to do other than be in command of the High Guard, and just a means for D-16 to get himself an army at the end.

If anyone is familiar with Sentinel Prime, (for most casual audiences, his appearance in Dark of the Moon where he’s played by Mr Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, Leonard Nimoy), they shouldn’t be too surprised by his role. His actions set the the current state of Cybertron under his thumb, but when it comes to his fate near the end of the film, it makes a grand moral statement of whether it’s right to kill those who oppress us. It does feel a little refreshing to see Optimus be concerned for life, as opposed to the bloodthirsty portrayals in past films, and they show D-16’s turn to becoming Megatron, with lots of visual symbolism that children can get easily and be entertained. And the film presents you to not be a cog in the machine. You can be so much more than what society tells you to be, and shouldn’t let them take away those options. By the end, though, it feels like we just rushed through to 2 different climaxes, and once more teasing more to come. In hindsight, it’s not egregious like other franchise films, but it’s annoying to see that happen time and time again.

With having seen Rise of the Beasties last year, and to a certain extent, Bumblebee, it seems Hasbro/Paramount wants to play it safe and conventional for their Transformers films, making them more like Marvel films (as evidenced by the writers, script by Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer, both of who’s notable work is Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Josh Cooley, the director for Toy Story 4). Their creative direction is a little derivative in nature, but it’s not without a distinct change in tone once the 2nd half kicks in, and really drives home its story and themes. For all Transformers fans (myself included), it’s a good gateway for newcomers to enjoy this film that takes from previous stories and lore for a cohesive new story.

-alArts

If you want to share your thoughts on the film, join our Discord, Transformers forum, our Twitter, or our Facebook group for others to read and hear!

Have you managed to get to theaters to check out this new animated event? Tell us all about your viewing experience on the Allspark Facebook page, on our partnered Discord at discord.gg/allspark, and on the Allspark Forums !

TRANSFORMERS ONE IS IN THEATRES SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

SYNOPSIS:

TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.

Paramount Animation and Hasbro Present

In Association with New Republic Pictures

A Don Murphy / Tom DeSanto Production

A di Bonaventura Pictures Production

A Bay Films Production

“TRANSFORMERS ONE”

Executive Producers

Steven Spielberg, Zev Foreman, Olivier Dumont, Bradley J. Fischer, B.J. Farmer, Matt Quigg

Produced by

Lorenzo di Bonaventura, p.g.a., Tom DeSanto & Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, p.g.a.,

Aaron Dem, p.g.a.

Based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures

Story by

Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari

Screenplay by

Eric Pearson and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari

Directed by

Josh Cooley

CAST

Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm

“Transformers One” has been rated PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout, and language.

#Transformers #TransformersOne

Follow TRANSFORMERS ONE for more updates!

FACEBOOK | TIKTOK | INSTAGRAM | X

#             #             #

Join the discussion in our Transformers forum, our Discord Server, our twitter, or our Facebook group!

TRANSFORMERS ONE IS IN THEATRES SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

SYNOPSIS:

TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.

Paramount Animation and Hasbro Present

In Association with New Republic Pictures

A Don Murphy / Tom DeSanto Production

A di Bonaventura Pictures Production

A Bay Films Production

“TRANSFORMERS ONE”

Executive Producers

Steven Spielberg, Zev Foreman, Olivier Dumont, Bradley J. Fischer, B.J. Farmer, Matt Quigg

Produced by

Lorenzo di Bonaventura, p.g.a., Tom DeSanto & Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, p.g.a.,

Aaron Dem, p.g.a.

Based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures

Story by

Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari

Screenplay by

Eric Pearson and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari

Directed by

Josh Cooley

CAST

Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm

“Transformers One” has been rated PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout, and language.

#Transformers #TransformersOne

Follow TRANSFORMERS ONE for more updates!

FACEBOOK | TIKTOK | INSTAGRAM | X

#             #             #

Join the discussion in our Transformers forum, our Discord Server, our twitter, or our Facebook group!

Transformers Super-God Masterforce EP1 “Rise up!! Pretenders” is now on Youtube! Read on for more info!

This episode comes from Allspark member Walruslaw, as they have spent the past few months acquiring the 16mm film of this episode among other vintage Transformers media found on their channel.  This episode has been scanned from 16mm film in 4K and uploaded to YouTube for all to enjoy!

Be sure to discuss this in our forum thread! Want to interact with more Transformers fans? Register for an account on our forums today! Be sure to Follow us on Twitter @AllsparkNews and Give our Facebook page a like as well as our Instagram! Not a fan of Forums? Check out our Facebook Group and discuss with us your thoughts on the discord Discord.gg/allspark

If so, then you’re in luck, because that’s precisely what was delivered at the 2024 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday night, July 13th, 2024.

It’s not a huge reveal or anything, though. Just a bit more of the scene we saw in the first trailer where Op– er, Orion Pax, D-16, B-127, and Elita first try to use their newly-acquired transformation cogs.

Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

But maybe this will be close enough for a while?

As reported previously, Hasbro Pulse magnanimously brought the four original Transformers episodes they removed from their YouTube channel back, around a month after their short-lived 40th anniversary theatrical run was completed. There was hope that when they brought back the first episode, which saw a table reading redub as part of the theatrical event, that said table reading would be a part of it.

Alas, it was not to be.

That is, until now! Or rather, until soon! About a week from when this post goes live, anyway.

Here, have a trailer:

Transformers Generation 1 S01 E01: Table Read! With special guests: Arif S. Kinchen & Frank Todaro

Transformers fans prepare yourselves…

Our 40th Anniversary celebration continues with the release of the Transformers Generation 1 Season 1 Episode 1: Table Read on June 28th 12 noon ET/9am PT!!!

We can’t wait to bring our big screen celebration to the Pulse Channel with the release of the full Transformers Generation 1 Season 1 Episode 1: Table Read, featuring the voices of Arif S. Kinchen, Frank Todaro, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker and many more!

But that’s not all! Arif S. Kinchen (Jazz) and Frank Todaro (Starscream, Wheeljack, Reflector and Sparkplug) will be joining us live to chat with you during the screening!

The screening starts at 12 noon ET/9am PT, but Arif and Frank will be joining us from 11:30 ET/8:30am PT so you, the fans, have plenty of time to chat!

Don’t forget to turn your notifications on, this is one you don’t want to miss!!!

If you’re game to check it out when it goes live and participate in the chatroom fun, then you’ll want to go here at the time of the event.

In the meantime (or after it goes live, your choice), if you’d like to talk to others about the best makeover this episode has had since Generation 2, then head over to the “G1 Episodes Available on YouTube! Again! (And Again!)” thread in our forums!

Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

Too quiet.

Quiet enough to make moves like Hasbro offloading the Power Rangers toy license to rival Playmates instill worry in the Ranger Nation.

Well, it would seem that there has been a reason for that quiet, according to a report from TVLine.

According to them, the Power Rangers/Netflix deal to develop a new series is donezo. The project, which had been in development for more than two years, is no longer moving forward. Instead, Hasbro Entertainment is looking to explore “a new creative direction for the series” with a new partner.

The as-yet unnamed series that had been in the works prior had Daisy & the Six co-executive producer and veteran Supernatural story editor Jenny Klein acting as its showrunner. They are said to have been working in collaboration with Jonathan Entwistle, co-creator of Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This and The End Of The F***ing World, who has been overseeing the franchise’s television and motion picture prospects.

Allspark forum member Steevy Maximus weighs in with their thoughts on the matter: “THAT’s probably why Hasbro gave Playmates a license to make toys. Their big media plans fizzled and they’re passing the franchise off for cheap license dollars until… they do something?”

“It’s not entirely unprecedented,” Steevy continues. “Mattel kicked Masters of the Universe to Super7 for about [four] years until Mattel started their renewed initiatives in 2020. We could be looking at a similar situation with Power Rangers, get Hasbro some easy license dollars until they figured out what they want to do with Power Rangers. Be it a continued effort at an American initiative or go back to converting Super Sentai.”

For more details, be sure to check out the full TVLine article, brought to us by new Allspark user Ookalf.

If you’d like to join in the discourse about Hasbro Z-waving whatever they were doing since 2022, then head over to the “Power Rangers General Discussion Thread” in our forums!

Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

It all began back in March, when some eagle-eyed fans noticed that the first four episodes had been removed from (well, set to “Private”) the official Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel. What could this mean? Was this going to be the beginning of more takedowns of archived Transformers episodes, or even episodes from other Hasbro properties?

We reached out to Hasbro themselves to see if they could provide an answer. That went about as well as you’d expect.

Then in April, it was revealed that the same four episodes that had been removed would be shown in cinemas! Well, some cinemas. Depending on how lucky you were. And for three non-consecutive days in May, no less!

When the time finally came, fans ventured forth to take in this new experience, and… well, it was an experience.

At the very least, the redubbed first episode went over well. Well enough to leave some wondering why they didn’t just redo the other two parts of “More Than Meets The Eye,” if not all four episodes being shown.

Then, just as quickly as it came — well, quicker, really — it was gone. Over. Finished.

Yes, I’m invoking Furmanisms when talking about the cartoon, and you can’t — won’t — stop me.

As I was saying, the 40th anniversary experience came and went, and the episodes that Hasbro opted to remove from YouTube remained gone from the platform.

But now, hope shines anew!

It all happens on Friday, June 14th at 12pm EST, and you can be a part of it!

“But,” we know you’re asking, “will the newly redubbed live voice reading version of the first episode be included this time?”

We don’t know! They haven’t really said here one way or the other.

If you’re ready to give Hasbro Pulse the heroes’ welcome they so richly deserve, then head on over to the “G1 Episodes in Select Theaters in May” thread (because why not? It’s close enough) in our forums to plan the ticker-tape parade in their honor. (I get to drive the float.)

Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!