Transformers News on Seibertron.com

The BEAST WARS are over!!!

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Views: 348,358

And from headquarters ...
"This is Optimus Primal signing off -- the BEAST WARS are over!!!"

Almost four years ago, an adventure in the history of the Transformers began called the Beast Wars. It was a whole new dimension in the fascinating world of the Transformers. The Autobots and Decepticons were but memories in the hearts of fans across the world. Behold the newest phase of the Transformers as the Maximals and Predacons battle on prehistoric Earth in the Beast Wars.

At first, the Maximals and Predacons seemed to take on their own adventures and stories. Hasbro had not yet explained the relation the Beast Wars Transformers had in relation to the original Transformers. Many fans were unhappy that twelve years of the Transformers had seemingly been tossed out the window and totally ignored.

Mainframe Entertainment was given the license to produce the computer animated Beast Wars syndicated show. As the story developed, the ties from the original Transformers and the Beast Wars grew stronger. It was soon discovered within the first few episodes of the Beast Wars that the Maximals and Predacons were the desscendants of the incredible Autobots and Decepticons (respectively). After the first season, the ties had been confirmed by the appearances of the Decepticon Aerospace Commander Starscream's ghost and the alien menace taking on the form of the Dark God UNICRON from Transformers: The Movie.

Man fans began to truly accept the mythos of the Beast Wars as part of the never ending saga of the Transformers. The many upset fans quieted as the Beast Wars nestled itself firmly within the rich Transformers history.

The second season of the Beast Wars continued to develop such popular characters as Optimus Primal, Megatron, Cheetor, and Blackarchnia while introducing new favorites such as Rampage and Silverbolt. Several of the characters parted to another place such as Dinobot who died valiantly in a battle to the end against the Predacons in an effort to save the first prehistoric human establishment. The legions of fans grew even more attached to the story of the Beast Wars.

It would only be a short amount of time until the Beast Wars Transformers, on prehistoric Earth, discovered the legendary, stasis-locked Autobots and Decepticons in the Autobot ship known as the Ark before the volcano erupted in 1984. During this story arc, the Decepticon Ravage, who was granted amnesty into the Predacon ranks after the Great War, paid a visit to the Beast Wars Transformers. The story of the Beast Wars took a new turn as it became the Maximals duty to protect the Autobots from being destoryed by the evil Megatron and his Predacons.

The story of the Beast Wars continued for one additional season. The popularity of both the Beast Wars toy line and television show did not go unnoticed. The toy line maintained its' position as a top five action figure toy line for quite some time, actually giving rivalry to the mega money maker Star Wars toy line also produced by Hasbro. The television show maintained a number one position among syndicated shows for quite some time also. Shortly after the third season began, it was announced by the current staff of the Beast Wars at Mainframe that this would be their last season working on the Beast Wars show. The network mega giant, FOX, purchased the rights from Hasbro to air the show on their stations and also purchased the syndicated show from Alliance who apparently is getting out of syndication.

FOX now owns the rights to air all 52 episodes of the Beast Wars and will be airing the new Transformers computer generated show this fall. The new show ill be titled "Transformers Beast Machines", previously called "Beast Hunters."

Again, many fans have raised their eyebrows at the latest developments of the Transformers. Let it be known that the writers from FOX are paying great attention to the stories that have been written before Beast Machines. They are paying great detail to maintaining the continuity that has already been created.

Will the stories of the Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals, and Predacons continue into the stories about the Beast Machines? Or will something new arise from the ashes of the Beast Wars? Find out through the questions and answers revealed by Bob Skir, Beast Machines writer, elsewhere in this issue of Trans-Forum.

This article originally published in TRANS-FORUM #11 (July 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

The Heroes of Cybertron: Fifteenth Anniversary Toys

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Views: 353,162

Various sources have relayed information about a Transformers 15th Anniversary toy line to be released later this year. Hasbro has not yet been able to confirm or deny this information as of this printing. Apparently, this rumor began after representatives from Hasbro were promoting the idea at the New Jersey Toy Expo earlier this year.

Hasbro's possible plans will be to produce several popular characters as 7 inch, non-transforming figures. The chosen characters of the Autobots and Decepticons will be styled in manga fashion, similar to the McFarlane Toys Manga Spawn series. Sources gathered that possible target characters might include Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Prowl (or Bluestreak), Bumblebee and Soundwave.

Longstanding Transformers fans will recall a similar concept called Action Masters which Hasbro produced back in 1990. Is this a possible nod back toward this? The staff of Trans-Forum thinks not since this will be a specialty item produced simply for the celebration of the Transformers 15th Anniversary.

As more information becomes available, it will of course be printed in future issues of Trans-Forum. If you have any additional information, please contact Trans-Forum at their mailing address.

Editor's Note: This was a REAL rumor on the 'net back in 1999. Actual prototype designs were floating around the internet. I may have a few of these images saved on CD somewhere. I'll keep looking.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #10 (May 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

What are the Animorphs?

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Views: 349,217

As much as the fans of Transformers would like everything to be black and white, Autobot and Decepticon, we all know and must accept the fact that the Transformers will and are going to take turns here and there.

The toy giant Hasbro, makers of the ever popular Transformers toy line, released its newest addition to the Transformers in March called the Animorphs. Many people may know the Animorphs from the popular series of books published by Scholastic, Inc aimed at roughly the Junior High School reading level, and has since branched out into television and a toy line.

The Animorphs are a young band of teenagers who were given the power to change into any animal they touch. Together they battle against the Yeerks whose ultimate goal is to enslave the human race.

While the Animorphs concept has nothing to do with the Transformers mythologies, it certainly has a similar concept to the current Transformers toy line. Each character in the Animorphs toy line "morphs" or transforms into a beast mode such as Jake who turns into a tiger.

Most fans will remember other turning points in Transformers history such as the Pretenders, Action Masters, and even the whole Beast Wars series. For fans who are not thrilled that the Animorphs are being marketed as Transformers, at least be happy that Hasbro didn't try pawning off the Animorphs concepts as part of the actual Transformers mythos such as the Autobots and Decepticons or Maximals and Predacons.

Future plans for the Animorphs toy line will include a combined Tyrannasaurus Rex figure, consisting of three of the Animorph human characters. Episodes of Animorphs air on Nickelodeon and books are available at most book stores.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #10 (May 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Trans-Forum International's "SEIBERTRON"

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Views: 358,110

Almost two years ago, Trans-Forum International announced its plans to launch its own comic book series. The official release will be before the year 2000 as Trans-Forum will unveil its newest project. The comic book will be titled "SEIBERTRON." The first story arc will be called The Nucleon War. It takes place twelve years after the end of the American cartoon series in the year 2019.

The heroic Autobots are lead by their legendary commander Optimus Prime. The major Autobots in this story arc will be Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Perceptor, and Blaster. Their goal is to obtain the Nucleon to save one of the Autobots whose Spark has almost gone offline and to prevent the Decepticons from getting the Nucleon and becoming even a more dangerous threat.

The evil Decepticons are lead by the maniacal Galvatron in a quest to overthrow the Transformers home world Cybertron and to enslave all of the Autobots.

The art, drawn by Ryan Yzquierdo is a cross between the American and Japanese cartoons with a very distinct look. Sketches will be available here in the pages of Trans-Forum and Trans-Forum Online in the upcoming months as images become available.

It is uncertain how long each installment of SEIBERTRON will be or even if there will be a set number of pages. It is also unknown how the installment volumes will be priced.

SEIBERTRON will be published by Trans-Forum International.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

The Next Phase: NEO

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Views: 364,481

During the last decade or so, the Super Lifeform Transformers, as the Transformers are known in Japan, have taken many various twists and turns.

The Japanese culture has dictated several unproduced in America Transformers toy figures/ characters and lines.

The first case example, would be the variant Transformers line titled "Victory" series in which very few Transformers from the American series (and modified at that such as Dinoking / Monstructor) saw production in Japan and vice versa. The Autobots and Decepticons (known as Cybertrons and Destrons in Japan) were lead by Victory Saber and Deszaurus (Deathsaurus) respectively. Later the exclusive Japanese Transformers would be followed by these series: "Transformers: Zone," "Transformers: Return of Convoy," "Transformers: Scramble City", and "Transformers Mission: Combination."

After the initial success of the Beast Wars Transformers line in Japan, Takara was anxious to continue production on their new hot selling item. The interest in the Transformers toy line had been renewed. Takara frantically began search for ideas to expand the toy line.

Soon, Takara (the creator of the first Transformers toys under the names Diaclone and Microman) retooled and repainted several of the American Beast Wars Transformers under one group titled the Cybertrons (Maximals). The second retooling and repainting came under a group of Decepticons toys mainly produced under the "Generation 2" banner in America between 1993 - 1994 and the "Machine Wars" banner during 1997. All of these machine-like Transformers fell under the group titled Destrons.

Thus, a new story line developed called "Beast Wars Second," pitting the heroic beast-like Cybertrons against the evil machine-like Destrons on the artificial planet known as Gaea.

AFter roughly forty cel-animated cartoons were released, the Beast Wars Second series came to an end.

Now, looms the next phase of the Beast Wars in Japan. The new series, "Beast Wars NEO," hopes to bring as much success as have the other Beast Wars Transformers releases in Japan. This time, the heroic Cybertrons take on the forms of animals while the evil Destrons take on the forms of dinosaurs.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Beast Hunters Transformers

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Views: 361,163

The future of the Transformers now rests in the hands of FOX KIDS. In addition to picking up the 52 episodes of Beats Wars, Fox Kids is launching a new series called Beast Hunters for the 1999-2000 television season.

"Beast Hunters, the next evolution of the popular Beast Wars franchise, continue their fight against the evil dragon Megatron and his hordes of Predacons in 13 all-new episodes with cutting-edge computer animation, action and humor, produced by Mainframe Entertainment." states a FOX representative.

Story editors for the series are Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg, who have worked on numerous genre series and also wrote the story bible for the new Avengers series on FOX.

"My reaction is YEEEEE-HA!" said Skir of Fox picking up the Beast Hunters. "I absolutely love that network, and have enjoyed great success with them. Do the names X-Men, Batman, Beetlejuice, and Godzilla ring a bell?"

"They do great shows there and the longer I'm with them, the happier I am." Skir provided some early details about the show. "We're doing 13 episodes for our first season, hopefully with more to follow; especially since we're thinking of this as an ongoing story with more than 13 chapters to it so far," Skir said. "The show's hook? It's the characters you loved from Beast Wars ... fighting a very different was on a very different world."

Sounds interesting, hopefully more info will be available in the coming days.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transmetal 2: Second Arrival

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Views: 368,368

Transmetals II (or is it 2) are now in stores! You may have noticed the slight difference in the logo which has changed the roman numeral II to the numeric "2". Why you ask??? The last-minute (or slightly thereafter) change was made to make sure that all of the younger fans, that haven't quite learned Roman numerals, would be able to recognize the new figures as the second generation of Transmetals. And it just looks a little better!

Hasbro recently announced six more toys for the Transmetal II line. Mega Blackarachnia, Mega Cybershark (due out in February), a deluxe owl, a deluxe grasshopper, a basic Spittor (shown below) and Stinkbomb (a skunk with a serrated razor tail). All are tentatively scheduled to be released in June.

These six Transmetal 2 Transformers will feature the Spark Crystal Maximal or Predacon badge. This set will be in addition to the six that have already been released. Deluxe Cheetor, Deluxe Ramulus, Deluxe Dinobot II, Basic Sonar, Basic Optimus Minor, and Basic Scarem are all available at most toy stores such as Toys R' Us, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Kay Bee Toys, and Target.

Rumor has it that the Beast Wars 3rd season (now airing) will end the current story line. Supposedly, the Beast Wars Transformers are rescued by Cybertron in the episode titled "Nemesis (Part Two)" written by none other than Simon Furman (Transformers, Transformers Generation 2 - Marvel Comics Entertainment Group). What will the Beast Wars bring for the toy, the cartoon, and the comic in the year 2000? Beast Wars: Generation 2? Maybe...

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transformers: Year 16

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Views: 378,871

Text from Hasbro's Transformers website at http://www.beastwars.com/figures/

In 1984, while consumers were worshipping at the altar of the Cabbage Patch Kid doll, another toy line made its quiet debut, only this time it was in the action figure aisle. No one could know that in time, this brand would have its own set of rabid collectors, desperate parents, toy clones, a television series, an animated movie, a death, and a rebirth. And no one could know that this rebirth would also be a revolution of sorts, as the newest technologies brought this toy and its story to amazing new life. Of course, the toy line is The Transformers - an action toy with its foundations in Japanese animation and for some, Japanese toys themselves.

It is no coincidence that The Transformers line has lived to reach its 15th year. While 15 years is no small achievement, with the infinite variability in design, the versatility of the writers who continue to breathe life into the story, and with the enthusiasm of children of all ages, it is not hard to believe this line is one of the top ranking toys in the world today. In its current embodiment as Beast Wars, detailing the saga of two warring factions of robots on a prehistoric Earth, the spirit of The Transformers is as alive today as it was during its introduction in 1984.

To witness the impact The Transformers have made on the industry and in pop culture, just take a step back and look at their history. After the first few years of the toy's life a television cartoon series was created, detailing the adventures of these robots as they brought their intergalactic war to Earth. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the Decepticons, led by the diabolical Megatron, used the Earth as the battleground for their destructive conflict. This soon led to a theatrically released animated movie, introducing a whole new group of heroes and villains. After the cartoon series ended, the toy line continued to offer new and innovative transforming schemes through the late 1980s. Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters, Micromasters are just a few examples of the chapters which made their way into the continuous storyline, now solely being told by a comic book series. The comic ended in due time, as well as the line's first generation of toys. After a rebirth of the line with Generation 2 in the early 1990s, the newly merged Hasbro Toy group, consisting of long-time toy manufacturers Hasbro and Kenner, created the Beast Wars®. Two new factions, Maximals and Predacons, continued the struggle for supremacy begun by their ancestors centuries earlier. A new computer-generated animated series, created by Mainframe Entertainment, successfully dominates its time slot, and now cartoon fans watch with unblinking eyes as cutting-edge technologies bring this saga to life in a whole new way.

What does the future hold for The Transformers? One can only guess, but know this: through technology and imagination The Transformers will continue to surprise and entertain with limitless configurations. As we rush into the 21st century, remember the slogan that started it all in 1984 for The Transformers...they are more than meets the eye!

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM #8 (January 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transformers Comic Scheduled to be published summer 1999?!?

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Views: 377,672

Text downloaded from http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/primus/

The following "rumors" have come to light on the topic of the Bench Press Transformers comics. Bench Press has put their comics on hold indefinitely while Hasbro talks to Marvel Comics about taking on the license once more. Whether this would be for the Beast Wars comic only is still unclear.

Another source is claiming that Behnch Press never actually had the license and it was more wishful thinking. I'm sure that Bench Press were in discussion with Hasbro, but they have now opted to use Marvel instead.

Although this would of course prevent some wonderful titles from Bench Press, it would allow the Transformers story to continue in the correct continuity if Marvel does get the deal. Will Simon Furman write them though? This is the question on everyone's lips.

Hasbro says they have no "preview" information available. It does sound like Marvel will be printing the comics if they do ever come out.

Editor's Note (2003): This is actual news that was swirling around the Internet before the big Transformers sites existed like transfandom.com, tfw2005.com, tformers.com, and SEIBERTRON.com.

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Beast Wars Creative Team to change after Season 3

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Views: 385,540

Message from Bob Forward (10/21/1998). Text downloaded from http://www.beastwars.net.

As you may have heard, Season Three will be the last season of Beast Wars edited by Larry and myself. I sincerely hope this won't detract from the enjoyment of the series. We've had three great seasons and worked with a lot of really terrific people at Mainframe and Hasbro. We've met hundreds of Transformers fans and appreciated their input and support. All in all, we can hardly complain.

I can assure you that the change is nothing personal and we are not taking it that way. Hasbro has new plans for the series and it was felt that taking an entirely fresh approach with a new creative team would be the best way to handle it. This is very common in the animation industry - I myslef have been hired to replace excellent story editors for precisely the same reason. Larry and I are actually looking forward to some time off. The characters had become so real to use that I, for one, often found myself dreaming about them. In the cartoon industry this is known as "time to get off the show".

Never fear, you will not be left with an unresolved "cliffhanger" ending. Though the news comes too late to tie up all the threads, Simon and I are revising our season finale to be an actual closure of the current Beast Wars series. This will give the new show - whatever it may be titled - a "clean slate" from which to start.

Please give the new series a chance. Although I am not privvy to the storyline, it should certainly look spectacular and will most likely be excellent in its own right. After all, it will be animated by the fine artists at Mainframe and will no doubt continue to draw upon the rich history and traditions of the Transformers.

Larry and I feel privileged to have been at least one small part of that history, and hope that you will enjoy watching Season Three as much as we enjoyed working on it. You were all truly part of our inspiration.

'Till all are one -

Bob Forward

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com