#Hasbro Movie Universe

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"A SUPERSONIC BLUR, CHEETOR IS THE SWIFTEST OF ALL THE TRANSFORMERS BEASTS..."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on poster art for the 7th film in the "Transformers" franchise, Cheetor of the Maximals (plus file card info), from "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" (2023) -- released in cinemas everywhere on this day. Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

Resolution at 2025x3000 & 2160x2719.

NAME: Cheetor

DESIGNATION: Maximal warrior

CONVERTS INTO: This Maximal warrior converts into a cheetah the size of a small truck with a grace and athleticism that belies his bulk. 

GENERAL DEMEANOR: Cheetor carries himself with the confidence of someone who knows danger can never catch him. Which is pretty much what happens when you mix the fastest animal on Earth with a massive extraterrestrial cybertronian.

COMBAT ABILITIES: A supersonic blur, Cheetor is the swiftest of all the Transformers beasts. His sheer speed combined with his colossal claws means he can strike down his enemies before they even see him coming. 

TRIVIA: Cheetor's pace is his greatest weapon but can occassionally also be a weakness. Always quick to act, he sometimes doesn't think things through.

Source: IMDb & https://2ndopinion.ph/get-to-know-the-characters-of-transformers-rise-of-the-beasts.

[starsqueak]

[kollectorsrus]

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Transformers

Collaborative Edition

Deluxe class

Draculus

By Hasbro (2021)

12-16-21

Beast Mode:

Transformation:

Robot Mode:

Final Thoughts:

[pocoslip]

The Best Galvatron Ever

(Not a Big Fan of this Bad Bot from Transformers and I thought we would Never get a Better Galvatron Figure but here he is)

[quetzalpapalotl]

Now that I think about it, the fact that that Void Rivals shared an universe with both Transformers and G.I. Joe makes me wonder if that is in any way related to ROTB also throwing G.I. Joe at the very end.

[pipermca]

New AO3 Tag Wrangling Policy and the Transformers Fandom

Edit in the event people come back to the original post: Please do not email AO3 about this issue. See their response about this issue!

(This is a long one, folks, but I think it's important.)

A new tag-wrangling policy on AO3 has the potential to create some massive confusion and chaos in the Transformers fanfic community, with regards to fandom tags. There is a Reddit post about it here with a focus on anime fandoms, but I want to give some concrete examples for the Transformers fandom on why we DO NOT WANT this, and why I think it's a horrible idea.

The Problem

Basically, AO3 is looking to get rid of the "All Media Types" fandom tag across the board, either by dismantling them or just not maintaining them. The Transformers - All Media Types tag has been an all-purpose tag that you could select when your story doesn't fall into any one specific continuity. Additionally, all most (see below) TF continuities on AO3 are considered a subtag of the Transformers - All Media Types tag. For example, if you look at the link above for all works in the All Media Types tag, you will see fics that are also tagged ONLY with Transformers: Animated, because it falls under the All Media Types tag.

One exception: With the upcoming Transformers: One movie coming out imminently, there will likely be a big influx of stories tagged with Transformers: One. In fact, there are several already. However, it hasn't been linked to the larger Transformers - All Media Types tag yet. I wasn't worrying about it though, because I know these things can take time.

With information about this new tagging policy, however, I'm now wondering whether it'll EVER get linked to the All Media Types tag. If that happens, and when more continuities are developed in the coming years (since you know Hasbro loves creating new universes) this has the potential to cause massive confusion when looking for stories to read.

Searching for Stories with the New Tagging System

So let's say the All Media Types fandom tag isn't accurate anymore, because it no longer includes ALL of the continuities (such as TF:One). You will need to include ALL the Transformers continuities when browsing for TF fics.

How many tags is that? Well, here are all of the tags currently listed under the Transformers - All Media Types tag:

Note that this doesn't include Transformers: One since it hasn't been categorized yet.

You will potentially have to have 40 or more different fandom tags in your search, just in case the author tagged their story with something you weren't expecting.

This massively decreases the findability of a story.

Tagging with the New System

The email response from the Tag Wrangling group (see the linked Reddit post above) seems to be a bit flip in the response to the user's concern. "...encourages creators to tag with the media they intend."

While I appreciate what they are attempting to do, this policy change feels like a solution in search of a problem, especially in larger fandoms with multiple continuities, versions, and media types that are all cross-pollinated in both canon and fanon. While I'm focusing on Transformers fandom, imagine a creator in the DC comic universe writing a story that incorporates bits and pieces from a dozen different reboots.

For example, let's say that I am writing a fic about Ratchet. I am using the setting of the original G1 episodes, but I also am using the characterization of him as a bit of an old man grump. That characterization originated in the Animated continuity, but I want to incorporate bits of pieces of his other characterizations as well (old friend of Optimus from TFP, Ratchet ran a faction-free clinic like he did in the War for Cybertron series, he's got a Decepticon boyfriend like in IDW1 - or maybe even Cyberverse, etc.)

With this new tagging structure, I might potentially have to tag the story with ALL of those continuities. So instead of just slapping down the "All Media Types" tag (and maybe one other fandom tag that matches the characters as best I can), I'll have to analyze my story and try to figure out how best to tag for the characters I used.

And what if you're doing a completely AU version of the story? For example, a humanformers story, or merformers? Using the All Media Types tag along with a Alternate Universe - Human or Alternate Universe - Mermaid tag worked perfectly, since you weren't writing the story to fit into one specific continuity. But now, that might not be an option.

What To Do??

The first thing I would suggest is to contact AO3 (using the Feedback and Support page) and let them know (nicely) that you think this is a horrible idea. Give them some examples on how you use the All Media Types tag to find stories to read, or to help you tag a story. People outside of the Transformers fandom don't always appreciate how absolutely tangled the continuities can be with each other, and providing examples might help them see why this would be a really messy change.

Readers: Be aware that when you are looking in the All Media Types tag, it will no longer show newer continuities. And if AO3 starts dismantling that tag like they suggested they are doing, be aware that some stories won't show up in that tag like they used to. You can also create and then bookmark a custom search page that includes all 40+ continuities. REALLY annoying, but it's a workaround.

Writers: Until they start dismantling the All Media Types tag, ALWAYS ALWAYS tag your stories using Transformers - All Media Types... Especially for newer continuities. This will be especially important if you are writing a Transformers: One story. Right now, anyone who is only browsing the All Media Types tag will not see a story tagged only with Transformers: One. Make sure you're aware of how tags work and how they can affect the visibility and findability of your story.

Epilogue

Ugh. That's a lot of words for a long-weekend Saturday. And maybe I'm overreacting a tiny bit. But my work involves information architecture, and this change just absolutely baffles me. It's almost as though they want to make it harder to find stories. Considering that AO3 won a Hugo partially because of its fantastic tagging system, this change seems like AO3 is doing its best to shoot itself in the foot.

When you have a square hole, a round hole, and a rectangular hole… Yeah, you DO want each peg to go in the "right" hole. But if all of the pegs fit in the square hole, who cares? You got the job done.

I love you @ao3org, but please reconsider this change... Especially for IPs that are as old and are as varied as Transformers.

[brambleheartthestrange]

This.

The MCU definitely did things that changed cinema forever. It didn’t save cinema, it didn’t ruin cinema, it introduced a new way of world building and storytelling that one would only see in books and comics, onto the big screen.

Think of all the failed franchise crossovers. Think of the ones that were deemed as childish or cheesy or whatever. The MCU managed to do this in a mature way that made sense, because they had the plan from the beginning.

The only other film franchise that has come remotely close before this was Star Wars, but even then all of the movies at the time centred around the Skywalker family drama, it didn’t really pan out outside of books, comics, and Clone Wars (which at the time was made to bridge the gaps in plot/characters from episodes 2 and 3) until AFTER THE MCU DID IT FIRST.

Yes, the MCU did some things that changed cinema for the worse. But it also ushered in a new era of cinematic storytelling that we will most certainly see develop on the coming decades.

all those “the mcu is destroying cinema” takes are, like, correct, but also… the mcu has found a way to strike a balance between “good entry point” and “rich with previous worldbuilding” that you didn’t used to see. like if you grew up with a pre-prestige miniseries adolescence like i did you have no idea how much you would just get used to the writers, characters, & world careening in the other direction of “anyone can join in at anytime even if you haven’t seen the previous installments.”  there was literally no sense of like… legacy worldbuilding. i don’t mean this in an exclusionary or gatekeepy way but if you enjoy the slow accumulation of in-world history, if that’s a thing about storytelling that appeals to you, that just wasn’t something you got from tv or movies until, basically, the mcu

[bruhstation]

hello tumbled er

greetings and salutation. it is I, senja heterocaine, speaking to you through your favorite home screens. now you might be wondering: where on earth has senja heterocaine disappeared to these past 5 months? well the answer is as simple as it gets

I focused on my studies.

well yes that is the main reason. but that's like the nerd "obvious" answer. there’s other reasons too. some of which includes me getting into new interests, revisiting my old, hibernating interests, getting involved in university organizations and events, getting more involved in big family stuff since I'm the oldest and the only of-age grandchild of grandma from mom's side.... lots of stuff

so I just finished the third semester of premed school right. honestly speaking, with how I was losing motivation on drawing, the art block post-art fight, and lack of time, I decided to well, take a break. and it’s pretty convenient too since it was early on in the third semester. during the entirety of it I was feeling pretty proud of myself like "oh I've been studying a lot. I've taken a break from drawing and blog stuff. surely things will get better" and it did! not immensely but it's significant enough that for once I don't feel an indescribable sense of terror after the semester ends. the focus of this semester was about reproduction systems and growth and development which is pretty fun? we get to use models and medical phantoms hands-on and poke them with needles and other rube goldberg contraptions. I did miss breeding bacterias in petri dishes and seeing my friends burn the microbiology lab’s ceiling like last semester though. my grades are also improving… slowly but surely

(aftermath not pictured: me lounging on the couch scrolling through quora to see if there are people currently in college wanting to drop out)

maybe I was aiming too high. at least my grades are better than the previous two semesters and my social life is much better than it was back in high school. speaking of exams -- I went through my first osce exam around a week ago (practical exam to see if you can actually perform the skills labs lessons from the entire semester like you're a real physician). it was the most terrifying day of the month. my dentist said I have a big tongue and that’s why I can’t speak properly if I’m being too fast. ntm I WAS NERVOUS!!! MY FIRST OSCE!!! with how I memorized everything I needed, I was pretty confident that I'd pass, though. I didn't and retook the exam the next day. the prelude was the worst crash out ever

ah ptooey. I'll just take it like a champ. my tutor who's 3 years older than me and currently in the anesthetic rotation of co-ass told me that things will get easier but that's very subjective. he's a medical olympiad student after all. my parents are pretty happy though with how my academic life is becoming better so that's that

LETS MOVE ON TO SOMETHING LIGHTER. section B: what I've been getting into ever since bruhstation was put on cryostasis

you know Transformers One (2024)? the transformers movie directed by josh cooley? based on the Transformers(tm) franchise by Takara Tomy and Hasbro? most tragic break up movie of the decade? I watched it twice, squealed once, and left me broken and inconsolable for weeks on end. it made me revisit my dormant transformers interest after 5 years. I've reread the idw comics (mtmte, LL, taao, main transformers comic), and is currently checking out more (reading the wreckers saga right now). god it made me miss rodimus and friends' zany space opera adventures. I've always envisioned casa tidmouth to have the same tone as mtmte... the oftentimes dark humor, fridge horror stuff, weird magic/science, the roller coaster of emotions, confronting the past... its crazy good.

stories where misfits and knuckleheads band together in a confined space while having crazy doctor who-like adventures am I right. like I want casa tidmouth to be like that. remind me to thank 14 year old me for this trip down memory lane. and as usual, I tend to make self-indulgent crossovers of any interest I'm thinking about at the moment with casa tidmouth

a terrifying sneak peak on what's to come.

I've been working on my oc projects too. you may have seen some of them on artfight (graciela, saudade, altair, etc) but I've been focusing the most on graciela and saudade's universe, children's heterotopia. it has the largest amount of characters in any story I've created (not counting casa tidmouth), the most effort put into planning the stories and weaving in its themes about capitalism, patriarchy, period-typical bigotry, etc. there's human experimentation and they're given powers that range from punching super hard to time and space displacement. I also inserted whatever I wanted into the story. sure, yes, there's a lesbians-only organization of which its members are named off the knights of the round table, theres a mafia that focuses more on the family drama and attempted parricide from all angles, and tragic assassin maids of which their names are wuthering heights references. also if you've been following my main tumblr hajimedics for a while, you might've seen my three fairly oddparents ocs. well I've given them the tezuka star system treatment and inserted them into children's heterotopia as well.

I've also gotten into UTAU production! I've made a number of UTAU covers but haven't uploaded them to youtube. only shared them around with my friends on priv twitter. a good friend of mine assisted in the creation of my own UTAU voicebank! their name is TORKA (like "torque"), their voice bank has a slight accent when singing in japanese (because I'm their voice lol) and CV-only, their in-universe lore is that they're an intergalactic train conductor picking up wayfarers and outcasts trying to find a place in the vast universe, and I love them dearly

moving on! this is a thomas the engine and company blog THIS IS A LIFE UPDATE POST

I'd rather not discuss about how I'm doing mentally in deep detail BUT what I'll say is that I can't confidently say "I'm doing better" or "I'm doing worse" because it always depends on the days. things are okay-ish nowadays. some days are scary. some days are boring. I still experience delusions, (ironically) worried about my anhedonia, and believe that certain bouts of confidence will trigger a jinx, but I think I've been controlling myself well? at least? I keep internalizing the belief that I'm an adult. 20 years old. I have to act accordingly and my life in real life is ten times more important than the internet. things are going to change more and more once I graduate premed and began the co-ass program. I have to think 10 steps into the future. building successful connections before you turn 30. sigma grindset and all that. sorry that was my father using my body as a spirit medium

AND ALSO. ALSO. BACK TO THE BLOG DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER THAT ONE TIME I PROMISED TO MAKE A COMIC BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE 1000 FOLLOWERS POLL AND NEVER DID UNTIL NOW. I'm terribly sorry. I promise I will get into it I SWEAR procrastination is kicking my ass. I have to plan the dialogue and script and stuff AND DRAW BUT

BUT HERE’S THE FUNNY THING

THE BLOG REACHED 2000+ FOLLOWERS A FEW MONTHS AGO

NOW WHAT DO I DO TO CELEBRATE?

I don’t know honestly. I haven’t done the 1000+ followers celebratory comic, and NOW I HAVE 2000+ FOLLOWERS. THERES 2000+ OF YOU NOW!!!!! THAT’S CRAZY (IN A GOOD WAY)!!!! I thank you all for sticking with bruhstation through thick and thin for around 2 and a half years. I’m glad for all your support, fanarts, asks, and such truly. like wow. 2k. in such a short time too! thanks guys. admittedly, I feel kind of guilty to leave everyone hanging for months with nothing to give, especially with such a high follower number. and realistically? I don’t think I’ll be able to draw as much as I used to. like I’ve said earlier, I’ve been busy with my personal life and oc projects. it’s not like I’m abandoning this blog any time soon? I’m just speaking from a logical perspective, given my status as a student and (possibly, hopefully) future doctor too. I don't want to burn myself out posting like thrice a week, answering asks daily, I want to take things slow. at my own pace. maybe I'll focus on designing side characters as well and thinking about their roles in the story! but that's for another day. I’m just glad everyone’s still sticking around and enjoying my silly stuff

I do want to draw more for this blog! I want to put thomas and co. in more situations. make them dance for all our entertainments. but when you’re an adult, you realize that you have your own priorities. you can’t always do the things you wanna do. you can’t just drop something you don’t like out of the blue. sometimes you have to sigh, scratch the back of your neck, and brave it while saying “I sure am getting old”

oh and also I'm a butch lesbian now. still he/they (heavy preference on he/him), still preferring masculine terms like "mr", "sir", "guy", still as crazy as ever. still aroace too and not interested in dating, something that's been a constant in my identity ever since I'm in early high school. little have changed I can assure you this. I am still senja. senja heterocaine from the net.

and thus concludes senja’s life update post! what will the next post after this be about? something gordon-centric again? serious colored art? old men yaoi? silent hill UK localization? place your bets. everyone loves a good laugh

[gomjabbar]

mattel seeing barbie's success and going all-in on a "cinematic universe" is such a comical morbius-level misunderstanding of why that movie did well. barbie has a long & contentious place in our culture where it's oscillated back and forth, from the "ideal" american woman, to a vapid & toxic female beauty standard, back to something newer generations have an ironic reverence for. love or hate it, you have entire swathes of women who embrace the whole "bimbo barbie" aesthetic and view it through the lens of "women can do both" empowerment. the barbie movie was simply made by a competent director who understood the cultural cache and capitalized on it. that's why it's doing well. none of this shit fucking exists for hot wheels or polly pockets. hot wheels has never been part of a conversation around beauty standards & female empowerment. you don't see male sex workers posting "hot wheels-themed" photoshoots on their onlyfans. there is no greater cultural discussion to be had around any of these movies. mattel's rival hasbro has made bank on the transformers movies and they're still in financial dire straits now because all their other non-tformers movie ventures bombed. your hot wheels movie is going to crash like a toy car skipping off its orange track and hitting your friend in the dick. go die in hell.

[blueikeproductions]

The Quintessons also got cards.

While we don’t know for sure if there’s other members of their race yet, these are a pretty big departure from the original designs, which have remained somewhat consistent.

Most notably the absence of the most recognizable Quintesson Judge is curious. There’s nothing that says they’re not there, but usually the Judge types are front and center for things, so removing them for a new High Command version is interesting.

The High Command and Soldier designs seem closer to some one off Quintessons from the 80’s cartoon.

The Quintessons have a somewhat complex conceptual history.

Their earliest concept looked like this.

A psychic biomechanical humanoid whose psychic abilities were so great they could make a horde of Sharkticons from scrap metal in an instant and probe the galaxy with a simple mind scan. Their head was apparently their true form, as it would eject and fly to another body when Hot Rod tried threatening it. The biomechanical look would persist for their final designs, but more modern media via Aligned and Cyberverse would instead state they’re actually organic creatures that look something like this:

Revealing their robotic bodies as merely being suits they pilot. It’s not clear yet if this is also the case in EarthSpark or ONE, though ONE feels like this is what they’re supposed to actually look like, but more organic this time than robotic as they typically are.

Some further revisions to the 80’s movie scripts and marketing of the time originally cast the Quintessons as working directly for Unicron, their mock trials were to punish and destroy any lingering survivors of Unicron’s wrath that passed by Quintessa. While this idea never made it into the original film, it was used in the Marvel comics and later revisited in early BotCon comics, but never became hard canon. The UK comics would make them into aliens clinging for survival as their home planet was destroyed by a time anomaly caused by the time traveling Galvatron. Running out of options, the Quints attacked Autobot City on Earth to try and colonize it, but were driven off by Rodimus Prime and Metroplex, their fate unknown but nevertheless swearing revenge on the Transformers.

The final version of the Quintessons in the cartoon cast them as the ancient creators of the Transformers, with some media explaining they also created Cybertron by terraforming a planet into a factory world (at least it wasn’t a parking structure planet). The cartoon would also establish them as slimy business men, having their tentacles in the affairs of other species for financial gain. Along with the Transformers starting out as in universe products to sell, it seems the writers might’ve been having a laugh at Hasbro.

The Quints’ primary goal in the cartoon was to push the Autobots aside so they could regain control of Cybertron, often conning the Decepticons into doing their dirty work for them. Where the Quints came from is never clear, as the show implies Cybertron was more their home planet originally due to their sentimental attachment to it. Their supposed home planet, Quintessa, is implied to merely be another planet they terraformed after getting booted off Cybertron.

Due to the more popular Primus origin from the Marvel comics, the Quintessons and their hand in the creation of Cybertron and its people was largely ignored in most mainstream media. While they saw a homage in Alpha Q in Energon (the connection to the Quintessons made stronger in the Energon Dreamwave comics), they didn’t really start resurfacing as major characters again until recently. The BotCon comics attempted to reconcile the two origins, stating the Primus origin was also the case in the cartoon, with the Quints interfering in the process, and this early idea served as the basis for the Aligned canon, where the Quints did the same in Cybertron’s early years, conning the young race into becoming their allies (servants), by bestowing both the futuristic space fairing technology Cybertronians enjoy today, their modern hierarchy (that became the corrupt caste system Megatron fought against) and the ability to Transform. Apparently the robots technically could already Transform as they all had Cogs, they just hadn’t LEARNED to Transform yet. Like the 80’s cartoon, these Quints intended to sell off the Transformers as products to the galaxy, with Sentinel (Zeta) Prime installed as their figurehead leader like in TFONE. Eventually they were chased off like in the old cartoon, but Prime nor RiD15 would ever revisit the Quintessons, though the prequel novels nobody read did claim the Autobots and Decepticons briefly became antagonized by them once more during the hunt for the Allspark in space.

Aligned’s main difference that’s fueled most modern interpretations is the Quintessons are the creations of Quintus Prime one of the newly established 13 original Transformers.

Aligned implies they killed Quintus and stole what they needed from him to become space fairing and eventually go to Cybertron, conquering other planets along the way.

The Quints were intended to be allies to Cybertron, as were other Quintus borne races, but this was not meant to be, due to the Quints’ hubris. EarthSpark’s version says the Quints were the first sons of the Prime, and in trying to discover their purpose, they became bitter and developed daddy issues, going around and killing off their cousins on other planets, attempting to acquire the Emberstone for their own use. The Quints and Transformers are strongly aware of each other, and clearly fought before, but their exact relationship has not been established yet, if at all.

TFONE greatly simplifies it to the Quints being an alien race that attacked Cybertron during the time of the Primes, though the hows and whys aren’t clear. What is clear is the jealous Sentinel made a bargain, helping them destroy the Primes and letting him be in control in exchange for paying them off in Energon to leave Cybertron alone. It’s not clear if Quintus Prime created the Quints in this universe, but there is a resemblance.

Quintus at some point: Sorry guys, you know how kids are!

Despite the Quintus origin, some modern media has gone back to the 80’s cartoon origin. Notably Age of Extinction and The Last Knight returning to the aliens created the Transformers idea, but the movies not directly using the Quintessons. However concept art does suggest the original intent WAS supposed to be the Quintessons…

Instead all we have is an alien hand and later Quintessa to go by.

It’s never clarified if the two are related, with Quintessa possibly being a Transformer and a Prime as well, but she is also called a liar by those formally in her employ so… She IS able to reprogram Optimus into doing her bidding however, so there’s that. She’s clearly inspired by Quintus, but isn’t connected beyond that. Her goal was to restore Cybertron by draining Earth of its life force and destroy Unicron in one fell swoop (as Earth is inexplicably Unicron again like in Prime). The organic Creators meanwhile were responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, deploying bombs that converted organics into cyber matter that made the metal of the Transformers. Lockdown was working for the Creators, but with the abrupt inclusion of Quintessa, it’s not clarified if he was working for her instead/also.

Cyberverse cast the Quintessons as major villains, but instead of the creation origin, they depicted them as trans dimensional entities that travel to other Transformers universes to judge them guilty and destroy them for no other reason other than they can. Truly the best kind of villain: petty. Still this Dr. Who meets The Matrix direction with them doesn’t appear to be at all popular despite the arc being regarded positively. I still think Cyberverse is awful top to bottom, but the general idea they went for is decent. The Primes exist here, as noted previously with Alchemist Prime, but it’s never stated if these Quintessons are related to Quintus Prime.

Netflix War For Cybertron and Skybound Energon Universe also return to the Quintesson origin for the Transformers, though in the former’s case, their connection, if any, to the Allspark is never clarified. Skybound’s Void Rivals is currently the main component using the Quints, and dialog heavily implies the cartoon origin, though some minor Aligned concepts creep up as well. Nevertheless the Quintus origin doesn’t appear to be as… nailed down as Hasbro probably would like.

Indeed despite the resurgence in relevance, Hasbro seems somewhat reluctant to use the Quintessons still. The Quintus origin in the modern era had only been used in EarthSpark, and even then it’s not used… super well. The Steven Universe Diamonds that need a family intervention, never mind the genocide they caused, persists here to much chagrin. With the inconsistency on how the Quints came to be in modern media, it also makes Quintus Prime unnecessary, if some media is treating the Quints as separate beings. Even IDW didn’t do anything with this, despite using a lot of the Aligned concepts, and for now Skybound seems content to ignore it also.

I think the reluctance is due to toys of them not doing well, with the Cyberverse ones doing especially poorly. The High Command guy being able to Transform toy wise seems to be an attempt to make it clear they fit in with Transformers, but their peg warming doesn’t seem to be fixing that.

Along with Hasbro and Paramount not handing the transition from Bee to ROTB properly (like how do we jump from what Bee did to suddenly Unicron attacks?), I don’t have high expectations that the Quintessons will be handled well for a possible TFTWO, if they’re even used at all.

Which is a shame because the ONE designs are pretty cool, they made the Quints more appropriately scary and intimidating vs the slightly goofy looking egg shaped Judges. And I like the Judges but still.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"THIS MAXIMAL DOESN'T JUST NEUTRALIZE THREATS -- HE DEMOLISHES THEM."

PIC(S) INFO: Resolution at 2025x3000 -- Spotlight on poster art for the 7th film in the "Transformers" franchise, Rhinox of the Maximals (plus file card info), from "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" (2023) -- released in cinemas everywhere on this day. Paramount Pictures/Hasbro.

NAME: Rhinox

DESIGNATION: Maximal warrior

CONVERTS INTO: An enormous metallic Rhino – 8,000 pounds of sheer force. 

COMBAT ABILITIES: Defined by his staggering strength and peerless physicality, once Rhinox gets going, he is impossible to stop. 

TRIVIA: In addition to Rhinox's intimidating smarts and strength, his armory also includes an enormous gatling gun. In case of emergencies.

Sources: IMDb & https://2ndopinion.ph/get-to-know-the-characters-of-transformers-rise-of-the-beasts.

[celestial-prime]

Transformers Franchise is dying...

In the past few days, some Transformers fans and influencers, including myself, are saying that the Transformers Franchise is dying... and unfortunately, they're right.

The Transformers franchise is slowly dying, and there are even rumors that by 2027, it might stop producing comics, merchandise, toys, literally, they will shut it down completely and stop everything. Which is terrifying. I had already been predicting this since last year, but many people couldn't see it, only now are they starting to realize it.

Transformers One was supposed to be the movie that would REVIVE the franchise, bring it back to life. But unfortunately, it failed miserably. After that flop, Hasbro stopped funding projects related to the franchise. And because of that, Transformers: Reactivate was also canceled, which worried a lot of people, including myself. I truly believed that Transformers One and Transformers: Reactivate were their last chances to bring the franchise back to the top.

But honestly, Transformers has been facing flop problems for a long time. And when I say a long time, I mean nearly seven years! In my opinion, the main cause of this seven-year downfall was Transformers: The Last Knight. I spent years defending that movie, but it was only last year (around August, I think, I don't really remember) that I finally realized how garbage and horrible it really is. That film caused massive damage to the franchise. The movie was so messy, disgusting and awful, that many fans lost interest and gave up on Transformers entirely.

Even though the Bumblebee movie and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts tried to save the franchise, they didn’t succeed, mostly because of the damage The Last Knight had already done. By the end of last year, with all the cancellations going on, I basically started leaving the franchise behind. I’m no longer keeping up with news or leaks. I’ve even stopped sharing fanart and memes here on this account and on my other social media.

The only thing I’m somewhat aware of now is that there’s a new comic series, where Optimus has Megatron’s arm in a weird, crazy storyline. That’s the only ongoing content I know about. There are also rumors that they want to make a new Transformers series, but once again, it’s supposed to be a kids' show, which won’t attract much attention from the general audience.

So unfortunately, Transformers is heading down a dark path, and I don’t think there’s a way back. Making movies? Out of the question, the franchise already has too many, and it’s oversaturated. Making series? Same problem. If I’m not mistaken, there are over nine Transformers series now, and each one has a different timeline and continuity. That’s another major issue with Transformers: too many universes, with no clear or official timeline like Generation 1 had.

The last series released was Transformers: Earthspark. I liked the first season, but from the second and third, everything went downhill. Even the first season already flopped due to numerous controversies, especially the one about Nightshade being a non-binary character. Their attempt to include diversity in Transformers made a lot of fans, especially parents (since it's a kids' show), really mad. The viewership dropped after the episode where Nightshade revealed their gender identity.

You can also see the drop in animation and graphic quality starting from seasons two and three. As much as I loved the dynamic of Megatron being an Autobot and really close to Optimus (I actually think the MegOp ship is semi-canon in that series), it wasn’t enough to draw in a bigger audience. And again, it’s still a kids’ show.

In my opinion, what could save the franchise is launching a new game, but one made in partnership with a giant game company. For example, FromSoftware, which is known for creating some of the best open-world games with deep stories and epic adventures. There are also countless other studios out there that could make a deal with Hasbro to buy the rights and develop a game. If done right, this could bring the franchise back to life. But honestly, the chances are slim because of Transformers’ bad reputation, mostly thanks to Michael Bay.

Not only that, but the franchise is also extremely saturated when it comes to storytelling. No matter the game, series, or movie, it’s always the same thing: Optimus Prime vs. Megatron, Autobots vs. Decepticons. And whenever a new project comes out, it’s set in a completely different continuity or universe. Meaning: Transformers doesn’t follow a consistent, canonical timeline anymore. The last time we had that was with G1 and some comic runs. Every other new series, movie, or game has had a different universe, with different stories and different origin tales.

This makes the franchise very saturated and confusing, because fans can’t keep up and don’t even know if what they’re watching is canon or not. The only things I was still enjoying from Transformers before stepping away were the film trilogy, a few of the series, and some comics, and that’s it.

Another thing they could do is create a new series with the same tone and quality as Transformers: Prime, but even more serious. Transformers: Prime was incredible, and they wasted so many elements, like Silas, who had so much potential to be a great villain in seasons two or three. They could’ve explored more powerful Cybertronian relics too. But because each episode was expensive to produce, the third season was super short, and the movie wasn’t long either.

To me, Transformers: Robots in Disguise doesn’t even exist, it was that bad, a complete disaster. But anyway, those are my thoughts. Only God knows if Transformers will ever rise again. Even though Transformers One is being called one of the most-watched movies on Prime Video and there's talk of making a trilogy, I still don’t think it’ll be enough to save the franchise, especially because of the massive retcons and reboots. (Transformers One is supposedly a complete reboot of the entire franchise). A lot of fans, especially the nostalgic ones, didn’t like that at all. Many of them prefer the original version over the new one.

So yeah... those are my thoughts. I’m out of the loop now, and I don’t plan on coming back, because Transformers really is dying. And that’s why I chose to step away, I just can’t bear to watch one of the franchises that shaped my childhood die out completely. That’s why I’ve been more into other franchises now, like Sonic, and FNAF, which I’ve followed since the beginning, but now I’m back to being more active in it, along with other series as well.

Anyway... that was my rant. I’m leaving Transformers behind by choice, because I don’t want to suffer watching it fall apart.

[kollectorsrus]

[prince-toffee]

You know, a thing I like to do, a hobby of mine, is I take a show or movie and I rewrite it in my head, see what I would've done differently, fixing any flaws I've personally had with it. I do this with all the things I like. For fun.

When I watched Transformers One; nothing. It was perfect. I literally could not rewrite it in any better way. That movie is not only a love letter, but a gift to us all. If hasbro were to say that TFOne is the base origin for every universe moving forward I'd just nod my head and clap my hands.

[dynared]

Well, Void Rivals #16, on the letters page, officially announced an intent from Robert Kirkman and friends to push Hasbro for an Energon Universe TV show. The letters page, "Talk to the Handroid", had them saying this:

"...And having an Energon Hour TV series would be amazing...fingers crossed that Hasbro might see the value in that too."

"Yeah, wouldn't that be the coolest thing ever! Fingers triple crossed."

It's the first time that Kirkman and friends at Skybound have declared an open intention to get an adaptation of the Energon Universe made. While Hasbro normally does not directly adapt the comics, preferring instead to selectively import elements from them into shows and films, here there are a few things that might work in Kirkman's favor.

Transformers itself has been on a major financial downturn since roughly 2014 when Age of Extinction broke $1 billion at the box office like Dark of the Moon did. Since then it's been a continued decrease in theatrical profits, one show bombing after another in numerous markets, and in 2024, the first Transformers movie to definitively lose money at the box office coupled with the complete failure of Transformers Earthspark as a television show.

The potential for G.I. Joe to get a major animated series after a decade drought and its own less-than-well-received movies. G.I. Joe #1 was the best-selling non-Marvel/DC comic of 2024 and the Kickstarter for the hardcovers of Larry Hama's seminal Marvel run pulled down $3,794,167, and while naysayers will argue the latter was mostly fueled by civil service workers and dentists who grew up reading Joe at a local 7-11, the new comic being that successful has shown a public that is willing to engage in Joe stories that embrace the more fantastical elements of the franchise vs. what their detractors fear as a more jingoistic military story (not that Joe was guilty of that in the Hama comics which did a lot to dispel romanticism with the military, but it's an inevitable part of selling soldier toys).

Robert Kirkman, unlike previous writers such as Simon Furman (a work-for-hire turned editor at Marvel who got his big break after G1 the cartoon was canceled and was later invited to write the finale of Beast Wars and X-Men Evolution, as well as consult on the Bay films) and James Roberts (whose books never sold well and these days seems to be persona non grata at Hasbro, not without cause mind you), has a track record of turning successful comic books into successful TV shows, starting with The Walking Dead, Outcast, and now including Invincible. He's done this before and knows how to make adaptation work from page-to-screen. He also has the success to push it with the comics, since we wouldn't be having this conversation if Transformers was doing Lost Light numbers.

So with Kirkman actively pushing for a show now, and Hasbro itself only releasing possibly one more Earthspark special and a Youtube only show, an Energon Universe show may be much more attractive than it was when the initiative started in 2023. Will they do it? Only time will tell.