#mainly I feel like half of the time I don’t know how tf Jazz looks. The guy switching between his looks so often jdjfjfj

[keferon]

The tac net crash chapter is one of my favorites so far~

Ah and. Guess what. I just discovered that including this post, I made 50 pieces of fanart for Mistakes on mistakes until.. I’m so sane and normal about this story can you tell👍

[machsabre]

My Transformers: Cyberverse Predictions

All right, this is wild mass speculation here. This is not based on any established facts that we know of. I based these on franchise trends, as well as a few old insider connections that I used to have and just plain old gut feelings.

Here's the thing. Every time we're about to have a new series, in an odd way I'm able to guess what that series will be like within a modest margin of error. The only one that totally three me off was Cybertron/Galaxy Force, and that was only because I was under the impression Hasbro wanted to continue the story and when Studio Gonzo took over for Actas (then Aeon), and not to mention I had heard the rumblings of doing a stateside show again. (Ended up that Galaxy Force WASN’T a continuation, but Hasbro edited it to be one. And those rumblings I heard were probably the early stages of Animated.)

I’m not saying I’m always right. Oh hell no! Only an asshole would ever make that claim. But I got a decent track record on this stuff, so I’m giving it a shot.

So going into Cyberverse here, line wide, this is what I’m predicting:

Continuity: This one is up for grabs. They could pull a Cybertron and SAY it’s connected. Or it could just be a fresh start. I would like the connection, but honestly… A fresh start might not be a bad idea. Let’s face it. Other than Rescue Bots, the entire Aligned Universe has been one giant clusterbang. It might just be best to make a new fresh start and that’s what I’m going with. (I’d be happy to be wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.)

Series Format: This mainly depends on the network they’re on. If they are embracing the shared universe, Stretch Armstrong is on Netflix. They may want to keep to there. Other toy centric shows have had some successes there too... But if only I could think of their name...

...I’m sure it’ll come to me.

But if this is going to be a Cartoon Network series, I can totally see them embracing the 11 minute episode that many of their shows do. This is not a bad thing. Because sometimes the 22 minute format? Hell, just look at NuRiD. I liked it, but there were plenty of times that you could have condensed the episode down in half. And shorter episodes means more focused episodes too. (Plus if you decide to have a goofy fun episode, it’s only 11 minutes long!) Also the 11 minute episodes would allow Cartoon Network to place the new show on at better times. (Like the afternoons and evenings.)

However, due to recent talks with Paramount, it’s highly possible that it may end up on Nickelodeon. That’s also not a bad thing. They are fond of the full 22 minute episodes, so they could easily combine the two as well. Nick also has more money and is willing to pump more advertisements into their shows... 

...Unless you’re Korra, apparently.

Also we see that Chapter 1 is out in 2018 and Chapter 2 in 2019… I suspect we’re looking at Late Fall 2018, in time for the holidays, as well as to hype the Bumblebee movie, and Early Spring 2019. Which particular time planning like that leads me to believe in the Netflix destination. So that’s what I’m leaning toward. We’ll find out. 

Tone-wise: A lot of this will be dependent on who the showrunner will be. Looking at how Hasbro is playing with the Micronauts series and the Stretch Armstrong series… It’ll be light hearted with some actual serious moments. Think like Cartoon Network’s shows like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Gumball and Regular Show. Fun shows, but can get rather dark if needed. And not afraid to push some boundaries. I can see some older fans losing their shit over this, because it’s not all dark and serious... But like I said the last time I talked about Cyberverse: As long as the kinds like it, that’s ALL that matters.

Quality: Boulder Media has an awesome track record. Quality will be top notch. It may not be the style one may like, but the style will be done with high quality. I think we’re looking at a traditionally animated series here as opposed to CGI. I really think NuRiD was almost onto something here. The robots looked GREAT. But the humans needed more work. I would have liked to see them continued with the toon shaded CGI, but with drawn people… Like how Energon handled it… But you know… Done good. Either way, I’ll probably like what they come up with. (I already like the robot styles from that one clip image we saw.)

Toys: I remember a friend (who is happily working away on the third Avengers movie toys now) mentioning that during NuRiD that those Minicon Battle 2-packs of Team Bee (minus Drift) were a test market for the next line. 

I actually thought that they were mostly all pretty cool toys. And I think this is what we’re looking at. It’ll be mostly compatible with that Evergreen line coming out soon. Pricing will be around $9.99. I suspect that we’re mainly going to be sticking with the “one size for all” format that we’ve had for the last few years. They might go a little experimental and have the larger bots (Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, ect) be released at a Deluxe/Warrior size scale… (Kind of sliding the scale down a bit.) But I wouldn’t hold my breath at that. It’d be cool to have scale again, but I think we’ll continue with the usual trend here. I suspect that these will replace the 1-step changers, as they have simplified transformations as it is, and these will be the majority of the line.

Marketing: I suspect Hasbro is going to give this a much harder advertisement push than previous series. Due to the lackluster reception the recent movie had (and the fact that a metric shit ton of those toys’ first wave are STILL clogging the shelves), they’ll want to differentiate the line from the recent movie. (Something I suspect the Bumblebee movie will do too!)

Also this time around, Cyberverse will play heavily into Generations. Hasbro has been doing this a while, and I think Transformers is about to catch up to this. Each of their action figure lines usually have three categories and three different main price points. The first is usually means for the younger kids. (With Marvel or Star Wars, we’re looking at the Playskool figures, which TFs already have with Rescue Bots.) Then there’ll be the middle category, with toys usually around the $8-10 range. We see these with Star Wars and the Marvel toys as well. Mattel does this as well. This would normally be where NuRiD is at, but due to how the toyline started and what it carried over from, and predating these linewide formats… The NuRiD toys cost about $5 more than they probably wanted them to be. (I suspect this is the reason the NuRiD warrior class are often a rare release. I think we’ve only had ONE release of Jazz and Sideswipe. And Sideswipe is a main character!) This middle tier is almost always focused on the new cartoon that’s out. The Guardians, Spider-Man and Avengers toys are based on the current cartoons than the movies. Cyberverse will follow suit. And then lastly, the higher tier adult collectors ones. For Marvel, it’s the Legends line. For Star Wars, it’s the Black Series. And for Transformers, it’ll be Generations, now at the $20 range.

It’s not too hard to figure out how the Transformers will fit in.

So while Robots in Disguise is done, it’s still gotta carry the series for kids for a little under a year. (Especially with the Bumblebee movie not coming out until Christmas next year!) So if you all remember how Classics got started over ten years ago? I suspect that’s what this Evergreen line is going to be. A filler line to bridge the gap in their product offerings and to set the tone for Cyberverse’s smaller size scale.

(Seriously, I don’t mind the ‘straight armed’ Bumblebee and the Megatron. As well as the not shown Starscream... But that Optimus Prime bugs the hell out of me! Seriously? You couldn’t get the arms to bend?)

And that’s my thoughts. We still got almost a year until it’s release, to see how far off I am. I could be close or I could be full of shit. I dunno. If you got your own, please feel free to share. I’d love to hear it.