"The Hub Network, champions of family fun and the only network dedicated to providing kids and their families entertainment they can watch together, announced today that a new animated series is currently in production for the globally renowned TRANSFORMERS brand. Set to debut in early 2015, the new action-packed series is being produced by Hasbro Studios, the production and distribution division of Hasbro, Inc., and is executive produced by Jeff Kline (“Transformers Prime,” “G.I. Joe Renegades”).But this small amount of information ACTUALLY tells us quite a bit of information about the upcoming series. So I figured I'd collate it all here for people to look over:
Taking place years after the battle between Autobots and Decepticons in “Transformers Prime,” this all new series centers around our hero Bumblebee stepping up to lead a brand new team of Autobots. The show features an all-star cast with Will Friedle (“Boy Meets World”) returning as Bumblebee, along with Darren Criss (“Glee”), Constance Zimmer (“House of Cards”) and Ted McGinley (“Married with Children”). Blending 3D characters with hand-painted environments, the series mixes action-packed adventure with lots of comedy, making it a rip-roaring experience for kids and families to enjoy together.
This is a big year as the TRANSFORMERS brand celebrates its 30th anniversary. The Hub Network will also be celebrating the success of the franchise with special events to be announced later this year."
- This series is beginning in 2015, this is most likely so it doesn't conflict with the 30th Anniversary and the 4th Transformers movie (both this year) and will allow it to last for a longer amount of time, unlike with poor old Animated :(
- The poster shows Bumblebee and Optimus in their new designs, showing us that they are going with a hybrid Prime and Animated art style this time around, which should make fans of both series happy. This is also a good thing as this will mean that the episodes will be quicker to make (meaning less hiatus periods that Prime was infamous for) and likely more crowd scenes (which Animated was loved for!)
- The series is set an undetermined amount of years after the end of Transformers: Prime. This confirms that the series is set in the Aligned continuity (which was obviously going to be the case regardless, considering the time and effort Hasbro put into this new continuity). Due to the time lapse they can avoid showing the rebuilding and repopulating of Cybertron (and thus avoid being too much like the Robots in Disguise comic) and can even show what advances have been made on Earth in that time too - Do Humans know about the Transformers? What are the kids (now adults likely) doing? and so on.
- The series is set at least in part on Cybertron, as shown by the poster, meaning we get to explore a new rebuilt version of the planet that we all love.
- The main cast features only one returning actor (Will Friedle as Bumblebee) meaning that the previous cast members are either not appearing, or will have more of a guest appearance setup. This is good as we get more characters to grow attached to, but with the likelihood of older ones appearing too. The only confirmed role is that Bumblebee will be leader.
- Optimus, as shown in the poster seems to be a ghost or a hologram of some sort, and appears to be based on his Beast Hunters body, further supporting this theory. This means that either he is to be a "force ghost" type character to guide Bumblebee in leadership, or is simply just a memorial statue of some sort.
- We have no word on some of the left-over plot points, such as Airachnid and the Insecticons, or even the Rescue Bots. This series could be dangerous for Rescue Bots in particular, since it COULD give spoilers to future events in that series (since it's still set concurrently with about series 1/2 of Prime as of now) but hopefully it'll avoid anything like that...it would be nice to see Heatwave and the others with the Prime characters of course though :)
- At the end of Prime, the Decepticons have been disbanded (at least what we've seen of them anyway) and since we know Cybertron has been rebuilt that likely means that the war has ended in general too. This could mean that another enemy or faction could make an appearance, such as the Star Seekers or Quintessons. I wouldn't really expect the Predacons to be a threat in this series, since they seemed content enough with just living their lives as an endangered species on Cybertron for now
So these are just my thoughts on a series that has yet to be made....I hope you enjoyed them, and let me know what you think I should discuss in the future, or just your own personal opinions on the matter in the comments below!
