Transformers Interviews News on Seibertron.com

Future Transformers Sequels to be a Blend of Bumblebee Movie Characterization and Bayhem

Date: Monday, March 18th 2019 9:22am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Collider and the River

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There was a bit of confusion last week with the announcement that the Bayverse was here to stay, at least in some fashion. Of course, no one associated with the films had said otherwise and the word "reboot" had never actually been used but some fans were eager to move away from the Michael Bay films of the past. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura acknowledges this in his latest interview saying that he has definitely heard the disdain for Michael Bay's films and the joy at the change of pace and style found in the Bumblebee film, which focused more on character. Bumblebee proved that a film set in the Bayverse could be different enough to provide fans a new experience and future films will follow suite, it is a lesson the producer has learnt.

However, Mr Di Bonaventura did also hear many fans saying that Bumblebee did lack the level of action that came with a Transformers film. Afterall, it wasn't necessarily the action element that fans disliked from the Bay films. So future films will try to satisfy both parties, those looking for more of what the Bumblebee movie offered and those seeking more "Bayhem". That was his choice of words, which you can read below in an interview from Collider.

Also, while an Optimus Prime centric film was on the table at some point, the producer has stated that this project has morphed into the buddy movie of Optimus and Bumblebee which will serve as a sequel to last year's Transformers: Bumblebee movie. That tidbit was reported in an interview with The River.

“…the audience had asked us several times, in different ways, ‘I want to get to know a Transformer better.” We did that. In some respects, definitely a tip to what the audience had said to us. The interesting part is when you set out to do something like that, you don’t exactly know the ramifications of it. In this case, the ramification of it was, for the people who didn’t love the movie, was not enough action. Because you’re telling a more intimate story, therefore you can’t. So the criticism we got from some fans was like, “Hey, come on.” It was funny, I was just in Japan…and one of the reporters said to me, ‘I love the movie, I love this, I love this, and I was very tired of Michael Bay.’ I said, ‘Uh huh, I’ve heard this before.” And he goes, ‘But you know, after watching this film, I kind of wish it had a little more Michael Bay.’ It was really funny. I said, ‘Listen, I completely understand. I like what Michael does, too. Two different films, two different attempts.'”

“Several lessons have come out of this. One is that we have the freedom to tell almost any story. The other is that, how strongly the audience identified with the strength of character and emotion. I know the next Transformer, our attempt anyway, is to sort of do a fusion of Bumblebee and the Bay movies…a little more Bayhem. And a little bit more of the character falling in love within the emotional dynamic of the movie. One of the things I want to do—and I hope we pull it off—is, we did it with Bumblebee because he’s so cute and he’s so accessible, but he can’t talk. I think the more human we can make these characters, the more people are going to like them.”

Two Sequels in Transformers Live Action Franchise Confirmed in Development

Date: Friday, March 15th 2019 10:35am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): http://cinema.pia.co.jp

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The main Transformers film franchise producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, stated he is currently overseeing the scripting of two Transformers films sequels. He said so as part of a bigger interview to a Japanese movie news website as part of the Bumblebee press tour. One of the films is the next big tentpole Transformers film to follow The Last Knight, while the other is a sequel to Bumblebee. Please keep in mind that the film following the last Knight was already said to be a new experience and thus may involve a new storyline rather than finishing what was started in the Last Knight. The Bumblebee sequel is said to be a buddy movie featuring Optimus and Bumblebee. So one would take place in the past while the other in the present.

Here is a quote from the website:

Throughout the day, Di Bonaventura talks with smiles," Our greatest mission is to the audience To be satisfied, "to meet the expectations of the audience." To that end, he and his colleagues are already working on a new series. "We are already working on two projects and are in the process of writing a script. One is the latest in the main family series following Transformers: The Last Knight and the other is a sequel to Bumblebee So, we are thinking of works where Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will be the buddy (buddy), but when Optimus and Bumblebee are the movies of the protagonists ... how human beings get involved in their drama In the first place, the size is different between human beings and theirs .... It's a worrying point (laughs).

This of course puts the whole kibosh on fans wanting a complete reboot. Of course, the fact that the same producer overseeing the entire franchise at Paramount had confirmed that there was no reboot all along was also a pretty good hint.

Interview about Siege Omega Supreme with new Image of Details and Gimmicks

Date: Monday, March 11th 2019 6:53pm CDT
Categories: Toy News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Hasbro Pulse

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Hasbro Pulse released an interview with John Warden about Omega Supreme, read it below and check out the detailed images of the mold.

Welcome to the first edition of Hasbro Pulse: Behind the Design, where we talk to the product designers behind some of your favorite toys and collectibles. We sat down with the Transformers Senior Design Manager, John W., to get the scoop on the recently revealed War for Cybertron: Siege – Omega Supreme figure.



Hasbro Pulse: 
This figure…pretty darn big. Exactly how big is this Omega Supreme?

John: 
He’s approximately 2 feet tall. You really have to look at this character – a lot of people judge the height of the character by the head. For some fans, it will be up for debate, but we’re saying he’s about 2 feet tall and is the largest in the Siege toy line. What’s interesting about a character like this is that not only is he big, but he has a solid feel to him, too. We’ve been listening to the fans and we’re trying to eliminate some of those plastic voids.

Hasbro Pulse: 
Before we go any further, I have to ask, does this Omega Supreme figure have waist articulation?

John: 
He does, he definitely does. We get that question a lot! “He’s cool, but does he have waist articulation?” It’s funny how much the G1 toy design has influenced people’s opinion. I remember as a kid this guy really throwing down in the cartoon, and he would bend at his waist, and could do all this different cool stuff. I remember playing with the G1 toy as a kid, and thinking to myself, “Wow…not only is it smaller than the cartoon, but it’s definitely not moving like the cartoon.” Fans of Siege know there’s a lot of articulation we built into these figures, and we wanted to make sure that the Titan Class character also had the same level of articulation.

 

Hasbro Pulse:

I imagine with a figure so large, you’re dealing with challenges you wouldn’t otherwise see on smaller figures. What would you say was your biggest challenge when designing this figure?

John: 
Like all Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege toys, we partner with Takara Tomy – they are really the legends of converting from robot to vehicle or beast or whatever it is that these characters convert into. The experts at Takara Tomy presented a bunch of big challenges out of the gate. Our job at Hasbro is to carry that vision and communicate, “Here are some of the big things that we want out of the character,” and give Takara Tomy a list of priorities. I think probably the biggest challenge out of the gate was we had a pretty darn big wish list for this character. Trying to get everything into a character this scale was a challenge. The hardest thing of all is really when you have a big character, like all Titan Class characters, you’re dealing with the weight of the character and the physics of it – how do you retain poses and how do you allow the thing to convert? In the case of Omega Supreme, part of his conversion is that he (to use the parlance of Transformers fandom) is a parts-Transformer, so he actually breaks apart into a couple different pieces, like the 80s version did. Having the pieces connect in a robust way that still allows him to articulate to retain those cool poses was a huge challenge. So, in summary, we asked for the moon and we got a space station.

Hasbro Pulse: 
You talked about this figure as a parts-Transformer and how he breaks into all these different parts. Can you walk us through all the parts that make up Omega Supreme?



 

John: 
First there is his robot mode that features a lot of G1 cues, like his movable hand that’s so classic to Omega Supreme. He also has Fire Blasts – these little clear effects parts that we’ve been including across the line. Omega Supreme has special ones that compound onto each other and can be posed out in his hands or across his body by way of the 3mm port system to give a frozen-in-the-moment-of-battle effect for the big robot. When you break him down into his vehicle/base mode, he has a rocket base station with a track. We’ve elevated the track so it’s more like a perimeter defense wall. And then, he of course has a tank that can fit on this track. It’s not motorized, but we have allowed it to connect to that track and move around on it in a cool way, like a monorail does, hanging off the side a little bit.



Then we have this huge rocket. The rocket is really, really impressive. When you see it in person, it’s a nice, fully detailed, very realistic-looking space-themed vehicle with an awesome cockpit up at the top. You can open that up and find all sorts of cool little sensor details on the inside and it perfectly fits the Micromaster Autobot Countdown figure. Omega Supreme is the only place you can get this Micromaster character. This is actually more of a throwback to the rocket base Micromaster set from the late 80s. Not to totally geek out on it, but the original Omega Supreme didn’t come with a Micromaster, so this is a way for us to bring Micromasters into the whole experience of the Titan Class. This is what we usually do with our toy lines; we try to let the Titan Class guy epitomize whatever the ecosystem is for the year, like when we did Predaking. We put the Prime Master Onyx Prime figure in there just because it was part of the ecosystem of the Power of the Primes. And for Omega Supreme, the ecosystem is about weaponizing and armoring up with a combat system. It’s also about these Micromasters so we’re hoping fans are satisfied by being able to get not just a cool G1 character, but also something that becomes the pinnacle of their whole collection.



Hasbro Pulse: 
What was your favorite part about this figure? Is there anything that you hope fans notice? Is there anything that you’re like, THIS is the coolest part right here, this is it?

John: 
I could geek out for a long time on this thing, but between Hasui-san at Takara Tomy and I, we really built in all sorts of little Easter eggs into this figure. I don’t want to spoil them all here, but one of my favorite things about this figure is outside of the little canopy inside of the rocket for the Countdown figure, there are little hidden places to put your Micromaster figures across the whole thing. One of the challenges we faced by making this come apart into two different components to form the rocket base was that you got a lot of really unusual geometry in the rocket base part. You have these voids, you have a half cylinder piece going through the whole thing, and also a section where the tank fits inside of it. Even back in the 80s, this gantry tower kind of thing that came with Omega Supreme was kind of an afterthought.

Once you start to play with Omega Supreme, and you start to unfold all the pieces, you’ll find that there are a lot of little details designed in the figure, and I’m only going to give away one secret: In the 80s, the tracks on the outside were in this round circle that went around the rocket base. We designed the track elements to connect in different ways, so if you were lucky enough to have multiple guardian robots, you could connect the tracks together and create a highway of sorts. The connection system that we’re using on there is the same connection system we’ve used in the past on Fortress Maximus and I think even some of the Titans Return characters had them. So, if you’re one of those people who has a huge collection of base-forming robots, you can start to connect them together.

 

Backwards Compatibility with Prime Wars Confirmed for WFC Siege Omega Supreme and Jetfire

Date: Tuesday, February 19th 2019 12:49pm CST
Categories: Toy News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): unicron

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Views: 37,586

A video from unicron.com surfaced on Facebook with John Warden talking about the new Jetfire and Omega Supreme toys done by him and his team. The big takeaway from it was the fact that both feature backwards compatibility with the previous toyline trilogy John Warden worked on, Prime Wars.

Omega Supreme has ports on his track which are compatible with the bases in Titans return including of course the other Titans Trypticon and Fortress Maximus. This is so that fans and kids can build their own massive citis with the huge bases. You can see those connecting ports on the image below.

Jetfire also has backwards compatibility but with Prime Masters and Titan Masters. Both of those smaller kinds of bots can sit in Jetfire's cockpit.

These are just fun Easter Egg type features that will not be documented since they are meant as a bonus to fans who already have figures from prevous lines. If you don't have those previously released figures, don't worry there is a lot to enjoy from these fgures which each have their own special features.

Another point regarding Omega Supreme, John Warden did confirm that his bot mode is meant to scale with Devastator.

Let us know if any of this info makes you happy and if you feel Hasbro is taking things up a notch with their Transformers toys.

Travis Knight Discusses Bumblebee's Continuity with Bay Films, Alf and More

Date: Monday, January 14th 2019 7:55pm CST
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Empire

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Travis Knight sat down with Empire for their spoiler podcast to discuss the Bumblebee movie in his most candid interview yet. While he discusses a lot of this prequel's aspects we wanted to share some segments pertaining to the continuity with the Bay films. It is a subject he does address, and one the interviewer is very curious of (as we all are). He does mention why certain aspects may be inconsistent or not mentioned, even though it is a prequel and within the larger Bayverse. We have a transcript of those questions and answers below along with a question pertaining to Alf.

Please note, the transcript is a slightly edited version of what was said, for ease of reading.

Was it important to bring sector 7 back in because it was a nice little running thing for this

Yeah, we wanted to have a foot in each world. There is the last 10 years of Transformers movies, directed by Michael Bay, which have a ton of mythology and also the original wave of Transformers which had its own mythology and its sometimes connected and sometimes not with the films and so I wanted to have a foot in each world. So we're paying tribute to the last 10 years of live-action films but also a foot in the origins of these things where we can pay tribute to the initial wave of Comics and cartoons. So sector 7 was something that he evolved out of Michael's films. It was a secret society that hunts Transformers and there is a lot of subtle nods to the stuff that Michael has done. Even if you have never seen a Transformers film you can watch Bumblebee and nothing else matters but for those were fans of the live-action series or the cartoons there are a ton of layers and easter eggs and sector 7 is one of them including agent Simmons who is a young John Turturro who becomes one of the heavies later in the series.

Witn John Cena I wanted an actor who was physically formidable and who had layers of menace and aggression and when necessary humor and pathos. For me because I had seen him as a comedic actor, I had never seen him do what we ask him to do in this movie. I was incredibly impressed by what he was able to bring to the movie and he was a real joy to work with.


Regarding the Michael Bay films, were there points of cannon and that you had to stick to? Did you feel constricted that you have to meet certain things or not contradict certain things?

Yes, there is always concern with that although I think that continuity is certainly not a huge priority of Michael's. He prioritizes other things like incredible visuals and spectacle and fun. But even within the films themselves as much as I enjoyed them there are inconsistencies, so with this film if you're going to be consistent with one thing you'll be inconsistent with another thing. But it was important that I had a degree of continuity and wanting to tell a self contained story that was not necessarily bound by a decade of mythology, which was a little bit tricky. We had to simplify it. I wanted to make sure that an audience could come to the film watch it from beginning to end and have a good time, get all the information and all the fun they can get out of it. But at the same time someone who is a Transformers fan can get other layers of entertainment. But yes there were definitely things you couldn't play around with (editor's note, see Megatron article for examples) and there were other things that we could take some liberties with.

Everyone in this reality seems to really like Alf so is that a personal favorite?

Yes that is absolutely me, nobody else cares about Alf, that was me, that was me putting Alf in there.
Alf is amazing and ALF stands for "alien life form" so it's a nod to Bumblbebee and his origins as well.

Hints at a potential Beast Wars movie from Bumblebee producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura

Date: Saturday, January 5th 2019 1:21pm CST
Categories: Movie Related News, Rumors, Interviews
Posted by: Amelie | Credit(s): china.org.cn

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China.Org has reported of a potential Beast Wars movie as well as the (still rumored) Optimus Prime movie. Bumblebee movie producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura was also careful to state that the chances of subsequent movies are riding on the success of Bumblebee at the Box Office.

He also mentioned the animated movie was in its writing stage, though with other titles already riding on Bumblebee's success – being in the writing stage doesn't exactly guarantee even the animated movie's release, either.

China.org wrote:"We have an animated movie in the writing stage right now. We are trying to figure out an Optimus Prime movie, while the Beast Wars franchise has the chance, too."

However, the producer stressed this could only happen under one condition: "Bumblebee" must be a success.”

You can read the full report here, which also mulls over design choices for the Bumblebee movie and its more G1 centric aesthetic.

With the Bumblebee movie still being pushed at the cinema is it too early to be giving hints of Beast Wars and Optimus Prime to generate hype for more movies or is it a carrot to generate additional sales for the Bumblebee movie? If Beast Wars or Optimus Prime is going ahead – what are you hoping for? Share your thoughts on the Energon Pub right here on Seibertron.com!

Transformers: Bumblebee Movie Producer Explains how the Film is 100% a Prequel and not a Reboot

Date: Friday, January 4th 2019 2:37pm CST
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): https://www.metro.us/entertainment/movies/bumblebee-transformers-lorenzo-dibonaventura

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The percentage in the title is not a turn of phrase nor something inferred in any way, it comes from a quote by Bumblebee movie producer Lorenzo Di Bonventura. Whether Bumblebee is a prequel or reboot (or anything in between) has been a hot topic for fans , especially those who want to distance themselves as much as possible from the previous films made by Michael Bay. These debates have reached Bonaventura who sat down with Metro and explained why to him, the Bumblebee film was 100% a prequel and nothing else. Here is everything he said. Of course, please be advised that it contains spoilers:

“Someone described Bumblebee to me as, ‘99% prequel, 1% not’.” “I was like, ‘What was the 1%?’ He said, ‘It is the scene where Optimus and all the other guys come to Earth at the end.’”

“I was like, ‘That doesn’t contradict anything we have said before. Who is to say they haven’t been around Robots In Disguise since then.’”

“That scene was always imagined but in many different versions. We didn’t do that scene until we’d shot the movie. Because we felt the movie was going to dictate that scene a little bit. What happened is that you got to see Haliee return to her family. Bumblebee needs to return to his family. Otherwise what happened to poor Bumblebee? That was our thinking.”

“Plus Optimus said we are going to go to Earth. We are gonna regroup. And then we are gonna go back. In our minds they went back out. It had nothing to do with the other films, and was completely about the emotional journey of Bumblebee.”

Interview with Screenwriter Christina Hodson on Transformers Bumblebee Movie, and Reshoots

Date: Monday, October 8th 2018 2:48am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Den of Geek, Hailee Steinfeld

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A couple of updates from the world of the Transformers Bumblebee Movie - the sixth to be produced and released, but yet unsure if the sixth in the series (even as a prequel, it's believed more and more this may be part of a new narrative timeline) - in the form of a new interview with screenwriter Christina Hodson courtesy of Den of Geek.

“I always wanted to see me be the hero,” Hodson says. “I wanted to see me kick ass. I mean, not literally. I had no desire to be an actor, but I wanted to have those role models and those heroes. I think what's really fun is that [Bumblebee] is a big, cool, fun, action movie the boys are going to love, but girls love action, too, and this is a chance for girls to see themselves in the movie. Which I think is a really special and important thing.”

[...]

“Charlie is really our entry point into the movie. She doesn't know anything about Transformers,” says Hodson, calling Bumblebee “custom-made for people who are new to the franchise.” “But, of course, if you're a fan, you'll get wonderful little Easter eggs that you'll get to enjoy that other people won't.”

The prequel film offers a chance to get to see the Bumblebee character, who Hodson admits has always been her favorite, in a new light.

“This is really an origin story for Bumblebee,” she says, “but the character traits are all the same. They're all there. His loyalty, his kindness. He's fun-loving and really he's been the one who has always had that special bond with humans, whether it's Sam or someone else; that was something that I wanted to lean into a bit and see where and how that began.”

Additionally, we also learn of some reshoots happening for the movie, with cast members Hailee Steinfeld and Jason Drucker (Charlie and Otis Watson) as well as the Volkswagen alt-mode for the titular character, as per the actors' Instagram stories.

Travis Knight Interview on Bumblebee Trailer Revealing Starscream and Wheeljack

Date: Monday, September 24th 2018 9:48pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News, Interviews
Posted by: notsoalex

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Were all of you excited out the new Bumblebee trailer? Well Travis Knight has done an interview with Empire Online on the trailer, revealing some behind the scenes as well as some insight on the movie to come.

Some highlights is the character of Memo (played by Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) who is Charlie's new neighbor.

"Memo is new to town, he's Charlie's next door neighbour and someone who we get to know as she gets to know him at the same time. We see their relationship bloom and grow and be challenged; they have a lovely friendship in the film but the core of the movie is the relationship between Charlie and Bee."

We also get confirmation Starscream will appear, possibly as a background character.

We're swiftly disabused of that notion thanks to a barrage of familiar faces including Decepticon premiereship players Shockwave, Starscream and Blitzwing, all in their original, first generation forms.

We also get a little heartfelt speech about Transformers to Knight.

"I grew up with these Transformers and the story that I wanted to tell was something that was resonant and evocative of those original wave of Transformers stories. I loved those things so much. They were new, they were magical, they were wondrous. They connected with me emotionally and they were exciting to watch. That's the kind of film I wanted to make here."

Knight also heavily implies Wheeljack is going to make an appearance in a G1-esque body.

"There's a lot going on," laughs Knight. "If I was going to make a Transformers film I wanted to give nods to some of the things that I loved most about the series to begin with and for me seeing those original designs on Shockwave and Soundwave and Ravage and Wheeljack and all those different characters was a really exciting opportunity to take the audience back to that initial wave of Transformers and to evoke the same feeling that they evoked in me. I was pretty giddy bringing those guys to life."

You can read the full interview here.

So thoughts? Comments? Well you know where to say 'em, the Pub forums below!

New IDW Transformers Comics Reboot Confirmed for 2019

Date: Tuesday, August 7th 2018 9:16am CDT
Categories: Comic Book News, Interviews
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): ICv2

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This slipped under our radar in previous days, but there is a new interview with IDW Publishing's Publishing President Greg Goldstein, courtesy of ICv2, in which no actual new information comes out - but we do have confirmation on two major points that people have been speculating about the Transformers (and Hasbro Universe, I suppose) comic once the current continuity ends this October.

Namely: yes, there will be a reboot, set for some point in 2019; and yes, the licence from Hasbro has been renewed, the ending happening at the same time as the renewal was a coincidence at best. REad the relevant extracts from the piece below, and head here for the full story.

A couple of quick questions on licenses. You mentioned how you’re wrapping up your Hasbro storyline. Was that done in conjunction with the time for renewal of the license?

Yeah. It's funny, I've seen some commentary on that. We've been in business with Hasbro for 12 years. We love the relationship. They are a great partner. We try to deliver the best possible books month in and month out on not just Transformers, but on GI Joe and on My Little Pony. We had a great Jem and the Holograms series. Jem will be back. They're probably going to say, "Why is Greg pre‑announcing these things?" In any event, no. Sometimes, it's easy to extrapolate incorrect information, so no, the Transformers line and the other titles continue.


[...]

We’ve got three monthly Marvel books as of January 2019, the opportunity to do some specials, maybe one‑shots and some other things with Marvel. They're very excited about it, we're very excited about it.

Our Transformers reboot for 2019 is going to be great.

We've got some pretty exciting projects on the Star Trek front.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja] Turtles is heading to issue 100. We have the longest‑running Turtles series in the history of the brand. The brand's 35 years old next year.