NYCC 2011 - Hasbro Transformers Panel On Games, Toys, and Television - UPDATED With Panel Images

[Wheeljack35]

http://tformers.com/transformers-nycc-2011-hasbro-transformers-panel/16638/news.html

[spystreak]

my wallet's going to hate 2012 with all these Prime figures coming I'm glad DOTM Wheeljack's getting a remold there was no way I was going to get a toy of the einstein/Que version

[Agent Adam]

Wow that third Ratchet repaint is pretty surprising. The Bumblebee is completely unsurprising though. Not sure I'll get the Wheeljack repaint. Pretty disappointed there was nothing about voyagers or Generations aside from the FoC figures that they blink-and-you-missed-them-showed. Still, since NYCC isn't a normal event for Hasbro, we were lucky to get what little new info was gleamed I guess.

[Wheeljack35]

http://tformers.com/transformers-nycc-2011-transformers-prime-panel/16641/news.html

 

 

NYCC 2011 - Transformers Prime Panel - A Preview of What Is To Come

 

By Jay C on Sunday, October 16, 2011

 

 

 

 

PANELISTS

+ Mike Vogel

+ Jeff Kline

+ Duane Cappizi

+ Teresa Gruber

+ Jose Lopez

+ Walter Gatus

 

 

Everyone all across the board from executives to designers have been super passionate about making this show.

 

Starscream and Soundwave look really different from their traditional forms and the designers were a bit nervous when they first debuted them. They went that route because the went by the writers bible that was given to them. For instance Soundwave was described almost like a ninja type character so they wanted to make him sleek and not like a boombox.

 

All of the characters comes down to personalities and the stories as how they design each character. they also want to humanize them with the writing and art. They want the viewers to come to care about these characters.

 

Just to clarify, Unicron is not the Earth. The Earth formed around Unicrons essence. Meaning he does not transform and Earth is his torso.

 

One of the writers threw it out there and they felt it was a really fresh take and helped further tie Earth to Cybertron. Also conceptually it was frightening, "how do u fight something from within?"

 

They show creators have reiterated this before, but Polygon is very passionate about the show. They are on a time crunch but they wanted it the most.

 

The Hub is the one responsible of how or when an episode shows. These guys are constantly working to get new episodes but ultimately it is up to the Hub when they air.

The Hub they think is looking to get more episodes out there in a timely manner, maybe even all year around.

 

This is Character Designer Walter Gatus' first panel and he says that working with Jose Lopez is great. The two of them have learned how to draw robots together as they have never drawn robots prior to this series.

 

Walter and Jose get a script week-to-week and they don't know where they are going until they see that script, so there is sometimes panic mode sets in when they wonder what they are going to do with it all. But they then feel better because they know that Polygon is going to work hard and it will be treated with great respect.

SEASON TWO

The epic three-part season finale is just an appetizer.

 

Optimus is shown riding with the Decepticons donning a Decepticon logo.

 

Watch: Transformers Prime Season Two Teaser/Spoiler

 

They will be taking it to lots of unexpected directions.

 

Season 2 they will be leaving Earth where we will meet new Autobots and Decepticons.

 

Expect to see some robots that don't turn into vehicles.

 

Wheeljack will return!

 

Someone else will also return in a super compelling way and we all know who they are talking about... Starscream.

 

Raf's actor voice Andy Pessoa (who is 15 in real life) is changing so it will be interesting to see how they will deal with that.

Q&A

They wanted to make Prime a well rounded character, so when they started they planned out 3 seasons in advance they wanted to make sure all the characters were multidimensional.

 

There is a lot of invisible backstory that will be unveiled in season 2.

 

Nathan Fillion could be part of season two somewhere and voice a Transformer. Anything is possible. A lot of celebrity actors to do special guest voices are on their list and Nathan is one of those.

 

They record radio playstyle where all the actors are in the room (harkening back to the Beast Wars/Beast Machines era -ed).

 

 

They have a short list of actors they have worked with before they tend to like to go with like Kevin Michael Richardson.

 

New weapons and abilities and upgrades for characters are coming.

 

They do a lot of photo referenceing with photoshop when doing certain effect like Megatrons battle damaged head in the season finale. Of course Pollygone is the one that really makes those effects look so good.

 

Jose doesn't know why robots have noses since they don't breath, but the reason they do include those features and eyebrows is to humanize them so viewers can relate to them. However, they also want to make them alien looking to add that cool and even a little bit scary feel that these are aliens for kids.

 

They wanted to stress that the show is about character first not just about giant robots.

 

In television, the creators always have to be afraid about cancellation, like G.I. Joe Renegades, which Jeff Kline also executive produces, has been put on hiatus, which was never expected to happen. He thought they were doing great things with that show.

 

They are constantly in production on multiple episodes at different stages and episodes are completed just weeks before they air. The first five episodes were finished just five days before going to air.

 

The reason why Bumblebee cannot speak and why is has not been fixed will be revealed in a two-parter in Season 2. Expect the episode to air early in season 2.

 

The Hub is the one responsible on how or when an episode airs. These guys are constantly working to get new episodes but ultimately it is up to the Hub when they air. The creators comment that The Hub may be looking to get more episodes out there in a timely manner, maybe even all year around.

 

They went with a new score because they wanted to differentiate this show from other TF shows.

 

A kid asks if Dinobots are coming and they answer that it is something on their radar.

 

Starscream may look feminine, but in actuality, they were trying to give him a more Machiavellian feel, which comes from the script. His strength was not his physical power but more that his mind is cunning, like a snake. They also didn't want him to be physically bigger than Megatron.

 

An attendee asked why Miko always makes dumb decisions, but the creators don't see her as dumb, just someone always seeking adventure and has rules with her heart, which overrides common sense. She makes mistakes but learns from them and we will see some really strong character development for her in season two.

 

Arachnid is an homage to Blackarachnia but at the same time they wanted this character to be separate.

 

Dreadwing will indeed be played by Tony Todd in Season 2 and will get a really compelling character arc.

 

Soundwave will eventually talk in his own voice.

 

The Scraplets idea came from a discussions about Minicons. Scraplets are Gremlin-like creatures from Cybertron and we will see them again in season 2.

 

They have flirted with the idea of a Human death and teased that somebody will die in season 2, Who? Everyone is up for grabs in TF Prime.

 

Arcee is blue and not pink because Jack can't roll on a pink bike.

 

Jose states that drawing cars is harder than drawing robots because they draw a bot they look at character first and the type of personality they have.

 

Duane is told it stay quiet when somebody asks about the potential of clone Starscream in the future. They do state that the longer the show goes on, the bigger world they can build.

 

A Season 2 trailer is shown. It's relatively short but very spoilerific.

 

Watch: Transformers Prime Season Two Teaser/Spoiler

 

--END OF PANEL--

 

Stay tuned to Tformers.com for more details as they are made available. Your best resource for all the Transformers news and community every day.

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