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Coming from Animation World Network, we have an in-depth interview with Christopher Batty about his innovative work on Transformers One’s stunning cinematography. You can check out the full interview here, or read the full text below. From the innovative use of mocap for fast prototyping with virtual story reels to choosing the right cameras to ensure a proper sense of scale on massive sets and environments, the cinematographer discusses how he handled layout and composition on Josh Cooley and Paramount’s 3DCG origin story of how two best friends became the sworn enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron. By Dan Sarto | Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 12:36pm In 3D, CG, Digital Media, Films, People, Previs/Postvis/Visualization, Technology, Virtual Production | ANIMATIONWorld | Geographic Region: All ‘Transformers One,’ coming to Paramount+ November 15. All images ©2024 Paramount Pictures. All Right Reserved. Released in theaters this past September, and coming to Paramount+ on November 15, Transformers One tells the long-awaited origin story of how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms and best of friends to becoming sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron. Josh Cooley directs the 3DCG film, which comes from Paramount Animation and Hasbro. The animation was handled by ILM, with Rob Coleman serving as animation supervisor and Frazier Churchill as VFX supervisor. This makes the second fully animated film ILM has produced recently, alongside Netflix’s Ultraman: Rising that was released this past June. Do we see a trend here? Working alongside Cooley and ILM was cinematographer Christopher Batty, who has worked in VFX for over 20 years, including serving as a previs supervisor on films like A Wrinkle in Time, Star Trek Beyond, and Jurassic World, and postvis supervisor on films like Aquaman and Creed II. After joining Paramount Animation in 2016, he served as cinematographer on The Tiger’s Apprenticebefore moving onto Transformers One. We recently had a chance to speak to Batty about his work on the film, which included innovative use of mocap in early testing to create “virtual story reels” for fast “prototyping” of scene blocking, as well as helping choose the right “type” of camera shot to ensure a proper sense of scale on the film’s massive sets and environments. Dan Sarto: With animated films, some of the productions refer to DPs, some refer to cinematographers, some have different people as the DP of this and the DP of that. From your perspective, what is the role of a cinematographer on an animated film and how does that compare to your role on a live-action show? Christopher Batty: That's a great question. I think it's pretty varied, as you were saying. I can define it as we do at Paramount because we seem to be consistent there, though I think it's different studio to studio. For Paramount, you're basically in charge of camera. You're the head of layout, head of cinematography, and so you're guiding the placement, composition, and camera language of the show through the whole process. Where it differs mostly from live-action is that lighting is still in the realm of the production designer. I worked with [production designer] Jason Scheier on Transformers, and he would do all the keys as we're developing a sequence, which would then that would get passed down to our vendor, ILM, to do the lighting. That’s not to say... I could definitely give my two cents. We would have discussions and there were certain sequences in compositions that were dependent on lighting, and so we would work back and forth. But for the main part, you're just in charge of the cameras and compositions all the way through. So, after animation is done, I supervise the final camera as well as overseeing the stereo. There's a stereo supervisor, but I'm just there to make sure the original intention of the camera language carries all the way through. DS: Got it. Now, you have a significant amount of live-action experience. How did that translate for you when you moved into animation? You supervised a lot of visualization… how did that prepare you? CB: I was mainly supervising previs on live-action shoots. So, at the end of the day, they would have their DP come in and actually shoot all the shots that we had prevised. But one thing that I always take to heart, and a lot of my crew of layout artists came from live-action and VFX too, we all really understand what a real camera can do and how it feels, and we tried to infuse that into Transformers. My philosophy has always been that if the action in the shots is crazy and really kinetic, then the camera should probably be toned down so that we can understand what’s going on. And if you want a more expressive camera, then the action should be a little bit more toned down. It's all about clarity, making it feel relatable. There's 100 plus years of cinema history, and even if people aren't familiar with how cameras work technically, we've all been programmed and understand from watching all those movies how shots should look. And another thing…. with the notion of scale, a lot of the sets and environments on Transformerswere just massive, quite huge, and the scope was really large. So, understanding what a real camera can do, knowing how far a camera could go, whether it was a drone shot, a crane shot, or a helicopter shot, just made it more relatable to the real world. A camera can only travel so much distance over so much time, right? So, as you're doing these big establishing shots, it kind of grounds them to what we're used to seeing. Rather than having a big giant sweeping CG shot, you might actually miniaturize the whole field of the shot, making it look too small if the camera's traveling too fast. So those are kind of the philosophies that we put into the show. DS: I've also heard folks in your position say that they try to make every shot a shot that someone could make if they were behind the camera. Was that true for you? CB: I would say the vast majority of the shots we did were like that. We used a lot of motion capture to get a lot of the expository scenes, and that also sort of informed our camera language. I was on a set with the motion capture artists and [director] Josh Cooley was there, and we were all kind of blocking those scenes, and it gave everything a little bit more of a relatable view. I had a virtual camera, which is basically an iPad with a tracker. And that kind of grounded it too, because physically there with an object following the action. Then, we could go in later, take that data and either nuance it, clean it up, or what have you. But that base reality base was there. DS: How early did you come on the film? And I imagine coming from previs, you were quite comfortable with a lot of these virtual tools to explore whatever the initial 3D sets were to start laying out your shots. CB: I came on early, after they had done one or two screenings internally. The script was great, the screenings were already great, but they were kind of noodling the beginning of the story and the relationship between Orion and D-16 just to make sure that was right. We flew up to ILM to do some tests because we were very curious about implementing what Aaron Dem, the producer, would call the virtual story reel [VSR], which is this motion capture, straight to layout, straight to anim blocking… that’s really what it is. That really started to inform the camera language. As an aside, we discussed, and I was trying to develop, this language bridge throughout the film… since we have two different kinds of caste systems - there's Orion and D and B [B-127] in the miner or lower caste, and then the Transformers and the Primes are held aloft - so I wanted to develop this language where when we shoot the miners at the beginning of the film, it's a little bit more casual language. It's more handheld. The compositions aren't quite as refined, and we shoot on their eye line or looking down on them to diminish them a little bit. And then when we go into the Primes’ world, it's much more formal, controlled, symmetrical. Working on stage with that language got us immediately into that more casual feel because the easiest thing is to go handheld on that stage. It's kind of the quickest route to get something up. So, we ran with that, did a lot of experiments from the start, trying to get that feel without going too handheld and looking like a reality show. That started to inform a lot of the blocking as well, working with real motion capture artists and allowing them to play around in the space and be a little bit more free form. Sometimes when you're developing an animated film and it's just an expository scene with people talking, it's a lot of work to make it not feel rigid because you're moving everything one piece at a time. But when you have actors working off each other and being a little spontaneous, you get a lot of interesting reactions. Then I have something to react to too with the camera that's a little bit unexpected. It just becomes a little bit more organic. So, we found a lot of great power in doing that. Those virtual story reel tests showed us a great way to work. It was much faster. We could do a sequence in a day or two as opposed to spending weeks on it, so we could see where we were going much quicker. And it gave Josh Cooley a chance to work with Lynn Hobson and the editor and kind of get things all up on blocks really quickly. And then if changes were needed, we would go back up to ILM and either tweak the sequence or drop some and bring on new sequences. It gave us fast prototyping, basically, of the sequences. One of the things that requires though is an art department that's pretty 3D savvy. It was great working with Jason Scheier and his art department team as they were designing and prototyping all the sets and environments in Maya anyways, which could be put into ILM's system. So, as we're blocking out the characters, we're seeing it on the set as he's designing it or has already designed it, so the accuracy of our blocking was basically spot on. Some of the sequences we could pass right through to ILM and the anim blocking was almost right there. They had something to start with immediately, which is a little bit faster than the traditional layout process. So, the more expository scenes, where people were talking in groups, that was great for the VSR and the motion capture stage. But all the action stuff we did hand keyed with more traditional 3D layout because we wanted to keep it fantastical, punching people across the room and all that stuff. It just wasn't practical to mocap that stuff. DS: At what point did your layout and camera work kind of get locked? CB: That's a great question. So, it's sequence by sequence. Once a sequence goes in, it goes from story to us. We usually start with a story reel, and it'll give us the idea of what the shot should be, and then we start placing all the cameras. And then once we have it pretty locked, the cameras I would say are pretty well-defined. I tend not to do too much work in final camera, so we have a very good idea of what the shots should be. Then that gets turned over to ILM. They replace all the assets with the final assets, and then they start animating. And then after animation is finaled, we do another camera pass, and that's all the little tweaks and stuff, just to make sure the pans are correct with the latest animation, or everything is framed exactly like we've envisioned it. And then after the final camera is locked, that's kind of it for me. We'll look at lighting effects just to double check and make sure, because sometimes when the effects are added, that may change composition a little bit if something has been added late in the game. We're just spot-checking lighting and effects and comp, and then of course stereo, once that gets translated into stereo. DS: Coming from visualization, which on a live-action project, is basically animated filmmaking, this role seems like a real natural step for you because in essence, creating previs, you're prototyping the movie. CB: Yeah, that's exactly right. The basic skill set is exactly the same. What I always say, it's like you're prevising the movie and then you just keep going. Usually, you create the previs, and then they'll go and shoot it. Somebody else takes over from there. With layout, nobody takes over. You just keep going. You go another a few rounds in order to get that camera really well-defined for the animators. So, the skill set is really the same. It's the finishing and the polishing. And the other fact is on an animated movie, you're responsible for every shot in the film. Usually on live-action you're only prevising what needs to be prevised, like the visual effects sequences and the expensive stuff, or the hard stunts, or the talking scenes, which to be honest, are usually the hardest. DS: Because you have to make it make sense? CB: You have to make it make sense, be interesting, and feel natural. If you have four people at a table with the eye lines and the overs and all that stuff, it can get pretty complicated, to be honest. It's probably harder to do than a car chase. Join the Allspark today. 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Japanese site eHobby continues to roll out their exclusive SD Transformers cards, as they've updated their website to show off wave TWELVE of these neat little things, which are sold in pairs for JPY980. The latest additions to the super-deformed-art card lineup give us a nice leader-focused selection with nostalgic doses of the 90s, some eHobby exclusives, and even some more recent (well, 2010s) Generations concepts. Wave 12 features Action Master Optimus Prime (with Armored Convoy), Action Master Megatron (with Neutro-Fusion tank), G2 Laser Ultra Magnus, G1 toy-based Galvatron, Generations Senator Ratbat, Titans Return Sentinel Prime, the G1 Destrons, and Unicron (on a sleek gold card!). Have you been collecting these cards? Which is your favorite card or wave so far? Stop on by and tell us what you think of this latest wave! Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

Remember the thrill of watching cartoons after school and Saturday mornings, and when they went to commercials, you'd see an exciting new commercial for your favorite toy line -- or maybe a toy line you were less interested in, but hey, the commercial itself was still pretty cool? Those feel like the product of a bygone era, but Hasbro decided to bring back that feeling on Facebook with a retro-styled toy commercial for their modern-styled G.I. Joe Classified Series toy line, complete with the original theme song! But don't take my word for it; have a gander for yourself! Now, so long as we're on the subject, how about we bring back those Transformers commercials narrated by Peter Cullen and Frank Welker that gave each new character or team their own theme song? (New animated portions wouldn't be a bad thing, either.) Thanks to Steevy Maximus for bringing this to our attention! Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

Paramount+ today announced that Paramount Animation and Hasbro Entertainment’s TRANSFORMERS ONE, the first fully CG-animated TRANSFORMERS film, will stream exclusively on the service beginning Friday, November 15, in the U.S. and Canada. The film’s availability in additional international Paramount+ markets will be announced at a later date. Paramount+ subscribers can also access the expansive TRANSFORMERS universe collection featuring all seven live-action films and Paramount+ original animated series TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK seasons 1-3 streaming now. Check out the collection here. The latest addition to the globally recognized cinematic franchise delves into the untold origin story of how the legendary OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON, the respective leaders of the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS, went from brothers-in-arms to sworn enemies. Voiced by global superstars Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, the iconic adversaries are joined by long-running franchise familiars ELITA-1 (Scarlett Johansson), BUMBLEBEE (Keegan-Michael Key), STARSCREAM (Steve Buscemi), ALPHA TRION (Laurence Fishburne) and SENTINEL PRIME (Jon Hamm) in the war for CYBERTRON. The film received widespread acclaim upon its release, becoming Certified Fresh™ on Rotten Tomatoes® with an 89% critics score and receiving an A on Cinemascore®. MovieWeb championed the film as, “a mesmerizing CGI adventure chock-full of thrilling action scenes, great humor and a thoughtful script with powerful themes,” while Screen Rant hailed it as, “the best TRANSFORMERS movie yet.” Paramount Animation and Hasbro Entertainment present, in association with New Republic Pictures, TRANSFORMERS ONE, a Don Murphy / Tom DeSanto, di Bonaventura Pictures and Bay Films production directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Josh Cooley, with a story by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari and a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, based on Hasbro’s TRANSFORMERS™ Action Figures. The film is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, p.g.a., Tom DeSanto & Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, p.g.a., and Aaron Dem, p.g.a., and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Zev Foreman, Olivier Dumont, Bradley J. Fischer, B.J. Farmer and Matt Quigg. TRANSFORMERS ONE is rated PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout, and language. Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

Finally, we got Team Fortress 3 G.I. Joe may not reclaim their heyday from the 80s, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still tell great stories. While the movies struggle, and the tv shows remain M.I.A., the comics have been the strongest available outlet for these characters and their vehicles. And wouldn’t you know, let’s tie it in with Transformers, too (for like the 3rd time or so, at least in terms of making them a real shared universe.) That’s what we have with the current run of Skybound Comics, where we had a couple of different miniseries before leading up to our main comic released today bearing the title, with issue 1. I thought it was for the cool toys to play with --SPOILERS DOWN BELOW-- As far as first issues goes, it is taking a page from Transformers, with a bit of shocking death, some stage setting for the future of the franchise, and establishing some character dynamics. Though not nearly as sad and mysterious as the latter title, G.I. Joe shows how the current story of the Energon Universe is taking place, with it following the events of Transformers #12, with a piece of Cybertron now in the hands of the US Government, and the titular team is tasked to guard it from any potential threats, despite Duke, the team leader, unsure if they’re ready. Cobra Commander and Destro, now in the possession of Energon, are ready to take it by force, with LASERS. Are you not entertained? Al Gore's gonna make An Inconvenient Truth 3 out of this The team dynamic is mostly on full force, here. Baroness, usually a Cobra agent in past stories and toys, is now a Joe, and her feisty and arrogant nature shows the disruption it can cause for their future as a team (Stalker retorts back to her in Russian how when he brings her back to her parents and see what a disgrace she has become, they’ll ask him to kill her instead.) That coalesces with Duke’s decision to assign her within his group, who is still processing the events of his own miniseries, as he questions what he can do to handle this unknown Cybertronian threat, and what will happen if it falls into worse hands. Baroness: "Shut up, you stupid old pig. Or I'll slit your throat in your sleep." Stalker: "Try that and I'll not only kick your ass, I'll drag you right back to your mommy and daddy and tell them how their little princess got into this messed up life. They brought you into this world, so maybe they'll do me a favor and take you out." With a minor detour of a new Joe, Risk, kicking butt to scare off any potential MARS Industries backers (Destro’s company), we get things rolling into the big action set piece at the Colorado base (Not the first time the Centennial State has had Transformers activity). And of course, the Joes are out of their element when Cobra comes in full throttle, from hacking their computers to firing their lasers (blargh)! The art in this comic is pretty decent. A little stiff paneling with the impact of the action takes place before the motion, but it’s decent and more than serviceable. The colors are sharp, and help to liven the atmosphere where it’s taking place (purple and yellows in the nightclub, red for when the Colorado base has been Cobra-fied). Things may turn for the worse for G.I. Joe right now, but things can always turn up for our heroes, somehow. Maybe a little sacrifice or two. Human shields usually hold up sturdy against laser fire, right? Maybe Rock n Roll will make it out alive this time from all that firepower, eh? I thought Laser Surgery was for the eyes. A solid start for both teams duking it out over stolen resources. (y) -ALArts Look, I can see his parachute, he's ok. STORY: Joshua Williamson ART: Tom Reilly, Jordie Bellaire On-Sale: November 13, 2024 | SRP: $4.99 | 40 pages Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

As Morphin Time draws ever closer, more and more tidbits are coming out about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind. Probably the worst kept secret since Day 1 was that yes, Tommy Oliver, the original Green Ranger, would be playable alongside his teammates in this beat 'em up adventure. Despite this, we haven't actually gotten to see the Green Ranger go in any of the game's footage. That is, until now. GameSpot managed to land an exclusive 14-minute look at the game, featuring the Master of the Dragonzord in all his green glory. We also get to hear the voices for each of the Rangers on the character select screen, and some sound like digitized versions of their respective actors, others sound close enough to pass if you don't focus on it too hard, and then there's Jason. Wow. The video shows the beginning of the story, and pretty much the whole first stage, but unfortunately, no Dinozord action. If you can't wait until the game comes out, or just want to get a feel for what's going to be on offer in the beat 'em up stages, take a gander -- er, I mean, "Behold the Viewing Window": Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind will be hitting Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Steam on PC, and PlayStation 4 and 5 on December 10th, 2024. With this and G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra coming out soon, it's just too bad we don't have some sort of Generation 1-based Transformers beat 'em up to complete a Hasbro retro trifecta this holiday season. Oh well. Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

We have a newsletter from BigBadToyStore. -------------- NEW PRE-ORDERS -------------- Bring the excitement and wonder of the Marvel Universe to your collection with Hasbro Marvel Legends Gambit and other X-Men action figures! From the film Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, Bandai brings back a detailed, 6 inch tall figure of Godzilla Junior! The Mythic Legions: The Legend of Gassparr & Gawrychh LegionsCon 2024 Exclusive Action Figure Two-Pack is a fun tribute to none other than George Gaspar and Chris Gawrych of Four Horsemen Studios! Based on Robotech, a popular animation series from the 1980's, threezero presents the ROBO-DOU VF-1J Veritech (Rick Hunter). This BBTS exclusive action figure features a weathered design. The "Disco" version of Skeletor from the Masters of the Universe is presented as a new BBTS exclusive 1/10 art scale statue by Iron Studios! Fighting together with Godzilla in "Godzilla Vs. Gigan", the rampaging beast ANGUIRUS [1972] joins S.H.MonsterArts! Kenji Seki designed the prototype of this figure by hand! Bringing out all of the unique details of ANGUIRUS in areas like the spikes on his back! Beast Kingdom proudly presents the latest addition to its DAH series, DAH-134P Batman Returns The Penguin. Celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! The classic 1974 slasher film by Tobe Hooper changed horror cinema forever. Own a piece of its history with this Leatherface clothed action figure from NECA! ------------ NEW ARRIVALS ------------ As seen in Zack Snyder's cut of the Justice League film, Batman is back in the MAFEX action figure series by Medicom! This completely new figure comes with four interchangeable heads (three masked and one unmasked), plus interchangeable hands to cover just about any situation; his cape features a built-in wire to enhance any pose you can come up with! Swinging into action with his acrobatic prowess, Dick Grayson joins the One:12 Collective lineup as the original Robin! The One:12 Collective Robin: Golden Age Edition wears a tunic with an 'R' insignia over his fitted bodysuit, a utility belt, and a cape with an integrated posing wire, capturing his classic comic book appearance. From the action packed television series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, threezero and Hasbro are proud to present 1/6th Green Power Ranger Matt Cook Version based on the comic book series “Go Go Power Rangers”. From the globally popular dark fantasy classic, "Berserk", Flora's best-kept secret, Schierke, is now available as an S.H.Figuarts action figure. A variety of facial parts to reproduce the rich expression of Schierke, and a cane and bag are included. From "Yu Yu Hakusho", "Yusuke Urameshi" joins S.H.Figuarts in his outfit from the Dark Martial Arts Arc!

These days we have an over-abundance of non-toy transformers merchandise, from stickers to birthday plates to shoes, and we had these and more in the 1980's during Transformers early G1 heyday. Today we are going to review some of this G1 merchandise and even open some of it after 40 years! Today we will be looking at G1 Stamps. Let's start off looking at a MOSC Jazz stamp! Now let's open up this 40-year-old Jazz stamp and check it out! As you can see, They make a valiant effort to include details from the character model in the stamp. Let's look at the rest of the set, which consists of Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, and Starscream! These stamps were sold both individually, as seen above, or in a set with an Optimus Prime head carrying case. It was the second option of how I got mine as a child. The carrying case contained a set of stamps for both me and my sibling to use. And use them we did! We stamped a lot of things with these back in the 1980s. Each of these stamps are connected to their screw on caps that contain their ink pad. The stamps' images have excellent versions of the character's alt mode as well as their name. Check them out below! That particular Jazz stamp was made from the 40 year old ink that saw air for the first time last night as I took it out of the sealed individual package. Sadly, over the years, I had lost my original stamps except the Optimus Prime, which I had used on hundreds of packages over the last 7 years or so when mailing Transformers. Fortunately, Ebay has all these wonderful stamps, and I have been able to get my collection back, and you too can find yourself a set there for cheap. Want to interact with more Transformers fans? Register for an account on our forums today! Be sure to Follow us on Twitter @AllsparkNews and Give our Facebook page a like as well as our Instagram! Not a fan of Forums? Check out our Facebook Group and discuss with us your thoughts on the discord Discord.gg/allspark

If you're thinking to yourself, "wait, didn't this game already get a release date? And didn't you tell us about it?" Well, yes and yes. But that was for the PC version, on Steam, you see. Today, we're talking consoles! That version came out in September, and its release date was announced only days beforehand. So it just makes sense that they would announce the release of the console version (that's Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch) only days beforehand, too, though a few more this time. In this case, you've got just over a week to get tough, and practice your best "Yo, Joe!" for when G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra arrives on November 21st. Just a week before Thanksgiving! The new trailer above gives us a roll call of the Joes' best and brightest. Well, mostly -- no General Hawk or Sgt. Slaughter or even Chief Warrant Officer Flint to be seen. But there's Duke (Duke, in command), Snake-Eyes (hand-to-hand), and Scarlet (ready to fight), squaring off against the fiercest foes Cobra Command has to throw at you, including Destro, Destro and the Baroness (but they're not practicing the clarinet here) and the king snake himself, Cobra Commander (who looks like he's embracing his inner-Shredder. Just watch. IYKYK). You can put up your Duke -- er, dukes -- in multiple modes, including Story, Arcade, and Enemy Shuffle. You can even play couch co-op with friends! As noted above, the game has already been available on Steam for a good month and a half or so now, and is currently 20% (or more, depending on the version) off until November 19th (not an ad). There, the reviews have been... mixed. But aren't they all? More specifically, 65% of the 61 user reviews for the game are positive, according to Steam. Here's just a little skimming of what has been said: If you're interested in more of what people who have played it have to say, just hit this link. At the very least, hopefully they've ironed out some of the bugs in time for the console version's release. Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

Rejoice all fans of Transformers, our beloved toys are now a permanent inductee into The Strong National Museum of Play's National Toy Hall of Fame! Transformers have been inducted into the hall of fame alongside Hasbro's My Little Pony, and the card game Phase 10. More info can be found here, on the National Toy Hall of Fame's website. We should all feel pleased that Transformers has become cemented even further as a part of toy history! Join the Allspark today using the links below, and discuss with other fans what toys have made it into your own personal hall of fame! Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

It's the 40th anniversary of the brand everywhere in the world and that includes Japan too! and as part of their anniversary release we have T-Spark Lio Convoy, a slight retool of Legacy United Leo Prime with an animation-accurate lion head for beast mode, featuring a bombastic package art evoking of the times of old that would make most graphic designers collapse just by looking at it. Thanks to Twitter user @reonahobby007 for the picture. The box is a half red and half white box with text denoting him as a Cybertron, the japanese name for Maximals, a render homaging his original Beast Wars look as well icons denoting him as part of the T-Spark and the 40th anniversary of the franchise. Takara is well known for their animation oriented decos, so this surely make for a fantastic addition to the collection for those into it or who may have missed the original release.

As usual with his character, a stand out for his... personality traits, many are eager to add this spectacular entry to their collection, through In Demand Toys we have our first in person look to Studio series Transformers One Sentinel Prime. Besides the packaging art that goes harder than tungsten rods, it's pretty evident the new box art style for 2025, with a primarily black box, both modes on the front as well alt mode icon, step count for conversation, recommended age and faction. Up until now we only had the digital renders, so we are approaching the first detailed looks as included on the above pictures, stay tuned for more news on anything and everything Transformers. Join the Allspark today, it's All spark of the show. Allspark Forums Discord Server X Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

We have a newsletter from TFSource. New Preorders! - Fans Toys Fantastic Model FM-03 Warhorse and FM-04 Doc - MS-04 Munitioner | Magic Square - Transformers Studio Series Transformers: The Movie 86 Constructicon Scrapper and Bonecrusher - 116 Apelinq Leader Class | Transformers Studio Series | Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts - Voltron 40th Anniversary Collector's Set | Voltron: Defender of the Universe | Toynami - S01 Romulus | Newage the Legendary Heroes - DK-44B Upgrade Kit for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Nemesis Prime 40th Selection | DNA Design - TL-90 Stunticon Menasor Set of 5 | Transformers: Legacy United - Optimus Prime AMK Pro Series Model Kit | Transformers: The Last Knight | Yolopark - Ultra Magnus | Transformers Kuro Kara Kuri | Flame Toys - Transformers Collaborative Naruto: Shippuden Kurama and Gamakichi Set of 2 - Transformers Collaborative Monster Hunter Rathalos Prime Synergenex Series New Instock Items! - YW2401 SuiRen Amphibious Transport Ship Type 71 | TOYSEASY - Autobot Kup Triple "T" with Sgt. Slaughter and Leatherneck | G.I. Joe | Transformers Collaborative - DA-106 Waruder Legion Geist | Diaclone Reboot - MTRC-08 Violet Hour TFCon Exclusive | MakeToys Colorverse | Recolor Series Limited Edition 200 - PS-15E Shiftlane | Mastermind Creations Ocular Max Eversus Combiner - IF-01L Eris: Lunacyte Alternative | Mastermind Creations Ocular Max - A02T Argus Tactical Version | Toy Notch Astrobots - Voltron Black and Gold Edition ROBO-DOU | Voltron: Defender of the Universe | threezero - Nemesis Prime | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | Transformers 40th Selection - MB-15B Black Naval Commander | Fans Hobby Master Builder - MPG-07 Trainbot Ginoh Raiden Combiner | Transformers Masterpiece G - MX-24 Yaguchi | X-Transbots MasterX - Fans Toys FT-32A Gehry FALL INTO SAVINGS up to 75% Off, all season long! ________________________ ________________________ Have you signed up for Source Points yet? Earn points with every purchase towards Freebies! Accumulated points and want to redeem them? Click the following link to enroll or redeem your points today! Source Points - TF Source ________________________ ________________________ Become a fan of TFSource today! Why go to the store when you can go to the SOURCE! ________________________ You can also follow us on Twitter!

First look at Studio Series Devastation Optimus Prime. Looks like a Deluxe take on the G1 design? Source: In Demand Toys on Facebook Join the Allspark today. Allspark Forums Discord Server twitter (X) Facebook Page Bluesky Instagram

No, that's not a typo, and no, the Constructicon chemist is not getting his own toy line. Remember Hero Mashers? The multi-property toy line from Hasbro which allowed you to mix and match parts from figures ranging from Spider-Man and Iron Man to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to non-transforming Transformers like Optimus Prime and Hot Rod Rodimus? Well, they're back! In POG MixMasher form! Listings went up across Amazon's Australian contingent this weekend, showing off four Transformers characters from the line: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Optimus Primal. Why settle for trukk or munky when you can have trukk and munky? Oh, and I guess Starscream is coming, too. Here are some pics: "Optimus Primal, Mashimize!" "Gee, fellas. When everyone was saying 'Bumblebee should be part of Beast Wars,' I don't think this is what they meant! For more, click the respective links. And in case you were wondering, yeah, they're doing other IP in the mix, too. So now you can turn Optimus Primal into a real Spider-Monkey, if you want to. So, how much will they be? Good question! The prices are presumably listed in Australian Dollarydoos, Bumblebee and Optimus Primal are (as of this writing) $31.98, while Optimus Prime and Megatron are $43.62. Add in Marvel and Star Wars characters with other distinct pricing to confuse the issue further. And on top of that, despite being the Australian Amazon site, it says these are sold by and shipped from Amazon Germany. So who knows how that affects things. Thanks to TFormers and Seibertron for pointing the way! Have you thoughts on this re-emerging play pattern? Share them in the comments below! Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

Whooooo's ready for a new Transformers mobile game? ...yeah, tough. You're getting one, anyway. From out of the darkness, a new trailer for a new Transformers mobile game titled "Transformers: Eternal War" was stealthily dropped on its own dedicated YouTube channel to little fanfare. Make of that what you will as you watch it right here: The official description on the video is as follows: Are you excited yet? I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing. Anyway, this is coming to us from Wanda Cinemas Games, who've also made games based on Saint Seiya and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Oh, wait, that second one just says "stay tuned" when I try to pull up its official site. In fact, all their other games besides Saint Seiya say that. And Transformers: Eternal War isn't even listed on their home page, "stay tuned" or otherwise. Well, okay then. I'm sure that's got nothing to do with the sense of foreboding I've got right now. In other news, Gematsu brings us two minutes of gameplay footage wrapped up as a trailer, yet is not featured on developer Digital Eclipse's home page, for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Revenge. Well, whatever, it looks cool: We get to see some Putty-fighting, Rita making her monster (in this case, Goldar) grow, and the Dinozords doing that thing where they all (except Pterodactyl) run at the monster and attack before joining together to form the Megazord. Which they also do. And you get a cockpit-style view right out of the TV show (kinda) that leads into what looks like a sort of Teleroboxer-style fight. Which we don't get to see. And in case you missed it, there was another trailer recently featuring the reveal of the release date. Feel free to discuss your anticipation or disdain for what you've bore witness to here today down below. Because that's how we roll now. I mean, we're not going to go over to your house and touch all your gold plastic toys if you don't, but maybe give it a fair shot, yeah? Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

Hello Allspark! This has been a long time coming but I've finally removed Wordpress completely from the site. There are several reasons to do this: For starters. nobody ever went to the front page. I can't count the number of times or years I've seen people say (sometimes in a mean way) "There's a front page?" Well now there's not, sort of. All news going forward will be posted in the forums, which is the default landing page for https://www.allspark.com Of course, you can still get to the forums index by just clicking the "Forums" tab at the top. Lots of other reasons about how awful and resource intensive WP is. I've decided I'm not going to archive the bulk of the news we've posted on the front page, but for reference a large portion (but not all) was carried over to the "new" front page if you need to refence anything. But any bookmarks or links to the WP site just redirects to the landing page at allspark.com Also, I wanted to make it so you guys could link and comment DIRECTLY on the news posts. It makes it easier for us to not have to duplicate links everywhere and it makes it easier on you since you already have accounts and post here. I'm sure there will be a few kinks to work out but over the course of our testing in 2024 we've been pretty happy with the results. The days of needlessly complex websites are kind of a thing of the past so the ease of use on reading news on your mobile devices is a plus. We had our roots as a forums community, and with the appalling state of corporate owned social media, suppressing algorithms and an otherwise nanny state where you can't even speak in clinical terms without having accounts nuked - I want to bring forums back to what we do here. That said, if you see news here you like feel free to like and share it on your own social media accounts to bring more awareness to the fact that "YES" forums still exist. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, you can just post them here! I wanted to thank everyone who's stayed for this INSANE 25 years. Nov 11 will mark the 25th year The Allspark has existed in one form or another. Unbelievable. Oh, also, if you subscribe to this forum and click the box for email alerts you'll be notified every single time a new news article is posted.

Trickling in from the corners of the internet is what appears to be our first look at Prima from the upcoming Age of the Primes toyline, under the Generations banner. Sadly, this plucky prime prototype is lacking a head, but it does give us an interesting taste of what's to come for generations following the end of Legacy. Feeling primed about Age of the Primes Prima? Be sure to discuss this in our forum thread! Want to interact with more Transformers fans? Register for an account on our forums today! Be sure to Follow us on Twitter @AllsparkNews and Give our Facebook page a like as well as our Instagram! Not a fan of Forums? Check out our Facebook Group and discuss with us your thoughts on the discord Discord.gg/allspark

We have a newsletter from BigBadToyStore. -------------- NEW PRE-ORDERS -------------- Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats, is here to roar once more, to summon his fellow heroes and instill fear in the hearts of his foes! This 7” scale, articulated ThunderCats Deluxe Lion-O figure is inspired by classic animated series, features intricate sculpt and premium paint detailing, and comes with Sword of Omens and Claw Shield accessories, all packaged on a die cut cardback. Pre-order the DC Multiverse Batmobile from Batman & Robin now! Tamashii Nations has a ton of new offerings this week from Venom, My Hero Academia, Tekken, Chainsaw Man and more! From Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Hiya Toys introduces the B.E.A.S.T. Glove Version of Kong, capturing the awe-inspiring presence of the great ape as he confronts a formidable new threat. Kotobukiya brings a bold new direction to their popular series of Bishoujo Statues with the Freddy Krueger Bishoujo Statue. Anime fans have plenty to browse with new figures from Banpresto! From the roguelike game "The Binding of Isaac" comes a Nendoroid of Isaac! This Nendoroid includes a crying face plate and a bawling face plate. Isaac also comes with additional parts and accessories to create a variety of poses with the figure. ------------ NEW ARRIVALS ------------ New Marvel Legends action figures are now in stock with characters from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Death's Head, Deadpool, Wolverine and more! G.I. Joe collectors can now pick up Storm Shadow (ver. 2), Alpine, Retro Collection Cobra Commander & Cobra Trooper and more! Carve up one evil deadite at a time with this exclusive electronic prop replica of Ash Williams' infamous chainsaw. This epic reproduction looks like the real deal, capturing every gory detail as seen in the horror cult classic Army of Darkness. Son Goku, as seen in the space survival arc of "Dragon Ball Super," joins S.H.Figuarts once again! Now you can hold the power of son Goku "Ultra instinct" In the palm of your hand! Kings of the Snake Men - Book of Inspiration and Power includes countless drawings and character concept art by Axel Giménez with many prototypes by Leonardo Vega, the Argentinian customizer who has been helping Axel create his characters for a few years now.

It’s no secret that Skybound’s new Energon Universe line of Transformers comics have been a hit. But just how big a hit have they been? Well, according to a report from Bleeding Cool, the recent release of Transformers #13, which delves into the history of the Decepticon Air Commander known to us as Starscream and how he came to become a part of the Decepticons and the war at large, will be receiving its second print run. That’s due to be available on December 11th, with two variant covers by Jason Howard (one Autobot, one Decepticon), for $3.99 USD a pop. So get your orders in now! Meanwhile, the issue that started it all — well, not all, because Void Rivals came out first — but the issue that kicked off the Transformers line, Transformers #1, is back for its tenth reprinting! By the Matrix, that’s a lot of reprints! And a lot of cover variants! Available for the slightly-higher price tag of $4.99 USD each, the prevailing logic at Skybound and Image Comics must have been “Ten reprints? Ten variant covers.” Because that’s how many they’re releasing one week after #13 hits again, on December 18th. Start rolling those nickels now! Bleeding Cool doesn’t have the images, but here are the details for each of the covers they shared: Wow. You could probably make a small quilt from all those covers. It probably wouldn’t be a very good quilt, mind, especially in the middle of December, but you could do it! If you’d like to remark upon this remarkable milestone, then head on over to the “Energon Universe – ongoing Transformers and G.I. Joe comics from Skybound” thread in our forums, and gab to your heart’s content! Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!

We have a newsletter from TFSource. New Preorders! - Transformers Studio Series Transformers: The Movie 86 Constructicon Scrapper and Bonecrusher - 116 Apelinq Leader Class | Transformers Studio Series | Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts - 86-31 Galvatron Leader Class | Transformers Studio Series | Transformers: The Movie 86 - Voltron 40th Anniversary Collector's Set | Voltron: Defender of the Universe | Toynami - S01 Romulus | Newage the Legendary Heroes - DK-44B Upgrade Kit for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Nemesis Prime 40th Selection | DNA Design - TL-90 Stunticon Menasor Set of 5 | Transformers: Legacy United - Optimus Prime AMK Pro Series Model Kit | Transformers: The Last Knight | Yolopark - Ultra Magnus | Transformers Kuro Kara Kuri | Flame Toys - Transformers Collaborative Naruto: Shippuden Kurama and Gamakichi Set of 2 - Transformers Collaborative Monster Hunter Rathalos Prime Synergenex Series New Instock Items! - MTRC-08 Violet Hour TFCon Exclusive | MakeToys Colorverse | Recolor Series Limited Edition 200 - PS-15E Shiftlane | Mastermind Creations Ocular Max Eversus Combiner - IF-01L Eris: Lunacyte Alternative | Mastermind Creations Ocular Max - A02T Argus Tactical Version | Toy Notch Astrobots - Voltron Black and Gold Edition ROBO-DOU | Voltron: Defender of the Universe | threezero - Nemesis Prime | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | Transformers 40th Selection - MB-15B Black Naval Commander | Fans Hobby Master Builder - MPG-07 Trainbot Ginoh Raiden Combiner | Transformers Masterpiece G - Optimus Primal DLX Scale Collectible Figure | Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts | threezero - MX-24 Yaguchi | X-Transbots MasterX - Transformers Masterpiece Movie Series MPM-15 Decepticon Brawl - Fans Toys FT-32A Gehry FALL INTO SAVINGS up to 75% Off, all season long! ________________________ ________________________ Have you signed up for Source Points yet? Earn points with every purchase towards Freebies! Accumulated points and want to redeem them? Click the following link to enroll or redeem your points today! Source Points - TF Source ________________________ ________________________ Become a fan of TFSource today! Why go to the store when you can go to the SOURCE! ________________________ You can also follow us on Twitter!