Optimus and Bumblebee to look ‘cooler’ in Transformers 3

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on March 5, 2010

One of the things that you can’t get away from with the Transformers movies is that they’re effects laden bonanzas. With this in mind, the most important people involved with Transformers 3 aren’t its human actors, Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf (although they may think they are) – they’re the geniuses behind ILM (Industrial Light and Magic).

Scott Benza, the animation supervisor on the Transformers movies with ILM, recently spoke with SCI FI Wire about what we can expect from Transformers 3. He stated that we can expect to see some cosmetic changes on Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, with Prime looking more, well, Prime like (he said heroic, but we’re reading between the lines).

Scott Benza commented:

Our two lead characters, Optimus and Bumblebee, needed to be updated for the next chapter in the Transformers series. Bumblebee’s matured a little bit, so I would just say look for subtle changes to his physique that have him look more mature. We always want the robots to look cooler than they did the last time, so [Optimus Prime is] going to look a little more heroic, I would say.

We always want the robots to look cooler than they did the last time, so he’s going to look a little more heroic, I would say

Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor on the Transformers films with ILM, added:

[Prime will have] little tiny things that maybe the average viewer isn’t going to notice but probably the fanboys will. You actually will run into pieces that are maybe always in the way, and wouldn’t it be nice if that part wasn’t there? Maybe you make a shift in the shoulder, in the chest or what have you. So it might be proportioning, but it also might be for usability, so [the animators]‘ task could be easier, too.

The script for Transformers 3 isn’t complete yet, but the team at ILM are aware of some details that will impact their work – so they’re getting a head start. They also confirmed that they are working on new characters, but no mention of Dinobots yet…

We will keep banging that drum until Michael Bay listens too!

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Transformers The Movie website back up

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on March 4, 2010

Only this week we realised that one of our very first Transformers websites, TransformersTheMovie.co.uk, was down due to a mix up with the domain names. This website was originally designed and put live back in 2000, and was a website dedicated to the original 1986 animated Transformers movie.

Looking back on this website we can see how our love for putting Transformers information came about, and hope that now it’s back up that it will provide something for today’s generation of Transformers fans who have come to Transformers through the movies of Michael Bay.

You can visit the website at www.transformersthemovie.co.uk.

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Auto Assembly 2009 Script Reading On Youtube And More…

by Duh_Prez on March 3, 2010

For those of you who attended Auto Assembly 2009, you’ve been waitng for months for the chance to see it again, and for those of you who couldn’t make it, you’ve been wondering what all the fuss was about, but we are now proud to announce that we are releasing the footage of our live script reading from Auto Assembly 2009 on the official Auto Assembly channel on Youtube!

For those of you who don’t know, the script reading took place on the Saturday evening of the convention and featured a brand new 25 minute Beast Wars script written exclusively for the convention and was performed by Gregg Berger, Ian James Corlett, comic artists Simon Williams, Nick Roche, and a number of fans who auditioned for additional roles.

Over the coming weeks we will be uploading the Script Reading and a whole host of other clips from Auto Assembly 2009 – interviews, general footage, guest panels and much much more. As well as this, we be be uploading Highlight Reels from our archives from past events dating back to the very first Auto Assembly event in 2000!

The first videos from this archive are online NOW and new videos will be added every day or two so keep coming back to see all the latest updates. Footage from Auto Assembly 2000, 2001 and the first interview from Auto Assembly 2009 are online NOW and Part One of the Script Reading will be available by the time most of you read this! To see these, just visit the channel at http://www.youtube.com/autoassembly and if you want to know about the videos as they become available, why not subscribe to us?!

The channel will also bring you the latest news and developments on Auto Assembly 2010 which is going to be our biggest and best yet. We want to celebrate Auto Assembly’s 10th Anniversary in style and give you the best Transformers convention that Europe has ever seen. Over the weekend of Friday 13th – Sunday 15th August 2010 we will be bringing you AT LEAST three guests of honour (Garry Chalk and Derrick J Wyatt are already confirmed), a massive Saturday evening programme with a party, live band, costume competition and loads more, toy and art displays, dealers, comic guests, free autograph sessions, video games area, workshops, dedicated childrens programming, video screenings and so much more!

All this will be taking place at the The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now through the website for for the weekend for adults and for children, students and senior citizens, with under 5s admitted free. Single day passes will be made available for sale closer to the convention.

For more details on the convention, to see a full list of all the guests and activities taking place over the weekend, or to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

We hope to see you all in August 2010.

The Auto Assembly 2010 Team

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

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Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is bookie’s favourite for worst film

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on March 3, 2010

We reported recently that Transformers Revenge of the Fallen has been nominated for the worst film of 2009 award in the anti-Oscars, the Razzies. It seems that Transformers 2 could well win the award too (despite in our opinion being much better than the first film) as the bookies have installed Transformers 2 as the favourite for the dishonour.

This seems very harsh when GI Joe is also nominated, and that film genuinely was awful.

Bookies Paddy Power have made Transformers Revenge of the Fallen the odds on favourite, at 11/10, to lift the Razzie for worst film. In total, ROF has been nominated for seven different awards.

Think about poor Sandra Bullock though, as she’s nominated for a Razzie for worst actress at the same time as she’s also nominated for an Oscar for best actress.

If you fancy a flutter on the worst film of last year, the odds at the moment are:

  • Transformers: 11/10
  • Land of the Lost: 11/8
  • GI Joe: 6/1
  • Old Dogs: 8/1
  • All About Steve: 12/1

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Transformers 3 to show more history of the Transformers

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on March 2, 2010

One of the main things that Transformers fans love about the robots in disguise is the wealth of mythology that comes along with them. We love the origins of the Transformers themselves, the differences between the comic and various cartoon mythologies and how the Autobot leaders of the past came to be.

One of the things we didn’t love about the movies however was the lack of depth in the characters and how there was very little history, save for one flashback sequence in the first Transformers and a rather hokey tale of the Primes in Revenge of the Fallen.

In Transformers 3, Michael Bay says he will rectify this with more details on the origins of the Transformers.

Does this mean Unicron and Primus? Probably not, but at least they’re going to try.

Brian Goldner, executive producer of the Transformers movies and head of Hasbro, enthused about Transformers 3:

You’re going to see that great core mythology brought to the fore, and Michael is hard at work at making this a reality and we’re very excited about it,” he opened up to MTV. “What we’re really doing is getting back to some of the core character development and storytelling. And I think there’s some elements of the core story that the filmmakers, Michael in particular wanted to tell.

Goldner also hinted that Bay may use some of the existing Transformers mythology in Transformers 3, which would presumably mean something about Primus:

He’s really well-versed in the Transformers lore. So I think you’ll see, you know, less bedlam, more characters.

Also back for Transformers 3 are Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf. The film is set for a US release date of July 1st, 2011.

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Simon Furman and Geoff Senior produce Transformers iPhone comic

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on March 1, 2010

184_8391_transformers-smallTransformers legends Simon Furman and Geoff Senior have put their collective pens and pencils together to produce the first Transformers comic from Titan Publishing to be made available on the iPhone.

What’s more, the iPhone Transformers comic is completely FREE to download and is a taster comic for bigger and better things to come. Titan used the free taster tactic on previous iPhone comics for Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit.

Simon Furman, as ever, is the man behind the storyline and G1 Transformers comic icon Geoff Senior is drawing the pretty Transformers pictures

Simon Furman commented about the new iPhone comic:

It’s a simply incredible chance for fans of the warring ‘Robots in Disguise’ to experience incredible stories that expand upon and underpin the incredible movie universe.

If you enjoy the free Transformers comic on your iPhone, there’s more where that came from Titan over the next few weeks. They can be purchased from the App stores for UK and Ireland.

This puts Titan in direct competition with IDW Publishing, as they already have Transformers comics available for the iPhone.

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Transformers 3D!

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on February 28, 2010

michael-bayAfter having witnessed the success of James Cameron’s Avatar, it is perhaps no surprise that Michael Bay, director of Transformers and Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen, is considering a third movie in 3D.

According to reports, Bay is conducting tests into 3D technology to see how the Autobots and Decepticons look. Bay stated in an interview with MTV:

It’s a process we’re testing with some ‘Transformers’ scenes,” he said. “How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.

Bay also said that a lot of new characters will appear in Transformers 3, though whether that means the Dinobots or not is another question. As far as locations go, Moscow and Chicago have been revealed as central locations for action sequences.

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War for Cybertron Transformers Trailer

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on February 27, 2010

We’ve just received word from Atari that the trailer for ‘Transformers: War for Cybertron’ is now available to watch on YouTube. The video game features two separate campaigns where you can play as either Autobots or Decepticons, battling for your home planet of Cybertron. Here is the blurb from Atari, and the game trailer:

Transformers: War for Cybertron features two distinct storylines: the AUTOBOT campaign tells a story of heroism to save their home planet against overwhelming odds, and the DECEPTICON campaign tells a story of an unquenchable thirst for power to control the universe. For the first time in a TRANSFORMERS title, fans will be able to play the game with their friends through team-based online co-op, or go head to head in a variety of intense, online multiplayer game modes. The game features a sci-fi art style that introduces to fans the entire living, metallic world of CYBERTRON, as well as all-new visualizations of the iconic TRANSFORMERS characters in their original Cybertronian forms. Transformers: War for Cybertron is in development for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii and Nintendo DS.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

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Is Transformers Revenge of the Fallen the worst film of the year?

by Darren 'Starscream' Jamieson on February 2, 2010

transformers2It hardly seems fair considering we thought it was much better than the first film, but Michael Bay’s Transformers sequel, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is up for an award – worst film of the year.

The Razzie Awards has shortlisted Transformers 2 for this ‘to be avoided’ award, in one of the movie’s seven nominations. Very unfair indeed.

Megan Fox has also been nominated for worst actress for her part as Michaela in the Transformers movie. Megan faces stiff competition from another Transformers actress, Julie White.

It’s not a good time for Marvel either as GI Joe has also been heavily nominated. Having seen GI Joe on a plane recently, I was hoping for the plane to crash so I could miss the end of the film!

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Derrick J. Wyatt at Auto Assembly 2010

by Duh_Prez on January 9, 2010

We’re just a few days into 2010 but Auto Assembly is making great strides to ensure that it’s 10th Anniversary convention is going to be its biggest and best yet!

Auto Assembly 2010 is proud to announce it’s second Guest Of Honour – Transformers Animated’s art director and lead character designer,Derrick J. Wyatt.

Watch our announcement video here.

Derrick will be joining Garry Chalk, the voice behind Optimus Primal and our growing list of comic guests at the convention being held at The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England, over the weekend of Friday 13th – Sunday 15th August 2010.

We are still in talks with more guests including a THIRD guest of honour and we will be making more announcements soon about some of the activities and events taking place at the convention including many that will be new to Auto Assembly for 2010…

Tickets for the weekend are on sale now through the website for for the weekend for adults and for children, students and senior citizens, with under 5s admitted free. Single day passes will be made available for sale closer to the convention.

For more details on the convention, to see a full list of all the guests and activities taking place over the weekend, or to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

We hope to see you all in August 2010.

The Auto Assembly 2010 Team

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

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