The End of Transformers Animated, Hasbro @ Botcon: The Animated TV show is Officially Over Options

[Rosicrucian]

Oh, I'm not saying they'll make a live-action TV show.

I'm saying they're going to make a cartoon taking far more cues from the Live Action Franchise (Mutebee, Prime with Flames, more alien look and so on). Mark it!

Animated was a cartoon taking numerous cues from the Live Action Franchise. Alterations were made to tie into the movie (Red Alert -> Ratchet, Hot Shot -> Bumblebee). Heck, Megatron's Cybertronian body is basically a stylized interpretation of Movie Megatron that in the process doesn't look like the dog's breakfast.

[Master Fwiffo]

Seems like it's even sadder than Avis predicted. Instead of everyone who thought Animated wasn't cancelled (sorry, "not continued") pretending they knew it was all along, they're claiming that even though those of us who thought there was reason to worry were correct, we're still wrong. Somehow. Because saying, "Well, damn. I guess the rumors had some substance after all," would require being gracious or something.

...no, that's not it at all. The rumors still had no substance. Just because it did turn out to be winding down doesn't mean that the things people were freaking out about were worth freaking out about. Yes, you came to the correct conclusion, but it wasn't the sensible thing to be thinking at the time, and the "evidence" of it was and still is pretty insubstantial. This latest development is pretty much the official "yes, you can start freaking out" point.

Ok, look. All the rumors I'd seen and heard, including a few AWESOME INSIDE SOURCES™ pointed to Animated being cancelled. These rumors all mounted up one after another, none of them being good news (the best we got was 'No Comment', which I *also* called), and now culminated in this. This was not the Sage of Wisdom Fwiffo peering into the future, nor was it Fwiffo waving a sign on the street saying THE END IS NIGH (Avatar aside...), it was one dude, me, reading the signs as I called em, and reacting to the conclusion. Do I overreact a bit? Yes. Do I seriously break down in sobs every time is say *broken sobbing*? Not at all. Nor do I take this to other threads, nor do I let this ruin my enjoyment of what's left of Animated.... only 4 episodes... and then it's gone... *BROKEN SOBS* (See what I did there?)

All I did was read the signs and rumors as I called em, and then made a judgement. As I said throughout the thread, I would have LOVED to have been proven wrong, nay, even rejoiced at it! But I wasn't.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt, because this is the internet, not SRYS BSNSS. The truth is, I am very disappointed that Animated's gone, as it really is my favorite TF series in, like, ever. TF isn't RUINED FOREVER™, it's jsut not going to be as awesome as it would have been with more Animated.

I mean, I'm not trying to be harsh here, but the way Fwiffo is acting he's gone into "I was right about this! Now I expect you to take my word as gospel on [collection of other ridiculous things there is no evidence for]" and it irks me. He came to the right answer for the wrong reasons, and now he's insufferable.

Wut?

I think you're reading too much into what I'm saying. My word is not gospel (Though the Gospel of Fwiffo is a highly amusing title for a book...), and what I'm throwing out about the new series and what they'll do with the remaining Animated lines is my theories, and nothing more than that. When I make those predictions, I would have thought people would debate them, rather than assume I was declaring myself the Great Wise Seer of Transformers Future. I'll be sure to scale back the language (apparently, this was a bad time to use 'Mark My Words'), but really, I don't have any more of a clue than you do.



There. Do I look like a rational person again?

Good. Now I need to start doomsaying about ROTF's Box Office. IT WILL ONLY MAKE 20 DOLLARS AND FLOP HORRIBLY, AND IT'S G I JOE'S FAULT!





What? I've got an image to maintain here! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif)
HIGHLIGHT to view:
THOSE LAST TWO LINES WERE A JOKE.

[Lukeblast]

Tee-Hee, I was rereading the thread and found something funny!

What I find annoying is that if Animated does end, everyone- EVERYONE who's calling people "doomsayers" now will come down with a case of laser guided amnesia.

"I never said it definitely wasn't ending, I just said it was unlikely."

"Well, I think we all knew this was coming. I don't think there was anyone who didn't."

"When I said that it wasn't canceled, I just meant that- [insert semantics argument here]"

"I wasn't arguing that the conclusions were wrong, I was just arguing against jumping to them."

Etc...

Seriously. Mark my words, there will be metric hugtons of denial and backtracking once the truth about the future of the line is officially confirmed.

Just because some people are saying "Uh, guys. It kinda looks like the line/series is sputtering and slowing down. I think it might be on it's last legs here." doesn't mean that they WANT Animated to end. It's just what it looks like right now, and if something looks like a duck...

If Animated ends up continuing, GREAT! What a wonderful thing to be wrong about!

If Animated does fizzle out then not only does that suck, the people who tried to say as much (and were ignored and/or accused of overreacting) wont even be able to feel vindicated because the ones doing the ignoring/namecalling will immediately start swearing on a stack of bibles that they were right there with the "doomsayers" the whole time.


*Just something I see coming...* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-op.gif)

It would be funny if you were actually supplying instances where people were going against what they said before, rather than repeating themselves yet again in the face of the "See? Doomed! I was so right! Take THAT, people who had hope!" garbage. Point out to me where people said it was most definitely not ending, and are now saying they knew it was coming. Show me the "denial and backtracking", because this just looks like people restating themselves yet again. Admissions were frequently made that yes, there was reason for doubt. What people were against was rampant negativity and pessimism based in exactly ZERO facts. The bulk of the arguments were, in fact, about jumping to conclusions... because that's all that was going on.

Even better, show me the "Uh, guys. It kinda looks like the line/series is sputtering and slowing down." The doomsaying was nowhere NEAR that rational and reasoned, and wanting people to eat crow because you're "right" about something you had no actual proof for and covered by being hyperactively negative about is just absurd.

[Master Fwiffo]

Oh, I'm not saying they'll make a live-action TV show.

I'm saying they're going to make a cartoon taking far more cues from the Live Action Franchise (Mutebee, Prime with Flames, more alien look and so on). Mark it!

Animated was a cartoon taking numerous cues from the Live Action Franchise. Alterations were made to tie into the movie (Red Alert -> Ratchet, Hot Shot -> Bumblebee). Heck, Megatron's Cybertronian body is basically a stylized interpretation of Movie Megatron that in the process doesn't look like the dog's breakfast.

Eeennnn... Not really. It's in no way based on the movie, Animated Cybertron Megs look aside.

I'm not just taking 'a few movie nods', I'm talking 'almost directly movie inspired'. Like, Main Cast is TF'1s Cast, complete with Blackout and Barricade and (GOD WILLING) Bonecrusher. I'm talking directly inspired-by-movie-look. I'm talking about the Fallen, and a giant cube-based Allspark. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if Sector 7 was a big part of the next cartoon.

In my mind, the idea would be to create a show where you could take any of the toys from it, and place them alongside the Movie Toyline, and not have it look out of place, creating a kinda continuity between them. I mean, you can't very well have Animated Bumblebee alongside Movie Prime. It don't look right.

I'm thinking of maybe an animated style that looks like this, or a CG cartoon that matches simplified movie designs.

Now of course, this is all just theory, but I think Hasbro wants to milk the movie franchise as much as frikken possible, because at this point It Sells Big Time. Why wouldn't they push for something very movie-like?

[Thylacine2000]

What I find annoying is that if Animated does end, everyone- EVERYONE who's calling people "doomsayers" now will come down with a case of laser guided amnesia.
"I never said it definitely wasn't ending, I just said it was unlikely."

That... wouldn't be "amnesia." That would be true. And would remain a perfectly reasonable position in retrospect, since the initial evidence was garbage. More on that in a moment.

Just because some people are saying "Uh, guys. It kinda looks like the line/series is sputtering and slowing down. I think it might be on it's last legs here." doesn't mean that they WANT Animated to end. It's just what it looks like right now, and if something looks like a duck...
If Animated does fizzle out then not only does that suck, the people who tried to say as much (and were ignored and/or accused of overreacting) wont even be able to feel vindicated because the ones doing the ignoring/namecalling will immediately start swearing on a stack of bibles that they were right there with the "doomsayers" the whole time.

And that's not right either. People weren't being reasonable about this. They were overreacting to flimsy crap "evidence" and acting like their own fear meant that this "evidence" just had to be true.

"My l33t insider source HE TELL ME that Animated toys are going to be shipped back to Hasbro and destroyed" is about six different kinds of sketchy and not credible. And let's not forget that AFTER the doomsaying began, Hasbro first showed the Toy Fair images of then-upcoming surprise Animated toys.

The ONLY relevant and worthwhile evidence for any of this was:
-The cancellation of Animated Voyagers and postponement of Deluxes, as reported by BBTS, which happened AFTER all this began.
-The statement about Hasbro ceding all Animated rights to CN, as reported by Hasbro themselves, AFTER all this began.
-To some extent, the ongoing lack of stolen testshots, which could only be judged in retrospect and definitely WAS NOT KNOWN when all this began.

Before those events took place, this was nothing but people farting on their keyboards.

Let's re-focus on the Toy Fair images. Hasbro had to pay someone to take those pictures. They displayed them to major retailers in the hopes of inspiring orders for them--time and money spent on those pictures cannot be spent on other Hasbro products. Meaning Hasbro either: a) is going to release those toys, b)SUDDENLY and AFTER Toy Fair decided not to release them (meaning the initial panic threads were still wrong), or c) is really really really stupid and just loves wasting money on purpose. And, hey, since we've had some people spin yarns on these boards about how Brian Goldner deliberately wanted Movie toys to be "ugly and un-sellable" so that nothing would interfere with the sales of Classics toys a year earlier (everybody got that?), I'm sure there will be some who actually don't realize option c) is a joke.

Basically, this is like a NASA satellite detecting actual evidence of alien lifeforms, and then some tinfoil-hatted Trekkie at Area 51 saying "Toldjaso!"

(Note that I'm not trying to make Fwiff feel bad about this, since I get the feeling he's just been joking the last 8 posts or so. But if people are seriously going to try to revise history and build up their far-seeing prophetic fan props after having thrown garbage at the walls and waiting to see what would stick, they should damn well be called out for it.)

This post has been edited by Thylacine2000: May 1 2009, 01:33 PM

[Bocc Kob]

Having a Sector 7-ish third faction in the new series would be pretty sweet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-ironhide.gif)

[Creature SH]

Good thing that the likely end of the series isn't half as important as arguing about who reacted more maturely to the first signs.

Because on the internet, everybody wants to be daddy.

[Esser-Z]

-To some extent, the ongoing lack of stolen testshots, which could only be judged in retrospect and definitely WAS NOT KNOWN when all this began.

Do note that there WAS a recent stolen test shot, one of a toy that we've heard nothing official of. Which is odd.

[Detective Fork]

Oh my god.

You can't cancel Arcee AGAIN.

I kind of really hate the movie for this.

Indeed, I was so looking forward to Arcee and Soundblaster. Friggin' movie push.

[AvisFelis]

Oh, I'm not saying they'll make a live-action TV show.

I'm saying they're going to make a cartoon taking far more cues from the Live Action Franchise (Mutebee, Prime with Flames, more alien look and so on). Mark it!

Animated was a cartoon taking numerous cues from the Live Action Franchise. Alterations were made to tie into the movie (Red Alert -> Ratchet, Hot Shot -> Bumblebee). Heck, Megatron's Cybertronian body is basically a stylized interpretation of Movie Megatron that in the process doesn't look like the dog's breakfast.

Eeennnn... Not really. It's in no way based on the movie, Animated Cybertron Megs look aside.

I'm not just taking 'a few movie nods', I'm talking 'almost directly movie inspired'. Like, Main Cast is TF'1s Cast, complete with Blackout and Barricade and (GOD WILLING) Bonecrusher. I'm talking directly inspired-by-movie-look. I'm talking about the Fallen, and a giant cube-based Allspark. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if Sector 7 was a big part of the next cartoon.

In my mind, the idea would be to create a show where you could take any of the toys from it, and place them alongside the Movie Toyline, and not have it look out of place, creating a kinda continuity between them. I mean, you can't very well have Animated Bumblebee alongside Movie Prime. It don't look right.

I'm thinking of maybe an animated style that looks like this, or a CG cartoon that matches simplified movie designs.

Now of course, this is all just theory, but I think Hasbro wants to milk the movie franchise as much as frikken possible, because at this point It Sells Big Time. Why wouldn't they push for something very movie-like?

The only issue that might create hiccups for a Movie-verse series is that Hasbro isn't the sole owner of the movie bot's designs. Same thing that prevents the movie toys from being reused in other lines.

From the wiki:

Unfortunately, due to issues of vehicle-mode licensing and the fact that the robot designs are the shared intellectual property of DreamWorks, it is a virtual certainty that the Movie toys will never be made available as redecos in other franchises (bar any movie sequel line) or as convention exclusives.

They'd have to alter the designs and give them new, generalized vehicle modes to get around that.

They could simplify them, like so.

Or they could keep the Animated style, and just movie-ize them...

Or they could do totally new designs only loosely based on the movie stuff.

Or they could just be hilarious with it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif)

[Jeysie]

No one should have to apologize or be gracious about not giving in to doom and gloom. What did the people who gave into that accomplish by doing so? What did the pessimistic types gain by being pessimistic that is worthy of praise? What did you get out of being negative that I missed out on by not giving up hope?

Well, if we'd made enough of a fuss to get told before now that Animated was being ended, we maybe could have rallied a show of fan support to convince Hasbro otherwise. Even that slim chance is gone at this point, though, now that the third season is almost over and plans for the new series are likely well underway. Timing is everything.

As for the people wondering why we're making a fuss about the matter at all... where I come from, being bothered by the fact that something you're enjoying is ending is considered a pretty normal response. Is it, like, OMG the most horrible thing in my life and my world's gonna end? No. Life will go on, and I might even end up liking the new series. But actually giving a crap about your hobbies doesn't make you pathetic. (Or at least, if it does, I'm perfectly OK with being pathetic, then.) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif)

[Spin-Out!]

The first Movie's best toy was Deluxe Bonecrusher, and he didn't have an Automorph gimmick in his transformation and because he wasn't overly fiddly. It might have helped that he was my favorite character.

What about Longarm?

He's pretty alright. Plus, he's basically Ultra Magnus with Grimlock's noggin and Strongbot's personality.

What's not to love?

Sadly, I never bought Longarm. And I guess Arcee's okay, seeing as how sh'es got a fun transformation, as well.

[chiasaur11]

The first Movie's best toy was Deluxe Bonecrusher, and he didn't have an Automorph gimmick in his transformation and because he wasn't overly fiddly. It might have helped that he was my favorite character.

What about Longarm?

He's pretty alright. Plus, he's basically Ultra Magnus with Grimlock's noggin and Strongbot's personality.

What's not to love?

Sadly, I never bought Longarm. And I guess Arcee's okay, seeing as how sh'es got a fun transformation, as well.

Pick him up if you see him.

He's like the anti bonecrusher, but also very fun.

Plus, he's Dave Van Domelen's highest rated transformer ever.

[Spin-Out!]

Alright. Maybe they'll rel-release the mold as Movie Hoist for a later wave of ROTF. I'd pick that up if it looked enough like it would fit in with Universe or Classics.

This post has been edited by Spin-Out!: May 1 2009, 02:49 PM

[Canthros]

Well, if we'd made enough of a fuss to get told before now that Animated was being ended, we maybe could have rallied a show of fan support to convince Hasbro otherwise. Even that slim chance is gone at this point, though, now that the third season is almost over and plans for the new series are likely well underway. Timing is everything.

And if we all clap our hands, Tinkerbell will come back to life!

Hasbro's entering into a significant business arrangement with Discovery Communications, which runs the Discovery Channel and some similar channels. Cartoon Network is owned by Turner Broadcasting, which is part of, I think, Warner Brothers. The reason that there isn't a fourth season of Animated isn't that the ratings are too poor to justify it (are they even out yet?), it isn't that the fans don't care enough, and it probably doesn't have all that much to do with the movie. The reason is that Hasbro wants a bigger stake in the media side of the property, and they can't do that in the position they're in with CN. Blaming anyone here is asinine.

[Jeysie]

The reason is that Hasbro wants a bigger stake in the media side of the property, and they can't do that in the position they're in with CN. Blaming anyone here is asinine.

Well, except that Hasbro decided to cede all the rights to Animated to CN, didn't they? If they wanted to keep the series going on their new network, they could, y'know, have not done that. Or they could have given the OK for CN to make more episodes instead of just being able to rerun the old ones.

This post has been edited by Jeysie: May 1 2009, 03:07 PM

[Sprocket]

My bitterness mainly stems from the fact that it doesn't feel right for Animated to get less episodes and a shorter shelf life than one of the Unicron Trilogy lines. It just seems to good to end up as...between movie filler.

[Canthros]

The reason is that Hasbro wants a bigger stake in the media side of the property, and they can't do that in the position they're in with CN. Blaming anyone here is asinine.

Well, except that Hasbro decided to cede all the rights to Animated to CN, didn't they? If they wanted to keep the series going on their new network, they could, y'know, have not done that. Or they could have given the OK for CN to make more episodes instead of just being able to rerun the old ones.

1. Running the series on the new network would entail some sort of payment to CN, either to acquire CN's rights to the product, or to license them or whatever. It's probably not something Hasbro can just do at a whim, or for the cost of broadcasting. Likewise, I doubt full ownership of the series by Hasbro was in the offing at the beginning, for either purely monetary or simple contractual reasons. CN probably purchased or already had the rights to rebroadcast the TFA series.
2. Giving CN a go-ahead on additional episodes would probably mean turning over all creative control of the characters, since it is unlikely that Hasbro has the people to manage two cartoon series and a movie franchise. I think this is probably true, even if we assume that any new episodes would not be accompanied by new toys. Additionally, letting CN generate new, mainstream Transformers content would potentially cut into whatever value Hasbro is intending to derive from the new show and media venture, especially since CN may be more broadly distributed than Hasbro/Discovery's channel.

[Spin-Out!]

If the first Movie hadn't been such a financial success, Animated probably wouldn't have ended up as between movie filler. However, if the first movie had failed, there possibly could have been such a negative impact on the Transformers brand and Hasbro itself, the Transformers brand could have very well died, and we would never have gotten Animated.

This post has been edited by Spin-Out!: May 1 2009, 03:16 PM

[Spark]

A lot of you guys seem to be skipping over the finding in Wal*Mart computers of Animated Rodimus and Blackout (both of which Hasbro hasn't even shown), so at the very least, some Wal*Mart, somewhere has ordered a couple of cases of new Animated stuff. I fully expect the Animated toyline to continue through roughly August or September to get the remainder out of the factories.

And truthfully, we likely won't have a definitive answer till Botcon on the subject. But yeah, the show's done. The toyline's certainly done after they use whatever final molds they've pressed already.