Derrick J. Wyatt

That's right. He absolutely lived the dream!

Derrick James Wyatt(August 10,1972–December 16,2021) was an American artist and character designer fromPaw Paw,Michigan.He attended theThe Kubert Schoolof art inNew Jersey,where one of his teachers wasJosé Delbo.Another wasKim DeMulder!Later on, he received an internship at Spumco inCalifornia,which would graduate to full-time employment with the company. Derrick eventually left Spumco, subsequently getting a job atWarner Bros.Animation, where he worked on the comedy/wrestling seriesMucha Luchaas a designer. He also provided character design and voices for the Kids WB pilotGo! Go! Moba Boy!.Other opportunities opened up for him while at Warner, where he would join the staff ofTeen TitansandLegion of Super-Heroesas a full-time character designer. He also worked as a character designer onScooby-Doo! Mystery IncorporatedandBen 10:OmniverseforCartoon Network.

He was the art director, lead character designer, and a color stylist on theCartoon Network-producedTransformers Animated.As a longtimeTransformersfan, this was a dream come true for him.

Transformersportfolio

What's all this about? This article on a real person associated with the Transformers brand is astuband is missing information. You can helpTransformers Wikibyexpanding it. What's needed:Like a zillion more character design credits from social media, interviews, etc

Art director

• Transformers Animated

Known character design work

Writer

• Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Clubissues24–28:AnimatedTech Specs.
• SD SG:"The Re-Burn of Blurr"

Convention appearances

Fiction

Mini Mayhem!

Eric Siebenalerenlisted Derrick to cookThanksgiving Daydinner, but Derrick got too distracted while making new designs forTransformers Animated,and wound up burning the turkey. He opted to order a pizza instead (and hoped that the delivery guy would be late so it would be free!)

Derrick and Eric were later seen eating a pie together, butOptimushad something much more exciting to show off...SunstreakerandHot Rodeating a pie!Mini Mayhem!

2005 IDW continuity

AtAuto Assembly 2010attendees could buy atoyof Derrick in a boxed set alongside similar likenesses ofScott McNeilandGarry ChalkatSwindle's charity auction and tombola.The Transformers#9 cover

Merchandise

Mighty Muggs

• Derrick J. Wyatt(2009)

Thissuper deformedvinyl Derrick J. Wyatt figure uses the standardMighty Muggsbody template, with swivel joints in his neck and limbs. It depicts him donning aSumdac Systemsuniform (with the S in the center of the badge changed to a W). It was released by Hasbro in anextremelylimited edition of...one, given to Wyatt himself. Sorry, collectors!

Notes

REALLY lived the dream.

• In his position as the main art director and character designer forTransformers Animated,Derrick had a considerable amount of say during the production of the cartoon, to the point where he personally requested changes on this very wiki after the then-unnamedCliffjumperandHot Shotmade their debuts in the cartoon. Following the end ofAnimated,Derrick occasionally producedTransformersfanart of obscure characters in theAnimatedstyle, or new characters from theShattered Glass Animateduniverse, which he semi-regularly posted on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. However, as these were produced without Hasbro's input, and were notcanonizedvia official sources such as theAllspark Almanacbooks, they are not canon for the purposes of the wiki.
• Wyatt cited Bruce Timm andGlen Murakami's work onBatman: The Animated Seriesas the biggest influence on his art style.^[1]
• According to an interview, Derrick's favorite Transformers were "Swindle,Ratbat,Galvatron,andWaspinator".Three of the four made it into theAnimatedcartoon, which ain't bad!
• On theTransformers Animatedseason 2 DVD set, Derrick provided episode commentary on "Mission Accomplished"and"Garbage In, Garbage Out"alongsideMarty Isenberg,Eric Siebenaler,andMatt Youngberg.
• Derrick preferred the characterizations of the original cartoon over the Marvel comics.
• Derrick'sAnimatedcharacter model—essentiallyIsaac Sumdacwith a new head—was scheduled to appear in "Human Error, Part I",in the scene withAnimatedversions ofHydra,CancerandMarty Isenberg.Unfortunately, it didn't make it in to the final scene. Boo!
• He was briefly brought in early on in theTransformers: Primedesign process.
• At Botcon 2012, when asked by a young fan why he couldn't watchAnimatedanymore, Wyatt allowed the child to pick one of theAnimatedtoys he had with him for free. A well-deserved standing ovation took place.
• Even afterAnimatedconcluded, Wyatt would occasionally sneak references to it into other shows he worked on, such as a Soundwave-inspired robot in theNew Teen Titansshort "Turn Back the Clock", and a few trophies onKhyber's ship inBen 10: Omniverse.
• The2022 Hall of Fameevent featured a category for favoriteAnimatedcharacter as a tribute to him.

External links

• Derrick J. Wyatt's blog
• Derrick J. Wyatt's Twitter feed
• Derrick J. Wyatt's Instagram
• Derrick J. Wyatt's Ko-fi page
• Derrick J. Wyatt's Formspring page(archive)
• Derrick J. Wyatt's DeviantArt gallery(deactivated)
• Derrick Wyattat the Internet Movie Database

Interviews

• Interview with Derrick Wyatt at TFW2005.com
• Derrick Wyatt Unicron.com Interview:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2