Transformers Animated (cartoon)

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Transformers Animated is a cartoon series which debuted on December 26, 2007, in support of the franchise of the same name.

The cartoon was produced by Cartoon Network, scripted in the United States, with character and background designs by the crews behind shows like Teen Titans and Ben 10, while animation was provided by Japanese studios Mook, The Answer Studio, Studio 4°C, Barnum Studio and Diomedea.

Animated saw several Generation 1 voice actors reprise their old roles (Susan Blu, Corey Burton, John Moschitta, etc.), and was the first Transformers series to feature David Kaye in which he didn't voice Megatron.

Overview

For further information, see: Transformers Animated timeline

"When there's trouble you know who to call..."

Animated follows the adventures of a small crew of Autobots who come into possession of the all-powerful AllSpark artifact. Stranded on Earth and living among the population of Detroit, they face off against a series of human villains and their mighty Decepticon foes, who seek to possess the AllSpark. Though they were originally a lowly space bridge repair crew, these five Autobots must rise to their circumstances to deal with threats large and small.

The series eschews the ever-continuing space opera storylines of the Unicron Trilogy cartoons to return to the episodic approach of Beast Wars; most episodes are standalone stories, but with larger story arcs that stretch through the whole series. The focus is on characterization, dynamic action, and humor.

The episodes center not only on the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, but also on the Autobots' interactions with many of Detroit's human supervillain denizens, including a maladjusted marksman, a speedy racer, and a guy who looks good in a pimp suit. The idea is to present the Decepticons as more of an ongoing background threat instead of having them be repeatedly defeated each episode and look like bumbling fools. The arrival of a Decepticon in battle is a big deal, requiring multiple Autobots working together to stop even a single one. The human villains give the Autobots "everyday" threats, and some of their schemes are the result of Decepticon treachery. Note well: Human adversaries are not new in Transformers continuity.

While the series is not a sequel to the live-action movie, they have many thematic elements in common, most notably the central role of the AllSpark and the revelation that all modern technology has been reverse-engineered from the dormant body of Megatron. Hasbro also carried over some design elements from the live-action movie into Animated designs, including not just the aforementioned cube but also Ratchet's medical readout striped deco, Bumblebee's black racing stripe, and Megatron's helmet. These are meant to be "connection points," helping kids who had seen the theatrical film but had no prior Transformers experience ease into understanding the new series.

The series also includes many elements and homages to prior Transformers series. Most conspicuously, it has many parallels to Generation 1 character designs, personalities, and major characteristics; Arcee, Shockwave and Blurr are even voiced by the same voice actors as their G1 analogues. Beast Wars gets nods in the form of the inclusion of new versions/homages of Blackarachnia and Waspinator, plus the overall plot structure: The main war is over, the good guys won, but now a small team of heroes never meant for combat roles must go up against an upstart cell of villains led by a charismatic rogue.

At BotCon 2009, Cartoon Network representatives confirmed longstanding fan rumors that the end of season 3 marked the series finale — meaning it had in fact already ended with no prior acknowledgment or explanation.

Cast

Episodes

For further information, see: List of Transformers Animated episodes

Feature-Length Premiere (2007)

• Transform and Roll Out

Season 1 (2008)

Season 2 (2008)

Season 3 (2009)

Season 4

Main article: Transformers Animated season 4

Transformers Animated was cancelled before a fourth season could be produced, but a large amount of pre-production on the season was completed beforehand, including a complete list of episodes and even a full, detailed outline for a three-part season premiere. See this dedicated article for a full breakdown.

Shorts

Creative staff

There are some talented people working on this show. Among the more prominent-

Home video releases

Main article: Transformers Animated (cartoon)/home video

United States

• Transformers Animated — Transform and Roll Out (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Season One (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Season Two (2009)
• Transformers Animated — The Complete Series (2014)
• Transformers Animated — Season Three (2014)

United Kingdom and Australia

• Transformers Animated — Transform and Roll Out (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Volume One: Blast from the Past (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Two: Lost and Found (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Three: Megatron Rising (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Four: Mission Accomplished (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Five: Fistful of Energon (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Six: Black Friday (2009)

Germany

• Transformers Animated — Transformieren und Abfart (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Eins: Drachenkämpfer (2008)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Zwei: Die Alten Waffen (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Drei: Megatrons Auferstehung (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Vier: Mission Erfüllt (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Fünf: Der Doppelte Starscream (2009)
• Transformers Animated — Volume Sechs: Schwarzer Freitag (2009)

Japan

• Transformers Animated — Vol. 1 (August 6, 2010)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 2 (September 10, 2010)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 3 (October 8, 2010)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 4 (November 5, 2010)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 5 (November 26, 2010)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 6 (January 21, 2011)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 7 (February 25, 2011)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 8 (March 25, 2011)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 9 (Scheduled April 28, 2011)
• Transformers Animated — Vol. 10 (Scheduled May 27, 2011)

Comic adaptations

A comic adaptation of the series was published by IDW Publishing starting in January 2008. The book used cartoon screen captures arranged in comic book style panels.

Reception

Transformers Animated debuted January 5, 2008, at 10:30am EST as the number one television show among boys 6-11 in both cable and network television. In addition, the strength of the showing helped lift the ratings of all its neighboring shows in Cartoon Network's "Dynamite Action" scheduling block.^[1] The show was also featured as part of the Toonami Jetstream online video service.

The immediate response to the earliest promotional materials from the online fandom was the painfully traditional one, with an added dash of overblown paranoia that the franchise would be far too "kid-oriented" for longtime fans to enjoy, based on nothing more than its artistic style. Attitudes took an eyebrow-raisingly sharp turn with the premiere of the first footage from the show at San Diego Comic-Con 2007 and Hasbro's presentation at BotCon 2007, and after the debut of the show, it was essentially only the most ardent "already-made-up-their-mind-to-hate-it" viewers who were speaking ill. In particular, many fears were alleviated with the airing of "The Thrill of the Hunt", which involved Ratchet savagely beating Lockdown for revenge, Ratchet coping with the loss of Arcee's memories, and a look at the horrors of war. This unusual level of maturity let many fans warm up to the new series.

The aforementioned ability of the series to carry on story arcs for multiple episodes and, in many cases, for an entire season also lends itself to enjoyment by older viewers. Multiple plot lines run simultaneously and are not resolved within a single episode, allowing a deeper, more intricate story than previous Transformers series. The return of Megatron took up most of season one, and the construction of the space bridge and the revelation of the identity of the Decepticon traitor among the Autobots unfolded throughout the second season, while the mystery of Sari's origin was hinted at throughout the entire series.

Animated also lends itself less eagerly to the common practices used in Transformers cartoons to sell toys, with substantial plot points being given to characters that do not have toys and the same core cast of characters being kept constant throughout the three-season run. Fans gradually warmed up to the show's superhero-inspired art style over time as well.

While the first two seasons had several moments of surprising maturity, season 3 can be noted for an overall darker tone. It featured a number of character deaths (including two of the core cast), vicious assault and several storylines which dealt with more mature themes. The most obvious example would be the character of Sentinel Prime, who went from being a bungling egomaniac with a chip on his shoulder to being a bungling egomaniac with a chip on his shoulder who tried to kill one of his oldest friends and manipulated the Cybertronian political system so he could blow stuff up.

By the end of its run in 2009, Animated had cemented itself as a series usually considered to be among the best Transformers series by the fandom. In the years since the series finale, several original concepts and characters have become a part of the greater mythos of the Transformers franchise. Some notable examples include the following:

• Lockdown was adapted into the main antagonist of the high-profile Age of Extinction film in 2014, with new takes on the character being created for Generation 1 and Cyberverse.
• Bulkhead was made a main cast member in Prime in 2010, and from there, would even make the jump to the Generation 1 continuity family in IDW Publishing's comics in 2013. Whether by coincidence or design, the archetype of the big, friendly, green lummox-type Autobot would feature in the next two Transformers cartoons as well, in the form of Rescue Bots Boulder and Robots in Disguise Grimlock, both of whom even shared Bulkhead's love of art.
• Ratchet being reinterpreted as a crusty, grumpy, war-weary medic with a spark of gold has influenced later depictions, including the Aligned and 2005 IDW continuity incarnations.
• The Magnus Hammer was adapted into the weapon of choice for the Prime and original IDW counterparts of Ultra Magnus in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
• Lugnut became a recurring character in the 2005 IDW continuity and directly inspired the Cyberverse character Clobber.
• Incarnations of Slipstream have been imported into the Generation 1, Aligned and Cyberverse continuities.
• The Elite Guard made its way into the Aligned continuity (where the Aligned Ultra Magnus remained a leader of the team) and the Generation 1 continuity.
• The portrayal of Sentinel Prime as a selfish thorn in the heroes’ side through the show’s run ended up becoming one of the major stepping stones towards the newer, increasingly antagonistic characterization of the character during his major appearances in the following decade. The War for Cybertron franchise depicted Sentinel as something of a corrupt politician; the Dark of the Moon film has him as an arrogant nationalist, and the 2005 IDW continuity’s latter years also portrayed him as a hardcore xenophobe. All three new portrayals of Sentinel, of course, shared their Animated predecessor’s trait of being colossal jerks.

Among these and several other small nods here and there, and several designs for subsequent characters taking cue from their Animated incarnations, there's plenty of proof that despite its relative obscurity, Animated lives on!

Japanese release

Transformers Animated (トランスフォーマー アニメイテッド) began airing on the TV Tokyo affiliate, TV Aichi, at 8am on April 3, 2010, with a regular Saturday morning timeslot. This also happens to be the same exact timeslot that the last Transformers cartoon to air in Japan, Galaxy Force, had. The series was broadcast in widescreen, but unfortunately, rather than use the full widescreen image originally animated (see Notes, below), the Japanese broadcast consisted of the fullscreen image with illustrated borders to fill out the empty space.

According to a preview article in Figure Ō issue 143,^[2] as well as one in the TV Magazine April 2010 issue,^[3] Animated was to be heavily edited to streamline it with the live-action movie franchise with an effort to make it take place within that continuity. In an interview, TakaraTomy marketing director Masahiko Yamazaki ^[4] stated that due to Optimus Prime not being a Supreme Commander in Animated, the show would take place chronologically before the events of the 2007 Transformers feature film. Ultimately, there was no evidence of this in the broadcast episodes, as the Japanese dub (plot-wise) remained close to the original scripts.

Though most character names were not altered from their Western version ("Optimus Prime" not being renamed "Convoy", for example), "Bulkhead" was changed to "Ironhide" in order to add more recognizable names from the Movie series. This necessitated the character known as Ironhide in the English version to be renamed "Armorhide". In the same interview, Yamazaki was quoted as saying that Bulkhead would become Movie Ironhide and "share his world view" (a psychotic gun nut rather than an artful gentle giant). This statement was ultimately contradicted by the actual dub of the show, where Bulkhead remained a big lovable lug throughout the course of the series.

Episode order was also heavily altered so that characters with toys could appear sooner in the series. For instance, "Sound and Fury" was broadcast as the fourth episode rather than the seventh. Strategic edits of both content and dialogue were made to accommodate this new narrative order. Three episodes were also skipped during broadcast ("Nature Calls", "Rise of the Constructicons", "Sari, No One's Home") to make the series episode-count divisible by 13 (so that it could fit in the network scheduling timetable). The three episodes were likely selected because they did not advertise existing toys. The skipped episodes were included in the subsequent DVD release of the series and retroactively re-inserted into the official episode count (as episodes 14, 22 and 27).

Up to three minutes of content was edited out from every episode in order to accommodate longer title and credits sequences as well as new bookending live-action segments featuring the Otoboto family. A sitcom-style family of diverse (corny) personalities, their segments followed a loosely scripted serialized continuity in which they advertised the latest Transformers toys and merchandise. As Transformers cartoons are targeted toward a younger audience in Japanese markets than in Western markets, the segments also included tutorials teaching children how to transform and play with their toys. The edited content was not restored for the subsequent DVD releases, though the Otoboto family segments were also absent.

On the bright side, the series received a newly animated title sequence directed by Munetaka Abe that was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, if full of spoilers and not an entirely accurate reflection of the content of the show. Still, it was pretty.

The localization was headed up by Yoshikazu Iwanami, who had previously masterminded the Japanese versions of Beast Wars, Beast Wars Metals, and Beast Wars Returns (all known for being radically altered, obnoxiously comical self-parodies). This more comedic and self-aware approach could be seen at the beginning of each title sequence, as characters conversed and argued about random nonsense, as well as in the "upcoming episode" bumpers that aired at the very end of each episode, with the characters dropping Japanese pop-culture references left and right. Like all of Yoshikazu's dubs, the series was self-aware and repeatedly broke the fourth wall, such as the characters referencing Rescue Fire, another TakaraTomy-based animated series and toyline; even going so far as to mention that they stole the show's timeslot. Japanese pop culture references also dotted the series, with Nanosec becoming a parody of Lupin III.

DVD releases began on August 6, 2010, by Paramount Japan, containing 4-5 episodes a piece.^[5] The audio tracks were Japanese with 2.0ch Dolby Sound, and the video was presented in 16:9, though the episodes themselves were still 4:3 with borders like the broadcast version.^[6]

The opening theme, "TRANSFORMERS EVO.", is performed by JAM Project (single available on April 21, 2010), while the ending theme, "Axel Transformers", is performed by Rey (single available on May 12, 2010).

Notes

The American broadcast's fullscreen image, the unedited widescreen, and Japanese broadcast's letterbox.

• Despite being animated in a widescreen format, Animated was delivered to and broadcast by Cartoon Network in a cropped-down, fullscreen format. The series was even released on DVD in that format, as was the Japanese dub which added Autobot-symbol wallpaper to fill in the sides and create a widescreen image. For years, the only glimpse fans could catch of the full widescreen version of the show was in a promo reel screened at various conventions before the launch of the series and later included on "The Battle Begins" pack-in DVD, unless they were lucky enough to have access to the Cartoon Network HD channel, which was new and not widely accessible at the time. Fortunately, reruns later began airing on The Hub in July 2012, in glorious widescreen HD! Hoo-ha! Shout! Studios's DVD releases of the series were also in widescreen, as are episodes on streaming stores and services such as YouTube and Tubi. The French broadcast was similarly cropped, but has received no official home media release at all, widescreen or otherwise.
• The series is the first in over a decade to re-establish the classic Generation 1 convention of blue eyes for Autobots and red eyes for Decepticons... though there are the occasional exceptions.
• As well as the aforementioned Generation 1 voice actors, Townsend Coleman returns to a Transformers series. He voiced Rewind in the original Transformers cartoon.
• Derrick Wyatt singled out Mighty Orbots and the British comic 2000 AD's ABC Warriors strip as the biggest influences on the character designs, with Gainax animation studio as a constant source of influence.^[7]
• In May 2008, when North American broadcasts of the series were only four episodes into season two, all the remaining episodes of the season aired in Dubai. While almost nobody in the fandom had personally seen these episodes (and no one had seen them in English as they were intended), gossip based on viewer reviews and screencaps resulted in many plot developments and potential surprises being spoiled. Hooray.
• The Latin American dub for the first two Seasons was produced in Chile; the third season, however, was dubbed in Colombia by Cartoon Network's orders. Among the many changes, including a Spanish version of the opening theme, were Strika and Flare Up having their genders swapped to male.
• The lack of supervillains and human characters in general in season 3 is due to Hasbro requesting their removal.^[8]
• Two of the Studio 4°C shorts, "Logo" and "Starscream's Fantasy", despite being completed, were never given a public release of any kind outside of two convention screenings. That is, until August 22, 2022, when a post about the lost shorts from Twitter user "Crazy Ass Moments in Transformers History" gained heavy traction, prompting Transformers fan Keyan Carlile, who had copies of the two shorts, to ask Marty Isenberg to reconsider his stance on distribution. Marty relented, and Keyan publicly uploaded the shorts the following day.

References

1. ↑ Transformers Animated Premieres #1 on All Television Among Boys and Boosts Kids 6-11 and 2-11 Delivery by Powerful Double-Digits (archived)
2. ↑ http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/285256-figure-king-issue-143-image-scans.html
3. ↑ http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/animated-8/latest-edition-of-tv-magazine-reveals-new-transformers-animated-japan-details-169265/
4. ↑ Figure Ō issue 144
5. ↑ Animated DVD main page
6. ↑ Paramount Japan's detailed listing
7. ↑ Comment section of "Back from Botcon" entry in Derrick Wyatt's blog
8. ↑ http://www.allspark.com/content/view/4966/20/ From Derrick Wyatt's panel at TFCon2009

External links

• Transformers Animated playlist on YouTube
• Animated character designer Derrick J. Wyatt's blog
• TV Aichi's official Transformers Animated homepage