Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee in action. All this can be yours for only ninety US dollars.

Theres a lot of ground to cover here, with 2 days of the show already come and gone… [Read the rest of this entry…]

Activision has formally announced some of the details of the forthcoming game based on the Transformers movie. IGN reports the Xbox 360, Wii, and DS will be joined by Sony’s systems as well: PS3, PS2 and PSP. Oh and theres a PC one too. So, just about anything you’ve got.

Better yet, the console developer has been revealed as Traveler’s Tales, who are responsible for LEGO Star Wars, arguably one of the best movie games in the past few years. They’ve confirmed seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns, along with massive destructable environments, and on-the-fly transformations. IGN has a short interview with producer Andy Burrows, who hints that they’ll mix in some non-movie bots inspired classic Generation One characters. Confirmed playable characters right now include Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream.

Transformers on DS will be handeled by Vicarious Visions, who have a massive catalog of successful ports for Activison, including Doom 3 for Xbox, Tony Hawk and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for portables. Savage Entertainment(developer of Star Wars: Battlefront II) takes the PSP, and is promising a very different game with over 20 (!) playable Transformers spanning further into the movie’s extended universe.

A playable demo of the game will be available at Toy Fair in New York City this weekend. Since this is an industry/press affair, we’re hoping to see a video come along soon. We’ll keep an eye on the official site.

In the meantime, here is the first screenshot from the game. It’s a picture someone took of a catalog of Transformers merchandise that just happened to have a tiny page advertising the game. If you can’t make it out, it’s Bumblebee fighting the Decepticon Barricade in the first shot, and then a single shot of Barricade. Its not much, but we’re starving for info here, so give me a break.

UPDATE! IGN has added lengthy impressions of the demo, but still no screens. Read it all here.

The internet has gone absolutely crazy with toys leaks in the past couple weeks, but I won’t waste your time with all of them. Instead, I’ll cherry pick the best, and relevant news, and leave TFW2005 to gobble up every scrap.

First up the comics: The Movie “prequel,” which will be a 4 issue series set before the events of the live action movie. TFarchive has a nice review of the book, which is due on February 21st.

Cover B is something special, showcasing non-movie characters, Arcee, Inferno, and Shockwave (at least one of the hundred one-eye bots HAS to be Shockwave). Don Figueroa is handling the pencils, so it should be pretty interesting to see how the fans’ favorite artist handles some of the fans’ least favorite designs.

Speaking of designs, its about time Dreamworks, ILM, Paramount, or Michael Bay himself fired somebody. Not because the designs are bad (I personally like the fresh approach), but because we have even more spec sheets. This has to be the worst kept secret in Hollywood.
Here are Starscream, Frenzy, Bonecrusher, and Ironhide.

Ok, enough of this concept art, its time for merchandise. [Read the rest of this entry…]

From a couple smaller fan forums comes fresh looks at resin prototypes for 2 of the biggest and most talked about Transformers figures for the new movie.

Gen1TF and Nuklear Power have diverging looks at what may be the Optimus Prime that will populate toy shelves this summer. Also, get a load of Megatron, who definitely takes after his Energon counterpart.

There’s been a lot of pictures floating around the net of various toys lately from this line, but I didn’t think many of them were that special until I saw these.

A quick update – new images of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are now available, as book covers. Bumblebee graces the cover of a sticker book, and Optimus is on the cover of the movie novel, sure to be a literary wonder for all time. The synopsis for the novel actually reads:

The Transformers are back – hitting cinemas in June 07 – and this time they have even more battles to win! Now you can read their adventure in this action-packed novel! Get ready for the return of the mighty Transformers in the action packed movie novel! Filled with amazing battle stories, this retelling of the Transformers story is perfect for older fans. It even includes cool movie photo inserts!

Both books should be available for purchase on July 4th.

IESB.net brings us the initial news and the cover images, which are mirrored after the jump.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

You’ve probably seen the trailer by now. What you might not have seen is the Japanese version of the trailer. It contains mere seconds of additional footage, padded out with Speilberg and Bay introducing the movie to Japanese audiences. Check it out.

For those of us who wanted to see more than the back of Prime’s head in the trailer, he stands tall on the cover of Empire in the UK (see left)

And of course we have more toys. Barricade, Starscream, Bumblebee, Brawl, and Ratchet all in deluxe mode. Theres also some prototypes for tiny Barricade, Prime, and Megatron….
[Read the rest of this entry…]

IDW, the publisher currently bringing Transformers comics to the stands, has released info about a Movie Prequel Comic that will be starting in February 2007. It’s a four-part mini, with the books being 32 pages each, and it’s being written by Chris Ryall (Zombies VS. Robots) and Simon Furman (more Transformers books than can possibly be listed), with Don Figueroa (not as many as Furman, but plenty nonetheless) on art. Interestingly, Ryall also happens to be IDW’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.

Here’s what he had to say about the book:

This is no peripheral movie tie-in. Rather, it’s a fully realized, generations-spanning tale that also sets up and explains much of the backstory in the coming movie. With Paramount and Hasbro’s assistance, we’re able to show you the characters and explain some situations that are integral parts of the movie. It should also assuage any early fan trepidation and show that this prequel and the movie together are going to comprise quite an epic TRASNFORMERS story.

Ultimately, while I’m unfamiliar with Ryall’s previous work – and I’m a little curious how the writing chores are being split up – with big guns Furman and Figueroa attached to this project, this books is sizing up to be a pretty safe bet for my money. And what’s more, if that blacked out image is any indication, this book should provide a clear look at what some of the characters – if not all – will look like, at least with Cybertronian alt-modes.

UPDATE: Wizard has a short blurb on the book with the full version of the blacked-out image colored.