Transformers Animated (franchise)
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Transformers Animated is the latest television-supported Transformers franchise, which began in December 2007. The latest re-imagining of the Transformers brand brings a highly dynamic and stylized look to the toys and fiction.
The franchise consists of the following components:
The cartoon began with a 3-episode mini-movie, first aired on Cartoon Network on December 26, 2007, and followed by a full 13-episode season, which started airing in January. The toyline, however, did not hit stores till the late spring of 2008, due to the ongoing popularity of the 2007 movie toys.
The series has adopted a new visual art style and form of storytelling which has not been used before in Transformers. The changes in design were created in an attempt to attract the modern youth viewer. The new art style incorporates a more "organic" feel to the Transformer characters. This style of art and character movement was introduced to emphasize dramatic movements and to allow the animator to express more emotion than in previous series.
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[edit] Homages
Even more so than Energon, Animated is saturated with frequent and obvious references and homages to Generation 1 and other lines, possibly intended as a celebration of the Transformers' 25th anniversary year. Among them are:
- Arcee is based on her Generation 1 namesake.
- Blackarachnia is based on the Beast Era character of the same name.
- Blitzwing is based on his Generation 1 namesake.
- Bumblebee is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name. Elite Guard Bumblebee has a similar color scheme to movie Bumblebee's "stealth" mode with some elements of Goldbug, the rebuilt version of Generation 1 Bumblebee.
- Constructicons Scrapper and Mixmaster are loosely based on the Generation 1 Constructicons, though Scrapper's vehicle mode recalls Scavenger and Mixmaster's alt mode recalls his G1 namesake, with a scoop like G1 Scrapper.
- Dinobots Grimlock and Swoop are based on the Generation 1 Dinobots of the same name; and while Snarl shares a name with Generation 1 Snarl, but his alt-mode is based on the Generation 1 Slag.
- Elita-One is based on her Generation 1 namesake.
- Jazz is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name.
- Cybertron Mode Megatron is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name, with some similarities to movie Megatron. Earth Mode Megatron is based on Battlestars Super Megatron.
- Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime is loosely based on the Generation 1 character of the same name, specifically The War Within. Earth Mode Optimus Prime is based on the Generation 1 Prime, as well as Robots In Disguise Optimus Prime and Battlestars Star Convoy.
- Prowl has a police-based alternate mode and a logical mind, like the Generation 1 character of the same name.
- Ratchet is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name, with some design elements of movie Ratchet, and an attitude reminiscent of G1 Ironhide and Kup.
- Sentinel Prime is named after the Generation 1 character of the same name.
- Seekers Skywarp and Starscream are based on the Generation 1 characters of the same name.
- Soundwave is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name, though with a new alternate mode loosely based on an unproduced Classics toy of his G1 counterpart. He still has his partner, Laserbeak, who is based on his G1 namesake, but with an all-new alt-mode.
- Ultra Magnus is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name.
- Wreck-Gar is based on the Generation 1 character of the same name.
In addition, there are characters seen in the cartoon that also have strong homages. These may yet become toys. And of course there's the theme song.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the second Transformers series (the first being Beast Machines) wherein a strict separation is made in the type of weaponry used by either side. According to Derrick J. Wyatt, "To me the Autobots were built as a labor force, and the Decepticons were created as the Military. This is one reason that the Decepticons use military weapons, while the Autobots use 'tools' to fight with."[1]
- An early working title for this incarnation was Transformers: Heroes[2].
