Looks like our favorite Robots In Disguise will be making a comeback in 2010 with a new incarnation and mandatory cartoon to follow.
Casting is currently being held for voice actors. Transformers Generation 1 and Animated veteran Michael Bell has stated in an interview during a podcast that he has auditioned for it. The casting is being done by none other than Sue Blu, known for her voice as G1 Arcee, and casting/production work on Beast Wars and Transformers Animated.
Bell auditioned for Ratchet, and also a (presumably human) character named “General Fowler”.
Thanks to the Moonbase2 podcast for getting the info. Check them out and don’t forget about our WTF @ TFW Podcast as well!
captain N
good or not
Heres hoping for a G1 or RID Show.
Rodimus
Add Michael McConnohie to that list.
I had a brain fart and couldn't think of his name before but I just remembered it. I think from seeing his interviews he is brilliant when it comes to his knowledge of the performing arts.
I am also curious to see how John Stevens sounds these days. He was awesome as Kup. (High mentions for his Thundercracker too.)
I'd also like to chime in my on GI Joe Resolute. I began to watch it and thought the animation looked amazing, but because all the characters sounded like they were voiced by the exact same person, I couldn't bear to finish it. I thought it could use some help in the cast department. 1 person can't do all the characters alone… well not unless your name is Frank Welker.
Thanks.
General Magnus
Dunno about you, but I love my cartoons with an healthy dose of violence and death. This is a war after all. Guess this is what happens when you grow up watching anime with people and mechs and stuff being killed all the time.
Chris McFeely
But with KILLINZ! KILLINZ IS AWESOME!
What's also awesome is totally shitting on twenty-five years of characterization by having characters claim they were just deluding themsleves about what they were really like!
wildfly
So you want inconsistent characterization and key characters killed off?
That sort of thing only works IN a mini-series, not a full blown series…
…and after resolute, it's debatable if it even works in a mini series.
airfox
Well, I hope it's close to what Resolute's trailer seemed to promise, and not at what Resolute ended up being. You cut from Resolute the first two chapters and the trailer, and you have a very basic and somewhat boring 80s G.I.Joe cartoon episode. I want better for Transformers.
-airfox
janeDoe001
Problem… at least one of these actors live in Canada and has a contract up there. They tried for Animated and failed. And if this series is done in Canada You'd have a bigger problem with the other voices.
Your selection is cool though.
jD001
Opticron Primal
And how do you even know that the Huffer toy we saw has to do with the new cartoon?
Rattrap Primal
My guess the characters will be:
Autobots
Optimus Prime
Bumblebee
Ratchet
Ironhide
Jazz
Prowl
Wheeljack
Huffer (based on the mock up package, I figure Huffer is part of the cast, and since the robot is more G1 esque, they're not doing a ROTF tie in series yet)
Brawn
Decepticons
Megatron
Starscream
Skywarp
Thundercracker
Soundwave
Rumble
Frenzy
Ravage
Lazerbeak
Shockwave
Fit For natalie
What you just said there didn't compute. How did Animated look "morbid?" If anything, Animated looked happy and wholesome, the opposite of morbid, I'd say. How does it look "cheap"? Kickback has already said Animated cost more than any other TF cartoon.
Resolute was a boring. People praise it because it had stylised violence, violence that isn't unusual for Transformers.
FreshDebesh
I asked the same question earlier in the thread, and the reply I got was that he sounds too old to be Duke and they want someone younger to voice him.
Sportimus
Please don't let it look morbid like the Animated Cartoon characters (robots and humans) was! For once I'd like to see some high-quality animation and a more believable style and look of the characters than something from wacky world and CN's cheap and weird styles. GI Joe Resolute is what I am hoping for in style and design. That miniseries rocked.
airfox
Couldn't have put it better myself. Thanks FFN!
Regarding Animated's cancellation: when both Brian Goldner via a podcast and Greg Lombardo at BC09 point to how the deal with Discovery changed their deal with CN, I have to say I don't get why it's still a debated issue. Guess that's just how the fandom works … trukk not monkey and FIRRIB/FIBRIR and all that.
-airfox
Fit For natalie
This may be hard to imagine when you're an adult who is not the target market for these toys, but this is probably a good indicator to how the line is perceived by the market place. In marketing, it is usually a big no-no to talk about how old and venerable to toyline is, because kids don't want "old things". Star Wars got away with it in that period because it's the 30th anniversary of the entire franchise, and a cultural phenomenon. GI Joe at the time only had collectors to depend upon.
Transformers is not a cultural phenomenon like Star Wars, yet not a line devoted to the collectors like GI Joe (was). It is still a healthy kid-marketed line, so Hasbro avoided mentioning or making a big deal out of the 25th Anniversary for the simple fact that most of its toys at the time were meant for children.
So yeah, poor comparisons.
Don't bother man. I don't think he reads other people's responses
People who who have been complaining about Animated's cancellation and bring up Animated's cancellation as evidence that this new show will be immediately cancelled somehow forgot Animated was developed during the production of the first live action movie (in 2006), at a time when NOBODY knew if the movie would actually be successful.
That suggests the extreme stylistic choice in Animated was a means for Hasbro to quickly distance themselves should the movie not be particularly successful. Quite frankly, I think Animated's fate was sealed when the movie turned out to be very successful, and Hasbro was lying when they said they'd support it as long as it sold – they were just giving us that line so we would keep buying the toys. After all, we'd most likely dump the Animated line if we knew there wasn't much of a future for it.
The new show may or may not be cancelled for a variety of business-related reasons in the future, but to imply that Hasbro doesn't know how to run its own franchise (which so far has been doing well for itself) is quite silly, Ash.
Rodimus
Actors and actresses I hope to see return to Transformers that have been involved with them before… (Many hopefully would reprise their classic roles.)
Michael Bell
Peter Cullen
Frank Welker
Sue Blue
Corey Burton
Tom Kenny
David Kaye
Judd Nelson
John Moschitta (Blurr)
Charles Adler
Gregg Berger
Neil Ross
Scott McNiel
Niel Kaplan
Paul Eiding
Jack Angel
Buster Jones (Haven't ever heard a better Blaster)
Rodimus
I love Michael Bell!
But if they're doing a GI Joe series, why wouldn't they just let him reprise his role as Duke? That would be the cream on the crop.
Can't wait to find out more about these new shows, and I'm definately excited to here that Sue Blue is Casting and that Michael Bell will be casted. Maybe we'll get his classic Sideswipe! My favorite of all Transformers voices! (Prowl is cool too )
wildfly
Cullen's price probably went up after the movies. I don't begrudge him that for a second, his voice work is a large part of the success of TFs, but there's a good chance the cost of hiring him is more than has been budgeted for.
Chopperface
They had better enact that policy of
airfox
My apologies for posting on a somewhat (2 weeks) old news thread, but I just couldn't stay silent about some of the things here.
First: great news about a new cartoon. I'll take Kickback's aproach though and expect it for 2011 instead of 2010.
Second:
Agreed. And I also wonder about the style. From reading the whole thread, but not listening to the podcast, it seems to me the style is up in the air. Style IMO being: Movie, Classic, Universe, Transtech, WW, etc.
Who's to say it'll be non movie related. Wouldn't surprise me if it's indeed movie related.
Third:
Well, as I said, the new cartoon can be movie related. So it wouldn't be cancelled for TF3.
Weren't those also by Hasbro?
Hmm. I seem to remember getting a big special figure for the 20th Anniversary. What got G.I.Joe for their 20th?
I've always said that the reason Transformers' 25th was so poor compared to G.I.Joe's 25th and Star Wars' 30th was mainly due to three well known facts:
1) It coincided with TF2. I guess you could also say "poor G.I.Joe and Star Wars fans. They didn't get a movie for their 25th and 30th."
2) We had already gotten our anniversary-like figures in the form of Classics a couple of years earlier.
3) It's much, much easier and cheaper to manufacture new Star Wars and G.I.Joe toys than Transformers.
Fourth:
Why diss Gold Lightan? Gold Lightan was a great cartoon. You should see it.
And they looked like lighters, but weren't lighters. It certainly didn't incite me to smoke.
-airfox
Moonscream
*HUG!* That would have been sweet to hear you doing some of the voices!
–Moony