Go90 have posted a behind the scenes look at the upcoming Titans Return cartoon series set to start airing next month via the streaming channel. In it the show’s writer and producer speak about working with the voice talent such as Peter Cullen and Judd Nelson. You can check out the video directly Go90, if available in your region.
Update: Machinima posted the same video to their Facebook page earlier today, enjoy!
Transformers: Titans Return BTS with the cast
Get a first look at our cast with the creative team behind Transformers: Titans Return, launching 11/14 on go90.
Posted by Machinima on Tuesday, October 17, 2017
samisham
I'd argue there's a good amount of that in Prime and IDW, but the problem is these people who are just out to hate anything new.
They killed off Bumblebee and Shockwave to make space for them though.
Windsweeper II
This is what i blame most writers with: the cowardice of wanting to kill of a character but not daring to touch the most popular ones.
"We have to show how badass Megatron is after his upgrade."
"Let's have him kill Slapdash. Nobody cares about him."
Well there are people who do care. Maybe not thousands, but it would be nice to see that cool bot you had when you were a kid or you saw on tf wiki and fell in love with get some use other than being kicked about by Bumblebee.
It's not an annoyance, if you're working in this franchise it's your job.
Jumacas
G1 is Transformers. Sorry to break the news, newer fans. Transformers was envisioned as that. Everything else, is alternative versions of that. They take little bits and pieces of what G1 did, and reshape them, and repackage them and call it "something new". Sometimes arbitrarily changing or adding stuff. Most often just to "not be your daddy's TF". But many times, the original, wisely avoided some creative choices that today result in problematic adaptations. And I don't say that as a "geewunner". I wasn't even born when it aired. It's just true. The franchise struggles to re-claim creative ground all this time, in its arrogant quest to distance itself from its own self. That's how you get fragmented little sub-continuities that hit a wall and disappear and get replaced as fast as they appear. Appreciate the original, folks. There is a reason it's still cherrished outside the fandom after all these decades. Despite its apparent flaws. The spirit should live on.
BB Shockwave
IDW has done a lot to flesh out previously unknown or barely used characters (Tailgate, Swerve, Misfire, Krok). In that aspect I like it, but that is mostly just Roberts' merit really. When Barber or others used forgotten characters, they just… were wasted opportunities most of the time, or someone they can use and kill off without upsetting the fans (see Metalhawk or Horri-Bull).
The G1 cartoon and comic HAD to use a lot of characters and flesh them out because they were on sale in that year and Hasbro was pushing them. It messed up stories a lot, and Budiansky ended up quitting because of this annoyance, but in the end, it also let the writer do pretty much what he wanted since most of the new characters only had a tech spec to start from and nothing else.
Windsweeper II
It's what i'd have liked IDW to have been.
In a lot of ways that's what it has been, but far too little.
I know that's not what Sunbow was completely like either but like IDW it actually was like this in a lot of ways. Yet in a lot of ways like IDW it fell short.
My point is that vision was created by G1 Sunbow and it's what i would like to see from Transformers fiction.
samisham
I haven't read it, but from what I've seen it looks interesting, maybe I should track it down and read it.
Where does this perception of G1 come from? It's nothing like this.
Jumacas
High five mate! Finally someone who gets it! Some people can't even tell the difference somehow, and present their ignorance as fact.
Windsweeper II
I love this. It's like a love letter to how i experience the Sunbow cartoon and what i would like to see in modern TF fiction:
Roughly the oppisite of what we got in the last ten years or so.
Namely: lots of different characters who are all equally important no matter how popular they are and all get fleshed out. The entire galaxy as the arena. Not just mindless battles but well written ones. Creativity and orginality. Deeper than usual stories where the culture, politics, history and every day life of Transformers are explorered. A limit to humanization, let aliens be alien.
I'll give you IDW and Beast Wars. Because they have done a lot of creative (but also uncreative) things.
But i keep reading these kind of comments and i don't really see how TFA, Prime, RID or the movies are so different from G1. Especially it's first two seasons.
The movie and the Rebirth took the franchise to more new places imo than anything we've seen these last ten years apart from IDW.
The aesthetics are very different of course, but as far as the main characters, general backstory and themes go there isn't much difference as far as i can see.
BB Shockwave
Heh, too true, I always loved that "ancient history tapes" quip from Ratchet.
For me G1 was more Marvel Comics G1 than the cartoon. The latter had some nice memorable episodes, but for every Golden Lagoon or Revenge of Bruticus, we had Hoist goes to Hollywood or Prowl fighting mammoth riding vikings coming through time portals. IE, silly. Marvel had its fair share of silly (Car Wash of Doom, the Mechanic), but when combined with the UK stories, for me it is still my favourite universe. Mostly because unlike Dreamwave/IDW, it only had two writers and thus, there are no major retcons or heel-face-turns in character development.
samisham
Thankfully the good parts of it have been preserved in other, better shows, like Prime, Beast Wars and Animated.
I'm just taking this part to reply to entire comment, just to keep mine space saving, and that's kind of why I like G1, to me it's a fun little bit of history, but not somethng amazing on it's own, and all of the stuff it started and promised has been done elsewhere, like the aforementioned tv shows and the IDW comic runs. As for it's flaws vs it's qualities, I can't speak to what it was like then, my parents hadn't even met, but I can say confidently that it hasn't aged well, but there is still a goofy and historical charm to it and, like I said, it led to other things that took it's concepts and built on them, which is why I enjoy it. Well that and having gorwn up on VHS's and DVD's of it.
AutobotAvalanche
To be fair, I don't think Hasbro is the most at fault here. If you don't like where the brand is going, that's fine. But they at least try to take it to new places, while Takara still has their heads up their asses with the bloated JG1 continuity that does nothing but jerk itself off and the toys are consistently slavish to the cartoon, actual pleasing aesthetics be damned.
Jumacas
That's a long discussion and I don't entirely disagree, but I think it's really important for many people here to realise how key the word pioneering is. It means creating something out of nothing actually. In many aspects, G1 found creative space and balance for these concepts to exist. There is nuance to a fair amount of moments and concepts in G1, but it never beats you over the head with it. It unapollogetically embraced the absurdidy of the concept, and had fun in its silliness, but that does not equal shallow. It never forgets that it's a kid's show meant to entertain (and sell toys, of course), but it was made by smart people who were obviously fans (or actually worked on) sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, other great cartoons and actual science. You know, actual geeks and enthusiastic storytellers, who were given free creative reign, as long as their stories featured the toys that Hasbro wanted to advertise. It never felt like "just a toy commercial, why bother?" (like today's usual Hasbro output). It felt like "it's a toy commercial, so we can do whatever the hell we want, as long as it advertises toys in the process!". Instead of looking at it for its animation errors, inconsistencies and general goofiness, which were, almost inescapable, due to the way things were made back then in TV animation (famously, creating whole seasons of 50+ episodes, script to screen, hand animated, in a matter of a few months) look at it for its genuine spirit, that elevated it from being "just a toy commercial". Because, if it had really been that, we wouldn't be here today, still talking and recycling (even if, sometimes, admittedly, improving upon) all of its characters and concepts. You know, like almost anything original.
Coming to think of it, that's what many fans of G1 essentially want from the franchise. It's like, G1 left a promise of a bigger world in all of our heads, that couldn't be realised with the means it had available in its time. And we expect all those great ideas that captured our imagination to fully take shape with today's creative possibilities. But nope. 'Cuz Hasbro.
samisham
I disagree, I can't speak to the Marvel comic from back in the day, because I haven't read it, but I was reffering to the cartoon, which is just absurd plots and terrible animation with some good characters and voice acting. But everything it did, save for the death of Optimus Prime, has been done better elsewhere since, just because it pioneered these ideas, it doesn't mean it did them well. And yeah the golden age of comics is stupid too. But they both still have their charm.
Jumacas
Yeah, like golden age Marvel comics are dumb, huh? G1 is the original. It created the biggest amount of the ideas that we now take for granted because the franchise has recycled and cheapened a million times. It was just a product of its time. Judge it accordingly to context. You'll be surprised how much it achieved from a creative standpoint that, in comparison, the franchise still strives to recreate through arbitrarily "not being G1". A lot of the problems with the franchise now have solutions in either G1 or Beast Wars. Again, from a creative standpoint.
BB Shockwave
I can't wait for the voice actor interviews like when that girl who voiced Windblade's fellow Camien talked more about her role than that character had screentime.
And yeah, Starscream just HAS to be back. Heaven help if someone actually had to make Trypticon have a personality… Sigh. Anyone ever imagine if instead of this dreck we could have The War Within animated, maybe in Mike Mignola's dark style, with the awesome british sounding "oh bother" intelligent Trypticon?
Looks like Trypticon found his old G2 toy collection and is playing with G2 Ramjet while making WHOOOOSH sounds
Why is he even called that? Last I check that was the brony nickname of Rainbow Dash. And yes, he was the worst voice actor on the show, something that should make him a Razzie winner given the competition…
I know… I rewatched the show like 7 years ago when I was on a 80ies cartoon binge and well, unlike say Batman TAS or Gargoyles, G1 did not age well.
Windsweeper II
It's not shocking. It's cringeworthy.
shin03
He took over trypticon in season 3 of G1
kaijuguy19
Starscream taking over Trypticon is shocking but then again this isn't the first time Starscream took over someone else's body in the brand.
samisham
I think Vangelus' description of the show as 'angrily g1' is accurate and kills any chance of anything from Beast Wars making it unscathed, especially something like immortal Starscream. It does make me fear for Primal tho.
Don't got back, all of G1 was just dumb. Just let it live in memories.
Autobot Burnout
You're telling me that the only character in all of G1 who can't actually die is dead?
I mean, there's nothing stopping them from using the abnormal spark aspect to just bring him back if they so choose.