It has been a while since we last heard from the China exclusive Transformers: Nezha animated series. Speaking to the gathered investors, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner shared some additional info about the new cartoon.
“We’re very happy to be in partnership with CCTV, on a television episodic program that will go on air later this year in prime time on national television called Transformers: Nezha. It’s based on a combination of Transformers and Chinese mythology, but the entertainment looks so good that broadcasters around the world are starting to say, “this could be something we’d take out globally” and we’re very excited about continuing to build that relationship with CCTV”.
There are several key points to take away from the above statement:
- Transformers: Nezha is indeed the finalized title; as rumored a while back. It is no longer known as Nezha & The Transformers.
- With many years in limbo, we finally have a solid release window for the cartoon series. We expect the series around Q3 2019.
- The series itself might release globally. The related toyline may see a global release as well. Currently, it is only planned for China.
Are you excited to see Transformers: Nezha? Share your thoughts on the thread associated with this news post.
Philip164
We probably won't hear anything till after Cyberverse wraps up, if this show does get world wide release.
pokemonsdoom
No
Cliffjumper
Is this out yet?
Digger
Alright, forgot about this thing. Probably just gonna leave it.
SuperTitanHans
This is a weird thread guys.
Blam320
It is strange how silent Hasbro has been about this crossover.
Max Tower
Was it ever established if the Nezha toyline was just reheated Cyberverse toys – or if it contained or will contain new products (or was someone just having a joke with a Photoshopped Bumblebee image?).
It's been pretty quiet on this since the announcement it's not like they've been presenting things on it at animation or toy events – it's kinda vanished, so much so it makes me wondering if it's still even happening at all ?.
Blam320
There's "Ask Vector Prime" and "The Covenant of Primus." In either case, it's still Greek Gods = Transformers, not actual deities like it seems Nezha is turning out to be in this series.
Cheetatron
This conversation has helped me to reconnect with the various depictions of this character I have encountered in various media namely an Anime called \"Magic Monkey\" & Saiyuki neither depictions i thought were particularly androgynous.
Crystal Convoy
I hope we see images from this soon. I'm very interested to see how this turns out. I think it's a very near idea.
Smitty.1981
And…?
Blam320
And in the Covenant of Primus as members of the Thirteen. Nezha would need to be a Transformer, theirself.
Smitty.1981
A number of Greek/ Roman gods were "outed" as Transformers by Vector Prime.
Windsweeper II
Okay, Japan…
Stumbles Mumbles
Just a quick note on Fate Grand Order: That game just wants to have cute girls in it for the sake of having cute girls, so it having an outright female Nezha is not very shocking when you realize that they already turned Emperor Nero into one:
It doesn't really try to be accurate to anything.
With that, I'm gonna go back on-topic. Sorry!
Dark Skull
Alright. Ok, I am going to make this the last time I respond to this off topic-ness. That last picture is from a game where the deity was re-written from it's original folklore to be a female:
Nezha
I can't even call that the same Nezha as told in stories in actual Chinese folklore. I don't even know why the game devs wanted to depict their version of Nezha as a female. That's on them. As far as the other depictions…again, each individual artist wanted to do their own interpretation. But my whole point being, regardless of that, in accordance with the original source, Nezha is male. Not female. If people want to re-write Chinese folklore…well…I guess that's also on them. I'm not going to say anything more about that here.
As far as the Japanese name "Nata Taishi", here's a painting of him….as a man, not a boy:
Monkey (Son Gokû) Watches Prince Nata (Nata Taishi) Fight the One-horn Demon King (Dokukaku Daiô), from the series The Journey to the West, A Popular Version (Tsûzoku Saiyûki)
As far as the robotic depiction…again…someone's bright idea for a game. And I want to say that's just the game devs taking creative liberties with the original source material. Kinda like what people do with movies these days that are based off of comic books, or other literature.
Perhaps I should have put the apostrophe after the "s" then? It's only commonplace in modern society, as I had mentioned in my reply to you. Of all the old paintings, pictures, statues and what not that I have personally seen whether they be in Chinatowns here in the US in homes of family members and other relatives, or in Hong Kong or China, it was only in modern day "art" that Nezha seems to appear more feminine than anything else. Why that is…I never gave much thought to it.
I made it very clear I wasn't referring to you.
Yup, even in Japanese anime, they have women voicing the characters for young boys. FullMetal Alchemist is a perfect example. If the person playing the role can help the producer/director give audiences the "character" they wanted depicted, then of course they're going to go with that person. And like you mentioned, women weren't allowed in theater back in those days. Not to say that in China, there weren't any. I believe there were female performers almost a hundred years after the Peking Opera's first inception….sometime in the 1870s I think? With the Peking Opera starting at about the early 1770s.
I was mentioning it for those who weren't. It would seem that there are those who aren't.
Again, perhaps I should have put the apostrophe after the 's' in artist. However, with each individual artist, their art is from their own interpretation. Maybe I should have added that bit to not make it seem like I'm only going off of only one picture, but instead encompassing all modern day depictions. Sorry if I made you think I was only going off of one depiction.
Again, my apologies if I was as clear as mud.
That first pic is rather nicely done! But yeah…like you and I said, modern depictions. But to the point I mentioned earlier, I take it as it's all boiled down to creative liberties because with artistic depictions of this particular deity, no one said you had to draw/paint him in certain ways. And to my knowledge, I haven't heard of any rules either. If there were no prior statues, paintings, etc of Nezha and no info on it, one could paint a feminine character and title it "Nezha" and people would think that's a female deity. However, this isn't really the case. I think it's more how people just want to portray the character. *shrugs* To each their own.
It actually is an interesting topic. I took a few classes of art myself when I was in community college. The professor I had opened up my eyes and mind to a lot of things I hadn't thought of before, whereas had I not had those discussions with him, I'd probably be one of those guys that would see these modern depictions…and not have as open a mind as I do on it. But you are absolutely on point. This is a thread about the new series…not a discussion thread on how this particular deity has been portrayed in modern times. So with that…carry on everyone
Stumbles Mumbles
The one used for the news post is actually a fairly influential look as far as modern Nezha goes, and is usually at least somewhat echoed in a lot of modern depictions. But yeah, it's not as cemented a look as Wukong or Guan Yu.
And yes, those are two completely different companies from entirely different countries depicting Nezha; Koei Tecmo(Japan) and Hi-Rez Studios(USA).
With this said, I'm gonna respect what Dark Skull said and go back to talking about Transformers. This isn't really a thread about "the portrayals of Nezha" even if I would find that a fairly interesting topic to discuss.
Rodimus Prime
I have to wonder if they chose the character because they are going to depict him as a robot / cyborg .
Stumbles Mumbles
Men would portray women in western theater as well for the longest time, as women were not allowed to be actors. Men portraying women used to be fairly common.
My sticking point was mostly that you made it sound like it was only "one artists" portrayal, when it's actually commonplace to the point of the opposite being unusual.
I never used trap, and my issue was entirely with the "one artist" line. You seem to think I'm arguing something I'm not really arguing.
In relatively modern european theater, male youths are often played by adult women because they can more convincingly do those parts. I honestly think this might be a closer match to what is done for Nezha in modern days than anything. Peter Pan is a classic example of a male character commonly played by a woman.
I'm fully aware of this. Hence why I mentioned modern depiction.
Again, I don't even disagree with you on this. I simply had an issue with your comment reading as if a feminine looking depiction of Nezha was a one-off thing when it is in fact a very common thing.
I don't want to call Nezha anything. I was specifically taking umbrage with a specific point.