108-605: Transformers: Beast Wars is an entertainment franchise from Hasbro and is part of the larger Transformers franchise. The franchise directly follows the Transformers: Generation 1 continuity established by the 1984 series and animated film . It ignores the continuity established by the Japanese Transformers series, though this franchise would have two exclusive Japanese series of its own. Before Beast Wars , Hasbro had attempted to relaunch
216-719: A Doctor Who audio adventure for Big Finish . The Axis of Insanity features the Fifth Doctor, and was published in 2004. He also contributed a number of stories starring Judge Dredd to the DC title Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future , as well as one-off stories to Dredd's home title 2000 AD . Furman wrote a new continuity of "Generation 1" Transformers comic books for IDW Publishing . Furman likes to tell his stories realistically with maps helping out his locations. Furman often focuses his stories on responsibility. He also wrote
324-580: A Maximum Dinobots mini-series in 2008. Furman is also widely known as the co-creator and chief writer of Death's Head . Originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK Transformers series, the character instead received his own series of stories in various comics, becoming a staple of Marvel UK comics in the 1980s and early 1990s. Furman also wrote Dragon's Claws for Marvel UK, and this title crossed over with Death's Head . Furman's other work at Marvel Comics includes
432-425: A live-action film based on Transformers , with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer. It stars Shia LaBeouf , Josh Duhamel , Megan Fox , and Tyrese Gibson in the lead human cast while voice actors Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving voice Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively. Transformers received mixed to positive reviews and was a box office success. It is the forty-fifth highest-grossing film and
540-548: A 2-year run on original Alpha Flight comic book series (where he served as the final writer on the series), a concurrent Northstar mini-series featuring the Alpha Flight team member, a run on Marvel's RoboCop ongoing series in 1991, and the 2006 Annihilation: Ronan mini-series which tied into the Annihilation crossover. In 2006, he returned to writing Death's Head , after a Marvel.com poll contest helped revive
648-554: A being known as the One. Transformers: Micromasters , set after the Ark' s disappearance, was also published. The real life universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005. This left the Generation 1 story hanging and the third volume of The War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set between Beast Wars and Beast Machines were also left unrealized. Throughout
756-589: A capital letter, sometimes not ) is the preferred fuel of the Transformer race. It takes many forms, including ore, crystal, gas, and raw energy, but it is most commonly used by Transformers in its liquid state, which is stored in many different mediums, most famously the energon cube. It is ubiquitous in Cybertronian culture; in addition to being the Transformers' primary "foodstuff", it also serves as
864-476: A captured Megatron, with some unexpected aid from Grimlock ensuring Magmatron is sent back to Cybertron empty handed. However, Razorbeast's Maximals and many Predacons (led by Ravage, resurrected in a Transmetal II body) are left on Earth, opening the way for future series. There have been two Beast Wars video games. The first game, simply called Beast Wars , was released for the PlayStation and PC . It
972-494: A collection of mini-series that re-imagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published, Hearts of Steel , placing the characters in an Industrial Revolution -era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of the live-action film . However, IDW and the original publisher Marvel Comics announced
1080-685: A comic book series titled The Transformers with a companion series known as The Transformers: Spotlight . The main series was broken up into several story arcs. Eventually, with IDW Publishing losing sales, the series was given a soft reboot. Beginning with All Hail Megatron , the series was set in a new direction, discarding the miniseries and Spotlight format with ongoing comics . By 2012 the series had split into three ongoing series; The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, The Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which later changed in 2015 to "The Transformers") and The Transformers: Till All Are One. In 2022, it
1188-510: A crossover in Action Force , the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe. The comic book features a resurrected Megatron, whom Furman retconned to be a clone when he took over the U.S. comic book, which depicted Megatron as still dead. The U.S. comic would last for 80 issues until 1991, and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and several annuals , until it was replaced as Dreamwave Productions , later in
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#17327810566111296-541: A crossover storyline with the Avengers to coincide with the film New Avengers/Transformers . The story is set on the borders of Symkaria and Latveria , and its fictional universe is set between the first two New Avengers storylines, as well in between the Infiltration and Escalation phase of IDW's The Transformers . IDW editor-in-chief, Chris Ryall hinted at elements of it being carried over into
1404-566: A follow-up to Armada/Energon . The writers attempted to change certain plot elements from the Japanese version to remedy this, although this largely added up to nothing more than references to Unicron, Primus, Primes and Minicons. Just as Marvel produced a companion comic to Generation 1 , Dreamwave Productions published the comic Transformers Armada set in a different continuity from the cartoon. At #19, it became Transformers Energon . Dreamwave went bankrupt and ceased all publications before
1512-668: A new universe of annual comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the animated. The Dreamwave stories followe the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth, but their 1997 return journey to Cybertron on the Ark II is destroyed by Shockwave , now ruler of the planet. The story follows on from there and was told in two six-issue limited series, then a ten-issue ongoing series . The series also adds extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in
1620-549: A prequel to the first film, receiving positive reviews from critics. The movie was a box-office success. A sequel to Bumblebee , directed by Steven Caple Jr. and titled Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , was released on June 9, 2023 to mixed reviews from critics. Transformers: Animated is a cartoon that was aired in early 2008 on Cartoon Network in the United States . Originally scheduled for late after 2007 under
1728-528: A public-relations arm of the revitalized organization. Additionally, Ohshima's other major contribution to Transformers at the time, the 1-page Information Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go! comic published in Dengeki Hobby magazine, also featured several tie-ins to the Kiss Players story. These primarily served to introduce readers to the Kiss Players story and characters when the line
1836-472: A six issue prequel set on Cybertron before the Autobots and Decepticons took their battle to Earth. It spawned two sequels – "TWW: The Dark Ages" and "TWW: The Age Of Wrath" (uncompleted). His work on the Armada and Energon titles were also received better than the anime series from which they were based on. Furman was to have continued on with Dreamwave, but its contentious closure resulted in the premature end of
1944-644: A sub-faction of the Predacons on Earth, a potential reference to the return to the vehicle-based characters following the previous dominance of the animal-based characters of the Beast eras. It is a stand-alone universe with no ties to any other Transformers fiction, though some of the characters from Robots in Disguise did eventually make appearances in Transformers: Universe , including Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Side Burn and Prowl . The show
2052-532: A survey as to whether Dreamwave's new comic would be Robots In Disguise or Beast Wars . Beast Wars won. Dreamwave Productions had plans to release a Beast Wars comic in early 2005, which would have been done by the War Within creative team of Simon Furman and Don Figueroa . Brad Mick and Adam Patyk were originally planned to write the series until they left Dreamwave after not being paid for several projects. However, although some cover art did appear on
2160-618: A visit to the Savage Land . The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions , later Hasbro Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky's backstories. The TV series shows the Autobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as the Decepticons attack. Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron. Shockwave
2268-477: Is a third-person shooter , based on the first season of the show, in which players control either the Maximals or the Predacons in a series of missions to undermine the other faction's attempts at gaining enough resources to win the war between them and escape the planet. It was given a multiplayer feature (removed from the console releases) that allowed up to 8 players to play over LAN , with its own play rooms in
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#17327810566112376-438: Is later revealed to be prehistoric Earth with an artificial second moon, taking place sometime during the 4 million year period in which the Autobots and Decepticons were in suspended animation from the first episode of the original Transformers cartoon), which forces them to take organic beast forms in order to function without going into stasis lock. After writing this first episode, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio learned of
2484-694: Is loyal to Megatron on the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence, but in the comic book, he attempts to take command of the Decepticons. The TV series would also differ wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots, the Decepticon turned Autobot Jetfire (known as Skyfire on TV ), the Constructicons (who combine to form Devastator ), and Omega Supreme . The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields
2592-444: Is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesis Unicron . Female Autobot Arcee also appeared, despite the comic book stating the Transformers had no concept of gender, with her backstory of being built by the Autobots to quell human accusations of sexism. Soundwave , Megatron's second-in-command, also breaks the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history. The UK also had
2700-607: Is set in the year 2005. It introduced the Matrix as the " Autobot Matrix of Leadership ", as a fatally wounded Prime gives it to Ultra Magnus ; however, as Prime dies he drops the matrix, which is then caught by Hot Rod who subsequently becomes Rodimus Prime later on in the film. Unicron , a Transformer who devours planets, fears its power and re-creates a heavily damaged Megatron as Galvatron , as well as Bombshell or Skywarp becoming Cyclonus , Thundercracker becoming Scourge and two other Insecticons becoming Scourge's huntsmen,
2808-623: Is that the heroic Optimus Prime , the villainous Megatron , and their finest soldiers crash-land on prehistoric Earth in the Ark and the Nemesis before awakening in 1985, Cybertron hurtling through the Neutral zone as an effect of the war. The Marvel comic was originally part of the main Marvel Universe , with appearances from Spider-Man and Nick Fury , plus some cameos, as well as
2916-542: The Creation Matrix , which gives life to machines. In the second season, the two-part episode The Key to Vector Sigma introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer, which served the same original purpose as the Creation Matrix (giving life to Transformers), and its guardian Alpha Trion . Introduced to the franchise during Generation 1 is the energy source known as Energon. Energon (sometimes spelled with
3024-529: The Micro Change and Diaclone toys, and partnered with Takara . Marvel Comics was hired by Hasbro to create the backstory ; editor-in-chief Jim Shooter wrote an overall story, and gave the task of creating the characters to writer Dennis O'Neil . Unhappy with O'Neil's work (although O'Neil created the name " Optimus Prime "), Shooter chose Bob Budiansky to create the characters. The Transformers mecha were largely designed by Shōji Kawamori ,
3132-622: The Rescue Bots TV series, its sequel Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy , the Go! anime adaptation, and the 2015 series Transformers: Robots in Disguise . The video games that are part of this shared universe are Transformers: War for Cybertron (including its Nintendo DS version and the companion Transformers: Cybertron Adventures ), Transformers: Fall of Cybertron , the Prime video game adaptation , and Transformers: Rise of
3240-655: The Sweeps . Eventually, Rodimus Prime takes out the Matrix and destroys Unicron. In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with U.S. reprints, and The Movie provided much new material. Writer Simon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron. The Movie also featured guest voices from Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron , Scatman Crothers as Jazz , Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper, Orson Welles as Unicron and Eric Idle as
3348-636: The Transformers Generations: The Fall of Cybertron line in 2012. Several ideas introduced into the 2007 storyline focusing on the introduction of Primus into the Japanese cartoon's timeline have been revisited and expanded upon, which shares Kiss Players storytelling while attempting to fill in gaps of the timeline in the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity. The Transformers Legends manga, while featuring lewd content and new stories and characters, also has
Transformers: Beast Wars - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-653: The Tripredacus Council to capture Megatron after Ravage's failure. However, Magmatron has his own agenda - to create his own army from the stasis pods the Axalon ejected in the pilot episode of Beast Wars . His scheme is partially thwarted by the Maximal double-agent Razorbeast, who ensures the shell program used reconfigures many of the protoforms as Maximals rather than Predacons. The two sides clash in an attempt to stop Magmatron from returning to Cybertron with
3564-479: The fifth highest-grossing film of 2007 , grossing approximately $ 709 million worldwide. The film won four awards from the Visual Effects Society and was nominated for three Academy Awards , for Best Sound Editing , Best Sound Mixing , and Best Visual Effects . The performance of Shia LaBeouf was praised by Empire , and Peter Cullen's reprisal of Optimus Prime from the 1980s television series
3672-429: The 20th century. In 2009, Shout! Factory released the entire G1 series in a 16-DVD box set called the Matrix of Leadership Edition. They also released the same content as individual seasons. It was five issues of the G.I. Joe comic in 1993 that would springboard a return for Marvel's Transformers, with the new twelve-issue series Transformers: Generation 2 , to market a new toy line. This story reveals that
3780-457: The 354-page brand bible, "The Binder of Revelation". In August 2016, Machinima and Hasbro co-produced an animated series named Combiner Wars , simultaneously published on the website Go90 and YouTube . This was followed by two further installments, Titans Return and Power of the Primes . Eric Calderon was executive producer of the trilogy. The events of the series take place 40 years after
3888-596: The Autobots and Decepticons discovering the powerful Mini-Cons on Earth, which are revealed by the end to be weapons of Unicron . Energon , set ten years later, followed the Autobots and the Omnicons in their fight to stop the Decepticons and the Terrorcons from resurrecting Unicron with energon. In Japan, the series Transformers: Cybertron showed no ties to the previous two series, telling its own story. This caused continuity problems when Hasbro sold Cybertron as
3996-650: The BotCon comics, two particular Beast Wars storylines are tapped. In the Omega Point storyline, several events lead up to a tremendous battle against Shokaract, a Predacon fueled by the Dark Essence of Unicron himself. This also serves as an introduction for Apelinq , and the only appearances of Windrazor , Sandstorm, Antagony, and Cataclysm. In the Primeval Dawn story, Tarantulas comes back from
4104-513: The Dark Spark , that serves as a conclusion of the Cybertron series and crossover with the live-action film video game series. Four novels set within the continuity have been published: Transformers: Exodus , Transformers: Exiles , Transformers: Retribution , and Transformers: The Covenant of Primus . The first three were published by Del Rey Books , while Covenant of Primus
4212-465: The Decepticons. (Note: This appears to contradict background presented in the first two seasons of the series.) It is the Autobots who develop transformation. Due to popular demand, Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season, and the series ended with a three-episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly produced OVA , Scramble City , before creating entirely new series to continue
4320-599: The Energon and The War Within titles. Furman has released a novella/comic serial, The Omega Point , which was available only at conventions. Furman collaborates with regular Marvel UK Transformers artist, Andrew Wildman , as WildFur Productions. Their most recent collaboration was on the Macromedia Flash online, interactive comic The Engine: Industrial Strength , which they produced with UK New Media expert Adam Jennings . Away from Transformers, Furman wrote
4428-568: The G1 Transformers and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts, establishing Beast Wars as a part of the Generation 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and the Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second moon and the Energon are revealed to have been constructed by a mysterious alien race known as the Vok . The destruction of
Transformers: Beast Wars - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-465: The G1 continuity, the 2007 live-action film and the "Unicron Trilogy". For most of the 2010s, in an attempt to mitigate the wave of reboots, the " Aligned Continuity " was established. In 2018, Transformers: Cyberverse debuted, once again, distinct from the previous incarnations. Although a separate and competing franchise started in 1983, Tonka 's GoBots became the intellectual property of Hasbro after their buyout of Tonka in 1991. Subsequently,
4644-524: The MS Gaming Zone (they have since been removed). The second game, Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals , is a fighting game based on the second season. The PlayStation version was released by Hasbro Interactive and the Nintendo 64 version was released by bam! Entertainment . Most of the cast members from the show reprised their roles. A third game was in the works for the PlayStation 2 , but
4752-489: The Plasma Energy Chamber and Key to Vector Sigma. The naming of the Transformer ship, the Ark (and reference to 1984, the year the Transformers on board are revived), the character Ravage being shown as intelligent, and Cybertron having an organic core are elements taken from the comics. In 2011, Shout! Factory released the complete series of Beast Wars on DVD. In 2001, Dreamwave Productions began
4860-562: The Transformers originally breed asexually , though it is stopped by Primus because it produced the evil Swarm . A new empire, neither Autobot nor Decepticon, is bringing it back, however. Though the year-long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron , the final panel introduces the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons. This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002's Transforce convention when writer Simon Furman concluded his story in
4968-475: The Transformers. Dreamwave's version reimagines the familiar G1 and G.I. Joe characters in a World War II setting, and a second limited series was released set in the present day, though Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant it was cancelled after a single issue. Devil's Due had Cobra re-engineer the Transformers to turn into familiar Cobra vehicles, and released further mini-series that sent the characters travelling through time, battling Serpentor and being faced with
5076-632: The animated television series The Transformers and the comic book series of the same name , which are further divided into Japanese, British and Canadian spin-offs. Sequels followed, such as the Generation 2 comic book and Beast Wars TV series, which became its own mini-universe . Generation 1 characters have been rebooted multiple times in the 21st century in comics from Dreamwave Productions (starting 2001), IDW Publishing (starting in 2005 and again in 2019), and Skybound Entertainment (beginning in 2023). There have been other incarnations of
5184-480: The cells and gained Kiss Player fusion abilities to partner with them. The three central characters were a younger version of Marissa Faireborn as a resistance fighter against the EDC partnered with Optimus Prime who while having died in the movie, his body body was recovered and restored to life in a new body resembling that of a Dodge Ram pickup by the same organization. Rodimus devastated by his guilt in his role of
5292-532: The character (now branded Death's Head 3.0) and was thus given a 5-issue storyarc in the Amazing Fantasy anthology series. In June 2007, he began writing Terminator 2: Infinity , based on Dynamite Entertainment 's Terminator 2: Judgment Day license; he produced a sequel, Terminator: Revolution . In the United Kingdom, he did original strips for the first two volumes of Titan Magazines ' Transformers Comic UK title, as well as contributing to
5400-517: The characters Jhiaxus and Liege Maximo , one of the first Transformers. Liege Maximo had killed the first Prime to steal the Matrix and claimed that the Decepticons descended from him. Since Transformers Generation 2 was cancelled after 12 issues, the Liege Maximo storyline was concluded in the convention exclusive novella Alignment . Over ten years later, Furman was brought in by the now-defunct independent comics publisher Dreamwave to write some of its Transformers comics, including " The War Within ",
5508-489: The colossal godlike destroyer, Unicron . The latter was borrowed from the Transformers movie, where he appeared with no given backstory (a conflicting origin for Unicron later came in the third season of the original Transformers cartoon series). According to Furman's origin story, The Transformers were a creation of Primus as a warrior race who were to be the last line of defence against Unicron. This origin differs from
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#17327810566115616-505: The combined menace of Cobra-La and Unicron . During this time, Cobra teams up with the Decepticons . IDW Publishing has expressed interest in their own crossover. The following year, IDW Publishing rebooted the G1 series from scratch within various limited series and one shots . This allowed long-time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics, Simon Furman , to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar to Ultimate Marvel . This new continuity originally consisted of
5724-502: The comic. Marvel UK, Furman's employer at the time, invited Budiansky over to the UK, and Furman was chosen as Budiansky's successor over a lunch at Covent Garden in London . Furman started his run in the US comic cautiously at first, but later invented an origin story for the Transformers that involved an ancient struggle between the colossal godlike creator, Primus , and his counterpart,
5832-398: The conclusion of its first storyline in late 2007, Kiss Players moved into its second (and apparently final) phase, Kiss Players Position , which shifted focus to a distinctly more PG-rated theme, though it was still heavy on the "cute girls" theme. The Kiss Players this time are a pop idol singing group made up of the three girls and three original mini-cassette Transformers Glit, Sundor
5940-721: The creator of the Japanese mecha anime franchise Macross (which was adapted into the Robotech franchise in North America). Kawamori came up with the idea of transforming mechs while working on the Diaclone and Macross franchises in the early 1980s (such as the VF-1 Valkyrie in Macross and Robotech ), with his Diaclone mechs later providing the basis for Transformers . The primary concept of Generation 1
6048-528: The cybernetic transmetal Beast Wars Transformers sold well in Western markets, Japanese fans preferred more realistic looking beast modes; thus, Beast Wars Metals was not as successful with Japanese fans. The second and third season of Beast Wars and its toy line only lasted a few months before being replaced by Transformers: Car Robots in the following new year, in which several unused Transmetal 2 molds were used as Destrongers (Predacons). Beast Machines
6156-494: The dead alongside Ravage, Spittor, Iguanus, and Razorclaw to complete the mission he set out to do, while the Vok create Primal Prime to stand in his way; Primal Prime teams up with Airazor, Tigatron, and Ramulus, who have come back from the dead as well. Dreamwave Productions released a Summer Special which contained a Beast Wars story. It introduced three new characters, Optimus Minor , Bonecrusher , and Wolfang . The comic had
6264-441: The default power source for their machines and weapons, and is even used as a currency, a catch-all fuel of life, technology, war and commerce on Cybertron and beyond. This widespread use also comes in defiance of its extreme volatility: energon is prone to detonating explosively if mishandled, and is even used as ammunition in order to exploit this attribute. In 1986, the cartoon became the film The Transformers: The Movie , which
6372-399: The destruction of Tokyo stepped down as the then leader of the Autobots reverting to the previous name of Hot Rod in order to return to Earth to atone for his mistake. He's refitted into a vehicle resembling a Ford GT by his headstrong partner Shaoshao Li, a girl of Chinese descent and an estranged friend of Marissa and used to be one of the EDC's top Kiss Players until realizing that the EDC
6480-473: The end of the Autobot/Decepticon civil war, with the Transformers having returned to Cybertron and now being threatened by ancient technology. Simon Furman Simon Christopher Francis Furman (born 22 March 1961 ) is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro 's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel Comics 's initial comic book to promote
6588-661: The eponymous "Kiss Players" - who fuse with the robots and share their adventures. The plot starts with the Earth Defense Command being formed in 2003 as part of a cooperative human/Autobot effort. When a virus called the Cosmic Rust critically struck the Autobots later that year, the EDC kicked off the Binaltech Project to shore up its defenses. When Galvatron was hurled out of Unicron by Rodimus Prime in 2005, rather than immediately crashing onto
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#17327810566116696-427: The exclusive novella Alignment . The story focuses on a small group of Maximals (the new Autobots), led by Optimus Primal , and Predacons , led by Megatron , 300 years after the "Great War". After a dangerous pursuit through transwarp space , both the Maximal and Predacon factions end up crash landing on a primitive, uncivilized planet similar to Earth , but with two moons and a dangerous level of Energon (which
6804-491: The existence of Primus, corruption in the Cybertronian government that first led Megatron to begin his war, and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron. Three Transformers: The War Within limited series were also published. These are set at the beginning of the Great War, and identify Prime as once being a clerk named Optronix. Beast Wars was also retroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with
6912-539: The first season of Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem. The second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV. While they waited for the third Canadian season to be completed (thereby making 26 episodes in total when added to season 2), they produced two exclusive cel-animated series of their own, Beast Wars II (also called Beast Wars Second ) and Beast Wars Neo , to fill in
7020-478: The former is a spy and the latter shows compassion to both allies and enemies , and Rosanna who's the only heroic one out of the three . The group's purpose is to promote a positive relationship and friendship between humans and Transformers in the wake of the Tokyo disaster of 2005 and the subsequent rise and fall of the E.D.C.. They wear E.D.C. logos on their costumes as a group, appearing to be either sponsored by or
7128-475: The future that the Beast Wars teams left, but the events of the series take place in the far future. The series saw the return of Unicron . Unlike the original Beast Wars series, Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo used traditional animation and were aimed at a much younger audience. Beast Wars II spawned a theatrical movie. The Beast Wars Neo toyline was created to cater to the Japanese market. Whereas
7236-523: The gap. Dreamwave retroactively revealed Beast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe, and the 2006 IDW comic book Beast Wars: The Gathering eventually confirmed the Japanese series to be canon within a story set during Season 3. Beast Wars contained elements from both the G1 cartoon series and comics. Attributes taken from the cartoon include Transformers that were female, the appearance of Starscream (who mentions being killed off by Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie ), and appearances of
7344-436: The intended target of the planet Thrull, he instead hurtled toward Earth. Landing in Tokyo, Japan, the Decepticon leader's impact decimated the city and scattered his Unicron-mutated cells throughout Earth's atmosphere. Following this catastrophe, the EDC was reborn as an organization dedicated to driving all Transformers off Earth. The organization built an anti-electron field (previously referred to as an Energon field) to make
7452-503: The intent to unify every Transformers media into one continuity. The name of this continuity however, is not official; it was adopted by the fans after Hasbro referred to it as an "Aligned Continuity". The toy lines derived from this continuity are Transformers: Generations , Transformers: Rescue Bots , and Transformers Go! The television series belonging to the Aligned Universe include Transformers: Prime (including its concluding film Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising ),
7560-475: The internet, Dreamwave entered bankruptcy before one issue could be published. A mini-series takes place parallel to the third season of Beast Wars and introduces characters who are not shown in the original series such as Magmatron , Razorbeast , and Injector. Other characters who appear are Grimlock in his Beast Wars body (a recolored Dinobot toy) and Ravage in his Transmetal II "Tripredacus Agent" incarnation. The mini-series focuses on Magmatron, sent by
7668-400: The leader of the Junkions (Wreck-Gar, though unnamed in the movie). The Transformers theme tune for the film was performed by Lion with "Weird Al" Yankovic adding a song to the soundtrack. The third season followed up The Movie , with the revelation of the Quintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become
7776-513: The main continuities, and that a sequel is possible. In June 2018 it was announced there would be Star Trek and Transformers Crossover being released in September 2018. Transformers: Kiss Players [ ja ] (トランスフォーマー キスぷれ, Toransufōmā Kisu Pure ), shortened to Kiss Players (キスぷれ, Kisu Pure ), is a Japanese Transformers franchise which began in 2006 to 2007 as was helmed by artist and writer Yuki Ohshima. By virtue of being
7884-413: The name Ne-04, a Autorooper built in the form resembling a Mazda RX-8 would shared the same feeling as she did though with the time they spend together their way of thinking would change throughout their relationship. While this plotline seems like a shift in demographics to little girls, it is said that this line was aimed at a much older adult male audience. The toys bear an "ages 15 and up" warning, and
7992-545: The only Transformers toyline and fiction released in Japan by Takara between the conclusion of Transformers: Cybertron and the live-action movie , it was also effectively the main Transformers line in the country for that time. It takes place in the Generation 1 cartoon continuity, specifically in the five-year milieu between The Transformers: The Movie and Transformers 2010 . The series derives its name from its controversial gimmick, which involves Transformers getting "power-ups" when they are kissed by human girls -
8100-474: The original Transformers cartoon and 1986 animated movie, as well as characters only seen in comics and such, make special appearances and cameos throughout the show, with various voice actors (including Corey Burton , John Moschitta, Jr. , Susan Blu , and Judd Nelson ) reprising their roles. Hasbro, in an attempt to stop the wave of reboots that started in 2001, created the Aligned Universe, with
8208-535: The original toys and animation as Transformers: Generation 2 . Hasbro intended another franchise titled Transtech to follow which would've combined Beast Wars and Generation 1 characters and aesthetics, but this was canceled. Instead, the franchise began a series of reboots , beginning with the Japanese-produced Transformers: Car Robot series, internationally known as Transformers: Robots in Disguise . Beast Wars
8316-424: The other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, including Dave Gibbons , Frank Quitely , John Romita Jr. , Jock , Doug Braithwaite , Ian Churchill , Olivier Coipel , Duncan Fegredo , David Lafuente , John McCrea , Sean Phillips and Liam Sharp , who all drew a panel each, with regular Superior artist Leinil Yu creating the book's front cover. The book
8424-494: The planet uninhabitable to Cybertronians, and created a team of 48 transforming robots known as Autoroopers (オートルーパー Ōtorūpā), a Japanese portmanteau of "auto" (オート ōto) and "trooper" (トルーパー torūpā) or Autotroopers (aka Autobot Troopers) in English, are a group of human-created artificial Transformers that serve the Earth Defense Command to combat any other Transformers that remained, recruiting young women who had been infected with
8532-435: The present day. Dinobot leader Grimlock takes over as Autobot leader. There was a G.I. Joe crossover and the limited series The Transformers: Headmasters , which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon. It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster. In the United Kingdom, the mythology continued to grow. Primus is introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that
8640-565: The profile series More than Meets the Eye showing the Predacon Megatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave's characters and taking his name from the original Megatron. In 2004, this real life universe also inspired three novels and a Dorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the "true" continuity when discussing in-universe elements of the characters. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly
8748-401: The radio dramas, manga, comic, and other materials) were recovered. This material was remastered and translated into English and released via torrent for download. First broadcast in Japan in 2000, Robots in Disguise was a single animated series consisting of thirty-nine episodes. It was exported to other countries in subsequent years. In this continuity, Megatron re-creates the Decepticons as
8856-491: The radio storyline in its second week and never mentioned again. Reactions ran the gamut from outright disgust to comedic derision, with most fans agreeing that the content such be included a children's toyline was distasteful. The fact that several Japanese fans were themselves openly decrying Kiss Players , fearing that American fans would think that it was somehow accepted as normal in Japan regarding its sexually suggestive material. Oshima himself even admitted that he crafted
8964-467: The second moon releases mysterious energies that make some of the characters " transmetal " and the planet is revealed to be prehistoric Earth, leading to the discovery of the Ark . Megatron attempts to kill the original Optimus Prime , but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two-season follow-up series, Beast Machines , Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out. After
9072-626: The series in this manner because he wanted to "make people's jaws drop." Many of its characters and ideas have made appearances in other Transformers media. The Autroopers appeared in Transformers: Animated in 2009 with an official toyline released in Botcon in 2011. The colors of white and blue used for Glit would inspire the Shattered Glass incarnation of Ravage . A new toy figure of Sundor would be released under
9180-459: The story based on different toy lines during and after the 20th century. The first was the Robots in Disguise series, followed by three shows ( Armada , Energon , and Cybertron ) that constitute a single universe called the "Unicron Trilogy". A live-action film series started in 2007, again distinct from previous incarnations, while the Transformers: Animated series merged concepts from
9288-636: The storyline could be completed at #30. However, the Transformers Fan Club published a few stories set in the Cybertron era. The storyline of Transformers: Universe , mainly set following Beast Machines , sees characters from many assorted alternate continuities, including existing and new ones, encountering each other. The story was told in an unfinished comic book exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention. In 2007, Michael Bay directed
9396-486: The storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted of The Headmasters , Super-God Masterforce , Victory and Zone , then in illustrated magazine form as Battlestars: Return of Convoy and Operation: Combination . Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It follows The Movie' s example by killing Prime and Megatron, albeit in
9504-681: The strips for Titan's Torchwood magazine. On 9 April 2011 Furman was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set two Guinness World Records , the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book. With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Mark Millar began work at 9am scripting a 20-page black and white Superior comic book, with Furman and
9612-435: The subject matter of the accompanying manga is far from child-friendly. The franchise itself consists of a toyline, a weekly radio drama series (featuring voice acting by Lyrian as Marissa, Yui Kano as Shaoshao, Satomi Akesaka as Atari, and Keiji Hirai as Ne-04 among others), and a three part manga, which together tell the story of the line in which the toys and manga all of which were also created by Ohshima. Following
9720-550: The third season of the cartoon series, where the Transformers were originally created to be robot servants of the alien Quintessons , who often sold them to other races. Aside from the creation myth, mythological underpinnings can be found in several of his stories such as the Matrix Quest storyline, where the Autobots and Decepticons search for the Creation Matrix , a powerful object constructed by Primus. Furman's Transformers: Generation 2 plot-line in 1993 introduced
9828-562: The title of Transformers: Heroes , Transformers Animated is set in 2050 Detroit (after crash landing 50 years earlier), when robots and humans live side by side. The Autobots come to Earth and assume superhero roles, battling evil humans, with the Decepticons having a smaller role until Megatron resurfaces. Main characters include Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Ratchet; Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Blackarachnia; and humans Professor Sumdac and Sari Sumdac. Several characters that were in
9936-640: The toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on the Generation 1 minifranchise. Furman was born in Carshalton , Surrey , and had no tertiary education. Furman is best known for his work on the Transformers comic by Marvel Comics . Furman took over as the writer of the Marvel US Transformers comic after its earlier writer Bob Budiansky decided he had had enough of
10044-417: The two returning and older characters of Atari and Shaoshao. Possibly as a result of the majority of fans trying to distance themselves from the series combined with the then general inaccessibility of the radio show to an English audience, there was minimal awareness of the specific details of the Kiss Players storyline in the Japanese fandom. However, on July 19, 2022, most of the original media (including
10152-649: The universe depicted in the animated series Challenge of the GoBots and follow-up film GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords was retroactively established as an alternate universe within the Transformers multiverse. Generation 1 is a retroactive term for the Transformers characters that appeared between 1984 and 1993. The Transformers began with the 1980s Japanese toy lines Micro Change and Diaclone . They presented robots able to transform into everyday vehicles, electronic items or weapons. Hasbro bought
10260-594: The villainous Decepticons , two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than ¥2 trillion ( $ 25 billion ) in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The franchise began in 1984 with the Transformers toy line , comprising transforming mecha toys from Takara 's Diaclone and Micro Change toylines rebranded for Western markets. The term " Generation 1 " (G1) covers both
10368-410: The whole planet empty, and all of the Transformers missing, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia begin a new crusade, this time to free the entire planet. The Japanese series Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo were created to fill the gap while the second and third seasons of Beast Wars were being translated into Japanese (called Beast Wars: Metals ). The characters originate from
10476-427: The years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro property G.I. Joe , but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave and G.I. Joe publisher Devil's Due Publishing occupy their own separate real life universes. In Devil's Due, the terrorist organization COBRA Command is responsible for finding and reactivating
10584-440: Was also imported to Japan in 2004 under the title Beast Wars Returns , though it did not gain very much popularity. Officially, the Beast Wars and Beast Machines series exist as the future of Generation 1 universe, and not specifically the original cartoon series or Marvel Comics series . The writers of the series adopted this position in order to pick and choose the best elements of the discrete Generation 1 continuities. In
10692-698: Was announced that IDW lost the publishing rights to Transformers. In January 2006, the Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club comic wrote a story based on the Transformers Classics toy line, set in the Marvel Comics universe, but excluding the Generation 2 comic. Fifteen years after Megatron crash-lands in the Ark with Ratchet, the war continues with the characters in their Classics bodies. IDW Publishing introduced The Transformers: Evolutions in 2006,
10800-547: Was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds, and was published through Icon on 23 November 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation. In 2019 Furman and Geoff Senior started their own company, Forged By Fire Productions, for the purpose of publishing their own comic, To the Death . In 2020, his comic Brute Force became the subject of an episode of Marvel 616 on Disney+ . Actor and comedian Paul Scheer sets out to have it adapted into
10908-457: Was conducting experiments behind her back on other girls. She was then rescued by Hot Rod and joins the resistance to combat the EDC and make amends with her former friend. Lastly, Atari Hitotonari of Japanese descent, who "recruited" into the EDC after the death of her parents while suffering from survivor's guilt . She would shortly become depressed and self-destructive. As she spoke aloud about her nihilistic feelings she would meet her partner by
11016-585: Was heavily censored in the U.S. due to its content of buildings being destroyed and terrorism references after the September 11 attacks on the United States and three episodes were cut altogether. These three lines, launched in 2002 and dubbed the " Unicron Trilogy " by Transformers designer Aaron Archer , are co-productions between Takara and (lesser extent) Hasbro, simultaneously released in both countries, each lasting 52 episodes. Armada followed
11124-516: Was launched, and then later, to summarize the final few radio dramas when both series were drawing to a close. Information Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go! also featured the first part of a story in which Starscream 's ghost possessed Atari (which was continued in the radio drama), and in the second year, notably incorporated the further adventures of the Kiss Players Position cassette trio, who were rather confusingly dropped from
11232-434: Was published by 47North . In addition, IDW Publishing has published several comic books, including graphic novels, while Titan Magazines published Transformers Comic UK , a 20-issue series from 2007 to 2014. The video games, novels, and television series contradict each other due to creative differences, miscommunications, constant team changes, and Aaron Archer being replaced with a different person that did not know
11340-401: Was released on June 27, 2014, which also grossed over $ 1 billion, though it received generally negative reviews. A fifth film, Transformers: The Last Knight was released on June 23, 2017 to similarly negative reviews. Unlike its predecessors, the movie failed to recoup its costs for the studio. Bumblebee , directed by Laika 's Travis Knight , was released on December 21, 2018, serving as
11448-423: Was scrapped in pre-production , without any official word as to why, or how far the project was before the plug was pulled. Transformers Transformers (stylised as TRANSFORMERS , alternatively titled as TransFormers , or simply abbreviated TF ), is a media franchise produced by Japanese toy company Takara Tomy and American toy company Hasbro . It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and
11556-426: Was succeeded by Beast Machines , a new series with a new creative team in charge of production. The Maximals find themselves back on Cybertron, malfunctioning and trapped in their first beast modes (the ones they had at the beginning of Beast Wars ). They were without memory of what happened previously, and fighting for survival against mindless drones called Vehicons. These were created and controlled by Megatron. With
11664-530: Was well received by fans. A sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen , was released on June 24, 2009. It received mostly negative reviews, but was a commercial success and grossed more than its predecessor. A third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon , was released on June 29, 2011, in 3-D and went on to gross over $ 1 billion, despite receiving mixed reviews. A fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction ,
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