It's been confirmed that Mark Wahlberg will be taking over the lead role in the Transformers franchise.  Below you will find the official release of the news

HOLLYWOOD, CA (November 8, 2012) – After an exceptionally successful collaboration on the upcoming “Pain and Gain,” Michael Bay has cast Academy Award®-nominee Mark Wahlberg in the highly anticipated “TRANSFORMERS 4.” The film will hit theaters June 27th, 2014.

“Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on “Pain and Gain” and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his caliber is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy,” said Bay.
Bay will direct the next installment in the “TRANSFORMERS” series, which begins shooting next spring. From Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, Inc., in association with Hasbro, the film will be produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian.

Bay’s first “TRANSFORMERS” film was a box office sensation in 2007, opening at #1 and earning more than $700 million worldwide. His second installment “TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN” in 2009 grossed more than $830 million worldwide. In 2011, “TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON” was an even bigger hit worldwide, grossing more than a billion dollars to become the 5th highest grossing film of all time. To date, the franchise has earned more than $2.6 billion worldwide.

No word as yet on who his female companion will be though

New images of the upcoming third party release of "Missle Launcher Marine Type, the add-on set for the PowerCore Combiners by MakeToys, have now been released along with information that the set will be released in December priced at 70SGD.  You can view a full preview gallery after the jump with a teaser imagfe embedded below.

New images of the upcoming third party release of "Missle Launcher Jungle Type, the add-on set for the PowerCore Combiners by MakeToys, have now been released along with information that the set will be released in December priced at 70SGD.  You can view a full preview gallery after the jump with a teaser imagfe embedded below.

New images of the upcoming third party release of Chaos (not The Fallen) by MakeToys have been released along with information that the toy will be released in December 20122 priced at 126 SGD. You can view a full image gallery of the figure after the jump, but here is a taster of this awesome looking piece

Ozformers have confirmed that the Transformers Generations/ Fall of Cybertron Legion two-packs (Rumble/Ravage and Frenzy/Ratbat) have now been released in Australia.  The Cyberverse Legion figures are sold in two-packs and have also been confirmed now for a Japanese release.

Ever since the rumours started circulating that Disney were about to start an approach to buy out Hasbro Inc traders have been scrambling for Hasbro stock which lead to Wall Street analysts taking a closer look into the possible deal between these two giants.  This has led to an article being published in the Providence Journal by John Kostrzewa in which he states that:

"Hasbro declined comment, citing its policy of not talking about rumor or speculation. CNBC analyst David Faber reported that Hasbro's advisors told him there's "absolutely nothing going on that they are aware of at all, in any way, shape or form" involving Hasbro or Disney."

So advisors to Hasbro, tell a DNBC analyst "nothing to it", which leads John to directly ask Hasbro Inc who decline to comment.  What does this mean? Well it's an "unofficial no" and not an official statement, though Hasbro will always decline to comment as they will not want to be seen as being negative just incase Disney are working out a offer.

This story is expected to continue to run

The Facebook page for Singapore retailer HobbyArk has been updated with two images of the Alternity GT-R figures including a new image of Star Saber which can be viewed below along with the new image of Optimus Prime.

Jagex have opened up registration for anyone who is interested in being a Beta tester for their upcoming MMORPG Transformers Universe.  Toy register simply visit their website, choose your side and enter in your details.

Great news for UK Transformers fans who, like us, have not yet picked up a MP-10 Masterpiece Optimus Prime as Hasbro UK have confirmed on their Facebook page that the figure has now arrived within the UK and will go on sale in Toys R Us stores over the coming weeks.  Their exact post was "Hi Guys, we're pleased to say that stock arrived in the UK last week. You should see it in Toys R Us stores in the next few weeks. Please keep in touch with your local store to understand their stock plans."

MTV Geek are reporting rumour that having recently bought LucasFilm to add to their portfolio including Marvel and Pixar, that Disney are in talks to aquire Hasbro Inc.  MTV Geek claim to have been told that "these are still just discussions at this point, but serious enough that something could be announced at any time and create ripples throughout the entertainment industry. The Lucasfilm acquisition has been reported as taking as few as 6 months to complete. On the other hand, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has until 2015 on his current contract, and he waited about 3 years in between the acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm, so we may be without firm news on this for some time."

If this rumour does turn out to be true it's affects will be far reaching indeed as it is likely to signal the end of both The Hub (A Hasbro - Discovery joint venture) as well as the relationship between Hasbro and Paramount for the live-action franchise for both Transformers and G.I-Joe, when the current agreements expire.  Remember, Paramount had the Iron Man rights originally.

SlashFilm has joined in on the discussion and agrees with us regarding this pointing out that "If the deal follows the LucasFilm model, those rights [the live action movies for Transformers and G.I. Joe] would likely stay with that company, at least until some kind of contract runs out.".  The also make mention to the fact that Universal had controlling rights to a collection of Hasbro Inc properties including Clue (Cludeo), Ouija, Stretch Armstrong and Battleship, but famously dropped most of them and only released Battleship.  Wirth Disney owning their own studios, this would no longer be an issue for Hasbro, Disney could just churn out movies of all of their IPs at will.

Hasbro Inc stock has also seen a recent rise.

Stay tuned as there is likely to be much more on this story over the coming days, weeks and months

Simon Furman has updated his Wordpress Blog with a new article titled "Script (W)rap – Transformers RG1 #85" which, as you should be able to guess from the title, covers his preview of Regeneration One issue 85 which sees the conclusion of the "Loose Ends" story arc.  Simon makes mention, within his blog, the posting a spoiler free preview was going to be very difficult, but he has promised a true smackdown of Optimus Prime Vs Megatron, a real first for the "Generation One" story.  Simon explains his thoughts on this "Pretty much everyone now knows it features what I hope is the most titanic and revealing Prime/Megatron clash ever. I’d always felt vaguely unsatisfied that the two towering titans of Transformers-dom had never really had an appropriately epic smackdown in the (original) comic series. Circumstances and story direction just seemed to have them in different corners of the storyline, or the clashes would end in stalemate. When I came on the (US) book, with issue #56, the first thing on my mind was to get Megatron back in the fray. But through twists and turns (of my own devising) somehow I could never get them face-to-face, toe-to-toe (if you discount the Mega-Ratchet combo fight with Prime, where it’s fair to say Megatron wasn’t exactly feeling himself).".

The classics cover month his provided by Geoff Senior (that'll be the copy we pick up then ;))

The comic goes on sale this week from all good, and some not good, stockists

The Allspark member Meister79 has posted an image (available below) containing a list of TakaraTomy Transformers solicitations, some of which, were previously unknown about.  The full list is:

• TF Prime Arms Micron Silas Breakdown
• Arms Micron Nemesis Prime
• Arms Micron Smokescreen
• Arms Micron Ultra Magnus
• Arms Micron Leo Prime
• Arms Micron Showckwave
• Arms Micron Weaponizer Optimus Prime
• Arms Micron 36 MMOG Thundertron
• Arms Micron 37 Preview Optimus Prime Re-do
• TG 01 Optimus Prime
• TF 02 Autobot Jazz
• United Shockwave (same price as Generations Prime and Jazz)
• Combiner United EX02 Skyburst & Aerialbots
• Combiner United EX03 Road Master Prime Mode
• Combiner United EX04 Frim Master Prime Mode
• Combiner United EX05 Rave Master Prime Mode
• Combiner United EX06 Build Master Prime Mode
• Combiner United EX07 Assualt Master Prime MOde
• Combiner United EXP3 Tank Master Vs Marin Master
• United Grimlock
• United Starscream
• Combiner 2-Pack Sledge and Sky Hammer
• United Refelctor
• United Hard Head
• Combiner 2-Pack Steamhammer
• Combiner 2-pack Heavytread + Undertow
• TF Classics Bruiticus
• TF MV2 Leader Megatron (Dark Energon)
• TF Deluxe Seeker Sets
• 

Below you can find a video review of MP-12 Lambor (Sideswipe).

Twitter User Bluesmobile325 recently posted two new images of the soon to be release Transformers Alternity GTR-Prime (???? / Optimus Prime / Convoy) which you can view below.

Don't forgot to also check out the official site at toyhobby.jpg

A new image has been published of the BigBadToyStore exclusive (within the US at least) Transformers Prime Dark Energon Knock Out figure.  The toy, which can be seen below, is a translucent recolour with the bio "KNOCK OUT doesn't often test weapons himself - the danger of a catastrophic malfunction is just too great.  But when he saw the power granted by Dark Energon he just had to have a taste.  Now he's amped up and ready to bring the hurt to the AUTOBOTS".