On the 18th April 2008, TransformersAnimated.com began running a poll to see who its visitors would have like to see appear in the Transformers Animated TV show. Well the poll have now closed and we can bring you the results.

Q. Who would you like to appear in the show?

• Jetfire - 35%
• Unicron 26%
• Hot Rod - 23%
• Waspinator - 10%
• Sixshot - 6%

We have added another two videos to the Transformers Video section of the website, this time from Episode 19 of Transformers Animated called Mission Accomplished. Both of the videos focus on Starscream and his "discovery". The videos can be viewed both on TransformersAnimated.com and Transformers At The Moon. The new videos are:

Starscream Awakes and Immortal Starscream

We have updated the Transformers Video section of the website to contain two videos from Episode 18 of Transformers Animated. The episode, Return of Headmaster, first aired in Canada on the Saturday 19th April and then in America a week later.

The two clips are:

Sentinel Prime's Press Conference

Optimus Prime Vs Headmaster

You can view the videos at both TransformersAnimated.com and Transformers At The Moon

Derrick Wyatt has updated his blog with a preview images of some of the Transformers Animated characters which should make an appear in the cartoon series in Seasons 2 and 3.

The images appear to be off Swindle, Jetstorm, Wreck-Gar, Skywarp, Shockwave, Mixmaster, Blurr, Jetfire and Thundercracker.

Derrick also added

"About Gurren Lagann: No, actually. I hadn't seen Gurren Lagann until after we had finished most of the first season of TFA. I wish I had, because I would have had the Headmaster robot transform with stubby little legs. And maybe Masterson's head popping up out of the top of the robot."

and

"About the inspiration and influences on TFA: I'm always inspired by Gainax's designs. They are by far my favorite animation studio in the world. I just hadn't seen anything on Gurren Lagann when we started TFA. We've definitely been inspired by that and Diebuster since. Prowl and Soundwave's glasses are a nod to 2000 AD's ABC Warriors. That and Mighty Orbots were the biggest influences on the designs.

As for Shockwave: There is a reason for his color change, but I can't explain that now. I do hope to get him repainted to his normal colors somewhere down the road. "

as well as

"About the Seekers: You go right ahead and dream, you never know what could happen.
Mumbo: I DID design the Amazing Mumbo, he was my favorite character from Titans. If you scroll way back through this blog you will find some drawings of him. Good times! Same thing with the Transformers sketches, there are some a few posts down from this one. I am always doodling other characters I want to put in the show. Some may even show up!

Curse you Bigbot.com for your daily ebay rarities! (J/K!) I have to look through those things obsessively every day, and I can never afford them!"

Denton J. Tipton, editor for IDW Publishing, has posted an update to his blog with an extract of the script from issue on of IDW's forthcoming Transformers Animated Issue 1. The winner of his art contest won the full script, but you can see the extract in this blog article.

Dont't forget to check out In The News page to find out when Denton's blog is updated along with another 27 websites

You will now find a full image gallery and guide to the latest Transformers Animated episode to air in Canada. The episode was number 19 titled Mission Accomplished and featured the Decepticons and Autobot Elite Guard. The episode also saw the debut of Ironhide to the Transformers Animated universe, although only briefly.

With the news of Transformers Universe Ironhide on the way (from BotCon), this all but confirms that there will not be a toy of Transformers Animated Ironhide (going by what Hasbro said in 2007 regarding the two toylines).

Below is a summary of the Transformers Animated report which took place today at Botcon 2008. The panel included Aaron Archer (Hasbro toy designer), Matt Youngbird (Supervising Producer), and Marty Isenberg (Head writer)

Season 2 News

Season 2 will focus more on action and adventure with plenty of action on Cybertron as well as from the Constructicons. There will be more plotting from Starscream and signs that Megatron has a "master plan".

Season 3 News

A third season of Transformers Animated is not yet confirmed. They are waiting on the greenlit, but hope to get that soon. If/when Season 3 goes ahead it will feature some new characters and toys. These will include Blurr (voiced by John Moschita his G1 voice actor), Swindle, Mixmaster (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Scrapper (voiced by Jeff Bennett).

Toy News

• Blurr, he will have holo wheels.
• Swindle, based on his G1 form.
• Wreck-Gar will be released as a Voyager class toy, turning into a garbage truck
• Prowl redeco with a side car that turns into samurai armor.
• Lockdown redeco with flame paint apps, as well as a new weapon (his chainsaw). Hasbro will fix the problem with the hands if they can
• Mixmaster and Scrapper
• Skywarp, a recolour of Starscream.
• Shockwave. He will be an H-Tank
• Arcee will be released with a G1 like alt-mode
• Jetfire - a Voyager class fire robot (red deco) who combined with Jetstorm. Unconfirmed allegiance
• Jetstorm - a voyager class ice robot (blue deco) who combined with Jetfire. Unconfirmed allegiance
• In the Hasbro panel that took place after the event, it was confirmed that Perceptor will also be released as a Animated figure
  

Question and Answer Panel

1. The Transformers Rollout DVD will be released in June with the rest of Season one out on DVD in August. You may have to buy both sets to get the whole series.
   
2. Lockdown has no official allegiance. That was done to hide his origins.
3. No plans for Combaticons but there will be Swindle and not in a flashback scene
4. Blurr's apearance will NOT just be as a cameo
   
5. There is a female character coming up that doesn't have a tragic past.
6. Oil Slick might show up in Season 3, as currently he is a toy only figure
7. Sari had a backpack that transformed into a tricycle that was originally was going to be in the opening credits but it got cut. Its not planned to be in the show for now but maybe seen later, they call it t-bob.
8. Due to budget reasons its unlikely that either Swoop or Snarl will ever speak in the show
9. Blurr will be an Elite Guard Character.
10. Hasbro will redeco the seekers with all the colors at some point in reference to Thundercracker. They keep saying no clone army in the show, so may be the redeco jets are just toys.
11. They want to do Octopunch, but not sure if he would be a Pretender. He was gonna be in the first episode after the 3-parter but it didn't work out but they still want to get him in it. They want him to have boxing gloves.
12. Waspinator's absence from the presentation was brought up - "we've got to leave you wanting something" and "he'll sort of show up" were the answers given.
13. There are no plans right now of Animated Robot Heroes. Though it was mentioned this would be a great line to put human character from the show in.
14. When asked if there could ever be a Animated feature film. They said it comes down to rating, sales, ect. However, they would love to do something like that maybe as a straight to DVD.
15. Blitzwing was meant to be a Joker meets the Mask and can transform into anything when they originally thought about the character, but toy wise that feature wasn't doable. So they ended up with the multiple faces (Man-E-Faces) type feature.
16. Cartoon Network pushed to have a female lead character (Sari) in the show. Hasbro was a bit hesitant about it cause its a toy line geared for boys, but its turned out great.
17. The show takes place in the 22nd century, but they deliberately didn't set a specific date.
18. Captain Fanzone comes from Carmen Fanzone who is a baseball player that was Marty liked. It turns out that only like three people with that last name live in Detroit so he had to go to his neighbor and ask him for permission which he gave.
19. There might be some type of baseball reference coming up in the show.
20. The comic will be from IDW that is a 5-issue limited series of totally new stories written by Marty. When Marty found out IDW was doing a comic he really wanted to write it.
21. The 1st issue retells the movie but from different points of view.
22. Each issue will be its own story taking place during season 1 continuity.
23. Starscream is DEAD.
    

Below you will find the Hasbro press release regarding Transformers Animated Vave 4 toys.

Coming back at you again from Botcon in Cincinatti with an unexpected surprise! We just revealed the never before seen Transformers: Animated characters from Deluxe W408 and Leader W208. They are too cool to talk about, so you got to just check them out for yourself!

Deluxe W4 08

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Leader W2 08

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Hasbro have posted on their Transformers page with a brief update from Cincinnati. The news post gives a little more information about the Transformers Animated toyline as well as some more images.

Pictured are Supreme Optimus Prime, Leader Megatron, Deluxe Soundwave, Voyager Grimlock, Battle Begins 2-pk, Optimus Prime Shift Tech Game, Power Bots Bumblebee (Similar to Cyber Stompers), Activators Lockdown, Optimus Battle Blaster, and Bumper Battlers Jazz (similar to Cyber Slammers).

They also say they plan G1 homages in the toyline's future.

Australian Transformers fans will be pleased to know that Transformers Animated will be debuting on Cartoon Network Australia next month!

Though the details of the showtimes are not yet available, TransformersAnimated.com has been updated with direct access to the official showtimes, the details of which will appear on the Transformers Animated Showtimes page as soon as they are sent to us.

Credit to TFW2005 for the news.

High resolution images of Transformers Animated Blitzwing have been posted over at ACToys.net. Those images have been mirrored in Blitzwing's Miscellaneous Toy Image page at TransformersAnimated.com

Transformers Animated.com has been updated with over 240 images from Transformers Animated episode 18 entitled The Return of Headmaster.

The episode aired in Canada on YTV on the 19th April and is due to air in the US this coming weekend.

The image quality is lower then normal, we will be looking to replace these with higher quality pictures in the near future.