Jim Sorenson has posted an update on his blog regarding the Ron Friedman auction that he won that contained the preliminary script for Transformers: The Movie (that's the 1986 film).

"Last month, a group of dedicated fans pooled their resources to attempt to purchase a piece of Transformers history; scripts and other documents from Transformers movie writer Ron Friedman.  Many scripts were won by our coalition, but perhaps the most anticipated among the many documents we purchased was an early draft of The Transformers: The Movie, dated 4/27/1985.  I've scanned it in and done a preliminary OCR pass, so without further ado, here it is for download!"

The script contains the dialogue for many scenes that did not make the final draft including Megatron's reference to his "Spark", action for Sunstreaker and Wheeljack and the how the fate of Earth was also going to hang in the balance.  Some of the information was already known about, like the Predacons originally being Autobots called Anibots, but what is new (at least to us) is that their names were finalised as Simba (Razorclaw), Pardo (Rampage), Shriek (Divebomb), Thump (Headstrong) and Clump (Tantrum).   Other new characters are Stripes and Stinger two other cassettes for Blaster.  Form the script its obvious that Streeljaw was to be called Cubbie, a Tiger was going to be called Stripes, a scorpion was going to be called Stinger and there was only going to be one robot, Bolts.  We had heard rumours of a scorpion cassette many years ago, but always put it down to the watch scorpion confusing people as we could find no further evidence.

BehindTheVoiceActors.com have announced two first two days programming schedule for the Hasbro / Discovery joint venture TV station known as The Hub. The line-up is as follows with all times being Central Time Zone.

October 10th:
(A.M.)
8:00: Twisted Whiskers
8:30: Dennis & Gnasher
9:00: Twisted Whiskers
9:30: Dennis & Gnasher
10:00: Cosmic Quantum Ray
10:30: Atomic Betty
11:00: TBA
11:30: TBA

(P.M.)
12:00: TBA
12:30: TBA
1:00: Pound Puppies
1:30: My Little Pony: Friendship
2:00: Strawberry Shortcake's Berry
2:30: Fraggle Rock
3:00: Cosmic Quantum Ray
3:30: Deltora Quest
4:00: G.I. Joe: Renegades
4:30: Hub Sneak Peek
5:00: Meerkat Manor
5:30: Twisted Whiskers
6:00: Family Game Night (Hour Show)
6:30: Family Game Night
7:00: TBA
7:30: TBA
8:00: TBA
8:30: TBA
9:00: G.I. Joe: Renegades
9:30: Hub Sneak Peek
10:00: Deltora Quest
10:30: Twisted Whiskers
11:00: Family Game Night (Hour Show)
11:30: Family Game Night

October 11th:
(A.M.)
12:00: Meerkat Manor
12:30: Cosmic Quantum Ray
1:00: G.I. Joe: Renegades
1:30: Hub Sneak Peek
2:00: Dennis & Gnasher
2:30: Atomic Betty
3:00: Fraggle Rock
3:30: Pound Puppies
4:00: My Little Pony: Friendship
4:30: Strawberry Shortcake's Berry
5:00: Atomic Betty
5:30: Men In Black
6:00: Deltora Quest
6:30: Batman Beyond
7:00: Twisted Whiskers
7:30: Fraggle Rock
8:00: Wot Wots
8:30: In the Night Garden
9:00: Animal Mechanicals
9:30: Mayoku Yummy
10:00: Wot Wots
10:30: In the Night Garden
11:00: Animal Mechanicals
11:30: Mayoku Yummy

(P.M.)
12:00: Strawberry Shortcake's Berry
12:30: Fraggle Rock
1:00: Fraggle Rock
1:30: Tutenstein
2:00: Atomic Betty
2:30: Twisted Whiskers
3:00: Pictureka
3:30: Men In Black
4:00: Deltora Quest
4:30: Batman Beyond
5:00: Meerkat Manor
5:30: Endurance
6:00: Honey I Shrunk the Kids (Hour Program)
6:30: Honey I Shrunk the Kids
7:00: Family Ties
7:30: Family Ties
8:00: Wonder Years
8:30: Doogie Howser M.D.
9:00: Happy Days
9:30: Happy Days
10:00: Laverne and Shirley
10:30: Batman
11:00: Transformers
11:30: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

The second set of Downloadable Content is due for the game Transformers: War for Cybetron over the next two days  (7th September in North America, 8th September in the UK).

Update:

This pack includes five new maps for multiplayer, as well as two new characters for Escalation mode - Dead End and Zeta Prime.

Multichannel News are reporting that Hasbro Studios have named Mike Eisner as their senior vice president of legal and business affairs.

Hasbro Studios Names Top Business Affairs Executive
Agent Mike Eisner has been named senior vice president, legal and business affairs for Hasbro Studios in Los Angeles.

Eisner -- not to be confused with ex-Disney executive Michael Eisner -- had been vice president at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, where among other things, he packaged TV shows and advised on brand integration.
His resume also includes almost a decade negotiating deals at International Creative Management.

Eisner is no stranger to Hasbro, having helped negotiate Hasbro's multi-picture deal with Universal while at WME.
Hasbro is currently producing a number of kids TV shows, including Transformers,My Little Pony and GI Joe, and will be supplying those and other programs to The Hub, its joint venture with Discovery to remake Discovery Kids Channel. The new net is scheduled to launch Oct. 10.

Jim Sorenson posted up an Ark Addendum update containing the first of four pieces making up the concept artwork for Autobot City.

"Two weeks ago, I posted some unused concept art from the fertile imagination of Floro Dery. I asked if people wanted to see the original notes on it, which would have been unreadable at the size I originally shared it.  The response was fairly positive, so here we go.  I think I'll break it into four drawings.  Here's the left-hand side.  I hope you enjoy!"

Visit Jim's blog to view the artwork

Hasbro Inc have issued the following press release regarding the appointment of Finn Arnesen

Hasbro Studios Taps Prominent International Programming and Distribution Executive Finn Arnesen to Lead Global Expansion

Hasbro Studios has tapped prominent international programming and distribution executive Finn Arnesen, who comes to the studio from managing European operations at Cartoon Network, to lead its international expansion, Hasbro Studios President Stephen J. Davis announced today.

In his newly created role as senior VP of international distribution and development, Arnesen will be responsible for managing Hasbro Studios’ global content sales, distribution, channel and program development activities outside of North America, extending across television, online and other emerging media.

“Finn is one of the most creative, innovative and well-regarded television executives I know, and I am excited to have him lead the Hasbro Studios television brand extension worldwide,” Davis said. “He has a superb track record of success internationally, having earned a reputation as a first-rate manager with excellent programming instincts, channel and brand-building skills. Finn created pioneering new kids formats that fit perfectly with the programming model we are creating and will play a key role in our future success.”

Arnesen served as senior vice president of original series and international development at TBS International, where his duties included leading multi-platform programming, production and development; joint venture strategic acquisitions; distribution; and deal-making partnerships.

During his 17-year tenure at TBS, Arnesen generated higher ratings and revenues while overseeing programming and development for the Turner-owned networks, the start up and management of Cartoon Network Studios London, and program management of Cartoon Network Europe as part of his broad portfolio.

At Cartoon Network Europe, Arnesen commissioned and executive produced its first wholly owned U.K.-produced series Skatoony, an unprecedented animated game show with real-life kid contestants. The show reflected his global efforts to expand the kids’ genre and audience with new live-action formats produced through Turner alone and European co-production partners.

Prior to Turner, Arnesen held posts at ScreenSport, the European Sports Network and Sky Sports. He has a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in French and drama from the University of Warwick.

About Hasbro Studios:

Hasbro Studios is the Los Angeles-based production division of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS - News). The “virtual” studio develops and produces shows based on Hasbro’s world class brands, including TRANSFORMERS, MY LITTLE PONY and GI JOE; delivers new branded content; and produces programs from top third-party content creators. Many of these shows will run on The HUB, the new television network starting 10.10.10 that was created by the joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA - News, DISCB - News, DISCK - News), as well as on multiple channels in international markets.

About Hasbro:

Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS - News) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. (C) 2010 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With the 4th Transformers Cyber Missions episode set to be published on Hasbro’s US site in April, US chain Walmart have posted episodes 5 and 6 on their own Canadian website here.  This is because YTV in Canada are already hosting the 4th episode.  YTV's site is IP restricted, so if you are outside of Canada you will need to use a proxy to view the episode, or wait for someone to rip it and upload it to YouTube.

Credit to TFW2005.com for the news.

Titan Magazines have sent us the following release and images for the latest issue of the UK Transformers comic book.

Transformers Comic 2.10 - On Sale 25 February!
Check out the latest issue of Transformers Comic for action-packed features, games, puzzles, competitions and lots more! Issue 2.10 also includes 'Bring me the head of Optimus Prime', a fantastic 8-page comic story written by Robin Etherington and featuring art from Jon Davis-Hunt. Find out more on the story from the synopsis below and check out the sneak peeks attached!

Bring me the Head of Optimus Prime!
Deep in the heart of Montana, in a wild forest region, a private militia force has executed a daring plan – the capture and imprisonment of Optimus Prime.  They are led by Tyler ‘Trophy’ White, a dangerous hunter with a passion for killing, stuffing and mounting rare animals and now obsessed with adding a Cybertronian skull to his macabre collection. Under his orders a small commando group launched an attack upon the Malmstrom Air Force Base, near Montana Falls, in order to acquire an NNEMP (non-nuclear electromagnetic bomb). The attack was made to look like the work of the Decepticons and enough damage was caused to attract the attention of the Autobots and roll his plan into action!­

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