Here's some of the information on Transformers Animated, most of which was given away at BotCon though the David Kaye panels and the Hasbro Future Product Panels, although I've since found some more information:
Main Autobots
- Optimus Prime - voiced by David Kaye (transforms into a Fire Truck). He will appear in both Cybertron and Earth modes (both have toys, deluxe for Cybertron, Voyager for Earth) and is armed with a red / blue axe, which is huge. The axe is formed from his trailer, which will appear and disappear (G1 style).
- Prowl - voiced by Jeff Bennet (transforms into a Motorcyle). The character is a ninja and will be smart. The toy features some impressive tooling, with the motorbike wheels not appearing. The toy looked similar to Beast Machines Silverbolt (cartoon not toy), in how smooth and round it looked.
- Ratchet - voiced by Corey Burton (fire truck). Very Movie like in vehicle mode, Ratchet is the only Autobot to have served in combat before and is the medic of the team.
- Bumblebee - voiced by Bumper Robinson (yellow sports car). Bumper is said to sound like "Chris Rock style voice". Bumblebee is the youngest of the Autobots, and it very enthusiastic and likes Earth.
- Bulkhead - voiced by Bill Fingerbekke (military vehicle). Bulkhead is the typical "strong-man" character, said to be like the Thing.
- Grimlock - David Kaye (Tyrannosaurs Rex). Very G1 like in robot and dinosaur mode, even down to the gold collar. Grimlock is said to speak in the same grammatical way in which the Dinobots did in the original series. Two other dinobots will also appear, although they may only be guests.
- Jazz - voiced by Phil LaMarr (unknown vehicle)
- 2x Dinobots - not named, although Swoop and Slag (probably called Triceradon) would be the most likely.
- Blurr - voiced by John Moschitta (unknown vehicle). John was the original voice of Blurr and will make a guest appearance.
- Ultra Magnus - voiced by Jeff Bennett (unknown vehicle). Jeff is said to do a good Robert Stack (G1 Ultra Magnus) style voice.
- Arcee - possibly voiced by Susan Blu (unknown vehicle)
- Junkion - voiced by Weird Al Yankovic (dump truck). The name is currently unconfirmed, although it has been reported as simply Junkion. David Kaye believed the form of the Transformer was a dump truck, which would fit the name.
- Megatron - voiced by Corey Burton (Vertical Take-Off / Landing Alien Fighter). Megatron will appear as a blacked out silhouette at first and will then show himself as his true form. Megatron's form will change throughout the show to get completely different (probably turning into Galvatron - though I hope not). Two toys of Megatron will be avaliable, like Optimus Prime.
- Starscream - voiced by Tom Kenny (Reverse sweep-winged jet - Cyclonus style). Tom is said to do a very good Chris Latta style voice for Starscream.
- Blackarachnia - voiced by Cree Summer (spider). Blackarachnia is the unknown Decepticon. Supposedly she starts out at first as a completely different character, and will undertake a lot of character development. The toy was extremely detailed.
- Lugnutz - voiced by David Kaye (Bomber Aircraft). Lugnutz is the strong, dumb but overly loyal Decepticon, truely believing in their cause. Lugnutz is said to be "The Hulk, if Bulkhead is The Thing", similar to Cryotek / Cindarr (Visionaries)
- Blitzwing - unknown voice actor (triplechanger - tank / plane). Blitzwing is said to not only have three modes but also a split-personalilty, which should make for an interesting character. He is in his G1 colours.
- Shockwave - voiced by Corey Burton
- Isaac Sumdac - voiced by unknown. The main scientist who works at the Sumdac Tower in Detroit, where they make Robots.
- Sari Sumdac - voiced by Tara Strong. Sari is Isaccs daughter and main human companion of the Autobots. Hasbro explain that she is not a "annoying sidekick telling the Autobots what to do, but more explaining what things are on Earth and how they work".
- Angry Archer - voiced by unknown. The Anrgy Archer is based on Aaron Archer (I wouldn't be surprised if he played the voice), and is one of several Super Villans the Autobots will be fighting. The other villains have various powers including speed, strength and spewing acid
- Captain Fanzone - voiced by unknown. Captain Fanzone is the head of the police department in Detroit.
- The Ark - the Autobots ship. Very G1 style.
- The Nemesis - the Decepticon ship. Hughe compared to the Ark, will mainly appear as a background. Very dark in and outside, quiet Snake Mountain like (from the latest He-Man series).
- Sumdac Tower - the main tower in Detroit, this is where Isaac Sumdac designs / creates the robots on Earth.
- Detroit - the main city on Earth where the robots are built and home to the Sumdac Tower.
- Fred Willeke will make an appearance in the show, although it has not been confirmed as to who he will play.
- Two 13 part series have currently been recorded. The first series starts with a 3 part mini-movie, followed by 13 episodes. The second series is an additional 13 episodes.
- Hasbro / Cartoon network have not ruled out an additional 2 series.
- The show is due in December 2007 / January 2008
- The show was moved to the US as Hasbro no-longer like the results of dubbing the show into English.
- No other Beast Wars actors can appear in the show, as they only have Canadian VA permits. David Kaye lives in LA and is hoping to become an American citizen soon, so he was able to take part.
- The guys at Cartoon Network were fans of the Transformers series, so wanted the show.
- Transformers Heroes was the working title.
- Although Transformers Animated has a more stylised look, they will not be dumbing down the series. It will have more humor in it then previous series (more like Beast Wars).
- The show will be about the impact of the Transformers on Earth, rather than going into space.
- The Autobots will mainly fight human Super Villans at the start, whom are controlled or influenced by Decepticons. The Decepticons will appear later, and will be shown as much stronger than the Super Villans. The Decepticons are supposedly much larger than the Autobots.
- The show will feature realistic transformations (although from what was shown, they are not very detailed), and will only have a few "cut away" style transformations.
- The Cybertronian forms of the Transformers (Optimus Prime / Megatron) will have toys.
- Optimus Prime has both a mouth and faceplate, like in the Transformers Movie.
- Serveral G1 characters will be guesting in the series, which will mean more charcters can appear (more toys relating to the show), but they still get to focus on the main 10 characters).
- There will be new charcaters as well as old ones appearing.
- The Autobots arrive on Earth in search for the Allspark, which they crash into. The Decepticons then follow them.
- There will be combiners in the Transformers Animated line, probably in the cartoon series, although not confirmed, and probably not until later series.
- Transformers Animated has been in development for a few years, and this is reflected in the toy design. They feature the freshes looking Transformers for years, with a look and feel similar to the new Masters of the Universe toys (when compared to the old ones). They feature new sculpting techniques, which give them a smooth, rounder apearance.
- The toys look like the characters from Beast Machines, on screen, and have very few parts which stick out.
- The toys feature "character specific" poses, although there is not a single gimmick which runs through the entire line. The gimmick is the Transformation (although some characters may have gimmicks themselves).
- The toys have signature weapons (Prime = axe, Megatron = sword), poses, attutides and stances.
- They feature the highest level of articulation and motion of any Transformers line released so far.
- The toys have a 90% show accurate look, as it was developed alongside the cartoon series, rather than prior.
- Optimus Prime will have two toys (deluxe and voyager), one for the Earth mode and the other for the Cybertronian mode.
- Bulkhead looks quite chibby like, due to how round he is.
- Bumblebee is very smooth and the car mode is similar to Classics Bumblebee
- Prowl was the most impressive toy shown at BotCon.
- Grimlock looked very much like the G1 toy in robot mode (with how he will transform).
- Lugnutz is a Voyager class toy, very round looking.
- The toys have a matt finish to them, not gloss, in a Batman Animated style.
- The toys have a very Anime toy style look
Bumblebee: I'm Bumblebee
Sari: I'm Sari
Bumblebee: Don't be
Nice, simple pun that one.
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