Transformers Earthspark is coming to larger audiences within the UK as it's been announced that the show will start next week on CBBC and iPlayer. CBBC has an average monthly viewership of 2.8 million within the UK with iPlayer increasing this number significantly. That's double it's closest rival CITV, four time the reason of Cartoon Network (including +1) and five times that of nickelodeon (inc +1) within the UK. Read on for the press release.

Hasbro’s global entertainment studio, Entertainment One (eOne), has signed a deal with BBC to broadcast season one of the animated series Transformers: EarthSpark for audiences in the UK. The first ten episodes will launch on July 25th on CBBC, from Monday to Thursday, and also be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Following the release of the first batch of episodes, additional new Transformers: EarthSpark content will continue to roll out on the BBC platforms.

Transformers: EarthSpark, co-produced by Paramount, introduces a new generation of Transformers robots – the first to be born on Earth. Together with the human Malto family who welcomes them in and cares for them, they’ll redefine what it means to be a family. Set on present-day Earth, Transformers: EarthSpark centres on two human kids as they forge a connection with Transformers bots like never before and work alongside fan favourites like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

“We’re delighted to work with our friends at BBC to have kids and families enjoy the captivating Transformers: EarthSpark series,” said Monica Candiani, EVP Content Sales at eOne. “More and more, we’re seeing the heartfelt excitement kids get when they see characters and storylines onscreen that reflect their own lives and experiences. This is the kind of joy we’ve been seeing with Transformers: EarthSpark, and we hope to bring these important feelings of inclusivity to families in the UK, while of course delivering on the action and fun that Transformers has brought to multi-generational audiences for nearly 40 years.”

Transformers: EarthSpark has been greenlit for a second season.

Earlier this year, eOne announced broadcast deals with global broadcast partners to air Transformers: EarthSpark, including Gulli in France, Clan in Spain, Super! In Italy, NRK in Norway, DR in Denmark, TV3 and TV8 in the Baltics, TV Azteca in Mexico, TV Cultura in Brazil, Viu TV in Hong Kong, Channel 5 in Singapore, RTV in Indonesia and TV9 in Malaysia. Episodes will launch throughout 2023 in all of these markets.

For the eleventh time C.O.N.S. will open its doors for you!

On 8th of September 2019 C.O.N.S. will open its doors in Kolpinghaus/Josefshaus, Ostring 33, in 41749 Viersen-Süchteln at 11 am.

There will be many dealers selling various Transformers from old to new. In addition we prepared a fun program for you and we will hold various contests live at C.O.N.S. with the chance to win some awesome prices.

All information and ticket presale can be found at www.ntf-cons.de.

The special guests:

We introduce to you our Special Guest for C.O.N.S. XI. This year Frederic Pham Chuong, from france, makes his return to C.O.N.S. Currently he works for 3rd Party Company Mastermind Creations as comic artist.

Jack Lawrence will make a return to germany for C.O.N.S. XI. The lovely comic book artist from england always brings good mood with him. You can see him live, ask about his work and have your favorite character drawn by him.

On 8th of september 2019 one man must not be missed. John-Paul Bove will return to C.O.N.S. for the sixth time. By now he has become part of C.O.N.S. family and we are really looking forward to welcoming him again. He always is looking forward to meet his fans and will answer all their questions. Also you can purchase his works at C.O.N.S. XI.

The contests:

You like playing cards? You like playing the new Transformers Trading Card Game? Than C.O.N.S. XI on 8th of September 2019 is the right place for you. Not only can you get starter decks at C.O.N.S. you can also play the game at our convention. Tables will be set aside for everyone interested in trying the game or simply playing a few rounds with his friends and new opponents.

We hope you will have a lot of fun playing the Transformers Trading Card at C.O.N.S. XI.

The popular Cosplay Contest may not be missing.

Each visitor of C.O.N.S. XI can participate in our Transformers Quiz.

The Program of C.O.N.S. XI:

10:30 am - Admittance for the participants of the Cosplay Contest

11:00 am - General admittance

11:15 am - Official welcome

11:30 am - Cosplayers model show on stage

12:00 pm - Comic Artists Frederic Pham Chuong, John-Paul Bove & Jack Lawrence Presentation & Interview

01:30 pm - Teutonicons Podcast Live on the C.O.N.S.

02:00 pm - 1st Raffle

03:00 pm - Live Review with Reyjin on stage

04:00 pm - Transformers Quiz sheet turn-in

04:15 pm - End of voting for the Contests

04:45 pm - Announcement of the Contest Winners

05:00 pm - 2nd Raffle & Grand Price raffling

06:00 pm - Thank Yous & Goodbyes

At C.O.N.S. XI we have many dealers for you in store offering a huge variety of Transformers from old to new. Including of course our sponsors Actionfiguren24, Gerrut Camaro and TF Robots. In addition there are Bram Bossers, Thats Cult, Ying Zhu the jewellery dealer, the team of Velsercon and Transformers Universe with our announcer Philister. That is not all by far. There is still TeleToys from the Netherlands and many more Transformers Dealers.

We are looking forward to the 8th of September and hope to great many guests to C.O.N.S. XI.

Source and all Infos: www.ntf-cons.de & www.ntf-archive.de

Richard Irvine-Brown has written an article for the BBC covering the Transformers comic The Lost Light and the rising diversity of fans within the Transformers franchise which you can read here.

Whilst it has come into criticism from some areas of the Transformers community, The Lost Light comic series and More Than Meets The Eye before it has been some of the best selling and highly praised Transformers comic series for many years with a diverse and loyal fan base and has been a series that many deem to have been an important player in the growth of diversity within the fandom and especially at conventions around the globe

At the end of the story within the current Transformers: Robots in Disguise comic from Signature Publishing, the best selling Transformers comic globally, it was announced that as of the next issue the comic will transform into a Transformers: Cyberverse comic book with the first issue due on stands on the 21st September 2018.

It is expected that the comic will continue in the same format as the highly successfully RiD and Rescue-bots comics with freebies, activities, games, puzzles and a comic version of each episode of the cartoon.

Twitter user Ryan Sheehey has shared the first images of the upcoming Studio Series figures Sideswipe, Barricade, Crankcase and World War II Bumblebee which are on display at Fan Expo Canada. All four toys are set to be are deluxes with Sideswipe coming with the dual-wield double-barrel guns he had in Transformers:Dark of the Moon, Crankcase appears to be a repaint of Crowbar mold but with a new head, and the WWII-style Bumblebee comes in an accurate military green paint job.

C.O.N.S. X ! The Anniversary !

The 10 year anniversary of the German Transformers Fan Convention will be on 2nd of september 2018.

C.O.N.S. X will be opening at 11 pm and will start full speed ahead. And who wants to join us can now preorder his ticket for C.O.N.S. X at Kolpinghaus/Josefshaus in Viersen-Süchteln at Ostring 33. On our homepage www.ntf-cons.de you will find all new information as well as our ticket hotline.

Of course the popular cosplay contest will be held for the 10th anniversary of C.O.N.S. Each visitor of C.O.N.S. X can participate in our Transformers Quiz.

At our ten year anniversay of C.O.N.S. we have many dealers for you in store offering a huge variety of Transformers from old to new. Including of course our sponsors Actionfiguren24, Gerrut Camaro and TF Robots. In addition there are Bram Bossers, Thats Cult, Ying Zhu the jewellery dealer, the team of Verlsercon from the Netherlands and Transformers Universe with our announcer Philister. That is not all by far. There is still TeleToys from the Netherlands and many more Transformers Dealers.

IDW Artist Jack Lawrence will make a return to C.O.N.S. He still works on IDW's Transfomers Lost Light and surely will have lots of news about the book.

And one guest must not be missing. One man who has become like inventory of C.O.N.S. We are talking about none other than IDW Colorist John-Paul Bove!

Our sponsor Actionfiguren24 will donate the main price to our raffle of C.O.N.S. X at 2nd of September 2018. It is Planet X - PX- 11 Set A plus B.

You always wonderd how to make a cosplay? You want to know which material to use? Or which cosplay suits you best?

All these questions and many more will be answered on the 2nd of september 2018 at C.O.N.S. X. In a small workshop about cosplay "Chaoszrael" will show you how it's done and answer you questions. She will show you how to find a cosplay, first steps in creating a cosplay, which tools to use and how to make a finished cosplay.

Be there and learn how to make your own cosplay on 2nd of september 2018.

C.O.N.S. X - The Program:

10:30 am - Admittance for the participants of the Cosplay Contest

11:00 am - General admittance

11:15 am - Official welcome

11:30 am - Cosplayers model show on stage

12:00 pm - Chaozrael´s Cosplay Workshop

12:30 pm - IDW Artists John-Paul Bove & Jack Lawrence Presentation & Interview

01:30 pm - Teutonicons Podcast Live on the C.O.N.S.

02:00 pm - 1st Raffle

03:00 pm - Live Review with Reyjin on stage

04:00 pm - Transformers Quiz sheet turn-in

04:15 pm - End of voting for the Contests

04:45 pm - Announcement of the Contest Winners

05:00 pm - 2nd Raffle & Star Price raffling

06:00 pm - Thank Yous & Goodbyes

We are looking forward to greeting everyone at C.O.N.S. X and hope that our visitors will be able to make a good haul.

Source: www.ntf-cons.de

James Eatock (Cereal Geek) has revealed more of his finds of never-seen-before Generation One preproduction material via Instagram.

Following on from the blue Bluestreak cell and animation colour sheet James revealed a coloured animation cell of Ravage with his original blue and red colour scheme!

L.A. Day #5b - The ORIGINAL colour scheme for Ravage...mind...blown! :) #losangeles #california #holiday #transformers #transformersg1 #optimusprime #megatron #hasbro #animation #japanimation #cartoons #1980s #80scartoons #80stoys #retro #vintage #actionfigure #actionfigures

A post shared by James Eatock (@cerealgeek77) onMay 25, 2018 at 7:34pm PDT

This was followed up by a look at an early concept of Mirage who looks instantly recognisable and yet also instantly different at the same time.

L.A. Day #5b - The ORIGINAL colour scheme for Ravage...mind...blown! :) #losangeles #california #holiday #transformers #transformersg1 #optimusprime #megatron #hasbro #animation #japanimation #cartoons #1980s #80scartoons #80stoys #retro #vintage #actionfigure #actionfigures

A post shared by James Eatock (@cerealgeek77) onMay 25, 2018 at 7:34pm PDT

Finally, James revealed another art piece last night which he refers to as an early promotional sketch that would later evolve into the cover for the Panini sticker album!

L.A. Day #5b - The ORIGINAL colour scheme for Ravage...mind...blown! :) #losangeles #california #holiday #transformers #transformersg1 #optimusprime #megatron #hasbro #animation #japanimation #cartoons #1980s #80scartoons #80stoys #retro #vintage #actionfigure #actionfigures

A post shared by James Eatock (@cerealgeek77) onMay 25, 2018 at 7:34pm PDT

Longtime Hasbro Transformers team member Aaron Archer has been announced as the 12th guest for TFNation 2018 which takes place August 17th-19th at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole in Birmingham England.

You can view the full press release below and purchase your tickets over at tfnation.com

Tickets for TFNation 2018 are now on sale.  You can register online via Mobile, Tablet, Laptop or Desktop.  There are two payment options available, credit card (via the secure payment gateway Stripe) or Paypal.

If you have a login to the website from previous shows then you can make use of the handy Quick Book buttons which will remember your preferences from previous years.

This year there are additional options when checking out, so you can choose if you want to attend the exclusive Stan Bush concept which takes place on Saturday Night after ClubCon.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Diagnostik80 has provided us with a fun Top 10 looking at his most wanted Transformers Masterpiece redecos that haven't happened yet (or never will)!! Check it out on his YouTube channel here:

Make sure to like, comment and subscribe!!

We have found some new trademarks filed with the USPTO by Hasbro Inc. The trademarks are:

1. TRANSFORMERS

You can view all of the details of these and other trademarks within our exclusive Trademark Application area of the website which features trademark applications from 1984 through until the present day.

We're getting close to the end of the Transformers Generation One Sunbow/Marvel Productions studio audio tapes that we currently own but we're going to be going out strong starting with this near 8 minute video covering the audio from A Plague of Insecticons.

The audio is from an unslugged tape which means it includes Wally Burr's introduction and a whole host of Insecticons "body English" segments featuring the vocal talents of Hal Rayle, Michael Bell and Clive Revill.

You can download the original script at bit.ly/2ACacVR and view the transcript of the audio both on YouTube

Wally Burr: Episode Introduction

### Insecticon Body English Segment ###

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Bombshell

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Shrapnel

### Additional Dialogue 1 ###

MEGATRON: Giant insects? Well done, Laserbeak. We must intercept them at once.  Prepare for aerial rendezvous.

**NEW** MEGATRON: If those insects are really what I think they are.  Our Autobot friends are in for a ghastly surprise.

MEGATRON: Soundwave, send Ravage to investigate.

### Insecticon Body English Segment ###

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Sharpnel (eating)

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Bombshell (eating)

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Kickback (eating)

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Sharpnel (menacing noises)

Wally Burr: Body English direction for Bombshell (menacing noises)

**Note that not all of Skyfire's audio was not recorded during the episode. **

### EXTENDED SCENE ###

WINDCHARGER: Quick, behind me!  Those spikes can't penetrate my repulsor field.

SPIKE WITWICKY: Great work, Windcharger. But we're still in trouble!

**NOT RECORDED ** SKYFIRE: I can't fly us outta here. That wallop from Kickback shorted my transform circuits.

**NOT RECORDED ** BRAWN: Well, let's look at the bright side. At least they didn't bring that sawed-off nerd Rumble along.

**NEW** RUMBLE: Wrong rustbucket!

**NEW** Body english of the Autobots reacting, introduced by WALLY BURR

**NEW** Body english of Spike reacting, introduced by WALLY BURR

### EXTENDED SCENE ###

SOUNDWAVE: My sensors indicate we are no longer alone.

**NEW**MEGATRON: Laserbeak Investigate

**NEW**LASERBEAK: Squawk 

**NEW** WALLY BURR: Laserbeak squawk two

MEGATRON: All right, Insecticons. We'll take care of your clones, you take care of Jetfire!

### EXTENDED SCENE ###

TRAILBREAKER: Let's try a little force field to interrupt his override waves!

SHRAPNEL: Interruption-interruption!

**NEW** SIDESWIPE: Uhh!, we're free.

BRAWN: Give me a toss, Optimus. I wanna teach that bug a lesson!

OPTIMUS PRIME: Uhh! Go get him, Brawn!

BRAWN: Gotcha, beetle-brain!

### WALLY BURR: Body English for Brawn (wrestling) ###

### WALLY BURR: Body English for Sharpnel (wrestling) ###

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Sharpnel  (cackling) ###

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Sharpnel  (cackling internally) ###

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Bombshell (slurping oil) ### 

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Kickback (slurping oil) ### 

### EXTENDED SCENE ###

OPTIMUS PRIME:  Ironhide, quick! If the flames reach the refinery, the whole place will explode!

**NEW** SPIKE WITWICKY:  Quick Bumblebee, in here!

KICKBACK: Bombshell! Shrapnel! Look! Storm clouds! The day is won!

MEGATRON: What is that idiot-headed grasshopper talking about?

BOMBSHELL: He's talking about the end of the Autobots!

MEGATRON: But our enemy is on the ground, not in the sky.

SHRAPNEL: But our weapon is in the clouds, and Bombshell's explosion has brought it to us-us! 

**NEW** SIDESWIPE: What's going on?

**NEW** WHEELJACK: I wish I knew.

SHRAPNEL : Now......taste the lightning, Autobot fools!

WHEELJACK: Erh... it tastes terrible!

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Bombshell (eating sound) ### 

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Shrapnel (eating sound) ### 

### Wally Burr: Body English direction for Kickback (eating sound) ###

During an interview with The Full Force podcast Mark Weber, ex-Manager of Global Brand Development for G.I. Joe and Transformers at Hasbro, touched on some of his concepts for the Transformers brand (6hr 19min), including "Generation Three", as well as the interview process with Hasbro (6hr 10min).

The first line he worked on was BotShots and that they wanted to do multi-packs. Their pitch was "Volcano Battle Autobots" and he thought that if you were doing groups of five robots then you should just do combiner teams even if they can't combine, because the characters were already established within the mythos and would mean more to both the average fan and to the die-hard collectors.  The first toy set he did was the Stunticon BotShot pack.

Combiner Wars came out of the story pitch idea with IDW where they wanted to get all of the combiners together to have a big fight.

When he first pitched the toy idea he said "Looked it's worked before where you take a larger robot and you add the limbs and if you make the connectors universal then you can reuse the tooling a million times down the road in different combinations and the voyager center should support the deluxe size arms and legs and if you throw in the legends class, the little tiny guys, and make that another part of it ... it was a way to link three different price builds."

When asked by Chris, the host, as to how excited were the people he was pitching it to Mark talked about how he had all of the original combiners with him and would take them with him to show them how it worked. He said that it was something that worked before and that they hadn't really done it well ever since. They were a little lukewarm as they had done Powercore combiners recently, but that they had ignored so many of the things that made it cool, that the new pitch got them excited.  He also put forward having a new concept a year and he had a couple of different ones that he wanted to use. Combiner Wars as his favourite and it was going to be the second one. He felt that because it was strong that it needed to come out first as he was so sure that it was going to be a big deal. The retailers liked it so well that it was extended by 6 months. They pitched it to retailers that it would be a trilogy of Combiners Wars, Titans Wars (later changed to Titans Return due to legal) and then Power of the Primes as the finale. For him, he just wanted to get out Combiner Wars.

The one thing that he regrets was not being able to launch a fully branded G3 (Generation Three) with all new stuff, all new characters and all new styles which he was dying to get there but he didn't end up going in that direction.  He said that G2 was such a big deal for Transformers he doesn't understand why they haven't just done G3.

The basic concept that he wanted to have was that the Ark 2.0, a different Autobot ship comes to Earth chasing Decepticons, maybe not crashing, so that instead of being the pursued they were the hunters. All he wanted was an anti-hero for the Autobots sort of along the lines of Grimlock but not in the aggressive dinobot nature, but someone that Optimus could argue with and that you could take the side of. So that you can have a hero-vs-hero line, like Marvel Civil War, so that you could be on either side of the argument but be fully passionate about it. He hadn't fully fleshed out the character any more than that but he wanted them to be new, he didn't want it to be Grimlock's crew, Springer and the Wreckers, he wanted it to be a brand new guy that fans could rally around or dislike because he was so anti-Optimus.

He wanted new styles such as a large snowplow that would become a shield or something. His big pitch was to have a black and grey Decepticon that would probably be a lieutenant rather than the leader, but he would turn into a hearse and would have been called Tombstone, which was passed as being ok by the legal team. He knew it was campy but it would be a bigger vehicle and would give them some bulk.  It's where the name of the G.I.Joe figure came from as he loved the name.

He thinks it would have been big and a lot of the designers that he worked with are still there, even though many of the Transformers staff has been turned over. He holds out hope that some of the ideas may still see the light of day.

He thinks that going Generation 3 would be a natural fit for the next line. He doesn't know where they are going next but he thinks that new characters are desperately needed for lines such as Transformers and G.I.Joe rather than trying to reboot the characters that have not been redone recently.

You can listen to the podcast by following the link at the start of this post. Whilst the full 9 hour podcast covers Transformers including unreleased figures shown by us here at Transformers At The Moon, the interview section starts at 6 hours and 10 minutes.

Come and join us for C.O.N.S. IX on 8th of october 2017 in Kolpinghaus/Josefshaus in Viersen-Süchteln in Germany. Many European dealers will be present and offer a huge variety of all kinds of Transformers merchandise. Whether you are looking for an old school G1 fugure or an all new third party collector’s item, C.O.N.S. has something for you! Actionfiguren24, Gerrut  Camaro, TF Robots, The A Factor Shop, Teletoys and many more of Europe’s finest dealers will be present. 

Like every year there will be two big raffles with all sorts of fantastic prices.

Our stage program features a live quiz show, our annual cosplay contest, a live review and a live presentation by our special guests John-Paul Bove and Jack Lawrence.

Our friend John-Paul Bove and his fellow IDW colleague Jack Lawrence will be present all day at their own booth where you can go and visit them to have a nice little chat, buy some unique artwork, get your comic book treasures signed or to even pick up one or two new treasures.

C.O.N.S. IX exclusives are free give aways, a sticker sheet from Toyhax.com with faction symbols and a special postcard.

Tickets and all further information are available at our website www.ntf-cons.de or at the entrance booth on the day!

C.O.N.S. IX The Program:

10:30 am - Admittance for the participants of the Cosplay & Contests

11:00 am - General admittance

11:15 am - Official welcome

11:30 am - Cosplayers model show on stage

12:00 pm - Live Quiz Show

12:30 pm - IDW Artists John-Paul Bove & Jack Lawrence Presentation & Interview

02:00 pm - 1st Raffle

03:00 pm - Live Review with Reyjin on stage

04:00 pm - Transformers Quiz sheet turn-in

04:15 pm - End of voting for the Contests

04:45 pm - Announcement of the Contests Winners

05:00 pm - 2nd Raffle & Star Price raffling

06:00 pm - Thank Yous & Goodbyes

Below you will find some photographs, vidoes and news coming out from Hascon which is taking place from today in the US.

The Full Force Podcast

The Full Force team have taken some Facebook Live videos during the VIP early bird period around the area, which is why there are not many people around, but it gives you a good idea of what is currently on display at Hascon

Hascon Map - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/photos/a.906272296117055.1073741850.473210869423202/1482642608480018/?type=3

Transformers Area - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/videos/1482777961799816/

G.I.Joe Display Area Video - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/videos/1482757308468548/

General Floor Video - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/videos/1482775168466762/

Marvel - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/videos/1482805791797033/

Star Wars - https://www.facebook.com/TheFullForce/videos/1482820081795604/

Seibertron

Seibertron has a report from the Transformers panel which revealed the Power of the Prime Dinobots and their combined form Volcanicus along with Orion Pax. The images can be viewed after the jump.

TFW2005

TFW has posted some images of the toys that are on display at Hascon along with some more details from the panel.

Twitter

Check out the latest photos on Twitter here.

Instagram

Monizmischeif has taken a photograph of the upcoming Generations Autobot Jazz figure which you can view after the jump whilst garret_sander has taken a collection of photographs of the 2-up G.I.Joe figures

Transformers Panel Notes

Thanks to TF2005

Kids Toylines

• Each panelist stated their favorite Transformers toy.

Transformers Movie Line for kids

• Discussing movies toys. Showcasing Allspark Tech.
• Behind the scenes of Movie line.
• Discussing the Transformers: The Last Knight toys now.
• Hasbro worked with Takara Tomy on the TLK toys for the Armor Up Turbo Changers line.

Transformers: Robots In Disguise

• Discussing Robots In Disguise toys now. We’ll update if there’s anything new that will pop up.
• Explaining Combiner Force. Inspiration came from designers love for combiners and the Generations revival of the feature was the key.
• Lots of thought process went into RID Combiner Force. a looooong explanation.

Generations

• Prime Wars Trilogy info now.
• Micronus goes into Cloudburst decoy armor.
• New art of Optimus Primal being shown
• Lots of artwork show. We’ll upload them all.
• Dinobot Slash, Female, Legends Scale
• Deluxe Slug – G1 Accurate.
• Voyage Grimlock
• All the Dinobots look great. [Awesome!]
• History of the Dinobots.
• Dinobot Combiner name – Volcanicus
• Will have rocker ankles, New technology incorporated
• New combiner technology with better joints.
• Leader Optimus Prime now.
• Orion Pax into G1 prime. Very much like Hot Rod to Rodimus (as seen during SDCC)
• Prime’s trailer is part of bot mode now, not just cab.

Hascon 2017 Exclusives

• Talking about Hascon 2017 Exclusives now.
• Arcee first.
• Predaking teaser shown. NYTF exclusive figure.

Panel Over!!!

Q&A Time

• There will be Dinobot variants / Repaints down the line.