Transformers Earthspark

[Andy Turnbull]

Friend of the forum Nick Roche part of the design team...

[Toph]

Visually it doesn't look as good as TMNT, Kung Fu Panda, or other Nick CG shows (not a comment on designs or art style. Purely on the quality of the models and animation), but it beats the pants off of the quality of everything TF has done since Prime.

It looks like they actually put money into this show for once. I'd thought the days of quality TF shows with an actual budget were long over.

[Llama God]

You say that, and yes, you could accuse Cyberverse of being cheap looking, but I actually had an epiphany when I was searching through videos of the series on my phone to screenshot a particular scene - I think it was deliberately low-detail with simple designs because it was actually intended to be viewed on a mobile device. It actually looks perfectly fine on a screen the size of a phone's, so maybe that's what they were aiming for - something that'd be good enough to be viewed on a mobile, because that's all kids today use for watching stuff. (I guess. I wouldn't know for sure, since my kid does not, as yet, have his own mobile device. But I'm sure that day will come.)

That said, yes, whatever the case, this certainly does look a step above anything we've seen for a while, and that's very welcome. It's far too early to make any sort of judgement as to what this series will be like, but at the very least I'm excited to see what looks like new characters in there. And obviously Nick's designs are going to be a big draw.

The big question is: Will Hasbro do a Mattel with this one, or will they actually release toys to accompany this series? And if they do, will we get any advance warning, or will they just show up on shelves, as Cyberverse mostly did. I am, of course, still assuming that we'll still mostly get multiple Optimuses and Bumblebees in each wave and that new characters will be a secondary consideration, but still, there may actually be something new...

[Toph]

I'm assuming that the toys will be exactly like AoE, TLK, nuRiD, Bumblebee, Cyberverse, and the upcoming Rise of the Beasts.
Basically everything that qualifies as "The Mainline" since Prime ended.

[The Doctor]

Not much to have an opinion of yet, but I do like the title.

-Ralph

[Llama God]

Yeah, it reflects their initial mission statement. I'm mostly glad that they didn't use the title which I was expecting them to use for the series, which was of course "Robots in Disguise".

[Pinwig]

Well, well, well. This is exciting. Apparently the toys in this line are going to transform by magic:

“Transformers: Earthspark presents many firsts for Transformers that we’re bringing to life for kids. Leaning into insights, we’ve identified core pillars of play that allow us to take conversion to another level and connect with kids to deliver on the magic they want [to be] brought to life in toys. Surprise Conversion, Classic Conversion, and Magic Conversion will create a true show-to-shelf moment for the line and an innovative new way to convert Earthspark’s greatest heroes.”

news.tfw2005.com/2022/03/27/tfw2005-coverage-of-hasbros-ignite-2022-event-452596

I would like more show-to-shelf moments in my life. 

[The Doctor]

SURPRISE CONVERSION sounds like someone walked into a Scientology centre for a 'personality test'.

-Ralph

[Llama God]

Yesterday's panel news: news.tfw2005.com/2022/07/22/san-diego-comic-con-2022-the-cast-of-transformers-earthspark-officially-announced-461557

Alyn Tudyk as Optimus Prime! That's certainly some left-field thinking. But he does a lot of different voice work, and is becoming this generation's Frank Welker - he was the "voice" of Hei Hei the chicken in Moana for example - so I think he'll be great at this. And from what I've heard, he is. Much as I love Peter Cullen, he is getting older, and it sounds it in his voice - a younger Optimus Prime is a much better idea.

But the best choice here is Rory McCann as Megatron. Yarp, him. Not only is this the Hound as Megatron, but he's fae Glesga! Megatron's now a Glaswegian! Perfect decision.

What I managed to see of the show last night looks great, too. Very much a kid-oriented thing, but then that's exactly what it should be. Looking forward to seeing the series in full.

[Pinwig]

Hang on, the trailer for this has Insecticons in it. That's... Nice.

[Philip Ayres]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxatwKpdcKE

[Philip Ayres]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nickelodeon/status/1570449458739171329

[Andy Turnbull]

CROCTOBOT.

[The Doctor]

Oooo those alt modes for Megatron and Soundwave!

-Ralph

[primenova]

14/11/22 17:31 Nickelodeon episode 1.1

[Toph]

Oh man, Earthspark was soooooooo goooooood!
It is hands down the best series since TFA.

It's the polar opposite of how Cyberverse approached TF. Cyberverse put the lore and mythology before the characters. ES puts the characters first, the world building second, and we only get snippets of the lore.

SPOILER: Click to show

And saving the first real Decepticon battle until the end of the season really paid off in highlighting how serious and terrifying a transformer battle is. And to make it so bloody intense? So well choreographed?
I haven't enjoyed watching a transformer battle this much since the RotF forest battle (hated the movie but that was a magnificent scene).

[Pinwig]

I've watched five out of ten of these now. I think it's doing the right thing, I can see how they're trying to make a series that separates itself from the mire of 40 years of backstory by using a bit of sleight of hand to say, look, this happens after all the fighting, which could be the films or it could be G1, just don't ask about that and go with it.

The 'moral message' in each episode makes it feel as though it's aimed at a younger audience than the last couple of series were, it's definitely about the robots learning about growing up through the eyes of the children doing the same. It's cleverly worked out. I think I prefer Prime and RiD because they're more robot focused, but I totally get the approach Earthspark is taking. I'm keen to know if the target audience buys into it more than the last few series.

[Pinwig]

On the downside, Prime and Megatron's faces are terrible, Prime particularly. I kinda like Prime's awkwardness though. Take away the silliness from that and he's quite like the Ladybird one.

[Pinwig]

Finished it this morning. It isn't until you get to eps 9/10 that you really appreciate the overall arc of the series and what it's trying to do. The problem with that is that it makes it a bit disjointed. There's the plot for the terran Transformers, which is about them being children and learning, then there's the plot about Mandroid trying to take over zee vorld, then there's this other plot ticking away quietly in the background that looks like it's going to take off big time in episode 8 and then disappears.

Eps 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10 are pretty much a self contained story and 3-7 are one off 'learning to be a child' stories that the more ardent TF fan could easily skip. You could put the first and last double episodes together as a film and it'd be quite enjoyable for any TF fan, but ep 8 is the one that I think is most appealing to the old school.

As said before though, trying to fit this into being 'something for the older fan' doesn't work and it isn't what it's for. I just hope the 6-8 year olds this seems to be aimed at stick with it long enough to get to the payoff at the end.

I would still say this should sit as its own continuity so it isn't bogged down in the history, but there are still triggers that leave the older fan who struggles with anything unless he can make it fit into something else (ie, me) that make you twitch - like references to Quintus Prime that make this feel like it's part of the aligned continuity and also a weird reference from Optimus to Megatron about when the war ended, he says something like 'that was 12 years ago, or 14 for you,' which is very specific. If you take 2022 as the current year, that means he's referring to the first two Bay movies.

[primenova]

The entertainer have cleaned transformers off shelves I expect Earthspark should be turning up soon unless they keep Heman in the space

[Toph]

So yesterday I went up to walmart to DL the latest Picard and Ghosts. And did so and came home.

Got home and found out that after I left they had put up the rest of Earthspark.

[Toph]

Oh this show's only getting better.

I love Hashtag, Jawbreaker, and Nightshade!

SPOILER: Click to show

And boy, Tarantulas is definitely a different take!

[primenova]

I've looked on P+ & only eps 1-8 up. No 9,10 or the ones up last friday, unless it US only?

[Toph]

I dunno? Doesn't make sense to me that it'd be US only.
But it's plausible.

[Benn]

From what I've seen on Twitter, yes, it is US only at the moment. We get the rest in a couple weeks.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

There's now a Transformer called Hashtag??

Please tell me they have two heads and four arms.

Martin

[primenova]

How long before we get ep9,10 then shown on tv 5 months ago?

I expect if anyone clicks on link it'll say to login

www.paramountplus.com/shows/transformers-earth-spark/

ep 1-8 then trailer series 1

[primenova]

Ep 11-14 are on next week at 1800 - you'll not find in on Paramount + which claims to have the whole series on it - but that still only applies to ep1-8 being the whole series. Good job I'm not paying for it

|You can download ep 1.11 right now (from friday 10/3/23 anyway)

[primenova]

Paramount+ have finally added ep 9-12 - states 3/3/23 but not up online until 13/3/23.

[The Huff]

Now up to episode 15 on Paramount.