How would you do a Transformers show?

[blueshift]

Okay guys, Hasbro's on the phone. They want you (yes YOU) to come up with a new show concept and toyline to revitalise the brand. Anything is on the table! What will it be? Pretenders 2.0? The return of Action Masters? A stop-motion tv show? Toys that only speak German?

[primenova]

Have a core group of 10 characters to start with so the first few stories are character led so not one is left out. Then have some form of plot device to intro new characters. But should you have more bad guys then heroes?

[The Doctor]

Sock puppets in a blizzard.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

That needs a fair bit of thought. There's the pragmatic, realistic approach and the anything goes dream scenario approach for a start.

[primenova]

What would the base story be - because this can effect everything. You want to avoid the ROTF forced past stuff - the whole by the way this had happened in the past but no hint in the first film. If you are going to reveal Shockwave was lost on a mission to Earth in the past just tie that into the origin story.

The Autobots leaving Cybertron first or Decepticons?

Story outline -

Number of groups of Decepticons leave Cybertron during the war on missions for Megatron. One group led by Shockwave on researching enegron supply to send back to Cybertron. This group is lost. Another group of beastformers go with Scorponok / Jhiaxus on a mission to creat Decepticon outposts. Starscream leaves with a group against Megatrons orders referred to in stories but left for plot device for future stories.

Megatron & Optimus remain on Cybertron during the war but teams of Autobots do go off planet. Grimlock leads a team but can't decide who to go after Shocks or Scorps. Have to be a team of 20 Dino characters on his ship. Prowl leads a team to set up Autobot outposts with Blaster being comms.

Word gets back to Megatron about a possible unlimited engeron source found - but no word from where this info came from. Autobots find out when con's stop fighting & just disappear then Prime finds out whats happening. they get Omega Supreme prepared.

the core cast you see in the series are the following - above named ones are only mentions & not seen.

Autobots
Optimus Prime, Omega supreme (the ark)
Ironhide, Jazz, Hound, Mirage, Wheeljack, sideswipe, sunstreaker, bumblebee, cliffjumper,

Decepticons
Megatron, Metrotitan (the Nemesis)
Soundwave, Laserbeak, Ravage, Skywarp, Dirge, thrust, Ramjet, runabout, runamuck

[Shockprowl]

Hmmmmmm. I'd do 'G1' again. But merge Sunbow and Marvel comics story-line and get the characterisation right. Make it serious, fairly dark in places.



AND LOTS OF PROWL!!!!

[primenova]

For aseries 3 - would intro Headmasters but going with that they are for infiltration. On a planet full of human size robots & having to make themselves human sized (but only bots on the planet Fort max etc). That the planet attack any full size Transformers. This is just so I can get the following line in

"We need to show them we come in peace. So we need to get to speak to the rulers" fort max
"We could use our heads" Brainstorm
"What's your idea then brain storm?"
"I mean use our heads. If we make our heads transformers that are the same size has this planet rulers then go meet them .." brainstorm.

this then leads into a way to introduce pretenders, micromasters, minicons.

[The Doctor]

Of course.

-Ralph

[Jim]

A Transformers equivalent of Clone Wars; lots of tight, short (~20min) episodes which can be focussed one-off character pieces or build into short arcs, with no overall ongoing plot (they could even jump around chronologically, as Clone Wars has been known to do, but with 4 million years to play with). Something G1-inspired, but that isn't beholden to any existing continuity, with lots of potential for incidental world-building.

-Jim

[Shockprowl]

Maybe add the 'Robots in Disguise' element back into Transformers. Man of Iron style. Make them alien.

[The Huff]

Sept 10, 2015 21:37:52 GMT Shockprowl said:

Maybe add the 'Robots in Disguise' element back into Transformers. Man of Iron style. Make them alien.

Like!

[Andy Turnbull]

Years ago after watching Reign of Fire, Ralph and I concocted a TF reboot, where they don't speak english and were alien - a proper Man of Iron homage.

I am sure I have notes on it somewhere.

The big thing was it took them ages to work out that humanity were a recognisable life form. It was as you would expect from us pretty bleak stuff, with the Ark taking out Big Ben as it lands in London. Pretty much the same shot for the crashing ship in Doctor Who's Aliens of London, although we envisioned it first.

For those that adopted earthen forms, they would end up looking like their toy versions - we were quite firm on Ratchet and Ironhide looking like their Diaclone models. We did have a horrific twist on the Powermaster process.

It was confined mostly to the UK, which in effect was blockaded by the rest of the world to contain the menace.

I'd do something similar if I was doing a reboot, and would try and have a much larger Decepticon force than the Autobots. But I'd love to be be able to just have a no english dialogue on screen from the Transformers for as long as humanly possible. They are a proper alien menace, and while eventually the Autobots would learn about humanity it would take a while.

The Decepticons have almost won the war back home, they are now about to spread towards the stars, and you have in effective the Autobots last gambit, a suicide run against the Decepticons. Take out the cream of their army, and hopefully set back the Decepticon cause and keep them contained. Perhaps dooming their race, but saving everyone else. The Decepticon ship is taken out, but they swarm aboard the Ark and look to seize that. Again Optimus commands the ship be sent hurling into the nearest planet. It's Earth.

There's no 4 million year gap or anything like that. They smash smack into the centre of London, take out big ben and the war continues.

Andy

[The Huff]

I've always gone on about how Man Of Iron would make the ideal Transformers movie - or TV movie at least.

[Shockprowl]

If there was a way to DOUBLE like Andu's idea I would! Sounds brilliant.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Everyone knows that alien TFs on Earth are my preference. I just wouldn't go as bleak as Andy and Ralph. Decepticons outnumber Autobots, yes, but neither side so numerous or superior that they can declare open war on humanity, and both must use subterfuge and disguises to survive and move around on Earth.

Autobots and humans eventually unite (perhaps including some Powermaster types) and only then are able to finally defeat the bad guys.

Martin

[Shockprowl]

Sept 11, 2015 15:55:17 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Everyone knows that alien TFs on Earth are my preference.

Martin

Yep, you're the one that first got me thinking along those lines!

[Toph]

My decisions change from day to day. Sometimes it's a much more extreme revision than others.

I would probably set up a non-G1 continuity that draws heavy influence from all sources.
First thing: I'd make sure all designs are simpatico with toys. Nothing like Prime or nuRid, where the designs simply don't work in real life.
Second thing: Fully traditionally animated. I don't want the limitations of mediocre CGI.

I'd focus on a small cast, but being traditional animation it'd be far more forgiving for guest star characters. I wouldn't be perminantly stuck in Jasper Nevada with only five characters if I needed to show some backstory of Bulkhead's time with the Wreckers.
New York City wouldn't be conpletely devoid of all life if the story needed to send Bumblebee there.
Goddess, I hated that show. The writers couldn't make a blank page interesting, given how Clone Wars, TMNT, and even BW managed to make their worlds feel inhabited, despite the same limitations.

Sorry, I'm getting off track.
I'd set up a multi-season plan, and build in dramatic "refreshes" to keep variety in.

But for purely personal choices, my dream show?
Beast Wars Animated!

Set well into the future, Autobots and Decepticons are no more, and multiple factions, styled more on nationality and race, have arisen.

Maximals (the direct decedents of the autobots)
Predacons
Insecticons
Dinobots
Junkeons
Ultracons (the true heirs of the Decepticons, and live almost exclusively in a citystate in low orbit)
There is also an anarchist terrorist cell called the Terrorcons

The plot-
A predacon terrorist calling himself Megatron has emerged, and captured an experimental device created by Maximal scientists, called the Timebridge. Megatron and his crew escape through the device, after a protracted battle.
Primal Magnus and Rhinox send for Arcee Prime's best student, Optimus Primal to lead a team through the Timebridge and bring back Megatron.

They arrive on earth in contemporary modern Detroit, and thus are forced to disguise themselves as animals, and hide amongst the humans.
-Primal, seasoned warrior takes the peaceful gorilla as his alt mode, hiding in the zoo.
-K9, a brash young and over-eager maxcop takes the form of a police dog, living secretly with his human partner and befriending her kid (who becomes in on the secret).
-Mirage, seasoned veteran of the velocitronian raceway circuit turned anthropologist, takes the form of a racehorse.
-Bolt, the team's technician takes the form of racoon giving her the ability to slip around unnoticed.
-Sonar, a young Ultracon chosen for her flight skills, chooses the form of a bat.

Megatron and his Terrorcons have a good year lobg head start on the maximals.
They have already chosen their alt modes as well.
-Megatron, having chosen an aligator, perpetuates the "aligators in the sewers" legends.
-Manterror, an insecticon warrior who has become a Diskmaster, chooses a Mantis. She also has a bit of a crush on Primal after a few run ins (she's mildly based on Xena)
-A strong and mysterious warrior known only as Dinobot takes the form of a deinonychus.
And I had two others who escape me ATM. One was a rat who specialized in viruses and microbiology. A play on Plague Rat. And I can't remember the other.

There are several themes and running gags with a lot of built in humor (like Primal's zoo escapes)
K9's human family, the officer's father is a cryptozoologist, and is always investigating the strange sightings of alligators in the sewers, living dinosaurs, giant mantids, and sightings of a gorilla riding a horse.

We come to find out that Megatron was after a ship that was destroyed, called the Axalon that was said to be carrying a terrible cargo. Turned out it wasn't destroyed, but lost in a spacetime accident.
Primal's team however are largely young and inexperienced, and have no combat skills. It turns out that the Axalon carried several sages who are all active, but hiding across the earth. So one of the themes is finding these sages to train our young maximals (and ultracon) in various martial arts.
Two of these would be Tigatron and Airazor.

There would be two revelations also. Rhinox would join the Maximals at the beginning of the second season. And by the end of the second season, we'd learn that Dinobot is actually working for Optimus Primal all along.
The second revelation is that Rhinox is a Terrorcon, and is the mastermind behind Megatron's plan. Though he didn't count on Megs going rogue.

[chrisl]

An updated Masterforce

[Shockprowl]

I wonder if an alternate Transformers story could be done where Humans build the Transformers. Half go 'Skynet' on them and try to take over the world, the other half try to stop them etc.

[Toph]

That's not entirely unlike Gobots.

[Shockprowl]

Really?!?!?!


*adds Gobots to the List of Doom*

[Toph]

Gobots are a culture that becomes so advanced, they eventually put their brains in transforming robotic bodies.
Long cliche story short they go into civil war, then end up on earth.

[Benn]

ROBOTIX!

[primenova]

Going with that idea - it would seem better if the Autobots are peaceful & visiting other planets. Then with us having the US government on Earth who go with the "kill them & strip them down" instead of the "lets work together & share our tech". US Gov build own TF with defective computer programs & you get Decepticons.

[Benn]

That... is Age Of Extinction.