New Transformers Prime Starts on May 17th

For the next four weeks, The Hub is airing encores of the first four episodes of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters. After that a new episode (and I assume more) will start airing beginning May 17th with "Project Predacon" which Zap2It describes as "The Decepticons launch a new scheme to clone an army of beasts." Basically this is the episode where the rest of the Predacon toys...mean characters will start entering the show's final season.

Transformers Prime 3.04 Rebellion Clip and Promo

Friday on The Hub is the next new episode of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters. The fourth episode of the season, and possibly the last for a few months, is titled "Rebellion". The last episode ended with Optimus Prime still down with Wheeljack Smokescreen trying to help him while the rest of Team Prime (along with Ultra Magnus) seige the Decepitcon fortress. Below is a clip and promo for the episode. If had not had a chance to watch the previous two episodes, you can find them at Hubworld. If you don't mind knowing how the episode ends, click here.

Transformers: Prime 3.03 Prey Clips and Promo

Tonight on The Hub at 7:30pm EST is a new episode of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters called "Prey" when "A new Autobot arrives as the Decepticons unleash the ultimate hunter." The previous episode ended with the arrival of Ultra Magnus and Predaking with Shockwave siccing the dangerous Decepticon on Wheeljack. Below is a clip from the ending of the last weeks episode along with promo for Prey. If had not had a chance to watch the previous two episodes, you can find them at Hubworld.

Upcoming Episodes
04/12 - Rebellion (3.04) - Team Prime wages war against the Decepticon citadel.

Transformers: Prime 3.02 Scattered Promos

The second part of the opening story for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters season 3 airs tonight on The Hub. Called "Scattered", the episode is described as "The Autobots search for signs of each other, but start to lose hope while the Decepticons welcome a key player (Shockwave) to their ranks. A win for Wheeljack may ultimately lead to an Autobot defeat." Below is a few vids to promote the episode. The first two are bios for Bumblebee and Predaking. Also MTV Geek interviews the voice of Optimus, Peter Cullen as he discusses the final season.

Upcoming Episodes
04/05 - Prey (3.03) - A new Autobot (Ultra Magnus) arrives as the Decepticons unleash the ultimate hunter (Predaking).
04/12 - Rebellion (3.04) - Team Prime wages war against the Decepticon citadel.

Transformers Prime Returns Tomorrow, Movie Announced, Cast Interview

Tomorrow is begins the final season of Transformers Prime on The Hub at 7:30pm. The premiere episode titled "Darkmouth" picks up where the season 2 finale ended with Optimus buried in the remains of the now destroyed Autobot base and the rest of the Autobots separated from each other. It also turns out that Hasbro plans to end the series with a little bit of a bang with an animated movie called "Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising". From the press release:

The eagerly anticipated conclusion of the CG animated Daytime Emmy® Award winning series will make its network television premiere as a Hub Original Family Movie. A 90-minute epilogue to the final season wraps up the series that chronicles the epic battle between the Decepticons and the Autobots in their mission to defend Earth and one day restore their home planet of Cybertron. The Hub Original Family Movie is produced by Hasbro Studios. The final season of “Transformers Prime Beast Hunters” begins on Friday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. ET.

Since a new season that means a few interviews with the cast, hit the links below to watch videos with each.

New Transformers Prime Trailer with Ultra Magnus

A new Transformers Prime Beast Hunters trailer from Singapore reveals the introduction of Ultra Magnus to the Prime universe. The trailer is to promote the return of the new season that starts this Friday in that country. TF Prime will start back up here in the States next Friday.

Linkfest - More Beast Hunters

More Transformers are coming, official or otherwise. For 3rd party makers, combiners seems to be the main theme while Takara has truly embraced the Masterpiece line and Hasbro is moving ahead with a full Beast Hunters line despite the short final season of Transformers Prime.  Hasbro finally revealed what Masterpiece Acid Storm looks like while Takara shows off blurry images of MP Prowl and Bluestreak.  Add to that lots of reviews of upcoming Beast Hunters toys, two members of TFC Toys Uranos combiner, next Throttlebot combiner member, and more.

Masterpiece Update - Hasbro MP Acid Storm | Hasbro MP Soundwave | Takara Prowl and Bluestreak
This year is just chock full of Masterpiece releases once include by the Takara and Hasbro plans. Already this year has seen the release of Takara's Soundwave toy with two of his cassettes (review below). On top of that have MP-10B Nemesis Prime 2.0 cab (March), MP-12T Tigertrack (July), MP-16 Frenzy and Rumble (April), and now a look at MP-17 Prowl (August), MP-18 Bluestreak (October) and later MP-19 Smokescreen (September). On top of that can add Hasbro's official images Masterpiece Acid Storm which is a repaint of Starscream 2.0 in a military green and black look while Soundwave is identical to the Takara release only it will come with all five cassettes instead of separate two pack releases.

Latest Transformers Prime Promos

The final season of Transformers Prime returns on March 22 and The Hub has started introducing more promos for the premiere (previous one here). The first video provides a pretty concise summary of the first two seasons of TF Prime to get you caught up, the second one introduces the new "stealth" look of Bumblebee and the last provides a tease of Predaking (but isn't new footage).

New Transformers Prime Trailer, Cancellation Confirmed

IGN has officially confirmed (in case the comments from a Senior VP was not enough) that Transformers Prime has been officially cancelled after season 3. The final 13 episodes for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters start airing on March 22nd at 7:30PM EST. The current plan is to air four news episodes each week then starting on April 19 repeat those same four with added "Autobits" ("behind-the-scenes trivia with exclusive in-picture commentary designed to create an immersive viewing experience") and then resume with new episodes in May. Considering Hasbro plans on releasing a wave of Beast Hunters toys for the Christmas holiday season, I would not be surprised if the season gets split in two with around 7 episodes before summer and the rest in early Fall with the season 3 DVD release in late October, early November. New trailer below.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Premieres March 22

In a press release from The Hub with their March programming of new shows, we now have an official release date for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters, the third and final season as Friday, March 22nd at 730pm EST. The premiere episode airs after a mini-marathon of season two episodes from 3:30 to 7pm EST. If you recall the second season ended with Megatron destroying the Autobot base with Optimus Prime still in it as the rest of the Autobots retreat.

Upcoming episodes:
03/22 - Darkmouth, NV (3.01) - While Optimus struggles to survive after Megatron’s destruction of the Autobot base, the separated members of Team Prime try to reconnect.
03/29 - Scattered (3.02) - The Autobots search for signs of each other, but start to lose hope while the Decepticons welcome a key player to their ranks. A win for Wheeljack may ultimately lead to an Autobot defeat.

Linkfest - G1 Recreations

Toy Fair showed us a great upcoming line up of toys coming out months from now but time to focus on the more immediate future with lots of new Beast Hunters and 3rd part offering in the pipeline along with a few interesting tie in products. More Beast Hunters products are starting to hit shelves so lots of reviews to look at for them. On the third party front we have a look at a not Stunticons line-up, review of not Shockwave, not Jumpstarters, not Fall of Cybertron Omega Supreme and more. Masterpiece Soundwave is out so a review for him. New not toy products include a expensive coin set from New Zealand and a Optimus Hockey Jersey. Basically as the links and reviews show, the next year is going to be a wallet buster.

Causality not Stunticons - T-Bone
From Fansproject, their next series is the not Stunticons of CA-09 Car Crash, CA-10 T-Bone, CA-11 Down Force and CA-12 Last Chance. Apparently they are designed to merge into not Menasor but have not seen that gestalt form or what these four look like in appendage mode. Even if don't merge, each looks like be great additions to a collection. The average prices is $60 with Car Crash out in February, T-Bone in March and no dates on the rest.

Transformers Prime Cancelled After Beast Hunters Story Arc

An article from the magazine Kidscreen has verified that Hasbro is ending Transformers Prime with the 13 episode Beast Hunters story line. From AllSpark's Vivid Redshift page scan:

As for Hasbro's established stable of series, which drive the programming on its US joint venture network The Hub, the 13 episodes of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters due to launch this year represent the final chapter of the Transformers Prime story. It has grown to encompass 65 half-hour episodes that continue to roll out around the world. Look for a 75-minute Transformers Prime Beast Hunters movie to hit DVD shelves in Q4.

But that's not the end for Transformers. [Hasbro's SVP of International Distribution and Development Finn] Arnesen says a "new iteration of the animated TV series" is slated for delivery in late 2014, which looks like it might be shaping up to be the year of Autobots, given that audiences are already expecting the fourth live-action blockbuster in July.

Sadly this doesn't come as a surprise as I called this back in October when news first broke of the shortened seasons. Where prime time television considered 100 episodes to be the "magic number" for syndication (Fringe's season 5 renewal is thanks to this line of thinking), for whatever reason cartoon's "magic number" threshold is much lower at 52. The season 3 renewal was probably only because of the Beast Hunters angle to fill the gap to Generations (fall 2013) and Transformers 4 product line (spring 2014). So enjoy it while it last (trailer here) and start speculating on what Hasbro plans after TF4.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Teaser Trailer, Press Release

Hasbro has released the first trailer for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters along with a press release officially announcing their new Beast Hunters line. Sadly no specific release date, just "this Spring" but it provides a good look at Predaking in action. As for the press release (both below), nothing new that wasn't already revealed during Toy Fair.


Press release:

Toy Fair 2013: Fall of Cybertron Metroplex and More Revealed

Yep, that is a two foot tall War for Cybertron Metroplex. From Hasbro, not a 3rd party creation or Takara. 2014 is the 30th Anniversary of Transformers and Hasbro has made it clear they are taking it seriously with their upcoming slate revealed Saturday at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. In addition to Metroplex, there are new triple changers, bunches of Beast Hunter toys, new wave of Kre-O toys, IDW inspired toys and bunch more. Basically for Transformers fans both new and G1, the next year is going to fun. Below is a bunch of links to galleries and videos about all that is coming.

Metroplex
Based on his Fall of Cybertron appearance. Only member of the Generations line Titan class. At 24" tall, largest Transformer Hasbro has ever created, a touch taller then even Fortress Maximus. Cost is $125, hit retail in August, has light up eyes, flip down visor that controls diameters of eyes, sounds, talking phrases (from the game), and scaled for Legends class figures.
Toy Fair floor: Gallery 1 | Gallery 2 | Gallery 3
Hasbro Official: Gallery 1
Videos: One | Two (same as below)

Toy Fair 2013: Hasbro's Investor Event

While New York is getting hit with a blizzard, today was also the first day of the 2013 New York Toy Fair. All the toy makers and sellers gather to show off their plans for the upcoming year including Hasbro who held their Investor Event today. The event covered all of Hasbro's properties but on the Transformers front they high-lighted their plans regarding Beast Hunters, a new line called Construct-Bots, and a new Transformers TV series. Below are the highlights but TFW2005 has the full slide show with more details here and a Beast Hunters Guide book here.

Highlights:
- Transformers Prime officially being re-branded as Transformers: Beast Hunters, CEO Brian called it "completely re-inventing Transformers" and will drive the marketing of the franchise until next year when TF4 takes over.
- Transformers: Prime is broadcast in 182 countries
- Chief Marketing Officier John A Frascotti: "At Hasbro Studios we’ve developed entirely new Beast Hunters Television Series and we’ve also developed wide array of digital assets that will leverage throughout the year."
- Planning lot of "Lifestyle Licensing" based on Beast Hunters so expect clothes, hats, bags, and so forth with BH related imagery.
- Construct-Bot still transform but now parts of the figure can be swapped out for other parts so can create robot and alt modes of own design (more images here).
- 8 Kre-O Beast Hunter sets planned
- New Transformers TV Series is for China only to air on China Central Television
- No mention of Transformers: Generations plans but that is more of a sub-line so not part of their main marketing push

Linkfest - Beast Hunters

The new year is now here and that means more new Transformers. The first wave of deluxe toys for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters have hit Toys R Us with links to their reviews below. Their are also links to around a dozen different Beast Hunters toys in various classes. Takara has a few exclusives that are about to come out so get a peak at those while third party vendor have their own slate of toys. Basically if you are a die hard collector, its going to be another expensive year.

Beast Hunter's Galleries - deluxe Wave 1 | deluxe Wave 2 | wave 1 Legion | deluxe Bulkhead | Voyager Optimus Prime | Voyager Predaking | deluxe Smokescreen |
It seems the floodgates have opened as a bunch of new images have popped up for the first few waves of legion, deluxe, and voyager class toys. The toys should be coming out over the next few months as get closer to the premiere of Transformers Prime Season Three which is not Feb. 15 as previously reported, actually date unknown.

Transformers Prime Season 3 Starts... (Updated)

Update: Zap2It reports "Some kind of mistake has been made in which the Zap2It Transformers Prime episode guide has attributed an old episode of Transformers Animated (“Lost and Found”) airing on 2/15 as being a new episode of Transformers Prime. It is incorrect. This is being revised." So back to waiting on the actual premiere date.

Zap2It has posted the premiere date for Transformers Prime season 3 as February 15th, 2013 with first episode titled Lost and Found. Season 3 premiere the Beast Hunters subtitle as Hasbro and Transformers starts to dabble with Beast Wars type ideas. Below is the NYCC teaser from last year and after another teaser featuring Shockwave. (via Unicron)

Linkfest - Merry Christmas

Finally got around to playing catch-up on the latest in Transformers toy news. Upcoming toys include Capbots (transforming plastic ball caps), tease of the Beast Hunters line, look at Kre-O combiners, discount info on TF Prime toys, new 3rd party toy, and TF video game info. Also have video reviews Fall of Cybertron Grimlock & Starscream, MP Sideswipe & Red Alert, and more. This will be the last link fest of 2012 but next year is looking great with lots of great Hasbro toys in the pipeline including Transformers Prime Beast Hunters, more Fall of Cybertron and Generations toys. Third party makers have hinted at around 3 separate combiners (not Aerielbots, Dinobot combiner, and Throttlebot combiner) along with a bunch of more G1 homages. Takara has MP Soundwave coming and who knows what other creative twists they have in store of us. Over all next year is looking very good for Transformers and that is not even counting Transformer 4 that should start filming in late Spring.

Capbots Gallery
Yep plastic baseball caps that turn into Captimus Prime and Capticon. Still annoyed missed out the the Nike Shoeformers (plastic shoes that transformed) so went ahead and ordered without waiting on review like normally do. They are available now for around $26.

Transformers Prime Season 2 DVD/Blu-ray Out Now

Just a friendly reminder that Transformers Prime Season 2 has been released to retail starting today. Amazon has it priced at $17.99 (DVD) and $43.83 (Blu-ray). Wal-Mart is selling it for $21.86, Target is also $17.99 but indicates not in store and Best Buy has it at $22.89. I think Amazon is the only place with Blu-ray as the other sites didn't list the option. If order from Amazon, please use links above so site gets credit. In a related note, Transformers: Prime the Game is now out for the Wii U.

Linkfest - Cassettes

Been a few weeks since the last linkfest of toys news. Upcoming releases include Masterpiece Soundwave and his cassettes, Takara has a great slate coming for Japan, the third party manufactureres have more gestaults in the works, and lots of reviews including Masterpiece Prime, MP Sideswipe, Screecher and more.

Masterpiece Soundwave - Gallery | MP Cassettes & MP-10B
MP-13 Soundwave with Laserbeak was expected to be released mid-December but now that has been bumped back to January 26th, 2013. Encore 23 Fortress Maximus was already delayed with a March 30th release date. Not if that means that MP-15 Frenzy & Buzzsaw and MP-16 Rumble & Ravage are getting pushed from their February 23rd and March 23rd release dates. In the meantime hit the links to view these upcoming figures. Again no info if Hasbro is considering a stateside release (but don't see why they wouldn't at some point). MP-10B is Takara exclusive repaint of Masterpiece Prime (see video below) in the Nemesis Prime colors but without a trailer. Doubt this repaint will get a stateside release.