DOTM Pick-ups, Burglary

Nelson posted a brief update on MB.com about Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Nelson here...

Just a couple of things I wanted to share with you guys.

* Michael was shooting today some of the last pickup scenes for Transformers Dark Of The Moon.
* Burglars broke into the production offices of the movie. Federal authorities have been called in due to the sensitive nature of the burglary.

DOTM Sentinel Prime and New Optimus Prime in Robot Mode

The April 2011 issue of Empire Magazine, now hitting newsstands has scored a heck of a coup. As the images from TFW2005's Shockwaved show, they provide a fantastic look at Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime in their full CGI glory. A summary of the article (which is not available on Empire's website for turn of the century reasons) from TFW2005's knook:

Does and Don'ts for TF3:
1. No sand
2. No "dorky" humor ("we wanted to make the movie much more serious, more adult)
3. When robots die, they're really going to die and we're gonna show that
4. We're not bringing people back
5. Give the robots more 'weight' in the story ("They were missed in movie two. We've given them a strong back-story and pathos")

- Sentinel Prime is "A big brother and mentor to Optimus Prime"
- The Ferrari is a 'Con who (Michael) bay is dubbing as 'Dreadbox' [incorrect info, see below]
- New companions for Starscream, Shockwave and the rest
- "The scale on one of them is jawdropping" - "It will be 'what the Hell was that thing?"
- Apollo 11 'incident' show in the teaser is government secret
- No army for this, Chicago is left up to the 'Bots but some heroes sneak in through the back-door so to speak
- The human gliders are used because they slip under the 'Con radar - as do humans - so they'll be the people who can hammer it to the 'Cons and create an opening for the 'Bots

As pointed out in the comments by cypherXR, the information about "Dreadbox" is incorrect. As Bay posted on his forums back in March before production started saying "I also was at a Ferrari charity event this week raising money for a hospital being built by Ferrari in Haiti. I announced that night the newest Autobot to join Transformers: the Ferrari 458 Italia."

I have not read the article but it appears its the usual job where a reporter got hold of pictures but no interviews or additional information. Since just posting the pictures for a front page story isn't enough, they compiled the article from other online sources from the previous months of set leaks which we all know can lead to incorrect information. I guess they didn't check out my cheat sheet to verify what has and has not been officially confirmed. Thanks to Sahara, Chris, Katie, Ryan, Kris and others for the link.


Corrections made in regards to "Dreadbox" and relating it to the Ferrari.

Transformers: Prime Convoy Promo

Thanks to Soundwave9 below is the promo for episode 9 of Transformers: Prime called Convoy. Described as "The Autobots have a new enemy to face - but as with everything in Transformers, the identity of the enemy is more than meets the eye!" The new episodes hits this Friday on The Hub. (via TFW2005) Update: Swapped out embed with official version from The Hub's YouTube channel.

How "Q" Was Made

EuroTuner has posted an interesting article that gets into the details on Transformers: Dark of the Moon's Mercedes-Benz E550 was made. The Benz is the alt mode of Q (like 007) to represent his role with the Autobots. I nicknamed him "Einstein" because of his appearance. The details below, more pictures of Q can be found at EuroTuner or mirrored at TFW2005. Thanks to Sahara for the link.

As a long time CEC customer, the movie’s acclaimed Director/Producer, Michael Bay, contacted Claus Ettensberger at CEC to help design the newest Autobot for the upcoming action thriller. With a base Mercedes E550 as the platform, CEC went to work transforming two identical sedans into Decepticon killers with style.

The conversion included new custom blue paint, which was specifically chosen by Michael Bay to make the character stand out. The CEC enhancements incorporated a custom aerodynamic kit with a front spoiler, side skirts, rear apron, trunk spoiler, fenders, suspension and exhaust system. The stock wheels were replaced with CEC C725 forged wheels (20x8.5” front, 20x10” rear) and Michelin PS2 tires (245/30R20 front, 285/30R20).

Five-Ton Megatron Tank

The pictures of this 5 ton fan re-creation of Megatron's movie version tank alt mode pretty much speak for themselves. Below are a few sample pics but the rest can be found at Chinese language site ZCool or here for English translation. A mirror of the pics is also at Bleeding Cool.

Dear Friends Happy New Year!

The first year the legendary Iron Steel Sculpture: Transformers Megatron in tank available, and now pictures dedicated to everyone, I hope my friends for their valuable comments.

Process was full of twists and turns, the light tank track on the teeth, before and after no fewer than ten times to modify the program. Anyway, finally get rid of this monster, weighing almost 5 tons. Several aspects are split, however, today this baby out of the studio, a dozen people was not ready to spend an afternoon.

In fact, some parts can be refined, it can be done more refined, but experts of the supplier of many supporting a holiday, employees have to return home New Year, plus find a suitable material, so it feels out of less desirable.

Linkin Park and Transformers 3 Hints Continue

In an interview with LPTimes.com, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park drops another hint that the band is working with Michael Bay on the soundtrack for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. As this site reported early this year, there was a possibility that "Burning in the Skies" from A Thousand Suns would make the cut and be released as a single around when the movie comes out. Bennington stopped short of confirming the partnership but it seems highly likely considering Linkin Park had singles on the previous two films. (via TF2005, thanks to Sahara for link)

RY: Are you working on the soundtrack for Transformers: Dark of the Moon?
CB: I don’t know if I’m at liberty to tell you yet [winks]. But it looks promising. I think we go hand in hand with those films. A lot of our younger fans call us the Transformers band.

Possible List of DOTM Trailer Dates?

A post over at the TFW2005.com has posted a possible list of names and dates for the trailers and TV spots that will be released for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It seems reasonable on the surface. March 25th is the release date of Sucker Punch, April 3rd is when the controversial mini-series The Kennedy's will air on the Reelz Channel, and May 5th is Thor's release date. As usual take with grain of salt but at least have a ballpark date to pay attention to which is better than nothing. Thanks to DJ.Bigtyme Beats for the link.

Announcement trailer december 8, 2010
superbowl tv spot "dark" february 6, 2011
daytona tv spot "nascar" february 19, 2011
teaser trailer march 25, 2011
reelz tv spot "autobots" april 3, 2011
mtv tv spot "moon" april 21, 2011
theatrical trailer may 5, 2011
nick tv spot "invade" june 13, 2011
movie release in 3d july 1, 2011
dvd tv spot 1 september 8, 2011
dvd tv spot 2 september 23, 2011
dvd/blu-ray release october 7, 2011

Transformers: Foundation Preview

IGN has posted a five page preview of the other Transformers: Dark of the Moon tie in comic called Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Foundation #1. Rising Storm preview was released yesterday. Both #1 issues are in comic book stores now. The covers and first five pages can be found here or here.


Written by John Barber, art by Andrew Griffith, cover by Brian Rood.
The first Transformers 3 movie prequel begins here! The origin of the bitter rivalry between Optimus Prime and Megatron starts here! But what is the secret connection that will forever bind them? And how will it affect the future of all Transformers?
32 pages, $3.99.

The Wreckers Lap at Daytona 500

TFW2005 found a video posted online that shows The Wreckers doing a lap at the Daytona International Speedway as part of the Daytona 500 on Saturday. It’s a blink or you will miss it moment as the cars decked out in their weapons lead the pack just behind the initial track cars and trucks but before the two waves of NASCAR vehicles. Also, Aeromental has pulled together a "best of" gallery from multiple website when Leadfoot (red), Topspin (blue) and Roadbuster (green) were filming in Chicago this summer. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Brian Goldner Talks DOTM

Hasbro CEI Brian Goldner provides his perspective on Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the shortcomings of Revenge of the Fallen in an interview with MTV. They tried to get an answer from Goldner on whether they are going to continue the franchise without Bay but without success as he instead answered "perhaps he'll change his mind, perhaps he won't, but I'd rather put out this movie first then cross that bridge at some point."

Turning his attention to the forthcoming movie, Goldner agreed with his contemporaries Bay, Shia LaBeouf and Tyrese Gibson in describing "Dark of the Moon" as the best film in the series: "I really believe it is, and the reason is because we've learned so many things as we've made [these films]."

"The fact is, there's a lot of story here… but we also understand the great spectacle of what 'Transformers' can be," he continued. "It's a great marriage, but with greater meaning. The first trailer shows that the space race is a backdrop to something that had gone on in our past that nobody was aware of. In typical 'Transformers' fashion, it's all about more than meets the eye. That's the core of what 'Transformers' is: you can never judge a book by its cover. We're going to reveal to you, in much more of a thriller style than ever before, that idea of what's going on behind this whole 'Transformers' pre-history."

"If everyone had understood why each Transformer was in the movie, people wouldn't have cared how many there were," he said [about Revenge of the Fallen]. "But once they're just these robots without any real meaning of why they're there, it just became robot melee, and that's not as enjoyable as knowing something about each robot and their personality so that when they do fight, there are stakes to it. That's really what was missing. It wasn't that there were so many robots; there were so many robots that you didn't know."

"'Dark of the Moon' has many meanings. It's clearly what we know from the teaser trailer, but it's also this idea that there's darkness, a real cataclysm that could occur here based on knowing the truth of what's happening."

Deluxe Thundercracker, Voyager Prime & Ironhide

A tease of sorts for a new Transformers: Dark of the Moon has been posted online. As the pic shows, Deluxe Thundercracker joins the initial wave of DOTM toys coming out over the course of the summer and fall. The toy uses the Starscream mold with his traditional blue paint scheme. While I doubt the character is in the film, it does prove that Hasbro will be continuing the repaint tradition as I suspect pretty much every DOTM mold will get re-issued with different paint job over the next year or so. On a related note, Seibertron has posted a new gallery that shows of voyager Optimus Prime and Ironhide that you can find here.

Transformers: Rising Storm Preview and Interview

Tomorrow will bring the first issue of Transformers: Rising Storm which is one of the two prequel comics for Transformers: Dark of the Moon hitting comic book stores. The other is Transformers: Foundation which takes place even before the first movie. MTV posted a brief interview with Transformers editor Andy Schmidt as he talks about the comics and posted a 7 page preview (mirrored here).

MTV NEWS: What guidelines were you given for the series in order to make it gel with the movie’s continuity?
ANDY SCHMIDT: We were asked to do what we would want to do anyway, which is tie-in with the universe as established and lead into the movie in a meaningful way.

MTV: Do the comics take place right before the film starts, years before it starts, or something else entirely?
SCHMIDT: There are two prequel series: "Foundation" takes place long before the events of even the first film. The second prequel is "Rising Storm," and that one leads directly into the opening of the new film. It takes place in between the second and third films, sort of bridging the two.

Transformers Linkfest

Transtopia Masterclass - Soundwave
From Seibertron, a look at another Transformer custom. This one is a combo piece of Reveal the Shield Perceptor with Generations Soundwave (like the guns) and a fantastic paintjob. The figure already sold on eBay for $281.87 but be sure to hit the link to view the gallery.

Transformers: Beast Wars Re-release
Shout! Factory has tweeted plans to re-release Transformers: Beast Wars on DVD with new extras material. They also have indicated that the Generation One set will also get re-issued and they are looking at giving the Japanese cartoons a possible stateside release. I still have the Rhino editions of both cartoons and probably need to upgrade but the cost of those sets at the time was not cheap. Takara continued the Generation One cartoons for another 3 or so season after it had ended stateside.

DOTM Daytona 500 Ad in 1080p (HD)

As promised, Nelson has posted the 1080p HD version of the second TV spot for Transformers: Dark of the Moon that aired during the Daytona 500 this Saturday. He also provided a download link at MichaelBay.com but the file size is sizable for such a brief video. So far Yahoo! Movies and Apple Trailers have not posted the commercial.

MichaelBay.com | Vimeo | YouTube

Peter Cullen Interview Reveals DOTM Spoiler

I am not sure how I missed this but around the time that MTV spoke with Roberto Orci and Frank Welker about Transformers: Prime, they also spoke with Peter Cullen. The interview covered the usual questions about playing Prime, how does the voice, how has the character lasted so long, etc that we have read before many times over the years. However, MTV did manage to uncover a new spoiler (so warning and junk) about Transformers: Dark of the Moon. That segment of the interview is below, the whole thing can be found here.

Geek: Do you have any other projects you are working on at the moment, or are looking forward to?
PC: I’ve been involved with NASA, and it started a few years back, during their 40th anniversary. They came up with an Optimus Prime award to be given to a student who participated in the NASA program for young people, and I’m going back to Colorado Springs in April to be part of that award ceremony. I talked with NASA about doing things with the Hub network, about a NASA-based Optimus Prime collaboration for younger kids and teenagers. Whether it goes through or not I don’t know, but I think it’s a natural fit. And if it happens there will be another show on the Hub network with me voicing Optimus Prime. So that’s pretty exciting.

In the feature film coming out this Summer, they have Neil Armstrong, a former astronaut, and Buzz Aldrin -- Optimus has a scene with Buzz Aldrin, and this is where it all started to come together in my mind. I thought, wow I really got to get these guys and Optimus together after the movie. Maybe we can do a series of some kind.

Nelson Update on Twins (Updated)

Nelson, the admin of MB.com and general inside man on all things Michael Bay has posted a new update on the forums that says the Twins are not in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I am guessing the post is a response to an IO9 article that inexplicably brought them up when posting about the Daytona 500 TV spot. Nelson wrote:

Just a little update:

1.- Michael is NOT directing a movie starring Taylor Lautner. It's a project Platinum Dunes might produce.

2.- And for the final time the Twins are not in this movie period - end of story.

PS. I will have the DOTM 1080p Daytona ad tomorrow night.

Combined Super Bowl & Daytona 500 Trailer

For your entertainment, Valery T of Cinemotion has edited an extended trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon that combines all the non-repeat scenes in the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 commercials with a touch of the first teaser trailer. The result is a 44 second video of pure Transformer action.

Wheeljack Returns for Transformers: Prime

The next episode of Transformers: Prime that will air re-introduces Wheeljack to the Transformers universe as an old friend of Bulkhead. The preview picture is posted on TFWiki. Wheeljack was a Generation One character that created the Dinobots and Aerialbots who acted as kind of scientist/mechanic for the Autobots. He briefly appeared in Transformers: Animated but really has not been seen as a character since Transformers: The Movie, possibly because of the untimely death of Chris Latta who voiced the character (and also voiced Starscream and Cobra Commander). As a G1 and Wheeljack fan, I hope this is the beginning of his reintroduction into Transformers universe on a regular basis in whatever future iterations Hasbro comes up with. The new episode "Con Job", airs this Friday at 6:30pm EST on The Hub. (via TFormers)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Daytona 500 TV Spot (Updated)

It turns out while Michael Bay, the Wreckers and others were at the Daytona 500, a new TV spot aired for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It is about half identical to the Super Bowl commercial and half of new scenes. Starscream transforming and landing in front of Sam and Carly, Optimus Prime walking as cartridge pops out of gun toward screen, Sam & Carly moment, a voiceover (probably John Turturro) saying "...years from now they’re gonna ask where were you when they took over the planet", Epps yelling "Run!", Bumblebee in weapon mode, and the Wreckers. If you want to see a little footage of the Transformers crew at Daytona click here. Thanks to Ryan, Sahara, John, Kris, Rakeen and others for the heads-up.

Update: Added above image Pixel Rally's Jeff that show one of the images he photographed with what was shown in the trailer. The image is part of the filming that occured at a Wabash and Lake parking deck in Chicago. Safe to say that bus going boom sequence involves Starscream trying to get Sam. The magic of Hollywood in action.

The Wreckers at Daytona 500

Saturday the NASCAR's Daytona 500 was held with Michael Bay and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Grand Marshalls. On hand for the race was The Wreckers. Thanks to Kaminarimon Nos and his Facebook page, we have a fantastic gallery of images of the vehicles on display at the Daytona International Speedway and more information about the vehicles that he learned while there. As his gallery (below) shows, the cars seem to be officially called "The Wreckers" (before that was unconfirmed fan designation), are Autobots (previous set pictures didn't show faction symbols) and verification of the names of all three cars. From Kaminarimon Nos:

I enjoy your site very much and would like to provide you with High Res pictures I took of The Wreckers today in Daytona Florida I made a album on my Facebook page. If you look close I made notes about their weapons systems that I gathered from Chevy staff. Here is more information I also gathered.

The names are 99% certain with Roadbuster (green), Top Spin (blue), and LeadFoot (red). The cars were built in a Hollywood Ca shop at a cost of 1.5 million dollars apiece. After building and before filming in Chicago the 3 wreckers were secretly shipped to the Daytona speedway track and members of the Daytona police department followed them on the track at high speeds to make sure no parts feel off the production cars. No one in the public caught on to this and it was done on a weekday before the track was replaced.