Linkfest - Dinobots and Combiners Oh My

It has been a months since did my last linkfest and its shows with an epic ton of video reviews for upcoming figures from Hasbro's Combiner Wars line and all the third party figures. Below are a bunch of reviews for the first wave for the Combiner Wars with an occasional look at an incomplete combiner as Hasbro chose to swap a Stunticon with an Arialbot for each wave to emphasize their ability to swap to create "new" combined robots. Also a look at the first wave of Robots in Disguise toys along with Masterpiece Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee.

For third party reviews the theme is the Dinobots with four lines coming this year. Two of them are Masterpiece scaled figures from Fanstoys while Planet X's are based on War for Cyberton, and one is regular scaled release (from Fansproject) while last is a combiner (from Toyworld). Hopefully the reviews below will help in deciding which of the four to commit to. The 3rd party pattern remains combiners. Other than the Dinobots there are currently takes on the Terrorcons, Combaticons, Technobots and Protectobots. Before the reviews here are links to some upcoming releases, two 80s Transformers videos, and an update on Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon series.

Update: Added this reveal of Combiner Wars Devastator. No real deal details except that he may follow the G1 version with six characters merging and come complete as a collection rather than sold individually. Hopefully more will be revealed at the New York Toy Fair that starts Feb 2.

The Return of the Go-Bots?

It looks like Hasbro is looking to finally make use of the Gobots. The company has filed for a new Go-Bots trademark for "distribution of motion pictures, ongoing television programs" and "Toys, games and playthings, namely, toy vehicles and accessories for use therewith".

The franchise was created by Tonka in 1984 which had rushed developed the franchise to compete with the sudden success of Transformers by licensing the toy designs from Bandai (so basically the toys not good enough for Hasbro to license when developing Transformers). The franchise was acquired by Hasbro in 1991 when Tonka took on too much debt when it purchased the now defunct toy company Kenner in 1987. Since the 80s toy designs were owned by Bandai, only names from the franchise have appeared here and there in various other toy lines and Transformers toys over the years.

Even if Hasbro owned the toy designs, I don't see them bothering to re-create the 80s version of the Go-Bots in any form. I suspect this new trademark application is to create a new line of toys with a TV cartoon/commercial series. The movie aspect is just tacked on because why not, the line could be enough of a success to warrant it. I could see it as a sub-line of Transformers, maybe directed at kids but really with such a generic name more likely is it will be a completely different idea with a gimmick that has nothing to do with transforming. Thanks to Silver Knight for the link.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Free to Listen

As part of an attempt to get attention for their movie scores for award season, Paramount has posted 82 tracks from Transformers: Age of Extinction score composed by Steve Jablonsky. For license reasons, something about a 12000 sale limit and any after that increases the licensing cost, the score itself is not available to purchase. Click here to listen to the score. Thanks to Silver Knight for the link.

IDW April 2015 Transformers Comics

IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for April 2015. Four floppies and one trades are coming out that month. The Combiner Wars continues. For the full details of IDW's other books including GI Joe, Star Trek, and more click here.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Shut Out of the Oscars

For the first time a Transformers film was shut out of getting a nomination in the Oscar technical categories. After this morning's announcement of the Oscar nominations, Transformers: Age of Extinction received zero nominations in its greatest strengths of Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. For the previous films Transformers 1 received three nominations, ROTF received one and DOTM received three. None of the films have won an Oscar. Below are the nominations this year for the categories the previous TF films has been nominated in. I would swap out Interstellar for Age of Extinction in all the categories and the Sound Mixing noms are baffling. The full list of nominations can be found here. The winners will be announced on Sunday, February 22 starting at 8pm ET in show hosted by Neil Patrick Harris whose previous hosting gigs have usually been very entertaining.

Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Interstellar
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Guardians Of The Galaxy

Transformers: Age of Extinction Receives 7 Razzie Nominations

To no surprise, Transformers: Age of Extinction received the most Razzie Nominations today with seven. The Razzie Awards acts as an anti-Oscar that "awards" the worst major theatrical releases of the year. For the franchise the first Transformers film avoided nominations but Revenge of the Fallen received 7 noms and "won" 3 while Dark of the Moon received 8 noms but "won" none.

The "winners" will be announced the day before the Oscars on Saturday, February 21. I wonder if Michael Bay will provide another Razzie "Math Equation" like he did with DOTM. A defense that came down to "lots of money was made so there." Redemption can come tomorrow as the Oscar Nomination ceremony will be held in the morning. Age of Extinction has a chance to get nominations in the technical categories including for sound, editing and visual effects. Below are the categories that Age of Extinction was nominated in.

Peter Cullen Hopes for Less Dark Transformers Sequels

While appearing at the SacAnime 2015 panel on January 15th in Sacramento, California, Peter Cullen commented on Transformers 5 and 6. The voice of Optimus Prime spoke of hoping for a less darker tone to future films and mentioned that he agrees with fans about some of the moments when Prime isn't so Prime but that ultimately the boss' orders prevail (we all know that feeling).

"There is a sense that Transformers movies are going into a darker area" stated Mr. Cullen. "I think I brought the concern to the movie studio and certainly to the writers. Perhaps…Transformers 5 and 6 movies will go back more to its roots. There was an occasion where one line [in Transformers: Age Of Extinction] which Optimus Prime had, I did not want to say. It was my gut instinct and certainly my commitment to the character… not to say the line. But I was told to say. You can’t fight the big boys. I think you all know what that line was."

My guess is the line he is referring to is "I'll kill you" but there are a few others that would qualify. Below is about an hour long video of his panel appearance.

Michael Bay On Action in Transformers: Age of Extinction

Below is a newly posted featurette for Transformers: Age of Extinction that has Michael Bay discussing his approach to filming action sequences for the movie. This is the same special feature that was part of the Blu-ray release of the film.