(Note: I didn’t even notice until yesterday that this didn’t post. I scheduled it for the wrong day somehow, so I ended up with no post this time last week. Go figure.)
Botcon is the annual Transformers convention, which took place this weekend. Transformers news site TFW2005 covered the events via Cover It Live, and has replays Twitter-style of the various panels. For the purposes of this site, only the story-related events are a point of concern.
IDW Panel: I wondered what “IDW” stands for, and now I know: Idea and Design Works. I’m sure I’ll forget. Anyway, it looks like Furman is taking over the Movieverse when it comes to the comics with Tales of the Fallen. This saddens me, as the Fallen, one of Furman’s characters during the Dreamwave years, is currently the worst character he’s created, next to the Swarm, for the Transformers Multiverse. I’m just not a fan of his style of storytelling, and I was hoping the Movieverse would be free of his influence. I shudder to think about what he’s going to do with Bumblebee, my favorite of the Movieverse characters (not related to his G1 namesake, my favorite Autobot ever, I assure you).
Otherwise, nothing new to me outside of the Coda covers and the upcoming reference material. There’s talk of continuing the Animated universe (a fan favorite, including this fan) and they floated a new Joe/Transformer crossover balloon and the possibility of another Evolutions mini-series (Hearts of Steel had it’s downsides, but I enjoyed it overall, if only at concept). The “Spotlights” will take a break after the ones announced (Metroplex, Cliffjumper, and Jazz–sadly, no Bumblebee). However, they don’t want to flood the shelves with Transformers titles (why not? DC and Marvel whore out Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Wolverine so much the Attorneys-General will soon be asking them to stay off Craigslist (what a waste of time that stupidity is), and Transformers could have their own comic company with all the available material), so they probably won’t get into other titles, including returning to their Beast Wars titles.
Movie Writer’s Panel: Just a report this time, from the panel with the movie writers, Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci. No real new information, but still worth a read for the teasers for upcoming plot points in the movie. By the way, TFW2005 is also reporting that the movie will have a PG-13 rating. Expect Chris W. and myself to talk about uncomfortable moments in this one, too. 🙂
Animating Animated: Another report, this panel features the staff from Transformers Animated. It’s confirmed that the series is over, and the dangling threads will probably stay dangled (they left them in case another season was greenlit, but I would not mind a direct-to-video follow-up movie). Interesting, but not really comment-worthy.
Hasbro Designers Panel: The full panel only concerns us toy collectors, but Tyrese Gibson (Epps) made a surprise visit to promote the sequel. (Some spoilers there for the movie.) Also covered is the Paramount Party, with some more spoilers.
And since I’m using TFW2005 as my source for this post, congratulations are in order for them, winning Best Resources Section and Best Website Design at the Botcon awards.
BW Media Spotlight 