(l to r: Windblade, Bumblebee, and Rubble)

Transformers EarthSpark was not a successful project. While some of the toys looked okay, I had nothing against the Maltos except for the girl’s original character model, and the non-binary Terran just raises more questions about Transformers and gender that has been going long before the culture war started playing with gender as a concept, I just found the whole thing boring. The aforementioned Nightshade was rather boring to me, his only personality trait I caught was the Earth “museum” that Hoist of Rescue Bots Academy did better. In the same vein, Mandroid was a less interesting fusion of Circuit Breaker, Silas from Prime, and Rescue Bots recurring villain Doctor Morocco. The Terran idea sounded interesting in theory but never really caught on with me. Of course the big problem is post-war Transformers stories rarely interest me.

This thought pattern of what I would like to see in the next Transformers kids project was inspired by TJ Omega on YouTube, and I’ll show you his video before I go into my own thoughts. Cyberworld is the next announced kids line, and there will be media to go along with it. Whether or not Skybound has the guts to do a kids comic with this I can’t say, but they did make Super Dinosaur, so they are capable at least. While I like some of his ideas and others I could accept, I have my own thoughts on what I would like a Transformers series called Cyberworld to pull off. With that name there’s one or two options. Either make it some kind of virtual world, like I’ve seen done with Marvel characters in an anime I haven’t checked into, or the most likely and approved by older fans idea of setting it on Cybertron. Then again, they’d probably just call it Cybertron. It’s not like Hasbro or their licensers hasn’t reused a name before. More Than Meets The Eye has been a regular series and a profile book, while Robots In Disguise has been a rework of an anime, a continuation of Prime, and a comic set after the war, neither of which have any connection to each other beyond the Transformers themselves.

I’ll let TJ go over what little we know about Cyberworld (the short version is “it’s going to exist”) and what he’d like to see in the new project. I’ll follow that up with my own ideas, some of which we agree on, some we don’t, and one is the Decepticon Justice Division.

Catch more from TJOmega on YouTube

NO DECEPTICON JUSTICE DIVISION!

I don’t know how to make that clearer. The concept of a group of Decepticons that hunt deserters and traitors isn’t all the DJD is about. They’re also the most vile extremist psychopaths in comics, and one of the reasons I finally broke free of IDW’s Transformers, a run I was often neutral to negative about, especially after the war. One of them transforms into a torture device. Another has a face that can be removed and shoved onto another mech’s face to torment him. I hate these characters and never want to see them again. TJ has his list, I have mine, and no DJD is tops on mine! So what I like to see?

Let the kids show be for kids!

Speaking of things I can’t stress high enough. Adults have their Transformers. The kids show and toyline should be for kids. Transformers was not created for 80s kids. It was created in the 1980s for kids. There is a difference. Someone once told me, when I complained that the Bay movies were not kid friendly, that “kids have enough stuff”. Well not if you take it from them. They took superheroes, except for preschoolers and this isn’t Rescue Bots or Go-Bots. (Note the spelling. “GoBots” was the 80s Transformers’ competition, “Go-Bots” was the Playskool line for a while.)  I want to be comfortable with an older but not teenage kid watching this show without feeling they’re seeing something they shouldn’t. You can make nods to the adults. Batwheels even does that without losing the kids, but to use a poorly utilized expression these days, this wasn’t made for you adults. This actually is a kids show.

Does that mean the writers can be lazy because kids are stupid? NO, AND YOU SHOULDN’T BE WORKING ON THIS SHOW IF YOU THINK  THAT! Kids know when they’re being talked down to and they will lose interest. Remember, EarthSpark can only have failed if it didn’t catch on with the kids. That means they didn’t see what they wanted in this show. Try to find out what kids want. I’m doing a lot of guesswork based on what I love about the property, but I can sit through Paw Patrol as/is and be entertained. I’m totally good on this. As TJ mentioned, you can’t sell the toys if the stories are terrible. Making a good story for kids is easy, and if you need some help, watch the original cartoon, Beast Wars, anything in the so-called “Aligned Continuity”, and see what worked. Ignore “B.O.T.” and “Carnage In C-Minor” and you’ll be fine.

The Cast

If the series is going to be set on Cybertron, you won’t have any humans unless this is a post-war story where the war starts up again. That means all you’ll have are Autobots and Decepticons. TJ suggested four main characters and a bunch of revolving guest characters. To a point I agree with him, however I would tweak this idea a bit.

One think I would love to see is actual groupings and squad units in Transformers. The various teams we already have like the Dinobots and Protectobots never really felt like a full squad unit. Have the espionage team, the law enforcement division for areas, a military unit, the medical team, and so on. Put one character in charge, maybe one we already know. Have Ratchet in charge of the medics, Hot Spot in charge of the Protectobot/Rescue Bot style division, and the like. Have those leaders be the main cast, with the story following one or more of the units in their mission. Optimus and Megatron have always led from the front, which is what made them good leaders. This can still happen, but the specific mission teams would be doing their thing while Optimus and Megatron would each lead a main force into battle. So the Decepticons would have the same situation, which would be a good time to expand on the Seekers under Starscream.

I also agree that new characters or older characters who never really got a spotlight would now be able to thrive under these team-based stories. My dad watches old episodes of a World War II series called Combat, and that would be a good one to use for example. Even for one episode we’d see a unit on both sides bonding with their teammates (or the lack of bonding most likely for Decepticons) as the two units challenge each other. This could be the revolving cast TJ wants and the chance to have new and underutilized characters we’d both like to see. New characters are good, and we have gotten so few with the emphasis on “evergreen” G1 versions. Now is a good time to step up.

Heroic Autobots Vs. Evil Decepticons

I’ve written a more detailed article on this, so check that out. This is the cliff notes for this article.

In recent years, pre-war Autobot society has become a scrap pile. A forced caste system based on alt modes, corrupt politicians being the norm rather than exception, and a bunch of other things your average kid probably wouldn’t care about. An alt mode caste system doesn’t work when from literally the first Transformers story, cartoon and comic, features the characters getting new alternate modes. As I’ll get into in a later category, it would make more sense for a Cybertronian to select an alternate mode based on what they want to be. Dress for the function you want.

Autobots represent the best of human values on all sides of the political and human spectrum, while the Decepticons represent the worst. Autobots represent builders, rescuers, enforcers of the law, and the only war machines still fight in the name of peace and justice. The Deceptions are bullies, tyrants, socio/psychopaths, and other cruel worldviews and interests. “Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons” is right there in the theme. You can have some nuance (TJ mentioned Skywarp and his journey is one of the few things I did like about IDW’s run) but the general perspective is Autobots are good, Decepticons are evil. This is a kids show. You can still do that in a kids show.

Unique powers and weapons/tools

One thing we don’t see as much is robots with individual abilities. Because the original concepts were written by people who usually do superhero stories for Marvel Comics (or so goes my theory), many of the characters would get a power or weapon unique to them. From Windcharger’s magnetic fields to Skywarp’s teleporting, giving each Autobot and Decepticon his own power made them stand out among the others. Alternately a character may have a unique weapon or gadget. Blaster had an “electro-scrambler” gun, Starscream had his cluster bombs, Trailbreaker has force fields, among others. Not every Transformer had these things, and they shouldn’t now, but it would allow them to show off the advantages of being a robotic lifeform. Speaking of which…

A unique robotic society and culture

The more like us you make them the less interesting they are. These are robots. They should have their own robot-based society. I like seeing things like Cube or hearing about Baskettrek, games that would be unique to Transformers and Cybertronian life. You still have some recognizable things like racing, and architecture would still be based on common sense, and Cybertronian art would have some level of familiarity. Going too far the other way wouldn’t be relatable. However, terms, curse words, time units, forms of currency–there are so many things that should reflect a society of shapeshifting robotic lifeforms that I want them to tap into.

A fun action show

Not too serious, not too silly. One character can be quirky. All the characters being quirky is just annoying. And if we’re actually making this a kids show, too serious will bore them and send them elsewhere just as fast. Numerous character types with diverse points of view is the better way to go.

This should also be an action show. Transformers is a brand about a robotic civil war. You aren’t doing a preschool show. While there are limits (again, no Decepticon Justice Division stuff), you can have action over violence, the right balance of darkness and light to make a good story that’s also fun to watch, creating characters that the kids want representations of in their toybox or wherever kids put their toys now in between play sessions. Action, adventure, excitement, cool transformations and powers, all with characters you want to see more of. That’s what this really needs to get kids and make a good show.

As for the toys…

A lot of that will depend on what the actual theme for the line is. I like the idea of different gimmicks instead of one central gimmick. The Energon toyline had various combinations, battle modes, a headmaster style giant, and it’s one of my favorite lines. Having gimmicks tied to the aforementioned powers and weapons would be cool. Multichangers and Combiners would be cool. Each team could have a unique shared gimmick or theme. Let the kids choose their favorite by giving them all something cool that speaks to them, and they may still come back for multiple gimmicks. The show will make the characters fun to watch, the toys will make them fun to play as.

So that’s my thoughts. What would you like to see in a new Transformers line?