Okay so let's talk about one of my favorite things right now: Transformers. I grew up with Transformers. Picked up the Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon and Cybertron), watched the original (G1) and the entirety of the Beast Era (Beast Wars and Beast Machine). And yes, watched the goddamned live-action movies and even the newer shows too. But for today, for those not in the know but are interested in learning abit on Transformers, let's talk about the different franchises. Specifically, let's talk about the current franchises Hasbro's using for marketing purposes.
In total, there are 3 running co-currently. Granted, we've got the IDW comics as another continuity, but we're gonna be talking about the ones being used for the mainstream media like movies, TV shows and, yes, web series. So let's begin, shall we?
Movie Universe
So we all know this one. The live-action films done by Michael Bay. Starting from the first movie up until Age of Extinction, it's been widely hated due to the atypical tropes from Bay himself. I didn't totally hate all of them except the last one. Age of Extinction was extremely difficult to understand, the one saving grace for me was Drift's portrayal, though that might've been me being bias due to my everlasting fanboying over Drift. But anyway, Hasbro announced plannings to make a cinematic universe out of these movies so yeah that's that. Not alot to say except watch the movies..........if you dare and can.
Aligned Continuity
Okay the logo may not look like it's got relevance, but the related TV show is part of this continuity. Anyway, Aligned Continuity. Basically, Hasbro created a book of sorts called the Binder of Revelation, a super-secret book accessible only to content producers hired by Hasbro and Hasbro themselves containing a story bible built using information from Hasbro's in-house story team, fans and anyone in-between. The backstory is that Cybertron had a civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons and eventually after Cybertron's fall, they fled to Earth where they would eventually have multiple large-scale battles. The various video games, comics and TV shows under this continuity depict these events. For the Cybertron backstory, War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron and the novels like Exodus and Exiles are depictions of this backstory. Likewise, the TV series Prime and the new Robots in Disguise TV series (NuRID) are the most recent stories in this continuity, NuRID setting after Prime. Also, Rescue Bots is a spinoff setting during Prime too.
Anyway, target audience-wise, it's varied though these days, the TV shows are geared towards the main audience, that being kids, while Rescue Bots targets much younger kids like pre-schoolers. The video games and novels are aimed at an older audience though.
Prime Wars Trilogy
This is the latest continuity that has been established. Well actually, it's more of a marketing campaign than a continuity. IDW Publishing's continuity has elements of Prime Wars Trilogy in their storytelling but otherwise, the main medium, as it appears, is mainly the Transformers: Generations toyline and Machinima's web series.
Anyway, what is known is that 2 entries have been confirmed, Combiner Wars (the first part) and the upcoming Titans Returns. Another thing to note is that each part focuses on some kind of gimmick. In Combiner Wars, the focus goes onto combiners (DUH!) while for Titans Return, focuses on the cityformers and especially on Titan Masters, miniature Transformers that become heads for larger ones, like G1's Headmasters. Web series-wise, only Combiner Wars has been confirmed, though given that Machinima has some involvement, we're likely to see Titans Return as a web series too along with the third entry.
Oh and for those wondering about the target audience, it's been confirmed that the Prime Wars Trilogy is specifically targeted towards teens and adults, well atleast the web series is.
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So anyway, you guys are now caught up with what's happening. It's a little convoluted and I may have gotten a few things wrong here so let me know if I gotten anything wrong. Oh and the Machinima web series isn't even out yet so there's that to look forward to.
Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next blog post.
- Shu
Source: Wikipedia for logos, TFW2005 for Prime Wars Trilogy logo and info (http://news.tfw2005.com/2015/10/08/nycc-2015-hasbro-transformers-panel-updates-302802), The Hollywood Reporter for info (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/transformers-forming-epic-storyline-toys-830399 , http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/comic-con-transformers-animated-series-807464)
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