Magazine Confirms Seven Constructicons

TFW2005's Dinobot Nuva has posted a scan from an article in the current issue of Nick Magazine that has comments from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen lead animator Shawn Kelly were he talks about eyes and the complexity of Devastator and merging seven vehicles. This is, to my knowledge, the first time someone directly associated with the movie has confirmed that seven vehicles combine to form Devastator. Previous mentions were second hand information in articles, a toy, and novelizations.


Devastator

Says Shawn, "Devastator is easily the most complicated character we've ever done because of his size, which is absolutely gigantic. Just trying to figure out how he might form into this giant thing and then walk around was a huge challenge." Animating Devastator required so much computing power that one artist's computer overheated and its insides melted!

"We tried to make a scary transformation for [Devastator] where things are slamming together and getting pulled around. All seven vehicles are shoving themselves together and clicking into place as he grows into this giant, scary dude."

Emotion via the Eyes:

An important part of making the robots look real is their eyes. According to Shawn, "We had to pay a lot of attention to the robots' eyes because a lot of them don't have much more to their face. As long as we can bring the eyes to life, it works pretty well." To do this, animators spent time studying real eyes to see how they move and blink. They also filmed each other and studied the eyes of different actors as they recorded their lines.

LA Building Transformers 2 Advertisement (Update)

In an idea similar to the Luxor in Las Vegas, a building in Los Angeles has been plastered with the visage of Optimus Prime. Thanks to Darin and his friend for the picture.

Update: Darin provided the location and link to the site from his friend Jeremy. The building is in the Hollywood area around Wilshire and La Brea intersection. Click here for a street view link of the location (use your mouse to tilt up) to see the location pre-Prime poster.

The Twins Headshots

Two more CGI images, this time from ACToys, to go with Scrapper. These are just the heads of Skids and Mudflap, complete with gold tooth. Yay, the Twins as Hollywood's vision of a southern redneck. That voice work will have to spot on because their design isn't doing them any favors. Thanks to Scorpio and ghola_tleilaxu for the links.

RoTF Soundtrack Special Edition?

Amazon has a new listing a special edition of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack. The CD will be released on June 23rd and costs $22 rather then the $15 of the the standard edition. Exact details on what makes this "special" are currently unknown but usually these things include a few additional tracks or an extra CD or DVD with videos and the like on it. More details will probably be released as get close to the release date.

CGI Scrapper Artwork (Updated)

TFG2.com has posted an image, found by TFW2005's S250, of what Constructicon Scrapper may look like in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The result is rather interesting and based on the detail level, I am guessing it is based on the upcoming video games. Thanks to ghola_tleilaxu and Phil for the heads-up.

Update: For those wondering, yes it is Scrapper that is chasing after Sam and Mikaela in the trailer, the moment when you see a yellow Transformer looking around the side of the building just before its roof blows. Below is a screenshot from TFG2 of that scene to compare with. Thanks to Yoboy, Andrew and Phil for the info.

New Transformers 2 IMAX Poster

Below is the poster for the IMAX screening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. While similar in design, this poster is not identical to previous posters as Bumblebee is in a new pose and the detail is greater. Thanks to ghola_tleilaxu for the link.

RoTF Pre-Orders Available June 10th

Not sure how I missed it since the news is a couple of months old but I just learned today, thanks to Ellis' efforts, that pre-order tickets for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen starts June 10th. I expect that IMAX showings for TF2 will be popular so pre-order will probably be necessary for seeing the movie in the first couple of days. This date is subject to change and may not be nationwide but Star Trek ticket pre-orders started about two weeks before release so don't see why this would be any different.

Filmed on location at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, and including several scenes shot with IMAX cameras, "Transformers Revenge of the Fallen" promises to be the most action-packed IMAX experience of the summer.

"Transformers Revenge of the Fallen" is scheduled to open Wednesday, June 24 at the Airbus IMAX Theater in Chantilly, VA. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, June 10.

Edmunds Ducati Article Confirms Arcee Combiner?

Edmunds has a brief article that discusses the use of Ducati motorcycles in Terminator Salvation and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Specifically, they are a new source, outside of the novelizations, to confirm that the Arcee bikes do have a combiner mode.

The Hypermotard ("super biker") will fight for good in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen when that film opens on June 24. The Ducati will join with two other motorcycles to create Arcee, a female Autobot to stop the Decepticons as they return to Earth.

RetroSBK actually created the three Arcee bikes (well probably more since have stunt, hero, and backup bikes for each character) but looking at their website Ducati motorcycles seemed to be used as their base for their customizations. Thanks to Jon for the link.

Alternate Trailer With Terminator Salvation, Museum 2 (Updated)

Based on a report from Trent, it looks like Michael Bay decided to go ahead with releasing alternate cuts of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer with Terminator Salvation (which is getting savaged by reviews so no threat to goal of TF2 claiming box office champ).

For some reason I have not seen this trailer talked about anywhere. I even posted it in the IMDB forums and everyone that has replied said it didn't show at their theatre. The trailer contains: a longer cut of BB in the garage (shorter than showest though), sideswipe doing his thing, a new shot of Arcee, both of the twins talking (something about not being able to read), extended shot in the school library, and more that I can't remember. Just a heads up for you to be looking around for it!

- Trent

Now keep in mind that theatres don't have to bother using any trailers they get so just because an alternate cut exists doesn't mean it will being showing with Terminator 4. Hopefully any alternate cuts that get produced will show up online so Transfans worldwide can enjoy them.

Update: NightShade87 also verifies an alternate cut in the comments, only he saw it with Night at the Museum 2.

At my local theater, I had the opportunity to prescreeen a copy of Night at the Museum 2 and the new cut trailer was on there. Some of the footage was old, but more than half was new. Here's what I remember seeing that was of note:

-Bumblebee crying (Showest footage)
-Twins actually speaking (Sam shows them a tattoo on his arm and they say they can't read. If you listen VERY closely, one of them sounds like Spongebob. XD )
-Galloway and Epps having a conversation that goes like this
"It looks like a normal truck"
*Optimus transforms* (this is a better, fuller version than the T.V. spot)
Epps: "Freaky, right?"
-Better images of Arcee, but I didn't see her fully combined.

Don't remember if there was anything else noteworthy, but I'll make a second look just in case. Please remember that trailers are only selective to certain theaters and it may or may not be on the Night At the Musuem 2 that you watch.

Speaking of Terminator, here is a mix-up of T4 and TF2 trailers called "Transforminator" that Yoboy found for your entertainment.

New Movie Stills from Paramount

Paramount Pictures has released some more images from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that hint at some of the action and the human characters. About half of them have been previousily released and below are a few new ones (at least to me). The full gallery can be found here.

LA Times Profile On Bay

As part of a sneak peek of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the LA Times also wrote a profile on director Michael Bay where he discusses his career and working on TF2. Below are a few highlights and the full article can be found here.

"This one," he said, "is barely going to make it to theaters. You have no idea how complicated my life is."

With this new film, he describes the "huge canvas" of its visual effects in terms of computer memory -- at Industrial Light & Magic, the San Francisco effects house, the first "Transformers" movie took up an astounding 15 terabytes; the new one required 140 terabytes. "That breaks every record," said Bay, who is far more Barnum than Bergman.

"The way I do it, we work hard, we work fast," Bay said. "We shoot 12-hour days. . . . One thing I can't stand about Hollywood is waste. I've gotten to be a very, very efficient shooter. On average, these type of sequels run in the $230-million to $240-million range and we're shooting this for a flat $200 million. A lot of these directors have second unit the entire time, that's millions of dollars just wasted. We do it all ourselves."

Bay likes to conserve his budget so he can film in exotic places that other directors find too difficult to access and, along with emphasis on pyro work and stunts, gives his productions the vibe of daredevil tourism. On this new film, he "weaseled" his way into the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt ("We were the first movie in 30 years to shoot physically on the pyramids") where he shot with a 150-member crew for three days and, a few days later, he took his team to the top of the rock-carved architecture of Petra in Jordan, where military helicopters ferried 36 loads of gear to the perilous perch.

The choppers, by the way, were thanks to a Jordanian prince who loved Bay's first robot movie, while in Egypt it was Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, who turned out to be "a big fan of 'Transformers,' " Bay said, sounding surprised himself.

"We're still not quite sure how he does it when he's directing," says screenwriter Alex Kurtzman, who worked on both "Transformers" films. "People who work closest with him call his method 'Bay-os' because it feels like wartime chaos. There are explosions going off in every direction and half as many cameras flying all over the place, and you stand there thinking none of it's going to make any sense, then you watch the scenes cut together and realize something shocking: He's choreographed a ballet. He knows exactly which pieces he's going to use from each camera and he'd already cut the scene together in his head."

"To make a movie like 'Transformers,' " he said, "you have to shut out everything that's out there . . . we work on it every single day for two years."

He sounded skeptical about directing a third "Transformers" and still surprised that he made the first two. Steven Spielberg came to him with the pitch 3 1/2 years ago, but Bay, no fan of superhero cinema, thought a franchise about alien robots sounded like "a very bad idea." He changed his mind when he considered a dark, realistic tone instead of a shiny, cosmic tale.

In recent weeks, Bay has been in a public spat with McG, whose "Terminator Salvation" has giant robots that Bay feels look too much like "Transformers." Bay has had a number of feuds (because, he explained, "I say what I think") but it turns out that sometimes the explosions are fake. With a wink, he admitted that he phoned McG to turn up the volume. "I told him, 'We're like boxers going at it this summer,' " Bay said. "We have to have some fun with it."

Personally I always liked a realistic tone to Transformers. It has always fit the franchise like a glove; just see last two seasons of Beast Wars and pretty much all of Machine Wars. It just takes creators with the right approach and open mindedness to get the full potential. Shoot the comic films and the like that work best (Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, etc) work best when writers and directors approach it as very real rather than tongue in cheek. If they are unable to take the material seriously then they are no appropriate for the job, thankfully something Steven Spielberg recognizes. As for the McG/Bay thing, it was essentially two guys comparing sizes ("my movies is bigger", "no mine is", etc) and contained no Transformers 2 information so I just chose to ignore it.

UK, Japan Release Date Changes

Glancing at the official global release date site (also on top left column), good news for the United Kingdom and Japan as they are getting Transformers 2 earlier than the rest of us. Now the release date for the UK is June 19th and for Japan it is June 20th.

This may be a result of the planned premiere parties in each country. The world premiere of the movie is on June 8th in Tokyo, Japan and the UK's premiere party is for June 15th in London. The United States premiere has not yet been announced.

Orci, Kurtzman Talk Ehren, Lack of Trilogy Plans

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, while taking about Star Trek, also discussed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with Newsarama. Below is a few segments with the full article here.

Did the success of the first one allow you to go even bigger with this installment?
Kurtzman: Certainly the movie is bigger, but that is definitely not how we thought about it. We feel like the action scenes in these movies are a given to some degree, but they always have to have a serious emotional context or they mean nothing. That means you have to have a small character story at the heart of whatever movie you’re making. For us, it was really coming up with an emotional story that we believed in and felt was sequel worthy.
Orci: And yes, it’s bigger. We have more resources for effects and some of the locations which are just gorgeous and amazing.

NRAMA: With all the destruction they caused, how does the government view the Autobots?
Kurtzman: The Autobots are in partnership with our government, but not everybody here at home trusts them. There’s the question of whether the Autobots are really welcome on this planet, or aren’t they? That’s part of the story that plays in the relationship with the military and soldiers they met in the first one. Because Mission City was under a communication black out, the world is not fully aware of The Transformers. It’s become like the Area 51 which is something that plays out in the movie. Can the secret be kept?

NRAMA: Ehren Kruger is also credited on this script. How much input did he have?
Kurtzman: He was our partner. We all wrote it together. Two weeks before the writers’ strike, we all agreed to do it and literally had a short time to come up with an outline.
Orci: We lived in a hotel room together for three months. Director Michael Bay would come every day to check on our progress. Ehren was on one side of the room. There was a dividing door and Bob and I were on the other side. At noon, we would meet in the middle and trade pages, go back and forth to our respective sides, read each other’s work, and give notes. We were a partnership of three on that one.

NRAMA: Do you see these Transformer films as complete stand alone stories or a trilogy?
Kurtzman: That was not our conscious intent. And Michael was very clear too. We just wanted to make one big gigantic Transformers movie at the time.

Voyager Long Haul in Packaging

TF08.net has posted a look at Voyager Long Haul in his packaging. He is a pretty sweet looking figure and quickly becoming a must have for me. Thanks to Yoboy for the link.

Voyager Long Haul Bio

Long Haul is too bitter to be an effective soldier on his own. Despite the fact that he is part of one of the most destructive and terrifying Decepticon squads of all time, he is often treated as little more then a cargo hauler. Other Decepticons sling their gear into his bed without a second thought, and order him to carry it around for them. Rather than confront them, he'd rather grumble about it privately, then stop on the way and destroy whatever he's been given responsibility for.

Bay Talks Shia, Fox; New Voice Cast Member

LA Times has posted an interview with Michael Bay has he discusses his ongoing work editing the movie and working with Shia LaBeouf. The writer, Geoff Boucher, was even able to view about 25 minutes of footage from the film. We also learn that Tom Kenny (the SpongeBob Squarepants voice) has been cast in the film. As who is not specificed but it sounds like Wheelie. Below are snippets from the article, which can be found here.

He showed me a comedy sequence with the Witwicky family getting young Sam (Shia LaBeouf) ready to go off to Princeton University. There was a lot of "empty nest" humor with Sam's mom, Judy (Julie White), and dad, Ron (Kevin Dunn), and then the house is all but leveled by an unwelcome metallic visitor. The scene has a lot of humor in it but Bay said the film, overall, is darker than its 2007 predecessor. "This one," Bay said, "is less quippy."

There was the first scene in the film for the nubile Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) and of course she was wearing very little and posed like a grease-monkey hottie on a garage pin-up poster. "Of course we had to get that out of the way," Bay said with mock resignation. There was plenty more of Fox in seductive mode and a romantic rival as well -- at Princeton, a curvy mystery girl [Alice, played by Isabel Lucas] pounces on Sam in his dorm-room but there's something a little alien about her. Maybe it's the nasty steel tail that suddenly emerges from under her skirt like a scorpion's stinger.

"People I've shown this to instantly feel like, 'Hey, I know that family, they’re fun to watch.' It’s like when you watch a favorite TV series, there are things about familiarity you like and it can be satisfying. There are other benefits from doing it a second time. Movies do take a life. Things spark and take a life, things you thought would be important drop away and a tone is set. With the sequels, you know the tone. That’s a huge thing."

There was also a section of the film in a Princeton classroom with a leering Lothario of a professor (Rainn Wilson) who has a run-in with new student Witwicky, who is suddenly a sputtering genius thanks to his encounter with a powerful shard of alien technology. Bay based the sleazy Wilson character on a randy film instructor he remembered back at his alma mater, Wesleyan University, who wore leather pants and had a whispered reputation for seducing coeds.

He showed me a sequence with a cranky new Autobot [Jetfire] with a lot of stylized personality (think of a windy old geezer with the metallic equivalent of a braided beard) and he mentioned that the smaller robots will be a key part of this film. Tom Kenny (the star voice of "SpongeBob SquarePants") and ubiquitous voice veteran Frank Welker are on board and I think little kids in particular are going to seize on this movie. "Jeffrey Katzenberg gave me advice once. He said it's great to have little characters with these big huge voices," Bay noted of some of the manic little bots.

"Shia came in and auditioned and he was this little skinny kid. ‘Dude you’re like this action king!’ he was so giddy and he wanted to be in action movie so bad. I told him, ‘All right, all right, just calm down.’ I instantly loved his acting because he is disarming, he is great at improv. He’s got this everyday kind of guy that thing. He’s much more charismatic in this movie, too. He’s coming into his own. He’s a smart actor. You sometimes have to push him when he doesn’t believe it. He’ll go through a dark period. With actors you’ve got to be a psychologist. You have to see the darkness coming, especially with funny actors. I can see it coming on and I have to say, ‘Shia…’ and pull him aside. I explain it to him and he’ll come out of it. And then he’ll say, ‘You’re right, you’re right, I was in that mood…’ The reason is they're scared of things sometimes. It’s not easy being an actor and putting yourself out there.”

On Fox: "I brought Megan in when I was producing a different movie and she auditioned for a two-day part. We gave the role to someone else but I remembered her when it came to this movie. There were a lot of young women that auditioned for ‘Transformers,’ but she got it. She was very junior as an actress. There was a chemistry thing, though, between her and Shia. She’s vastly improved over the last one."

Thanks to Mcat and Austin for the link.

"Bumblebee" Camaro Available To Order

According to Jalopnik, GM has wisely decided to take advantage of the Transformers tie-in to create a limited 2010 Chevy Camaro Bumblebee Edition starting June 1st. The production run of the car will go from June 24th to December and will include Bumblebee specific touches of "rally yellow coloring, black stripes and Transformers badging inside. ...this special Transformers-badging will be on wheel centers, sill plates and embroidered console lid and the package will be available in LT or SS models." I cannot really afford a new car but does make you at least think about it. Hopefully dealerships (at least ones not closing) will get a floor model to drool at in person. Sadly costs and so forth are not revealed, I guess dealerships would have to answer those questions. Thanks to Believer and others for the link.

RoTF Comic Adaptation Preview #2

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adaptation #2 will be hitting newsstands on May 28th and IDW has provided a sneak peak here. Including bits is a look at the Nemesis (Decepticon flagship, counterpart to the Autobots Arc from G1 cartoons), a few corny lines from Megatron (that I hope isn't in the movie unless the line reading is just kickass), and bits of Sam looking foolish in class as Wheelie spies on Mikaela. Thanks to ghola-tleilaxu and DeceptiFreak for the heads-up.

Neil Kaplan Cast in Video Game

From TFW2005, Neil Kaplan's facebook page reveals he has been cast as the voice of Long Haul and Protectobot (essentially a Ratchet repaint) in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game.

I am THRILLED to announce my return to the "Transformers Universe". This summer you can find my work on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". This brilliant video game is from the geniuses at Activision. I play both sides of the fence as Decepticon - Long Haul and Autobot - Protectobot. So... I can help you save or destroy the Earth. Just try to let me know ahead of time... nothing worse than tearing down what was meant to be saved.

Kaplan's credits are long, sticking mostly to video games with some cartoon work including being the voice of Optimus Prime for the Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoons back in 2001. Keep in mind that doing a voice in the game doesn't necessarily mean he is doing a voice in the movie or that Long Haul even has any lines in the movie. Thanks to Scorpio for the link.

Luxor's Transformers Billboard Update

The huge billboard that was being placed on the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada is now nearing completion according to TFormers. Not really sure what they are putting on the other face though. It almost looks like Optimus is bursting from the building that is very cool looking. Below are two example photos but an additional 12 can be found here.

Meet Sideways, MTV Movie Awards and ... (Updated)

Feeling a touch lazy so just combining all these stories into once story since all of them are brief anyway.

First up, MichaelBay.com has posted a CGI image of Sideways. It’s cool looking but the detail makes me think it’s from the video games rather than the movie. Also, the site has three additional set photos that show Bay and Shia working/posing including a neat pic on an aircraft carrier deck. In addition, go to Megan-Fox.net for four more movie images.

Next, for the MTV Movie Awards airing live on May 31st at 9pm/8pm CST, it has been confirmed that the show an exclusive clip will be aired and introduced by Megan Fox and Michael Bay. Shia LaBeouf will also present an award. Hopefully that clip will pop up online shortly thereafter.

Last is a single image of the repaint of Deluxe Scorponok for the Transformers 2 toy line. It appears that all the gold of the original figure has been swapped out for black and gray.

Thanks to Moises, Phil, Darin, Mcat, and Dave for the links.

Update: The commecial mentioned above is now on YouTube for our embedding pleasures. Thanks to medabotsoundwave for the link. In addition, The Chief sent me the Sideways and Bumblebee renders the other day but I completely forgot to post them, so here they are now. Sorry about that.

Voyager Grindor In Packaging

Despite being the repainted twin of Blackout (with slightly altered head design), based on the Voyager packaging below, it appears the name Grindor is here to stay as first indicated by the Fast Action Battler version. The question is what he will be referred to in the movie. One theory is he is the resurrected Blackout and the other is he is a new character of sorts. Either way, I get the feeling he will not last long under Prime's blades.

In addition, Hasbro has posted the first commercial for the Revenge of the Fallen toy line with a special focus on Leader class Optimus Prime, click here to view. Sadly no embed option for the video. Thanks to Phil for the links and the bio write-up.

Voyager Grindor Bio

GRINDOR is a born soldier. He is both a highly talented fighter, and an instinctive strategist. Every moment of a battle is laid out in his head before the first shot is even fired. He is so talented at anticipating his enemy's moves that he is almost never surprised. Whenever he can, he ensures himself a place at the direct center of a fight so that he can bring his powerful weapons to bear on the AUTOBOTS around him, destroying as many as he can as quickly as possible.

Tyrese Updates On RoTF Duet

Linkin Park just released their single New Divide (finally out on iTunes for $1.29) for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack. Tyrese Gibson has working on a duet with Jewel for the soundtrack. Tonight he has tweeted an update on the collaboration and posted a public voice message.

From Twitter:

I was recording with Babyface last night the song with me and @JewelJk is turning out amazing!

The song is called "Make it Last" it's for the Transformers 2 soundtrack! The song was wrote for tender moments with Megan and Shia..!!

As for the voice message (below) Tyrese provides a brief sample of "Make It Last" that is probably a pre-mixed version of the song. The track is not yet part of the soundtrack as he still has to present it to the album decision makers (including Bay). The rest of the message is not Transformers specific as he talks about being careful with information revealed to others and the choices people can make.

Tony Todd Cast In Transformers 2

The official Tony Todd website has revealed that the actor has been cast in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

If you watch movies and television on even a semi-regular basis you probably recognize the face. His most recent roles included playing CIA Director in the first season of Chuck (before getting blown up), playing the dictator in just finished season of 24, Candyman from those movies and a just really long list of credits. He is part of that large group of character actors that helps keep the Hollywood engine running, just plugging away working and yet rarely gives the proper credit for their efforts.

The note from the site:

We've been waiting to announce this for a little bit and here it is:
Tony will be taking part in this summers biggest blockbuster ...

TRANSFORMERS 2 !

Now who he is going to play is still under wraps, but we can say...
don't look for him because you wont see the man himself...!!
Thats all we can say for now!
This is going to be one helluva a summer !!

That indicates the deep voiced actor is playing a Transformer, which one is the question. He sounds like a Decepticon to me, possibly one of the Constructicons (my guess is Mixmaster). Congrats to Tony, hopefully not a Decepticon (alternate suggestion is Sideswipe) or it will just be a one movie role. More than likely Tony recorded his voice work months ago.

All Three TV Spots in HD

From MichaelBay.com, here are all three new TV spots in HD for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Between these spots, Linkin Park's new song, new movie stills, and the start of the viral marketing campaign, it is pretty clear that the campaign to get seats into theatres for the movie has officially begun.

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Greatest Enemy

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Thanks to YoBoy, Shinobi, Kenney, Michael and others for the heads-up.

Transformers 2 Viral Marketing Campaign Begins (Updated)

It appears that today is the day the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen marketing campaign begins its kick off as the various viral campaign websites have updates to join the TV spots showing up on TV.

TheRealEffingDeal
First seen in the trailer on Sam's jacket as he talks to Simmons, the site run by "Leo Spitz" (Ramon Rodriguez) now has a home page and blog, complete with mission statement. The primary goal is to determine the "real" story behind the events in Mission City (from the first movie). There are a ton of posts already on the site, going back to June 10th of last year (about the time TF2 production started). Of note is Leo has a bit of a crush on the lovely Olivia Munn who is referred to as "Future Mrs. Spitz" in the tags. Other than a not so minor crush on her, the rest of the posts are filled with UFO sightings and aliens.

Update: A few links of note from Leo's site. One is an amusing "LeoPonceDeLeonSpitz Venture" of Real Effing Kitten Calendars from one of the advertisements (found by NHLfan). Another is "Mission City" updates of blurry images of Starscream and Optimus (found by Katie).

GiantEffingRobots
This site was discovered through the adult novelization of the movie and is in direct competition with the above. Run by "Robo-Warrior" aka Simmons (John Turturro), he frequently comments on his dislike of Spitz's site, shares his love of The Munn, and enjoys Star Trek. The posts in this case start on September 8th, 2008 and do not come with as much frequency. I am assuming that will change now that the viral campaign has kicked off.

Mendelson Robotics
Another site, not yet up and running. This is the company that plays a part in the cover story for the events of mission city and likely the company that would want to use Transformers tech to their advantage. What part they do or do not have in the current movie is unknown.

Thanks to Katie and p00p m0nsta for the links.

New Transformers TV Spot (Updated)

A new TV spot is now online. Not yet in HD as a recording of the TV airing the commercial but still good quality. The best part is at least three new scenes involving Sideswipe (I think), Skids and Optimus transforming. Thanks to Chris and Elis for the link.



Update: Thanks to Decer, added an improved HDish copy of the TV spote (or view here).

Linkin Park's New Divide Official Premiere (Updated)

The countdown has completed and the first single from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Soundtrack is now officially released and available on iTunes. You can listen to the single here. I am not sure when the music video will be up nor when the song will be available on iTunes. Thanks to Darin and Austin for the info.

Update 2: The lyrics to the song is up on Mike Shinoda's blog here.

Update: Sadly the Youtube "video" has been pulled.

New RoTF Movie Images (Updated)

Cinematical has posted the below five new images from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that include shots of the cast and TF vehicles. The picture of the lovely Isabel Lucas is a single image from MichaelBay.com. Thanks to Katie for the info.

Update: Katie found additional new photos on Yahoo Movies.

Win A Hasbro RoTF Press Kit

MichaelBay.com is running a contest offering an opportunity to win a Hasbro Revenge of the Fallen Press Kit. Basically it is a box of freebie toys given out to various websites (sadly not me) and publications that gives a preview of the upcoming line of toys. Based on the image it is about $150 or so of free stuff. Thanks to Austin for the link.

To enter, send an email with your name & your favorite obscure Transformer to webmaster@revengeiscoming.com. Contest is open to US residents only and ends on end of day May 25, 2009.

The press kit contains:
- BumbleBee Movie Voice Mixer Helmet
- Transformers Movie BumbleBee Plasma Canon
- Optmus Prime t-shirt (Medium)
- Optimus Prime (Mech Alive) [Leader class I believe]
- BumbleBee (Human Alliance w/ Sam Witwicky action figure)
- Sideswip (Gravity Bots - Automatically converts)
- Sideways (Mech Alive) [Deluxe class]
- Transformers ROTF Official Movie adaptation Comic (#1)
- CD with Hasbro Image art

Transformers Movie Universe Preview

Transformers: The Movie Universe hardcover by DK books is coming and as part of that it includes bio on the various Transformers in Revenge of the Fallen. Thanks to Rodrigo, below is a few sample pages from the book for The Fallen, Devastator (who is described as having six components, no Overload), the Twins, and Megatron.

Book description:

Find out everything you ever wanted to know about the Transformers including footage from the films Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers, with this explosive guide.

Read behind-the-scenes stories from the Transformer movies, secret dossiers, mission objectives, stats, top 10s, amazing facts and more. Get access to the data files of your favorite heroes from Optimus Prime and Megatron to Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky.

Step into dramatic battle scenes and learn everything you ever wanted to know; from an insiders guide to Cybertonian history to the secrets behind the Transformers military hardware. Plus, fantastic cross-sections will take you deep inside their incredible world

Third Human Alliance Toy IDed

Amazon, found via TFW2005, has posted the ID for the third human alliance toy for the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toy line. The toy is oddly Skids with Mikaela, joining Alliance Bumblebee with Sam and Sideways with Epps. I would have thought that Arcee would have been a natural combo with a Mikaela figure. No picture or details yet but I assume this will be a wave 2 or three toy so probably not on store shelves until late summer.

Rise of the Decepticon Book Montage

Below is a video that shows a montage of images from a child's book called Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Rise of the Decepticon. I guess you could call it spoilers since it does show stuff that the junior and adult novelizations have already revealed in greater detail. Of note are some of the characters used for some sequences do not match the novels completely, again showing how different script versions are sent out for these adaptations. Another note, the additional "red-shirt" Decepticon doesn't necessarily have to be a Constructicon in the revival of Megatron. Thanks to Yoboy for the link and his friend that did the montage.

If you want to view the individual page images they can be found here. Thanks to Phil for the link.

US Released Date Moved? Nope (Updated)

AllSpark.com and others have noticed that the countdown clock on the home page of MichaelBay.com was two days early and now seems to be one (at least comparing it to my countdown clock). The result is the countdown is scheduled to end at midnight on June 23rd rather then the scheduled June 24th US release date. Is this confirmation that movie is moving up another day (remember it was initially scheduled for June 26th)?

My take is it is simply a programming error. I do believe that Paramount will see how Star Trek did coming out at 7pm rather than 12:01am and mimic that but I don't think they are going to move it up an entire day. I hope they don't do the 7pm thing as I like the fun and excitement of going to a 12:01am show time which the earlier time lacks due it simply being nothing special.

Obviously if anything is announced about the US date I will post it here. Also, the link for the release date of the movie around the world is in the top left hand column. Just monitor that to see if anything changes. Thanks to rodsuper for the heads-up.

Update: Mystery has quickly been cleared. It was a simple programming error. Easy to happen with code where a typo can cause sometimes cause some interesting ramifications. Thanks to Katie and Franco for the update.

Leader Optimus Prime, Jetfire Combined (Updated)

TF08.net once again, this time even more pictures of Leader class Jetfire, this time for the first time combined with Leader class Optimus Prime. The result is interesting I guess. Not sure worth the $100 dollars for the total effect however. I will wait for the toy review and see it in action before making a final judgment on it. Below are most of the pics from the gallery with the rest here. Thanks to Adam for the link. Yep just the one combined picture so far.

Update: Additional pictures of Jetfire and the combined mode are now up at at TFW2005. Also below is a YouTube montage of the pictures. Thanks to -yoboy- for the links.