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.

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.

Deluxe Skids Video Review

Below is a review video of Deluxe Skids, part of the Transformers 2 toy line. Over all not bad but I just can't get past the Gremlin head. Thanks to Phil for the find.

More Toy Galleries

Nope not new, but for those interested a lot more galleries of the various toys from the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen towline have popped up. Nothing really new except the pic to the right that shows off that Deluxe Bumblebee has a new gimmick of pop-out cannons that is pretty cool. The main reason for this post is these are some of the best quality pictures yet of the various toys.

Leader Optimus Prime
Leader Megatron
Deluxe Skids
FAB Long Haul
FAB Sideways
Deluxe Sideswipe
Legends Megatron

Five Toy Demo Videos

Below are videos that demonstrate five of the toys for the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toys. It is a solid way to get a good look at the toys and how they transform. Thanks to Cenjor for the links.

FAB Jetfire, Long Haul, Sideways, etc Galleries

Few new galleries of Transformers 2 Deluxe class toys. From TF08.net, a two page gallery of pictures of various Deluxe Fast Action Battler size Transformers 2 toys. It is a good look at Jetfire, a re-color of Ratchet, Skids, Rampage, and Bumblebee. I think my favorite of the group is Long Haul mostly because he is the creation of Transformers fan Josh Nizzi, hired by Michael Bay for Transformers 2 thanks to his Long Haul art. Makes me wonder if its just a matter of time for Jester and Jolin. The other gallery is from TFormers for Sideways.

Various FABs | Sideways

Autobots At Auto Show Videos

Last week GM debut its fleet of Autobots to the public at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show giving us a good close look at the Chevy Trax (Mudflap), Beat (Skids), Camaro (BB), Volt (Jolt) and Corvette Stingray (Sideswipe). We already got a look at some galleries, but now thanks to Schoop77 here are some videos to go with them.

Direct links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Skids Bio Revealed

When is G1 Wheelie probably not going to be Wheelie? When he is Skids judging by the back of the card bio on the character from TF08.net.

Because he is slightly less hyperactive than his brother MUDFLAP, AUTOBOT SKIDS has always thought of himself as “the smart one.” He likes to point this out at every opportunity. While MUDFLAP zips around like a maniac, AUTOBOT SKIDS prefers to impress his superiors among the AUTOBOT high command by behaving in a way he thinks of as mature, which usually involves talking nonstop about anything that occurs to him.

Yeah, more I see and read about Mudflap and Skids, the more concerned I become. With these two characters, how much we like them will rely nearly 100% on the voice work so can't wait until those casting notes are revealed. Thanks to Chris for the information.

Toy Fair Reveals Devastator and Other TFs (Updated)

Toy Fair 2009 is on at New York and multiple sites are putting up huge galleries of pictures of toys for the Transformers 2 toy line (see below) including Devastator (yep the picture was accurate), Mudflap, Skids, a new one called Breakaway and many more. All very cool.

As far as Devastator goes, there are three versions planned. The first is the $100 version where the six individual Constructicons do not have robot modes, just vehicles mode that reconfigure to form the gestalt (think Voltron). That Devastator will be 2 feet high and about 4 feet wide. The next is the individual Constructicons that do have robot forms but cannot merge. The last is the PowerBot that doesn't really transform, it’s the Devastator look on the front and the individual vehicles painted on the back.

Breakdown of the six constructions:
     Demolishor - red O&K/Terex RH400 Hydrolic Mining Excavator (torso)
     Rampage - yellow Caterpillar 992G Front Loader (right arm)
     Long Haul - green Caterpillar 773B Dump Truck (right leg)
     Mix Master - silver Mack Cement Mixer (head)
     High Tower - yellow Kobelco CK2500 Truss Crane (left arm)
     Scrapper - yellow Caterpillar D9L Bulldozer (left leg)

As you can see, the RH400 from the trailer gets an official name. Overall the leak back in October was on the mark on the Constructicons except for the duplicate dump truck which now seems to have been a potential alt design for Long Haul.

I don't know if the two aerial Autobots, Breakaway (F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) and Springer (V-22 Osprey), are movie characters. Below are select pictures from the various galleries. For the highlights of Hasbro's plans for their various Transformer lines click here.

Galleries: TFormers | The Allspark | TFW2005 | More TFormer pics (over 100 pics) | Seibertron.com (100s of pics) | Transformers Club


Thanks to Elis and Boo for the links and pictures.

Chicago Auto Show Galleries

The other day the GM held a press conference at the Detroit Auto Show that officially revealed the concept cars and their movie names for Transformers 2 to the public. Now there are two huge galleries the cars on display at the show. Also below, for those that missed it, is the movie related commercial that was put together to highlight the vehicles. Thanks to blog fans for the YouTube link and Chris for the gallery link.

Galleries: Jalopnik | TFW2005

Autobot Names Confirmed (Updated w/ Video)

GM held a press conference today at the Detroit Auto Show and official revealed the 4 concept cars and their character names that were used in the movie. A sneak peak video/commercial that shows off the cars as used in the movie is here.

Five Chevrolet-based characters – including four all-new characters – are featured in the new film set to open in the United States on June 26. All of them are at the Chevrolet display. The four new movie characters include:

SIDESWIPE – a stylized Corvette vision concept vehicle
SKIDS and MUDFLAP – twin AUTOBOTS® based on Chevy's Beat (a concept that will go into production as the Chevy Spark in 2011) and Trax concepts
JOLT – an AUTOBOT-based on Chevy's upcoming Volt extended-range electric vehicle
BUMBLEBEE™, the heroic AUTOBOT based on Chevrolet's Camaro concept from the first "Transformers" movie, returns with a high-performance attitude. Joining the vehicles on stage will be BUMBLEBEE in his AUTOBOT form, standing almost 17 feet (5.2 meters) tall and 13 feet (4 meters) wide.

"Chevrolet is thrilled to again be part of one of the most anticipated movies in years," said Ed Peper, GM North America vice president, Chevrolet. "‘Transformers' gives us a great opportunity to connect with young people on their terms, with a dynamic, environmentally friendly image. The new characters represent the change going on in Chevy showrooms. From the exciting Camaro, the 21st century sports car, to the game-changing Volt, there's more than meets the eye at Chevrolet today."

Directed by Michael Bay, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" sees the AUTOBOTS confront a new threat from DECEPTICONS® bent on avenging their earlier defeat on Earth. The new AUTOBOT characters in their current Chevy-based form square off against new, tougher foes determined to rule the universe.

Pictures of the Corvette Stingray Concept and Camaro Concept can be found here or a video here. Thanks to Dave for the link.

Update: Via the14thrider blog, below is the video (or YouTube) that was shown by GM. Yep it is essentially a car commecial...but a commercial using movie footage.

A New Twist on Fallen Concept? (Update 2)

A new post LS2.com (via TFormers) adds an interesting twist to what "The Fallen" may be in the title Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. Currently there are two camps, either it’s a brand new character named "The Fallen" based on a comic book concept from a few years or it is symbolic naming for the return of Megatron (possibly renamed to Galvatron).

According to "-=boM=-", there now might be another potential meaning. BoM was apparently a military extra on the set when filming occurred at Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands in New Mexico around October. A claim supported by pictures from the set. Big spoiler warning for below and note this is completely unverified.

First post by -=boM=-:

"Can't wait...i'm in it as an extra. I am a Navy Seal doing a battle scene against the Decepticons. I filmed out at White Sands and on Hollomans flight line. Filmed for 4 days and had a blast. Tons of pics on my Facebook."

Follow up reply:

I had to chase a bunch of villagers out of the area because the Decepticons were attacking, then had to protect Optimus Prime's body. There were a shitload of us out there.

The food and catering was awesome. A lot of downtime. Just like a deployment.

I did an interview for the DVD. We will see if that is on it too. The asked me a bunch of questions about the military. The autobots are behind me on top of a sand dune. I did a GM plug. They liked that.

Micheal Bay loves the military. I got to speak with him very briefly. He gets so angry on set at the actors but doesn't dare yell or demean the military. It was a trip. He said something to me like do you want a job as a DA (Directors Assistant), I said hell yeah. He was getting pissed at his DA. His DA was like trust me you dont want this job.

I have two closeup shots if they do decide to put them in the movie. One was walking with the camera on the tracks going along with me but at a slower pace. The camera was right on the side of my face following me but at a slower rate. There were two others behind me. The other close up was while I was defending from a corner of a building on one knee. The boom camera went from the ground to over head of us all. I was up front in the scene. The camera came up to my face then began to ascend over the area. It was pretty cool.

Another scene was Optimus getting dropped off by a chinook. I had to run up to the area then stop as Optimus was getting dropped.

Another was with Josh and Tyrese when they argue with The President on the flightline. I am in the background.

As much time as I spent filming (9-10 hours a day for 4 days) I hope I am seen at least once. Hell I'll be happy to be on teh DVD.

If the post above is true then apparently Optimus Prime may possibly fall fighting the Decepticons and maybe return seeking revenge on them. The only problem I have with this idea is "revenge" would be very un-Optimus Prime like. I am inclined to dismiss this idea. However, Prime dying could have possibilities, or it simply could be Prime gets severely injured (commercial shows a possible beat down) and is unconscious requiring an escort during recovery.

Now to support that boM was an extra (but not the Prime plot point), he posted a HUGE gallery of pictures from the set that includes pictures of most of the Autobot vehicle cast including Ratchet, who has been missing from most of the sets leading to speculation that his character dies. Below are just 12 pictures out of 117 that he posted so be sure to go here to view them all.

Images removed per demand from Paramount Pictures.
Update: As read abobe, the Holloman set pics are getting pulled from the web by Paramount. My best guess is the pictures revealed a plot point since the vehicles have been known for a while now and the set itself was featured on ET and Insider. My best, mostly uneducated guess, for the reason behind the cease and desist is the shot of Josh Duhamel, Shia and Megan. In it Josh and Megan's body language seems to be of anguish or concern over a prone Sam, who is wearing a costume that is the same as the burnt and bloody costume from August. I guess this set is where Shia received those injuries for the film.

Update 2: To add fire to the above, according to the Latino Review, boM had initially used the word "corpse" instead of "body" when talking about Optimus. The change was made when a poster noted that they never actually referred to him as dead. Thanks to Ian and Chris for the info.

Ironhide, Twins and Megatron Robot Images

Thanks to Phil who sent me the below pictures that I think came from the Transformers The Game website joining the previous leaked pictures of the Twins. Nowadays its hard to tell but the detail isn't up to the level of Empire's Optimus Prime image making me think they are all based on ILM's designs but modified for the game's graphics engine. Ironhide looks slightly different, I just can't pin down why. The new angle on the Twins just makes them even stranger looking. As for Megatron, in the bottom right you can see potential tread and he has two claw-hands instead of a cannon arm, either a game design change or maybe the cannon is not permanent but a sub-transformation similar to his weapon in the first movie.


Update: Just a side note, as the below image proves, final verification that those images leaked back in September where related to "Mudflap". Apparently the buggy look eyes were related to his head design. Thanks to Phil for the image below.

First Look at The Twins

Activision has updated it's website for Transformers The Game with the first images of The Twins in their robot modes. An M&M package confirmed that the Chevy Beat (Skids) and Chevy Trax (name still unknown, Mudflap new rumor) were the alt modes of the Twins but this is the first good look at their robot modes which show a lot of similarities but they seem to be fraternal rather then identical twins. I think the image is from the game rather then from ILM (but probably based on their model) so its possible the final movie design could be futher modified. Something about their post and design that makes me think these are going to be hyper playful characters. Thanks to Gregory for the link and info.


Update: More images can be found here.

Skids Alt Mode Gets New Name

Autoblog is reporting that 2010 Chevy Beat, the alt mode of the Autobot Skids, has a new name for its public debut at the Detroit Auto Show (sneak peek here). Beat was the name of the concept car, but now that it is going into production, it is now officially called the Chevy Spark.

Candy Confirms TF Twins

As shown a few months ago, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has a tie-in promotion with M&Ms. The pack below, one of seven designs that the candy packages produced by the company will have, is labeled "The Twins" confirming that the Chevy Beat (Skids) and Trax are the Twin Autobot characters mentioned way back in June on the call sheets. Thanks to Phil for the picture.


Update: From TFW2005 is an image of the Snickers TF wrapper, this one showing Bumblebee.

Chevy Beat Preview

The Chevy Beat, a new car that may be in production soon, was previewed on The Today Show. Full details and information on the car will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show later in the week.

Transfans are pretty familiar with the car thanks to its role as Skids for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The relevant section of the video shown below starts at about the 1:53 point. Also shown is the Chevy Camaro, wich helps explain why Bumblebee's exterior experienced a bit of a tweak in design between movies.

It is not much in Transformer news; it’s just an indication that thanks to the efforts of fans over the past six months that provided pictures and information, we have been able to preview cars that are just now starting to be considered "news" by the mainstream media.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Chevy Beat TF Name Revealed

The name of the Chevy Beat has finally been revealed as Skids! The G1 Transformers was a blue van back in the day and was mostly used in the Marvel Comics line. I don't think the character even recieved a line in the cartoon series.

The name was revealed via Jalopnik when Matthew provided them with pictures of the Skids, Bumblebee and the Chevy Trax from the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Sadly it appears the Trax doesn't have its license plate installed so its name remains a mystery.

Update: Thanks to Rodsuper for letting me know that it turns out that Skids did show up in two episodes of the '80s cartoon series. He had lines in Triple Takeover and Quest for Survival. So there is the connection some where looking for besides Marvel comics appearances.