Transformer Candy, Trailer Commentary and Soundwave?

Just a few odds and ends.

Here are screenshots from the trailer from the 2:07 point that flashes so quickly before Devastator sequence that is easy to miss. Provided by Joe (thanks), he (and I) wonder if that is a quick shot of Soundwave, with the face shape and crown shaped head it makes me think it just might be.

It appears M&Ms' Transformer promotion is starting to make its way to stores. Stephan provided pictures (thanks) of the candy wrappers for after enjoying the contents. Checking out mms.com it seems that their online plans have not been enabled yet.

Empire has posted a "commentary" that inserts relevant comments to screenshots from the new trailer. A few of the comments are below and the whole thing can found here.

- "This one's apocalyptic," grins Bay. "The last movie had a threat to a little non-descript city; this one impacts the whole world. It's nuts."
- Two of the new additions to the Autobot team can be seen here, behind Bumblebee. Called Skids and Mudflap (aka "The Twins"), they are hybrid cars who can transform separately or combine into one big 'bot, and were actually dreamed up by Bay himself. "I had the idea to introduce these two dumb little Transformers," he explains. "They're brothers who are really stupid and argue with each other all the time - they're great for kids."
[Note that Bay doesn't comment on the combined form so this is not official confirmation, but I think this is Empire's reference to the theory that the Ice Cream Truck seen on set is the Twins early vehicle mode]
- These ancient symbols play a key role in the plot. "We're going to show you that the hieroglyphics in the pyramids are actually pictures of Transformers," says diBonaventura. "The movie actually opens before the pyramids were built. We tie the Transformers into the beginnings of civilisation."
- "You've got to push yourself out of the comfort zone," says producer Ian Bryce. "The effects have to top what we did before - and top anything the audience has ever seen before." "Optimus has 10,000 moving parts," chips in Farrar, "and we've got robots in this with five times more than that!"
- Meet Jetfire, a doddery old Autobot voiced by John Turturro. "He's a cranky, forgetful old man," says Bay. "He's running out of Energon, which keeps him going. When he falls down he creaks and he doesn't transform well - it's like arthritis."
[Turturro voicing Jetfire has not been officially confirmed but probably true]
- Devastator hoovers up the Sahara in the final battle. "I personally thought the ending of the first movie was pretty weak," admits Bay. "For one thing, I had to shoot the city battle on five separate blocks, which made it confusing and hard to follow. But the climax here is much clearer in terms of the landmarks and what the endgame is. And it's a really cool scene. You'll never have seen anything like it before."

Story Spoilers from ShoWest? (Update 3)

In the new theatrical trailer thread, an anonymous post reveals some potentially spoiler information about the Transformers 2 story based on information they got at ShoWest. Normally I don't post these but in this case the information is consistent and logical enough with the information we have that it makes me wonder if it is not legit. At the very least it will probably lead to a lively (and hopefully insult free) discussion in the comments. I have edited the post a bit (mostly using bullet points) to make it easier to read. My comments are in brackets [].

I work in the effects industry but I am not affiliated with this film. We do have an online community (member only) where we discuss various projects around the various studios. I have some knowledge about some of the robots in the shots from the trailer.

- The robot with the "loose" treads is called Scrapper. Hence the reason he is "fist" fighting with Bumblebee.
- The yellow robot is Rampage.
- The helicopter is Blackout. You could see it at the ShoWest if you were there but more now with a HD feed of this trailer you can see that Blackout has rust on him just like Megatron does. Blackout is mostly intact.
- The robots crashing into the aircraft carrier are the Constructicons. Many people believed it was members of Starscream's air force but as you can see from the video there are no robots present. We saw an additional scene where Long Haul and Mixmaster are destroying the ship from within and end up ripping the hull of the carrier in half.
- What I was told is Soundwave has been scanning vehicles and when the Decepticons come to earth they fly by him in space and receive their alt mode on the way down. [Strategically and story wise, this is a genius idea]
- This is why Long Haul, Scrapper, and Mixmaster are as their alt modes over Megatron. Brawl and Bonecrusher do not return. They use Brawls parts to reform Megatron underwater (tank tracks and fitted with a particle cannon that Soundwave provides.
- Soundwave is only seen in the trailer as one of the 4 robots down in the ocean. By the way if you think Long Haul is huge Soundwave is about 6 feet taller. The other plot point is the cold and pressure does not affect their bodies like the humans thought they would. Two Decepticons give up their sparks to revive Megatron and Blackout who we find out is 3rd in command behind Starscream.
- Michael Bay made Soundwave's role as Megatron's most trusted friend (aka bodyguard and secretly unknown to Starscream as the real number 2) hence the recovery effect by the Decepticons.
- Mixmaster and Megatron can semi-fly in the film but not much. Megatron has back rockets and Mixmaster has the spinning gears turbines under his arm shields (cement mixer barrel) that he uses a few times. Mixmaster has a lot of screen time. [This would explain how Megs "swimming" up so fast and how Mixxy gets on the bridge]
- We saw a short 5 second shot where Long Haul stomps on Jazz's corpse underwater. [Sorry but I have not and still don't think Jazz returns and I could see this being Bay's definitive statement on the matter]
- There are 5 other jets that fly with Starscream but have not been named at the time of the show. I do not know the type of aircraft.
- Barricade is the one crashing into the library but isn't seen.

We saw more of that shot at the ShoWest show in private. Finally the major spoilers is as follows so look away if you don't want to know.

Remember when Michael Bay said Ravage does something no other transformer does? Well Alice is Ravage. Well they kinda gave it away when they said she had a tail and a tongue. Ravage is really small like a real jungle cat. He is sent to kill Sam but realizes Sam has information about The Fallen so he tries to get it from him. Once she turns on Sam and comes after him then she shows who she really is and Barricade shows up to help. Enough said. Now I said enough but hey there was 300 plus people at the ShoWest after party. I am out. Enjoy Revenge of the Fallen because a lot of great lads at ILM and DD did the work. [This is an elaboration on a plot point that video and story leaks indicated and Orci indirectly verified]

Update: To add to the above, a post from a possible DreamWorks employee confirms some of the above and denies other. It has a tinge of the realistic to it and is convincing enough to make it worth posting. As always though, all of this remains unproven but very interesting. Some edits made for clarity, my comments in brackets.

This is a shock to us here at Dreamworks. We are NOT asking you to remove this info [maybe a few months ago we would have] but we will clear some up for you. I will say that most of the info is correct but some is not.
- The robot that is fighting Bumblebee is NOT "Scrapper" because if you look closely he is seen by the wall [yellow bot] when Shia & Megan jump from the blast of Starscream. We aren't revealing if the red bulldozer has a name just yet. Around 10 bots will be nameless.
[Could this be Overload, the 7th Constructicon recent articles mentioned?]

- 2 Decepticons do NOT give up their spark for the return of Megatron. It is just one. If you look through TF mythology this won't come as a surprise. This character willingly sacrifices himself.
[I believe this is a reference to Beast Wars series which created the Spark concept and made them transferable. Who does the sacrificing? If Blackout does comes back, does a Decepticon also die for him?]

- A lot of people speculate that the tank tracks on Megatron are from Brawl--they are NOT. His tank tracks are Cybertronian metal and that is the reason most of his body has rust but the tracks do not. He is built from deceased Decepticons but not from the Laurentian Abyss. There is a double-meaning to the name Long Haul (think back to his F.A.B. toy bio)

- Isabel's character is NOT a human form for Ravage. I will not say who but think back to the videos I am sure you have seen with the crew & the puppet-like minion. Ravage actually has nothing to do with the college aspect. Soundwave enlists someone else for that job. All I can say is this...Ravage is far too big [unlike the info you have] to be Isabel.
[This does not discount that Alice is not a pretender, just not a skin for Ravage but another un-named Transformer such as the Frenzy-like creature. Mass wise, Ravage does seem way too big.]

- There isn't a character in the film named "Gridor" because it indeed is Blackout. We had that toy made because we weren't going to show him until this final trailer and we felt if the toy was leaked with that name [we were right] it would ruin the surprise. Mike insisted on the scene with him in it for the Vegas footage. Fans will indeed see a Blackout toy after the release of the film.
[Looks like Blackout, attacks like Blackout, if sounds like Blackout, must be Blackout, but why the white coloring?]

- Starscream does have re-enforcements however there are only 3 that accompany him. They also use the same scanning technique. If you remember, we had an original artwork with Soundwave in his satellite mode where meteor bots are flying by. Ehren came up with the idea like Teletran-1 for the Autobots. This is but one of the many things Soundwave adds to this film. Mike loved this idea because it saves time on having each individual bot scan & transform.
[This is a genius idea because now very little screen time has to be wasted on getting Decepticons in an alt mode, they just literally do it on the fly and go right into the main story]

- That was a secret of ours however, one of our biggest secrets is now revealed regarding Barricade. As Mike would say...the cat's out on that one. The crew knew the cop car would draw attention on set hence the reason there wasn't a confirmed set-picture---the car is CGI for roughly 3 seconds before a transformation to robot form occurs.
[We already knew Barricade was back, just not how he would be used]

- The rest of the info is indeed accurate along with the info on Jazz. We knew a lot of people wanted him to show up but if everyone returned it defeats the purpose of having tragedy in the franchise---same with Brawl & Bonecrusher.

I'm sorry if any info has been spoiled for you but the great thing about our dedication to this film was for each and everyone of the fans out there. We listened to all the good & bad comments over the past couple of years. Enjoy the film!!

Update 2: The plot gets a little more interesting as the orginial poster comments on the the above which was a comment on his first post and adds a few more potential story details. Honestly these two posters are not really opposing viewpoints, at most the differences come down in identifying what Constructicon is which and who Alice is the Pretender of.

Hey all of you. I am the poster from last night that provided the information that I am surprised has grown so much. I just wanted to respond to the guy that claims he is from DreamWorks. I have a feeling this guy is a fake. Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Domain are doing the visual effects for this film. DreamWorks and Paramount are making it. This guy is talking like he is sitting in on the visual effects sessions which only the writers, producers and director would do. Plus he is stating that quote:
"That's right, some big secrets were revealed that we didn't want published, so what I am going to do is confirm them for you. Then add a bit more that you didn't ask to hear because we want to keep it tight lipped around here. --DWE"

Now why would someone who works for DreamWorks start confirming secrets and add a bit more if they want to keep it tight lipped? Also without Michael Bay's permission and all cast members have to sign a contact not to release information.. I do not work for DreamWorks as I stated last night nor did I work on Revenge. I am friends with people at ILM and DD and our company was one of many that attended ShoWest. I am not under contract to keep my mouth shut because like I said I have nothing to so with the production. They sign as DWE meaning DreamWorks Entertainment. There is no division under that name. It is only DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG. I suspect this is someone trying to toy with the information I have provided. I don't really care either way.
[All valid points, personally I thought DWE meant DreamWorks employee]

I am myself a huge fan of Transformers and just thought I would volunteer the information I was made privy to at ShoWest. I would love to provide information as to who I am but just in case it may get me or someone at ILM or DD in trouble I shall remain in the shadows. Like I said there were 300 plus people at the ShoWest after party so I felt it was safe to tell you guys what I know.
[Also like more information, so volunteering is good but people are going to muddy the waters which is easy to do until the movie comes out.]

I am just posting this last time so if you see anymore posts claiming it is me then don't believe it. If you need straight facts or get a 100% confirmation then take the word of Roberto Orci or Alex Kurtzman over some guy claiming to be from DreamWorks.
[Couldn't agree more, if doesn't come from official channels, it remains under the speculation category.]

In closing I will say I sent a email this morning to someone in the know to clarify about the changes on Scrapper and Rampage and I was told is the yellow bot chasing Sam is Rampage but he was changed from the toy seen as the yellow Rampage to the a wheeled construction machine and his head was moved to that robot model. Look at the head of Rampage on his toy box on this site and then look at the scene with Sam jumping off the roof and you will see Rampage has the same head as the toy but is another mode. Scrapper was given his body, color changed, and a different head for the film. Same thing was done with Demolishor from the movie to the toy itself (different colors).
[Hasbro production means toy designs had to be locked about a year ago to get the engineering and manufacturing done in time for the movie. ILM and Bay are not under any such restraints so they can make adjustments right up to the very end so this is very plausible.]

Another tidbit and a spoiler is as follows..
So it was mentioned by the DWE guy about the shots of the Frenzy like creature on Sam's dads Saturn car being Alice. Well after Sam gets chased by Barricade and Ravage and Bumblebee shows up to fight them off right as Sam's dad arrives and they get attacked by this creature who is with Barricade. They escape and drive home which isn't far from the college but the creature is hanging on the car. That is when more of these creatures attack their house and hurt his dad and that is the scene where Bumblebee crashes through the fence to save them. From here they go to see Simmons and find Prime aka the graveyard scene. The scene where Bumblebee is dancing in the garage and the house damaged outside is because Bumblebee accidently falls into the side of the house and that is why Sam is kind of cold to him in the garage about how he isn't coming to college with him after his dad lets him have it.

Update 3: DWE replies to the above. I edited it to specific story stuff but you can find the full post in the comments.

...however I must add another clarification:
Trust me when I say this......all of the toys that associate with the major classes [SCT, FAB, DLX, VOY & LDR] will be named correctly. The name "Grindor" is only for the F.A.B. toy and that's it. There will NOT be any mix-ups...I can give you my word. Ehren has been VERY adamant about this fact as well---he will be the first to say that he's the ultimate "fanboy"

To be honest we haven't read a post from one person yet that has the ending figured out [not to say that someone doesn't know it...we just haven't read it] but the fans on this blog as well as the others are VERY smart at picking up details.

Megatron returns..I never said who he gains the spark from.
Alice is a pretender..all you know is that it's not Ravage.
The seekers were obvious..I didn't say who the 3 were.

I hate to do this again but as you know Sam & Mikaela have a long-distance relationship and the info you were given in the 2nd update is also incorrect to an extent. The college Sam attends is an east coast university so the school and his house would NOT be in a close proximity to each other [that should give it away right there]

If you remember [I'm sure you do--who am I kidding] the coloring book revealed a "kitchen crew" of drones. They do NOT appear while Sam is enrolled in college. Those two points in time do not intersect during the film.

[The Spark] DOES NOT come from Soundwave. Trust me when I say this as well...Bob, Alex, & Ehren did justice to the original character & the visual effects on him are AMAZING. I will go out on a limb here and say that when you see & hear the new Soundwave you will NOT look at the original in the same way. Those 3 men & Mike listened to the fans. You will LOVE this rendition of him [unless you are rooting for the Autobots]

Once Again, Ask Orci

It’s been a month, so seemed like a good time to see what information Transformers 2 writer Roberto Orci may have dropped in the Don Murphy and TFW2005 Ask Orci threads. Unlike last time, sadly he was much more tight lipped.

Have you guys gotten a ton of feedback from Transfans, disappointed that Optimus coming up small in that pivotal battle with Megatron at the end of the 1st movie? ...can we expect a little different in ROTF as far as Prime is concerned?
Yeah we did get a lot of discussion about that very point. It was on our minds for the sequel...

Are there any writers, or team of writers, who you would like to hand the reigns too in an ideal world? For TF3.
No... this isn't a monarchy where duties can or should be passed on. May the best idea win!

...will the ratio of robot-to-human time be pretty much the same?
There's no shortage of robot time in tf2. It will be longer than than the first movie.

Roberto, sum up movie Soundwave in one word please.
Spy

Prime's new toy has dual swords. Any chance of seeing dual swords in the film?
Would be cool!

What is your opinion on John Turturro voicing Jetfire? Will it do justice to the character?
I love him for everything, and he playfully offered to do it because he thought the character was fun. We'll see!

I know you said Soundwave don't turn into a truck but will he have some kind of earth mode? Does he fight on Earth at all?
that would give away TOO MUCH!

Who are some Autobots that you thought hard about including in this movie but chose not to?
Dinobots.

1) On a note of confirmation, is Springer in TF 2? 2) Will there be an action scene of Sideswipe deploying his blades in mid-air, spinning in a circle as he goes? 3) Will there ever be a fast talking Autobot in the three movies? 4) Are any humans gonna get slagged? Major ones?
1 no comment 2 no comment 3 no comment 4 no comment Does that answer your questions?

When you said you thought long and hard about including Dinobots in movie 2 but decided not to, does that mean it will never happen or that it just wasn't right for this particular film?
Just for this film.

Are Scavenger (Excavator and part of Demolisher) and Demolisher (Excavator and Giant Wheel Death Bot from the trailer) two different characters? Or is this another bit of Brawl/Devastator naming weirdness?
We'll find out together!

When Mr. bay said the movie was "Darker", what does he mean by that?
When Alex and Ehren and I were thinking about what to do with the sequel to Transformers, we thought back to the sequels that we loved as kids. These movies all shared some common characteristics: they stood alone as their own movies... the stakes seemed greater, and as result, they seemed darker... we're talking about sequels like Superman 2, Aliens, Wrath of Kahn, and The Empire Strikes Back... I think most would agree that each of these bench mark sequels were darker than the first, yet still were genuine continuations of the first.

Is Soundwave not going to accompany Megatron as the loyal soldier?
soundwave is kinda doing his own thing in the movie.

I'm interested in knowing how exactly the process went about since there were three of you. Did you all work on the script together at the same time? did you each write your own draft and merge them together or did one of you get elected to write the first while the other two worked on it afterward?
As far as the script goes, the three of us sat down and came up with a story, the way you can imagine riffing a story with your friends... almost like band practice, or something. Then, once we had the story, we went 30 pages at a time, each of us writing different scenes and then passing them around for notes, comments, or adjustments until we had a full shooting draft.

Eight Constructicons In Transformers 2?

Two new articles on USA Today and Yahoo! Movies suggest that Transformers 2 will feature a total of eight Constructicons, seven of which will form Devastator. The articles are part of a first look at some of the Transformers 2 robotic cast. This would be the first official word on many of the characters that we figured out over time between set and toy pictures but news to the general public. One change is Wheelie is being officially cast as a Decepticon and the addition of "The Doctor" also called Scalpel according to the Hasbro toy packaging and has the alt mode of a microscope. Below are excerpts.

Ravage and Soundwave
"In the spirit of 'more than meets the eye,' Ravage isn't just lethal because of his sharp teeth," says screenwriter Alex Kurtzman. "There's actually another skill set Ravage has that didn't exist before, so there's going to be a surprise for fans." ...his role will be similar to the 1980s cartoon and Hasbro toy — the ultimate spy.

Ravage doesn't turn into anything. But Soundwave will appear, again serving as an evil communications expert but this time in the form of an orbiting space satellite.

And Ravage, as before, won't speak like the other Transformers. "We wanted to stay true to the idea that Decepticons who take visual clues from beasts maintain that," says Orci. "It would be strange to have a talking jaguar, or a scorpion with an English accent."

Insecticons
"We have big guys, some little guys. We have a lot of littler ones, too. Little weirder ones," Bay says. Like the Insecticons, which were giant bugs in the original series and Hasbro toy line, but are now tiny creepy-crawly infiltrators.

Jetfire
As in the original, this fighter plane crash-landed on Earth a long time ago, and he will become a reformed Decepticon now fighting for the humans. His alternate form is the SR-71 Blackbird, the outdated but still-sleek Cold War spy plane.

"He's old, craggy, forgetful ... doesn't work very well. Can't transform very well, because he's very geriatric. They get stuck with him a lot," Bay says. "He knows the plan of the bad guys, but he forgets all the good parts of the plan."

The Twins
"Some of the junior Transformers are just dumb," Bay says with a laugh. "But it's great for kids because they're like the Little Engine That Could. They're (screw)-ups, but they get really heroic at the end."

Arcee
Arcee is the only female and turns up as Megan Fox's hot-pink motorcycle. Co-screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci say she was in an early draft of the first movie. "But we felt we needed to win the audience over before asking for that suspension of disbelief: a feminine alien robot," Kurtzman says.

The Fallen
The Fallen is an ancient robot, sort of the Transformers' version of Lucifer. He's one of the original robot aliens, and his defiance and arrogance led to his banishment into another dimension. The screenwriters say that The Fallen holds the key to life on both Earth and Cybertron, the Transformers' home planet.

The Doctor
A smaller, but no less malevolent Decepticon is known as The Doctor — a spider-like droid that transforms into various implements of torture and has a not-so-nice encounter with star Shia LaBeouf.

Devastator
These seven robots — Scavenger, Scrapper, Hightower, Longhaul, Rampage, Overload and Mixmaster — transform into construction machinery, but also link up with one another to form one gigantic robot stomper named Devastator.

"He's made of vehicles designed to build, and he turns into is someone who loves to destroy," Orci says. "He is an agent of absolute chaos."

"Spielberg saw it and said, 'This is (expletive) awesome!' " Bay says, and adds: "It's always nice when you can make him swear."

Missing from the list is Megatron, who Bay has already verified is returning. Of interest is the bit about Devastator merging with seven Constructicons, one of which is not Demolisher (the one wheeled guy in the trailer busting through a bridge).

The 2009 Toy Fair pictures and display along with the preview on The Today Show suggested that the toy was a combination of six constructions:
     Demolishor - red O&K/Terex RH400 Hydrolic Mining Excavator (torso)
     Scrapper - 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)
     Rampage - yellow Caterpillar D9L Bulldozer (left leg)

Apparently this is wrong. Instead of Demolisher we have the addition of Scavenger and Overload whose alt modes remain unknown. Suffice it to say I am a bit confused. Either the Toy Fair displays were missing two Constructicons (why do that when the Fairs purpose is to sell a line to vendors?) or USA Today and co have some of their information confused ("The Doctor" vs Scalpel). I guess things will get cleared up a bit more once the toys get released.

Thanks to all the site readers for sending in the links.

Update:As pointed out in the comments, the Toy Fair pictures did show one of the toys with the word "SCVNGR" which even then was identified as Scavenger but dismissed as an error or early production model. Clearly, instead there are two variations of the Hydraulic Mining Excavator as part of the Constructions. One is Demolisher seen early in the film (and now I assume meets a bad end) and the other is Scavenger which helps form the torso of Devastator.

Best guess for Overload is the Komatsu HD465-7 Articulated Dump Truck TFW2005's source provided way back in October. The other six were right so small leap to assume the last is correct too. My best guess in this scenario is Overload is the lower torso that the legs connect to and Scavenger is the upper that the arms and Mixmaster attach to.

Update 2: Oops got my construction vehicles confused. Probably going to do that a few times with the Constructicons.

Welker Tapped As Soundwave

Every now and then Michael Bay likes to drop in on his forums and cause some havoc by answering a question is such a way as to lead to more questions. Not this time though. Bay has indicated he is going to please many die-hard Transfans.

I think I'm going to pursue Frank on Soundwave.

Michael

If "persue" becomes a contract for the movie, that means that finally Frank Welker will get to reprise a Transformer role in the movie. Welker is the legendary voice behind Megatron, Soundwave, Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat and more. His overall voice career is extensive and probably includes some of your favorite childhood characters in other cartoons and movies. Hopefully once Welker has signed on the dotted line, Bay will provide an update. Thanks to Ty for the link.

Deluxe Bumblebee, Soundwave Bios

TFW2005 has posted a gallery of images that show off Deluxe class Bumblebee and Soundwave in their packaging and with them the two characters bio for Transformers 2. Of the bios read so far, Soundwave's is the most sinister. Below are the bio images and the full gallery can be found here. In addition, click here to view the instruction sheets for the Bumblebee and Leader class Optimus Prime toys. Thanks to Cenjor for the links.

Soundwave Bio:

Stationed in orbit above Earth, Soundwave swiftly taps into every satellite in range. Within minutes, communications, data traffic, weather information, and high-resolution spy photography flood his sensor net. The spill of data fills him with pleasure, and one by one, the humans' systems come under his complete control. From his seat on high, he is in a position to control the destiny of mankind without their knowledge...or to run their civilization into the ground.

Bumblebee Bio:

Having chosen to stay with Sam after the end of the battle for the AllSpark, Bumblebee made arrangements to stay close to hm at all times. It's been a pretty good deal. He gets regular detailing, and as much high-grade fuel as he needs. Plus, he gets to spend time with Sam and Mikaela. His vocal processors still aren't fully up to snuff, but he and his friends communicate just fine. IF he ever misses the action of battle, he can always give Ironhide a call and go Decepticon hunting.

Toy Fair 2009 Video

From CollectionDX, via Seibertron.com is the below video (HD version here) that shows off the various Transformer toys that premiered at Toy Fair 2009 last week. Its a pretty good look at Devastator and component Constructions, Deluxe class, Scout class, and more. As a bonus, towards the end we finally get a demostration of what the Gravity Bots are.

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.

Toyfare Article Reveals Devastator, Fallen Info

Toyfare Magazine, issue 140 recently hit newsstands and it includes an interview with Transformers 2 producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, TF toy designer Aaron Archer and Hasbro Director of Marketing Greg Lombardo who discussed some of the toys and discussed some of the characters in the movie including Devastator and origin of The Fallen. The summary from TFW2005:

- Images of ROTF toys for Leader class Optimus Prime, Preview Bumblebee, Preview Soundwave, and the Voyager Class Starscream figure.
- Lorenzo believes the timeframe of ROTF is about one year after Movie #1.
- When asked about the challenge of creating Devastator on screen, Lorenzo mentions that Bay had the challenge in the first movie of having 30 foot robots. In the second movie, Bay has the challenge of having a robot almost four times that. Expect Devastator to be 100 to 120 feet tall in the movie.
- Archer said he couldn't give away the plot point, but there's a reason that Soundwave is designed the way he is for the movie. Hasbro had a more basic toy need. So, the two were blended together.
- Toy launch date confirmed as May 30th. A few weeks before, Bumblebee and Soundwave will be released.
- Characters mentioned in the initial wave are "Sideswipe, Sideways, Bulldozer, Voyager and many others". Promise of more off-screen characters.
- Robot Heroes will have better articulation
- Bumblebee helmet has voice mixer
- Bumblebee converting pulse cannon
- Big ticket deluxe item for the year is still "top-secret"
- Gravity Bots are geared towards younger kids. Convert automatically when you pick them up.
- A Megan Fox Human Alliance figure is on Archer's "wish list".
- The Fallen's origin confirmed: He is one of the original 13 Transformers. Lorenzo said to think of the 13 as "apostles". The Fallen is the one who turns and is the reason Transformers split into Autobots and Decepticons.

Based on the above, it is further confirmation of Devastator's appearance and the name of another Transformer (Sideways and maybe Bulldozer). Not sure what "Voyager" means, maybe the toy class but doubtful it is a character name. Even more interesting is apparent heavy reliance on Simon Furman's origin for Transformers that he has hinted at over the years (and will be doing a comic miniseries on later in the year) only here the Fallen is the point of origin for the Transformer civil war with the creation of the Decepticons.

Preview Soundwave A Triple-Changer

Action-Figure.com has posted pictures of the preview wave of Deluxe Soundwave and Bumblebee in their packages which includes a nice CGI image their heads. It turns out that the theory that Soundwave's alt mode is a satellite still lives to fight another day as the package indicates he is a triple-changer. Those wing flaps in his Cybertronian jet could easily become solar panels for a satellite. Hopefully the backside of the package will be leaked soon to verify the various theories about the character. Thanks to Phil for the links.

Official Bumblebee, Soundwave Toy Pics

Empire Magazine has posted a "first look" at the Deluxe toys for Soundwave and Bumblebee. The images are really nothing different then what we have already seen from leaked images. At least now though we do have official confirmation that at least initially Soundwave's alt mode is a Cybertronian jet. I also am assuming that these to toys are now confirmed for preview release ahead of the main wave as rumored otherwise why provide them to the press now versus other characters like Optimus Prime.

Deluxe Soundwave Alt Mode

TFW2005 has a link to several ebay auctions for Ransack, Depthcharge and Deluxe Soundwave. As part of the Soundwave auctions are the first pictures of a potential alt mode for the deluxe class Soundwave that I have seen. Apparently the alt mode could be a Cybertronian jet rather then a satellite or possibly this character could be like Starscream from the first movie where Hasbro released a pre-earth fall mode and then the earth jet mode. Another theory is he could simple be a triple-changer. Without the retail packaging, we really can't consider anything as confirmed so all theories remain valid. Looks pretty good though.

Deluxe Soundwave Picture

The Transformer 2 pictures keep coming from TF08.net. As part of their release of the Superion packaging, yizhi521 also posted an image of Deluxe Soundwave that is a better look at the toys then the previous image. Sadly nothing to verify his alt mode is a satellite. Thanks to Dan for the link.

Enhanced Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Poster

Thanks to Bilal, below is an enhanced version of the official poster for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that reveals more details of the Tranformer face. Click image for larger size.


Below is a quick snapshot of the various candidate faces we have so far. The first is Jetfire who has a vertical lined "beard" that the poster face doesn't have. The second one is Soundwave, who comes pretty darn close except he has one eye and a "mouth" while the poster doesn't. However, the toys have to be "locked" nearly six months to a year ago to meet manufacturing deadlines while Michael Bay and company can make adjustments as they see fit. Also of note is how similar to the Decepticon logo the face is (something Soundwave shares). It’s possible that a story point, supported by Alliance #4 Defiance #1 prequel cover is that "The Fallen" rather then Megatron is the creator of the Decepticons.


Update: At this point, I am going to assume the image in the poster is The Fallen until get evidence to the contrary. I could write out a long explanation but TheHDRoom already did it so why re-invent the wheel.