Linkfest - Lots of Reviews

This round of links on the latest in Transformers toys both official and not is just full of reviews. We reviews of Beast Hunters toys, latest MP release, and 3rd party upcoming releases like Tetra Squadron, not STunticons, and more. Also have reviews of past releases like a 30 year old Gobot gestault and God Ginrai. Not reviews include a look at the lastest addition to the Super GT line, encore Fortress Maximus, a new Megatron statue and Transformers Go comparisons.

Super GT Galleries - GTR Maximus | GTR Megatron
Takara has released a few more official images of their successors to the Binal-Tech line for Super GT racing. Four molds now are planned with Optimus Prime (GTR-01), Saber (GTR-02), Megatron (GTR-03) and now Maximus (GTR-04). I think its the same mold but with color differences and different heads molds for each character but not 100% on that. The average price of each is around $120 each with the first two coming out in the next month or so.
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Transformers 4 Heading to Texas; Bay Scouts Chicago

You can add Austin, Texas area to the list of locations that Transformers 4 will be shooting this summer. According to Dallas News (via Seibertron), sometime in June the production will be in the small towns of Lockhart, Taylor, Elgin and Pfugnerville. In Taylor the plan is to close downtown and a railroad overpass with a car explosion set for Robinson Park. For Lockhart, the Caldwell County Courthouse will be used. The cities are part of a chase between the Autobots and Decepticons through Central Texas. Filming is expected to start in June (location unknown) with production hitting Detroit, Chicago, Hong Kong, and other unknown locations in China.

Speaking of Chicago, Bay was spotted scouting locations in the city on April 25th. Locations he and his crew checked out include LaSalle Street near Randolph Street up to the Board of Trade Building. Not sure what can gleam from that story wise but mostly reinforces that TF4 is coming soon to the area. Thanks to Wynton R. for the links.

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Possible Chinese Actors for Transformers 4

It seems that the main actors for the Chinese portion of Transformers 4 is starting to come together as Asian Pop News is reporting that actors Huang Xiaoming, Chen Kun and Tong Dawei. It also says that Huang has hired an English tutor so it seems their roles will be for more then just a Chinese cut of the film with their scenes. As usually time will tell exactly how China is being incorporated into the TF4 story. (via TFormers)

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Bay: Redesigning Every Transformer for TF4

In an interview with MovieFone to promote Pain & Gain, Michael Bay spoke about Transformers 4. To talked about why he started doing the franchise and changing his mind on moving on to do TF4. Main piece of information is he said "I'm literally redesigning every character, top to bottom. There's a [story] reason why their redesigned..." It will be interesting to see what those redesigns look like. The Transformers comments are below, the full interview is at MovieFone.

Well it’s more about how you approach these films, like for example, on “Transformers,” you already have the built in audience.
See, I was not a fan of Transformers [at first]. Hasbro was talking about giving me a whole Transformers story, and I’m like, “If I can do this really real. If I can make them believable, I think I could have something here.” I’m not a Hollywood guy. My friends are normal guys. I’ve got this guy from Texas. He’s like, “Mike, that “Transformers” [movie] seems like a dumb idea.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I know, but just give it a second.” And then I showed him the shot of the Scorponoks jumping out of the sand with Tyrese [Gibson] running. He saw that image and he went, “I see what you’re doing.” You’ll always have haters, but the last movie? One-hundred-twenty million people saw that movie. There’s still a lot of fans of that franchise. And I’m a huge Transformers fan now, and I protect that brand.

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The Rock Almost Cast in Transformers 4

It turns out that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was offered the lead role in Transformers 4 before Mark Wahlberg. This was confirmed via a tweet during a online Q&A.

Michael Bay offered me Transformers, but I was unavailable due to Hercules. Then Wahlberg was offered the role. #RockTalk @nadydi
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 26, 2013

It seems that Bay really like working with both actors on Pain & Gain to offer one, then the other a role. Makes you wonder if The Rock had set yes, would Bay have figured out a different role for Wahlberg. Thanks to Wynton R. for the link.

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Why Transformers Are So Complicated?

In two previous articles Gizmodo provided a few details on how Transformers are made. While there they took the opportunity to ask why Transformers have been so complicated to transform for the last few years. The answer, of course, is because of the Michael Bay movies.

"The reference style is so phenomenal in the movie tie-ins, we got more complicated than we had to," Lamb says. "Right now, there's a big effort to get back to simple; and more than simple, intuitive."

What was the issue, exactly? "Bay and ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) work it pretty well," Lamb says, "But they also do some magic." In the movie, a car's parts could fold into infinitely small sections. Tiny pieces of interlocking plastic? Not so much.

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Transformers 4 Heading to Hong Kong in September

Twitch.tv has posted an (unconfirmed) overview of the shooting schedule for Transformers 4. It seems the movie will have an almost five month shooting schedule from June to October. The production will be in Chicago and Michigan for June, July and August plans not specified, then in September head to Hong Kong, and then mainland China in October as part of the co-production agreement between Paramount and the country. The site said that Michael Bay is interested in shooting in Sham Shui Po district west of North West Kowloon which is described as "one of the oldest and most densely populated areas of Hong Kong." Thanks to Wynton R. for the link.

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Transformers 4 Extras Casting Call Found

A casting call for Transformers 4 has been posted on Explore Talent that is seeking 35 extras total for the film.  The ad marks the location as "nationwide" so no specifics on when or were. Nor does it specify what the roles are for but it reads like typical background extras with no lines.  The info ("details" is too strong a word to describe the lack of info) can be found here.

A little warning for those thinking of applying, think of casting call ads as the equivalent of a craigslist ad...assume its a scam until proven otherwise so on guard, be safe, don't provide money, and don't go anywhere alone. If your gut says something isn't right, then listen to it. (via Seibertron)

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Jack Raynor On Being Cast Transformers 4

Back in January, actor Jack Reynor was announced as the other lead actor with Mark Wahlberg in Transformers 4. In one of the first interviews with the actor as he promotes "What Richard Did" at the Tribeca Film Festival, he talked a little bit about joining TF4 with The Hollywood Reporter. Thanks to Wynton R. for the link

In New York to film the Vince Vaughn-led comedy Delivery Man, Reynor returned to LA when Hurricane Sandy hit the city and temporarily shut down the film's production. "That just lent me enough time to get into the Transformers race," he says.

"All I knew was basically, Michael was going to make Transformers 4 and we were going to chat about me being in it," he says of the meeting. "We didn’t chat about making a fourth or any of the motives behind it. But personally, I think there’s a lot more to be done with it. There’s a whole new direction to take it in, and a lot more to explore in that universe, and I think we’re going to make a definitive step away from the previous movies, and this is going to be a lot of fun and I’m incredibly excited."

"The reason I got into acting is, it’s just about character, there’s a love of creating characters," Reynor professed. "I love portraying them on screen. Fame never was a feature in it, I don’t really care about making a whole lot of money, just I’d like to be comfortable, and that’s all I care about."

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How Transformers Are Made Part 2

Gizmodo has published the second part that looks into how Transformers and other Hasbro toys are created. The first part focused on the design phase while the 2nd part looks into the machinery and people that build and paint the prototypes that become the mass produced toys sold everywhere. Below are highlights, the full article is here.

Highlights
- Most prototype parts created 3D printers that essentially "grow" the needed part from CAD designs.
- Perfactory, normally used by jewelers, is used to create the parts and accessories that require a lot of detail like etchings in swords and the like.
- Custom built for Hasbro, the Z-Corp Spectrum is used to create designs from a powered resin type material and capable of producing articulated parts based on inputted designs.
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