Starting today at 12:30pm EST Acid Free Gallery is releasing special editions of their Transformers 30th Anniversary print by Tom Whalen that is licensed by Hasbro. They are releasing a Foil Variant limited to 150 copies for $80 and a Metal Variant limited to just 12 copies for $250. Both will be signed and numbered by Whalen and will come with a free random print from their collection that isn't just Transformers related. I have to admit I am really interested but hard to get by the price tag. The full details are on their blog. (via TFW2005)

Update: Both items are already sold out.

Just realized allowed the toy side of news to stack up. Guess was distracted by the Age of Extinction reviews. Still while AoE has been a bit underwhelming, that doesn't mean upcoming 3rd Party plans have slacked in their awesomeness with versions of not Metroplex, not Cy-Kill (yep the GoBot) and not Ultra Magnus. This isn't to say that Takara and Hasbro are not up to some none Extinction plans. Takara has revealed their 30th Anniversary plans that includes a new truck alt mode for Optimus, a look at Masterpiece Wheeljack, and agreements for a slew of products including statues, play sets and ties. In the not quite toy news department we have a look at G1 cartoon concept art and news that the entire "Unicron trilogy" is getting a DVD release. Of course no link fest is complete without a ton of reviews. The highlights include the wave 1 Generation deluxes, Masterpiece Ratbat, not Sharkticons, not Ultra Magnus, not Masterpiece Slag, first figure of a not Bruticus combiner, not Blaster and more. Basically a series of budget busting awesome. As always hit the links for more details and pictures.
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A new image posted on the Planet Iacon Facebook page by Seibertron seems to reveal the fate of some of the characters from Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The source of the image is unknown so usual validity caveats but it does match the propaganda posters seen on sets during filming and might clarify certain story beats that have been hinted at by alternate vehicles modes. The image is after the break.

Update: As pointed out in the comments and elsewhere, the image was created by TFW2005's TunaKaan's photo-shop ninja skills that was responsible for other TF4 related art. May be fake, but still cool looking.
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Time to play catch-up on Transformers non-movie news. A few treats this month with the main one being a great video that from the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair that introduces to the world what would become the Transformers. On the upcoming third party front, the theme this year is once again combiners with various companies doing their own take on the Protectobots, Combaticons, and another Predaking. Hasbro and Takara have their own non-TF4 news with MP Wheeljack tease, MP Prowl coming stateside, and new Rescue Bots inspired Transformers cartoon coming. In G1 news there is an interview with the guy that killed Optimus Prime, toy design art, official release of Transformers: The Movie score and a new TF book. Finally on the review front lots of great new toys with Warden (IDW Fortrest Maximus), Year of the Horse Prime, Mania King (Galvatron), Bii and Intimidator being on my to buy list. Hit the links and vids to learn more.

1983 Tokyo Toy Fair Video - A substantial piece of Transformers history is now available on YouTube with an old video that shows off the Generation One Transformers for the very first time. Taken at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show, this was when Hasbro saw the concept and introduced it in 1984 to US audiences. So basically this show and a simple booth launched multi-billion dollar franchise.
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Today George Lucas was on hand to officially open the "Sandcrawler" in Singapore. The new 22,500 square meter campus is the location for ILM's CGI work outside of the United States. One of the first projects for the new building will be working on is Transformers: Age of Extinction. Later projects are expected to include Avengers 2, an animated project and more. The site features a Yoda fountain, theater and other techno bells and whistles. The name of the building is a result of its similar shape to the Sandcrawler from Star Wars A New Hope. ILM has had an arm in Singapore for a few years now having worked on Rango and Star Wars: The Clone Wars but the dedicated building will allow them to expand their capabilities there.

On a not really related note, here is a new image found on a Transformers 4 Facebook page by Colin H for the upcoming teaser trailer attached to Super Bowl 48. I have no idea if its offical (probably not) but it looks good enough for me to not really care. Update: The sweet image is a fan creation from TFW2005's TunaKaan.

The end of 2013 is here with final toy linkfest of the year. Its been a good year in toys with Generations line, Takara's new additions to the Masterpiece line and most of the 3rd party makers knocking out some outstanding Transformers that often put Hasbro's and Takara's offerings to shame. As the the galleries show, 2014 is going to be the same, especially as Hasbro shifts to the Transformers 4 toyline. In 3rd party news we have a look at not Galvatron, not Menasor, not Ratch, and not IDW Fortress Maximus. Hasbro abd Takara are doing another repaint of MP Prime, more Generations coming, and few other official products. Other topics include Botcon 2014 has a location and time, Gingerbread Prime, new The Touch video, and movie statues. Per usual also have a bunch of new video reviews including look at latest Masterpiece Prowl, not Motormaster, not Brainstorm, new not Throttlebot, not Swoop and more.

3rd Party Galleries
Unique Toys Mania King - This 3rd party figure recreates the original G1 Galvatron but with a whole lot more detail and color scheme while keeping his Cybertronian alt mode. No estimated release date or price.
FansProject not Menasor - After a bit of a delay, the final piece of Fansproject's Intimidator combiner is coming next month. Diesel (aka not Motormaster) is set for release by the end of January for $150. Hit the link for the look at their final combiner and head below for a preview review of Diesel and Intimidator. Another gallery is here.
iGear not Ratchet - Hit the link for a re-release of iGear's not Ratchet release from early last year. This version is about $30 cheaper as they eliminated most of the unnecessary accessories that came with the figure. I got the first version and do recommend getting as it is a faithful re-creation of the G1 Ratchet robot and vehicle modes that fits with the Masterpiece line. Out now for $100. Read More »

Transformers 4 movie news remains light but the toys keeps coming be it official or otherwise. In this edition we have a look at Transformers: The Movie concept art and inspired 3rd party toys, look at upcoming 3rd party Masterpiece no Dinobot Slag, more headmasters, new waves of official Hasbro toys and lots of reviews. Also of interest is a fan made transforming papercraft cigarette box, an $1000 Optimus Prime, new DVD set, and official Nikes.

Transformers: The Movie Concept Art - Hit the link for a look at some of the concept art created by animation supervisor Floro Dery for the G1 cartoon and the 1986 movie. It has lots of details that did and did not eventually get used such as am early Junkion spacecraft, Cybertron's robot mode and more. It is really beautiful and detailed art that shows that a lot of thought and care went into designing the world of Transformers. Maybe Botcon should consider him for entry into the TF Hall of Fame.
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This great creation from Alex Jones shows what Hasbro never quite figured out even with their Kre-O line which is how to create a Lego creation that actually transforms. As the video and gallery links show, this is a direct Lego-ized version of G1 Optimus Prime complete with Lego trailer and Lego accessories. All it needs is a G1 style box to complete the look. The complete gallery can be found on Jones' Orion Pax Designs that includes his other Lego creations. (via Gizmodo and Brothers Brick)

A huge Transformers fan in Cleveland, Ohio celebrates Halloween in an interesting way - with a life-size display of Transformers. The display, on its sixth year, is based on the first Transformers movie's Transformers characters with Optimus Prime (18' tall), Megatron (sitting on porch roof), Bumblebee (12' tall) and Barricade standing in his yard in robot mode. The four robots took around three months each to build and now takes about an hour and a half to assemble. Video below but if have problems can also find the news report, along with more pictures at NewsNet5. Thanks to Jeffrey M. for the link. Happy Halloween!
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Jeffrey Marshall of Pixel Rally is at it again with his Autobot version of the new Transformers: Age of Extinction poster that was just revealed yesterday. This poster is not from Hasbro or Paramount but I could see why some might think it was. If you are interested in getting a copy, you can find it here.

With all the Transformers 4 news, got a bit behind on the toy links. Now that we seem to be in a bit of a mini-TF4 news drought (at least until TF4 hits Chicago on Friday), it seems like a good time to play catch-up. Most of the upcoming toys were revealed at cons over the summer but there a lot of cool stuff being planned like a 3rd party version of Nova Prime, not Bruticus and more. Also have a ton of reviews for already released or about to be released toys from Hasbro, Takara and others. Also news from comics, Hasbro and more.

Lego
Nintendo 64 Transformers - Very cool Lego creations that uses Nintendo 64 and is peripherals as alt modes that transform into robots and other objects.
Lego Ratchet and Ironhide - Hit link for fan made Lego creations that actually transform and look remarkably like their Generation One inspired source.
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Last weekend Botcon 2013 was held in Austin, Texas. On the whole no major news. Hasbro was on hand to hint at their toy line-up for the next few months and used the panels to to tease future plans like Generations 2014 and 30th Anniversary collection. IDW spoke about their already solicited comics but no major revelations. Hasbro bans 3rd party makers from the convention but that didn't stop a few from showing off their wares. Transformers 4 wasn't covered at all so nothing new to report on the toy front. Hasbro did show off their Beast Hunters line up but as the links below indicate, "repaint" is the norm rather than exception but the Generations line is looking awesome. Below are summaries of info and links to lots of galleries put together by other Transformers sites that were able to attend the convention.

Update: Some TF4 toy news thanks to an interview with Hasbro's Joshua Lamb (starting at 24:05 point) from TF reviewer Vangulus indicates that discussions with Michael Bay on toy design indicates a goal of trying to simplify for faster transformations to try and mimic the movies (and cartoons) where characters transform and "engage to the action fast." The scaling of legion class Beast Hunters to deluxe size is an experiment towards simplification but TF4 toys deluxe are being designed from scratch. The interviews with two Hasbro managers discussing the toys and Hasbro's future approach can be found here.
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Below is a video of a sweet movie Transformers inspired costume called Bolt with moving parts, light up eyes, jet pack smoke thrusters, moving mouth and more. The sound is off because Marc De Repentigny got a notice about the background music that was playing. You can also find a gallery of images for the suit at MarksProjects.com.

Toy Fair showed us a great upcoming line up of toys coming out months from now but time to focus on the more immediate future with lots of new Beast Hunters and 3rd part offering in the pipeline along with a few interesting tie in products. More Beast Hunters products are starting to hit shelves so lots of reviews to look at for them. On the third party front we have a look at a not Stunticons line-up, review of not Shockwave, not Jumpstarters, not Fall of Cybertron Omega Supreme and more. Masterpiece Soundwave is out so a review for him. New not toy products include a expensive coin set from New Zealand and a Optimus Hockey Jersey. Basically as the links and reviews show, the next year is going to be a wallet buster.

Causality not Stunticons - T-Bone
From Fansproject, their next series is the not Stunticons of CA-09 Car Crash, CA-10 T-Bone, CA-11 Down Force and CA-12 Last Chance. Apparently they are designed to merge into not Menasor but have not seen that gestalt form or what these four look like in appendage mode. Even if don't merge, each looks like be great additions to a collection. The average prices is $60 with Car Crash out in February, T-Bone in March and no dates on the rest.
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Below is a video of a 1:12 scale remote controlled robot that actually transformers by itself into robot mode and back to car vehicle mode. The transformation sequence almost looks like it was taken from one of the G1 cartoons. Other features include built in Wi-Fi cameras, spring loaded weapons and LED lightning. It can also be yours for $24,000 from Brave Robotics. (via Bleeding Cool)

For those that like to collect Transformers art, you mind be interested in an official print created by Kevin Tong on the Acid Free Gallery website. There are two versions of the print - a $40 color one and a $100 black, white and yellow varient. The prints are on sale for a 24 hour period that ends on 11/17 at 12:30pm EST. So if interested have to buy them now. Click here for more details and to order click here.