A planned anime trilogy by Netflix, Transformers: War For Cybertron seems like an ambitious project that's bound to delight die-hard fans of the Transformers franchise. Its first season, titled 'Siege', released on Netflix quite recently and has received rave reviews from both fans and audiences. Instead of the usual clash between the Autobots and Decepticons, it depicts in great detail the origin of their enmity in their home planet of Cybertron. The story revolves around an amusing plot of class struggle as the Decepticons are initially exploited for labor by the Autobots leading to an extremist rebellion under Megatron.
This story and the show's cutting-edge animation have given a boost to the franchise making one curious to know more about what went in the making of Transformers: War For Cybertron.
Based On The Siege Action Figures
The so-called War For Cybertron trilogy isn't just a series but an entire multimedia project on its own. In the case of its first season (dubbed War For Cybertron: Siege) for instance, the characters were entirely modeled around the Siege line of Transformers action figures by Hasbro. The toyline in itself features extremely animation accurate paint jobs.
That's the reason why these Siege figures were up for sale way before the series's release itself. These figures and the animation that they inspired seem to go for a more stiff, less cartoonish look almost resembling the original G1 (Generation 1) line of Transformers action figures and animation from the 1980s.
Transformers Veterans Formed The Writing Team
The series is written by several veterans from the Transformers world. Showrunner FJ DeSanto has been a crucial force behind episodes of Transformers: Combiner Wars, Transformers: Tita Returns, and Transformers: Power Of The Primes.
The other members of the writing team include Transformers: Cyberverse's Gavin Hignight and Transformers: Rescue Bots's Brandon Easton.
Animation Done By The Same Studio As Netflix's Godzilla
The dark, detailed, G1-style anime animation in War For Cybertron is done by animators at Polygon Pictures. The company is mostly renowned for another anime trilogy for Netflix, around the legendary character Godzilla.
What Polygon did with Godzilla was a fresh take on the gargantuan reptile without disappointing fans of the original interpretations of the character. They seem to have replicated their streak with Transformers as there seems to be high appreciation of the series's animation by viewers. Otherwise, recent animated series like Transformers: Prime had set a cartoonish tone for the robots, deviating away from the geometric, realistic style of the original.
Sounds From The Original
The creators have ensured that there are slight nods to the Generation 1 series through several Easter Eggs and references all through the show.
This can be reflected even in the sounds of some of the characters. For instance, Soundwave's electronica-like voice resembles that of its first incarnation, and even Starscream's high pitch voice is very similar to the original show's characterization in which Chriss Latta voiced the fighter jet-turning Decepticon.
Recurring Voice Actors
Loyal fans of the franchise would hear some familiar voices in the show. Jake Foushee makes a comeback as Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots with his trademark deep voice (having played the character in Cyberverse). Still in his 20s, Foushee who's also a YouTuber is the youngest actor to portray this character.
Jason Marnocha reprises the role of Megatron after Combiner Wars and Titans Return. Frank Todaro voices Starscream yet, earlier voicing the character in the aforementioned shows.
A $50 'Spoiler Pack'
As mentioned before, Hasbro released an exclusive Siege toyline to coincide with the show. While characters like Bumblebee and Soundwave and the rest were available in packages where the toys were very much visible, there was an exclusive release by Walmart that concealed its contents.
This was 'Spoiler Pack' worth 50 dollars which were packaged in an opaque box. The package compelled fans to refrain from opening up till they had watched the series. If one actually tears through the box, they'll find a grey Ultra Magnus. The so-called spoiler however is pretty cryptic. While Ultra Magnus's normal editions were available with the rest of the toyline, this special edition was half-grey. Transformers usually turn half-grey when they die so this action figure implies Magnus's death in the series.
Bumblebee's Voice Actor Served In The Air Force
Joe Zieja voices Bumblebee in War For Cybertron, a character who hasn't joined the Autobots yet and often stands at crossroads between the opposing forces in Cybertron. The voice-actor has had several other credits to his name with animes like Fire Emblem, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure along with video games like Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
However, before his tryst with voice-acting, Zieja had enlisted in the United States Air Force and served for Military Intelligence as a Captain.
The Show's First Frames Ape The First-Ever Transformers Episode
After a classic theme song, the original 1984 G1 series's first episode More Than Meets The Eye opened with Wheeljack and Bumblebee hiding away from Decepticon seekers.
In a subtle nod to what started the original franchise, War For Cybertron too features Wheeljack and Bumblebee in the first frames as they wander on the dead planet looking for Energon. Eventually, they too are confronted by Decepticon seekers like the original.
Rooster Teeth's First Project For A Third Party Platform
Rooster Teeth Productions has been a unique company specializing in a wide range of original web series, reality shows, podcasts, live-action shorts, and web series. One of their most significant productions was their 2003 debut Red Vs Blue which is the second-longest-running web series of all time.
However, it broke its 17-year streak of producing content solely for their website with Transformers: War For Cybertron for Netflix. The motivations behind these were financial in nature as general manager Jordan Levin says, 'From a pure cost standpoint, there's only so much we can do with our current structure'.
Incorporating Lines From The Original
The G1 references were incorporated in the show's dialogues too as there are scenes where characters can be heard speaking in iconic lines from the franchise (from the 1985 animated movie, and bio card from the toylines).
This includes 'Till all are one' and 'Freedom is right of all sentient beings'. While Transformers: War For Cybertron is an original, darker tale with no room for any laughs or melodrama, it still pays tribute to its predecessors with such elements.