Transformers Cybertron tells the tale of the Autobots searching the galaxy for the legendary cyber planet keys that, when combined with the Omega Lock, will save their home planet of Cybertron from an ever-growing black hole created from the destruction of Unicron. The Decepticons want the keys and lock as well, but merely for the power they possess. Thus, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons rage across several planets in the latest Transformers series to hit DVD.

The animation and voice acting is very well done. Gonzo, famous for their anime, does a superb job with the CG used for the Transformers and the cell animation used for the non-Cybertronian cast. They don't mesh perfectly, put it's a better effort than older attempts to mix CG and cell animation.

Garry Chalk and David Kaye once again reprise their roles as Optimus Prime and Megatron. With the exception of "Robots in Disguise" and the more recent "Transformers Animated," They have played those characters, or incarnations of, for over 10 years.

The rest of the cast does a fine job, though the producers this time around decided to give the cast of characters an international flavor. Jetfire is Australian, Red Alert is British, Scattershot and Thundercracker speak with a southern accent, Backstop is Jamaican, and one planet is home to nothing but Irish Transformers. It takes a little getting used to, but it works out all right.

The story starts with the Autobots evacuating Cyberton to Earth. Here, they will be in disguise and cars, trucks, scooters, phone booths, and traffic lights, just to name a few things. During a surprise attack by Megatron (who steals the map to the keys) and Starscream, Landmine is warped to Earth where he's found by three human kids; Coby, his brother Bud, and their friend Lori. The kids help patch him up and thus the war is brought to Earth.

Eventually, the Autobots find their way to two other planets, Velocitron (the Speed planet) and the Jungle planet, always two steps behind the Decepticons. Fonrtunately, our heroes have teamwork on their side and despite both sides gaining allies, the Autobots come away from both planets with the keys and the lock.

Starscream later betrays Megatron and finds his own army of Decepticons to find Earth's key. Eventually, the battle goes to Gigantia, where the final key is located and a very long and dangerous battle is fought between the Autobots, Megatron's Decepticons, and Starscream. I won't tell you how it ends, but being it's a cartoon I'm sure you can figure the basics out.

This show was not made with the US audience in mind. It was produced in Japan and edited for America. There are a number of inconsistencies the editing creates and while it's branded as the sequel to Transformers Energon, it doesn't make sense since in that series, the humans worked with the Autobots and were well advanced in their technology. Cybertron places Earth in a more believable modern setting and the human populace doesn't know there are aliens among them for about half the series.

All things considered, Transformers Cybertron is an enjoyable show to watch. The transformation sequences get old quick though, since they reuse the footage almost every time someone transforms, especially Optimus Prime. However, it's beautifully made with a great cast of actors. If you're a Transformers fan, you should check this series out.

I had a long-winded rant that I was set to post as a blog, but for some reason, Multiply ate it and threw it to the four corners of the Earth. So, instead of typing it all over again, I'll just recap it in three words:

This. Toy. Sucks.

If you want a Megatron from this line, save your money and buy the Battle Begins 2-pack that comes with a smaller and superior Megatron, Optimus Prime, and a DVD for the same price.

Transformers Animated: Transform & Roll Out chronicles the first few episodes of the current Transformers Animated series airing on Cartoon Network. Initial reactions to the series based on a lone piece of art featuring Optimus Prime was almost as negative as the initial reaction to the recent movie Optimus Prime's flame deco on his truck mode. However, like the movie, the animated series has proven itself to be more than meets the eye.

The show opens up with footage from the original Transformers series in a newsreel type setting, being watched by the current Optimus Prime who leads a small space bridge repair crew of Autobots. Through some mishap, the come across the Allspark, the device that gives all Cybertronians life. It was lost to the space bridge network years ago to keep it out of Decepticon hands. Unfortunately, the Decepticons find them and through deceit and treachery, the Transformers once again find themselves crash-landing on Earth, this time it's modern day Earth. The Autobots awaken 50 years later in a futuristic Detroit and find themselves cast in the role of heroes against human enemies and Decepticons alike.

The animation used for this series is nothing like anything seen in Transformers before. It is an anime-like style, reminiscent of the Teen Titan series. Speed lines and transformation shortcuts are used. As an example, Prowl does more of a morph than a transform in a couple scenes. This can take a little getting used to, but a speedier transform does get one into and out of battle quicker.

As usual, the voice work is top-notch. David Kaye voices Optimus Prime this time around where he usually gets cast in the role of Megatron and has been for most of the series between Beast Wars and Cybertron. Corey Burton, the voice of the original Grimlock is back, this time as Megatron and Ratchet. Tom Kenny, voice of Spongebob Squarepants, does a remarkable job as the voice of the ever-treacherous Starscream. There are more, but to name them all would make this a longer and probably a more boring review.

In conclusion, Transformers Animated: Transform & Roll Out is a good introduction to this great series. Fans of the original series will appreciate all the homages to that show and fans for the Beast-era series will appreciate the smaller cast with it's more defined characters. If you do decided to pick this up, do so at Target. They include a bonus disc with another episode you won't get on DVD anywhere else, yet.

Megatron: Origin gives fans of the Decepticon leader some much deserved insight into how he came to be. While there have been some stories on Megatron's beginnings before, depending on what continuity and/or generation you prefer, this is the first time his origin has been explored in-depth from his start as an Energon miner to leading the Decepticons.

From the publisher: "Before allegiance, rank and function - before war - a civilian will become a warrior, and warrior will become a leader. As a leader he will learn of the most powerful weapon on the planet - a weapon powerful enough to bind legions to his will - a faction named Decepticon. This landmark collection brings the would-be major players of that faction together for the first time in a seminal story for Megatron, the Decepticons and the Great War; also includes a cover gallery by artist Alex Milne and variant cover artist Marcelo Matere."

Eric Holmes spins a wonderful tale of Megatron and those who would one day call him their leader. There are cameos of Transformers from all across the first generation of characters and one particular character from the rival series of the 80's, the Gobots.

This would be a perfect collection of the Megaton: Origin collection of comics if not for one factor; the art. Alex Milne has an amazing talent. However, every page is dark, gritty, and overly-detailed for my tastes to the point where I wasn't sure who was talking to whom and had to get directly under a light to make out some things. Now, I'm not sure how much of this is Alex and how much of this is the inker and colorist. Let's just say that this combination could be improved on.

That aside, if you enjoy Transformers and the IDW take on the original cast, you owe it to yourself to buy this book. It's worth full price, though I paid only 60% of retail since the local Waldenbooks is shutting down and clearing out their stock.

Grabbed the Best Buy Transformers DVD exclusives this morning. I got the 2-disc set with 2 exclusive Robot Heroes toys, metallic-painted Ratchet, and the Megatron Lithograph. I'd say more, but I'm out the door to the dentist to see what can be done about the tooth that broke yesterday. *sigh*

So, where was I? Oh yeah, Best Buy. I got there about 45 minutes early and waited in my car until 9:40-ish. Slowly, but surely, the amount of people waiting to come in built up. I'd say about 1/2 were there for Transformers and the other half for Planet Terror, which I also picked up. What struck me as funny, yet irritating, was the man telling people there were only 30 copies of the movie in the store while we waited. I counted the number of movies I could see facing out, with each face-out having 5-10 behind it. I saw 41 copies, though there was more than a few hundred to go around depending on if you wanted the regular edition, the 2-disc variety, the 2-disc with the Robot Heroes of Cliffjumper (a Bumblebee recolor) and Battle-Damaged Optimus Prime (an Optimus Prime recolor that some sites were calling Ultra Magnus because all Prime recolors are Magnus), or the HD-DVD. I told one guy there were more and pointed out all that I could see. We had a Quintesson chuckle between us as the idiot kept spouting his unclean gospel.

Atop the display, I could see two each of the metallic Ratchet and Megatron toys. Then, some employee grabbed one of each with about 5 minutes left before opening. I thought maybe they were gonna display them at the register, but it turns out he bought them. Considering that store only had two of each figure, employees really should be the last people to get them. That' how good customer service works in corporate America. But, what can ya do? The doors opened and off we went. I grabbed the 2-Disc set with the Robot Heroes and the lone, remaining Ratchet. I thought about getting Megatron too. This version is much nicer looking than the regular retail version, but I promised Mrs. GripX I'd only pick up Ratchet and stuck to that. I'm sure she would have understood if I'd bought both, but I figured someone else could better enjoy it than I.

I fought with the display to get a Megatron lithograph. Seems only me and one other guy bothered with it. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but it was free. I grabbed a copy of Planet Terror and went off to search for an iPod Nano Video case, but they had none. So, I guess I'll just have to be careful with the new iPod for little while longer.

As an aside, my cell phone's screen cracked on Sunday. So, I went to where I bought it from since we had insurance to get a replacement and they said they don't do that and I should check with the corporate store at the pther end of the mall. So, I hobbled down there, as fast as I could considering the amount of pain I was in from last week's operation, only to be told to check with the first place about the insurance. A few minutes later and I talk to a guy that actually wants to help me and he gives me a phone number to call for a replacement. When I get back to work, since I did this on my lunch break, I call the number and will have a new phone UPSed to work (hopefully) by the end of the week.

And I get to shell out $630 for a crown on my broken tooth. I can't tell if today was awesome or if it sucked.

I picked up two more Robot Heroes packs on Tuesday with, oddly enough, the Heroes season one box set. I got Prime vs Blackout and Ratchet vs Megatron. Going by what I saw in the movie, those are odd pairs. I mean, if we were talking about comic book Ratchet Vs Megatron, no problem. Comic book Ratchet, well Marvel Comic Ratchet that is, could kick Decepticon butt very well. Movie Ratchet seemed more interested in smelling pheromones and not being worth a crap in battle to help Bumblebee or save Jazz. Some medic he turned out to be.

That aside, I really like the Robot Heroes line. Prime's neat with the blaster and holllier-than-thou pointing action he can do. Ratchet is always giving the thumbs-up for some reason. Jazz is super-swell with a smirk and decent arm poses. Frenzy is creepy looking in a child-friendly way. Blackout seems to be trying to surprise people in that he looks like he's jumping out of a cake. Megatron... well, he's just too darn happy for words. These guys are kewl.

If you blinked while perusing Transformers prototypes on eBay today, you probably missed an auction for a prototype Fast Action Battler Optimus Prime with pictures of Transformers Animated Megatron. Thankfully, someone saved the pics and I combined them to show this robot off.

I'm a little indifferent toward it. I like it and I don't. I suppose seeing it in the final colors would help. But, until then, this will have to do. At least it's not Injector.

Speaking of Transformers Animated, Amazon.com has two books on said series up for preorder; here and here. They're not due out until mid-Jaunary of '08, so hurry and preorder now. 'Course, it would be nice if there was more information on the books. Good thing there's still five months to go.

You can watch a clip of the new Transformers Animated show that was shown at the San Diego Comic-Con at a crappy, YouTube wanna-be site here. I think it looks pretty good and am looking forward to the show and the toys. Hopefully, I'll have Cartoon Network at that point.

So, I'm supposed to be done with buying non-Jazz related Transformers. Yet, I know this ultra-cool line of Classics is due out before the next Jazz toy (form next year's movie). I happen to read that someone in Oregon found the first wave of Classics at a Fred Meyer, so I hop in my car to the local FM to find Prime and Megs.

What'd I do?

I bought them.

Dammit.

They are so flippin' cool, though not worth the $22.99 each. I think these guys would be a prefect value at $15 a pop. It's the best Prime that's been released since I don't know when. Megatron's no slouch either and he's a gun, which is kinda cool. There's too much purple on Meggy in robot mode, IMO.

So my advice? Buy them. These are what Transformers are supposed to be.