This year marks the 40th anniversary of the iconic Transformers franchise, and to celebrate the milestone, the official Takara Tomy YouTube channel has unveiled a full-length Transformers 40th Anniversary Special, an anime movie animated by Studio Trigger!
The 2D-animated short-film is an impressive homage to the 40 years of history of the franchise from G1 to the present, including Transformers: EarthSpark, and is animated by using classic cell animation style.
For decades now, Transformers has been more than meets the eye. The franchise saw its unlikely start spark after Takara Tomy, a popular toy brand from Japan, teamed up with Hasbro in America. The cross-cultural deal brought the Transformers to life, and it did not take long for its lore to blow up. From TV shows to blockbuster movies, Transformers has done plenty during its 40-year run. And today, the IP is testing its limits with a special anime created by Studio Trigger.
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| The Malto family from 'Transformers: EarthSpark'. |
Studio Trigger has worked in several famous anime series like Kill la Kill, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, SSSS.Gridman, and SSSS.Dynazenon, among other projects.
The director, storyboard artist, producer and animation director is Amemiya Satoshi, director of the film Gridman Universe. The video uses the song “Mayday” by popular Japanese band BUMP OF CHICKEN, released in 2007.
The IP already has ties to anime given its origins with Takara Tomy and designer Shoji Kawamori, who created the hit mech anime Macross, and his love of technology led him to design a set of toys with Takara Tomy. These toys, known as Diaclone, became the basis for Transformers with help from Hasbro. So as you can see, Transformers has a solid history with Japanese creators.
The movie arrives just as Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are about to release Transformers One, the franchise's next big project. The animated movie, which stars Chris Hemsworth, is slated to premiere in theaters on September 20. The film will take fans back in time as Transformers One focuses on the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Once allies, the two mechs are now mortal foes, and Transformers has long teased their early days on Cybertron. Soon, fans will get the chance to see that history play out, and reviews for Transformers One are nothing but positive at this time.
The anime, as you can see below, is nothing short of a love letter to Transformers. The short features all of our favorite Autobots as heroes like Optimus Prime take to the screen. Studio Trigger did not hold back with its animation here, and we have director Akira Amemiya to thank for the visual feast.
I'm sure you'll have fun catching all the cameos, characters and Easter Eggs featured on the video, including the colorful Bump Of Chicken x Transformers Optimus Prime revealed some days ago. Watch the video now below!
Transformers: EarthSpark Season 2 Is Now Streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE at ParamountPlus.com.
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