Greebtron

Thanks to Morgan Evans, the Archive now hosts scripts for all 65 episodes of seasons 1 and 2 of The Transformers. The 16 remaining episodes added today are: Autobot Spike Changing Gears City Of Steel Attack Of The Autobots Traitor The Immobilizer The Autobot Run Atlantis, Arise! Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2 The Key To Vector Sigma, Part 1 The Key To Vector Sigma, Part 2 Aerial Assault War Dawn Trans-Europe Express Masquerade B.O.T The three partial scripts that came from the Ron Friedman auctions in 2010 (Enter The Nightbird, A Prime Problem and The Core) have been supplemented by full versions, 18 episodes which previously had a revised or finalised script now have first drafts available. Additional material includes Marvel Productions' internal correspondence, story editor inserts as the team tried to fix the myriad problems with Megatron's Master Plan and finally, scripts for 10 planned Public Service Announcements. Read them all at https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html

Thanks to Ryan King and originally owned by contributing artist Peter "Aeon Flux" Chung, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts full storyboard sets for The Ultimate Doom, Part 3 and Countdown to Extinction. These storyboards see the moment FIRRIB was born as Frenzy makes his cartoon debut, as well as Jetfire's adventures in his original toy-based design. To view these sets as galleries, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/storyboard-viewing-gallery.html Or for downloadable versions, alongside the virtual library of material for seasons 1 and 2, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html

The Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts storyboards for G1 episode The Immobilizer, which marks the debut of Carly to the franchise. The 12th full set and the 21st episode overall to have storyboards showcased at the Archive, they include art by Vincenzo Trippetti, Peter Chung, David Russell, Gregg Davidson and others. To view in gallery form, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/the-transformers-700-21-immobilizer.html Or for a downloadable copy, along with all of the existing Transformers material at the Archive, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html

In February 1984, Marvel Productions' Hank Saroyan and Jeffrey Scott were hurriedly commissioned to create a development bible and pilot script, intending to sell The Transformers as a Saturday morning series to CBS Network. Now, at last, the Sunbow Marvel Archive presents the paper material that formed that pitch. Included at the link below are: The initial development bible, written in three days without full reference or character profiles available. The revised bible, dated 7th March 1984, incorporating Bob Budiansky's profiles and original characters requested by CBS. Outlines and full script for the pilot episode: A Robot's Best Friend Is His Dog. Jeffrey Scott's notes file, which ties all the pieces together. Containing Hasbro product list, notes from development meetings between Scott and Saroyan, along with feedback from Hasbro, Griffin-Bacal and CBS executives. To read them all, head to https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html

The Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts the 1986 character binder for Transformers, formerly owned by Paul Davids. This 186 page document covers Bob Budiansky profiles and Marvel productions model sheets for nearly all of the incoming 1986 toyline (excluding the new minibots Swerve, Pipes, Tailgate, Hubcap and Outback), as well as returning 1984 and 1985 characters. View the document in gallery form at https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/transformers-1986-character-binder.html

The last major Transformers-related item uncovered from the storage of former Sunbow producer Flint Dille back in 2020 is now available online. Flint's character binder, which received its last update on December 3rd, 1986. Nearly all of the 1987 toy lineup is represented within its 333 pages, as well as a copy of Bob Budiansky's treatment for the Marvel Comics' Headmasters miniseries. Due to its size at 333 pages, the binder has been split up into three galleries, which can be viewed at the Sunbow Marvel Archive: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: Briefing/Reference Binder galleries

Completing the release of material found by storyboard artist/director/producer Larry Houston and contributed by Rich Helscher, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts a total of over 700 model sheets for the G1 cartoon, covering 61 episodes across seasons 1 and 2. The main index pages and some samples are attached below. To view the complete model books as galleries, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/briefingreference-binder-galleries.html

Thanks to storyboard artist/producer/director Larry Houston for saving them from likely destruction back in the 1980s and thanks to Rich Helscher for making them available, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts the tenth full Transformers storyboard set: The Secret of Omega Supreme. View galleries for all ten sets, as well as partial storyboards for ten more episodes at: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/storyboard-viewing-gallery.html

The Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts the storyboards for G1 episode Blaster Blues, as well as 150 model sheets. Covering both the main 1984 cast and specific episode models for Season 1. Including designs that never made broadcast, such as Dr. Lynn Hyashi, whose place in War of the Dinobots was taken by Chip Chase. To view the storyboards for Blaster Blues, among 20 episodes, head to the galleries at: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/storyboard-viewing-gallery.html To view the model sheet galleries, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/briefingreference-binder-galleries.html

Across the 22nd and 23rd of November 1983, Marvel Comics writer Bob Budiansky gave names and wrote profiles that turned Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change toys into The Transformers. The 29 original profiles can be read, via a briefing binder Sunbow Productions sent to Ron Friedman, before being sold off in 2010, at: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: Transformers 1984 product

Thanks to the winner of a recent audio reel auction, who has supplied digital files, I can now present the full dialogue recording audio for G1 cartoon episode The Revenge Of Bruticus. 54 minutes in total, the recording is effectively split in half, with one group of actors doing pickup sessions, and then the main ensemble from beginning to end. If one wishes to read along to either the full script or the dialogue script, those can be found at the Sunbow Marvel Archive: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: MP 700 The Transformers, Part 1 1984  - 1985 (Sunbow Productions/Marvel Productions) Timecodes: 0:00 Bruticus 3:08 Kickback and Shrapnel 05:00 Tracks 05:45 Walla (people screaming in terror) 06:40 Inferno 07:07 Shrapnel, Kickback and Ramjet (underground parking lot) 07:53 Walla (refugees), Woman on rooftop (Morgan Lofting) 09:21 Bruticus (final fight) 11:01 Insecticon voracious eating 13:35 Red Alert 13:57 Ensemble recording (start to finish) 54:13 End

Slowly uncovered piece by piece over two decades, this special extra-length video unpacks the contents of the various draft to the original animated Transformers movie script, and charts the evolution of its story and characters! 00:44 - PART 1: The First Draft 22:24 - PART 2: The Secret of Cybertron 24:19 - PART 3: The Second Draft 37:58 - PART 4: Writing and Re-Writing 44:27 - PART 5: From Script to Screen

Added to the Sunbow Marvel Archive this month is a plethora of G1 cartoon material, with storyboards from the following: Unproduced pilot miniseries/Season 1 intro sequence More Than Meets The Eye, Part 2 More Than Meets The Eye, Part 3 Transport To Oblivion Roll For It The Ultimate Doom, Part 3 Countdown To Extinction Unproduced Season 2 intro sequence Unproduced commercial bumper Autobot Spike The Immobilizer Additionally, a quartet of story premises, written by storyboard artist Wendell Washer during early Season 2, have also become available. Along with the early version of the 1985 New Product briefing he was given for reference. Three of the unused stories focus on Omega Supreme (then under the working name of Fortress Maximus), and a fourth focusing on Seaspray. All of these can be viewed at https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html Below is an animatic, edited by me, of the unproduced season 2 intro sequence:

In 2010, screenwriter Ron Friedman consigned many scripts and reference material from his days writing for Sunbow Productions in the mid-80s, to be sold by Heritage Auctions. A group effort by fans, coordinated by Jim Sorenson, saw 31 Transformers TV scripts, briefing binders and the second script for The Transformers The Movie bought up, scanned and made available online. One item that eluded this endeavour was Friedman's first script for the Movie. Completed in February 1985 and rejected by Griffin-Bacal, who supplied a new outline for Friedman to make a second attempt, before Flint Dille was called in to make heavy re-writes as production commenced. In Autumn 2020, former Sunbow producer Flint Dille was in the process of clearing out his storage, finding many items from his decades-long writing career. One such item displayed online on October 9th was a second copy of that first Movie script. Most likely in Flint's possession as reference for his and Creative Director Jay Bacal's own unsuccessful attempt at writing a Transformers movie: The Secret Of Cybertron. The following month, Jim Sorenson flew out to LA in order to scan as many of Flint's written works from his Sunbow days before they were auctioned off. On November 2nd, he scanned this script and sent the digital files to me for merging and OCR. The script was used as the basis for a panel presentation at TFNation 2022, hosted by Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely, that summarised the plot and featured fanart intepretations from a quartet of artists. Now, fourteen years since it was first seen, nearly three years since a second chance emerged and a full year since the story was revealed to the world, the Sunbow Marvel Archive is proud to present the very first script for The Transformers The Movie: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-4034-transformers-movie-sunbow.html

Technically not a Transformers figure, but one steeped in the lore of TF Prime. G.I. Joe Classified Series Mole Rat, Collectible G.I. Joe Action Figure (6"), 94 - Walmart.com

With thanks to Ryan King, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts it's eighth full episode storyboard set from the G1 cartoon: Aerial Assault. With this set in place, the Archive now hosts the full story on all 12 episodes written by Doug Booth, whether via script or storyboard. With plenty of deleted scenes covering Skydive and Slingshot's journey across the desert, early Combaticon designs (and some plain made-up designs), along with some gorgeous Keith Tucker art, the storyboards can be found in gallery form at: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/the-transformers-mp-700-57-aerial.html Or in PDF format at the main Season 1 and 2 page: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-700-transformers-part-1-1984-1985.html

See if you can spot the difference 😉 Storyboards by Peter Chung, animatic edit by me

Thanks to Monzo, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts storyboards for Act III of Webworld. The season 3 cartoon episode co-written by comics legend Len Wein and Diane Duane, which saw Galvatron committed to psychiatric "care", on a planet possibly more insane than he is. To view the boards in full, head over to: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: The Transformers MP 700-101 Webworld storyboard

With the citizens of Central City enslaved by the Decepticons and the Autobots presumed dead, Chip Chase makes one last desperate bid to get answers. This animatic covers the Additional Material storyboard, drawn by Keith Tucker, to cover the shortfall in this episode's script. To view more storyboards, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/storyboard-viewing-gallery.html

The newly-upgraded Dinobots fly to the rescue of the weakened Autobots. Much carnage ensues. Watch till the end for the scenes so nice they had to delete them twice (From this episode and War Of The Dinobots( For the full episode storyboard gallery, head to: https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/the-transformers-mp-700-05-sos-dinobots.html

My video-making resources are limited, but I've cobbled together a video introducing the Archive to those who won't have seen it before:

From a variety of sources, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts character models, equipment models and background art from 22 episodes of the G1 cartoon. Many items or characters central to an episode often either having an early name or appearance that was later discarded. In some cases, these early appearances have been depicted in the available storyboards. First are background layouts and equipment models from a continuous run of 19 Season 2 episodes: Autobot Spike Changing Gears City Of Steel Attack Of The Autobots Traitor The Immobilizer The Autobot Run Atlantis, Arise! Day Of The Machines Enter The Nightbird A Prime Problem The Core The Insecticon Syndrome Dinobot Island Part 1 and 2 The Master Builders Auto-Berserk Microbots Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1 To view all of these, head to: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: MP 700 The Transformers, Part 1 1984 - 1985 (Sunbow Productions/Marvel Productions) For season 3, the Archive now has 29 models and backgrounds for Chaos, 15 backgrounds for Webworld and a key panoramic background for The Return Of Optimus Prime, Part 1 To view these, head to: The Sunbow Marvel Archive: MP 700 The Transformers, Part 2 1986 - 1987 (Sunbow Productions/Marvel Productions)

To give context to the "Stomach Of Unicron" one, the outline Sunbow handed to Ron Friedman for his second TFTM script told him to do one thing, the script he turned in depicted quite another thing (outline and script available here): https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-4034-transformers-movie-sunbow.html

The details may vary slightly, but by the time TFCon LA is over next week, the 13 year wait to read this script will finally be over. Keep the Archive's TFTM page on your favourites for when the time comes. https://sunbowmarvelarchive.blogspot.com/p/mp-4034-transformers-movie-sunbow.html

In 2003/04, Wally Burr sat down for Australian DVD distributor Madman Entertainment's G1 cartoon release to talk about voice directing the series with Tadao Tomomatsu