Transformers writer Simon Furman has updated his blog with an entry regarding the upcoming Transformers Spotlight : Grimlock.

Always a favourite of Simon's the Gimlock spotlight can be summed up by the following quote.

"... something of a sequel to Spotlight: Shockwave, it's also something of a prequel (not saying yet to what, but maybe I'll get to spill the beans at Botcon), and it even ties into the ongoing Escalation/Devastation storyline, featuring, as it does, a certain Scorponok! Oh, and rest assured that despite this after- and fore- shadowing, it's pretty much a standalone story in its own right too. Reawakened by government alien-spotters Skywatch, Grimlock is not in the best of moods, especially as he soon realises his actions may have doomed his fellow Dinobots... even if they survived their molten end in Spotlight: Shockwave. Enter Scorponok, with an offer that Grimlock may just not be able to refuse..."

High resolution images of Transformers Animated Blitzwing have been posted over at ACToys.net. Those images have been mirrored in Blitzwing's Miscellaneous Toy Image page at TransformersAnimated.com

Seibertron.com have images which they found on TFClub of what is said to be concepts for Optimus Prime from the Transformers 2 film. Obviously these image, and story, are currently filed under rumours, but it does add to the question of how different Optimus Prime will be in the second film, and what type of toy(s) Hasbro will make for him.

You can see the images here.

Transformers Animated.com has been updated with over 240 images from Transformers Animated episode 18 entitled The Return of Headmaster.

The episode aired in Canada on YTV on the 19th April and is due to air in the US this coming weekend.

The image quality is lower then normal, we will be looking to replace these with higher quality pictures in the near future.

Thanks to board member PhantomFish for reporting that the US Target Exclusive blue deluxe figures of Jazz, Barricade, Braw and Bumblebee, have now been released in the UK are are exclusives to Sainsbury's at a price of £9.99./p>

IDWs Shane McCarthy has posted some new sneakpeaks from All Hail Megatron Issue 1 which will be released in July. We have mirrored the images below

Don't forget that you can keep up-to-date with Shane's blog post via our exclusive In The News Service, the only page on the internet where you can view the news headlines from 28 different Transformers related websites.

Update: The links have been corrected to point to the full size images

Below you will find two new images of the fan made Transformers Classics Ultra Magnus upgrade armour from ACToys and friends.

edit: The link on the second image has now been fixed

Hasbro Inc and Mattel both released their first quarter figures this afternoon (this morning in America) with forecasts fair even performance for both companies, but with Hasbro receiving the higher increase in profits. Well the official figures are in, shocking some forecasters, as whilst Hasbro's profits rose by 14%, Mattel reported a loss of $46.6 Million

Reuters report that "The maker of Monopoly board games said first-quarter profit climbed to $37.5 million, or 25 cents a share, from $32.9 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier.
Quarterly sales rose 13 percent to $704.2 million from $625.3 million.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 14 cents a share on $582.2 million in sales, according to Reuters Estimates.
Hasbro said sales climbed 6 percent in the United States and Canada and 22 percent internationally."

AP Business Wire reported "The toymaker Hasbro Inc. said Monday its earnings rose 14 percent in the first quarter on growth in brands such as Transformers and Littlest Pet Shop.
The world's second biggest toy company said it earned $37.5 million, or 25 cents per share, for the three months ended March 30, up from $32.9 million, or 19 cents per share, during the same quarter a year ago.
The results beat the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who forecast net income of 14 cents per share.
Sales grew 13 percent to $704.2 million from $625.3 million a year ago.
The company said international revenue rose 22 percent to $248.3 million, while revenue in the U.S. and Canada segment grew 6 percent to $428.5 million.
Hasbro released the results as its chief rival, Mattel Inc., said it lost $46.6 million, or 13 cents per share, missing analysts' expectations of a profit of a penny per share. The El Segundo, Calif.-based maker of Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price toys blamed higher product costs and legal fees."

In a post on his message board Michael Bay has shot down the Transformers 2 Audition list posted by Don Murphy over on his message board as being fake and part of the disinformation campaign.

In Michael's own words "Sorry everyone, everything you are reading (other then we are shooting in Philly) is false. We are going to give so much disinformation on this film to confuse everyone".

Is this a case of a double bluff? Time will tell, but its sure to cause more heated discussions around the Transformers and film community

You will now find 10 new Transformers toy galleries online, along with updates to two other toy galleries.

New Galleries

• Transformers Music Label - Convoy
• Transformers Music Label - G1 Coloured Convoy (Optimus Prime Edition)
• Transformers Movie - Swerve
• Transformers Movie - Overcast
• Transformers Movie - Camshaft
• Transformers Movie - Armorhide
• Transformers Movie - Stockade
  
• Wonderfest Exclusive Transformers Movie - Arcee
• Japanese Transformers Movie - Black Arcee
  
• Japanese Transformers Movie - Incinerator (Black Version)

Updated

• Transformers Movie - Re-Entry Protoform Optimus Prime
• Transformers Movie - Re-Entry Protoform Starscream

Transformers Animated.com has been updated with a copy of the preview video for Transformers Animated episode 21 Velocity.

If you live in the UK you may have previously seen this video on Nicktoon's website. If you were not in the UK then you were previously unable to watch the video.

YTV have updated their schedule showing that Transformers Animated episode 19, Misson Accomplished, will air in Canada on the 26th April 2008. This scheduling will keep Canadian views a week ahead of the American fans.

TransformersAnimated.com is updated automatically with the official feeds from Cartoon Network, YTV and Nick Toons making it the perfect place to check what's on.

Thanks to Cobra Zartan for letting us know that AirWonderStories recently posted a photo album over at Yahoo Japan of the TV Magazine Lucky Draw Robotmaster G1 Convoy, which was a prize of a colouring contest. The figure was given to ten winners and this is the first time that the final toy has been shown, other than the two images published in the magazine.

You can view the images at Lucky Draw Transformers.com