IESB recently interviewed G.I-Joe and Transformers producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura regarding both films, though primarily G.I-Joe. Here are some quotes.

When asked about Marlon Wayans playing Ripcord his reply was

Well, let's talk about Marlon for a second. A lot of people are fans of his from the comedic point of view obviously for all the right reasons, but what I think everybody forgets about is how damn good he was in Requiem for a Dream as an actor. And, when we were trying to figure out who would be the right element to make this combination work of Duke as the leader and Ripcord as the best friend who sorta gets Duke in trouble all the time and Duke has to bail him out all the time and have fun with him, we needed a guy who's gonna be funny and we needed a guy who was going to be a good actor. And we went to Marlon and said, "We'd love to talk to you." And he's a gigantic GI Joe fan and immediately asked, "is Cobra in it, is Destro in it?" I mean before he even got to read the script he was so much fun to talk to because he understood what it was. So he got it immediately, and when we did the test, you know, we all looked at each other and the studio and there isn't one person who didn't think it was a no-brainer. So, from our point of view, he's playing a military character who's got some real good quips but he's got to be good, he's got to be physical, and I mean Marlon is a strapping guy, he's got good size to him. So, I think the fans will feel, when they see him, that he is playing the solider that they anticipate anyone from the G.I. Joe group to be.

When asked how the search for the actor to play Destro is going, Lorenzo said things are getting close.

"Within the next two weeks, I will comfortably tell you that. We don't have a guy chosen, we have the list down to about 4 or 5. All of them are of the English, Irish, Scottish persuasion shall we say."

He also confirmed that Hawk should be cast within the next two weeks and that Zartan will also appear in the movie.

On a Transformers Movie 2 note, Lorenzo was wasked about the script and here is what he had to say.

"We're nowhere because of the strike, we won't know until we come back. We have a very fine outline and we know exactly where we want go with the movie but until this writers strike comes back, we'll find out exactly where we are. Michael is completely on top of every detail. He's designed a lot of great stuff already. He's got a lot of great sequences imagined but you know, he needs some writers to work with before he's ready to go, so I would say June 2nd is an unofficial start, it's the target date we'd like to go for but, you know, we've got to get some writers to help us."

You can read the interview in full here.

Hasbro Inc announced 200 manufacturing and support job losses yesterday at their western Massachusetts factory, but also announced that they would invest $40 million to modernise the plant which makes their board games.

Hasbro employ about 5,800 people worldwide, and the cut represents 3% of their workforce

TFWorld2005 have been in contact with Cartoon Network Australia to find out the status on Transformers Animated in Australia. Here is what they said.

Hi (name removed)!
Thanks for the email.

I've checked with the programming guys and they have told me that later in the year we will be airing Transformers Animated
There are no exact dates yet unfortunately.

Hope this helps!

Rhys Booth
Office Executive
Cartoon Network.

Good news for Australian fans. Other international fans should also not worry, we've been told that buy-ups for Transformers Animated went well, and is much higher than the previous Transformers series. Unfortunatley we're not in a position to post details at the moment, but we're hoping to get the green light soon.

Thanks to S250 and to TFWorld2005 and TheAllspark for sharing more images of the Transformers Animated Optimus Prime (Earth mode) toy.

You can see the thread on TFWorld2005 which links to the thread on The Allspark as well as on AcToys.

Unicron.com have posted an image gallery of Transformers Animated Bulkhead which include the first in packaging images of the figure. Here's a preview image

We have added a new video to the video section of both TransformersAnimated.com and Transformers At The Moon of the beginning sequence of the Transformers Animated series.

Don't forget that you can find not only the latest Transformers Animated news, videos and character profiles over at TransformersAnimated.com, but also exclusive wallpapers of your favorite characters in high resolution.

Simon Furman has updated his blog with an entry about Beast Wars Ascending issue 4. Here's a litlte extract.

"On Cybertron Shokaract prepares to ascend to what he believes is a higher plane of existence, but (unknown to him) it will actually spell his total and utter obliteration, his ’sacrifice’ heralding the return of the Transformers’ ultimate nemesis: Unicron. Trying to stop this happening are Big Convoy, Lio Convoy (and the Pack) and, from afar, Magmatron (who’s currently trapped in a timeless limbo). Following this so far? Good. Their efforts are hampered by Shokaract himself (who’s powered up to the max on Angolmois energy) and Shokaract’s heralds: Antagony, Thrustor, Hellscream, Max B and Hardhead. Then, on prehistoric Earth, the assembled Maximals and Predacons face off against Rartorata, Elephorca and Drancron, with Razorbeast battling alongside them (and, at the same time, battling the Angolmois corruption that threatens to consume him)"

We have updated our In The Media section with an image gallery of Titan Magazines Transformers UK Issue 7 comic that was released here within the UK last week. The main story of the comic takes place directly after the final battle in the Transformers Movie and includes a brief cameo
by the Mountain Dew-bot or Dispensor as he has been called by fans.

This issue also saw the letters page finally have a host in Starscream.

Amazon.co.jp has been updated with a listing, and images, of Transformers Movie Black Arcee. You can see images of the toy in robot and motorbike form by following the two links.

Thanks to Nevermore and The Allspark for pointing out Amazon's update.

The Toy Fair season has begun with the first of the new year, the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair, officially opening today. Over 2000 international exhibitors are participating this year which runs until January 10th. The British Toy Fair takes place at the end of this month and Transformers At The Moon will be in attendance to bring you a full gallery from the event.

Good news for fellow G.I-Joe fans, another actor / character has been confirmed for the 2009 live action G.I-Joe film and this time they do not have British connections. Variety report that Marlon Wayans has signed on to play Ripcord. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also rumoured to be close to signing on to the film which is set ten years in the future. The film is due to begin shooting next month with Rachel Nichols, Sienna Miller, Adewale Akinnuote-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui and Ray Parks all already signed onboard with the movie

Transformers Animated Deluxe- SKN 323268 - 14.99 CAD
Transformers Animated Voyager- SKN 323322- 29.99 CAD
Transformers Animated Battle Pack with DVD -SKN 323365-29.99 CAD

TFWorld2005 member Desto has posted new pictures of some Transformers Universe Robot Heroes toys.

The toys include Sunstreaker, Galvatron, BW Rattrap, BW Megatron, Hound, Blitzwing and Cheetor, Blackarachnia