A quick reminder to everyone that the Collectors Hangout Transformers special is taking place 1 week from today on Thursday the 4th of April at 8pm GMT / 9pm BST / 12pm PST / 2pm CST / 3pm EST.  The episode of the show which is currently being promoted on the Google+ Hangout schedule page, will see me once again talk about Transformers, this time with more of a focus on the Japanese Lucky Draws as well as taking your questions live on air.

You can find all the details -> https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cj9359iit256m7lucjb89dspfd8

TakaraTomy have posted an interview on their website with Japanese Transformers designer Hisashi Yuki. Yuki-san's Transformers credits include Beast Wars II Lio Convoy, Beast Wars Neo Big Convoy, Beast Wars Neo Unicron and the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen characters The Fallen, Scalpel (The Doctor) and Sideways.

If you do not read Japanese do not worry as TFW2005.com board member SydneyY has posted his translation over on their website.

IGN has sat down with one of the producers of Transformers and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Lorenzo di Bonaventura. In the sit down they discuss Transformers 3, which Lorenzo says they are trying to work out a date for, the negative press received for the Mudflap and Skids characters within the US as well as negative press reviews for the 2nd film, Michael Bay's involment in TF3 and Unicron. ­You can r­ead the interview here.

Titan Magazines have sent through an interview with John Davis Hunt the main artist on the UK Transformers 2.1.­­

1.When did you start drawing comics?
I’ve always drawn comics in my spare since I was a little boy. I can remember my Mum buying me the very first issue of TRANSFORMERS, back in the early 80’s, when I must have been about 5 or 6 and I would spend hours copying the art from that!

3.How did you get into drawing comics for a job?
I was working as a concept artist and designer in the computer games industry, but I had always really wanted to get into comics. One day I just decided that it was now or never and so I spent a summer preparing a portfolio that got me my first work for a comic here in the UK.

5.What comic artists do you most admire and why?
My favourite comic artist is a Japanese artist called Katsuhiro Otomo who drew the original Akira manga in the 80’s. His work is just stunning, particularly a book he did before Akira called Domu. My favourite contemporary artists are Frank Quietly, Travis Charest and John Cassaday. Frank Quietly in particular is amazing. His sense of form and composition are exemplary.

6.Who do you think you’ve been most influenced by?
Probably the artists I’ve just mentioned above, but as an avid comic fan, I’m constantly coming across new (or old) artists who influence my work. In the early days, Geoff Senior (who used to draw Transformers TRANSFORMERS in the 80’s) was my favourite artist and he had a massive influence on making me want to get into comics.

7.Is there a TRANSFORMERS character that you particularly like drawing and why?
Well, apart from  OptimusOPTIMUS, who is always great to draw because he’s so iconic, I do really enjoy drawing the Twins, Skids and Mudflap, just because Simon has written them so well and they get up to so much cool stuff. But aside from that, I do love how cool and iconic G1 Megatron MEGATRON looks! I’ve always loved his massive arm cannon – it just looks so cool!

8.What have you worked on before TRANSFORMERS Comic?
I’m a relative newcomer to comics, but prior to  TransformersTRANSFORMERS, I’d worked on several stories for 2000AD. Prior to that, I worked in the computer games industry and was the Senior Designer on the racing game GRID.

9.Apart from working on TRANSFORMERS Comic, obviously, what would be your dream comic job?
That’s a tough one! Probably to have a go at drawing Spiderman or Batman as along with Transformers TRANSFORMERS, they are the two comics that I used to read the most when I was young.

10.What was your first encounter with TRANSFORMERS?
I can remember being about 5 years old and seeing the toys for the very first time on Blue Peter. They had only just come over from Japan at that point, and you couldn’t get them in the shops yet. At the time, everyone was into He-Man or Action Man ACTION MAN, so TRANSFORMERS Transformers were this whole new thing and they looked totally awesome! Then I got the first issue of the TRANSFORMERS Transformers comic and from then on I was hooked!

11.If you were a TRANSFORMER, what would you be and why?
When I was young, my favourite TRANSFORMERS character Transformer was the original  JazzJAZZ. I thought he had the coolest car mode (a GT Racing Porsche) so I’d probably have to say him.

12.What are you most looking forward to in the new movie?
Without question – DEVESTATOR!!!!!!!!!

13.What do you think the next 25 years have in store for TRANSFORMERS?
Hopefully a continuation of the Movie series, which is would be totally awesome! I think as well that once the cost of CGI effects comes down in price, we fans will could one day get a weekly live action Transformers TRANSFORMERS TV series, which will would be amazing! I’ve just had a little boy too, so I’m looking forward to introducing him to the wonderful world of TRANSFORMERS

SydenyY has posted a translation of the interview with TakaraTomy staff Takashi Kunihiro, Takio Ejima and Hisashi Yuki from the first volume of the 2009 Generation Book over on TFW2005.  The interview is a great read and though is mainly discusses the Henkei line it does cover a lot of other topics including just how much of the toy designs are done by TakaraTomy and not Hasbro (as they would like fans to believe)

For those wanting to see more of the Generation Book 2009, we recommend you pick up a copy as we have, though we will scan in some pages at a later date in the future when the magazine is not in general circulation

In an interview with Sci-Fi Wire, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman spoke briefly on how they wanted the Transformers sequel to raise the emotional stakes.  Here are some quotes from the article, which can be read in full by click on the link.

"I think the serious answer to your question is, obviously, people will say, 'Look, the explosions are going to be bigger,' but I think Bob and I felt that it was our job--and continues to be our job--to say, 'It's not really about that, because those things, in a way, are a given,'" Kurtzman said.

Orci added: "Yeah, those things are the easy part."

Kurtzman: "What it's about is making sure the emotional stakes feel like they are at a new place and that this movie has a reason to tell itself beyond just 'The studio wants another Transformers

Orci: "And now that the Transformers are characters, how do you bring them to life some more?"

movie.' And a lot of that has to do with 'How do you make this movie more emotional? How does this movie stand out from the first one?'" Transformers 2 is about a month away from the end of principal photography, the writers said. It's slated to open on June 26, 2009

TFW2005 have put up a short interview with Hasbro Inc designer Eric Siebenaler. Eric is one of the main people in charge of the upcoming Transformers Animated line.

You can read the interview here.