Power of the Primes
Power of the Primes is a toyline, multimedia and transmedia franchise created by Hasbro as part of the Transformers brand. It is the third and final installment in the Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy. It consists of the toy line, as well as the animated web series Transformers: Power of the Primes.
Type | Action figure, TV series |
---|---|
Company | Hasbro |
Country | United States |
Slogan | Anything is possible and everything is at stake when the power of the Primes is unleashed! |
Official website |
Development of the franchise began in November 2016 with the announcement of an animated web series by Machinima, based on the upcoming toyline. In January 2017, Hasbro held a fan-vote to decide which character would become the next Prime in the franchise. In February, it was decided that Optimus Primal would become the next Prime.
Development
The franchise was first announced on November 29, 2016 as the third and final installment of the Prime Wars Trilogy.[1][2] Hasbro announced that it would once again partner with Machinima—after having previously worked with them on the animated web series adaptation of Transformers: Combiner Wars—to produce the adaptations for Transformers: Titans Return and Transformers: Power of the Primes.[3] Eric Calderon, showrunner of Combiner Wars, was confirmed to have returned for both Titans Return and Power of the Primes.[4]
In January 2017, Hasbro created a poll allowing fans to vote which Transformer will become the next Prime. The vote occurred in two stages. During the first, fans voted for the leaders of three different personality factions; honor, order and chaos. Honor was represented by Arcee, Ultra Magnus and Hound; Order by Megatron, Star Saber and Shockwave and Chaos by Thunderwing, Optimus Primal and an Unknown Evil (Deathsaurus).[5] The winners of the first round were Ultra Magnus, Star Saber and Optimus Primal, advancing into the second round alongside the Unknown Evil as a wildcard.[6] The poll ended a month later on February 18, and Optimus Primal was chosen as the next Prime.[7]
At the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, Hasbro revealed during their panel some of the figures of the toyline.[8] The figures shown were those of Liege Maximo, Dreadwind, Blackwing, Starscream, Jazz and Rodimus Prime.[8] During Hasbro's first HasCon fan convention in September, the new Combiner Volcanicus was revealed. The combiner is composed of the five Dinobots: Grimlock, Slug, Sludge, Snarl and Swoop.[9][10]
Controversy
In November 2017, a fan noticed that a tiny print found on the vehicle mode of Jazz featured scribbles that, when translated from the Cybertronian alphabet, read out "MAGA", which is an abbreviation for "Make America Great Again", the slogan of President Donald Trump.[11] Hasbro soon released a statement that the issue had been investigated and that a vendor had placed the acronym without authorization. The company also clarified that they are addressing the issue with the vendor and that they "do not intend for [their] products to carry political messages, apologiz[ing] to anyone who was offended by this message".[12]
Animated series
Comic book
According to John Barber, editor of IDW Publishing,[13] the ongoing Transformers comics published by the company will not feature a crossover event based on Power of the Primes.[14][15] IDW had previously published crossover events based on Combiner Wars[16] and Titans Return.[17]
References
- Couch, Aaron (November 29, 2016). "'Transformers' Unveils Endgame in Its 'Prime Wars Trilogy'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- Sokol, Tony (November 29, 2016). "Machinima And Hasbro Team to Continue Transformers Animated Web Series". Den of Geek!. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- Trumbore, Dave (November 29, 2016). "'Transformers' Animated Web Series 'The Prime Wars Trilogy' to Continue on Machinima". Collider. Complex Media. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- Hipes, Patrick (November 29, 2016). "Machinima & Hasbro Reteam To Develop Final Two Transformers Prime War Trilogy Chapters". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Fahey, Mike (January 27, 2017). "Transformers Fans Are Voting For The Next Leader Of Cybertron". Kotaku Australia. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Fahey, Mike (January 27, 2018). "One Of These Four Transformers Will Be The Next Leader Of Cybertron". Kotaku. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Fahey, Mike (February 18, 2017). "The Next Leader Of Cybertron Is A Total Beast". Kotaku. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- Sheehan, Gavin (July 20, 2017). "Megatron Takes Over The Hasbro Transformers Panel, Shows Us New Figures". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- Fahey, Mike (September 13, 2017). "Transformers' Dinobots Finally Combine To Form A Giant Robot". Kotaku. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- Arrant, Chris (September 13, 2017). "Meet Transformers' New Dinobot Combiner, Volcanicus". Newsarama. Purch Group. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- Whitbrook, James (November 17, 2017). "Uh, Is This Transformers Toy a Trump Supporter?". io9, Gizmodo. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- Glass, Joe (November 18, 2017). "New Transformers Jazz Toy Seems To Support President Donald Trump". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- "IDW Welcomes John Barber as Senior Editor". Comic Book Resources. Valnet Inc. July 12, 2011. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
- Barber, John [@TheJohnBarber] (March 1, 2018). "I don't really know anything about POTP. At one time the TF comics were going to do a tie-in with the then-not-yet-named third Prime Wars thing, which worked out because RID/TF/OP had been building to the Onyx Prime story since issue, what, RID 28? Something like that" (Tweet). Retrieved March 8, 2018 – via Twitter.
- Barber, John [@TheJohnBarber] (March 1, 2018). "But somewhere along the line, the plan for an explicit, named, tie-in got dropped. The Onyx Prime story was always going to happen, though. Like, I pitched the storyline a loooooong time ago" (Tweet). Retrieved March 8, 2018 – via Twitter.
- "Transformers: Combiner Wars". IDW Publishing. August 2015. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- "Transformers: Titans Return". IDW Publishing. January 2017. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2018.