All TRANSTECH, All The Time!
The reasons for Transtech's cancellation remain unknown for certain, though over the years, a number of possible reasons have been speculated, among them: negative fan reaction to Beast Machines, conflict with Mainframe, economic difficulties due to poor performance by other Hasbro toylines at the time, differences with Takara, or simply a desire to go in a new direction. The most likely explanation is not a singular culprit, but a number of corresponding culprits, perhaps culminating in the closing of Hasbro's Cincinnati offices and departures of staff, followed by the subsequent relocation to Hasbro's central offices in Rhode Island. The cancellation of Transtech led to the Japanese Car Robots cartoon and toyline being imported as a stopgap measure while Hasbro and Takara began to work together to jointly create and launch the Armada line. And look how that turned out. BADLY!! Story-wise, not much is known about the original concept. It likely would have picked up on technorganic Cybertron following the events of Beast Machines. A Mainframe CGI animated series to support the line was likely in the discussion stage at some point. Six years later, Transtech designs were used to populate a new continuity, featuring an older universe where Cybertron is home to Axiom Nexus, a city that is a hub for dimensional travelers. Transformers from other universes sometimes find themselves stranded there, by either design or accident, and are processed for integration. The characters transformed into Cybertronic vehicles that in many cases had animal-like features/deco. Cheetor was a Cybertronic race-car with a cheetah-like paint job, for instance, and Prime (confusingly invoking Optimus Primal) was a truck whose front end looked like an ape's face. Designs were done by Draxhall Jump and had somewhat less traditional robot modes (Cheetor had large hoop "wheels" for shoulders and feet, for instance) and didn't always resemble older versions of the character very closely. The overall aesthetic was somewhere in-between Beast Machines' odder moments and the new 2007 movie designs. Many of these designs were first shown at BotCon 2002 (apparently without Hasbro's permission, as they were pulled from the booth halfway through the show) and subsequently made available online. Although the Transtech line never reached production, prototypes for Starscream (Apparently heavily influenced by his Machine Wars incarnation) and Cheetor were constructed, and eventually found their way into the hands of private collectors. Concept sketches have also been seen for Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Depth Charge, Megatron, Nightscream, Optimus Prime, Scavenger, Shockwave, Silverbolt, Soundwave, Starscream and a new character called Immorticon.
Google Transtech Transformers, Go ahead, EVERYONE's DOING IT...
Are you sceptical about Transtech? Did you hate Beast Machines or is Animated just not what you invisioned Transformers to become. Then go ahead and just Google Transtech Transformers. Search images or the web. Several interesting fan pictures, FanFics and several more searches can be found. Interesting tales of what could have been and what still can be can be found anywhere Transformers is available. Look it up on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Discover donzens of concept sketches that Hasbro commissioned designs for from Draxhall Jump. Take my advice. I think you may be surprised.
Trasntech Optimus lives on in Animated
As you see in this photo many of Transtech's designs were brought out into other eras of Transformers series like the Trasntech Optimus Prime. It was brought back in the recent Transformers Animated series that is currently on its third and last season.
Transtech Optimus lives on in Animated
And again in this photo you can clarly see the resemblance to Transtech Optimus and Animated Optimus. They are both great works of art. Even if Transech never gets to see daylight Transtech Optimus will live on as Animated Optimus.
