Transformers: Prime (cartoon)

Transformers: Prime is a multiple Daytime Emmy Award-winning computer-animated television series that premiered on The Hub on November 26, 2010 with a five-part mini-series, which was followed by a season of another 21 episodes beginning on February 11, 2011. Season 2 began screening February 18, 2012, and a third season of thirteen episodes with the subtitle Beast Hunters began screening on March 22, 2013. Predacons Rising, a TV movie, concluded the show on October 4, 2013.

The Canadian broadcast of the series has been undertaken by Corus Entertainment, and the show aired on Teletoon from January 9, 2011 to August 16, 2013, with the TV movie Predacons Rising premiering on November 15, 2013.

The series premiered in the UK on September 5, 2011 on Cartoon Network's "Action Heroes" block. It began airing in Japan on April 7, 2012 on TV Aichi.

A follow-up series called Robots in Disguise aired from early 2015 to late 2017. {| class="wikitable"

Contents
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 * 1 Story
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Episodes
 * 3.1 Season 1
 * 3.2 Season 2
 * 3.3 Season 3: Beast Hunters
 * 3.4 TV movie
 * 4 Production
 * 5 Reception
 * 6 Awards and nominations
 * 6.1 2011 Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 6.2 2012 Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 6.3 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 6.4 2014 Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 7 Japanese release
 * 8 Home video releases
 * 9 Soundtrack
 * 10 Foreign Name
 * 11 Notes
 * 12 Footnotes
 * 13 External links
 * }

Story
Team Prime lives on Earth, three years after their last confrontation with Decepticons. Autobot Central Command is located in a converted missile silo in Nevada provided by the United States government, with Special Agent William Fowler acting as their liaison. However, the presence of Transformers on Earth is not generally known among the civilian population.

When the Decepticons resurface, the Autobots take three teenage witnesses, Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, and Raf Esquivel under their protection. Megatron returns having discovered Dark Energon, which grants him the power to resurrect the dead, but is injured, with Starscream taking command in his absence. After Megatron's revival, Starscream flees after repeatedly showing he is unable to prove his loyalty to the Decepticon leader.

The Autobots and Decepticons eventually make the startling discovery that Earth is in fact the body of Unicron, forcing them to ally and prevent his consciousness from reasserting control over the planet. Optimus Prime unleashes the Matrix of Leadership, but at the cost of losing his memory, thereby allowing Megatron to manipulate him into joining the Decepticons' ranks. By using information from Vector Sigma downloaded to the Key, Jack restores Optimus's memory.

The Autobots also contend with the human terrorist organization, MECH, headed by former military operative Leland Bishop, aka Silas, who targets the Cybertronians for their technology, capturing Breakdown, Bumblebee, and Starscream for parts, and building a doppelgänger controlled by Silas. In the ensuing confrontation, Silas is fatally injured, forcing MECH to graft him into Breakdown. With this new body, Silas destroys his own organization and attempts to join the Decepticons, only to become Knock Out's new dissection study.

The Autobots and Decepticons' struggle becomes a competition for Cybertronian artifacts strewn across the planet, which turn out to have been placed there by Alpha Trion, who foresaw the Autobots coming to Earth. Trion also orders them to find the Omega Keys, which will activate the Omega Lock and restore Cybertron. Though the keys are successfully gathered, Megatron gains possession of them and attempts to use the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth, forcing Optimus to destroy the Lock to save Earth.

Megatron responds by destroying the Autobot base, and Optimus is mortally wounded staying behind to ensure everyone else escapes through the GroundBridge. From his newly-erected fortress Darkmount, Megatron reestablishes contact with Shockwave, learning the scientist has cloned a Predacon for the intent of hunting down the Autobots. The Autobots regroup following Ultra Magnus's arrival, while Smokescreen restores Optimus with the Forge of Solus Prime.

After destroying Darkmount, the status quo is restored, with the Autobots based at a Unit:E facility, while the Decepticons retreat to orbit Earth in the Nemesis once more. The Autobots learn of Project Predacon and race the Decepticons for the location of Predacon fossils, to prevent Shockwave from cloning more of the beasts. Ultimately, Megatron manipulates the Autobots into destroying the project when he discovers Predaking is intelligent, and therefore a potential power rival. Instead, he turns his attentions to rebuilding the Omega Lock.

After the Decepticons kidnap Ratchet to help in their plan, the Autobots assault the Nemesis and capture the ship, killing Megatron before he can use the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth. The Autobots use the Omega Lock to restore Cybertron and settle back on their homeworld. The new peace doesn't last, as Cybertron's revival reawakens the slumbering Unicron, who takes Megatron's lifeless body as his own and seeks to destroy Primus. As Optimus retrieves the AllSpark, Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons unite under Bumblebee and Predaking to face the Chaos Bringer in defense of their home. Optimus sacrifices himself to seal away Unicron and restore the AllSpark to its rightful place while Megatron disbands the Decepticons and goes into self-imposed exile.

Episodes

 * For further information, see: List of Prime episodes

Season 1

 * 1) Darkness Rising, Part 1
 * 2) Darkness Rising, Part 2
 * 3) Darkness Rising, Part 3
 * 4) Darkness Rising, Part 4
 * 5) Darkness Rising, Part 5
 * 6) Masters & Students
 * 7) Scrapheap
 * 8) Con Job
 * 9) Convoy
 * 10) Deus ex Machina
 * 11) Speed Metal
 * 12) Predatory
 * 13) Sick Mind
 * 14) Out of His Head
 * 15) Shadowzone
 * 16) Operation: Breakdown
 * 17) Crisscross
 * 18) Metal Attraction
 * 19) Rock Bottom
 * 20) Partners
 * 21) T.M.I.
 * 22) Stronger, Faster
 * 23) One Shall Fall
 * 24) One Shall Rise, Part 1
 * 25) One Shall Rise, Part 2
 * 26) One Shall Rise, Part 3

Season 2

 * 1) Orion Pax, Part 1
 * 2) Orion Pax, Part 2
 * 3) Orion Pax, Part 3
 * 4) Operation Bumblebee, Part 1
 * 5) Operation Bumblebee, Part 2
 * 6) Loose Cannons
 * 7) Crossfire
 * 8) Nemesis Prime
 * 9) Grill†
 * 10) Armada
 * 11) Flying Mind
 * 12) Tunnel Vision
 * 13) Triangulation
 * 14) Triage
 * 15) Toxicity
 * 16) Hurt
 * 17) Out of the Past
 * 18) New Recruit
 * 19) The Human Factor
 * 20) Legacy
 * 21) Alpha/Omega
 * 22) Hard Knocks
 * 23) Inside Job
 * 24) Patch†
 * 25) Regeneration
 * 26) Darkest Hour

Season 3: Beast Hunters

 * 1) Darkmount, NV
 * 2) Scattered
 * 3) Prey
 * 4) Rebellion
 * 5) Project Predacon
 * 6) Chain of Command
 * 7) Plus One
 * 8) Thirst
 * 9) Evolution
 * 10) Minus One
 * 11) Persuasion
 * 12) Synthesis
 * 13) Deadlock

TV movie

 * Predacons Rising

† Clip show

Production
GET OFF MY FACE!!! After the live-action film series, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman signed to become show runners with Jeff Kline and Duane Capizzi of The Hub's Transformers cartoon, explaining the TV show would not have the constraints of a two-hour film in delving into the mythology. (Orci's employees Steven Puri and Mandy Safavi were also credited as producers.) The show runners were given the "Binder of Revelation", a near 400-page production bible that Hasbro had been working on since the movies, that combined elements of the most popular continuities. The show's title was based on the desire to create a master continuity and a literal Prime continuity. Whereas the movies were about a boy and his car, the dynamic between the kids and the robots on the show was meant to be more like The Iron Giant.

The writing staff was headed by Capizzi, with Marsha Griffin as the story editor. The staff consists of Nicole Dubuc, Joseph Kuhr, and Steven Melching. Kline said they wanted the show to be very cinematic, with tension, suspense, and danger (as marked by Cliffjumper's death in the pilot) as children are more media savvy than they were in the past. Regardless, they had to be considerate as the show still had a broad audience. As part of the aligned continuity family with War for Cybertron and Exodus, the producers strove to maintain many of the common elements (eg. Optimus and Megatron's past friendship, Dark Energon's origins as Unicron's blood, Bumblebee sharing his film counterpart's backstory), but were allowed contradictions if it served the storytelling. By using the mammoth story bible, the writers could plan events years in advance. The large number of episodes per season meant they could pace and establish characters during season 1 slowly, while saving the more momentous, less stand alone episodes that delved into the backstory for season 2. Some of the plot ideas (namely the zombie robots) were based on stories they came up with when playing with the toys as kids. Bob Skir has written some episodes.

Designers include Christophe Vacher (colors), Vince Toyama and Jevon Bue (backgrounds), and Jose Lopez (lead character designer). Vacher wanted to do something different from traditional animation and saw something edgy about Prime. According to Ken Christiansen, the show's characters were formed by Hasbro Studios hiring freelance conceptual artists like himself. The submitted artwork was given Lopez's staff to be examined, and they incorporated the ideas they liked best. Other concept artists include Augusto Barranco and Walter Gatus.

Supervising director Dave Hartman headed a team including Todd Waterman, Shaunt Nigoghossian, Vinton Heuck, and Kirk Van Wormer. Polygon Pictures provided the CG animation, for which Digitalscape performed a recruitment drive for before the show began production. Lopez said the animation would be a "groundbreaking mix of 2D animation and CGI". Each character has three CG models: the robot mode, their alternate mode, and one for the transformation. Lopez said the designs were personality driven, and that the 3D animation allowed them to go "crazy" with the transformation schemes. In contrast, the characters were given realistic textures, and are subject to battle damage during episodes. A show on the level of Prime would take two years to produce, but the animators only had ten months. Five episodes are animated at a time (hence the monthly gaps during the first season).

The staff had three years of story planned, but while writing it became clear that the escalating storylines made it impossible to maintain self-contained episodes and they burned through those planned three years within the second season. The idea of incorporating Beasts into the third season was a late idea.

Susan Blu was the casting director, but was replaced as voice director by Jamie Simone following a death in her family. Brian Tyler composed the show's theme song and background music. Matthew Margeson served as music arranger.

Rik Alvarez said in 2015 that Prime and Hasbro's design team had often clashed on story (the writers wanted more autonomy from the "Binder of Revelation" and Hasbro wanted a more streamlined franchise), which came to a head on Beast Hunters. The show also went overbudget (each episode cost $1.6 million) and The Hub itself didn't have as many people as planned, dooming the show despite plans for a fourth year. Dropped plans included a S3 set mostly on Cybertron, with Maximals and Predacons in a 'wild west' set up  and an idea for pirates in S4. In turn, this also derailed plans for a massive Avengers-style crossover project for Hasbro properties, launching off the end of Prime called Unit:E, which began as a one-off comic in 2011, and had seeds planted in various episodes (implying Agent Fowler worked for Unit:E itself, plus mentioning Skystrikers and M.A.S.K.).

Reception
Transformers: Prime has recieved widespread acclaim, even from outside of the Transformers fandom. Over the course of the show's run-time, it won nine Daytime Emmy Awards, two CINE Awards, and was nominated for several more, as well as consistently ranking as one of the Hub's most popular programs. Within the fandom, the show quickly won fans over, an impressive feat for the chronological successor to the widely-loved Transformers Animated. Qualities particularly celebrated include the cinematography, visuals and animation, voice acting (including the return of Peter Cullen and Frank Welker to the roles of Optimus Prime and Megatron, something the actors themselves rejoiced over), and characterization. There is also a great deal of praise given to the serious, more mature storytelling of Prime that had not been attempted in Transformers media since Beast Machines. For all of these reasons, it is usually considered one of the best Transformers cartoons.

That said, the show is not universally loved, and not just because Bumblebee was better when he could speak. In the second season, the show's aforementioned budget problems were the cause of some of the most common complaints: in addition to necessitating two clip shows (an all-but-extinct concept in cartoons in the 2010s), the cashflow crisis caused several plot threads to suddenly be dropped or truncated in order to shrink the cast; Breakdown and Airachnid were abruptly killed or written out (respectively) despite being a feature of active subplots in order to eliminate the cost of their celebrity voice actors, as were characters performed by actors that were not part of the "main" cast, like Silas, Hardshell, and Dreadwing. Other complaints focused on the lack of buildup or foreshadowing for certain major threats like Unicron and the Predacons; in the case of the latter, former Hasbro employee Rik Alvarez confirmed that this was the result of Hasbro staff changes forcefully altering the direction of the show from what was intended. Another criticism had been made towards the lack of weight given to character deaths beyond Cliffjumper, usually resulting in anticlimax. A minority also lamented that the expensive animation budgeted the number of character models they could render, and thus led to a relatively small cast and an isolated setting, not unlike Beast Wars.

2011 Daytime Emmy Awards

 * Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program - Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
 * Outstanding Directing In An Animated Program - David Hartman, Supervising Director; Shaunt Nigoghossian; Todd Waterman; Vinton Heuck; Susan Blu, Voice Director
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Vince Toyama, Background Designer (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Christophe Vacher, Colour Designer (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition - Brian Tyler
 * Outstanding Writing In Animation - Duane Capizzi, Writer/Producer; Steven Melching; Nicole Dubuc; Joseph Kuhr; Marsha Griffin

2012 Daytime Emmy Awards

 * Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing (Animation) - Robbi Smith, Dialogue Editor, Robert Poole II, Sound Effects Editor, Roy Braverman, Foley Editor
 * Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing (Animation) - Ray Leonard, Re-Recording Mixer, Mike Bieriger, Re-Recording Mixer
 * Outstanding Special Class Animated Program - Roberto Orci, Stephen Davis, Shuzo Shiota, Alex Kurtzman, Jeff Kline, Duane Capizzi, Mandy Safavi, Rafael Ruthchild, Shinji Santoh, Meiko Sato, Therese Trujillo (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program - David Hartman, Vinton Heuck, Shaunt Nigoghossian, Todd Waterman, Jamie Simone
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Christophe Vacher (WINNER)

2013 Daytime Emmy Awards

 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Jason Park, background design for "Orion Pax, Part 3". (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Arato Kato, character animation for "Hard Knocks". (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Kirk Van Wormer, storyboard art for "Nemesis Prime". (WINNER)

2014 Daytime Emmy Awards

 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Jose Lopez, Character Design (WINNER)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Yasuhiro Motoda, Character Animator (WINNER)

Japanese release
Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Prime (超ロボット生命体 トランスフォーマー プライム Chō Robot Seimeitai Transformers Prime) began airing in Japan on TV Tokyo affiliate TV Aichi, beginning April 7, 2012, with an 8am Saturday morning timeslot (the same channel and timeslot as the previous two Transformers cartoons to air in Japan). It ended its 52 episode run on March 30, 2013.

To reflect Takara's unique marketing strategy for the toyline—the prominent gimmick of the non-show Arms Microns—the series included CGI-animated cartoon shorts starring those little robots, called "Arms Micron Theater", at the end of every episode. The shorts centered around the Arms Microns maintaining an undercover presence amongst the Autobots, who are not even aware that their weapons are alive.

Another additional segment titled "From the Cybertron Satellite, Transformers Division", hosted by the popular J-pop idol group, Tokyo Girls' Style, was also tacked onto each episode. These segments featured the idol girls interacting with Vector Sigma in order to relay important facts about the Transformers franchise to the audience. These facts usually involved promoting the newest toys and merchandise available as well as offering tutorials on how to transform the toys (much like the Otoboto family segments from Transformers Animated).

Due to the longer title sequence and end credits, as well as the two additional bonus segments, each episode had approximately three minutes of content removed for time constraints. Many of these edits were to reduce environment pans or establishing shots. However, as the show was reworked to appeal to a younger audience (as all Western Transformers cartoons are when localized for Japan), the violence during the fight sequences was edited for content.

Like all Japanese dubs of Western Transformers cartoons, transformation commands were added, such as shouting "Transform!" Additionally, whenever a character popped their weapon out of their hands/arms, they screamed "Arms Up!" Text was overlayed on the screen whenever a character first appeared in each episode, providing their name and function. In addition, promotional text for various Transformers-specific campaigns from TakaraTomy scrolled by over the episode as things were happening, which could be kind of... distracting.

Like the dubs of Beast Wars, Beast Wars Metals, Beast Wars Returns, and Animated, the localization of Prime was headed up by Yoshikazu Iwanami. As is his way, Yoshikazu had the humor ratcheted up considerably. Self-aware, Fourth Wall-breaking jokes were added. An example occurs as early as the end of "Darkness Rising, Part 2", when the manipulator arm turns into a spider-like creature and starts crawling around. In the dub, Ratchet thinks he hears the audience telling him to watch his back, but brushes their concerns off as unimportant.

Characters were also fundamentally altered to be more humorously quirky. Airachnid, for example, was changed into a female parody of Pepé Le Pew; boy-crazy and single-mindedly amorous in her pursuit of Jack. As with Yoshikazu's previous efforts, ad-libbing was utilized extensively to soften tension and suspense; the characters talk a lot.

On August 12, 2012, TV Tokyo aired the "Transformers Prime Perfect Transformation Late Night 2-Hour Special" hosted by Chisato Mori, Nozomi Furuki and Yūki Tai. The special featured a recap of "Darkness Rising, Part 1" thru "Rock Bottom", brand new "From the Cybertron Satellite, Transformers Division" and "Arms Micron Theater" segments, various cast interviews and commentary, and a special comparison between the original English language version of "Predatory" and the radically different Japanese language version.

The Japanese version of Prime only ran for 52 episodes (the first two seasons of the original English language version). "Darkest Hour" was edited and reworked to function as a series finale. This mainly involved rescripting the ending and cutting the cliffhanger so as to give the show a more ambiguously positive send off; Optimus Prime valiantly holding the line as Megatron looms over him in the Nemesis. The Beast Hunters era of the Prime franchise was rebranded by TakaraTomy as a new franchise, Triple Combination: Transformers Go!. While the Beast Hunters toys were marketed and sold in Japan, it is currently unknown when or if the remaining 13 episodes of Prime and the Predacons Rising film will ever be released in Japan.

The theme songs are:


 * OP 1: "FEELING" by BIGBANG
 * ED 1: "I Believe in All" by CLUTCHO
 * OP 2: "TRANSFORMERZ" by m-flo
 * ED 2: "A Little Bit" by CLUTCHO
 * OP 3: "TRANSFORMERZ (version 2.0)" by m-flo feat. Ken Oshima
 * ED 3: "Discord" by Tokyo Girls' Style

Home video releases

 * Main article: Transformers: Prime (cartoon)/home video


 * United States


 * Transformers: Prime - Darkness Rising (2011)
 * Transformers: Prime - Hub promotional DVD [Walmart Exclusive] Includes 3 episodes (2011)
 * Transformers: Prime - Season One (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - One Shall Stand (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Season Two (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Dawn of the Beast [Target Exclusive] (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime - Predacons Rising (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime - Season Three (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime - Ultimate Bumblebee (2014)
 * Transformers: Prime - Ultimate Autobots (2014)


 * Germany


 * Transformers: Prime #1 - Die dunkle Macht erhebt sich (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #2 - Meister und Schüler (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #3 - Nur dieses eine Mal (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #4 - Die vierte Dimension (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #5 - Metallische Anziehung (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #6 - Die Prophezeiung (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime Staffel 1 (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime #7 - Orion Pax (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime #8 - Der falsche Prime (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime #9 - Angriff auf Megatron (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime #10 - Bulkheads Mission (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime #11 - Die Omega-Schlüssel (2013)
 * Transformers: Prime #12 - Die Entscheidung (2014)
 * Transformers: Prime - Beast Hunters - Schlacht um Darkmount (2015)


 * Australia


 * Transformers: Prime - Volume 1: Darkness Rising (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Volume 2: Unfamiliar Enemies (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Volume 3: Alien Threat (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Volume 4: Strength in Numbers (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Volume 5: One Shall Fall, One Shall Rise (2012)
 * Transformers: Prime - Season 2, Volume 1: Orion Pax (2013)

Soundtrack

 * Main article: Transformers Prime: Music from the Animated Series

Foreign Name

 * Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng: Lǐngxiù zhī Zhèng (China, 变形金刚：领袖之证, "Transfomers: Proof of Leader", Season 1 & 2), Biànxíng Jīngāng: Shòu Mó zhī Zhàn (China, 变形金刚：狩魔之战, "Transfomers: War of Demon Hunting", Season 3, Beast Hunters)