Despite the monetary success, those closest to the original Transformers consider Michael Bay’s work on the movie franchise nothing short of abomination. Just hearing the word can now send a shiver down our spines as so much of our childhood was violated by his racism filled robotic romp.

Hearing there was going to be a new Transformers game brought us that same feeling. However, there was a shining light coming through the clouds, as bright as the AllSpark, when it was announced that the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron would be based on the original G1 universe.

Not only would Transformers: War of Cybertron take place in the most beloved of Transformers canon, but it would fill in the blanks for many fans of the series. All under the watchful gaze of franchise creators Hasbro, High Moon Studios has put together the pieces of what happened during the civil war between Autobot and Decepticon before the two factions found themselves warring on earth. In the video after the jump, it is obvious that High Moon Studios shares the affinity for Transformers Generation One that Michael Bay looked over.

Published by Activision, Transformers: War for Cybertron will come out for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and the PC in May of this year. Click through to take a look at what is in store for longtime and newfound fans of the Transformers.

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It was an interesting show for the Oscars this year.  From the “Kanye” moment to Sean Penn somewhat proudly proclaiming he’s not part of the Academy.  Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (The Blind Side) the very same year she accepted a Razzie for Worst Actress (All About Steve).  And, of course, the gross upset of Avatar at the hands of The Hurt Locker.  With 41 million viewers, this year’s Oscars had something for everyone but, perhaps more interestingly, it best reflected the two sides of Hollywood which exist today.

How fitting to have two hosts on the one Oscar night that would truly exemplify both faces of Hollywood.  For so long many have seen Hollywood as one massive, filmmaking entity but that really isn’t the case.  Now more than ever there’s a division between what I’m calling (for the purposes of this article) “mainstream” Hollywood and “performance” Hollywood.  The names pretty much say it all.

Films in the mainstream category are all the summer blockbusters, tent pole movies studios rely on to turn a healthy profit year over year (e.g. Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Avatar).  In contrast you have the performance pictures, lesser known films with limited release and all too often far less money behind them (e.g. Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker).  These are two very different types of films, each vying for the attention of movie goers.

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According to Variety, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the prolific writer-producers involved with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek and Fox’s series Fringe, have signed an exclusive three-year deal with 20th Century Fox TV. As part of the deal, which officially starts March 1, the duo will bring in show ideas, recruit writers to work with them and also create their own projects, either by themselves or with others.

According to the article, 20th Century Fox TV chairman Dana Walden couldn’t be happier with the deal. “We’ve been pursuing this deal for quite some time,” said Walden. “They would elevate any type of development. But they were very thoughtful about the kind of commitment they were making. They didn’t want to overpromise.”

As for the writer/producers themselves, they are equally as excited. “We’ve been excited about going back into TV, but wanted to wait until the feature side of our company was on its feet,” Kurtzman said.

“One of the things that drew us back to TV was the idea that we could do the kind of stories that we’re not known for in features,” said Orci. “From sci-fi to procedurals to medical genres, those are all the kind of shows that we love.”

For TV, the prolific pair are already overseeing CBS’ reboot of Hawaii Five-O, which recently got a pilot order. They are also producing a new animated version of Transformers for the Hub, the new Discovery/Hasbro joint venture that is set to replace Discovery Kids later this year. Even though they are still involved with Transformers, let’s hope their TV projects during this new deal are more like Fringe and less like Transformers.

Even with all the movie and TV news we do around here, we also love us some games — especially when those games tie into a movie. Case in point is the upcoming game from Activision and High Moon Studios: Transformers: War for Cybertron. In case you’re not familiar, the game features two distinct storylines: the Autobot campaign tells a story of heroism to save their home planet against overwhelming odds, and the Decepticon campaign tells a story of an unquenchable thirst for power to control the universe.

You will also be able to “play the game with friends through team-based online co-op, or go head to head in a variety of intense, online multiplayer game modes.” In addition, the game “features a sci-fi art style that introduces to fans the entire living, metallic world of Cybertron, as well as all-new visualizations of the iconic Transformers characters in their original Cybertronian forms.” I don’t know about you but I think that sounds pretty awesome. The trailer isn’t bad either.

Transformers: War for Cybertron is in development and will be released later this year for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC and DS.

Check out the brand new trailer after the jump.

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For those who didn’t have the opportunity to come down to San Diego Comic-Con, here are some pics from my own photo journal of the event. Everything from Star Wars costumes, Street Fighter characters, gigantic booth displays and even everyone’s favorite Lou Ferrigno, it’s all here.

Enjoy. For our other photos from the Con, go here, here and here. Check out all of John’s photos after the jump.

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At the San Diego Comic-Con, IDW Publishing revealed several major digital comic book expansions for the iPhone and iPod Touch. IDW’s newest offerings include the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra prequel comics, Transformers and CSI. An expanded electronic catalog of the G.I. Joe and Transformers tales, as well as Danger Girl, Astro Boy, Groom Lake, John Sable Freelance and GrimJack will also be available in the weeks ahead.

“The digital medium represents a huge opportunity for the comics industry, and we’re proud to be leading the way,” states IDW CEO, Ted Adams. “Through e-publishing, we can introduce an entire new audience to comics and the joys of comic books.”

IDW launched the first digital Transformers comics in May, and rapidly became a popular paid iTunes application. The Transformer catalogue also includes the prequel and adaptation graphic novels for the original movie. IDW’s entire G.I.Joe: The Rise of the Cobra prequel comics are now available, with the movie adaptations coming soon. The fan-favorite series G.I. Joe: Origins and the CSI comic series are now available for download on iTunes.

In addition to new material and story lines, IDW will also bring the classic 1980s Transformers and G.I. Joe series to the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Internet, beginning with Classic Transformers, which can be found online at classic-transformers.com.

IDW’s classic comic expansion will begin J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell’s sexy spy comic, Danger Girl. Danger Girl #0 is currently available as a free application on iTunes, and features an eight-page preview of the comic.

With San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest gathering of geekdom in the world, fast approaching, fanboys and girls prepare for one of their favorite parts of any big convention: the exclusives. Action figures, variant covers, statues, t-shirts, keychains and all other random swag branded with fan’s favorite comic, movie and tv show characters can be found in the halls of the massive San Diego Convention Center.

With San Diego Comic-Con also being the premier event for new product and franchise announcements, information and promotion, it’s only fitting that every year, their exclusives keep getting better and better.

Here are just some of the ones we here at The Flickcast are looking forward to this year:

DC Direct Blackest Night Action Figures

Limited to 1500 pieces each, except for the Green Lantern version which will have 3000 units produced, and priced at $20 each, Blackest Night is kicked off in to full effect with Hal Jordan getting the color treatment from five of the eight Lantern Corps. After having seen Hal already don a blue ring in the build to blackest night, is it possible that this is a preview of what may come for our hero?

Did the vision Hal had where Sinestro said he needs Hal’s help mean this Sinestro Corp uniform could be in Hal’s future? Regardless, DC Direct puts out high quality figures that are fantastically sculpted and these look to be no exception.

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Who Doesn’t Love Dancing Robots?

Coming up with this week’s Fan Film Friday was actually pretty tough. There are plenty of fan stop-motion films out there in the webverse, but which one warrants more attention? It had to be the one that doesn’t acknowledge the new films, as Bay’s latest sequel ruins Transformers for any real fan, so we ultimately went with the easiest, a dancing Optimus Prime.

The original, done about 3 years ago by inspirational comedian Judson Laipply, goes down as one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time, with over 100 million hits. Check out Optimus’s version after the jump, and here’s the original Evolution of Dance, in case you feel the need to compare.

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With July just around the corner, and half of the big summer blockbusters already out in theaters for the year, questions are coming up on what the “next big thing for 2009″ will be. According to a press release by Fandango, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen looks to be the one to put your money on.

The film is currently outpacing this summer’s Star Trek movie and the original Transformers in advance ticket sales on Fandango at the same point in those films’ sales cycles (one week before release date).

“For nearly two years – since the last Transformers opened – this new movie has been one of the most highly-anticipated films among fans on our site,” says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango. “Tickets for the new Transformers are already selling fast, so moviegoers should plan on buying their tickets in advance, as many showtimes are certain to sell out next week.”

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With the hype machine in full swing for the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, more and more info about the film is starting to come out. Of course, we’ve covered it quite a bit here at The Flickcast with photos, videos and more. We’ve also covered one of the stars of the film a bit more extensively than the rest. Of course, I’m talking about Megan Fox. But really, can you blame us?

We’re big fans of Ms. Fox and have always thought she was extremely beautiful and pretty much perfect in every way. Really, she almost seemed too good to be true in her perfection. Well, now we find out that she really is too good to be true. In fact, she’s not real at all and is totally computer generated. How do we know? We’ve got the video to prove it.

Watch the video and go behind the scenes with Transformers producers as they reveal how Megan Fox was created and what it was like to shoot the film pretending this perfect woman was there when she really wasn’t. See as filmmakers announce for the first time a new ersion of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen where you put on a pair of glasses and everything turns to Megan Fox. Its all very enlightening and, well, very disappointing too.

But seeing as how we’re such fans of Ms. Fox around here and are really disappointed to learn the news that she’s not real, maybe the fimmakers would be willing to send us one of those Megan Fox animatronic dolls as consolation? It might help to ease our, um, suffering.

Be sure to check out the video after the jump. . . if you dare.

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