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Cartoon and Hasbro executives told the [Hollywood Reporter] that the new series, Transformers Animated, will be significantly different from the others, adding humor, never-before-seen characters and a new premise in which the Autobots fight evil humans in superhero fashion much more frequently than they battle the Decepticons, the traditional Transformers enemy since the franchise launched as a toy line in 1984.

The animated series won't pick up on any of the themes from the Paramount/DreamWorks film, which is directed by Michael Bay.

In the new Cartoon series, the robots will have a lot more human qualities, allowing kids to identify with the characters much more than in previous series.

The plan is to produce 26 half-hour episodes, as well as a 90-minute special that will serve as the series premiere. Matt Youngberg (Teen Titans, The Batman) is the supervising director of the series, and Sam Register (Teen Titans) will serve as executive producer.

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Set on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the alien TRANSFORMERS are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to Earth, the TRANSFORMERS--OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, PROWL, BULKHEAD and RATCHET--work in the human world, interacting with the ‘natives’ in exciting and humorous ways.

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Human super-villains and Decepticon villains. Hasbro and Cartoon Network wanted the Decepticons to be more of a menace - "OMG A DECEPTICON." Decepticons are a much bigger threat than the humans. "When Megatron's gonna show up, it's gonna be a big deal." Not a Con/Bot battle every day. But, there's often a Con influence on what the human villains do.

[. . .]

Human characters
Cpt. Fanzone - Police chief in Detroit
Sari and her father Isaac Sumdac - the most interactive human characters. They can't tell us how, but NOT the "annoying human sidekick telling the big robot from outer space what to do." Sari's an outcast, she looks to them for friendship. They look to her to fit in.
Human villains - "The Angry Archer" *snerk!* Looks like a dopey evil Robin Hood. "Super-powered dudes. Some can run fast, some are super strong, some spew acid, some look good in a pimp suit."

[. . .]

Detroit - Designers flew out there to draw some familiar buildings, but it looks really futury. Centerpiece is the Sumdac Tower, owned by Sari's dad-the Bill Gates of the city. It looks like a sparkplug. Detroit now builds robots instead of cars.

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