Transformers: Earthspak introduces a new generation of Transformers - the first to be born on Earth - and the human family that cares for them.
The voice cast for Transformers: Earthspark was revealed during San Diego Comic-Con 2022: Kathreen Khavari (Twitch), Zeno Robinson (Thrash), Sydney Mikayla (Robby Malto), Zion Broadnax (Morgan “Mo” Malto), Benny Latham (Dot Malto), Jon Jon Briones (Alex Malto), Alan Tudyk (Optimus Prime), Danny Pudi (Bumblebee), Rory McCann (Megatron), Cissy Jones (Elita-1), and Diedrich Bader (Mandroid).
Transformers: Earthspark hits Paramount+ in Fall 2022.
From Michael Thomas Downey, voice of Wheeljack - "Transformers:EarthSpark season two recording today. Working for the best team around. Some really exciting times are coming up for Wheeljack, the Terrans, and the whole Autobot/G.H.O.S.T team next season. Can’t wait to share it with y’all! Autobots roll out!"
And from Benni Latham, voice of Dot Malto - "Hey y’all. You’re witnessing a dream come true!! I’m recording for #TransformersEarthspark today!! I’m so thankful. Gratitude to the @nickelodeon and @paramountplus fam for this opportunity. 🧡🧡🧡"
LACKADAISY Pilot Short Review & Thoughts: INDIE Animation Greatness.
Okay, so I've just recently gotten finished watching the latest new indie animated pilot short: Lackadaisy. Honestly, I truly and seriously loved this 27-minute long film of bootlegging kitties' adventure! Now for those who are super new to this short and overall story of the Lackadaisy world, the short takes place in 1920s America specifically in St Louis Missouri during the prohibition era when all things alcoholic were OutLaw and where most of the characters consist of anthropomorphic cat people in this story.
The title comes from the name of the café also covered as an underground speakeasy "The little Daisy Café " or for very special Partons and guests that want to get their illegal drink on known as the Lackadaisy speakeasy. All in all, the business hasn't been like it used to be for the little once glamorous speakeasy, leaving our main cat trio of trouble of the short to dig up some much-needed booze. We got the highly chaotic also artistic wild spirit, wacky, smart but slightly dimwitted sweet grinning nut Rocky Rickaby. His baby-faced sweet and super adorable well mannered but deeply repressed rage Trigger happy cousin Calvin "Freckle" McMurray ,and last but not least little miss firecracker and sweetie full of spunk Ivy Peppers.
On the revival competitor side that is Marigold. We got our Cajuns sensations siblings danger duo the Savoy: Serafine and Nicodeme, And last Mr. Tuxedo always serious catman and professional "cleaner" extraordinaire Mordecai Heller who has some past history with the Lackadaisy staff & it past owner. Now a little details on what and why I enjoyed this film.
The Animation: Lackadaisy overall animation is fantastical amazing, like UGH from the impressive shading and lighting within the backgrounds from the way the characters eyes are super luminescence in the dark and really gives that feline aspect. To the intricate little details such as the characters very realistic cat ear twitching and other behavioral cat traits like the tail movements and fizzing of the fur when scared or startle, some criticism I've seen in the Live Chat in regards to the left in sketch/guidelines within the characters is that it's distracting. But personal for me I liked the added in sketch linework, it deeply reminded me of super old school classic Disney animation or seeing old traditional animationing videos on how they did things back in the day.
The Voice acting: I swear the voice casting in this was excellent and very on point. Each of the voice actors really fit so well into each of their characters, from Michael Kovach great voice work as Rocky who you can tell was really enjoying himself, to Channel Awesome Malcolm Ray as Nico and Benni Latham as Serafine and ProZD also known as SungWon Cho very nice and fantastic voice work as Mordecai and Belsheber Rusape as Freckle and Ashe Wagner as Mitzi, Lisa Reimold as Ivy. Just overall real good sounding Voice work.
The Story: Now when it comes to overall story, I liked how it was basically more of a standalone type of storytelling in its own kind of separate reality then what's currently going on in the comic thus far into it. I can maybe see others who've been following the webcomic for far longer might dislike certain changes in the pilot that differ a bit from the comic, but I can get why they went with it this way so it probably would be easier for newcomers to jump into it. While certain parts did felt a bit underwhelming & might not be super perfect, I still enjoyed the energy and pacing of this short. I felt they did a really good job as a pilot showcasing the premise /concept and some of the characteristics of the main cast, although not all of them...but I felt it did a nice enough job of giving you a taste of these characters and making you want more of them & find out what's their story is. Either way love how the pilot plot was this mini but disastrous bootlegging adventure of Rocky, Ivy and Freckle getting into trouble barely escaping with their lives all for some nasty tasting booze.
Final Thoughts: While I might not have been following this project or webcomic since early DeviantArt or back during the mid-2000s to 2010s ( even though I wished I got into it much earlier) as long as others have. But even as a somewhat new fan of this indie piece of work and incredible artsy, I truly really come to love Lackadaisy so much and I deeply hope that this pilot short will paved the way for even more crime-fulled animated kitties adventures in the future.
Please Check Out LACKADAISY and give it all the love and support it can get because I want more Booze stealing lawbreaking Cats to see!
Sketchbook Saturday ft. Losing My Mind Trying to Draw TFE Megatron consistently
I have a couple of posts lined up for the next few weeks but then I’ll run out lol
Still drawing this guy. Haha fun shapes
2nd time drawing TFP Starscream! Little bastard man
Dottie! I love her so much. She’s such an interesting character, and Benni Latham is incredibly talented.
And here’s Megatron, who somehow manages to look different every time I draw him. I’m starting to get the hang of him, but sir please
The man himself again! Every time I have art block I start drawing High Tide for some reason
Scoot TF2. I started drawing a bunch of old hyperfixiations, including the annoying Boston boy himself. I tried an in-game version and a comic version. Not sure which I prefer
Speaking of old hyperfixiations, I was obsessed with Marvel for a while. Here’s the Mad Titan himself, in the style that I wanted when Infinity War was coming out.
Benni Latham is just such a sweet person! I love her so much, she really is a lot like Dot Malto and you can see in her interviews and on the Instagram comments of her castmates' posts that she cares a lot about Earthspark and about her fellow voice actors and the other people involved in the show.
Please note that all opinions are my own. No one is paying me to talk about the film. I'm just a fan with a few opinions.
So I just watched the long anticipated animated film-pilot, based on the massively popular anthropomorphic comic, Lackadiasy.
And it was good. Not perfect, by any means. but good.
As with any independently funded project, there are undoubtably mistakes and problems that, with a professionally backed project, wouldn't be an issue.
The first 5 minutes can be completely cut out. In this scene, the titular character Rocky Rickaby (played by) pronounces an incredibly gawdy, overblown, too-long-for-its-own-good poem about the Mississippi River. From his violin, he spews glitter sparkles and gilded daises. The entirely of that scene could have been cut as it truly doesn't serve anything to the overall plot or character. Its truly a long-drawn sequence that is meant to show off the animation budget, which is mostly squandered since all Rocky does in that scene is prance across the bridge while hanging from the scaffolding beams. It feels as though the film is trying to pad out time. Instead of having this egregious poem play out, the film could have used that 5 minutes to help fully flesh out the overall plot that the film tries to explain.
The plot itself doesnt make itself known naturally. Often times, characters will have to speak a few lines of exposition. (this is scene with the Lackadaisy practiconer, Mitzi May, who monologues about the glory-days of the speakeasy to the giant portrait of her dead husband). We get vague hints that there was a falling out between Mordecai Heller (Played by Songwoo Cho) and the Lackadaisy Speakeasy. We get a vague sense of a rival business' called Marigold, and Mitzi's want of "the good old days" of the lackadaisy. But because the film itself spends a good chunk of its time with very well coreographic action scenes and car chases, we never get a real feel for what the lackadaisy represents to these characters, why its survival is important outside of "i miss the good old days" and "we need money" and why Mitzi is so hell-bent on bringing its corpse back to life. The film itself does a decent job of trying to que newcomers into the story, but truly the film is for the fans.
There were a multitude of scenes where it was too silent for its own good. Multiple scenes were lacking in background music, and as such, a lot of times you could hear nothing but sound effects. While not too egregiously overplayed like Hazbin Hotel, where even the potted plants had sound effects, Lackadaisy keeps it to the minimum. However in scenes where it feels like it should be big bombastic music to put forth a sense of urgency and fear, it's mostly kept quiet and as a result, make several scenes in which there is nothing but slamming doors and shotgun blasts become too common. Because Lackadaisy's is independently funded, there not at the disposal of a orchestra, or the technical capacity for a prominent OST.
Throughout the short film, there were multiple shots where you could see the sketch lines beneath the animation. Often times you could see the face symmetry lines, and as a result, felt jarring for a piece of animated almost 3-4 years in the making. While most likely a stylistic choice, it often makes the film look too unfished, like they didn't have enough time to pass over the animation a second time. This is juxtapose by after-credit sketch animation akin to Fleisher-brothers/Steamboat willie
Some of the voice acting is a little hit and miss. While some VA do beautiful work with their characters (SungWon Cho's Mordechai, Malcom Ray and Benni Latham's Brother-Sister Duo, Serafine and Nicodeme, Belsheber Rusape and Michal Kovach's Chaos Cousins' Freckle and Rocky) others feel a little out of touch (Ashe Wager tries her hardest for a southern accent, but ultimately fails while also giving Mitzi the deepest southern bell voice I've heard in a long time, while Bradley Gareth's cadence for Sedgewick Sable makes him sound just a few steps below a more proud but deep Jimmy Stewart).
However, the animated itself (when you don't see the sketch lines) is beautiful. All of the sound effects feel purposeful and appropriate. The techno-swing jazz music that is played feels in sync with the aesthetic of the whole piece. But truly the action scenes in which Ivy, Freckle and Rocky must outrace Nicodeme, Serefine and Mordecai are truly the best parts. Fun, fast, and exciting!
Overall, for a short film, independent animated it's one of the best, and id still recommend it for anyone who's a fan of the comic as well as newcomers.
So we are just suppose to trust Megatron now? O-kay.
Transformers: Earthspark introduces a new generation of Transformers - the first to be born on Earth - and the human family that cares for them.
Transformers: Earthspark stars the voice talents of Kathreen Khavari (Twitch), Zeno Robinson (Thrash), Sydney Mikayla (Robby Malto), Zion Broadnax (Morgan “Mo” Malto), Benny Latham (Dot Malto), Jon Jon Briones (Alex Malto), Alan Tudyk (Optimus Prime), Danny Pudi (Bumblebee), Rory McCann (Megatron), Cissy Jones (Elita-1), and Diedrich Bader (Mandroid).
Transformers: Earthspark hits Paramount+ on November 11, 2022.
I just watched the pilot (incredible btw, I was grinning through the whole thing, please tell whoever voiced Serafine that they were delightful to listen to) and I was just curious if this was an actual pilot episode you intend to shop around?
Thank you!
That was Benni Latham. She's fantastic! I will pass along the feedback.
And yes, we called it a pilot because it's our intention to make more if we're able to find the means to do it.