Yes. In June 2003, Transformers (Generation One, that is) was optioned by producers Tom DeSanto ("X-Men" movies) and Don Murphy ("From Hell", "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"). Then in July 2004 at the San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Steven Spielberg had agreed to be the executive producer of the film. Additionally, a third producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who was already producer for a G.I. Joe movie which is in pre-production), was added to the staff. Dreamworks and Paramount are the studios involved. After going through a few writers, the script was finally assigned to Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("The Island", TVs "Alias"). Michael Bay ("Armageddon", "Bad Boys", "The Rock") was attached as the director in May 2005.
We know essentially nothing about that story at this time, but it should be emphasized that this is not a fanboyishly faithful retelling of G1. It is more akin to a "re-imagining", like the "Ultimate" line of comics from Marvel. There will be differences, and longtime fans are likely to dislike some of them. As an example, Megatron's altmode will absolutely not be a handgun. He will probably be a tank. The projected release for the movie is July 4, 2007.
Don Murphy's website has a message board area with a forum dedicated to the Transformers film. Murphy himself posts there on a regular basis to address fan concerns, dispel rumors, and provide information on the production.
Previously (sometime around 2000), another production company, Joseph Kahn's Supermegamedia, made some attempts to get a TF movie in motion. They even had some sort of announcement about it on their web site at one time, albeit very briefly. Kahn is known primarily for his directing work on some high profile music videos. Although Kahn was definitely hoping to do a movie, it's unknown -- to me, at least -- if he actually got the license from Hasbro, or if he was simply trying to get it.
Yes, but things are temporarily on hold.
After a few false starts and a lot of rumors with various publishers during the 1990's, the Transformers comic book license was finally awarded in late 2001. The winner: Dreamwave Productions. Dreamwave was headed by artist Pat Lee who previously did work primarily for Image Comics. During the time Dreamwave was courting Hasbro, they were actually still an imprint of Image, but decided to go independant when the license came through. From then until they went out of business at the end of 2004, Dreamwave had at least two Transformers series in print every month, and sometimes as many as four. They did a mix of new and old stuff, with a mix of new and old creators.
In May 2005 a new license holder for the comic was announced: IDW Publishing. Relatively unknown, IDW is an independent comic company which does a number of licensed books. Their Transformers line will begin in fall of 2005. They have brought Simon Furman aboard to write for them.
The other exciting TF comic news is that a publisher called Titan Books (which just happens to have Simon Furman on its staff) has been printing collected editions of the old comics from Marvel, including both the US series and the previously all-but-impossible-to-find UK stories.
The last thing to note here is that 3H/OTFCC published several TF stories as well, many of them in the form of convention-exclusive comic books. Those comics which were produced when the convention was still called "BotCon" can be found scanned in on the BotCon website. The new TF fan club is also producing new comic pages which are found at the end of each issue of their newsletter.
The name "Heroes of Cybertron" has a long history, actually, but it is the American version of Takara's Super Collection Figures (SCF) line of PVC figurines. SCF's were sold in blindpacked boxes (so you don't know which figure you're getting) and there were a lot of "chase" figures which were more scarce than the regular ones. Each toy also came in two color variations, a regular one and another which was either transparent or given a faux pewter finish. (Early waves did clear, while later ones did pewter.) By contrast, HoC figures were sold clearly labelled, with no chase figures. In fact, some characters who were chases in Japan were sold as part of the regular assortments in the US. (Skywarp, for example.)
Unfortunately, HoC's were distributed in an unusual manner. Rather than being sent to toy stores, they were sold only at Meijer, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Bi-Mart, and similar stores. Basically, at pharmacies and lesser-known department stores. (I would say "small" department stores, but Meijer doesn't fit the word small. They do, however, often carry "weird" merchandise that isn't found at other big stores. For example, after the KB-exclusive Machine Wars line was over, MW Starscreams appeared in large quantities at Meijer in some sort of liquidation. Meijer's toy department has also sometimes carried the $100+ lightsabers produced by Master Replicas and imported Japanese SD Gundam model kits. Very weird.) The hope with HoC's was that at $4 a pop, these little cartoon-accurate figures of classic characters would make good impulse buys for older fans who happen to come across them while shopping. They might have sold better had they been more widely available, but we'll never know. This odd distribution may have been an experiment on Hasbro's part, or it might have just been a case of the big stores saying "no thanks" to carrying them.
After five waves, HoC ended in late 2003.
Previously, the name "Heroes of Cybertron" was attached to a proposed line of highly-detailed non-transforming TF figures, along the lines of McFarlane-style toys. There's no evidence that these ever existed as anything but a couple concept sketches which have been seen from time to time at TF, comic, and sci-fi conventions, but it's where the name originated. In 2003, 3H/OTFCC announced that they would be selling some of the "Mega SCF" figures (larger PVC figures released by Takara) in the US under the name "Legends of Cybertron", to be available only through the fanclub. Unfortunately, the "Legends" line never came to be, and in fact the difficulties with getting it going probably contributed to 3H's loss of their license. The "Legends" name has been reassigned as of late early 2005 to a line of downsized versions of toys from the Cybertron toyline.
Developed as a succesor to Beast Machines, TransTech never got off the ground. It was scrapped at some unknown point in development and Hasbro instead imported Car Robots as Robots In Disguise. For years, all we knew about TT came from a few pieces of concept art done by a design firm called Draxhall Jump. In mid-2003, however, a photo surfaced of a toy prototype. (In the hand-made actual prototype sense.) So, at least one toy was being designed for real, not just in the concept stage. The artwork all originates with Draxhall. They've displayed a number of pieces and apparently sold a few as well, and are now relatively easy to find on TF websites. The toy prototype was found on a sort of online resume site for design professionals. A TransFan who uses the site happened to stumble across the picture in another guy's portfolio, showed it to some friends, and eventually it spread widely.
It's unclear why the line was dropped. It seems like a strange decision, especially considering the apparently late stage of development of the line when it was cancelled. The generic answer would of course be that Hasbro probably decided it wasn't going to work well enough to be profitable. (Or, to be more profitable than another use of the resources.) But of course that doesn't really say much.
As for what we know about the line itself, it featured returning characters from the Beast lines but without any beast modes. A couple new or classic characters have also been seen, including Shockwave (albeit in a completely new form). The designs that have been seen are a lot more Japanese mecha-like than traditional TF designs. This wouldn't necessarily translate directly to the toys. When design firms are contracted to do this sort of work, they provide vast quantities of art in a sort of visual brainstorming. Presumably the pictures we've seen are some of the "better" ones, but, there's not really any way to tell.
Also, it should be noted that Draxhall has done a lot of other concept work for TFs over the years, including designing the look of the Beast Machines show characters, and inspiring the Mini-Con idea for Armada. Their site has a lot of interesting work on display, including a variety of TF stuff.
It's the most recent "main" Transformers line. A followup to Armada, Energon is set ten years later and has many of the same characters, plus a lot of new ones. Toys started hitting stores in the US in December of 2003, and the new cartoon is set to start in January 2004 on the Cartoon Network. The Armada comic from Dreamwave changed its title, but continued with the same creative team (Furman and Guidi) and issue numbering.
In Energon, two new subgroups are introduced: Terrorcons and Omnicons, affiliated with the Decepticons and Autobots, respectively. (Yes, the Autobot subgroup ends with the "con" suffix.) Members of these groups are specialized units who can refine raw energon as well as shape it into tools and weapons for larger Transformers to use. Unicron will remain an important piece of the story, and in fact a redecoed Unicron toy is part of the first wave.
Alternators / BinalTech is basically exactly what older fans have been asking for since the mid 1990's. It's a subline made for older collecters, in which very detailed and realistic-looking vehicles (fully licensed, complete with company logos) transform into highly posable robots. Each piece is an homage to a classic Generation 1 character. The first announced Alternator, for example, was a blue rally car named Smokescreen. Now, this particular blue rally car is based on a present day rally car instead of an old one, so it doesn't look just like the old Smokescreen. He doesn't even have a red top surface in car mode. However, he's still a replica of a blue rally car with a transformation similar to -- and much more intricate than -- the original's. (He's a Subaru WRC, which you can find about a million other pieces of licensed merchandise for; it's a very popular car.)
As of this answer's writing, three more designs have been seen: a red Dodge Viper named Side Swipe, a green Jeep named Hound, and a yellow Corvette named Tracks. (Yes, he's yellow, not blue.) Redecos of Smokescreen and Side Swipe have also been revealed (Silverstreak and Dead End, for the curious). We know there is going to be a Mazda RX-8 in the line, but it has not been officially revealed, and its name has gone through some flux. (Both "Downshift" and "Meister" have been given by different sources.)
There are minor differences between the US and Japanese versions of these toys. The American versions -- called "Alternators" -- are made entirely of plastic, and retail for about US$20. The Japanese versions are called "BinalTech" and have some painted diecast metal pieces, and retail for around 5000 yen (around US$45). (This price for the BT's does not include international shipping costs to get it to a collector outside of Japan.)
More info about these lines can be found in
