A dark Transformers cartoon series for the adult fan is on its way

Hasbro, IDW Comics and Machinima are partnering to make a Transformers cartoon series that "for the first time ever, is specifically designed for the teen and adult fans."

IDW's Transformers line of comics has been making waves in the past couple years for introducing female characters to a universe that canonically contained only "genderless" robots that coincidentally presented as male. What began with popular fan-created character Windblade (below) and her bodyguard Chromia has expanded with the Combiner Wars story arc, which recently introduced the franchise's first female combiner (a character formed from several others, well, combined).

Fans of Windblade should be excited to know that, when it hits its (as yet unknown) online airdate on the Machinima network, the new series will be based directly on Combiner Wars. "[Machinima is] the perfect partner to help launch a totally new kind of Transformers animation," said Tom Warner, Hasbro's senior vice president of Transformers, "one that, for the first time ever, is specifically designed for the teen and adult fans who've grown up loving the Transformers brand."

A decades-old Saturday morning franchise reimagined for the now adult fans of it is right in line with one of Machinma's other recent initiatives: A top to bottom reimagining of the DC Universe from the co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm, without the restrictions of a board of Standards and Practices. If Justice League: Gods and Monsters is anything to judge by, Machinima's version of Combiner Wars will feature more violence, a bit more cursing, and maybe a little sexual innuendo in its quest to appeal to "the teen and adult fans" of the franchise.