While Transformers: Re-Animated has been shelved indefinitely out of respect for the late Derrick J. Wyatt after his passing, it still managed to leave behind a lasting legacy on me as a writer. (this is why I never wrote a fan-continuation of Prime, out of fear of repeating the mistakes of Re-Animated) as alluded to at the end of the previous chapter, a lot of my old ideas for TF Re-Animated ended up being recycled in my other works be it plotlines or interpretations of certain characters, In this chapter we'll go through how those ideas were repurposed for my other stores, starting with the obvious one:
Transformers: Genesis was my idea for my own hypothetical Transformers cartoon series that I had conceived back in 2016 when Robots In Disguise was still airing (a series that I did not like due to it being a subpar sequel to the GOAT Transformers: Prime) after scrapping Re-Animated, Transformers: Genesis is set in its own original continuity with a new universe that I had to build from the ground up combining the post-war setting and character dynamics of Animated with the intricate robot designs (well, as intricate as I could get on MS paint with only a keyboard and mouse) and darker tone of Prime to create a "best of both worlds" kind of series. most of my ideas for Re-Animated regarding the Transformer side of the story ended up going into here, including: Drift having a rivalry with Bludgeon (along with the history with Yoketron), Thunderblast being an ex-pirate befitting of her speedboat alt. mode, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's backstory as being street urchins from the impoverished lower wards of Iacon that joined up with Optimus's crew to jump at the chance for a better life, the Powermaster armor being worn by Sentinel first and then later by Optimus, my designs for the Stunticons and Combaticons (including gender-bent Dragstrip), and a time travel storyline featuring an apocalyptic future Cybertron. click the link down below to go check it out yourself, lots of fun artwork and compelling storylines you'll all enjoy:
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/191653896-transformers-genesis-the-complete-series
As for whatever TF-centered storyline ideas for Re-Animated that I didn't repurpose for Genesis, I would have used them in my planned sequel series Transformers: Ultimatum, but that's another story for another day.
Remember when I said I wanted to move away from writing Fanfiction to shift my focus towards working on my own original stuff? (which is another factor that led to me shelving Re-Animated) well while the TF-centered stuff got repurposed for Transformers: Genesis, the stuff centering around my Techno-organic characters like Lance, Josie, and Leah got transplanted into my original stuff. but only certain aspects of the characters, not the characters themselves and even then it's only the superficial traits that got carried over. not like they had any personality to begin with outside of being the emo kid, the tomboy, and the baby.
One of my favorite hobbies (outside of Transformers, TMNT, power rangers, comic books, anime, animals and nature, among other things) is Cryptozoology and the study of the paranormal, of which I based an entire shared universe of my own creation on. this shared universe, called the "Unidentified-verse" (I know dumb name, but I couldn't come up with anything better) consists of three separate series that each center on one of three secret societies that deal each professing in dealing with a specific unexplained phenomenon. you got: Animal X (dealing with cryptids), Sector 51 (dealing with aliens), and S.P.I.R.I.T. (dealing with ghosts) with Animal X being the tentpole series as the start to this whole universe. what does any of this have to do with Transformers: Re-Animated you may ask? well the aforementioned repurposing of certain aspects from my old Techno-organic OCs went into the second entry into the Unidentified-verse, Sector 51 which told the story of a half-alien (or "starchild" as they're called in this universe) teenager named Lena Sullivan who fights alien criminals on behalf of the titular organization of alien hunters as their "secret weapon" (basically Men In Black meets Generator Rex) most of the recycling, re-using, and re-purposing (again the 3 re's) went into two particular characters:
If the main character's name and design look familiar, there's probably a good reason for that. like, 90% of my old grown-up Leah design was recycled for Lena right down to having a glowing blue crystal in her forehead (albeit with a completely different context, obviously) even her name reflects this: Leah Sumdac = Lena Sullivan, believe it or not one of my earlier designs for her had red hair but was changed to blue to avoid Hasbro threatening to sue (but believe it or not her hair was going to be white before that) her haircut was inspired by Teela from the (criminally under-rated) CGI reboot of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
And then there's Johnny Deathstalker (that's not his actual surname it's a codename) whom was 90% repurposed from Lance filling the exact same role as the edgy boi anti-hero archetype who used to work for the bad guys, motorcycle fetish and all. but these traits are far less exaggerated this time around, no more ridiculous scars or mascara or any of that over-the-top emo nonsense (nothing personnel kid LMAO) albeit he does have a streak through his hair like my earliest design for Lance but that's not as bad (even if the spikes are a bit much). although the batman/catwoman dynamic of Lance and Sari was carried over into Lena and Johnny, I ended up bypassing the potentially-problematic "enemies to lovers" trope by having Lena already have a love interest prior to Johnny's introduction in Alex who serves the role of the socially-awkward nerdy kid with a secret crush leading to a love triangle. the scorpion tail was inspired by Stinger, the orange ranger from the 41st entry in the Super Sentai series Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger.
In other words, I took certain aspects from my old techno-organic OCs that were flawed and improved on them when re-applying those character traits and archetypes to the protagonists from my original stories, or at least tried to improve on them depending on your point of view.
Sorry for going off-topic here, but the Unidentified-verse is my current passion project (but the updates to it are slower-than-molasses because I'm a lazy son-of-a-birch) that deserves more love and support so go to the links for each series and let me know what you think:
Animal X: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/184787193-animal-x-natural-mystery-unit
Sector 51: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/302057633-sector-51
S.P.I.R.I.T.: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/325117657-s-p-i-r-i-t-special-paranormal-investigation
One last art piece of my Re-Animated Sideswipe and Sunstreaker designs
The whole reason why I published an entire book revealing my original plans for Transformers: Re-Animated was for the purposes of self-reflection and re-evaluation of the material I had written. that can for the sake of personal closure, so that I can finally shut the book on Re-Animated for good and move on to other, better things. but that's just me. did you like my story ideas for TF Re-Animated, did you hate it, or are you mixed on it? was I too hard on myself? be sure to let me know. till all are one.