Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional robot characters in the Transformers robot franchise. He is portrayed as the immensely strong, power-mongering leader of the Dinobots, a small subfaction of Autobots that transform into dinosaurs. In 2007, USA Today polled people as to which Transformer they want to appear in the second installment in the Transformers film series. Grimlock is the leader of the Dinobots, as well as the most powerful member. Grimlock can be cold and contemptuous of those he considers beneath him, such as human beings, at times Autobot leader Optimus Prime himself, who Grimlock would gladly supplant as Autobot leader if he were able to, giving him a superiority complex as indicated by his Generation 1 tech specs, he is a valiant warrior whose actions command respect from all who are witness to them, both friend and foe. One of his most distinguishing features is his famous speech impediment, which leads him to shorten sentences and refer to himself as "Me Grimlock", never "I" - the reason for this varies from depiction to depiction, with some making it the result of true mental limitations, others vocal processor damage or a ruse Grimlock perpetrates to allow others to think of him as less intelligent than he is.
However he is still an Autobot and is willing to protect the Earth as much as the Autobots, does show a begrudging respect for Optimus Prime, however he was more accepting for Rodimus as leader when he became a Prime. Grimlock is among the strongest of the Transformers an equal to, or superior to Optimus Prime and Megatron in certain continuities. In Tyrannosaurus rex mode, his powerful jaws can snap anything that comes between them - from steel cables to a Decepticon limb, he can breathe fire and shoot an energy ray from his mouth. In robot mode, Grimlock wields an energon sword, whose blade is sheathed in crackling energon and can slice a 2-foot-thick concrete wall in one slash, he uses a double-barreled, self-propelled rocket launcher. He is invulnerable in his Tyrannosaurus Rex mode as shown with his battle with Megatron due to Megatron's primary weapon, his arm-mounted fusion cannon having little or no effect on Grimlock. Grimlock is the only Dinobot whose name doesn't begin with an S. Grimlock was one of the favorite Autobots of IGN.
Grimlock was voted the 6th top Transformer, considered to be "badass" in the comics by Topless Robot. According to X-Entertainment Grimlock was the 2nd top Transformers figure of all time. One of the original Grimlock toys is on display in London; the original character profiles written by Bob Budiansky and Dan Bobro indicate that Grimlock and the Dinobots were intended to come from Cybertron to Earth like the vast majority of other Transformers. However, the cartoon would diverge wildly from this. Grimlock is voiced by Gregg Berger; the discovery of fossilized dinosaur bones in a cavern in their volcano base set the Earthbound Autobots on the track to creating the Dinobots. Intrigued by the creatures, with additional knowledge supplied by Spike Witwicky and Ratchet created three "Dinobots" – Grimlock and Sludge, it has not been explained why he or the other Dinobots were able to be fitted with personalities which can only be found on Cybertron from Vector Sigma. Their brains are simple, it is evident that addition of personalities or "sparks" and its origin was after the fact, was hoped that this inconsistency would be overlooked.
Their design specs proved to be too accurate to the creatures they were modeled on, as their primitive brains went out of control, Grimlock destroyed Teletraan I, before the trio was stopped. Optimus Prime deemed them too dangerous to use again, had them sealed back up in the cavern, but when the majority of the Autobot force was captured by the Decepticons, Wheeljack freed them to go to their rescue. Equipped with new devices that enhanced their brainpower to functional, yet still impaired, the three Dinobots rescued their Autobot comrades, Optimus Prime admitted his error. In his private thoughts, Grimlock considered Optimus Prime too weak to lead, seeking the position for himself; when Soundwave read his mind and learned of this animosity, Megatron was able to trick Grimlock and the Dinobots into switching sides and capturing Optimus Prime. To stop the turncoat Dinobots, two new ones were created: Swoop, it was when Optimus Prime threw himself into harm's way to save Grimlock from an explosion that he accepted his mistake and rejoined the Autobots.
In a rare display of modesty and humility, Grimlock apologized to Prime, admitted his jealousy of the leader, accepted fault for the battle. The two subsequently patched up their differences. Although content for the moment to remain a soldier, rather than a leader, Grimlock still had trouble accepting orders, only agreeing to help stem the tide of natural disasters ravaging Earth due to Cybertron being pulled into its orbit when he realized he would die if he did not. Grimlock and the Dinobots were semi-regularly called into action when the Autobots were faced with challenges that required extra strength, such as the Sub-Atlantican invasion of Washington, D. C. or the Decepticons' control of
Hound (Transformers)
Hound is a fictional robot superhero character from the Transformers robot superhero franchise. He is sometimes referred to as Autobot Hound for trademark purposes; the toy, to become the Autobot Hound was released as part of the Japanese Diaclone series by Takara. A first-generation Autobot, Hound was released into Transformers' first year - 1984 and was one of the smallest of the standard-sized Autobot cars. Hound's alternate mode is that of a 4X4 military jeep, comes with three different weapons - a Missile Launcher, a Machine Gun and a Hologram Gun. Hound is known for his love of the planet Earth, his tracking skills, the ability to project realistic holograms, he secretly wishes to be human. Hound appeared in the Marvel Transformers comic, where his role was much the same as in the animated series. During the UK-only story Crisis of Command and Mirage combined their special abilities to capture the Decepticon spy, Ravage. During the Target: 2006 story arc, a spy mission alongside Jazz went badly awry, resulting in the capture of Jazz.
From on, Hound was an outspoken critic of Jetfire's headstrong tactics against Galvatron. In the full US/UK continuity, he was among the scores of Autobots deactivated by the Underbase-powered Starscream. Hound's body was seen among the deactivated Autobots Ratchet was doing his best to revive in Transformers #56, "Back from the Dead". However, he was resurrected at some point, as he appeared in the Transformers: Generation 2 comic as one of the few Transformers not dominated by the hate-inducing parasites, it is unknown if he survived the final battles against the Swarm. During the first season of the cartoon, Hound served as the Autobots' primary scout and recon soldier, a role which suited him well because he grew to love the varied natural landscapes of Earth. Hound was instrumental in the creation of the original three Dinobots, as he captured holographic images which served as rough blueprints for construction of Grimlock and Sludge. However, after a spurt of early appearances, Hound became absent from the show, showing up only when his holographic powers were necessary.
Hound's first appearance came in "More Than Meets the Eye", a three-episode pilot created to launch the toyline onto television. Oddly enough the role of Spike Witwicky's companion was filled by Hound in these episodes rather than Bumblebee. Hound was the first to introduce Spike to the concept of "transforming" and gave Spike a tour of the nearby desert while beguiling him with tales of Cybertron. Hound would fight Rumble in a flooding river, end up being rescued by Spike, who nearly drowned in the process of saving him. While resuscitating Spike on the shore, Hound makes the mistake of thinking that the human Spike had "flooded his engine". Hound would be among the main cast of the pilot playing as large of a role as Optimus Prime himself; this changed. Bumblebee became Spike's companion, Hound's appearances became less frequent. In "Heavy Metal War", Hound is responsible for providing a hologram of a large, menacing robot designed to intimidate Devastator; this helped turn the tide in the battle against the Decepticons in that episode.
The episode "City of Steel" featured another major role for Hound. He and a few other compatriots were charged with tracking and collecting the missing parts of Optimus Prime; these parts had been disconnected and used in various parts of Megatron's reconstruction of New York. Hound made a brief cameo appearance in The Transformers: The Movie where he, along with Sunstreaker, stood next to Optimus Prime as reinforcements before Prime confronted Megatron. Hound was last seen in Takara's Japanese-only Transformers: The Headmasters series, that included archive footage of the aforementioned movie; the Autobot has some lines in the first episodes. Japanese Transformers guides thus report that Hound has in some way survived the movie, because it features Transformers that were pronounced deceased, considered speculation. Hound appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books. Hound was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Megatron's Fight for Power and Laserbeak's Fury.
Hound appeared in the 1985 story Autobots Fight Back by John Grant, published by Ladybird Books. Hound appeared in the 1986 Ladybird Books story Decepticon Hideout by John Grant. Hound is one of eight playable characters in the 1986 Commodore 64 video game Transformers: The Battle to Save the Earth; when civil war broke out on the planet Cybertron between the Autobots and Decepticon factions, Hound joined the Autobot cause. After Decepticon leader Megatron killed the Autobot leader Sentinel Prime, a new Autobot leader was chosen by the Council of the Ancients. Hound was present when Optronix was reformatted into Optimus Prime. Three Decepticon assassins were unsuccessful. Optimus ordered a planet-wide evacuation of Cybertron. Hound was among those; when Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Hound stayed with the Autobots under the leadership of Prowl; when Prowl and his team of Autobots confronted Trypticon, Tracks and other Autobots showed up as reinforcements.
Hound was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission on board
Optimus Primal
Optimus Primal is a fictional character from the Transformers toyline, the leader of the Maximal forces and the protagonist in the Beast Wars television series. He is sometimes called Optimal Optimus; the name Optimus Primal was given to Optimus Prime during the initial run of the Beast Wars toy line, before it was decided that Optimus Primal was a separate character. Like his ancestor Optimus Prime, whose name he took in reverence, Optimus Primal was not a warrior. Years earlier, Optimus Prime had been thrust into a civil war by the actions of the Megatron from his own time. So too was Optimus Primal, a starship captain on a scientific exploration mission, unexpectedly thrust by another Megatron with dictatorial ambitions into a conflict that would define the fate of the universe, he shares his namesake's love of honor, life and freedom. His loyalty to his friends is matched only by the respect he gives his enemies and he is dedicated to working for the betterment of others, so much so that he might become depressed if he cannot accomplish it.
Optimus Primal's most repeated quote is "Well, that's just prime", or "Prime", in which the word "Prime" may have been a replacement for the word "Perfect" or "Great". Always willing to sacrifice his own life for the greater good, he would never give an order that he would be unwilling to carry out himself. To some of his friends, his methods may seem unorthodox at times, but as Optimus once said, "sometimes crazy works." He would do anything to protect his friends no matter how high the stakes are and is not ready to surrender just yet unless he has no other choice. Although some aspects of Primal's story are not in continuity with the larger bulk of the fiction, they are all related in a strict, clear chronological order relative to each other. Optimus Primal/Optimal Optimus was named 2nd best and the worst upgrade in Beast Wars history Topless Robot; as the Beast Wars animated series began, the Axalon and the Darksyde emerged from the transwarp portal above prehistoric Earth. With both ships badly damaged in the firefight and plummeting towards the planet's surface, Primal ordered that all stasis pods in the Axalon's hold be jettisoned into Earth orbit.
Surviving the crash, the Transformers discovered that the planet was saturated with dangerous levels of energon radiation, adopted organic-skinned "beast modes" to shield themselves from its effects. One of his first major battles on Earth was a duel with the renegade Predacon Dinobot, whose life Primal saved—grateful, Dinobot joined the Maximals, Primal dubbed the ensuing conflict for control of the energon on earth as the "Beast Wars". Primal's body would be subject to several attacks and alterations during the Beast Wars, the first of which came when an alien probe arrived on the planet at a mysterious standing stone formation; the probe abducted Primal, pulling him within itself and disassembling his body for study, before he was liberated by Rhinox, his body restored. A virus concocted by the Predacon Scorponok infected Primal's body, with the intent of turning his personality to cowardice, only to backfire and transform him into a raging, uninhibited warrior able to suppress his level of aggression.
Under the influence of the virus, a fighting-mad Primal smashed his way into the Predacon base single-handedly and confronted Megatron for the anti-virus. The alien influence felt by the Cybertronians would return in force when another extraterrestrial construct manifested on the planet and took Optimus Primal into itself. Confronted by the aliens behind these bizarre experiments, the Vok, Primal learned that they planned to use an orbital laser weapon— disguised as a second moon—to detonate the planet's energon and wipe their "experiment" clean. In order to stop them, Primal piloted a reconfigured stasis pod, outfitted with transwarp cells, into the heart of the weapon, intending to destroy it, but the destruction of the Planet Buster resulted in a quantum surge that evolved several Maximals and Predacons into Transmetals. It was not long before Rhinox sprang into action, using the residual transwarp energy to access the Matrix, from which he plucked Primal's spark, installing it within a blank protoform.
Emerging in a new transmetal body at a moment of great crisis, Primal used his new powers to save the Maximals from a massive Predacon attack with the aid of the Fuzor, Silverbolt. Further conflicts saw Primal captured by the Predacons when Megatron seized control of another alien device, the revelation of the "dark secret" of the Axalon's voyage—the disposal of the insane Maximal genetics experiment, Protoform X, freed and captured by the Predacons and forced to join their ranks as a new sinister persona: Rampage. Primal could not suspect, the true agenda Megatron was working towards, or the lengths he would go to see it complete; this deadly mission came to light with the arrival of the Predacon secret agent Ravage, who had tracked the transwarp explosion that had killed Primal back to its source. Ravage aided Primal and the Maximals in capturing Megatron, but switched sides when he discovered that Megatron was following instructions left by his former commander, the original Megatron. Ravage liberated Megatron, who headed directly for the ancient Transformer spacecraft, The Ark, which lay buried o
The Transformers (IDW Publishing)
The Transformers is a comic book series by IDW Publishing, based upon Hasbro's Transformers characters and toy line. Following Dreamwave Productions' bankruptcy in 2005, IDW picked up the rights and hired long-time Transformers writer Simon Furman to craft a rebooted Generation 1-based continuity, similar to Ultimate Marvel. An issue #0 was published in October 2005, the ongoing series began in January 2006. For the first four years of its run, the series was marketed as various limited series for each story, in published order as The Transformers: Infiltration, Escalation, Megatron Origin, Revelation, All Hail Megatron and Maximum Dinobots; the series had a sister title of ongoing one-shots entitled The Transformers: Spotlight which began in September 2006, each focusing on a particular character and affecting the storyline of the main title. Starting in November 2009, an ongoing series of the Transformers was launched and ended in December 2011. Concurrently, during this time, other mini-series were published: Last Stand of the Wreckers, Ironhide, Drift and Heart of Darkness, the latter of which led into the story arc Chaos.
Following a one-shot titled The Death of Optimus Prime, two new ongoing series started in January 2012, Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye. A digital Transformers comic became available titled Autocracy, consisting of 12 eight-page issues. Two sequels to Autocracy titled Monstrosity and Primacy started publishing in March 2013 and August 2014, respectively. In April and November 2014, the Windblade and Drift – Empire of Stone mini-series were published. In addition, in November 2014, The Transformers: Robots in Disguise changed its title to just The Transformers. A second ongoing series of Windblade started in March 2015. Starting in 2016, the Transformers comics became part of the Hasbro Reconstruction relaunch, playing a role during the crossover events Revolution and First Strike, set in the Hasbro Comic Book Universe. Dreamwave Productions shut down on January 4, 2005, announced they would cease publication of all their comics, leaving Transformers: Generation One and its prequel series, Transformers: The War Within incomplete.
Chris Ryall, editor-in-chief of IDW Publishing, leaped at the chance to bid on the property. On May 19, 2005, Hasbro announced they had awarded the licensing rights to IDW Publishing, with plans for an issue #0 in October 2005 and an ongoing title entitled The Transformers: Infiltration to begin in January 2006. Beforehand, Ryall met up with long-time writer Simon Furman. Furman aimed for a contemporary version of the Generation 1 incarnation to appeal to new and old fans alike, they both cited a focus on the "Robots in Disguise" element of the characters, aiming to bring back their "myth and majesty". Overall, Furman described it as, "This was, at last MY take on Transformers." Furman aimed for a real time approach, using maps to help guide his stories. Infiltration's issue #0 sold 100,000 copies in pre-orders, a record for the company. Furman focused the story on Autobot medic Ratchet and broke new ground for G1-based storylines by excluding the Ark crash storyline, to give proper intent to the Transformers being on Earth, thus separating the fictional universe from the Beast Wars one.
E. J. Su was hired as the artist, was given free rein to re-design characters slightly. Infiltration received mixed reviews. Furman's decision to put leaders Optimus Prime and Megatron on the sidelines divided fans, as did the slow pace and the use of human characters. Furman and Ryall responded positively, promising to make both fans and critics happy after reading various message board comments; the Transformers: Stormbringer followed in July, set around the same time frame as Infiltration, had art by Don Figueroa. The four issue tale was intended to be a weekly event, but Diamond Comic Distributors' resistance meant it became monthly. Furman had planned to visit Cybertron on, but the fans demanded a human-less story, Stormbringer was written. Most the story revealed Cybertron to be dead, giving the saga a darker feel and explaining the status quo of Autobots and Decepticons spread out and fighting pocket wars. Furman intentionally wanted a larger scale and "took Cybertron out of the equation" to shape the overall arc.
The story allowed him to reinvent Thunderwing and the Pretenders, which he felt was one of the sillier concepts. In September, the companion series, The Transformers: Spotlight was launched, set to last for five issues. Furman drew upon classic stories for Shockwave, re-created the personalities of Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus, wrote Sixshot for the first time. Nightbeat's story laid a vital seed for future stories, as well as allowing him to re-invent the Micromasters. In November The Transformers: Escalation began, a direct sequel to Infiltration, it put Optimus and Megatron center stage, brought in characters from the Spotlights. The Spotlights expanded; this has included Wheelie, a character he has voiced criticism of in the past. Furman took a break from the main storyline in June to allow Eric Holmes to write the prequel, The Transformers: Megatron Origin over four months. Holmes conceived the tale for his favorite character, to explore the beginnings of the Autobot-Decepticon war, collaborating with Furman to further tie-in the story into the existing continuity and taking historical inspiration from the decline of the Roman Empire.
In addition, Furman allowed Nick Roche to write and draw a Spotlight for Kup, Roche wishes to create another one for Rumble. Furman returned for The Transformers: Devastation, which will be affected by Galvatron's S
Starscream
Starscream is a fictional character in the many continuities in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most occurring characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in all continuities of the Transformers franchise. A graduate of the Cybertron War Academy, Starscream is a deadly high-ranking Decepticon who turns into a jet fighter, Megatron's second-in-command as the leader of the Seekers. Authors have created many characters in the franchise based on the appeal of Starscream's treachery and cunning. Starscream has the ambition to overthrow Megatron as the Decepticons' leader, he has controlled the Decepticons at times, but he suffers defeat. Starscream is ruthless and more intelligent than average Decepticons, but unlikely to act directly on his aspirations without first securing conditions favorable to his ascension, he considers himself vastly superior to other Decepticons and finds Megatron contemptible for his antiquated military strategies and tactics. Starscream believes the Decepticons should employ guile and speed more than brute force to defeat the Autobots.
However, given the chance to lead, he is less successful in this than Megatron. While Megatron overlooks him as a threat, authors suggest such reasons for Megatron's tolerance of Starscream's presence as grudging respect for his scheming nature and precautionary observation. Others suggest. So, Starscream quickly exhausts Megatron's patience; as such, there have been times when Megatron has been close to killing Starscream, on one occasion Starscream is only saved by a rockfall. In his original appearance, Starscream transforms into a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle; as Decepticon Air Commander, he leads the other Decepticon Seeker jets, many of whom share his physical design. His technical specifications indicate altitude ceiling as 52 miles. Launchers mounted on his arm can deliver cluster bombs capable of leveling a 10,000 square feet area and fire his signature null ray, which for brief periods disrupts the flow of electricity in any circuitry it contacts; this action temporarily renders inoperable machine, including Transformers.
Starscream was a scientist and explorer, working with the future Autobot Skyfire, during the Golden Age of Cybertron, shortly before the Autobot/Decepticon war re-erupted. Following the disappearance of Skyfire when the two were exploring a prehistoric Earth, Starscream returned to Cybertron and soon abandoned his scientific pursuits, becoming a warrior in Megatron's Decepticon army as the civil war exploded. Starscream attended the Cybertron War Academy, mentioned in the episode "A Prime Problem". Starscream makes use of his old scientist profession in a few episodes. For example, when he and several other Decepticons were temporarily displaced in time to medieval England, the weapons of the transformers ceased functioning. In the episode "Starscream's Brigade", he attempts—in what was only his latest in a series of attempts—to overthrow Megatron as the leader of Decepticons. After being defeated and exiled in Guadalcanal, Starscream finds the remains of some World War II military vehicles, which inspire him to create an army of his own.
He travels to Cybertron forcing the guards and eluding Shockwave to do so. He breaks into the Decepticon Detention Center and steals the five personality components of Renegade Decepticons installs them into five wrecked military vehicles and they become the Combaticons; the Combaticons and Starscream capture four Transformers. When Megatron rallies his troops against Starscream and the Combaticons, he deploys Devastator to fight Bruticus, but Devastator is defeated. Megatron attempts to retreat, however Starscream orders Bruticus to capture Megatron and hold him while he gloats and humiliates him. While this is going on, the Stunticons combine into Menasor and defeat Bruticus. Megatron orders Astrotrain to exile Starscream and the Combaticons to a distant planet. In the next episode, "The Revenge of Bruticus", the Combaticons blame Starscream for their punishment, they imprison him on Cybertron, plan revenge on Megatron by pulling the Earth towards the Sun using Cybertron's controls. After proving his worth in helping Autobot and Decepticon forces stop the deranged Bruticus, Starscream gets restored to Decepticon ranks and Megatron reprograms Bruticus to obey only him.
In The Transformers: The Movie and many other Decepticons participate in the battle of Autobot City, leaving several Autobots killed. After the Decepticons' defeat, they retreat in Astrotrain. In order to reduce Astrotrain's mass, the undamaged Decepticons had to jettison the damaged Skywarp and Insecticons into space, Starscream tosses Megatron, whom Optimus Prime mortally wounded, out of Astrotrain. After that he nominates himself as the new leader of Decepticons. However, during a grandiose coronation ceremony, reborn as Galvatron alongside Cyclonus and the Sweeps, declares the coronation a "bad comedy". Starscream had a moment to realize that Galvatron was once Megatron, Galvatron transfor
Io9
Io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media, which focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, science and related areas. It was founded by Annalee Newitz, a former policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and contributor to Popular Science and New Scientist. Other contributors included co-founding editors Charlie Jane Anders and Kevin Kelly, in addition to Geoff Manaugh, Graeme McMillan, Meredith Woerner, Alasdair Wilkins, Cyriaque Lamar, Tim Barribeau, Esther Inglis-Arkell, Lauren Davis, Robbie Gonzalez, Keith Veronese, George Dvorsky, Lynn Peril. Between October 2010 and January 2012 io9 hosted the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast, produced by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley. In 2008, shortly after Newitz's project, "other magazine," ceased print publication, Gawker media asked her to start a science and sci-fi blog. In an interview, Newitz explained the significance of the name "io9": "Well, io9s are input-output devices that let you see into the future.
They're brain implants. We made that up to name the blog; the blog is about looking into the future and science fiction, so we wanted to come up with a fictional name, something, science fiction." Io9's "Explanations" page gives further details on the fictional backstory of these devices. The blog is indexed by Google News. In February 2010, it was named one of the top 30 science blogs by Michael Moran of The Times' Eureka Zone blog, who wrote, "Ostensibly a blog for science fiction enthusiasts, io9 finds space for pieces on cutting-edge technology, the wilder fringes of astronomy and the more worrying implications of grey goo."In 2012, io9 created a video series called "io9: We Come From The Future". It had 32 shows from April 13, 2012 through November 16, 2012, it was hosted by Esther Inglis-Arkell. It was shown on YouTube; the show discussed the latest news in science fiction. Io9 was referenced in the American television series Dollhouse. After seven years as head editor, in January 2014 Newitz became the new editor at Gizmodo, while co-founder Anders remained as editor at io9, as part of a plan by Gawker to integrate io9 with Gizmodo.
Io9's 11 person staff joined Gizmodo's 22 person staff, under Newitz's overall supervision. One of the reasons for the merger was to better coordinate content: io9 is a science and science fiction blog, while Gizmodo is a technology blog, which resulted in what Gawker assessed as a 12% rate of overlapping content. Newitz remained as a contributor at io9 in 2014, however she stated that she grew to dislike managing both sites at once, because it took so much time away from her main passion of writing articles. Therefore, after a nearly eight-year run, Newitz retired from both io9 and Gizmodo on November 30, 2015, to take a position as tech culture editor at Ars Technica. Anders remained as head editor of io9; the resulting combined news site technically uses the domain name "io9.gizmodo.com", though in practice io9 and Gizmodo are still separate subsections, using their old logos on their own specific content. The old "io9.com" URL automatically links to the main io9 subpage of "io9.gizmodo.com".
Besides Newitz, several other longtime core staff members left their positions at io9 during this transitional time period in 2015. Meredith Woerner departed io9 in May 2015. Lauren Davis and Robbie Gonzalez left in August 2015: Davis went back to school to complete her MFA, Gonzalez left for a position at Wired. By May 2016 none of the original 2008 contributors were left on the site and neither were any of the staff in the 2010–2012 era. Before Newitz's departure, many new contributors were added to io9, including Rob Bricken, Cheryl Eddy, George Dvorsky, Andrew Liptak, Germain Lussier, Ria Misra, James Whitbrook, Katharine Trendacosta. On 26 April 2016 Charlie Jane Anders confirmed that she was leaving the site to focus her attention on her untitled second novel and that Rob Bricken would take over as editor. On July 31, 2018, Rob Bricken announced that he was stepping down as editor of io9, saying that managing the site was taking up too much time that he would rather spend writing articles for it.
He announced that his place as editor would be filled by Jill Pantozzi, former editor of The Mary Sue, who had joined io9 as a staff writer back in November 2017. Official website Io9's channel on YouTube
The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter is an American digital and print magazine, website, which focuses on the Hollywood film and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, in 2010 switched to a weekly large-format print magazine with a revamped website. Headquartered in Los Angeles, THR is part of the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a group of properties that includes Billboard and SpinMedia, it is owned by Valence Media, a holding company co-founded by Todd Boehly, an executive of its previous owners, Guggenheim Partners and Eldridge Industries. THR was founded in 1930 by William R. "Billy" Wilkerson as Hollywood's first daily entertainment trade newspaper. The first edition appeared on September 3, 1930 and featured Wilkerson's front-page "Tradeviews" column, which became influential; the newspaper appeared Monday to Saturday for the first 10 years, except for a brief period Monday to Friday from 1940. Wilkerson ran the THR until his death in September 1962, although his final column appeared 18 months prior.
Wilkerson's wife, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, took over as publisher and editor-in-chief when her husband died. From the late 1930s, Wilkerson used THR to push the view that the industry was a communist stronghold. In particular, he opposed the screenplay writers' trade union, the Screen Writers Guild, which he called the "Red Beachhead." In 1946 the Guild considered creating an American Authors' Authority to hold copyright for writers, instead of ownership passing to the studios. Wilkerson devoted his "Tradeviews" column to the issue on July 29, 1946, headlined "A Vote for Joe Stalin." He went to confession before publishing it, knowing the damage it would cause, but was encouraged by the priest to go ahead with it. The column contained the first industry names, including Dalton Trumbo and Howard Koch, on what became the Hollywood blacklist, known as "Billy's list." Eight of the 11 people Wilkerson named were among the "Hollywood Ten" who were blacklisted after hearings in 1947 by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
When Wilkerson died, his THR obituary said that he had "named names and card numbers and was credited with being chiefly responsible for preventing communists from becoming entrenched in Hollywood production."In 1997, THR reporter David Robb wrote a story about the newspaper's involvement, but the editor, Robert J. Dowling, declined to run it. For the blacklist's 65th anniversary in 2012, the THR published a lengthy investigative piece about Wilkerson's role, by reporters Gary Baum and Daniel Miller; the same edition carried an apology from Wilkerson's son W. R. Wilkerson III, he wrote. On April 11, 1988, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel sold the paper to BPI Communications, owned by Affiliated Publications, for $26.7 million. Robert J. Dowling became THR president in 1988, editor-in-chief and publisher in 1991. Dowling hired Alex Ben Block as editor in 1990. Block and Teri Ritzer dampened much of the sensationalism and cronyism, prominent in the paper under the Wilkersons. In 1994, BPI Communications was sold to Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen for $220 million.
After Block left, former Variety film editor, Anita Busch, became editor between 1999 and 2001. Busch was credited with making the paper competitive with Variety. Tony Uphoff assumed the publisher position in November 2005. In March 2006, a private equity consortium led by Blackstone and KKR, both with ties to the conservative movement in the United States, acquired THR along with the other assets of VNU, it joined those publications with AdWeek and A. C. Nielsen to form The Nielsen Company. In December 2009, Prometheus Global Media, a newly formed company formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, chaired by Jimmy Finkelstein, CEO of News Communications, parent of political journal The Hill, acquired THR from Nielsen Business Media, it pledged to grow the company. Richard Beckman of Condé Nast, was appointed as CEO. In 2010, Beckman purchased THR from Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital, recruited Janice Min, the former editor-in-chief of Us Weekly, to "eviscerate" the existing daily trade paper and reinvent it as a glossy, large-format weekly magazine.
The Hollywood Reporter relaunched with a weekly print edition and a revamped website that enabled it to break news. Eight months after its initial report, The New York Times took note of the many scoops THR had generated, adding that the new glossy format seemed to be succeeding with its "rarefied demographic", stating, "They managed to change the subject by going weekly... The large photos, lush paper stock and great design are a kind of narcotic here."By February 2013, the Times returned to THR, filing a report on a party for Academy Award nominees the magazine had hosted at the Los Angeles restaurant Spago. Noting the crowd of top celebrities in attendance, the Times alluded to the fact that many Hollywood insiders were now referring to THR as "the new Vanity Fair". Ad sales since Min's hiring were up more than 50%, while traffic to the magazine's website had grown by 800%. Since January 2014, The Hollywood Reporter has been led by co-presidents Janice John Amato. John Kilcullen replaced Uphoff in October 2006, as publisher of Billboard.
Kilcullen was a defendant in Billboard's infamous "dildo" lawsuit, in which he was accused of race discrimination and sexual harassment. VNU settled the suit on the courthouse steps. Kilcullen "exited" Nielsen in February 2008 "to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur." Matthew King, vice president for content and audience, editorial director Howard Burns, executive editor Peter Pryor left the paper in a wave of layoffs in December 2006.
