After months of rumors, today came the official word that Cartoon Network will patern with Hasbro to bring a new Transformers animated series to your television, according to the Hollywood Reporter.  Don't expect this to be a continuation or even a retelling of the other shows, though.

Bob Higgins, senior vp programming and development at Cartoon Network, said, "We've used the basic Transformers and characters as a springboard, but then we're pretty much reimagining the whole thing.  What we're doing with it is basically turning it into a superheroes story. We're really excited that we're able to take this decades-old property and hopefully turn it into something that kids haven't seen or expected from a Transformers series before."

The new spin is also evident in the new animated looks for the characters, which can be seen in this promo picture.  According to TPTB, the revamps are so that kids can identify better with the characters on the screen.  (Clearly a problem, since children have only been roleplaying the large robots since the mid-80s.)

"We've had (Transformers) entertainment in the marketplace for the last 23 years, and animation has been the foothold of the franchise," said Samantha Lomow, Hasbro global vp marketing for the Transformers brand. "Now with the live-action film, we want to continue the momentum ... and go right into animation so younger audiences will be able to continue to enjoy the brand. We really believe that the movie is going to be a phenomenon and kids of all ages are going to want to continue to experience the magic of our brand. This show ... really delivers that."

What will this mean to fans?  Plenty.  Without the Decepticons around to battle in every episode, the 'bots are going to be a high-powered superhero team.  The production staff includes vets from Teen Titans and The Batman, so they've got the background, but much like when the incoming production staff tried turning Gargoyles into The X-Men, changing gears in an established genre series (even one getting a reboot) might just spell disaster for maintaining the existing fanbase.

The plan is for 26 episodes plus a 90 minute pilot to premiere in January.