A Transformers Thread

Bumblebee was PG-13 despite being much tamer in overall content. The franchise is just naturally more violent than most. I recently watched The Simpsons Movie and I was kind of amused that despite being a PG-13 movie there were only 3-4 jokes that couldn't have passed network television.

In other news, youtube reviewers have managed to complete Devastator and it's pretty damn impressive. I got Scavenger which forms the upper body and that's where the sheer size of the thing becomes more obvious. Scrapper should be out in the next few weeks and Overload won't be officially out for a few months.

Edited by KJMackley on May 1st 2020 at 12:07:14 PM

Guess it's neat if you're into that design. Which I am most certainly not.

Looking at it more I'm less than impressed. Flappy panels all over that don't peg in anything. A lot of caps in the back. Exposed robot heads that don't hide or have anywhere to go. The lack of head articulation means it can't easily pull the gorilla stance it has in the movie either.

Edited by Ghilz on May 1st 2020 at 6:03:17 AM

Boo! No wrecking-ball testicles! 0/10!

Guaranteed there's gonna be a 3P add on kit for that.

Am I the only one who likes the first live action Transformers movie? I know the others are hated and I get that. But when ever someone groups the first with them I just get confused. I don't know if it's just my nostalgia, which I don't think it is since I watch it at least once a year, but I find quite a enjoyable if flawed film. Credited I still like Bumblebee more.

The 1st one is actually considered the best out of the 5 Bayformers movies so no your not alone there.

I liked the first film and Dark of the Moon, and did like the attempts to streamline the designs for the Transformers in 4 and 5.

Revenge of the Fallen, however, remains one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Haven't seen enough of The Last Knight to make a fair judgment, but have heard it's about as good as ROTF.

I kinda liked the first one as well. It was a good start and could have lead to better things....

....it's nice to dream huh?

Five films? Oh right. Bumblebee is a new continuity. I forget that sometimes.

Now that I think about it, the 1st movie did have the most..... iconic Con line-up in a sense. Most memorable in terms of names & designs for Blackout, Barricade, Bonecrusher, Brawl, Scorpinok, Starscream, & even Frenzy.

The later movies just kinda became more forgettable & generic with its Cons. It prolly partly has to do with the 1st film not having the mook fodder army that all the later films would get.

Edited by slimcoder on May 1st 2020 at 5:33:22 AM

I remember that Arcee was supposed to be in the Autobot line-up in the first film but she was scrapped because Michael Bay apparently couldn't see why a robot would be female (though by that logic, why would a robot be male either?). It's the same BS Simon Furman gave.

Oooooooh I know a video that actually delves into that.

Co-writer Bob Orci was the one who said the the reason why she was replaced with Ironhide because a female robot would “demand explanation”.

And then once Arcee was introduced in ROTF, she got gratuitously killed with little fanfare.

*sigh*

Edited by chasemaddigan on May 1st 2020 at 10:52:07 AM

We had 3 female bots there in a pretty creative motorcycle trio unit that we’re all spitefully killed off because Bay apparently despised them all for reasons that make sense only to him.

I prefer Elita-One's comic book death at the hands of Shockwave. Because it carried actual meaning behind it

Okay more movie news.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-05-02/deadline-paramount-schedules-next-transformers-live-action-film-for-june-24-2022/.159191

Next live-action film is our on June 24, 2022.

At least 2 scripts are in development, one inspired by Bumblebee (that’s all it says) & another based on Beast Wars. It’s not definite yet which project will make it into production at the moment.

How would a live action beast wars even work, given that it takes place on prehistoric earth? Or would it be "live-action" in the same way the Lion King remake was advertised?

I'm fascinated with the Bay movies mostly in a technical sense, the animation of the robots and integration with the environment. After seeing so many block shaped Transformers over the years, the designs are very dynamic and have a lot of personality that is often lost when they are more evocative of G1. The transformations are also given a lot of awe, wonder and dread depending on who we are looking at. Movie-Devastator arrives and moves like a creature from hell, something would be missing if it was a more traditional "giant humanoid robot" combiner. The toys themselves are equally well made, the combiner for Devastator being made from 8 separate toys and creating a combined form that has any level of articulation (shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, fingers) rather than an unmoving brick makes it unique. I've also been pleased with every individual toy that combines into the big guy. The efforts at proper scaling in the Studio Series also makes them all look really good together, I frequently have Scrapmetal in Grimlocks mouth.

The Last Knight is the one movie I have little defense for. It doesn't even have the isolated good moments of AOE or ROTF.

Probably the latter.

Also BW is mostly known for having a fairly small, intimate cast. I feel like a movie would make the Maximals resemble the Guardians of the Galaxy a bit.

I can sort of justify John Goodman in the fourth one, but Anthony Hopkins in Last Knight baffles me.

Edited by Beatman1 on May 1st 2020 at 1:41:51 PM

Maybe the Beast Wars movie could do the reverse of the show did and have it set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Still have the basic premise, where they're flung through time and space to Earth, but pull the rug out from people who are familiar with the show and think they're in the distant past.

That sounds interesting but there would still be the risk of having humans upstage the transformers depending how far it takes place.

Genuinely curious if anyone else here collects toys as a hobby. I own so much junk.

I have a ton of transformers and several other things

I enjoy the first film. It's not great but I can turn my brain off and get some fun with it. The rest are wretched and devoid of good except for the occasional cool design.

I collect Transformers toys.
Watched the original cartoon and Beast Wars religiously as a kiddo.

Nowadays it's just the toys, really.
I mostly consume my transformers fiction through osmosis via this thread, TFW 2005, and the wiki. I catch the occasional new cartoon episode, but it seems like I never have time to just binge watch a series anymore.

I had a few toys growing up, but really got into collecting when the '07 movie came out because I wandered past Optimus Prime in the toy isle and fell in love. I was disappointed in a lot of the toys growing up due to lack of articulation, stability,lackluster representation of the character or ultra-simplicity (Optimal Optimus from Beast Wars is a hefty toy but not especially interesting as a transformer, beast mode is just switching heads and both vehicle modes are mostly just laying face down). The movie toys have been pretty consistent in quality and that's what I mostly focus on, but also did/do a little from Animated, Prime and Generations depending on what looked good, like Generations Springer◊.

Edited by KJMackley on May 6th 2020 at 12:56:13 PM

I collected some old ones.

I overall enjoyed the films, though 2 was kind of eh(I only disliked the random female Transformer. Mostly cause it was purely for random sex appeal. I however found the Constructicons mildly funny. Nowhere near as good as Transformers Animated's version. It doesn't help they're often flat characters in most adaptions, bar Animated. Not counting Comics, cause I haven't read 'em enough to judge). My only disappointment was not having another film to finish the full plot.