A Transformers Thread

Steve returns.

Edited by chasemaddigan on Apr 18th 2024 at 9:02:02 AM

That's actually more similar to the original G1 lore. In it, transformation wasn't actually an ability natural to Cybertronians, it was first invented by the Autobots to get an edge in an earlier war and was later stolen by the Decepticons.

I'm thinking more big screen than straight to TV.

Was this on the big screen? If it was, than it counts.

So yeah. Looks like one more amendment. This is the first Animated Transformers movie to be released in theatres since 1986.

Lets see you counter that.

Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers had a theatrical release in Japan.

As did 1999 Summer Toei Anime Fair which also features animated Transformers.

So your statement is true if we call it the first western animated transformer movie with a theatrical release since the 86 one

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 18th 2024 at 9:41:27 AM

Shit.

I walked right into that one.

I'm Starscream with my foot stuck in the gears.

I concede defeat.

....Huh. I never knew any of the Anime Transformers were in theatres. That's pretty damned cool.

To be fair the barrier to entry in theater in Japan is, as far as I know, pretty low. So it's not uncommon for stuff that'd be a special here, or a direct to TV release to get a theatrical release in Japan.

We should probably make a thread for the movie.

Don't really see the point, we already have a thread for the whole franchise and it doesn't exactly bustle with activity so much you need another separate thread to keep up with the movie. Most of the time it's people unexplainedly posting Chris Mc Feely or that other person's videos (who should really be the ones getting their own thread).

Yeah, we're good so far. If it causes an ongoing explosion of discourse we'd probably have to worry about it but eh.

But yeah the dialogue does seem like step up. It's quippy, but I like quippy.

Has Scarlett Johansson done a lot of voice work? Chris and Brian are nailing their roles but I didn't hear enough of Elita to get a good grip on her voice.

She was Princess Mindy in the SpongeBob movie and Kaa in the Jungle Book remake... can't think of anything else.

Besides the two mentioned she's Ash in Sing and its sequel, Nutmeg in Isle of Dogs, and has done like 6 episodes of Robot Chicken.

I haven't seen any of that stuff is she any good!?

Well I guess she wouldn't be getting that many roles if the first place if she was bad I guess so I shouldn't worry.

Are they actually gonna call the artifacts they get implanted with "Transformation Cogs" y'think? I mean they better.

Toyline's getting reveals. Prime's got his axe. Alpha Trion's alt-mode is interesting. A few retools.

I'd say "She sounds like Scarlett Johansson". Like, from what I've seen she doesn't have a ton of range so her performance depends on how much the character fits her voice.

She does have a good singing voice in Sing though.

We know she can play action girls well enough so I assume she can make a decent Elita-1.

I should add that a lot of those roles aren't huge either. Like, Kaa is barely in the Jungle Book remake? Basically one scene. Robot Chicken is a skit show so most guest appearances are short. Isle of Dogs is a major role, and she's alright in it.

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 18th 2024 at 2:08:44 PM

I don't want to be pessimistic but I feel the transformers one movie is risking going the mcu route and end up overdoing the comedy.

Literally can't do worse than Revenge of the Fallen with its goddawful often racist comedy in that aspect.

Don't jinx it man!

If you don't like quip humor that's fine.

But the Bay films had crap like Bumblebee pissing on a dude, wrecking-ball testicles, dogs humping each other, and a disturbingly extensive discussion about age of consent laws to explain why it was okay for a 17 year old to be in a reltionship with an adult.

... I'll take a few lame quips by comparison.

Don't forget all the racism.

For context: Supposedly Skids and Mudflap were supposed to be a dig at white guys trying to emulate stereotypical black guys in terms of dress and mannerisms...

But it falls flat on its face when you remember that these are two giant robots. Not white human men, they're robots that turn into cars. It instead transforms into plain old racism.

It'd be like trying to mock Yellowface users by having genuine alien characters do it. It just simply doesn't work when an entirely different species is used as a stand-in.

It also just generally goes further. Every non-white, non-Chinese character in the Bay films is loud, obnoxious, often violent and almost a comic relief/ Epps spends most of the movies shouting unlike the cool collected (and white) Lennox. Glen is also loud and quirky, unlike Maggie who is competent and serious. Bobby Bolivia is a snake oil salesman and threatens to beat up his mother.

Simmons meanwhile veers into jewish stereotypes (Works in a deli, overbearing mother)

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 19th 2024 at 5:50:13 AM

Writing characters is hard, man. Just write caricatures, it's way easier and basically the same thing, right? /s

I'm definitely more amenable to the flavor of this trailer than to the Bay movies, but...that doesn't make it terribly appealing to me. I like the story idea presented, but the tone just seems really unenjoyable.

But that said, it also feels like it's actually trying to be entertaining to kids, and I feel like that's much healthier for the franchise.

Being better than the Bay movies is ridiculously easy. It's like being a better person than Donald Trump. The bar is so unbelievable low, that even if you put effort into trying to be worse, you'd probably still be a saint in comparison.

I'm waiting to see how this plays out. The trailer might be giving us a more skewed perspective of what the movie will be like than we realize.

Plus, if this movie is aimed more at kids, than it not too much of a shock if the humour doesn't land.

At most, I find Smart Ass Optimus and Goofy Megatron legitimately fascinating due to the dissonance of who we know they'll become.

Yeah, I'll take ultimately harmless if annoying-at-best quipping and humor over godawful racism, sexism, stereotyping, etc. disguising itself as actual comedy.

The thing I'm getting is more of a superhero origin story, hence why the tone seems whimsical and a kid friendly action flick. Not necessarily a bad thing but the trailer glosses over the caste system, being gifted T-cogs and the Quintesson invasion as very scattered plot points, which makes the goofiness feel awfully vapid. Similarly, Orion Pax and D-16 have no distinction between them in personality, with Bee at least standing out with his high energy.

It's just a trailer so can't complain too much. Though I can't help be a little disappointed in both the changes and lighter tone, as that doesn't bode well to properly depict the Autobot/Decepticon schism and Optimus/Megatron divide.