Movie: Transformers [Archive]

Yukimura

Fri, 08-18-2006, 02:32 PM

OKay I just watched the webcast from the screen writers and want to get as much down as I can before I forget it. They released the list of what Transformers would be in the movie, though they didn't say what they would all transform into. I'll post everything I wrote as I was watching.

Autobots
Optimus - Of course and voiced by his original actor as well!!!!!!!!!1

Bumblebee - A Camero instead of a Beetle for aesthetic (transforming) as well as plot reasons they said.

Jazz - Stylin' as always, will be the most 'hip' autobot, the most in touch with human culture.

Rachet - Not nessecarily an ambulance but still the 'doc' of the Autobots, it was said that he would be big, and able to carry transformers out of harms way.

Ironhide - Not much said, other than about his charachter being faithful to the original, as Prime's close friend and subordinate as well as team muscle.

Decepticons
Megatron - Again obvious, no word on his transformation though :(

Starscream - Of course...they do want fans to actually see the movie. Also the dialouge between Starscream and Megatron AKA the insulting of Starscream by Megatron should be present.

Note: I'm not familiar with several of these decepticons so i'll just post what I heard/remember

Brawl - Moody and always itching for a fight. Only subservient to Megatron, b/c he knows he'd get his ass kicked.

Bone Crusher - "Closest thing to a Constructicon" parahrase from the screenwriters

Barricade - Hunter/Scout transforms into a police car to more easily infiltrate humanity

Scorpinok - From Beast Wars, the writers said they didn't want to stick to only G1 as there are many Transfomrers out there. Will still be a vehicle but it was hinted that whatever vehicle he is will be well suited to where he hangs out (probably the desert). A notable point about Scorpinok, at least the Beast Wars one, is that he is an idiot.

Frenzy - This charachter was originally Soundwave, but evolved too far from the original and was changed, he is the smallest Decepticon, and is the spy of the group, able to hide in plain sight. Lack of Soundwave really hurts in my opinion, as he was one of my most remembered Decepticons after Megs, Star, and the Constructicons.

Blackout - A first strike/support role it was hinted he has abilities in the area of creating disruption and confusion on the battlefield. I believe EMP's were mentioned

As you may notice, the Autobots are outnumbered by three, which the writers plan to use to accent their teamwork and comraderie. Also the directors said they planned to portray Megatron not as a simple 'Pure Evil' charachter, but as more of an extreme social darwinist, who sees humans something like we see animals and acts accordingly. Furthering his own agenda with no regard for them.

Several questions were asked by members of the yahoo boards and from them I was able to gather some more general information from those.

- The movie will be designed so you don't need to know anything about the Transformers Universe to enjoy it, though if you do you will appreciate it more. Additionally they said the movie was meant to appeal to everyone, young or old, fans or the curious, and even...perish the thought...women.

- Comments were made in response to a girl's question about whether she would enjoy the movie, especially given that she'd never seen the original. They included referances to 'hot sweaty men' (I chose to ignore this) as well as hints of a ''strong woman' being part of the cast somewhere as well.

- There will be threads left open for a sequal, though a sequal is only in the 'maybe' category at this point.

- The Transformers will use modern human weaponry while transformed, and only use their own Cybertronian arms when in Robot mode.

- Nothing was said about anyone flying or not flying, but the words 'ships or vehicles' was used to describe the forms of the transformations in general. (This was in passing, and thus can be read into but only so much)

- There will be some type of 'write a quote for Optimus' contests starting soon on the Transformers Movie (http://www.transformersmovie.com/) website.

- The writers are Transformers fans and also consulted heavily with Hasbro, and thus know about the material they are adapting. As much as Hollywood screenwriters can anyway.

If more news comes my way I'll post it here.

EDIT: OMFG SO MANY SPELLING ERRORS!!!!!!!!! I think i got most of them though!

dragonrage

Fri, 08-18-2006, 04:53 PM

Yuki, watch your spelling shesh..... :p hehehe. I don't get to do that often, since i am the one with the grammatical error. Infact i think that there will be a few in this post. :o

And yeah it would nice to see a transformers movie. As long as the storyline isn't as gay as the current series that they are dishing out. I would enjoy watching after all it is one of the more enjoy memories of my childhood. It might be fun. Not going to rush out and watch it opening night/day/whatever it may be. But it will be cool seeing it.

Man they are bring back the old series huh, first this then ninja turtles. It's going to be interesting to say the least.

Knives122

Fri, 08-18-2006, 05:30 PM

here are optimus' arms and head(They are real btw)

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/989/primerj6.jpg

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2914/hedudegg2kb5.jpg

Carnage

Fri, 08-18-2006, 06:17 PM

Where the fuck is hotshot?:confused: :(

FrogKing

Fri, 08-18-2006, 07:02 PM

I just started following the movie stuff and was a viewer of the first generation Trasnsformers; however, I am only familiar (re:remember) a few from that list. Could somebody post some pics from the old-school cartoon of the Transformers that are going to be in the movie? Thanks ahead of time.

Psyke

Sat, 08-19-2006, 04:44 AM

Optimus Prime

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2166/optimusxn9.jpg

Blackout

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9181/blackoutqh7.jpg

Skorponok

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5711/scorponokuf1.jpg

Starscream

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4858/3941344e686dd5ca67rc5.jpg

and presenting.... Bumble Bee

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2623/bumblebeehx7.jpg

If you feel like crying..... you're not alone. Let's hope the movie turns out well.

Yukimura

Sat, 08-19-2006, 10:47 AM

@Carnage, your talking about Armada it sounds like. Hotshot is basically Bumblebee and Red Alert is a cross between Rachet and Jazz (mostly Rachet but with a bit of Jazz's looks).

Knives122

Thu, 08-24-2006, 06:57 PM

*heart attack*

Megatron:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9075/megatron1sg7.jpg
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8982/megatron2ur4.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4594/megatronheadik0.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/4035/megatronhead2gi1.jpg

They turned him into a jet after all................

Deblas

Thu, 08-24-2006, 07:06 PM

A jet? More like he transforms into a Junkyard. Seriously, WTF? I honestly can't imagine the designers looking at Megatrons face and saying "Yeah, that's our Megatron".

I do sort of like Starscream though. And Optimus is so so.

FrogKing

Thu, 08-24-2006, 07:11 PM

OMFG! That is NOT Megatron!!! They may have ruined the movie before it even came out...if the concept art for the Transformers are this bad, I can only wonder about the script. With Michael Bay on board (re: Director of the worst movie in 10 years...Pearl Harbor) at the helm, well let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if Megatron transformed into a steam pile of crap!

edit:sp

Lefty

Thu, 08-24-2006, 07:20 PM

Lets all accept teh fact tah this film will blow hard, and i mean hard like battle filed earth hard.

Psyke

Fri, 08-25-2006, 05:55 AM

It's hard to go lower than Battle Field Earth, but with Megatron looking like that yup they're heading in that direction. I'm still holding with all my fingers crossed that Michael Bay will prove us wrong.

Assassin

Fri, 08-25-2006, 03:04 PM

they look more like exo-skeletons then robots. And am i the only one who think truck optimus is completely gay? fire truck would've been better.

FrogKing

Fri, 08-25-2006, 03:59 PM

Assassin: I think all the transformers we have seen for the moive look lamo! There are so many problems with the concepts that it is hard to say that one is gayer than the other. My biggest dissapointment (and I think most people echo the same sentiments) is that they don't 'transform' from their vehicles to the robots the same. I mean common, I am used to seeing Optimus with the fricken grille and headlights staring at you from his chest...that goes for all of the transformers, you can't really tell what the hell they are 'cept for their colors. I am all for sprucing up the vehicle designs like making the semi-truck a little different (re: more detailed) with some flames, but the focking robot forms looks compeletly different. I second the vote on Battlefield Earth bad!

mage

Fri, 08-25-2006, 04:10 PM

LOL..

COMPARE:

Original Megatron:
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/140/041_24-087~Transformers-Megatron-Posters.jpg

and... THIS
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8982/megatron2ur4.jpg

FrogKing

Fri, 08-25-2006, 04:41 PM

^AHAHAHAHAHA

Original Megatron: Awesomness!

This: Pile-O-Shit!

Knives122

Fri, 08-25-2006, 06:49 PM

Wel...at least he isn't turning into a giant hand.

Lefty

Sat, 08-26-2006, 01:25 AM

I know what happened. They let those Fairy and Orc designers from WETA do the designs. i recognize the art from those EVA live action movie concepts. Thanks WETA, the last of my childhood has been stripped to the bone, rapped, then stappeled back together in the wrong f-ing order.

Yukimura

Sat, 08-26-2006, 01:52 PM

In the webcast the screenwriters claimed that Bay wanted the the Transromfation sequences to be realistc and not require any 'phantom assistance' such as parts materializingfrom no where to complete the change. Thie was a reason they gave for Bumbleebee being resast as a Camero instead of a VW Bug. That Megatron model doesn't look like it could become that plane without some parts being called from the ether. Either the screenwriters are liars or those pics are some form of early draft and aren't going to be used in the movie. The trailer that came out was already shot down as having nothing to do with the true plot of the movie. So I wouldn't use those to write off the whole movie just yet.

6Zabuza9

Sun, 08-27-2006, 05:38 AM

they'd better put some more colour into the dececpticons or else we'll never know who is who during fights

Kensee

Sun, 08-27-2006, 09:31 AM

Hmmm .... I don't reacll black out from any series (it's been a while -_-) can anyone tell me what series he poped in to? If any ...

Yah i hope they do a better job on star scream, and Megatron just looks ... not like Megatron. I'm hoping like some of the series, the autobot's numbers will increase (new allies).

Psyke

Sun, 08-27-2006, 09:56 AM

I believe Blackout is an original character created for the movie. As for the list of characters/transformers in the movie, it is already out, but I'm hoping for cameos here and there.

samsonlonghair

Sun, 08-27-2006, 05:40 PM

Whose idea was it to have scorpinoc in this? He was in Beast Wars, and he wasn't by any means the best character in Beastwars.

Knives122

Sun, 08-27-2006, 07:16 PM

Actually he was in G1; Scorpi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorponok). I just don't see the need to have him in this movie.

Yukimura

Sun, 08-27-2006, 07:51 PM

They wanted to cast a wider net, not just doing G1 but trying to make a movie with the spirit of entire franchise I'd guess. (Also by not trying to just copy G1 they won't take anywhere near as much heat as they would have when the haters tear it apart)

Psyke

Wed, 08-30-2006, 08:17 AM

Bumblebee's face revealed!

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4589/bumblefacego3.jpg

:eek:

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2838/opt1mf2.jpg

Knives122

Tue, 09-05-2006, 08:26 PM

More Optimus pics:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5323/1157481783prime3al5.jpg
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5671/1157481783prime1if4.jpg
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/7838/1157481783prime2xe3.jpg

Close up:
http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/6322/primefacedy9.jpg
http://img310.imageshack.us/img310/1769/primefrontom7.jpg

Comparison between Megs and Optimus:
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1600/untitled0rt1.jpg

Psyke

Wed, 09-06-2006, 07:11 AM

I'm having mixed feelings about these designs. While I agree that we can't stick 100% to the G1 designs, I can't say I like the eyes of Bumblebee and Prime. And of course Megatron still gets a thumbs down from me. Seems like this will be the final design, although if you notice carefully some minor changes were made to the latest pictures of Prime.

RyougaZell

Wed, 09-06-2006, 08:15 AM

My hopes for this movie have gone way down with those designs.

I was kinda hoping tank-Megatron appeared... but after seeing the pics :(

Boomstick

Wed, 09-06-2006, 10:35 AM

I gotta say i was really hoping for a good Transformers movie and was looking forward to maybe seeing my fav character soundwave, but then I saw these pics and that hope has shrivelled and died

Kensee

Thu, 09-07-2006, 01:05 AM

Ah yeah ... yeah I don't like it haha. Too futuristic/alien looking for Megatron. I'm not sure how to respond to this but the transformers ... just look ... not transformerish. Like bumblebee reminded me of Jonny 5 (if anyone remmebers that movie), just like that kind of robot design, and not one would consider transformerish.

Just have starscream betray megatron and face him in a one on one battle (ala Transformers Armada), I would watch the movie just for that.
That and Optimus thrust kicking a decepticon. ^_^

edit: haha someone did remember that movie, yeah its "Short Circuit"

Psyke

Sun, 09-10-2006, 01:36 AM

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/6499/moviecutoutsqc1.jpg

:confused:

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9190/441824504a1ef2cfd4wd7.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/73/jazzkn9.jpg

samsonlonghair

Tue, 09-26-2006, 10:37 AM

Oh God, I give up.

I saw an article on ComingSoon.net about John Rogers, who wrote the screenplay for Transformers. I looked him up on IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0736967/)to find out what other movies he wrote. The truth is worse than I could have imagined: This is the same guy who wrote The Core and Catwoman. I give up all hope that this might be a good movie.

RyougaZell

Tue, 09-26-2006, 11:01 AM

that gorilla/hulk mix is starscream??

i won't even bother to see this movie on avi...

Kensee

Tue, 09-26-2006, 05:38 PM

that gorilla/hulk mix is starscream??

i won't even bother to see this movie on avi...

That's what the arrow is pointing to ....

I agree with you, if that is star scream, this movie lost all value for me. And the same guy who did The Core and Catwoman is doing this one? Oh hecks no, save your money and take your date out to watch a good movie.

XanBcoo

Mon, 10-02-2006, 03:29 PM

Make Optimus Prime Speak (http://www.transformersmovie.com/).

Go Gotwoot, submit your lines so that Optimus Prime can say it in the movie.

God, this is "Juggernaut bitch" all over again.

samsonlonghair

Tue, 10-03-2006, 01:49 AM

XanBcoo

Tue, 10-03-2006, 02:06 AM

How about we all submit the same thing? I'm thinking that if thirty people suggest that Prime says, "Got Woot?" we might have a shot. Lat's put our thumb print on this god-awful adaptation of our childhood dreams.
I'd totally do that. I've already submitted 2 lines with different accounts.

Both were "I'MMA CHARGIN' MAH LAZER", one of my favorite online memes. It's also highly appropriate for this movie I think. As would be "Do a barrell roll!"

Knives122

Sat, 10-07-2006, 12:45 AM

Optimus Prime has sold out:
http://www.imageupload.com/reg/images/6060OPhns.jpg

Also the first pics of the Allspark/Energon Cube(it's a fucking gamecube.....)
http://info.detnews.com/pix/news/2006/10032006Transformers/trans3.jpg
http://info.detnews.com/pix/news/2006/10032006Transformers/trans4.jpg
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6138/cubebj3.jpg

samsonlonghair

Sun, 10-08-2006, 10:01 AM

Gamecube? That reminds me more of Pinhead's puzzle box.

At this point the movie is already a train wreck, and I just can't look away. It's disturbingly fascinating to see this movie go up in flames months before it even hits theaters.

xDarkMaster

Sat, 11-25-2006, 09:43 AM

Here (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=115458) are a bunch of pics.

Super5

Tue, 12-12-2006, 03:08 AM

Everything about this movie looked so... wrong. I admit I was worried when I saw the teaser, since short ones like that either point to an awesome movie or an abysmal one. This looks to be the latter. I think I can put my finger on what's wrong with the designs though. The transformed robots have been stripped of humanity. In the old cartoons, the robots would typically have a blocky, definably human looking body in the transformed state. The faces would also be unmistakably human and could show emotions. These designs are purely robotic, like a machine you would build to do work and obey commands - unfeeling and unthinking. They're also too complicated and bulky.

I think that's what people don't like about these new designs. They should have stuck closer to the original designs, because they worked. Even retro designs are better than this garbage. But hey, what did you expect with Michael "Pearl Harbor Sucks" Bay?

Psyke

Tue, 12-12-2006, 05:06 AM

Scorponok looks horrible. Bumble bee and Jazz are looking better than I initially thought, and I do hope that the movie will do the name proud.

el_boss

Thu, 12-21-2006, 08:05 AM

I just found out about this movie, and it got me excited until I saw what they have done to the "robots". They all look like shit, even Optimus. How the hell could they mess this up?

If Shockwave isn't in the movie, I'm not even gonna watch it.

Couldn't they have spent some money to get some japanese mecha designers to create the robots?

Psyke

Thu, 12-21-2006, 08:24 AM

Trailer is out at last! (http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/transformers/)

BioAlien

Thu, 12-21-2006, 10:53 AM

so many future great movie coming out in july. (The simpson movie for exemple, which come out the day of my birthday)

i'm looking forward to see this movie, it look awesome, i just hope it won't have a shitty story...

Deadfire

Thu, 12-21-2006, 02:25 PM

Ok, so here is the deal, Larry you listening? I am trying to help you now Larry. Why aren’t you listening to me.

Check it out I have gone Ross Perot on you.

Ok jokes aside anyone who has known me for 20 minutes knows I get all moist of big robots. I have been like this since I was a child. Of course a child in the 1980s would get their first exposure to big robots from the Transformers. Looking back I always ask myself what I was thinking. The characters were shallow, the dialog sucked and was rattled with one liners, and there was a heavy use of stock footage. But I loved it and it was the beginning of a fascination with me. A fascination that eventually lead to Battletech and Warhammer 40K

This fascination is going to be coming full circle with me this July when The Transformers will be recreated for the big screen as a live action film. This movie is directed my Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film finished principle photography over the summer and is in post production just in time for the July release.

Hardcore transformers fans, like the ones who attend events like Botcon, are pissed to high heaven over the movie. I can narrow down their complaints to three things. Design, Script, and Tribute. I would like to address these one by one.

First is design. Fans of the original 1980s transformers see the new designs and look upon them with disgust. Take a look at this image of the ever present Optimus Prime

http://www.harbx.com/archives/2006/12/optimus_prime_e.html

Tall, distinctly mechanical and yet distinctly alien as well. I look at this CGYI model and I can conceive how literally hundreds of thousands of moving parts would convert a Peterbilt 18 wheeler into this machine. When you lay this picture right next to an image of the old school Optimus, the differences are distinct.

http://flakmag.com/war/images/optimus.jpg

But so are the similarities. Same blue head with the face mask over all body structure. The trucks grill makes the abdomen and the windscreens are across the chest of both models. Now the clip of the “original” Optimus I picked was directly from the 1980s cartoon. The image most transfans worship the most is from the Dreamwave and IGN produced comics.

http://www.pier.i8.com/characters/Optimus%20Prime.jpg

And it is even funnier then that when you look at how many times Optimus has been rebuilt in different versions. He has been a Cargo truck, oil tanker, sports car, cyber-gorilla, fire engine, missile carrier, Bat, and Dodge Ram 1500.

Secondly there is the issue of script. I love how some people have to get every single scrap of information about a films plot before it is released. We have people that have hunted down first drafts of the script posted them online, and said “this is the movie and it sucks!” Apparently these s7nkpil3-wits also do not know the definition of FIRST DRAFT.

All I know about the story is what has been officially released. That can be summoned in one sentence. Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. The Transformers in a nutshell.

Neither Bay nor Spielberg has said much beyond this yet. And probably will not.

The Final aspect of the film that people demand is Tribute. How are we visiting the past in this movie? Well let’s start with the Lineups.

In the red corner, sporting the human looking face are the Autobots. Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Ratchet. If you ask any transformer fan to name five Autobots off the top of their head, these five will more then likely be them. They are the five good guy bots, all civilian and vehicles. This is a core concept of the transformers. The Autobots disguised themselves as harmless looking for the most part.

Bumblebee is a yellow car, and has the closest connection to humans.

Jazz is sports car, and a smooth bot with a sense of style

Ironhide is a Pickup truck and the muscle of the group

Ands Ratchet is an ambulance, and ironically enough the technician and medic of the team

In the Blue corner, dressed in military décor and a purple cyber cat head is the Decepticons. Megatron, Bonecrusher, Starscream, Barricade, Blackout, Brawl, and Frenzy. The Decepticons, with more intimidating names, bodies as military or police vehicles are built to destroy. Blackout even has a pet robotic scorpion named Scorpinok.

Megatron is too proud to have an earth form, and sticks to what he converted into when he was on his planet.

Starcream is a top of the line fighter jet, just like his 1980s persona

Brawl and Bonecrusher are military vehicles, a tank and a mine clearer. And they have an appetite for destruction

Barricade is a police car, the scout and pursuit vehicle of the Decepticons. Slick to have a bad guy disguised as a symbol of civic authority

Blackout is a Superstallion Helicopter, and is an electronic warfare specialist

And well we do not know much about Frenzy yet.

These are classic lineups of characters. And like the first season of the original cartoon, there are no catchy gimmicks like transformers that combine into super robots, or cybernetic animals (scorpinok aside).

Yet despite the massive amount of similarities and homage given, some purists are not willing to give this movie a chance because it is not the original. The key thing to remember though is that the transformers have undergone numerous style changes. Over 20 years the series has changed and evolved. Transformed if you will. This is not the first time in entertainment and old concept has been changed.

The current Battlestar Galactica is one of the hottest shows on television, and yet it is not the original. In fact except for the premise it is almost nothing like the original. And then we look at the X Men Movies. Could you picture Hugh Jackman in yellow spandex? The thought alone makes me want to gouge out my eyes with an olive fork. Star Trek: Enterprise is another example of tasking a concept and turning it on its head in a good way, by exploring what came before the classic series.

What is my point in all of this? I guess it is that people should not be discounting this movie just because so far it is not what THEY want. This movie, like all movies based on a franchise, is created not only for the established fans, but for the mass market. As such the producers want to bring in more fans, rather then placate the ones they already have.

Steve Jobs said it best when he said “the greatest threat to Apple Computer is Mac users”

I think that statement can be easily applied to anything that has a dedicated fanbase. These fans become so attached to some aspect of what they love, that they do not want to see it evolve to survive. And yet survive is exactly what a franchise must do.

Besides, in the end we all know that these purists who are calling for boycotts are going to see the movie anyway… several times… and they will love it. It has happened before, and will happen again. And eventually there will be the conversations of

“Who kicks more ass, Megatron from Generation one, Armada, or the live action Movie?”

We all know it will be the movie

This is a interesting rant I found on my travels though the internet. It's very interesting view on this

Super5

Thu, 12-21-2006, 09:32 PM

Interesting read, Deadfire. I still stand by my earlier statement. The only real problem I have with this movie is the Transformer designs. When I compare the new designs to the old designs, the new ones just look like they tried to "CGI-up" everything. Make the designs ridiculously complicated, with so many moving parts, and so alien-looking, that you just can't identify with the characters at all. IMO they should have gone with a more retro look - simpler is better. More CGI didn't work for the new star wars movies, and I doubt it will work here.

I can't comment about the script yet because I don't want to be spoiled (of course I'll see the movie, at least to give it a chance). But I disagree with this guy about pleasing fans. You should always try to please your core market first. They're the ones that will spend the most on your product, it's common business sense! If many fans are displeased, that's a bad sign. Anyway, here's hoping...

Ryllharu

Thu, 12-21-2006, 10:03 PM

I actually think the cgi Optimus looks really cool. Megatron, I will grant, looks...off. He also doesn't transform into a gun, and that's just not right.

Honestly, it really has nothing to do with the core fans. Why? They'll show up anyway. They're the sure thing. They'll either go to the movie and love all the tiny references shoved in everywhere (okay, maybe Michael Bay is a bit too weak a director to pull those off well), or they'll go see the movie so they can post all the inaccuracies on Wiki or blogs 10 minutes after it premieres. Either way, they're going to see it, if only out of curiosity. The ones who read the scripts, I'd say the half of those horrified would go see it too. The others, are revenue easily made up with casual movie goers.

So the goal is to appeal to the casual fans, or those just looking for something to do Friday night. They're the real revenue. They bring in the 10 million dollar first showings. If you boggle the crap out of them by making it so "for the true fans" that the casual viewer doesn't have the slightest idea what's going on (*cough* Silent Hill *cough*), then the movie is a failure. You'll bring in 5.2 million dollars on the first weekend, and half that the rest of the in-theater term.

Movies are not made for the fans, they're made for the general public. The goal is the make money, and profit of the investment. If you can crank out a good film in the process, power to you.

Think of any children's movie. Sure, they can make a great kids movie, but are the parents going to be bored out of their mind taking the kids to it? The kids have a blast and their parents sit there bored. Those parents will tell others that it was such a bore for them, and the other parents will gladly take their kids to something they can enjoy too. The most successful family movies are ones with enough slapstick and simple humor the the kids, but enough pop culture references, double entendres, and clever jokes for the parents to enjoy. Best example: Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I loved it as a kid, and when I finally saw it uncut on TV a few months ago, it was 10 times as funny because I got all the jokes.
[sorry for the tangent, it seemed to fit with my argument when I was writing it]

It's all well and good that the fans are pleased, but there's no pleasing everyone. For the most part, the studios know the hardcore fans are a sure thing, whether or not they'll love/hate it. The big trick, is to appeal to everyone else.

samsonlonghair

Fri, 12-22-2006, 03:03 AM

Okay, I get that the majority of profit from blockbuster movies comes from the general audience.

But if they don't have any interest in pleasing harcore fans, why even make a movie with such a built-in fanbase? Dreamworks spent a lot of money to license a movie with this built-in fanbase. Why spend that much money to just disreguard the fanbase?

Micheal Bay could be doing something like "Bad Boys 3" instead of Transformers. That would generate the general audience revenue, and no one would be bitching if the movie didn't hold up to standards. No one would expect standards.

The question is, why does Hollywood pay big money to licence established franchises and disregard the fanbase when they already have main-stream franchises of their own?

Ryllharu

Fri, 12-22-2006, 07:18 AM

Because then they can put a lot less effort writing the movie. They've already got a story to adapt a screenplay to. Why write original material when you can just rip off someone else's creative work?

Knives122

Sat, 12-23-2006, 08:27 PM

Final version of Optimus

http://www.filelodge.com/files/room54/1570133/lastscan5.jpg

Psyke

Sun, 12-24-2006, 03:30 AM

I can't seem to access the picture Knives posted, but here is a pic of Prime on the cover of Empire magazine.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/BatBrain/12-23-2006081559PM.jpg

Psyke

Fri, 01-05-2007, 09:02 AM

Some new pictures taken from Amazon Japan:

Bumblebee

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6596/bumblebeezw8.jpg

Barricade

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/8633/barricadeva3.jpg

Prime
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6922/000725102501ss500sclzzzip4.jpg

FrogKing

Wed, 01-10-2007, 12:03 PM

New pic of Megatron in full retard, i mean, robot mode:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=119712

Psyke

Wed, 01-17-2007, 08:21 AM

Pics of the prototypes of the Prime and Megatron toys:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9941/173nx9.jpg

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/7889/2ah9.jpg

Deblas

Wed, 01-17-2007, 09:50 AM

New pic of Megatron in full retard, i mean, robot mode:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=119712

Well...they sure made him scary looking i'll tell you that.

Sort of reminds me of Alien because of the teeth.

Death13a

Wed, 01-17-2007, 02:43 PM

Alien vs Preditor. This movie will be same shit.

Knives122

Thu, 01-18-2007, 12:21 AM

Crapitrons various modes + the big gun...
http://www.seibertron.com/forums/files/megatron_collage_267.jpg

DDBen

Thu, 01-18-2007, 04:56 AM

Color Testshot Blackout Toy Images
from: Seibertron.com

A few color pictures of Blackout and what seems to be a small Scorponok from the upcoming Transformrs Movie. See the pics HERE (http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=9241)!

Kensee

Thu, 01-18-2007, 08:50 AM

Huh ... I wonder how they are going to sound. At the end of the trailer on their website, you hear what is to be Optimus Prime's voice... but for some reason it struck me as something that would sound like Megatron's voice (it may be the newer generation Transformer cartoons just screwed over my hearing to whos voice is whose :p ).

Some day I'll get over how Megatron looks like, but I got high hopes for this movie just cause, like many of us, when I was a kid I wanted to be an Autobot when I grew up...

Now I am.

DDBen

Thu, 01-18-2007, 12:08 PM

Optimus Primes Voice is being done by Peter Cullen(same prime as the orignal) for those who have been hiding under a rock for the last few months.

Megatron might be Frank Welker(aka G1 Megatron) but the confirmation on casting has still yet to be finalised. The other possible option that was being kicked around was Agent Smith from the Matrix.

el_boss

Thu, 01-18-2007, 01:14 PM

This image pretty much sums up what the movie should have been... for me at least.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9990/optimusmegatronzi2.jpg

CommS007

Thu, 01-18-2007, 06:48 PM

Ah so Megatron will finally get a big gun?
I don't understand the "Alien" type teeth though in the Cybertronian form...

Psyke

Thu, 01-25-2007, 08:46 AM

Some new pics:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/6627/transformersnewpic12eb.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1150/transformersnewpic28mm.jpg

Vegechan

Thu, 01-25-2007, 07:42 PM

I want to say something about the whole "Michael Bay's version vs. Generation 1" argument.

And that's simply, shut up. Seriously. We all know that they don't look very similar to Generation 1 stuff. So what? Michael Bay as come out and said he's doing a more realistic version than the cartoons. Things will be different. Personally, I think the designs are very interesting.

Sure, Megatron looks nothing like his predecessors. But how often does he change in the series itself? Compare Generation 1 Megatron with Armada. I think Armada is a retarded design.

In my eyes, it makes sense for them to seem to different. After all, these are aliens from another world. And that's why he was going for. To have their Cybertronian version look drastically different from anything we might expect to make them seem more alien. Personally, I think the new Megatron is scary looking, and will be interesting to see what he does with him.

Yes, this movie will be drastically different from any of the previous Transformers, but I'm looking forward to it. I mean, it will be very different from "Hey look, a Decepticon, quick shot at ground under him!" and "Gotta catch them all!" points of previous incarnations. Give the movie a chance.

And before any one says "But it's Michael Bay!" I personally thought "The Rock" was a good movie. If a director can make at least one good movie, it means he has some good in him and may actually hit the mark every now and then.

If you don't like the designs because they simply look bad, I can understand that. I just want people to stop comparing them, especially when Michael Bay has already said he's going for something different than the original series.

UChessmaster

Thu, 01-25-2007, 09:12 PM

you want to know whats our problem with the design?

if the design is diferent than the source material what can we expect from the script?

and we ALL know what happens when a movie like that dont follow the source

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376994/ :confused:

i like every design so far, except for megatron >_>

Deblas

Sat, 02-03-2007, 07:27 PM

Shoeformers!! The next craze?

Optimus (http://www.gen1tf.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=422&d=1169599034)

Megatron (http://www.gen1tf.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=423&d=1169599034)

Danad_corps

Fri, 02-23-2007, 01:53 AM

ooo i am SO wearing those shoes to class next week!!

And about the fan-base stuff. I may be in the minority, but i hate watching movies of this i loved as a child and therefore do not watch them unless a lot of my friends are going (in that case i'm just going to hang out with my friends). So far i've hated almost all movie adaptations of the book's i've read and cartoons i used to watch. I do NOT watch them more than once 'cause it usually pissed me off the first time and i would NEVER get anything related to the movie ever again. This, just like the others, will be a movie that i will forgo from seeing.

Psyke

Wed, 03-28-2007, 08:47 AM

New posters!

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/2329/opt2jp5.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6434/meg2vh9.jpg

Knives122

Wed, 03-28-2007, 04:57 PM

Put them together and what you get?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v83/Geijutsuka/SHH%20stuff/tfwallpaper8x6-2.jpg

Psyke

Mon, 04-02-2007, 03:39 AM

2 new TV spots are out:

"Destiny" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRvh_HyShjo)

"Hidden" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGgvx_oi4ak)

You can also download them here (http://media.movies.ign.com/media/568/568421/vids_1.html).

Knives122

Mon, 04-02-2007, 06:18 PM

This pic is more or less set after Bonecrusher smashes through the bus:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/BRANDON-TAYLOR/big_fight.jpg

Assassin

Sat, 04-07-2007, 01:18 PM

i have a feeling this movie is going to be really "americanized".....just another alien invasion movie. ever since i saw the trailer with the kid buying a car, i felt this movie will suck. hope im wrong though.

I do wish that they'd kept the original look of the robots.....like the whole body is fully colored. the mix. With all the silver showing, they look like harley's. and everyone knows japanese bikes >> harley's

XanBcoo

Sun, 04-08-2007, 06:59 PM

I love that picture Knives. Looks awesome.

i have a feeling this movie is going to be really "americanized"...
Uhhh, what? Transformers are American. Perhaps it will be a "typical American" action movie, but you can't "americanize" something that's American to being with, lol...

Also, I completely agree with Vegechan. Cry more you guys, jeez.

DDBen

Sun, 04-08-2007, 11:17 PM

Possible Movie Spoilers Below

i have a feeling this movie is going to be really "americanized".....just another alien invasion movie. ever since i saw the trailer with the kid buying a car, i felt this movie will suck. hope im wrong though.

I do wish that they'd kept the original look of the robots.....like the whole body is fully colored. the mix. With all the silver showing, they look like harley's. and everyone knows japanese bikes >> harley's

While I don't agree with all the design choices made for this film mainly I absolutely HATE the head designs I honestly don't see where your coming from here. The vast majority of the Bots are absolutely full of color as Prime clearly shows in that picture. Sure it seems the Decepticons have a bit less color then the Autobots in the film but that doesn't seem to me like a big deal at all.

Also this is NOT a alien invasion movie nobody is attempting to take over the planet. In fact the slogan "Their war our world" states that pretty clearly. The battle taking place is over the Allspark which is located on earth apparently.

Also the only thing that was taken from japan until season 4 was the Toys which were made for all kinds of other lines and then brought under the Transformers name. "Japanese" Transformers has a very simple formula that isn't represented by this film. Basically a Japanese series requires YOUNG children to be involved always 14 or younger. Next it requires everyone to get random powerups usually represented by either a color change or something else to combine with. Then nobody can die in a Japanese version and if for some reason they do then they will be rebuilt into a upgrade for Prime.

This movie is set to be 2 and a half hours with 20 major action sequences. Several of the bots WILL die. In fact the entire reason for there being so many Decepticons is that they will be killing them off throughout the film. This is going to be a ACTION movie.

Now as for G1 the only Japanese series in G1 are Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory and Zone. I'm sure the vast majority of people in this thread haven't even seen those Series. So if by Japanese you mean Headmasters where every episode is the bad guys have a bomb and will blow something up with it that Americans created. Or Masterforce where they killed TONS of civilians and spent the majority of the series focused on 3 kids who became "Headmaster Juniors". Or Victory where they Focused largely on one kid and then everyone else was a combiner or Micromaster. Or maybe Zone which was canceled after airing 1 episode and had the remaining finished episodes destroyed so they couldn't be aired oh yeah and the Destrons were all HUGE and had on funny capes and looked absolutely NOTHING like American G1 Transformers.

So in the end what I'm getting to is this movie is slated to be like the first animated movie. Many characters will be killed during the movie. Overall the movie will be mostly action sequences with the added job of providing some background for whats going on. Also they wanted all the bots to be extremely detailed and yeah when your made out of metal you would have lots of metal parts.

Sorry if that was a bit of a rant.

Assassin

Mon, 04-09-2007, 12:29 AM

Uhhh, what? Transformers are American. Perhaps it will be a "typical American" action movie, but you can't "americanize" something that's American to being with, lol...

Well i didn't say it wasn't american (though admitedly, i wasn't aware of that), just that it seemed americanized. But i think "typical american" sums up what i meant to say better.

While I don't agree with all the design choices made for this film mainly I absolutely HATE the head designs I honestly don't see where your coming from here. The vast majority of the Bots are absolutely full of color as Prime clearly shows in that picture. Sure it seems the Decepticons have a bit less color then the Autobots in the film but that doesn't seem to me like a big deal at all.

i dont mean that they're colorless....what im referring to are the solid monotone boxlike parts seen in original cartoons. the stuff in the movie is more "realistic" if you get my meaning. which is why i compared them to harley's.....harleys have the engine and whatnot showing, where as the japanese bikes have it all covered and brightly colored.

edit:http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Transformers_autobots_L.jpg

DDBen

Mon, 04-09-2007, 01:42 AM

i dont mean that they're colorless....what im referring to are the solid monotone boxlike parts seen in original cartoons. the stuff in the movie is more "realistic" if you get my meaning. which is why i compared them to harley's.....harleys have the engine and whatnot showing, where as the japanese bikes have it all covered and brightly colored.

So wait your complaint is that a live action movie with a major budget is to realistic???

If so I guess I just can't comprehend that.

I mean I was a big fan of G1 but its hard to make that sort of thing come to life in a live action movie when everyone looks like painted cardboard boxes and the fights look like a episode of Power Rangers

Knives122

Mon, 04-16-2007, 02:52 PM

New footage, just click the link to start dl:
Deep voiced Prime.. (http://www.globaltestmarket.com/se_images/208034-38.wmv)

Psyke

Thu, 04-26-2007, 04:13 AM

A new international poster:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8320/transintpe1.jpg

Prime:

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1739/4284546290cdd7de03wq5.jpg

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/2607/5x92xhkgb5.jpg

Knives122

Sun, 05-06-2007, 04:15 PM

More pics:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7330/meganfo2fk1.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4527/transfcelebutopianetna6.jpg

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5025/image00004rn2.jpg

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4697/image00006jy2.jpg

big ass truck:
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7108/image00003ag7.jpg

XanBcoo

Sun, 05-06-2007, 04:31 PM

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7108/image00003ag7.jpg
I can't believe I've only just noticed the potential for product placement in this movie...

Psyke

Mon, 05-07-2007, 09:50 AM

Prime: "Autobots! Transform and roll out! Bumble bee..... why are you in front of me?"

Ok, not much of a complain, but the high res pictures look absolutely great. Surprisingly, we still don't have a high resolution picture of the autobots in robot form.

fahoumh

Mon, 05-07-2007, 07:17 PM

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4697/image00006jy2.jpg
It looks like he just shit a brick...and is about ready to drop another.

Psyke

Tue, 05-08-2007, 11:42 AM

A new clip from the movie, but nothing much to shout about.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=01Uky6nQJVQ

Knives122

Thu, 05-10-2007, 07:12 AM

more pics:
Megs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v83/Geijutsuka/SHH%20stuff/megz-m.jpg

Optimus:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/mattnotis/primehigh1wi5.jpg

XanBcoo

Thu, 05-10-2007, 04:20 PM

Apparently Peter Cullen will be reprising the role of Optimus, but IMDB has Hugo Weaving listed as the voice for Megatron.

Huh, I guess he does have a voice similar to the one Megatron had in Beast Wars, but it seems like many fans are pissed that Frank Welker won't be doing Megatron instead. Personally I don't mind, I think both are pretty good actors.

I just hope people will hear Megatron and not think "Hey, that's V!"

Edit: Just realized this news was posted earlier. Oops :p.

Psyke

Fri, 05-11-2007, 11:28 AM

High res pictures of robot forms (http://www.michaelbay.com/blog/files/d58812e5a390e8b3a44162285e4ae054-74.html). Finally!

Jazz:

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3024/jazz01al1.jpg

Jazz with and without his visor:

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7647/jazz02qe7.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/2300/jazz04gc8.jpg

Psyke

Sat, 05-19-2007, 05:52 AM

Double post but damnit you guys need to see this (http://www.universalpictures.nl/bioscoop/data/trans/trailerf.html).

It's in German I think, but the quality's better than youtube.

Eddie_Brock

Sat, 05-19-2007, 11:00 AM

sweeet!
they even did that oldskool transforming sound. I was skeptic at first but it really looks great.
thnx for the link. (it's dutch by the way, you were really close though :D)

Knives122

Mon, 05-21-2007, 06:53 PM

Megatron beating the shit out of Optimus(even manages to spin around and jab him in the side -_- )
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/4110/megsvsprimelargegd9.gif

Knives122

Fri, 05-25-2007, 11:47 PM

More posters:
http://i19.tinypic.com/4opf6dj.jpg

http://i7.tinypic.com/4pdp2e8.jpg

http://i12.tinypic.com/62z1b1e.jpg

Psyke

Sat, 05-26-2007, 03:33 AM

Prime looks good, Megatron still ok, but I still can't really accept Bumble Bee. :(

Yukimura

Sat, 05-26-2007, 02:00 PM

The english version of the new trailer is up on www.transformersmovie.com with no subtitles or anything, It looked much better than all the other trailers so far. Starscream and what I can only guess is Megatron looked awesome, and with the speed of the transformations I'm hoping we'll be seeing battles with a lot of switching back and forth. I think Starscream's ackflip-into-an-F-22 alone will make this movie awesome.

I noticed this is coming out in late June for some Asian countries like Singapore, S Korea, The Philippines and more...WTF? Is this normal and if so is this why bootleg Tele-synched movies come out so fast?

Psyke

Mon, 06-04-2007, 10:00 AM

Short but amazing new clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1to5viHgSA)

Prime in MTV awards! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3wAnWecdyY)

darkshadow

Mon, 06-04-2007, 12:25 PM

2 amazing clips, the one where he speaks was ultra wicked though, damn

Illrenmazou

Wed, 06-06-2007, 01:24 AM

The tube just pwed the 2 vids psyke. Crap

darkshadow

Wed, 06-06-2007, 06:08 PM

Dinobots and Constructicons may have small cameos in the upcoming movie and the film's producer has confirmed he has already conceived a way to present both groups in a sequel.

If you go to the Sector 7 web site, found at www.sectorseven.org, and enter the code "codeblack," you'll get to see the following sequence (click on the red hard drive, choose the N.B.E. 08 file):
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1408/1181161520.jpg

The short sequence shows Dinobots leader Grimlock in his T-Rex form, crushing everything on his path. The excavator on the left could be Scavenger, from the Constructicons.

As if that wasn't enough, UGO's Back Row Chatter caught Tom DeSanto, who confirmed the two groups' appearance in a potential sequel:

“It is really gratifying that as an old school Transformers fan and after almost six years of work the movie is just over a month away from live action big screen immortality. Like X-Men and Battlestar Galactica this is a project I have wanted to see made since I was a kid. As a huge Grimlock lover myself there was just no room in the first movie for the Dinobots, we had to focus on the original Transformers with Optimus Prime and Megatron. But if the box office allows us to make a sequel, the door is open to a lot of the Transformers universe. I have a very cool idea on how to intro the Dinobots and Constructicons. How cool would that movie be?”

Teh sex..............
a bunch of more awesome stuff is at the site, like footage of Soundwaves's laserbeak!

Psyke

Thu, 06-07-2007, 03:48 AM

Sorry about the clips, but it's just less than 1 month before the movie premieres!

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9574/405974665b8b0bb089pr7.jpg

Knives122

Wed, 06-20-2007, 05:31 PM

For those who don't know the size difference of Megs and Optimus:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/428/567983384f91f6c4039oiy4.jpg

XanBcoo

Thu, 06-21-2007, 01:17 PM

Unhappy Transformers fans threaten Michael Bay's life (http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/06/20/unhappy_transformer_fans_threatened_mich)

"I took time to listen to fans on the net and hear their comments, but I'd be like, 'I'm still gonna make my movie and I'm still gonna put flames on (lead robot character) Optimus Prime. I got the impression that the fans wanted me, literally, to take these cartoons and blow 'em up and it would've been clearly the equivalent of Ghostbusters. It just wouldn't work. The robots needed to be much more complex."
Hahahaha

Also, what's his problems with Ghostbusters? Honestly :(.

?igma

Fri, 06-22-2007, 09:57 AM

I think he means that staying in line with the comics/animated series, he'd have to substract the exact image from the pencil to the pixel. This will result in something you simply can't give to todays public and would only serve as a comedy product.

Which its not supposed to be.

My take on that tbh.

XanBcoo

Fri, 06-22-2007, 11:39 AM

But didn't Ghostbusters the movie come before the animated series?

In any case, he's clearly making a judgment on quality about Ghostbusters, which is like, totally unwarranted.

Shadow Skill

Sat, 06-23-2007, 10:03 AM

Ghostbusters > Transformers. The new look for the Transformers... I give it a Failing grade of F and F- and OMFG YOU RUINED my image of the Transformers!!

Yukimura

Sat, 06-23-2007, 12:37 PM

I wonder at how many people agree with Shadow Skill. From all accounts it appears Bay took the idea of Transformers: Robots in Disguise and made it realistic. The new transformations appear to follow most of the laws of physics as they take time and the size of the original vehicle is proportional to the relative size of the robot form. On the one hand, it's not what it was in the Cartoons with simple blocky designs that don't have much maneuverability, but on the other It gives them a more sci-fi appeal then the original's sci-fantasy. All in all I like the way he's brought it to the real word, though I wouldn't throw away the original Transformers the Movie (Optimus Prime >>>> Rodimus Prims) over this new one.

darkshadow

Sat, 06-23-2007, 02:24 PM

movie optimus hardly looks like rodimus, just cause he has added flames doesn't make them the same, besides, rodimus is red with some yellow flames on his chest.
Movie optimus still has his blue/red design, the red flames just add to that.

Knives122

Sat, 06-23-2007, 03:14 PM

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7933/tftg01rt3.gif
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3527/tftg02ss5.gif

darkshadow

Sat, 06-23-2007, 07:36 PM

That's the intro from the game
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/20662.html

Psyke

Mon, 06-25-2007, 11:17 AM

Transformers will open this weekend on the 29th, Friday here in Singapore! I've already made advanced online reservations for tickets on Saturday! Woo hoo~

Knives122

Mon, 06-25-2007, 09:06 PM

Optimus Prime with sword (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=21223)

Psyke

Wed, 06-27-2007, 10:00 AM

Prime in Burger King drive through (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kckakj8sH8I)

Yukimura

Wed, 06-27-2007, 12:20 PM

Lol
BK Operator: Sir You need a vehicle to use the Drive Through.
Optimus: Fine **transforms**
BK Operatot: Uh...You need a driver too.
Optimus: Oh, come on!

And if the pre release clips are this awesome I can't even imagine how cool the clips will be once the movie premiers (In the US)

itadakimasu

Wed, 06-27-2007, 03:57 PM

ROFL @ Death threats from transformers fans...

Michael Bay has made some good movies, i'm not a huge transformers fan but i would have liked an acredited director like him to have done the xmen movies and maybe they wouldn't have sucked so bad.... *sigh* maybe it wasn't the director but the writer... WTF teh xmen storylines sucked.

I think that i will go see transformers eventually, the previews that i saw before pirates were simply amazing.

Raven

Thu, 06-28-2007, 04:52 AM

I've got my ticket for tomorrow night, V-max screen, oooh yeah! Hooray, worthless post!

kAi

Thu, 06-28-2007, 04:35 PM

Awesome movie, made me laugh many times.

Speak more about it when more people have seen it.

Illrenmazou

Fri, 06-29-2007, 08:01 AM

Just watched the movie a while ago and i can say is this movie rocks hard! The story is easy to follow, the humor hit more often and as to be expected, the visuals blows you off your seat.

Raven

Fri, 06-29-2007, 10:19 PM

I won't say too much yet, but man, this movie does NOT disappoint. Not only a magnificent visual feast, but good characters and plot too.

Psyke

Sat, 06-30-2007, 02:38 PM

I love the Transformers. It's one of the most memorable catoons series I've watched growing up in the 80s. Like many other kids during that time, Optimus Prime was our hero. It was awesome watching the Autobots battle the Decepticons, including all the transformation sequences, and the battle bases that transform into huge robots, etc. Many things from Transformers have become iconic, such as the Autobot and Decepticon insignias, the 2 leaders of the opposing forces, and also the other chracters such as Bumblee Bee and Starscream.

As a Transformer fan since the G1 era who watched the Japanese TF series, here are some of my thoughts on the movie.I thought the movie was brilliant, but I'm still going to nitpick on some issues. Possible spoilers abound so stop here if you've yet to catch the movie.

1. The graphics and CG are the best you'd expect from any Hollywood movie, period. No major complains here, except that some times the action scenes move too quickly to see what's happening on the screen. It's gotta do with the overall design and transformation sequences of the Transformers, but the design issue is altogether another topic and I'm not too keen to touch on the G1 vs Movie designs debate.

2. The plot is not too confusing and gives a good background on why the Transformers are fighting. However, I've got some doubts here and there. Firstly, the US government doesn't seem to keep its top personnel informed about state matters, especially when a war could be triggered anytime. The whole sector 7 crap just doesn't do it for me. And where was the President of the United States? All we saw was a glimpse of him on Air Force One enjoying himself.

Second major nitpick is why the Army captain decided to hide the All Spark in the city so that the decepticons would not find it. Yes, for entertainment wise we need to have as much collateral damage as possible, but from a military point of view it's just going to cost more innocent lives to be sacrificed. Small issue I know, but I also found it strange that all the government officials and army personnel just decided to go along and release Bumble Bee when Spike (Sam) said so.

Most of the Transformers were given a very limited amount of screen time, save for Prime and Bumble Bee. Most only say a line or two and don't show up until near the final battle. Though, getting Peter Cullen for the voice of Prime really brings back some nostagic feelings, and die hard fans would remember some of the lines from the original Transformers movie. "Freedom is the right of all sentiant beings." This line was the winner in the "Make Optimus Prime speak" contest held a few months ago, and was also said nearly 20 years ago when Prime faced Megatron in the G1 movie. The other line is "One shall stand, and one shall fall." One of the last few words from the autobot leader before he handed the Matrix over to Ultra Magnus, which eventually at the end of the movie used by Rodimus Prime to defeat Galvatron. For a while I thought that Prime would use the All Spark to defeat Megatron a la the Matrix of Leadership, but I was wrong.

I loved the Starcream in the G1 series, and I was happy to hear him call Megatron "Lord Megatron", and that the reply from Megatron was classic. Good stuff with the voices and script, although I would have preferred Jazz's voice to be more coarse like the original.

The movie had a lot of comedy injected in it throughout, and they were genuinely funny. I loved how Spike poked fun at the original Transformers tagline "more than meets the eye", and how Ratchet indicated that Spike's hormone levels indicated he wanted to mate with Megan Fox. I just hated that agent from Sector 7 that's all. And perhaps that irritating voice the little decepticon makes.

The movie ends with Prime anticipating more Autobots to arrive on Earth, meaning a direct sequel is being set up although no plans are official yet. Megatron's lifeless body dropped in the middle of the ocean means he might be back in the future. I don't remember seeing Starscream get destroyed, and I didn't observe carefully but did he return to space at the end of the movie?

I've enjoyed this movie, and I'm thinking most fans will too. The pros definately outweights the complaints, and I'll definately get the DVD when it arrives. Go watch this movie if you haven't already, even if you have not watched the G1 series before.

itadakimasu

Sat, 06-30-2007, 11:05 PM

my mom told me she remembered taking me to see transformers when i was little.... i didn't know and cant remember.

anyhow, i saw the preview again tonight (i watch no tv) and i have to see it. it looks so awesome

Illrenmazou

Sat, 06-30-2007, 11:45 PM

I don't remember seeing Starscream get destroyed, and I didn't observe carefully but did he return to space at the end of the movie?

Yup, he did. But what the heck happend to Barricade?

Raven

Sun, 07-01-2007, 03:55 AM

I think we were meant to assume Bumblebee killed him, or something.

darkshadow

Mon, 07-02-2007, 05:44 PM

"One shall stand, one shall fall" omg.....
this was the BEST movie ever. PERIOD, dont agree? you SUCK.
Fuck im going again tomorrow, micheal bay delivered like a motherfucker.

Oh and barricade and starscream didnt die, barricade vanished, and starscream was his old treacherous self again, and left.

Phoenix20578

Mon, 07-02-2007, 11:22 PM

Just saw advance screening at 8pm, 7/2....I win ^_^

Movie review, Amazing

It isnt the exact story, but a very VERY good retelling. The transformations were done extremely well. The fight sequences were done done extremely well also. this movie kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. This is coming from a very hardcore Transformers fanboy. Movies like this are ether a hit or a miss, this was def a grand slam.

Good Points:
Transformations
Fights sequences
Story(Entire plot was done really well and kept really tightly to the characteristics of the original characters)
Each individual characters personality and back story do extremely well so each has depth and isnt hollow

Bad Points:
Fucking agent guy who I just wanted to die, but he didnt
Money wise this movie is gonna make me spend a fortune from going back and seeing it multiple times

All and all, I def recommend for everyone to go see this movie
Def a must for any Transformers fan and just a great movie to see even if you arent a fan.

dark maginn

Tue, 07-03-2007, 12:56 AM

i was not dissapointed in this movie it was really nice but it had some flaws but otherwise it was great

Yukimura

Tue, 07-03-2007, 02:28 AM

Just back from the 12:01 showing. Holy Shit that was a beautiful looking movie! And quite funny too, Shia seemed to be mimicking another comics style with the really fast talking but he pulled it off well and managed to stay pretty funny throughout. But none of us will see this movie for Shia Lewhatever's acting skills.

Echoing everyone else, this movie was simply amazing for the senses. The visuals were top notch and not spared at all in the scenes that were shown, but also the soundtrack was really effective as well. The heavy rock tracks, I'm going to call them rock b/c I don't know enough about music to tell the differences, were really good at indicating mood changes and sounded great. I'll be getting the soundtrack for this one with certainty.

The plot was good, but not air tight of course. There's no way you could reverse engineer our comparatively crappy technology from something as complicated as a Transformer. It'd be like sending an iPhone back to the Romans and having them discover how to make their own rudimentary telephones. However they did a really good job of integrating the humans into the story so that it wouldn't have worked without both them and the Autobots. There are several times where you might be focused on the Transformers and what they're doing when the action shifts back to the humans and you see what they're doing in the same circumstances. Some people may not like this, but I thought it worked fairly well to keep us from forgetting about the people (and making the movie more appealing to non-Transformer fans, who could easily go in and enjoy this with absolutely no previous experience with anything Transformer related.)

The one thing I noticed and didn't like about the way the movie was made was that they did a lot of cutting away and then having time skip forward what seemed like hours while the characters responses indicated only minutes had passed. Example: A helicopter that was detected 20 miles away from a base in broad daylight making a beeline for the base at average helicopter speed. Said helicopter doesn't land at said base until the sun is all the way down. A couple instances like that don't really mess up the movie but they are noticeable if you're paying attention to little details, which by the end you certainly won't be. Also that section 7 guy was an annoying little prick, and I'm really sad he didn't die.

Another Note...I think the only reason this movie is PG-13 is because only robots get really roughed up on screen. Some of the stuff that happens is downright brutal and certainly would warrant an R if it was humans involved.

As to a sequel, they left it possible but they didn't do a good job setting up a potential Unicron/Galvatron scenario with the way they handled Megatron, though I think they could still make it work if need be.

Raven

Tue, 07-03-2007, 02:44 AM

Maybe it'll be Unicron that comes and saves them all from the bottom of the ocean. Seems kind of obvious to me. ;)

Yukimura

Tue, 07-03-2007, 10:41 AM

The thing is if Unicron was already close enough to earth to revive them he'd probably just eat earth and go about his day. The only way I see it working is if someone goes and gets them and brings them to him.

Deadfire

Tue, 07-03-2007, 09:22 PM

Awesome movie, my opinion echos what you have all said, everything was spot on with very minor things being annoying.

I don't remember seeing Starscream get destroyed, and I didn't observe carefully but did he return to space at the end of the movie?

I thought I saw him on the carrier at the end, I mean one of the parts that was sitting there looked like a Jet and even had the Air force logo on it

Anyone else figure out how those glasses got like that? I mean not exactly hit them to make what they had on them as well, those cracks on it would be hard to do by human hand...

just a minor plot point I didn't see make sense

Carnage

Tue, 07-03-2007, 10:09 PM

The animation, graphics, and battle scenes in this movie made my jaw drop.

I love the scene when Megatron comes back to from his cold slumber and yells "IM MEGATRON!"

Yukimura

Tue, 07-03-2007, 10:10 PM

@ Deadfire: Right before the credits stop being flashing names and start scrolling (after both times with Sam's parents acting goofy) you see an F-22 leaving the atmosphere (and dealing with friction for some strange reason). I don't think the F-22 is operational in the exosphere so we can only assume it was Starscream.

Illrenmazou

Wed, 07-04-2007, 01:39 AM

Transformers Movie Prequel Comics (http://www.idwpublishing.com/titles/tf-movieprequel.shtml)
Someone please scan and upload this!

SamuraiOdin

Wed, 07-04-2007, 02:03 AM

Went and saw it today, absolutely loved it. My friends and I exited the movie at the end repeating our favorite lines, and perhaps the one we were quoting the most was "You have failed me once again, Starscream!"

Psyke

Wed, 07-04-2007, 06:07 AM

"Till all are one."

I've going to dig out my old G1 series and the movie to watch them again this weekend. :p

Idealistic

Thu, 07-05-2007, 05:03 AM

This movie is overrated.. It really wasn't that great. They made it too comical, I was expecting it to be more serious.

Action? What action? The majority of action you see are the military shooting their weapons which made this movie more of a comedy/war movie than anything else.

The fights with Autobots and Decepticons sucked. It was dull.

Deadfire

Thu, 07-05-2007, 05:04 PM

Awesome Review I read about this and the set up for the next movies

Well here it is, 20 years, thousands of toys, and seven cartoon series later Transformers returns to the big screen. The movie has sparked curiosity among longtime fans and resentment from the hardcore fan-base who for some reason think that the barely recognizable track of Orson Wells in the 1986 animated feature was close to the voice of God. Director Michael Bay even received death threats, which he brushed off without much concern.

That said after a thorough review of the film, I can say that the entire hardcore “the movie must be X, Y and Z otherwise it is worthless” can kiss my ENTIRE ass.

This movie, which the uninitiated regard as the most expensive toy commercial ever, is a true summer blockbuster in both typical and yet atypical ways. The film begins with this near biblical reading

“Before time itself, there was the cube”

This phrase spoken by Optimus Prime (reprised by veteran voice actor Peter Cullen) sets the mood for the film. The whole time you get the feeling that there is something big going on that you can only just barely grasp.

After this opening narration we cut to Qatar and the SOCCNET base there. Heartthrob and former gay porn actor Josh Dhumal is speaking with his team in a helicopter about what they would like to do when their tours are over. Dhumal laments over the fact that he has yet to see his baby girl, to which his teammates poke fun of him, in a very real military style. While this team lands and enjoys some time alone the base picks up a bogey, and the first dramatic scene opens. A Military helicopter refusing to identify itself lands on base, and interrupt’s a sweet moment between father and newborn daughter on the internet. This helicopter has USA markings but the registry was shot down months prior, leading to confusion. I think the first real indication that something bad was happening was when the chopper changed its shape in a loud and elaborate way to become a bipedal monstrosity.

The action in this sequence is well done; we do not see much of Blackout, the Decepticon attacking the base. Whenever we do get something like full body shots it is for a very brief time. The chaos of the fight, and the fact that NOTHING is taking this beast down is well reflected by the chaos of solider running away and these nifty Pulse bombs flying everywhere.

After the base gets obliterated and our human heroes run like hell we are introduced to a kid giving a presentation in his high school history class. He is showing off his family heirlooms to his class as part of a genealogy project. At the same time he is trying to sell them. Sam Witwickty (played by up and comer Shia Labouf) is portrayed as a teenage outcast surrounded by good looking jocks and hot girls. He and his briefly seen friend are all too geeky and do not fit the mold. What he lacks in muscle he makes up for in intelligence and wit, and even some charm.

The real story begins when Sam buys his first car with the help of his cheap ass father, and as it turns out the yellow 1974 Camero is a robot. Like a super advanced transforming Robot. It is probably Japanese.

While the plotline of the movie is holey and mediocre, I walked into the film expecting not much more then that. Summer Blockbusters by their nature are not cerebral entertainment. That said it does follow the formula of any story. You have protaganists, and antagonist, in a crisis situation.

The film even contains a surprising amount of humor. Bad customer service moments, awkward sex talk from mom (Sam’s Happy Time), and even showing how a bunch of inpatient Autobots made a situation WORSE.

The Visuals of the movie were extremely impressive. The filmmakers lived up to their promise of transforming at 80 Miles an hour. These robots were not just big hulking boxes of plastic either. They had agility and once things got going moved with a type of mechanical grace I would expect from a Battlemech. Prime shows off the agility by literally hanging from a bridge, his hands the toes holding him to suppourts. Even big old Ironhide does something impressive, using the recoil of his cannons to propel him into a spinning arc of doom.

For what little characterizations there were among the cybertronians they did a very good job relating to the old school counter parts. Optimus was little pushy, but that was because of the circumstances. Ironhide was trigger happy (maybe a little too so). Optimus even berates Ironhide when our gunslinger suggested blasting Mr and Mrs Witwicky to keep them from interfering. Jazz defiantly got the smooth player thing going, particularly in his first transformation when he did a little break dancing,

There was also a ton of G1 homage’s throughout the movie. Remember the Energy Axe from “More Then Meets the Eye?” It sort of comes back, only now it is a sword built into primes fore arm, and it is more like a power blade then a light saber. And then there is the tank Devastator, who takes the combined effort of a platoon of specially equipped soldiers, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee and an air strike from an F 22 to take down. Another great homage was Megatron, after falling off a building, flicking a human being while uttering “disgusting fleshlings” Oh yeah, and Spike (and later frenzy) crying out “ohhh s7nkpil3!”

Ok I have sung the praises enough, so let me get to the stuff that was truly disappointing about the movie. Where were the freaking Decepticons? Seriously Megatron and Barricade were the only two that had any significant speaking role that was not cybertronian. I could have done with at least one bad guy huddle.

Secondly as a minor aside, why did Bay object to mass shifting only to have a 1000 foot cube be reduced to the size of a bowling ball?

Now all that said here are my official predictions for the sequel. We see Starscream in the credits leave earth. I know he is going to call for reinforcements. Soundwave and Shockwave would be nice, as would be the Combaticons (since Devastator already appeared). Barricade and Skorpinok are MIA so that allows you to develop a nice harassment for the autobots.

As for Megatron, let us look at what happens when Megatron in the past has come into contact with some all powerful force. Unicron turned him to Galvatron (G1), absorbing another Megatron’s spark turned him into a Galvatron like figure (Beast Wars), The Key to Vector Sigma turned him into Galvatron (Robots in Disguise), and the essence of the Minicons turned him into Galvatron (Armada). So what can e say would possibly happen with Megatron’s Spark combining with the All Spark?

As for future Autobots, sure we would all love to see the Dinobots come in, but more realistically I think that aside from our survivors, Prowl, Warpath, Silverbolt, and Wheeljack should make appearances. I choose warpath to specifically counter another Devastator like Decepticon, and Silverbolt to counter Starscream. Erstwhile Prowl and Wheeljack are two classic Autobots that many are fond of.

All in all Transformers is a very worthwhile film to see, at least in the eye candy factor. If you go in expecting it to be some great amount of writing, go se Evening. I give Transformers a solid Four and a half out of Five Energon Cubes

dragonrage

Fri, 07-06-2007, 10:35 PM

Just coming back from watching transformers and I must say that my expectations were blown away.....

Awesome movie.....

Go see it.

At the moment I can't really put it into words. For now all I have to say is that it made me remember my childhood.

Will edit later, maybe

SamuraiOdin

Fri, 07-06-2007, 10:42 PM

According to Yahoo movies, the big scoop isn't Transformers, but one of the previews the precedes it.
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/72670/the-case-of-the-mysterious-movie

darkshadow

Fri, 07-06-2007, 11:12 PM

http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=4177
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v745445bPmBdSyf&source=embedVideo

Cloverfield, looks very interesting. ( posted those 2 links cause trailers keep getting pulled.)

Splash!

Sat, 07-07-2007, 10:56 PM

Just saw this movie today and I have to disagree with most here. Although it was somewhat enjoyable, I really don't think it was all that great. The story was bad, but the great action somewhat compensated for it. I understand Michael Bay's wanting to do things differently but there are things in this movie that I really did not like. That little gremlin of a decepticon is one of them (Don't know name, only watched Transformers G1 as a kid. He wasn't soundwave was he??! That would be a travesty).

From reading this thread, I understand the animators did not want to tread anywhere near the original G1 blocky look in terms of robot design and thats fine, but could they have at least made them a little simpler. Simplicity has its own aesthetic appeal. Although this has already been discussed to great lengths, I still want to assert that the robots in the movie looked really ugly, although they did cool stuff.

As for most of the transformation sequences, I did not like them at all. Some of them were unnecessarily prolonged, with alot of unnecessary 'intermediate transformation forms' that had nothing to do with the actual mechanics of the transformation from car to robot or vice versa(I guess they were just trying to show off the wonders of modern cinematics). The transformations that I really liked were the ones that took place rather quickly with the robots immediately getting into action (i.e most of the Megatron and Starscream ones, along with 1 particular one of optimus prime's).

I remember watching the first Transformers cartoon movie (More Than Meets the Eye) on VHS and pause playing all the transformation sequencies which were mechanically very plausible, not to mention simple and fast(Ok, there were a few odd things here and there like optimus growing a trailer out of nowhere, Megatron, Soundwave, etc.) Good Times! The quality slowly started detoriarating eventually.

Optimus prime's voice was definitely one of the good parts of the movie. It brought back alot of transformers childhood memories. But then again, even a phrase like "Autobots, let's roll out" sounds cheesy when its used like every 2 seconds . Optimus even used it to ask them to get out of the Witwicky courtyard!

Also, apart from Prime, the other Autobots were really out of character. Bumblebee peeing on the guy was just ............. Also Jazz's voice was awkward (He should have been called "Hip Hop" for crying out loud, not Jazz!)

The humor really was ok but it got quite corny at times. I am at least happy with Sam and Ron Witwicky's accurate portrayal of Spike and Sparkplug. Personally, I think the human aspect of the story was handled really well (although a little too much for my liking), just the Transformers side of it sucked.

Mainly because of the jawdropping action scenes, I would rate this movie a 6/10. It was fun to watch but something about these Transformers was felt just PLAIN WRONG! Maybe if this movie wasn't called Transformers I would like it better.

Idealistic

Sun, 07-08-2007, 01:42 AM

@Splash. That is exactly what I'm saying.

The whole time I was watching the movie, it did not feel like Transformers at all. Like you said, if the movie wasn't called Transformers I would have liked it better as well. The Autobots felt more like a supporting role than the main role.

It felt to me like a war movie against aliens from outer space. And yes, the way they made the robots were pretty ugly and they made the transformations look too complicated and such.

I also didn't like Sam's character. Too many jokes made this movie feel more like a comedy/war movie than Transformers.

Another "cartoon to movie" ruined. Only Spiderman and the new Batman IMO are the only good ones, although Spiderman 3 wasn't as good as the previous 2.

fahoumh

Sun, 07-08-2007, 02:30 AM

Saw the movie earlier today and it wasn't as great as a lot of people have made it out to be. It was pretty good, and I'm surprised that asshat Bay didn't manage to completely molest my childhood memories of the original series. The biggest disappointment was the "epic" battle between Prime and Megatron in that it was not epic at all. If I had to give it a numerical rating I'd say 7/10.

itadakimasu

Sun, 07-08-2007, 10:29 PM

Amazing action and effects... thin story line. B-

I really wish it wasn't sold out at the cheaper movie theater... 2nd attempt to see it, ended up driving to another theater where it was almost twice the cost to see it and the transformers were really amazing and there were several parts that had me lmao but there were also several lame parts and i thought the story line was kinda weak. the one part that had me lmao was when the one decepticon was asking him about the ebay item LOL
that was just so good.

as for the previews, the blair witch looking movie.. eh.. the will smith being the last man on earth..... but he's not alone (isn't that a contradiction?) I just want to see will smith killing aliens or something.

anyhow, most movies i've seen in a long time. Its a very good movie summer, next stop....
Harry Potter ^^

masamuneehs

Mon, 07-09-2007, 12:20 AM

i enjoyed it. i'm not going to go crazy about pros or cons and a whole fanboy whatever... it's not a great movie, has some bright spots and some glaring flaws, but it's entertaining. I found myself really enjoying it, but seriously thirsting for more Decepticon interaction, hell, more interaction between the Autbots even. As said, it revolved a little too much around the humans, who were your cookie-cutter characters...

saman

Mon, 07-09-2007, 02:17 PM

movie was alright. not the best movie i've ever seen, but it had some pretty good parts in it. i hate the camera shaking that they use to make it seem more realistic, though, because it just makes everything harder to see, and it all becomes confusing.

anyway, in the previews for this movie, there's a preview for one by j.j. abrams. in it, there's a farewell party for a guy who i'm assuming is the main character, and then suddenly there's an earthquake and everyone runs to the roof where they see another part of the city blow up. everyone runs outside, there's another explosion, and the head of the statue of liberty lands right in front of them. did anyone catch the name of this movie and when it comes out? because i will not lie, it almost had me hyperventilating.

masamuneehs

Mon, 07-09-2007, 02:55 PM

did anyone catch the name of this movie and when it comes out? because i will not lie, it almost had me hyperventilating.
as brought up a couple times in this thread:
The working title is 'Cloverfield' although that's not the official name of the film yet...
It's slated for January 18, 2008.

That one caught me too, because I noticed people in the theatre were all perking up during it, but then it didn't even have a name at the end!

saman

Mon, 07-09-2007, 08:38 PM

oh, was it brought up before? i guess i should've browsed the thread before asking that question. well, thanks for answering anyway :)

Kensee

Tue, 07-10-2007, 02:28 AM

as brought up a couple times in this thread:
The working title is 'Cloverfield' although that's not the official name of the film yet...
It's slated for January 18, 2008.

That one caught me too, because I noticed people in the theatre were all perking up during it, but then it didn't even have a name at the end!

Oh really? I was hearing rumors that it was a VOLTRON movie. Cause the guys were all shouting .. "is that a lion?" and theres huge explosions and such.

Voltron...

Yukimura

Tue, 07-10-2007, 02:10 PM

I just realized after reflecting on the graphics of Transformers. If they could do that much detail with special effects and animatronic robots they could make a pretty kickass looking live action Gundam movie. If only such a movie could pay for itself in the U.S it would be sweet.

darkshadow

Tue, 07-10-2007, 05:17 PM

i was thinking about a gundam movie the entire time...

itadakimasu

Tue, 07-10-2007, 08:16 PM

i actuallyown a live action gundam movie... i did not watch the whole thing because it was pretty bad . i think it is called G-Saviour or something very close to that. I dont think i will see the next transformers movie... maybe though.

darkshadow

Wed, 07-11-2007, 02:46 PM

We all know about g-saviour... no need to remind us of that... thing...

Animeniax

Mon, 07-16-2007, 02:48 PM

Just saw the movie and it was amazing. Non-stop action and laughter. It was an awe-inspiring experience watching this movie with 500 US military who cheered at the site of everything that was familiar to them, like the fighting at the Qatar base, and the sight of the A-10s in action. The Decepticons are bad-ass taking the forms of vehicles like the Pavlov and Buffalo. Shia LaBeouf was great in this movie, as was pretty much everyone else, except for John Turturro as Agent Simmons, who was over the top and obnoxious. Funny comment from one of the guys, they killed the "black" character first, Jazz. All the black guys with us agreed that's some f*cked up sh*t, brothers can't get a break.

Turkish-S

Mon, 07-16-2007, 03:44 PM

The movie was oke. With the graphics and all.
story was stupid.. how can they kill off megatron in the first movie??.
And some things extremely annoyed me.
1. quote: "hey they think it was iran.. WAHAHAHAHAHHA U CRAAAYZIE??? MUSLIMS ARE STUPID THEY CAN'T KILL US LIKE THAT WAHAHAHAHA."
2. quote2: "could it be the chinese? No they won't attack like that."
3. arabs running around and screeming "balalalalagalabala"
4. quote3: "stop talking spanish idiot....."
5. ONLY black otobot died. :/

These things kinda ruined it for me..

Animeniax

Mon, 07-16-2007, 03:58 PM

I thought there was a lot of social commentary in this movie, like the speaking Spanish bit, the feebleness of US military might, government cover ups, the weaknesses of our information technology networks, etc. About Jazz dying, I think they're playing on the old joke that the black guy always dies. Given your average pale techie geek who loves Transformers, it was aimed at that target audience so it worked. They probably killed off Megatron so they could bring him back as Galvatron or something.

masamuneehs

Mon, 07-16-2007, 04:23 PM

if anything, i think the movie took great pains to show that the U.S. military, at least the likes of the group of soldiers that reappeared time and time again, can surprisingly take down the 'great menaces'. The soldiers effectively supported the Autobots towards the end, got the government (Section 7 doesn't count, since they didn't do jack-shit until much later) notified of the Decepticons' nature and a whole bunch of them even survived (even though they should all have been dead way back in the desert) Naturally this was done so that the message, "You're a soldier now" could be delivered to the main character and people could cheer for the soldiers.

Well, considering they show-cased all those new F-22s and other military hardware (and probably footed a considerable portion of the special effects' bill), I grudingly suppose that the propaganda was to be expected, and not exactly loathsome.

Animeniax

Mon, 07-16-2007, 11:36 PM

In the long run, you're right, the military was able to perform and overcome, but it got eerily quiet a few times in the theater first when Blackout wiped out the Qatar base, then when the Decepticons attacked the Hoover dam, and later when the soldiers were under attack by Devastator/Brawl. Stark contrast to the first few minutes of the movie when we all proudly stood to attention while they played the national anthem.

I agree there was a bit of "Iraq War" propaganda. The soldiers ate it up anyway.

Psyke

Tue, 07-17-2007, 09:32 AM

Agreed on the propaganda for the US Army. They were showcasing how efficient and effective their sensor-shooting loops are by demonstrating how they can call for close air support in the desert and the urban area fights.

Psyke

Fri, 07-20-2007, 11:29 AM

From Transformer World 2005:

Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of the first live action Movie, has teamed up with USA Today to run a poll of fan favourite Transformers to see who fans want to appear in the sequel. He's fully willing to listen to fan opinion and do his best to give us, the fans, what we want (or at the least what makes sense in the context of a live action movie).

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4662/39471469fb5d8e7fb4bz6.jpg

I'd vote for Sound Wave, and Ultra Magnus. Also Blaster if he were on the list.

Carnage

Fri, 07-20-2007, 12:51 PM

Grimlock looks coolios.

Animeniax

Fri, 07-20-2007, 12:56 PM

I'd vote Soundwave and Ravage, but I wonder how they'd change both of them like they changed Megatron to fit the real world. You couldn't have a walkman and cassette transform into giant mechs.

I'd love to see Hound, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Prowl, TrailBreaker, Wheeljack or any of the original generation 1 Autobots. Reflector and Shockwave on the Decepticons side would be cool. If they make Jetfire, they'd have to change him from an F-14 to something else. No way could a Tomcat compete against an F-22 Starscream. I'd prefer not to see any Dinobots, just doesn't make sense in a modern setting.

Using a team like the Constructicons to form Devastator would make for awesome special effects.

darkshadow

Fri, 07-20-2007, 04:19 PM

dinobots and constructicons were pretty much confirmed in an older interview, i think i posted something about that few pages back.
Who knows, maybe instead of metal, they'll have some sort of artificial skin/flesh, like beast wars.

edit:
here is my post with the interview:
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php?p=336956&postcount=114

Animeniax

Fri, 07-20-2007, 10:15 PM

Beast wars would suck. It's too early to stray very far from the main G1 material. They can still milk so much from the characters they haven't used yet like the ones I mentioned.

DB_Hunter

Sat, 07-21-2007, 09:32 PM

Saw the movie today. Was quite dissapointed. There were two plots in the movie, one involving humans and the other the Transformers, with the two only loosely linked in my opinion. The whole romance thing was such a load of shit, the couldn't even pull it off right. Then you had that Aussie hacker girl who served no purpose other than just being eye candy on screen.

They could have done so much more with the material and heritage Transformers has. The first half of the movie went too slow for my liking, and the second went too fast. Honestly at times you couldn't even see the action properly, and the camera work was poor.

And the movie was too "Americanised". Sure its an American cartoon, but some of the US military propaganda and teenage attitude made the film really obnoxious at times. And the ending sucked so badly, the only redeeming feature was Starscream going in to space at the end, lining up a potential sequel.

Overall dissapointed with the movie, if for nothing else just the fact that it could have been so much better.

Assertn

Sun, 07-22-2007, 02:00 AM

Animeniax

Sun, 07-22-2007, 02:39 AM

Yes, they are two different Decepticons, Blackout and Scorponok. I'll let you figure out which was which.

darkshadow

Sun, 07-22-2007, 07:17 AM

Plus barricade only dies in the graphic novel, bonecrusher doesn't.
Since barricade doesn't die onscreen, but bonecrusher does, it's save to assume barricade, scorponok and starscream are the 3 surviving decepticons.

Also, Frenzy just got his head cut in half, he might live aswell.

Animeniax

Sun, 07-22-2007, 09:13 AM

I thought Frenzy reeked of Jar Jar Binks and the writers trying to appeal to the little kids in the audience. I hope he's dead, but like Jar Jar, I'm sure he'll be back.

It was weird that they included Barricade but not Prowl. Cop on cop action would have been cool. They also should have used Robert Patrick's likeness for Barricade's driver hologram.

Psyke

Sun, 07-22-2007, 09:20 AM

Ben Procter, the lead robot illustrator for the Transformers Movie, has added a hundred pieces concept art to his online portfolio (http://www.benprocter.com/SITEv2/HTML/PROJPAGE_Trans_01.html).

Would you have preferred it if Megatron looked like this in the movie?

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/7286/40597469e97a641e0cyu1.jpg

darkshadow

Sun, 07-22-2007, 10:18 AM

most definitly not, no disrespect to G1, but the cybertronian jet look has really grown on me, i think it rocks, and just oozes evilness.

Animeniax

Sun, 07-22-2007, 11:00 AM

I'd have to say no as well, but there had to have been a happy medium. First, what's with the super-sized Megatron in the movie? The dual between him and Optimus Prime was very one-sided, and it took a human's (somewhat gimmicky) assistance to defeat Megatron, which is in keeping with the G1 spirit, but kind of lame to me.

The one above is too streamlined and not as "mechanical" looking as the other Transformers in the movie.

darkshadow

Sun, 07-22-2007, 02:18 PM

the humans didnt really defeat megatron, it was starscream who effectively took him down, he stopped attacking the f-22's and blended back in, attacking megatron allong side them.

Assertn

Sun, 07-22-2007, 08:21 PM

the humans didnt really defeat megatron, it was starscream who effectively took him down, he stopped attacking the f-22's and blended back in, attacking megatron allong side them.

What? That can't be right, considering that the other f-22's kept attacking him whenever he tried to mingle with them.

Also, to answer Psyke's old question about why the all-spark was hidden in the city...
I'm pretty sure the all-spark was always there since long before the city was even constructed. The glasses led the autobots to the Hoover dam, plus that cube must have been simply too large to be able to transport anywhere else.

darkshadow

Sun, 07-22-2007, 09:15 PM

He wasn't trying to mingle with them, he was toying with them, plus he doesn't show up radar unless he wants to ofcourse ( he got right behind the pilots without them even noticing, this was in his non-vehicle form ).
Plus the first missle that hits Megatron doesn't seem to be coming from the 2 F-22's flying downward, it seems to be coming from behind them.
Even though I've seen the movie 4 times now i still can't really tell where that missle comes from.

Also the raptors suddenly just stopped attacking starscream and went for Megatron? I don't buy that at all, Starscream was a far bigger threat to them then megatron, megs didn't even pay attention to them, starscream was tearing them apart. I guess he just saw a chance of taking Megatron down.

ChaosK

Mon, 07-23-2007, 01:11 AM

This movie's made me want to watch the Transformers cartoons but there's only one problem...I never realized there were as many Transformers cartoons as there are versions of Vista (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/02/02)...

So for those who have seen them, which one(s) is the best? I have season one of Transformers G1, and I must say it's fun to watch but the battles are sort of disappointing what with it being created almost 20 years ago. I mean, when two transformers clash, it sounds as if I touched two soda cans together.

Animeniax

Mon, 07-23-2007, 01:55 AM

I'd recommend seeing the original animated movie. I haven't seen it myself, waiting for it from Netflix.

Psyke

Mon, 07-23-2007, 07:35 AM

Also, to answer Psyke's old question about why the all-spark was hidden in the city... I'm pretty sure the all-spark was always there since long before the city was even constructed. The glasses led the autobots to the Hoover dam, plus that cube must have been simply too large to be able to transport anywhere else.

Oh, I agree with you, but what I was asking was why they decided to take the All Spark to the city after it shrunk down in size. Unless they figured that it was the best place to hide it, but collateral damage and unnecessary loss of lives should usually be avoided as far as possible, right?

fahoumh

Mon, 07-23-2007, 08:15 AM

I'd recommend seeing the original animated movie. I haven't seen it myself, waiting for it from Netflix.
How can you recommend a movie you haven't seen?

Knives122

Mon, 07-23-2007, 06:43 PM

I saw the movie and it is mostly about Hot Rot becoming Rodimus Prime. Wasn't all that great b/c it had incredibly bad pieces of music placed at the most awkward of times. And Optimus dies in it, which sucks.

Animeniax

Tue, 07-24-2007, 01:36 AM

How can you recommend a movie you haven't seen?
Other people have opinions on it that make it seem like a worthwhile watch, especially if you're into the entire Transformers story. There's a lot of material in that movie that people frequently refer to when discussing the Transformers.

the humans didnt really defeat megatron, it was starscream who effectively took him down, he stopped attacking the f-22's and blended back in, attacking megatron allong side them.Didn't Chip defeat Megatron by putting the all-spark in his flux capacitor to destroy him? That's what I saw in the movie anyway.

Splash!

Tue, 07-24-2007, 02:16 AM

^^ By 'Chip', I think you mean 'Spike' or 'Sam' as he is known in the movie. 'Chip Chase' is an altogether seperate human character of transformers G1.

@Chaoskiddo
As to going back and watching transformers G1 now, I can't really see it interesting you that much. I did the exact same thing you did after watching this movie and went and downloaded the first 2 seasons of G1( After being reminded of my childhood, I thought I would give it another shot). But alas after so many years, it didn't have the same effect. Mind you, the first 3 episodes (More than Meets the Eye) of season 1 are pretty high quality in my opinion. Transformers actually started out as a 3 episode thing that was made to try something different. But people liked 'More than Meets the Eye' so much that they went ahead and started making entire seasons so that the public could have their fix of transformers.

However, the makers seriously started slacking off in terms of quality and they tried to make up for their lack of ideas by introducing literally hundreds of new characters.

That being said, if you are going to give G1 a chance, I suggest you take a look at the episodes in the seasons that are parts of mini arcs (ranging from 2- 5 episodes). Many of these were the basis for video releases so they actually TRIED to make high quality stuff. And the story line isn't intricate so if you miss episodes in between, its not going to be like you have no idea whats going on. You might miss introductions to new characters, but oh well!

Also, check out the animated movie. I can't say much good about it considering the kind of stuff we watch nowadays, but its actually among the better things from G1.

As for other transformers series, I can't say much as I have never really cared for any of them.

Psyke

Tue, 07-24-2007, 04:21 AM

As for other transformers series, I can't say much as I have never really cared for any of them.

I loved the Japanese anime Transformer series, from Headmasters to Masterforce, and then the Victory series, which are based on the G1 storyline (with some changes of course). Haven't seen any of the other series though.

Animeniax

Tue, 07-24-2007, 04:37 AM

@Splash!: Yeah I was kidding about his name being Chip, in reference to the original series. Nice job not catching that.

@Psyke: I can't imagine Japanese voices for Transformers, just like I couldn't watch DBZ in the original Japanese (Goku sounds like a girl). Is the animation any better in the Japanese series? The Binaltech line of toys are superior to the American Transformer toys. Of course, everything Japanese is better than its American counterpart.

Psyke

Tue, 07-24-2007, 04:48 AM

Well, the Masterforce series was shown in Japan in 1988, almost 20 years ago, so you can't expect much from the animation as compared to those today. Here are some of the links on youtube on Masterforce, which is based on the Pretenders, Headmasters, and the Powermasters. The Optimus Prime in the series, although in the English dub is known as Optimus Prime, is later explained to be a warrior who just looks like him. A little confusing, but you can check up wiki for more information on this.

Masterforce OP1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHFWTfPKwJI)
Masterforce OP2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgtioRC4fPY)
Powermaster Ginrai (Prime) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJKJyn5VGHE)
God Ginrai upgrade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pBXONiNA7U)

Animeniax

Tue, 07-24-2007, 07:12 AM

Thanks for the links, the Japanese versions from the 80s are definitely better than the American versions from the same period, though a slightly different concept it seems. Optimus Prime's voice actor in the American series owns all, even better than the Japanese voice actors.

Psyke

Tue, 07-24-2007, 08:04 AM

The first season of G1 are the best episodes ever, at least for me. Sadly, seasons 3 and 4 are the worst ever.

More of Ben Procter's designs:
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9145/zoompictransoptimusheadvj2.jpg

You can find the images here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/46406068@N00/sets/72157600890115534/) too.

Animeniax

Tue, 07-24-2007, 11:39 PM

They should let Proctor design some units for Gundam. Remember when they let Syd Mead design the Turn A Gundam? Horribly looking mech. Proctor would do the mobile suit some justice.

Kensee

Wed, 07-25-2007, 01:00 AM

Wait so....I thought only Starscream survived.....

I assumed the giant scorpion was just the helicopter guy in another form, since it looked like the helicopter guy was tracking down the marine who took his picture. If they're different decepticons, then that means the scorpion is still alive as well.

Actually, I believe they made that little scorpion guy Scorpinox .. which I was a little sad about (and I liked the movie). Scorpinox is usually a very big decepticon.

They are gonna replace the fallen Autobot with either Hot Shot or Jetfire... but I want Ultra Magnus! OMEGA PRIME!!

Anyhow the designs have grown on me, I didn't like them at first but now I appreciate them more.

Anyhow if you are interested in Transformers, wikipedia it and enjoy the read.

Animeniax

Wed, 07-25-2007, 01:17 AM

Scorponok was pretty big in the movie, not a little guy at all. He wasn't as massive as Blackout or Megatron, but his cartoon form wasn't that big either.

Wasn't Jetfire always whining and constantly on ritalin in the G1 series?

Psyke

Wed, 07-25-2007, 07:23 AM

I'm still thinking whether this is physically possible:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3462/zoompictransothersnokiayf0.jpg

ChaosK

Wed, 07-25-2007, 12:35 PM

So true... (http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=241)

VG Cats ftw...

Anyway, I began downloading season 2 of Transformers G1, can anybody who's seen it tell me when Hot Rod/Rodimus comes into the show? I know he was originally introduced in the Transformers Movie, but he also appears in the show so basically I wanna know when the movie comes in, according to the storyline of the show.

Yukimura

Wed, 07-25-2007, 02:43 PM

Where'd you find links for it??? Share!

ChaosK

Wed, 07-25-2007, 04:17 PM

Where'd you find links for it??? Share!

Mininova has the season from demonoid. Great speed a quality. Just search "Transformers G1" and you'll get all of them.

Season 1 I had for a long time, I dunno if it's there but it should be.

Psyke

Thu, 07-26-2007, 05:14 AM

And the results of the poll are out!

USA TODAY asked Transformers fans to vote for the characters they most want to see in a live-action sequel. The winner is a blast from the past — and a challenge for the filmmakers.
The results:

Soundwave: Winner with 20% of the vote

He may not have been in the first live-action Transformers movie, but a parody featuring the tape-deck robot as an out-of-work actor has made him a YouTube star and sentimental favorite. He won the poll, though many aren't sure what new form he could take. Some commenting on USATODAY.com suggested a spy plane, which could dispatch Soundwave's other robotic drones such as the metallic cougar Ravage and the condor Lazerbeak. Comics writer Bob Budiansky, who gave personalities to many of the original 1980s Transformers characters, joked that sequel producers should think smaller: "Nowadays he would turn into something like an MP3 player. Imagine, an evil iPod!"

Devastator: 16% of the vote

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Vote | Transformers | MP3 player | Decepticon
Tied for second place is the evil Devastator, a giant made of bulldozers, dump trucks and other vehicles, which also transform into a team of individual robots. "What makes Devastator stand out from the crowd is that the six Constructicons combine to form him, making him a truly awesome killing machine — even by Decepticon standards," Budiansky says.

Grimlock: 16% of the vote

This Tyrannosaurus rex-shaped Dinobot, also tied for second, is one of the Transformers' strongest (and strangest) anti-heroes. "In the cartoon show he was portrayed as just dumb, but in the comic he's a bit more of a reluctant good guy and is always butting heads with everybody around him," says current Transformers comic book writer Simon Furman.

Jetfire: 11% of the vote

Some air cover for the heroic street-vehicle Autobots also garnered strong support, ranking Jetfire third in the poll. In the cartoon, Jetfire was a former Decepticon who sees the errors of his ways, but in the comics the futuristic jet was designed as "an Autobot with no mind of his own, so I could let a human teenager control him," Budiansky says. "A serious case of wish fulfillment if there ever was one."

Ultra Magnus : 9% of the vote

Also fourth was Ultra Magnus, a tractor-trailer with similar characteristics to Optimus Prime (his toy mold was basically the same). Introduced in the 1986 animated movie, he has some supporters, but not many. It doesn't help that he was designed to replace some of the most popular characters. "Poor Ultra Magnus — an Optimus Prime wannabe. He could talk the talk, but he couldn't walk the walk," Budiansky says.

Shockwave: 9% of the vote

Tied for fourth place, Shockwave is the Decepticon ruler of their home planet Cybertron and transforms into a giant laser cannon. Budiansky conceived him as a twisted Mr. Spock, "guided by pure logic in its most cruel and calculating form." IDW Publishing editor Chris Ryall, who oversees the current line of Transformers comics, says his featureless face makes him ominous and inscrutable: "He's only got one big eye, which is a cool visual."

USA TODAY