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Yeah, Lennox calling SP "thing" is kind of wrong to say seeming how he has the Abots as good partners and would stand up for them. It would've been more logical to call SP "guy" or something that would place SP as a living being. Like in the first movie when that one soldier said "That tank thing is getting back up", it could've been because he didn't know it was an actual living being or just a mere robot. But I think he was with Lennox through the whole movie so he could've just been ignorant and said "tank thing" or like Skywarped said, "bad dialog". So in my opinion, it was just being lazy with the script.

As to whether Sentinel meant the things he said before his betrayal, I like to think he did mean it. Especially his bonding with Optimus during the sunset and refusing the Matrix. I think he really wanted to earn OP's respect and friendship and make him a close friend. After all, he wasn't exactly willing to kill Optimus after turning on him.

That still makes his remark of how beautiful the Earth is, a blatant lie.
If he really liked the peaceful view that reminded him of the Old Cybertron, he wouldn't be willing to strip this planet bare like they did with Cybertron. Even if it meant restoring they own world. So I take it he just didn't care for Earth's beauty and felt his race deserved a wondrous world moreso than us.

I would LIKE to think that Sentinel still felt a smidge of genuine regret when he uttered “Forgive me.” just before he opened the space bridge to the moon and when he refrained from killing Optimus during their tussle immediately afterwards. Anything past that, though… Hopeless…at least IMO. Actually, despite all my personal beefs with DOTM’s handling of its characters, I’d like to state here that I think that someone did do a real good job with Sentinel’s dialog in detailing his moral descent in general. It’s the Reader’s Digest Condensed version of a classic (and rather prosaic) slide into evil, true, but his lines were carefully enough worded that you can clearly pick out the moments when he stops thinking of himself as an Autobot and when he later fancies himself as some sort of ultimate uber-Cybertronian, the only one left who’s fit to rule everybody. So, grudging thumbs up for that, I guess. Just wanted to put that out there because I hate not liking DOTM more than I do and keep on trying to find some nuggets that please me.

ANYHOO, back on topic… Considering how many poor human bystanders must’ve been smashed, crushed, maimed, and otherwise killed and injured by assorted Transformer activities over the course of the three movies, any guess on the number of new human support groups and hate sites and lawsuits pending which are going to spring up after the end of DOTM? Seriously, there have got to be tons of grieving family members and loved ones and mangled survivors out there by now. Yes, some of it could even be somewhat justified—sorry, your husband was collateral damage incurred during some necessary fighting to protect the freedom of our planet—but there was plenty of questionable destruction going on even before the Transformers’ existence on Earth became common knowledge. Will the human survivors of such escapades and sympathetic supporters form MART chapters—Mothers Against Rampaging Transformers? Do people picket against the Autobots? Write nasty letters to their governments? Demand retribution? I mean, I love fantasizing about having Autobots running about our planet right now for real. I might not feel quite so warm and cuddly towards them if one of them accidently smushed my kid while punching out a Decepticon.

Another thing to think about and something I need help with… I know some of you fans have come up with quasi-plausible timelines linking the three movies together, so please give this a shot: IF Megatron’s and Sentinel’s scheme had gone exactly as planned, IF the Ark had gotten away cleanly and Megatron had been able to sneak off whenever and rendezvoused with Sentinel wherever it was they were planning to meet, what time era then would it have been when they arrived on Earth? This goes back to RhA’s point that Sentinel might’ve been pissed just by watching his former Autobot brothers and humans amiably interact. It makes me wonder about what level of humanity Sentinel and Megatron were originally expecting to enslave, about whether they were counting on us having evolved into nothing beyond a fearful, easily exploited, grunting tribal society and whether it mightn’t have been something of a shock to Sentinel’s senses to ‘wake up’ and discover that—gads!—humans had actually advanced far beyond expectations and developed various technologies to boot, some of them capable of harming Transformers! In short, were the slaves they needed only going to be required to move the Cybertronian equivalent of pyramid rocks or would a slave force of lesser—or greater—intellect do? This is one of those ‘what if?’ scenarios I’m not real sure of, and thinking about any sort of timelines to do with Transformers just makes my head hurt.

Biddybot wrote:ANYHOO, back on topic… Considering how many poor human bystanders must’ve been smashed, crushed, maimed, and otherwise killed and injured by assorted Transformer activities over the course of the three movies, any guess on the number of new human support groups and hate sites and lawsuits pending which are going to spring up after the end of DOTM? Seriously, there have got to be tons of grieving family members and loved ones and mangled survivors out there by now. Yes, some of it could even be somewhat justified—sorry, your husband was collateral damage incurred during some necessary fighting to protect the freedom of our planet—but there was plenty of questionable destruction going on even before the Transformers’ existence on Earth became common knowledge. Will the human survivors of such escapades and sympathetic supporters form MART chapters—Mothers Against Rampaging Transformers? Do people picket against the Autobots? Write nasty letters to their governments? Demand retribution? I mean, I love fantasizing about having Autobots running about our planet right now for real. I might not feel quite so warm and cuddly towards them if one of them accidently smushed my kid while punching out a Decepticon.

See, I'm getting various spontaneous ideas popping inside my head, thinking of the possibilities of the paths TF4's plot might take. Let's pretend that Micheal Bay won't be returning to the TF franchise, and we get another, darker, director for the fourth installment.

Things might have pretty much gone to sh!t on Earth after DOTM--as you said, many lives have been lost, and the presence of Cybertronians on Earth has brought us nothing but trouble. With hate towards TF's continually escalating, the UN might put pressure on the Autobots to bring their war with the 'Cons elsewhere, just like in ROTF, except this time they're threatening with guns in their hands. In a worst case scenario, clandestine government agencies might even launch covert attacks on both Autobots and 'Cons in order to just wipe them off the planet once and for all. Unlikely, but you never know.

And then there's vigilantes who might even try targeting random TF's to avenge the deaths of their loved ones. As DOTM has shown, a well-placed bomb on the foot and sniping the eyes is actually good enough to take down a car-sized Cybertronian before finishing them off, so it doesn't necessarily take a bombing raid to kill them.

OP would be caught between a rock and a hard place, with Autobots pressuring him to leave, and Decepticons maybe even attempting a truce to fight back against the humans, perhaps led by a charismatic, newly arrived Decepticon leader named Galvatron...

In short, I see the Autobots having to fight for survival against the very people [humans] they're trying to protect, while the Decepticons are offering an increasingly tempting truce or even armistice that might finally put to rest the eons-long feud between them. But at the cost of eradicating the humans.

Naturally, Sam and Bee would be caught in between like a "bromance" version of Romeo and Juliet. Or would they pair a different couple, since Shia said he wouldn't return?

Biddybot wrote:Another thing to think about and something I need help with… I know some of you fans have come up with quasi-plausible timelines linking the three movies together, so please give this a shot: IF Megatron’s and Sentinel’s scheme had gone exactly as planned, IF the Ark had gotten away cleanly and Megatron had been able to sneak off whenever and rendezvoused with Sentinel wherever it was they were planning to meet, what time era then would it have been when they arrived on Earth? This goes back to RhA’s point that Sentinel might’ve been pissed just by watching his former Autobot brothers and humans amiably interact. It makes me wonder about what level of humanity Sentinel and Megatron were originally expecting to enslave, about whether they were counting on us having evolved into nothing beyond a fearful, easily exploited, grunting tribal society and whether it mightn’t have been something of a shock to Sentinel’s senses to ‘wake up’ and discover that—gads!—humans had actually advanced far beyond expectations and developed various technologies to boot, some of them capable of harming Transformers! In short, were the slaves they needed only going to be required to move the Cybertronian equivalent of pyramid rocks or would a slave force of lesser—or greater—intellect do? This is one of those ‘what if?’ scenarios I’m not real sure of, and thinking about any sort of timelines to do with Transformers just makes my head hurt.

That's a very interesting point.

Personally though, I think the very basis of DOTM's plot is rather flawed. In the field of construction, size and strength are the most important aspects. Given that humans are far weaker and less durable than Cybertronians, how on Earth do they plan on using them to reconstruct Cybertron? It's like getting a bunch of trained gerbils to build your house. No matter how many of them there are, they'll never do it as fast or efficiently as larger, stronger construction workers.

Honestly, I think they should have just stuck to asking for all of Earth's resources. That would have made much more sense. Yes, having them try to enslave the human race puts more at stake in the story, but at the cost of destroying credibility.

To put more at stake, instead of enslaving human, just have them lie to the UN about only taking a reasonable amount of resource in exchange for the Autobots' exile. In truth, they'd need every ounce of the Earth's resource to rebuild Cybertron, leaving our already ailing planet dead and dry, and obviously, unfit for humans to live in.

I mean, have you seen the size of that planet relative to Earth?

All boils down to lazy/sh**y writing. Any noble autobot leader would never treat humans with such disdain. Goes against the sun harvesting rules in ROTF too. Not to be used on planets with life. Brings up a sidepoint that I'm especially annoyed with - the movies storylines are not linked. Would've been so much better that way imo.
I've heard that originally Sentinel was supposed to be Ultra Magnus, but Hasbro said no and figured Sentinel was more expendable. Glad they didn't use UM.