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Any explanations/theories regarding how Prime fits his mass into such a smaller/lower-mass cab-over truck? One rule of 'bayformers' is that there is little to NO mass-shifting (Starscream's weird body is an infamous side-effect to this rule; i.e. they made him short and squat because his alt. mode is huge and he would otherwise dwarf O.P.) which means alt. modes have to match the mass of the 'bot mode....just curious.

Bay must be getting more lenient about these things, especially considering Optimus isn't the only offender. Lockdown, for instance, transforms into from a rather massive, bulky mech into a car that doesn't quite look big enough to fit his mass.

Such things have been part of Transformers since "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" first aired. I usually find its best not to think about such things; saves me a headache. :p

Agreed and in the cartoons I totally accept it, buuuuuuuuut the films are not supposed to have mass-shifting, at least I thought that was the idea.....can't help myself but wonder.

Seems like Bay is opening up to these things now. In the first movies audio commentary he said there was no point to put mass shifting in the movies. Same thing with the Dinobots.

Besides, they are alien mechanical life forms that have been around for FAR longer than humans have been around (how much longer seems to depend on which continuity your following). You'd think they'd learn a few tricks in that time.

Since it was like a old school/g1 cab. It would have been sweet for him to do a g1 transform of the rusty cab if only till he scanned the new truck

It seems like the Allspark would have had to change mass when it shrunk, way back in the first movie. As for Optimus gaining mass when he scanned the Western Star, I assume he converted energy (or energon) into matter. That would also explain his recovery from seemingly life threatening wounds.

I have never watched commentary nor any interview for the movies(I do that on purpose),so I was never under the impression that there wasn't at least a little mass shifting in the movies,especially considering the size of the Allspark and what it does in the first film.
I just assumed that a Transformer was able to Transform into a earth machine that was around the same size.
With the introduction of Transformium in AOE,I am starting to believe a Transformer can transform into things that are similiar in size and function to what they were originally programmed and built for.

Well bay has to research a bit with the writers and producers on what transformers they want in the film, and maybe he's giving in to mass shifting. When optimus transformers from robot to the rusty G1 cab,I feel like he gets a bit smaller as the truck. And lockdown too.I even found that with Barricade when he jumps into the air and transforming.

Well,as far as I see,the vehicle forms are smaller then the robot forms because the robots fold into the vehicle forms(Kinda like reverse telescoping) so I don't see that as mass shifting.