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lowman_x wrote:Just get Michael Bay and Ehren Kruger away from it.

I hope we've seen the last of Kruger, Murdermus Prime scares me.

Marcdachamp wrote:

_Anshin_ wrote:Lets do everyone a favor. We know you are going to make more movies. But instead of doing more stories with no continuity and plot holes large enough to drive a Transformer though lets try something different. Get rid of the humans. Get rid of Earth. Do 3 prequels on Cybertron. Lets learn some of the back story to some of the characters you have already established. Bah, what am I saying our only hope is that the Mayan calendar is right.

I see this plea at least once a week on this website. You guys DO realize that a Transformers movie with no Earth and no humans would literally kill this franchise, right?

Do you honestly think your casual movie-goer wants to see that? No, they don't. They want to see high-stakes action that makes them gasp and think "Oh my God, what if that did happen here?" The second you take away that human element, we're back to praying for the next Beast Wars to pull the franchise out of the fire.

You want movie-verse prequels and sequels with no humans that take place on Cybertron? Go buy IDW's Movie Prequel and Reign of Starscream comics. They're fun, and they have a majority of robot action.

And as for Statham and Bay? Yeah, I'd be down for that. That would probably be amazing, actually. I would like to see Shia cameo, though.

That's an excellent point. It's exactly why I didn't like the game Bioshock, the entire thing took place in a city under the ocean and there was no chance of it getting out. I found myself not really giving a crap about it because of that and I got bored with it really fast. The same thing would happen if they made a Transformers movie that took place on Cybertron, especially if it's a prequel. We already know the war went so there's nothing to tell there. Plus the general audience wouldn't care because they can't identify with it.

Even though I've loved the movies I think they should give it a rest for a few years. I don't want to see the market reach a saturation which will cause people to lose interest in it. Focus on Prime for now then get back to the movies in maybe 5 years.

I feel that they need to cut their loses and let the third movie end the current movie universe. The end ensured that only the Autobots were left, and trying to pull anything else into the next 2 movies would be a huge cop-out. The next movies would REALLY benefit from a reboot.

Especially if they get rid of Micheal Bay, Shia and most of the writers. While I enjoyed the first movie, I will freely admit that it wasn't a great movie, or even a 'good' movie. It was an action movie that was fun, but the characters were really flat and one dimensional. The second one was horrible and I will only ever watch it if I have the Rifftrax playing for it. It's like the literally took the first movie and turned it up to 11, especially on the major problems of the movie. I enjoyed the third one the best, and I think it was the closest to being a 'good' movie, but still with one dimensional, boring characters. Don't get me wrong, they were still an improvement over how they were characterized in the previous movies and I appreciated the jokes. My wife and I were the only ones laughing in the theater when Sam's mom pulled out the book "She Comes First", probably because we were the only ones aware of what the book was about.

They need a director with standards, and one that won't allow the bad humor and stereotypical characters to be thrown in there. I don't mind Michael Bay being involved, but make him a choreographer of the fight scenes, don't let him direct. Don't let the same writers make the same mistake. They always focus too much on the humans in the story. Yes, they are important to 'ground' the story, to make it relateable to the average movie-goer, and yes, it's cheaper to film people than making too much special effects, but it hurts the movie when it's not really supposed to be about them. For a character to be really fleshed out, they need to have screen time, and whenever they introduce a new transformer character, they fail to let them have any characterization.

I love Transformers, but I feel like the franchise gets the least amount of respect. They need a strong writer to write it like a novel, and then to adapt it into a movie. That seems like the best luck they've had in making movies based on a property (as long as it's not Stephanie Meyer... shudder). They don't need to release the novel to the public, but just to get the story and characterization down.

Marcdachamp wrote:
I see this plea at least once a week on this website. You guys DO realize that a Transformers movie with no Earth and no humans would literally kill this franchise, right?

Do you honestly think your casual movie-goer wants to see that? No, they don't. They want to see high-stakes action that makes them gasp and think "Oh my God, what if that did happen here?" The second you take away that human element, we're back to praying for the next Beast Wars to pull the franchise out of the fire.

You want movie-verse prequels and sequels with no humans that take place on Cybertron? Go buy IDW's Movie Prequel and Reign of Starscream comics. They're fun, and they have a majority of robot action.

And as for Statham and Bay? Yeah, I'd be down for that. That would probably be amazing, actually. I would like to see Shia cameo, though.

Yes, because movies that are filmed in a location other than earth such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, or other such no named movies were such a flop. Hell, even animated movies such as Toy Story had very little human elements in there but people enjoyed them because they were well written and not just giant explosions and lots of car chases. People are able to relate to a decent story line even if the characters are not human but display basic human traits. You see this is shown slightly with the movie Transformers and more with some of the animated stuff.

I am an avid fan. I read the comics, read the books, play the games, have the comics and the figures. Chances are if you are seeing this "plea" once a week then there is a very good chance that people actually want to see it and not just spend money watching a guy play with his toys and get paid to blow them up.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:That's an excellent point. It's exactly why I didn't like the game Bioshock, the entire thing took place in a city under the ocean and there was no chance of it getting out. I found myself not really giving a crap about it because of that and I got bored with it really fast. The same thing would happen if they made a Transformers movie that took place on Cybertron, especially if it's a prequel. We already know the war went so there's nothing to tell there. Plus the general audience wouldn't care because they can't identify with it.

Even though I've loved the movies I think they should give it a rest for a few years. I don't want to see the market reach a saturation which will cause people to lose interest in it. Focus on Prime for now then get back to the movies in maybe 5 years.

Did you ever play the game War for Cybertron? Listen, I respect your opinion even though I don't agree with it. You may be bored with learning a little back story about the characters and are happy to know that there was a war that took place, but you can't say there is nothing to tell. Hell Xmen First Class is a perfect example of that. We know that there are Xmen so why show the story of how they became? Do you know what started the war or lead up to it in this Universe? Do you know why the Primes left? Why are Megatron and Prime Brothers in the first Movie, but thats forgotten in the Second and Third?

But I do agree that they should hold off on the movies for a few years.

_Anshin_ wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:That's an excellent point. It's exactly why I didn't like the game Bioshock, the entire thing took place in a city under the ocean and there was no chance of it getting out. I found myself not really giving a crap about it because of that and I got bored with it really fast. The same thing would happen if they made a Transformers movie that took place on Cybertron, especially if it's a prequel. We already know the war went so there's nothing to tell there. Plus the general audience wouldn't care because they can't identify with it.

Even though I've loved the movies I think they should give it a rest for a few years. I don't want to see the market reach a saturation which will cause people to lose interest in it. Focus on Prime for now then get back to the movies in maybe 5 years.

Did you ever play the game War for Cybertron? Listen, I respect your opinion even though I don't agree with it. You may be bored with learning a little back story about the characters and are happy to know that there was a war that took place, but you can't say there is nothing to tell. Hell Xmen First Class is a perfect example of that. We know that there are Xmen so why show the story of how they became? Do you know what started the war or lead up to it in this Universe? Do you know why the Primes left? Why are Megatron and Prime Brothers in the first Movie, but thats forgotten in the Second and Third?

But I do agree that they should hold off on the movies for a few years.

I did play WfC and I didn't like it either. The environments were boring, the different characters all played the same except the fliers, and the controls were clunky and awkward.

I think they've already told enough back story on the war that making a movie about it would be redundant. We already know the Autobots were outnumbered and losing, we already know Sentinel made a deal with Megatron to enslave Earth, we already know they launched the Allspark into space and Megatron went after it, we already know about the Fallen and the harvester. There's not much left to tell after that.

Personally I think Transformers is best on Earth. Having Earth based alt modes gives them more character and adds variety. If it were on Cybertron they'd all be various alien vehicles that would all blend together. People are already complaining that they all look the same that would just make it worse. Put them on a planet that's entirely made of metal and it would be like looking at static on a TV.

Marcdachamp wrote:

_Anshin_ wrote:Lets do everyone a favor. We know you are going to make more movies. But instead of doing more stories with no continuity and plot holes large enough to drive a Transformer though lets try something different. Get rid of the humans. Get rid of Earth. Do 3 prequels on Cybertron. Lets learn some of the back story to some of the characters you have already established. Bah, what am I saying our only hope is that the Mayan calendar is right.

I see this plea at least once a week on this website. You guys DO realize that a Transformers movie with no Earth and no humans would literally kill this franchise, right?

Do you honestly think your casual movie-goer wants to see that? No, they don't. They want to see high-stakes action that makes them gasp and think "Oh my God, what if that did happen here?" The second you take away that human element, we're back to praying for the next Beast Wars to pull the franchise out of the fire.

You want movie-verse prequels and sequels with no humans that take place on Cybertron? Go buy IDW's Movie Prequel and Reign of Starscream comics. They're fun, and they have a majority of robot action.

And as for Statham and Bay? Yeah, I'd be down for that. That would probably be amazing, actually. I would like to see Shia cameo, though.

How would it kill the franchise? There are sci-fi movies released all the time that have very little human involvement, don't take place on earth, and have a rich story going on that do well. Just cuz we were given mindless action with a thin plot doesn't mean we have to settle. If wanna see a Transformers movie that is actually about the Transformers and not about the love life adventures about some kid set to the back drop of an eons old intergalactic civil war, I shouldn't have to look else where. I liked the first one and DOTM, but they coulda been much better if they actually focused on the Transformers and not Shia the Beef's antics and love life. Is that too much to ask for?

Jason Statham? Thats f*ckin awesome. Don't even need autobots, just throw him at the decepticons

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I think they've already told enough back story on the war that making a movie about it would be redundant. We already know the Autobots were outnumbered and losing, we already know Sentinel made a deal with Megatron to enslave Earth, we already know they launched the Allspark into space and Megatron went after it, we already know about the Fallen and the harvester. There's not much left to tell after that.

Personally I think Transformers is best on Earth. Having Earth based alt modes gives them more character and adds variety. If it were on Cybertron they'd all be various alien vehicles that would all blend together. People are already complaining that they all look the same that would just make it worse. Put them on a planet that's entirely made of metal and it would be like looking at static on a TV.

See I figure this is where we can agree to disagree. We learned that the Autobots were outnumbered, but what lead up to the factions forming and why were the Autobots really outnumbered? What caused a Prime to turn really and what was said. We also don't know how Prime became Prime, what lead Megatron to become the leader of the Decepticons, there are a myriad of sub-stories going on that we just don't know. I can understand you not wanting to know, but for some of us we just want more than a simple "I'm bad things go boom, good guy kills bad guy. Bad guy no more. More Explosions!" story line.

As for another Cybertron looking like static on TV, thats your opinion. Have you ever been to Dubai or China or Australia and seen the different architecture? You can make Cybertron the same way you can make any vehicle on this planet. For example not all structures would have a shine, or be silver. There are tons of other materials you can use. I am not saying it would be all Green or organic like Pandora was in Avatar, but imagine a Cybertron that is powered, with oceans of Energon or plasma. Structures that were of both glass and metal as well as structures of carbon fiber and each when powered had a different light, glow, no effect at all.

Saying that it would all look alike is like saying you have been to New Jersey and that means that you don't need to see Paris, London, Hong Kong, and Moscow since it all looks alike because we are all humans and think or act the same way.

D-340 wrote: How would it kill the franchise? There are sci-fi movies released all the time that have very little human involvement, don't take place on earth, and have a rich story going on that do well. Just cuz we were given mindless action with a thin plot doesn't mean we have to settle.

The thing with TF, is that for the most part people (meaning general public, and even the casual fans) reconise them as cars, trucks, airplanes etc. Basicly earth vehicles that transform into giant robots. "Robots in disguise", not Robots on their home planet. And unfortunutly, i'd have to agree with this. I don't want to see a bunch of protoforms or cybertronion vehicles running around. I love seeing hopped up vehicles that i'm familuar with driving down the freeway, transform and tear **** up. Ask anyone about TF and ask them what they remeber Optimus Prime as. I bet you know one will say anyhing but a red/blue semi truck. Protoform Optimus toy from 07' was one of the worst selling toys of the movie line. So while yes, other movies have proven succesfull taking place on other planets, they were also always based on other planets and based around that setting.

As far as the story goes, we had a great story with DOTM. I truely don't see how anyone (this isn't directed at you D-340, as you did state you liked DOTM) can aurgue otherwise. If you didn't like it then fine, but you can't say that it wasn't a good story.

Bay and Co. seem to improve every movie with the story and even characters. No, not every character is developed, and no matter who takes the riegn as director, not every character is going to get the same treatment. people need to learn to deal with the fact that not everyone can be the star. (I'm not saying ther isn't room for improvment though)

I really don't know about Jason Statham... Say what you will about LaBeouf, I think his presence grounds the franchise a little bit, prevents it from becoming even more of an overblown testosterone-fest than it already is. That's pretty much what Statham is all about. I personally don't think we need 'Crank' with robots.

I am and not happy about the news about TF4 and TF5. It's great for Hasbro and it's great for the fans that had been reintroduced to Transformers because of the live action movies. I was one of those fans. I'm with kirbenvost on the whole Jason Statham thing. I don't know who he is. And I'm sure that Hasbro/Paramount will get an unknown/good looking main actor for the new TF series. Shia attracted alot of females to the fandom as much as Megan Fox did for the guys.

As far as new 'bots and 'cons, I'm sure we'll see some familiar ones but I'm also sure we'll get alot of new ones. These movies are only made to help promote their toy line. And with the sales of DOTM toys being down because they were mostly of all same characters, they may surprise us with new ones that may not even dreamed of seeing on the big screen before. It will be nice to have the three main 'cons though back. Megs always tends to come back some how in any other given series, so why not the live action ones too?

Enough of the Transformer Movie bashing. Sheesh. I have been a transformer fan longer than all of you put together. Take them for what they are. They have mainstreamed Transformers and made it "cool" for people to openly support the franchise. Let's be honest, Transformers were drek between G1 and Beast Wars. They are finally coming around again, espically with the Generations figure line. The first movie was great. The second movie was filmed during the writer's strike and the plot had to be constructed and tied together in the editing room. Oh, but all you cyber-nerds fail to mention that. The third movie was a BLOCK-BUSTER!

It does not matter who they cast for Movie 4 & 5. If you are a true fan, go support the Transformers. Otherwise, how are we to ensure they remain around, besides just cheesy comics. So quite your whinning booger-eaters and stop being so judemental. I seriously doubt and complainers (lowman_x) would have done a better job.

What works for one, does not work for all. I only ask you show a little perspective. Until all are one...

More movies sound good to me. I'm a little burned out on them right now but I'm sure in a year or so I'll be ready for more. IMO the first movie was the best, but I enjoyed DOTM after the first 30 minutes of job interviews. I'd also like to see Megs, Soundwave, and Starscream return somehow and actually become a threat (I noticed in the first movie Megs and SS seemed pretty unstoppable for the Autobots, then in the subsequent ones they just got weaker and became cannon fodder). Gavatron would be cool as a separate character with a new, unique backstory. My only fear is that if released too soon, another movie would get TF: Prime cancelled (I never really watched but from what I understand ROTF caused Animated to come to an early end). TF: Prime has become my favorite show/"universe" in Transformers and I feel like we could get a lot more out of it.

its discussions and situations like these that make me wonder...
what would happen if the label "Transformers" was owned by Marvel and not hasbro?
would the movies be better? would the toys suck? or do we just not care...


but ya i say let the movie series rest for 2 years+ for now then get the guy who directed the batman begins and dark knight movies or someone else like the guy who directed some other movies that are all at least respectable in value to direct the new movies. and introduce unicron a long w/ the chracters that come after the g1 movie except Rodimus prime( hot rod i am okay with). and let the movie take place all over the universe like the g1 movie did. a battle on earth, a search in space or two, some drama between the species here or there. HUGE BATTLE IN SPACE IN AND OUT OF UNICRON! and most importantly..
DINOBOTS, GALVATRON, AND THE INSECTICONS(i like them)!
...maybe thunderwing in the 5th movie w/ sixshot

just say'n.

only way these wont suck is if they decide to make movies instead of 3 hour long car commercials. Heres some ideas, More robot story less humans, decepticons are characters too not just cannon fodder, if a car company gives you a vehicle try and make it a character that actually fits the vehicle just dont slap a name on it cause you have the trademark, more realism less "cause it looks good", explain things just dont do, sit the writers down in front of a tv and make them watch the various TF series so they know what the franchise is really about(other than selling toys), steven spielburg or james cameron to direct, restaff rest of production crew, redesign the bots keeping in mind that they are ROBTOS in disguise not cars that turn into robots. At least LaBeouf will be gone.

_Anshin_ wrote:

Marcdachamp wrote:
I see this plea at least once a week on this website. You guys DO realize that a Transformers movie with no Earth and no humans would literally kill this franchise, right?

Do you honestly think your casual movie-goer wants to see that? No, they don't. They want to see high-stakes action that makes them gasp and think "Oh my God, what if that did happen here?" The second you take away that human element, we're back to praying for the next Beast Wars to pull the franchise out of the fire.

You want movie-verse prequels and sequels with no humans that take place on Cybertron? Go buy IDW's Movie Prequel and Reign of Starscream comics. They're fun, and they have a majority of robot action.

And as for Statham and Bay? Yeah, I'd be down for that. That would probably be amazing, actually. I would like to see Shia cameo, though.

Yes, because movies that are filmed in a location other than earth such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, or other such no named movies were such a flop. Hell, even animated movies such as Toy Story had very little human elements in there but people enjoyed them...

Respectfully, I have to disagree with most of your comparisons there. Toy Story is the only one that's not trully human, but you can't say there weren't human elements. Everything else, they are humans. Whether it's Corusant, Madison, Los Angles, or Mission City, we relate to Humans. And as far as Toy Story, they not only have humans elements, but we held them as family at one time. You can't tell me you never had some kind of doll or teddy bear in your childhood, and the vast majorityy of us had them as companions, venting listeners, and friends we could hide from the world with. That's the relation.

Could a Human/TF movie in space work? I think so. But would Avatar have been as good if we humans weren't the aggresors? Would pople have understood the morale to that story if it were blue people versus some green dudes? Not likely. No matter where the setting is, the audience just can't relate to a story as easily if the characters aren't like them. Do you talk to your truck? Have yo had a tea party with your Hatchback? Probably not, so odds are your Hatchback getting shot by somebody's Lamborghini isn't going to draw tears from Joe Blow.

starwarrior1227 wrote:its discussions and situations like these that make me wonder...
what would happen if the label "Transformers" was owned by Marvel and not hasbro?
would the movies be better? would the toys suck? or do we just not care...

Seeing as how I'm more of a TF comic fan than a TF toy/cartoon fan I'd be inclined to like that idea.

Make more movies
Make more toys
Everybody Happy

acchillyaout wrote:Enough of the Transformer Movie bashing. Sheesh. I have been a transformer fan longer than all of you put together. Take them for what they are. They have mainstreamed Transformers and made it "cool" for people to openly support the franchise. Let's be honest, Transformers were drek between G1 and Beast Wars. They are finally coming around again, espically with the Generations figure line. The first movie was great. The second movie was filmed during the writer's strike and the plot had to be constructed and tied together in the editing room. Oh, but all you cyber-nerds fail to mention that. The third movie was a BLOCK-BUSTER!

It does not matter who they cast for Movie 4 & 5. If you are a true fan, go support the Transformers. Otherwise, how are we to ensure they remain around, besides just cheesy comics. So quite your whinning booger-eaters and stop being so judemental. I seriously doubt and complainers (lowman_x) would have done a better job.

What works for one, does not work for all. I only ask you show a little perspective. Until all are one...

I never said I would have "done a better job". I'm saying (as others here have too) that we don't have to settle for badly written material, poor direction of everything but the action scenes, massive plot holes, and terrible characterisation. I teach film-making so I would hope I'm able to sniff out a badly written film seeing as how I have a (more-than-passing) interest in the industry. Seeing as how the 2nd and 3rd ones stunk pretty badly it wasn't hard to sniff out. What I did say was that there are plenty of other directors and writers out there who COULD do a better job than Bay and co.

As to its "blockbuster" status: yes, they all were blockbusters. They were all popcorn-munching, visually stunning (visually confusing and hard to follow in a lot of respects), summer-time blockbusters. I don't disagree with you. I'm saying, as the movie-going public and fans of the franchise that we should expect a slightly higher standard of story.

acchillyaout wrote:I have been a transformer fan longer than all of you put together.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... that's funny. Do you make a living as a comedian?

Statham + Bay + Transformers = Fail. (IMO of course)

maybe they meant transporter 4 and 5

Oh boy... more cgi, less epic G1 that started it all... I more of that...

From an action figure stand point, filming back to back would do wonders for the toyline. At least for the 5th film as Hasbro will have a huge leadtime in getting product developed.