The Energon Pub

[Mykltron]

Awesome! He says it has blue knees - I'm so psyched about this figure!!!!

Wouldn't it have been easier to just give us a pic?

[Cyber Bishop]

Need... pix... badly...

[kirbenvost]

That guy likes to be the first to get a figure and show it off so he's probably making people wait... that or he's only been shown a picture by someone and has been told not to post it.

[barricade2218]

Personally I like what I see of the newest additions to the movie cast.

[Firebird]

This information sounds pretty promising.

But I was sold on this toy when I heard that it was the Centennial Corvette. That car looks nice!

[Sledge]

Ok, here's my two problems with this.

1) Sideswipe is red. Even when he tried out a black paintjob in G2, he had red detailing. When he became a Dodge Viper ( ), he was red. It's not asking much that he be the right slagging colour, is it?
*looks at Movie Prime*
Crap.

2) A Corvette, you say? Then why not call it Tracks and actually acknowledge some of the history of the franchise this Movie is supposed to be based on?

[Dead Metal]

Ok, here's my two problems with this.

1) Sideswipe is red. Even when he tried out a black paintjob in G2, he had red detailing. When he became a Dodge Viper ( ), he was red. It's not asking much that he be the right slagging colour, is it?
*looks at Movie Prime*
Crap.

2) A Corvette, you say? Then why not call it Tracks and actually acknowledge some of the history of the franchise this Movie is supposed to be based on?

On the TFTM DVD they state red is a horrible colour to film wit as it never comes out right and needs a lot of work after filming. That's why movie Prime would have ended up entirely blue if it weren't for the flames.

[Sledge]

I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on that. Red can't be filmed and look good? Well, the guys who made Superman back in the 70s did OK. Or do they mean "Bay and his team are such goddamn hacks they can't light a car properly"? That I can buy.

Oh, and it would need post-production work? Wow. I didn't know that they'd actually made transforming cars! I thought all those robots were added in post-production.

[Dead Metal]

That's what I thought as I heard it. And by the look on Archer'S face he was thinking the same.

[Sledge]

I wish they'd just knock this sort of crap off. If they came out and said "This isn't G1. Yes, we're throwing in some stuff that homages other parts of the TF franchise, but we're also going in a new direction that we think is cool with other stuff. So why don't you give it a try and see what it's like?" I could say "Fair do's. Each version of Transformers changes stuff, let's see how they do." But when they come up with obviously bullshit excuses ("You can't film red," "We have to use a long-nose truck cab for Prime to have enough mass") I'm just annoyed by it.

[MYoung23]

Michael Bay's obsession with chicken leg robots continues but this time with wheel feet!!!!

Great, now we have a Transformer whose robot mode is literally useless on rocky hill or mountain surfaces.

Well he dose turn into a sports car so I highly doubt he'll be any were near rocks or mountains.

Oh so Sideswipe wont be near the tops of any dams or bridges like the first movie and I guess he wont be in Egypt in the sand or on the Pyramids like in the upcoming sequel.

Kind of hard to inline skate in sand or up the face of a pyramid.


Let's face it his robot mode is as limited as Seaspray's alt mode in the desert.

[kirbenvost]

^ Seaspray's is probably more useful, being it's a hovercraft.

Most ordinary road vehicles would be pretty useless in the desert, honestly, but they have to take some liberties.

[starfish]

Actually, red IS a terrible colour to film. Yes, the TFs are added in post-production and there's always colour grading to be done at the end - but given the limitations of film stock, you always have to go towards one end of the spectrum anyway. If you look at the first film most of the colours were quite muted anyway, and looked certainly shifted towards the blue end.

I realise some modern films are shot digitally these days, but if you put too many colours in then it just looks a bit weird, because we're so used to watching films that are shot onto, erm, film.

PS: in the 70s movies they had to make Superman's cape pink so that it would show up as red on-screen.

Oh, and Go-Bot Sideswipe was blue, with not a speck of red to be found.

[Sledge]

I'm still calling bullshit on it. Unless you're going to tell me that Magnum's Ferrari was painted pink.

[Dead Metal]

Actually, red IS a terrible colour to film. Yes, the TFs are added in post-production and there's always colour grading to be done at the end - but given the limitations of film stock, you always have to go towards one end of the spectrum anyway. If you look at the first film most of the colours were quite muted anyway, and looked certainly shifted towards the blue end.

I realise some modern films are shot digitally these days, but if you put too many colours in then it just looks a bit weird, because we're so used to watching films that are shot onto, erm, film.

PS: in the 70s movies they had to make Superman's cape pink so that it would show up as red on-screen.

Oh, and Go-Bot Sideswipe was blue, with not a speck of red to be found.

so why not paint the Movie Prop Prime and Sideswipe pink too?

[starfish]

I'm still calling bullshit on it. Unless you're going to tell me that Magnum's Ferrari was painted pink.

No, Magnum's Ferrari was indeed red.

Look at this this way...

The production team of 'Magnum PI', for whatever reason, decided to use a specific film stock, be it Agfa, TDK or whatever brand they used.

Depending on the type of film they used, this limited the range of colours seen in the show. Obviously, seeing as Magnum's car was a vivid bright red, they must've taken the decision to used a film which was especially sympathetic to red, and other warm colours.

Now, depending on the look that different directors are after, they use different brands of film.

Look at Superman, for example. It's a very cold-looking film, from the stark opening on Krypton to the icy scenes set in the Fortress of Solitude. As such, it made sense to film the whole lot on a stock which favoured blues (which is, after all, the main colour of the costume).

As with the first Transformers movie, this caused problems with trying to film anything that was red, hence the use of a pink cape and the problems with Prime and Sideswipe. It just depends on the type of film you use.

As to why they didn't just use pink cars, or post-production grading, then you'll have to ask the director. Most likely he wanted to retain the cold (dare I say more mechanical) colour palette throughout the film, which would obviously be thrown out of whack with two giant red robots running about.

There's another consideration, too - to make the Transformers easily and readily identifiable for media purposes, all the Autobots in the first movie were different colours, as were all the Decepticons. (Yes, Megatron and Frenzy were both silvery-grey but if you have trouble telling those two apart then you have serious problems).

Given that there is some red on Prime (and it's not just the flames - it's the whole forward section), it makes sense to have an Autobot who is not red, yellow, green or black, so that the protagonists are all easily identifiable from a distance. Hence a Sideswipe that's not red.

Alternatively, you could be right and Bay's talking rubbish. What do I know, anyway?!

[Baneblade]

Actually, red IS a terrible colour to film. Yes, the TFs are added in post-production and there's always colour grading to be done at the end - but given the limitations of film stock, you always have to go towards one end of the spectrum anyway. If you look at the first film most of the colours were quite muted anyway, and looked certainly shifted towards the blue end.

I realise some modern films are shot digitally these days, but if you put too many colours in then it just looks a bit weird, because we're so used to watching films that are shot onto, erm, film.

PS: in the 70s movies they had to make Superman's cape pink so that it would show up as red on-screen.

Oh, and Go-Bot Sideswipe was blue, with not a speck of red to be found.

so why not paint the Movie Prop Prime and Sideswipe pink too?

think of how many takes they would have to do with people laughin at the big pink prop.... on second thoughts just thinking about it is making me giggle... oy vey

[Sledge]

I'm sure that professional actors and film makers wouldn't giggle every time... wait, we're talking about Shia LaBeouf and Michael Bay. Forget I mentioned it.

[Baneblade]

I'm sure that professional actors and film makers wouldn't giggle every time... wait, we're talking about Shia LaBeouf and Michael Bay. Forget I mentioned it.

yup true that.... ya know it could be showing us the final design as approved by hasbro, but the colouring could be changed to throw folks off maybe? it could be a final tester before production.... i mean its good looking from the ankles up and it kinda takes the sleek stylings of sideswipe and and and....

oh what the hell am i saying??? expect the G1 recolours to show up soon after release

[Barrelass]

I'm still calling bullshit on it. Unless you're going to tell me that Magnum's Ferrari was painted pink.

You sure are an angry little man, why not smile or come up with some good explanations instead of just saying bullshit over and over. Are you a production expert? Do some research.

[Covenant]

Oddly out of pure curiosity I've been attempting to research this "red" issue but have yet to come across a single mention of such a filming phenomenon. I guess I'll keep looking, and he can keep calling bullshit. Red vehicles and items show up on television and film constantly, I seriously doubt the combination of director Bay and the magic of ILM couldn't handle it.

[starfish]

Yes, there are a lot of films with reds in. But my point is that there is no such film that can show EVERY colour. As a director, you have to make a choice, and stick with it.

Here's an example, from my favourite show, Doctor Who...

For a time in the mid-80s, the lead character had a very loud and gaudy costume. As such, whenever they used film (which was mostly for location shots in those days, they used videotape in the studio), they had to use a certain grade of film which was sympathetic to loud, bright, unsubtle colours, and as such the film was no good for sombre, moody colours.

The point is that any film can only use a certain palette. You can be colourful and cartoony, or you can be dark and sombre. You can use warm and radiant colours, or you can use cold and blue.

I'm not saying that you can't have red at all ever. But what I am saying is that directors have to pick a certain grade of film depending on what atmosphere they are trying to achieve. And some films have difficulty showing certain colours, that's all.

[Sledge]

So what we're agreed on is that Bay and his team are full of ****.

[starfish]

Now, Sledge, I'm not sure I agree with Bay myself - It may well be that he's talking rubbish, I admit.

It just seems that someone here has to play devil's advocate and defend Bay against those that, for some reason, seem to have a definite grudge against him.

I'm not sure of the reason for this vitriol, but there's certainly no need to get wound up just because Bay happens to change the colour of one of your favourite G1 characters. I mean, no-ones forcing you to watch the films or buy the toys, are they now?

Transformers is always doing this. As previously mentioned, we've had a blue Go-Bot Sideswipe, a gold Beast Wars Prowl, and in G2 we had any number of different coloured Dinobots, Constructicons and Combaticons.

But when Bay does it, he gets it from both barrels, it would seem.

Now, I've had a pretty good stab at explaining why Bay might have chosen to avoid the colour red, from a technical point of view, but apparently this still isn't good enough for some people.

Oh well, think what you want. Just seems a bit petty and vindictive, is all.

[Nickolai]

One wonders what would happen when the bringer of the unstoppable crapstorm (Bay) meets the champion of utter and immovable hate (Jin Saotome)...