The Energon Pub

News Credits: 730 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:51 pm

Valley Star Online has put up an article on their site, discussing the influences the fans online have had with the upcoming Michael Bay Transformers Movie. In particular the fan participation on the Don Murphy Board.

"The message board is an equally powerful tool in generating movie buzz. "Transformers" is still in production, but leaked photos have made their way to many fansites and every photo has a film copyright. Articles in magazines like "Empire" and "Sight and Sound" are great, but the hardcore fans are going to find the photos on fansites days before the magazine's release".

Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:17 pm

What influence? What did we get besides Cullen?

News Credits: 15 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:19 pm

Nothing really worth getting excited about in the article. Just states what we already know, although I suppose the non fan core might not.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:21 pm

awesome

Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:26 pm

Just goes to show...even the people who "have no life" can have some influence on Hollywood.

BTW, I mean "have no life" as a joke. Please don't kill me.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:45 pm

I hate it when they put up stupid articles about nothing. This article is retarded

Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:46 pm

Fan participation?

Don Murphy Board?

In the same sentence?

:BOOM:

News Credits: 5 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:38 pm

Fans didnt get squat out of this movie except Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. No word yet who is going to protray Megatron yet but I bet good money it will not be Frank but some sort of Hollywood big shot that will kill and rape Megatron. I think that that it be done by Armada Megatron or Beast Wars Megatron. What pisses me off even more is that they are more Decepticons than Autobots and no Ultramagnus, Arcee, Devestator, Hotrod, or Soundwave I dont care what they call the midget that is Frenzy not Soundwave or Soundbyte to me it looks like a deformed walking chicken. I will still see this movie I will also buy the Soundtrack, DVD and videogame for Ps2. They could have put in better characters but there is always hope for the sequel. I also like the new concept for Allspark cant wait to what that whole deal is about. And finally I hope we get to see the Matrix in there in some way or another. Hopefully the soundtrack will be good with a modernize version of the theme and the touch.

News Credits: 8 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:51 pm

These coments are getting old, and I'm saying that as someone who agrees.

Without the leaked photos, us fans would burn down the theaters on 7/4!

It doesn't matter how great and cool everything is GOING to look. With out time to get use to it, a shock like that would kill some of us.

It's not like we're being forced to see the leaked images. And without them, most of said fan coments never would have happened.

News Credits: 2 · Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:04 pm

Grimshock wrote:What influence? What did we get besides Cullen?

Pretty much nothing, but you can't please everyone (or Fool everyone)all the time.

Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:51 pm

Phategod1 wrote:
Grimshock wrote:What influence? What did we get besides Cullen?

Pretty much nothing, but you can't please everyone (or Fool everyone)all the time.

QFT.

This article was a waste of time. Bay hasn't listened to squat. We got, what, one out of a hundred things in the movie? Plus all of the promised "changes" were bull. It's things like this that made my stomach ulcer 20 times larger than average(No kidding!).

Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:23 am

Peter Cullen being cast is the single most important thing that could have happened to this movie. How many other movies have you had input into? I reckon zero.

Remember, sometimes the glass is half full, not half empty......

News Credits: 49 · Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:07 am

The article says Megatron was changed. How? Was there any change in how he first looked, and how he looks in the recent leaked images?

Peter Cullen as Prime, thats a good thing, about the only good thing to come from the movie, and it's sad that Prime is the only character that even looks(head wise) like a Transformer, apparently only Prime matter, no matter how many fans of Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz, Bumblebee, Megatron and Starscream there are.

Kamen Rider Harry Munk wrote:Remember, sometimes the glass is half full, not half empty......

True, but this glass is far from half full. Honestly there shouldn't even have been a glass, as it's just hollywood wanting to get some money off something popular from the 80's. Next thing we know Corey Feldman will be starring in several movies.

News Credits: 730 · Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:36 am

Might I remind you guys that most of you joined the Don Murphy board at a time when production was already underway! Peter Cullen was only latest thing. I became a member there way back in 2003. And we were given the chance to discuss many issues, long before there was a crew to the movie. We discussed things like why we should have the Transformation sound, which originally was not in the planning. We talked about which characters to use and which not. Jazz got in, Arcee was dropped. We posted at length the fact that Transformers is more character driven that anything else, which is still reflected in any of the interviews given by Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto.

This was all discussed with the fans, long before there was a crew or a script. And all on the DMBoard. Long before people started bad-mouthing Murphy and other people working on the movie, and long before Don Murphy responded to any of that. And long before people took those comments towards those morons and started to believe Murphy's comments were directed towards the fans, which they weren't.

Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:43 am

It's really no use trying to defend Don murphy, Raymond. He dug his own grave and the people that think he's a dork won't change their opinions based on what you say.

And yea, I agree with the rest of you guys. Bay didn't listen squat to what the fans had to say.
Yet in every interview and article bay happly claims that all the fans are excited and happy etc. Is he in touch with the fan base at all?

News Credits: 6 · Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:40 am

I don't really think that we had any real affect on anything to do with the movie. Most things they probably planned to do anyway.

Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:48 pm

Raymond T. wrote:
This was all discussed with the fans, long before there was a crew or a script. And all on the DMBoard. Long before people started bad-mouthing Murphy and other people working on the movie, and long before Don Murphy responded to any of that. And long before people took those comments towards those morons and started to believe Murphy's comments were directed towards the fans, which they weren't.

In case you might forget, Don Murphy is the guy who not only banned people from his board because he personally did not like them, but also went onto other peoples' blogs (some of whom were TF fans like us) and personally insulted them and their families when said individuals merely stated that they disagree with the TF movie designs.

There is no excuse for the tenacity and clear lack of respect that Don Murphy has shown.

News Credits: 730 · Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:19 pm

Spoon wrote:It's really no use trying to defend Don murphy, Raymond. He dug his own grave and the people that think he's a dork won't change their opinions based on what you say.

Please learn to read. I didn't defend anyone. I was just stating that there was indeed a dialogue between fans and Murphy going, before certain people ruined it for others. You didn't hear me say that Murphy had no blame. But most of it started because people started to defend people who didn't deserve being defended, in the process those people got caught in the crossfire and became targets, which resulted in other people opening their yaps about arguments they didn't need to respond to and the whole thing escalated into more then it needed to be. That's not "defending" someone, that's how it went. Murphy could have handled thing differently, but if certain people have the gal to threaten people who work on the movie, threaten his wife Susan and spread lies to such a degree that it could have seriously cost him his job as a Hollywood producer, and then have other people defending these people... He is only human, and was at that time easy to go on the offensive.

But... that too is how (a group of) fans brought their infuences to the table. All in all, I do think the whole experience could have gone much worse. This was the first time in Hollywood history that communications were open between the production of a movie and the common people BEFORE the project even went into production. It established the movie much stronger than all the other movies coming out around july 4th, for both the studios as well as the public. Not to mention that this caused a free hype that has been brewing since 2003. Most movie you should be lucky to know what the general idea of the movie is 6 to 9 months before the movie opens. Transformers fans were given a look into the kitchen as it progressed.

Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:29 pm

Raymond T. wrote: Transformers fans were given a look into the kitchen as it progressed.

More like Frankenstein's lab.

News Credits: 8 · Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:22 pm

If we cant get Welker or the Beast Wars Megs then get us Leonard Nimoy.

Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:57 am

Look at the proportion of positive responses to Bay's article versus negative responses. Really guys and gals, if you are as upset as I am about being abused, don't see the movie. This movie will likely make them a lot of money despite what we do, but let's not give these guys any more money than what the casual fans around the world would give it because they don't know what we know. In fact, we should do what we can to educate those fans so that movie producers realize fan bases are important. Then other properties don't have to suffer like ours.

I have friends who say to me, "Well, Spiderman pissed off it's fans with the web shooter thing", but I respond "Yes, but everything else was pretty much dead on. With TF's, the ratio is the reverse. Almost nothing is dead on." This isn't a TF movie.

News Credits: 38 · Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:07 pm

It is to me.

News Credits: 4 · Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:44 pm

There's a Transformers movie coming out that doesn't have a pink girlbot and lame rock ballads? That's no transformers movie! Boycott!

News Credits: 1093 · Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:43 pm

Spoon wrote:And yea, I agree with the rest of you guys. Bay didn't listen squat to what the fans had to say.
Yet in every interview and article bay happly claims that all the fans are excited and happy etc. Is he in touch with the fan base at all?

Grimshock wrote:I have friends who say to me, "Well, Spiderman pissed off it's fans with the web shooter thing", but I respond "Yes, but everything else was pretty much dead on. With TF's, the ratio is the reverse. Almost nothing is dead on." This isn't a TF movie.

You two are so bang on how I feel about all this. Bay's claims that all fans are excited and happy are nothing but wishful thinking and PR for the movie. Like anyone trying to sell something they'll make positive often unture claims over and over in the vain hope that enough people will believe it that it wont matter that is not true.

Oh an Raymond, Don Murphy is a tool.

Yours AK

News Credits: 409 · Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:21 am

Bluebullet wrote:
Phategod1 wrote:
Grimshock wrote:What influence? What did we get besides Cullen?

Pretty much nothing, but you can't please everyone (or Fool everyone)all the time.

QFT.

This article was a waste of time. Bay hasn't listened to squat. We got, what, one out of a hundred things in the movie? Plus all of the promised "changes" were bull. It's things like this that made my stomach ulcer 20 times larger than average(No kidding!).

I agree. But according to Bay - he listened to the fans but just didn't care.

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