The Energon Pub

Hello there!

I am a first time poster here and would like to say a quick "Hi" to everyone here on the forums. Instead of a long-winded introduction, let me get straight to the point by addressing a, IMHO, pressing and important matter: Optimus Prime's lips in the movie. I was over at the official movie boards and asked Roberto if there was any progress on the lip issue. Here's my post:

Roberto,

congrats on the positive review! I'm looking very much forward to the film, but one major gripe still remains - Prime's lips. Seems like people are not warming up to those lips, so, do you have any new info on Prime's exposed mouth? Are the lips gonna go or are they going to stay?

This is Roberto's reply:

Workin on it. Complain on every board you can think of if it's important to you.

Well, I took Roberto's advice to heart and I'd ask everyone who's against an Optimus Prime with an exposed mouth to do the same.

The Powers-That-Be themselves seem to be very uncertain and undecided about the lips and I think if we make enough noise we can still turn the tide on this one. I am quite certain that this is one of those cases where we, the fans, can make a difference. So, what are we waiting for? I invite those against the lips, go to every board you can think of and complain about the lips! I think we still have a chance of getting rid of them if me make enough noise!

The image of Optimus Prime is IMHO very iconic and if the movie makers had to get the look one character right, it would have been Optimus Prime. With those lips they, again IMHO, they failed to do exactly that. So, here's my suggestion to all the like-minded people out there who think that Prime should wear his mouthguard all the time, go tell the movie makers that you want exactly that. Make some noise and the design might get changed.

Thank you for reading ...

KEEP THE FACE PLATE ON!!! <-how's that?

It would be nice to see some animations so we could make an informed vote, for all we know lips could look good and a faceplate may not be expressive enough in all scenes.

Having said that, the one shot we did see was a bit of a worry, so I'm not sold on the lips in their present form.

I think lips *could* work in some scenes if done right, but the key there is that it is done right.

From what I gather we're probably going to see Prime with his mouth exposed for most of the time. He's only going to wear his mouthguard in battle and, according to the AICN reviewer, only has the occasional line with the mouthguard up, which implies that he'll have his mouth exposed for most of his dialogue scenes.

To me Roberto's message translates kind of like "We're working on getting rid of the lips, but Michael Bay is not convinced yet, so go make some noise and help us achieve our goal."

Michael Bay really makes me laugh

First, it is now proof that he does not respect the source material...WELL DONE!!!!

Second, what gives him the right to decide 'Oh, I don't want that faceplate thing that is the iconic look of this character'

Bay ain't an artist and is no Spielberg.

How about he just concenrs on making the film and make NO CREATIVE decisions.

Keep the damn faceplate on.....

lips am die

Faceplate on ALL THE TIME, please.

http://www.donmurphy.net/board/showthread.php?t=6432

Bay will be destroyed if he DARES, DARES keep those disgusting looking lips.

Conceptron wrote:First, it is now proof that he does not respect the source material...WELL DONE!!!!

That would be bad, if the source material wasn't an outdated '80s children's cartoon that 99% of the world's population wouldn't go see.

Sticking to the source material would kill this movie.

FACEPLATE ON for the WHOLE MOVIE

I don't care. Because I'm not afraid of change and can accept that this is a new style and won't whine about it to people.

1Big\"F\"ingRayOfSunshine wrote:I don't care. Because I'm not afraid of change and can accept that this is a new style and won't whine about it to people.

I'm all for change too, but I'm for change in the right direction.

Should we give Prime a mullet just to change things? I wouldn't. Prime needs the faceplate, it's bad enough he has flames, but I could live with that - the lips completely kill him for me, and other moviegoers won't buy it.

I've already told non TF-fans about it, and they all replied something to the effect of "No, Prime should have that mask up all the time, it's just who he is"

Aren't people complaining enough already? I can't imagine Bay's paying much attention to the internet.

Leonardo wrote:Aren't people complaining enough already? I can't imagine Bay's paying much attention to the internet.

Trust me, Bay will be listening. It's the "Cullen for Prime" thing again.

Make noise, becuase Michael Bay is still on the fence with this one.

Leonardo wrote:Aren't people complaining enough already? I can't imagine Bay's paying much attention to the internet.

Rallying for (or as you put it, complaining about) something will do no harm. The worst thing that could happen is that they won't change Prime's lips, but at least we can say that we tried ...

FreakNasty wrote:

Leonardo wrote:Aren't people complaining enough already? I can't imagine Bay's paying much attention to the internet.

Trust me, Bay will be listening. It's the "Cullen for Prime" thing again.

Make noise, becuase Michael Bay is still on the fence with this one.

See, that's when complaining works, when they're still undecided..

When they've decided and made up their minds (I.e., Hugo Weaving rather than Frank Welker), Starscream's and Megatron's designs, etc) is when it's just going to annoy Bay and Murphy and maybe even Spielberg.

Why is this thread all composed of members that have mostly joined in the last 3-4 days. That seems kind of odd to me.

btw: People have only seen 1 shot of prime with lips and I didnt even notice that they were "fish lips" so I dont know what all the big hoopla and fuss is about. Primal had lips, that other prime had lips, and the original prime had lips(see origin) but anyways how are we to know that g1 pime didnt have lips and we just never saw them. Because as much as people complain about the lips and emotion on the faces if you look back to g1 and the fact that they all had humanoid faces that meant the faces were essentially liquid metal and could form as needed. And we know that morphing liquid metal is more realistic than plates and mechanisms that move and shift into place.

Please keep the faceplate on. There is no need for Prime to have lips, and how such a decision was made is beyond comprehension. Most fans agree, yes you can change everything else like Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, you know, we can deal with it more or less. But don't mess with Prime. He's the hero of Transformers. A lot of us have been waiting 20 years for this film, you know we really want to love this film. Without a true Optimus Prime, this film has nothing.

Keep the faceplate.

1Big\"F\"ingRayOfSunshine wrote:Primal had lips, that other prime had lips, and the original prime had lips(see origin) but anyways how are we to know that g1 pime didnt have lips and we just never saw them.

Yes, other Primes had lips, but only one Prime is iconic and has become a part of popular culture and that Prime is G1 Prime with the mouthguard. The part of the general audience that remembers Prime only remembers one Prime and that's G1 Prime. He's the one Prime you'd want to use when making the very first live-action Transformers movie ever.

davun wrote:Please keep the faceplate on. There is no need for Prime to have lips, and how such a decision was made is beyond comprehension. Most fans agree, yes you can change everything else like Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, you know, we can deal with it more or less. But don't mess with Prime. He's the hero of Transformers. A lot of us have been waiting 20 years for this film, you know we really want to love this film. Without a true Optimus Prime, this film has nothing.

Keep the faceplate.

Yeah! They've never changed Prime's design before, why should they do it now?

That might go over some of the new people's collective heads, So I'll say this: that was sarcasm. Prime has been changed more times than I care to count, but he's been different in ever incarnation, especially in the Japanese series'.

Shadowman wrote:

davun wrote:Please keep the faceplate on. There is no need for Prime to have lips, and how such a decision was made is beyond comprehension. Most fans agree, yes you can change everything else like Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, you know, we can deal with it more or less. But don't mess with Prime. He's the hero of Transformers. A lot of us have been waiting 20 years for this film, you know we really want to love this film. Without a true Optimus Prime, this film has nothing.

Keep the faceplate.

Yeah! They've never changed Prime's design before, why should they do it now?

That might go over some of the new people's collective heads, So I'll say this: that was sarcasm. Prime has been changed more times than I care to count, but he's been different in ever incarnation, especially in the Japanese series'.

So, on topic, do you care about the faceplate or not? You're not really saying there.

P.S. Oh, and in most of the versions of Prime, he had his faceplate, which is again, the point of this thread, right?

davun wrote:

Shadowman wrote:

davun wrote:Please keep the faceplate on. There is no need for Prime to have lips, and how such a decision was made is beyond comprehension. Most fans agree, yes you can change everything else like Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, you know, we can deal with it more or less. But don't mess with Prime. He's the hero of Transformers. A lot of us have been waiting 20 years for this film, you know we really want to love this film. Without a true Optimus Prime, this film has nothing.

Keep the faceplate.

Yeah! They've never changed Prime's design before, why should they do it now?

That might go over some of the new people's collective heads, So I'll say this: that was sarcasm. Prime has been changed more times than I care to count, but he's been different in ever incarnation, especially in the Japanese series'.

So, on topic, do you care about the faceplate or not? You're not really saying there.

P.S. Oh, and in most of the versions of Prime, he had his faceplate, which is again, the point of this thread, right?

For the first thought: I don't really care if he has lips or if he keeps his faceplate on. I only care that he kicks robotic ass.

As for the second: Optimus Primal, Cybertron Prime, Orion Pax (Techinically). Also, at least once in the comics Prime took off his faceplate.

Shadowman wrote:

davun wrote:

Shadowman wrote:

davun wrote:Please keep the faceplate on. There is no need for Prime to have lips, and how such a decision was made is beyond comprehension. Most fans agree, yes you can change everything else like Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, you know, we can deal with it more or less. But don't mess with Prime. He's the hero of Transformers. A lot of us have been waiting 20 years for this film, you know we really want to love this film. Without a true Optimus Prime, this film has nothing.

Keep the faceplate.

Yeah! They've never changed Prime's design before, why should they do it now?

That might go over some of the new people's collective heads, So I'll say this: that was sarcasm. Prime has been changed more times than I care to count, but he's been different in ever incarnation, especially in the Japanese series'.

So, on topic, do you care about the faceplate or not? You're not really saying there.

P.S. Oh, and in most of the versions of Prime, he had his faceplate, which is again, the point of this thread, right?

For the first thought: I don't really care if he has lips or if he keeps his faceplate on. I only care that he kicks robotic ass.

As for the second: Optimus Primal, Cybertron Prime, Orion Pax (Techinically). Also, at least once in the comics Prime took off his faceplate.

Fair enough. Agreed on the kicking-ass point. Let me argue though,

1. Primal is BW - different continuity, and most say is not the actualy Optimus Prime ( not seen BW myself, but I will sometime soon, it's a priority )

2. Cybertron sucked! Well, either way, it's what 1-2 years out of 20 year franchise, so it's minor, but your point is true.

3. Yeah, Pax don't count.

4. In the comic, as I recall, the only reason Prime removed his faceplate was because IT WAS RIPPED OFF!

Can I persuade you to vote for the face plate?

I have to admit, I'm not sure Primal counts: he is a different character (although he was originally going to be the G1 Optimus) and even so his face-plate slides open and shut. Pax doesn't count in my book, either.

I've never seen Cybertron so I can't comment.

I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!

I don't remember what movie that's from, but I love the quotation all the same.

Seriously, Prime with lips just does not work. If there's enough time to bolt the faceplate down, let's convince the PTB to do so.

Raise the roof, people!