The Energon Pub

I've been waiting a long time for a transformers movie too- and this aint it.

I tried to stay positive on on it- but there's too much done and seen, without even seeing the movie, that spells disaster. I include a mediocre movie with great effects a disaster too, because Transformers could have been so much more. This is just a pale immitation- and I don't want any more of it.

Ratchet is a hummer- sort of the antithesis (in feeling) of an ambulance. Beside that- his design is butt ugly. Beside that, I garuntee that he will have at the most two lines, and no character. This goes for all the Robots, save Optimus- who really does nothing in the film except monologue and fight. Not too different from the "silly" toy commercial show in the 80s.

SoooTrypticon wrote:
Ratchet is a hummer- sort of the antithesis (in feeling) of an ambulance.
...This goes for all the Robots, save Optimus- who really does nothing in the film except monologue and fight. Not too different from the "silly" toy commercial show in the 80s.

A Hummer base, which has been modified into a search and rescue vehicle, much like the Mustang which has been modified into a Police car. And if you wanted G1, what are you complaining about? I really just wish you would stop speaking badly about this film with such certainty. Prime is voiced by Cullen, who has repeatedly said that he has a lot of character, and if there's anyone this fandom can trust, its Peter freaking Cullen.

Hot_Rod wrote:For them to assume it a success is stupid.

Yes, because thinking your work will be enjoyed is so stupid. Hmmm?

Hot_Rod wrote:If they want to have a successful sequal that is better than the first that had better start thinking about how they can make more traditional robotic looking designs and make them work. If they can't do that than they would be losing out again on more tickets sold. They should also consider how much backlash they took with the designs and try not to do that again. Most of the people who are NOW on board hated them at first. Those people had to trick themselves into accepting them because they know that is what we are getting for better or for worse. And as it's stands now, it's for worse.

So they need to try and avoid that.

That is, if what they did already hasn't screwed them and the Transformers franchise over too much already. I seriously think the assuming of it being the years best blockbuster is going WAAAAaaaay over board. It might not even make the $200 mill they reportedly spent to make it.

If they want a successful movie franchise with The Transformers, they need to change coarse from they insectazoid looking things that have mouth pinchers, claws, and tentacles and start desinging more machine-robot looking characters. Especially when their excuse was they wanted realism. How is making claws for hands more realistic than the classic Transformers/Gundam hands with fingers?!?!?

If your going to make a movie about gian F'n robots, than make giant f'n ROBOTS! Not bug monsters.

Who's to say that robot hands from a planet light years away has to have 5 fingers and look like our hands? I don't want a movie that is made in the 21st century to have robots that look like they were designed in 1979. Sorry but it just wont work. I'd rather see the jetsons robot than a robot with liquid metal faces just to they can look "humanoid'

Yeah, I'm thinkin' this movie will do well in the first week, but I hope it bombs after that. This is not a TF movie. Other than Cullen, we got nothing. Yes, Bumblebee is a yellow car, but it's a MUSCLE CAR!!! How is that Bumblebee? Yes, Ratchet is an emergency vehicle, but it's a HUMMER!!! How is that Ratchet?

Really, they got so much of it wrong. The designs are terrible (Frenzy, Scorponok, etc, etc, etc). When I think back to how many people hated the designs when they first came out, it's amazing that so few voice their opinions now. I guess you guys have either chased them away (losing a lot of fans in the process, such a shame) or you've sold out (relegated yourselves, lowered your standards).

It's a pity.

Liquid metal update does not equal expressionless bug faces.

Cullen voicing Prime does not alone make a film good.

I refuse to accept mediocrity in place of improving and complementing what was already there.

This just isn't what Transformers was about for me. If it was called something else, I'd probably still think it was stupid, but at least I wouldn't be bummed out by it.

This is just pre-movie hype to get us in there to buy tickets. I'm keeping an open mind for the movie, but it still irks me how Megatron and Starscream look. I'll go see it and then- and ONLY then- will I judge it worthy of more or not.

I think the movie will do well, much better than Godzilla. GINO was just that...Godzilla In Name Only. Godzilla was a fire-breathing dragon-esque monster that rampaged cities because it was upset at humanity for screwing with nature. GINO was simply a giant radioactive iguana going to the big apple to lay eggs. Huge difference there.

Transformers(the series) was a bunch of alien robots bring their war to earth to search for a source of power that could turn the tide of war. The movie does no different. As mentioned earlier.....where applicable all of the characters of the same name will be acting out virtually the same parts, save possibly Scorponok since he's just a drone now. this in itself makes this movie closer to the source material than GINO could ever be, not to mention although there are some differences in appearence, virtually all of the main characters are the same kind of vehicles they were originally....the biggest difference, of course, being Megatron.

Anywho, yeah, this movie....better than GINO......


...Oh, & for the record, Prime in Japan was named Convoy for 2 reasons:

A: his diaclone version was already named that

B: it is a word describing a fleet of semi trucks all moving together.

Wow, I thought people could accept the different forms of a character. Look at all the incarnations Prime, Megatron, and Starscream have had! It isn't the form that makes them characters, but their personalities, which we won't see until this movie is released, for the most part.
I'm also not really sure how you can tell their faces are "expressionless" without seeing them in action. The footage of Prime, Bumblebee, and the small amount of Barricade we've seen seem to have plenty of expression. I don't think too many people have "run off" because people at this forum were "selling out", either.
Look, I don't care if you think this movie will suck or not, but please, don't assume that it will suck based on action scenes and performances you haven't seen.

Holy excessive criticisms, Batman!

Joking aside, it isn't uncommon for studios these days to consider the option of extending a single film to a 'series' if even the slightest indication of success is seen. Now even after all the doubting comments and reluctance the production staff initially reported, the general sentiment towards the movie has shifted to a more optimistic outlook; that, in and of itself, might demonstrate that some of the project's hardest critics (unfortunately, the selfsame filmmakers) have been won over.

Love it, like it, hate it, be fairly indifferent toward it--the movie is happening, and will be released at some point during the first week of July. Now, it might fail, as many of the other summer "blockbusters" have been faring poorly; however, if the new movie does fail, it won't be because of irate fans. Cite the "need" to stay true to 80s designs and such until you're blue in the face, and at absolute most, you'll have, what, 299,999 other voices shouting out in agreement? With average cinema prices in the United States being $10 (generous or theft, seems like a good average in the Northeast), that's just shy of $3 million in revenue. Seems like a bit, but wait.

Meet the Robinsons, possibly one of Disney's lowest-grossing animated films in the past few years, has made to date (according to BoxOffice.com) just over $96 million since its opening. Aside from being a They Might Be Giants fanboy (they did the movie's theme), I hadn't even known of its existence--the media exposure wasn't even half as potent as Transformers has been. On the "popular culture" side of things, Spider-Man 3, still lauded as the weakest movie in the series, managed to pull in over $7 million this past weekend alone--after pulling-off, despite so many Spidey fans' complaints and criticisms, one of the biggest openings in recent film history. Suddenly, it seems like losing $3 million of revenue isn't so crippling after all.

And even that figure is a bit generous, since out of that 300,000-strong group of Transformers fans, there are inevitably going to be some who will say, "hey, I want to check this movie out." Even if that number is only a miniscule fraction of the 300,000, there will still be Primus-knows how many 80s kids who will see the trailer, think to themselves, "y'know, that cartoon was really awesome as a kid," and check out the movie regardless. Hell, there will be those who have had no prior exposure to the series whatsoever, see a preview on television, and be curious. Because, let's face it, giant freaking robots are badass.

Now, if the writing is awful, the action sequences over-the-top (in a bad way, of course), the story (involving any characters) is transparent, or any other elements severely lacking as a motion picture in its own right, then it will lose revenue on a greater scale with movie-goers than the fans could ever hope to do. But until that final product is revealed in its entirety and subsequently reviewed, then saying "it's going to suck" is nothing but idle conjecture. Skepticism is never a bad thing, and I do agree that there are some points of concern about the quality of this film...but there is a difference between being a skeptic and just being someone who rants and complains.

...and yeah, that last statement is either ironic or slightly hypocritical. I think my point still stands.

Wow...and I thought the haters had long gone, so they're saving up their gases for the sequels now?

But as for the sequels...Sixshot would be so awesome.

Oh God keep him the hell away from the sequels!!!!

I think the biggest mistake here is simplifying the theme of Transformers into "a war waged across the planets."

The best thing about Transformers, in a way, is that as it was developed (this being all the homework already done for the movie that could've been) the characters became well rounded 3 dimensional beings.

Transformers in execution has a lot more to do with Star Trek (stay with me) than Godzilla.

If you simplify Star Trek like what's been done to Transformers, you get "a journey across the stars." Well, that's been done a lot of times, and a lot of times (see the later Star Trek shows) it's been pretty lame. What made Star Trek was the characters. They had a dynamic, they were relatable, even the aliens.

What made that work was that in a sense, everyone was a human, even if they were supposed to be an alien. They all represented different aspects of human nature.

Transformers is a very innocent take on this idea. The robots look how they look, because they really are humans, learning about human things. That is key to the series.

I think a lot of fans have issue with this movie, because it's a balls to the wall, overtly militant take on Transformers. The characters are purposely made to look alien- they are no longer extension of us, but weird versions of the war machines and vehicles we depend on, and that's creepy. Where in the original series, our main villain turns into a gun, because he is a to the point destructive entity, he now turns into some kind of alien super-secret jet thing. The message is clouded, and a little more fearful. I'm not saying Megatron needs to be a gun, but I am saying it's noticeable that he is not, and the solution given is lacking.

The movie seems intent on being about Sam's need to get laid using his muscle car- which is a creepy inversion on Bumblebee's generally pacifist nature. Look at Bumblebee's new creepy crotch, and tell me you don't get Chris Odonnell cod-piece overcompensation vibes. A weird machismo has invaded this film- and I blame Spielberg and Bay.

This should have been a movie about the Robots, and us relating to the robots as characters. Instead it's a movie about "a boy and his car." And it's just not the same. The robots are treated more like the aliens in ET or Independence Day- not as traditional characters. That seems to be Sam's job. That's very disappointing to me.

The Godzilla comparison is in how the filmmakers got this so wrong. Transformers were never about big robots blowing up stuff. Rather, their story is "why are the big robots blowing up stuff?" We don't get to know that in this film, aside from they're at war- which is in a way, very timely given our current political climate.

I understand how some people might want a big explosive Transformer movie- but please understand that this take is so different from what many people understand Transformers to be, that we can’t just quietly go along for the ride.

bah, transformers should be a big ass action movie, who wants a movie packing some serious muscle, and yet just have them talking about their feelings? Remember Hulk?

Hulk was just bad. The first few Star Treks, they were great, and had great action. I want strong characters and actions. Not Bumblebee fighting one second, and then peeing as a joke the next.

Since when has Transformers been about intelligent and interdimensional characters?

Please...

It always been a cool toyline with a cool cartoon. all of the incarnations.


Some people take this hobby waaaaaaaaayy to seriously. Like if life is gonna change because some unexistent characters gets treated poorly.

Oh and Kranix-76 I couldn't put it better myself man. Totally agree with you.

You obviously never read the comics then. That's how I got into this. The characters were great. Great characters, and stories. And action too.

But if you want to stick with the cartoon... Just the fact that the Transformers were treated as characters, aka, personalities with speaking roles- is a step beyond this film.

And is it wrong to want a movie better than the cartoons? I think if the movie-makers are so good at what they do- they could trump a "silly toy commercial" in the story and character department. Just saying...

I'm sick of people saying "deal with it." Life isn't gonna change- but that doesn't mean I have to acept a dumb movie in place of what could have been a smart, well made, and potentially classic movie. You know, something good.

And Krank, haven't I been saying (among other things) that awful writing and bad characterization is what's really wrong here? It’s not just the ugly designs- it’s the overall weak looking film. I like badass robots too- but that alone won’t make a good Transformers movie.

But as of this moment right now you don't really know how the characterization is. You may have read the script, and the novel, and the prequal comics, hell even the bios on the lunchables. But until you see how it plays off on film you don't fully know.

Yes I did read the comics and I mean the Marvel run including Generation 2. It wasn't perfect.

Commander Ratbat anyone. A freaking Soundwave minion was commander of the Decepticons? He could talk like Clint Eastwood and be written by Garth Ernis, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore and still going to look silly.

Let's not forget Scorponok and Fortress Maximus two freaking huge city Transformers being the same height as Optimus Prime.

Sure Shockwave was all sorts of badass and so Bludgeon. But didn't Optimus Prime died in a freakin arcade game. Let's not even forget how many times he died and was brought back. Or how many others were killed out of randomness.
Generation 2 wasn't flawless either. Megatron again being revived, killing single-handlely Fortress Maximus.
Sure it has it moments but I wasn't running to the comic shop to get it. Neither was most of the public. Not even Generation 2 that was trying to be edgy by killing characters on and off. How much it lasted 12 or 14 issues?



Plus don't get me started on the art which was painful to watch. Nothing agaisnt The Wildman as he was on of the few that his art was at least enjoyable. The only decent Transformers comics in my humble opinion have been IDW. I hated Dreamwave too, with the exception of Don amazing art.

The comic was far from perfect.

You're sick about people saying deal with it. Well a lot of us are sick of reading a lot of people here whine. It juts show was wrong with a lot of fans. They are afraid of change and moving on. Just like in real life. The world is changing daily and you're worried and mad about a movie. A Popcorn Summer movie. Like if watching a movie written by Simon Furman with blocky outdated designs was part of the most important thing in your life.

There is always the fan that accepts what we got and the fan that hates everything except what got him into the franchise.


I hated Beast Machines but once did it bother me to point I would post everything related to it being negative. Hell back then I was worried more about girls, grades and drinking with my friends. I watch the 1st season and I was so dissapointed that I didn't even cared so I didn't watch it. The only thing I critiquized was what I watch. Not once did I mention or said anything about Botanica because they already lost me before they even introduce her. I knew nothing about the character and I could care less.

By the way comparing Godzilla with Transformers in my opinion is way off. Godzilla was what?? A dude in a rubber dinosaur suit fighting against more dudes in monsters rubber suits in a giant diorama. Not even Peter Jackson and Martin Scorcese can direct or write a good movie out of that.

Plus you judging something without even watching the freakin movie just because you read the script it just amaze me. Let me ask you have anyone ever judge you by your appearence and think wrong about who you really are?

The stuff you pointed out regarding the comics was so nitpicky that I'm not sure what to do with it.

The comics, given all their faults, where still trying to be character dramas with outer space/robot action.

And commander Ratbat rocked.

The movie is a dumb action movie, focused on human drama, with Robots who are very thinly drawn characters.

Ratchet has maybe two lines. Two lines to fully develop a character.

How many lines did any of the X-men have in the first film? The main characters, I mean, out of that core five-ish group?

Now imagine that one of them, let's say Jean Grey, was treated like that. Would anyone think she was a good character, or interesting?

I'm not afraid of something new, I'm bothered by something that just looks bad. I wasn't sure what to do with Beast-wars when I first saw it too. But then it grew on me- you know why? Because it was all about the Transformers, and in the end was a pretty good time travel story.

Godzilla had great potential as a film too. And the way you fluffed it off was just the same as how Bay initially fluffed off Transformers, which makes me suspicious. Not that you're Bay, Satanatron, but that you have similar sensibilities.

I'll chill out for now though, because you're right Satanatron, I still haven't seen the movie. But from the script, to the previews, to the toys, this just isn't clicking for me. I have read the script, and it sucked. The images in the trailers are all there- right down to that spoilerriffic ending where not "Batman," but "Robin" kills the "Joker," using his powerful football skillz. Think about that, and then think on how this is a supposedly a "Transformers" movie.

Tell me how you are not nitpicking about a movie that hasn't come out yet?

Oh and by the way I'm not a Bay fan. Ha had the idea to give Optimus those lame flames and a mouth. I would have been great for me if it was just Steven Spielberg as a director. But the designs have grown on me.

I for once agree with you in how most of the Transformers look in the movie. It bothers me but I still see it as another incarnation. I'll give it a shot like I did Beast Wars as well. Which I first I hated just because of how they look, but then I got hooked cause the characters were awesome. But that was a tv show with 3 seasons.

Transformers is gonna be a what 2 in half hour movie. Is not easy to take 13 characters excluding the human characters and give them some sort of personality.

That was the problem with X-men 3. It has such an expanded cast and fans wanted to see so much other characters and what they got was an orgy of craptastic fun.

I for once love the fact that Soundwave was taken out of the movie.

But like I said before I going to see it give a shot and if entertains me or amuzes me which is my only purpose to the theather then I'll buy the DVD and the toys (Which already have like 3 of them)
If is just a big explosion and action pack movie then so be it, I for once wanted to see mindless action is been to long since I been entertain with mindless explosions like those great cheesy hilarious action films.

I want to point out that I love that there also new characters in the film like Barricade and Blackout which I have notice no one bitches about and mostly everyone loves.

Maybe is because in G1 toyline they weren't important characters. I think Barricade was a micromaster I could be mistaken.

Does Jazz die?

Ugh...it just bugs me to no end how people can talk about the development of character in a movie they haven't yet seen! That's the key to all of my arguments. I could be wrong, but you could be equally as wrong. By reading a leaked script, which has been continually touted as an early draft, you have given yourself a general idea of the movie's plot. Its doubtful that the storyline has changed much, but I think its safe to say that the dialogue has not been taken from that very early draft.

Just give peace, and live action Transformers, a chane, won't you?

it's gettin' kinda annoying how much people are complaining about the frickin' designs. people please, if you want to see the G1 designs in a movie, watch Transformers: The Movie from the 80's. it is 2007 now, the G1 designs sold back then, but they would probably bore the snot out of anyone who didn't know zilch about the original TV show. get over it already. in my family, we have an old adage, it goes like this: you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. this very much applies to the current situation, because it's to late for any changes to be made, so either accept it, or quit whining. times change, and you get nowhere by living in the past