The Energon Pub

News Credits: 665 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:26 pm

Transformers Movie director Michael was present, alongside other creators who worked on the film, during a VFX Technology presentation on the Sony Movie lot. Michael Bay spoke about the upcoming Transformers Movie sequel, and how the film was prepared in case of a prolonged writers strike (which will now no longer be a cause of delay for the film, as the strike ended last night).

Of note is Bay making mention of the writers returning, and a story that will see deeper robot characters as well as a "geriatric robot"

Read about the event on Variety editor Anne Thompson's detailed blog post by clicking here.

News Credits: 8 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:28 pm

Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

News Credits: 9 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:29 pm

Im betting Kup

News Credits: 226 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:37 pm

Liege Evilmus wrote:Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

Or bullshit to stir the fanboys up. :lol:

Cue Trunks and SoooooooTrypticon.

Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:43 pm

I'll go with Alpha Trion. Possibilities:

1. Flashback - Probably Prime, maybe someone else. Some sort of memory about how Prime was chosen to lead/informed of some enigmatic threat/cryptically told of some secret weapon/knowledge

2. Quest - Autobots are looking for something (Matrix?) with which to combat Galvatron/resurrected Megatron/Unicron/other threat and find a cave/facility/vault on Earth/Cybertron where they encounter the aging guardian (a la Indy and the Last Crusade) OR Alpha Trion is the old sage that guides them on the quest

3. Rescue - Decepticons are holding him as bait for a trap/extracting information to further their plans and the Autobots must save him.

Yeah, most of those have been done before and whatever. Given the fairly basic story of TF 1, I went with some familiar, well liked ideas.

News Credits: 1014 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:48 pm

Im going with Trion on this one. Or Vector Prime cause he's probably better known to younger generations.

Someone who will be able to "solve the mystery of the cube" im guessing.

News Credits: 8 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:56 pm

You guys jumped the gun on my round 2 balck horse pick :grin:

News Credits: 665 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:57 pm

I say Brakedown/Breakdown, since Hasbro owns the trademark on that name and the younger audience will remember his character from TF: Cybertron.

Vector Prime would just confuse the average movie go-er since it's another Prime.

Kup's name is probably no longer reserved for Hasbro, unless they pull out the 'ol "Autobot Kup" trick again.

Alpha Trion is probably too complex a character to do in this movie series, someone like him has alot of backstory, which the films seem to lack.

I'd dig Brakedown in the movie series, you could do something really cool with his design in the movie style, if you wanted to do a similar looking robot...

News Credits: 972 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:02 pm

Like the thinking Skowl.

Sorry Burn, I had trouble following what you meant?

News Credits: 70 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:05 pm

Dear Michael Bay,

Please show the robots for more than 20 minutes of the two hour movie. Keep the F$^*ing camera still so we can see the robots, which is why we came to the movie.

News Credits: 7 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:13 pm

wasn't Ironhide old? And maybe Ratchet to a lesser extent?

News Credits: 26 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:23 pm

Liege Evilmus wrote:Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

Vector Prime?

This ain't freakin Cybertron :roll:

Try Alpha Trion on for size

News Credits: 349 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:30 pm

Skowl wrote:I say Brakedown/Breakdown, since Hasbro owns the trademark on that name and the younger audience will remember his character from TF: Cybertron.

I disagree. Remember, technically the Alternator Deadend should have been Breakdown, but no car company in their right mind will allow their cars to be used for a character with that name. I expect Alpha Trion or a completely new character.
[/quote]

Or he could just be a generic, unlicensed car... like a beat-up junkyard car, patched-together from old vehicle parts. Fits the name and the character, but no licensing needed!

Think Roadkill from Twisted Metal...

News Credits: 226 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:32 pm

i_amtrunks wrote:Sorry Burn, I had trouble following what you meant?

Sure you did. :wink:

Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:36 pm

Well, I think eveybody might conclude this as a hint to the first new AUTOBOT character?

Kup or Alpha Trion

I might lean toward Alpha Trion on this one, he has a very good history and mystique to several good points that center around the transformers, and they did say "deeper" characters. :-?

News Credits: 972 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 6:38 pm

Burn wrote:Sure you did.

No, seriously it confused me, I know you were having a dig at me, but I'm not sure for which reason.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:14 pm

Hmm. This is interesting enough to be excited about, but just odd enough to be a red herring from Mr. Bay. Either way, the fire's lit again and I can't wait to see how the film develops.

Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:26 pm

All I can think of is Bay saying:

"Wouldn't it be cool if his muffler was like a colostomy bag?"

I don't care who the character is- because it will suck some how regardless.

But I digress. Remember that time when there was no movie- and the worst thing in TF-land either spoke in rhyme, or had the play value of a brick?

Look how high the TINO movie has set the bar. Ugly Toys. Terrible Movie. Moist Towelettes.

Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:34 pm

I hope it's Kup! He should land in a junkyard, and scan something like a '38 International pickup. And talk like Harvey Keitel. Then say " Kid, back in my day, we made Transformer movies where the humans only had three lines!"

Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:38 pm

Almost forgot, quote from the article:

...

After The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, Bay is tight with the Pentagon and thinks nothing of picking up the phone to get them to reroute a C130 gunship with Seals in it for a few hours. "We pay for the fuel," he says. "The military looks at this as a recruiting effort. The jargon is real. I told them what was happening, and that's what they said. I shot it like a documentary."

...

Get 'em while they're young and dumb.

Maybe he thinks he's making the GI Joe movie?

Anyhow, just another notch in the "reasons to dislike the man and his work" stick.

I wonder how Parents, Hasbro, and artists woking on his film feel about that comment?

Do you want your kid's toys acting as commercials for the army?

Me, I never played with GI Joes. And Megatron was an EVIL gun/tank.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:19 pm

Three cheers for Kup! F' Alpha Trion :twisted:

Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:44 pm

Please let it be KUP!!! Please! :grin:

News Credits: 1 · Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:54 pm

If he's a grizzled, older warrior alongside the others, Kup makes sense.

If he's more a mentor or source of ancient knowledge, Alpha Trion.

Either way, the new character will be a poorly fleshed-out archetype who bears some kind of name borrowed from TF lore, not an updated version of a recognizable character. Such is life. Kinda happy to see what either character will be like, though, since neither originally had an Earth mode.