by TM Pulse » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:50 pm
I've not really posted about any of this but I think this was the last of it.
Prime and Bee, kinda, look like what they're supposed to but the rest just...Well, don't.
They're reasons don't make sense.
"We had to make them realistic, the arms coudln't be where the engines are..."
Okay, BS. Just because Prime happens to be a rig doesn't mean he HAS to have a big engine under the hood, he's an alien robot, it would make more sense for him to have something spiffy (energon powered engines , small ones, driving each wheel independantly, for example) then to think he'd carry a huge, primative (even by our standards) engine around just to "look right".
Next was the "they're alien war machines!" part.
Yes, they are. And it makes no sense for them to not have armor. They said that, armored, they'd look boring. Watch Patton. Tanks are nothing but one spinning box on top of another, but they can be made exciting. Watch Blackhawk Down, just people moving and it's exciting.
War machines would have armor, these don't. Even "battle mode" Megatron has little, if any, usable armor. The designs just don't make sense.
My next issue is with all the tribal crap. This went out of fashion, oh, 2 years ago. Yet Prime and Megatrong are both covered (look at Megatrons armor, all the bits are tribal shaped). This makes the movie look dated before the first frame of film is projected on the screen.
I don't care that the people involved want our opinions or not. But all of their latest postings show that they're surprised, hurt and dumbfounded by our reactions. None of us were expecting them to re-enact "More Then Meets The Eye" or the original movie. We knew it would be updated. The problem isn't with the fact that they're changing things.
The problem comes from the fact that they're hostile to anyone who isn't sucking up to them and that they've tossed the complete "Look And Feel" of the source material. They could have made Prime a moped and, had they tried hard enough, it could have worked.
This doesn't. No one I've showed the images to (outside of Prime and then it was only his head that gave it away) could tell me what these were supposed to be. No one believed me when I said Transformers. And, having seen it, they all recended their agreements to go see the movie with me when it comes out (I'm the only real "fan" out of everyone I know).
So these are the people that they're trying to get to see this, the NON-FAN. The hardcore, they're expecting, will show up no matter what, or that we're few enough that us not showing up won't matter. But the problem is that no one see's them as Transformers and I have yet to find anyone (IRL) who likes them.
I know ILM, Bay, et al, will scream that we're jumping the gun, etc. And, you know, we might be. But the problem is that's the way marketing works. We, as the consumer, can only go with what we see. And, so far, everything we've seen has been "meh" at best. Dig around the net, there isn't any site (other then bays forums, and even there he has detracters) on the net. No one likes the designs, not as Transformers. As "robots" they're okay. But as Transformers, they fail.
So I've gone from "must see opening night" to "will, maybe, see it on a sunday afternoon, for cheap". Why? Because the totality of what we've seen just doesn't add up to a good movie. Yes, we only havea few images, but the reactions from the people making the movie show me that it's only going to get worse. Not only were they surprised by our reactions, but they've no clue how to fix it.
They should have gotten a LARGE GROUP of people (fans and no) and worked on the designs. Why? Because they don't seem to understand what the "Spark" is that makes something a Transformer.
Will this movie fail? Right now, I think it will. I think it'll do okay opening weekend, might even go to #1 for a week. But it's going to end up not making back the money they want. Is it because it's going to be a bad movie? No, it'll probably be pretty good. It's because they took just the name of something and tossed the rest. This won't bring people in.
Especially when people who saw it opening night, call/e-mail/post their dis-satisfaction to everyone they know.
My advice? Spend the time and money to fix this. Armor up the robots, make them "feel" like transformers, not the Terminator. Change the Megatron, Starscream, etc, designs. Am I saying to make them look like G1? No, not by any means. But loose the dated trendy design and go with something that people can look at and go, "Oh, a Transformer!".
But they won't. What we've seen now shows nothing but ego, we hurt their pride by not liking it and they're pouting like spoiled children.
I don't care how much they had to give up of what they wanted in it. If you want people to pay to see it I'd advise actually listening to people who will see it many times and drag their family to see it.
Should we be pandered to? No. My issues with the flames on Prime aren't a dislike, it's that it's trendy and uncalled for. It's like parachute-pants. As soon as you see it, you know, it's from the 80's, and it'll suck.
No, go ahead and freshen it up. But if, in doing so, you throw away all the things that made them look/feel like Transformers, don't throw a tantrum, and pout, when fans, both casual and hardcore, don't like it. And, while not liking it, they tell everyone they can not to see it.
-Tom
(Trailbreaker != SUV)
Thumbs down from me.
Come to think of it, from what when see so far of the movie concepts, none of them really have "human" like faces. Hopefully they get some more great voice actors for the remaining bots.
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
