I rarely come to this forum nowadays, but I stumbled into a near Internet death match!
I'm in the hated ROTF camp. I'm not going to say it neutered my childhood, cuz I can still go back and watch old G1 cartoons and all their colouring plot holes, but I had a few problems with it.
I realize my opinions are based on G1. I'm not a Geewunner (I liked Beast Wars and even Machines), but weren't these movies originally touted as a comeback to G1? For purely nostalgic reasons, I felt disappointed. Sure, it was
based on G1, but all the tinkering along the way just fell short for me. It's like hearing your favourite band making a comeback, but finding out they switched genres. And, for me, the switch wasn't a good one:
Megatron was a pussy. Since the Fallen came around, he started kowtowing like a wimp. I always saw Megatron as the strong take-no-**** baddie. Even when he was Galvatron, he was trying to double-cross Unicron. I know, I know. "This is a different Megatron." But Megatron is supposed to have a backbone.
He's supposed to lead the charge. What happened to the Megatron that proclaimed, "I am Megatron!" and told Prime, "Join them in extinction"?
Skidz and Mudflap, but not for the inferred or implied racism. I just didn't really care for them. I didn't mind them while they were an ice cream truck, but after that, it was a bit much. They made Bumblebee look like Prime and, while I like Bumblebee, he'll always be the little brother to me, not the babysitter. I didn't even mind Wheelie as much.
I didn't have any problems with the humans except their overpopulating the movie. Even the parents were fine (except the whole hash brownie scene got a little overbearing). But anyone who wants to take away Lennox and Epps is gonna have to answer to me!
Soundwave. Meh. A little too passive for me. He didn't really do any fighting. People have said he's the communication guy, not the fighter. But... really? He's picked up a gun before.
Arcee had to go into the movie? Really? For a guy who fought and complained about having Arcee in the first one, he did very little with her/them in the sequel.
Too little Ironhide and Ratchet. I think Ironhide had a line. I think.
The things they did right were Ravage (he was done AWESOMELY) and Skyfire. Skyfire was different but it still worked. And the forest fight was brilliant!
As for having/not having Unicron in these movies, the producers for
Fantastic Four: ROTSS decided not to show Galactus. I can't remember why, but I'm sure the same reasoning could be used for not showing Unicron.
But in defense of having Unicron in it, "just because he was in the G1 world" (or however the conversation went) is it so bad? They've done plenty of parallels: Prime died and came back, a lot of lines are reused, Jetfire had a connection to the Seekers (or at least the Cons), etc. What's so wrong with wanting to put Unicron in one of the sequels?
I wouldn't mind, though it's a huge and incredibly perilous thing to try and tackle simply for the wonky gravity alone.
And, as anachronistic as it might be, I'd love to see a scene with the blocky G1 models. Just one scene on the DVD extras. I'd imagine it would cost way too much to be worthwhile, though.
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