The Energon Pub

I've been saving this for when we finally saw Leadfoot in robot mode.

I've got a bad feeling that the Wreckers are going to become the next Twins. The evidence behind my thoughts is pretty obvious. For starters, all three look like a stereotypical Nascar fan: Topspin has the mullet and a beard, Roadbuster has the hat and a goatee, and Leadfoot has a beard and is rockin' the beer gut. They have a love of guns, though thats pretty normal for any universe's Wreckers. To top it all off, they've even got a pet (Steeljaw) that is profiled as a tracker. Heck, theres even rumors of them being voiced by the Blue Collar Comedy guys (I think anyways, I haven't been keeping up with rumors).

Add it all up, and you get gun-toting rednecks with a huntin' dog. This isn't necessarly a bad thing if they're played right, but be honest, this is Bay we're talking about. The possibility of them being played as stereotypical rednecks is there.

/end rant.

I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

Atleast this time, we won't have to deal with racist accusations going along with the movie.

Ya mite b a Wrecker if . . .

JeffX wrote:Atleast this time, we won't have to deal with racist accusations going along with the movie.

Yeah, the double standard of racism will ensure that. Funny how my african american friends didn't give a flying frak about the Twins supposed "racist design."

To quote one of them, "I think it's just white people pretending to care."

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

Capt.Failure wrote:Yeah, the double standard of racism will ensure that. Funny how my african american friends didn't give a flying frak about the Twins supposed "racist design."

To quote one of them, "I think it's just white people pretending to care."

Couldn't agree more. I'm black (Oops! I mean "African American" ) and i didn't see any racisim in them at all. If anyone did...well, then that must be how they view black people. Personally, i'm offended by the ones that are/were offended by the twins.

honestly with shows like family guy and south park if anyone is gets offended by the twins then they are missing ALOT

anyways i think its funny how the wreckers sre going to be redneck-like,i havent seen anything like that in transformers yet. plus i think leadfoot and topspin are going to be the only ones who actually joke between the trio and roadbuster is the one who will most likely scream "SHADDUP" and smacking some sense into them. haha like bumblebee did to the twins in ROTF

Twitchythe3rd wrote:

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

This is a job now? I thought wining about movies was an overrated hobby.

Oh wait.

It is.

RhA wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

This is a job now? I thought wining about movies was an overrated hobby.

Oh wait.

It is.

With how violently Ebert reacted to Revenge of the Fallen's success, including open attacks on it's fans, I'd wager it's less a hobby and more a religion. Not an insult toward religion, mind you. The religious better company than movie critics.

Capt.Failure wrote:

RhA wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

This is a job now? I thought wining about movies was an overrated hobby.

Oh wait.

It is.

With how violently Ebert reacted to Revenge of the Fallen's success, including open attacks on it's fans, I'd wager it's less a hobby and more a religion. Not an insult toward religion, mind you. The religious better company than movie critics.

I always like to compare Eberts reaction to a specific form of judging someone's taste for something.
For instance, you can't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like it.

Replace ROTF with, say, spinach.

Ebert does not like spinach and he thinks less of of because you do like spinach. To me, that's just strange.

So maybe he's just mourning the lack of educational value in ROTF? Also weird. Action movies aren't about education, schools are. Not the movie theatre. Weird man. If he didn't have a pycheck for this, he's be considered an internet troll.

RhA wrote:

Capt.Failure wrote:

RhA wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

This is a job now? I thought wining about movies was an overrated hobby.

Oh wait.

It is.

With how violently Ebert reacted to Revenge of the Fallen's success, including open attacks on it's fans, I'd wager it's less a hobby and more a religion. Not an insult toward religion, mind you. The religious better company than movie critics.

I always like to compare Eberts reaction to a specific form of judging someone's taste for something.
For instance, you can't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like it.

Replace ROTF with, say, spinach.

Ebert does not like spinach and he thinks less of of because you do like spinach. To me, that's just strange.

So maybe he's just mourning the lack of educational value in ROTF? Also weird. Action movies aren't about education, schools are. Not the movie theatre. Weird man. If he didn't have a pycheck for this, he's be considered an internet troll.

Ironic you mention trolls. When Armand White gave a positive review of the film Ebert labeled him as one. White's response was, "We're here to review films, NOT each other." Ebert gave a half-arsed apology.

Ebert's whole rant against RotF fans was on the notion that it was WRONG to like the film, that RotF somehow represented an active attack against the intellectual elite and Michael Bay was leading the charge. It sways far away from simple film criticism and right into conspiracy theory territory.

Capt.Failure wrote:

RhA wrote:

Capt.Failure wrote:

RhA wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:

5150 Cruiser wrote:I say bring it. At least its garranteed to give them some character and perosnality. And fu(k what critic have to say about it. If its not this, the'll find something to bitch about.

They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

This is a job now? I thought wining about movies was an overrated hobby.

Oh wait.

It is.

With how violently Ebert reacted to Revenge of the Fallen's success, including open attacks on it's fans, I'd wager it's less a hobby and more a religion. Not an insult toward religion, mind you. The religious better company than movie critics.

I always like to compare Eberts reaction to a specific form of judging someone's taste for something.
For instance, you can't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like ROTF because it's tasteless. I don't like it.

Replace ROTF with, say, spinach.

Ebert does not like spinach and he thinks less of of because you do like spinach. To me, that's just strange.

So maybe he's just mourning the lack of educational value in ROTF? Also weird. Action movies aren't about education, schools are. Not the movie theatre. Weird man. If he didn't have a pycheck for this, he's be considered an internet troll.

Ironic you mention trolls. When Armand White gave a positive review of the film Ebert labeled him as one. White's response was, "We're here to review films, NOT each other." Ebert gave a half-arsed apology.

Ebert's whole rant against RotF fans was on the notion that it was WRONG to like the film, that RotF somehow represented an active attack against the intellectual elite and Michael Bay was leading the charge. It sways far away from simple film criticism and right into conspiracy theory territory.

I'm beginning to believe Ebert doesn't know what 'entertainment' means.

So? I liked the twins.

Capt.Failure wrote:

JeffX wrote:Atleast this time, we won't have to deal with racist accusations going along with the movie.

Yeah, the double standard of racism will ensure that. Funny how my african american friends didn't give a flying frak about the Twins supposed "racist design."

To quote one of them, "I think it's just white people pretending to care."

Exactly!!!

Personally, I thought the Twins were hilarious. They actually provided some good laughter in ROTF along with Simmons; it's Sam's mom I couldn't stand.

As for the Wreckers, they'll probably be your stereotypical comedy relief rednecks.

Personally, the only thing I don't like about Micheal Bay's comedy relief TF characters is that he tends to inject too many human elements into the bots. Now I enjoy watching the Family Guy and South Park as much the next guy, so crude fart and pee jokes don't bother me. The thing is, when he uses these elements on a bot, it tears at my suspension of disbelief, because you don't expect bots to have organic bodily functions.

Of course, one could come to his own conclusions and say that Cybertronians have similar bio-mechanical digestive systems, but I prefer not to have to rationalize something myself. To me, it's the scriptwriter's and the director's job to suspend my disbelief throughout the movie and convince me of certain aspect of a scene; I shouldn;t have to do it myself.

That said, it's a personal peeve of mine, and I know it doesn't really matter to the majority of the audience, especially when you're talking about an action movie like Transformers.

Just my two cents' worth.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Personally, I thought the Twins were hilarious. They actually provided some good laughter in ROTF along with Simmons; it's Sam's mom I couldn't stand.

As for the Wreckers, they'll probably be your stereotypical comedy relief rednecks.

Personally, the only thing I don't like about Micheal Bay's comedy relief TF characters is that he tends to inject too many human elements into the bots. Now I enjoy watching the Family Guy and South Park as much the next guy, so crude fart and pee jokes don't bother me. The thing is, when he uses these elements on a bot, it tears at my suspension of disbelief, because you don't expect bots to have organic bodily functions.

Of course, one could come to his own conclusions and say that Cybertronians have similar bio-mechanical digestive systems, but I prefer not to have to rationalize something myself. To me, it's the scriptwriter's and the director's job to suspend my disbelief throughout the movie and convince me of certain aspect of a scene; I shouldn;t have to do it myself.

That said, it's a personal peeve of mine, and I know it doesn't really matter to the majority of the audience, especially when you're talking about an action movie like Transformers.

Just my two cents' worth.

Personally I find the human elements of the Transformers make them better characters. To me it's what seperates them from the myriad other Hollywood robots we've seen over the years. Optimus in the first film said Autobot is short for "Autonimous Robotic Organism," emphasis mine of course. It shows that the Transformers, while made of metal and circutry, are as alive as any of their human counterparts.

With that said Sam's mom didn't bother me. Being amazingly embarassing seems to be part of her character and I'm ok with that. Simons of course always was whacky even has a bad guy and Wheelie...well, he's been obnoxious since the 1985 animated film. The Twins are fine as immature, younger Autobots, which leaves my pet peeve with the humor.

The dog humping. It just seemed so out of place.

Where the Wreckers are concerned I think it's Bay taking a pot shot at the people who criticized the Twins in the first place. Think about it: everyone cries "racism" at the Twins so what does he do? He trolls everyone by actually trying to make a racist caracature...of white people.

I applaude you, Michael Bay.

Capt.Failure wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Personally, I thought the Twins were hilarious. They actually provided some good laughter in ROTF along with Simmons; it's Sam's mom I couldn't stand.

As for the Wreckers, they'll probably be your stereotypical comedy relief rednecks.

Personally, the only thing I don't like about Micheal Bay's comedy relief TF characters is that he tends to inject too many human elements into the bots. Now I enjoy watching the Family Guy and South Park as much the next guy, so crude fart and pee jokes don't bother me. The thing is, when he uses these elements on a bot, it tears at my suspension of disbelief, because you don't expect bots to have organic bodily functions.

Of course, one could come to his own conclusions and say that Cybertronians have similar bio-mechanical digestive systems, but I prefer not to have to rationalize something myself. To me, it's the scriptwriter's and the director's job to suspend my disbelief throughout the movie and convince me of certain aspect of a scene; I shouldn;t have to do it myself.

That said, it's a personal peeve of mine, and I know it doesn't really matter to the majority of the audience, especially when you're talking about an action movie like Transformers.

Just my two cents' worth.

Personally I find the human elements of the Transformers make them better characters. To me it's what seperates them from the myriad other Hollywood robots we've seen over the years. Optimus in the first film said Autobot is short for "Autonimous Robotic Organism," emphasis mine of course. It shows that the Transformers, while made of metal and circutry, are as alive as any of their human counterparts.

With that said Sam's mom didn't bother me. Being amazingly embarassing seems to be part of her character and I'm ok with that. Simons of course always was whacky even has a bad guy and Wheelie...well, he's been obnoxious since the 1985 animated film. The Twins are fine as immature, younger Autobots, which leaves my pet peeve with the humor.

The dog humping. It just seemed so out of place.

Where the Wreckers are concerned I think it's Bay taking a pot shot at the people who criticized the Twins in the first place. Think about it: everyone cries "racism" at the Twins so what does he do? He trolls everyone by actually trying to make a racist caracature...of white people.

I applaude you, Michael Bay.

Well, I do have to agree that the human elements make the bots unique, and more relate-able to the audience. To me, I think TF Prime strikes the perfect balance between humanizing the bots while still making them unmistakeably Cybertronian.

Now that you mentioned Wheelie, I actually quite like his portrayal in ROTF. Instead of being made into some cutesie baby bot that I sort of expected, Bay turned him into a sleazebag, as if he were channeling Joe Pesci or Steve Buscemi...hell, he actually looks like Steve Buscemi.

I'm probably one of the rare few who actually welcomes ROTF Wheelie's return in DOTM.

And yeah, the scene with the two dogs humping was unnecessary. Wasn't even funny [not to me, at least.]

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Now that you mentioned Wheelie, I actually quite like his portrayal in ROTF. Instead of being made into some cutesie baby bot that I sort of expected, Bay turned him into a sleazebag, as if he were channeling Joe Pesci or Steve Buscemi...hell, he actually looks like Steve Buscemi.

I'm probably one of the rare few who actually welcomes ROTF Wheelie's return in DOTM.

Oh I'm in total agreement. See, Wheelie in G1 had no personality and no character. He said things in his odd little speech pattern and was generally just wasting space. Bayverse Wheelie has a personality, character, and served a purpose to the plot by guiding them to Jetfire.

RotF Wheelie >>>>>>>>>>>>> G1 Wheelie by far. He's still obnoxious, but in a more lovable way.

Capt.Failure wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Now that you mentioned Wheelie, I actually quite like his portrayal in ROTF. Instead of being made into some cutesie baby bot that I sort of expected, Bay turned him into a sleazebag, as if he were channeling Joe Pesci or Steve Buscemi...hell, he actually looks like Steve Buscemi.

I'm probably one of the rare few who actually welcomes ROTF Wheelie's return in DOTM.

Oh I'm in total agreement. See, Wheelie in G1 had no personality and no character. He said things in his odd little speech pattern and was generally just wasting space. Bayverse Wheelie has a personality, character, and served a purpose to the plot by guiding them to Jetfire.

RotF Wheelie >>>>>>>>>>>>> G1 Wheelie by far. He's still obnoxious, but in a more lovable way.

Yeah, G1 Wheelie probably a semi-replacement for Bumblebee's role as the fun-loving relate-able kid bot...except he's massively annoying with no discernible personality.

As for Movieverse Wheelie, I'm expecting some good laughs from him paired with Brains [Einstein-bot?] in DOTM.

People whop cant see the racism or claim its white mans burden, it really makes me despair, its either down to cultural ignorance or wilful denial.

Anyone who knows the old hollywood tropes would realise that the blatant racism shown in the depiction of the twins, dates back to Gone with the Wind, Song of the South and Al Jolson.

The nearest example of equally as poor racial stereo typing is cryme tyme. Its a sad indictment of the movie fans that they will deny this just to defend the movie.

I dont blame bay, He didnt write the script, in fact im not sure he can be bothered to read or write, but he did agree to their depiction

shamone wrote:People whop cant see the racism or claim its white mans burden, it really makes me despair, its either down to cultural ignorance or wilful denial.

Anyone who knows the old hollywood tropes would realise that the blatant racism shown in the depiction of the twins, dates back to Gone with the Wind, Song of the South and Al Jolson.

The nearest example of equally as poor racial stereo typing is cryme tyme. Its a sad indictment of the movie fans that they will deny this just to defend the movie.

I dont blame bay, He didnt write the script, in fact im not sure he can be bothered to read or write, but he did agree to their depiction

There's a difference between willful ignorance of racism/white man's burden and being overly PC. Political correctess does more to widen the gap in races, religions, and sexualities getting along by forcing a level of discomfort to exist. Many forum goers of African descent have spoken up and said they found the Twins funny and didn't care about their portrayal. My own friends, also black, have said the same as did one of the Twins voice actors who was more than a little insulted to hear about people's opinion of the character. Are you to tell them they can't find it funny because they should feel insulted? That's no better than the racism you proclaim to exist.

Characters like this make into film ALL THE TIME, but when such traits are added to a non-human character people lose their mind for some reason. Remember Jar Jar Binks? Sure he was an obnoxious plot tumor, but racist? The motion capture actor and voice actor who played the character was black, and came up with the voice mannerisms himself. But of course the character was clearly a racist portrayal of Jamacians (I think that's what the complaints said)despite this. But then Resident Evil: Apocalypse has a character who's a jive talking pimp with gold desert eagles and nobody gives a crap.

People need to lighten up. When it gets to the point when you can't laugh at each other then the world really is doomed. Maybe sometimes people, even those "targeted" by such "racism," find it funny anyway. Stop trying to find a conspiracy in everything.

Ok, gonna take my own advice and chill out. Rant over.

Twitchythe3rd wrote:They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

And it is our job to make our own decisions and ignore their complaints.

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:They're critics though. It's their job to complain.

And it is our job to make our own decisions and ignore their complaints.

Which makes one wonder why they're still relevant. In this day and age I can read thousands of movie reviews from people who watch movies for the same reasons I do. Is the opinion of some crotchety old fart who watches movies like he's grading homework any better?

Capt.Failure wrote: There's a difference between willful ignorance of racism/white man's burden and being overly PC. Political correctess does more to widen the gap in races, religions, and sexualities getting along by forcing a level of discomfort to exist.

Exellent points. To many times have people caused more problems by being overly politcally correct. And that's what i really believe is going on with the case of the twins. I think most that claim "racist" with the twins initialy cryed because they felt this would be the easist way to get ride of characters that they didn't want/like.Ebert started the rant, and many just hopped on the band wagon. I say most because its apparent that there are a few that truely do relate the twins behavior with black people. Its these people that are the problem NOt Bay, Not the Twins characters, not the writers.

Capt.Failure wrote: Many forum goers of African descent have spoken up and said they found the Twins funny and didn't care about their portrayal..

I'd be one of those forum goers. I saw the movie in the theaters for the first time with my dad. He's in his 60's, and grew up in Ohio. Both of us were laughing our ass's off at the Twins and Jetfire. Not once, did either of us even think that there behavior or looks portrayed any paticular race or ethnicity. We both saw young, imature robots that were there to provide comic relief. But it seems that some must insist that it was all a crack towards black people. Some are even going as far to say that if your not insulted, or you don't see it that you must how be ignorant or blind. Really? Cause last time i looked, they weren't black. They weren't even human They were robots. Orange and green ones to boot.

Capt.Failure wrote:But then Resident Evil: Apocalypse has a character who's a jive talking pimp with gold desert eagles and nobody gives a crap...

Motha Fu**er please! My Sh!t's custom!!

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Evil_the_Nub wrote: Which makes one wonder why they're still relevant. In this day and age I can read thousands of movie reviews from people who watch movies for the same reasons I do. Is the opinion of some crotchety old fart who watches movies like he's grading homework any better?

This couldn't more true. It also puzzles me considering most the "films" they praise, usually completely differ from the general publics opinions. I'm sure that some people might go by a critic' s review, but for the most part it seems that their opinion in this day in age is irrelevant.