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Hmmm, 3 pages in and nobody's pointed out that the title should say Transformers 7 (as it properly says in the article) since the Bumblebee Movie is TF6?

I think it's natural for series to get rebooted over time so I'm fine with this. It happens all the time in comics and movies anyway so why would the Transformers movie franchise be any different? Considering how bad TLK was I'm shedding no tears for its loss if that's the direction things would be going later. The series is ready for a proper reboot, one that actually cares about things like continuity.

I really want Unicron to be the main baddie for the Hasbro movie universe like how the MCU has Thanos and DC has Darkseid. I'm not a fan of the whole "Unicron is Earth" idea, I think it's lazy writing, even when Prime did it since both times it didn't go anywhere and was done more to shock and surprise.

Here's how I would do it: First the Micronauts and Joe movies ending with a realization that some bigger threat is out there in space. Then do two new Transformers movies in 2022 (yes, two, one early and one late in the year). The first an adventure on Earth that sets up the core characters on both sides, doesn't really matter what, maybe something classic like a fight over Earth's energy resources. The second being a prequel focusing on Optimus Prime/Orion Pax on Cybertron just before the war during a period of unrest, traveling around Cybertron researching Primus, but instead uncovering info on Unicron to set him up as a serious threat to the universe. 2023 we can maybe have a MASK movie and end the year with another Transformers movie, this time a fight against a herald of Unicron. Then in 2024 we can start the big crossover against Unicron.

And please make the Transformers more "human". They don't need human mouth pieces if they themselves are more relatable. Leave the human factor to the other series in the Hasbro universe.

Emerje

Deadput wrote:

Burn wrote:This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Yup, just because they "rebooted" the universe doesn't mean the new movies are going to be any better then the old, for example who is going to be the director or script writer? I doubt there is a single big director that gives a darn about the franchise like some of us do so I don't think there will be a Transformers movie that aligns to the fan's vision.

Some people are going to want the movies to be dark and gritty some are going to want it to be light hearted, some people like humor some don't, some want it to be like G1 and retread old ground while some of us want to see the franchise go into a new direction.

There is nothing to be hyped up about right now.

Don't be a Negatron. You do raise a good point in that the fanbase is really divided in what it wants and not necessarily accepting of those with different tastes.

Personally, I think It's the right move to reboot now, although I could do without the tie-ins, except maybe GI Joe.

Delicon wrote:
Don't be a Negatron. You do raise a good point in that the fanbase is really divided in what it wants and not necessarily accepting of those with different tastes.

Personally, I think It's the right move to reboot now, although I could do without the tie-ins, except maybe GI Joe.

A reboot is not a bad idea in of itself but I don't think it was done at the right time.

Delicon wrote:

Burn wrote:I started reading this thread before I had to go offline, I think I made it through the first page. What I read, there are some I agree with.

This decision ... good and bad. To me, Age of Extinction did a LOT of damage that hurt The Last Knight. It didn't have an impact like it should have, and I believe that was because of AoE.

After watching it, the general movie going public (the ones that REALLY bring the money in, NOT the fanbase) were put off, and a lot probably didn't even bother with TLK.

Add to that, the general movie going public are getting tired of these types of movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as awesome as it is (IMO), is starting to lose the interest of the general movie going public (though I do hope Black Panther performs well), plus various other superhero movies ... people are starting to want something different.

That's why rebooting is a terrible idea. It's been 10 years. TEN YEARS. Did they not look at Sony and their reboot of Spider-Man and how those two movies bombed? Rebooting will not help the Transformers movie franchise, people will just say "this crap again?". Lumping it with their other brands is just making things worse.

This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

My Facebook newsfeed tonight is almost entirely Black Panther and is completely positive. Right now it sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't see the Hasbro Universe ever getting close to what Marvel has done. I'm also a big GI Joe fan and wouldn't mind a crossover movie at some point, but the way they currently have it set up makes me nervous at best.

I also feel that there is a lot more room to go in completely new directions with a Transformers reboot than there was with Spider-Man, but time will tell. I think most people will give it a chance at least for the first new one.

Black Panther is only doing as "well" as it is on Rotten Tomatoes because they're actually deleting almost all bad reviews. I'm not talking about troll reviews either- I had a friend who posted a review that essentially amounted to "I was looking forward to this movie but it fell flat" and it was deleted.

Anyway.

When this reboot comes, I honestly hope we get something similar to what we already had but with better scripting and more coherent storytelling (and less fart jokes). The real tragedy of the Transformers movies is that they all had a lot of potential and good ideas, it's just they never got the chance to shine. DOTM with its interesting conspiracy theme/revamping of G1 cartoon episode ideas, TLK with the "Suicide Squad" of Decepticons, every single movie with its pretty awesome designs that didn't get to do much... I dunno. Whilst I hope the reboots change things a bit I also hope they don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

andrewthebulbabot wrote:Can't say I'm happy about this. I've loved these movies since I was seven years old. I'm eighteen now and I still love them. I understand they're just absent-minded popcorn shenanigans but that's part of the enjoyment for me. Not to mention, this franchise brought my favorite Transformers aesthetic to the table. I'm certainly not sure about what the future holds, but I guess it's far too early to judge. Though, I do wish we got to see more of Bumblebee after his voice magically returned...

On a side note, are they still doing the Studio Series after this news?

I feel ya. Totally not happy about this too. And same as you, like 'em I was 7. It got me into other stuff of Transformers that I eventually like and enjoy. But I'll always still love the movie universe.

After each TF movie went to theaters and off away later, I always waited in excitement anticipation for the next movie. Yeah, I actually never believed that DoTM was the last movie haha. In fact, just after watching TLK at theaters, (others can call me insane if they want to, doesn't matter to me.) while some people saying that they have a headache, I was saying that it was the best even though I realize that it does still have flaws.

So when this news came, I was pretty bummed out. Now there is nothing to wait for....(don't even know what to expect from the "reboot")

Each TF universes looks good in their respective universes. At least to me. I like the movie universe for being what it is. So I wasn't really into the mindset of "this should be like this" or "Why can't G1 be incorporated into this"

(what mentioned next is just my opinion) To me the notion of adding "heavy G1" into the movie is just nuts. We already have G1 throwbacks, through Generations, IDW, or the Upcoming Cyberverse for example. That's why I wasn't happy with the Reboot, my biggest fear was that the new stuff is gonna take away a whole lot of the curent (and awesome) aesthetic.
I love what the concept artist and Industrial Light & Magic done for the movie. They give a whole new perspective on TF.
Sure, of course,I wouldn't mind some little G1 easter eggs or homages in the movie.

So, to wrap it up, do I think these movies are perfect? No. There are stuffs that's needed to be fixed. But I still think that it doesn't need a reboot.

Man, I wanted to see how The Big U was going to be handled, but maybe we get that in the reboot? I dunno...

Everyone seems so happy about the reboot and noot having Bay at the helm, but I think too much focus is on Bay. Yeah, might get a different director, but it's the writers I worry about. We could get a bad director and bad writers and the reboot could bomb. It happened with Fantastic 4, so don't be poppin' corks yet fellas. Gonna have to wait an see.

The writers never got as much flack as they should have, same with the producers as they were more than happy with how the films turned out. I guess it just shows how much of a lightning rod bay is. Now we'll see how well bumblebee turns out as it's not directed by bay (and no involvement at all if I understand correctly)

It is a shame that this is happening, I think the reason for this happening is the box-office failure of The Last Knight, Transformers fans hating the Transformes Movieverse and franchise fatigue, and it means that the Transformes Movieverse is left on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved.

I hope IDW does a limited run comic series to conclude the series properly.

william-james88 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:The Transformers were supposed to be the stars of the show, but instead they became caricature sounding boards for the human characters to bounce lines off of.

Hey Death, glad to know you finally caught this franchise in your grasp

I was more than happy to pull Shia and Fox out in any case.

Transformers fan wrote:franchise fatigue,

I suspect this is a bigger problem than most of us realise. And that's not going to help the reboot at all.

Gonna unload here about this because the first film in 2007 is what brought me back into the fold in a lot of ways. So to say the least I'm a bit split on the news about the reboot of the movie universe, but I also have a lot of grievances despite the fact I just merely enjoy the films as summer, popcorn, thrill ride, action flicks and nothing more.

Where I'm happy is because I consider Michael Bay an awful human being based on the on-set strife that's been shared via cast/crew, his handling of people voicing criticism of him (even though there were cases when said criticism was hardly constructive), and just in general how he is with women and minorities in terms of attitude and demeanor. Outside of that, he took way too many liberties that ruined the continuity that makes it too twisty-turny and loads it with massive discontinuities within the series. In my fandoms for fictional properties I love immersing myself in the continuity and losing myself in it for a while. That said, inconsistencies are in everything, but there is usually an attempt to retcon them out or at the last just hammer them out. Unfortunately with the Bay films he would retcon the retcon of the retcon with something even more problematic and shrug it off or make the entire situation more tightly wound up to resolve itself into confusion. Now this could be Hasbro trying to come in and fix his mess, but the fact is he would undo Hasbro's fix. So that brings me to the same rehashed plot of the films to the point of ad nauseum for me.

The plot always resolved itself around a MacGuffin of some kind to "win the war" or "tip the balance" and the war was never really won as a result nor tipped fully. It just always maintained a status quo of mindless destruction attached. The constant use of the "MacGuffin" plot basically took the war and showed there were nothing high-stakes aside from outright mindless annihilation though. Now as an action film goes and an audience that wants to be thrilled this is great for them. They don't care, it's about the spectacle and instant gratification. For someone like me that wants something thought provoking, just cerebral in general, or remarkable in a way the story impresses you it ends in disappointment. Some people can and do make the disconnect between thought provoking and spectacle, but the problem here is that there was never any focus on thought provoking when the Transformers series has quite a bit of themes and plots that are supposed to be that way or have been written to be like that.

Now a lot of people will raise G1 and a pedestal and some are right to do so because it was the first, but what needs to be realized here is that at the core, G1 was mindless fun as well and that's what Bay was doing himself in a lot of respects with modernizing it at the same time in terms of aesthetic, lens flares, and explosions. People can sitting down with G1 and not really pay too much attention to it while still knowing what's going on and that is the one thing it was always good about. While G1 had some MacGuffin plots there were also had things revolving around actions and characters as well in the end, I'm reminded me of "Webworld" from Season 3 for instance where they're trying to cure Galvatron of his rampant insanity. Character episodes took priority in series like Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Animated, and then Transformers Prime finally. RiD 2015 is even "good" or "better" in this case despite being more kid-friendly than most. People also swear by Rescue Bots as being character-driven. We've not received a Michael Bay film that is heavy on character driven elements at all or just even anything resembling a cohesive and involving plot.

As I said, there's always been a MacGuffin at the center of the plots of the Bay films. The first one was the AllSpark, the second was the Matrix of Leadership/Solar Harvester, the third was the Space Bridge Pillars created by Sentinel Prime, the Fourth was The Seed and Transformium, and the 5th was Merlin's Staff and using it to reform Cybertron by catastrophe. So that is 5 films with 5 similar plots revolving around a piece of technology or artifact of technology winning a war that was essentially never going to be won anyways because of maintaining the status quo that resolves itself in a stalemate altogether. There's no stakes aside from the constant threat of outright destruction which just continues regardless of the outcome of the plot either way.

So I feel Bay's direction here on the types of stories and his directing style eventually took what success the '07 film had and squandered it all away because he became less focused on story and more on mindless action, spectacle, fart jokes, and of TFs beating the energon out of each other. Outside of that, I have nothing against fart jokes, but when they are excessive and there's no substance that is basically where I throw my hands up and say "that's enough" and start hoping for a positive change of some kind in the near future. So on one hand with this I am happy the plug is being pulled and there's a plan to reboot the franchise altogether. I am hoping they go for something way more cerebral and captivating that way instead of the simplistic rat's nest we've had for the better part of a decade. Transformers is way better than just basically being "decent action films" to go to and waste the price of admission on for about 3 hours to be briefly thrilled by the spectacle of it all.

The only thing that brings me any level of disappointment though is the ultimate lack of resolution of the Unicron plot thread started by The Last Knight. I do consider what they were doing here (or planning) had the potential to bring the franchise out of the depths of mediocrity but then again I look at Bay's directing ability and the whole lack of creative oversight and I just don't think a meaningful resolution could ever be achieved under the direction of Michael Bay due to excessive explosions and massive lens flare.

Transformers fan wrote:It is a shame that this is happening, I think the reason for this happening is the box-office failure of The Last Knight, Transformers fans hating the Transformes Movieverse and franchise fatigue, and it means that the Transformes Movieverse is left on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved.

I'm not bothered at all by the reboot. I am bothered by the cliffhanger that never should have happened. The writing was on the wall that this movie series was done at 5 (TLK), but for some reason the studio got extremely aggressive and didn't pay attention to the movie fatigue from the fan base. So now we don't get an ending to the story that can be wrapped up in one film and should make enough money to justify it assuming movie goers will support the end of the story. But that is a gamble as well, so...

Graviton wrote:I hope IDW does a limited run comic series to conclude the series properly.

This does nothing for me, but I'm sure they will and that's great for the comic book readers. I hope you get the ending us movie watchers never will.


Someone mentioned earlier that this movie series should have been treated as an anthology rather than a true continuous movie series. I agree with that since that is how it seemed it was being treated, fast and loose with characters and plot from movie to movie until TLK when someone had the idea of trying to tie the entire mess up into one solid story. It was an impossible task that made little sense and while I do like most of TLK, the ending failed big time because of the combination of forcing everything into a single continuity and leaving us with a dangerous cliffhanger. They should have left Unicron out, period, and just told the Quintessa story of taking over OP and Megatron to use an ancient artifact that would allow her to rebuild Cybertron by destroying the Earth. Simple, stand alone, and ends hopefully with Cybertron in orbit as a second moon rather than tethered to the Earth.

Why does everything have to be so complicated and over thought? TLK could have been the last of the current films with a decent ending forever linking the Transformes with the humans. Simple, not complicated, and a good ending to a 5 movie anthology series. I knew we were in trouble when they talked about using TLK to be more than just another summer blockbuster. Oh well. Nothing more to do or say about this for me.

Again bay only wrote one of the movies. The rest had writers so you can throw criticism at them as well.

ZeroWolf wrote:Again bay only wrote one of the movies. The rest had writers so you can throw criticism at them as well.

Hollywood writers are less influential than you think. When AoE came out, the "writer" explained that his job was basically just writing the dialogue that strung the sequences that Bay wanted to film together. These movies have always been what Bay wanted to film first, tying the writers' hands behind their backs.

JazZeke wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Again bay only wrote one of the movies. The rest had writers so you can throw criticism at them as well.

Hollywood writers are less influential than you think. When AoE came out, the "writer" explained that his job was basically just writing the dialogue that strung the sequences that Bay wanted to film together. These movies have always been what Bay wanted to film first, tying the writers' hands behind their backs.

I'm not quite sure I believe that, even if you do believe it that lays a lot of the blame of the non action scenes at their feet. That statement reads like someone passing the buck knowing that people will be happy to blame bay (let's be clear he is at fault but so is the other areas that includes writers and producers.)

Bumblebee I guess will be the ultimate test as there's no bay involved.

ZeroWolf wrote:

JazZeke wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Again bay only wrote one of the movies. The rest had writers so you can throw criticism at them as well.

Hollywood writers are less influential than you think. When AoE came out, the "writer" explained that his job was basically just writing the dialogue that strung the sequences that Bay wanted to film together. These movies have always been what Bay wanted to film first, tying the writers' hands behind their backs.

I'm not quite sure I believe that, even if you do believe it that lays a lot of the blame of the non action scenes at their feet. That statement reads like someone passing the buck knowing that people will be happy to blame bay (let's be clear he is at fault but so is the other areas that includes writers and producers.)

Bumblebee I guess will be the ultimate test as there's no bay involved.

A similar situation happened with Jurassic Park 3, but not so much with the director as it was throughout the entire production with the powers that be. Joe Johnston (the director of JP3) was passive with a lot things, but assertive with other decisions and still ultimately culpable. Kathleen Kennedy was exec producing on it and pushed for the whole "Rescue Mission" story because David Koepp (the co-writer of the previous two films with Michael Crichton, the original author of the novels) shot it to her in casual conversation and she fell in love with the notion. Word had it she pushed Johnston into the corner on switching to this plot from the original idea of JP3. So the original idea for JP3 got ditched and evolved into the story that was ultimately released. Outside of that Johnston threw out the script while shooting the third film and the production was troubled as a result. The rescue mission idea went through several variations while shooting and it caused a lot of stress on the actors for it. That said, I remember William H. Macy (Paul Kirby in the film) threw some shade onto the subject on Leno one time before the film was released - something the fandom reacted harshly to actually and he himself had to recant a bit on because he got a lot of flack. Universal ended up blaming the ultimate failure though on the Spinosaurus (that Johnston advocated for with paleontology consultant Jack Horner) instead of calling it out for what it truly was with the simplistic plot and paper thin characterizations. The Spinosaurus just basically was the caveat of the situation of disdain the fandom had for this.


The point: Michael Bay is just as culpable on the lackluster and paper thin performance of the films as the writers, exec producers, and the studio(s) that have oversight. Most of the time Directors, Exec Producers, and the studio are all playing a game of tug of war with the production to get it made and sometimes it is cohesive and they do a good, others? Not so much and it ends with a lackluster performance or something that lasts only 2 weeks in theaters because of the sheer terribleness of it all. I think with Bay is there's no one really wanting to deal with his crappy attitude when someone offers him criticism so he can approve. He's stubborn, he goes his own path and almost assuredly never compromises or believe in any kind of need to be reserved on the subject of his "Bayhem" moments. He's synonymously made that his style. It would be nice if you could generate constructive criticism for him to improve and what not, but he has always responded with a lot of venom and vitriol to that.

I really do like that aviary scene though

Thanks for the reply, I never realised jurassic park 3 was that troubled (I saw the trailers but just wasn't that bothered after the lost world)

ZeroWolf wrote:As long as they're better than the 2000 dnd film...only good point was Jeremy irons...

LMAO!!!! Tell me you didn't type that with a straight face, the guy is a hack.

Octobotimus wrote:i loved how the movie toys were realistic cars and the robots looked pretty cool and distinct.

LOL, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

LOL

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG LOL

Deadput wrote:

Burn wrote:This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Yup, just because they "rebooted" the universe doesn't mean the new movies are going to be any better then the old, for example who is going to be the director or script writer? I doubt there is a single big director that gives a darn about the franchise like some of us do so I don't think there will be a Transformers movie that aligns to the fan's vision.

Some people are going to want the movies to be dark and gritty some are going to want it to be light hearted, some people like humor some don't, some want it to be like G1 and retread old ground while some of us want to see the franchise go into a new direction.

There is nothing to be hyped up about right now.

Actually they can only be better. Nothing can be as terrible as the Bay movies were, NOTHING.

Galactic Prime wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Burn wrote:This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Yup, just because they "rebooted" the universe doesn't mean the new movies are going to be any better then the old, for example who is going to be the director or script writer? I doubt there is a single big director that gives a darn about the franchise like some of us do so I don't think there will be a Transformers movie that aligns to the fan's vision.

Some people are going to want the movies to be dark and gritty some are going to want it to be light hearted, some people like humor some don't, some want it to be like G1 and retread old ground while some of us want to see the franchise go into a new direction.

There is nothing to be hyped up about right now.

Actually they can only be better. Nothing can be as terrible as the Bay movies were, NOTHING.

If you think the Bay movies are that bad you clearly haven't watched many movies.

Galactic Prime wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Burn wrote:This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Yup, just because they "rebooted" the universe doesn't mean the new movies are going to be any better then the old, for example who is going to be the director or script writer? I doubt there is a single big director that gives a darn about the franchise like some of us do so I don't think there will be a Transformers movie that aligns to the fan's vision.

Some people are going to want the movies to be dark and gritty some are going to want it to be light hearted, some people like humor some don't, some want it to be like G1 and retread old ground while some of us want to see the franchise go into a new direction.

There is nothing to be hyped up about right now.

DON'T. JINX. IT.
Actually they can only be better. Nothing can be as terrible as the Bay movies were, NOTHING.

Jeremy irons was the best thing in the first dnd movie...you can take that as you want it...even if he's "a hack" he's still leagues better than anyone else in that movie.

Also every single uwe boll movie would like to talk to you about the tf movies being the worst ever...as would plan 9 from outer space.