I don't plan on getting Bumblebee Screamer. He doesn't look that bad, but I'm just not interested, especially with all the stuff coming soon in Kingdom and SS86.
Guess I might as well give my thoughts on the movies, since everyone seems to be doing that. I really don't like the movies. Yeah yeah they re-introduced Transformers to the general public and pulled it out of obscurity and Transformers wouldn't be where it is today were it not for the movies. I know. That part was unquestionably a good thing. I do remember more kids knowing what Transformers was post-movie than pre, and it was cool seeing more people interested in the same thing as me. I got into Transformers through Transformers Cybertron and I liked that way more, but when you're a kid you don't really care what your giant robot punch explosion vehicle shoot man looks like, they're just cool robots you can play with and post movie way more of the kids around me wanted to join in. That was awesome. But I never really liked the movies that much, and that only got worse on re-watches when I got older and it really set in just how dumb they were. And as that attitude started becoming more common with the people around me (and it started becoming uncool to play with toys) I couldn't just be a Transformers fan anymore. I had to position myself as "Yeah, I really like Transformers, but god I HATE the movies.". That was the only way I could get anyone to talk about Transformers with me. Crap on the movies. And in retrospect I really overcompensated and probably came off as really annoying and super-obsessed with hating on them. Part of why I just stay out of talking about the movies now. I've just burnt out on being angry towards them and don't care anymore. Sure I'll still poke fun and have a laugh if it comes up in conversation but I'm not actively seeking that out. Okay that's enough of me rambling about my background with the movies now let's actually talk about them.
I don't at all care for the bayverse designs. There's just way too much silver and grey everywhere and all too often they just look like piles of vaguely humanoid shrapenel wearing vehicle pieces to me. You could argue that I'm biased towards G1 since I was introduced to Transformers through Cybertron and that's largely the same aesthetic, but I really don't feel like that's the case. It's not impossible for me to like a bayverse design I actually like Blackout (the one pre SS86 studio series figure besides Grimlock I was kind of tempted to buy) and TLK Megatron (who I feel works way better as a Galvatron upgrade for movie Megatron than TF4 Galvatron ever did), and I to this day still display and play around with this custom painted Cyberfire Bumblebee my dad bought for me the Christmas after DOTM came out because it looks absolutely rad. My headcanon is that this is the shattered glass version of movieverse bee, the autobot symbol on him is silver so there's nothing contradicting that.
Maybe I am somewhat biased towards Cybertron/G1, but I don't feel like it affects me in the way of "wah this isn't what Transformers looked like when I was 4-5 I hate these designs I saw them when I was 6!" I just have very specific problems with the movie designs. If I had to be specific I'd say the designs tend to be way too busy but also way too generic at the same time. If that makes any sense.
I'm going to try to be concise with my thoughts on each of the movies here I recognize I tend to be long winded it's just how I am.
Movie 1-Meh. It wasn't that bad. To me it's the most Transformers-y of the original five Bay films. There are fun parts, and I actually love the opening scene. The helicopter that was lost some time ago just showing up at the military base and once they get suspicious it just turns into a giant robot and starts wrecking stuff. It's just a fantastic opening scene and a great way to get people who know nothing of what a Transformer is invested in your movie. Makes you want to know what this giant robot is and what it wants. Other than that it's just a stupid action movie with some cool action scenes and lame jokes but nothing too painful. Also I have mad nostalgia for the first movie game. It's not all that good, but back in the day it and the armada game were the only two Transformers video games I was aware of and it was really cool to be able to drive around and wreck stuff.
RoTF-NOPE. I hate Revenge of the Fallen. If you like it that's great but I can't even think of anything I actually like in that movie. Like maybe if I rewatched it again I could find something I don't think I've done so in a couple years but I'm just not willing to do so. I remember just being bored in the theatre when I saw it. None of the humor was funny, and the action did nothing for me. The game also sucked (I played the PS2 one I've heard the Xbox 360 and PS3 ones are better but I had neither of those consoles) and I do recall how specifically frustrating the toys were to transform. I had trouble remembering how stuff transformed so they tended to just stay in one mode or another most of the time, but it was still a bit of a fun puzzle to do it when I did. Not with the RoTF toys. Oh wait sorry I just thought of something I do like about RoTF. The forest fight. That was legitimately awesome and I do explicitly remember thinking Optimus saying "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!" and taking on a whole bunch of Decepticons by himself was badass.
DOTM-Not bad, actually. I wouldn't say I put it above the first movie but it was decent. I liked how Laserbeak was handled, not in terms of design but in how he was manipulating stuff behind the scenes and maintaining secret alliances between humans and the Decepticons. That was pretty cool. Oh yeah and I really liked the part where Optimus comes out of nowhere and declares they're going to take the fight to the Decepticons. You never buy for a second that they just killed off all of the Autobots on that space shuttle but it's still pretty effective as a reveal scene. Was not happy with how they did my boy Shockwave. Like, he's just a generic silver guy but he has a monoeye and a gun arm so I guess he's shockwave, and he doesn't actually say or do anything memorable other than walk around with the giant drill worm he has for some reason. And then he gets killed because he's blinded by a parachute. Not the most insulting death in the movie but it still sucks that my favorite Decepticon got that treatment.
AOE & TLK- I'm putting these together because they just sort of blend together for me. Like yeah AOE was better than TLK but for me that's not saying much. I find them both exceptionally boring, convoluted and just plain bad. Took everything that was bad but sort of tolerable in the first and third movies and turned them up to 12. I almost fell asleep in the theater when I saw AOE. A big problem I have with the fight scenes in the bay films is that although they're fairly well choreographed and have a huge amount of spectacle to them, I just don't care about what's happening. I barely know anything about who these characters are, and sometimes it can be hard to even recognize who's who. But sometimes they could still pull me in in spite of that. That's not the case with these two movies. They're just boring to me. I was also waiting in AOE for the Dinobots to show up, and was so disappointed when they waited until the last 10-15 minutes (rough estimate). I didn't think they were going to be handled well, but I was kind of looking forward to seeing giant robot dinosaurs wreck stuff anyways because my inner child still loves dinosaurs. But nah. I was also kind of let down when Grimlock didn't say literally anything. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I kind of like G1 Grimlock's caveman speak. It's sort of endearing to me. Even if they weren't going to do that I still would've liked my favorite Transformer to have A LINE. Also would've been nice to have some color to him. Not necessarily that G1 repaint Takara did but just something to break up the silver. I don't think I have to justify my opinion of thinking TLK is bad.
Bumblebee was legitimately good. Not without it's problems but I still had way more fun watching it than I did with any of the Bayverse films.
So yeah there's my essay on my relationship with the bay films. I'd be surprised if anyone actually read all of it but it was still fun and introspective to write it. I hate all of them but don't particularly care if you like them (anymore). I can see the reasons why you would, and your opinion is just as valid as mine or anyone else's. I do feel bad for the people who aren't at all interested in G1 and as such are upset this line is being invaded by the 86 film, hope you guys get some of the still anticipated characters sometime soon.
