The Energon Pub

I was thinking about all the hype surrounding the movie designs and the colors and mouths and such, and i had a question...What about the individual powers they possess?

For instance, we had Starscream with his Null-Ray, Skywarp with his Teleportations, Thundercracker with his loud noise, Megatron with the fusion canon, hound with the holograms, Mirage with his invisibility, ect.. ect.. ect...

Is it feasable to give those powers to the Movie bots? Does it take away from the realism that the studios are trying to sell? I for one am thinking that those powers are things that are being left out for the same reason that Mass shifting was left out, its hard enough to believe giant robots, but mass shifting from a small gun to a large robot, or a large robot that can become invisible??

Who knows what the next installment of the Tansformers movie will have, and if they will ever get their signature powers..

I don't see why the null ray couldn't be incorporated. It seems like a perfectly reasonable and believable weapon. I also think holograms (or something similar) are already employed by the TF's (or, at least, the Decepticons) in this first film. Something similar to Thundercracker's noise could be used, but I doubt it will be. Things like teleportation and invisibility are likely to remain unused, I think, at least until a bit further down the line, anyway.

I don't really remember their specific powers being used all that much in any fiction, to be honest. Skywarp's using his power in IDW's comics, but a lot of the other powers or abilities seem to get used once then dropped (as far as I remember, anyway). Plus, I never really liked them!

Wasn't that really a G1 only thing?

It probably was, I don't know.

yeah but special abilities run throughout different series, like Big Convoy and his Matrix powered Buster canon from Beast Wars 2..

Would Energon Ironhide's ability to be a complete and utter wanker constituate a special ability?

'cause that's one thing that could be left out of any movie. Unless they really want a Jar Jar Binks character.

dear god dont say that bay might be reading this and go and put a jar jar binks character in the movie

I think that while the "powers" will be largely avoided, there will still be characters with different equipment based on their specialisation. Already we see Ironhide's gigantic guns, which are indicative of being an assault warrior. By the look of Bonecrusher's form, he's going to turn out to be a melee specialist. Things like Null Rays, Fusion Cannons, etc, would be easy to do since it's essentially giving a fancy name to (insert gun here) and tweaking the CGI for it. Widespread holographics, invisibility, displacement and the like might be a little more of a stress on the suspension of disbelief.

Brakethrough wrote:I think that while the "powers" will be largely avoided, there will still be characters with different equipment based on their specialisation. Already we see Ironhide's gigantic guns, which are indicative of being an assault warrior. By the look of Bonecrusher's form, he's going to turn out to be a melee specialist. Things like Null Rays, Fusion Cannons, etc, would be easy to do since it's essentially giving a fancy name to (insert gun here) and tweaking the CGI for it. Widespread holographics, invisibility, displacement and the like might be a little more of a stress on the suspension of disbelief.

The predator turned invisible and we accepted it, so I think sooner or later it will be something that is used. But most of the laser type weapons vill probably be avoided just so that missiles can be used.

Chris™ wrote:The predator turned invisible and we accepted it, so I think sooner or later it will be something that is used. But most of the laser type weapons vill probably be avoided just so that missiles can be used.

That's the thing, we first saw him invisible. It wasn't like Dutch and crew saw a freakish tall man when he suddenly dissappears sparking cries like "OMG invisi hax"

mangatron wrote:

Chris™ wrote:The predator turned invisible and we accepted it, so I think sooner or later it will be something that is used. But most of the laser type weapons vill probably be avoided just so that missiles can be used.

That's the thing, we first saw him invisible. It wasn't like Dutch and crew saw a freakish tall man when he suddenly dissappears sparking cries like "OMG invisi hax"

Exactly. Pred starts out being established as an invisible thing. If we had Mirage fighting in the city streets and suddenly go "pop" and be invisible, it would be ridiculous. Mind you, if Mirage had some sort of haze effect going on that disrupted sensors, perhaps akin to how the road looks in the distance on a hot day, that would be easier to accept because it imitates a natural phenomenon.

Invert Grimlock wrote:dear god dont say that bay might be reading this and go and put a jar jar binks character in the movie

What other part did you think Bumblebee was going to play then?

As its a movie about giant robots that can flawlessly mimic vehicles, they could crowbar the tech in for invisibility I guess. Teleportation, however, is a far more startrek level of sci-fi and I get the impression that that what they are trying to avoid.

The Null Ray is just a directional EMP.

I think Bumblebees power was comic relief...

This is a secret that nobody knows yet about the movie....Mirage has been cast the WHOLE time, he was even in the trailers! Just can't see'em:)

When Orci and Kurtman answered viewer questions they said that in vehicle the use whatever weapons are incorporated with the vehicle (a tank cannon) but in robot mode they carry their own weapon

durkadurka wrote:This is a secret that nobody knows yet about the movie....Mirage has been cast the WHOLE time, he was even in the trailers! Just can't see'em:)

Thats just the half of it. We haven't actually seen any of the movie in the trailers. It's all been one of Hounds holograms

Bartrim wrote:

durkadurka wrote:This is a secret that nobody knows yet about the movie....Mirage has been cast the WHOLE time, he was even in the trailers! Just can't see'em:)

Thats just the half of it. We haven't actually seen any of the movie in the trailers. It's all been one of Hounds holograms

the whole movie is actually one of Hounds holograms

Brakethrough wrote:
Exactly. Pred starts out being established as an invisible thing. If we had Mirage fighting in the city streets and suddenly go "pop" and be invisible, it would be ridiculous. Mind you, if Mirage had some sort of haze effect going on that disrupted sensors, perhaps akin to how the road looks in the distance on a hot day, that would be easier to accept because it imitates a natural phenomenon.

lol, i just thought that was funny..thats not a phenomenon