Hailee Steinfeld on Transformers: Bumblebee Role, Starts Shooting Soon

I have high hopes for this project.

I have some hope but not high. This young lady at least has a little range in her acting ability. Take a look at True Grit (2010) and Edge of Seventeen (2016). As far as the story focusing on just a couple of bots...I'll believe it when I see it. I'm more hyped about the movie being set in 80s with 80s soundtrack and seeing Bee maybe in Volkswagen form before going 70s camaro on us. Let's see what Travis Knight can do with a most likely mediocre at best script.

Bumblebee spin-off movie 2018. Let the rumour mill begin.

As previously seen in interviews reported here, the shooting for the next Paramount Transformers movie - the Bumblebee solo film - is indeed starting, as confirmed by lead actor Hailee Steinfeld on her Instagram account.



But in more specifically rumour-ous news updates, Instagram users bi0z0_yt and arun09345 report what might be - though please note we don't actually know if any of this is confirmed - a first set of cars to be used in the movie production, in Virginia. The Bel Air (yellow) is not a Transformer, but a project car for Hailee Steinfeld's mechanic character, but the red car reportedly might be. Also rumoured were a director's chair with a Paramount logo and that the vehicles were shipped by trucks, as was also seen for The Last Knight. Check them out, grab your bags of salt, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!

I don't think the Chinese movie market will save this piece of cybertronian wasteport dropping! If TLK is any indication

fenrir72 wrote:I don't think the Chinese movie market will save this piece of cybertronian wasteport dropping! If TLK is any indication

It indicates nothing, given the entire change in creative team. But you know, you do you, gurl.

If these turn out to be real set pictures I'm absolutely loving the cars. I hope we get some really nice figures of these, it'd make a welcome change from the mostly modern cars we've been getting - maybe we can get Bee's original form in the first movie remade if we're especially lucky! That one and High Octane are honestly my favorite Bumblebee forms.

Please please PLEASE be Cliffjumper.

With the film being set in the 80's, I'd like for the soundtrack to reflect that. Get us some classic 80's tunes and music spread all throughout this film.

Sabrblade wrote:With the film being set in the 80's, I'd like for the soundtrack to reflect that. Get us some classic 80's tunes and music spread all throughout this film.

I'm curious if there's gonna be one! A week after The Last Knight I was thinking "huh...this movie didn't have a soundtrack...that's weird"

It probably will though. Hopefully if it does it does what Guardians of the Galaxy did which picked good music that matched scenes and tone and not Suicide Squad which just tossed songs in.

SillyMcGilly wrote:Please please PLEASE be Cliffjumper.

After onslaught was announced and people started going nuts saying Bruticus is coming let's not start looking at cars and screaming who we want them to be this time. It just leads to more disappointment than anything.

Randomhero wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:With the film being set in the 80's, I'd like for the soundtrack to reflect that. Get us some classic 80's tunes and music spread all throughout this film.

I'm curious if there's gonna be one! A week after The Last Knight I was thinking "huh...this movie didn't have a soundtrack...that's weird"

It probably will though. Hopefully if it does it does what Guardians of the Galaxy did which picked good music that matched scenes and tone and not Suicide Squad which just tossed songs in.

A Guardians of the Galaxy style soundtrack would actually be awesome if this movie is more character-based -- just a bunch of songs from the 80s which, as you said; reflect mood and tone. Usually I'd think this is asking too much of a Transformers movie but hey, new creative team; let's friggin' go.


And yeah, best not look at alt-modes and names and think we're gonna get an update of an old beloved character. The movies tend to just take those alt-modes and names and not care about who they were originally assigned to -- which I'd usually be annoyed about for an adaption but given that this franchise has been doing that since G2 even, it's just kind of something you get used to. Even characters who are supposed to be updates of their namesakes - Starscream, Bumblebee, Drift - aren't exactly like said namesakes beyond superficial traits.
So I'm fully expecting this red car to be Bumblebee's comic relief and tech expert friend Streetwise, with an uptight commanding officer who turns into a jet called Trailbreaker.

SillyMcGilly wrote:Please please PLEASE be Cliffjumper.

Dead by the end of the film if it is.

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but this being an 80's movie would be the perfect place to finally include any songs by Stan Bush. Lord knows the guy's been trying get his music into these live action films for years now. Just sayin'.

Sabrblade wrote:I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but this being an 80's movie would be the perfect place to finally include any songs by Stan Bush. Lord knows the guy's been trying get his music into these live action films for years now. Just sayin'.

This, PLEASE!

I actually have very high hopes for this movie. The setting has a lot of potential, and doing something smaller and more character-driven in the time period the Transformers originally debuted in? So much potential. Just one thing: I thought this was going to be animated. Is that no longer the case?

Marcdachamp wrote:Just one thing: I thought this was going to be animated. Is that no longer the case?

The Cybertron/lore-based prequel movie was confirmed to be the animated one.

Sabrblade wrote:

Marcdachamp wrote:Just one thing: I thought this was going to be animated. Is that no longer the case?

The Cybertron/lore-based prequel movie was confirmed to be the animated one.

When's that again?

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Marcdachamp wrote:Just one thing: I thought this was going to be animated. Is that no longer the case?

The Cybertron/lore-based prequel movie was confirmed to be the animated one.

When's that again?

Some time after the Bumblebee movie's release.

Sabrblade wrote:

Marcdachamp wrote:Just one thing: I thought this was going to be animated. Is that no longer the case?

The Cybertron/lore-based prequel movie was confirmed to be the animated one.

Ah, okay. Honestly, that's a good thing. Bumblebee's premise would work better live-action, in my opinion. Hoping we can also get a better run-time this time around, as well.

OK, I'm on board. It's starting to look like this movie could have potential.

Please don't let me down like RotF...

Okay, so people are hoping the red Chevelle is Cliffjumper. Which I instantly want to reply, "HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM THESE FILMS?? Bee, Optimus, and Megatron are the only G1 inspired Cybertronians. Soundwave is not a blue bank truck, Jazz is not a porsche 911 martini, and Ironhide is not a red SUV. GET USED TO IT!!"

Then I stop and think, "Wait, all of this is a spin off... that means, everything is starting new! Cliffjumper CAN be a red muscle car, and Sunstreaker CAN be a yellow Countach! Why should Marvel be the only Franchise allowed to have original inspired characters? Why CAN'T the Transformers look like the G1 style??"

Now some things are a little TOO Unrealistic, such as Hot Rod, but Cliffjumper? Mirage? Brawn? YESSSSSS!!!

I am getting really excited for this now! At least we don't have to wait another 3 years.

Could we get something like these designs in a movie. I really hope so. With a bit of refinement they would be perfect.

Where in Virginia is this? Wherever it is, I'll be there in 2 seconds.

Trikeboy wrote:Could we get something like these designs in a movie. I really hope so. With a bit of refinement they would be perfect.

How about something original?

God forbid the movie continue to use their aesthetic.

(Most G1 designs would not work without major changes and people would still complain then)

Delete this website somehow double posted my quote.

Deadput wrote:Delete this website

Eh, not the worst idea :p

Deadput wrote:

Trikeboy wrote:Could we get something like these designs in a movie. I really hope so. With a bit of refinement they would be perfect.

How about something original?

God forbid the movie continue to use their aesthetic.

(Most G1 designs would not work without major changes and people would still complain then)

If the movies had a good design aesthetic (not wanting G1) I wouldn't mind. Instead we have designs that look like a cutlery drawer stood up. And, I'm not saying make it G1, I meant the style of actually making the robots easily recognisable instead of a mess of parts. Combine the real world look with the Transformers Prime aesthetic and it would be perfect. The Autobots are fairly easy to recognize in the movies but the Decepticons are just a mess on the screen. Look at Dark of the Moon, when Optimus does that run taking down Decepticons, besides Optimus, who was on the screen? Shockwave of course, but who else?

To throw the bayverse a bone, I actually did like Megatron in The Last Knight. He actually had a good design instead of the millions of shards look that he had in previous movies. Also version 1 Optimus Prime was good, but version 2 is just ugly.

Trikeboy wrote:Could we get something like these designs in a movie. I really hope so. With a bit of refinement they would be perfect.

that looks very unrealistic looking looks more cartoon and comic book style than live action take picture generation one prime for cartoon movie put in with Megan fox that's what it looks like

Randomhero wrote:

SillyMcGilly wrote:Please please PLEASE be Cliffjumper.

After onslaught was announced and people started going nuts saying Bruticus is coming let's not start looking at cars and screaming who we want them to be this time. It just leads to more disappointment than anything.

Think people would have learned that mistake by now after first movie who did frenzy come out of barricade, scorponok popped out of blackout

fenrir72 wrote:I don't think the Chinese movie market will save this piece of cybertronian wasteport dropping! If TLK is any indication

Remember 90 percent of you fans wanted new director for transformers and bay not involved in any way so if 90 percent of you people don't like this solo movie that bay has no work with on this one who and will you fans blame if you don't like this solo movie that bay have no involvement in what so ever as I have been saying you don't like look of bots don't watch movie new director doesn't always mean movie will be better as also I have been saying for years new director for batman movie look batnippleson Robin costume .,


If you fans think who do not like live action movies now you never will like live action movies with new director that does not have bay involved so give up on cartoon looking bots that you want them to look more cartoon and comic book and carrot it or move on bots will never change to look more cartoon style that trikeboy wants you want cartoon comic book looking bots stick with watching cartoons and reading comics accept change move on.

Did fans want batman wear underwear over his costume when they watched Keaton batman movie some might but they accepted change for what it is and loved movie without batman wearing underwear over his costume can't accept transformers look more realistic what we have now in movies you never will learn accept new look of new bots move on from it you don't control how bots look people who work on movies do look at transformers fan art you see more realistic movie designs fan art than you do in transformers cartoon boring blocky mess live action lego movie that's one way describe g1 looking blocky bots in live action universe

We should jump on it just because it isn't Michael Bay? Why? That logic is flawed. If Uwe Boll was making the Bumblebee movie would we all be expected to rally round and expect something fantastic? He isn't Michael Bay, lets give him support.

So don't criticise anything, just accept whatever we get no matter how bad it is even though we have constructive criticism and discussion on how the movies could make for a much better narrative experience. Got it.

*sigh* Can we PLEASE just keep it about the fucking Bumblebee movie and NOT another discussion about the pros/cons of Michael Bay?

FFS ... I don't know why after ten years this still continues to plague new threads.

dragons wrote:

Trikeboy wrote:Could we get something like these designs in a movie. I really hope so. With a bit of refinement they would be perfect.

that looks very unrealistic looking looks more cartoon and comic book style than live action take picture generation one prime for cartoon movie put in with Megan fox that's what it looks like

Randomhero wrote:

SillyMcGilly wrote:Please please PLEASE be Cliffjumper.

After onslaught was announced and people started going nuts saying Bruticus is coming let's not start looking at cars and screaming who we want them to be this time. It just leads to more disappointment than anything.

Think people would have learned that mistake by now after first movie who did frenzy come out of barricade, scorponok popped out of blackout

fenrir72 wrote:I don't think the Chinese movie market will save this piece of cybertronian wasteport dropping! If TLK is any indication

Remember 90 percent of you fans wanted new director for transformers and bay not involved in any way so if 90 percent of you people don't like this solo movie that bay has no work with on this one who and will you fans blame if you don't like this solo movie that bay have no involvement in what so ever as I have been saying you don't like look of bots don't watch movie new director doesn't always mean movie will be better as also I have been saying for years new director for batman movie look batnippleson Robin costume .,


If you fans think who do not like live action movies now you never will like live action movies with new director that does not have bay involved so give up on cartoon looking bots that you want them to look more cartoon and comic book and carrot it or move on bots will never change to look more cartoon style that trikeboy wants you want cartoon comic book looking bots stick with watching cartoons and reading comics accept change move on.

Did fans want batman wear underwear over his costume when they watched Keaton batman movie some might but they accepted change for what it is and loved movie without batman wearing underwear over his costume can't accept transformers look more realistic what we have now in movies you never will learn accept new look of new bots move on from it you don't control how bots look people who work on movies do look at transformers fan art you see more realistic movie designs fan art than you do in transformers cartoon boring blocky mess live action lego movie that's one way describe g1 looking blocky bots in live action universe

Do we need to have a Seibertron-sponsored lesson in punctuation? Seriously, I'm no grammar nazi... but this took ten times longer than it should have to read, when you have to go back and read stuff again to understand it.

breacher wrote:
Do we need to have a Seibertron-sponsored lesson in punctuation? Seriously, I'm no grammar nazi... but this took ten times longer than it should have to read, when you have to go back and read stuff again to understand it.

Maybe English isn't his first language or he is a kid.

You didn't have to be rude about it.

We have a new interview retreading some old ground concerning producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and a fairly spoiler-filled interview with Collider on Transformers: The Last Knight - but focusing even more so on the Bumblebee movie which has started shooting just recently.

If The Last Knight spoilers are your bread and butter, head here to our spoiler thread to discuss the movie itself, and keep watching the clip. If you'd rather avoid them, however, we've transcribed di Bonaventura's thoughts on Bumblebee below, once more repeating the Iron Giant parallels, and the 1985 setting and feel for the upcoming movie!

Check out what Lorenzo di Bonaventura had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis and a few images.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura:

How technology has advanced since the first film where the robots now look like they’ve gone from the Atari 2600 to a PlayStation 4
What 3D IMAX brings to the experience.
What was the most challenging part of making the film?
The film ends with [spoiler]. Where did the idea come from?
How much do they know about where the next film will go?
What can he say about the Bumblebee movie?

“The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots, and to go back to 1985 and to go back to the original heritage, if you would, of the Transformers, G1.”

[...]

“So it has a very distinct idea in it, and whatever is going to happen with the chemistry is what’s going to happen. But it really is a young female lead [Hailee Steinfeld] opposite of Bumblebee, and I think that Optimus is going to be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”

“There are less Transformers, dramatically less… We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael [Bay], you’re going to lose. Also, the audience wants something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. So they’re going to get a very emotional, complex story. A very tight story, in terms of its location, in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of The Iron Giant when I did that movie at Warner Brothers. It just reminds me a little bit of that, where that it feels contained, but it doesn’t feel small.”

Va'al wrote:We have a new interview retreading some old ground concerning producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and a fairly spoiler-filled interview with Collider on Transformers: The Last Knight - but focusing even more so on the Bumblebee movie which has started shooting just recently.

If The Last Knight spoilers are your bread and butter, head here to our spoiler thread to discuss the movie itself, and keep watching the clip. If you'd rather avoid them, however, we've transcribed di Bonaventura's thoughts on Bumblebee below, once more repeating the Iron Giant parallels, and the 1985 setting and feel for the upcoming movie!

Check out what Lorenzo di Bonaventura had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis and a few images.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura:

How technology has advanced since the first film where the robots now look like they’ve gone from the Atari 2600 to a PlayStation 4
What 3D IMAX brings to the experience.
What was the most challenging part of making the film?
The film ends with [spoiler]. Where did the idea come from?
How much do they know about where the next film will go?
What can he say about the Bumblebee movie?

“The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots, and to go back to 1985 and to go back to the original heritage, if you would, of the Transformers, G1.”

[...]

“So it has a very distinct idea in it, and whatever is going to happen with the chemistry is what’s going to happen. But it really is a young female lead [Hailee Steinfeld] opposite of Bumblebee, and I think that Optimus is going to be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”

“There are less Transformers, dramatically less… We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael [Bay], you’re going to lose. Also, the audience wants something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. So they’re going to get a very emotional, complex story. A very tight story, in terms of its location, in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of The Iron Giant when I did that movie at Warner Brothers. It just reminds me a little bit of that, where that it feels contained, but it doesn’t feel small.”

Should be interesting where this goes but if by some chance bumblebee does transform into volkswagon his size in bot mode would have to be altered little bit bee was normally Cameros which are big medium size cars and volkswagon are half size of cameros bumblebee tranform into volkswagon would be size of arcee or skids and mudflap we would have more bots if bay was still director but fans wanted new director told you so it came back get you with answer you wouldn't like bat nipples on batman costume in batman sequel with director for those sequels, we have new director we get less bots,.

I will hold out judgement until I see trailer like to see decpeticon in this movie instead fighting humans

dragons wrote:
Should be interesting where this goes but if by some chance bumblebee does transform into volkswagon his size in bot mode would have to be altered little bit bee was normally Cameros which are big medium size cars and volkswagon are half size of cameros bumblebee tranform into volkswagon would be size of arcee or skids and mudflap we would have more bots if bay was still director but fans wanted new director told you so it came back get you with answer you wouldn't like bat nipples on batman costume in batman sequel with director for those sequels, we have new director we get less bots,.

I will hold out judgement until I see trailer like to see decpeticon in this movie instead fighting humans

How about something like this?

So far, the only casting news we had of the Bumblebee spinoff film was Hailee Steinfeld as the female lead. Well now we know the male lead as well and it will be Jorge Lendeborg Jr. You can currently see this young actor in Spider-Man Homecoming as Jason. 2018 is a pretty busy year for him where you will also find him in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Alita: Battle Angel. This news broke through the Hollywood Reporter.

Deadput wrote:

breacher wrote:
Do we need to have a Seibertron-sponsored lesson in punctuation? Seriously, I'm no grammar nazi... but this took ten times longer than it should have to read, when you have to go back and read stuff again to understand it.

e
Maybe English isn't his first language or he is a kid.

Neither of those are valid reasons to have poor grammar.

As for the new announcement, I see it as a negative. The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Transformers is still an extremely profitable franchise, even if TLK bombed -- it's still set to have a few more movies confirmed in its future. I wouldn't say the franchise is terribly in danger, just that its not-quite-as-good-earnings from TLK forces it to think about new things to do to attract the numbers it had before.

And with all that in mind... I love that they got in a lesser-known actor. Give 'em more attention and let 'em fill out their CV more; I love seeing more emerging talent on the scene. Especially if as the press releases say this is supposed to be much more emotionally and character-driven than the previous 5 movies. Gives the actors a lot more to work with.



Also it's not an excuse, but being younger/not having English as your first language/having learning disabilities etc. is a good reason to go easier on someone for not having top-notch grammar. Just on principle though; not necessarily referring to the exact example seen here.

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

No.

“There are less Transformers, dramatically less… We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker.

The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Or like the last movie, "Cade Yeager and the Space Knights".

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Or like the last movie, "Cade Yeager and the Space Knights".

AoE; Cade Yeager And The Evil Machinations Of The Goverment Plus Some Alien Gun Head Dude

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Or like the last movie, "Cade Yeager and the Space Knights".

AoE; Cade Yeager And The Evil Machinations Of The Goverment Plus Some Alien Gun Head Dude

I personally think AOE had a lot fo Robot presence with Optimus being Co lead. he finally makes shit happen by taking the fight to the humans, and then saving the day at the end and even killing lockdown in the final showdown (after 2 earlier tussels where they are both center stage).

I personally would call that one AOE: Dont Fuck with Optimus Prime

But yes, TLK: Cade yeager and the Space Knights is totally apt.

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Wasnt the last Knight human focused? We had not 1 but 2 chosen ones and they were both humans.

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Wasnt the last Knight human focused? We had not 1 but 2 chosen ones and they were both humans.

Twas facetiousness, I believe.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Wasnt the last Knight human focused? We had not 1 but 2 chosen ones and they were both humans.

Twas facetiousness, I believe.

Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

Alpha Dominus wrote:Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

The sad part is it isn't. The toyline is no longer the main source of revenue for the Transformers brand (revenue, not profit since we dont have the numbers for that). The Films doesnt exist for the purpose of selling a toyline, the toys are now just merchandise like toys for any other movie, like a minion fart gun. Some just happen to still transform and keep the tradition, which is great. But a movie or other media wont necesarily mean more toys. Look at the Gi joe films.

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

The sad part is it isn't. The toyline is no longer the main source of revenue for the Transformers brand (revenue, not profit since we dont have the numbers for that). The Films doesnt exist for the purpose of selling a toyline, the toys are now just merchandise like toys for any other movie, like a minion fart gun. Some just happen to still transform and keep the tradition, which is great. But a movie or other media wont necesarily mean more toys. Look at the Gi joe films.

Pretty much. Due to this, the movies are ironically the mainstream Transformers media with the most creative freedom -- it's not tied up by needing to advertise toys; they don't answer to Hasbro, Hasbro answers to them. They can do whatever they want as long as there's a fair number of Transformers in there. They don't need to show Optimus Prime's sweet new action feature or his awesome new upgrade... they just need to show Optimus Prime.