Michael Bay Talks More Transformers 2, Including a "Geriatric Robot"

Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

Im betting Kup

Liege Evilmus wrote:Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

Or bullshit to stir the fanboys up.

Cue Trunks and SoooooooTrypticon.

I'll go with Alpha Trion. Possibilities:

1. Flashback - Probably Prime, maybe someone else. Some sort of memory about how Prime was chosen to lead/informed of some enigmatic threat/cryptically told of some secret weapon/knowledge

2. Quest - Autobots are looking for something (Matrix?) with which to combat Galvatron/resurrected Megatron/Unicron/other threat and find a cave/facility/vault on Earth/Cybertron where they encounter the aging guardian (a la Indy and the Last Crusade) OR Alpha Trion is the old sage that guides them on the quest

3. Rescue - Decepticons are holding him as bait for a trap/extracting information to further their plans and the Autobots must save him.

Yeah, most of those have been done before and whatever. Given the fairly basic story of TF 1, I went with some familiar, well liked ideas.

Im going with Trion on this one. Or Vector Prime cause he's probably better known to younger generations.


Someone who will be able to "solve the mystery of the cube" im guessing.

You guys jumped the gun on my round 2 balck horse pick

I say Brakedown/Breakdown, since Hasbro owns the trademark on that name and the younger audience will remember his character from TF: Cybertron.

Vector Prime would just confuse the average movie go-er since it's another Prime.

Kup's name is probably no longer reserved for Hasbro, unless they pull out the 'ol "Autobot Kup" trick again.

Alpha Trion is probably too complex a character to do in this movie series, someone like him has alot of backstory, which the films seem to lack.

I'd dig Brakedown in the movie series, you could do something really cool with his design in the movie style, if you wanted to do a similar looking robot...

Like the thinking Skowl.

Sorry Burn, I had trouble following what you meant?

Dear Michael Bay,

Please show the robots for more than 20 minutes of the two hour movie. Keep the F$^*ing camera still so we can see the robots, which is why we came to the movie.

wasn't Ironhide old? And maybe Ratchet to a lesser extent?

Liege Evilmus wrote:Taking all bets:

Vector Prime or Kup.

Vector Prime?

This ain't freakin Cybertron

Try Alpha Trion on for size

Skowl wrote:I say Brakedown/Breakdown, since Hasbro owns the trademark on that name and the younger audience will remember his character from TF: Cybertron.

I disagree. Remember, technically the Alternator Deadend should have been Breakdown, but no car company in their right mind will allow their cars to be used for a character with that name. I expect Alpha Trion or a completely new character.
[/quote]

Or he could just be a generic, unlicensed car... like a beat-up junkyard car, patched-together from old vehicle parts. Fits the name and the character, but no licensing needed!

Think Roadkill from Twisted Metal...

i_amtrunks wrote:Sorry Burn, I had trouble following what you meant?

Sure you did.

Well, I think eveybody might conclude this as a hint to the first new AUTOBOT character?

Kup or Alpha Trion

I might lean toward Alpha Trion on this one, he has a very good history and mystique to several good points that center around the transformers, and they did say "deeper" characters.

Burn wrote:Sure you did.

No, seriously it confused me, I know you were having a dig at me, but I'm not sure for which reason.

Hmm. This is interesting enough to be excited about, but just odd enough to be a red herring from Mr. Bay. Either way, the fire's lit again and I can't wait to see how the film develops.

All I can think of is Bay saying:

"Wouldn't it be cool if his muffler was like a colostomy bag?"

I don't care who the character is- because it will suck some how regardless.

But I digress. Remember that time when there was no movie- and the worst thing in TF-land either spoke in rhyme, or had the play value of a brick?

Look how high the TINO movie has set the bar. Ugly Toys. Terrible Movie. Moist Towelettes.

I hope it's Kup! He should land in a junkyard, and scan something like a '38 International pickup. And talk like Harvey Keitel. Then say " Kid, back in my day, we made Transformer movies where the humans only had three lines!"

Almost forgot, quote from the article:

...

After The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, Bay is tight with the Pentagon and thinks nothing of picking up the phone to get them to reroute a C130 gunship with Seals in it for a few hours. "We pay for the fuel," he says. "The military looks at this as a recruiting effort. The jargon is real. I told them what was happening, and that's what they said. I shot it like a documentary."

...

Get 'em while they're young and dumb.

Maybe he thinks he's making the GI Joe movie?

Anyhow, just another notch in the "reasons to dislike the man and his work" stick.

I wonder how Parents, Hasbro, and artists woking on his film feel about that comment?

Do you want your kid's toys acting as commercials for the army?

Me, I never played with GI Joes. And Megatron was an EVIL gun/tank.

Three cheers for Kup! F' Alpha Trion

Please let it be KUP!!! Please!

If he's a grizzled, older warrior alongside the others, Kup makes sense.

If he's more a mentor or source of ancient knowledge, Alpha Trion.

Either way, the new character will be a poorly fleshed-out archetype who bears some kind of name borrowed from TF lore, not an updated version of a recognizable character. Such is life. Kinda happy to see what either character will be like, though, since neither originally had an Earth mode.

im shooting for Kupp

If it isnt Kup or Alpha Trion why bother.

Could be Vector Prime

Hopefully it's Kup... the modern TF scene needs more Kup.

Petrorabbits!

Please be Kup, please be Kup, please be Kup

If it's Kup, then there will be an attack of petrorabbits alongside
Kup turning into some stupid music player, and playing "The Final Countdown".

As much as I really want Kup to be in it, (stories about PetroRabbits would be great) I cannot shake this image in my head of Bay saying:

"Kids don't want to play with a guy named after something you drink from. Lets take his personality but change his name to [insert random cool word here]"

On the other hand I can see him making Wreck-Gar as an old robot made of mostly junk.

If it is Kup I hope they don't bring in Rodimus Prime and spoof the original 86 movie.

Sideshow Sideswipe wrote:Dear Michael Bay,

Please show the robots for more than 20 minutes of the two hour movie. Keep the F$^*ing camera still so we can see the robots, which is why we came to the movie.

While I agree with this sentiment, I have to point out that this was actually a very clever move by Bay to have giant robot action while keeping costs down. Remember, he only had a $150 mill budget (I can't believe I just said "ONLY $150 mill"). Still shots and sustained time would probably have cost a ton more out of the budget. Now, with a successful movie under his belt and a likely significant budget increase, we can see more of those still shots and more robots. The way the movie ended was set up for a moderately successful movie as well as a blockbuster movie; if it had done moderately well, they would have found out in the second movie they were the only Transformers left and we wouldn't see many more bots at all. In the case of it being a blockbuster, Cybertronians would begin converging on Earth- as they obviously are doing now in what we've heard- as they would have a bigger budget to spend so they could throw more bots at us.
Also a post movie study found that the movie-goers identified with the vehicles/robots more than they did the humans, which is the way it should be. By writing minimally invasive and shallow human characters they really (and maybe inadvertently) diverted the attention away from the humans (excecpt for Meghan Fox's gorgeous abs....yowza!), resulting in moviegoers being more attached to the bots than the humans. Whether they did this on purpose is up for debate....

Funny how everyone is assuming the "geriatric robot" is an Autobot... nothing says it isn't a Decepticon - though the chances are slim, it's still a possibility.

Wheeljack35 wrote:Vector Prime?

This ain't freakin Cybertron

Try Alpha Trion on for size

The problem I have here is that the way I understood Cybertron's Vector Prime is that he was a character that can exist anywhere in the Transformers multiverse. Wouldn't that include the movieverse?

Skowl wrote:Funny how everyone is assuming the "geriatric robot" is an Autobot... nothing says it isn't a Decepticon - though the chances are slim, it's still a possibility.

Not that I actually seeing it actually happening (like Skowl said the chances of it are slim), but realistically this is a very good point.

Right now I'm just happy we're talking sequel at all. (Thanks, writer's union, for ending the strike.)

What the blazes does "Geriatric" mean?

You can try Merriam-Webster.com or Dictionary.com if you're ever stuck:

Merriam-Webster.com wrote:Main Entry: ge·ri·at·ric
Function: noun
Date: 1909
1plural but sing in constr : a branch of medicine that deals with the problems and diseases of old age and aging people — compare gerontology
2: an aged person

Pronunciation omitted.

I'm guessing that it's Alpha Trion.

Sideshow Sideswipe wrote:Dear Michael Bay,

Please show the robots for more than 20 minutes of the two hour movie. Keep the F$^*ing camera still so we can see the robots, which is why we came to the movie.

Wow. You mean to tell me that you couldnt see the robots when they where fighting or on screen? UHHHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOK. Well when you fight things move really fast sometimes and thats what we call physics. I saw every single move and hit etc. More robot screen time = more money. And with the "PRODUCT PLACEMENT" thats so many people complained about (which i find as no problem for companys to put there products in movies) They paid for there name brand in the film which means more money which means more robots and more screen time in part 2. BAY, keep doing what your doing. You RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShGarland_1383 wrote:

Wheeljack35 wrote:Vector Prime?

This ain't freakin Cybertron

Try Alpha Trion on for size

The problem I have here is that the way I understood Cybertron's Vector Prime is that he was a character that can exist anywhere in the Transformers multiverse. Wouldn't that include the movieverse?

That's true. Vector Prime would make sense from a familiarity standpoint to for the masses- not necessarily us geeks. We KNOW who Alpha Trion is but if you ask some of the younger TF fans they probably wouldn't know Alpha Trion from a manhole cover. But...Vector Prime is familiar with a lot of the target demographics thanks to TF: Cybertron.

Here's another option I don't think anyone has voiced: Primus! Why the heck not?

I hope they include more Starscream. Also wish they have Soundwave and a Boeing 747 as they conceived for originally.

Fender Bender wrote:

Skowl wrote:I say Brakedown/Breakdown, since Hasbro owns the trademark on that name and the younger audience will remember his character from TF: Cybertron.

I disagree. Remember, technically the Alternator Deadend should have been Breakdown, but no car company in their right mind will allow their cars to be used for a character with that name. I expect Alpha Trion or a completely new character.

Or he could just be a generic, unlicensed car... like a beat-up junkyard car, patched-together from old vehicle parts. Fits the name and the character, but no licensing needed!

Think Roadkill from Twisted Metal...[/quote]

How about an Oldsmobile?

If they go ahead with this idea, I so see a false teeth joke coming

Skowl wrote:Transformers Movie director Michael was present, alongside other creators who worked on the film, during a VFX Technology presentation on the Sony Movie lot. Michael Bay spoke about the upcoming Transformers Movie sequel, and how the film was prepared in case of a prolonged writers strike (which will now no longer be a cause of delay for the film, as the strike ended last night).

Of note is Bay making mention of the writers returning, and a story that will see deeper robot characters as well as a "geriatric robot"

Read about the event on Variety editor Anne Thompson's detailed blog post by clicking here.

I heard this news about 2 weeks ago but I didnt believe it because the person that told me could not give me a source.

Guess he was right.

This kinda reminds me of Spotlight: Kup. Though I suppsoe he technically had slipped into psychosis and dementia as opposed to being geriatric.

it sounds like Kup, true...but my money is it still being an all new TF, made for the movie.

Vector Prime is way too complicated to put in TF2. Besides, this ain't Transformers Cybertron, so Vector would be ruled out.

I'm betting on Kup or Alpha Trion. However, Alpha is not too major as a character, so probably Kup.

Anyhow, isn't Ironhide old enough?

Powerdasher wrote:Vector Prime is way too complicated to put in TF2. Besides, this ain't Transformers Cybertron, so Vector would be ruled out.

I'm betting on Kup or Alpha Trion. However, Alpha is not too major as a character, so probably Kup.

Anyhow, isn't Ironhide old enough?

Not to sound argumentative but this isint G1 Transformers ether so I dont see how Vector Prime being a TF Cybertron character rules him out.

And being a complicated character wouldnt be much of an obstacle for Bay and his writters since they didnt write any "character" into the bots and cons of the first film.

That being said I would hate it if they chose Vector.I was not a fan of Cybertron and I think theres loads of other characters that are more deserving.

How 'bout animated Ratchet, or a similar, reimagined character eh?

Newtilator wrote:How 'bout animated Ratchet, or a similar, reimagined character eh?

Again I'm not trying to be rude but why in hells name would they bring "animated Ratchet" into the movie universe when they already have a Ratchet in the story????

What would be the sense of including a 2nd Ratchet into the same story????

As for a "similar, re-imagined character"?????Any number of characters could be re-written as an older one, Prowl,Wheeljack ext....but would the fans except it???

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Newtilator wrote:How 'bout animated Ratchet, or a similar, reimagined character eh?

Again I'm not trying to be rude but why in hells name would they bring "animated Ratchet" into the movie universe when they already have a Ratchet in the story????

What would be the sense of including a 2nd Ratchet into the same story????

As for a "similar, re-imagined character"?????Any number of characters could be re-written as an older one, Prowl,Wheeljack
ext....but would the fans except it???

Oops, my bad. No need to be angry mind. But since when has Bay cared about what the fans think?

Newtilator wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Newtilator wrote:How 'bout animated Ratchet, or a similar, reimagined character eh?

Again I'm not trying to be rude but why in hells name would they bring "animated Ratchet" into the movie universe when they already have a Ratchet in the story????

What would be the sense of including a 2nd Ratchet into the same story????

As for a "similar, re-imagined character"?????Any number of characters could be re-written as an older one, Prowl,Wheeljack
ext....but would the fans except it???

Oops, my bad. No need to be angry mind. But since when has Bay cared about what the fans think?

I'm not angry and you have a point about Bay.