Michigan movie 'Transformers: The Last Knight' boasts $34 million economic impact

Deadput wrote:

william-james88 wrote:We never do see Optimus Transform into his alt mode though. Kinda crazy how he is the one bot you dont see transforming in this film. Its usually a big deal when that happens.

Yeah that now that I think about it was also a (minor) nitpick but I understand why he did not considering his location in this movie not really giving him a decent place to drive.

Well,he was in alt-mode briefly, but his transformation was behind the smoke.

Transformers 5 Disappoints with Lowest Opening Day in Franchise History
http://movieweb.com/transformers-last-knight-opening-day-box-office/

Could this be the final straw for Bayformers?

WreckerJack wrote:Mlive.com has written an article on how the filming of The Last Knight has helped the local economy in Michigan. Some of the scenes were filmed at the old Paccard Plant in Detroit and the now abandoned Pontiac Silverdome (The former stadium of the Detroit Lions). Filming in these locations has brought revenue in the form of rentals, transportation, custom props, catering and other supplies sold in Michigan.

One of the only good things to come out of these movies. This is wonderful news

While the hype is hypin and the reviews keep comin, we also have some numbers to report on Transformers: The Last Knight. According to a number of sources, including Variety and Deadline, the fifth movie had a rough first day. The film reported the lowest opening day income in the whole franchise so far: a $15.65M first day for Transformers: The Last Knight inclusive of Tuesday night’s $5.5M previews.

However, this has yet to consider the international market - with the weekend seeing the release in China and Hong Kong, among other audiences - and the expected significant impact it should have on the reception overall, as reported previously. For more information, check out the snippets below, and follow through to the articles to join our discussion in the Energon Pub!

Its opening-day number is also below that of any other movie in the modern franchise. The 2007 original grossed $36.6 million when it opened on a Tuesday. 2009’s “Revenge of the Fallen” earned $62 million on a Wednesday, and 2011’s “Dark of the Moon” — also launched on a Wednesday — brought in $37.7 million. “Age of Extinction,” the most recent installment before “Last Knight” opened on a Friday to $41.9 million.

Males repped 57% of Last Knight‘s Wednesday crowd to 43% females. Those under 18 at 29% love the movie with an A CinemaScore. If only more of them showed up. The 18-24 age group were even more tolerant of the Michael Bay title giving it an A-, along with the under 25 set who repped 49% of the crowd. Twenty-two percent bought tickets to Last Knight because of Mark Wahlberg, while 53% came out because it’s a Transformers movie.

Via the official Transformers Facebook page, we have what is probably the last version of a trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight, soon to see worldwide release outside of the US! Clocking in at one minute, and featuring the Torches track, by X Ambassadors - as we previously discussed here and covered by Chinese artist Zhang Jie here. We've embedded the clip below for your viewing, enojoy!

Check out “Torches” by X Ambassadors in #Transformers: The Last Knight, NOW PLAYING in theatres, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D.

It was better than the last one...transformers actually transform not melt into goop. does it have plotholes absolutely...it is a Michael bay movie...the plot of the movie is defined by plothole...but it is fun.

Sounds like you had a blast, Ryan! Musta been a hell of an experience!

Via ComicBook.com we have an interview with Transformers: The Last Knight cast member Mark Wahlberg, who returns from Age of Extinction as Cade Yaeger, discussing the role that director Michael Bay has created for himself within the franchise - and he does not expect him to leave as he has said a number of times already.

The point he makes though, is probably also tied to the amounts of money made at the box office for Paramount, which may not be the case with this fifth movie, as reported here. Check the relevant point below, and the whole piece here!

While he might be a bit fried at the moment, Wahlberg thinks after some time has passed, Bay won't be so willing to let go.

"So he'll decide that and I would be hard pressed to see him walk away and put it in somebody else's control and care. I mean, that's just the Michael that I know, but you never know, sometimes people decide to move on, so we'll see what happens."

The franchise has been heavily criticized at times, but still manages to bring in signifgant box office receipts. How The Last Knight fares at the box office will likely have some impact on Bay's ultimate decision.

Seibertron wrote:Thanks to our friends at Paramount, Seibertron.com was allowed press access to the US Premiere of the Transformers The Last Knight. The red carpet event took place alongside the Chicago Riverfront alongside the famed Civic Opera House in downtown Chicago, IL. My wife and I were there alongside the rest of the press covering the event. We had two cameras and a couple of cell phones to help us provide as much exclusive content for Seibertron.com as we possibly could. One of our cameras was setup for video and the other for photos. For now, we just have the photos posted of the event and are currently editing the video footage to share with all of you later.


Civic Opera House Building in Chicago, IL


Our press badge


Tickets to the US premiere screening and to the Post Party


Ryan Yzquierdo on the red carpet between MTV Snapchat and Univision's Hoy. We are in front of the Barricade blow-up car.




Hasbro's Transformers Brand Team


Producer Tom DeSanto talking to Seibertron.com


Producer Don Murphy (center) and Executive Producer Mark Vahradian (far left)


Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively)


Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura


Remi Adeleke (TRF Lieutenant)


Sir Anthony Hopkins signing autographs for fans, alongside Seibertron.com's Ryan Yzquierdo


Sir Anthony Hopkins talking to Seibertron.com's Ryan Yzquierdo


Jerrod Carmichael (Jimmy) talking to Seibertron.com


Santiago_Cabrera (Santos from TRF) talking to Seibertron.com


Juliocesar Chavez gives Seibertron.com 2 thumbs up!


Laura Haddock (Vivian) and Josh Duhamel (Lennox) having fun with fans on the red carpet!


Josh Duhamel (Lennox) talking to Hoy Univision


Isabela Moner (Izabella) strikes a pose for Seibertron.com


Laura Haddock (Vivian) talking to other press.


The stars gathered at the end of the red carpet


Director Michael Bay talks to Seibertron.com for a moment!


Mark Wahlberg (Cade Yaeger) talks to Hoy, checking out Seibertron.com!


Ryan and Lori Yzquierdo inside the Civic Opera House


The cast of Transformers The Last Knight prior to the screening


Ryan Yzquierdo with Producer Tom DeSanto at the Last Knight's after party event. He and I had a great conversation and he completely won me over after he talked to me about Professor X, Magneto, Optimus, Megatron, being a fan in the 80s, the Marvel TF comics, and so on. Even got to talk to him about Jon Bailey's amazing Optimus Prime voice! Tom completely convinced me that he truly is a fan of these properties after talking X-Men and Transformers with me for about 10 minutes.


Ryan Yzquierdo with Ben Montano and John Warden from Hasbro's Transformers Brand Team.

The US Premiere was an absolutely amazing experience, especially for a long time Transformers fan like myself. It was very cool that Paramount let Seibertron.com onto the red carpet alongside regular press such as WGN, ABC, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, MTV and Univision (to name a few). I wasn't quite prepared to be given access to all of the stars like that, nor had I been on the red carpet of a movie premiere before. It was a massive learning experience and we were figuring things out on the fly!

We got to have some brief one-on-one time with Michael Bay, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Jerrod Carmichael, Isabela Moner, Santiago Cabrera, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Remi Adeleke, Juliocesar Chavez, and Tom DeSanto. Unfortunately, due to time constraints at the rushed end of the event, we didn't get to talk to Mark Wahlberg or Laura Haddock but we still managed to get some great pics to share with all of you! All of the stars were very nice and happy to talk to everyone. I was very surprised that they had all of the stars talk to any of the press that wanted to talk to them. I figured we would only be allowed to speak to select stars and didn't think that I'd be getting to shake hands with the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins!

After the screening of the film, which most of the press did not attend, we headed over to the after party at the Prysm Nightclub. We arrived a little late to the party, which was in full swing, due to seeing the movie. I think Josh Duhamel was one of the few stars that stayed for the film, who was saw briefly the film's showing prior to us leaving for the after party. We only saw Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Michael Bay, Juliocesar Chavez, Isabela Moner, and the Hasbro Transformers Brand Team at the event though there seemed to be a lot of "big wigs", or something to that effect, along with other Hollywood like people in the packed nightclub, which was closed to the public for the private event (though the club is actually closed on Tuesdays anyway, which I'm assuming is part of the reason why they would choose this club for the evenet). I'm also assuming that a lot of the people that were at the after party were a lot of the "behind-the-scenes" folks that do not get enough recognition for their hard work on these films, such as the writers, artists, costume people, prop people, set designers, etc. It was a lot of fun and the party wrapped up around 2:30am.

I'll share some more thoughts in the topic on our forums. We are still working on putting together a video to share with all of you from our footage of the event.

Thank you again to Paramount for this amazing opportunity. We had a spectacular time! It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime day-to-remember event.

I hope all of you enjoy these pictures!

I hope you realize, Ryan, that this compromises any objectivity this site has in regards to the movies and your opinions of them

Why does everyone say tlk is the last movie

philswitch engage wrote:
I hope you realize, Ryan, that this compromises any objectivity this site has in regards to the movies and your opinions of them

I fail to see how, especially when our site and staff is made up of different people who share different views. If you want to see how different we all are, here is the site's review:

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ise/38634/

Plus, our enjoyment of films are dictated by our tastes, there is no such thing as objectivity, its all subjective to what we like. Heaven's Gate is said to be "objectively good" from a Director of Photography's point of view but I think it sucks balls. We are all being subjective.

Bumblebee21 wrote:Why does everyone say tlk is the last movie

That was said in some marketing material, such as the trailers.

Because the site owner got wined and dined by paramount.

philswitch engage wrote:Because the site owner got wined and dined by paramount.

so what? he can still think the movie sucks, listen to the upcoming podcast to find out Plus, we are a whole team, not just one guy, read out review to find out if we are biased.

Well there IS such a thing as objectivity, but yes, enjoyment and taste is incredibly subjective.

Also, some of us want to be respectful about disliking the live action films - They have their good points and bad points. I can see their flaws which I sometimes do point out, however I know there are people who like them and with every new movie there are new fans. Imagine you are new to the franchise and you are so exited because "OMG giant robots and cool CGI" and everyone is talking down about the flick that got you here.

If anything seeing the good and the bad is seeing things objectively. To dismiss the bay flicks entirely because of their flaws would be unfair. There are some benefits to these films if you try to keep an open mind:

Great CGI and animation
Action and explosions
Movies bring in new fans
Movies bring old fans back to the community
Movies make money for the franchise (Without the movieverse to fund TFP it would have never happened)
A chance to take your friends to the theater
Cool movie toys
Cool movie merch

I will be the first to say that the live action films have confusing plots and lack substance at times. I wish that more care were taken to represent the characters we know and love. Things could be a lot better. There is nothing wrong with someone voicing their opinions in a way that is polite and constructive regarding these flaws, I am open to that. Maybe if people did that the fans would be heard and we would get flicks that had more story. Until then I am going to enjoy the action and my popcorn.

Point blank... the movie is trash, the worst of them all and that's fact. We don't need to TRY and make sense of this or because we are hardcore fans and trying to salvage something good from this movie. Garbage! and im not talking planet junk

philswitch engage wrote:I hope you realize, Ryan, that this compromises any objectivity this site has in regards to the movies and your opinions of them

LOL! Nah, it doesn't change my opinion at all, nor does it compromise my opinion (nor has anything else that I've been treated to over the past 17 years of running Seibertron.com). At the end of the day, The Last Knight is another installment in the Michael Bay franchise. It still retains most of the same pros and cons that the previous 4 films had so if you're expecting anything radically different, you're probably going to be really disappointed.

Here're my quick thoughts of The Last Knight:

Pros: I liked that the story seemed much more coherent than previous films. It was a much more linear story line that was easier to follow that the films that intertwined multiple stories into one. The special effects looked amazing. I was thrilled at how much screen time the Transformers had. I liked that most of the transformations didn't cheat by happening off screen or behind something. I thought the acting was fairly decent minus a few moments. The absence of sexual humor minus a couple of scenes that I thought were rather funny and would be over my 8 year old daughter's understanding ...

Will write more later ...

You got to meet Anthony Hopkins. I'm feeling slight twangs of jealousy right now.

Hey guys, I've been staying off the web for the most part to keep away from spoilers for TLK, but I saw this and figured you might want to see it!

Those under 18 at 29% love the movie with an A CinemaScore. If only more of them showed up.

LoL, how dare people not like it more

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:Hey guys, I've been staying off the web for the most part to keep away from spoilers for TLK, but I saw this and figured you might want to see it!

https://youtu.be/vef62MzS6as

The spoiler thread is here my friend - spoiler-thread-for-transformers-the-last-knight-review-with-spoilers-added-6-20--t109402.php

WreckerJack wrote:

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:Hey guys, I've been staying off the web for the most part to keep away from spoilers for TLK, but I saw this and figured you might want to see it!

https://youtu.be/vef62MzS6as

The spoiler thread is here my friend - spoiler-thread-for-transformers-the-last-knight-review-with-spoilers-added-6-20--t109402.php

Oh, it's not spoilers, its a video of the Man at Arms people forging Prime's sword from AOE/TLK

WreckerJack wrote:Mlive.com has written an article on how the filming of The Last Knight has helped the local economy in Michigan. Some of the scenes were filmed at the old Paccard Plant in Detroit and the now abandoned Pontiac Silverdome (The former stadium of the Detroit Lions). Filming in these locations has brought revenue in the form of rentals, transportation, custom props, catering and other supplies sold in Michigan.

It's Packard, not Paccard

And the Silverdome was also the former home of the Pistons not just the Lions.</nitpick>

The guys at Man at Arms have posted an awesome video (see below) about how they hand crafted a replica of Optimus' sword from The Last Knight. The metalworkers in the video show us every step in the making of the sword from drawing it up on the computer, forging the blade, welding all the details on and constructing the sword to the handle itself. Even the blade itself is highly detailed with Cybertronian writing. If you are interested in metal design or just like swords it is a must watch. These men are dedicated to their craft and it shows!

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:

WreckerJack wrote:

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:Hey guys, I've been staying off the web for the most part to keep away from spoilers for TLK, but I saw this and figured you might want to see it!

https://youtu.be/vef62MzS6as

The spoiler thread is here my friend - spoiler-thread-for-transformers-the-last-knight-review-with-spoilers-added-6-20--t109402.php

Oh, it's not spoilers, its a video of the Man at Arms people forging Prime's sword from AOE/TLK

Ironically I just found that on youtube and newsed it. I didn't click your link because I didn't wish to be too spoiled. Great minds think alike

Seibertron wrote:

philswitch engage wrote:I hope you realize, Ryan, that this compromises any objectivity this site has in regards to the movies and your opinions of them

LOL! Nah, it doesn't change my opinion at all, nor does it compromise my opinion (nor has anything else that I've been treated to over the past 17 years of running Seibertron.com). At the end of the day, The Last Knight is another installment in the Michael Bay franchise. It still retains most of the same pros and cons that the previous 4 films had so if you're expecting anything radically different, you're probably going to be really disappointed.

Here're my quick thoughts of The Last Knight:

Pros: I liked that the story seemed much more coherent than previous films. It was a much more linear story line that was easier to follow that the films that intertwined multiple stories into one. The special effects looked amazing. I was thrilled at how much screen time the Transformers had. I liked that most of the transformations didn't cheat by happening off screen or behind something. I thought the acting was fairly decent minus a few moments. The absence of sexual humor minus a couple of scenes that I thought were rather funny and would be over my 8 year old daughter's understanding ...

Will write more later ...

And here's the later part. Trying to do work stuff today amidst getting ready to take my whole family and some friends to go see it again tonight, which will be my 3rd time. This time around, we'll be seeing it in 2D, which brings me to my cons.

Pros (continued): The musical score is fantastic, yet again. I have absolutely loved Steve Jablonsky's scores from all 5 movies. Due to his contributions, I have really gotten into movie scores, but absolutely love his work on Transformers. Very talented. Very appropriate music. It's right up my alley for mood setting in a film, and I don't think his scores have garnered enough appreciation. I liked that Bumblebee was (more-or-less) back to his old look, I liked Quintessa, I actually really liked the big "reveal" of the film, I loved Anthony Hopkins (one of my favorite actors) in this film (despite some of my cons with him regarding the script). I really liked Cogman, which I did a complete 180 on since he was initially revealed (if only all of the Transformers were handled in this manner with as much screentime). I liked Megatron and I even liked the "new" Decepticons for the most part. Hound continues to kick ass and be a personal favorite of mine, though I still wish he had been called Bulkhead. I was really impressed with Izabella and Jerrod Carmichael's characters. Carmichael was much better than TJ Miller (who I actually really like in other media such as HBO's Silicon Valley, but didn't care for in AOE). I liked all of the nods to the previous films (though a bit frustrated at some of the retconning). I loved seeing John Turtorro back, though I think the movie could have been rewritten to eliminate his role altogether. I still enjoyed his scenes and liked seeing him with Topspin (small spoiler, sorry!). I also really liked King Arthur and Merlin, and had no idea that Stanley Tucci from AOE played Merlin ... he's a great actor, despite the 2nd half of his performance in AOE (which has more to do with script or directing).

Cons: 3D, but that's not a problem with this movie in particular, just me with 3D in general. More on that below. Too many characters, particularly on the human side, but I'd even argue that there are too many Transformers fighting for screen time as well. Lack of characterization, outside of Cogman. Again, they don't seem to know what to do with the Decepticons, which is really unfortunate. I could do without all of the swearing. Sometimes, it's funny or really appropriate, but it seemed too much. Sir Anthony Hopkins (with an emphasis on the word Sir), probably doesn't go around saying "bitchin'" or the other swear words he said. It strikes me as really out of character for him and for the character he is playing. Not a fan of the Transformers swearing. For a awe-shocking moment, sure, such as Ultra Magnus saying "dammit" in 1986 movie and Bumblebee's one line during the junkyard scene (no spoiler please). The incomplete love story seems odd. I could totally do with an actual real love story happening inbetween the Transformers battles, but it seems more tacked on than anything. While the story was more comprehensive and linear, it still was just too much going on. Instead of real substance, we get more stuff happening to fill in the time. I don't get the purpose of the Transformers are always having been here and having influenced or been a part of so many historical moments. The non-stop action once they get off the submarine, was a bit much. I wish there had been something in there to break up the last third of the movie which was a non-stop onslaught of action, mostly good, but without any breaks to give your eyes and ears a rest.

Due to feelings of disorientation and that wearing the glasses disallows me to get fully sucked into a movie, I'm just not a fan of 3D. I'll never understand why they didn't do 3D screens instead of 3D glasses. There's got to be a reason that you do it with glasses instead, maybe it's a perspective thing or something, I don't know. But after forcing myself to try to enjoy the 3D experience ever since Avatar, I just can't do it anymore. I gave Michael Bay the benefit of the doubt after he assured us in person back in March in his office that the reason for the "uncomfortable" (my word, not his) feelings you get watching 3D is because it wasn't on IMAX or because the bulbs weren't right, or something along those lines. Since I was one of the lucky few who got to see the actual US premiere on an IMAX screen, I'm assuming that would be how they want us all to see it and I actually preferred the RealD 3D showing at the press screening, but I also had one of the best seats in the house (by sheer luck) because I was eye level with the middle of the screen, and we were in one of those awesome 21+ (you can drink a beer) fancy lazy boy electronic reclining seat experiences, which might be the next best thing to watching a movie at home (or it might even be better, depending on your objectives).

I'm sure I have more thoughts to share, both good and bad, but I've got to jet for now. As I said above, at the end of the day, it's another Michael Bay movie. I've seen more of his movies than any other director, love them or hate them. I like his style, I like his vision, it just seems like there's no one higher than him saying "hey man, you've got to rein this in a bit".

Sometimes, less is better. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it.

Where do I rank TLK with the others? I really liked DOTM, so it's more or less a toss up with that one, with the first movie being my favorite. For the time being, I'm ranking TLK as #2 behind the first, but it might be #3 once all of the hype has died down and I've had some real time to process all of this. So in order: #1 TF2007, #2 TLK, #3 DOTM, #4 ROTF, and #5 AOE (yet all of them had things I really liked and didn't like).

Compromised? I don't think so.

Hm ... should I have put my review in a different topic? I didn't mean it to turn into my review, but it seems like it started to happen that way.

Seibertron wrote:Hm ... should I have put my review in a different topic? I didn't mean it to turn into my review, but it seems like it started to happen that way.

Well, we do have the review thread, which include spoilers, even though your posts didn't:
spoiler-thread-for-transformers-the-last-knight-review-with-spoilers-added-6-20--t109402.php

And personally, I feel bad for you not being able to enjoy 3D, this TF film in particular looked amazing in that format.

Love that sword! I think i seen they'd done other pop culture weapons like my fave sword ever The Sword of Omens from the original ThunderCats. Again things I would buy if I won the lottery

Went to see TF:TLK last night.

Sigh. When will this garbage stop?

Given that this franchise is over thirty years old, has had a unified "bible" or continuum in place for some time and has a trove of interesting/diverse/appealing characters to choose from ...

WHY is this junk stil lurching into theatres? Like its predecessors, this movie is shallow, vapid, mindless and far beneath the kind of treatment it deserves.

The film suffers from the same issues as all the rest: a ridiculous premise, infantile dialogue, zero emotional weight and the under-utilization of all the elements listed above. Don't get me wrong - the explosions and over-the-top Bayhem is fine with me. But when it's not pinned to any kind of substantive story, the end result isn't dissimilar to throwing a bunch of sh*t against the wall and hoping something sticks.

We were told that the collaborative "writers room" would lend a new cohesion and/or gravitas to TF: TLK. The best I could say is that they managed to make this thing only slightly less off-putting than the third film.

In my opinion, the best iteration of TF ever was TF: Prime. This was the series I had been waiting for. It struck the perfect balance among all of the elements that make Transformers work: well-paced, cohesive stories; character development, a strong voice cast, amazing visuals and the proper mix of action, adventure and emotional pull. The humans were placed well, too. Story arcs made sense and wrapped up pretty neatly with only a few bumps. No surpise, then, that it was nominated and won several Emmys.

Just imagine the quality of TF: Prime attached to a Bay-sized budget. Think about what that might produce.

If handled properly, Transformers has the potential to reach Star Wars levels of mythic greatness. It's a tremendous vehicle for storytelling and action/adventure in spades.

When will Hasbro get this?

When will we get something better?

I will say this is the first time my eyes felt tired while watching a Transformers movie in theaters but I did wake up early that day with not much sleep (6 hours).

I also felt dizzy and felt like falling over after it was all over and had to stand but that happens with every movie I've watched in theaters for the past 3-4 years so nothing new there.

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

Hasbro gets it (or at least the Transformers brand team definitely does), or else we wouldn't have Transformers Prime, Transformers Animated, or other examples (though I might argue that some of the greatest Transformers stories of all time are stories where they had outside help such as the G1 cartoons and comics and Beast Wars, though not all of it, which bears some resemblance to how things were initially setup with Paramount). The movies and their stories are out of their hands if I understand everything correctly. I'm assuming that it's similar to Marvel with FOX. Hasbro handed over most of their rights for control of the Transformers films (if I'm wording this incorrectly, someone please advise immediately) over to Paramount and Michael Bay waaaay back in 2001/2002 when these deals were originally made.

But I assure you, Hasbro (or at least the brand team) gets it! Promise!!!

This is the manliest manly Transformers video EVER. It's WICKED.

Is someone gonna throw Money at Mike Cthulhu to make the Beast Hunters Prime meat cleaver Sword now then ?

77Prime84 wrote:
In my opinion, the best iteration of TF ever was TF: Prime. This was the series I had been waiting for. It struck the perfect balance among all of the elements that make Transformers work: well-paced, cohesive stories; character development, a strong voice cast, amazing visuals and the proper mix of action, adventure and emotional pull. The humans were placed well, too. Story arcs made sense and wrapped up pretty neatly with only a few bumps. No surpise, then, that it was nominated and won several Emmys.

Just imagine the quality of TF: Prime attached to a Bay-sized budget. Think about what that might produce.

Transformers Prime and good quality don't belong in the same sentence especially since behind the scenes was a giant disaster worse then any Bay film and it screwed up all of Hasbro's grand plans for the aligned continuity because the show developers refused to do what Hasbro asked of them.

The story was only relic hunts with relics that were mostly never used or spoken of again besides the season premiers and finales, there was no character development since either people forget all their progress (Arcee) or their killed off because the writers couldn't do squat with them (Breakdown, Dreadwing) and the show was hardly emotional especially since it hardly left the status quo and the stakes were never high even with Unicron involved.

The last good Transformers show was Animated actually it was the only decent Transformers show besides Beast Wars and Beast Machines everything else is entertaining but actually bad quality.

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

When will we get something better?

Never we won't because even once Bay leaves Hasbro is going to get someone else to do the exact same thing because that's how life and business work and there will never be a director who has the same obsessed romanticized view that we have of the franchise.

All of the stuff we want from a Transformers movie isn't going to happen in our lifetimes assuming of course that the franchise isn't kicked to the curb like GI Joe after a couple years since this franchise is going down hill slowly.

Transformers will never be the powerhouse franchise like Star Wars then again the last few movies have also been entertaining but actually pretty ba.

Seibertron wrote:

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

Hasbro gets it, or else we wouldn't have Transformers Prime. The movies and their stories, are out of their hands if I understand everything correctly. I'm assuming that it's similar to Marvel with FOX. Hasbro handed over most of their rights for control of the Transformers films (if I'm wording this incorrectly, someone please advise immediately) over to Paramount and Michael Bay waaaay back in 2001/2002 when these deals were originally made.

But I assure you, Hasbro gets it! Promise!!!

They obviously don't "get it" and continue to make the same mistakes for years now and their clearly not changing their minds.

Their a high up there business that don't care about anything else besides getting the money from our wallets like every other company in the world so the will try but not put any real effort to make quality products because they never have so far in the past 30 or so years like heck the original Transformers were recycled from another toyline.

Deadput wrote:The last good Transformers show was Animated actually it was the only decent Transformers show besides Beast Wars and Beast Machines everything else is entertaining but actually bad quality.

I've never cared for any TF TV show. None have appealed to me. Sure I sometimes watched the G1 cartoon cos it was there but to me it paled in comparison not just to the Marvel UK comics but also to almost every other action cartoon of the 80s. It's idiotic plots and constant production errors annoyed the hell out of me and it amazes me whenever G1 cartoon fans slag off the movies plots when the cartoon was NEVER any better. Even the cartoon's rather enjoyable cinematic outing was simply a blatant Star Wars rip off and I wasn't that fond of Star Wars to start off with (in fact I detest the vast majority of the supposedly best SW film, the Empire Strikes Back. Good start, good end, BORING AS HELL MIDDLE! F*** YOU, YODA, YOU TEDIOUS GOBLIN MUPPET THING) made purely to sell a whole range of new toys while trying to convince you the ones you'd been collecting the past year or two were obsolete.

Animated is by far my least fave not just for the (in my opinion) awful aesthetics and character designs but some of the most terrible characters in all of TF fiction particularly in the first season. It was the show that made me think ehhh, Armada & it's follow ups probably weren't that bad (they were but I disliked Animated even more). Armada sure had a good video game in the form of that PS2 title released by Atari though. First proper good TF game in my opinion.

I still find Beast Wars and Beast Machines too much of an eyesore to be able to even try get into those. I did watch the first season of Beast Wars but again I just couldn't get into it whether the writing, voice acting or the lousy CGI (low budget 90's CGI never did it for me whether in full CGI shows like Beast Wars and Reboot or even the godawful video game trend of pre-rendered 3D sprites and stuff. Properly defined pixel art almost always looked better).

Yes I'd like a bit more depth to the movie characters and it pisses me off that IDW stopped doing comics that helped with it a couple movies back. It's about the only damn use I had for IDW Transformers and I bought all of them back then. But still the movies provide the joy and excitement to me of seeing beautifully complex realistically designed transforming robots convincingly brought into an actual real-world live action environment with lots of action, gorgeous visuals and entertainment which has had me buy all four previous films on Blu Ray with the fifth a definite purchase too and kept me buying Transformers action figures along the way largely from the movies. I've bought some from various other G1-styled TF toylines such as Classics, Generations or Titans Return but sold most of them on now cos they just don't appeal to me in their designs the way the movie designs do both in robot or alt-modes mostly keeping just the ones that appeal to me on a deeper level than just 'cool toy' or have a sentimental reason for being still in my collection.

Sorry for going on. I'll stop there, even after deleting much more stuff I had typed. Just a bit fed up of always being made to feel like a worthless idiot cos I love something that gets bad reviews when I often find highly praised stuff not to my tastes (seriously though how many people have a large collection of winners of the best picture oscar amongst their very most fave movies ever?). I love what I love. Can't help it. When there's so much that just doesn't do it for me at all (am really not into MCU, game of thrones, walking dead, harry potter, jurassic park, lord of the rings etc) in this world I do find myself getting very passionate about the stuff I do enjoy.

Again sorry for this. I guess i just needed to type this stuff out of my head I guess. Maybe I should take another break. I don't want to offend or annoy anyone on this forum. I'll leave this topic though alone at least for now. Sorry

I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

SillyMcGilly wrote:This is the manliest manly Transformers video EVER. It's WICKED.

The ending is great too, I liked watching them slice the watermelon. Also the Prime costume they had was pretty neat.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Hm ... should I have put my review in a different topic? I didn't mean it to turn into my review, but it seems like it started to happen that way.

Well, we do have the review thread, which include spoilers, even though your posts didn't:
spoiler-thread-for-transformers-the-last-knight-review-with-spoilers-added-6-20--t109402.php

And personally, I feel bad for you not being able to enjoy 3D, this TF film in particular looked amazing in that format.

Yeah Seibs wrote the review in the right place, this is where we discuss the film, when we dont dive into spoilers.

As for the 3D, once again we are in great agreement, Rodimus! On really cool thing about this film was how the 3D never melted away into the background. It never let up, I was very impressed with that. But of course, all my beefs are with the film, not the 3D, and I would rather have a great 2D movie than a 3D film which I wish I didnt pay for.

Deadput wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

Hasbro gets it, or else we wouldn't have Transformers Prime. The movies and their stories, are out of their hands if I understand everything correctly. I'm assuming that it's similar to Marvel with FOX. Hasbro handed over most of their rights for control of the Transformers films (if I'm wording this incorrectly, someone please advise immediately) over to Paramount and Michael Bay waaaay back in 2001/2002 when these deals were originally made.

But I assure you, Hasbro gets it! Promise!!!

They obviously don't "get it" and continue to make the same mistakes for years now and their clearly not changing their minds.

We are talking about different things here. Saying Hasbro doesnt get it because of how crappy some films are is like saying Marvel doesnt get it because look at how crappy X-Men Origins Wolverine was. We are talking about 2 different creative forces. Hasbro does not have the movie rights to Transformers. I am 100% certain that John Warden, the head Transformers designer at Hasbro, would much rather have a more G1 like film with an emphasis on the robots. But he isnt behind the wheel, Paramount is, and Michael Bay.

From regular news finder Scottimus Prime, we have news for all you Steve Jablonsky fans out there: the score for Transformers: The Last Knight can currently be found on iTunes and streaming service Spotify! Check out the tracklist below, and click through to listen to the score if so inclined.

I'm not saying anything here, but I'm just saying that Seibertrons' completely objective review was that there were a number of good things, and the bad thing about the movie was that he saw it in 3D.

Deadput wrote:

77Prime84 wrote:
In my opinion, the best iteration of TF ever was TF: Prime.

The story was only relic hunts with relics that were mostly never used or spoken of again besides the season premiers and finales, there was no character development since either people forget all their progress (Arcee) or their killed off because the writers couldn't do squat with them (Breakdown, Dreadwing) and the show was hardly emotional especially since it hardly left the status quo and the stakes were never high even with Unicron involved.

The situation you're describing is nothing at all like the Cube or the Matrix or the Space Bridge from the first, second or third movies, or any of the various characters who show up on screen and then disappear without any development at all like Brawl or Blackout or Jolt or Grindor or Ravage or Demolisher or the other Constructicons or Barracade prior to TLK or the Dinobots in AOE or the construction vehicle guy in the junkyard or Megatrons' gang or Infernocus in TLK.

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

For the record, in case and before this turns into a real thing, that's not what I was saying, or was even suggesting. My comment was that the criticism of the movie was not a thing of the movie, but of the format it was seen in. If I'm lactose intolerant and I go to a pizza place and can't eat the pizza, and then use that as my criticism of the establishment, I'm not actually critiquing the food, but rather its format. Saying the 3D bothers you doesn't actually make any statement on the movie, but on the 3D itself. That's all I was saying.

Dagon wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

For the record, in case and before this turns into a real thing, that's not what I was saying, or was even suggesting. My comment was that the criticism of the movie was not a thing of the movie, but of the format it was seen in. If I'm lactose intolerant and I go to a pizza place and can't eat the pizza, and then use that as my criticism of the establishment, I'm not actually critiquing the food, but rather its format. Saying the 3D bothers you doesn't actually make any statement on the movie, but on the 3D itself. That's all I was saying.

OK. Well we already had people start saying it, so I wanted to make that clear. It also seemed liked you were glossing over his whole paragraph about the bad things, that was followed by a paragraph about not liking 3D. Just so you see how I saw this and how I don't want this to be a thing nor do I believe you were making it a thing

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Dagon wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

For the record, in case and before this turns into a real thing, that's not what I was saying, or was even suggesting. My comment was that the criticism of the movie was not a thing of the movie, but of the format it was seen in. If I'm lactose intolerant and I go to a pizza place and can't eat the pizza, and then use that as my criticism of the establishment, I'm not actually critiquing the food, but rather its format. Saying the 3D bothers you doesn't actually make any statement on the movie, but on the 3D itself. That's all I was saying.

OK. Well we already had people start saying it, so I wanted to make that clear. It also seemed liked you were glossing over his whole paragraph about the bad things, that was followed by a paragraph about not liking 3D. Just so you see how I saw this and how I don't want this to be a thing nor do I believe you were making it a thing

I also wasn't the first person to say anything related to it, nor did I make any accusations. If we're going to do this "I'm not saying you said, but it seems like you said but I know you didn't" we might as well be accurate with it.

Seibertron wrote:

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

Hasbro gets it (or at least the Transformers brand team definitely does), or else we wouldn't have Transformers Prime, Transformers Animated, or other examples (though I might argue that some of the greatest Transformers stories of all time are stories where they had outside help such as the G1 cartoons and comics and Beast Wars, though not all of it, which bears some resemblance to how things were initially setup with Paramount). The movies and their stories are out of their hands if I understand everything correctly. I'm assuming that it's similar to Marvel with FOX. Hasbro handed over most of their rights for control of the Transformers films (if I'm wording this incorrectly, someone please advise immediately) over to Paramount and Michael Bay waaaay back in 2001/2002 when these deals were originally made.

But I assure you, Hasbro (or at least the brand team) gets it! Promise!!!

I updated this post to clarify a few of my earlier thoughts which I wrote in haste. To summarize the changes, Hasbro gets it or at least the Transformers brand team definitely gets it. Promise!

I can't help but wonder if the writers of the movies had followed in the vein of Beast Wars or Prime and consistently used only 4 or 5 characters from each side in addition to the humans would the movies have had at least a less cluttered and better flowing story? It kinda worked with the 1st film as the TF cast was kept small, but then starting with RoTF they just threw random additional characters in.

So after seeing a press screening by myself on Monday and attending the US Premiere here in Chicago with my wife (and found out later that night at the after party that we sat in the same row with the Transformers brand team), my wife and I took our daughters (8 years old and 2.5), my daughter's buddy next door (who's 9), my buddy Ben/Shadowbeast from our forums, and my wife's cousin and her husband and their 5 year old son to go to a 2D showing at Muvico in Rosemont (for those of you familiar with my area, it's the movie theater near where TFcon Chicago was located).

2D is definitely the way to go for me. I was able to be immersed in the movie at last, which was enjoyable. The audio, which had been ear blowing at the first 2 showings I attended, was at a much more tolerable level ... and surprise! Thanks to that I could finally understand what each and every Transformer said very clearly, including the Knights at the beginning (which I swore one of the podcast guys said during our recording the other night that I couldn't understand them because they were speaking Celtic, which I didn't catch at all tonight because I could actually hear them, and could understand all of the "deep" talking Transformers, including Canopy. It was wonderful, plus I caught various things that the humans said as well that I had missed because of the blaring audio at the first two showings.

For any of you who have issues with focusing on the 3D initially or just find it frustrating to watch, I did some reading just now about 3D viewing with astigmatism. I have a very slight astigmatism which causes me to have 25/20 vision or something along those lines (things further away are visible but need to be sharpened, much like you would an image on a computer in Photoshop). After reading these articles for the past 30 minutes, maybe it's time for me to make a trip to an optometrist regarding my poor 3D viewing experiences.

https://www.google.com/#q=eye+%22astigm ... +3d+movies

With that aside, I still enjoyed the movie. And I enjoyed it for what it was, the good and the bad. It's not a perfect movie, nor did I ever expect it to be (especially as a die-hard Transformers fan). But it is definitely an enjoyable movie. I liked The Last Knight in the same vein that I liked the first movie, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, and Age of Extinction. They all had their flaws, but there were things that I enjoyed watching in all of them as well.

One thing I caught during tonight's viewing (though I still didn't catch Scorn or Strafe if they're actually there in the Junkyard), was how you have to really pay attention to the fast moving dialogue during key scenes. Michael Bay's films have a habit of tossing in a very important line of dialogue about something that is happening, needs to happen, or will happen and if you miss that line, you won't know what's going on next. This also happens with visual cues where someone might grab something or do something quickly that you might miss while your eyes are focused elsewhere on the screen. Some of you will mock this line, but if you really want to follow the storyline, I think you really have to pay extreme attention to every line of dialogue and try to catch as much as you can. One could argue that you shouldn't have to work that hard to catch those things, but another might argue that it's his "art form" of sorts (or his style). I'm torn about how I feel about that because it's obvious to me that the film style is deliberate (but unfortunately is lost even on myself at times). It always intrigues me when I rewatch the previous Transformers films and I catch things that I've never caught before even though I've seen each of these movies dozens and dozens of times (with the exception of AOE which is probably only around a half dozen times or so). I can't remember what was said tonight that I caught, but I think it was something during the submarine "Transformer" jumping its moorings scene.

If any of you have doubts about whether or not my opinions have been compromised with this whole amazing experience with the Transformers films over the course of the past 10 years (especially with these incredible Last Knight experiences), I have gained an entire new appreciation for the art of Hollywood film making during the past year. The endless hours and tedious work and attention to detail that goes on behind the scenes to make a movie like Transformers The Last Knight is mind blowing.

One of the things that I constantly think about pertaining to this film, that didn't initially impress me at the time, was seeing a group of 4 or 5 people, "seamstresses" if you will, working on sewing parts of the "barbarian" warrior costumes. They told us that they were working on costumes for 300 to 400 warriors (if I recall correctly). At the time, it was all lost on me because I didn't care about seeing costumes being made from the era of 400 AD, especially when I was there to see them working on a Transformers movie. I had no frame of reference at the time. No story line to understand the relevance, nor had any movie trailers been released when I was seeing this. However, in retrospect, it might have been one of the coolest things I had seen, along with the massive sets for the underwater ship scene, Merlin's tomb and (if I'm remembering this correctly) Cybertron (Quintessa's throne room?). I was amazed that they would spend the amount of time and money to make that many costumes for that many actors instead of just CGI'ing them, and I was amazed that they built out those sets for that ship underwater including several of the knights and those tendrils hanging from the ceiling. I actually got to see a massive Cybertron set that was built out for the most part. Basically everything you see the actors interacting with during those scenes, walking on, etc, was all "real".

Regardless of whether or not I agree with Michael Bay's vision, I absolutely respect the man's talents and skills. I have seen him work on 3 of these films now, TLK being the most and closest I've seen him working after seeing him directing for part of a day last year and seeing him show us some stuff in his office in Santa Monica. I doubt many directors work harder than Michael Bay. Again, this is regardless of how you feel about his final products. This is just talking about that the man is extremely passionate about his work as a director and his vision. He works his ass off and he is an amazing professional at one he does.

To bring this back down to every day Transformers stuff in our world, for those of you who are familiar with Transformers UK writer Simon Furman, my thoughts about Furman's writings is similar to what I think about Michael Bay's directing. However, I feel like Furman has done some of his best work when he is confined and has to figure out how to work within the box. Some of less beloved work of Furman (Simon, if you happen to be reading this ... you are absolutely awesome, I love most of your comics, I've enjoyed drinking some beers with you and other fond memories, so no offense!) is when Simon has been left to his own devices with the Transformers stories. I think Michael Bay needs to have some higher ups who can confine and rein him in a bit. But at the same time, especially in his 50s, I doubt Michael Bay would want to be directed so we'll probably never see that happen.

So I'm kind of rambling here, which I have done on my own forums for quite some time. I love good debates about movies and I appreciate my buddy philswitch_engage calling me out so I can defend myself. Here's to that next beer my friend!

Rodimus Prime wrote:I can't help but wonder if the writers of the movies had followed in the vein of Beast Wars or Prime and consistently used only 4 or 5 characters from each side in addition to the humans would the movies have had at least a less cluttered and better flowing story? It kinda worked with the 1st film as the TF cast was kept small, but then starting with RoTF they just threw random additional characters in.

I think it would have been great if the movies had had a core group from the 1st film. However, the main Autobots evolved. It was really jarring to me with Age of Extinction, which I'm assuming is part of the reason why AOE is my least favorite of the 5. It was too much new at one time. It was nice to see the AOE Autobots return, sans a couple of Dinobots, to TLK, and that everyone survived.

Man, I keep typing things I want to say in response, but keep contradicting myself, so I keep deleting lines.

I want the additional characters, but sometimes characters can just stay in the background. No need for them to get a lot of screen time. However, if someone like "Hot Rod" is going to get a decent amount of screen time, then they should be fleshed out a bit as a character. I really don't get the point of Hot Rod other than as a plot device to literally bring Vivian into Cade's story, add a little bit of humor to the screen (some of which was funny, some not) and to be a plot device with his slowing time down power (which I could've completely done with out).

However, I'm going to contradict myself a little bit here that with Cade saying to Mini-Grimlock (?) that he's coming into his powers, I can't help but like the idea if they start introducing special powers for some of the Transformers. I really liked that with the original G1 cast with characters like Hound, Mirage, Skywarp, Soundwave, etc. Maybe with the acknowledgement of "magic" and advanced alien capabilities, maybe Transformers with special abilities going forward won't be such an odd thing. That could be a very awesome thing for the film franchise.