...in battles and things -- why not just quickly scan a new alt. mode? It seems to me that during the scanning process, their body is reconfigured and at least semi-repaired (note how apparently Ironhide had a bum ankle, but then when he got his new form it seemed to be OK after that, or how some of BB's damage from the fight with Barricade seemed to be repaired when he got his new mode). So why didn't, say, Brawl scan something else, or some such? Sorry, trying to apply logic to the movie, I know it's dangerous

Weeeellll,


They mass shift their excess parts and damaged parts into a pocket universes (called plot holes) when they choose a new alt mode, but they couldn't do that while the allspark was in its miniturized (convienently human sized) mode. Thats why Jazz died too.


Welcome to RETCON HELL!

Aye, it *is* pretty dangerous to apply logic to an action movie.
I usually leave this type of discussion to Kevin Smith flicks, else my brain explodes.

I don't think Ironhide had a "bum" ankle so much as his foot was adjusting to absorb shock / lighten the load of his massive footsteps.

I'd rather be watching Mallrats.

Pretty much, last I saw my ankle did that... Albeit less giant robotic awesome

Ironhide didn't have a bum ankle.
Bumblebee didn't really suffer any damage at the hands of Barricade. He kinda got knocked around a bit, but nothing that would leave damage really.
Brawl couldn't scan anything that was remotely close to his mass (note - I said CLOSE), so he didn't have anything to scan into. Plus what would he have scanned that would have actually helped him out in that firefight? I don't think any car or truck would made him do anything any better.

Could've scanned into a Giant Mountan Dew Machine...

As much sense as a Duck Billed cat playing a flute while doing sign language, yes I know it sounded dumb, that was the point.

I see we're running out of things to discuss fast! Is this part of the forum going to be around untill 2009?

I agree with Gasket, but if you want a in-universe explanation that makes sense:

Reformatting it every few seconds is not a smart thing to do, for several reasons.

1 - Reformatting requires a lot of energy. That is logical, since all the different parts need to be reformed and reshaped.
2 - A Transformer's body is a weapon. It is a tool, a finely tuned one. Getting used to a body and managing to use it to its optimal efficiency can take a while. Doing so in battle would be counter-effective.
3 - Reshaping one's body increases stress on the material. Compare it to a piece of lead that is being bend. The first time, nothing happens, because the material is flexible enough to handle it. Yet, if one keeps bending the piece of lead, the stress on it will eventually lead to it breaking. Something similar would occur when a Transformer reformats too often.

Bumblebee apparently figured the friendship of Sam, and by extension, Mikaela, was worth the costs of reformatting. Why, I would not know.

Maybe he wanted to sniff his own seats...

I guess it makes sense what Zak's trying to say -- in Beast Wars/Machines, the reformatting seemed painful to the TFs, not to mention they had to adjust to their new robot/alt. modes, which took them some time. I guess I meant they could reformat as a last-ditch effort to save yourself from being blown away.

BTW Bumblebee only reformatted so they could show off the '08 Camaro, we don't need no stinkin' canonical explanation for that one

There are in story reasons for things and out of story. BB changing to the O8 is a marketing decision. It was not for or justified by the story. In fact it was contrary to the in-story reasons, as evidenced by this discussion. In general the quick reformat ability was just to introduce the autobots quickly. It is one of many halfassed things it was hopped would slip by without anyone noticing. In general it worked. It was done quickly and effectively and while I think it was a poor choice most audiences will never notice it, so I can't say it wasn't well executed.

I see reformatting for movie Transformers the same way a human changes pants.

If I stab you in the side, and you change pants, guess what? You're still hurt.
Same for TFs.

LOL, funny analogy, and good point, I s'pose.