What's up with previously deceased Decepticons returning in the movies?

[Timothy.R]

(spoilers, i guess i should say spoiler, just incase no one else noticed these guys in the trailer) ... sorry if all of this has been brought up before.

in rotf we saw blackout, (who was destroyed by lennox) return.. yet he was called grindor.

 

also we see bonecrusher whom prime beheaded, return for the final battle in rotf.

 

now, in dotm we see sideways, who was sliced in half by sideswipe return/and die, this time at the hand of super prime

 

 

we see brawl, who was killed by bumblebee, now he's back and sporting his deep desert deco.

 

 

and lastly, we see long haul, who was obliterated by the giant explosion in rotf. looks like he returns only to be slaughtered by super prime.

 

 

i guess it's just too much work to create new character models for inconsequential characters.. but i think they're REALLY missing an opportunity for some fan wankage. since this is bays last movie, they could at least give us some filler characters that resemble G1 favorites. i really hate these protoform bots, every time i see one of them it reminds me that they've squabbled yet another chance to give us a G1 wink. i think there have been enough new characters throughout these movies that they could at least show us some un-named, but obvious G1 homages.

 

anyone else agree?

[Lord_Onslaught]

Let's see Brawl was in ROTF at the final battle also. But maybe there were 2 Brawls'. There were at least 2 Long Haul's in ROTF, so one of them could have survived and returned. Remember Rampage was killed by Prime in the beginning of ROTF. Only to show up later to form Devastator.

Sideways we didn't see enough of him in Robot mode so who knows this could be Dead End. They do share the same mold

[Optics]

I don't see them as returning, just different bots with same looks. Think of the g1 Seekers, Grindor (ROTF) and Blackout (2007).

 

Also, I think people would bitch if Bay threw in characters that resembled G1 characters for a quick appearance. Like, say Ultra Magnus was in the background for a split second. Good cameo, but I'm sure people would want more of him in the movie and complain about how there was too much Wheelie screen time and not enough UM.

[Timothy.R]

it just doesn't make much sense to me.

 

in G1 the cartoon characters were based off of the toys, and like most toys there were repaints.

 

however in this instance they had free reign over everything, they weren't constricted to a toyline. plus, they could at least give them different heads.

 

we never see any of devastators components having robot modes. and when devastator is destroyed it's assumed they all perish.. otherwise they'd just combine again.

 

and you also have to look at this as if you're not a hardcore transformers fan.. people who saw the first two are going to see these three characters and wonder why they're here again, unless it's somehow explained in the movie, which i doubt will happen.

 

i just think it would've been nice to throw in a new G1 character.

 

oh well. i just don't like the recyclable character designs. give us something fresh, something new.

[Breaker]

They are dead. Those are just different robots with the same "chassis". Kind of like Animated did (only without the different heads unfortunately) with some of it's background characters.

 

With the exception of perhaps Bonecrusher. His Jungle deco bio stated he survived and escaped to the jungles of South America. So I guess it could have been him in Egypt, having someone magically teleported there.

 

it just doesn't make much sense to me.

 

in G1 the cartoon characters were based off of the toys, and like most toys there were repaints.

 

however in this instance they had free reign over everything, they weren't constricted to a toyline. plus, they could at least give them different heads.

 

we never see any of devastators components having robot modes. and when devastator is destroyed it's assumed they all perish.. otherwise they'd just combine again.

 

and you also have to look at this as if you're not a hardcore transformers fan.. people who saw the first two are going to see these three characters and wonder why they're here again, unless it's somehow explained in the movie, which i doubt will happen.

 

i just think it would've been nice to throw in a new G1 character.

 

oh well. i just don't like the recyclable character designs. give us something fresh, something new.

 

Why spend the money to design and create new bots when you can save and just rehash? /stupidbay

 

I don't see them as returning, just different bots with same looks. Think of the g1 Seekers, Grindor (ROTF) and Blackout (2007).

 

Also, I think people would bitch if Bay threw in characters that resembled G1 characters for a quick appearance. Like, say Ultra Magnus was in the background for a split second. Good cameo, but I'm sure people would want more of him in the movie and complain about how there was too much Wheelie screen time and not enough UM.

 

Or if a split second later he died :/

[Blitz-Wing]

It's expensive to generate new computer models of the robots. It's tacky to use 'zombie' fillers, but it's cost savings. And when you're working with a 9-digit production budget, every million saved counts.

[masterminicon]

and you also have to look at this as if you're not a hardcore transformers fan.. people who saw the first two are going to see these three characters and wonder why they're here again, unless it's somehow explained in the movie, which i doubt will happen.

 

I can tell you from talking to people who've watched both movies in succession that aren't hardcore TF fans, heck not even TF fans beyond the movies themselves, that they didn't give it a second thought that there was a helicopter Decepticon that looked the same in both movies. Now we know it's Blackout ('07) and Grindor (ROTF). I think the only characters they really pay attention to are the ones that actually have some importance or sense of individualism (like Prime, Megs, Bee, Starscream, etc) vs the ones that are clearly meant to be cannon fodder (Sideways, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Blackout, Grindor, the Constructicons that individually transformed).

 

 

Personally, with the Transformers line always being loaded w/ repaints, and the original G1 had repaints that somehow made it into some form of the fiction (comics or cartoons), I say why not. Save the money for future lines and cooler figures down the road and fill the gap with an old mold that's repainted and renamed. Whether it sells is another matter. And the same for the movies (the entire industry). The site for exterior shots of Luthor Mansion in Smallville, is Hatley Castle in Canada. It was also used as exterior shots for Xavier's in all the X-Men films and in the made for TV movie Generation X. So they do it for the whole reasoning behind reuse of material. Saving $$$, and your average movie goer will not notice, or care.

[Skidflap]

:eek i did not see that. maybe flatline has something to do with this... or shockwave is taking cues from the Terrorcon concept. :tfevil

[Goktimus Prime]

Regarding Long Haul, there were already several different versions of the Constructicons in ROTF anyway.

 

e.g.

+ Scavenger - killed, nay, executed by Optimus Prime in Shanghai

+ Demolishor; same chassis as Scavenger - present at the battle of Giza, merged with other Constructicons to for Devastator. No, not Brawl... the gestalt called Devastator. Right.

+ There was one set of Constructicons hunting Sam -- different from the Constructicons who formed Devastator.

 

So in the movie we already saw multiple sets of the Constructicons anyway, who were very much treated as generic troops like the Seekers in the G1 cartoon. Oh, and technically Grindor's not a straight repaint of Blackout in the movie -- his alt mode is slightly different from Blackout's. Although Hasbro didn't care about this and just did a straight repaint of the toy (again, probably because most people wouldn't notice :P).

 

What I wanna know is... what the bloody hell happened to Barricade?? Yeah I know he did in the comic adaptation, but this was never shown in the movie, thus he remains MIA. I'd like to see Barricade return with 3 other of his Decepticon buddies - Motorhead, Groundhog and Roller Force! :D I'm gonna call that new Sideways dude Roller Force unless DOTM retcons it otherwise (i.e. if that robot remains unnamed then I'm calling it Roller Force ;))

[Skidflap]

Regarding Long Haul, there were already several different versions of the Constructicons in ROTF anyway.

 

e.g.

+ Scavenger - killed, nay, executed by Optimus Prime in Shanghai

+ Demolishor; same chassis as Scavenger - present at the battle of Giza, merged with other Constructicons to for Devastator. No, not Brawl... the gestalt called Devastator. Right.

+ There was one set of Constructicons hunting Sam -- different from the Constructicons who formed Devastator.

 

So in the movie we already saw multiple sets of the Constructicons anyway, who were very much treated as generic troops like the Seekers in the G1 cartoon. Oh, and technically Grindor's not a straight repaint of Blackout in the movie -- his alt mode is slightly different from Blackout's. Although Hasbro didn't care about this and just did a straight repaint of the toy (again, probably because most people wouldn't notice :P).

 

What I wanna know is... what the bloody hell happened to Barricade?? Yeah I know he did in the comic adaptation, but this was never shown in the movie, thus he remains MIA. I'd like to see Barricade return with 3 other of his Decepticon buddies - Motorhead, Groundhog and Roller Force! :D I'm gonna call that new Sideways dude Roller Force unless DOTM retcons it otherwise (i.e. if that robot remains unnamed then I'm calling it Roller Force ;))

 

correction: Demolishor was killed by prime in shanghai, scavenger was the one in Giza/combined with devastator.