i assume that this movie is being aimed at the same people who watch action flicks? well, those people are used to seeing cars get blown up by a single gunshot, how are they going to feel if some of the autobots get smacked around and don't blow up like regular movie cars?

 

they'll be all "WTF?! Arnold blew up a car with just one shot! how in the hell are these giant car robots taking all those hits without blowing up?!"

 

Please note that this comment is only half serious.

they won't be taking hits.  Transformers all have terrible aim.  Haven't you seen Energon?  Armada?  Beast Machines?

It depends...if in car mode, having them not react like normal cars could be a good story element to bring the TF's to the new/general audience. Having people be like "What? Why is that Mazda (or whatever) not being crushed by that robot?!"

 

I think if written well something like that could really work out extremely cool.

I think the movies are getting smarter about that kind of thing along with the people. Then again I just saw an add with exploding cannon balls in the movie. I'm almost posisitive solid steel balls don't explode on impact. Man that really gets my goat  :tfmad

they look like cars, they move like cars, but technically they ARE NOT cars.

well put it this way when the action hero gets shot he just srugs it off when in real life he'd be drawing in a pool of his own blood and most people let that slide so the idea of a car/robot not blowing up is quite easy to get your head around

 

also Bond cars were told thier bullet broof etc and we belive it just like we know a TF just looks like a car but we know its just a desgise(sp)

one word. cybertonium. they are not made of earth materials and then they are not standard cars

in the first episodes of the original series. you'd see the 'bots windows shattered from large explosions. Remember that one from that episode where megs stole the antimatter? Those guys were totaled

True but remember Don making his own rules with the film. Whatever happened in G1 that we are familar with, forget it. Just remember this... plenty of human focus and some focus on the bots. He is going for a general audience more than the fanboys.

Human focus? and plenty of it ? won't that kill the film? Isn't that approach more likely to bore the general audience and fanboys expecting GIANT ROBOTS beating seral shades out of each other in a battle for Earths resources?

It would be like a Godzilla Movie that consists mostly of boring humans on screen, no wait...