I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions.... I don't think the G1 fanbase is of primary interest to the production, and that we as fans overestimate its significance.

 

My own personal stake in this is zero.... all I want is for them to present a unique/new/creative vision. A rehash of G1 won't interest me in the slightest.

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Maybe w/ the next movie they can have more freedom, but certainly not w/ the first one.

Ideally, they would use Cullen and Welker and keep Prime as a recognizable semi-truck, but you never know. I don't think that it would go over well w/ the general public that is actually somewhat familiar w/ this franchise to go to the movie and see Prime w/ a different voice and as a different kind of truck. I think that the reaction would be, "WTF that's not how I remember Optimus Prime."

 

I agree entirely, go ahead re-introduce the line as somthing creative, but random people seeing it will most likely automatically recognize the main characters of the original G1 series, for example: a while ago i was over at someones house, and a transformers cybertron commerical came on the tv, all of a sudden he says "wow! transformers is still around?! i remember these guys"

 

That is the affect that i think the movie should have on people, dont introduce some stupid version of it that will appeal strictly to children...they should be going a more "spiderman/ X-men route"  And include a "darker feeling" in the movie.

 

I want hidden cameos as well! (i.e. stan lee in the spiderman movies)

I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions.... I don't think the G1 fanbase is of primary interest to the production, and that we as fans overestimate its significance.

 

My own personal stake in this is zero.... all I want is for them to present a unique/new/creative vision. A rehash of G1 won't interest me in the slightest.

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Judging from that statement, I don't think that your interest in this IS zero.

You have made more than clear that  a G1 rehash won't interest you in the slightest.

Therefore there is a particular way you would prefer the movie to turn out, which IS an invested interest.

 

Personally I am a G1 comic fan. There is nothing I'd love to see more than that continuity to be picked up in the here and now.

That is not going to happen and a Transformers movie, no matter how G1 based, is not going to give me that.

So what I want as a fan and what I believe we will get are two different things.

I truly don't have an invested interest in the movie outside of a hope that this will create one continuity most fans will buy into and allow the line to move on.

 

But I do believe G1 based, and by based I mean as loosely as X-Men was based on the comic origins, makes the most sense.

 

They don't make a movie with a budget like this just to sell toys. You can sell toys with a cheap movie like Power Rangers.

They make a movie to sell itself, merchandise, sequels.

That doesn't involve pleasing the fanboys, but it does involve selling to the broadest possible spectrum.

And a part of that includes nostalgia among non fans.

 

If nostagia didn't sell, we'd have had better villains in Spiderman instead of characters people remembered as kids, we'd have had Nightwing in Batman, we'd have had a much different line up in X-men, and so on.

 

It's not about rehashing the old to please the fanboys, it's about creating the right mix of old and new to appeal to all.

I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions.... I don't think the G1 fanbase is of primary interest to the production, and that we as fans overestimate its significance.

 

My own personal stake in this is zero.... all I want is for them to present a unique/new/creative vision. A rehash of G1 won't interest me in the slightest.

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Judging from that statement, I don't think that your interest in this IS zero.

You have made more than clear that  a G1 rehash won't interest you in the slightest.

Therefore there is a particular way you would prefer the movie to turn out, which IS an invested interest.

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I guess what I meant is that I don't have a Transformers-specific emotional stake in the movie. I just want it to be something we haven't seen before, regardless of the franchise it's based on. It would depress me if all this time and money were to be invested in a movie that ended up just being G1 fanwank. I don't mean to say that everything Transformers has ever been must be jettisoned, but that it shouldn't be relied upon creatively. And I do also feel very strongly that we are seriously overestimating both the size of the G1 fandom and the degree to which casual fans or non-fans will care about fidelity to G1.

 

And I say all this as a G1 fan BTW. I loved G1, but it's been done already. Let it be what it is... what it was... and move on. I just really fear that the artistic vision for this film might be compromised if it is tied too closely to pleasing the fans. That comes from my own personal artistic beliefs, which admittedly some may not share. I believe that artistic integrity should trump audience expectation every time, and that the artist must be free to pursue his vision without compromise.

 

Of course this is Michael Bay we're talking about, not Ang Lee or someone. So it may be a moot point anyway.  :tflaugh

I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions.... I don't think the G1 fanbase is of primary interest to the production, and that we as fans overestimate its significance.

 

My own personal stake in this is zero.... all I want is for them to present a unique/new/creative vision. A rehash of G1 won't interest me in the slightest.

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Judging from that statement, I don't think that your interest in this IS zero.

You have made more than clear that  a G1 rehash won't interest you in the slightest.

But I do believe G1 based, and by based I mean as loosely as X-Men was based on the comic origins, makes the most sense.

That is exactly what I want, and what I am betting that the studio wants. Something that is loosely based on G1, w/ Prime as a semi-truck, Megs as a tank or something but looks like Megs in bot mode, and perferably using Cullen and Welker as the VAs.

Sure it won't please purists, but who cares as long as it is a good movie about Transformers.

 

They don't make a movie with a budget like this just to sell toys. You can sell toys with a cheap movie like Power Rangers.They make a movie to sell itself, merchandise, sequels.

That doesn't involve pleasing the fanboys, but it does involve selling to the broadest possible spectrum.

And a part of that includes nostalgia among non fans.

 

If nostagia didn't sell, we'd have had better villains in Spiderman instead of characters people remembered as kids, we'd have had Nightwing in Batman, we'd have had a much different line up in X-men, and so on.

 

It's not about rehashing the old to please the fanboys, it's about creating the right mix of old and new to appeal to all.

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Two very good points, both of which I agree with.

 

This is a big-budget, hopefully blockbuster of a movie that is being made to make a big box office in addition to making a ton on toys. No one wants to see anything remotely like the Power Rangers movies, even Madhammer.

 

I never really thought that the Green Goblin was a good villain, but the Spiderman films are amazing (pun intended). Sure they could have made up someone else, but for the first movie and as it turns out even the 2nd, they went w/ time tested, proven villains and it worked. I think that they should do the same for the Transformers. Get the good ole baddies out there to wreck havok and have the good guys come save the day. That is a formula that works, and that is what the studio should, and probably will do.

I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions.... I don't think the G1 fanbase is of primary interest to the production, and that we as fans overestimate its significance.

 

My own personal stake in this is zero.... all I want is for them to present a unique/new/creative vision. A rehash of G1 won't interest me in the slightest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Judging from that statement, I don't think that your interest in this IS zero.

You have made more than clear that  a G1 rehash won't interest you in the slightest.

But I do believe G1 based, and by based I mean as loosely as X-Men was based on the comic origins, makes the most sense.

That is exactly what I want, and what I am betting that the studio wants. Something that is loosely based on G1, w/ Prime as a semi-truck, Megs as a tank or something but looks like Megs in bot mode, and perferably using Cullen and Welker as the VAs.

Sure it won't please purists, but who cares as long as it is a good movie about Transformers.

 

They don't make a movie with a budget like this just to sell toys. You can sell toys with a cheap movie like Power Rangers.They make a movie to sell itself, merchandise, sequels.

That doesn't involve pleasing the fanboys, but it does involve selling to the broadest possible spectrum.

And a part of that includes nostalgia among non fans.

 

If nostagia didn't sell, we'd have had better villains in Spiderman instead of characters people remembered as kids, we'd have had Nightwing in Batman, we'd have had a much different line up in X-men, and so on.

 

It's not about rehashing the old to please the fanboys, it's about creating the right mix of old and new to appeal to all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Two very good points, both of which I agree with.

 

This is a big-budget, hopefully blockbuster of a movie that is being made to make a big box office in addition to making a ton on toys. No one wants to see anything remotely like the Power Rangers movies, even Madhammer.

 

I never really thought that the Green Goblin was a good villain, but the Spiderman films are amazing (pun intended). Sure they could have made up someone else, but for the first movie and as it turns out even the 2nd, they went w/ time tested, proven villains and it worked. I think that they should do the same for the Transformers. Get the good ole baddies out there to wreck havok and have the good guys come save the day. That is a formula that works, and that is what the studio should, and probably will do.

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I agree that the X-Men and Spider-Man movies are good examples of what I want the Transformers movie.  However, even those had slight flaws. 

 

The Green Goblin's costume, for instance.  I suppose it was the result of wanting something "realistic" something that would make sense logically, but what happened?  That's right, they ended up with a silly looking Power Rangers costume.  Also, since Willem Dafoe was so good as Norman and the Green Goblin, the costume robbed him of his facial expressions.  It's kind of ironic, since his face would have gone well with the classic Green Goblin mask.

 

The X-Men movie costumes also suffered from the negative effects of "realism".  Rather than create some kind of compromise with the comics and real life materials, they decided to use stiff leather.  I don't think the costumes would have to have beeen skin tight, but there should have been something along the lines of durable cloth, perhaps some body armor designed into the costume.

Well nothing suprising about what Murphy said.  Nice.