*zips up the ol' flame retardant suit and goes on the war-path* lol

 

I will state that G1 is my favorite iteration of the Transformers series. I never owned any of the original toys, but I am very fond of the original animated series. That being said, I also understand the need for things to change and adapt to changing times and the new generation of fans. This is the way of all great and enduring legacies. While I'm not a huge fan of anything past Beast Wars, to each their own. Everyone is entitled to their favorites. We are all Transformers fans.

 

What the F@*K are Bay and Co. thinking!?! I just can't make any sense of this Transformers movie.

 

The G1 fanboys have every right to be super pissed-off and upset. Why, you ask? Bay and Co. have basically taken the G1 fans' beloved story and bots and made them almost unrecognizable. I keep hearing, as a commonly used defense or comment, that this movie takes place independently of the previous Transformers' universes and story arcs. If that is the case, why use Classic Transformers characters in the movie? Why use voices we have all grown up associating with very specific and visually iconic characters. The movie bots are barely recognizable as their namesakes. Heck, I'll go so far as to say they look nothing like Transformers. You can barely tell that they have a vehicle mode or what it even is. Why use a storyline based loosely upon the 20 year old animated kids cartoon at all?

 

Do I think the movie will kick-ass? You bet! Although, I don't think the film will have that 'ol Transformers spirit and I just can't help feeling jaded about it. Kind of a bitter-sweet thing for us long time fans.

 

What do you think? Am I way off base? Lets have a good civil discussion here. Remember folks, everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

well, the A/E/C shows all had optimus prime and megatron, just like G1. but they weren't G1.

and just think of all the Starscreaming if they didn't use the familiar bots.

the bots aren't unrecognizable, just not carbon copies of the G1 guys.

this is all the same stuff I heard about Beast Wars when it came out.

"Why is he called Optimus, he's not a truck."

What majin said.

 

Why call the guy in RID "Megatron"? Because the name is part of the Transformers tradition. But each itieration is still seperate and independent form the others, and puts its own stamp on those character archtypes.

 

Sometimes that means Megatron is purple and turns into, among other things, a giant disembodied hand. Sometimes that means Starscream's knees bend backwards.

 

Sometimes it means this:

 

http://www.tfu.info/1995/Autobot/OptimusPr...ptimusprime.htm

 

So what?

well, the A/E/C shows all had optimus prime and megatron, just like G1. but they weren't G1.

and just think of all the Starscreaming if they didn't use the familiar bots.

the bots aren't unrecognizable, just not carbon copies of the G1 guys.

this is all the same stuff I heard about Beast Wars when it came out.

"Why is he called Optimus, he's not a truck."

Agreed for the most part. I agree that the bots don't need to be G1 carbon copies, but then why go through all the trouble to use the exact characters' animated voices and personalities and then go and attach all that to a very extreme and radical bot design. Although there is no rule book for how a Transformer should look in bot mode, I always thought it was pretty cool to be able to recognize what the bot's alt mode make and model was at a glance. That was a very defining element for the TFs and part of their charm. They were 100% accurate looking vehicles and objects that transformed into a mixed vehicle/object-robot form. These movie bots seem like they would work the other way around. Super alien-mechs that transform into 100%accurate objects/vehicles. It kind of seems like "Vehicles in Disguise" to me.

well, they are from outer space. I doubt they had kenworth trucks on cybertron. the robots desguise themselves. that doesn't mean they need an exra ton or two hangin of em.

What majin said.

 

Why call the guy in RID "Megatron"? Because the name is part of the Transformers tradition. But each itieration is still seperate and independent form the others, and puts its own stamp on those character archtypes.

 

Sometimes that means Megatron is purple and turns into, among other things, a giant disembodied hand. Sometimes that means Starscream's knees bend backwards.

 

Sometimes it means this:

 

http://www.tfu.info/1995/Autobot/OptimusPr...ptimusprime.htm

 

So what?

I see where you are coming from, but for the sake of a good healthy debate...

 

I think we are smarter than that. Is an orange still an orange even though it tastes like an apple and came from the apple tree? Lot's of current fans hate the G1 series yet the creators keeping tapping into the core of it (pun intended) for names and personalities. I'd rather have some originality than a dull faded shadow of a brilliant past.

but these oranges are still oranges.

they're still giant alien robots that turn into various vehicles and whatnot.

there is OP and Megatron.

the creators tap into G1 because thats what alot of the fan community wants. and it means continuity.

kids go to the store, and they see Optimus Prime. they know who he is. they may not know who soundwave is, but man he looks cool, so they want him. plus, by tapping into G1, lots of nerdy fanboys will buy the toys. I have Energon Grimlok and Swoop. they suck, but I got them anyways. just like all the haters are going to see the movie 20 times, and buy the toys.

I really don't get it.

 

No mass shifting basically means Bay and co can't cheat with the transfomations or either mode. Every individual piece of whatever vehicle used has to be able to be manipulated in way to suit both modes without losing any of it. As amazing as the alt line is they are in no way realistically presented. Not exactly shell formers but each vehicle sacrificed nearly everything that holds a real vehicle together for the bot mode pieces. Bay simply can't do this. He approached this realistically and as an ending result I find the streamlined exoframed bot modes fairly believable. Considering Prime is what is it 32 feet tall I honestly can see how Prime would look the way he does. Same with Bumblebee, and any others. You only have so much room to fit a robot within the confined space of a semi/car. It obviously doesn't take a super genius to figure any of this out. Bay and Co have IMO done absolutely nothing wrong they just gave us realistic transforming robots probably the only way they could have been done without cheating the internal components needed to make it believable.

Everything I've learned about the movie so far is everything I've expected.

 

And I'm completely okay with that....it's no different thatn any other represented form of Transformers, as has already been covered.

They reuse the names because:

 

Transformers is one big commercial enterprise, its a product made to shift units and reap profit.

 

Thats why there is always an Optimus and co.

 

 

 

Bring on the live action movie, I am damn well ready to be entertained and wowed by the big screen movie magic. I also like the leaked toy hard copies, especially Screamer.

 

 

I feel sorry for the armed forces having to face those nightmares(not an insult)