Without "Mass-shifting" that 3-ton robot Soundwave turns into a 3-ton micro-cassette player.

Again, what does that have to do with the movie TF's?

Hornet: discussion of trans-scanning led to discussion of mass-shifting led to discussion of atomic compression led to image of human holding Megatorn. Get it? Good.

Without "Mass-shifting" that 3-ton robot Soundwave turns into a 3-ton micro-cassette player.

Again, what does that have to do with the movie TF's?

 

I'm sorry, I missed the part where this thread was about movie TF's? Or the part where it was on topic in the first place.

 

All I was doing was expounding on your comment in the first place, Mr. Topic Cop.

I'm sorry, I missed the part where this thread was about movie TF's?

You certainly did.

I don't post much, but I think I'll throw in my 2 cents. As a huge TF fan from G1, I can honestly say that mass-shifting, even if possible etc and so forth, doesn't belong in a live action movie. And the reason is simply is looks bad effects-wise. When I saw the movie in theaters, the crowd was very lively. The scene where BB reverts back into the Camero after the Barricade fight drew gasps of "That's awesome" because they hid nothing, and it worked and was believable. But when Frenzy turned into a cellphone 1/4th his size, the crowd gasped "What the hell?" and "That's stupid."

 

And they were right, it looked like crap that something could just shrink like that. Its a cheap effect, which thankfully wasn't used for any important characters, but the audience and ultimately the fans aren't stupid. It just looks dumb. Now imagine if Soundwave, a 40 foot robot, shrunk into a cassette player in full view of the camera, it would look like it was straight out of Willy Wonka, and would effectively shatter all the work put into the effects, rendering them pointless. One might as well have them Transform by pooling into liquid metal and reforming.

 

A good point is brought up about the need for stealth and intel, but that can just as easily be used with tiny robots. The Sector 7 videos depicting Reflector and Laserbeak I thought were very cool, and I thought it would have been neat to have included such tiny machines in the film.

 

But seriously, why bother designing Soundwave's hands to perfectly work and be functional and not clip the polygons or cheat in any way to get the effect, only to make his Transformation a comical magic act. As for Trans-scanning, I see zero difference between the movie's take and Teletran 1. If they wanted to change forms in G1, I see no reason they couldn't if they really wanted to, save for some lame storyblock like low energon, so to me anyway, its a moot point.

But when Frenzy turned into a cellphone 1/4th his size, the crowd gasped "What the hell?" and "That's stupid."

I didn't have a problem with that moment at all. Judging from how far Frenzy's head flew when Sam kicked it, Frenzy's head must've been mostly hollow, and couldn't have had much more mass than the cell phone.

As for Trans-scanning, I see zero difference between the movie's take and Teletran 1. If they wanted to change forms in G1, I see no reason they couldn't if they really wanted to, save for some lame storyblock like low energon, so to me anyway, its a moot point.

 

Winnah.

But when Frenzy turned into a cellphone 1/4th his size, the crowd gasped "What the hell?" and "That's stupid."

I didn't have a problem with that moment at all. Judging from how far Frenzy's head flew when Sam kicked it, Frenzy's head must've been mostly hollow, and couldn't have had much more mass than the cell phone.

I think it was a cheat. No need to over-analyze it IMO.

If they wanted to change forms in G1, I see no reason they couldn't if they really wanted to, save for some lame storyblock like low energon, so to me anyway, its a moot point.

You know, if Animated is going to be marketed the same way as all the other superhero cartoons on TV, I can't help but feel that the toyline will have variants of the main characters like the Batman, JLU, and Power Rangers toylines.

You know, if Animated is going to be marketed the same way as all the other superhero cartoons on TV, I can't help but feel that the toyline will have variants of the main characters like the Batman, JLU, and Power Rangers toylines.

 

*ahem*

What does this have to do with movie TFs?

 

:tflaugh