Sadly, there isn't even 5 characters. Just lots and lots of human stereotypes and one dimensional warriors.

 

The main problem of this movies is that they focused too much on the humans and too little on the Transformers. The other is that Bay focus too much on annoying characters rather than the one we love and want to see. In the second movie he could have gladly spared us the twins and wheelie and instead give more space to the other characters. AOE is my favorite movie because it is the one where the Cybertronians get more space and development, especially compared to the others. 

Unfortunately Ironhide did not have that much scenes

 

Does Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch count?

 

He gets a couple of establishing scenes in the first one that give him a nice, ornery personality. Plus the shot where he saves the civilian by somasaulting with his cannons.
RotF he gets a nice intro scene early on and plays off well with Optimus in that scene.
And, then, DotM gave us Mexican Standoff and his final gutwrenching death.

While it's not a lot, he gets a personality and a relationship with Prime, and he gets a few good action scenes. Plus I know a bunch of fans who were heartbroken when he died. So there is also impact. That last bit would be a factor that would get him on a list. Possibly, on reflection, a joint spot with Hound, since Hound is essentially his replacement as the military specialist, even though Hound has his own personality.

 

All I can do is echo what posters have already said in this thread. Thank-you Sol Fury for this very well written article.

 

Lockdown sticks out among the villains for me mostly due to his butt.

 

Too much emphasis on Prime and Bee but I could understand it since the two are main drivers to sell the toys.
But as for the rest of the Autobots, Brains and Wheelie had a fair share of screen time.
Well Drift, Crosshairs and Hound i think are "consolation" characters for those members of the "first five" that got killed off.

I wished Ratchet and Ironhide never got killed though. As they are able to made a connection to the viewers.

The new guys, Drift as a loyal to the samurai code. Crosshairs as a hot headed, short tempered that have a knack for throwing insults.
And Hound, and old warhorse that can throw one liners and punchlines. Yup he's indeed Ironhide 2.0 but with softer & funny side.

As for the Decepticons. We can all agree that they've treated differently. Turned into fodders most of them.
Personally, I don't like Starscream and Soundwave didn't get killed they could've stayed like Barricade.
Of course Sentinel and The Fallen are given since they're the main baddie of their each movie.

Ah yeah.. LOCKDOWN. Such wasted potential.
He could've lasted for 2 films but they decided to killed him.

Does NEMESIS PRIME count? I wanted him to stay evil for 2 films but they decided to make Bumblebee do the "Save Martha" thing and Nemesis reverted back into Optimus.

Oh, Megatron. After TF1, he was reduced into someone's b!tch.
G1 Megs will not allow himself to turned into that.
G1 Galvatron on the other hand can be easily fooled.

 

If it were possible to like this post more than once, I would. Can you imagine if the Ninja Turtles were relegated to background characters in their own movie? Or if the X-Men movies only featured the titular characters for about 20 minutes of a 2hr movie? There'd be uproar! Yet, we all (well lots of the movie going public) accept it for Transformers..

As to Bay filming cars like they're women and women like they're cars, and (in the latest instalment) even reducing the most intelligent female lead he's had in the franchise to the 'love interest in a push-up bra'.. Well, we've all had this talk before.

 

No he didn't. He made Transformers more profitable, certainly, but Transformers has been a mainstay brand for Hasbro since the 1990s. Heck in the Armada/Energon days Hasbro had to drag out old molds and institute the original Universe line just to keep up with demand. It isn't like Transformers was on life support before the first movie came out - the franchise has been healthy for decades now.

Bay may given the franchise a major dose of Red Bull (which seems to be wearing off at this point), but Transformers was doing well before the movies as well.

 

I.e. the personality I would've preferred Ironhide to have.  

 

Has it been ten years? Yep, how time flies. The friends I've made,things I've learned about TF, fun I've had are all thanks to these films. They've single handled rekindled my interest in the brand. Coming to them as an adult(was 29 when the first one was released). Has given me the ability to appreciate the nuances I'd have missed as a kid.

Are they great, upstanding gems of the cinema? Aka some of Spielberg's finest works, of course not nor should they be. These are great popcorn eating,jaw dropping SFX sit back and enjoy the movie flicks.

The scores have all been fantastic,say what you will about the moiveverse but some of the cinematography has been gorgeous.
My favorite of the films is still ROTF and TLK is a very close second. Simply for the mythos and back story. Yes,yes I wanted more robots less humans but this is our world. So I tolerate the humans,how else to see what being around the Bots are actually like. We are small,squashy beings possessed of minuscule life spans. It is a lovely play off the TFs who are not only large in stature,tech, but also age. Thus back to the mythos between us and I'll say no more.Thanks to everyone involved in the films, it's been a wild and crazy ten years. And thanks to Sol Fury for the excellent article.  

 

I am a huge fan of the movies. My ranking for them goes like this.

1. Age of Extinction
2. Dark of the Moon
3.The Last Knight
4. Transformers (2007)
5. Revenge of the Fallen

I know i made the first movie ranked lower, but i still enjoy them for what they are.

 

I think Hasbro needs to be acknowledge for credit for filling in the backstory for the characters. Since the movies do not do enough, Hasbro gives bio and story info on the toys and official fiction. When the movies do not not provide enough info, Hasbro releases toys and stories of the characters and when they release new toys, they follow up on what happens to the characters. . 

 

is that why the movie toy's bios have gotten shorter and shorter in recent years even for new characters?

 

10 years ago today I saw it on DVD

 

R. I. P

 

I still love the first movie  

 

Wow,I'm gonna steal this pic.