Is there a 4K version of the trailer available anywhere? I'd like to see HQ screenshots of Charlie's garage, I'm curious if there are any easter eggs buried in there...

 

I'm sure she's just checking if he's alright, what he's doing in the water in the first place, i think he got injured.

 

Yeah, that definitely seems to be what's happening. Bumblebee probably gets hurt, and she has to jump in the water and repair/revive him or something along those lines. We know from the set photos that she's a swimmer, so it's probably part of a subplot or arc for her. I understand the romance thing as a joke, but I'm legitimately surprised how many people think there's really going to be a romance between a robot and a human in the movie.

 

Leave that shit to cringey fanfics

 

Man, i LOVE how he bends his wings, it's just too iconic-ish it brings me a tear to my eye.

 

No, I love femme bots.

It's been a while since I posted what you replied to, but I believe my point is that boy brands are moving into the female category because girl toys sell better. It's not that including females is wrong; it's when females are used to dumb down males or pander to women's need to bash the opposite gender!   Back in the day, there were female G1 fans. And in order to get them, Hasbro was pushed into creating Arcee and other femme bots (they were staunch against the idea, if I recall correctly).

Basically, Hasbro archaically looks at toys as gender-split. So they inevitably create media/products that pander to one gender or another, while ignoring the profitable overlap between genders.

In other words: why make the BB movie co-star a young female lead? Why not have a male lead, too? Remember how Power Rangers includes both female AND male Rangers? Is that impossible for TF movies? Do we need to tailor the movie to ONE gender only? Of course, this could be Travis Knight's vision of a cute, romantic TF side story - that's fine. But if you look at this from a toy industry perspective? It's very much Hasbro pushing the brand onto females in order to recover from the diminishing TF sales.

TFs may have sold better than SW 8, as you mentioned... but I don't think you're seeing the larger picture. ALL [BOY] toys are selling much worse than they did 10 years ago. Heck, probably worse than even 5 years ago. It's affecting all BOY toy lines. This narrative is much clearer if you take some time to read investor reports from Hasbro (and stock news stories from investing companies), where they explain their slipping sales numbers.

 

And he was created by the Allspark, don't forget!  

There's absolutely no heritage behind the character. I believe the Blu-Ray extras also explained that those weren't really his parents (being that he was created by the Allspark).

So yes, it would be impossible for any of Sam's ancestors (i.e. "father") to be included in the movie.  

But while we're on the subject of Sam being the only viable choice for a male lead in a TF movie (???), I'm shocked you don't think Spike or Sparkplug could be included. In an 80s TF movie.  

 

"Where's the male lead in the Bumblebee movie?" It's the title of the bloody movie.

 

We have yet to see the full movie. So it's all speculation. I am expressing concern that they're trying to make this about his female co-star too much. CG is expensive, so it stands to reason there will be a LOT of scenes with the female lead. In a franchise typically meant for little boys? You don't see an issue there?   I think the movie could be AMAZING, don't get me wrong! But I still question the choice to make the lead a female.  

 

There's been 5 movies with male leads, I think the franchise can handle one movie with a female lead.

 

Good point.

Assuming Knight pays extra for a ton of CG scenes? I mean, wasn't this the TF movie that had LESS BUDGET?

So, in line with the notion of a low-budget TF movie, I suspect BB will be cameo'ing a lot more than starring. To put it more clearly: do you remember Beetlejuice?

Even though the movie is called “Beetlejuice,” the character only has 17 minutes of screen time out of a 92-minute running time. 13 Facts You Didn't Know About 'Beetlejuice' | HuffPost

Just some food for thought!  

 

That's exactly my point!   Why do we have to choose ONE over the other?

Power Rangers.

 

Uh huh. That's great an all but we've had early screenings, and folk have said that it's an even split between robot and human.

Ok but you clearly didn't get my point.

Kamen Rider.

 

From what I've been told, the fact she's female doesn't take away from the plot, and might be more to try and make it less easy to make comparisons between her and Sam from the first film.

Plus, they're letting this one ride instead of that overblown 'fight like a girl' crap with Izzy in TLK when she ultimately proved to be so completely unnecessary she literally says at one point she doesn't know why she's even around.

 

Not too familiar with Kamen Rider, sorry!  

Well, that's good news about the even split, I guess. Now wait for the release and give me the toy numbers, please!   I suspect this will NOT revive the slumping sales, because young boys need a young boy lead in their movies. But maybe I'm being cynical - they may ignore the girl and enjoy the movie for BB.

But please don't debate that young boys like female leads. I don't think this has ever been the case, ever. Some kids don't mind, but the majority of boys are looking for characters they relate to. And young boys don't have the emotional depth to relate to females like that.

Hasbro wants girls to buy the toys, I think. Or they're staying out of the creative process and this is all a happy accident???

I hope the movie does better. But that redesigns continue, as well. We need to move FAR AWAY from Bay choices and designs. The success of the previous movies are like the success of the Sam Raimi Spider-man flicks: I think it had more to do with the novelty and strong brand than it had to do with the actual strength of the films. Once the gleam and shine of the new product wears off, we're left with actual substance to push the brand. And sadly, the TF films have lacked real substance. It's been BOOM BOOM KA-PLOWEEEE for too long!  

 

I would love a more fan-focused, adult version of TFs. A sexy Arcee would sell well in Japan, too. But this would be waaaaaaay too controversial for Hasbro to ever green light.

I wonder when we'll start seeing 3P movies, though!  

 

Pretty much, the TF films only succeeded because they were CGI spectacles on an unheard of level initially. As technology improved in other films, they had to go to China which hadn't been as exposed as the west, so they could milk that money. It was when China largely thought TLK was forgettable compared to their reaction to AoE that it became clear the Transformers couldn't coast on gorgeous CGI to cover a shit plot.

Uh, I'd prefer we NOT go down that route again. Kiss Players is largely not spoken of for a very good reason in terms of 'adult content' and 'in Japan'.

 

You're right: about adult males. But you forgot to mention Ripley's famous undies scene?   Was she really, "middle-aged" when she made that movie?  

Anyway, Hasbro aims to sell TFs to young boys. The giant climb in TF sales during the "good" movie years was NOT from adult fans.

I sincerely question the marketing choice to have BB co-star with a young girl, when the original 80s G1 TFs (of which this new movie is clearly borrowing from) featured a young BOY.

This very much feels like Hollywood making every male-centered product into a female product (i.e. Ghostbusters, Oceans8, etc.). And trust me, the success rate on these things are not high. Now, if you look at this movie from the perspective of a toy company (because arguably, Hasbro intends to use the BB movie to move TOY product), then you have to wonder if this cast will really attract the key 7-12 boy demographic.

I actually worry about the males the movie may attract. Like adult Britney Spears fans! And I don't mean that her fans are grown up now; I mean the creepy ones who went to her show when she started out!   At least when we make off-color remarks about Megan Fox, she was NOT underage. The sexy scenes in TF movies were already a bit of a bad choice (imo), and I'm sincerely concerned that they chose such a YOUNG actress for this... but at least it's not Bay at the wheel, and I think Knight will handle it better.

 

Hold up:

TLK failed because it EXCLUDED CHINA. The story is that Paramount/Bay got too many lawsuits from their last movie trip to China, so they just skipped the entire hassle this time around.

I was saying that was a TERRIBLE idea from the moment the plot was leaked. China is the bread-and-butter of these movies, period. Excluding Chinese actors and a Chinese location? That's just stupid on stupid.  

Kiss Players was interesting to me. I know Westerners balk and laugh and get waaaaay shocked about these things, but Japan is home to some bizarre stuff. I can almost commend the attempt to do something crazy with the brand. And yeah, it did fail. And probably a good thing it failed. But that's not to say that thinking outside the box is the problem. If I had to choose, I think I'd rather keep Kiss Players than any of the Unicron Trilogy by Aaron Archer. But that's just me. I don't promote underage kissing, but I'm also open-minded enough to not consider any of that REAL or intended to be live-action. Also, I've never actually read the manga to properly judge it all. Kiss to activate powers is cute, sans loli fetish. But again, my opinion will flip on a dime, were I more knowledgeable about the topic - so none of this is meant to condone any horrible underage scene I'm not aware of.  

 

I don't think the movie having a female as the main human character is a problem. I mean, Bumblebee is still technically the protagonist anyway. What they're doing here is the Doctor Who formula. If you had Bumblebee team up with a boy, people would complain that it's too male-focused. This is a clever way of representing males and females without having an unnecessary love-interest or something.

I don't think it will turn away young boys. Boys aren't really interested in females in that age, but it doesn't mean they dislike them. Boys might be turned away if she were overly girly and it came across like a "girl's show", but since she's a tomboy that shouldn't be a concern.

Also, the main concern with female characters in 'boy's media' seems to be toy sales. From what I gather, female characters like Rey and Jyn Erso just don't sell very well, even if they are tomboyish. This also shouldn't be a concern here, because Hasbro generally only makes toys of the robots, not the humans.