Hasbro said in a press release. Dotm's down fall was doing the same character toys over & over again in the movie verse.

Building on that,Is the answer replace all the robots or keep a few stars.
What characters & designs would you like to see in TF4.

Is their a need for at the very least. For the core starring transformers characters. like Optimus,Megatron,Bumblebee & Starscream in TF4. If yes,what challenges does Hasbro & Takara face in giving them all unique toy designs that parents & kids will buy their toys again in the movie verse toy line.

TF4 Bumblebee might be a easy one if Volkwagon allows hasbro to use the 2014 new model in yellow. doing a G-1 Bumblebee robot mode might be different enough to make parents buy the toy.

Megatron is a easy one,he could get upgraded into galvatron. with two unique forms. Megatron thru the years in more flexable in alt modes & body design than optimus.

Starscream isn't needed if megatron becomes galvatron. due to galvatron's top guys being cyclonus & scourge. If Megatron is in TF4. Maybe Stascream can use his old F-15 alt mode or his machine wars huge black jet mode.

Optimus Prime would be extremely hard to create a new design for. too similar then parents won't buy it. Sentinel took the big fire engine design in DOTM. Optimus would look weird & not get accepted by fans as a tank or jet.
going back to the 1984 truck design would be a step backwards & would look too similar to his movie truck alt mode. Optimus might be able to get a mechsnical beast mode but then he'd lose his really great blend in disguise alt mode. a leader needs to blend in better than others especially if he's a good guy that doesn't want to harm the humans.

If their looking for all newer Transformers characters & different designs. Then I say go the futeristic & mechanical animals route. Doing futeristic alt modes could look like season 3 & 4 from 1986 & 1987. The futeristic robots designs could look more like the 1986 season 3 designs. maybe more like WFC & FOC Cybertronian designs.

I don't think anyone wants to see the TF4 robots designs looking like gundam or macross valkyre designs.

Transformers 4 could take place 25 to 100 years into the future on earth. All the old remaining not dead cast of robots cast could have moved on & got different missions elsewhere in the universe.

TF4 could be a time warp series. where the future transformers time travel to the past to change & restore history. the decepticons time travel from the future to the past to change history. the future autobots pursue to keep history the same or restore it.

TF4 futeristic cast for the Autobots. Rodimus Prime,Metroplex,Five Dinobots,Sklynx,Springer,Broadside. Ultra Magnus,Kup. Technobots,Double dealer more loyal to the Autobots.

TF4 Futeristic decepticons,Galvatron,Cyclonus,Scourge. Predaking,Trypticon,Blitzwing,Astrotrain,horrorcons apeface & snapdragon. Abonimus,maybe a few mega pretenders like Thunderwing.

 

Yes.

ROTF had some really great designs, so hopefully there'll be robots featured with some really bizarre or outlandish looks.

As to the humans, I'd prefer they keep Lennox or Epps or Simmons from the films, and get a completely new cast.

 

I enjoy your theories up here^ I would LOVE to see them get off this "ratchet planet" and travel to Cybertron to restore it.

 

It does seem like they are wanting this strange thing of doing everything that a reboot does without actually calling it a reboot even though reboots have been a successful plan for other franchises and even Transformers cartoons.

If this not a reboot with an all new human cast and a mostly new robot cast but the exact same production team will actually work is something that's just too hard to know at this point. We don't even have any art work on the new designs to know if they are a radical departure from the films have done so far or just the same thing with a few tweaks.

At this point I'd take everything with a huge grain of salt. We are so far from filming and a release that they could pretty much promise anything in the world right now. It would not be the first or last time that a company went with tell people something you think they might want to hear to get them buzzing about our product.

 

This is, of course, entirely dependant on just how much the filmmakers want to "change" for TF4. We have no idea what the basic story is, we have no idea what kind of scenes they want, what kind of cast they want, how much they'll actually replace the characters and so on. We just don't know enough to accurately gauge what they might do or how they'd do it. And we probably won't know much more for months.

But moving on. If they wanted to do a vastly different aesthetic for TF4, yet still have the movie exist in the same universe as the previous three movies*, the only way I can see them doing it in a believable way would be to have the movie take place like, 50+ years in the future. But then they run the risk of not being able to have the new 2015 [insert vehicle here] model to promote. Unless they wanted to do something like I, Robot where you had recognizable present day car models, but "futurized". Slick "future" versions of Camaros, Corvettes, Suburbans, etc..

*Now, if it was a legitimate "reboot", then having a completely new aesthetic/design range isn't a problem. Bayformers tried "hyper complexity", so I would've liked to have seen a reboot try something "slick and solid", akin to IDW designs/TFP.

 

Of course, TF4 could start out with Mikaela waking up and realizing that DotM was all just a bad dream  

 

Mikaela: Damn, I just had a horrible dream!
Sam: What was it?
Mikaela: I dreamt there were characters based off Mirage and Wheeljack, but they weren't called Mirage and Wheeljack!
Sam: ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH
Mikeala: ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH
Wheelie: ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH
Optimus: ARRRRRRMynameisOptimusPrimeGGGGGHHHHH

 

Let's try it and see. There's more than just the 'Bay Way'. Change it up with new humans, robots, alt modes and design style. And director.  

To be honest, I don't think the general public cares enough about Transformers to be fussed if everything changed. They just want giant CGI robots hitting each other and turning into stuff.

Not DotM, but just in general...

Mikaela: "Damn, I just had the weirdest dream."
Trent: "What was it about?"
Mikaela: "I was dating that Sam Wickity guy. And there were robots fighting. And my ass cheeks were on display as I draped myself over a motorbike."
Trent: "Tell me more about this motorbike..."

*fapping sounds*

Trent: "Mikaela? Is that sound you fapping?"
Mikaela: "Little bit..."

 

Is it confirmed that all the robot characters get replaced? Even Prime and so on? Also, ROTF had some really wicked designs, expecially the constructions, I hope the new designs are more like those. Maybe we get Combaticons or something.

 

They don't have a choice to replace everyone.
Irobhide's dead
Jazz is dead
Megatron's dead
Starscream's dead
Ravage is dead
Laserbeak is dead
Soundwave is dead
Bonecrusher is dead
Brawl is dead
Blackout is dead
Devastator is dead
Jetfire is dead
The twins are dead
Frenzy is dead
Scorponok is dead
Wheeljack is dead

Basically a lot of familiar names are dead. So there will be A LOT of replacements. Especially when the main bad guy is dead....again....

 

I don't know if it's been 100% confirmed if they're replacing all of the robots. They've said some things that point to 'yes', but I honestly can't see them getting rid of Optimus and/or Bumblebee (unless the plot absolutely dictated so). Those two are the flagship characters of the movieverse and I just can't see them ditching them. At the most, I can see them removing all of the robot characters except for Optimus and 'Bee. But I could be wrong. We'll have to wait and find out.

 

They were talking specifically about the toy line, not the movie.

As far as we know, any returning characters (who weren't dead at the end of DOTM) probably won't have new designs, since TF4 will be taking place in the existing continuity.

This wouldn't happen, for a number of reasons.

They most likely aren't going to do that.

Hard to pull off, not very interesting, and I simply think people wouldn't be into that.

Please, no time travel. Time travel is overdone and clichéd, plus the plots get massacred as they are. Adding time travel is just fuel on the fire.

 

Which makes me wonder why they are so determined that they must save the story so far at any cost. Is the general public into the story enough to really care if the story continuity is kept? The general public didn't storm out of Dark of the Moon when it wasn't explained about what happened to the Twins or other characters so I'm not sure if story is really important to most of the people buying tickets.

 

It's also incredibly ignorant of the grandfather paradox. Going back to change what motivated you to go back and change something in the first place. It would be a big mess of stupid.

I'm just disappointed that not only is this motivated by toy sales but that they're throwing Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Sideswipe, Dino, and Ratchet under a bus to sell more toys.

That annoys me.

 

I think all da bayformers shud do some acid.

 

I'd think at least Optimus and Bumblebee will be back, even if they have new forms. Too well known of characters to totally drop them. As far as everyone else, well it wasn't like they were that imporant anyways so they can be replaced.

 

Yes, they can replace the whole crowd that but there's going to be a lot to replace.

 

They could quite easily say the autobots scanned new forms so I would say its completly possible.

 

They can easily drop some Autobots without an explanation like they did between RotF and DotM and the rest is humans so no great loss there either.
If I was in charge I'd keep Optimus and Bumblebee but reformat them to new bodies so they're fresh and Hasbro can have a better crack at new toys for them. I'd also get rid of Bumblebee's radio voice which would instantly make him seem like a new character even though he'd still be the same guy.

The good thing about Transformers is the main characters (and yes, they are the main characters, or at least should be) is that they can be changed in so many ways and still be the same character as before. And since they live so long that means swapping one cast of humans out for another is no difficulty to explain away either as you've just got to shift the story ahead a number of years. Might be interesting to encounter a sixty-year-old Sam.

 

Well, I would have some character wishes, but seeing as they are realized, I don't care. I would be disappointed anyway.