I really have to commend the team at ILM. They made the robots in Transformers feel absolutely realistic and dynamic in movement.

Michael Bay stated that he didn't want to see "huge clunkin'" robots.

Instead we got robots that are really agile and can do all kinds of movements that are humanly physically possible.

In the movie, I was very surprised and the fluidity (or smoothness for lack of a better term) of their movement. One of the moves that you see alot was the rolling. You would see Autobots roll around whether it be to go into battle or move from point A to point B or to transform like we saw the Audi R8 do in the trailer.

I personally really like that they do alot of rolling and show off their agility.

Does anyone feel differently about this?

 

I agree.

But I also think due to their sizes that Giant "Metal" Robots due to Earth's Gravity should not have been able to movie that fast Alien or otherwise. Gravity is Gravity.

The heavier the object, the slower it moves (usually)

 

i did feel one of Ironhide's tumbles was a bit much, but i kinda like it-fits with "Transform and Roll out"

 

I think it's great. Bonecrushers little Highway stunt being the best use of it in movie one.

Their is a lot of complaining about all the Wheelbots is ROTF, and I seriosuly think that's lame.

 

the complaing or the Wheelbots?

 

I felt like their weight was conveyed really well. Sure, gravity will apply a greater force on a giant metal robot than on a human, but said robot should be able to apply a much greater force on itself than a human would, so it should all about balance out. Plus, you have to admit that manuvers like Barricade's sideways roll/forward dive transformation in the first movie and the Audi's (maybe Barricade again!) running lunge transformation in the RotF trailer are just badass.

 

I was wondering the same thing LOL!

 

I agree. and totally forgot to consider that before making my above reply. oh well, shit happens. lol

 

I hope he means the complaining   I love the wheelbot designs, it makes so much sense to expand the physical possibilities of a race made up of giant robots. There's no reason for them to all be so humanoid and the innovative designs we're seeing now get me really excited. Same with the way some robots have double-jointed legs, or wheels in their feet. Just plain cool and really emphasizing the fact that they're robots.

And yes, I love the agility and barrel-rolls and flips and everything they do.

 

I absolutely agree. I like the fact that majority of them are humanoid looking robots with legs, torso, arms and a head but it doesn't mean that they all have to look like that. Adding other types of robots like frenzy bots, beast bots (ravage and skorponok) and spider bots like the nokia bot adds some sort of diversity to them and just shows off how complex their race is

 

See, with me the rolling thing is kind of goofy. One thing that I really liked about those preliminary designs of the TF1 autobots were that sometimes wheels would separate, split, and extrude. Ultimately Hasbro objected because they figured it'd be too tough for the toys. But I really liked that design idea.

Now it seems like everything is wheel based... and it's kind of a buzz kill. When I saw those glimpses of the Arcee drones, I rolled my eyes way into the back of head. They look weird, like half transformed. I just hope that the combined Arcee kicks ass, because if all we get is the Arcee unicycle triplets prancing around, I'm gonna be pissed. And like I said before, I enjoy the idea of the massive rolling wheel, on earth, because it means lots of little squishy chinese people.

Maybe my beef is because we're supposed to believe that these guys from a technologically advanced alien planet, where flight and anti-gravity motion are common place, yet they're still rolling around on tires. (See those scans of the constructicons on Cybertron that were recently released.)

 

Bonecrusher: "Geewunners see me rollin', dey hatin'... an' I be hatin' dem, too."

 

You can't use scans from the comics as viable grounds for complaint about movie designs, Bay has said he doesn't consider the stories connected. Unless those designs actually show up in the movies, there's no real ground for complain there.

Also, there hasn't been any indication that the TFs from the movie have any sort of anti-gravity devices either, so who's to say they don't have wheels on Cybertron? And like you said yourself, the Autobot's wheels would open and expand etc. in robot mode, so they're obviously not real, air-filled rubber tires either, which I think adds to the plausibility of them having wheels in their various Cybertronian modes.

 

The agility of the Autobots in TF1 was great. Loved Ironhide's rolling and how fluid Jazz was. Even Ratchet gets in on the rolling action when Starscream turns up.

It's really nice to see these big robots moving in such a realistic way. If they couldn't they would be easy targets for one another.

 

Really didn't like it myself.

I don't know it just seemed to take the realism out because it seemed like they would go back and forth between being heavy and being light. It also seemed like if even the largest of robots could move like a ninja then there was no real advantage to being a smaller robot. And well, I know it's just me but the flipping jumping stuff just seemed like something I should be watching in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, not in Transformers. More of a goofy factor than a cool factor for me.

I guess it's just too much a break from really where an elephant is vastly stronger and tougher than say a small dog, but the small dog can do back flips that no elephant could ever hope to do. Just seems like even robots should have to make some sort of trade offs on what they can do because of their size.

 

I think all the kung fu moves they did in the first movie was a bit over the top. The scene where Ratchet launches himself in the air, somersaults, then cuts off Brawl's arm with his saw? That was too much for me..

But in overall, I think the rolling is pretty awesome. It works for smaller bots to do some kick-ass moves (like Jazz), and Bonecrusher was pretty awesome, skating around the highway.

Rolling: yes.
Super-martial-arts: no.

 

You guys seem to be forgetting that they're not powered by muscle, they're robots. Super-advanced, alien hydraulics and stuff..it's strange to think that they COULDN'T be able to do the kind of acrobatics they pulled off in the first movie. Especially since it was the smaller ones doing them. Jazz's transform and flip onto Brawl stunt was much more impressive than Ratchet's flip and cut off his arm move. The things they did in the movie were exactly the kind of things they did in the cartoon, it wouldn't have been right without them.

 

Even with motors, hydraulics, and any other machine parts we could think of there is still physics at play in machines just like with biological creatures. For example if you had a small sports car and a large truck with equal horse power there would still be things that one could do that the other could not.

 

True, but I dare argue that in the case of giant, super-powerful alien robots, a small one could do three flips while a larger one could maybe do one and a half  

 

I think its sorta cool, and I can understand doing it with the transforming- getting a running start- but some of the super-acrobatics and stuff just seemed sorta dumb- especially with the bulkier robots like Ratchet doing that wierd flippy jump in the air. Even with them being advanced robots and essentially super-technology, some designs just wouldn't allow such movement. That'd be like one of those ridiculously huge body builder guys doing olympic gymnastics: very silly, if even possible.