I was just responding to the post that said he had a crush on Mikela. I was gonna say that if robots gave off pheromones, we could just ask Ratchet.

 

IG:
You're right. I was just elaborating.  

 

Yes IMO it's incredibly stupid. But the movie was a big car commercial for the new Camaro, so it's not surprising.

 

Actually, it bothers me PRECISELY because it was used for ease of storytelling. As in sloppy. As in lazy. As in clinically stupid.

Yes, that was stupid too. I think I might have uttered a chain of expletives in the theater at that point... just when you think a movie is as bad as it's going to get, they have to go and show you up.

Also the fact that they used the "Battles Without Honour and Humanity" theme from KILL BILL for that scene just because Bumblebee's deco matches Uma Thurman's track suit. A double-helping of lame.

EXAAAAACTLY!  

I realize that magic scanning has been the cheap trick of recent TF series (and so the Movie is not the first)... but that doesn't make it not suck.

Too bad it doesn't equal good filmmaking.  

Surely they could have come up with a better way to introduce BB's new mode.

Trans-scanning sucks. Bring back the good ol' days, when a TF would have to actually go under the knife to get a new alt mode! At least in Animated, they have to go into a special chamber, which leaves much of the process mercifully vague.  

zmog

 

Starscream and Lugnut and Blitzwing didn't, but I have a theory on that. The Autobots only used a remote scanner and chamber because they were underwater and couldn't physically scan the alt modes themselves and then use their personal reformatting systems.
If a TF is able to scan an alt themselves then they'll do the job with their own internal transcanning systems.

 

I see where 26 Mirage is coming from.

I thought that it was a little lame that BB, a yellow Camero with racing stripes, would find a brand new, yellow camero, with racing stripes to change into, in the same tunnel, at the same time of night. My wish would be that the Camero was at least a different color.

 

At first it bothered me, but the autobots arrived on earth without any ship's help.

So where would they reformat themselves? You have to alter the whole storyline by adding a ship to make the bot reformatting according to the g1 standards.

Also, adding a scene of bee being reformatted would've sucked plenty of the movie budget.

Plus that, and the protoform arrival, makes the bots more advanced and independent, they don't rely on exterior equipment for this tasks.

 

Oh wow! It's the new Camaro which is crappier and worth less!

 

They had the magic transcanning in G1, too, just that Teletraan 1 did the magic part instead of the Tf doing it themselves. Since all it took for them to get thier Earth modes in the first place was Teletraan 1 scanning a vehicle and then zapping the TF with a beam, then they should have been able to change their alt mode just as easily.

 

There were robotic arms as well as the beam of light, so I just take that as some actual rebuilding was going on as well. I'm sure TF techology would progress over time to result in personal transcanning and reformatting ability. In Beast Wars they relied on the scanners in the ships and on stasis pods, but by the time Beast Machines came along the Maximals and Predacons on Cybertron had DNA scanners installed in their bodies as well (which begs the question of why the Beast Wars were needed to bring DNA to Cybertron when other Cybertronians were obviously hopping to other planets rich with DNA anyway).

Unicron turning Megatron into Galvatron could be the first instance of a TF being reformatted without actually being rebuilt in the traditional way.  

I suppose we just have to put it down to incredible unlikely coincidence.

 

I'd forgotten about the Cons in Animated scanning new forms without a ship. Given the format of the show, it makes sense with so many TFs arriving independently on the planet. It would get hard to explain how every Decepticon who shows up rebuilt himself to disguise himself as an earth vehicle.

But overall, I have never liked the "magic scanning". Call it "nanotechnology" all you want, it just doesn't make sense or work with the design of the TFs. It's simplified and it's cheap. Makes everything too easy. Even as a kid watching the cartoon, it just seemed like a lame animator's shorthand. Anything that takes away from Transformers' sense of mechanical biology just sort of pisses me off.

I prefer to put it down to bad scripting.  

Yeah... nice point about the Megatron-to-Galvatron upgrade. I accepted that more because it seemed to make sense that Unicron, being a god (or godlike being) would have according "magic science" powers.

But unfortunately, getting a new alt mode is now as easy as changing your socks. One might have expected that in their ambitious and oft-cited pursuit of "realism", Dreamworks & Co would have come up with something a little less facile than magic scanning for the movie... but then, to expect that would have been to expect a much better movie than we got ultimately.  

zmog

 

lol HARDLY, Great response!

Scanning is fine with me, I thought it was Cool and in movies that's what matters. In the theater that was a part of the theater were the masses always made Woot Woot noises. So, the masses liked it and the movie was a success so I see no issue with picking the movie apart anymore. It's pointless, the movies done and on DVD already. Let it go.

 

I dunno, ask Ratchet.
 

 

No. I don't think I will.

So long as there are people who love the movie, I know my work must go on, until everyone is disillusioned, freed from their Bay-addled stupor, and we can usher in a new golden age of quality cinema, unfettered by crass commercialism, mindless populism and simple careless, schlocky indifference.

But no, seriously. It was terrible, wasn't it?

Dissecting it, bit by bit, and holding up every cancerous celluloid minute to the harsh light of cynical scrutiny is the only bit of entertainment I'm ever going to get out of that film. It stole my money, stole 2 hours of my time, and blackened a little part of my soul. Now it has to pay.  

zmog

 

The scanning didn't bother me at all. What bothered me was that BB scans an 08 Camaro that is the same color as BB, that isn't even in production, and at the very moment Megan Fox complains about BB looking like a piece of shit.

I can suspend disbelief just as much as the next the guy, but even I have my limits.

 

Exactly... there's a difference between normal movie coincidences, and completely ridiculous coincidences that disrupt the mood of the whole film.

In the scene in question, if they wanted to make it slightly better, they could have at least been parked or something, and seen a Concept Camaro go by... Mikaela could have looked longingly at the hot new car, and then looked at Bumblebee to make a snide comment. THEN it would have made more sense for BB to go after the other Camaro... it could have even generated a brief moment of comedic tension since it might appear as though BB is going after the other car in a fit of jealous rage. Of course he would then scan it and come back showing off his new look.

STILL an outrageous coincidence, but marginally less absurd than the way it was played in the movie.

zmog

 

SMOG, you take this way too seriously.

Transformers the franchise as a whole is commercialism and blatant advertising at perhaps its worst, because it targets children directly with commercials pretending to be stories and adventures, solely to flog toys at them.

BB's body parts changed to reflect his new outer body panels. I believe the robot structure of the 09 Camaro robot mode was also abit more streamlined than the 76 Camaro robot mode.

And as I said earlier, this model of Camaro was driving around Australia, flanked by Mustangs in 2007 and 2008. It is highly implausible the way the movie depicts it due to the fact test vehicles generally use camoflage paint, but not impossible.

What's more, it was the actual production design, not the concept design BB is based upon (different proportions).

 

^^ I second the above. It's got giant transforming robots. No matter how "serious" or "realistic" any TF movie tries to be, you have to accept a certain amount of "hollywood cheese" factor. The whole scene with BB getting a new alt-mode was put in the movie because of it was silly and cute and a perfect upbeat scene that would fit in between the other more serious scenes.

I enjoyed this movie a lot but A TON of scenes in the movie were silly and unrealistic. Folks need to lighten up and have more realistic expectations from a mainstream TF film.

 

To Megatronwp38
Why do you keep your movie collection in boxes?