I think it's harder to take the movie as we would another series simply because it's a movie. If Spielberg, Bay, ILM, Dreamworks and Paramount came to me and said "We're making a movie about TFs, do you want it to be totally new and different or based on the original characters?", I'd go with original. And, look, they told us it would be mainly based on G1! That question actually *came* into perspective, it's not like we're pissed that the movie don't look like what we want out of thin air.

 

Very well said. There's nothing more I can add without repeating myself or others. No more from me on this thread.

 

It's STILL "based on" G1. The movie is about Autobots fighting Decepticons, led by Optimus Prime and Megatron. Also most of the names are from key G1 characters as well. Barricade is the only one that comes to mind that wasn't a big name G1 character. It's just not a straight retelling of the story with characters that look identical to the originals.

 

cappeca, what other Transformers series other than G1 has them disguised as present day Earth vehicles, includes characters named Ironhide, Jazz, Rachet, and has a human character named Spike that tags along with a yellow Autobot named Bumblebee? Also, the action takes place at a dam, in a desert, and in cities. Sounds like G1 to me.

I'm not out to convince anyone they have to love the way ILM's robots look; however, it would be nice to see people accept that what they are asking for is a physical impossibility instead of insisting that Bay and ILM abandoned the Transformers aesthetic in favor of their own concepts. As far as I'm aware, ILM are the only ones who have created transforming robots with realistic alt modes, a full range of motion and usable interiors that aren't anorexic like the Citroen bot.

A realistic alternative would have been to abandon the interiors, tint the windows to hide the limbs, and just say tough shit to any human who tries to get inside. Then you could have the badass Sideswipe in cappeca's Sig. But that's not exactly $150 million '07 summer blockbuster material, is it?

 

Here's a closer look at it, the devil's in the details. The only thing in common this has with TF movie designs is they have exposed parts whereas the Citroen looks like a good wack with a bat can break it. Just compare it to BB's full body prop (the only sure final design we know of).

You mean this?


Seriously, it looks like a big jumbo toy. The first time I saw the clip, I thought it was cute. Comparitively, the Citroen is vastly superior in animation and model.

See above comment on VW fan animation. What all these short test clips of transforming robots have in common is this: they all have limited movement. Any more articulation than those limited movements will result in big big headaches for the animators (the collision detection alone would be a nightmare).


Here's all the fan tests for anyone who wants to see what we are talking about...

"ILM" CGI Transformer Footage

VW fan transformation

Optimus Prime transforms test


Here's a bonus: Nike robot commercial and stills. Now that's anime influenced if I ever saw one.

The real reason why I'm posting all this is because I want everyone to step back and re-examine them all. I sure did after I first saw movie Prime's designs and I found all of them overtly simplistic and even 'cute' compared to a very robust and mature Prime.

EDIT: Sorry if this is stretching out and beating the dead horse further.

 

it looks like he got pushed down     

 

The thing that bothers me the most is that there are a lot of people claiming as a fact that this movie will 'kill transformers' whether it fails or succeeds. The designs in this movie could never be used in any other medium besides big budget films, they're just too complex. There is a very strong chance that the toyline for this movie will flop despite any box office successes due to a difficult transition between big screen to small toys. They'll either be large, complex and expensive or small, cheap and work nothing like the film designs. But with the release of numerous Alt/Bts, the incredible classics line, and the Masterpiece figures, on top of a brand new series in the works, I don't see the actual TF universe itself being to badly hurt by this movie.

It seems like it will be more like Spiderman, where the movie didn't change the comics or any other storyline at all, but became an entirely unique entity upon itself. If this movie is a success then we can expect the possibility of numerous sequals, which would allow more of the TF details and story plots to be fleshed out more. But as it is, this will just be a stand alone film with very minor negative effect on the universe as a whole.

 

Have you guys seen these?

http://flickr.com/photos/fashionablylate/sets/72157594281242351/with/240509218/

 

Yay! Another Jumblebee! Sad thing is people will still try to draw absolute conclusions about the complete robot based on that pile of parts.

 

I'd like to point out that the photographer had no idea what he was looking at, loved Transformed as a kid, and concluded that what he was seeing must be Bumblebee as another sports car incarnation. See what I'm getting at here?

 

Something the movie's detractors will vehemently deny, no doubt. "No way! If he was really a guy who loved G1 as a kid but wasn't a fan later, he'd get mad and be all like 'WTF is that crap?!' He is a liar!!!1!!!!!" "Sports car? How would he know? That doesn't look like a car! How can you tell without the entire front end on the chest?!"

 

  Exactly. For a grown man who hasn't been exposed to Transformers in 20 years, like "normal" people, the fact that it's yellow and has tires is enough to connect the dots back to Bumblebee.

 

Yeah, that much is true. If you want to do a 1000 peiced puzzle try connecting the dots on megatron and see where ya get!  

 

  I try not to think about Megatron. I am of the believe he will get a reformat and in turn become more recognizable.

 

I think we'll be waiting for the sequel on that one.

 

Why do you say things you know will hurt me? *tears*

 

He'd probably think the same if the robot was a 1:1 adaption of Armada Hot Shot, though.

 

Without the visor, Armada Hot Shot is a direct tribute to Bubmblebee, so I would expect that.

 

Not arguing with you, I'd just like to point out that Spider-Man has organic web-shooters now. And yes, it irks me. But again, not trying to argue, just wanted to vent on the webs.

 

can someone post the starscream & megs pics Ihave no idea what youre talking about