So why no Autobot drones in the movies?

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by optimusdestruction, May 24, 2011.

  1. Suchus Prime

    Suchus Prime Well-Known Member

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    In the movieverse weren't the autobots an endangered species? Maybe that's why.
     
  2. Dirge121

    Dirge121 I'll be your end of days

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    The last act of the 2007 movie and the entirety of ROTF.
     
  3. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Never happened.

    Ratchet, Ironhide and the military struggled to take down Brawl alone. Only once Bumblebee joined did the flak just become too much. And contrary to what people seem to think, Lennox did not one-shot kill Blackout. He didn't even really faze him, he was too busy being blasted apart by an F-22 squad.

    None of the Decepticons died from hand-held fire in ROTF. It was tanks or the bombers that took them out. The infantry was just there to basically give the 'Cons grief.
     
  4. Nachtsider

    Nachtsider Banned

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    Whatever you say, man.

    Sabot rounds (be it fired from small arms or from tanks/planes) = magic bullets the Movie-verse could have done without.
     
  5. Anguirus

    Anguirus Well-Known Member

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    Isn't it though? Transformers has always conformed to the expectations of whatever genre it has found itself in, whether '80s cartoon, Bronze Age comic book, Modern Age comic book, or 2000s action flick. However, lots of people seem confused when the movies fail to attend to the conventions of the Sunbow cartoon, i.e. of the wrong genre (both sides have equal numbers and technology, status quo is always maintained, few if anyone dies, and nearly every robot character is there to hock a toy).

    Presuming that, like so many of us, when he says "drones" he means "generics who may or may not be named," the question answers itself when you think about the genre that the Bay-universe plays out in. You get to know each Autobot at least a little bit, and together they make up, not a galaxy-spanning faction, but little more than a small commando unit. Who are they up against? A vast army of bigger, stronger, dumber, and faceless foes. This is an absolute staple of the action genre. Sure, there are a few Decepticons who are standout threats, but most of them are the Stormtroopers.

    Watching Optimus mow through ten generic Decepticons as he skids to a halt in the street is breathtaking. I don't need their life stories, screw those guys. In a live-action spectacle film like this, we wouldn't expect to see Optimus gently nudging them aside so that they can sell toys in another episode, another day.

    Giving this close-knit team of individual heroes a bunch of droid cannon fodder to use isn't exciting at all. This is Black Hawk Down, not the cheering section of a Starcraft tournament.

    Agreed, with a caveat. The first film had that one stupid scene where they talked about "sabot rounds," when they meant incendiary rounds, and then in the rest of the flick the contribution of the military was about right. Then, the Decepticons failed to learn anything for movie 2, launching a totally lame invasion of earth that culminated in Megatron himself being forced into an ignominious retreat by a tiny armored force. This should have been like All Hail Megatron, but instead we got robots with a million years of civilization behind them having no concept of combined arms or tactics and having their main force's shit ruined by one shell, two airstrikes, a small handful of tanks, and a Special Forces unit. Writing fail.
     
  6. ElectricPrada09

    ElectricPrada09 Speedster.

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    Hey, guess what?.....THIS!
     
  7. Starscreamer69

    Starscreamer69 Well-Known Member

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    Why would the audience feel any connection with the Autobots if they had just drones just as cannon fodder? They wouldn't.
    There's your answer.
     
  8. Nachtsider

    Nachtsider Banned

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    You know something? There actually were Autobot drones in the movies. Their names were Arcee, Jolt, Chromia and Elita-One.
     
  9. Starscreamer69

    Starscreamer69 Well-Known Member

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    Hahaha, I was thinking of bringing that up.