Correction, it's called nomination. You're recognized for achieving something in that department.

OK, I see that I'm being unfair here. I think it's safe to say you can say the floating Transformium cubes are state of the art VFX but to me, it takes more to impress me.

 

I thought the second "Apes" was a great movie with great effects, but I can still tell they're not real chimpanzees. Plus, they have CGI hair on them, which is different than the metal and glowing optics and bleeding Energon of CGI robots.

Furthermore, CGI effects for creatures and vehicles and props that are real or at least are close enough to being real will almost always look more real in films with great CGI effects than creatures and vehicles that aren't. I think the MCU films, like the Transformers films, have great effects for the most part. However, in the Avengers the Helicarriers look much more realistic than the Chitauri simply because the former have panels and parts that are similar to real life vehicles, while the others are entirely alien beings that don't have real life analogues in terms of appearance.

The Force Awakens has great effects, but the Rathtars don't look as good as some of the other things because their designs in of themselves are not like that of real animals with real skin. Hell, those beasts on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones looked better and not because of the quality of special effects work (which was great for the time mind you), but simply because their designs called for more realistic-looking integumentary patterns.

Also, lighting and distance will effect how CGI looks. The robots will look differently in night-time, or in environments like Lockdown's ship, than they will in broad daylight. Furthermore, many times CGI creations will look more realistic when they are more focused on in the shot, like the Psittacosaurus in close-ups vs. when he's running away from the Seed's blast in the opening scenes.

Also, I seriously hope the trend used in Rogue One of using CGI versions of dead or aging actors doesn't continue much.

Nevertheless, the fourth film has some beautiful CGI shots and scenes, like Lockdown walking on the highway, Crosshairs parachuting, a Psittacosaurus with realistic integument, Grimlock's transformation, the Knight Ship, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

 

Not too unpopular with me.

I've always considered it lazily written.

Now, here's MY unpopular opinion:
ROTF is nowhere as bad as people make it seem.
The problems with the film are not because of the writers' strike, but with the hack writers.
Oddly enough, ROTF is actually an improvement for them over the 1st film.

Don't get me wrong- there are some 'wtf'age with the film (no, not the Twins. They don't deserve the hate) but it did a lot of things very, very well.

 

That's actually fair to say. The contrast between what's real and what's fiction.

Here's something weird I'm gonna say... I think the recent Ninja Turtles movies show awesome visual effects (even if they're not nominated for anything) when you just have the motion capture turtles stand there, they look pretty darn good even when we know they are fictional turtle mutants. Other CG characters like Splinter and Krang also I think look pretty good. Bebop and Rocksteady for me anyway, I think aren't anywhere near their level despite their designs. That's just me.

CG these days feels more like a perception. I mean surely you and I can agree that the demon from Spawn doesn't look all that great right? I'm shivering in fear just looking at the image.  

 

I'd agree with you here fully, and that's what special effects, CGI and practical, have always been.

The thing is, ILM works on lots of these big movie franchises, and they do quality work regardless from what I have seen. And I think we could all agree that anything in the MCU, Transformers, DC, Star Wars Star Trek, etc. looks better than that demonic abomination!  

 

Back to unpopular opinions, I am not particularly fond of the idea of NEST. I greatly prefer it when the Autobots are entirely autonomous and not official allies with human governmental organizations. The first film, AoE, and TLK are more how human-Autobot relations should be. That's not to say that they can't have friendly or neutral relations to humans, including military members, but I think that with NEST the Autobots become tools of the military rather than an alien faction in a civil war. The Autobots drive the plot forward more and have more meaningful interactions with each other and humans when they're not a part of NEST I feel.

I also greatly prefer it when the Autobots don't get along with each other, and I really love how Drift doesn't get along fully with Hound or Bumblebee, or how Hound doesn't appreciate Drift's haikus and threatens to kill Crosshairs for wanting to abandon Prime and Tessa. I think they should insult each other and swear and get into scraps. Furthermore, I think the Pathetic Dirty Foursome, far from being just assholes, actually have a gloriously diverse set of personalities, and as characters they're quite different from each other.

 

Here's the thing:
That thing from SPAWN was done by former ILM vfx guys.

The horrid vfx of SPAWN were not because ILM didn't do it; the horrid vfx were from lack of budget.

 

I’ve said this about ROTF before: the things it does right, it does really right. But the things it does wrong, it does really wrong.

 

And I'd agree fully here, but anytime ILM guys do have the budget they do wonders.

I'd also agree that RotF isn't half bad. Yeah, it has some really bad geographical continuities, too many characters, an underused main villain, and it doesn't feel like there's a main Cybertronian character. However, RotF has some great banter between Megatron and Starscream, great designs, a forward moving story (despite the poor script due to the writer's strike), some great new robots in Jetfire and Wheelie, a Pretender, and a ton of fun and humorous moments.

Even many things that people complained about, like the juvenile humor, Leo, and the Twins are things that I think are fine.

 

RoTF has the best introduction for Optimus ever.

 

Yes and no.
See, these guys had the talent, sure, but not the infrastructure.
Not too long after pioneering Jurassic Park, a few of those guys got canned.
They formed a company called Banned from the Ranch to do vfx for Spawn.
So while ILM can perform miracles on a shoestring budget they already have an infrastructure in place to be able to achieve them.
BftR already had a shoestring budget to start with, and tried to create their own thing on top of it. That means purchasing computers, software, a facility, etc. etc. etc.

I don’t think that company was around for very long. Sometimes having the talent just isn’t enough.

And for the record, ILM also did vfx for Mummy 3, so sometimes even ILM can suck.

But then again, how much is it the vfx artists, and how much is it the producers / directors?

 

I'll put "There not the complete dumpster fires every says they are" aside and say this:

The films have some good ideas.

Now I'm not saying they are well executed (No one would hate these films if that were the case) but some of them have some potential in my eyes. The one that springs to mind is the whole "Humans trying to hunt down the transformers because they believe them to be a threat" thing AOE tried to do.

 

I'll go a step further and say that some of the ideas in the films are well executed, with humanity turning against most Cybertronians being one of them. There are historical precedents in real life in which human governments turned against reliable allies for selfish reasons, including some which resulted in wars and genocides. If humans can treat other humans in such ways, then humanity turning on the Autobots is certainly believable. Additionally, if I, as someone who has family members who actually survived such historical events in addition to many family members who died, can be convinced by the story and how it was executed, then in my opinion it did a good job.

Before DotM every enemy combatant was a Decepticon. DotM changed that with Sentinel's betrayal. Some humans would view not only Decepticons as villains; they would also ask themselves how many Autobots were Sentinels in disguise. Optimus also considered Sentinel to be a great leader and ally before his betrayal, so many humans didn't trust Optimus or the other Autobots. Furthermore, they might see Autobot attempts at stopping the Decepticons as destructive, and others would blame the Autobots for the damage, too. Look at Savoy, who seemed to blame his sister's death on the Autobots as well.

It also makes sense that Attinger would ally with Lockdown even though the latter is a Cybertronian. Lockdown sees the war as damaging to the universe, and Attinger thinks the war has damaged Earth. Lockdown also rejects the factions. Lockdown also had no interest in staying on Earth once he captured Prime. They are natural allies even if Lockdown doesn't care too much for humans.

I also think it works because Prime and the Autobots are clearly affected by it. Prime loses his faith in humanity, and Cullen's voice acting sells it so well. Ratchet's demise is well done, and how Prime reacts to his death is very well done. Hound views humans as back-stabbing weasels, and Drift and Crosshairs also lament their situation. They are so fed up they are almost willing to abandon Earth to its fate, but they decide to retrieve the Seed.

Furthermore, the Autobots knew Lockdown was one of the parties involved, but they didn't know who in the human chain-of-command was involved. Was it a rogue group? Was it the entire American leadership? Was it leadership in many countries? They did not know who to trust and who to turn to among the humans! If I were an Autobot I would also avoid all humans!

It also fits in with the film's theme: attempts at absolute control will fail absolutely. The Attingers and Joyces of the world want control. Attinger wants a fully automated military that can deal with any threat. He wants robots that he can control, and he can't control the Autobots or the effects of an Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth. Joyce also thinks he controls Galvatron, but he realizes he doesn't. Their attempts at absolute control failed.

Look how humans treat other human populations in which a minority of the population is violent. Now imagine if most members of an alien species that is heavily armored, often has integrated weaponry, and can be disguised as vehicles and machinery were members of a genocidal faction, and even some members of the minority, more benevolent faction attempted to destroy and subjugate human life. There would definitely be humans who would think that both factions were bad, and some of those humans might be in rogue CIA groups and in alliances with alien bounty hunters.

Humans hunting Cybertronians is one thing some fans will never be okay with for various reasons. Many fans have this idea that Transformers should only be certain things, and humans hunting Cybertronians may be one such thing that takes fans out of their comfort zones. To me, it gives the films more backbone and makes them more meaningful. Granted, I think AoE did a much better job than TLK with the "Autobots vs. humans" conflict, but that's just the way it goes.

Critics of the films argue that financial success =/= "good," and I'd agree success and quality are not the same thing, but by the same token something not being popular with large segments of the fandom =/= "bad." Every movie has its haters somewhere, and this fandom is impossible to please as a whole simply by virtue of the wide variety of Transformers fiction there is. Our preferences vary so much it's insane.

And here's the thing. It's okay to think the movies are actually good if fans give valid reasons with evidence from the movies, just likes it's okay if some fans think they are actually bad if they have valid reasons with evidence from the films. There is more than one way to look at any film, and we don't need to view people who have completely different opinions as inferior minds. As someone who loves the films I have seen well-supported opinions defending the films, but I have also seen well thought out criticisms.

I also think Sentinel Prime's fall from grace is also done very well. So yeah, some things in the films are well executed in my honest opinion, even if there are some things that could have been better.

 

I’ve had a thought about the human betrayal in AoE:
Sure Attinger orchestrated Cemetary Wind, but the order likely came from the President.
Chicago is the home town of the person holding the office of President during the events of DotM.
So in an act of revenge for possible friends / family lost in Chicago, or as an act of political expediency he has Attinger declare all Cybertronians- Decepticon and Autobot- enemies of the state to be destroyed on sight.

 

Does anyone else don’t mind the AoE additions, like Hound, Drift and Crosshairs? While the latter two are stereotypes (in a strange theme with Hound, they end up being UK, US, and Japan, all of them being influential bits of Transfromers ), I absolutely love Hound. Like, it took a little bit but I found him to be incredibly enjoyable

 

Those three, plus Optimus and Bee, are by far my favorite Autobot cast in the films. I found them, their antics, and their interactions far more entertaining than 95% of Autobot casts, and I actually found them to be fun and interesting as characters in their own ways.

 

I don't mind the Dinobots not talking in AOE since I looked at them like cavemen they have been locked up for so long they don't know how to talk like us. That's why I wished in TLK Grimlock spoke like his iconic voice and in the end start talking regular.

 

I have another one.

Regardless of what one thinks about the end product quality of any of the films, not once did any of the trailers "lie" to fans. I can agree about Lorenzo saying that The Last Knight was going to delve into the Quintessons, Megatron before he was Megatron, the Librarian, etc. I can agree that Lorenzo was deceptive when he said the Dinobots were going to get more screen time. I can even understand if in Dark of the Moon you wanted Shockwave as the villain that you would be disappointed in his red herring role to hide Sentinel's role. However....

...I never once thought that Devastator was going to be focused on so much from watching RotF's trailers. I never once thought AoE was going to be two hours of Dinobot-centered story. If anything, the trailers sold Cade finding Optimus and Lockdown and humans hunting them as the main story. There was no indication from interviews that the Dinobots were going to be the focus of the story; we only knew they were going to appear. They only appeared in Hong Kong and Wulong scenes in the trailers; they didn't appear in Texas, the Four Corners area, or Chicago. If anyone did think they were going to be the focus, that's on them. Every big budget action film has trailers that sells you major action shots. The Transformers films are no different in this regard.

Sure, there have been dialogue and shots in television spots and trailers that didn't make the final cut, but even then that's nothing major.

 

I don't think I've said it here before.. But this aligns to my opinion on Unicron being Earth.

Megatron wants to conquer Earth in the first movie with the Allspark so he can control both Unicron and Primus (Cybertron) under his rule.

The reason The Fallen wanted to destroy Earth was not because of the humans alone but he knew of the danger that lies beneath the Earth. The reason why he probably wanted to defy the rule, "Never kill a planet with life."

Sentinel Prime wants to transport Cybertron to Earth and the one resource he probably wanted was Unicron's spark to repower Cybertron.

So all and all, I think it helps strengthen the motives of certain villains.

 

Yeah, the way they were talking and riding horses gave it away!