I get really sick and tired of the utter constant stream of movie hate. It gets old real quick, real fast.

So, what are some ACTUAL, GOOD things about the Movieverse?

In my opinion, the diversity of characters is really cool. It's got stuff from IDW, G1, Animated, even a hint of Prime. I think the 'Bot cast of AOE was one of the best rosters ever. I keep wondering what these guys did between movies. I really hope it's them in TF5, with only one or two new characters. They're just so much fun. You're not supposed to really understand or sympathize with these guys (bar Optimus), you're supposed to have fun with them. They're the group of guys you go on a wacky adventure with.

The CGI is spectacular. The 07 movie, which is 7 years old, still looks pretty darn real. These cars really look like they're coming to life. It's always awesome.

The music. It's awesome. Nuff said.

These movies are supposed to be fun, and for a lot of people, they are. I get that people don't like them, and that's fine. But can't you let us movie fans enjoy it and not ruin what we're having fun with? If you're looking for deep, theological stuff? It's not here. If you want complex stories and gripping drama? It's not here. If you want explosions and hot cars and sweet robot vs robot action? That's what ya get.

It's meant to be a certain kind of fun. Not dumb fun, not gripping fun, just in your face ripping Prime fun.

So, anyone else?

...this is gonna fall to MZero's guideline of movie threads, isn't it?

 

I like the transformation sequences. I got chills the first time I saw blackout transform. It really did look like that helicopter came to life. It was (and still is) incredible cgi animation. As cringe-worthy as some the bay stuff is (skids/mudflap) the movies have maintained a very high level of sophisticated cinematic engineering that has done nothing but move this franchise forward. Transformers are relevant and profitable which is essential for the brand to survive and evolve. That means more toys. That's probably the best thing about the movies IMO. Plus they're fun, and have produced some very awesome toys.

 

Beautiful robot designs. You got a Rampage, Brawl, Shockwave, ROTF Soundwave, Sideswipe, Mixmaster. Some down right sexy designs.

In the end, all threads fall to the Zero Guideline.

But hey, nothing wrong with giving it the old college try, kid.

 

1. Awesome CGI
2. Awesome Music
3. Laserbeak's voice
4. Badass, inhuman designs for the 'cons
4.5. Badass designs in general
5. Bringing Peter Cullen back
6. Reinventing Blackout and Barricade
7. Influencing current designs for Transformers
8. Motivating Hasbro to make better toys
9. The Bonecrusher scene
10. Simple plots
11. PRIME RIDING GRIMLOCK!!!!

 

Ironhide.

Lockdown.

Sentinel.

 

Lockdown is the answer to this thread.

 

I agree with most of what you said. I actually DO emphasize with the Autobots and their situation in AOE, and I feel like for one movie you actually got to know them in many ways.

As for what I like about the Movieverse, there are three big things that come to mind.

The first is that Bay and company actually have tried to improve things as time has gone on. In AOE we get more characterization, and the robots play a bigger role in the story. It's way more emotional. The level of military presence is scaled way back. The action is much easier to follow. The humor has been toned down, but there's still enough of it to keep it from being grim-dark all of the time.

The last point brings me to my next point. I feel Bay does give the films a good tone. They have a very real sense of danger to them, but at the same time as a whole they never get too dark for their own good. I can laugh and have fun with the characters.

Third, and I think this is very important, is that the movies, especially in the most recent installment, are their own thing, and they don't try to be anything else in particular, and this results in a very interesting universe. The first two movies were basically Autobots and humans vs. Decepticons. Then all of a sudden in DOTM we have a turncoat Autobot ally himself with the Decepticons, who are allied with some evil humans as well. Now in AOE we have a bounty hunter who hates both Autobots and Decepticons and works for the mysterious Creators. We have humans hunting Transformers with Lockdown while melting them down to make their own Transformers, which allows good ole' Megatron to make a new body and army for himself. We have the mysterious Dinobots. I like that there is some mystery, and I'd much rather see this than Autobots VS. Decepticons and/or Unicron version 23,830,404. Don't get me wrong, I do hope to see some new Decepticons in the next one for Galvatron to interact with, and if Unicron shows up I hope he is done well, but I greatly prefer it when Transformers fiction isn't only Autobots vs. Decepticons.

Bring on TF 5. I think we'll get more of Galvatron and the Dinobots and find out more about the Creators and probably see more Transformers that are neither Autobot or Decepticon, and while Lockdown is dead I don't believe we have the seen the last of his ship.

EDIT: Like Olivus says, the voice acting is great in the last two installments.

 

The first movie was a genuinely fantastic introductory film - there was a reason everyone was talking about it in 07 and why people were looking forward to ROTF.

Peter Cullen's vocal performance, especially in DOTM and AOE, is incredibly emotive and the few moments where he exercises these skills are some of my favourites in the whole Transformers brand.

The CGI is excellent, particularly in the first movie and certain scenes in ROTF and DOTM. The fact that CGI environments are few and far between, and many of the effects are performed practically, means that the CGI elements tend to blend with reality better.

 

Considering this is a civil and appropriate topic to discuss, I don't see why.



I love the action scenes in the movies. They're more memorable than any other action scene in recent movies for me. They're just so chaotic and you never know what's coming next.

The CGI is amazing and I love how Bay is more of a on-location kind of guy. It adds to the realism.

 

I think it would take me a day just to come up with a list of all the amazing and wonderful things about the live action movies that I love. Yes, they are flawed (no where near as horrible as the haters and geewunners would like you to believe) but the positives VASTLY outweigh the negatives. Maybe another day I'll set up a proper list, but for right now I'll just simply give the first thing that comes to my mind...

Without the 2007 movie, without my awe at seeing the second teaser trailer and that breathtaking over the shoulder shot of Optimus transforming, without the first movie video game, without the 2007 movie voyager Ironhide, without the tears in my eyes after seeing Bumblebee lose his legs, terrified at the thought of this young Autobot I'd grown to love possibly dying before the movie was over... I simply wouldn't even be here. I wouldn't be the collector I am now with several hundred figures, mostly from the movieverse toylines. I wouldn't love this franchise enough to even make a profile, come to this thread and tell you why I'm even here. Without these.. visual masterpieces... I would walk by the toy aisles as i did during beast wars, RID and Unicron trilogy and think "how stupid are these robot toys?"

In 2006, when the Mars Rover trailer hit... I knew very little about the Transformers, even thinking that these toys were stupid and childish. But then there was the second trailer.. I got the first game... my first ever Transformer toy... and for my birthday, my brother took me to a special sneak preview screening in my hometown.

That night, I fell in love with the robots in disguise from the planet Cybertron. Thank you, Michael Bay. Thank you, Paramount. Thank you, Hasbro. I am the fan I am today because of the wonderful cinematic blockbusters that I watched 5 times at the theaters in the summer of 2007, 9 times in the summer of 2009, 7 times in the summer of 2011 and 8 times in the summer of 2014.

 

I have returned from the dead
My good points are:
Great action scenes
Great voices
Great directing
Good humor
Great Transformers cast(all of them even though in TF2 they weren't characterized well I thought they were cool)
Mark Whalberg
Fun movies to watch
Micheal Bay was the reason why I was into Transformers when I saw TF1 I was in awe when I saw Optimus transformed I was like I wish i had a car that could transform
And yea bring on TF5

 

For me personally, the most important thing is that the first film got me into Transformers. That first film was kinda paint by numbers, but I feel it worked, for the most part. The story was kept simple and I enjoyed seeing the actually likable characters go through the journey. Not to mention, there was an amazing sense of awe created by the Transformers.

The following films had wonky plots, unlikable characters and nonthreatening villains, but I did find ROTF to be fun, even if it was rubbish. DOTM tried to fix things, but just ended up more bland. DOTM is the only one I can't take any joy form watching.

For AOE, I can tell why people say they weren't even trying to make a good film, but there is one thing they were trying to do. They were trying to make a good film for the fans. For once, the Autobots were at the center of the film, Megatron was in control of the villains and the homages came from a variety of continuities. It was far, far from perfect, but I liked it.

It's impossible to not appreciate the effort put into the special effects, even if they're used to substitute quality writing. From the lengths Bay will go to in order to make everything not a Transformer a practical effect, to the insane detail ILM puts into the animation of the Transformers. Half the sense of awe and excitement comes from this. If they had managed to keep the story simple, with few characters, the sequels' stories would have been decent enough to let the effects carry the films.

The other half of the sense of awe comes from the music. Steve Jablonski did a fantastic job on the scores, especially in the first film. The score for that first film was a great combination of epic and different which made it really memorable. Even the ROTF and AOE scores, which I don't think much of, were pretty good.

 

Soundwaves satellite alt mode

 

mostly decent toys that with a loving hand and some paint can make live action updates to existing characters.

 

The filmmakers' willingness to try new things with the robots, the CGI, the voice cast's performances. Some truly epic set pieces like the Forest Fight, three really great villains in Megatron, Sentinel and Lockdown. Plenty more things, too.

 

I wrote this up before AOE, and it hasn't changed (I've updated it to include AOE):

 

The Arrival To Earth scene was like.... MADE FOR THE FANS. Don't know if it was intentional or not. It was a moment when Transformers finally made it to the big screen.

 

I'll bite. First off, Galvatron, although not appearing much in the film, was the Megatron we all wanted. Frank Welker did the voice, and he wasn't saved for the last two minutes, or was the servant to someone. He felt large and in charge for once. And the design wasn't too shabby either. While still having an issue of not looking like he has an alt-mode he looked more like a robot, than a pile of metal like in the first film. Though speaking of designs, Megatron also had a good design in DotM.

Lockdown was a great villain for the movies too. Something fresh, not just Autobots vs. Decepticons, yet still keeping Galvatron involved. Too bad there weren't many other cons.

 

-All things concerning Lockdown.
-All things concerning Sentinel (including his epic scrap with Optimus and the slide down the side of the building).
-Ironhide.
-Bulkhound. (john goodman owns)
-Character/bot designs...they look like living robots. The ultra detail makes pausing on a big flatscreen an event on it's own.
-Speaking of pausing the movies, same goes for the action. The action scenes begs replaying/multiple views to catch everything. Until I watched it at home I never noticed that Sideswipe jumped on Sentinel only to have Sentinel shield slap him away.
-Megatron was somewhat of a disappointment but Galvatron has a ton of potential to make up for that. Love his design and Welker coming back for it is sweet. His design is leagues better than Megatron's trilogy design (tho' I thought DotM finally got him right)
-The CGI. Cutting edge that has continually topped itself with each outing.
-In general, and mostly for DotM and AoE: way more screentime and bot specific focus, esp AoE.
-Everyone's first transformation (tho' that skidding transformation on the 118 freeway in 07 from Prime right before he fought Bonecrusher was superb).

*edit* Oh, and AoE's absolutely stepping up regarding body language for the bots and emoting/facial expressions.

 

The movies are beautiful from an audiovisual perspective.

The way these movies combine onscreen action with musical cues that reach a crescendo as the action ramps up is perfect. It is second to none.

That's why scenes like the Dinobot rampage give me chills.