New Transformers Movie CGI Images - Megatron, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by Super_Megatron, Dec 4, 2006.

  1. MegaMoonMan

    MegaMoonMan OFFICIAL MMM REP

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    Well then, no harm intended with this, but it sounds like you're just too hard to please. It sounds like you wouldn't be interested in it at all unless it followed a very specific plot line and design aesthetic, and you may not even like it then. Me, I'm not so judgmental - I'm willing to accept the good with the bad (and I do realize there is bad involved). If I see it and hate it, I won't feel bad about the $10 I spent on it, because I gave my favorite franchise's movie an honest go.

    I'll watch it, you won't - I guess we'll just have to leave it at that.

    To be fair, I'm mostly a toy guy anyways - I can take or leave the fiction behind them, it doesn't really matter to me. For the most part, I think the toys are cool, so that's where my money is going to go. The live-action movie is just a shiny bonus that I don't feel like being super critical of. If it's good, great! If not, oh well. It's not going to shake my faith or anything.
     
  2. Shaun_C

    Shaun_C The REAL One True fan Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

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    Well at BotCon last September when Greg Lombardo show filming footage. It got a STRONG positive ovation.

    In fact people unamimously chanted "Show it again". So if the fans hated it has much as you say,. Then why were they asking Greg to play it again? ;) 

    Which shows in my personal that the movie WILL be liked among the hard core fans. And that reaction I wittnessed IN PERSON is worth alot more then some of the over the top negative nonsense I've read on the board
     
  3. nuopus

    nuopus Well-Known Member

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    Hasbro has given nods to the film. A big corporation does not set aside money in re-patents, development and production of a product without first doing careful market research and analysis. It is NOT up to one person at hasbro. It is a corporation and done through committees. During their research they probably found out that their current line is a commercial market that sells lots of toys to collectors. The problem with this is that they want NEW fans. Currently, todays youth arent exactly fans of the Transformers. No television company in their right mind would air a Transformers show in any expensive high rating time slot with any consistency. Why? Because kids today do not like Transformers. Market researchers also know that something considered cool 5 years ago will most likely not be taken the same way today. Companies like Hasbro has to adapt and evolve. Just because it was successful in the 80's sure as hell does not make it successful today.

    You can be sure that lots of money went into market analysis when they approved this. It is not a personal thing and doesn't matter if the entire panel at Hasbro LOVES G1. What drives a corporation like that is numbers and not the "feel good" of supporting a fan base.

    The complaints that most people have are because of personal feelings and bias and that is pretty much it. Rabid fans of the TF are a small amount of the GREATER numbers of non-fans out there. Unfortunately, personal feeling and bias has NO place in a corporate environment where the ONLY thing that matters is driving a product line into the future. Have you spent any money researching these things? Do you have facts to back up your claim that going to G1 will improve things with non-fans? No? They feel this is the best way to go since THEY have the numbers of all of their sales. THEY have a better outlook of their product than you EVER will have. And THEY are making the right choices here.

    I know it sounds harsh, but that is reality. This is how it is in the real world. Having a company go back on future projections just to support a small percentage of the population that are rabid fans is something that may happen in a perfect world. But hey, this is not a perfect world ... it is a capitalist society hell bent on making as much money as possible.
     
  4. MegaMoonMan

    MegaMoonMan OFFICIAL MMM REP

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    I highly disagree. Our minimal input will make an insignificant dent at best. Exactly how many of us do you think there are? Take 100 people - how many are hardcore TF fans? Maybe one? Then take 100 fans, how many will outright refuse to see it? Perhaps 20 - 30 of them? That equates to about 30 cents out of $100. Not much of a dent. Even if the whole fandom boycotted the picture, that's only a 1% profit loss.

    Of course, those numbers are all an estimation.

    Joe Public is the one who will decide if the movie is good or not, and spread the word.
     
  5. nuopus

    nuopus Well-Known Member

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    Right ... maybe 20-30 of 100 FANS will choose not to see it because it does not give enough nods to G1. I am a HUGE fan of G1 and there is no way I won't see it, so i'm part of that larger number. What you are not counting is, out of 1000 people who are general population who just want to see a movie, only 100 are even considered fans. The rest of the 900 were either very casual fans or teens with little to no exposure. Will THOSE people care? Heck no they just want to see giant robots blow crap up.
     
  6. MegaMoonMan

    MegaMoonMan OFFICIAL MMM REP

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    Exactly, but I think counting 100 out of 1000 people as hardcore fans is too high. Are we to expect that those 900 who just want to see it because they are casual fans will not go because it isn't G1 enough? I don't think so. The name alone is enough to sell it to them, and from then on, it will either be a good movie to them, or a bad one. Then the word of mouth begins.

    Us hardcore fans will piss and moan, but don't think for a second that we will have a huge impact in this. We just don't have the numbers.
     
  7. nuopus

    nuopus Well-Known Member

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    Well I was originally going to say 100 out of a million, but I know some people here would complain because for some reason some of them think that MOST people out in the general population will be Transformers fans. I was being conservative. I think most people may know what Transformers are because the name is popular. And most of those people will just think that they are robots that transform into vehicles and that will be the extent of it. Some may know optimus as a red truck thing but won't care about the details. The younger teens (which make up a HUGE percentage of movie going population) may be like Transawhaa?

    Me ... I have ALWAYS had a TF logo on all of my cars growing up, and it hasnt changed. I am a HUGE fan. I just recently got both of my kids into it (none of their friends know squat about what a Transformer is .. they know powerrangers though!). they saw the first movie and are EXCITED now to see the live action.
     
  8. Cast

    Cast Roll the dice

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    Well I really dislike the CGI images but the toys seem to come out looking pretty nice, so I’m happy, I’ll still go to see the film but its still really the toy’s that interest me, they seem to have far less of the grab input from the director whom I personally hate.
     
  9. hop2pop

    hop2pop Active Member

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    It's possible that these could be old images so the one of Megatron still might get changed. I sent that poster of Prime in a while ago and it looks like these were done around the same time. Oh yea...They aren't CG model renders. I saw that one of Prime big and up close. They're more photoshoped then anything.
     
  10. arlo59

    arlo59 New Member

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    prime on original color config

    Hi guys. I was looking at Prime's design and I thought I'd play with the colors to match the G1 configuration. I edited it in photoshop and somehow (at least to me) it looked like the prime we all know and love. Let me know what you think you can click the link below to view the image.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58318327@N00/323904924/
     
  11. arlo59

    arlo59 New Member

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    prime on original color config

    Hi guys. I was looking at Prime's design and I thought I'd play with the colors to match the G1 configuration. I edited it in photoshop and somehow (at least to me) it looked like the prime we all know and love. Let me know what you think. :) 

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58318327@N00/323904924/

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Shaun_C

    Shaun_C The REAL One True fan Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

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    Nah uh, I'm not feeling it. To me that looks worse in G1 colors then in 2007 colors

    I think the problem is that with the toys/images of Prime from the cartoons. It's made so that the G1 configuration would work.

    But since this Prime isn't designed like that, trying to make his configuration more like G1 actually hurts him more then helps
     
  13. IACON

    IACON "That's Vector Sigma?" TFW2005 Supporter

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    I second that.
     
  14. Illusion

    Illusion Well-Known Member

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    Well, I'm starting to really like these designs.

    Megatron:
    I'll admit, I didn't like him when I saw the first leaked concepts of him, but I gradually got used to him. Now, with the minor alterations to him, some more of my former misgivings have vanished.
    Now he has a nice, wicked grin and while I cannot see his eyes on these pics here, I'm assuming that his eyes can glow (like G1 Megatron's eyes sometimes glowed when he got angered, something caught his attention etc.), which will reveal them.
    He also looks more mechanical, which in my eyes is good. Contrary to some of you, I can actually see a hint of G1 Megatron in this robot, but movie Megatron's appearance somehow fits the 'Megatron' moniker better (*GASP! HERESY!* ;)  ). Something about his evil, sadistic appearance just seems to scream 'Megatron' to me.

    Funny thing is, he kinda reminds me of the Hell Knight from the computer game Doom 3 (I'm a fan of both classic Doom games and the new one).

    Bumblebee:
    I really like his arm gun (although I'm not clever enough to figure out how on Earth his forearm can logically transform into that gun). His body and general head is something I've had no problem with since it was revealed, but I'm kinda on the fence on his eyes (dunno, maybe they're too..."doll-like"?) and his mouth I just don't like. Otherwise, he's pretty all right.

    Optimus Prime:
    Definitely my favorite of these three (although I feel Megs is catching up nicely). Looks big, imposing and hulking (in a good way) and reminds me nicely of the G1 version. Only real beef with him so far is with his face - more specifically his face plate, which makes his face seem "fat". Generally, the faces have been my biggest problem with the movie transformers so far - not that they don't look cool some of them, but I don't find them to look nearly as sophisticated as I'd preferred - I'd expected something like hundreds of small movable plates to really give them an organic feel and provide an impressive array of emotional facial expressions, but maybe I was expecting too much of the designers and modellers.

    Point in case: their faces look a little too much like generic robot faces and while I wouldn't want them to look too humanoid in their faces, I'd have preferred something more detailed.

    Overall:
    The movie designs took some getting used to, but I'm generally starting to become more and more ok with them - I've become accustomed to the aesthetics and the fact that they will have exposed inner machinery (after all, so did the T-800 and even the T-X and I never had a problem with those when I saw the Terminator movies). I see a constant level of subtle improvements in design and I usually like the improvements however subtle.

    And for the record: I am not lying to myself about these opinions, I have in fact been thinking carefully about them for months, so please hold back with these accusations. Thank you.
     
  15. Lovin'_Screamer

    Lovin'_Screamer i am what I am

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    I am still unsure about their designs - they look really and all, but Megatron doesn't really look like MEgatron (well to me anyway), Bumblebee, eh, not too sure with he head. But Optimus - that looks cool *nods* Atleast he looks like Optimus
     
  16. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    Out of interest why are all these pictures fragments? Were they ripped off an ILM hard drive or something?
     
  17. Evan Goldsborough

    Evan Goldsborough Freelance Negotiator

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    A user posted earlier on in the thread saying that they were apparently recovered from someone's hard drive after being deleted, so yeah.

    These would be a definate, genuine leak...
     
  18. Ra88

    Ra88 Dutchman!

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    What people also seem to forget is that his robot mode doesn't transform in the classic way, and that he gets his limbs/parts from all over (the legs has parts from the front and back, while the arms and chests are from the hood and cab). I guess that's why they went with the flames, to not only make him look 'cool' :) rolleyes2 ) but to give him red and blue as well. They could have gone with something different, but then we would have gotten an all grey/grey and blue/all red colorscheme.