Hmm... not really so much of a spoiler. More of a teaser actually.

I'm putting my money on Unicron, but it could be anything...

 

A seres of cause-and-effect events that relate to each other in order to tell the story? Hmm. There does seem to be a bit of that in these movies...

Providing said "vanishing" is anything that they can control. Which, as has been stated, no one knows for sure what that vague statement means. Did they just up and leave willingly? Did some government mandate make them leave? Are they dying off? Did some mysterious force make them vanish? I highly doubt Optimus went "Earth is our new home now guise LOL JK, we leavin'!"

 

I keep saying that, but no one wants to listen...

 

Oh I never thought Optimus would up and leave for no reason. I think it's far more likely the government had a tantrum over Chicago and booted them off.

 

Perhaps it is less evisceration, and more effacement?  

The Bonecrusher battle is actually a rather good example of why Michael Bay is incorrectly lauded as an example of a good action director. Let's do a play-by-play:

0:00 - 0:10: Optimus Prime and the other Autobots are driving somewhere at great speed. Where they are, where they are coming from and where they are going cannot be determined as the shots are in extreme close-up.

0:11 - 0:16: Barricade and another Decepticon are also driving somewhere at great speed. Again, this is in extreme close-up; so it is difficult to determine where they are - especially in relation to the Autobots. Are the good guys chasing the bad guys, or vice versa? The Buffalo then runs into a civilian vehicle (possibly two). Is the Buffalo a bad guy?

0:17 - 0:18: The Buffalo vehicle makes a transformation noise, and suddenly a civilian vehicle is being flung through the air on the end of its mine-clearing apparatus. This is an interesting set piece, but the choice of shooting angle and editing obscures the action. The mine-clearing apparatus is not actually shown gripping and hurling the offending civilian vehicle; merely flailing wildly as the unfortunate vehicle flies through the air.

0:19 - 0:21: One civilian vehicle smashes into the ground in confusing close-up; another is launched into the air amidst a cloud of obstructing dust and is accompanied by further flailing from the mine-clearing apparatus. Why is the Buffalo doing this? It has already been established that the Buffalo has sufficient mass to simply smash through obstructing vehicles.

0:22 - 0:27: Bumblebee is driving at great speed. Optimus Prime appears to be parallel to him, on the right hand side. Sam looks through Bumblebee's rear windshield and sees Barricade. A cut to a wider shot shows the Buffalo; Barricade may be barely visibly ahead of the Buffalo.

0:28 - 0:31: Sam instructs the Autobots to block Barricade. Prime, who is now between Ironhide and Ratchet, pulls back; Ironhide and Ratchet close ranks. We do not see these two again in the scene.

0:32 - 0:40: We cut to Barricade, who is now inexplicably directly behind the Buffalo. This is the last time we see Barricade in the film. The Buffalo transforms, revealing Bonecrusher. A unique and visually interesting effect, unfortunately obscured by the extreme closeness of the camera.

0:41 - 0:49: We close in on Optimus Prime, who is still moving with the flow of traffic. He then transforms in a way that suggests he is facing away from the flow. The camera cuts to a reverse angle as Prime jumps, landing parallel to a civilian vehicle and thus giving the impression that Prime is now facing toward the flow. He then turns around, against the flow. Exactly which direction is Prime trying to go in?

0:50 - 0:51: Mikaela looks back and sees Bonecrusher approaching despite the intervening traffic and distance between the participants.

0:51 - 0:56: Bonecrusher skates forward, slams right and smashes through a passenger bus. This is another excellent stunt, although no explanation is actually given as to why he expended time and effort to destroy a vehicle that was not in his way.

0:57 - 1:02: Bonecrusher catches up with Prime, who is now inexplicably facing away from him and toward the flow of traffic. The former tackles the latter, and they both fall off the highway. This portion of the scene is actually rather easy to follow; primarily due to the use of a long shot.

1:07 - 1:20: Bonecrusher and Prime are shown landing on the freeway below; the shot comes from within a static vehicle. The shot cuts to what appears to be the very same vehicle in motion, coming to a halt; and then cuts to back inside the vehicle, which appears to be the exact same distance from Prime and Bonecrusher as before. Was the vehicle moving or not?

1:21 - 1:42: Prime is shown ricocheting off the underside of the upper freeway for reasons unknown. A perfunctory sequence begins in which Prime easily deflects an attack from Bonecrusher's mine-clearing apparatus, withdraws his sword, catches and removes Bonecrusher's arm and then does the same to the latter's head. At no point during this does Bonecrusher appear to pose an actual threat to Prime.​

So here's the takeaway: this scene is extraordinarily confusing. It is difficult to determine where participants are in relation to one another, which actions they are undertaking, or when they have left the scene. Bonecrusher inflicts civilian casualties for no reason other than sheer malice; and yet he proves completely ineffectual once he catches up with Prime. Prime, on the other hand, appears most challenged by his inability to comprehend the flow of traffic. An entire bus - including, one presumes, any hypothetical passengers - is destroyed because Prime would rather wait for Bonecrusher to come to him than take the fight to Bonecrusher. And why isn't Prime, and his Autobot cohorts, making use of their ranged weapons during this fiasco?

And this considered one of Bay's better action scenes...  

 

I say the "Businessman's" lobbying bribed off politicians not to reinstate the Autobot-US treaty so he and his scientists can play with Cybertronian tech without being turned to criminals.

 

I actually think that battle is a great example of what I'm talking about. A lot of it looks great, but the pacing is "meh." There's a fair amount of build up in the chase, the explosion of the bus, etc... then they meet trade a couple of blows, fall off the bridge and Prime finished him off. There's no real back and forth, no sense that Prime might actually lose, or is even challenged. All of the tension was gone after the build up, but before the fight was even over.

The tension should have been maintained the same way it was in the buildup through the actual fight.

Watch any battle from Terminator 2 (one of the tensest, greatest action movies of all time), and find a single fight like that. You won't. Because the pacing is superb.

I don't expect Michael Bay to be James Cameron.

But he's not even close.

You could dissect T2 in a film class and get a lot out of it. Nobody's going to do the same with Transformers.

That being said, I understand it appeals to a wide swath of the movie going public (the lowest common denominator), but as someone who really loves movie, and has seen big popcorn movies ALSO be good films, I'm dying to see TF get the same treatment.

Hound would have been a perfect character to use to give the characters more depth, i.e., a robot so in love with Earth and earthling life, he questions his own mechanical existence...

Anyway, I'm rambling cause I'm writing from work, but I could go on and on.

TF 1 was the closest the series came to being heartfelt, having an "intelligible" plot, and decent action. The rest has just been Bay pressing the explosion button ad nauseum.

 

What he said. All I can picture for a Bayverse Unicron is Galactus from Rise of the Silver Surfer or something equally stupid.

 

People! If you don't like the movies, just get off the forum! I don't want to come here to see people making stupid comments about how Bay sucks and there's no story or plot and the action is bad. You guys are like a broken record that keeps repeating and repeating itself with every single new thread. If a new movie poster is revealed people come to the thread to say "Bay sucks" and "That poster means this movie is gonna be awful!" Just please don't bother coming if all your going to do is trash the movies. Sorry for the random rant but I'm so sick of this on here.

 

yah forums are not for discussion of different views, I dont know what these people were thinking

 

Heh, there should be a separate thread dedicated to guesses and pictures speculating how a Bay-movie Unicron would look. My guess would be a shapeless, sentient, cloud of energon floating through space. It would be the purest (and most evil I guess) Transformer that ever existed, able to [mass]shift into anything it desires. Heck maybe it could serve as the birthplace of all Transformers, consuming planet after planet, absorbing their essense to further improve itself, while crapping out protoforms in the process.

... too much HoTS for me  

 

Galactus?

 

I don't mind conflicting views at all. What I mind is people saying nothing but "Bay sucks". Oh, and if your trying to insult me with that photo, I think it'd be a good idea to actually post it and not leave a link. It loses the effect.

Anyways.... I'm a tad worried about the scientist concept of the story. I don't want anything to get too "out there". Not that transforming aliens are normal, but I don't want anything like the Circuit Breaker storyline from the supposed fake script.

 

I had to google that one. Didn't realize he looked like that in the movies... and here I thought I was being original. But yeah, that's kind of how I envision it.

 

I'm actually worried that we have another ROTF on our hands. I don't want this to become more of a human story with that sub plot.

 

Can't be worse than a giant fat guy dressed as the devil.

 

MV95! If you're sick of people's comments, just get off the forum! I don't want to come here to see people making stupid comments about how people saying "Bay Sucks" for and having a different opinion and leveraging criticisms towards the writing. You guys are like a broken record that keeps repeating and repeating itself with every single new thread. If a new movie poster is revealed people come to the thread to say "saying Bay sucks sucks" and "saying the poster is a compositional mess is awful!" Just please don't bother coming if all your going to do is trash the opinions of others. Sorry for the random rant but I'm so sick of this on here.


See how petty and silly recursive complaining looks like when someone else does it?




I really hope it isn't Unicron (even though that seems like the safest bet), not only because I'm sort of sick of seeing him show up as a/the big bad in every transformers incarnation (save Animated) since Armada, but because it'll mean either the "humans are using cybertronian technology!" plot gets short-sheeted (which would be a shame, since I've been saying for years I'd like that concept further explored), or that it WON'T, meaning Unicron will likely be relegated to a last act appearance and vanquishing, which as we saw, worked out poorly with the Fallen.

God I hope so. Devil Z was an ancient evil after all, and technically so were the pretenders. Doesn't seem all that likely though.

 

I'd argue with a lot of other people on these boards about what you said, but you're Aernaroth and I respect you