You should make one for TF1 and TF3 where the Autobots are wondering where the heck Optimus is when they needed him the most.

 

"Critics do not understand this kind of movie"... Well excuse me, Mr. Producer! Some of the "critics" that you say are actually true long time transformers Gen 1 fans like me and as far as understanding goes, it seems that its you people who don't really understand what us, fans really want from a Transformers movie because you never really cared what the fans really want, did you? IT'S A MOVIE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT A CIVIL WAR BETWEEN ALIEN ROBOTS, WHY THE HELL DO YOU KEEP FOCUSING MORE ON HUMAN CHARACTERS THEN?! They get almost all of the playing time of the entire movie itself! The only conceivable reason is that you don't really think "robots" have enough emotion as humans do unlike what we saw and felt during the G1 glory days! So who doesn't really understand what, huh?!

 

I'd just like to point out that these aren't G1 movies. So the fact that you are a G1 fan is irrelevant.

 

Just look at the articles on why The Island failed at the box office and you will have your answer, marketing. I think there is even an interview or film commentary where Bay talks about how the marketing team just didn't know how to sell the film to the public.

It's not some great mystery as to why films make money. Make sure your film is PG-13 or under so the kids can go and their parents are forced to go with them. Get a release slot in the US when the kids and teenagers aren't in school. Have something that you can cut some really good trailers and TV spots for. Market it like crazy. Make it seem like a must see event if you want to be up on pop culture. Take advantage of how the market is open big and people just move on to the next big event like they move from ride to ride at an amusement park.

If quality was pushing the box office then you'd expect films to have a great second weekend as people tell their friends you've got to see this. But films drop off 60 to 70% the second weekend because the marketing for the next big film has taken the public's attention.

 

Some of the critics are Beast Wars and Animated fans, too. It is unfortunate when you get used to well-written stories.  

 

Precisely and none of those well written stories even come close to what horror they turned our beloved transformers characters into at the movies.

 

Of all the TF incarnations that came before the movies - it's hard to deny that the movieverse is closest to G1 in terms of setting (both time and location) and aesthetics - and the biggest influence on the movies has likely been G1.

The vast majority of the characters and many of the plot elements seem to be taken directly from G1 or inspired by G1 characters.

Its easy to understand why people draw such parallels.

 

/end thread

I've seen some great comments in this thread, but this one is really the ultimate summary of the situation.

 

True, that this isn't a G1 movie, but look at what happened to G.I. Joe II. In fact look what happened to the G.I Joe animated franchise. The fact that they strayed away from the original concept doesn't make me wonder why the original is the longest series. There are so many examples of why original formula of a series works. Look at Power Rangers, Pokemon, Gundam...

I swear that if Transformers started of as Rescue Bots, they'll end up like Go-bots

Hahaha. I never though of this series like this.

 

Except for, you know, the giant transforming robots...TF4 was horrible.

The setup was great and the humans-hunting-robots was very well done. The concept of building upgrades was pretty neat, too.

But...
Optimus Prime wanting to kill humans?
Autobots fighting amongst themselves?
Over-the-top teen angst and daddy issues?
Gratuitous pandering to the Chinese communist party?
Atmosphere-shattering product placement?
Far too little robot character development?
Zero explanation of the dinobots?
"Transformium?" Seriously? I could have lived with 'flexium.'

They had enough plot points for two movies out of this one. I had stratospheric hopes for a dinobot origin story when I saw the metalized T-rex skeleton, and the writer blew it for a poorly adapted 'knights' story instead.

Big thumbs up on the eye-candy they selected. The lovely Chinese actress in the elevator got *far* too little screen time.

18% on RT was about 15% too high. I'll still see the next one, but I still go for the robots, not the story or the dialogue.

~M

 

These robots were the least like their alt modes, of any movie yet.

 

Nope, sorry, have to chime in here. You can't take what happened to G.I.Joe and compare it to Transformers.

Yes they are both IPs owned by Hasbro, yes they both tell similar stories in a way and feature colourful, memorable characters, however. And I can't stress this enough. G.I.Joe hasn't aged well due to the very nature of our ever evolving world.

Back in the 80's an American Terrorist Task Force was fine to tell stories about because they didn't need to worry about the many different cultures of the world, it was a slightly simpler time.

In today's modern world the basic plot of G.I.Joe is frowned upon mostly because of how everybody views America as a whole, and how other cultures have become an even greater focus as immigration and cultural changes have occurred.

Marketing A Real American Hero outside of America, especially as a live action film franchise where live-action films need the global chops to have other countries drop boatloads of cash to see it, is a hell of a lot trickier.

In all probability G.I.Joe is more than likely a dead IP considering how terrible it's performed both at Retail and at the boxoffice for the better part of 10 years now.

While I'll always be a fan of the basic characters of G.I.Joe I'm not going to kid myself in thinking that it's something that has the staying power of Transformers. A lot of military fiction is a hard sell these days due to the political climate of the world.

 

I agree that the big problem for GI Joe is that A Real American Hero was a product of the Cold War era. Like other iconic fiction of the Cold War it's not easy to translate popular fiction of the Cold War era into the modern era, even the James Bond series has struggled to find it's way when the Soviets aren't around to be the film bad guys.

Although I'll have to disagree about dead. The same thing was said about GI Joe after Vietnam when reinventing into Adventure Team wasn't enough to save GI Joe as a strong brand. But then GI Joe got reinvented as A Real American Hero. Not sure when the brand will find new life but I'm not holding any GI Joe funeral any time soon.

And we are getting GI Joe 3 because Paramount also needs the midsized films not just the huge films so as a midsized film it brings in enough money.

 

Sounds like you're just like me. I went to the movie knowing it was probably going to be dumb and awful, but I want to see Transformers bust each other up. And even if I got what I expected, that doesn't mean I can't lament the fact that the series has been so unnecessarily terrible.

I have never, ever seen such gratuitous product placement in a movie before, unless it was being presented ironically. Product placement is something that though I often find obnoxious, I understand it's a necessity, but the way they went about it in TF4 was just so unabashedly in your face that it made me slightly uncomfortable.

We all wanted more bot screen time and characterization, and sure, we got it. But as others have already pointed out, their "characterization" was just one-dimensional bullshit and unfunny one liners. Just because it's more than the previous movies doesn't make it good. The filmmakers have refused to treat them like real characters for the most part, which is frustrating. You don't have to remove the human element to make the bot characters more endearing and have some depth. Just treat them like they matter instead of making them all into stereotypes, bumbling idiots, or one-dimensional "comic" relief. I mean, holy shit I can't believe what they did to Drift...wait yes I can.

And the fact that they set up an interesting explanation for the Dinobots, then completely fucking abandoned it was beyond irritating. Though of course it was entirely expected considering they've done that in all the previous films, editing out or forgoing scenes that would add to the story or answer questions. I think it's insulting how little regard they have for their audience that they will willfully create additional plot holes through lousy editing, but who cares because money.

The one thing I'm really interested in is if there will be actual, real continuity between TF4 and TF5. I'm sick of them pretending that elements from the previous films don't exist. Both ROTF and DOTM pretty much just retconned Megatron's reason for going to Earth, and I imagine the whole "creators" idea will likely end up contradicting one or more of the backstory elements established in the first three films, because the writers just don't care.

At least AOE basically gave a reason for old characters not reappearing. That's right, you can just assume that all your old favorites like "4 total lines in the film series" Sideswipe were brutally murdered by humans and Lockdown, just like Ratchet. Lovely.

But of course, I'm just bitching and whining because my ego allows me to understand that just because I enjoyed watching a movie doesn't mean it was actually a good film by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Idk, I felt like grabbing some stuff at Sears and having some waffles and bacon at IHOP after watching Man O' Steel  

 

Where you driving a Ram 1500 on your way to Sears by any chance?

 

Dear Mr Bonaventura, the story matters.

 

So lower than Grown Ups 2, Last Airbender, Scary Movie 5 and I, Frankenstein?

 

That's a very interesting point, and it brings to mind a question that I often ask myself a lot: Why is Cold War era-inspired fiction so archaic and unsellable, in this day and age, but World War II era-fiction isn't? I mean, I get it, WWII was mankind's biggest war, and the Nazis are the most evil dudes of all time. But, how does that keep selling...? It's so played out.

Also, hasn't G.I. Joe greatly distanced itself from the "Real American Hero" image? I don't recall either of the movies really pushing that. In fact, weren't they an "international black-ops task force" in them?

I dunno. It'd be nice to see G.I. Joe take it's "Real American Hero" roots and deconstruct them. Something along the lines of Metal Gear Solid would be amazing, if G.I. Joe was given that kind of treatment, I think.

 

I don't have any issues with product placements in movies, actually Mark drinking that bud light made perfect sense. Who wouldn't want beer In a time of possible human extinction? That and it's good to be a dick sometimes.

I agree on your views on Drift, he could have been executed a lot better than an obvious asian humanoid robot.The fact that he is a triple changer saddens me because it looked so nice but on the wrong character.

I want the transformers to be treated like actual characters also, the little times there's a small sign of it sure looks great.

And the Dinobots were amazing, It's too bad it left the audiences wondering who they are.

Transformers 4 was filled with so many plots that it was hard at times to keep up.
I recently learned that the Waste Management garbage truck was composed of three robots!

Now that was a waste, unless they were in the movie somewhere but I didn't notice it.

Despite so much downfalls the movie kept me interested though.