I said that the movies ruined the franchise FOR ME. You even bolded the sentence in question. I never said that it ruined the franchise for everyone in general; just myself.

Exactly.

 

Bring on more Bayformers!

 

Oh my gosh, I finally caught that one after going back and watching all the episodes...

Can't believe they got that one through censors! I read that is why Casey Kasem stopped doing the show, and ultimately no more Cliffjumper and others characters...

 

Perhaps Bayformers is responsible for canceling RID? If so, then the movies really have screwed up the franchise. The damn movies should stay in the movies and leave the cartoons alone.
Bayformers also didn't bring back the popularity of Transformers. It was already doing well at the time thanks to The Unicron Trilogy, especially Armada.

 

Armada debuted in 2002 and Cybertron aired in 2006. There was nothing aired in 2007 until after the first live-action movie.

And Transformers live action film brought in a host of new fans and made it a household name. While Transformers wasn't in any danger of dying, it definitely did bring back it's popularity, while previous Transformer fans said "GTFO, we don't want you as part of our fandom."

 

And A/E/C were largely targeted at kids, and unless you were a kid or an older collector, you probably didn't give a toss.

The movie is what really reinvigorated the brand for the 21st century, like it or not. And it's not like there aren't plenty of other classic series bring ruined by Hollywood - I'm looking at you, JJ Abrams' Lens Flare Trek.

 

Both sides were pretty bad so one side can't say they were completely innocent. You had old fans that didn't want those darn kids playing on their lawn. But you also had new people acting like they owned the place and go take a long walk off a short space bridge you old geezers.

Each side makes the other side out to be the selfish side but as geeks and fans we all want what we want even if it costs someone else. Old fans want their vision of what it should be but I've seen newer fans just as entrenched with I don't care if you ever get what you want as long as I get what I want.

 

Yup, the 2007 movie is responsible for bringing me in to the fandom, and I appreciate it for that. But we're at a point where the reputation of these films in the public eye is on a slow descent. Unless 5 ends up actually being good without the immature Bay fuckery, then this movie won't be bringing any new fans in. No teenage/adult fan will care, and kids will get into it pretty much regardless (assuming that the freakin TV show could be aired at a reasonable time).

 

I'm talking about the height of the popularity and the newness of the first film in 2007. New people (including myself) joined various forums and fandoms and were excited to talk about the movie only to be told to literally "GTFO."

And many did.

Regardless, that's not my initial point, instead it's more of the incessant statement that the movies haven't done anything for the franchise but drag it down, but that's only the mindset of pre-movie fans, not what anyone new to the franchise or even outside the fandom thinks, when it's nothing but further from the truth.

 

I think people want more plot, characterization, good writing, and relatable, developed characters and plot threads that actually get built upon. It's been done before in TF shows - the Beast Era and Prime in particular spring to mind - and those shows also have a somewhat darker tone without being excessively violent or immature like the Bay films can. But the formula from the first movie has worked thus far, and there's no reason for the film companies to fix what ain't broke - unless a movie in the series bombs, they're forced to look at why it bombed, then retool and reboot it.

Ex: I'm glad Batman and Robin happened. If it hadn't underperformed and been a critical disaster, we'd have gotten umpteen more awful, campy movies. But it rightfully tanked and from the ashes we got the Nolan films. I'm not saying I want the TF films to bomb, but I think they should consider actually doing something a little different next time.

 

If it's any consolation to the people who aren't happy about there being more TFs films right now there's the chance that they may not happen should any of the future movies don't do as well as before. Like what happened to the ASM series from Sony.

 

Hey, maybe if 5 bombs they can incorporate the Transformers into the MCU. Why not? Happened in the old Marvel Transformers series  

 

Prime's writing was anything but good and relatable. The character's nothing more than weak cliches that were fleshed out better even in early 90s cartoons.

I agree with the rest thought.

 

I get this and mostly agree. But I also recognized that it's easier to give character/plot/background etc. to characters in a cartoon series over a movie because you can have entire 22 minute episodes, 2 parters, etc dedicated to one character, while a movie with multiple characters is hard to cram a backstory into, which is why the MCU works.

I'm not saying they're amazing writing and works of art, but I love them for what they are.

On the other side though I feel people have higher expectations to characters as well because "they know them" or "grew up with them" and instead should recognize these characters as a separate entity in the same universe.

 

Bayformers is responsible for canceling RiD...? The cartoon that's a direct sequel to Prime, i.e. the series that wouldn't exist without Bayformers? Come on now.

And, as others have already stated, Bayformers is 100% responsible for Transformers's renewed popularity. That's not even a point of debate. It's just a fact.

The only time, before 2007, that Transformers had been more popular was during G1, back in the '80s.

That's not really a valid defense. The movies have their priorities mixed up. That's their major problem. The Transformers would have excellent characterization (theoretically), if they were the stars/main characters of their own movies. But, they're just supporting characters/action set-pieces that never grow or evolve (or ever talk all that much, to be honest), and take backseat to the lame, poorly-written human plots. Making the first film from the humans' perspective totally made sense, because it was an origin story and they were going for a "disaster movie" kinda feel. But, after that, all of the sequels should've been from the Autobots' persective. There's no real justifiable excuse for why they weren't.

I honestly think that, if the Transformers movies just followed the robots the entire time, 80% of the people who complain about them would actually be okay with them.

 

I thought BW was pretty popular. I know for sure only kids gave a damn about AEC, as far as the shows were concerned.

 

Oh, it was definitely popular. But, not as popular as G1 or the material in 2007.

I can't stress this enough, y'all. Animated, Prime, and the High Moon Studios games only got made because of the insane demand for the franchise that the 2007 movie generated.

 

The more I think about this, the more excited I get for this. Cause let's face it, this is going to be the franchises face for the next decade. And all these writers being onboard gives me confidence that this can be good.

Not to mention we have the possibility of Hasbro adapting various IDW comics.

So I'm ready for whatever Hasbro has planned.

 

I don't know if these movies really need to appeal to me, all they can do is help me get more things I like from Generations and Masterpiece.

Therefore it needs to appeal to all demographics, and especially kids. I was definitely put off by Optimus threatening to blow humans away.

They definitely need to change it up in tone in a big way. I know G1 was about warring robots, but it was still fun and their was an innocence to it in some weird way.

 

great more movies to make more toys to clog up pegs. yay