The TF movies so far have gotten tons of complaints some of which are valid true but were there any complaints about them that you don't get or still don't get or even don't agree with?

For me it would have to be the complaint about the movies not being faithful to the franchise at all in any regard either it be character designs,designs,etc and being too different from the original material. To be honest this is one I still don't get. Sure the movies are pretty different from G1 no doubt about it but the thing is that the series after G1 all did their own share of drastic changes and elements some of which I'd say even more so then the movies in some respects yet somehow the movies still get the most flak when it comes to changes and different takes.Whatever the opinion of the changes being good,bad or indifferent to people are,I still find it odd that some fans complain about guys like Soundwave and Ironhide in the movies being too different from G1 when they had versions that are just as different if not more so then the G1 versions.

What about you? The thread isn't made to start arguments it's just a question that's been on my mind for a while.

 

"Movies ruined Transformers"- Yeah, pulling in millions of dollars for Hasbro is terrible.

"Looks like shrapnel"- Some do, sure. But most are solid.

"Michael Bay raped my childhood"- Grow up.

 

Murder Prime comes to mind.

 

I'm gonna say it with a slight risk of being repetitive and irritating, but ...sigh, sigh...

A TALKING voiced by non other than Will Friedle Bumblebee
 

 

"The twins and/or Drift were racist"

 

ROTF/DOTM/AOE were nowhere near as good as TF1.

 

This is a good subject.

I respect all opinions that are backed with evidence whether I disagree with them or not. Not liking or liking something is fine. The criticisms I don't get are the ones in which the expectations are completely unrealistic, or it seems that the person's complaints make it seem like they have not even seen the film(s), or in which it seems their opinion trumps facts, so here it goes.

"The KSI Transformers are not Transformers!" They are robots in official Transformers fiction that change into vehicles. That makes them Transformers. That Galvatron is the only sentient KSI robot, or that their transformation scheme is visually distinct is completely irrelevant.

"The movies don't represent the fans!" As if any piece of Transformers fiction or any toy line does. There is no such thing, nor will there ever be. It's impossible in a brand as diverse as Transformers.

And yet, the production does listen to the fans. Whether it's changing Megatron's head in the first film or the numerous nods to G1 episodes or giving us more Transformers screen time and characterization in later entries or giving us the Dinobots and the Animated nods in AOE.

"We need a director other than Michael Bay, so we can have more Transformers focus!" I completely understand wanting a different director than Bay. I'll go and see the films whether Bay is involved or not. However, the limiting factor in these films as far as Transformers screen time goes is the CGI budget and not Bay. The Transformers are complex CGI creations. Any director would be limited by the CGI budget.

Do I want more Transformers characterization and focus? Of course, but truthfully the films are a lot more Transformers-focused than they once were. Compare the amount Transformers screen time and characterization we got in AOE to the 2007 film. It's not even close. Also, even when the Transformers aren't on screen a lot of the story is still focused on them. What was Simmons obsessed with? The Transformers! What changes Cade's life? Finding and repairing and helping Optimus Prime and the Autobots! What is Cemetery Wind trying to do? Destroy the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth. What is Joshua and KSI focused on? Creating their own Transformers and unknowingly doing the bidding of Megatron!

Also, even if he doesn't want to direct any Transformers films after this next one, in his own way I think he is a fan of the brand. If Bay could get away with a film consisting of two hours of robots fighting he probably would.

"Bay disrespected the Dinobots!" I can understand wanting them to be a larger part of the plot of the fourth film. I can understand wanting them to talk...I hope they eventually talk myself. However, they were not "disrespected" by any stretch.

They are the first giant Transformers in the films to not die in the film they first appear in. They are not the subject of any crude or sexual humor. They're prisoners aboard Lockdown's ship whom the Autobots really don't know much about, and they become useful allies by decimating a lot of Galvatron's army. They all have moments to shine as individuals as well as a group, whether it's Scorn rolling over some Decepticons, Strafe carrying Bumblebee around and rescuing Slug from Lockdown, or Slug catching a mercenary ship in midair. They actively help each other out if you notice despite being robot beasts. Last but not least, they get far more screen time than many other Transformers characters in the films despite only appearing near the end of the film.

If anything the savage non-speaking brutes in AOE are far more respectful to the original Dinobots than the corny doofuses in Season 3 of the Sunbow cartoon are.

I agree with this, too.

 

Why Grimlock is'nt voiced by John DiMaggio with his King Shark voice.  

But in all seriousness, a few to name. I mean The movies help relauched Transformers to the Public.

 

That those of us who enjoy the movies are stupid or have no taste.

 

With this one I think you can blame the superhero films.

People have been really picky and really vocal when it comes to what superheroes and the villains are wearing. Get something a bit off and comic book fans will have the pitch forks and torches out long before the films release. Nipples on the Bat-suit, Batman is ruined forever. Scars on The Joker's face and a young handsome actor in the role The Joker is ruined forever.

Whenever the comic book fans get something how they want it then it gets harder for other movies to do something different.

Ouch and you think it's been bad with Transformers just look at how big the debate is over Superman and Zod in Man of Steel.

I don't think you can compare movies to cartoons because it seems people are more open minded towards cartoons. I mean sure people are going to get upset to changes in a Spiderman cartoon but not nearly as upset as changes in a Spiderman live action movie.

I really think we are spoiled rotten at this point and that makes it harder to do something different if that something doesn't totally knock it out of the park. It's like if you get a Deadpool then fans start expecting every film to seem like a personal love letter to just them.

 

I disagree, if only because that definition being limited only to vehicles excludes actual Transformers in each film (Frenzy is a boombox/cellphone, Scalpel/Doctor is a microscope, Brains is a laptop(I think?) in DOTM, and of course Dinobots in DOTM as this assumption is the only thing actually denoting them as traditional TF's due to them not ever having robot modes in the film).

I'm willing to relax the interpetation of what a "Transformer" is, as much as I feel the cheatsy "stealing-the-gimmick-of-Yellow-Devil-from-Megaman-1" Transformium nonsense is lame when modern technology already has transforming vehicles in real life, but really the problem is there isn't a clear definition of categorizing the KSI meltformers from the traditional shift-parts-around kind. I mean, we can call the traditional Transformers Cybertronians, because that's what they are, but the best that the human-made drones get is just KSI bots. At the very least, a better collective term for differentiation purposes would improve that subject in my opinion.

I fail to see how they listened to the complaints about humans still being far too damn integral to the plot such that the films are human-centered with alien robots driving the plot, instead of the alien robot centered films where humans just happen to be around since the action takes place on the human home planet.

Because we totally needed that CGI slow-mo shot of a guy getting punched by a flying rally car?

Boy, those Dinobots sure got better characterization than being dumb idiots...right?

Then how was the Romeo and Juliet law argument and that one elevator sequence at all related to the plot?

If he could make a film on the level of Real Steel with Transformers, then that would be amazing.

Too bad "Transformers" somehow requires far too much human presence to acomplish that balance which Real Steel had - and those robots didn't even talk!

I disgree here, not so much that Bay "disrespected" the Dinobots but rather the movie was completely promoted for including them with implications they would be far more important and prominent then they actually were.

Seriously, between the film's otherwise nonsensical name, the fact Prime riding Grimlock was all over the store asile placards, and maybe half the toyline being Dinobots period, it's kind of a rip off that they don't show up until the last half hour purely to transport the bots to the final battle, let alone actually be called Dinobots.

Frankly, I still stand by my assertion that AoE would be significantly better if the Dinobots were actually the main antagonists instead of the KSI bullshit taking center stage with little substance. Hell, have Attinger harvest Transformium from them instead of being the excuse to kill off all the survivors from DOTM, in addition to the KSI bots being markets worldwide as a solution to increasing Dinobot attacks - that way the US doesn't look like its being run by morons due to ignoring the biggest military asset they have since the nuclear bomb being killed off, while it also justifies Attinger selling the robots to China (which would be tantamount to being a traitor in AoE because a US subsidiary agency selling high-end weapons without government permission obviously shouldn't be allowed to happen).

 

Personally for me, the biggest complaint is the juvenile sense of humor. There's no subtlety to it. I'm a big fan of injecting humor into action movies....I've been downrange, funny shit happens and gets said all the time.....but not during the times it's displayed in these movies.

The sense of tension gets ruined by it.

One-liners are also a big complaint. There's a time for them too (and yes they happen in real life).....but 75% of the dialog in these movies is anchored by one-liners. Less is more, in this case.

 

TF 1 was nearly perfect for the action, but after Ehren Kruger messed up with protoform robots and spacecraft, it turn really bad cause Decepticons didn't even have a real fight with Autobots.Please let the robots got more own screen time, characterized and unique weapons system.

 

Well I never said Transformers only transform into vehicles. However, Galvatron and Stinger and company did transform into vehicles; they didn't transform into boomboxes or monkeys or dinosaurs, which is why I mentioned the vehicles thing.

Also, I don't care whether the Transformers disintegrate into cubes or shift their parts mechanically. They are still transforming; they're changing from one mode into another. Stinger may not be a Cybertronian, but he's still a Transformer. Galvatron's mind is still that of a Cybertronian.

I understand some fans not liking the visual, but it's transforming.

They're live action films that have CGI characters, and complex ones at that. Humans are naturally going to get a lot of screen time. If these films were animated then yes, you could make a film that included only or almost entirely robots.

And yet, the Transformers as characters actually do play a larger role in the films than they used to. Despite the robots being CGI the balance between the Transformers and humans is much better than it used to be. I think an important part of a live-action Transformers film is not only how the Transformers interact with each other, but also how they interact with the humans. Frankly, I would rather there be heavy Transformer-human interaction than Transformers on Earth simply fighting their wars and battles and not making friends and enemies among the humans.

Which wasn't even CGI I believe. I think they actually suspended the car at least during the moment the guy got hit in the car. I actually saw a clip of it at one point, although I forget where

And many fans were worried before that they would be made into dumb idiots, or that they would be involved with some crude or sexual humor. Some fans were even hoping that Grimlock wouldn't say, "Me Grimlock." True, other fans were, but this kind of shows how hard it would be to create Dinobots that please fans. Should they have been violent brutes or cheesy idiots or something in between? The answer would not be the same from all Transformers fans.

Do I hope they, or at least Grimlock, eventually talk? Yeah, but I think it would be kind of neat if they are more primitive than the other Autobots, and so they don't learn instantly from the internet, but instead they learn to speak slowly. Of course, that's just a personal preference.

Those were two scenes. Yeah, I think the Hing Kong chase and human parts of the magnet scene could have been shortened. Also, while I do not like Shane's character at all, he does provide some extra tension for Cade during the film's events.

Never, ever did I get the impression from the trailers that the Dinobots would be the main focus of the plot. They were only seen in a few action scenes. Story-wise the trailers seemed to focus on 1) Autobots and humans were no longer allies, 2) Lockdown was after Prime, 3) the Transformers were made of a metal that was important for some reason, and 4) Cade was struggling to provide for himself and his daughter. There was never any indication they were the main drivers of the story or that they were major characters in it. Lots, and I do mean lots, of big budget action films try to sell the big budget action, and in this instance the big budget action included Dinobots that are extremely gigantic CGI creations made of many parts.

And once more, I'll reiterate that the Dinobots are still alive. With their CGI models already created they can be used more in later films, and that's something at least.

And yeah, I wouldn't be opposed to a "War of the Dinobots" type of plot or subplot in future films, but truthfully I like the story we got.

Also, I'm a huge, insane, crazy dinosaur-lover. Despite the leaps in knowledge about them in recent decades, they're still largely mysterious animals. I kind of like that the Dinobots were mysterious to the Autobots just like dinosaurs are mysterious to humans. Do I want to learn more about the Movieverse Dinobots? Absolutely, but I'm fine with them for the time being. I'd rather have them be mysterious Knights than have them be creations of Wheeljack or humans.

About the film's name, I think it's called Age of Extinction because just about everyone and everything is at risk of extinction because of the combined actions of the Creators, Lockdown, Cemetery Wind, Megatron, and KSI. The Creators caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other life forms on thousands of worlds. They send Lockdown to hunt down both Autobots and Decepticons and want to destroy the remnants of both factions. The humans work with Lockdown. The humans' desire to make Transformers they think they control and their manipulation by Megatron threatens life on Earth and any remaining Autobots as well. The film's title really has little to do with the Dinobots.

 

Didn't you go off on a guy earlier for having a wall of text because he got defensive over someone else's opinion and that he didn't stay on the thread's topic or purpose.

Huh.

 

You are correct, it was all real, no CGI, in the AOE making of features from the blu-ray they show Bay filming the sequence. with the car and the actor

 

Back in the TF1 era I never really understood why people hated the flames and the long nose. I remember being dissappointed, because they were using a flatnose for the early promotions, butI got used to the long nose pretty quick, and it seemed to fit well to Prime. Also, flames weren't really needed, but they've been on primes before. I wondered if there was some deeper meaning to having flames on your vehicle that riled people?!

 

Yeah I never got the flame complaint. I felt that it was a cool way to help do his iconic color scheme in a different way and they did explain why they went with it for Optimus because at the time,red was hard to film. As for the long nose truck well it still works for Optimus and it's not like he wasn't a long nosed truck before like he was in G2 and in Armada.

Though I can't help but wonder if the other reason why the flames got much hate because it reminded them of Hot Rod and what happened in the 86 movie?

 

Yeah, I don't get the Flames argument either? Looks way better than just a boring red truck if you ask me, although I can see how people would say flames are Hot Rods thing.

 

This one, or more specifically:

'Hysterical voice' "Rooaaar! ROTF is the worst movie ever created!" 'foaming at the mouth'