The Lack of transformers Airplanes

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by HawaiianBro808, Jul 24, 2017.

  1. iceburn9

    iceburn9 Constructicon

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    If you compare it to an A380 or B-52, or even the submarine Transformer, then it is moderate sized. An F-18 transformed wouldn't be that much larger than Blackout even.

    Point is, no doubt it would be bigger than the Autobot cars, it's not that humongously large to dwarf everything either.
     
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  2. Ash from Carolina

    Ash from Carolina Junior Smeghead

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    I think it comes down to planes being a bigger pain in the butt to film than cars.

    It's not a big issue for a car to sit there while you change things around because something isn't right with the shot. Given the lack of good car chases in the series most of the time a granny could have driven the car slowly like we have seen in a lot shots. But a jet can't just sit there while you move the cameras around. It's also easier to have your human stars in the scene if all they have to do is either sit in the car or stand near the car.

    In an interview on Dunkirk the director Nolan was talking about the advances in filming that it took to be able to get shots of the actors in an actual plane in flight. So you are talking about filming with cameras that most directors aren't used to.

    Also just a heck of a lot cheaper to fill up the gas tank on something like Ironhide's alt mode than to fill up a modern jet fighter, so budget constraints have likely kept the series focused on the vehicles that are cheaper to use and that I car manufacturer will pay to have their car featured in the film.
     
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  3. Diamondback

    Diamondback Bitterly Clinging G1 Micromaster Malcontent

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    Also, a lot of the more interesting aircraft you'd really HAVE to CGI as there are either none airworthy or none left in existence, which is why you only saw Jetfire (hideous waste of a good character design IMO) in alt-mode parked at first-contact. Similarly, any prequel with Blackout will have to be CGI because the Pave Lows are all museum pieces or Boneyard scrapmetal now.

    I would have liked to see XH558, the last flyable Avro Vulcan that was just recently grounded for good (and the real star of the 007 movie Thunderball), revealed as a Transformer that had quietly helped the Brits develop some of their better birds...

    Re the Nimitz Transformer idea... maybe Broadside as a Nimitz, dumping the Triple Changer aspect in favor of a Hornet Headmaster. Problem then becomes, if you have an aircraft carrier out there somebody's gonna want to put an airgroup on it, so how to deal with all the squishies and their toys aboard when it's transformation time? You don't just get 5,000 people over the side in even a half-hour's Abandon Ship... unless our theoretical Movie Broadside could somehow for their own safety seal them off into protected compartments with altered gravity somehow.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2017
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  4. BadGuyWins

    BadGuyWins B-Movie Villain

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    ROTF video game Breakaway would be a perfect addition to the cast, given his design (even if the F-35 isn't all it's cracked up to be). Of course, you'd have to throw in a prominent airborne Decepticon to serve as a worthy opponent (or you could just have him get the crap beaten out of him by Megatron in some kind of airborne fight scene).
     
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  5. Cosbydaf

    Cosbydaf Well-Known Member

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    If it was up to me, I'd have taken Drift's Helicopter mode (which he barely used, and wasn't in TLK at all) and given it to an aerial Vehicon type who are involved in the Autobot tracking missions.
     
  6. Diamondback

    Diamondback Bitterly Clinging G1 Micromaster Malcontent

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    OTOH, the whole story on F-35 isn't being widely reported... I have boardmates on other sites who are pilots and one of the engineers who built it, and that thing has a whole lotta capabilities most folks don't know about, like how the DAS and helmet-mounted display let you look in all directions "through" the jet like the airframe isn't even there scanning for threats.

    No way can we replace *everything* with 'em, but much like the F-117 before it and the F-22 I think it has a place as a "Silver Bullet" asset for operating in denied/dangerous areas and clearing out defenses for the older models until they phase out. (Besides, if you've got an Aegis cruiser nearby that F-35 has more firepower on-call than an entire squadron of F-15s... plane locks up target, feeds targeting data to ship and calls in launch, BOOM dead target.)
     
  7. Livingdeaddan

    Livingdeaddan DEFIANTLILHORDE

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  8. BarricadeLives

    BarricadeLives i'm you! i'm your shadow!

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    would have been neat to see barricade transform into a police chopper as well..i would have taken a drift/barricade chopper chase over the sub chase

    although perhaps it's for the best...drift is not to be trifled with..
     
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  9. HawaiianBro808

    HawaiianBro808 Banned

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    that would be sick if he transformed into one of these kind of helicopters

    [​IMG] [​IMG][​IMG]
     
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  10. Dconworshipper

    Dconworshipper decepticon

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    just replace the police star with a decepticon badge and the VH PVD on the tail with "to punish and enslave" and you have the perfect barricade shopper alt mode.
     
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  11. greboguru

    greboguru Psychedelic Brainchild

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    The thing about aircraft is that they're a much less useful disguise than cars, trucks, or motorcycles.

    Think about it: if you want to hide yourself within the humans' civilization, a civilian vehicle (a car, truck, or motorcycle) is best -- you can go pretty much wherever and not draw attention.

    An aircraft can go far fewer places within human civilization without drawing attention. Basically airports and hangars, that's it.

    Construction vehicles can travel on roads/streets to a limited extent, but really they stick out like a sore thumb anywhere but construction/industrial sites.

    Military vehicles are the worst. Outside of a battlefield, the only place they can hide incognito is a military base. Parked.

    Really, the very best altmodes -- for disguise purposes -- went to movie Barricade and Frenzy. A boom box can sit around pretty much anyplace, and a police car has the authority to go virtually anywhere, and questions will rarely be asked.

    One of the good thing about the Bay movies is/was their focus on "Robots IN DISGUISE" -- a theme which is surprisingly underutilized in most TF fiction.
     
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  12. jaws

    jaws Well-Known Member

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    It would be awesome to see military fighters converging together to form the amazing Superion. Give us more Decepticon seekers.
     
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  13. Dconworshipper

    Dconworshipper decepticon

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    well tbh since the entire world now knows of the transformers being here and the fact that the goverment is no longer hunting autobots,i think they can start taking on some less conventional alt modes. especially the decepticons. they never cared about hiding since rotf and only use alt modes for faster transportation.

    but i can see where you are coming from. still would be about time for some more unique alt modes like the tf1 decepticons had.
     
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