If you remember in 2007, Trent flicked a piece of balled paper at Sam in front of the whole class when he was presenting his great great grandpas souvenirs in high school. When he and Miles went to "climb the tree" at the park, Sam had a shot to throwdown with Trent for humiliating him in front of Mikaela. Keep in mind, this is the same guy that tackled the Nest security gaurds in DOTM. Is this normal for teenagers or is it just Witwicky being brave when it suits him????

 

Getting dragged into interstellar conflict with giant mechanical beings and basically saving everyone from destruction tends to change your perspective, and probably gives you a bit of confidence.

Sam's got a bit of a nervous streak, so I don't think that sort of cowering is ever going to disappear for his character (and I think that plays through to the end of DOTM), but when the chips are down, he's got backbone enough to do the right thing and fight for the things that matter to him. It's not about being brave when it suits him, it's about overcoming his fears in moments of real crisis.

Throughout the first film, there's this constant theme that Sam is 'more than meets the eye'. He's more than the 'cool kids' see him as, he's more than Mikeala sees him as at first glance, he's more than even his parents can see in him, and he's more than he is when he looks at himself. He just needs an opportunity to reveal himself and transform into the person he's meant to become.

He also grows (to a degree, let's be frank, character development is not something the Bay films excelled at) over the course of the movies, so the Sam that tackles those guards in DOTM isn't really the same Sam who gets shoo'd away from the party in the first film.

 

Was Sam ever really afraid of him, though? I seem to recall Sam insulting Trent to his face right there in front of Mikaela (that whole line about researching the link between brain damage and football). In a classic jock-vs.-joke scenario, that's pretty much personally handing out an invitation to your own beatdown. I wouldn't say that makes Sam scared. Stupid, maybe, but not scared.

Then again, Trent doesn't seem all that intimidating to begin with. Of course, while Sam was getting ready for college Trent was busy getting killed by Jason Vorhees, so it's not like we ever had a chance of knowing for sure.

 

Which was a legitimately good insult, and actually threw the bully off quite a bit. Shame Sam didn't follow that sort of trajectory for the rest of the movie.

 

I thought he did, though, like when he confronted Simmons a few times...

 

That's true, I just wish on the whole he was a bit more clever and less screamy.

 

I'm STILL laughing to this day about the frat guys scene. Shia was at his best when he delivered that line "what size shoe do you wear?"

 

Because Trent was a chad and Sam was a beta.

End of story.

 

We actually don't know about it other than one is the main character for three Transformers movies, while the other is a minor bully character that somehow end up in the 2009 remake of Friday the Thirteen.

 

He wasn't scared of Trent, he just flinched the same way any of us might flinch if something hits us at 'high' velocity. He was just a bit cautious because Trent is a typical high school bully footballer type guy, so Sam was making sure he didn't get his head caved in. But scared? nah, or he wouldn't have taken that shot about the colouring book. And as Aeronoth says, in DOTM, he's been through multiple combat zones with giant alien robots. He's developed quite a bit by the time he comes to DOTM.

 

Slight tangent, but IMO Trent would have been a better Flash Thompson than any of the ones we got in the actual Spider-Man movies.

 

I don't think he was super scared but I mean let's face it Sam is not the biggest guy and at the time seemed to have no fighting experience at the time so of course he going to be intimidated by the typical high school jock douche bag. But what I love is he had those witty little insults like that not just in that scene but as someone else said with the frat boys in ROTF too. That one of my favorite parts of his character in all honesty because I've had those moments too when dealing with bullies and cocky a** holes in my life. Now if you look to your left and see my picture you may find it hard to believe but I use to be the little strange skinny shrimp in middle and high school but I was and I had my own encounters similar to Sam and Trent when dealing with jerks back then and I can tell you these scenes definitely made Same feel like a real teenager to me. But anyways I would not say Sam was scared but he knew he was in over his head on what he could physically handle at the time. Also low key wish looking back on it being the meat head I am I wish Sam got a bit more in shape in each movie movie to make him more of an action hero as each went instead of being about the same.

 

I do not understand the premise of this thread at all. Sam was cautious of the jock because at the beginning of TF1, he was a normal kid living in a normal world.

Sam was a nerdy kid with nerdy friends. If he had stood up to the jock and somehow came out on top, that wouldn't be the end of it. He would have gotten jumped by not just that jock but all his jock friends all at once. That's a given. It's not a situation Sam could have won because the jocks would have continued it until he lost. Sam winning wouldn't end it, that would just push things to the next level.

But the experiences Sam has in those movies with the multiple brushes with death give him perspective and tenacity. He can fight back and risk death. But why couldn't he do that in the first movie? Because he hadn't had those experiences yet. Is the thread-starter a time traveler experiencing life out of order??

 

I wouldn't say he was scared since he gave him an elaborate fictional answer to the point everyone could see what it was.That is brave when you consider Trent's size next to him and the number of his "crew" and Sam really reminds me of me although I didn't care about fitting in,I was like screw it.As others have said it's been years and in DOTM he was literally an adult looking for a job and in TF2007 he was a highschool boy.I think he was also more sure of himself in DOTM and was desparate to mean something..knew he deserved better than how he was treated the whole time.

 

I don't even know who Trent is.

 

He's a wimp, LOL!

You're right boi

 

Sam was a douche he always scare of something.

 

I'm not quite sure how those two statements line up.

 

Because Sam knew Trent was going to meet Jason at some point.