@Optimus_Prowl

Were Shatter and Dropkick's motivations changed in the final film? I recall hearing that Shatter and Dropkick told Sector 7 that they were hunting Bumblebee because he "illegally exited Cybertron" or something along those lines. Although that could have been part of their deception. Either way, I don't recall hearing that line in the final film (I just rewatched that scene, they only refer to Bumblebee as a "criminal").

 

i wanna say they claimed he was an escaped fugitive. Someone dangerous? I think most of the dialogue had generally thensame focus. The major change was with their plan. They discover that Bumblebee brought stuff to life in the original cut and plan to use and energon source and the satellite dish to send a pulse out across the city bringing all the appliances to life as an army for the decepticons rather than just sending out a signal to call the army. Thats why Charlie needs to climb the tower to get to the energon device thats hooked into the tower. She has to remove it before it sends the pulse out and theres a timer on it ticking down until its charged.

 

Huh, interesting stuff. While that certainly would have been neat, I think I prefer their plan in the final movie. The early version technically gives every Transformer the ability to create an army, given they have access to a tower and nearby machinery. If it's that easy, it sort of makes you wonder why the Transformers don't use that ability all the time. Their plan in the final movie essentially had the same outcome (gather an army), it was just done in a way that fit the world better. Plus, it's too similar to Megatron's plan in the '07 film.

 

@Optimus_Prowl was barricade in the film in any way? Were the deaths of the decepticons different from what we got? And do you like this cut or the one we’ve got more?

 

That actually would've made more sense if they had used an Allspark shard / energy sample instead of just pure Energon to create new lifeforms if this originally was the prequel. But would've left me also wondering on how Bee would just be mindlessly searching for 20+ years if he'd come so close to an Allspark sliver.

Speaking of the Allspark, did it have any reference in this cut at all? Sorry if anyone asked this before, but I recalled someone saying that Shatter and Dropkick were originally alerting the Decepticons because they found the Allspark. Guess that was wrong then.

 

In fact, rather interestingly, Knight and Hodson have said, in pretty much every interview, that Bay was wonderful to work with and was absolutely supportive of their vision for the film - even sticking up for them in meetings.

Perhaps of note, they've never said any such thing about Lorenzo.

 

Hi, I know it's a long time after the fact, but can you confirm that Blitzwing died in the pre-screening version?

tfwiki still has a note questioning whether it was meant to be Starscream and the name changed during the re-editing, and won't accept my changes that point out it couldn't have been Starscream as the character still died even when it was intended as a prequel to the Bay movies.

 

Yep he died in the prescreener as well as the full film. As far as i remember he had a placeholder name on our little survey at the end that wasnt starscream or blitzwing though. I think he was given the name later through production. We also never hear said it in either version of the film, just in the credits and on the toy?

 

There was a placeholder name? That's interesting and gives the theory that Hasbro just chose Blitzwing for trademark reasons more credit. Do you happen to recall what that placeholder name was?

 

honestly i have no clue because its been so long haha. I know it was super generic as were Shatter and Dropkicks original names so all of them also had an alt mode and color scheme listed to let me remember who they were talking about

 

@Optimus_Prowl what was your favorite scene from the original cut?

 

I think my favorite aspect of the prescreener cut was the original portrayal of John Cenas character being more serious. Making him more funny was fun but way less interesting. Also it felt like Cena cared more in the first cut

 

Sorry to ask so long after the fact; does that mean he looked different to what was shown in the 'Battle at Half Dome' motion comic? As that's basically just 2007 Megatron with a moew G1 shaped head:

 

You now know the answer to this since we discussed in a different thread but for others reading this, @Optimus_Prowl answers this here: Travisformer Megatron

TLDR: Yes, Megatron looked very similar to the one in the Bumblebee motion comic and is probably an artifact of the prequel stage.

 

Said he had a fusion canon

 

And? It doesn't change the fact that he was still primarily '07 Megs with modifications.

 

Slapping a fusion cannon on that butt-ugly '07 design wouldn't fix it.    

 

i didn't say it did I was just also saying he had his fusion canon

 

I remember the one shown having a bit more likeness to G1 megs but with the movie megs face and teeth inside the bucket. It was very much in line with the Optimus Prime redesign for this one as that Optimus design still appeared in the prescreener cut when Charlie activates the holo message in the forest in BBs chest. So the redesign brjngs them to looking more like a blend of G1 elements and movie elements. I wish i could watch it again cause now my memory is playing tricks on me and having me think that Hologram Optimus may have had the more neo-G1 body with a movie prime head. Not sure honestly.

 

Sorry for taking so long to reply! No barricade mention at all in the prescreener. The deaths remained the same just far better animated in this one obviously cause most of the prescreener scenes were previsuals overlayed over the footage, very incomplete.
I love the one we got more. Most of the scenes that need to be cut were. It works far better being distanced from the Bay films as well.