Right these are the dates, they just weren't where I expected to find them. There's a lot that happened earlier than I remember, but it looks like December wouldn't be an unrealistic expectation:

Transformers:
Teaser trailer
Premiered 29 June 2006 in front of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. In 2003, the Beagle 2 Mars Rover was launched. Features "blurry footage" from the Mars lander, which is then destroyed by a shadowy robotic figure. It was the only warning we would ever get. Included as a DVD extra.
Theatrical trailer #1
Premiered 20 December 2006 in front of Rocky Balboa. "Whatever fell out of the sky ended up right here behind me..." On July 4... Our world... will be TRANSFORMED. Notable for the horrifically grating electronic "music" of the second half. Included as a DVD extra (oddly labeled as Trailer #2.)

ROTF:
Big Game spot
Air date 1 February 2009 during the Super Bowl. Protoforms hit aircraft carrier. Sam backs away. Lennox points. Revenge... Revenge...
Teaser trailer
Released 17 February 2009. Protoforms hit Paris, Egypt, aircraft carrier. From director Michael Bay... and executive producer Steven Spielberg... "You don't stop, you don't hide, you run. You hear what I'm saying?!" Aired in front of the Friday the 13th remake and Watchmen.

DOTM:
Announcement trailer
Released December 10, 2010 in front of The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's secret mission. "A generation's greatest achievement... our nation's proudest moment... a secret hidden for 40 years." "Neil, you are dark on the rock, mission is a go."
Super Bowl XLV spot
Aired February 6, 2011. A new sound, close-ups of Shia LaBeouf, Bumblebee, Tyrese Gibson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley amidst the chaos, and Optimus Prime swooping in on some generics. "On 7-1-11, Earth goes dark."
Trailer #1
Released April 29 2011, in front of Fast Five. "Our entire space race of the entire 1960s was in response to an event..." "My God." "...if you breathe a word of what you see in here, we'll do you time for treason." "Everything humans know of our planet we were told had been shared. You lied to us, you've made a grave mistake." "From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg... On 7.1.11..." "Years from now, they're gonna ask, where were you when they took over the planet?" "You're gonna be fine, I promise." "It's over, I'm sorry, but it's over." "OPTIMUS!!!" "WHERE IS SHE!!??" "You may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves. From here, the fight will be your own." "RUN!"

AOE:
Big Game Spot
Aired February 2, 2014 during Super Bowl XLVIII. [Prepare] "Everybody stick behind me." [For Extinction] "Dad!" "Tessa!"
Teaser Trailer
Released March 4, 2014. [This Summer] [The Rules] [Have Changed]

TLK:
Teaser #1
Released May 17, 2016, the first teaser for the movie features a static image of Optimus Prime with Optimus Prime's voice in the background and a cut to the title logo.
Teaser #2
Released May 31, 2016, the second teaser features a static image of Megatron with growling noises in the background and a cut to the title logo.
Trailer #3
Released December 5, 2016. "It has been said... through the ages... without sacrifice, there can be no victory." "From director Michael Bay" "Two species at war - one flesh, one metal. Optimus Prime has left us. One hundred billion trillion planets in the cosmos... You want to know, don't you? Why they keep coming here?" "I want to stay... and I want to fight them." "And now, two worlds colliding... only one survives." "Oh my God." "Forgive me."

Bumblebee (just for completeness's sake):
June 5, 2018 — The official teaser trailer is posted by Paramount Pictures, also revealing the film's title has been shortened to just Bumblebee
September 22-23, 2018 — Three teasers were released on various platforms with many different languages, revealing Soundwave and Ravage's appearance in the movie. Additionally, shots were revealed of Optimus Prime's design, the three major Decepticons in the movie, and Cybertron.

 

What are you even talking about?

 

But wouldn’t the Whirl example just show that a background character can be made popular instead of just having their name taken while they are shoved to the background? That’s what I’ve been wanting for characters who haven’t been given any chances to shine before.

And the reason DC characters are better known is because people have been given a good idea of who they generally are. If audiences were bombarded with 5 vastly different versions of the Flash, I’m sure people would be a lot less sure of who exactly this Flash guy even is. When there’s a lot more cohesion, though, it stops them from becoming a nebulous collection of characters who share nothing in common but their name. No matter how many minute differences there are, the Flash has still stayed as “red guy with yellow lightning who runs fast.”

 

While true, it's a risky endeavor (especially given that Whirl, who was somewhat directly responsible for causing the Great War itself because he was a dick to Megatron in prison), and really isn't something to try when 'good characters' is something the franchise isn't even known for. Hell, half the reason MTMTE would end up giving so many bottom-listers memorable personalities is because the majority of the top tier characters were in the other title going on at the same time. Rodimus, Ratchet, Cyclonus, and Ultra Magnus were, pretty much, the three most well known going into MTMTE on the Lost Light at the outset (or at least known since Overlord, post-LSOTW, was also onboard though virtually nobody knew about it). Whirl took time to develop into a rather complex character whose insanity could be explained.

The state the movies are in is not a time we should be trying to experiment with making background characters popular. The foundation for building off newer characters simply doesn't exist right now because Paramount still hasn't proven they can handle the established characters right. And the bad guys are just a joke - when the biggest thing we can say about Barricade is the only Decepticon who actually survived all the Paramount films, that's a problem.

 

In my original post, I was making the implicit point that Whirl is a freak example - in that he was a bottom-lister that somebody picked up and wrote a new personality for. This is what happened to a lot of the MTMTE cast - compare their MTMTE personalities with their original bios and you don't find much similarity. (I was also rambling a bit.)

Most of the time, writers are going to focus on the big legacy guys - Optimus, Bumblebee, Ratchet et al for the Autobots and the Big Four (Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave) for the Decepticons - because they're the ones who've been written about the most.

I will raise you a contradictory example of this - the Godzilla franchise, which has basically said, "there is no canon"(aside from the '54 film having happened... and even then, that's open for discussion). Godzilla and Mothra have remained mostly static, some have gone through multiple different origins.

For instance, King Ghidorah has gone from planet-destroying monster (and occasional superweapon for various alien invaders) to mutant created by time travellers to heroic guardian monster to Lovecraftian interdimensional eldritch god to invasive rival alpha to Godzilla.

Mechagodzilla's gone from alien robot built to invade Earth, robot built by the JSDF to protect Japan from Godzilla, a cyborg built using the bones of the original Godzilla, an alien grey-goo weapon and a superweapon built by a secret conspiracy, using the remnants of Ghidorah's conciousness, who want to exterminate all of the Titans.

 

To be honest out of all the bay movies agent simmons had dimensions and arc I'm joking but also serious in a way lol

 

But again, they are still very clearly meant to be and are recognizable as the monsters that they are named after. Mechagodzilla, regardless of origin, has always been a mecha Godzilla (not much room for change there) and Ghidora is still a gigantic golden three headed dragon. These new ideas added on to the classic archetypes are what I would call actual reinventions, as opposed to haphazardly applying old names to new, unrelated characters. That’s not a reinvention; that’s just coming up with a new character but not bothering to come up with a name alongside them.

 

Whoa there now, that music was awesome. Gave the trailer a very foreboding, "shit is about to hit the fan" feel.

 

Growing up for me, Soundwave was a stealth plane, Predaking was a dragon, Menasor was a driller machine, Arcee a slim motorcycle and Bee a mute guy.

 

Sounds good! Not everyone grew up with G1 in the 80s so whatever character you’re familiar with is most likely the one you prefer.

 

Heard there's gonna be an "ancient stone wall transformer" in this film, and also an ancient beast.
Now that we found the identity of orange tow truck let's find out the identity of these characters

 

Facts!

 

Same brand doesn't equal same car but by pointing out the differences between jazz and cliffjumper you proved this

 

Facts! I know to many people that have only seen the Bayformers films, and say that Transformers are just ugly farting gross monsters, that look like spitting walking blobs of mucus, and the movies are annoying trash. But then I show them G1, and there jaws literally drop! And most of the time all people can say is "WTAF happened with the Bayformers films? Because G1 Transformers actually look really cool and have a really amazing story!" and they almost always seem to be shocked that unlike the Bayformers...G1 Transformers faces, eyes, and body's are actually very pleasing to look at, even the Decepticons! So I agree 100%, the Live action films are doing just a god offul job of conveying to the general public why all of us 80's Transformers fans, have been so into G1 Transformers for over 30 years!!! And why so many of us came back to the franchise around 2016-18!!!! I know for a fact that it was G1 that brought me back, I actually completely quit Transformers and lost all entrist in the franchise specifically because of the Bayformers films. And if we start heading down that road again, I'm literally going to finish up my modern G1 collection, and just be done with modern Transformers...(probably for another 14 years, or until Hasbro decides they want my G1 money again). Because if Hasbro & Paramount just want to keep shitting all over my childhood memories, omitting history, name slapping, completely shitting all over my favorite characters that I have literally know all my life, and cannot even get a single live action movie right, I'm just going to be done for another 14 years...again! I must say that all this name slapping garbage, and Hasbro just completely shitting all over Transformers history & characters, has really made me appreciate Mattel & the Jurassic World line, there respect, attention to detail, & love for G1 Jurassic Park. Getting back into collecting Jurassic Park figures through Mattel has been extremely refreshing, especially after all this "Hasbro, Transformers, live action film just can't get it right, name slapping BS!

 

^really heavy bias is involved there

Also, if you're gonna be done with the franchise for another 14 years bcs they don't cater to g1 again, then good for you and us lol

 

So you're saying Cliffjumper should be blue now?

What I don't get is why we can't just get a straight G1 movie. I mean, obviously things will need to be adapted, but no more of this gimmicky bullshit with crap from space always having to beat the Transformers to Earth or it's 100% Anicent Aliens history conspiracy. I just want flat out straight Autobots vs. Decepticons. The fact they can't make an alien war be interesting between shapeshifting robots without having to go full Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull every goddamn time...ugh. ROTB is looking no different given what other possible reason are they doing putzing around ruins again?

 

you spoke it into existence not me lol

 

Mattel literally can't name slap dinosaurs, since they were real animals. They can't call a T-rex a Spinosaurus because that's literally not correct. That's completely different from putting a name on a robot simply because the name sounds cool. Mattel can't even give their own dinosaurs full tails. How is that "attention to detail"? This is about the movies, not toys. We're getting a movie that, going off what we got in the last movie, is looking just like "realistic G1". How is that still not good enough?