Yup, and that's something these movies fail to do a lot. These very detailed designs often get lost in the very detailed, gritty surroundings in action scenes, but it's the audience who really gets left behind.

 

I feel as the complaint wouldn't be as bad if they stick with the bright primary colors for the Autobots and the desaturated dark colors for the Decepticons. However, we had a gray/black Ironhide and Jazz running around along with a gray/black Megatron, Barricade, Blackout, etc. from the start of movie 1.

Now, Transformers Age of Extinction was definitely in the right step and I can see TLK will reflect it (a bright red Drift, bright blue Sqweeks, semi-orange-ish Hot Rod—eh, maybe not Hot Rod).

 

This is something that some of the films do better than others. I would say AOE does it best due to largely colorful robots and clearer action than its predecessors. The first film also does it well due to a small robot cast. DOTM is probably the weakest in this regard due to the many Decepticon protoforms against the grey backdrop of Chicago. At least in ROTF they are fighting a lot in a sunlit desert and stand out a little more than in DOTM.

 

I never understood the complaint as I've never had trouble distinguishing between any of the robots.

 

To me it was to the movies advantage. Becuz I had no idea who was who. Tjerefore it made the fights a bit more interesting and confusing. Like when I saw the first Transformers it looked like there were 30 robots or something making it seem like there was an entire army of decepticons involved. Around every corner lured another robot that I hadn't seen before 

 

Like, grant it, protoforms all look alike, but if you can't tell the difference between bots like Starscream and Megatron, or Barricade and Ironhide, you need to go to your eye doctor. ASAP.
And all you people are part of this fandom. You of all people should be more aware of who is who. It's embarrassing.

 

Umm, I'm sorry, but if you can't tell the difference between these three (or even find their heads) you need to get some laser eye surgery, pronto.

 

Same here. Perhaps it's because we're all wired differently.

Personally I find I'm quite inclined towards visual cues - I remember faces well, I can notice minute details in images, I can recognize things I see instantly, etc. But at the same, I find I'm not as emotionally relatable as most people are, i.e. I don't 'feel' as much when watching a character's journey, etc.

When other people could be just the opposite, they can relate more, but find the visuals complicated instead.

Thus, I can understand why some may have this complaint, even though I have no problems telling the characters apart.

 

And that's all there is to it, really.

 

I like the designs.

 

I think this whole area was done way better in AoE than any of the other three movies (for the autobots, at least). I love how vibrant all the new autobots are. A regular movie goer might not put names to faces, since the names were barely mentioned in the movie, but I think they would definitely be able to remember each of the characters and their personality.

 

The first one that comes to mind is Optimus and Sentinel in TF3 when he offers the Matrix. Also, AoE seems to handle robot interactions a lot better than the previous 3 movies.

 

Same here. They look interesting to me. Specially TF1.

 

We wouldn't have this complaint if they actually had proper character development or even if they made the bots their proper colors.

 

I think some of them can become a little to animal like, such as the Dreads. The first movie designs were pretty spot on for what I think the artists should go for in future designs.

I fear for Bersrker/Hooligan in TLK, however look forward to Onslaught for being ROTF inspired.