Yeah, it probably is something that simple. Caple wanted the Prime from the BB movie modified to fit the new truck design. MPC didn't have access to ILM's models so they dug up some old concept art while maybe referencing a couple of stills from the BB movie and came up with the new Prime. They didn't really consider that the Bumblebee movie model actually had improved significantly from the concept art. Same with Caple. He saw the new model and thought looked good enough. He's not an animator like Travis Knight. He doesn't have an eye for details like this. And I don't mean to make this a jab at him. He might be a competent director in other regards—just not with CGI/animation.

 

Yep, and directors without an eye for detail or lack of experience with animation/CGI generally are really bad for movies like this. Because what ends up happening is them not having any understanding of how important the CGI is or how the VFX process works. Its one of the reasons I have no faith in the VFX improving, because for that to happen you need not only a good VFX company, but a director that understands how it works and has a singular vision from the start. See it all the time with recent movies, especially under marvel, where directors constantly are changing things or have no clue how it works and we end up with terrible effects or things that make little to no sense.

I want this model back