It would be about the level of subtlety I expect from Michael Bay to do the FIVE faced baddies in the FIFTH movie. But giant planet + Hot Rod just showing up suggests this is his (made of letters clipped from magazines) love letter to the 86 movie. Plus, Unicron and the Quints are the last original Transformers elements Bay needs to drag his balls across before a reboot becomes impossible.

 

It went around the moon not eaten it if that happened are planet is done for take a closer look in the trailer

 

We only need one villan not two or three and one hero not another prime only optimus prime not hot rod

 

They are trying so hard to make it look as if Bumblebee dies in this damn movie.

 

Well, he might. But only for a half hour. Kids will cry and adults with no long term memory will drop their jaws like they did every other time a character died in the previous movies. Then, as per usual, he'll come back to life... and everyone will act surprised.

 

Such Heroic Nonsense.

That's a pretty great poster, simple and effective.

 

I mean, they did file for Go Bots trademarks for toys and movies, a little while ago, so MAYBE?

 

He has to become Goldbug somehow.

 

I'm amazed there are no humans in this poster. For once they left them out. I don't recall any of the previous film posters minus humans.

I hope they don't once again go the route "Kill off Optimus" for the umpteenth time for dramatic effect. It really has got old over the years in every flipping iteration of Transformers. If they carry through with whether he's possessed or an unwilling passenger in his own body would be a nice change of pace. Especially if he comes back to Earth and seems fine, then turns bad halfway through the film. Gives a G1 episode Dark Awakening vibe from the trailer to me.

 

Do you have a source for that question mark because I remember Cullen saying how he thought this interpretation of Optimus it's interesting to perform because he's different.

 

I do recall him being surprised at some of Optimus's lines though in DOTM and AOE at least so maybe it's somewhat in the middle? Like he isn't a fan of it but it isn't enough to make him go "F*** this I'm out!!"

 

Bay could undo 90% of the animosity towards movie Optimus if he just gave the poor guy an arc that explains that he has severe frigging post-traumatic stress and violent impulses that he struggles with, and has deep rooted psychosis issues from everything that's happened.

I don't care that Optimus is a remorseless killer who spouts downright barbaeric one-liners during fights, it's the fact that it isn't used to deconstruct the character as a "hero" who's been forced to kill so much it becomes second nature to him, and that the movies keep treating him like an infallible, glowing sentinel of justice and peace even whilst he executes helpless foes. Optimus is desperately in need of a "what have I become?" moment.

You could do something with this. It'd be a cop-out retcon, but one I think damn near everyone would appreciate if it meant Optimus went from poorly written protagonist tool to a deeply flawed, introspective character who has purpose in being so morally grey. There'd still be plenty of people who have a beef with Optimus being this violent in the first place, but a good few, myself included, would at least respect the new path the character has been taken if it was actually a path the makers chose, and not just stumbled down due to carelessness.

 

Definitely one of the best posters they've put out. Would love to see a "Rethink your Villains" seeing how there's a chance Megatron is helping the humans/autobots this time around. Maybe it's just me or the photoshop they did but the poster does seem cut off mostly due to bumblebees arm dragging off the image, so it would be awesome if they released more posters that continued the image and showed more characters and Megatron Opposite to Optimus with the "Rethink your Villains" caption

 

I wish we had more behind the scenes for the voices. We haven't had one since the first film I think.

Also, I don't know why people think that bumblebee will be can't die just because he's having a solo movie.

 

He will be can't die because he's Bumblebee, the black and yellow face of the brand and friend to all children. It'd be like attempting to perma-kill Prime in G1, except worse because Bee is the young, fresh-faced innocent (not really) little kid appeal character. It's like killing the dog, except I don't think Optimus is in the mood to hunt down and murder the entire Russian mafia.

...

Actually I take it back, I think he is now more than ever.

 

I think that would be necessary because optimus was the leader and central figure in a war that lasted millions of years and war is lot more violent than what's the depicted in cartoons. I believe optimus is depicted in a more grounded manner than in other interpretations because he fights like his life depends on it. The decepticons are his enemies and it's either him or them. He was only depicted as a paragon of justice in the first film but I enjoy how the later films have showed that although he is a noble character he is also a hardened soldier. I think having to go and suggest that he has post-traumatic trauma is a cop out in its self I would only serve to appease fans who don't like that this Optimus isn't like any we've had before

 

Or more aptly...
Rethink the people that write your heroes.

I look forward to seeing how this turns out, but I gotta say, I kinda do want a reboot later towards the 45th or 50th anniversary that goes back to the blue collar dock worker turned rebel leader against a military establishment attempting to create marshal law that's doing so only for the sole sake of power and dominance.

I liked the hope that hasbro had in trying to emphasize an idealogical difference that became two opposing movements against an autocratic caste system. But sometimes it's hard to tell if Bay even grasps his own previous movies with how it wasn't Prime going "evil" but more caught up in emotion of wartime aspects and anger. I hope this movie has depth to show it's a natural evolution of story points, but it feels a lot like this is an about turn for shock's sake. Granted that could only be marketing too. The marketing does have to go in with a "hook" to make people bite.

What does bug me about Bay though, is some of his fallacious arguments for why various cybertronian life forms shouldn't be included in the past films, and even when he was talked to including them, it was on the promise that he'd get to kill them off as the reason he included them.

 

Except hardened soldiers don't execute defenseless enemies who are begging for their lives because of personal feelings.

I'm pretty sure actual battle-hardened soldiers would take issue with that as an excuse. Movie Optimus has problems. If he were a human soldier in the military, he would've been discharged years ago for instability. A person like him who mutilates his enemies in graphic detail with such ease and lack of restraint is not someone I'd willingly give a weapon to.

What I'm saying is that those problems don't need to ruin the character, they can be used to give him depth and a story we haven't seen Optimus in before. Yes, what I'm suggesting is unlikely to happen, but it can and should be considered as a a direction the character could take that is less controversial than him being as emotionally directionless as he is now. He's like a robot -and I'm not being clever here- who fails to grasp the nuances of humanity. Oh so close to seeming normal, but the lack of middle ground in his actions in battle betrays his inhumane nature. As a good 'bot once said: "Defeating them does not mean we have to annihilate them." A nuance movie Prime either fails to grasp, or has long since lost his grip on. I'd just like the movies to tell me which it is.

The damage is done, though. I'd honestly rather they attempt to legitimize the previous films' depiction of him rather than pretend like it never happened.

I agree, a reboot is needed. Much like how I loved the movies initially for being new and defying the norm, they are themselves now the norm and I'm kinda over them. I want to see the next step in the brand's evolution.

 

That's an interesting tagline.

 

Nope, I don't keep everything ever said bookmarked in case I need to prove something was said later, but I remember things. Cullen has said several times he didn't like having to say certain lines and didn't care for the more violent Optimus Prime. I recall him making a comment about enjoying doing TF Prime because it was back to more of the heroic Optimus, he said he didn't want to have to say a certain line in AoE but the big boys spoke and he had to, and I've read or heard other remarks from him about the violence not always setting well with him.

I also don't have links to Michael Bay saying he didn't like transformers until he made it his own thing, him saying he would never put the Dinobots in the film because he either hated them or thought they were stupid, or him saying he wouldn't be doing another of the TF movies at least 3 different times after completing them, but he sure did say all that.