real talk though, im mostly indifferent on TF movies. AOE and ROTF both have flaws, and Prime's character isn't the biggest. him being bloodthirsty fit the movie paramount wanted to make and we got kick-ass action as a result. not every incarnation of prime has to act the same, we're gonna get more G1-esque primes than not-G1 primes anyway.

 

It had interesting ideas that are ruined by piss poor execution the entire storyline itself was done so much better by IDW 5 years prior.


The humans get far too much focus rather than finding a balance.
Optimus's "development" only comes down to a 30 second conversation that completely changes his world view, and he's still the crappy terribly written bloodthirsty maniac he's been since ROTF.
The designs are shit with them not even looking like transformers, but humans in metal armour and them having such bullshit transformations Optimus only fully transforms in his new body once at the beginning and never again in both AOE and TLK.
You don't have 4 main villains in you film and expect it to work, that's what Spider-man 3 and The Amazing Spider-man 2.

I could go on, but in the end I find it a shit movie, as well as with many audiences as if it weren't for China this movie's box office would have been a disappointment and Paramount would have tried something new before TLK came around and almost bankrupted them, causing us to be in the "reboot not-reboot" we're stuck in the movies right now.

 

He did it in the galvatron fight

 

OUO

 

Full Transformation.

He transforms part way on the corner of the screen and is in bot mode in the next shot.

Even before that a the bridge section of the chase Prime transforms off screen in record fucking time with 0 sounds of him doing so or any damage to the road when he lands.

 

A few more things from previous articles or posts.

This is Madness!: My Most Overrated and Underrated Movies of 2014

There is also this nice little article which can no longer be found, but I enjoyed tremendously when it was available.

The Messy Goodness of Transformers: Age of Extinction

"Perhaps the best decision of this film was to transform Optimus Prime and the Autobots from Earth’s heroes into “we don’t need you anymore” refugees. Hunted down like filthy Decepticons, the Autobots fare much better as plucky underdogs than government-sponsored, self-appointed guardians of humanity. Optimus especially undergoes a convincing change from sacrificial leader to disenchanted rebel. He has helped the humans with nothing in return one time too many. His team of Autobots are dysfunctional, trigger-happy, and tired of their mistreatment at the hands of thankless humans. I’m not arguing that all heroes need to be weary and jaded, but it seems like this shake up is exactly what this series needed."

"The story of Extinction is one deeply rooted in the context of the previous film’s events. Like the Marvel universe with its post-Avengers New York, this film centers around the fear of another Transformer-filled battle like Chicago. In this respect, an Autobot-murdering CIA bureaucrat like Kelsey Grammar’s Harold Attinger makes perfect sense. So does Stanley Tucci’s rich technocrat Joshua Joyce, who is building his own Transformer army to make sure humans never have to face such a threat again. This sense of continuity and logic provides an important narrative backbone to a franchise usually guilty of jumping off the rails simply in order to justify more robot battles."

"This movie took real risks. It killed off the comic relief character before things had barely got started. It balanced several antagonists. It gave us an all new human cast. It gave us new Autobots. It respected all the Transformery stuff that had come before. It gave us set pieces featuring an ancient spaceship full of weird creatures, the besieged city of Hong Kong, and fairly awesome robot dinosaurs. But most of all, this movie decided to exist when by all accounts it probably wasn’t necessary, good, or proper to exist in the first place."

Age of Extinction as a Transformers Western

Parallels Between Transformers 4 and The Rock

Themes in the Transformers Films

Transformium is a GREAT concept.

Exposing the Knighthood Theme in TF:AoE

Anyway, there is so much I love about this film. It's not perfect. Shane and a few other humans aren't that great. The editing could be better in some scenes, like when the Steeljaws are on the anchors' wires. It's also a shame its sequel ignores some characters and concepts. That said, the issues it has are not unique to it, but commonalities across all of the Bay movies. They all have their share of editing gaffes or multiple characters that don't have much to them. Nevertheless, I love it regardless, and its my favorite film so far.

 

TL DR: some random blog post, a web link that doesn't even work (all it gives me is "DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN" on the error page), four of your own threads, and one from a user that got banned for being extremely toxic toward literally anybody on the site who did so much as question them.

I mean, seriously, over 50% of your evidence here is you self-promoting your own stuff.

You really do think you are some kind of certified authority on this, if not simply engaging in the exact same behavior as Hazekiah because I certainly remember him doing this kind of self-promoting shenanigans using the forum like a soapbox.

 

Had some really good things and a lot of really, really bad things.

in fact, the things it did right, it did outstandingly right.

but the things it did wrong, it did terribly wrong. there is no middle ground.

 

If you read my post carefully, you would have seen that I mentioned the article could no longer be found; I just happened to copy and post some snippets in the past, which I posted in here.

I posted those threads, because they are ways of looking the movie that have some support behind them.

Besides, my opinions are not the evidence, but if you read those threads, I do post plenty of evidence in support of them. Ditto to Hazekiah.

And yet, I will post posts or threads made by other members, even when I might have a different opinion, when I think their opinion is well stated and supported.

I don't care for either RiD, but I thought this was a fantastic post:

ROBOTS IN DISGUISE Scourge Saved Transformers

TLK isn't my favorite movie, but this is also a fantastic post:

The Last Knight Box Office Woes

So it's not about "self promotion." It's about interesting and novel ways of looking at things from all sorts of fans.

If you wrote a post about something in the brand you liked, and you gave some support to it, I would read what you had to say for sure, even if I had a different opinion.

 

That wasn't the point at all.

For somebody claiming to be a scientist, I would assume you would know about peer reviewed papers, and I would also assume you would understand how sketchy it looks when the majority of cited evidence...is just other stuff you wrote, non-existent (there's no way to prove what you posted from the link is actually from that link short of maybe the wayback machine but that's besides the point), or from effectively a discredited source altogether.

It just comes off as you crowing about how much you know about this, how you are this bonafide expert, and how anybody who gets any detail wrong whatsoever automatically has their opinions disqualified because the way they remember a film somehow is subject to change based on the way you remember the film after a hundred thousand viewings.

By your own logic...you can't be correct. You were not the one who wrote the film, who directed the film, you were not involved in its production whatsoever. Just because you obsess over the film to a wholly unhealthy degree doesn't give you the right to act like the de-facto, faultless knowledge base of the film and belittle anybody who disagrees with you. Because all it would take is Kruger coming out to say something that goes against you and all that you've built up, all these threads you've made, could be completely wrong and you'd have NOTHING.

And it's when fact fails you that you resort to the personal attacks, that you get heated and 'passionate' that you actually simply abandon your facts and go for the throat. After all, if you're so right, why do you feel the need to go after the person themselves and not stick to your guns? Unless of course...what you peddle as fact isn't as rock solid as you want others to believe. That maybe it's just your opinion which even after a hundred thousand viewings, is no more right than mine after only one from seven years ago, and this is what infuriates your ego. You have to be the one in the right. At any cost.

 

You know, I have never seen someone get other people so wrong. Not one of the things you say about me here is true. Not one. And I don't think Hazekiah no longer being here makes him a "discredited source," as while I don't agree with everything he said (even if I agreed with much), he always had plenty of support for his opinions and gave tons of facts to support them.

If Kruger came out and said, "Hey, this is what this movie is about," well, then I would accept it. It wouldn't upset me one bit.

I don't know if you're incapable of having a respectful, reasonable discourse about Transformers with people you disagree with, or if you simply choose not to, but either way, I don't think you're worth having a conversation with, as there are plenty of other people, including people who both like and dislike the movies, who I can have a respectful conversation with. Good bye.

 

You mean I can finally talk about how much I hate Age of Excrement in peace and not have you constantly belittle me over it?

Because, honestly, you've yet to prove you have the ability to not kneejerk white knight in defense of AoE in the years we've been at this. Every time I've ever said something bad about the film you've always been there to make sure such insults to your beloved film's pride didn't go unanswered. If we're finally, years later, able to get to the point where you can actually ignore what other people say so we can all get on with our lives...well, that's genuine progress right there!

 

R1 Burnout
R2 Burnout
R3 Burnout

Will further update.

 

Easily the best of the Bay films. I skipped DOTM and TLK. It has an actual character arc for the Optimus Prime, Kade and even Joshua. Lockdown actually put up a fight instead of Optimus Prime just straight up curb stomping him. Kelsey Grammer's character was also threatening. I actually laughed when Drift said "I was expecting a giant car." It has dinobots. The dinobots don't make me rage even if they're not great characters. Meaning they don't do or say anything stupid. They just fight.

Is it a good movie? Hell no! But this is the best we can expect.

 

Maybe if they bolted the autobotiness of AOE, with Decepticoniness of ROTF, they could have made a better transformer movie.
I don't know, I always felt like AOE was my favourite Bay directed TF movie, maybe it still is, but thats hardly high praise, as they're all a rotten bloated wound of a movie, hemorrhaging plot and logical sense all over the place.

AOE hit some cues I was missing from the other movies at that time, mostly surrounding longer scenes of interaction and action involving mostly transformers... But only slightly, and times that by the flaws, points and facts that Autobot Burnout has said on many occasions.. and yeah rating this movie is like trying to evaluate in a positive light your worst relationship ever, with the most psycho bitch you ever knew.

And why the hell did they stand in that clearly inactive elevator for 10 minutes during a life or death getaway?

 

My thoughts on AOE:

First time I watched it, it was great, I wanted more, due to the ending. After multiple re-watch, I started to see the flaws. BUT it was the last Bay x Kruger film, so I respect it somewhat. I think Kruger wasn't that bad of a writer as we used to think. It was more of Bay's fault. Or kinda both really.

 

Nobody loves AOE more than you do. (Well maybe aside from Galvatross)

 

Galvatross get with it man. I blocked that man ages ago. My days have been better ever since.

 

2nd favorite movie ever

 

The ignore button is such a wonderful feature!