Which amounts to nothing but alarmist garbage because this happens every year. People have been fearmongering the decline of the motion picture for longer than some people have been alive (my dad even mentioned there was hysteria surrounding things being made IN COLOR-- put that into perspective).

The entire argument at its core is run on fear. Appeal to your personal value system, demonize those who don't share them. Tell them their lot is terrible and who's to blame for it. Directing your hate like a fiddle because it's easy to scare people (and people are afraid of being seen as anything but brave and bolt so it feeds into itself).

 

Yes, people have been saying film has been going down hill for years, and badmouthing every single innovation and populist release. The knee-jerk negativity of critics, pundits and this fandom in particular is well-documented. A film's artistic merit is ultimately a subjective opinion, and Micheal Bay's style is something that is divides people. Unfortunately, as valid as your counter-argument is to make, it does not shield AOE from any and all criticism, nor Paramount. The mere fact the fandom eats itself every time a new film comes out is not just an indictment of us, but of the film series itself.


If the films were truly great, by which I mean something universally loved and respected, that wouldn't happen. Sure, you'd get a few whom disliked the film, hated it, or just didn't love it, enough to spark a few forum debates, but not the toxicity that pervades here. We can blame each other for this, and certainly the tone of some messages around here provide much ammo, but a legitimately good film franchise would not have created the environment in the first place.


AOE is a popular film. This is indisputable, no argument can be had on this fact. But that is not the same as saying its a good film. Sales figures don't tell the whole story. And, ultimately, objective criticisms can be made as with absolutely everything else that has ever existed. With AOE this is very easy. To list a few: lack of dinobots, poor narrative, focus on humans, hard to follow action, and that scene discussing the age of consent.


While the "track record" argument has its flaws, its an understandable stance to take given what the film outsold.

 

I have to agree. It gave us robots that actually got screentime and had personality and for that I liked the movie for that alone.

INB4 Break is a character in the next movie and penguins bitch about how he's a stereotypical penguin.

 

Yen, is Japanese currrency. Renminbi, is The Peoples Republic if China's currency.

 

Fuckin right.....AOE #1

 

Some people talk about not being able to please 100% of the fans, but I don't think 100% is a realistic goal. Name any film and if you dig long and hard enough you will find someone out there that wasn't happy with the film or has some ax to grind over something a film did or did not do.

I've got to agree that if the films were good enough then we wouldn't have some of the fan situations we have now. Somewhere I'm guessing a person hates the Dark Knight but don't get a feeling of a divided Batman fandom because one person didn't like it. You don't find many Marvel fans dreading the next film to come out from Marvel/Disney.

 

I hope the next one takes down Avatar

 

Two things often need repeating:

1) It is not good for TF fans - because these movies are not TF movies.

2) Almost every other major comic book/fantasy/sci fi franchise gets movies that get much better receptions and are much smarter movies (even if they still have flaws) including Star Trek from Paramount. The only movies that seem to be consistently vapid are the ones supported by Hasbro (TF, GIJoe, Battleship, Ouija, etc). Marvel's track record speaks for itself, as does Harry Potter, LOTR, Batman, etc etc etc. In most cases the worst reviewed of the other blockbusters is still better than all but the 1st TF movie (the one Spielberg, Orci and Kurtzman were ACTUALLY involved in). TMNT, by Michael Bay, was equally poorly received.

The fact is these movies do well because of the name on the title, not the quality. Even audiences have not reviewed them favorably, just check the declining IMDB scores.

We can have much better films - other properties have much better films. There is PLENTY to work with here. Beast Wars is a kids show, but its 99% more intelligent than any of the Bay films. We don't need orange women with our Megatrons, we don't need former rappers with our Optimii. We just need the Marvel characters, Japanese designs, and a good story. The rest will take care of itself.

Much like Batman Begins blew minds in how different it really was for a Batman film, and how X-Men First Class and Days of Future Past took X-Men to another level, and Star Trek rebooted itself while respecting the past - the best TF movie is lurking out there. And when it happens (maybe sooner than later after the US gross of TF4), everyone will wonder why they ever thought these Bay films were anything above complete trash.

But if you want to be delusional and think a possible TF5 could take down Avatar, by all means keep drinking the kool-aid Hasbro is selling you. Also be on the lookout for Animated Thundercracker, Deluxe DOTM Leadfoot, and more MP-10's - coming to a store near you next week!

 

It surprises me that this movie made this much after how crappy the last few installments were, its the same thing that confuses me of why people like nickel back.

 

It is good for Transformer fans because the movies revived a near dying franchise and brought tons of people into it. It may not be your ideal version of Transformers, but it is Transformers and has done a great deal for the franchise as a positive.

Unfortunately, when I've stated this before, the response was a clear "we'd rather not have the movies and take the chance on the dying franchise instead" but it's just like any iteration of Transformers you don't like.

The problem isn't that the Transformers movies are bad, it's they're not what "the fandom" wants. There are parts of the franchise that I don't want. You don't want. This guy doesn't want, etc.

There are so many iterations of Transformers that people prefer and enjoy over the other, that the movieverse has become another iteration. It's become a culmination of many different iterations and has done it's best to pander to most people and the fans.

You're free to think the Transformer movies are in fact, not Transformer movies at all, but if I was in your position I would be simply saying "thanks for reviving this franchise, but I won't be watching you" and move along with it. It's basically a cash cow for the franchise that you don't have to involve yourself with.

 

Good. I hope the next one makes even more money.

 

Of course I'm quite late here but it's cool news! This is one more proof of that AOE is a great Film! I don't worry about critics because the main critic for me is myself  If people "vote by ruble" as russians say it's mean that most of them think the same!
Interesting example from russian internet - on famous cinema site Kinopoisk AOE have low rating - like most of summer blockbusters - but on main our internet-store Ozon, where I've bought DVD, AOE is a bestseller and have a bunch of likes  In my opinion it doesn't say that people are "stupid" and don't want to think - it means that critics has a stereotypic view on Michael Bay's films but people have their own opinion and don't follow this stereotype! Our world is not as sick as many think 

 

I've got to strongly disagree with the whole "revived a near dying franchise" myth people throw around. I was weird back before it was okay for adults to watch cartoons and for adults to "collect" so I've seen things come and go. Out of all the cartoons and toy lines to come out of 1980's none of them have had the number of cartoon series or toy lines that Transformers has enjoyed. So it's not that Transformers was almost dead it's just that adults weren't paying it that much attention. Really hard to find times when there wasn't some Transformers toy on the store shelves but you can't say the same for GI Joe, MASK, Thundercats, or even Ninja Turtles.

You want near dead go talk to a fandom that saw years and years or decades with no cartoons or no toy releases.

The thing with other Transformer incarnations is that if you didn't like a cartoon series well at least you knew the series would have a limited time to run so if you could hold out 3 or 4 years then Transformers would move onto something else. So you might despise Beast Machines but at least you could look forward to Beast Machines ending and being replaced with something else. The live action movies have dragged on forever compared to the various cartoon series and the only hope and prayer of ever getting anything different out of live action is for one of these films to bomb hard in both the United States and China at the same time.

I also think that live action movies are hard to ignore because well for studios to make back their investment the insanely big budget films have to be something that can't simply be just ignored. So if a live action film is going to be a 800 pound gorilla in the room shouting look at me look at me, then there is something in fans that wants their 800 pound gorilla to be cooler than the other 800 pound gorillas yelling look at me. No one wants the other fandoms to have their Nelson Muntz moment of ha ha our films are cooler and better than yours.

 

I'd rather have that honor go to Age of Ultron or Infinity War.

 

I kind of hope it's something different altogether that takes down Avatar (and I don't think that'll happen soon), but either way as a Transformers fan and someone who liked the last two films a lot I want the TF movies to do well.

 

While the movies didn't save the franchise because that honour belongs to Beast Wars it did however bring back interest to the franchise from the public media and to a lot of both new fans and fans that has their interest brought back by them. I was one of them and while it was Animated that got me back to the franchise the movies did help get my attention again as it did for a lot of people.

Which is why I get uptight when people like the Nostalgia Critic go as far as to patronize the fans calling them morons for supporting the movies,have horrible taste in movies and are only in them for wish fulfillment characters and sexual scenes and not being real fans. I find that not only insulting but downright hyprocritical since some of those people accuse Bay for treating his viewers like idiots yet turn around and do the same to fans of the movie. I'm not saying the movies are flawless at all they're not but there's a difference between bashing a movie and calling the fans dolts for even having the nerve to have any interest in them.

 

Yeah, Beast Wars >>>> Movie

 

Then... Why do they have the name Transformers in the title? Why does it have Autobots and Decepticons? Why does it have Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave? WHy do they TRANSFORM? Why is it endorsed by Hasbro? Why is it I search Transformers they pop up.

Saying these movies aren't Transformers movie isn't really accurate.

I watched Man of Steel recently, and I find it much worse than the TF movies, I'm actually worried that the DCCU will ultimately flop. I'm pretty sure that'll end up worse than how the TF movies are received.

Star Trek is arguable at best. You can at least say Transformers is being it's own thing, Star Trek keeps knocking off other sci fi series for the current movies, instead of being Star Trek.

MCU...bleh, Marvel's existed about twice as long as Transformers, so... Yeah, it SHOULD have a better story. And it was a comic book, part of the selling factor WAS THE STORY, Transformers was a TOY. The story was an afterthought. Expecting it to be better is ludicrous. As of now, I'm not sure Transformers is capable of a "good story". (Though personally, I find DOTM's story more enjoyable than Avengers's)

 

Also when films started having synced sound, there was a belief that it would be a gimmick and make the films jokes.

 

The thing is the fandom "eats itself" with every new variation to Transformers. It happened with Beast Wars, Animated, the new RID, the movies.