so, I noticed charlotte mearing mentioned the wreckers arrived on earth during the 2nd wave of autobots ... wouldn´t the 2nd wave be sideswipe, the triplets and the other rotf autobots who didnt appear in the first film !?

does this mean that the wreckers were on earth during roft and didnt appear !? I get that it was mentioned that they weren´t allowed to leave the base because of their behavior ... but it seems kinda stupid to not let them go out in the egypt battle, taking into consideration the kind of power the cons had

alternatively, sideswipe and others could have come down in meteorite form like the others during the first film, making teh dotm autobots the second wave, but that still makes me wonder where were them during the first film

 

Don't overthink it man lol. They just simply came in DOTM and that's that.

 

Presumably they were at the facility with the Xantium while the other bots were at Diego Garcia making it less practical to transport them. Maybe they were being moved in their own carrier and just didn't arrive in time.

Of course the real world reason is they hadn't yet thought of them.

 

As Charlotte said, they didn't let them out. When they formed NEST from the new arrivals, they kept the three of them at NASA to maintain the ship, and probably because they were worried they'd do some serious damage if they let them out.

 

This, and also Optimus probably agreed to it as seeing the US Government more or less wouldnt let the Autobots move the Xanthium, OP had to leave someone behind to watch over their own tech to make sure the humans didn't pull any tricky crap lol.

 

When she said second wave, I always assumed they meant Dino, Que, and the Wreckers, and the First movie crew didn't count cause they were fairly spaced out, kinda but not really.

 

Yes, I also thought that Sideswipe, Twins/Triplets and Jolt were considered the second wave along with the Wreckers, Que and Dino. But I don't know.

Here's to not overthinking!  

 

It's possible they meant the wave after the first batch that wasn't Optimus's team in 07. But that sounds rather silly.

I could sort of buy the idea the Wreckers did come with Sideswipe, Arcee, Jolt and the Twins. As Mearing said it herself, we don't let the Wreckers off the base since they're assholes.

 

I assumed that ops crew werent considered a wave as they were combatants only there to fight

And that the "waves" were refugees

 

this actually DOES sound plausible ...

 

Yeah so sideswipe,twins arcee = wave 1

Dino, que, the wreckers = wave 2

As theyre the refugees that came when prime declared earth there new home

 

In concept art form.  

 

I thought it was established that they arrived on the Xantium some time between ROTF and DOTM, is there something that contradicts that?

Sideswipe and the triplets and the twins et all likely arrived after Optimus' message, either on another shuttle or in protoform mode, but they didn't all have to arrive the same time, or be the last to arrive, do they? I mean, the Decepticons seem like they've been getting ongoing reinforcements as well.

 

the 'first wave' was optimus prime, ironhide, ratchet, jazz & technically bumblebee although he was already on earth years before the others.

the 'second wave' were jolt, sideswipe, skids & mudflap, arcee, chromia, elita-one, wheeljack, mirage, & the wreckers who respond to prime's call at the end of tf1

brains, wheelie, & jetfire defected also supposedly so did drift

not sure when or where crosshairs & hound came from..im assuming along the same time as the 'second wave' or perhaps this was a 'third wave' although i find it hard to believe more autobots would arrive or be welcomed after the battle of chicago & sentinel's betrayal.


to answer your questions i believe all autobots except the aforementioned 'first wave' were off earth or en route to earth during the events of film 1...i believe the second wave, including sideswipe & the wreckers arrived in between films 1 & 2 so yes they were on-earth during the events of film 2..as to why they were not in the film? they kind of explained that with the whole 'they're not allowed off base cause they're assholes' line..they were probably seen as more of a threat than the other autobots because of their behavior so they sat out the events of film 2


so we're looking at:

PRE-WAVE (circa 2003)
Bumblebee

WAVE 1 (2007/during film 1)
Ironhide
Jazz
Optimus Prime
Ratchet

WAVE 2 (2007-2009/in between films 1 & 2)
Arcee
Chromia
Elita-One
Jolt
Leadfoot
Mirage
Mudflap
Roadbuster
Sideswipe
Skids
Topspin
Wheeljack

i still dont recall how the aoe autobots arrived..they weren't very specific about that to my recollection

 

The narrative simplicity and ultimate beauty of Optimus Prime's big broadcast of 2007 was that it it EFFORTLESSLY explains the arrival of any Autobots in later films, something the G1 cartoon never really bothered with too much.

The order-of-arrival and rosters for various, successive waves are effectively irrelevant.

Theoretically, at least, there's no telling how far apart the Autobots have been spread throughout the universe and/or how long it would take the signal to reach them, let alone for them to follow it to Earth. Autobots could conceivably be landing on Earth expecting a warm welcome for millions of years to come.

XD

 

Mearing said they don't let them off base cause they were assholes.

 

Which, again, is all we really need to know.

But, y'know...the internet and all that.

>_>

 

There was no explanation at all as to when or how they got there.

 

There actually was.

They arrived with "the second wave" of Autobots on the Xanthium.

Which is at least kind of a WHEN and definitely a HOW. Right there. In the dialogue of the movie itself.

Right when they're being introduced, lol.

 

I was actually responding to BarricadeLives but the quote didn't come through