Transformers the Movie

[jwinges]

Here's the official character list!  I'll update as soon as the other vehicle modes are announced.

Optimus Prime -

Bumblebee - Camaro

Jazz –

Ratchet –

Ironhide –

Megatron –

Starscream –

Brawl –

Bonecrusher –

Barricade – Police Car

Scorpinok –

Frenzy –

Blackout -

426180[/snapback]

How the hell does bumblebee get to be a camero he looked more like a p.o.s. ford escort than a camero.

who the hell are bonecrusher and blackout?

Wasn't Frenzy one of the cassettes from soundwave?

This movie is sounding pretty bad if they are skipping out on classic characters to include scorpinok and stuntacons

[Ginrai]

Boncrusher was a Constructicon. The question is who the hell are barricade and blackout. Also spell Scorponok right.

[azrael]

As I said here:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...ndpost&p=426196

They ran into design and mass shifting problems, so they opted to fix the appearing and disappearing mass problem by changing them into different vehicles. Obviously the VW Beetle was just to small for them so they opted to change Bumblebee to a Camero. They are well aware that people are not happy with this.

The same goes for Soundwave. In the original series, Soundwave was a tape deck. And he goes from a small object to this large Decepticon. The producers didn't want to deal with the mass shifting again so they patterned him after Frenzy. Eventually, as they went through the script, Soundwave became less and less Soundwave-like so they opted to remove him completely and stuck with Frenzy. From the webcast, they liked the idea of a scout for the Decepticons and Frenzy was small enough to fit that role so the Soundwave was dropped and Frenzy was permanently in.

Edited August 18, 2006 by azrael

[Greyryder]

I homestly believe that Bumblebee not being a Beetle has more to do with Volkswagon being kind of pissy, and all "We don't want to be associated with war toys."

I'm sure that there were mass problems with trying to get a tall robot out of an old Beetle, though. Still don't understand why they wanted to make him so tall.

[HoveringCheesecake]

TFW2005 has new pictures up, including a full frontal shot of Bumblebee.

I'm liking it more and more. Then again, I enjoyed SoaP last night.

[captain america]

Mommy, why does Bumblebee look so scary?

[Sundown]

I homestly believe that Bumblebee not being a Beetle has more to do with Volkswagon being kind of pissy, and all "We don't want to be associated with war toys."

I'm sure that there were mass problems with trying to get a tall robot out of an old Beetle, though. Still don't understand why they wanted to make him so tall.

426242[/snapback]

Yeah. I wouldn't have minded so much if Bumblebee ended up being a Prius, Civic, Mini-Cooper or something. Thinking about it, a Mini would have been perfect. The whole point of Bumblebee's character is that he's short, cute, lovable, and thus most relatable to the Bots' human allies. Neither the camaro they've got or its bot mode are any of those things.

And why the heck is the Hummer *Rachet* of all characters? Why isn't the Hummer *Hound*?

I seriously think Bay and crew are concerned about all the wrong things. They seem to be fixated on size for size's sake instead of focusing on characterization. I don't mind updating some of the vehicles, but they should all still have the same vibe as the characters their namesakes come from:

Hound should be an H1 or jeep wrangler (not the prissy H2).

Bumblebee should be small, sporty, and "cute" Mini or Bug.

Prime should be a red cab, long nosed or not, and not sporting hickish flames.

Rachet should be *gasp* an ambulance! Brilliant!

Jazz should be a 911 or a Boxter.

And if any Bot should be a camaro, it probably should be Prowl, since police camaros do exist.

Instead, we've got strange choices of cars and bot modes that scare children. Yay!

And the one police car in the movie is... a decepticon?! O_o

Edited August 19, 2006 by Sundown

[sketchley]

I seriously think Bay and crew are concerned about all the wrong things.  They seem to be fixated on size for size's sake instead of focusing on characterization.  I don't mind updating some of the vehicles, but they should all still have the same vibe as the characters their namesakes come from:

426277[/snapback]

Uh, we are talking about Michael Bay here. The same Michael Bay who does flying cars in a ballet performance whenever an explosion goes off, right? Right.

Don't expect much beyond cool looking transformations, and lots of over-the-top action. (I'm expecting something like "Bady Boys 2" - viceral action, but the nagging feeling of 'what does this have to do with anything, let alone the plot?')

[promethuem5]

Bumblebee looks like ass and no Soundwave=crap.

[Zeta Otaku]

just so everyone knows...

www.tfw2005.com has posted images of 3 of the toys and 2 images of movie designs... including a full image of Optimus Prime.

[VF5SS]

These are awesome. They're actually making them look like aliens! The Decepticons are friggen monsters! Sweet.

[Zeta Otaku]

ok, so, TFW is getting nailed harder that a drunken sorority girl in an all male prison...

here's a mirror to the pics. http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=121315

[captain america]

My GOD!

If that's really Optimus, I'm all for it! I was very skeptical about their redesigning the main characters, but if these images are indeed accurate, I'll accept them wholeheartedly.

My bigest concern is that the transformations look very, VERY complex, and I have to wonder how well these designs will transfer to toys. Given that the whole point of the film is to sell toys in the end...

[Phyrox]

ok, so, TFW is getting nailed harder that a drunken sorority girl in an all male prison...

here's a mirror to the pics. http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=121315

426315[/snapback]

as someone who hasn't like transformers since the late 1980s, I am liking these "reimaginings." That MH-53 though...called incinerator, he isn't on that list of characters. Would be a shame if he didn't make the cut. A good CH-53 scene is almost enough to get me into a movie (that's why i watched The Jackal).

[azrael]

TFW2005.com is getting hammered.

Here are a few more.

http://flickr.com/photos/lights

Yes, they made a full size Bumblebee. Reportedly, he is the only one they made a complete version of. Everybody else is a CG robot. That is also Megatron...from the waist down. The thing at the top, hanging from the ceiling is the reference point for his head (for the actors).

Incinerator (the helicopter) is Blackout. This was mentioned in the webcast that Blackout is a transport.

I'm not really liking what I see. It's fine if they want them "real", but with all those exposed parts, they are entering the ugly zone. And they look flumsy with all those parts exposed.

Edited August 19, 2006 by azrael

[Zeta Otaku]

My GOD!

If that's really Optimus, I'm all for it! I was very skeptical about their redesigning the main characters, but if these images are indeed accurate, I'll accept them wholeheartedly.

My bigest concern is that the transformations look very, VERY complex, and I have to wonder how well these designs will transfer to toys. Given that the whole point of the film is to sell toys in the end...

426328[/snapback]

They're gonna be winging the toy designs. It's impossible to make them look exact, so they'll be cutting corners and making them "close enough". If you take a look at the Blackout toy and compare it to the movie pic, you can see what I mean.

[captain america]

My GOD!

If that's really Optimus, I'm all for it! I was very skeptical about their redesigning the main characters, but if these images are indeed accurate, I'll accept them wholeheartedly.

My bigest concern is that the transformations look very, VERY complex, and I have to wonder how well these designs will transfer to toys. Given that the whole point of the film is to sell toys in the end...

426328[/snapback]

They're gonna be winging the toy designs. It's impossible to make them look exact, so they'll be cutting corners and making them "close enough". If you take a look at the Blackout toy and compare it to the movie pic, you can see what I mean.

426338[/snapback]

Indeed.

A pity though, as the new beastly, organic, alien robot modes is very daring, and much to my liking.

Though I may be in the minority, I'm hoping that Hasbro releases some sort of "deluxe" large sized Prime with more intricate detail and poseability, even if it ends up being non-transformable, just to show-off the aesthetics of the design.

A highly-detailed model would be even better, but somehow I doubt that's in the cards.

[Twoducks]

My GOD!

If that's really Optimus, I'm all for it! I was very skeptical about their redesigning the main characters, but if these images are indeed accurate, I'll accept them wholeheartedly.

My bigest concern is that the transformations look very, VERY complex, and I have to wonder how well these designs will transfer to toys. Given that the whole point of the film is to sell toys in the end...

426328[/snapback]

They're gonna be winging the toy designs. It's impossible to make them look exact, so they'll be cutting corners and making them "close enough". If you take a look at the Blackout toy and compare it to the movie pic, you can see what I mean.

426338[/snapback]

Indeed.

A pity though, as the new beastly, organic, alien robot modes is very daring, and much to my liking.

Though I may be in the minority, I'm hoping that Hasbro releases some sort of "deluxe" large sized Prime with more intricate detail and poseability, even if it ends up being non-transformable, just to show-off the aesthetics of the design.

A highly-detailed model would be even better, but somehow I doubt that's in the cards.

426340[/snapback]

Same here.

Can't wait to see this things transforming (couldn't care less about the rest of the movie though )

[buddhafabio]

wether it is good, bad or ugly. i am going to see this movie out of shear loyalty as a fan. then i am going to gripe. no use griping about the movie unless you have seen it already.

[Dobber]

I guess that gorilla Starscream that we saw a rough sketch of months ago was accurate. I'm gonna need to see more but right now not too thrilled with screamer.

Chris

[reddsun1]

Now, exactly which version of the TF'ers is this film attempting [and the operative word here is attempting] to "flesh out" for the big screen? Which generation from the toyline/universe/continuity exactly are they trying to create? Or are they just trying to make this and "everything-to-everyman" sort of package? I haven't followed the series in years. I didn't realize there were so many different generations/versions now.

This film seems to be striking a chord primarily with late-20-to-30-somethings, who remember/collect the first gen toys and TV show/movie from the mid-80's. But if that's the audience that they're primarily targeting, then it certainly doesn't seem to me that they're delivering "the Transformers" at all; merely an approximation--it's like some bad Unsolved Mysteries re-enactment or something. First impression? they're just taking familiar/popular names and tacking them on to completely different characters, who'll be involved in totally different/unrelated events, taking place in totally different/unrelated settings. "Oh, and we'll get some hot-name actors to stick in it too--ones who score well in polls taken in our target demographic audience--just for good measure..."

Yeah, this is my vote......It'll SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! SUCK!! SUCK!! SUUUUUUUCK!!!!

Edited August 19, 2006 by reddsun1

[Guest sh002]

To me it looks like the designers were incorporating Beast Wars/Beast Machines with some parts in their designs. I don't like the designs with so many exposed parts. This movie would be more interesting if they made Star Wars Transformers.

I think it would look better if they animated the Alternators/Binaltech/Masterpiece designs. I would watch that.

Edited August 19, 2006 by sh002

[Dobber]

Yeah, they should have gotten Shoji Kowamori to design the mecha. His Masterpeice Starscream is incredable....even those who don't like it because it isn't starscream enough gotta admit it still rocks especially compaired to THAT!

Chris

[Guest sh002]

Laser Optimus Prime would have looked better for the transformation of that truck.

[Mog]

I'm not exactly digging the designs and vehicle choices they're making here.

But I'll wait until I see a full movie trailer, before I lower or raise my expectations too much. I mean if the story and characters are close enough to the spirit of their original G1 counterparts, then I can easily overlook any design or vehicle choices this movie makes.

[mister_e]

Cast : only three names given to robots though Prime Megatron and Unknown Tformer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/

you can watche the teaser trailer and it announces Cullen but thats all you get nothing new at all

http://www.transformersmovie.com/

425494[/snapback]

Why are there so many named human characters listed? As far as I'm concerned, the only non-Transformer actors/actresses should be Extra 1, Extra 2, Extra 3, etc.

[captain america]

At this rate, I'm more worried about the script and plot than the designs, since that's really the glue that'll hold the film together or bring it crashing-down.

For what it's worth, I remember the same abysmal whigning when the BSG miniseries came out: legions of fans were scandalized by Starbuck being a broad and it seemed like there was no shortage of things to criticize... Flash-foreward two seasons, and people now worship the new BSG. Just goes to show that there are *some* instances where remakes are done right, and as far as I'm concerned, the verdict is still out on TF.

[LL Cool VF1J]

I have the same fear for the plot too. Too many big name actors, might be getting to much screen time. I prefer just to see the robots and let the humans have limited screen time. Somewhat like the cartoon. But it may be cheaper and simpler to have less robot action, so they will try to make the movie into a love story is what Im afraid of.

[Amped]

At this rate, I'm more worried about the script and plot than the designs, since that's really the glue that'll hold the film together or bring it crashing-down.

For what it's worth, I remember the same abysmal whigning when the BSG miniseries came out: legions of fans were scandalized by Starbuck being a broad and it seemed like there was no shortage of things to criticize... Flash-foreward two seasons, and people now worship the new BSG. Just goes to show that there are *some* instances where remakes are done right, and as far as I'm concerned, the verdict is still out on TF.

426480[/snapback]

The BSG reference doesn't hold up. We are not talking about Ronald Moore helming the TF 'reimagining'... its Michael 'Boom-Boom' Bay, Mr. 'Plot, what's that?' himself. That assclown only knows how to film stuff exploding onscreen... he doesn't have a narrative bone in his body. Rest assured, the movie will suck.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the new robot designs was 'Robo Jox.' That is not a good thing. The second thing was: too gawd-dang much design-kibble. Also... not a good thing, IMO.

[Vermillion21]

wether it is good,  bad or ugly.  i am going to see this movie out of shear loyalty as a fan.  then i am going to gripe.  no use griping about the movie unless you have seen it already.

Ditto for me too!

[Phyrox]

In Bay's defense, The Island would have been a pretty cool distopian movie if it had come out in the 70s, before the whole genre was old hat.

Generally I stay away from everything he does, but who knows? Boring producer/directors have done good work before...right?

Besides, what do you guys honestly expect from a Transformers movie? It was a kids cartoon from the 1980s, the semi-serious live action treatment is pretty remarkable in itself.

Bottom line: Expect AVP, not Alien/Aliens

Edited August 19, 2006 by Phyrox

[VF5SS]

In Bay's defense, The Island would have been a pretty cool distopian movie if it had come out in the 70s, before the whole genre was old hat.

426512[/snapback]

It was better back when it was called Clonus.

[F14Tomcat]

Here's the official character list!  I'll update as soon as the other vehicle modes are announced.

Optimus Prime -

Bumblebee - Camaro

Jazz –

Ratchet –

Ironhide –

Megatron –

Starscream –

Brawl –

Bonecrusher –

Barricade – Police Car

Scorpinok –

Frenzy –

Blackout -

426180[/snapback]

How the hell does bumblebee get to be a camero he looked more like a p.o.s. ford escort than a camero.

who the hell are bonecrusher and blackout?

Wasn't Frenzy one of the cassettes from soundwave?

This movie is sounding pretty bad if they are skipping out on classic characters to include scorpinok and stuntacons

426214[/snapback]

focus dude focus

[bsu legato]

In Bay's defense, The Island would have been a pretty cool distopian movie if it had come out in the 70s, before the whole genre was old hat.

426512[/snapback]

It was better back when it was called Clonus.

426513[/snapback]

Zing!

[chrono]

I'm not exactly digging the designs and vehicle choices they're making here.

But I'll wait until I see a full movie trailer, before I lower or raise my expectations too much.  I mean if the story and characters are close enough to the spirit of their original G1 counterparts, then I can easily overlook any design or vehicle choices this movie makes.

426465[/snapback]

Not many people are and you thought the last 3 Star Wars movies raped your childhood! I think that this is gonna be Masters of The Universe stinkage level. So far the old Citron transformer was better.

Besides, what do you guys honestly expect from a Transformers movie?

Oh designs that didn't look like they've been ripped out of every possible japanese source, except the orginal source. And why the F!!! does Prime look like a gundam model and Blackout look like something from Zeon!