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Delicon wrote:with the classic characters looking like the classic characters and then go from there.

There is a major issue with that when you do live action. Smooth and blocky surfaces are hard to animate, light and most of all give sense of scale.

The movie designs werent overly complicated for the hell of it, they were there so that light could bounce off as many surfaces as possible, giving you,the viewer, the illusion that Optimus Prime was truly sharing the same space as the surounding live action environment.

I am not saying they cant look better than what we have gotten, they certainly can. But they will never have their classic looks in live action. Doesnt have to be bad though, Live Action Jungle Book's Baloo didnt look like animated Baloo and it still worked out ok.

william-james88 wrote:

Delicon wrote:with the classic characters looking like the classic characters and then go from there.

There is a major issue with that when you do live action. Smooth and blocky surfaces are hard to animate, light and most of all give sense of scale.

The movie designs werent overly complicated for the hell of it, they were there so that light could bounce off as many surfaces as possible, giving you,the viewer, the illusion that Optimus Prime was truly sharing the same space as the surounding live action environment.

I am not saying they cant look better than what we have gotten, they certainly can. But they will never have their classic looks in live action. Doesnt have to be bad though, Live Action Jungle Book's Baloo didnt look like animated Baloo and it still worked out ok.

I think what Prime 1 Studios did with G1 Optimus and Megatron would be the perfect look for a live action movie.

In fact, that's what they should've looked like all along!

Im a big fan of the Bay run of the movies in live action, and while I understand they will be wanting to make more live action films under the rebooted thing, I think they would see more success with purely CGI 3d animated films or even computer drawn 2d animation films that were still high quality but had no live action elements in them.

Another thing to note is that Optimus and Megatron's voice actors irl are getting pretty old and may not be around for many more movies/series to come.

I'm a little saddened by the Bay themed movies ending with bumblebee but I think I'm also more excited to see the other hasbro properties getting their turns in, like new GI Joe, Micronauts, DnD, etc. So it kind of outweighs that and since I'm more into the toys than anything else anyway, if they keep putting out good product on that end I'm fine with changes in the related fiction.

In all fairness, it's about time. With all due respect, I would like to thank Bay & Co. for bringing our favorite robots to the big screen, and for all the work they put into the series over the years. That being said, in my opinion (for what it's worth), I would hope that some things from the existing franchise are addressed, such as -

1. Continuity matters. Even as a die-hard TF fan (from waaay back in the DIIAAACRRRONE!!! days, natch!), after the second film, it was impossible to get invested in any great dilemma/moral choice/noble sacrifice/deserved death presented on-screeen when they would almost always have little or no bearing on the next installment. (You know,if the stories aren't really connected, that makes them an ANTHOLOGY not a CONTINUING STORY. Y'know, as in, you're not supposed to number things that aren't in a SERIES...but anyhoo...)

2. At least read some of the established continuities (pick one, there are many that we all like and love) for character traits/abilities/backstories/motivations. Ironhide should be Ironhide, (i.e. damn-near immortal, and tough-as-nails), Starscream should die, and find his way back time after time, Devastator should not be a fracking ARMY of bots, and Hound should be...Hound, NOT Ironhide,Hound and Bulkhead all mashed into one body. And for the love of Primus, Optimus is not supposed to go all Leatherface and collect...faces. And heads. Stop ignoring decades of great stories and great characters.

3. Tone down some of the 150,000 moving parts on each character model. It is literally impossible to distinguish between characters in most close-up hand-to-hand battle scenes. All you see is a bunch of silvery parts colliding with each other, with an odd panel here or there with some scrap of character-indentifying color on it.

4. Stop writing off/killing off/abandoning characters off-screen. (See gripe No.1 above.)
End of gripe list. For now. Thanks for the time...lol

william-james88 wrote:

Delicon wrote:with the classic characters looking like the classic characters and then go from there.

There is a major issue with that when you do live action. Smooth and blocky surfaces are hard to animate, light and most of all give sense of scale.

The movie designs werent overly complicated for the hell of it, they were there so that light could bounce off as many surfaces as possible, giving you,the viewer, the illusion that Optimus Prime was truly sharing the same space as the surounding live action environment.

I am not saying they cant look better than what we have gotten, they certainly can. But they will never have their classic looks in live action. Doesnt have to be bad though, Live Action Jungle Book's Baloo didnt look like animated Baloo and it still worked out ok.

This, basically. I mean, perhaps they could have gone with a more WFC/FOC inspired look for the robots, but then again they have to turn into IRL vehicles and actually transform in a "realistic" manner. Personally I'm of the opinion that the designs of the robots were probably the strongest points of the movieverse- most of the real issues with the movies come from the scripting and acting.

Personally, if I were making a Transformers movie reboot, I'd try and focus on the robots as much as possible. There would still be humans of course but they wouldn't be the main focus of the movie. There'd be one main human character, a few supporting characters and the rest of the human cast would basically be crowd fillers. Also I would try and refrain from butchering the Transformers left right and centre, so that way there's the potential for development in sequels rather than having to bring in a whole new cast of robots to replace the now-dead predecessors. Have perhaps 2 casualties in the movie at maximum, with the Decepticons sent to a secure holding centre awaiting their return to Cybertron (for them to break out of, of course!). Don't skimp on robot fights, but make them a bit less lethal. Transformers are meant to be tough after all.

Best news ive heard all week this is exactly what the franchise needs, kill it wait a bit then start over. Personally i think the entire franchise needs this but guess ill take what i can get.

One more side note to my above post and a little off topic... I was much more upset with Activision and Hasbro's parting ways in the video game industry, as the technology evolves video games are becoming the wave of future entertainment anyway and people are going less and less to the movies on top of that (movies in general not just transformers) I'd like to see some complex RPG of transformers universe and not a stupid MMO but single player of high quality (MMO's always fail because of dodgy internet tech and requirements and also p2w subscription nonsense)... So if I can't get a TF RPG with quality of at least a handheld "Transforers Mystery Dungeon" type or forbid a TF Elder Scrolls quality game I would have at least wanted to see TF: Devastation sequel, and not just pull all the existing Activision stuff from digital markets and make it unavailable anyway.

EDIT: another problem with internet games will be people with stupid out of character or offensive names, so please avoid multiplayer like the plague if a quality RPG is going to be made... not to mention cheaters.

The news about hasbro and Activision was actually welcome considering their loot box crimes (and that patent of theirs). It means that hasbro will take the licence to another developer.

The way I can see the reboot panning out us that we'll get our first glimpse as an after credits scene in either the gi joe movie or micronauts film.

It is a shame we're not getting TF6 (7?) any more, it would've been great to see Cogman and Hot Rod again, and that Unicron plot will now go unresolved. That being said, this series had to end sooner or later, and a reboot will probably be for the best. Unlike others in this fandom however, I hope Hasbro and Paramount don't immediately rush to churn out the reboot. The Transformers films should have a long break after Bumblebee, probably around seven or eight years, Hasbro can focus on their other properties in the mean time. Who knows? Dungeons and Dragons or Micronauts could be huge hits and spawn a bunch of sequels like Transformers did.

Good **** riddance. This series had it's high point and room for improvement, but it's been nothing but crap which squandered it's potential after TF3.

I'm cautiously optimistic, give or take that most of Hollywood seems to be ran by really loud and annoying talentless hacks with overhyped movies that fail to be anything but 'okay' at best. However! At this point, I'd frankly take anybody with the slight hope we see something a bit closer to the source material, if at least in spirit. I don't mean slaving G1 accuracy, I just mean a movie that handle the characters a little better than just fodder. The biggest and most wasted potential of these movies is that every character was bland when they didn't have to be: how many characters do you recall having a personality beyond 'one-liner spouter' or 'gruff villain'? Okay, beside Nitro Zeus who was taken too early.

Now am I saying Transformers are 'deep' characters? Pffhahaha, hell no, they always were cartoon characters. But one thing which made them memorable was a mix of cartoony personality and a good design. Something these characters were lacking. Few of them ever really had any memorable screen presence, which is somewhat counter productive to being a toy commercial.

Well, anyway: bit of a shame this universe won't be getting a finale, but getting cancelled is generally the fate of many Transformers series.

Edit: That said, I'm fine if the new movies maintain a part of the movie esthetic as it has become iconic of live-action transformers. That said, they do need to make these designs tighter and more memorable than just a blob of grey parts. More Optimus and Bumblebee, less generic Decepticon mook. Movie designs CAN look good, it's just they seem like they aren't trying.

william-james88 wrote:

Delicon wrote:with the classic characters looking like the classic characters and then go from there.

There is a major issue with that when you do live action. Smooth and blocky surfaces are hard to animate, light and most of all give sense of scale.

The movie designs werent overly complicated for the hell of it, they were there so that light could bounce off as many surfaces as possible, giving you,the viewer, the illusion that Optimus Prime was truly sharing the same space as the surounding live action environment.

I am not saying they cant look better than what we have gotten, they certainly can. But they will never have their classic looks in live action. Doesnt have to be bad though, Live Action Jungle Book's Baloo didnt look like animated Baloo and it still worked out ok.

I think that there is a happy medium which they never tried to find. They could have at least kept familiar color schemes and character traits. At least the first movie stayed pretty close with the Autobot personalities. After that, they just didn't seem to give a crap.

Munkky wrote:It is a shame we're not getting TF6 (7?) any more, it would've been great to see Cogman and Hot Rod again, and that Unicron plot will now go unresolved. That being said, this series had to end sooner or later, and a reboot will probably be for the best. Unlike others in this fandom however, I hope Hasbro and Paramount don't immediately rush to churn out the reboot. The Transformers films should have a long break after Bumblebee, probably around seven or eight years, Hasbro can focus on their other properties in the mean time. Who knows? Dungeons and Dragons or Micronauts could be huge hits and spawn a bunch of sequels like Transformers did.

As long as they're better than the 2000 dnd film...only good point was Jeremy irons...

I loved the first movie but hated the others, so I'm fine with this.

Really hope the reboot is not going to go with unoriginal G1, I don't mind if things pay homage to the originals as long as the overall product is different.

Would prefer more new characters like Barricade, Nitro Zeus, Crosshairs etc then the billionth version of Ratchet and Soundwave.

Delicon wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Delicon wrote:with the classic characters looking like the classic characters and then go from there.

There is a major issue with that when you do live action. Smooth and blocky surfaces are hard to animate, light and most of all give sense of scale.

The movie designs werent overly complicated for the hell of it, they were there so that light could bounce off as many surfaces as possible, giving you,the viewer, the illusion that Optimus Prime was truly sharing the same space as the surounding live action environment.

I am not saying they cant look better than what we have gotten, they certainly can. But they will never have their classic looks in live action. Doesnt have to be bad though, Live Action Jungle Book's Baloo didnt look like animated Baloo and it still worked out ok.

I think that there is a happy medium which they never tried to find. They could have at least kept familiar color schemes and character traits. At least the first movie stayed pretty close with the Autobot personalities. After that, they just didn't seem to give a crap.

Agreed 100%. It’s almost if the sequels had contempt for things like continuity and coherence

Anybody but Michael Bay or his stooges. We were all impressed by the effects and CGI in the first Transformers movie 2007. But repeated viewings bring out the flaws. And they didn't do anything to correct those flaws as the franchise meandered from one overblown boom-fest spectacle to the next. The Transformers were supposed to be the stars of the show, but instead they became caricature sounding boards for the human characters to bounce lines off of. Every attempt made to 'humanize' the Transformers only seemed to make it worse because the directors' idea of humanizing them was to make them into vulgar stereotypes, grossly exaggerated, but still somehow lacking any real personality. They have a chance to make it right. I hope they do.

Yay i'll grow old and probably die before i see another movie on the big screen..... how exciting..... seriously tho now its back to the dark age where there'll be no movie toys but instead the very "meh" generations line..... this is going to be a very bad time for toys....

DeathReviews wrote:The Transformers were supposed to be the stars of the show, but instead they became caricature sounding boards for the human characters to bounce lines off of.

Hey Death, glad to know you finally caught this franchise in your grasp

Octobotimus wrote:Yay i'll grow old and probably die before i see another movie on the big screen..... how exciting..... seriously tho now its back to the dark age where there'll be no movie toys but instead the very "meh" generations line..... this is going to be a very bad time for toys....

You call a line that gave us updated Headmasters 'meh'? You must be a very hard-to-please man.

Skritz wrote:

Octobotimus wrote:Yay i'll grow old and probably die before i see another movie on the big screen..... how exciting..... seriously tho now its back to the dark age where there'll be no movie toys but instead the very "meh" generations line..... this is going to be a very bad time for toys....

You call a line that gave us updated Headmasters 'meh'? You must be a very hard-to-please man.

I'm just not that into them. i loved how the movie toys were realistic cars and the robots looked pretty cool and distinct. the generations line is just remolds and none realistic vehicles. They also all have pretty much the same shape to them, so they don't look very unique outside of color....

Skritz wrote:

Octobotimus wrote:Yay i'll grow old and probably die before i see another movie on the big screen..... how exciting..... seriously tho now its back to the dark age where there'll be no movie toys but instead the very "meh" generations line..... this is going to be a very bad time for toys....

You call a line that gave us updated Headmasters 'meh'? You must be a very hard-to-please man.

That just means he's probably a fan of something other than G1 - not that hasbro would ever admit something other than G1 exists, or is important to anyone

Octobotimus wrote:Yay i'll grow old and probably die before i see another movie on the big screen..... how exciting..... seriously tho now its back to the dark age where there'll be no movie toys but instead the very "meh" generations line..... this is going to be a very bad time for toys....

I have to say, after their campaign to 'simplify' figures back in aoe, them axing the movie's (and by extension the toy lines) right on the heels of the reveal of a horridly over-simplified line of crappy toys feel weird to anyone else? Like they're trying to force a shift in design by removing the only two 'complicated' lines (rid and movie)

I started reading this thread before I had to go offline, I think I made it through the first page. What I read, there are some I agree with.

This decision ... good and bad. To me, Age of Extinction did a LOT of damage that hurt The Last Knight. It didn't have an impact like it should have, and I believe that was because of AoE.

After watching it, the general movie going public (the ones that REALLY bring the money in, NOT the fanbase) were put off, and a lot probably didn't even bother with TLK.

Add to that, the general movie going public are getting tired of these types of movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as awesome as it is (IMO), is starting to lose the interest of the general movie going public (though I do hope Black Panther performs well), plus various other superhero movies ... people are starting to want something different.

That's why rebooting is a terrible idea. It's been 10 years. TEN YEARS. Did they not look at Sony and their reboot of Spider-Man and how those two movies bombed? Rebooting will not help the Transformers movie franchise, people will just say "this crap again?". Lumping it with their other brands is just making things worse.

This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Burn wrote:I started reading this thread before I had to go offline, I think I made it through the first page. What I read, there are some I agree with.

This decision ... good and bad. To me, Age of Extinction did a LOT of damage that hurt The Last Knight. It didn't have an impact like it should have, and I believe that was because of AoE.

After watching it, the general movie going public (the ones that REALLY bring the money in, NOT the fanbase) were put off, and a lot probably didn't even bother with TLK.

Add to that, the general movie going public are getting tired of these types of movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, as awesome as it is (IMO), is starting to lose the interest of the general movie going public (though I do hope Black Panther performs well), plus various other superhero movies ... people are starting to want something different.

That's why rebooting is a terrible idea. It's been 10 years. TEN YEARS. Did they not look at Sony and their reboot of Spider-Man and how those two movies bombed? Rebooting will not help the Transformers movie franchise, people will just say "this crap again?". Lumping it with their other brands is just making things worse.

This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

My Facebook newsfeed tonight is almost entirely Black Panther and is completely positive. Right now it sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't see the Hasbro Universe ever getting close to what Marvel has done. I'm also a big GI Joe fan and wouldn't mind a crossover movie at some point, but the way they currently have it set up makes me nervous at best.

I also feel that there is a lot more room to go in completely new directions with a Transformers reboot than there was with Spider-Man, but time will tell. I think most people will give it a chance at least for the first new one.

Burn wrote:This was not a good decision, anyone getting excited for it, especially those who are wanting a G1 look, you're going to be disappointed. Set your expectations low.

Yup, just because they "rebooted" the universe doesn't mean the new movies are going to be any better then the old, for example who is going to be the director or script writer? I doubt there is a single big director that gives a darn about the franchise like some of us do so I don't think there will be a Transformers movie that aligns to the fan's vision.

Some people are going to want the movies to be dark and gritty some are going to want it to be light hearted, some people like humor some don't, some want it to be like G1 and retread old ground while some of us want to see the franchise go into a new direction.

There is nothing to be hyped up about right now.