Director Says Transformers ROTB's Story will be About Black and Latino Culture + Why Biggie Song was Chosen

Just tell us a good story! This is about transformers. Really hope they don’t drive this as the marketing directive. Did we learn nothing from the Merlin storyline lol. We want big robots on screen transforming and having characterizations. I look forward to this as well as am very apprehensive. Archee is a toy I will be grabbing for sure though! That mirage Porsche is sweet too!

I knew it! I'm glad my instincts about this movie were right. Now I don't have to waste any more time being even mildly curious. After all, it's for "the homies."

This is a good thing. In the first five movies, Tyrese was the only one given any kind of dignity in his performance. Everyone else was treated like a joke.

Wow, a large corporation proclaiming the political and social relevance of it's latest product.

And so another pop culture franchise is ruined forever by some leftist-woke-social-globalist-satanic agenda, and after the first 6 live action movies were so perfect and universally beloved by all of fandom--oh, wait...

Oh for F's sake why are they bringing freaking identity politics as part of the marketing? AGAIN? They sound like the movie was made to appeal only to black and latino AMERICANS.

NO ONE CARE ABOUT THE HUMANS, BRING US GIANT ROBOTS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Previously, we had James Cameron talking about "toxic testosterone" for Avatar 2. At least for ROTB, they didn't say "white pepple bad." Hollywood should remember that their movies should appeal to THE WHOLE WORLD in order to be profitable and poisoning the well is not a good marketing strategy.

So after the success of Bumblebee being about a robot and the girl that helps him, we're right back to "The Transformers" where the robots are background characters to the bloody humans. Ah well.

Still, if they can tell a decent story and have the Transformers front and centre with the humans, great. But how did they not hear the collective Transformers community say "We want more of the Cybertron segment of Bumblebee!"?

~ Grim

Big Grim wrote:So after the success of Bumblebee being about a robot and the girl that helps him, we're right back to "The Transformers" where the robots are background characters to the bloody humans. Ah well.

Still, if they can tell a decent story and have the Transformers front and centre with the humans, great. But how did they not hear the collective Transformers community say "We want more of the Cybertron segment of Bumblebee!"?

~ Grim

Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

Lol, imagine getting triggered so hard by a piece of marketing.

I'm just waiting for the day when we have a transformer movie. No humans. Just giant robots.

Cheetron wrote:I'm just waiting for the day when we have a transformer movie. No humans. Just giant robots.

Does Paramount do animated movies? Because it would essentially be an animated movie. I think there was a sort of set-on-Cybertron prequel in preproduction.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

woke poison…wow. Sometimes you can just smell fans in their posts

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

This is the first I've heard of that.

~ Grim

Rtron wrote:Lol, imagine getting triggered so hard by a piece of marketing.

Laugh all you want but it's the "death by a thousand cuts" syndrome. By its lonesome its not that bad. But Hollywood shove identity politics hardcore since years, often sabotaging their own movie or the whole franchise in the process. The put on a pedestal things that should NOT matter in the movie. Race, gender, sexual orientation, NONE OF THIS MATTER. The stories and characters are. If I want to see a movie "celebrating Latino culture" I'll watch Coco.

I want to see a movie about Transformers and Transformers culture. But the marketing say that's not what I'm going to get.

I'm tired of this kind of marketing:

Randomhero wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

woke poison…wow. Sometimes you can just smell fans in their posts

Well, name a single "woke" movie with heavy "woke" marketing that got tremendous success and brought sales records. I'll wait.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Rtron wrote:Lol, imagine getting triggered so hard by a piece of marketing.

Laugh all you want but it's the "death by a thousand cuts" syndrome. By its lonesome its not that bad. But Hollywood shove identity politics hardcore since years, often sabotaging their own movie or the whole franchise in the process. The put on a pedestal things that should NOT matter in the movie. Race, gender, sexual orientation, NONE OF THIS MATTER. The stories and characters are. If I want to see a movie "celebrating Latino culture" I'll watch Coco.

I want to see a movie about Transformers and Transformers culture. But the marketing say that's not what I'm going to get.

I'm tired of this kind of marketing:

Dude, I'm from a third world country, you don't need to lecture me about Hollywood hypocrisy. It's been like this forever, you're just noticing it now. And honestly, I'd rather the new buzzword be something positive like this than, I don't know, the metaverse bullshit that's going on on the tech sector.

How about just making it about the actual Transformers?

Rtron wrote:Dude, I'm from a third world country, you don't need to lecture me about Hollywood hypocrisy. It's been like this forever, you're just noticing it now. And honestly, I'd rather the new buzzword be something positive like this than, I don't know, the metaverse bullshit that's going on on the tech sector.

Well, I agree 100%.

Also, I must point out what is actually "woke."
The woke put on a pedestal inherent characteristics when it shouldn't matter in the movie.

For example, the recent Strange World is full woke while the classic Brokeback Mountain is not.

Big Grim wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

This is the first I've heard of that.

~ Grim

To be fair it goes quiet from time to time but it was last talked about in the wake of Bee's success.

Rodimus Prime wrote::lol:

I knew it! I'm glad my instincts about this movie were right. Now I don't have to waste any more time being even mildly curious. After all, it's for "the homies."

Holy racism Batman!

People in these comments just seething over “oH iTs wOkE” because it’s going to (probably briefly) deal with culture outside of America. Was it woke in the Bumblebee movie how it explores 80s American culture by showing us Hailey Steinfeld’s character’s life? Yeah yeah we all want a “100% on Cybertron zero humans plot” but it’s not the end of the world, more and different media will always be coming.

Man, some of these comments make me ashamed to be a Tf fan. If Megatron’s Master Plan happens in real life, y’all would be right in that parade cheering on the Decepticons.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote::lol:

I knew it! I'm glad my instincts about this movie were right. Now I don't have to waste any more time being even mildly curious. After all, it's for "the homies."

Holy racism Batman!

People in these comments just seething over “oH iTs wOkE” because it’s going to (probably briefly) deal with culture outside of America. Was it woke in the Bumblebee movie how it explores 80s American culture by showing us Hailey Steinfeld’s character’s life? Yeah yeah we all want a “100% on Cybertron zero humans plot” but it’s not the end of the world, more and different media will always be coming.

Man, some of these comments make me ashamed to be a Tf fan. If Megatron’s Master Plan happens in real life, y’all would be right in that parade cheering on the Decepticons.

Is it even outside of the USA? Because all of those movies people call "woke" are just about americans, or, at most, a very american perspective on other countries... From an outsider's perspective, these guys are literally getting angry over nothing. And some are straight up spouting insane rambles.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:
Holy racism Batman!

It has NOTHING to do with "racism". Or "sexism". Or any other isms. I can point out dozens of youtube channels featuring black/latino/female/LGBTQ people that are ANTI-WOKE.

What we don't like is when the woke wear race/gender/sexuality like a "devout" Christian's giant golden cross around their neck to show how "virtuous" they are.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Stormshot_Prime wrote:
Holy racism Batman!

It has NOTHING to do with "racism". Or "sexism". Or any other isms. I can point out dozens of youtube channels featuring black/latino/female/LGBTQ people that are ANTI-WOKE.

What we don't like is when the woke wear race/gender/sexuality like a "devout" Christian's giant golden cross around their neck to show how "virtuous" they are.

It might not be in your case, I don't know you. But look at some of the other replies... They're very sus. If you're being honest about your beliefs, then I think you're misdirecting your anger. You should be angry at corporations for making a mockery of every cause, and at people who want to feel morally righteous while actually being assholes, not at people that want to be represented. Using the word "woke" doesn't communicate what you seem to think it communicates. And that's the last thing I'll say on the matter, this is a Transformers forum.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

woke poison…wow. Sometimes you can just smell fans in their posts

Well, name a single "woke" movie with heavy "woke" marketing that got tremendous success and brought sales records. I'll wait.

The two Black Panther films had similar articles to this one which would state the high percentage of coloured cast members . The first marketed a black male lead along with a 99% coloured cast and made over one billion dollars. The new one promoted a different origin for Namor, with Mayan roots, along with the rest of the cast being mostly black women, and it's doing very well at the cinemas too. Both had heavy "woke" marketing and both got tremendous success and both broke sales records.

If Hollywood wants to make a movie which has its primary focus as the 'celebration black and latino culture', that's fine. But what does celebrating black/latino culture have to do with a civil war between two factions of giant alien robots from a completely different planet?

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

woke poison…wow. Sometimes you can just smell fans in their posts

Well, name a single "woke" movie with heavy "woke" marketing that got tremendous success and brought sales records. I'll wait.

The two Black Panther films had similar articles to this one which would state the high percentage of coloured cast members . The first marketed a black male lead along with a 99% coloured cast and made over one billion dollars. The new one promoted a different origin for Namor, with Mayan roots, along with the rest of the cast being mostly black women, and it's doing very well at the cinemas too. Both had heavy "woke" marketing and both got tremendous success and both broke sales records.

I don't consider the first Black Panther movie itself to be "woke" at al. Its marketing was, but not the movie. In fact that movie is ironically "anti-woke". Manly men, Wakanda is a closed-borders country with ethno-centric values. The marketing was "woke" by chanting "diversity" while the movie was anything but diverse.

As for the second one,all i heard was its just some generic "fast food" movie. And if you split hair and over-analize it, it's actually "racist" against Hispanics. TlDr, Black Panther 2 is NOT "woke" at all. Just "meh".

In fact, movies tha are pure woke are thankfully rare. The problem is often the marketing who act like a real Tartufe and pretend that their generic Hollywood junk will "change the world" or something.

DeathReviews wrote:If Hollywood wants to make a movie which has its primary focus as the 'celebration black and latino culture', that's fine. But what does celebrating black/latino culture have to do with a civil war between two factions of giant alien robots from a completely different planet?

This.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:If Hollywood wants to make a movie which has its primary focus as the 'celebration black and latino culture', that's fine. But what does celebrating black/latino culture have to do with a civil war between two factions of giant alien robots from a completely different planet?

This.

“What does the setting and characters have to do with the actual movie?!”

-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Because that's getting its own spin off movie as a prequel. Hopefully showing shockwave's leadership of the cons in megs absence.

Will this be an actual thing?
And without any woke poison?

woke poison…wow. Sometimes you can just smell fans in their posts

Well, name a single "woke" movie with heavy "woke" marketing that got tremendous success and brought sales records. I'll wait.

The two Black Panther films had similar articles to this one which would state the high percentage of coloured cast members . The first marketed a black male lead along with a 99% coloured cast and made over one billion dollars. The new one promoted a different origin for Namor, with Mayan roots, along with the rest of the cast being mostly black women, and it's doing very well at the cinemas too. Both had heavy "woke" marketing and both got tremendous success and both broke sales records.

I don't consider the first Black Panther movie itself to be "woke" at al. Its marketing was, but not the movie. In fact that movie is ironically "anti-woke". Manly men, Wakanda is a closed-borders country with ethno-centric values. The marketing was "woke" by chanting "diversity" while the movie was anything but diverse.

As for the second one,all i heard was its just some generic "fast food" movie. And if you split hair and over-analize it, it's actually "racist" against Hispanics. TlDr, Black Panther 2 is NOT "woke" at all. Just "meh".

In fact, movies tha are pure woke are thankfully rare. The problem is often the marketing who act like a real Tartufe and pretend that their generic Hollywood junk will "change the world" or something.

It's fine if those two films don't fit within your definition, but they did for others. People even coined the term "Woke-anda". And they had lots of articles like the one I newsed. That's why I mentioned them, they seem like a good comparison to what we see here. If you don't have an issue with those films, then I think you won't mind this next Transformers either. From everything I see, this film won't be a pure "woke" film. It will be a live action TF film though, with Bay involved in some aspect, which comes with everything people may or may not like about those. But that's another discussion.

I also do not want the movie to be 100% focused on the human characters, but the comments everyone is reacting too seem so minor and do not imply this at all. If the protagonists are POC in 90s Brooklyn, their ethnicity and culture is inevitably going to be part of their character(s), even if that only extends to the slang they use, music they listen to, etc.

The fact that some grown-ass men today are reacting this strongly to the mere suggestion that nonwhite 90s kids are going to act like nonwhite 90s kids is probably the strongest argument for why we still need this kinda emphasis, even if it's just in the marketing and barely noticeable in the movie.

Also, none of the comments in the article suggest this is what's happening at all, but are we seriously going to pretend that oppressed minorities suffering from injustice is a theme that does not resonate in the slightest in a franchise about warriors fighting for 'the right of all sentient beings' against tyrannical jingoists?

-Kanrabat- wrote:I don't consider the first Black Panther movie itself to be "woke" at al. Its marketing was, but not the movie. In fact that movie is ironically "anti-woke". Manly men, Wakanda is a closed-borders country with ethno-centric values. The marketing was "woke" by chanting "diversity" while the movie was anything but diverse.

As for the second one,all i heard was its just some generic "fast food" movie. And if you split hair and over-analize it, it's actually "racist" against Hispanics. TlDr, Black Panther 2 is NOT "woke" at all. Just "meh".

In fact, movies tha are pure woke are thankfully rare. The problem is often the marketing who act like a real Tartufe and pretend that their generic Hollywood junk will "change the world" or something.

Did you...watch the first movie? The core plot was about *changing* those exact values, and the movie ends with Wakanda opening its borders and T'Challa making an effort to specifically address the 'woke' Killmonger's concerns. Not to mention the focus on the women (Shuri and the Dora Milaje) and references to white people as being 'colonizers' (and where on earth did you get the impression of 'manly men'? Every major male in the movie cries or expresses sensitivity/'wokeness' without shame at some point in it). It's awkward that this movie tramples all over your point, but that's a pretty weak reason to insist that it isn't incredibly 'woke'.

And you can't really have an opinion on the sequel if you haven't seen it and (from the looks of it) know very little about it.

From your language I assume you won't consider (off the top of my head) 'Mad Max: Fury Road', '12 Years A Slave', 'Get Out', 'Moonlight', 'Blackkklansman', 'Wall-E' (hell, most recent Disney animations), 'The Help' or 'Persepolis' to be woke either. All focus very heavily on woke themes and/or characterization and all were successful, either financially, critically or both. And if you don't consider those to be woke, I can't really fathom why you're getting so upset about some innocuous comments about Rise of the Beasts.

What's really bizarre about all this is that Bumblebee already set the precedent for this in a major way. Hailee Steinfeld's character was a huge focus (both in marketing and the movie itself), with the film going into her family, history, personality and trauma. People like you didn't seem to mind when it was a white girl, but apparently trying to do the same with nonwhite people is completely enraging?

I think you guys are giving too much weight to this interview.

The impression I got from this, is how they are proud of their work, and how someone who came from their paths of life can now contribute and be part of Transformers.

Though this interview does seen to forget guys like Tyrese Gibson and Amaury Nolasco.

TulioDude wrote:I think you guys are giving too much weight to this interview.

The impression I got from this, is how they are proud of their work, and how someone who came from their paths of life can now contribute and be part of Transformers.

Though this interview does seen to forget guys like Tyrese Gibson and Amaury Nolasco.

Agreed. But it's the fact that people are reacting with such disgust to even the possibility of nonwhite culture having a focus that is troubling.

Cheesinator wrote:

TulioDude wrote:I think you guys are giving too much weight to this interview.

The impression I got from this, is how they are proud of their work, and how someone who came from their paths of life can now contribute and be part of Transformers.

Though this interview does seen to forget guys like Tyrese Gibson and Amaury Nolasco.

Agreed. But it's the fact that people are reacting with such disgust to even the possibility of nonwhite culture having a focus that is troubling.

It’s downright horrifying. All because the latest political buzzword has come to be used as a “safe” avenue to express general bigotry. A franchise about change on a fundamental level seems to have a lot of people mad that things dare change. ALL OF THIS for a movie that, overall, will probably be relatively generic (not to discredit my excitement, just a realistic expectation).

william-james88 wrote:It's fine if those two films don't fit within your definition, but they did for others. People even coined the term "Woke-anda". And they had lots of articles like the one I newsed. That's why I mentioned them, they seem like a good comparison to what we see here. If you don't have an issue with those films, then I think you won't mind this next Transformers either. From everything I see, this film won't be a pure "woke" film. It will be a live action TF film though, with Bay involved in some aspect, which comes with everything people may or may not like about those. But that's another discussion.

I dont believe one bit that ROTB will be "woke". At all. What I take issue with is that the marketing is telling me that my all-dressed pizza was made to "celebrate" green peppers. I can only sigh at this.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:If Hollywood wants to make a movie which has its primary focus as the 'celebration black and latino culture', that's fine. But what does celebrating black/latino culture have to do with a civil war between two factions of giant alien robots from a completely different planet?

This.

“What does the setting and characters have to do with the actual movie?!”

The risk is that it sounds like they're trying to make TWO movies. One, 'a story about black/latino culture'. The other, a story about giant, sentient alien robots fighting a civil war. Some movies actually manage to navigate through several sub-stories in one film, but it's a tricky business.

Will this be a movie that's primarily a story about black/latino culture, which just happens to have sub-story in it about an alien robot civil war? Or will it be a movie about an alien robot civil war, which just happens to have a sub-story about black/latino culture? They're going to have to be extremely careful that the two separate aspects of this movie don't wind up competing with each other, or they could easily confuse and bore the audience.

The Bayverse TF movies have meandered through lots of mini-stories which supposedly stitch together into an overall narrative. Maybe their plan is to do the same here. But I think the Bayverse films suffered in that regard, because I felt all the myriad sub-stories didn't jive, and simply became disjointed and jarring.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

Cheesinator wrote:

TulioDude wrote:I think you guys are giving too much weight to this interview.

The impression I got from this, is how they are proud of their work, and how someone who came from their paths of life can now contribute and be part of Transformers.

Though this interview does seen to forget guys like Tyrese Gibson and Amaury Nolasco.

Agreed. But it's the fact that people are reacting with such disgust to even the possibility of nonwhite culture having a focus that is troubling.

It’s downright horrifying. All because the latest political buzzword has come to be used as a “safe” avenue to express general bigotry. A franchise about change on a fundamental level seems to have a lot of people mad that things dare change. ALL OF THIS for a movie that, overall, will probably be relatively generic (not to discredit my excitement, just a realistic expectation).

I can't speak for other people, but I would have the same angry reaction if the director claimed that the movie was made to "celebrate French people and Christian values".

I can't speak for other people, but I would have the same angry reaction if the director claimed that the movie was made to "celebrate French people and Christian values".

For instance - in any of the previous TF movies, did the marketers ever say anything like that? Why then, do they feel the need to do so now? Why not simply allow admiration of a culture to happen organically on its own? Criticism of movies and stories is expected - there are entire industries built around being critical and skeptical of movies, their stories, and the motivations behind their being written and produced. What is it about skepticism/criticism of this one which causes some to say it's 'horrifying'...?

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote::lol:

I knew it! I'm glad my instincts about this movie were right. Now I don't have to waste any more time being even mildly curious. After all, it's for "the homies."

Holy racism Batman!

You should read the definition of that word. If anyone is racist, it's the movie's director and writer(s). He himself said in the newsed article itself that the movie's for his minority "homies" back in Brooklyn where he's from. Assuming I'm a racist just for pointing that out is very ignorant and could be racist as well.

People in these comments just seething over “oH iTs wOkE” because it’s going to (probably briefly) deal with culture outside of America.

Did you even read the news article? I think we're talking about 2 different things.

Was it woke in the Bumblebee movie how it explores 80s American culture by showing us Hailey Steinfeld’s character’s life?

Not at all. But there should have been less of it.

Yeah yeah we all want a “100% on Cybertron zero humans plot” but it’s not the end of the world, more and different media will always be coming.

But it isn't. It's the same old human-centric garbage, except this time the main human is black. Whoop-dee-fvcking-doo. And the fact the director is beating his chest over that aspect is why I'm irked. He should have been focused on the Transformers characters, since, you know, it's a Transformers movie!

Man, some of these comments make me ashamed to be a Tf fan.

If you think human characters should be a priority over Transformers, then you should be ashamed.

DeathReviews wrote:

I can't speak for other people, but I would have the same angry reaction if the director claimed that the movie was made to "celebrate French people and Christian values".

For instance - in any of the previous TF movies, did the marketers ever say anything like that? Why then, do they feel the need to do so now? Why not simply allow admiration of a culture to happen organically on its own? Criticism of movies and stories is expected - there are entire industries built around being critical and skeptical of movies, their stories, and the motivations behind their being written and produced. What is it about skepticism/criticism of this one which causes some to say it's 'horrifying'...?

I mean...the obvious answer is that there was never any real showcase of minority culture in the previous movies (besides caricatures like the Twins), so why would they ever say anything like that? We absolutely get pretty big insights into the lives of three different families over the Transformers movies so far, who happen to be white. For people outside the US, these are insights into a particular demographic/culture, but it's one showcased in Hollywood almost constantly.

From the sounds of it, ROTB is the first Transformers movie that is going to focus on main characters of a different ethnicity, who are otherwise not focused on very much. That means that, even if we just get glimpses into their personal/family lives in the same way we did in other movies, these cultures are going to be showcased (somewhat).

The director pretty much just pointed this out, and people like you are reacting negatively and acting as though the whole movie is going to revolve specifically around race. To really spell it out, this makes you guys seem kinda racist (not saying that you are; I do not know you), and lots of people find racism 'horrifying'.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Yeah yeah we all want a “100% on Cybertron zero humans plot” but it’s not the end of the world, more and different media will always be coming.

But it isn't. It's the same old human-centric garbage, except this time the main human is black.

Weirdly, this is the least neckbeardy take on this (from your side) that I've seen in this thread so far.

It's fine to already be pissed at the movie because it will have any human focus at all (assuming of course you have equal vitriol for most of other Transformers movies/shows which also heavily feature humans). What's a little more unsettling is the people who were fine with the previous stuff but are now enraged purely because the humans involved are not white.

Dude, we've had 6 movies with humans as the focus, we're not gonna suddenly lose our composure because you decided to use a different color crayon.
No one is excited about this. You know what's groundbreaking? A Beast Wars movie. No one's in this for the humans. You want representation? Fine. Don't make it the focus, the humans DO. NOT. MATTER.

Great job hiring a Director with political goals for a movie that shouldn't include humans to begin with.
God forbid art be "fun".

-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:It's fine if those two films don't fit within your definition, but they did for others. People even coined the term "Woke-anda". And they had lots of articles like the one I newsed. That's why I mentioned them, they seem like a good comparison to what we see here. If you don't have an issue with those films, then I think you won't mind this next Transformers either. From everything I see, this film won't be a pure "woke" film. It will be a live action TF film though, with Bay involved in some aspect, which comes with everything people may or may not like about those. But that's another discussion.

I dont believe one bit that ROTB will be "woke". At all. What I take issue with is that the marketing is telling me that my all-dressed pizza was made to "celebrate" green peppers. I can only sigh at this.

We have to remember that this is an article from BET, so talk of being Black and seeing the film and story through that lens was always going to be a given. It's like an article for a site about zoology would only look at the Beast element of the film, even though the Beasts are only one aspect and not the whole movie. I wouldn't even call this marketing, it's just an interview with BET, giving people a different perspective. If we get a promotional title card with the words "this film is Brave" or merchandise titled similarly like we did with Black panther 2, then yeah, I'd address it differently than I do now.
I newsed this because it did offer up a lot of stuff we didn't know about the characters and people had been curious about the song choice. Also, the trailer was very robot heavy, something fans liked, but this article offered the human side of things which fans may have not realized was still very much a part of the film. And I generally found everything mentioned something newsworthy, or at least that could spark discussion here.

As a Mexican it is pretty neat seeing some representation in Transformers. While I'll probably keep focus on the big robots smashing things up, it's still neat.

Edit: Considering one of the replies above me, it seems like a good idea to ignore this thread for the most part. I'm just happy people of my race get some representation and I know my black friends are happy their race will get some focus too.
Can't wait to see the film.

Loving the discussion by the way. We are all rather civil, and being all on this site, we approach it at least with the ultimate hope for a film we'd like added to the pantheon of great Transformers entertainment (whether it be this one or the next, or another film some day).

I have another article in mind since there has been some insider info coming from the special effects team. However, it is not good. Hasbro/Paramount switched their current films (this one and the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons) from using ILM to MPC for visual effects and people from MPC are saying that they are currently undergoing crunch time when they know they won't be able to provide the same level of effects as ILM. We already see it in the trailer with odd clipping that we never had before in any transformers film (even their early trailers).

Now I consider this pretty big news, it's are insider info. But it also comes across as a hit piece on the film and I don't know if it's worth writing something that only leads to more "sky is falling" from fans.

So you'll let me know, should I news that or not.

DeathReviews wrote:

I can't speak for other people, but I would have the same angry reaction if the director claimed that the movie was made to "celebrate French people and Christian values".

For instance - in any of the previous TF movies, did the marketers ever say anything like that? Why then, do they feel the need to do so now? Why not simply allow admiration of a culture to happen organically on its own? Criticism of movies and stories is expected - there are entire industries built around being critical and skeptical of movies, their stories, and the motivations behind their being written and produced. What is it about skepticism/criticism of this one which causes some to say it's 'horrifying'...?

Well put.

SpaceEagle wrote:As a Mexican it is pretty neat seeing some representation in Transformers. While I'll probably keep focus on the big robots smashing things up, it's still neat.

Edit: Considering one of the replies above me, it seems like a good idea to ignore this thread for the most part. I'm just happy people of my race get some representation and I know my black friends are happy their race will get some focus too.
Can't wait to see the film.

Didn't they also film in Perú? Perú somehow has a HUGE Transformers community.

Would it bother you if they end up mishmashing Incans, Mayans and Aztecs like they always do? It's a huge pet peevee of mine.

EDIT: Well, huge by south american stardards, as seen by a guy from a place where the fandom is practically non existent.

Rtron wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:As a Mexican it is pretty neat seeing some representation in Transformers. While I'll probably keep focus on the big robots smashing things up, it's still neat.

Edit: Considering one of the replies above me, it seems like a good idea to ignore this thread for the most part. I'm just happy people of my race get some representation and I know my black friends are happy their race will get some focus too.
Can't wait to see the film.

Didn't they also film in Perú? Perú somehow has a HUGE Transformers community.

Would it bother you if they end up mishmashing Incans, Mayans and Aztecs like they always do? It's a huge pet peevee of mine.

It's filmed in Peru yes, I'm just mentioning I'm Mexican since it says hispanic in general

I would probably roll my eyes at the mishmash but it's nothing new to me!

william-james88 wrote:Loving the discussion by the way. We are all rather civil, and being all on this site, we approach it at least with the ultimate hope for a film we'd like added to the pantheon of great Transformers entertainment (whether it be this one or the next, or another film some day).

I have another article in mind since there has been some insider info coming from the special effects team. However, it is not good. Hasbro/Paramount switched their current films (this one and the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons) from using ILM to MPC for visual effects and people from MPC are saying that they are currently undergoing crunch time when they know they won't be able to provide the same level of effects as ILM. We already see it in the trailer with odd clipping that we never had before in any transformers film (even their early trailers).

Now I consider this pretty big news, it's are insider info. But it also comes across as a hit piece on the film and I don't know if it's worth writing something that only leads to more "sky is falling" from fans.

So you'll let me know, should I news that or not.

That the effects are gonna be pretty bad compared to previous movies is a given, since the sfx people in general are getting insanely exploited lately, which has caused an industry wide decline in quality. There's a pretty clear solution for that that has already worked for writers and actors, but it may be very difficult to implement in the current climate. And sfx is part of the whole "design" side of professions which has historically been exploited in every industry, not just movies.

Cheesinator wrote:What's really bizarre about all this is that Bumblebee already set the precedent for this in a major way. Hailee Steinfeld's character was a huge focus (both in marketing and the movie itself), with the film going into her family, history, personality and trauma. People like you didn't seem to mind when it was a white girl, but apparently trying to do the same with nonwhite people is completely enraging?

Just to add to the diversity in Bumblebee, Hailee Stenifeld isn't white. She's a mix of lots of cultures, including African American and Filipino. The main All American white guy was John Cena, who was the "bad guy" for a big part of the film and who learns that not all giant robots are bad.

TulioDude wrote:Though this interview does seen to forget guys like Tyrese Gibson and Amaury Nolasco.

It forgets Hailey too.

Rodimus Prime wrote::lol:

I knew it! I'm glad my instincts about this movie were right. Now I don't have to waste any more time being even mildly curious. After all, it's for "the homies."

I'll admit, that line about the homies made me chuckle. But you know what, it shows you read the article, which is great, because many times (like what's happening on facebook right now), people comments about not liking something before even reading what is being said.

DeathReviews wrote:For instance - in any of the previous TF movies, did the marketers ever say anything like that?

Yes, they did. Michael Bay promoted the military's involvement, which I would 100% label as a political aspect to the film.

Michael bay wrote:The prep for the movie is going well. The military looks like it is going to support the film which is a big deal in giving the movie scope and credibility. The Pentagon has always been great with me because I make our military look good.

Here's another quote about what he thinks Winston Churchill would think about his film:

Michael bay wrote:I just want to say, people were not fortunate enough to read the script, and they don’t know that Churchill in this movie is a big hero. And Churchill would be smiling about Last Knight. They haven’t seen the movie, they don’t know the ending, and they don’t know how Churchill is a hero in this movie. So, as the staff said, ‘He’d be smiling right now.'When you see the movie, you’ll understand. I for one, probably more than any director in the world, have shot more veterans and more active military men and women in my movies. I would do nothing to disrespect veterans.

And Travis Knight used similar words when describing his vision for Bumblebee with an extraordinary girl at the centre of the film:

Travis Knight wrote:Hailee is extraordinary! When I first sat down with the producers and told them my vision for the film there was only one name of an actor that left my lips and that was Hailee Steinfeld. I knew that if we were going to have this extraordinary girl at the centre of the film then it could only be Hailee – she is the only person I could think of that could bring that character to life in a meaningful way. She’s incredibly gifted, is fearless, she can break your heart and lift your spirits. It was a real thrill to collaborate with her to bring this character to life.

These are all from a quick google search, I'm sure we'd find more in video interviews. But in short to answer your question: yes, other TF films have done this, it is not new. Michael Bay wanted to showcase the military through his films, Travis Knight wanted to have a girl at the center of his film and Steven Caple Jr is looking at this film through the lens of a Black man. All did interviews about how they address their films in ways that is outside of just being about the robots.