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Interesting. But still Prime is Prime. When was the last time Macdonalds changed their logo? Simple, they haven’t. The reason why they are now making the Transformers movie is simple… people who grew to love the original transformers are now in the pound seats. To change anything away from the original is a sin. If you can’t get the rights to a VW Beetle… then just write out the part of Bumblebee. That is far more acceptable than changing them because of logistics!

Can you imagine Wolverine being blue? I didn’t think so, so why change it. Personally I think the movie although in it’s own right might be entertaining and awesome - I think it will suck as “The Transformers Movie”. If you can’t get it as the original, go back to animation.

Simply put, if you can’t keep things the way they were, then either change it completely or dump it. If you can’t keep Prime the old Blue and Red truck, then dump the character and the same applies to bumblebee. Megatron as an alien space ship!? I mean really… wtf! Change him into a massive cannon of mass destruction (as one of his forms was a cannon) but not a spaceship. That’s as bad as turning Starscream into a beach buggy!

Well that’s my rant!

WHY ARE YOU STILL WHINIG ABOUT MEGATRON’S PROTOFORM !?! IT IS JUST THAT… A PROTOFORM !!!

Do Optimus or StarScream stay in their protoforms throughout the entire movie? Megatron was frozen upon impact… he couldn’t assimilate!

And the chances of Megatron becoming a canon or something are very slim… American gun laws prohibit the sale of weapons as toys.

Agreed… change everything or keep as is… but where do you draw the line? It’s a matter of opinion.
BumbleBee’s character played an integral part… he was the bridge between the bots & the humans… that character needs to be in the movie, either as BumbleBee or another AutoBot (but any other bot would just seem like a cheap replacement for Bumpy, and just because Hasbro couldn’t get VW rights… might as well keep Bumpy and change his vehicle mode).

We won’t really know how far removed the movie bots are from the old cartoon (until we see the movie).

So Megatron stays in his protoform… then why don’t the others? I mean if they don’t have to change, then why do so? If only to blend in, then why into cars? Cos they are cool? So far as I can tell it just doesn’t make sense.

As for Bumblebee… well, if you need a small autobot to make the connection with people… then why not just come up with a neat motorbike autobot. Lets move with the times… lets face it, bikes are way cooler than a VW anyhow (I don’t care for either myself).

As for american gun laws… and what you can make as a toy. If I’m getting it right, as long as it isn’t a weapon as a toy it’s fine, but the toys themselves can have weapons?

So lets ditch the americans and make Megaton only avaliable as a toy in Thailand where it will most likely have been made anyhow!

Should have scrapped the original plot and come up with a “Transformers: The Next Generation” rather!

Hey Robert,

I have the other viewpoint. I like the fact that they are changing some things around. Making changes has brought about some very cool Transformers universes.

Did you hate it when they introduced Beast Wars? That was totally different yet great on it’s own.

Why not think about the movie as just being Transformers in the movie universe.

There are many different flavors of Transformers universe, such as Armada and the minicons and Beast Wars (which ties in to the G1 universe later on when Primal becomes Prime). Had people not thought outside the box we wouldn’t have had those great universes.

Maybe the movie will be the same. It’s not G1: The movie, it’s Transformers: The movie. Give it a chance.

By the way, thanks for posting!

By the way DarthChop, great article. I agree with tons of your points (especially mass shift - hate it!)

As one of many of the fans who grew up with the transformers I wil give it a chance, despite the fact that i hated beast wars becasue it lacked that certain “seriousness” that the old G1 had
I mean they are at war arent they??!!

anyway as with the designs, for what reason did the designers did not make optimus a cab over kenworth?!!!

I have been around trucks for years and know that the old 125 kenworth model has been around since 82 and woudl be perfect.But I guess transformers has toe “evolve” with the younger crowd as awell don’t it???

Sadly I fear that whoever does another movie with what the older fans like may be much more appreciated.

this is where i draw the line.

I couldn’t agree with you more Robert.. Why change something that clearly need not fixing?? Why change Optimus prime?? Why change megatron?? I mean jeezus, none of the transfomers look anything like the original cartoon forms.. Who cares about american guns laws (in relation to megatron), Michael bay should have left the transformers the way they were and just simply make a live action version of it.. If he couldn’t get the rights for Bumblebee, he should have left him out.. But then again, Michael bay obviously couldn’t get none of the rights, judging by the way he f**cked up all the other transformers.. It’s clearly a sad day for everyone who loved transfomers..

Deathchop, by the sound of it, hasn’t seen a single episode of the original cartoon series, judging by his post.. WHY ARE YOU STILL WHINIG ABOUT MEGATRON’S PROTOFORM!?! IT IS JUST THAT… A PROTOFORM!!! What a pointless and childish comeback that was.. My question to this is, Why change his form to begin with?? Same goes for Bumblebee, why change his form?? If it’s not broken, then why fix it..?? More to the point if it’s not broken, then why f**k it up even more, like Michael Bay has??

Others on this forum think that it’ll be a cool movie etc, and that energon, beast wars etc.. were the better spin offs from the orignal cartoon.. I think that energon, beast wars, armada, were made just to cash in on the transformers name, nothing more.. But didn’t optimus prime die in the original animated cartoon movie?? And left the matrix with hotrod, so why in gods name did optimus prime be brought back to life?? The transformers isn’t Buffy the vampire slayer, where buffy comes back to life half a dozen times throughout the 7 seasons, optimus prime dies in the animated movie, so he should be left in piece.. In all honesty, this live action movie should revolve around Rodimus prime as the leader of the autobots and galvatron as the leader of the decepticons.. Rather then making it into a live action version of the original cartoon series..

Man, I have to disagree about centering the movie around Hotrod. Maybe he’ll show up in the sequels.

The whole reason they killed Optimus in the animated movie was to introduce a whole new toy lineup, purely a marketing move.

My all time favorite universe is the G1 cartoon but I really do like the others. Some of the shit gets on my nerves.

My honest opinion is that this is another universe in the vein of beast wars, cybertron, etc. I don’t want to compare it to something that has been important to me for a long time (G1) and just want to allow it to add to my liking of the Transformers universe.

W00kie, have you seen the trailers? Do you really think they look terrible?

Whether it was purely a marketing move on the part of hasbro or whoever has the rights for the new lineup, the fact remains.. The transformers and indeed the main characters should have been left unchanged.. The CGI effects would have looked awesome if things were left unchanged and left in it’s originality.. As to whether or not i have seen the trailers, yes i have, and im disappointed at the finished movie.. The whole movie could look good if they remained unchanged.. If they looked like that way back in G1, then i wouldn’t have nothing to argue about.. But because they look nothing even remotely close to G1, they look horrid.. I’ve always known bumblebee as a VW, so why is he a mustang?? Optimus prime was a kenworth back in G1, why change him?? I don’t think kenworth would have a problem giving Michael bay the rights to leave optimus the way he was in G1.. One thing that they got right was optimus’s trailer..

It just doesn’t feel like transformers anymore.. Michael Bay really has mulilated the transformers name.. Fair enough, a move into a new universe etc.. that’s a fair comment, but at least leave some originality in the forms of the original characters like hound, optimus prime, megatron, ramjet, jazz, mirage, starscream etc.. Why change something that has worked for so long, why change something that need no fixng?? Why now??

As for the hotrod side of my post, i was leaning more towards just continuing from G1 and the animated movie back in the late 80’s.. More along the lines of the fight between the autobots and the decepticons not just the two main characters Rodimus prime and galvatron.. Not so much continuing on from armada, beast wars or energon, because they were just pointless spin offs to cash in, that’s all..

I totally respect your opinion. Your points are welcome here! (even though we disagree!)

The comments you leave are excellent for other visitors to the site so they can get both sides of the argument!

That’s cool..

This is what I do not get, IF they could not get
the rights to the vehcile makes,could they at least get vehicles that look similar to what they were.

eg. at bumble bee, he was a scout, not exactly the type to take on megatron but he is sneaky and small.He is also the most enegry effeicent of all autobots

okay a camaro is fast but what gives it some of the qualities that he had as a character??

a camaro means POWER… much like a mustang and it is not the type of vehicle that goes unnoticed.
(police included..)

from what i gather from the toys of optimus sprime’s protoform, it looks decidely as a “CAB OVER” truck.. which is closer to the older series.

I know there are people who love everything transformers but for me the love of anything over g1 is mostly for the fact that the toys are much more articulate in robot mode.

As with transformers changing with the times is well and truelly a logical step to attract more fans but then again It would be sarcillage to forget what came before.

I just hope the new marvel comic books would not re-write the transformers history to fit the movie.

I’m pretty sure that the new Marvel comics will rewrite the Transformers history to match the movie. All about the marketing.

It’s always the case ain’t it..

Bumblebee was a little bitch and a coward, which is why he was so good at being sneaky.. If they couldn’t get the rights from VW, why not make bumblebee a yellow mini cooper (and im not talking about the new turbo version etc..)?? Doesn’t that car look whimpy and cowardly, that would fit bumblebee to a tea.. But to make him a yello camaro, when does bumblebee evolve into a bad-ass with muscles?? My whole argument with this version of transformers is why change something that has worked unchanged for two decades..

I can just imagine 20 years down the track when hollywood decides to re-make transformers yet again.. But this time make optimus prime an SUV not a truck..

Well it would appear that the two arguments are still the same:
“The movie isn’t G1 so it’s crap!”
“Let’s look at the movie as a new TransFormers universe.”

Let’s throw this little spanner into the works…
How about seeing THIS movie as THE TRANSFORMERS and the cartoon shows (G1 & otherwise) as interpretations of this movie as closely emulated as possible.

Look at the bot mode designs… if you look at them quickly they still look EXACTLY the same as G1 (human-like faces). It just seems like when they were inking the cartoon, they cut a lot of corners and took short-cuts. In the movie world you can’t take short-cuts. You have to have ALL detail present.

This is G1 Optimus in the real world…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5175Y06_Lk

It just doesn’t work! Bot mode’s movements are far too restricted. How can you be expected to fight (and win!) a war when you can hardly move!?!
And don’t say: “Yeh that’s perfect! That’s how Prime should look in the movie”
‘coz if they did even the most hard-core G1 fan would only watch it a couple of times and get tired of the antiquated CG.

I need realism, or at least a tiny shred of credibility… Bay made the Transformers credible in the real world, instead of a bunch of giant toys running (or hobbling) around the city.
Why make a movie that only 10% of the people would enjoy (and for only a short while) when you can “real-it-up” and reach a far greater audience and make it a timeless movie. Surely all the other Transformer multiverses would benefit from the renewed interest, and let’s see how the cartoon show of the movie fares up against past incantations.

(G1 fans can sharpen their guillotines and post their scathing remarks now…)

OK W00kie… I have no idea what you’re on about.

You say Bay could have easily beefed up the CG to create believable G1 reproductions… HOW!?!
You’ve still got bot modes with big car parts covering their line of sight. Cg could create smoother motion but then you’ve got the same dilemma from the cartoon show: STEEL DOESN’T BEND !!!(and don’t say “Maybe cybertronian steel does” ‘coz that screws up all realism with regards to the lip movements… how can steel lips bend to form words and then harden to protect against damage… according to OUR physics this doesn’t make sense and thus becomes incredible)

You can’t have a giant mechanical being that moves and bends like a biological entity. You have to take the mechanics & moving parts into account. Look at your old toys… do they move anything like a biological man? How would CG magically enable 360 degree movement to a limb that would mechanically only be allowed 180. It loses credibility (makes the viewer think that the director perceives him as a naive child)

What you’re asking for (an exact G1 replica movie) would be EXACTLY like the Power Rangers movies… and don’t argue that! ‘coz that was the result of an exact G1 movie screen test. Even the Transformer guys said it was horrible.

It still sounds like the same old argument… “It’s not G1 therefore it’s crap!”… but you add “it’s because everything has been changed”… SO YOU’RE STILL MOANING ABOUT THE MOVIE NOT BEING G1 !!!

Yes, I understand your point being: “If you have to change things try and keep the characters & storyline as close to original as possible”… but that brings me back to a previous point: “Where do you draw the line?”
The only way we can truly appreciate this question is if we were to design movie characters ourselves to retrace the steps taken by the Hasbro team. Maybe only then would we appreciate why the current designs are so far removed from the originals.

I think you’re trying to say: “Why are things soooo different when they didn’t HAVE to be”… And I half-heartedly agree…

Why couldn’t Welker (Yeh- I know who he is) be Megatron? Well he wasn’t always… And Cullen wasn’t always Prime.
I don’t think the whole raspy voice would have worked in the movie, and I thought the evil, deep voice of Beast Wars was a much better representation of Megatron. He’s supposed to be evil incarnate but Welker just makes him sound like an old man (which Megsy is but let’s rather focus on his personality… and I am a little suspect about Weaving - doesn’t seem deep enough for my liking, but let’s see… they might have gone “Soundwave” with his vocals).

And for the millionth time… THE JET IS MEGATRON’S PROTOFORM!!! He will probably scan something in the 2nd movie
(but not a gun… American toy laws… but how could huge Megatron transform into a little handgun? Just seems too far fetched… didn’t like it in the cartoon series either… but yes he should be/have some kind of cannon).

And on the topic of CG (again)…
I said before, you can’t have the old bot modes running/hobbling around because of the restrictions on their movement. Yes CG could nullify this obstacle but then you’d have limbs moving where joints didn’t exist, and (again) steel plating would need to bend and conform to the bot’s movements. Machines CANNOT move like bilogical beings unless their designs allow free flowing movements (G1 designs DO NOT).
Think about Prime’s arms… he’s got the doors under his armpits. So effectively his arm joint is going through the side doors and the armpit joints the size of door hinges have to facilitate movement for a huge steel arm that will be used to beat up other house-sized machines. If you try to fix this problem and make his arms more anchored to his shoulders you end up going down Bay’s design road. And he HAS to be a long nosed semi… the arms wouldn’t measure up if he were flat.

And do you really want to watch a bunch of boxy, human-like cartoon characters running around for 2 hours… or do you want a movie about state-of-the-art interstellar living machines engaged in an all out war to determine the fate of the universe?

(AND JAZZ IS A PORSCHE !!!)

READ http://www.transformersfans.com/the-movie/cast-crew/transformers-writers-talk-fanboy-pressure-et-inspiration-sequel-ideas/#comment-725

before you use the word “cab over”

there is only one thing I can say that is good that all would agree on.
“PETER CULLEN IS GETTING PAID”

Frank and Daniel also need to make a living.

yknow what I don’t get?

what was just mentioned (It is my fault that i didn’t notice it)is
the insults fly about how megatron sucks and beast wars sounds better.
who would be the best to represent optimus??

This is what I don’t get? megatron IS much older than optimus he has been there when optimus was still ORION PAX!!! of coz he is older.
There were a few lines in G1 where optimus trash talks megatron as an older model. watch it and see.Perhaps the reason why frank welker played it that way.

So I half hearthedly agree with the point that the beast wars megatron IS better cuz as for he sound like something a lot younger, but I do know what you mean, just that the mood of presentation killed the darker heart that i so wished it had with just a bit of witt.

I loved beast wars but what sucked about it was it didn’t seem to take it self seriously. what is it with those whacky sounds when a trasnformer trips or loses their balance? and that “REEBOOT” feel when they could have given it a more it serious mood from the start.what I meant is the comedy in it of errors had goofy sounds and teh series over all lacked that “darker” side G1 had since it was a WAR after all.

GOOD AND EVIL ARE AT WAR. that is at least one thing that may have filtered though to the movie.

IF you think about it transformers G1 DID have a dark side. I mean even optimus HAD one…REVENGE.. though it is not mentioned but apparent.
(ORION PAX was rebuilt into optimus prime..)WHAT as if optiums can forgive
someone who nearly killed him and his partner??
I thought that was one of the driving forces that made optimus a great character.

Cullen wasn’t always prime or was frank megs but they were there first and most in G1 (and did many chaarcters between them including soundwave)and I have not seen as much repressed hate that optimus has for megs in both the animated movie and series.(in some comics IT DOES SHOW..)

THIS is the chemistry I want to see in a live action movie, what made rpime determined other than the morals of rightheous which does not gel without a personal reason.A strong belief in good is not enough.

I hope they took that into consideration of better yet post this ta speilberg.

Here is my answer to micheal bay’s points feel free to fire some more.

-If they were alien machines then why did their faces resemble that of a human. They didn’t look enough like aliens or machines for my liking (This is why “Beast Wars” is one of my faves).

This works, but since in G1 they crashed landed on earth of course they have had to adapt when being re-made.It was never that clear since thwir robot form was essentially the same as when they crashed on earth.

Protoform this would work, as ith turning into vehicles land based, so sould their bipedal form to best adapt to this planet. so human like forms are the other logical step.

-If they were advanced enough to transform their bodies from car to bot then why did they leave large untransformed components (such as the large hood for a chest or bulky feet that wouldtrip an elephant)… and I always thought it was a cheap short-cut to just split the car and leave it boxy (why not go into greater detail? Bay did.)
If it was done right as in BOxy think of it this way if ithe argument was on earth.they had to adapt to OUR
conditions right?? most tanks ARE BOXY LOOKING but at 45 degree angles for better protection against projectile based arms.with this you can figure out
armor similar but differnt to gen1, and cover MOST of the body for armor plating. I need not give any hits to any articulation experts but look
at medieval armor, or better yet some newer designed robot toys and marvel at their articulation. YOu can keep the organic form or guts protected by angled or boxy slabs of metal.

-Why did they fly around in spaceships… why didn’t they just “become” the ship? (some series (Armada) did apply this to their storyline)
The first episodes of transformers sucked cuz both autobots and decepticons could all fly. BUt later mostly decepticons can fly in robot form unassited.
It was clear that this was not thought out until later.
Most autobots cannot fly, decepticons can. so the argument of autobots using ships to get from a to b does gel. as with ships.
the logical conclusion is this for protection and trasnporting things and repairs, it is logial to assume only a few trasnformers can fly as fast as each other or have great long range capability past their own power cells.

-And I never liked “mass shifting”… How could Megatron shrink down to a little pistol? That means that anyone could just throw him into a bucket of cement and he’d be screwed! How would that be a fitting end to the mechanical menace. (Bay transforms a car into a robot… end of story)
I agree with this much like optimus’s dissapearing trailer.
but the price?? megatron had a huge cannot on one arm that really represenst the brute force that he can bring to bear, a symbol of how EVIL HE IS.
the least thing they can do is give MOVIE MEGS a HUGE gun, sort of another reason to fear him.IF he does not trun into a gun the least thing you can do is give him what makes autobots fear about him.
Galvatron is still megs but has kept an arm cannon

The Essence of TF:

Facts about TransFormers that should not be altered !!!

- Optimus Prime is the good soldier… and that’s what makes him unique from the rest of the Autobots. He is a soldier… born from the matrix as a warrior on the side of good. The Autobots are just robots fighting against Megatron (they are not soldiers, only reluctant participants).
I did mention he had a personal reason for fighting.
A soldier is just one facet of what optimus is. You forgot Leader.The other autobots are loyal to his as much as he is to them.

I am sure people loved or hated him for the dept of his character much like megs.

- Megatron is pure evil… he needs to look the part, so having him shrink down to a little pistol seems contrary. His face needs to strike terror into the hearts of the innocent, and create fear. Megatron is the epitomy of the world’s armies… Fight, Kill, Destroy…
OMMITING a BIG reason on his right arm to fear him does kill some of the fear factor if the only thing he has to display is his ugliness and sharp fingers.

- BumbleBee is the underdog, the smallest TF. That’s why he relates to the humans so well (he knows what it’s like to go against huge robots that tower above you). IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT HE’S NOT A VW BEETLE !!!(OK so maybe it matters a little bit… I liked that Spike might get teased for driving a bashed up old VW, but there’s more to it than meets the eye…and the beetle was a good vehicle mode for someone named “BumbleBee”) but I never really liked his big belly and chunky feet… I always wanted them to morph further. The Camaro is a much better car design to transform (plus Hasbro couldn’t get the rights to use VW…I think it had something to do with the new “Herbie” movies).
A CAMARO represents POWER baby, look under the hood. Is that something you would have that does not arouse suspicion?? and it is a real menace to police in the hands of a speed freak much more than a smaller 4 cylinder car.Hardly an underdog if pitted against an average car.

A lot of Transformer fans are outraged at the new take on the old cartoon… but that’s the problem… It’s not a cartoon. Things don’t translate as well into a real live version.
True, you adapt it but change too much and might as well add another name after transformers.

I think the TransFormers2007 boys are doing their best and it must be breaking their hearts (mine too) to hear what some “fans” are saying about a movie they haven’t even seen yet.

Maybe they need some more rights to “certain” vehicles and more inspiration
from the roots of it all, some more military hardware visits and more input from some fans who are really into their stuff.I hope they dont take the path of mainstreamers who’s only love for the universe is because it was popular.

The only reason for the uproar I can think of is that Mike Bay is changing something that many kids fell in love with, and as the kids grew up changing what they remember is kinda like saying they have to change aswell. (They still don’t realize that it already had changed… Beast Wars, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, etc.)

the history of each series contradicts
each other.so where do people go?? back to the past since it was there first.

I know they are trying their best, if saying that TRASNFORMEERS HAS CHANGED because of beast wars armada,energon,zone ,etc I thought IT WAS nothing more than a facet of the rich universe??

Putting a well known G1 voice into something armada or energonish in a way is rather decieveing particularlty when most fans voted for peter cullen even before the first pics of the transformers designs ever came out.

YES, YES, YES… Rewind you’ve it !!!
You’re thinking your own thoughts, and not just crying about things being different. Yeh- some things are different but let’s try understand and incorporate it into the story. Why dismiss it altogether?

The whole Megatron voice topic is still open to me. I liked the old man angle from G1 but also liked the deep menacing growl from Beast Wars. I’m just gonna wait to see the movie on that one. Still don’t know what Weaving actually sounds like in the movie. They might have deepened the pitch or made him sound more raspy.

…And yeh Beast Wars was a bit too “silly” but it is a cartoon for kids. If they had gone all out to give us the best Beast Wars possible then it probably would have had an age restriction of at least 13. It did still have the necessary seriousness needed to portray a battlefield. (remember what happened to Dino-bot… that episode kicked ass! Loved it when they brought him back, but doubt Megatron did).

And thanks for bringing that Prime/Megatron/Revenge angle to my attention. I had forgotten about the pre-G1 history (lately G1 has been ground zero for all debate). I like the “darker” side to Prime… that he’s more than just a good soldier. He has emotions invested in the struggle. He has his own personal interest in the outcome of the war. But that touches on another TF point… that all the transformers are unique and have their own personalities & quirks.

I do remember the trash talk from the ‘86 movie.
“One shall stand… One shall fall”
“Such heroic nonsense”
“Why throw your life away so wrecklessly?”
“That’s a question you should ask yourself”
Who could forget. Those were the kind of scenes that stayed with me through the years.

And who could forget…
“Megatron must be stopped… No matter the cost..” Cue Stan Bush’s The Touch (and we all remember exactly what that cost was…)

It is not so much dismissing what spielberg has done rather WHY?!?!
If there is A way to get the man in here in the forum I’d be more than happy to vice it personally and hear his and his teams reasons as to why things where radically altered and why some thinsg supposedly work and why other older designs do not or if they could afford to use the the transformation rights from the toymakers (which they can… but they did not??)

Maybe i could come up with things even the “EXPERTS” may not.
a peterbuilt is a nice form but why change something that can already be convincing???
Ever see a REAL kenworth being tuned when the lift up the cab??
Combined CG and hydraulic props could emulate that pretty well and half or prime’s transofrmation already.

surely more of G1 could be incorporated.MUCH MUCH MORE…

Picture this…
the current Movie optimus with all his sinew like parts but now with more
“REDDISH armor plates” the plates around his arms are more boxlike than before almost slab like good for bashing decepticons with..
the glass on his chest nothing more that a hardenned silica like substance hard to break that is what i thought spielberg would make him like.

as with the toes a compromise between what he is now and g-1 would have sufficed, much like a cross between a human foot and a knight’s boot.

In a way prime’s head look more like knights helm (faceplate included) rather than a shogun’s helm (I am aware the g-1 toys were made in japan but if you look closely at the designs in heads, weapons or body..many had western or european based ideas.)anyone see excalibur? notice one of the knight’s helmets bare a striking reseblance to prime’s mouth piece.

for their current design direction stevies design crew were talking the movie one thing I THOUGHT they would do if they took the design path that they took in making the transformers alien is the “ELIMINATION OF PAINT”
meaning painted “flames” should not exists.

Instead wouldn’t they emulate color as part of the metal.what I mean is
the color would be solid emulated like car paint with some simple patterns
like racing stripes different colors but nothing more intricate than numbers..

isn’t that the logic behind them trying to blend in?? not exactly perfect but passable.

the reason why prime would be solid red in the upper armor and solid blue below. another would be their self repair systems.

I’d imagine each trasnformer has nanobots that fix them up as part of their
repair system and haning solid color is more logical since it is seems easier to fix as a homogenous color.

I feel the movie team design team did not hear as much die hard fans as they should have.maybe the direction would have been better.

as with the trans formers g-1 having personalities if i remember corretly every transformer, decepticon or autobot had a personal reason. some not as apparent as others as to why they fight and not just prime.
Prime is the guy who kept it from falling apart not just by example and on many occasions when he is not there or incapable of leading, the autobots displayed good personal initiative.

Prime was not the only victim of decepticon malice.
look at blue streak’s bio. He is a pacifict by nature, talkks too much and makes light of an other wise bad situation but the fact that he was the only survivor in his area points a much darker and deeper character, but unlike prime, not the path of revenge.

as with beastwars
PG 13 should not make a show too goofy or screw up any seriousness.
I would have pictured a much more darker and desperate side of the war , the animal forms should have enhanced this.

when dinobot died to me that was a more transformer world realism starting to come in in that series.

But you know what they could have done.Remember the episode where the REAL MEGS and THE REAL PRIME’s spark was “borrowed” look at the models of megs and prime? I thought even just from that mainframe could have made at least
one episode of G-1 as part of beast wars to explain more about the war in cybertron. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ACE, but nooo.

having the g-1 characters mature in view in beast wars would have completed
the transition from old to new.

I think I finally see what your saying…

Even with the new designs why not keep the original vehicle modes from G1?
They could have transformed the G1 vehicles into the new bot designs (which would allow a wider range of movement). It could be done…

A good point… but…

Like I have said many times before… This is “Transformers: The Movie” not “G1: The Movie”. The best guess I could make is that Bay & the boys are trying to incorporate ALL the Transformers universes into the movie. This would include animal designs from “Beast Wars”; futuristic bot modes from “Cybertron”; stylish, sleek, and artistic designs from the anime(ish) “Energon” & “Armada”.

So when you see movie version Optimus Prime your’re also looking Optimus Primal, Optimal Prime and the G1 Prime.

But this doesn’t explain the G1 exclusive guys like Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee… or does it?

Wet