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With the fifth movie around the corner, and the discovery that my partner hasn't watched a single Transformers movie (aside from the animated one from 1985), I decided it would be as good a time as any to sit down and re-watch the previous four movies and then babble on about them.



Transformers (2007)
This is where it all began. For me, this wasn't just a the first live action Transformers movie. It was something more. I had the distinct privilege of being one of the first in the world to see the movie as I scored a pass to the world premiere in Sydney Australia. All it cost was airfare and accommodation (roughly $800AU). Didn't need to catch a cab as I had a second ticket and shared it with a friend down there in return for picking me up.

So there we were on a cold June evening in Sydney, lining up outside of Fox Studios watching the "celebrities" (I use that word loosely because they were most Australian reality TV stars) file into the two theatres. The biggest names of course was Australian actress Rachel Taylor, Megan Fox, and the man himself, Michael Bay. Bay himself introduced the movie.

A guy from the bush travelled half a country to world wide premiere of a Hollywood blockbuster introduced by the Director himself.

Yeah, that was a big thing to me.

We were of course, sworn to secrecy. We weren't allowed to discuss the movie publicly until it opened worldwide two weeks later.

But enough about me bragging. The movie itself when I re-watched it last night. You know what? It's still a pretty good movie. I've lost count the number of times I've watched it. Bumblebee peeing on Simmons? Yeah, that was accompanied with a "bloody fanboys STILL bring that up on the forums" comment to my partner. She was amazed by this.

Get over it already guys!

Sitting there watching it, there are so many lines I can recite. Heck, "English dude!" has become a every day saying for me.

I enjoyed it back in the day, and I do enjoy it now. It's aged well. And for those curious, yes my partner did enjoy it.

The sad part was when the credits rolled and I came to the realisation that from here on out ... it slowly gets worse.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

And so a week passes (yeah I'm late in writing this up) and we move onto the second movie, Revenge of the Fallen.

Short review ... much of the same.

The majority of the original cast returns, but we meet a few new Autobots and Decepticons. Megatron is rebuilt and resurrected, except for his dodgy arm, and we find out that he's not the big bad we all thought he was, but was actually a lackey himself.

To me, that felt like one of the big contradictions between the first and second. Megatron was talked up as the big bad in the first movie, like REALLY big bad, there was no one higher than him, but then we find out he's actually working for The Fallen. ehhh I dunno, something always felt off about that to me.

We see more female butt, and some cookies with interesting ingredients. We get two dogs humping and two men with their pants down. Continuing the theme of twos (it was the second movie after all), we get a set of twins who really stirred the goats of the fanbase because of their (alleged) racial stereotyping.

And let's not forget two wrecking balls dangling.

Yeah, it felt like they really ramped up the the lame humour for this one.

We had a bunch of construction vehicles combine into one big robot, and duplicates of those construction vehicles also running around shooting things.

And let's not forget the the biggest most obvious "plot twist" coming ... the death of Optimus Prime.

Although most of us knew he'd be back later anyway thanks to the macguffin of the movie.

Aside from the introduction of The Matrix and the exploration of The Primes mythology, there was nothing to set this movie aside from the first one.

It was what it was, a generic, vanilla flavoured sequel.

With two dogs humping, two pantsless men and two dangling wrecking balls...

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Transformers:Dark of the Moon
And so things get worse ...

Megan Fox has jumped off the band wagon, as have writers Orci & Kurtzman with Ehren Kruger given writing duties.

The eye candy from the first two movies has been replaced by more eye candy in the form of model-turned casting coucher-turned actress Rosie Huntington-Whatever.

Sam's still there, as are his parents. Yay!

Look, overall, I didn't mind the movie. It was a punch to the feels when Ironhide was slaughtered, so **** you Sentinel Prime. Why are Sentinel Primes such jerks? Now that I think about it, Primes in general seem to be jerks, even the ones on the forums.

But I digress.

Megatron is once again, not the big bad. Nope, he's gone from big bad to lackey to cohort. Geez, what's next for him? Oh yeah ...

Some things haven't changed though, like a bunch of bots that just didn't get much screen time. On the plus side, they got rid of the Twins.

Oh and hey, some consistency at least! Optimus still has the Matrix, which he's happy to off-load.

We also get a bit more mythology in the form of The Ark and a space bridge.

But seriously ... Megatron and Sentinels plan to rebuild Cybertron is to use human slave labour? Even G1 Megatrons plans weren't that whack-a-doodle.

There's no real memorable personal experience for me when it comes to this movie, it's interesting, by this stage it had become apparent that I was no longer watching these movies multiple times. The first one I saw in the cinema four times, the second, three times, and the third one twice. All of which have also had multiple home viewings, but my interest in watching them in cinemas has waned.

Oh, and the fanboys still pissed and moaned about the flames on Optimus Prime, the poor storyline, the explosions ... I guess we've got better chance of Michael Bay leaving than the fanboys shutting up.

Onwards, and ... downwards.

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Transformers:Age of Extinction

And so we make it to the fourth movie in the franchise. I was really hyped up for this movie, so much so I took the day off, I even stayed in the city the night before so I wouldn't be too tired from the drive (90km's / 1 hour) to catch the first showing at 10am. I even decided to hit up the VMax (not quite IMax but bigger than a normal screen) screening, something I'd never done before.

Well ... I really wasn't prepared for the length of the movie, and for what was supposed to be the premium movie theatre, the seats were incredibly uncomfortable. I was happy to see the credits, not just so I could get away from those seats, but to get away from a movie that just dragged on for so long.

How much did I not like this movie? When I got my Blu-ray copy out earlier, it was literally fresh out of the package. Never used before.

I'd watched the movie once. As I said before, with each passing movie I watched them less and less.

I bought it on Blu-ray because, well, I'm a fan, plain and simple. I just couldn't bring myself to watch it again.

Until now.

It's still a long movie. It doesn't help when you're fighting off a head cold either. But at least I had comfortable seating and could move around all I want.

That being said, second time around ... it wasn't that bad. The big plus for this movie was the introduction of Lockdown and his gun-face. That's now a thing.

Did I care Ratchet died (well not really dead I suppose)? nah, by this stage most of us had forgotten him anyway.

Sam is out and Cade is in. The wannabe actress is out (who knows what she's doing these days) and another blonde that's done just as much is in. (Admittedly before I gave up watching Bates Motel she was doing a damn good job). Plus that bloke from Deadpool who suffers perhaps the most graphic human death ever in these movies.

And then there's the bad guys. Kelsey Grammer is such an awesome villain, he didn't even need to do Sideshow Bob. Then there's the boss of KSI who is supposed to be bad but then ends up good ... turns out he's intended to be the comedic relief. Yeah okay.

Oh and we thought Lockdown was going to be the big bad, until *cue dramatic music* some tosser called Galvatron comes along, though *cue even more dramatic music* it's just Megatron with a new body, and he really doesn't do much.

Much like the previous movies where he's been overshadowed by another big bad.

Then there's some Knights garbage, can't see that going anywhere, some big metallic dinosaurs, because all kids love dinosaurs, and then once all is said and done, Optimus **** off to space to stick it to his Maker. That probably won't go anywhere either.
(I haven't seen The Last Knight yet so spare me the spoilers)

All in all, just another Transformers movie, one then went on too damn long.

ONWARDS WE GO!
Maybe. Depending on how I feel tomorrow. Though I do want my Trypticon ...

I think I knew you'd seen the premiere, but I always forget. That's really cool!

As for me, and my link to the 2007 film - I was still in Italy by then, and I'd spotted the cut-out at the cinema a couple of months ahead of it. I was not into TFs at the time, not since I was a kid. Seeing the cut-out actually got me to slowly start looking more things up, and dig out old toys.

Then I watched the film. I cannot actually remember watching it, but I think it was with my mum and brother, maybe. Or he would've been too young still, so maybe not. But I saw the film. And I still - for all my dislike of all the movies, which I make no secret of I think - I still appreciate that first transformation sequence with the Autobots a lot. Like, a lot a lot. You know, the Arrival to Earth one.



Much as you, Burn, the following material was ..no, not my thing at all. But by then I was also back into researching things about Transformers, and slowly creeping my way back into the fandom. I think I wanted Revenge of the Fallen to do something else for me, and it didn't, at all. But comics happened, and meeting people, and toys. And then I landed here.

My summer's week vacation falls on the week of June 19th so I'll have all that week to watch the previous 4 films right before I go see The Last Knight on Tuesday, June 20th. And I can't wait.

I haven't seen the previous films since 2014 when I watched the original trilogy back-to-back-to-back before going to see Age of Extinction. But to this day I still remember when I saw the 2007 film for the first time. It was Monday night, July 2nd at 8 PM. My cousin came to see it with me even though he is not a Transformers fan. He just enjoyed it for what it was: a fun summer action movie. Me on the other hand became giddy when I heard Peter Cullen's first line "Before time began...there was...the Cube." And it just got better from there.

Unlike most of the fandom, I think the best Bayverse film so far has been Dark of The Moon, despite its horrendous treatment of Megatron and Shockwave, but the first film will always be special, because as a fan of over 20 years by then, I never thought I would see it on the big screen.

The Last Knight is giving me the same good feelings the first film's arrival did. Hopefully I won't be disappointed.

And the animated movie was released in 1986 not 1985.

Ah yes, the 2007 movie. You know, to this day, I can't think about that movie without recalling the chaos it caused on these very boards. From the massive flame wars over designs, the massive influx of newer and younger fans, the Don Murphy fiasco.... it was a very interesting time. It was when I was transitioning into my next role in life, from single guy, to "holy ****, I think I want to marry this chick I'm dating" guy. It was when (not too long after its release) I left the fandom for some time, mainly due to burn out over the commotion this film caused.

Fun times it was.



All that said, I really enjoyed the first movie, and I still do. The build up to it was immense (and I remember Burn telling the story back then! Yay me!), and I really thought it as cool to see this beloved hobby of mine brought into the mainstream lime light. For about 6 months that year, EVERYBODY was talking about Transformers, and I got to play the role of resident expert in the field.

Sure, the movie did and does have its flaws, but overall, it was good. The new takes on the Transformer designs I found to be very interesting, as well as the changes to the characters. It was fresh, and we kinda needed that at the time. It was a bit light on plot, and character development, but I expected that from a summer Blockbuster. Yeah, it was too focused on the humans, but that makes sense when you realize the target audience knows nothing of the Transformers lore. The movie worked, and worked well. I did and do, like it.


As Burn said though, it only goes down from there......


I also want to agree with Roddy, in that this new movie is giving off much more of a good vibe than 2, 3, or 4 did. I'm actually starting to feel a bit like I want to go see this one. Maybe they've learned from all the criticism? One can hope.

Ironhidensh wrote:From the massive flame wars over designs,

OPTIMUS PRIME DOESN'T HAVE FLAMES!
Holy crap that complaint stuck around for years.

the Don Murphy fiasco....

I was going to talk about that, but decided to just stick with the movie itself and not so much the lead up.

But good grief ... that man

After seeing the first movie, I spent the next week or so daydreaming what just about everything could transform into. The garbage truck, the bus, motorcycles, dogs, telephone poles, the mailbox... the yellow-and-black Camaro. Kinda that Spielberg sense of wonder and awe, I suppose. Did the same thing with RotF, but by DotM that magic died out. *sigh*


The first movie came out during I time I was really wanting a Transformer toy (having not had one since Beast Machines). There were Cybertron stuff, sure, but I wanted something cooler, and Movieverse was exactly that. I had only intended to get one...

First post updated with my thoughts on the second movie.

Unlike Burn, I'm not going to edit my previous post, just respond here. You know, for clarity.

I remember seeing RoTF the 1st night it opened, once again with the same cousin who saw the 1st film with me 2 years prior. By now he became enthusiastic for the sequel, partly because he liked the original, and partly because he loved the music video for "New Divide."

So, we're standing in a looooooooong line at the movie theater prior to midnight on opening day, our tickets having been previously purchased. We go in, get out popcorn and drinks, and find pretty good seats. Benefits of being prepared.

The 1st time I saw the movie, I had a lot of fun. The visual assault on my eyes and brain completely masked the lack of substance of the film's story. I loved all the action pieces, the Transformers on screen were beautifully rendered. I didn't (and still don't) have problem with The Twins and how they were portrayed. I don't understand what exactly is stereotypical about their behavior, and in the 8 years that have passed, no one has given me a persuasive argument supporting them allegedly being racist. Didn't believe it then, don't believe it now.

The forest battle. Enough said. It's probably the most re-watched action scene in my Transformers library, after Unicron's transformation from the animated movie.

Then I went and saw the film again the next weekend. This time, I was much more aware of the lack of good story, especially when Sam was on screen. He and his "friends" were a total waste of screen time. They weren't funny, and served very little purpose for the story. The small amount they were needed for could have been replaced with something much more concise and interesting. Primus knows the movie could have used the cut in run time.

Over the last 8 years, I haven't grown to despise RoTF as much as most of this self-important fandom has, but I do place it on the bottom of the list as far as quality story-telling goes. It's slightly below AoE, but it's still on the bottom of the list. It was hurt mainly by the writers' strike in the United States film industry, where these supposed "artists" took it upon themselves to damage the very product that they supposedly fought for. How ironic and hypocritical. So with Orci and Kurtzman out of the mix, the task of finishing the script fell to someone with even less talent for a coherent story (as if that was possible): Michael Bay.

All in all, my RoTF experience wasn't a bad one, but I admit when seeing it for the 1st time, I had rose-colored glasses on. Since then, the effect has worn off and the real picture has set in. For all its amazing set pieces, action, humor, and special effects, RoTF is the worst installment of Bayverse.

ROTF is a movie, that changed my opinion about Michael Bay = previosly I considered him quite not so bad director that should handle a decent summer blockbuster. After ROTF, Bay is a vampire that is stealing other peoples hard work and magic of each Franchise for his own personal profit, ruining everything we love about it in the process. His personal interventions in script caused a lot of forced toilet humor and changed much more complicated scenes - including the ending into typical, "Good guys always wins" action movie .

RotF to me was only...mildly disappointing for me. Mostly because of the whole "Megatron was never the full big bad and was a lackey" but I will say it gave the character more to do otherwise, we got to see him standing on the front lines and kicking butt until Optimus unceremoniously used his fusion cannon to blow up half his face.

That said, especially going into DotM feel like there's points where not all the characters, especially on the Decepticon side, like Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave are used to their full potential. They're horribly under utilized, which is the departure of these films as good Transformers films. It just becomes general action flick type deal, with women in skimpy outfits, frat boy/juvenile humor, massive lens flare, and overly gratuitous explosions. I don't really hate RotF though even though it is everything I just listed off here. I do find it mind-numbingly entertaining. It's not a good TF film because of the way it is executed though. On the plus side, it does give us a copious amount of connections from the mythos. We got things like Sentinel Prime, Space Bridge tech, the Matrix of Leadership, and the Dynasty of Primes. I choose to focus on those. Plus the whole Megatron leading the battle type deal, but that's because I'm more of a Megatron fanboy than Soundwave.

I still like ROTF much more than the first movie. Better action, better visuals, more robot screen time, the lore is more fleshed out, (and since everyone cares so damn much,) a better story. My only problem with it is those corny ass jokes. If not for them, I'd probably like ROTF more than DOTM.

SlyTF1 wrote:I still like ROTF much more than the first movie. Better action, better visuals, more robot screen time, the lore is more fleshed out, (and since everyone cares so damn much,) a better story. My only problem with it is those corny ass jokes. If not for them, I'd probably like ROTF more than DOTM.

Yeah I do feel the same about RotF as well too. Versus DotM I do like it better myself. DotM wasn't terrible or complete abhorrent, it was another decent action flick. I do feel AoE is an improvement over it and I am hoping that TLK is an improvement over AoE.

Yeah, it's hard to deny that in some areas ROTF was an improvement over first movie. Transformers got more screen time, there is some kind of a (even if it's as basic as possible) plot and visuals are generally better. On the other hand, this movie had way to much toilet humor (Infamous Devastator's Balls or "domination" scenes... ), Decepticons, previously a decent that now are pushovers and a lot of when you try to analyse timeline, nothing there makes any sense (and things are getting only worse in DOTM).

All in all, Transformers 2007 was a decent blockbuster, there is not much to love about it, but there is not much to hate about it etiher (maybe except for lack of any characterisation for some characters - Bots, Cons and human alike, Megatron beign removed from large part of the plot only to push Sam into it, lack of impact in case of Jazz death and terrible conclusion for Blackout and Megatron). Visuals were great, and it was a fun movie to watch with your friends or if you want to watch somethins while drinking. But the main reason why you can't hate him because it is so basic, it's hard to take kim to seriously.

On the other hand, ROTF is in many ways similiar to the first movie (Once again, Sam had to save the day, there is bad guy from the past who dies at the end of the movie, Decepticons are trying to end our world for Energon, Sam and Mikela's relationship is a main theme of the movie etc.) the main difference is that it tries to be smarter... But's it's actuallu dumber. Now Decepticons are incompetent, Optimus Prime is a butcher with no remorse at all (he's taking few levels in badass and changes in personality are not explained at all), some interesting ideas from previous movies were just throwed away (Megatron as someone always better for Optimus). And while it is more Transformers in it all right, most of them are only part of the background. Basically, instead of improvement, this movie was an escalation of all bad things in the previous movie.

^ Sadly accurate and true. I can look past the bad sometimes though and enjoy RotF despite all that, but it is very problematic to do so.

TurboMMaster wrote:And while it is more Transformers in it all right, most of them are only part of the background.

Case in point. Jolt.

I'd forgotten all about him until that throwaway scene where they needed him to put Prime and Jetfire together.

I love the Bay films. They aren't the greatest pieces of cinema by a long shot, but I still love them.

Something Kevin Smith said a long time ago really helped me put things into perspective. I won't quote since I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was something like this:
People ask me why I liked Daredevil, and it's not just because I love Ben Affleck. It's because flawed or not, at the end of the day I got to see an iconic character I love in a big budget live action performance. One of the reasons we (nerds) get so upset by our beloved characters portrails in movies, is because we're too close to them. Kinda like how a cop can't work a case involving their family or whatever. You have to be able to let go of certain things, because not only will you never enjoy anything, but your expectations are so high that it's probably not even possible for them to actually be met. I just watched the first Ghost Rider movie. It was terrible, but I got to see a nicely CG'd flaming biker skeleton kick some ass, and that's pretty cool.

This is how I've approached super hero movies (and movies of the like) ever since. I just try and remember that when I was a kid, these billion dollar TF movies never would have happened in my wildest dreams. Sure there's a lot I dislike about them, but at the end of the day I still get to see some spectacularly animated robots beat the hell out of each other. And that's pretty cool.

RotF actually broke down when I saw it, oddly enough during Sam's freakout in the classroom. I think it took a little while for people to realize it wasn't a meta joke.


While not a great movie by any means, RotF is kinda my favorite of the series because it has Jetfire, Devastator (that combination scene!), the Doctor, Simmons (ONE MAN, ALONE...), really crazy robot designs and alt mode choices, and the forest fight. Plus, it gives a fairly wide scope of Transformers themselves; besides just giving us more characters with more screen time, we get everything from the very first Cybertronians to tiny little drone bugs. We don't really ever get a sense of a... an ecosystem, I suppose, really anywhere else.

More importantly, though, the toyline and the few immediately following it were really quite amazing.

Well, since Burn seems to be sleeping on the job, I'll pick up the slack.

I attended my first (and only) BotCon in 2011, and the dominant subject that year throughout the fandom was, of course, Dark of The Moon. I remember sitting in that theater in Pasadena after meeting Michael Bay, Tyrese, Brian Goldner and Aaron Archer, and waiting for the exclusive footage to be screened. Even though there was no dialogue, the footage was still pretty cool, we got about 15 minutes of the movie without it being spoiled or ruined for us.

Then after I got back home, about 2 weeks later the movie opened, and I remember being there on opening night. I was really looking forward to this one, as it had Shockwave in it. I had been waiting for that character to show up in Bayverse, and just as with a lot of other aspects of this version of the Transformers, I was disappointed. Shockwave looked cool, and was menacing at the outset, but then he was discarded like some generic drone. Along with Megatron being treated like some afterthought in favor of a not-so-well-known character in Sentinel Prime, as well as Ironhide's death, Shockwave's treatment really took some of the fun out of the film. Of course, visually it was better than its predecessors, as well as action-wise. I even liked the overall story, much better than I did the previous sequel. There were different writers, so of course it would be an improvement.

So far, DoTM is my favorite film out of the 4 that have come out, but I have a feeling TLK will beat it, simply because of the actors involved, as well as how the story is being presented. Hopefully I'm right. I've been waiting 30 years for a really good Transformers live action film.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I'll pick up the slack.

Maybe if I didn't spend so much time actually moderating the forums I'd have time to post more.

Burn wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I'll pick up the slack.

Maybe if I didn't spend so much time actually moderating the forums I'd have time to post more.

Owie. But at least you live up to your name. And I moderate when I see something that needs moderating.

I just watched Transformers 1-4 in preparation for TLK, which I'm about to go see now. I actually enjoyed TF1 more than I remembered. But ROTF actually bored the **** out of me this time. I hadn't watched it all the way through since the day AOE came out, and I remember liking it less then, too.

DOTM wasn't much better. But I watch DOTM every once in a while, so I guess I kind of expected it not to "wow" me as much as it used to. But funnily enough, I still love AOE with all my heart. I still enjoy it just as much as I did when I first saw it, regardless of the fact that I watch it damn-near every day. I still don't understand the amount of hate it gets. The only criticisms I can vaguely see is the amount of product placement (which never bothers me in any movie), and the fact that the plot is over complicated and has a lot going on. Which I fail to see how that's a bad thing.

Either way, from what I hear, TLK is complete dog ****. But I heard the same thing about AOE, and it's still, to this day, my favorite movie of all time. I simply can't think of another movie I'd rather watch. I'm hoping TLK will do the same for me.

Damn Burn, that's a great story.

Personally, I can't believe we've hit the nostalgia zone for the first movie. Uh oh. I'm feeling it too.

Movie 2007: Long story short, I was dealing with some health issues that I've since resolved. The movie and all the tie-in media and merchandise offered a bright spot in an otherwise rough year. I also dove head first into toy collecting, an aspect of the fandom I had successfully avoided since the original reissue line.

ROTF: When my wife and I left the theater (brimming with disappointment), we found messages on our phones that MIchael Jackson died.

A few years later, my wife was marathoning the movies with a close friend of hers, who happens to be black. As soon as Skids and Mudflap said the "we don't know how to read" line he noped out of there. I defended this part of the movie for years, but after listening to the perspective of someone who wasn't white, and realizing it meant something different for him to hear it, I changed my mind. The word racist is inadequate in this context - and most contexts honestly - but what it did was perpetuate a stereotype. This by itself was problematic. I was grateful Bay removed these characters from DOTM, acknowledging the controversy and moving on.

It Is Him wrote:A few years later, my wife was marathoning the movies with a close friend of hers, who happens to be black. As soon as Skids and Mudflap said the "we don't know how to read" line he noped out of there. I defended this part of the movie for years, but after listening to the perspective of someone who wasn't white, and realizing it meant something different for him to hear it, I changed my mind. The word racist is inadequate in this context - and most contexts honestly - but what it did was perpetuate a stereotype. This by itself was problematic. I was grateful Bay removed these characters from DOTM, acknowledging the controversy and moving on.

I'm not white and I don't see a problem with them at all. People are just too easily offended.

The color of your skin and your inability to empathize doesn't invalidate the experience of people who aren't you.

It Is Him wrote:The color of your skin and your inability to empathize doesn't invalidate the experience of people who aren't you.

His inability to emphatize invalidates it as ffar as he's concerned.

And why is the Twins' behavior offensive to blacks anyway? Did the Twins claim they were black? I have known people of all races who talked and acted like the Twins in RoTF.