Angel Manuel Soto Drops Info About His Transformers Movie

The director is planning to humanize the Transformers characters on his movie (personality-wise and not design-wise). He want the robots to speak like us, in a natural way. That’s the way he remembers Transformers and the reason we felt identified with the original Transformers. He believes that when you humanize the characters, you get closer to them, love them. When there’s a human approach, you create a connection with them. If not, they are just lifeless robots.

Angel Manuel Soto is surprised to see all the reaction of fans about him directing this movie. He doesn’t want to let anybody down. While he can’t speak much details, he says that the budget is over 50 milliion dollars and it’s a challenge to manage it. He really wants to bring as much of the movie as he can to Puerto Rico.

This sounds way too vague,you could describe any of the new Transformers projects like that.

No I'm not at all intrigued. This is laughable. The new movies will be garbage. And the sad thing is the bar they need to clear isn't even high.

-- Not related to the Bayverse. Design-wise, it's irrelevant, but story-wise, it means a lot.

-- No USA, no military. AT LAST!

-- The Transformers will have more personality and feel more "human". Don't tell me they will be the MAIN CHARACTERS?

Well, my hopes are certainly up.

The no military thing is 100% a step forward.

. He believes that when you humanize the characters, you get closer to them, love them. When there’s a human approach, you create a connection with them. If not, they are just lifeless robots.

That however, doesn't say "fan of Transformers" to me.

The director is planning to humanize the Transformers characters on his movie (personality-wise and not design-wise). He want the robots to speak like us, in a natural way.

You mean like Skids and Mudflap from Revenge of the Retcon? Yeah, that's just what was missing. "Humanized" alien robots. Screw all that plot and good writing nonsense, what this movie needs is Optimus Prime cussing and using street slang.

I can't wait to not watch this.

They seem to have this habit with the Live Action films of garnering good will. Then wiping it away with marketing...

Rodimus Prime wrote:No I'm not at all intrigued. This is laughable. The new movies will be garbage. And the sad thing is the bar they need to clear isn't even high.

Yeah, but the diehards will continue to throw their money at it, ensuring nothing but similar garbage in the future.

Sounds like he's not screwing with beast wars so it may be the better of the two planned films.

Brokebot wrote:

The director is planning to humanize the Transformers characters on his movie (personality-wise and not design-wise). He want the robots to speak like us, in a natural way.

You mean like Skids and Mudflap from Revenge of the Retcon? Yeah, that's just what was missing. "Humanized" alien robots. Screw all that plot and good writing nonsense, what this movie needs is Optimus Prime cussing and using street slang.

I can't wait to not watch this.

Don't automatically assume "humanizing robots" automatically mean bad writing. The article clearly stated this:

He want the robots to speak like us, in a natural way. That’s the way he remembers Transformers and the reason we felt identified with the original Transformers.

Assuming the director is not a 15 years old kid, the "Transformers he remember" must be from the cartoons, not ROTF.

We just have to wait and see if the writing match his intentions before casting hasty judgement.

"No military"

They said the same thing about Dark of the Moon before that movie came out, and yet...

blackeyedprime wrote:Sounds like he's not screwing with beast wars so it may be the better of the two planned films.

This isn't the Beast Wars film.

Sabrblade wrote:"No military"

They said the same thing about Dark of the Moon before that movie came out, and yet...

blackeyedprime wrote:Sounds like he's not screwing with beast wars so it may be the better of the two planned films.

This isn't the Beast Wars film.

Plus what does no military mean? No military protagonist? No military antagonists? (Ala cemetery wind in AoE).

Bumblebee only used the fictionalised Section 7 in a secondary antagonist role behind Shatter and Dropkick.

Also Rodimus, what was said that indicates to you that it will be a bad movie? (Ostensibly a movie we won't see for 4 years most likely depending on when Blue Beetle is filming)

ZeroWolf wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So is this guy going to be a human lead or VO?

Given the human-led focus of these films, most likely the human lead.

I see. I was curious. From what has been said of his theatre background, it might lend itself more to voice work than onscreen acting. Like a Jazz, Blurr, Wheelie or Wreck-Gar.

Nah, definitely human lead from whats been said elsewhere as supposedly, Optimus Prime helps him find the right path. I'm thinking he'll be a bit like Ant Man from the MCU, just instead of Michael Sheen, you have a giant robot that turns into a truck.

Wrong Michael

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:They seem to have this habit with the Live Action films of garnering good will. Then wiping it away with marketing...

They wipe it away with the finished product (aside from the Bee film)

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So is this guy going to be a human lead or VO?

Given the human-led focus of these films, most likely the human lead.

I see. I was curious. From what has been said of his theatre background, it might lend itself more to voice work than onscreen acting. Like a Jazz, Blurr, Wheelie or Wreck-Gar.

Nah, definitely human lead from whats been said elsewhere as supposedly, Optimus Prime helps him find the right path. I'm thinking he'll be a bit like Ant Man from the MCU, just instead of Michael Sheen, you have a giant robot that turns into a truck.

Wrong Michael

It's Michael Douglas isn't it. Always have a blind spot with those two for some reason.

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:They seem to have this habit with the Live Action films of garnering good will. Then wiping it away with marketing...

They wipe it away with the finished product (aside from the Bee film)

Touché. However, I did mean the good will garnered from the Bee film.

ZeroWolf wrote:It's Michael Douglas isn't it. Always have a blind spot with those two for some reason.

ZeroWolf wrote:also Rodimus, what was said that indicates to you that it will be a bad movie?

Just the whole image they're projecting right now. And I'm saying this about both the announced so far projects. Seems like they have a certain message in mind which started with the Bumblebee movie and is continued here. I did end up seeing that film and it was a wash for me, so I have no hopes for these. I'm happy so see we're getting away from the Bay versions, less military focus is better, but less human focus would also be better. So I'm not intrigued. I might give it a shot once it's streaming.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:also Rodimus, what was said that indicates to you that it will be a bad movie?

Just the whole image they're projecting right now. And I'm saying this about both the announced so far projects. Seems like they have a certain message in mind which started with the Bumblebee movie and is continued here. I did end up seeing that film and it was a wash for me, so I have no hopes for these. I'm happy so see we're getting away from the Bay versions, less military focus is better, but less human focus would also be better. So I'm not intrigued. I might give it a shot once it's streaming.

A certain message in mind?

Also we're never going to get less human focused movie other then the cgi prequel they're doing. That's just the nature of the Beast at the moment.

a 50 mil transformers film dose not inspire. add in the current mindset of hollywood?

ive a bad feeling about this one.

50 Mil for a Transformers film does seem really low...

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:50 Mil for a Transformers film does seem really low...

Hmm I wonder if there was a mistake somewhere as that's lower then Bumblebee's budget, which was the smallest of the live action films.

ZeroWolf wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:50 Mil for a Transformers film does seem really low...

Hmm I wonder if there was a mistake somewhere as that's lower then Bumblebee's budget, which was the smallest of the live action films.

I had the same thought. Are we sure this isn't the animated movie?

Hiring a low IQ director who needs a translator is not going to work. No hope for this film.

Indeed. A quick google search reveals a $50 million budget for an animated film equates to The Iron Giant.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:also Rodimus, what was said that indicates to you that it will be a bad movie?

Just the whole image they're projecting right now. And I'm saying this about both the announced so far projects. Seems like they have a certain message in mind which started with the Bumblebee movie and is continued here. I did end up seeing that film and it was a wash for me, so I have no hopes for these. I'm happy so see we're getting away from the Bay versions, less military focus is better, but less human focus would also be better.

A certain message in mind?

Yes. Seems like they're taking the same road Disney is taking with their new movies and shows.

Also we're never going to get less human focused movie other then the cgi prequel they're doing. That's just the nature of the Beast at the moment.

Just because it's the less horrible of 2 choices that doesn't make it good quality. But we'll see, I guess. I just know I'm tired if the stories being centered on people. If the Bumblebee movie he less human time and more Bee and Cons time, it would have been pretty good. I certainly didn't miss all the Bay circus.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:50 Mil for a Transformers film does seem really low...

Hand puppets and stop-motion with the toys. It'll be great.

Brokebot wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:50 Mil for a Transformers film does seem really low...

Hand puppets and stop-motion with the toys. It'll be great.

You damn ninja!

Ah yeah this film is going to suck so much with all that information we know about the film...

Ah...yeah, there's little to no confirmed/official information about this movie to make any kind of reasonable guess on how it's going to be one way or another.

If it's live action, it's going to have humans in it and that will be the reality for the rest of our life spans, also I personally would like to get back to Earth and have some good human/Transformer interactions since the last several years of Transformers media has literally just been almost entirely Transformers in boring situations that can be accomplished by any human character.

Cyberverse didn't have them in any important capacity, same with the Battlegrounds game.

The mediocre Transformers Netflix stuff which further proves that Cybertron is best as a background set piece instead of a main location because Cybertron as a planet is so dull at this point and needs a major revamp like having different biomes or something.

The new IDW continuity which is also pretty dull although has interesting concepts like actually having other species around.

Literally the kids show has been the most interesting/entertaining thing.

The only hope for some people is an animated only Cybertron film, which is probably not even going to be what anybody would want anyways and likely a rehash of the same old Cybertron backstories we have been getting, why is it that almost every single Cybertron origin story is almost entirely the same regardless of the series it's part of? I don't even want a Cybertron movie unless people actually do something interesting and new with the setting and premise.


Just wait and see, that's all anybody has to do, wait for a trailer or wait for a review, there is no flawless or magical director/actor that is going to magically make the next Transformers film the greatest thing ever, at best expect a MCU type movie.

Director/Actor that isn't that good of a person? Yeah that sucks, but does it actually matter in the end in regards to the actual film as long as they do their job competently?

Deadput wrote:also I personally would like to get back to Earth and have some good human/Transformer interactions since the last several years of Transformers media has literally just been almost entirely Transformers in boring situations that can be accomplished by any human character.

Cyberverse didn't have them in any important capacity, same with the Battlegrounds game.

The mediocre Transformers Netflix stuff which further proves that Cybertron is best as a background set piece instead of a main location because Cybertron as a planet is so dull at this point and needs a major revamp like having different biomes or something.

The new IDW continuity which is also pretty dull although has interesting concepts like actually having other species around.

Literally the kids show has been the most interesting/entertaining thing.

Rescue Bots Academy?

Legit forgot about that show but to be fair I also haven't watched it like the other one so I can't make a comment there.


I just miss characters like Spike/Sparkplug/Carly/Chip or Sari who were likeable characters on par if not even more so than many Transformers.

Heck I even enjoyed some of the humans in previous films like Epps/Lennox/Simmons

Deadput wrote:Legit forgot about that show but to be fair I also haven't watched it like the other one so I can't make a comment there.


I just miss characters like Spike/Sparkplug/Carly/Chip or Sari who were likeable characters on par if not even more so than many Transformers.

Heck I even enjoyed some of the humans in previous films like Epps/Lennox/Simmons

The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

First-Aid wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Call it blasphemy, but I wouldn't mind a live action movie heavily inspired by Animated. Make it a stand alone trilogy for perfection. Like Movie 1 would be Season 1, Movie 2 is season 2, and the final 3rd movie would be the Lost Chapter that can finally be told.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Call it blasphemy, but I wouldn't mind a live action movie heavily inspired by Animated. Make it a stand alone trilogy for perfection. Like Movie 1 would be Season 1, Movie 2 is season 2, and the final 3rd movie would be the Lost Chapter that can finally be told.

Why wouldn't the third movie just be Season 3?

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Call it blasphemy, but I wouldn't mind a live action movie heavily inspired by Animated. Make it a stand alone trilogy for perfection. Like Movie 1 would be Season 1, Movie 2 is season 2, and the final 3rd movie would be the Lost Chapter that can finally be told.

Why wouldn't the third movie just be Season 3?

You know perfectly what I meant. If you want to split hair, let's say Movie 1 is half of what was done in Animated minus the fluff. Movie 2 is the second half. Movie 3 is what was planned but never made.

Is that clearer?

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Call it blasphemy, but I wouldn't mind a live action movie heavily inspired by Animated. Make it a stand alone trilogy for perfection. Like Movie 1 would be Season 1, Movie 2 is season 2, and the final 3rd movie would be the Lost Chapter that can finally be told.

Why wouldn't the third movie just be Season 3?

You know perfectly what I meant. If you want to split hair, let's say Movie 1 is half of what was done in Animated minus the fluff. Movie 2 is the second half. Movie 3 is what was planned but never made.

Is that clearer?

You wouldn't want the climax of the first film to be that epic return of Megatron from the first season's finale?

If you want a Season 4 movie, just add one more to make it a quadrilogy. Problem solved.

(in the meantime, you could also read Trial & Error, if you wanted)

First-Aid wrote:Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Raf is a plot device who is somehow smarter than most Transformers, humans and is somehow able to understand Bumblebee at age 12 or whatever which no actual kid IRL would be able to do the things he does and even most adults, Miko was annoying most of the time, kept on repeating mistakes as well as forgetting most lessons she learned until the very end of the show, and Jack was bland discount Witwicky with little character progression or personality.

Their not awful characters and they were indeed cool characters initially but I really dislike them when it comes to how their written and how their developed in the show in the long run as a whole, but that is a general part of Transformers Prime as a whole being a gigantic disappointment to me and in my eyes was mostly responsible for the current stale status of the franchise because aligned failed due to to the show makers ruining things behind the scenes.

Fowler was great though, no complaints there.

Still think Sari as well as Transformers Animated in general blows TFP out of the water in pretty much every aspect besides the visuals on first impressions, visuals which don't matter for TFP in the end when every environment is barren and devoid of any life that isn't the main characters.

Sabrblade wrote:You wouldn't want the climax of the first film to be that epic return of Megatron from the first season's finale?

If you want a Season 4 movie, just add one more to make it a quadrilogy. Problem solved.

Well, I'm pretty sure that if we forget some human villains ever existed and cut some filler, we could easily make 3 great movies.

First-Aid wrote:

Deadput wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The first Rescue Bots show had some of the best human partners in TF cartoon history.

It did and their among the human characters I like amongst a few select others here and there, but that show is also not a recent one either.

Sorry, Raf, Mike, and Jack take the cake. Sari is second to this group.

Who dares to put Miko above Sari?

Wouldn't Sari technically be a Micromaster?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Wouldn't Sari technically be a Micromaster?

I headcanon her as a headmaster who still have to find her transtechtor body.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Wouldn't Sari technically be a Micromaster?

I headcanon her as a headmaster who still have to find her transtechtor body.

If the season 4 rumors are to be believed, she would have been subtly alluded (as in, implied but never stated outright to keep the fans guessing and discussing) to being a time-displaced Maximal protoform from the future.

To quote Joe... EWWWW

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:To quote Joe... EWWWW

Well, every Cybertronian in Animated was born a protoform. This would have just accounted for Sari's small size and ability to scan an organic lifeform.

I really hope the Beast Wars doesn't enter this Live Action universe. Use Cheetor out of context, ala Cyberverse. Sure. Just leave the rest alone.

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Wouldn't Sari technically be a Micromaster?

I headcanon her as a headmaster who still have to find her transtechtor body.

If the season 4 rumors are to be believed, she would have been subtly alluded (as in, implied but never stated outright to keep the fans guessing and discussing) to being a time-displaced Maximal protoform from the future.

Okay that's... absolutely AWESOME!
Seriously, I vote for that! And she would transform into a bunny-girl. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I really hope the Beast Wars doesn't enter this Live Action universe. Use Cheetor out of context, ala Cyberverse. Sure. Just leave the rest alone.

I think if for the Beast Wars script not to move forward, you'll need the Bumblebee sequel to fail and have Cheetor being the blame. Otherwise you'll be looking at the live action (or let's face it, cgi ala the Lion King remake) Beast Wars in five yearsish.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Wouldn't Sari technically be a Micromaster?

I headcanon her as a headmaster who still have to find her transtechtor body.

If the season 4 rumors are to be believed, she would have been subtly alluded (as in, implied but never stated outright to keep the fans guessing and discussing) to being a time-displaced Maximal protoform from the future.

Okay that's... absolutely AWESOME!
Seriously, I vote for that! And she would transform into a bunny-girl. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

She already has an altmode: Human.

Sabrblade wrote:She already has an altmode: Human.

I don't see a problem. This won't stop her from being a triple-changer.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:She already has an altmode: Human.

I don't see a problem. This won't stop her from being a triple-changer.

Ah, but it was established that those in Animated result in multiple personalities, hence Blitzwing. And Sari's personality just fine the way it is.