Lovers vs. Haters: The Transformers Movie (Common Arguments)

1. The Transformers cartoon was a weekly toy commercial, not high art. You can’t expect Citizen Kane here. Why do you care so much about the portrayal of Transformers in film?

The Transformers cartoon was created to help sell toys. Yes. This is true. Congratulations. However, if you ask the writers, Hasbro had little to no involvement in the writing process of the television show. The writers have said they didn’t think of it as writing a toy commercial they were just trying to write interesting stories. In addition, the PREMISE and character bios were fleshed out by a Marvel comic writer Bob Budiansiy-(wiki) . It was nothing more than bios on the backs of the boxes giving alternative names and personalities to each of the characters but the proof is in the pudding. These bios were used as the foundations for both the cartoons and comics and……… these characters and stories are still remembered and revered today.

Granted the ‘84 cartoon often had mistakes, flubs, continuity errors; characters had their weapons appear in their hands out of nowhere upon transforming into robots. Optimus Prime’s trailer disappeared off screen when he Transformed into robot mode. Decepticons would sometimes randomly be standing amongst the Autobots as if it was no big deal etc. But believe it or not some of these mistakes proved to be interesting elements of the story.

animation errors and consequences of being a toy commercial proving beneficial to the mythology:

If Megatron built the Constructicons (Devastator) on Earth (as stated in Heavy Metal War) How is it that later in Megatron was depicted as being created by the Constructicons on Cybertron millions of years ago? Its interesting to note that MANY fans had come to the same conclusion that Megatron was indeed given a body by the constructicons but the constructicons either arrived on Earth badly damaged or in a protoform state so Megatron did indeed build them, giving them bodies while on Earth. (Here’s another example of the explanation (link).)

 

All the characters in the cartoon were mercilessly killed for the sole purpose of making way for a new line of toys in the ‘86 animated movie. However the Death of Optimus Prime was probably the most heart wrenchng scene in the entire Transformers universe for every kid watching it. It turned him into a martyr. It made him so much more of a hero. It made the movie have BALLS! All because they wanted a new line of toys to march in, the writers were given an obstacle to masterfully create a hero around. Incidentally, if Optimus Prime couldn’t emote without a visible mouth, how is it that the death of OP scene in the movie had kids crying in the theater and all the way home forcing parents to complain to Hasbro? Angry Video Game Nerds opinion on the TF:Movie ‘86

So you see we all know of the results of the Transformers being a weekly toy commercial but much of the time we are actually pleased by them!

2. Why do you want to see the same story on screen that you’ve already seen 20 years ago? Do you really want to see the characters portrayed as boxes piled on top of each other like in the cartoon?

 

Look, we’re talking about transferring a story, a mythology from one medium to the other. No one wants to see the exact same thing on screen. We want an elevated, evolved version on screen. We want to see the mistakes corrected but more important than anything we want to see a movie that seems to respect the original property. We want to know that the filmmaker knows exactly what it is that was so bad ass about Transformers.

There was a special aesthetic to the boxier / rigid designs of the original Transformer designs. But thats not exactly what most fans would have wanted. They of course wanted an extreme amount of details but to have kept the general silhouette and shape of the characters. Sure there could be many parts but give them a similar mass to their original counterparts.

3. Bumblebee. The reason Bumblebee is a Camaro is because VW refused to be associated with war. It wasn’t Bay’s decision.

Personally I am fine with Bumblebee being a Camaro but many people are not and this false rumor has been consistently spewed all over the internet. Fact is, it’s wrong. This was the case with a proposed Masterpiece Bumblebee toy (this one). Not the Transformers movie. Bay has even stated it was simply his choice to use a Camaro for Bumblebee. Another reason? GM got the deal to be providing the vehicles. So yes, this is a toy commercial AND a car commercial now.

There are two other reasons Bumblebee is not a VW bug:

1.Michael Bay had said that he did not want to make a movie about toys when he was approached about this film. He decided he would indeed like to make a movie about “A boy and his car” though. Part of the boy and his car story line revolves around the boy having an impressive vehicle worthy of wooing a female companion. And it was decided a VW Bug wouldn’t be the right vehicle for this boy and his car story.(proof link).

2.Last year a film was released called Herbie the love Bug. A Volkswagen with a mind of its own that communicates to its driver silently and by opening doors, changing the radio station etc. etc. It was decided Bumblebee would be too similar to Herbie in this form. (proof link)

The thing is Bumblebee was never mistaken for Herbie before so why would he now? He would now because in this movie Bumblebee is a mute, like Herbie and like Herbie Bumblebee can only communicate by opening doors, trunks, hoods, changing the radio, etc. etc. This was a choice made by the writers for the sole purpose of creating a special moment of silence between the human protagonist (Shia Labeauf) and Bumblebee when Bumblebee is first discovered by Sam.

So you see, Bumblebee’s true familiar underdog form of a VW has been indirectly cast aside in favor of rendering him incapable of speach unlike his Autobot comrades. Apparently Megatron ripped out his voice box back on Cybertron. Guess he couldn’t find any spare parts back on Cybertron to fix it? Doesn’t make sense to me either.

Megatron is a ruthless general and a cunning warrior.

Optimus Prime, noone wanted a recreation of the toy, but something that acknowledged the solid / rigid style and silhouette of the character would have been nice and couldn’t have hurt the success of the film.

And now for a great Transformers comic book cover that was never released:

 

 

 

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