One thing I appreciate about this film, at least from what I’ve seen so far from set photos, is that they’ve seem to made an effort to get vehicles that blend in inconspicuously with the environment. The Bay films’ top-of-the-line, inexplicably expensive supercar models, obviously chosen because companies paid to have them in the films, always stuck out like a sore thumb in any suburban or city setting because they look like they just came off of the factory line and were paid for by the highest bidder, not something your average Joe or Jane could own on a reasonable budget. Also kind of says a lot about who they were catering to and what they thought of their audience.
They’re supposed to be, for the most part, look like civilian vehicles, or, I don’t know, Robots in freakin’ Disguise! Say what you will about how cheesy or unrealistic the original 1984 cartoon was, that was something they absolutely got right. They’re supposed to not draw attention to themselves, not look like they drove fresh off of a car show. The Autobots are for and protect the little guy, so they’re vehicle modes reflect that. And I could and would reasonably buy one of those kinds of cars, not the flashy, too-expensive, newer models the Bay films were trying to sell me.
Not all of them need to look like the equivalent of supermodels or bodybuilders, Michael Bay!