Transformers Transformers is not Toy Story

[mMark]

Today a friend of mine (also a TF fan) talked to me again about how the upcoming movie is ruining the classic G1 Transformers image in his head, then another guy in the office jumped out and said:" what are you expecting? You wanna make it a Toy Story 3?"

I think he's got a point. It's very clear that if Michael Bay brought back all the original designs for megatron, prime, bumblebee... It's gonna just be another "Giant Toy Fighting Story" for this summer.

Pretty much had enough of those who are still comparing the movie with the orignal designs in G1. If you miss them so much, go to deviantArt where you easily find lots of brilliant artists bringing you tons of TF G1 character artworks.

I am sorry if this offend you in anyways, it's just something stuck in my chest.

 

[Jdef]

Here's the thing. There's a fine line between what the lifelong fans want, and what is best for widespread appeal (An exact G1 translation would not gain widespread appeal). It seems to be that this movie tends to lean a bit towards the widespread appeal end of the spectrum at the expense of some elements from G1 and other areas.

I'm not a lifelong fan of transformers. I remember it faintly as a child and I really got into beast wars, and beast machines to some extent. I am hyped about this movie. That being said. I can see how people like Cflash and others get angry when they see some of the changes and deviations. Some just were not necessary at all, and I feel their frustration.

*EDIT* I don't think anyone wanted a direct copy of the designs, but some things like the flames are just for the "coolness" factor. To some they come off as cheesy and were not really necessary.

 

[November Rain]

my only real complaint is that unlike many other nostalgia based movies from people's childhood, a large majority of characters aren't easily recognisable, especially megatron whose look should be as iconic as optimus primes

i believe they should have kept megatrons general look and updated it to look like the rest of the characters do in the films but made sure what ever he transformed into had the same general characteristics...

i would have loved for megatron to be some sort of bazooka for another decepticon to fire instead of a hand held gun and the reason the military wanted him was to try to harness this weapon for their own application.

 

[mMark]

don't like megatron at the beginning either, but after seeing some footages, trailers... I more want to keep my opinions on megatron after I see his actions in the movie. Maybe he turns out to be cool in actions in the stroy.

 

[Jdef]

Hopefully someone knows there were some mistakes made as far as obligations to the fans and we'll see some things in sequels that can make them happy.

As far as Megatron goes I'm sure they were just trying to make him the ugliest, clearly evil guy in the movie, so everyone could know this simply by looking at him. I think they should have, as you said, kept some original design elements and used actual characterization to define his evilness.

 

[November Rain]

i think his original design is far more evil, i mean he has a massive cannon on his arm and that nazi styled helmet on him, his design is everybit as iconic as optimus' prime but because it's been changed so many times, this fact has been somewhat neglected.

 

[mMark]

i think his original design is far more evil, i mean he has a massive cannon on his arm and that nazi styled helmet on him, his design is everybit as iconic as optimus' prime but because it's been changed so many times, this fact has been somewhat neglected.

yea, but it's also pretty much toy-story-like design. A giant human face on a giant robot will make it a toy-story-design.

 

[Frank Noir]

You reminded me how much I'm looking forward to Toy Story 3.

 

[Headless Knight]

Btw, Toy Story is awesome, and Toy Story 2 is even better.

If Transformers is half of what these movies are, it's going to be better than I expect.

 

[November Rain]

yea, but it's also pretty much toy-story-like design. A giant human face on a giant robot will make it a toy-story-design.

again, i'm talking about the general design of the whole character...

i don't mind megatron's face staying the same, as long as he had a cannon, helmet, a similar colour and mid-rift design as well as clunky boots

i don't mind his design looking like the rest of the characters but on first glance, you can't tell that its megatron, especially if you haven't been following the film's production.

i bet the majority of old school fans have been asking where megatron is because they can't recognise him.

 

[mMark]

again, i'm talking about the general design of the whole character...

i don't mind megatron's face staying the same, as long as he had a cannon, helmet, a similar colour and mid-rift design as well as clunky boots

i don't mind his design looking like the rest of the characters but on first glance, you can't tell that its megatron, especially if you haven't been following the film's production.

i bet the majority of old school fans have been asking where megatron is because they can't recognise him.

clunky boots? you've got to be kidding me.

 

[November Rain]

yeap, thicker thighs than calves and also some sort of pistol thing on his right shoulder...

if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

edit:i could live without the pants/underwear though...

 

[mMark]

you know what? In fact I love that G1 classic design of megatron so much. But the thing you've got to separate them apart. there are things you won't get fed from the movie just like there are impacts in movie that you can't find from the cartoon.

Just recently I draw the G1 prime a lot. As TF fans, when talking about transformers, the root is always the G1. But also I have no problem with this "expansion of concept" for the movie.

 

[November Rain]

i've got no problem with 'expanding the concept'

however it's clear megatron's new design is brand new and has no real adherence to any of his other interpretations.

it's a carte blanche design.

 

[mMark]

clarifications. all my talks above applies to everything in teh movie but megatron. he looks like ****. but as I said earlier I'd rather keep my opinions on him after seeing his more actions in the movie and story.

 

[CFlash]

Some of the changes they made border on parody. I think a lot of fans (hardcore and lapsed) will leave the theater wondering why the movie reminded them of that "other" cartoon that nobody really liked.

 

[November Rain]

clarifications. all my talks above applies to everything in teh movie but megatron. he looks like ****. but as I said earlier I'd rather keep my opinions on him after seeing his more actions in the movie and story.

my observations are specific to megatron.

I can't judge the character's behaviours and motivations but i feel i'm within my right to judge his look somewhat based on being familiar to a long ago fan who would instantly notice optimus and bumblebee to some extent (due to the colour) and not notice megatron.

 

[iLLy_DNA]

Helmet? check
Clunky boots? check
Similar color? check
Fusion Cannon? i'm sure there's a version of that in the movie


No, he doesn't look like a robot that turns into a gun but the influences are more than apparent.

I'm glad the Transformers have their own look in this movie and don't look like they were made in Japan or look like dudes in robot suits. Its just too easy to take away the credit these professional designers deserve.

 

[November Rain]

megs is silver, not grey
he looks like he doesn't have a helmet, it looks like an unprotected head unit.
and his legs are a consistent thickness all the way down

the funny thing is now that prime has a proper face with mouth and all, it's perfectly feasible to give megatron his own evil version of that and not have him look like a dude in a robot suit.

 

[DorkyFresh]

you think movie Megs looks like a guy in a robot suit?

 

[mMark]

I'll megatron's surface is just like a mirror. it's totally depends on the environment's light. when in sunlight, as you can see in the trailer, he's golden. when in moonlight, i guess, he may appear somewhat bluelike. just my guess.

 

[Creature SH]

I'll megatron's surface is just like a mirror. it's totally depends on the environment's light. when in sunlight, as you can see in the trailer, he's golden. when in moonlight, i guess, he may appear somewhat bluelike. just my guess.

The word you are looking for is "Chrome".

 

[shigsy2003]

While I agree that a direct copy of G1 wouldn't work I see no reason to not use all the names of the original Transformers and MEgatron is atrocious, okay so he is in his Cybertronian form...here is hoping that his Earth form (in the sequel) is much closer to the Megatron we all know and love.

Also there was NO need to give Prime lips.

 

[iLLy_DNA]

Wow. Okay. I read SIMILAR color, not SAME color. My mistake. Sorry, I don't know what an "unprotected head unit" is. I do know there is plating around his head that is meant to resemble Megatrons helmet look. If you really think his legs don't get thicker closer to the feet then I don't know what to tell you. Not to mention I'm going off of movie footage and not an outdated picture with a head design thats no longer accurate.

 

[November Rain]

it broadens his expression repetoir....



it may not be teh best lips design but it gets the job done and can also be overlooked