(Mostly) Complete gallery of Transformers 2007 cast

[Stark]

Well Frenzy is going to be the equivalent of a drone: he's too small to do jack shit to anyone.

Another thing I'm interested in is if they follow through this 'realism' bullshit. Most of the Autobots are significantly smaller than the Decepticons, who have three or four guys similar or larger than Prime. In a stand-up fight, the Autobots better get the shit kicked out of them. Jazz and Bumblebee are about half as tall as Megatron, for instance, and Starscream and Blackout are similar size. But hey, there are more Decepticons anyway, and clearly Section 7 is going to be the one to kill them all.

[Stark]

GHETTO - er, Starscream and Blackout are similar in size to Megatron, not Jazz.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Well the Autobots may have better weaponry. I mean, as far as i can tell, Ironside is the only one who is obviously armed and he has what appears to be a rack of missiles and a Penis Compensator Cannon for arms.

The only Decepticon that is obviously armed is Blackout, who looks to have something like a machinegun on him there, but it may be some kind of exhaust pipe for all i know of military stuff.

[Stark]

Dude, I've said like three times their fucking arms turn into fucking guns. IRONSIDE LOL

Brawl's a goddamn tank, Starscream is a goddamn F-22, Megatron is a goddamn bomber, and you think the Autobots are better armed?

Oh wait hey - since it's 'realistic', maybe Brawl's gun won't just look like an Abrams gun, it will actually be one, thus potentially useless against the basically unarmoured skeletal Autobots?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Personally, I'm not a fan of Frenzy. He's the only one I can look at and say "to skinny." Getting rid of the extra arms, and adding a little bit of roundness to the head would go a long way to improving his design.

Just be glad they renamed him Frenzy: originally, he was supposed to be Soundwave.

[18-Till-I-Die]

I dont get the "realism" thing either since it's about talking, giant super robots from space who've been fighting a war for about ten million years or so. I mean if they were really looking for "realism" the ship has sailed for the Transformers universe so they might as well have had them shunting mass or whatever.

I dont know how the "arms turn into guns" will work though, since their arms look rather threadbare as it is and i cant imagine too much coming out of that. Megatron especially. Starscream looks pretty hefty so i imagine he could have some stuff in his chest maybe.

[18-Till-I-Die]

You know the more i look at them, the more i like Jazz, Bumblebee and Starscream. I think they did a bang up job on them really, they actually made Bumblebee look cool. Thats not easy, cause he sucked. He was like Ma Ti onlya robot, or to me he was anyway. And i really like the digitigrade legs they did for Starscream, makes him look like some kind of animal or something.

[Stark]

Again 18, I already commented on the skinny arms turning into guns. All I know is that in the prequel thing many dudes have internal guns (particularly airbourne Decepticons and Bumblebee) while others (like Prime, apparently) use handheld guns. Starscream and Barricade can turn their hands/armes into weapons of some sort.

I think the 'realism' thing is retarded too, but everyone knows that. Magic living robots created by god to kill the devil with electical souls and the holy grail? BUT NO MASS SHIFTING LOL.

A depressing possibility that just occurred to me is that since the movie is really about humans, maybe the robot fights will all be wrestling-style set pieces. IE, cop car tries to kill Sam, gets killed. Scorponok tries to kill guys, gets killed, etc. No grand melee. Also, I don't doubt that Frenzy will be deadly versus humans.

[Kojiro]

You know the more i look at them, the more i like Jazz, Bumblebee and Starscream. I think they did a bang up job on them really, they actually made Bumblebee look cool. Thats not easy, cause he sucked. He was like Ma Ti onlya robot, or to me he was anyway.

The only issue I have with Jazz is he's apparently 5ft shorter than Bumblebee. I just really hope that's not true.

And i really like the digitigrade legs they did for Starscream, makes him look like some kind of animal or something.

Which is something I don't like. As a design, it has it's merits, but as Starscream...it just doesn't work for me.

What I keep wondering is why they used certain names with such changes. Trailbreaker would seem much closer to the current Ironhide (and Hoist far more closely resembles the new Ratchet). Both are closer in colours and vehicle shape. There are so many Autobot cars to choose from...why use the Bumblebee character for a silent sports car? Seems to me they've preserved nothing but colour, in which case Sunsrtreaker would be just as apt.

[Stark]

The only issue I have with Jazz is he's apparently 5ft shorter than Bumblebee. I just really hope that's not true.

This is apparently true. Shame, really - Jazz has one of the better designs.

I'm enjoying playing 'who got designed first'. For example, many of the 'not seen till recently' guys look far more 'robot' style than the older (say, Megatron) designs. Even Prime and Megatron have gone through several revisions.

[Kojiro]

This is apparently true. Shame, really - Jazz has one of the better designs.

That's just...wrong.

I'm enjoying playing 'who got designed first'. For example, many of the 'not seen till recently' guys look far more 'robot' style than the older (say, Megatron) designs. Even Prime and Megatron have gone through several revisions.

You have a point. There seems to be two real designers. All the 'split foot' guys for example also have a full five fingers and tend to 'cut up' the larger flat panels. The others seem to have larger, more 'intact' segments (as well as larger, smoother segments) and typically less than 5 fingers. The fingers thing seems important - busier, split foot designs all have Decepticons with crazy, evil hands while the Autobots have fully formed, human hands. The posing also seems to have been done by two different people, one with far more flair than the other.

Also I only just noticed but I like the way Bumblebee has the 'door wings' of so many of the G1 Autobots.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Oh yeah sure Stark, because something about four or five feet tall couldn't fuck a human being up. No way could Frenzy do that.

[Vympel]

I really loathe their eyes (Jazz excepted) being turned into little dots of light

They're like camera shutters. For the precise reason that to show the eyes "working" conveys emotion better. The cartoon approach would be nonsense.

I think the 'realism' thing is retarded too, but everyone knows that. Magic living robots created by god to kill the devil with electical souls and the holy grail? BUT NO MASS SHIFTING LOL.

As to dismissing the cheapness of mass-shifting and magically disappearing parts of robots because the premise is already preposterous, I'm sorry, what works in a cartoon doesn't work in a live-action movie. It barely worked for me in the cartoon as it is. It'd just look like shit. You might as well have robots that use 80s morph effects that were first pioneered in Willow. Transformers are supposed to transform.

[Kojiro]

They're like camera shutters. For the precise reason that to show the eyes "working" conveys emotion better. The cartoon approach would be nonsense.

Opening and closing camera lenses will show emotion for shit, especially if you're going for 'realism'. They'll open wider when it gets darker and/or adjust for range. I'd find it equally ridiculous is they widened in 'fear'. Whatever they look like (and Prime's eyes actually do look like small round lenses under the blue covering in the cartoon) they should have a cover, like Jazz.

[Vympel]

Opening and closing camera lenses will show emotion for shit, especially if you're going for 'realism'.

It doesn't have to be "real", it just has to be convincing. I'll withold judgement until I see them work, but that's the reasoning that's been given for the eyes.

[Starglider]

I think the 'realism' thing is retarded too, but everyone knows that. Magic living robots created by god to kill the devil with electical souls and the holy grail? BUT NO MASS SHIFTING LOL.

Realism isn't a binary choice. It isn't even a linear spectrum. Different people have different suspension of disbelief thresholds in different contexts. Saying 'this is completely realistic' is obviously stupid, but generally movies benefit from internal consistency and a basically logical premise more than cartoons do. The mass shifting point is a pretty minor one IMHO, but the rampant scaling errors in the cartoon were pretty annoying and would utterly screw up a movie.

[Kojiro]

It doesn't have to be "real", it just has to be convincing. I'll withold judgement until I see them work, but that's the reasoning that's been given for the eyes.

Fair call. The shots on Bay's site that have the eyes rendered are on Barricade and they're just little red dots in both shots. They convey, much as you might expect, bugger all. Maybe I'll be pleasantly disappointed.

[18-Till-I-Die]

It's not like they couldnt have done the traditional Transformers face. Megatron has one already basically, so why not do the same thing. Have it made up of smaller 'pieces' of metal like Megatron's face is now, so when they move it gives expressions. They can say it's a "holdover" cultural trait based on the half-remembered appearance of their creators.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Realism isn't a binary choice. It isn't even a linear spectrum. Different people have different suspension of disbelief thresholds in different contexts. Saying 'this is completely realistic' is obviously stupid, but generally movies benefit from internal consistency and a basically logical premise more than cartoons do. The mass shifting point is a pretty minor one IMHO, but the rampant scaling errors in the cartoon were pretty annoying and would utterly screw up a movie.

Which reminds me of the tripod scales in WOTW, since the ferry scene there had the machines as being massive because Spielberg wanted them to look even more daunting for that shot. They rationalised this as being an über tripod, so no one pointed out how different the things looked throughout the movie.

The mass shifting being absent here is a good thing, because if it looked outright wrong in the cartoons, it'd look appaling in the movie when the machines have to have some basis in reality. No one is going to believe, for instance, a tape deck becoming a 15 metre tall killing machine without magick.

[K. A. Pital]

No one is going to believe, for instance, a tape deck becoming a 15 metre tall killing machine without magick.

Technically you could rationalize this with uber-tech and make animation of absorbing construction material from air when increasing size while throwing off mass when diminishing.

[Admiral Valdemar]

No one is going to believe, for instance, a tape deck becoming a 15 metre tall killing machine without magick.

Technically you could rationalize this with uber-tech and make animation of absorbing construction material from air when increasing size while throwing off mass when diminishing.

...

No more vodka for YOU, comrade!

[Ford Prefect]

I don't really blame him for trying to rationalise it. I want a proper Soundwave too.

[Davis 51]

I don't really blame him for trying to rationalise it. I want a proper Soundwave too.

A lot of people want that. Which is why they renamed him Frenzy and decided to save Soundwave for the inevitable sequel.

[President Sharky]

Which still poses the question on how they'll make Soundwave work next time. Will they just make him some jumbo uber-extra sized stereo system?

[Stark]

Oh yeah sure Stark, because something about four or five feet tall couldn't fuck a human being up. No way could Frenzy do that.

How about you climb off the sweaty German and read what I said, cockmuncher? I EXPRESSLY SAID that I DON'T DOUBT that FRENZY WILL BE DEADLY TO HUMANS. You're a fucking idiot.

As to dismissing the cheapness of mass-shifting and magically disappearing parts of robots because the premise is already preposterous, I'm sorry, what works in a cartoon doesn't work in a live-action movie. It barely worked for me in the cartoon as it is. It'd just look like shit. You might as well have robots that use 80s morph effects that were first pioneered in Willow. Transformers are supposed to transform.

I'm not saying they should have had mass shifting - as you say, it would look like absolute ASS in a live-action movie. My point is that the current designs are not realistic, either. They still rely on handwaving magic technology to use wheel hubs as hips and have eight bajillion tiny moving, folding, dual-use parts to work. That's not a BAD thing - it's sci-fi - but all the back-slapping regarding 'oh yeah our Transformers are hell realistic' is complete bullshit. I'm solely reacting to the 'lol more realistic' elitism you get with scifi of all stripes. I'm not one of those people concerned that the designs are 'unfaithful', since it's damn clear this is totally unrelated in any way to any previous TF stuff, and some of the designs are fucking cool.

Also, Soundwave could transform into an indie rock tour.