Full list of Characters for New transformers Movie released

[VF5SS]

That version makes Starscream look like a fucking Gobot, not a Transformer.

You automatically lose for mentioning Gobots as a basis of comparison. That design is a logical extension of the original. The biggest problem with the movie designs in general is that they're just CGI bullshit. The only justification to the aesthetic is "this is a Hollywood movie and we have millions of dollars to make them as excessively complicated as possible." When designing mecha you need to have some sense of conservatism for what can and can't be animated with a modicum of ease.

[K. A. Pital]

The biggest problem with the movie designs in general is that they're just CGI bullshit

The biggest problem with cartoonish designs is that they are unrealistic boxy bullshit. CGI transformers at least look more or less real.

The only justification to the aesthetic is "this is a Hollywood movie and we have millions of dollars to make them as excessively complicated as possible."

No, the justification is to obfuscate the process of transformation by the multitude of parts, because else it would look totally impossible to the viewer. Do you want crude boxes flying in the screen and the process of transformation being shown as "boxes change place in a totally unrealistic fashion"? I bet no. But due to the problem of modern industrial vehicles having shitloads of parts, to make the transformation at least modestly realistic you'd have to fit them and more on the transformer.

[Zablorg]

Is it just me or does the render shot of the Fallen has wildly different proportions than his few frames in the trailer?

[Vympel]

The Fallen is in the trailer?

I do not understand how anyone could not think this is an awesome Megatron.

[Zablorg]

Yeah, he's in the trailer, if only for a second.

It's good to see that Megatron looks a lot more solidly plated this time. In the first movie he looked like artfully manipulated tin foil. I'm kind of wondering how he got that much tank-tread considering his head appears to be slightly bigger than a man.

[Vympel]

It's good to see that Megatron looks a lot more solidly plated this time. In the first movie he looked like artfully manipulated tin foil. I'm kind of wondering how he got that much tank-tread considering his head appears to be slightly bigger than a man.

Spoiler

It's from a fellow Decepticon who sacrifices his Spark so that Megatron can live again. I was hoping it was from Brawl/Devastator from the first film, but it isn't

[Zablorg]

I think the only character design I personally find downright unpleasant is the new Soundwave. Granted, that's just a toy, but those grey things sticking downwards look really distracting.

[TheLostVikings]

I think the only character design I personally find downright unpleasant is the new Soundwave. Granted, that's just a toy, but those grey things sticking downwards look really distracting.

Hopefully it's just a case of the toy designer sucking, compare how devastator look in toyform with how he looks in the actual movie for example. (click me) The toy somehow manages to look like complete ass despite the actual movie devastator looking pretty cool.

*crosses fingers*

[Oskuro]

They are horrible designs.

So not everyone has the same tastes? Who knew! I personally loved the designs, and can't wait for the sequel, although I'd wish they kept away from the movie designs in comics or possible cartoon spin-offs, they just simply don't work as drawings.

[VF5SS]

The biggest problem with cartoonish designs is that they are unrealistic boxy bullshit. CGI transformers at least look more or less real.

Clearly there must be no other way to do this other than cartoonish design so we must fight on the two extreme opposite sides of this battle.

Also, the novelization has been released.
Spoiler

Basically what happens is Optimus and the Autobots are working with humans to stop Decepticons from destroying the world and them. Sam is at college, Princeton specifically, and finds a hot chick named Alice. Alice is actually a Decepticon and tries to kill him. It fails because Michaela and Bumblebee come to save his sorry ass. It turns out that Sam had the Allspark imprint all its information on him and the Decepticons are after him because of that.

Megatron is revived by a shard of the Allspark stolen from the humans by the Constructicons and is a minion of the Fallen, who is in a spaceship above orbit. The Fallen plans to use Sam and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to produce Energon to power him, and in doing so, it will destroy the sun.

Sam escapes with Bumblebee, his girlfriend, and his nerdy roomate but Megatron intervenes. Optimus takes a fatal blow and powers down while Sam runs away after having a bitch fit about how there's too much pressure on him and how he's just a normal human man.

Megatron decides to use blackmail by going to Paris to capture Sam's parents and blows up parts of France and reveals to the whole world that aliens exist and they are evil.

Optimus' body is recovered by NEST, which is the replacement of Sector Seven, and Sam goes to find info on how to help him out and use the Allspark energy to stop the Fallen. He meets up with Simmons who takes him to Washington D.C. where Jetfire has apparently been hanging out as a Blackbird in stasis. The Allspark shard held by Sam revives Jetfire. Jetfire is a senile old man. And he is awesome. He teleports them to Egypt where after a series of adventures, they find a tomb of Primes, and some black sand thing that will revive Optimus. Sam calls in Lennox and crew to fly in Optimus' dead body while Megatron and the Fallen come down to say fuck that shit. Shit happens, and Optimus is revived. The Fallen decides to get the hell out but is stopped when Jetfire kills himself to let Optimus gattais with his dead body and get wings. Optimus flies and stabs the Fallen in the head. He dies.

Megatron, Starscream, and other Decepticons run away to the ship in orbit where he muses on his failure, but looks at the thousands of Protoforms that are in stasis in his ship. Book ends there.

[Stark]

No, the justification is to obfuscate the process of transformation by the multitude of parts, because else it would look totally impossible to the viewer. Do you want crude boxes flying in the screen and the process of transformation being shown as "boxes change place in a totally unrealistic fashion"? I bet no. But due to the problem of modern industrial vehicles having shitloads of parts, to make the transformation at least modestly realistic you'd have to fit them and more on the transformer.

I've never bought this. It isn't 'more realistic' or 'more plausible' to have robots made out of 20,000 tiny triangles of door panel that are somehow supertech limb actuators than the silly 80s cartoon 'front of car magically changes shape now' stuff. They're BOTH stupid and unrealistic, the 20,000 triangle method just 'hides' it's laugableness behind complexity, with the downside that the robots look dumb as fuck.

At least the new guys in this movie are consistent, unlike the 'obviously designed by two different people' designs from the first one.

[Vympel]

Spoiler

I like the idea of Jetfire sacrificing himself so Optimum Prime can use his parts to attack The Fallen. It's a mirror-image of the unnamed Decepticon who gets butchered by his fellows so they can repair Megatron. The toy of Combined Optimum Prime/ Jetfire looks cool, but I wonder if it'll carry over to the inevitable sequel - you can't really incorporate Jetfire's parts into Optimus' original disguise mode ...

[K. A. Pital]

I've never bought this. It isn't 'more realistic' or 'more plausible' to have robots made out of 20,000 tiny triangles of door panel that are somehow supertech limb actuators

A modern automobile is a 20000-25000 part machine. Like it or not, but there's going to be thousands of parts in the robot unless you completely screw realism - even mere external parts measure in the hundreds. And yes, complexity hides things like mass changing, size changing and other things like that. Not perfectly, but better than it would be otherwise.

[TheLostVikings]

Spoiler

I like the idea of Jetfire sacrificing himself so Optimum Prime can use his parts to attack The Fallen. It's a mirror-image of the unnamed Decepticon who gets butchered by his fellows so they can repair Megatron. The toy of Combined Optimum Prime/ Jetfire looks cool, but I wonder if it'll carry over to the inevitable sequel - you can't really incorporate Jetfire's parts into Optimus' original disguise mode ...

Spoiler

Remember how bumblebee changed from a beat up piece of shit to a brand new car? Now imagine Optimus scanning a Truck with a trailer attached and doing the same thing. Now that would be pure awesome, and at the same time a nice nod to his G1/2 appearance.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I'm jsut suprised that they didn't decide to let Sam's GF get the pink motorcycle....

[Vympel]

I think they did.

[Vympel]

DK is doing a Transformers book in the "Visual Dictionary" style they like so much:-

The Fallen

Skids and Mudflap aka The Twins

MEGATRON!!!

DEVASTATOR!

Interestingly, Megatron is described as a "triple-changer", i.e. implying that his new Cybertronian Tank mode (or a variant of it) was part of him from the beginning, and that he can still change to his Cybertronian Jet mode. Hopefully it's true, I don't like the idea that Starscream can fly and Megatron can't.

[Stark]

Vymp, it clearly says that 'since his rebirth' he's become a triple changer, so the tank thing is a recent addition and not a 'swap' for his plane form.

[Vympel]

Yeah, I didn't read it properly. The problem I see is that his Jet mode is identical to that in the first film, so I don't know where they're putting the 'extra' stuff he gained from his 'rebirth' - the tank treads and what not.

[Stark]

The DK book might just be recycling art.

[Old Plympto]

Strange. I'm pretty sure that RH-400 marking on top of Devastator means the much revealed, unicycled Demolishor (what's wrong with DemolishEr in the first place, gah!) is part of the gestalt. However the text does mention Scavenger while there is no caption leading to any Scavenger component of Devastator. Perhaps there are two of those RH-400 excavators (Demolishor in Shanghai and Scavenger in Egypt), or perhaps DK writers screwed up somehow.

Apart from that, I guess Rampage takes over from Bonecrusher, and Hightower from Hook.

[Zablorg]

Some TV spots have been released.

Skids says one line and I hate him already. But otherwise I think it looks really cool.

MARBLEFORMERS!!!

[FA Xerrik]

MARBLEFORMERS!!!

Those little guys look almost like baby versions of the Fallen...

[ray245]

Who wants to bet that this movie's storyline will be extremly confusing? As in more confusing than the first film.

[Zablorg]

Confusing... how?

Just what exactly about the plot of the last movie was confusing in the least?