See Optimus Prime in truck mode! Quick!

[Desdichado]

To Aaron L and Lord Pendragon: yes, I think the idea is sillier than both of those concepts. By a long shot. Alien robots that happen to be able to disguise themselves as modern technology? Especially if ...oh, whathisname is going to look like a gigantic handgun again.

Silly. Could be fun, but only if the writers recognize that the idea's really silly. Or change it, but that'll tick off the fanboys who won't accept any deviation from the cartoon canon. IMO, it's a lose-lose situation unless they decide to go tongue in cheek with it.

 

[Klaus]

To Aaron L and Lord Pendragon: yes, I think the idea is sillier than both of those concepts. By a long shot. Alien robots that happen to be able to disguise themselves as modern technology? Especially if ...oh, whathisname is going to look like a gigantic handgun again.

Silly. Could be fun, but only if the writers recognize that the idea's really silly. Or change it, but that'll tick off the fanboys who won't accept any deviation from the cartoon canon. IMO, it's a lose-lose situation unless they decide to go tongue in cheek with it.

Rumor has it that Megatron won't be a Walther PPK with silencer and stock, but an Abrahms tank.

 

[Ranger REG]

IMO, it's a lose-lose situation unless they decide to go tongue in cheek with it.

Scoffs. The last time they did tongue-in-cheek, it was an anime series (where Optimus Prime first appeared as a fire truck rather than an 18-wheeler) with too much deformed humor and so many face faults. IMMHO, it was crap.

While I'm sure there will be at least one comic relief transformer (has to be an Autobot making first contact with Earth's human), the writers should try to make the film ... plausible.

 

[ThirdWizard]

While I'm sure there will be at least one comic relief transformer (has to be an Autobot making first contact with Earth's human)

Bernie Mac's character most likely (the human that is). Possibly with Bumblebee or Jazz.

I don't have high hopes for the movie; I'm far to afraid to look forward to it and get my hopes dashed. Transformers' plot is out there, of course, but just about any giant robot show has that kind of suspension of belief necessary.

It's not like Optimus crashed on Earth with the ability to turn into a truck, anyway. That was aquired afterward as a form of camouflage. Yeah yeah, suspend your belif, people, they're giant robots.

 

[Desdichado]

Rumor has it that Megatron won't be a Walther PPK with silencer and stock, but an Abrahms tank.

See, that's the kinda change that they'd have to make to make the movie able to be taken seriously. But that's a pretty major change; how are the fans going to react, I wonder?

Anyway, the trailer about the Mars probe was pretty awesome. Well, it would have been if it were a more X-filesish story. I'm not sure about this. I really don't know what to expect. But I guess I don't have the same kind of Transformers love as some of you obviously do. I thought it was pretty silly when it was new.

 

[Klaus]

See, that's the kinda change that they'd have to make to make the movie able to be taken seriously. But that's a pretty major change; how are the fans going to react, I wonder?

Anyway, the trailer about the Mars probe was pretty awesome. Well, it would have been if it were a more X-filesish story. I'm not sure about this. I really don't know what to expect. But I guess I don't have the same kind of Transformers love as some of you obviously do. I thought it was pretty silly when it was new.

Megatron has been a tank before, in comics and cartoons.

My favorite version of Megatron was the design piece for an upcoming "steampunk transformers in the 1890s" comic series, where he will be a gatling gun of sorts.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

See, that's the kinda change that they'd have to make to make the movie able to be taken seriously. But that's a pretty major change; how are the fans going to react, I wonder?

Well, I think I probably qualify as a fan. I liked the series as a boy. I had a ton of the toys. I was seriously considering buying a die-cast remake of Optimus Prime at one point recently, then couldn't find it again when I had decided to buy it.

I am very pleased with the decision, should it turn out to be true. Concessions will have to be made to convert a children's cartoon into a serious story. One of those concessions will be the size-issue. Tiny pistols and tape-players becoming giant robots has got to go. So you change out the small stuff for things that can conceivably become giant robots. Like semi's, cars, airplanes, and tanks.

As far as the silliness of the premise goes, you may not remember all of the story. The transformers weren't able to coincidentally change into Earth vehicles. They crash-landed on Earth without that capability, then, scanning their surroundings, rebuilt themselves with the ability to mimic Earth vehicles in order to move about the planet undetected. It was a means of continuing their private war without the hassle of dealing with human military interference.

Really, the only silliness in the Transformers plot is the core concept of giant robots. If you can accept giant robots--in any venue--then there aren't any other plot points that are particularly outlandish. If you can't, then nothing they do is going to make Transformers more palettable to you.

 

[Ranger REG]

It's not like Optimus crashed on Earth with the ability to turn into a truck, anyway. That was aquired afterward as a form of camouflage.

Yeah, I know how it went (seen the original animated TV series).

 

[Klaus]

Now, if you could decide what Soundwave (the boombox) became in this movie, what would you choose?

Me, I'd be inclined to turn Soundwave into one of those TV broadcast vans (or even a surveillance van).

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Now, if you could decide what Soundwave (the boombox) became in this movie, what would you choose?

Me, I'd be inclined to turn Soundwave into one of those TV broadcast vans (or even a surveillance van).

One of those trucks that converts into a giant boombox, MTV-style.