See Optimus Prime in truck mode! Quick!

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I hope they find a way to stick Xhibit (from "Pimp my Ride") in a cameo. I think I'd enjoy a scene with him going on and on about how they're going to transform an old beat-up car into something special, and then the car transforms into an Autobot and walks off, stopping everyone dead in their tracks.

That's a good one.

To be honest, I somehow think of the Transformers as of something incredibly cheesy. But then, I am German, and Transformers, while certainly known and somewhat popular at its time, probably didn't have the same influence on my childhood then on that of an american kid. And I certainly don't know anything about the storyline. (I don't even know if Optimus Prime is a good or a bad one )

 

[Cthulhudrew]

We've touched upon this subject before. VW suits simply do not want their cars involved in any violent films that may depict battles and/or wars. Something to do with their past association with the Nazis.

Oh- must have missed that. I guess that makes a kind of sense, now you mention it.

 

[D.Shaffer]

We've touched upon this subject before. VW suits simply do not want their cars involved in any violent films that may depict battles and/or wars. Something to do with their past association with the Nazis.

Not just movies. Toys too. That's why the recent Bumblebee is a wierd not-quite a VW fictional vehicle and why we dont have a Binaltech 'New style' VW Bumblebee.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I did, actually. Vaguely, anyway. I'm one of those guys who enjoyed Transformers well enough when it was new, but doesn't really understand the underground fandom movement. If you want to resurrect cheesy cartoons I watched as a kid, give me Thundarr the Barbarian first!

I could totally get behind a Thundarr movie. Ooka, ride!

Probably true. The idea of the transfomers being --well, giant sentient robots that can change from a humanoid form to a truck is something that I probably won't ever be able to take seriously. I mean; have you ever seen a truck? The internal configuration, etc.? Being able to mimic the general shape I can see, but to actually be a truck?

They aren't trucks, they're robots in the shape of trucks. Perhaps you're referring to the fact that they can actually move? I'd imagine that if you have the technology to create a giant robot, you're going to have more than sophisticated enough mechanics to give it wheels that move, too. I doubt there are any conventional truck innards in a Transformer at all. Why would there be?

I think I'm on-board with mainstream here, though, that the idea is so far-fetched that non-fanboy viewers will largely be coming in with a jaundiced eye, and playing up the campiness of the concept is probably a better idea in terms of ticket sales.

*shrug* I disagree. I think my father is the mainstream. Pretty much everything fantasy or sci-fi is unrealistic to him. Giant robots is no different than super heroes or vampires or wizards.

That said, he watched Batman Begins twice, while he has turned his nose up at other similar fare. Why? Because the movie was a serious take on the subject matter. They sold it to him, because nobody in the production or in the movie universe was snickering behind their hand. The movie world was solid, was real, providing a strong foundation around the fantastical elements.

This is what they seem to be doing with Transformers, from what I can tell by the trailer. Creating a very real world view to wrap around those fantastical elements. I think this is a far more appealing choice than going camp. My dad has never seen Mars Attacks!, and I doubt he ever will.