52 replies to this topic

[DiGi Valentine]

Yeah, this is going to be nice. I swear i have not waited so eagerly for a film like this before. I've seen the first live-action Transformers movie three times now and it still kicks ass. I'm so hyped for the second one now. It's gonna be a long year wait.

Anyways, i have found myself looking for blogs on the latest development news on the filming of the movie and wound up at a website called TFW2005.
And, it just so happens that the writer for the Transformers live action movies has signed up to their forum and is answering questions. He even answered my question about Ultra Magnus, which made me smile. He's still answering questions now so if you have something on your mind that ain't been answered then sign-up and ask. You might wanna skip to the later pages to see some more of the answers as the first post doesn't get updated too frequently.

The topic is here --> clicky-clicky

If you're all interested in the Transformers live action films then be sure to check this out. He can't give out too much information but you can see little hints at things here and there. Worth a look, i'd say.

Also, use this topic to talk about what you hope to see in the sequel and update us with any news you find.

[Bannipper]

Yeah, this is going to be nice. I swear i have not waited so eagerly for a film like this before. I've seen the first live-action Transformers movie three times now and it still kicks ass. I'm so hyped for the second one now. It's gonna be a long year wait.

Anyways, i have found myself looking for blogs on the latest development news on the filming of the movie and wound up at a website called TFW2005.
And, it just so happens that the writer for the Transformers live action movies has signed up to their forum and is answering questions. He even answered my question about Ultra Magnus, which made me smile. He's still answering questions now so if you have something on your mind that ain't been answered then sign-up and ask. You might wanna skip to the later pages to see some more of the answers as the first post doesn't get updated too frequently.

The topic is here --> clicky-clicky

If you're all interested in the Transformers live action films then be sure to check this out. He can't give out too much information but you can see little hints at things here and there. Worth a look, i'd say.

Also, use this topic to talk about what you hope to see in the sequel and update us with any news you find.

I believe personally that Galvatron will be in this. I mean, it's pure logic.

[Zero-Shift]

I'm just hoping for two things: Soundwave and the Constructicons. Soundwave is one of my all time favorite transformers and seeing the constructicons form Devestator with these kind of special effects would blow my mind. Thankfully, I think Soundwave has been confirmed, right?

[phosphorus]

Galvitron, Unicron, and less focus on the humans. That was pretty much my only real complaint with the first movie (aside from their Megatron shenanigans, but they would have to change him somehow).

[DiGi Valentine]

Soundwave has pretty much been confirmed. He was planned for the first one along with Arcee but both were cut and now added to this movie. I think Soundwave will be different though, i can't see him transforming into a tape player - though he will still have a similar look when he transforms into his robot form and he'll have some of his minions too. Not sure about Constructicons though. I think they might save something epic like that for the final movie, perhaps.

Anyway, all this is just major speculation from various hints that are dropped by the directors and writers. Mr. Orci is writing things with as much fan input as possible and Soundwave got a huge fan swarm backing him up. I think he's going to be in it, for sure.

Sounds like Jazz will be staying dead though...

And am i the only one who likes Arcee's new form?

[DAiLiGHT]

I like Arcee period. She kicks butt. It's nice to see the girls get a little screen time once and a while. Anyone ever notice that Cybertron seems to be almost fully populated with dude robots? Yikes.

[Bannipper]

I like Arcee period. She kicks butt. It's nice to see the girls get a little screen time once and a while. Anyone ever notice that Cybertron seems to be almost fully populated with dude robots? Yikes.

Perhaps it was the female population that got hurt the most during the war.

[Nemoide]

I wonder how it is there can be male and female robots in the first place.

I really wasn't fond of the first movie. I'd rather they tossed the "live action" elements and just made the movie about the Transformers. The robots were all CGI anyway. I don't want some "hip teens" taking up 80% of the screen time while the Autobots just bumble around in the kids backyard.

And I KNOW it will never happen but I would love to see Skybyte in the movie.

[DiGi Valentine]

It cost a lot to animate those Transformers though. And you can see why too. Each robot had on average 10'000 moving parts every time they transformed. Expensive wasn't the word. It's the main reason there were more from the humans rather than the Transformers in the first film. However, Bay said that if the first movie did well then the budget for the sequel would get a huge level-up so they can focus more on the robots this time around.

So, yus. I'm expecting to see more from the actual robots this time around. Should be good.

[Zero-Shift]

It cost a lot to animate those Transformers though. And you can see why too. Each robot had on average 10'000 moving parts every time they transformed. Expensive wasn't the word. It's the main reason there were more from the humans rather than the Transformers in the first film. However, Bay said that if the first movie did well then the budget for the sequel would get a huge level-up so they can focus more on the robots this time around.

So, yus. I'm expecting to see more from the actual robots this time around. Should be good.

/\
This

Not to mention I think it was kind of nice the direction they took in the first film. In all the comics and cartoons it can be very easy to forget that the transformers are these gigantic alien engines of destruction that are, eerily enough, hiding in plain sight. Telling the first movie from a human perspective really helped instill a little of that original wonder, at least in my eyes. A good example would be the opening with Blackout. However, now that things are established, I don't want to see a purely human-centric film again.

I'm fairly certain it's been said the sequel will have increased focus on the transformers. A bigger budget is almost certain and there is also the fact that they don't need to spend nearly as much time trying to figure out how to animate the transformers since they pretty much figured all that out in the first.

[Dex la Cabra]

i just learnt of this today, and now i see there's a topic for it on here! i heard from my sibling that soundwave was the one on mars that destroyed that thing on the first movie, and that starscream was going to mars to get him at the end, when you see him in the credits. although whether this is true or not remains to be seen

[7Force]

Although there was some things i would change about the first film I enjoyed it i did guess that we would get a second film so all i need to do is wait for a trailer.

[Dex la Cabra]

Although there was some things i would change about the first film I enjoyed it i did guess that we would get a second film so all i need to do is wait for a trailer.

i just saw the teaser trailer! there's a huge transformer on it, but i don't know who it is....and starscream!

[7Force]

i just saw the teaser trailer! there's a huge transformer on it, but i don't know who it is....and starscream!

The big one is Devastator.

[NNR07]

Never really was into the Movies (preferred the cartoon, TF:A in-particular), but I have friends who love Transformers and it would be nice if it did well in the Box Office.

[venomnights15]

Yes I am going to enjoy this to the fullest and there is no galvatron although he does get revived and there are even more giantic robots and what can we expect from micheal bay more explosions

[Penelopi]

I actually heard that Megatron is going to be "upgraded" so he'll technically be Galvatron, but the filmmakers decided not to change Megatron's name so that the "general audience" (aka people who don't know squat about Transformers) won't get confused.

Jetfire and Optimus are supposed to combine in this movie at some point, too. No idea if he'll be officially called Jet Optimus, though. But I'm looking forward to seeing Optimus fly.

[Bannipper]

The big one is Devastator.

Actually, that character might be named Brawl, seeing as the tank in Movie 1 was named Devastator my accident. Besides, it would be a bit poor to name him that name in the movie. People will get confused.

[venomnights15]

True, but I didn't hear about jetfire though is there anymore autobots that will be making their debut on the screen

[TRiPPY]

I'm sooooo excited, not long to wait now!

[Penelopi]

True, but I didn't hear about jetfire though is there anymore autobots that will be making their debut on the screen

Sideswipe, Skids, Mudflap, Arcee, Jolt, and Wheelie are definitely in. I've seen their pictures/appearances on commercials. There have also been rumors that two more females, also transforming into motorcycles, are going to come with Arcee and they're all going to be sisters. I haven't seen any official statement/confirmation and they aren't on the official roster, but during one commercial I definitely saw three small bright-colored peeps chasing Sideways.

[Dex la Cabra]

the movie is epic! starscream gets much more screen time, which was all i wanted! it's a shame, like the transformers of old, that he gets beaten like megatrons bitch and i was sad enough to buy the optimus figure, and needless to say, he enjoyed the movie has anyone else watched it?

[Zero-Shift]

We're getting it stateside this week. I may gte a chance to see an advance screening in Imax.

[Dex la Cabra]

We're getting it stateside this week. I may gte a chance to see an advance screening in Imax.

that's right, i forgot the US gets it later for some reason! why is it that the UK has it before the US?

[Jof]

Seen it yesterday. Way better than the first film. Epicness was turned up to 11.

Only minor setback was the freaking length of the thing. 2 and a half hours. Was nursing a numb arse for an hour afterwards

[Penelopi]

Seen it yesterday. Way better than the first film. Epicness was turned up to 11.

Only minor setback was the freaking length of the thing. 2 and a half hours. Was nursing a numb arse for an hour afterwards

Oooh! I'm so excited now! I have to wait two more days. Heehee, 2 hrs and 30 mins of sitting in an IMAX theater with my friend, fangirl squealing (both of us) while we hug Transformers plushies and watch the Autobots pwn Decepticons on the huge screen. It's gonna be fun. What's Sideswipe like? His picture that I saw looks so serious, not much like the G1 guy at all.

[Dex la Cabra]

Oooh! I'm so excited now! I have to wait two more days. Heehee, 2 hrs and 30 mins of sitting in an IMAX theater with my friend, fangirl squealing (both of us) while we hug Transformers plushies and watch the Autobots pwn Decepticons on the huge screen. It's gonna be fun. What's Sideswipe like? His picture that I saw looks so serious, not much like the G1 guy at all.

barely in it, really. i remember one bit of speech, but that's about it and ratchet's barely seen too, and as for optimus... i read in various places that many of the fans didnt want bumblebee leaking "fluids" again, and they listened....kinda

[Saifer Dracondrali]

I'm guessing it will do better than the first in the opening night... but won't be as good as the first... that just seems to be the way movies are... now then...

Back to my anime!

[Zero-Shift]

I just got back from my advance screening. I enjoyed it on the whole. It's a great popcorn flick, but I'm very conflicted. I'd say it's about as good as the first. Maybe a touch better for improved fight choreography. Still, for everything it does great, it seems to do something pretty bad. Possible spoilers, but here is a list of what I mean.

-POSSIBLE SPOILERS-

Liked
Better Action Scenes- They just are. Bay used wide shots more often so while the action is still in your face, it's easier to tell exactly what's going on. There is also much more action.
Robo Centric- The transformers are generally more prominent this time. There is still the human element, but it's not quite as pronounced.
Soundwave- He's not an incredibly prominent character, but I was ridiculously pleased with how they incorporated him into the film. I have absolutely no problems with his appearance. Also, Frank Welker *Squee*. Ravage was ace as well.
Decepticon Development- In the last film the Decepticons were largely devoid of personality. We get a little more insight to them this time mostly through Megatron and Starscream's squabbles.
Optimus is Badass- He is seriously cool in the movie and his action scenes are the best. In the last film we saw him fight Bonecrusher and then get his ass handed to him by Megatron. In this movie he tears off a Decepticon's face.

Disliked
Bad Plot with Scattershot Pacing- The story in this movie is even more paper thin than the last one yet the film is longer. When the movie isn't blowing sh!t up it's delivering convoluted exposition or some other filler. I know movies need some down time between the intense stuff, but this film felt less like speed up, slow down and more like stop and go.
Bad comedy/Too Lowbrow- There were a lot of shitty jokes and innuendos in this film. Some just fell flat, some dragged on for too long and others were just an incredibly stupid kind of immature. To add to this problem there were too many characters present for the sole purpose of comic relief, one of which was a complete throwaway character with literally zero contribution to the plot at all. Many films get by with one comic relief. This one had at least five...minimum, two of which were...
Skids and Mudflap- These two get much more dialogue and screen time than many of the Autobots, including those from the previous film. I didn't care much for these guys for a couple of reasons. First, I rarely found them funny at all. Second, I'm pissed these clowns got so much exposure when it's established early on that Sideswipe and Arcee, are in the film as well. That better looking and frankly, more interesting Autobots were ignored in lieu of this pointless duo is unforgivable.
Romantic Subplot- I thought this was resolved in the last film. The romance in the movie feels incredibly shallow, cheesy and entirely unbelievable. I was annoyed whenever it reared it's head because it felt like filler between the action. Did I mention Megan Fox's only apparent purpose to be here is for eye candy? I don't think I've ever seen somebody airbrush something that way. Yes sir, all the subtlety of a train derailment.

I'll say it again, it's a fun movie. Just don't go in with the expectation that it'll be better than the first. The comedy and the twins seem to be a very galvanizing point of contention, so your mileage could greatly vary from mine.

[TRiPPY]

*spoiler*
























Not seen it yet but it kind of irritates me how they made Arcee 3 different people e_e;

[Dex la Cabra]

all true! although on the subject of transformers, i have a question about the first film. how is it that when jazz gets his legs ripped off, he dies, but bumblebee lives? or perhaps jazz get it worse and i just never noticed.

and on the subject of the second film and bumblebee, "i'm so excited, and i just cant hide it!" since when did autobots have tear ducts?

[Penelopi]

all true! although on the subject of transformers, i have a question about the first film. how is it that when jazz gets his legs ripped off, he dies, but bumblebee lives? or perhaps jazz get it worse and i just never noticed.

and on the subject of the second film and bumblebee, "i'm so excited, and i just cant hide it!" since when did autobots have tear ducts?

1. Bumblebee lost the lower portion of his legs, but Jazz lost everything from about the abdomen down. So, yeah, Jazz got it worse.
2. ...Not until now, I guess. I've never seen them do that in any of the cartoons. Of course, I've only seen Armada, Robots in Disguise, and some of G1 and Energon, so I can't say for the other series. In any case, it is a humorous addition to the movie.

Edit 6/27: I just found an episode where an Autobot cries, Energon/Super Link ep46 Ironhide Team/Awesome! Team Roadbuster. It's at the end of the episode.

[Zero-Shift]

Arcee isn't three people. It just sounds that way because one of the actors forgets to use a comma in one of his lines. And Autobot tear ducts happened the moment it would become funny. Michael Bay wills it!

[Nessa Mouse]

On the subject of Jazz, did anybody else noticed they killed the "black" robot first? I'm talking his voice, but still 0.o?

I read the movie novelization when it first came out and can say for sure that Jetfire (Squee!) and a Wheelie type character are in it. For those of you fortunate to never see the 80's Wheelie I'll just say he was a very, very small autobot that was fine until he opened his mouth. He spoke in verse for whatever reason, but thankfully he just seems to repeat himself and forget to speak english in the movie as well as changing his name to "Wheels" instead. But despite all this he had one of the best entries in the Spotlight series. I think they were trying to make him likeable for the movie.

As for Arcee and the subject of Lady transformers? Every series has a different story.

The 80's one girls were always there, but Megatron killed them all except one fighting unit that contained Arcee, Elita-1, Chromia, Moonjumper and Firestar. Elita-1 was in charge (and was Optimus' girl. Ooohhh!) but only Arcee joined the fight on Earth. The rest stayed behind to try to wrest control of Cybertron from Shockwave. There was also talk of the Lady bots getting their own series, but it got canned in the end. >.< No fair.

In some of the old school comics, the Ladies came to be after so many years. Only boys at first. While modern comics state that a rouge scientist introduced gender "Because he was curious, because he could." as Arcee put it, who was his first experiment and NOT happy about it. (Meaning Arcee was a boy first..?!) But what was so odd about that explanation was that there was no shock to the sudden appearance of females. The others just acted like they were always there, adopting the word "she" into their language like it was always there. Arcee scoffs at one Autobot who says "she" "Do you even know you're doing it?" In modern comics Arcee is Angry and a little Emo, I don't think I like it. The old school Arcee was much better.

*Looks at her post* Man I'm a geek. Um, just realized I made a lot of referance to the modern Transformers comics. Anybody else read them? If not I can post some goodness. The art is pretty awesome even if some of the stories aren't that great. Here is what I got:

*Transformers War Within and Dark Ages
Optimus' rise to power as prime as well a fight with a very ancient and evil Transformer. This is neat becuase it shows Optimus when he was just a paper pusher in the Archives.

*Transformers Beast Wars Vol.1 and 2
Not to be confused with the show although it's happening in the background thanks to confusing time rifts and dimensional warps. Great art but the story can leave you scratching your head a bit.

*Transformers Spotlight Vol. 1,2 and 3 Plus its Finale!
GREAT stuff. Individual Transfomers get some of their own backstory told. And several of the stories tie into the last issue in a grand finale. Awesome. To name a few 'Bots getting their dues: Galvatron, Arcee, Grimlock, Sixshot, Optimus, Wheelie, Nightbeat. They had better make more!! I still wanna see Ratchet or Bumblebee.

*Megatron Origins
Great! Instead of a Spotlight Megatron gets his book. Has some serious ass-kicking art. I wouldn't have thought robot gore was possible but oh yes it is.

I have lots more, but need to go to work....laters.

[Nessa Mouse]

Hmm. Instead of finishing thelist, I think I'll make a seperate post in the comic book section. Maybe have a few selct pics from each. Make it simple. Looking back at that post I was REALLY geeking out and apoligize for being annoying. I'm like that when exicted.


Oh yeah! And to answer the autobot tear duct thing, in the comics they do seem to leave off an electric discharge when upset in the comics. I wouldn't call them tear ducts though. Maybe they were trying to show the members of the audeince who aren't fangirls (points to self) that they're less "mindless robots" and more like "life-forms."

[Penelopi]

I finally saw it yesterday! I like the first film better, but I still enjoyed this one a lot. I could tell the animation was much smoother, although for some reason the Transformers looked a little less realistic to me. I'm not sure if it's because the animation was too smooth/CGI looking or what. But I liked how they were more expressive. Right away, I noticed how much more emotive their eyes were. The story actually seemed a lot more cohesive to me than last time. The only plot hole I can think of right off the top of my head is

Spoiler

why did Bumblebee, after Sam told him to get his parents somewhere safe during the final battle, come back with them right in the most dangerous area?

After buying the DVD and watching it several times, I'll probably find more, but right now that's the only major thing I can think of.

However, the jokes were the crudest I've ever seen (of course, I am a sheltered child)--very strong sexual content and largely unnecessary; they often ruined the scene/moment. The jokes that weren't flavored with that stuff, though, were funny. I actually appreciated Skids and Mudflap's humor most of the time. The only time I got annoyed with them was when they started tussling in the ruins with the huge doorway, when the gang thought they had come to a dead end. At a tense time like that, I didn't feel like pausing to watch their horseplay. Of course, that part may have been intended to be annoying.

The "robot gore" made me shiver/want to throw up sometimes. Yeah, yeah, I'm weak. But I heard several other gasps and "ugh"s around the theater, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't appreciate seeing faces literally ripped apart and a green goo-covered spine torn out of a Decepticon's back (among other things).

But overall, I really liked it. There were some great moves, like when Sideswipe slices a car in half and Optimus takes on about five or so (too much action to count) Decepticons at once. More of the Transformers' personalities were shown, and we get to see the classic Starscream/Megatron conflict behind-the-scenes. And Soundwave is an effective and creepy intelligence-gatherer. It was sheer genius having him be a satellite. My bros and I are going to save up to buy the DVD when it comes out.

[TRiPPY]

Went to see it lastnight and I'm overall more dissapointed than happy, which is annoying because I went there REALLY looking forward to seeing this movie. It had it's brilliant moments but it was like the pacing was terrible, all over the place, and the way the new characters weren't even 'introduced', just thrown in there at every angle, you forgot who the hell was fighting with who at times.
Really didn't like the twins, for the same reason Zero said, they stole screentime from the characters we actually gave a damn about. After all the hype that Arcee and Soundwave were going to be in it, they had like 3 seconds.
Soundwave is SEXY however, though i kinda wish his voice sounded more like the effect on the cartoon. I hope he gets more time in a 3rd movie when they make it.

Starscream still looks too damn similar to Megatron in the movies >:[ But I'm glad they characterized him better this time and gave him his voice.

Can't stand Megan Fox's bad acting. But i suspect it has more to do with the script than her acting. Or it might be the fact that nobody does airbrush something like that *lol*

Also WTF kinda college has that many hot girls?

I think the main problem of this movie is that it did feel like it was on fast forward, it didn't give you a second to figure out wtf was going on. It was all *THINGS* *THINGS* *THINGS!*
The first movie was really enjoyable to me because it was well paced.

Can't say anything bad about the effects, still looking gorgeous. Silly amount of explosions though. Also I really REALLY loathe it in movies when they have a bunch of space filling scenes of 'military guys' spewing 'military lingo' at eachother. NOBODY CARES and i doubt most of the audience understand it either, give us more of what we paid to see >

BumbleBee rocks harder than ever, though sometimes they make him a bit OVER goofy.

I thought the amount of cussing in the movie was hilarious, a bit overdone, but it caused a few laughs. Agreed that it should be a slightly higher age rating.
I found Sam's parents to be funnier this time around, but still kinda annoying.

Really like Wheelie, but i didn't realise who it was supposed to be until the END dammit.

Also what the HELL in regards to Jetfire! When they went to the hanger i thought they'd go to a shuttle or something, they made him look godawful. I'm pissed off because him and Starscream were always my faves.

Good fight scenes in this one, bit easier to see, but i have a problem with the camera speed, its like you can never focus on one thing for 3 seconds.


I really want to get this on DVD so i can watch it again, i suspect i might enjoy it more at home since yesterday was a pretty depressing day anyway, maybe i just wasn't in the mood for it.

Fun movie, will make your brain hurt.

[NNR07]

I heard the action scenes in TF2 were good, but the plot is one huge headache.

[DiGi Valentine]

I was looking forward to this movie though i also came away feeling a little more displeased than satisfied.

Problems i had with it -

- Jetfire was sh!t. The 'moany old' robot part dragged on too long. He wasn't a good character inclusion. If they were trying to imitate someone like Kup from the cartoon then they failed with this character. Such a waste.

- Sideswipe was obviously awesome though he had probably no more than 5 minutes screen time in a 2 and a half hour film.

- Arcee was wicked, i loved her.... only she was in it less than Sideswipe. And has one line. And i'm pretty sure she gets her arse handed to her and doesn't really do anything of great importance. Which annoyed me.

- Soundwave. Another f*!*ing waste. He was hardly in it. All he did was tentical rape some space satellite and send Ravage down to planet Earth to kick some arse. He, just like Sideswipe and Arcee, was also hardly in it.

- characters were not introduced clearly. You didn't feel as connected to the new robots as you did in the first film.

- less money shots on the trasforming. You remember in the first film, Prime driving down the road and Transforming while he was moving, skidding and turning around so he can fight BoneCrusher that was coming up behind him? Remember how awesome that looked? Well, there's less fantastic money shots like that in this film. There's a few here and there but there not as many memorable ones as in the first film.

- Devestator was sh!t. Scary when it was transforming but sh!t in general.

- Prime should have had more screen time.

- The Fallen was boring. Megatron being his 'bitch' was also character destroying. Megatron never answers to anybody. Why on earth should he be seen in this film as someones servant?


Things i did like -

- Skids and Mudflap. I don't know what everybodies problem is with these two. I find them to be quite funny. They have some good punchlines in the film. Ok, they're a little stereotypical so a minus for that. And another minus because they do take up the most screen time out of the new robots to feature leaving characters like Arcee and Sideswipe with less time to do anything. But the Twins actually turned out ok and are not as bad as everyone complaining about them seems to make them out to be. I think people wanted screen time to be taken up by the cooler bots and instead the comedians of the group got the most screentime. I honestly didn't find them annoying at all. They were different and a change of pace compared to the seriousness of all the other robots on the side of the Autobots.

- BumbleBee. Much better this time around. Has grown as a character and kicks a lot of ass in this film.

- StarScream. Voice is better, more whiney and complainy. Good job.

- Shia LeBeouf. Although there were still WAAAAY too much human screen time (and Sams parents are f*!*ing annoying, might i add), the role of Sam Witwicky was played well and Shia had a few moments where i laughed out loud. Especially when that chick transformed into a robot and Shia bitch screamed. Hilarious.

All in all, it wasn't what i waited 2 years for. More of a let down than satisfactory. But i still like it. And i'm hoping that by the time the third film comes out in 3 years time they will make it better and take into account the sh!t they caused in this film.

It's funny. Usually, sequels are better than the first film but the third film in a triology tends to suck. With any luck this will be different for Transformers when the third film comes out.

[JaxTH]

I just didn't really like it. And Optimus basically did an ass move at the end just abandoning what Jetfire gave him.

They canceled Transformers Animated for...THIS!?