Thanks to a very lengthy and informative article on Wall Street Journal, we are treated to the Past, the Present and (most importantly) the Future of our beloved Transformers Live Action Movie Franchise.
The article goes on to explain what The Writers’ Room did for the past few months:
“On white boards, the group plotted possible story lines about an alternate history of Earth, from the time of the dinosaurs into the future, that imagined Transformers playing roles during events like World War II. Artists in the room turned ideas discussed around the table into visual concepts by the next morning. The group spent three weeks assembling story ideas and then, with the blessing of Paramount and Hasbro executives, split up to write treatments, or extended story summaries, over the next few months. The studio chose one to be 2017’s sequel “Transformers: The Last Knight,” to be directed by Mr. Bay, and another for 2018 that will focus on the character Bumblebee. All the treatments and art were published, along with fake marketing materials, such as posters, in a limited-edition hardcover book printed for a coterie of insiders.”
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner who fondly remembers how Transformers 2007 helped the Transformers Franchise 10 years ago, states that he expects the same on their future Hasbro Cinematic Universe.
“We live in that world of five-year business plans, and we felt it would be great to connect partners like Paramount in that process,” the CEO said.
The same Writers’ Room which worked on the upcoming 2017, 2018 and 2019 Transformers Movies, is working on HCU. The team will be bringing in elements from World War II and “Magic Technology” to the cinematic worlds of G. I. Joe and M.A.S.K. (you can read more about it on our sister site HISSTANK). We sense a possible tie-in in the near future. A thread is open for you to discuss this possible connection.
Meanwhile, something very important is mentioned on the article near the very end: They are looking for a new director for the next Transformers movies.
Hazekiah
The idea that a battlefield commander would be above destroying a genocidal maniac by any means available to him is just silly, lol.
I like the Tom Hanks idea, at least.
Datsun87
Prime flies and the rest of the bots get creative and procure a ride. Have half of them scan helicopters and piggy back, have them figure out which parts of a C-130 they are going to transform into, hell have Wheelie and Brains high jack a Fed Ex A310 then crash it into Lake Michigan as Tom Hanks is shown jumping out with a parachute angrily shaking his fist for all I care.
I mean we see Bumblebee, Wheelie, and Brains straight up highjack Decepticon aircraft shortly after their arrival in Chicago yet the bots can't collectively figure out a faster way to cross several states than a convoy? It is just as dumb forgetting about a grappling hook while scaling a falling building.
The Fallen deserved everything that happened to him but Prime (even Bay's movie Prime) is suppose to be above a savage face lift. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this point because it is obvious neither of us will budge.
Hazekiah
What "aerial approach to land the bots outside the city" was actually availably to them? Please tell me you're not seriously suggesting that Optimus fly each of them from Florida to Illinois individually, lol.
So the Autobots drover there. They're Autobots, ffs. It's what most if not all of them HAVE to do to get anywhere faster than running. Optimus didn't "decide" to drive there, it was just the only option available.
Oh, and flying there alone would've not only meant that that Optimus was facing 200+ Decepticons alone but he'd also be doing it without the REST of his armory. I know he's pretty overpowered in the movies sometimes but that's a bit much even for him. Likewise, the element of surprise obviously WAS a factor. They were already inside the city and had freed Carly before Sentinel even knew they were still alive while the Decepticons were busy fucking around and holding a defensive perimeter OUTSIDE of the city.
And AGAIN with the silliness about him taking the face of The Fallen, lol. It was a target of opportunity and put The Fallen into full retreat. Even if Optimus WAS dominating him by then, making him stop fighting and start running was still a damned sight better than continuing a fistfight with the guy who just tried to kill an entire solar system.
Fuck that guy.
Rip his face off and anything else you can get your hands on.
And I'm always NOT amazed when certain people COMPLETELY miss the point they're quoting, lol.
That's SO obviously NOT what I was saying there, as I've already outlined.
Ugh.
SunSwipe5
Then it would have been Optimus against the whole Con army by himself. Sure, he could have flown from Cape Canaveral, Florida all the way up to Chicago, Illinois. The others still would have had to drive. Optimus is the leader and protector of Cybertronians. His first priority is their safety and well being, not the arrogant humans who pretty much secured their own fates. The humans made their own choice in the face of all of Optimus' warnings. They ordered the Bots to leave,and being guests on the planet, Optimus and the Bots unhappily acquiesced. Prime and the Wreckers came up with the only viable plan they could. They had no control over when the Cons were going to destroy the Xanthium, so there was no way for them to point that rocket booster towards Lake Michigan (which would have been VERY obvious, since launches head eastwards, in the opposite direction of Lake Michigan)
Optimus and the Bots did what they had to do and got to Chicago as quickly as they possibly could. Being that they booked it all the way from freaking Florida, I'd say they made REALLY REALLY good time, given the circumstances.
Nightrain
I'm always amazed when people don't think that big budget movies can and should be far superior to cartoons.
Datsun87
Put that jet pack to good use after climbing out of the sea for starters. Obviously there was no scenario where Prime could have prevented a massive Decepticon attack but arriving only a few minutes behind Sam and co (a convoy that was assembled at the last minute as a desperate response) is too damn slow.
SunSwipe5
What else COULD he have done?
Datsun87
That's fine, we all mess up details every now and then. Again I don't have any issues with Prime killing the Fallen, just how unnecessary the face rip was since the Fallen was going down hard by that point in the fight anyway. To me it would be like Superman ripping off Zod's lower jaw before breaking his neck in MoS.
To be clear, I don't have an issue with Prime faking his exile – that was the best course of action. My issue is with how he handled the aftermath. Prime knew Sentinel and the cons have a space bridge and that any delay in response would be utterly catastrophic for the humans. Once it is clear that Chicago is the Con's target, Prime decides to drive there.
The Autobot commander, who is hauling an armory which doubles as a jet pack, decides to drive to a city being burned to the ground.
The element of surprise factor doesn't even apply here either seeing as how the Con's fast spy network couldn't pick up an Autobot convoy driving through several states so I doubt an aerial approach to land the bots outside the city would've tipped anyone off.
The humans were at fault too but I'm not convinced that Prime did all that he could have to limit the number of casualties.
plastic therapy
That's only part true. Some scenes were filmed in Chicago in the half of the city that was slated to be torn down anyways. But the filming had issues so they had to do all the retakes in Vancouver because they leveled the half of Chicago and by the time they needed the retakes the golf course was already being built there
Hazekiah
SPLIT LIP
Yep. It actually took place in a corn field.
Oh, and just my two cents: Optimus did not let Chicago get burned up. It was clear he only planned to fake his death and return as soon as possible, hence being so mad about how quickly Chicago was trashed.
kittycatusername123
Oh… So they used an empty area to build "Chicago"?
SPLIT LIP
They built a fake Chicago, to scale, in Vancouver. They later auctioned off the remaining sets to pay for John Warden's ransom.
kittycatusername123
How did they destroy Chicago without 'destroying' Chicago? Did they use CGI to show the destruction scenes?
Shark
Well said.
MnemonicSyntax
Thank you!
SunSwipe5
I'll add that the destruction of Chicago lays squarely on the shoulders of the humans. The government and the UN thought that by exiling the Autobots, that the Cons would suddenly want to negotiate a truce. They disregarded all of the Autobots warnings and decided that they would be able to deal with the Cons on their own. The Autobots were left with no other option than to fake their deaths (they knew the Cons would never let them leave alive). It just showed the arrogance of humans, and the repercussions of that arrogance. That has been an underlying theme in all four of the films.
Hazekiah
Firstly, my bad…I was actually misremembering that fight a bit and thinking of the stab Optimus made with his Energon blade instead of the later spear-thrust. But it was still a target of opportunity attack and, I think, more through his back and bent up around his face than it was "under his chin." Either way, he was improvising and it worked and whether or not Optimus was dominating the fight is beside the point. That motherfucker had to die, regardless.
Anyway, apologies for that.
And my only point in suggesting the absurdity of Optimus attacking Earth's leaders was to illustrate how badly you've misinterpreted his dialogue and motivations.
Optimus didn't "let a city go up in flames" to prove a point.
He had no way of knowing when or where the 200+ Decepticons would mobilize. They had the upper hand and the Autobots were being exiled so subterfuge was his only remaining gambit. It worked. The Decepticons made known their next target, and the Autobots got there as fast as possible, literally moments after people who left from the same departure point while the Autobots were still climbing up from the ocean floor.
Datsun87
How did you get any of that from anything I posted? When did I ever even hint at the absurd idea of Optimus attacking the humans?
It is almost like you are avoiding acknowledging that Optimus let a city go up in flames to prove to the humans that the Decepticons are a terrible and untrustworthy threat.
"Your leaders will now understand"
What else could Prime possibly be referring to?
The spear was wrapped under the Fallen's chin shortly before Optimus pulled upwards and ripped his face off. Throughout the entire fight it was Prime pursing the Fallen and man handling him every step of the way. There was no back and forth like against 07 Megatron, the earlier forest brawl, or DotM Sentinel, Prime was in control of his fight with the Fallen (and briefly Megatron before he broke his arm and shot him in the face with his own cannon) the entire time.
Also I'm all for discussing the movies but if you are going to continue this whole "you disagree with me so you obviously must be a child, let me hold your hand" BS then we're done here. I like a discussion but don't care for contributing to fanboy BS that makes all of us look like fools.
Hazekiah
It's really a very simple matter of punctuation and context.
"Your leaders will now understand. Decepticons will never leave your planet alone and we needed them to believe we had gone. For today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them!"
You can't honestly believe that "we needed them to believe" refers back to "your leaders" without likewise believing that "we take the battle to them" similarly refers back to "your leaders" as well, lolwtf.
Optimus isn't talking about proving a point to Earth's leaders and attacking THEM, he's talking about tricking the DECEPTICONS for the sake of the element of surprise.
And try watching the battle between Optimus and The Fallen with your eyes open next time. The spear barely pierced his "skin" before Optimus improvised and used the opportunity to wrap it around his FACE, not his neck. Which forced The Fallen to attempt a retreat, thereby exposing himself to the finishing blow.
If anyone needs me to hold their hand and explain anything else to them just go ahead and ask.
:-*