Empire Magazine has posted a new promo image from Bumblebee: The Movie along with a small statement from director Travis Knight.
“I wanted to approach this massive, expansive franchise and really focus in on a tiny corner of the canvas. Everything I’ve tried to do at Laika, searching for an artful blend of darkness and light, intensity and warmth, humour and heart, I wanted to bring to the Transformers franchise.”
“At its core it’s just a beautiful love story between two broken souls who find each other and heal each other,” he adds. “I grew up loving those classic Spielbergian Amblin films. And we’re trying to evoke that kind of emotion in this movie, fusing a rich coming-of-age story with some sci-fi insanity.”
The promo image features the alt-mode (Volkswagen Beetle) of the titular character Bumblebee and the movie’s main human protagonist Charlie Watson (played by the beautiful Hailee Steinfeld).
Scan and transcript courtesy of ComicBookMovie. Check out the image, after the jump.
Russian fan
The flat nose truck was shown for the little time and it doesn't fully copy G1 truck. I'm not against such mild referrence, I appreciate it. But here we see all the promo material focused on Bug. And believe me, everyone, back in 2008 I watched several G1 episodes and they look ridiculous for me. I don't like it, because of many reasons: unrealistic spirit, almost absense of humans, numerous senseless deaths etc. If I would be 7 years old, I probably would like it, but I was 18 then. I respected old-school fans' nostalgia before people here start to bash ROTF and the next Movies. It seems I am the only one, who don't worship G1 here.
dCon
A type of sofa? You'll have to tell me more. And I think with G1 it's like Superman Batman Spider-Man or any comic where they always start from the roots. That's all it is its where the movies started from in the 1st place so it's not gonna sacrifice the way the robots are designed in the movies. Not fully at least. I DO see it being a problem to the kids though aa a camero sounds more exciting to a kid. At least I'm guessing that's the case. But even kids can watch the 1st series online so many of them know and love the originals. The original has great stories and characters and back then it was a such phenomenon it's hard to forget
electronic456
Beast Wars is definitely something I'm open to see gain more attention.
I mean at some point, I would be wanting to see more attention to Optimus Primal and T-Rex Megatron.
SPLIT LIP
I don't think we could if we tried.
Thing is, G1 gets its due everywhere. Virtually everything has G1 mixed in somewhere, including the movies.
Also, G1 may have built the franchise, but it was (and in many ways still is) constant reinvention and reimagining of the core concepts that kept it alive and healthy amongst other 80's brands that faded away. Hell, if we're pulling the whole "what did the most for the franchise" I'd say if anything Beast Wars is more deserving since it revitalized TFs when it was on the verge of cancellation. (because, ironically, G1 had gotten stale and convoluted)
CKPRIME
I don't think you have much to worry about. We're probably not going to see Bumblebee as a bug going forward in the movies series after this one. It's like Prime as a flat nose truck in AoE.
John TheDestroyer
Trust me, I'm sure this movie will have a lot more Bayverse spirit than G1 spirit. The bug is just a nice homage.
electronic456
In defense of the G1 fans, they deserve something that somehow draws them in too. It's not just the fans introduced to the movies, they also deserve some involvement too. After all, remember where this franchise was built.
Also bolded words just to say both aesthetics are equally interesting.
The fact they include stuff like Volkswagen Bug in the 2007 movie and G1 lines like "Autobots, roll out!" should tell you something.
Also do you have a problem with this?
![[IMG]](https://img00.deviantart.net/69af/i/2014/251/0/b/transformers_4_optimus_prime_rusty_truck_by_cbpitts-d7yi3dn.jpg)
Russian fan
OK, I'm glad that you understand, but still you were saying of not just old cars – you were saying about G1-style cars. Bumblebee could use his 74' Camaro, but no, he uses Bug, because producers want to make the Movie having G1 aestetics. It annoys me, since now literally everything in TF franchise has G1 aestetics, except Movies! Toys, comics, cartoons. You can enjoy G1 spirit there. I want to enjoy Movie spirit on the big screen, where it always has been for ten years, it is unique, interesting, cool-looking, it deserves to exist. Why they decide to sacrifice it in favor of nostalgia of small group of people? The Movie grosses most of money internationally, but in many countries the word "transformer" meant a type of sofa before 2007.
dCon
I think you misunderstood me or something because I am the one fan that accepts all change and to be honest I have enjoyed and followed AND collected every line since the 1984 Transformers toon/toyline(& the comics) . My favorites being G1, Beast Wars/Machines, Armada, Animated, Prime, RiD'15. But I absolutely LOVE the movies! Every one of them! They're #1 tied with Generation One imo.
What I WAS saying was if they are going back to the 80s then I think it be fitting ro hsve their old alt modes back. And also I didn't mean any harm by guessing your age, I was correct right? I just was guessing but considering your from Russia (my YT partner/Neighbor is from Russia) I understand and thanks for the lesson on Russia & cartoons. Mad cool
Windsweeper II
Damn. Now you got me thinking this might actually have potential
If this is as hilarious as TGWLP I'm going to have to watch it.
Maybe if this does well they might finally try a Transformers comedy.
They really should. Only they should get people who actually know how to write comedy.
ByteBack
Urk….have they just gone and stolen the script from "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"?
NemesisPrime12
Great explanation
Applejacktimus
Dead?
Plot twist: Barricade kills Charlie, kicking off their rivalry, and Bumble transitions from his violent WWII self to his slightly friendlier self because Charlie taught him about kindness or something? Like, Iron Giant, only Hogarth dies instead?
fathi_haziq
Found my new desktop background.
On a different (and a somewhat nitpicky) note, I just noticed Bumblebee has Nexen tires. In the 1980's, Nexen was still named Woosung Tire and only changed the company's name in the early 2000's, so…mistake No. #01?
SilverOptimus
News Post: Bumblebee: The Movie Official Hi-Res Image And Press Release By Paramount Pictures
BIOMEC
I think that is the camera angle, he isn't as tall as Optimus, but he is taller than Bumblebee!
Majestic Senzu
Yeah, that's what I meant. The bots only "mass shift" when the bot needs to be a certain scale. How is Lockdown as tall or taller than Optimus Prime? "I dunno, mass shifting". A Lambo vs an 18-Wheeler cab…yeah.
All I am saying is Bumblebee might put on a few pounds between this movie and the first one.
Sam’s_Bee
Love the throw back to G1, I'm willing to give the film a chance. Let's hope Bee has good taste in classic rock for not only Charlie''s sake but the viewers.