Movie Review - Transformers Rise of the Beasts [SPOILERS]

[GoktimusPrime]

SPOILER WARNING: This thread contains movie spoilers

Photos from the Sydney premiere

https://i.ibb.co/ScJDTCm/ROTB01.jpg

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https://i.ibb.co/QCX8Zr7/ROTB17.jpg

Overall: Really enjoyable movie. You can tell that, much like Travis Knight, Steve Caple Jr. cares about the Transformers and wanted to make a good film. :) In terms of film literature, I would still rate Bumblebee above Rise of the Beasts, but as a Transformers movie, I would agree that Rise of the Beasts is the best yet.

Quick random thoughts before I head off the bed...
When Bumblebee says that he considers humans to be friends, Optimus Prime tells him to stop hanging out at the drive-in cinema. This is a nod to #1 of the Transformers Marvel Comics, 1984, where Bumblebee meets Buster Witwicky (Jesse and O) at a drive-in theatre.
When Noah stabs Scourge in the back of the knee; this is a nod to Beast Wars, where Cheetor taught the proto-human children how to fight Predacons by attacking their joints.
It is suggested that the Maximals are the Autobots' future descendants who've travelled back in time, with Optimus Primal outright saying that he was named after Optimus Prime and how the Maximals saw him as a great historic figure.
Useful humans whose screen time contribute to the story! And they are the most actively constructive human allies too; not just MacGuffin bearers. No gratuitious fan-service shots, no romance story.
While none of the Terrorcons really had any character development, it was neat that they explained that they were slaves of Unicron. Unicron torturing Scourge when he was displeased was a nice callback to G1 Unicron.
I want a Noah action figure, damnit.
Wheeljack, being stationed in Peru, speaks with a Peruvian accent. Sure beats TLK Hot Rod's random stereotyped cartoony French accent.
Some neat moments of comic relief. The audience that I watched it with laughed the hardest at Mirage's line of, "You were inside me." I personally liked, "I'm not following you, I'm escaping in the same direction as you." ;)
When Elena was looking at archaeological images on her Windows 3.0 computer, one web site/article was called "Asahi Takara" ('morning treasure' in Japanese)
I liked Optimus Prime and Noah's parallel character journeys.
I really liked how the central theme to the story, and the key to its resolution, was "Till All Are One."
Really love how Mirage's ability is fairly accurate his original G1 bio. Not becoming invisible, but being able to project illusions; and they can only last for a short time.
Optimus Primal being forced to euthanise Airazor, and Airazor consenting to her euthanasia was really freaking heavy. It also felt very Beast Wars-esque, as the BW cartoon never shyed away from difficult topics. It reminded me of the episode Transmutate.

Minor nitpicky gripes:
Airazor never transforms. I can understand Apelinq and Unicron not transforming, but I would've loved to see Airazor transforming; even if it was at the end when she was fighting Primal or something.
So... if G.I. Joe exists in this universe... where the bloody hell were they when the excrement was hitting the fan?
I know why Bumblebee and Mirage came back to life (https://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys), but from a storytelling POV, I kinda wish that they didn't. It makes the war seem inconsequential (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Rise_of_Skywalker) and cheapens their sacrifice if death for these characters just means an extended nap.

[Tha_Phantom]

When Elena was looking at archaeological images on her Windows 3.0 computer, one web site/article was called "Asahi Takara" ('morning treasure' in Japanese)

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed this!

Overall, a really good movie. I enjoyed it as much as I hoped I would and my expectations were high.
I'm still deciding where to rank it but it's either as good as or better than Bumblebee.
I really loved the robot cast and the BW nods. It seems they've borrowed heavily from the original BW lore with things like Primal being named after Prime, the beasts being from the future and rarely transforming on screen (although a reason for this was not given I'd like to think it's to avoid an energon overload).
I liked that the humans mostly took a back seat, but the ones that were there were well written and contributed in a meaningful way to the story.
As a hip hop fan, the soundtrack utterly rocked! I also noticed little elements of the 1986 Unicron theme when he was on screen.

[KELPIE]

Nice pictures mate, looks like a fun night.

I've skipped the review to avoid spoilers.. however I won't be going to the cinemas to see it. These movies have burnt me and I doubt there's any turn around that'll get me into theatres short of a full comprehensive, shouted from the rooftops, reboot.

[SharkyMcShark]

I won't be going to the cinemas to see it. These movies have burnt me and I doubt there's any turn around that'll get me into theatres short of a full comprehensive, shouted from the rooftops, reboot.

I'm genuinely getting more joy from teasing my fiance and friends by threatening to drag them to see it, than the actual idea of seeing the film.

[Golden Phoenix]

I had forgotten how much movie Optimus Prime loves ripping peoples heads off.

[GoktimusPrime]

I had forgotten how much movie Optimus Prime loves ripping peoples heads off.
I can accept Optimus Prime killing enemies in the midst of combat. That's the grim reality of war. What I find more objectionable is when he kills defeated and helpless opponents... which is a freaking war crime. There are times when Moofieverse OP has killed active combatants (e.g. Bonecrusher, The Fallen, Megatron, Harold Attinger, Lockdown etc.); but there were a few times when he executed defenceless enemies, such as Demolishor (ROTF) and Sentinel Prime (DOTM). Scourge was an active opponent whom Optimus Prime killed in the middle of combat. I can accept this.

[GoktimusPrime]

More random thoughts:

Much like Bumblebee, the prologue in RotB is 100% Transformers. The prologue also allows the movie to instantly dive into the Transformers lore instead of beginning on Earth with humans. We also see Unicron in the prologue.
Are the Maximals also Cybertronians and was their homeworld a colony planet? There is a hint that the Maximals are from the future, as Optimus Primal saw Optimus Prime as a legendary hero whom he was named after. So I think it's implied that they are future Cybertronians, if not explicitly stated.
The Terrorcons also have no defined origin story. All we know is that they can transform, they have knowledge of Cybertronian history and culture (Scourge mentions Primus), and they are slaves to Unicron. They remind me of the Wraiths in The Lord of the Rings. Again, I think there is an implication here that the Terrorcons are Cybertronians.
Much like the Bumblebee movie where Bumblebee and Charlie shared a character journey together, Optimus Prime and Noah also have a parallel path of personal growth. They both want to defend their families, but start off doing so in more self-serving ways; but both learn to take risks to save the greater good. And both of their goals were on the opposite sides of the coin; Noah initially wanted to destroy the key, but for the sake of others he chose not to. Optimus Prime initially wanted to preserve the key, but for the sake of others he chose to destroy it. But both made that decision based on the motif of "Till All Are One."
Noah and Mirage's relationship reminds me of Raoul and Tracks from the G1 cartoon. Both humans met their Autobot buddies while trying to steal them as cars. Both RotB Mirage and G1 Tracks are cocky and arrogant (I love how Mirage yelled at Kris for scratching his paint :D). And both pairs end up risking their lives to save each other. Noah introduces Mirage to his mate, Reek, similar to how Raoul introduced Tracks (and Blaster) to his human buddies, Poplock and Rocksteady.
I want a garbage truck Mirage toy, damnit! I love mundane alt modes because that's how being a robot in disguise works. Mirage knew that being a Porsche would draw too much attention, so he disguised himself as a garbage truck. I want that toy! Although this does dismantle the idea that Transformers can only scan and transform into objects of equivalent size. If Mirage can change from a 4.5m sports car to a 7.9m garbage truck, what limitations do they even have? And I assume that garbage truck Mirage's robot mode would be pretty huge; not as big as Stratosphere, but larger than Optimus Prime.
I don't "want" want an F1 race car RotB Mirage; it only appeared on screen for a second as an Easter Egg. Buuuuut... I would probably buy one if Hasbro made it. :p

[KELPIE]

I'm genuinely getting more joy from teasing my fiance and friends by threatening to drag them to see it, than the actual idea of seeing the film.

Haha - That's excellent!!

[KingGrimlock]

Just saw the movie and loved it. One thing I noticed that wasn't mentioned here yet was when Unicron was on screen the music had strong hints of his 80's theme into it, something I think was a good nod to how awesome the original theme was.

[Bidoofdude]

Just got back from the movie today as I’d missed the advance screening due to exam season.

It’s a good enough movie but nothing amazing or game-changing, about what I expected. I was actually quite surprised how much they channeled the 2007 Transformers film with this one, albeit in the 90s and with a lot less noisy camera work/sensory overload. Once again it seems like they are being purposefully ambiguous on ties to the original five movie run, enough that it could plausibly be a prequel or sorts while being free to go down the reboot route fully at some point. Probably depends on how this film performs.

I liked the Maximals, but they could have gotten a lot more impact by really playing on the simultaneous past and future stuff, besides a few throwaway lines. Primal’s voice performance was excellent and had tones of the original BW incarnation mixed with something new. The other Maximals and Terrorcons had basically no characterisation, which is a shame. None of the big battles really had compelling stakes, especially the kind of boring museum fight. I’m not a big plot holes obsessor, but they implied that Scourge and the other heralds are nigh invincible as seen in that first fight, but all they had to do overcome them was just fight a little harder? Their weapons did nothing in that first scene, but the Autobots come in with more gumption and win over them?

Probably a hot topic issue but I didn’t really like Optimus in this film. I get what they were going for with him being conflicted over their duty to Cybertron and to the humans, but they didn’t really stick the landing well. He was rageful and fighting purely out of vengeance, which seems to work out for him in the end, with the lessons from Primal not really actually changing anything. There are other movies to develop the character into the thoughtful Dad character we know still, but it was a bit irritating. Some of the lines were very cringe and had give-me-your-face vibes. That said, at least he had a characterisation. You can hear Peter getting old now, he’s given so much to the character and always does a great job. Interesting that he always refers to Bumblebee as Bee, it really stuck out to me.

Unicron was cool, he’s not really in the film much besides being the drawticket for fans. Scourge is fine but they could have probably as easily done some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff and just straight up do Galvatron in a similar vein to the (terrible) WFC Kingdom show. Stuff with fate and the future and all that are powerful parts of Beast Wars and the better parts of WFCK, it would have added a bit of stakes that the movie was lacking.

Noah is a fun character with a decent story, even if it’s a bit generic. Charlie’s story was better emotionally and felt fresh for film and for the franchise. Performance and lines were good for Noah too but it can’t help but feel like the misunderstood guy who’s lost his way with a struggling family story thrown into something bigger than himself trope didn’t benefit the already quite generic film. Still, his line chemistry with Mirage was excellent, who was maybe the standout character of the film. The Autobots were mostly characters this time around.

I liked it. It’s not a great film. Plenty to build on and it’s a cut above the plot and character messes we hit with the Bayverse, great camera work and dialogue. It’s hard to know what to expect as fans, we’ve had a few mediocre things for a while now but perspective is hard to keep. 6/10

[Tha_Phantom]

One thing I noticed that wasn't mentioned here yet was when Unicron was on screen the music had strong hints of his 80's theme into it, something I think was a good nod to how awesome the original theme was.

Sorry, but it definitely was mentioned here. :p Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed it though.



As a hip hop fan, the soundtrack utterly rocked! I also noticed little elements of the 1986 Unicron theme when he was on screen.

[GoktimusPrime]

I was actually quite surprised how much they channeled the 2007 Transformers film with this one, albeit in the 90s and with a lot less noisy camera work/sensory overload.
I think that's a deliberate decision on Paramount's part. The Bumblebee movie moved away from the Bayformer formula, but commercially underperformed. The Bayformers movies were commercial successes. At the end of the day, we all vote with our wallets. For my part I watched Bumblebee thrice in cinemas.


Probably a hot topic issue but I didn’t really like Optimus in this film. I get what they were going for with him being conflicted over their duty to Cybertron and to the humans, but they didn’t really stick the landing well. He was rageful and fighting purely out of vengeance, which seems to work out for him in the end, with the lessons from Primal not really actually changing anything.
Optimus Prime is supposed to start from a dark place, having been stuck on Earth for seven years and desperate to get back to Cybertron to continue the war against the Decepticons. I like how the movie started Optimus Prime from a low point so that he can grow as a character. I also liked how both Noah and Optimus Prime had parallels as the respective "big brother" characters for their respective families, which is something that helps both characters grow. Noah chooses to spare the Key to save Prime's family, while Prime destroys the Key to save Noah's.

Yes, Optimus Prime did brutally kill Scourge, but this was in the middle of combat. I personally don't object to him killing enemy combatants during a fight; that's just the awful nature of war. What I object to is when he kills opponents after the fight has ended; i.e. executing POWs - a war crime. This isn't what Prime did to Scourge though. It's not comparable with the way that he executed Demolishor in RotF or Sentinel Prime in DotM, IMHO.

[Lint]

Overall a pretty by-the-numbers action adventure. It's taking the Transformers franchise in the right direction but lacks the overall depth to be an excellent film.


Below are my brain farts:


90's laid on thick
Maximals in contrast, were spread really really thin. This entire film could have been done without them with little impact to the quality or story. Disappointing.
The abscence of the US (or otherwise) military response was incredibly refreshing
It's Macguffin time! Is a Transformers film without a portal Macguffin even really a Transformers film? (don't answer that)
Moody Prime felt a bit contrived and overdone.
Scourge places way too much trust in his incredibly ineffective Frenzy/Freezer minions.
The Terrorcons plot armour melted away way too fast. At an instant they go from nigh-invincible to cannon fodder with next to no explanation except the good guys are fighting harder now.
Many would rejoice this, but unfortunately I feel like the attempt at actual film-making was at the expense of the outright silliness that made the Bay/Knightverse so bad it's good. This film kind of lands in no-mans land, not awful but in no way outstanding.
Action sequences pretty well done and not at all overdone. Quite the accomplishment.
Why Wheeljack? Exist only to deliver an unfunny political correctness gag?
Mirage is by far the feature robot character in this film. Great to see Hasbro not leaning too hard on Bumblebee to carry the Franchise. However: go the shops to go buy a Mirage and waaaaat, he's not there? This film was delayed by a year, get your sheets together Hasbro!
The coolest character was Apelinq. Actually no, Stratosphere! Will we get toys?

[Dimi194]

I didn't leave me with the sense of epic-ness of TF3, or the warm and fuzzies of BB, but I really enjoyed this one - I liked the variety in robot and human characters and for a McGuffin franchise, these ones felt interesting enough (although I'm not clear how Scourge built the portal thing on the volcano? Or was it already there?)

Really hope they do another one, and the GI Joe reference at the end sets up some interesting possibilities (esp if they were to redo the humans working with the bad guy transformers again).

Overall nice work 7/10 - and now I need toys of ALL OF THEM!

[GoktimusPrime]

Speaking of the MacGuffin, I've been wondering... why didn't the Maximals just destroy the TransWarp Key after arriving on Earth? :confused: If the idea was that using the Key would attract Unicron, and they wanted to get the Key away from Unicron... and the Maximals seem content to strand themselves on Earth... why not just destroy the damn thing?

[Dangermot]

Just come home from a morning session with my son. The cinema wasn't really that busy, so I don't know how much money this one is going to make.
Overall we enjoyed Bumblebee more but this was still pretty good.
Optimus Prime was a bit moody in this one. Certainly quite different to how we see him at the end of the Bumblebee movie.
Optimus Primal got plenty of screen time but the rest of the Maximals didn't really do much. I didn't really relate to them at all especially never following Beast Wars as a kid.
Unicron was pretty good and Scourge was a good bad gay. As another poster said, I like how Unicron tortures Scourge like he did to Galvatron in the 1986 movie.
Was glad to see Mirage be the centre of attention rather than Bumblebee. I have been getting a little Bumblebee fatigued.
Still I was happy to see Bumblebee got revived and not killed off entirely.
The human characters were pretty good. Not annoying like Sam Witwicky or Agent Simmons. And they actually added something to the story.

[GoktimusPrime]

Another potential reference: Elena uses a 3D scanner to scan the falcon statue. This may be a reference to how Mainframe animators used a 3D scanner to scan the Beast Wars toys, and then used those scans as the basis for the animation models. And of course, Airazor would have been one of the toys to be scanned.

[Meister]

Still having a hard time getting over having a cool/hip Porsche character with blue racing stripes and it not being Jazz…

But that aside the movie was ok, not the worst, not the best, Maximals seemed wasted (like you’d think mentioning they are from the future would prompt some further questioning). Mirage (should have been Jazz… lol ) was a good character and a refreshing break from the radio talking Bumblebee.

Biggest waste of potential was Scourge, should have played the internal battle between his own volition and Unicron’s will (similar to Megatron in the original cartoon movie), with more insight to how he became Unicron’s unwilling slave. It would have been better to have Primal and Prime fight him in the final battle (that’s how they overcome his power) and rather than kill him, they incapacitate him in the battle and in defeat (with his mask removed) Scourge begs them to kill him to free him from Unicron’s servitude, which prompts prime to show mercy and instead of killing scourge, destroys the key, however in the suction effect sucks scourge back to Unicron, so that potentially we haven’t seen the end of Scourge (or Unicron)

Anyway, like I said it was enjoyable, the GI Joe cameo at the end was intriguing, I thought it was going to be sector 7 lol

[Lint]

Biggest waste of potential was Scourge, should have played the internal battle between his own volition and Unicron’s will (similar to Megatron in the original cartoon movie), with more insight to how he became Unicron’s unwilling slave. It would have been better to have Primal and Prime fight him in the final battle (that’s how they overcome his power) and rather than kill him, they incapacitate him in the battle and in defeat (with his mask removed) Scourge begs them to kill him to free him from Unicron’s servitude, which prompts prime to show mercy and instead of killing scourge, destroys the key, however in the suction effect sucks scourge back to Unicron, so that potentially we haven’t seen the end of Scourge (or Unicron)

It's becoming clear to me that one of the directives for these live actions films is that good is good and evil is evil. This is likely a Paramount decision and done so as to not-alienate some sectors of the US market and more easily gain acceptance in international markets. Unfortunately this isn't really a good foundation for good storytelling. Personally I don't think the trade-off is worth it as the Transformers brand has so much potential and most (if not all) iterations are diminishing it's value overall.


Anyway, like I said it was enjoyable, the GI Joe cameo at the end was intriguing, I thought it was going to be sector 7 lol

I believe it was indeed Sector 7 in the test screenings.

[GoktimusPrime]

Still having a hard time getting over having a cool/hip Porsche character with blue racing stripes and it not being Jazz…
Why? Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movie universe before.

I can understand some people being unhappy with Wheeljack's design shift (although it's no better/worse than how he looked in Dark of the Moon), but given that Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movieverse, I see now issue with Mirage being one.

If we're going by the logic that the Porsche should be Jazz just because of G1, then...
* The black police car should've been Stakeout, not Barricade
* The yellow Autobot sports car should've been Sunstreaker, not Bumblebee
* The black ute should've been Trailbreaker, not Ironhide
* The fire emergency vehicle should've been Red Alert, not Ratchet
* The red fire engine should've been Inferno, not Sentinel Prime
* The F22 Raptor should've been Fearswoop, not Starscream
* The military helicopter should've been Vortex, not Blackout
* The stereo CD player should've been Blaster, not Frenzy
* The Corvette should've been Tracks, not Sideswipe
* The Autobot hatchback should've been Skids, not... no, wait, that one's actually okay. Maybe without the offensive stereotype. :p
...etc.

Given that the live action movie series is now 16 years, I think that the ship has truly sailed on this issue. Movieverse =/= G1, just let them be what they be. :)

[Tha_Phantom]

Why? Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movie universe before.

I can understand some people being unhappy with Wheeljack's design shift (although it's no better/worse than how he looked in Dark of the Moon), but given that Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movieverse, I see now issue with Mirage being one.

If we're going by the logic that the Porsche should be Jazz just because of G1, then...
* The black police car should've been Stakeout, not Barricade
* The yellow Autobot sports car should've been Sunstreaker, not Bumblebee
* The black ute should've been Trailbreaker, not Ironhide
* The fire emergency vehicle should've been Red Alert, not Ratchet
* The red fire engine should've been Inferno, not Sentinel Prime
* The F22 Raptor should've been Fearswoop, not Starscream
* The military helicopter should've been Vortex, not Blackout
* The stereo CD player should've been Blaster, not Frenzy
* The Corvette should've been Tracks, not Sideswipe
* The Autobot hatchback should've been Skids, not... no, wait, that one's actually okay. Maybe without the offensive stereotype. :p
...etc.

Given that the live action movie series is now 16 years, I think that the ship has truly sailed on this issue. Movieverse =/= G1, just let them be what they be. :)

I wasn't going to say anything, because honestly I'm utterly sick of this being brought up, but I agree with everything Gok said. Movieverse =/= G1. Let it go.

[reillyd]

I’d been ill recovering covid, so I only JUST got round to seeing the movie today. The cinema was quite packed, especially for such strong competition. (Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, etc). So unless my screening was unrepresentative, people are still going to see it.

Arcee was very, very cool. I love her and can’t wait for a Studio Series toy. I don’t know if the regular mainline ROTB toys are going to go to a third wave, but would love to see a simpler form version as well.

I have a big questions though, which hopefully someone can solve. I had to dash to the loo at one point, so might have missed it. Night bird has an aerial form, but did she ever take a car form? I’m waiting for Wave 2 ROTB Nightbird to come out, as she looks cool, and I didn’t want to pay $79 for her at Big W in a three pack. Did I blink and miss it, or did she never take on board a car mode?

Did anyone think that they filmed a second version of the final clip, where the card handed said Sector 7 instead of G.I. Joe? Because I heard that this was a continuation of Bumblebee and not meant to be a complete reboot of Bayverse continuity, and if so then G.I. Joe were seriously derelict in their duty during Age of Extinction and the Autobot serial-killer hunt down. They seemed to be pro-Autobot in the end scene.

[GoktimusPrime]

Arcee was very, very cool. I love her and can’t wait for a Studio Series toy.
The Studio Series toy is already out, albeit a Core Class. :)


Night bird has an aerial form, but did she ever take a car form? I’m waiting for Wave 2 ROTB Nightbird to come out, as she looks cool, and I didn’t want to pay $79 for her at Big W in a three pack. Did I blink and miss it, or did she never take on board a car mode?
Yes, she does transform into a Nissan Skyline, and it is seen on screen.
e.g. road battle in Peru

Also, all the toys in that Big W three pack are also sold individually in other stores (e.g. Kmart).


Did anyone think that they filmed a second version of the final clip, where the card handed said Sector 7 instead of G.I. Joe?
I've heard rumours that the card said "Sector 7" in test screenings. Yet to find any credible source to back this up, so take this with a grain of salt.

[GoktimusPrime]

Update: added an opinion poll to this review thread. Vote away!

P.S. "Only if cheap" also includes "only if free," if you think that this movie was only worth watching with a free pass.

[Meister]

Why? Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movie universe before.

I can understand some people being unhappy with Wheeljack's design shift (although it's no better/worse than how he looked in Dark of the Moon), but given that Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movieverse, I see now issue with Mirage being one.

If we're going by the logic that the Porsche should be Jazz just because of G1, then...
* The black police car should've been Stakeout, not Barricade
* The yellow Autobot sports car should've been Sunstreaker, not Bumblebee
* The black ute should've been Trailbreaker, not Ironhide
* The fire emergency vehicle should've been Red Alert, not Ratchet
* The red fire engine should've been Inferno, not Sentinel Prime
* The F22 Raptor should've been Fearswoop, not Starscream
* The military helicopter should've been Vortex, not Blackout
* The stereo CD player should've been Blaster, not Frenzy
* The Corvette should've been Tracks, not Sideswipe
* The Autobot hatchback should've been Skids, not... no, wait, that one's actually okay. Maybe without the offensive stereotype. :p
...etc.

Given that the live action movie series is now 16 years, I think that the ship has truly sailed on this issue. Movieverse =/= G1, just let them be what they be. :)

Yeah maybe, but I like Jazz, he was my favourite when I was a kid, and I think his portrayal in the 2007 flick was pretty crap to say the least. Seeing as this was (supposed to be) a prequel to that, with the prequels seeming to follow a more G1 theme robot and vehicle mode look (Bumblebee originally being a VW etc) it would have been nice from a personal point of view to see Jazz again (just like we see Wheeljack and Arcee in this one again) this time as a Porsche, doing cool Jazz Porsche things, but that didn’t eventuate, they gave the spotlight to Mirage this time and that’s fine, like I said I enjoyed his character portrayal. The 5 year old transformer loving kid inside me is allowed to have wanted it to be Jazz, just like you and whoever else is allowed to feel otherwise. In the end, we enjoy Transformers, and that’s cool😎

[Lint]

Yeah maybe, but I like Jazz, he was my favourite when I was a kid

I think it's perfectly fine to wish ROTB Mirage was Jazz. The character was pretty much G1 Jazz in all but name (albeit on the juvenile side. Imagine how jarring it would be if they made a big red truck leader of the Autobots character and named it Prowl, or a red and white/grey fighter plane and named it Blitzwing?

[Tha_Phantom]

People can wish for it, but as Gok pointed out this is hardly anything new and all you're doing is setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect any sort of consistency there.
I take the movieverse as it comes. Sometimes we get G1 nods and sometimes we don't.

[GoktimusPrime]

The character was pretty much G1 Jazz in all but name (albeit on the juvenile side.
I thought ROTB Mirage's persona was more like G1 Tracks than Jazz. But many of the movieformers' personae don't match their G1 namesakes. Movie Bumblebee's persona is more like Hot Rod than Bumblebee, really. The only time movie Bumblebee's persona more closely resembled G1 Bumblebee was in the Bumblebee movie. But even then, not completely. He still remained a mute who had to learn to communicate with his radio like Movieverse Bumblebee; G1 Bumblebee never did that.


Imagine how jarring it would be if they made a big red truck leader of the Autobots character and named it Prowl, or a red and white/grey fighter plane and named it Blitzwing?
I see what you did there. ;)

[GoktimusPrime]

What movie toys do we want to see?

For me...
* Transit. Even though he was cut from the film, I would love to have the toy.
* Wheeljack, Studio Series. Licensed Volkswagen mini-bus please.
* Scorponok. Core Class like Freezer is fine.
* Noah in Exo-Suit. A Core Class action figure of Exo-Suit Noah (similar to Studio Series Spike Witwicky) would be neat. Given that this toy wouldn't need to transform, they could also chuck in a pair of small non-poseable PVC mini-figs of regular Noah and Elena to help justify the price point.
* Mirage, rubbish truck. I'm serious. We see Mirage use his rubbish truck mode to sneak into the museum compound. I've heard a rumour that only the front cab-section is meant to be Mirage, with the rest of the truck being a hologram. It'd be neat if the toy could also emulate something like this; make it kinda like G1 Rodimus Prime where Mirage himself just forms the front section, maybe have part of the robot concealed inside the rest of the truck mode. And the rest of the truck can split up and form accessories or whatever.
* Stratosphere. It'd be neat if he came with a small Bumblebee toy (similar to how ROTF Stratosphere comes with a tiny Optimus Prime).
* Apelinq. Even as a retool of Optimus Primal. Include a two-piece TransWarp Key accessory.
* Nightbird, Studio Series. Licensed Nissan GT-R please.

[SharkyMcShark]

What movie toys do we want to see?

For me...
* Transit. Even though he was cut from the film, I would love to have the toy.


If we're talking cut concepts, I wouldn't mind a toy of the recently revealed concept art red muscle car Terrorcon.

[Dimi194]

All of the above ASAP!
But esp Studio Series Transit and Stratosphere (as the mainline Nightbird and Wheeljack are actually pretty good)

[GoktimusPrime]

But esp Studio Series Transit and Stratosphere (as the mainline Nightbird and Wheeljack are actually pretty good)
I mostly want Nightbird and Wheeljack as Studio Series because I want to see them with licensed vehicle modes. :) I don't know if they'll be better or worse than their mainline counterparts. I used to have mainline Airazor, but I sold it because I found it was, for me, inferior to Studio Series Airazor. I currently have both mainline and Studio Series Voyager Optimus Prime, and I find both toys are quite good in different ways (as a play toy, I find mainline Optimus Prime to be superior). So I guess so far I've had a 50:50 split in terms of mainline vs Studio Series toys. :p I have handled mainline Cheetor (when I was helping Hasbro make the Big W ad for the Jungle Mission 3 pack). It's also a nice toy in its own right, but the Studio Series Cheetor toy is better for me. Although admittedly the Studio Series toy is also twice the size/budget as a Voyager vs Deluxe. I also quite like mainline Mirage... I intend to still keep him after I get Studio Series Mirage. And I'll likely do the same with Nightbird and Wheeljack.