Uh... there are so many different versions of G1 Megatron. If you mean the G1 cartoon, then that's really not the greatest version as G1 cartoon Megs was fairly ineffective. His most recurring piece of dialogue was, "Decepticons, retreat!"
That's actually more of a reference to G2 than G1, as there was a moment where G2 Megatron looked at Bludgeon's head Hamlet style and lamented killing him for a brief moment.
Yeah, but the transformations are really more morphing than proper transforming. Watch this video showing AoE Optimus Prime transforming in slow motion, and you can see the entire back half of the truck mode being swallowed up into his back! That's stupid! Compare this with this video showing Optimus Prime's wonderfully detailed transformation from the first movie. Everything goes somewhere. Okay, quasi-morphing transforming is a LOT better than "Flying Tetris" transforming, sure... but still not as good as full proper parts-shifting transformations like we saw in the first three films.
The shift towards morphing transformations was a real bone of contention for Beast Machines. Odd how there's a lot less controversy over it now.
I disagree.
Firstly, the whole refugee thing was already established from ROTF, so it's not a new thing to this movie. All the new arrivals are arriving asylum seekers, and Galloway's character mentions that the Autobots are living under granted asylum and asked Optimus Prime if the Autobots would leave peacefully if this asylum were to be withdrawn.
District 9 is really more of a direct parallel with human racism, with many things mirroring how humans have treated (and continue to treat) each other IRL. In TLK all Cybertronians have been declared public enemies and are being indiscriminately hunted. Also, the Transformers are combatants. The D9 aliens were sick and starving when they arrived on Earth. Yes, both the Transformers and D9 aliens are refugees with no home to return to - but that's about where the similarity ends. Everything else about them, including the way that they are viewed and treated by humans, is completely different.
What insight? That the Autobots are a bunch of surly and immature children? More importantly, that scene did nothing to advance the plot. The story stalled during that scene, and any character or moment that stalls the story isn't a good thing. This is why so many Star Wars fans hate Jar Jar Binks (and also why many G1 fans hate Wheelie and Daniel).
I found Merlin's comedic moment to be funny.
"I'll give up booze and gambling and wom--- I'll give up booze and gambling!" (or something like that)
The Transformers were never developed as characters either, and this movie is CALLED "Transformers."
Disagree. The Decepticons were already imprisoned, stating that they were already dangerous dudes who'd done other stuff before. You even see some flashback scenes of some of the bad things they've done. And "Megatron did nothing"??? Seriously? What about the body count from the previous films, or the fact that Megatron brought this war to Earth. He's a war criminal!
Witwiccan is an order, the Order of Witwiccans. Not a family name. Sam appears to have been retroactive inducted into the Order because of his contribution to the relations between Autobots and humans. Witwicky is a Polish/Ukrainian surname whereas "Witwicca" is English, meaning, "knowledge of sorcery." So the names aren't even from the same language source despite coincidental similarity in spelling and pronunciation (we call these "false cognates" in languages).
The Knights gave it to him. It's an ancient Cybertronian artifact.
Bigger than Earth. But remember that Cybertron was very badly damaged when the Space Bridge closed and snapped a good chunk of the planet off. Perhaps this is all that remains - giving greater motivation to rebuild it.
But yeah, I otherwise agree with your other comments.