Movie Review - Transformers Rise of the Beasts [SPOILERS]

[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.
...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.
...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.