The first movie was the one with most of the "blurry" action and that's because of the way that Bay shot the scenes - as Ralph Wiggum said, from the POV of humans watching giants fighting each other at high speed... yeah, it's gonna look blurry and messy. Real fights look messy, a real fight from a POV of an insect is going to look even more chaotic. While I understand that this can look confusing, it does lend a significant air of realism to the visual aesthetic of the fight scenes, and also importantly, a palatable reminder to the audience that these are "Giant Effing Robots." No other Transformers medium quite conveys this awesome sense of scale as Bay's movies can -- for all the flaws in the live action movies, one thing that I've got to give him credit for is that he does know how to make visual spectacles.
The action in the sequels are relatively less messy looking because that's when Bay started filming with IMAX and 3D cameras, which often encourage directors to use wider shots (in order to fill wider cinema screens). Although the sequels were progressively worse as stories, they were visually incredible. The forest battle in Revenge of the Fallen has got to be one of the most epic fight sequences ever choreographed in Transformers. The moment when Prime yells, "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!" and goes to town on the unrelenting Decepticon assault gives me goosebumps! It's scenes like this which make Bay's movies feel like a cinematic roller coaster.
I think part of the reason why the Decepticons are hard to tell apart is because of the choice of alt modes which don't lend a wide palette of colours to work off. Military vehicles are, realistically, going to have a more limited range of colours. You're not going to get a jet in hot rod red or a tank in canary yellow etc.The Constructicons had a more varied colour combination (and I actually prefer their colours over the G1 Constructicons; in essence their colours were more reminiscent of the spirit of Diaclone Devastator's colours). Age of Extinction's Decepticons were more distinctive as their colours were based on civilian vehicles.
What's that? Still can't tell the AoE Decepticons (and Dinobots) apart? Ah, now here comes the main reason why they're so hard to tell apart -- absolute lack of personalities. The Autobots don't have much personality in the films, mostly being shallow caricatures rather than characters, but most of the Decepticons are much worse as they're not even caricatures. They're set pieces. So were the Dinobots.We know absolutely nothing about most of the Movieverse Decepticons as "people."
You can have near-identical characters that the audience can still emotionally link with if the character has a distinctive personality, and this is what most of the Bayformers lack. Look at "Sonny" from 'I, Robot.' He looks identical as other robots of the same make/model in the film (except when they go evil and switch eye colour
^This.Originally Posted by Smint
Fans may be initially hesitant when faced with a new concept, but if the concept is any good, then the majority of the fandom will come to accept and embrace it. Just look at Beast Wars. When BW first came out it faced a mountain of criticism and animosity from fans, with many crying, "Trukk Not Munky" and "Ruined Forever!" when news of it first came out. But soon fans started realising how awesome Beast Wars was. The toys proved to be amazing, and then when the show came out it gave us something completely spectacular and one of the best Transformers stories ever written. If I had to list the top 3 Transformers continuities, I would say:
1: IDW G1
2: Marvel G1
3: Beast Wars
That's how highly I would rate it. I wouldn't rate Bayformers anywhere near there. 20 years later many fans look back at Beast Wars with great fondness, and many more are eagerly anticipating the BW MP figures. How do Bayformer fans feel 9 years on?
Those of us who grew up with G1 in the 80s were in high school or uni when BW came out, so we were able immediately appreciate the more advanced story telling and adult humour embedded in the story. But I find it interesting when I hear younger fans talk about watching BW again as adults and noticing the higher levels of writing that flew over their heads as kids. This is what a good enduring quality story should look like. Not something that you just enjoy today, but something you'll continue to enjoy tomorrow. The live action movies really feel like they're not designed for any greater enjoyment other than being in the cinema. Michael Bay is an excellent "bums on seats" director... he draws massive crowds to flock to cinemas and each movie is a box office smash. But how do they fare after the box office run is finished? A good story is one that you never get sick of watching/reading (like say, the Original Star Wars Trilogy
Ever tried doing a Transformers Cosplay? Cos I gotta tell ya, those traditional blocky G1 designs are NOT easy to move around in! In a photorealistic movie, slavish G1 designs would make the Transformers look like Power Rangers Zords.Having said that, they didn't have to be that alien (and adding beards and other weird body/facial features flies against making the Transformers look alien). Perhaps something more like the general aesthetic of some of the Pacific Rim Jaegers might be better, as it seems to strike a better balance between Japanese Mecha & photorealism to me. Of course, the Jaegers were man made, so it would make more sense for the Transformers to look a bit more otherworldly. But yeah, some of the Transformers in the sequels looks just cartoonishly goofy... like Drift.
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