EDITORIAL: Defending Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS

Love the first.
Number two was horrible and three kind of contradicted the history set in the first film.
They're fun films but nothing more really.

Great article. I only enjoyed Transformers and the last 40 minutes of Dark of the Moon. I'm still hoping that Age of Extinction will be good.

Great article NB! The Transformer films aren't about a rich or human story, they're made so that we can have some fun for a few hours. When I go to see a TF film it's to see robots kick the shit out of each other (done by a director who knows how to do that). The films are about having a good time, not winning Michael Bay an Oscar for best director.

Im with you Baggins. I've liked the TF films with ghe exception of the 2nd one simply because it made no sense at all. So, only a Prime can beat the Fallen? But anyone can beat a Prime? Plus, the Fallen is a giant sissy? Transformers are born from cocoons on Cybertron? Wait...did Sam just die and go to Transformer Heaven?

Anyhow, it sounds like me and you have the same exact history with TF. I watched the original series all the way up to the Unicron film, tried to watch the series after that but just stopped because all the new episodes sucked without all the characters I loved, since everyone died in the movie.

Yet, here I am, a fan of the films.

The complaints never made sense to me. I dont care what people think, it the designs are fine and they were never going to look loke the G1 cartoons. It would make no sense for the transformers to show up and take the shape of old things from the 80's. Why would Starscream choose to be a F-15 when he could be an F-22? Why would Soundwave show up and be a cassette player? He was always a support character who didn't usually mix it up in battle, so ot made sense for him to be a satellite l. He still shot his animals and gadgets out of him to go fight. Times have changed, and with those changes, the transformers had to change what they turn into, and in doing that, they were never going to look like the old cartoon. But the essence of the characters were still there, which is all that should matter.

As far as the plots go, not all films need a complex plot. The TF films dont have one and everyone calls them terrible, yet the Avengers doesn't have one and its considered the best CBM of all time? Okay...

And the last big complaint. People cant tell whats going on? All i can say is pay attention because Inhave no problem seeing who is fighting who and what they are doing.

Oh, and good article, NEOBAGGINS! I hope we get to see some space stories and more focus on the Transformers themselves.

The answer is no...no he wasn't.

Lots of interesting, well made points here. Of course, I completely disagree!:)

Well you are missing the bigger picture here man.
The problem's not the humans characters, the problem is that they are horrible characters. The problem is not that they are over designed, the problem is that most of the time you can't tell them apart because of the crappy designs.
And Transformers always get sidelined for retarded love story, they should be characters not background props.
Kinda lousy article(Just as my grammar, yeah, i know).

I liked the first Transformers movie. I thought the second was mindless fun but the third was shit.

We need this article on the front page! You get a thumbs Neo!

I think the Transformers movies are awesome, and you're totally right: there is very little to no source material. I think what fans forget sometimes is that comic books and cartoons always come in separate and heinously numerous volumes, the story arcs are convoluted and complicated. The job of a feature film adaptation, unless you have a situation like Lord of the Rings where the script is basically already written, is to capture the essence of the source material in the best way possible to get the story across.

Sometimes you have situations like Zack Snyder's, "Watchmen", where they adapt the movie literally panel by panel. Personally I think that the Ultimate Cut and/or Director's Cuts of Watchmen are two of the best movies to ever grace a screen, but as you know, Snyder made the perfect Watchmen movie and nobody was happy about it. Did it go over people's heads? Was it too deep? These are questions that beg to be asked, but it doesn't matter.

As for Transformers...the movies capture everything I thought a Transformers movie should have, save for the cheesy humor and painfully obvious eye candy female actresses. I'm happy.

I pretty much agree. I have never had any challenge with the Transformers franchise. Yes, two was weaker, but I have found them to be fun and entertaining flicks. I don't go in expecting them to be some masterpiece. I just step away from reality for a couple hours and watch for the action eye candy.

You pretty much defended aspects of the movie that most people literally have no problem with. Who the heck cares about the "source material" for freaking Transformers, or the fact that the robot designs are too "complicated"? Maybe users here voice those ridiculous concerns and allow that to ruin their movies...but most people couldn't care less about that.

What about the piss-poor action scenes? What about the terrible excuse for a "plot" in each movie? What about the racist, sexist, homophobic, and other ridiculously offensive "humor" in each movie? Seriously, summer blockbusters don't need to be as dumb and mindless as Transformers anymore. This is the 21st century...I think we can expect a little more from our entertainment.

I've watched all three movies at some point, and the first is the only one I somewhat enjoyed. I have basically no knowledge about the Transformers aside from the movies, so it's not like there were any memories Bay could "ruin". Also I had no expectations except seeing big robots beat the shit out of each other.

Still the movies were just not for me. Even in the first I barely cared about any character, human or robot. The second crossed the line to actually being insulting on various levels. The third was more of the same generic, clustered action I couldn't care about. It certainly didn't help that they wasted some actors I really like for BS roles, like Turturro or McDormand.

In the end it's just a franchise that's immensly popular and successful based on some appeal I don't get. Good for those who like the movies that they keep getting made, I could do without them. But as long they don't put Tucci in a thong as well I won't hate them. ;)

Nice editorial, btw! :)