Just two extra scenes would go a long way. A scene showing Ultra Magnus having any flaw at all, and a scene showing Hot Rod having any quality the Autobots can't obviously get elsewhere.
Transformers: One - New Animated Prequel coming September 20th, 2024 - New Toy Official Images!
- Thread starter Undead Scottsman
- Start date
One could argue that Ultra Magnus' "I can't deal with that now!" line was meant to convey that he's really not cut out for leadership.
It was pretty clearly a clunky way of saying "would you mind not putting that on me right now, I'm trying to keep us from dying".
The idea was to make him look unsympathetic to what just happened to the other ship, as if to make viewers go, "Oh, he's definitely no Optimus."
But yeah, from a pragmatic standpoint, there was nothing he could do about it in the heat of the moment. But one can't help but wonder if maybe there was a more tactful way of conveying that, or even just making him seem more sympathetic about it even if there still was really nothing he could do. A simple mournful "No!" (as in "Oh no!") or even something like, "We'll have to help them later," might have sufficed. But, that would have undercut the intent on making him seem like he couldn't handle this job. There's a reason that line has become such a meme in this fandom.
But yeah, from a pragmatic standpoint, there was nothing he could do about it in the heat of the moment. But one can't help but wonder if maybe there was a more tactful way of conveying that, or even just making him seem more sympathetic about it even if there still was really nothing he could do. A simple mournful "No!" (as in "Oh no!") or even something like, "We'll have to help them later," might have sufficed. But, that would have undercut the intent on making him seem like he couldn't handle this job. There's a reason that line has become such a meme in this fandom.
Getting back to the actual movie in the subject line, I watched it last night. Pretty good.
I mostly want to talk about Elita. They did kinda turn Elita into a standard ScarJo character, but her animated personality was paper-thin prior to this (one G1 episode, very little actual character stuff for anyone in the War For Cybertron cartoon), and the "ruthless warlord" from IDW1 would've been a bit harder to turn around into an ally in 100 or so minutes.
I did like that they gave Elita a different relationship with Optimus/Orion. Not girlfriend, not subordinate from the word go. She was his BOSS. He was the foulup she rolled her eyes at on a regular basis. She had to be dragged into his mad quest by sheer chance, and then convinced over the course of the story that maybe this foulup had something in him worth following. "I'm better than you," in every respect except having hope.
---Dave
I mostly want to talk about Elita. They did kinda turn Elita into a standard ScarJo character, but her animated personality was paper-thin prior to this (one G1 episode, very little actual character stuff for anyone in the War For Cybertron cartoon), and the "ruthless warlord" from IDW1 would've been a bit harder to turn around into an ally in 100 or so minutes.
I did like that they gave Elita a different relationship with Optimus/Orion. Not girlfriend, not subordinate from the word go. She was his BOSS. He was the foulup she rolled her eyes at on a regular basis. She had to be dragged into his mad quest by sheer chance, and then convinced over the course of the story that maybe this foulup had something in him worth following. "I'm better than you," in every respect except having hope.
---Dave
ScarJo put in a really characterful performance as Elita. I was expecting her to sleepwalk through it but she actually put a lot into it and she became my favourite character in the film.
Makes me think she's got more to offer as a performer, she just needs a decent director.
Makes me think she's got more to offer as a performer, she just needs a decent director.
Absolutely. This was very refreshing. I've always loved her voice -- she's on a list of people I'd listen read the phone book -- but she's tended to coast quite a bit and so I wasn't sure what to expect.
The Elita character is also quite engaging in this, as she's a fully realized person with a reason to exist beyond being Optimus' love interest or even being in his orbit. They didn't even hint at that particular angle at all, which I appreciated, as each of them gets a chance to grow and develop as characters with their own motivations (she doesn't join in out of wanting to mother or protect the others, she's trying to climb the ladder just as everyone else is).
They're not even really friends (just friendly as in cordial), as they don't know each other that well. It's not until very late that she synthesizes her view of him into a pep talk that tries a little too hard to foreshadow "Optimus" with "optimism", and only because he needs to hear it.
But again, that's good, as that gives them space to interact with the plot on their own terms. (in Pax's case, the relationship being developed and affected by the plot is his friendship with D-16).
The Elita character is also quite engaging in this, as she's a fully realized person with a reason to exist beyond being Optimus' love interest or even being in his orbit. They didn't even hint at that particular angle at all, which I appreciated, as each of them gets a chance to grow and develop as characters with their own motivations (she doesn't join in out of wanting to mother or protect the others, she's trying to climb the ladder just as everyone else is).
They're not even really friends (just friendly as in cordial), as they don't know each other that well. It's not until very late that she synthesizes her view of him into a pep talk that tries a little too hard to foreshadow "Optimus" with "optimism", and only because he needs to hear it.
But again, that's good, as that gives them space to interact with the plot on their own terms. (in Pax's case, the relationship being developed and affected by the plot is his friendship with D-16).
What’s probably going to be the final box office update:
This past weekend, Transformers One inched across the $59 million domestic mark, ultimately making a million more than Joker 2. The film is down to around 150 reported theatrical locations, and will likely be pushed out next weekend thanks to the dual release of Gladiator 2 and Wicked. The Wild Robot, despite a weak start, found remarkable legs and has crossed the $137 million mark, domestically.
The film may have one more weekend in it to bring its domestic run to 10 weeks, but the sub-150 locations are not going to add much to the total at this point. Box Office Mojo still has it active internationally, but the current worldwide total stands at $128.8 million (Which is comparable to Bumblebee’s domestic haul).
As I said in another thread:
A monkey’s paw was clearly wished on- We finally get a strong, well made Transformers film that treats its characters and lore with respect set solely on Cybertron…and it is the worst performing Transformers film produced in the modern era.
This past weekend, Transformers One inched across the $59 million domestic mark, ultimately making a million more than Joker 2. The film is down to around 150 reported theatrical locations, and will likely be pushed out next weekend thanks to the dual release of Gladiator 2 and Wicked. The Wild Robot, despite a weak start, found remarkable legs and has crossed the $137 million mark, domestically.
The film may have one more weekend in it to bring its domestic run to 10 weeks, but the sub-150 locations are not going to add much to the total at this point. Box Office Mojo still has it active internationally, but the current worldwide total stands at $128.8 million (Which is comparable to Bumblebee’s domestic haul).
As I said in another thread:
A monkey’s paw was clearly wished on- We finally get a strong, well made Transformers film that treats its characters and lore with respect set solely on Cybertron…and it is the worst performing Transformers film produced in the modern era.
As bad as the marketing was, there may have been no way to sell this film to general audiences. If people thought it was a prequel to the live action films, they weren't going to be too interested. Why would they be interested in the setup when they've already lost interest in the payoff? On the other hand, if people figured out that this appeared to have nothing to do with the live action films, that just meant it was a prequel to a story they haven't seen.
Isn't that basically the case with every new film series whose first film is an origin story? Like, Batman Begins followed the failure of Batman & Robin, and could be considered a prequel to its two sequels before said sequels existed. Man of Steel followed the lukewarm reception of Superman Returns, and could be called a prequel to the other DCEU films before the DCEU was a thing. Or for an example where the reboot wasn't that long after its predecessors, The Amazing Spider-Man came just a few years after the failure of Spider-Man 3, and would become the prequel to The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Or even more similar to TF One, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out during the run of Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man films and was its own new origin story that paved the way for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Bad first trailer, poor release slot coming out only after kids no longer have days worth of free time, bad marketing.
There are very simple reasons why this crashed.
I don't think audience confusion over what continuity this belonged to mattered. Fact is general audience sorts don't care about that stuff like we do. And that was one of the few aspects about the marketing I thought was done well. Just a general "see how Optimus and Megatron's journeys started," being sold as just a broad slice prequel to the concept of "Transformers" that most people knew through pop culture osmosis.
That was a perfectly fine direction to take marketing in to sidestep any questions about The Continuity
. It's just that the rest of the marketing was either non-existent or actively making the movie less attractive.
There are very simple reasons why this crashed.
I don't think audience confusion over what continuity this belonged to mattered. Fact is general audience sorts don't care about that stuff like we do. And that was one of the few aspects about the marketing I thought was done well. Just a general "see how Optimus and Megatron's journeys started," being sold as just a broad slice prequel to the concept of "Transformers" that most people knew through pop culture osmosis.
That was a perfectly fine direction to take marketing in to sidestep any questions about The Continuity
. It's just that the rest of the marketing was either non-existent or actively making the movie less attractive.
Spider-Man is a funny example, because I remember audiences whining loudly about being asked to sit through his origin a second time. But they put up with it because he's Spider-Man.
Transformers is not in that league.