Dark of the Moon

I just caught the film on Netflix. It was pretty good. Not like the last one. I didn't cringe at all this time. Just don't try to make sense of it and you can enjoy watching humans and Autobots fight off an alien invasion.

Weak parts:

• In the first half of the movie half of the human characters were batjive insane. Sam's boss. Sam's coworkers. Sam himself at times. I found out later that one of Sam's coworkers had an excuse, but at the time it was confusing. You don't need that many crazy people. Simmons is enough crazy for one movie, and there wasn't enough of him in this one.
• They didn't have to shoehorn in Sam's parents. Really, I would have been OK without them.

Parts I couldn't figure out:

• Megatron: I get that he's in the wilderness, washed up, letting himself go, not giving a hug. So how did the Decepticons' very elaborate plan happen? The plan took a lot of preparation. He amassed a huge friggin' army. Soldiers, huge warships, wormbots, piloted fighter jets. He did all that while ordering elephants and disembodied heads around in the jungle.
• Sentinel Prime: I couldn't relate to his motivations. Sure he had a deal with Megatron in the distant past, but when he woke up, everything was changed. What was he doing? Why did he pick up right where he left off? Optimus told him the war on Cybertron was over. Cybertron was a wasteland.
• Why were Decepticons buried on the Moon?
• The Decepticon army deserves another mention. Where did that come from?
• That whole "Sentinel planning to meet Megatron on Earth" thing is dodgy on so many levels.

Power Core Combiner Mini-Cons

I have a handful of Power Core Combiners. I got them out again and realized I really like them. They are versatile, with simple Transformations. I like their Mini-Con partners. They look nice in robot mode. But man, is their gimmick ridiculous. It is hard to imagine the story behind those guys.

I know there is more information from the fan club about movieverse versions of the Power Core Combiners. I haven't read it, but the summaries of it sound OK. But Hasbro says the Power Core Combiners don't have to live in the movieverse, so mine don't. Mine are from a universe where Transformers can be combiners without necessarily going insane.

Anyway, even the summary I read of the fan club movie verse doesn't answer all the questions I have. How did they come by their unconvincing alternate modes that have no use in themselves unless stuck inelegantly to a larger Transformer? How did they come to be made mostly of crystal? (Assuming they are made mostly of crystal.) Does being made of crystal have anything to do with the power-ups they give their larger partner hinted at in their bios?

Suppose you are a Transformer and can pick your own gimmick

Suppose you are a Transformer and can pick your own gimmick. What would you choose?

Tales of the Beast Hunters

So where do the little Tales of the Beast Hunters stories fit? The Autobots have access to a Ground Bridge, Optimus Prime is obviously up and about, the Autobots appear to be a team and not scattered about.

Microcontinuity? Sometime during the next cartoon season?

I just discovered three pieces of fiction were booted from the movie continuity.

Hey! I just discovered that three pieces of fiction were booted out of the movie continuity by being given different universal stream designations. How rude.

The pieces of fiction are the Ghosts of Yesterday novel, the Capture the Cube online game, and the toy bios. They were given the cluster designations Tyran 307.27 Zeta, Tyran 607.07 Kappa, and Tyran 407.1 Beta. The movie is Tyran 707.04 Delta.

My question is, can they do that!?!?!? It seems to violate the "everything is canon" principle for Transformers fiction. Ghosts of Yesterday is "the official prequel to the upcoming film!" Official! It should be in the same continuity.

Edit: Just fixed a link.