That's as much of a reach as anything. At least half that paragraph is fanbase perspective Bay would simply not know or care about. I highly doubt he, or anyone involved in the writing, intended this to be a polemic skewering redecos and retools.
"Transformium" isn't even something really associated with the scientists themselves; the movie specifically calls out the brand name as something focus groups (i.e. average Joe six-packs, not the company itself) liked/chose. This was likely more a dig at that aspect of marketing than anything (or a self-deprecating joke thrown in there to justify a meh writing choice). Ascribing all this to that kind of satirical authorial intent is some TV Tropes level stretching.
"I hate cheap knockoffs" is about the only substantial bit of commentary in that vein, especially given its delivery in the middle of a battle in Hong Kong. But given how the movie panders so heavily to the Chinese audience to begin with, as well as the fact that it's an American corporation doing the knocking-off, it ends up being a sort of mixed message at best.
"Transformium" isn't even something really associated with the scientists themselves; the movie specifically calls out the brand name as something focus groups (i.e. average Joe six-packs, not the company itself) liked/chose. This was likely more a dig at that aspect of marketing than anything (or a self-deprecating joke thrown in there to justify a meh writing choice). Ascribing all this to that kind of satirical authorial intent is some TV Tropes level stretching.
"I hate cheap knockoffs" is about the only substantial bit of commentary in that vein, especially given its delivery in the middle of a battle in Hong Kong. But given how the movie panders so heavily to the Chinese audience to begin with, as well as the fact that it's an American corporation doing the knocking-off, it ends up being a sort of mixed message at best.
