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Anyways:
Transformers the Movie 40th Anniversary Tour
- Thread starter LordGigaIce
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Anyways:
Fair enough, but as we were actually “among our people”, I think we were all a little freer in talking about the short. But I could just FEEL the deflation in the room as that short ran on.
Which was sad because the producers slapped together a decent Peter Cullen memorial vid before the start of the feature film. We were all in nostalgic nirvana after enjoying this wonderfully schlocky animated film with a hard rock and synth soundtrack.
LOL, ironically, I probably WAS. But if I saw the first episode when it aired, I probably wouldn’t have remembered. What with being 3 months old
Again, I think my biggest issue with the short was the apparent NEED felt by someone to tie it to the 86. The apparent NEED to leave a stinger for…something. I just don’t feel like the short was necessary in this context and don’t feel its messages were clearly articulated in this context or the time provided. I never expected something “sophisticated”, but this didn’t clear, what I felt, were pretty modest expectations.
And that’s BEFORE the “final performance of Peter Cullen” aspect comes into play.
Its already down.
Also, I kind of don't want to have that posted online even if it were up, as it's kind of a reason for people to go see TFTM in theaters or pre-order the newest UHD Blu-ray of it.
That being said, I am totally going to use this picture to troll with now.
I appreciate it being shared here, as I was curious. Fair for Hasbro to take it down, but at least I know what the thing was.
Telling someone to "learn how CGI actually works" when they correctly point out something isn't AI isn't the win you think it is, chief.
It was made to be a tie-in to the '86 movie's 40th anniversary release. That's the whole reason this thing exists.
I teach creative writing. Sometimes someone has an idea for an addendum to a thing that already exists. Some light just goes off because they had an idea to build off of something.
Likely someone had an idea to do an Optimus Prime spirit journey in the moments after he died and that segued with the plans to do something tied to the '86 movie's 40th release and here we are.
Or Hasbro decided they wanted to do a little something for the 40th anniversary and hired the studio and the studio pitched this an idea.
While perhaps someone should have gone "hey he's 85 let's maybe treat this like it could be the last go around," it seems clear no one making this had any idea what they were making would be Cullen's last performance. But he died. And it is.
Leaving aside the short, did anyone else's theatres have terrible audio? The one I went to seemed to have the volume set high enough to cause feedback --even Grimlock's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard (and Unicron sounded almost normal-for-a-human).
(Theatre was completely packed, BTW. No free seats left. I was stuck in the back between the avatar of Axe Body Spray and the human Cigarette.)
(Theatre was completely packed, BTW. No free seats left. I was stuck in the back between the avatar of Axe Body Spray and the human Cigarette.)
Mentioned in my review that the volume on the music felt lower than I was used to, but I wasn't sure if that was just movie theatre acoustics versus my living room or what.
I didn't think it was a very good transfer in general, which is strange as it was just supposed to be the 4K print, but it did look soft in places and there were even some new encoding or telecine artifacts at the side of the frame during the scene where Blaster gets the message from Moonbase 1 too. And as everyone seems to have noted, the sound levels are off and one of the base channels seems to be missing entirely. Quite surprised the DCP got though quality checks to be honest.
Still, it was good to see it again on the big screen. I went to the Transformers Store at Battersea and two hundred and fifty of us wandered from there to the cinema nearby, and afterwards there was a bar with a piano player playing the score, some of the Cyberverse voice actors and Simon Furman was there, and a few speeches. Lovely experience, almost a little TF Nation in vibes.
People may find it amusing that I swapped the toy from my goodie bag with Chris McFeeley as it had painted windows. It never ends...
Still, it was good to see it again on the big screen. I went to the Transformers Store at Battersea and two hundred and fifty of us wandered from there to the cinema nearby, and afterwards there was a bar with a piano player playing the score, some of the Cyberverse voice actors and Simon Furman was there, and a few speeches. Lovely experience, almost a little TF Nation in vibes.
People may find it amusing that I swapped the toy from my goodie bag with Chris McFeeley as it had painted windows. It never ends...
Saw it this morning. Went to the earliest screening of the day and there were only three people in the room including myself. None of us talked to each other. When it was over, we all walked out of the room and while I expressed my own reaction to the whole thing, the other two wanted nothing to do with anyone else in the room, so I couldn't get any reading on how either of them felt about the short.
As for my own thoughts on thoughts on the short:
I want my money back.
Especially since the screening I saw was during the hours of matinee screenings, yet the theater charged this screening at normal prices instead of matinee prices.
Aside from what all has already been said, it made no sense to call him "Convoy" when that name has no application in the English version of the movie and series that this short wants to be a part of. If they were just doing it to say, "Hey, look, we mentioned some other names Optimus Primes have gone by!" then they should have gone all-out by listing other names besides just "Orion Pax" and "Convoy", like "Optronix" or (if they really wanted to be deep-cut cheeky) "Sureshot".
Did anyone else find the inclusion of Animated Optimus super random amid all of the other Cullen-voiced Optimus cameos? Like, we get glimpses of Movieverse and Aligned Optimus, plus a random David Kaye-voiced Optimus too? If they were willing to branch out beyond Cullen-voiced Optimus Primes, then like above they should have gone all-out with glimpses of UT Optimus, Cyberverse Optimus, EarthSpark Optimus, etc. Either stick with the Cullen-voiced Optimuses or just go nuts with the fanservice. Pick a lane and stick with it.
I will say one positive thing about the short, though. Cullen's performance had arguably the greatest emotional range it has ever had since Season 2 of the G1 cartoon. For so long, Cullen had been shackled to playing either a stoic, larger-than-life speech-giver or a war-torn, exhausted soldier who's angry at the world and just so sick and tired of it all and done with everything. Here, he gives a performance that is layered with humanity, uncertainty, and above all, vulnerability. He finally comes across as not being the single most important person in the entire universe who can do no wrong. Here, he is frustrated but not angry. He is weak but not exhausted. He is vulnerable but not disappointingly so. He sounds like just a regular guy who is allowed to be relatable, and even begs and pleads like someone who is small, helpless, and overwhelmed by the larger world around him. That speaks volumes of how Cullen still had it in him after all these years of never fully getting to flex his acting chops with Optimus like he used to be allowed to do. Gone is the Optimus Prime whose vocal performance is defined by "Perfection", and what we are left with in this short is the Optimus who admitted back in 1986 that he was never worthy of bearing the Matrix when he first swore his oath to it. That's Optimus Prime.
As for my own thoughts on thoughts on the short:
That pretty much sums it up nice and succinctly.
I want my money back.
Especially since the screening I saw was during the hours of matinee screenings, yet the theater charged this screening at normal prices instead of matinee prices.
Aside from what all has already been said, it made no sense to call him "Convoy" when that name has no application in the English version of the movie and series that this short wants to be a part of. If they were just doing it to say, "Hey, look, we mentioned some other names Optimus Primes have gone by!" then they should have gone all-out by listing other names besides just "Orion Pax" and "Convoy", like "Optronix" or (if they really wanted to be deep-cut cheeky) "Sureshot".
Did anyone else find the inclusion of Animated Optimus super random amid all of the other Cullen-voiced Optimus cameos? Like, we get glimpses of Movieverse and Aligned Optimus, plus a random David Kaye-voiced Optimus too? If they were willing to branch out beyond Cullen-voiced Optimus Primes, then like above they should have gone all-out with glimpses of UT Optimus, Cyberverse Optimus, EarthSpark Optimus, etc. Either stick with the Cullen-voiced Optimuses or just go nuts with the fanservice. Pick a lane and stick with it.
I will say one positive thing about the short, though. Cullen's performance had arguably the greatest emotional range it has ever had since Season 2 of the G1 cartoon. For so long, Cullen had been shackled to playing either a stoic, larger-than-life speech-giver or a war-torn, exhausted soldier who's angry at the world and just so sick and tired of it all and done with everything. Here, he gives a performance that is layered with humanity, uncertainty, and above all, vulnerability. He finally comes across as not being the single most important person in the entire universe who can do no wrong. Here, he is frustrated but not angry. He is weak but not exhausted. He is vulnerable but not disappointingly so. He sounds like just a regular guy who is allowed to be relatable, and even begs and pleads like someone who is small, helpless, and overwhelmed by the larger world around him. That speaks volumes of how Cullen still had it in him after all these years of never fully getting to flex his acting chops with Optimus like he used to be allowed to do. Gone is the Optimus Prime whose vocal performance is defined by "Perfection", and what we are left with in this short is the Optimus who admitted back in 1986 that he was never worthy of bearing the Matrix when he first swore his oath to it. That's Optimus Prime.
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Had no problem with the Animated clip. Wouldn't have minded seeing more variety, but they seemed to want to go with G1, movie, and Everything Else, and Animated got to represent that. Did kinda shrug at "Convoy", but as I noted previously I just chalked that up to them wanting to beef up the material. In any case, while it's easy to want to play "I'll show YOU who can make a deep cut", it's harmless and not inappropriate.
I did get that impression about Cullen's vocal. It was a lot of play and not all safe range stuff.
I wish that could have been accomplished without making maybe 3/4 of it "let's make Optimus Prime confused and angry and scared" before just randomly having him figure it out and sound confident again because he glanced at the remaining runtime.
I would have liked something lower key, something that speaks to Prime's role in the mythos by way of speaking about his role in the Autobots. I don't even know that I'd want him raring to go back, you know? I'd want his greater concern to be, are they okay, was it worth it, do they turn out okay. Having a spirit guide conversation is good, but instead of Primus or The One Or The Other, this could be a Mediator sort of program preparing him to join the Matrix (or, if it has to be a lore named character, Alpha Trion).
Some scary visions of future apocalypses in this and in other universes (including original ones) could raise further worries and have him wonder if he needs to be brought back to avert these, or to help endure them. Have visions of Rodimus, Magnus, Megatron, Galvatron, a Quintesson, Unicron, other Optimuses speak about what's to come in the near and distant futures and in other lives.
Allude to him coming back, over and over, in many forms, to lead the charge... Until at some point it's not him comimg back literally, but him living on in the sparks of those he's inspired. And that what truly matters is that the work, the sacrifice, the gift of him, will continue until all are one.
I did get that impression about Cullen's vocal. It was a lot of play and not all safe range stuff.
I wish that could have been accomplished without making maybe 3/4 of it "let's make Optimus Prime confused and angry and scared" before just randomly having him figure it out and sound confident again because he glanced at the remaining runtime.
I would have liked something lower key, something that speaks to Prime's role in the mythos by way of speaking about his role in the Autobots. I don't even know that I'd want him raring to go back, you know? I'd want his greater concern to be, are they okay, was it worth it, do they turn out okay. Having a spirit guide conversation is good, but instead of Primus or The One Or The Other, this could be a Mediator sort of program preparing him to join the Matrix (or, if it has to be a lore named character, Alpha Trion).
Some scary visions of future apocalypses in this and in other universes (including original ones) could raise further worries and have him wonder if he needs to be brought back to avert these, or to help endure them. Have visions of Rodimus, Magnus, Megatron, Galvatron, a Quintesson, Unicron, other Optimuses speak about what's to come in the near and distant futures and in other lives.
Allude to him coming back, over and over, in many forms, to lead the charge... Until at some point it's not him comimg back literally, but him living on in the sparks of those he's inspired. And that what truly matters is that the work, the sacrifice, the gift of him, will continue until all are one.
Also, it's being reported elsewhere that the being we're calling "The Other" is actually credited as "The One".
This one's CGI felt too similar to Machinima's Prime Wars Trilogy, which is not something anyone needs to be reminded of (Jason Marnocha's delightfully snarky Megatron notwithstanding).
That might have been better, yeah, depending on the quality of the animation.
This one's CGI felt too similar to Machinima's Prime Wars Trilogy, which is not something anyone needs to be reminded of (Jason Marnocha's delightfully snarky Megatron notwithstanding).
Saw it tonight, at a later showing (9:15) - was pretty empty, only a few other people. Though the 7:30 showing was nearly full, hence why I bought tickets to the later one.
I had caught a few comments here about the quality. Mine thankfully seemed pretty good, with two exceptions: the vocal songs did seem a bit softer than they should've (though DiCola's score was appropriately perfect), and the very first shot of Hot Rod was super blurry. Rest of the movie was fine though.
As for the Awakening... I think a lot of people were expecting this to be a tribute to Cullen, which this wasn't designed to be. To me it seems pretty clear it was going to be the start of new series, maybe another Machinima or WFC-style miniseries for Netflix or whatever. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to append it to the end of the TFTM... (or who knows, maybe that was always the plan, given how it begins). In any event, connecting it specifically to TFTM unfortunately doesn't really quite work. We already know what happens in the cartoon universe - the Autobots win! The Matrix saves the day (twice!) The whole "eternal war" thing doesn't really work for that universe, and I think it would've landed better had it simply been released as its own separate thing.
Which, yeah, is probably unlikely to actually finish with Cullen's passing... we'll never get to find out if "The One" is gaslighting Optimus or not.
(FWIW, the two other guys in my showing LOVED it and were gushing about how awesome it was.)
I had caught a few comments here about the quality. Mine thankfully seemed pretty good, with two exceptions: the vocal songs did seem a bit softer than they should've (though DiCola's score was appropriately perfect), and the very first shot of Hot Rod was super blurry. Rest of the movie was fine though.
As for the Awakening... I think a lot of people were expecting this to be a tribute to Cullen, which this wasn't designed to be. To me it seems pretty clear it was going to be the start of new series, maybe another Machinima or WFC-style miniseries for Netflix or whatever. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to append it to the end of the TFTM... (or who knows, maybe that was always the plan, given how it begins). In any event, connecting it specifically to TFTM unfortunately doesn't really quite work. We already know what happens in the cartoon universe - the Autobots win! The Matrix saves the day (twice!) The whole "eternal war" thing doesn't really work for that universe, and I think it would've landed better had it simply been released as its own separate thing.
Which, yeah, is probably unlikely to actually finish with Cullen's passing... we'll never get to find out if "The One" is gaslighting Optimus or not.
(FWIW, the two other guys in my showing LOVED it and were gushing about how awesome it was.)
Yeah, that's what I called it in my review after seeing the credits. Also checked that video embed to verify after seeing it called "The Other" here, and yep, it was "The One" there, too.
Where did "The Other" come from?
Oh good, so that stuff wasn't just mine.
Anyway, was hoping someone here could help me with a little something...
I was telling my wife after the movie that I wasn't sure going in which version we would get, if it would be the vanilla or one with the "Optimus Prime will return!" ending.
Turns out I'd never shown that one to her. At least, as far as she can recall.
But I can't seem to find that ending anywhere. Anyone know if it's posted anywhere?
I'm at a loss about what the point of that short was. You make the effort to get Peter Cullen and Frank Welker back, attached to the most influential piece of media the franchise has ever produced... And you get this meandering, confusing 11 minutes of animation.
Opening with a truncated version of the death scene is fine, though I think it's funny the animators decided they didn't want to make a model for Daniel.
Surprised it's "The One" and not Primus, given how they blatantly mention Convoy. This part still feels like somebodies fanfic, mentioning Convoy, bringing up how prime dies over and over again across multiple continuities; these are cheeky metajokes, the kind of thing you give Simon Furman a 20 issue run to hug around with or slap into Ask Vector Prime. Which is weird, given the rest of the short doesn't feel like that.
If I had a nickle every time this year there was a giant Bumblebee who hated prime.. I'd have two nickles, but it's weird it happened twice.
The Decepticon's are not "determined to destroy all three." They never showed any interest in the Matrix really, they don't care if earth lives or dies so long as they get energy and they're trying to take over Cybertron, not destroy it.
For a second when Prime's hand peels away and it's clearly a glowing human hand, i thought it was going to get super meta and be about Peter Cullen, but thankfully they didn't go there... still not sure what that's supposed to represent though.
The "break the cycle" idea is... What exactly? Let the Decepticons do what they want while Optimus does something "more important' but we never even get a conception of what that is. And the whole "The decepticons will just be replaced by another..." So what? You're still in the situation of fight or die, if peace isn't an option.
The whole short is confusing; what is real, what's a flash of a possible future, what's just a vision. Why does Prime have the matrix again while fighting Megatron? Does this mean the actual Megatron has the matrix now, and not just a vision version? But when and where? People who watched this just saw Megatron get turned into Galvatron (and also Unicron getting blown up) and now they're back with no explanation.
Ultimately, despite blatantly being connected to the film, both in where it was aired and also by started with the death scene, this feels like it's off in it's own little world rather than an addendum to the original movie, which is fine I guess, but it's a very poor first impression for whatever it is they're planning.
Also I saw a lot of people compare this to the Prime Wars trilogy, which is incredibly funny to me because apparently everyone just forgot about the War for Cybertron netflix show. I don't blame you, it was very forgettable. At least Prime Wars is a *memorable* train wreck.
It's nice that we got one last performance of Peter Cullen as Optimus, given how the timing worked out, so if nothing else this is nice for that. It just feels like there's a larger puzzle this fits into and without it, it really hurts the short, especially when it's this close in proximity to the '86 film.
Opening with a truncated version of the death scene is fine, though I think it's funny the animators decided they didn't want to make a model for Daniel.
Surprised it's "The One" and not Primus, given how they blatantly mention Convoy. This part still feels like somebodies fanfic, mentioning Convoy, bringing up how prime dies over and over again across multiple continuities; these are cheeky metajokes, the kind of thing you give Simon Furman a 20 issue run to hug around with or slap into Ask Vector Prime. Which is weird, given the rest of the short doesn't feel like that.
If I had a nickle every time this year there was a giant Bumblebee who hated prime.. I'd have two nickles, but it's weird it happened twice.
The Decepticon's are not "determined to destroy all three." They never showed any interest in the Matrix really, they don't care if earth lives or dies so long as they get energy and they're trying to take over Cybertron, not destroy it.
For a second when Prime's hand peels away and it's clearly a glowing human hand, i thought it was going to get super meta and be about Peter Cullen, but thankfully they didn't go there... still not sure what that's supposed to represent though.
The "break the cycle" idea is... What exactly? Let the Decepticons do what they want while Optimus does something "more important' but we never even get a conception of what that is. And the whole "The decepticons will just be replaced by another..." So what? You're still in the situation of fight or die, if peace isn't an option.
The whole short is confusing; what is real, what's a flash of a possible future, what's just a vision. Why does Prime have the matrix again while fighting Megatron? Does this mean the actual Megatron has the matrix now, and not just a vision version? But when and where? People who watched this just saw Megatron get turned into Galvatron (and also Unicron getting blown up) and now they're back with no explanation.
Ultimately, despite blatantly being connected to the film, both in where it was aired and also by started with the death scene, this feels like it's off in it's own little world rather than an addendum to the original movie, which is fine I guess, but it's a very poor first impression for whatever it is they're planning.
Also I saw a lot of people compare this to the Prime Wars trilogy, which is incredibly funny to me because apparently everyone just forgot about the War for Cybertron netflix show.
I don't blame you, it was very forgettable. At least Prime Wars is a *memorable* train wreck.It's nice that we got one last performance of Peter Cullen as Optimus, given how the timing worked out, so if nothing else this is nice for that. It just feels like there's a larger puzzle this fits into and without it, it really hurts the short, especially when it's this close in proximity to the '86 film.
For me, it less reminded me of the Netflix cartoon and more of the Machinima cartoon because the CGI in this had similar cel-shading to the Machinima show, as opposed to how the Netflix show was more purely CGI.Also I saw a lot of people compare this to the Prime Wars trilogy, which is incredibly funny to me because apparently everyone just forgot about the War for Cybertron netflix show.
And between the two, Machinima was more bonkers and bizarre, whereas Netflix was more boring and miserable. This short was more on the bizarre side than boring.
The combination of the "break the cycle" line and the shots of Primes from other realities/timelines/whatever did kind of lead into the trope of circular history and conflict. That history will always take the long way to get back to the Autobots fighting the Decepticons, Optimus fighting Megatron, and it all coming to Earth. You could do a BSG-esque "all of this has happened before" thing with that, and they kinda hinted at it, but pulled away from it, leaving it dangling.
The thing is that the cliffhanger is what's throwing me. Not just because I assumed it was all a vision quest for Optimus and thus that wasn't really Megatron but also because... ok... it was the real Megarton, so that means there's a followup. So it's possible all of that stuff about the cyclical nature of the conflict, of Optimus' need to "break the cycle," the cryptic hints that the Decepticons will just be replaced by something else... it's possible all of that could have been touched on in a followup. This clearly wasn't made with the intention of being a one-off. Thing is, it may end up being that now that Peter Cullen has passed away.
Yes, other people have played Optimus Prime but recasting a very specifcially Cullen Optimus after he passed away may anger people. It may be best to just leave this as his last performance as the character, even if it wasn't intended to be that. Whatever dangling plot threads and questions are just... preserved in amber, for better or worse.
I'm actually kinda happy they did that. Primus is notably absent from the American Sunbow continuity. We were talking about this in another thread, about the strengths of each version of G1's take on the origins of the Cybertronians, and how Sunbow's has a lot of unrealized strengths that have been overlooked as everyone's gone all in on Furman's grand epic of Primus v Unicron.
This short deliberately sets itself up as following on from Optimus' death in the '86 movie, so I'm happy they resisted the urge to just shove Furman's Primus epic into the Sunbowverse.
That's the thing though; there are multiple continuities where peace has been achieved or the war is otherwise irrelevant. Multiple continuities where the Decepticons have actually been defeated. And we're not even talking about minor continuities either. Trying to portray it as some kind of multiversal constant, that it's some kind of a unstoppable inevitability that the only way to win is to not play... Not only does it not ring true, it's also a real negative stance to take, especially around a figure like Optimus, who is going to fight for what's right until the day he's offline.
Not saying it's a bad thing, just that I'm surprised they didn't take the obvious route, especially after the "Convoy" mention.
That said, I'd be very hesitant to say this takes place in the Sunbow-verse. They need an "All Hail Megatron" style coda to get it to fit in there.