Mako Crab wrote:There's no denying that Michael Bay's TF movies have really propelled the franchise to heights not seen since the days of G1.
Agreed. Though I think that was more true of the first film than the second one. The sheer amount and variety of product and merchandise for the first film was the most I've seen since the line first came out. Transformers were on everything back then, and for awhile that seemed to be the case again with the live action film.
And seeing as how they are so popular, I guess it was bound to happen that other TF stories started adopting movie elements into their own universe. This thread is more or less to discuss the pros and cons of those borrowed elements. What works and what's either unnecessary or unwanted. For starters:
IDW G1 comic- Bumblebee now transforms into an older model Camaro, just like BB did in TF '07. I get the in-story reasons for making him more formidable looking, but of all the cars in the world, they had to borrow the one from TF '07? I know Volkswagon won't let their vehicles be used as Transformers, so the new Beetle is out. But really, the exact same Camaro? Complete with black racing stripes just like the movie whereas BB in G1 has never had racing stripes. I'm still iffy on this one. I still haven't gotten used to his new look, and the fact that they're borrowing so heavily from '07 BB for his new look is uninspired too. And as of issue 12 BB may have lost the ability to speak (maybe), making him even more like his movie counterpart.
I didn't get the impression that he had lost his ability to speak, but that it was up in the air as to whether he was
alive or not. Regardless, I hope we're not moving towards a mute Bumblebee in every continuity. I'm tired of it in the movies at this point, and I sure don't want G1 'Bee bereft of his ability to speak.
IDW TF Ongoing- The art. Yeah, we all know about the art. Heavily inspired by the movies, though it does seem to have been dialed back in the most recent issues. Perhaps this is already a non-issue. I know there was a huge backlash against the movie-esque G1 faces, and now it seems everyone's being drawn with their old faces back, so that's good. Anything else though?
Don's new art style appeals to me quite a bit. I don't mind some extra details being added to the old familiar characters. It's nice to see a different style applied to the G1 cast. And the new faces didn't bother me.
Turn this topic around and come from the opposite angle as well. How have 25 years of the franchise influenced the movies? I'm still impressed that the Fallen, a comic-only character from a six-issue mini-series became the main antagonist of the second film. Or the way in which Prime and Jetfire combined, as they did in Armada. Really, the movie is just the latest in a long line of variations on the Transformers franchise that has influenced the product that follows. And I think that's fairly healthy.