Transformers...

Currently in the running to be my Movie of The Year next to Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End. How can you not love these giants?? Here's a short review of my Transformers experience together with one or two --okay fine, 10-- pics of those lovely robots in disguise.

Like an eager kid on Christmas, this was like am early present for me. I still can’t believe Michael Bay made this kick-ass film. I am still tingling from watching it and let me tell you, I don’t get tingles from a lot of movies. Well, the last one was Pirates 3, but that was an entirely different story.

I grew up with Transformers G1 —or Generation 1. I followed the wholes series right up to Beast Wars. I watched Optimus Prime and Megatron battle it out week in week out over and over again about the same stupid reason. But it makes me wonder why I never got tired of it.

While I used to hero-worship Optimus, he really is a bit of a wuss sometimes and that became apparent in the movie. Sure, he is the leader of the Autobots and protector of mankind but feeling reluctant about killing off the villains just reeks of inferiority complex.

Of course Megatron is Optimus’ brother and who in their right mind would want to kill their own brother, right? But Optimus my man, sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind. In any case, the fight scene between Optimus and Megatron isn’t much to talk about, though. They were just pushing and shoving each other around, to put it simply.

The plot really wasn’t much of a plot. Very, very basic. Boy buys a car. Car turns out to be an alien robot and now boy is caught in the middle of a raging war between the Autobots and the Decepticons in a fight for the Allspark.

I think Michael Bay did a good job in the selection of machines for the Transformers. Because of today’s advanced technology and digital gadgetry, he has made these robots look uber cool, way cooler than they ever were in the cartoons or the first movie.

The Autobots consist of Ironhide, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Jazz. They all come in the form of GM vehicles, an American merchandise.

Ironhide is a GMC 4x4 Topkick truck, a menacing-looking killing machine with cannons for arms. He is Optimus Prime’s right-hand man of sorts, a weapons specialist.

Bumblebee —my favorite— used to be a VW Beetle, which was how he got his name. But because the producers couldn’t get rights to VW, they changed him to a 2009 Chevy Camaro although when he first appeared, he was a beat-up 1979 Camaro. He is a spy for the Autobots living amongst humans and works best alone. He’s one of the smaller sized Autobots.

Jazz is the smallest of the Autobots and he transforms into a stylish Pontiac Solstice coupe. He is the kind of robot that relishes being on Earth and loves to keep up with the various trends and latest happenings.

While Ratchet, the Autobot doctor is a Hummer H2 modified as a search and rescue vehicle for the fire department. He has a very professorial air about him. His very first lines after landing on Earth and meeting Sam Witwicky are, “The high pheromone levels indicate that the male would like to mate with the female.”

Optimus Prime is the only Autobot that isn’t part of the GM brand and he comes in the shape of a Peterbilt semi-truck without his normal trailer.

Michael Bay did some pimping with this fella and painted flames on his sides. Seriously I ask you, what is the big deal about that? I know die-hard fans are groaning and protesting long and loud about this one.

I, for one, love the new Optimus. He looks great. He looks macho. Doesn’t he look macho? He has the look of a no-nonsense leader. Come on, he could’ve looked worse. Times are a-changing. He can’t always be that flat-nosed truck he used to be twenty years ago. Even robots need to be updated every now and then.

Like how Optimus says in the movie, “We learned it through the World Wide Web.”

The one thing Transformers fans would not have any reason to complain about is that the voice of Optimus has not changed. Peter Cullen fans eat your heart out. He’s baaaaaaack!!

If you think the Autobots looked fab, the Decepticons are downright wicked. Literally and technologically. While the Autobots represent everyday automobiles, these monsters represent war vehicles hell-bent on destruction.

Because of the nature of the vehicles, most are highly classified since they’re used in the military with the exception of Frenzy and Barricade who is a Saleen modified Mustang police car. Like Bumblebee, he is a spy although not for the Autobots. The slogan splashed across his door reads, “To punish and enslave.”.

Frenzy, a boombox is attached to Barricade and these two work together to relate information on the whereabouts of Megatron and notify the other Decepticons.

Notice that all the Decepticons have claws for hands unlike the Autobots who have moving fingers. The Decepticons are also gifted with red optics for eyes except for Frenzy while the Autobots have blue ones. The Decepticons normally speak Cybertronian but there are English subtitles in the movie.

The Autobots are relatively small compared to the gigantic Decepticons and they’re also outnumbered five to eight. But Bay wanted to showcase the unity and teamwork of the Autobots even as they had one man down.

Each robot has all its parts moving to give it a sense of realness and prevent them from looking stiff and too CGI-ed. Although much CGI was put into the movie, the producers did use real life-sized robots, which included Bumblebee, Megatron and Optimus.

There are different elements making up this movie. Not only is action involved, there’s a slight hint of romance and a right blend of humor but also the core of it has always been good versus evil. And even robots do get hurt physically. Come on, did you think they were immortals?

I have to hand it to the marketing department for Transformers. These guys think of everything. Not only the toys and figurines, I have seen children’s school bags and pencil cases with Transformers imprinted on them. Those are the ones tied in with all the toy stores. What about those independent ones where you buy something and you get free Transformers collectibles?

I am not ashamed to say that I am a proud owner one of those collectibles. It’s a water bottle that is yellow in color and has a blue top. The front of it is printed with a picture of Bumblebee standing tall. You get one of these if you purchase a 1.4-liter pack of Vico, a chocolate beverage similar to Milo in Johor Baru, Malaysia.

Vico has really outdone themselves with Transformers freebies. They came up with four types of freebies, no less to help market Transformers. One of them is the bottle and they come in 4 colors. Blue represents Optimus Prime and while I was tempted to choose that, I decided against it because it only featured his face and not his whole robotic body.

There is also red with Jazz on in and as much as I love Jazz, I know he died in the movie so I thought it wasn’t worth taking him home. The last one is black and who else but Megatron graces the front of the bottle.

The other types of freebies include puzzles with various characters from the movie as well as stationery sets and porcelain mugs. I actually took the packs with both the bottle and a mug with Optimus Prime’s face and dumped them into my parents’ trolley. But when I came home, I found out that my mom had actually removed the pack with the mug and returned it to its shelves. To my utmost disgust. She claimed that we already had more than enough glassware.

I also managed to coax one of my sisters into giving me two of her Transformers stickers that my mom purchased and stick them onto my portable hard disk, aptly named Optimus Prime. Yes, I even named my 120GB hard disk Optimus. For the record, I name almost all my stuff so, don’t be surprised.

Transformers has got to be my Movie of the Year, in my opinion. Personally, I think this movie has various levels that audiences of difference age groups can connect and relate to. It has brought back my kiddy memories and has definitely reminded myself of the kid in me. Slightly over two decades has past since they arrived from the planet Cybertron onto our TV screens and people still can’t get enough of these metal machines.

Laterz...

Lenny