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We got a very hard energon hang over after hearing the news about the revelation of cast of characters for the movie, The TransFormers. I can already visualize that the movie will be teleporting us back in time when we are kids enjoying the animation series.
Too bad that I over slept last night and forgot to wake up to watch that Live webcast of the screen writers. I already sent them my questions about the movie, but the sad part is that the forum website for the movie is under major repairs.
thanks from the TF fans who shared their own recaps and news site transcribing and write all about the characters of the movie.
From Energon Plant
Well, we got the list and the info. Here are all the Autobots in the movie:
Optimus Prime:
Leader of the Autobots
Bumblebee:
Camaro, still the scout and underdog as in G1
Jazz-
G1 --With style, the Rock n Roll type
Ratchet-
No longer an Ambulance, but will be the scientist and medical guy of the Autobots.
Ironhide: -- The Muscle of the group and Optimus Primes oldest friend.
Here are the Decepticons:
Megatron:
The leader
Starscream:
Always trying to Usurp Megatron and backstab him
Brawl-
Character from another series of the TF
Barricade-- The hunter and Cop car
Bonecrusher: The closest thing to a constructicon. They didn't reveal too much on him. Maybe he is a Gestalt in a future movie.
Scorponok: Mix of Beast Wars bot and Dinobot Style. Works well in his environment for his alt mode.
Frenzy:
Apparently from what I understood, he is one of Soundwaves minions, but until they can find out what to do with Soundwave, he will not be in the movie. He is a very small character, much like in G1 with Stealth Abilities and will act as if he is a spy. He is so small that he could fit under desks.
Blackout:
Will be able to do Pulse blasts and is one of the biggest decepticons. He will actually work as a transporter for the decepticons.
Thats the list. But the webcast did reveal some other things. For one thing. there will be a good ratio of Transformers in the movie. It wont mostly be movies. Its a Transformers movie so it will have Transformers. Thank God.
The movie will also be a good introduction for the new fans who dont know much of the TF's. No background history is really needed. The movie is being made to keep all people, New fans/Old fans; Older; Younger; Women and men in mind.
Megatron will Insult StarScream atleast once in the movie. They will have the same relationship as they have had in G1. The Dynamic stays alive.
You will find out about the history of Transformers and their war and how long it has been going on for as well as seeing the condition of Cybertron becouse of the war.
They revealed that Hasbro was involved in helping the character design. They even spoke of scale and cool vehicles and that being the reason why Bumblebee is a camaro and not a bug.
It was hinted that there will be a street fight between Megs and Optimus Prime and we will see who wins.
As far as weaponry goes... The earth Altmodes will have earth firepower such as bullets and stuff. Makes sense. Their hand weapons will be a little more advanced than earth humans.
The story will be from Spike/Sam Witwicky's point of view. It was hinted that his relationship is much like that of Spike and Bumblebee from G1. In fact, it seems that Bumble bee was Spikes first car in the movie.
And it does look like they are trying to get a sequel or two for the movie. So lets watch it and help to make sure it happens.
From MTV movie news
Did Your Favorite Make The Cut? 'Transformers'
Writers Reveal Robot Roster
They'll always be "robots in disguise," but the identities of the non-human stars in next year's "Transformers" movie are finally coming into view.
Screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci hosted a groundbreaking Web chat Friday (August 18), answering the e-mails of concerned fans and making some announcements of their own. Surrounded by posters of the '80s cartoon, laptops sporting the more-than-meets-the-eye logo and dozens of classic action figures, the duo professed their own geek credentials while doling out manna for the masses.
Describing Optimus Prime as having "Shakespearean" qualities, the duo began by listing his four main compatriots in the Autobot army. First up is Bumblebee, who kick-starts the plot when he's purchased by the unknowing Spike Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) then transforms for the first time and befriends the awestruck teen. After the ongoing battle between the alien robots invades Earth, audiences will also meet Jazz, a sports car Kurtzman described as "the loyal friend. He's the guy who believes if you can't do something in style, it's not worth doing at all."
Another Autobot will be Ratchet, who was an ambulance in previous Transformers incarnations but "will have a new form," Kurtzman said. Avoiding such other well-known Autobots as Mirage, Wheeljack and Prowl, the writers then rounded out the good guys with Ironhide, a tough-talking van Orci described as "the first one in. He's the first one to clear the field."
"Ironhide is the muscle," Kurtzman added. "Ironhide is the tough one."
Turning their attention to the evil Decepticons, the writers began by confirming the obvious: Megatron will be leading the charge.
"Megatron is a little bit more realistic," Kurtzman said, contrasting the villain with his arch-enemy, Optimus Prime, while confirming that they will indeed have an intense face-off. "As opposed to pure evil, [Megatron] thinks it's his God-given right as one of the most advanced creatures in the universe to do [to humans] what we sometimes do to animals."
The malevolent pistol will once again be backed by his right-hand man (and occasional jet airplane) Starscream, and the writers assured fans that their beloved bickering will be present in the Michael Bay blockbuster.
"Yes, the dynamic you know between Megatron and Starscream will be alive and well," Orci said of the commander's tendency to chew out his henchman. "Why would we try and change that?"
The Autobots will be outnumbered throughout the movie, the writers revealed, forcing them to work alongside humans like Witwicky and soldiers Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Epps (Tyrese).
With that in mind, they listed the rest of the evil Decepticon army. In addition to badass bulldozer Bonecrusher, fans will meet Brawl, "an extremely pissed-off Decepticon," Kurtzman described. "He's sort of the heavy-lifter among them."
Also among their ranks is Barricade, an obscure character introduced in a later generation of the toy line and described by Kurtzman as "the hunter of the group," who changes himself into a police car to take advantage of foolish humans who run to him for help. "In a way," Kurtzman explained, "he's like a camouflaged hunter."
The group will also include Scorponok, a giant scorpion-creature who attacks the soldiers in the Iraqi desert. "When you see him in the movie," Orci said, "You're gonna see that in the environment he's in, he comes in very handy."
At his side will be Frenzy, a cassette tape in the original cartoon series who is expected to be updated to some kind of tiny MP3 player for the movie. "Frenzy is of a smaller form," Kurtzman said of the character, "and is able to infiltrate smaller spaces around you and not be seen."
Rounding out their ranks is Blackout, another fairly obscure choice described by "Mission Impossible III" writer Kurtzman as "the guy who comes in and takes away all of our ability to fight back," using a firepower that wipes out our technology. "[Blackout is] kind of the first-tier attack," Kurtzman added.
Decepticon fan-favorite Shockwave, they added, will not be in the movie.
The writers revealed that several characters, including Ratchet and Bumblebee, will transform into very different objects than they did in the original cartoon and toy series to keep up with the times. "Bumblebee, regardless of what he is wearing, will still be Bumblebee," Orci insisted, revealing that the affable Autobot will now be a sports car rather than a Volkswagen Beetle.
Making frequent reference to sequel possibilities, the writers added that they would like to introduce more characters from the Transformers universe in future installments, maintaining a similar mix of different robots from different generations of the franchise. "We're setting up a lot of threads," Kurtzman revealed of various plot lines. "Hopefully, there will be a sequel."
Orci, who said that he watched the cartoon religiously, promised that many things from the original series will remain in the big-screen film. This includes the wah-wah noise the robots make while they transform, as well as their weaponry. "We want to be true to what we know, which is that they fire pulse blasts," Kurtzman revealed, adding that in order to maintain their disguises, the Transformers will only fire earthly missiles and bullets while in vehicle form.
Wrapping up their "more than meets the eye" pronouncements, Kurtzman and Orci announced a "Snakes on a Plane"-like contest that will soon be launched on the flick's Web site. "Write a line for Optimus Prime," Kurtzman grinned, "and we will put it in the movie." Teasing his writing partner, Orci added that in true Hollywood style, the studio would drastically rewrite the quote before it came out of the Autobot leader's mouth.
Wrapping up their chat, Orci said the film had been written for both Transformers geeks like themselves and complete newbies looking to be awestruck by the sight of photo-real transforming vehicles. "This story is very much designed so that you don't need to know anything about the Transformers before you come into it," he said. "We wanted to make sure that anybody could get into it, but without talking down to the fans."
"Transformers," which will also co-star living, breathing actors Jon Voight, Dane Cook and Bernie Mac, is currently filming with its sights set on a July 4 release.
From TFormers.com
Opening the webcast was the teaser trailer of the Transformers Movie followed by the two screenwriters sitting in a room with Roberto Orci on the left and Alex Kurtzman on the right. The writers alluded that the very room they were in is the writers’ room. Behind them to the right was the Transformers movie poster as well as various iterations of Optimus Prime scattered around the room. (Mr. Kurtzman pointed out later in the webcast that the Prime in front of them was the 1984 Generation One Optimus Prime in mint condition.)
First off, Mr. Orci thanked Yahoo! “for giving us satellite time to do this.” They also said that they wanted to introduce themselves to the fans so they know who to pie if they thought the movie sucked.
Not wasting any time, the screenwriter duo introduced us to the Autobots first. The Autobots in the movie will be Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet, and Ironhide. When describing Optimus Prime, Mr. Orci said, “every society has that noble king. That King Arthur.”
They described Bumblebee as the “same underdog, same G1 character we know and love.” Bumblebee will function as the scout for the Autobots. During the question and answer session, the Bumblebee alternate mode of a Chevrolet Camaro was brought up. “The clothes don’t make the man,” Mr. Orci said, “he’s still going to be Bumblebee.” “No matter what he was, he will still be that,” added Mr. Kurtzman. He also said that Bumblebee will be the “most connected to the humans.”
Mr. Kurtzman described Jazz as a rock-and-roll kind of guy. He also pins Jazz’s attitude as if you “can’t do something with style it’s not worth doing at all.”
Although the duo admitted that Ratchet will be different from his Generation One alternate mode, he will be “most tied to his alt-mode,” Mr. Orci says. He will be the medic and will be able to repair any Autobot damaged in battle.
The duo described Ironhide as “always the first one into battle. Like the classic cowboy,” and “is like the muscle.” Mr. Kurtzman added that Ironhide would make “any Transformer bust an O-ring just with his stare.”
The Decepticons side will consist of Megatron, Starscream, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Barricade, Scorponok, Frenzy, and Blackout. “Obviously you can’t have Optimus Prime without Megatron,” comments Mr. Orci. He adds that an exploration past his evil will also be at hand.
Mr. Kurtzman says that Starscream is “always looking to best [Megatron].”
While describing Brawl, Mr. Kurtzman calls him an “extremely pissed off Decepticon.” He is always ready for battle and is a “heavy lifter.” Mr. Orci commented that during their writings of characters, they were using other iterations of the Transformers franchise as well and hoping to continue that into the other movies, if available.
Next is Bonecrusher. Not much information was given for him, but they said he is the closest to a Constructicon. He is also subservient and only responds to Megatron’s orders.
Barricade will be the hunter of the group, scouting the earth for Autobots and making sure they don’t get what the Decepticons need. Contrary to popular belief, Barricade will be the Saleen Mustang police car.
The next Decepticon was Scorponok, who Mr. Orci described as the “closest thing” to the Beast Wars iteration. He goes on by saying that Scorponok is an example of “little bit of flavors from the other things” while still being Generation One.
Now the shocker is that Soundwave is out, and Frenzy is in. Frenzy used to be Soundwave, as revealed by the screenwriters, but they felt that Frenzy fit more into this character than Soundwave did so therefore they used him. Frenzy will be a stealth spy and will be a stereo as his alternate mode.
Blackout “comes in and takes out all of our ability to fight back,” describes Mr. Kurtzman. Blackout’s weapons will send out pulse blasts, reminiscent to electromagnetic pulses, and take out electronics.
After the descriptions of the characters and their capabilities, the duo took questions. First up was whether they had knowledge of the Transformers universe before coming aboard as screenwriters for the movie. “Hands down, yes. Grew up with G1 generation,” Mr. Kurtzman said. He also added that “[w]e wanted to make sure we did it right. If we couldn’t do it right, we wouldn’t do it at all.”
They also said that they played with the toys that are sitting before them. Mr. Orci jokingly said that when they cannot picture Optimus Prime saying something, they use the toy to see how it fits.
When asked about whether or not there would be a need for incoming audiences to know the backstory of the Transformers, Mr. Orci said that there is absolutely no need to know anything. References may be understood by long-time fans, but this movie is made to “absolutely introduce you to the world of Transformers, “as Mr. Orci put it. With Mr. Kurtzman adding, “[i]t’s a movie for everybody.”
Next they addressed the reviews of scripts online that claim the ratio of humans to robots is 70% to 30%, respectively. Mr. Orci first said that the script is the “wrong script,” and “trust me when we tell you that there will be Transformers in the Transformers movie.” Mr. Kurtzman did say, however, that this movie is about humans interacting with robots. They approached the story with the idea that nobody has ever seen anything like large robots and humans interacting before, just like Jurassic Park and human interactions.
A definitive answer was also given about mass shifting: “There is no cheating. No mass shifting.”
In terms of the ratio of Autobots and Decepticons, Mr. Kurtman said, “[we] want to find the right ratio between Autobots and Decepticons.” And the reason for more Decepticons is that they wanted the Autobots to have a tough fight with the Decepticons, which in turn made for more intense action sequences. They also wanted to emphasize that in order for the Autobots to triumph, they would need to “use togetherness, unity, [and] friendship.”
In case any of the fans wanted to know, Megatron will indeed insult Starscream at least once. Their relationship that has been present in all iterations of the Transformers universe will still be present.
Also when asked why Shockwave is not going to be in the movie, Mr. Kurtzman said, “well, why no [to] a million characters, that’s the real question.” The answer is that they don’t just want to waste characters without using them to their full capabilities. Mr. Orci adds that they wanted to save some recognizable stuff for the possibility of future movies.
In terms of weapons, the Autobots and Decepticons will be using pulse blasts in their robot modes. But when they are in disguise, they will possess the same weaponry as humans (bullets, missiles, etc.) in order to blend in.
Voice actors were also asked about. The screenwriters replied that it is a work in progress. However, Mr. Kurtzman added that “everybody you would want to be considered is being considered.”
Many are worried about Michael Bay’s direction of the movie. However, it is undeniable that Mr. Bay is very good when it comes to attractive battles scenes and explosions. The screenwriters gave a little more insight into Mr. Bay’s attraction to the project as that when the duo pitched the story to him, Mr. Bay lit up “like a five year old.” Mr. Kurtzman and Mr. Orci know what it’s like to work with Mr. Bay – they recently did the movie The Island together.
As the conclusion to the webcast, the duo made an announcement that there will be a contest: Write a line for Optimus Prime! The site for the contest will be live “in a couple of weeks,” and whoever wins the contest will have their line spoken by Optimus Prime!
After that, the screenwriters bid their adieu and signed off.
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