# Transformers
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 24, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212 "2007-06-24T14:09:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/1 "2007-06-24T14:09:56Z")
_Transformers_ starts here on Thursday. It was pointed out to me last night that that’s a week before it opens in the US. Looking [here](http://imdb.com/title/tt0418279/), I see the US release date is July 3, actually five days later. It doesn’t happen often that we see a big Hollywood blockbuster before the US sees it, but it does happen. My question: What is the reasoning behind the studio deciding to release it over here first?
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/2 "2007-06-24T14:20:55Z")
To avoid piracy?
Marc
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/3 "2007-06-24T14:23:12Z")
I considered that, but it’ll be pirated anyway. But if that’s the case, why not do it all the time?
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/4 "2007-06-24T15:12:14Z")
Because the 4th is a holiday. So, they’re releasing it on the 3rd for that reason, so that they can get the holiday film crowd. Otherwise, it would have been released on the 30th.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/5 "2007-06-24T15:14:06Z")
To try & earn _some_ money on this utter dog.
I’ve seen commercials.
They’ve peed on my childhood. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/6 "2007-06-24T16:17:45Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
They’ve peed on my childhood. :mad:
[/QUOTE]
Transformers debuted in 1984. Aren’t you in your forties?
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/7 "2007-06-24T17:05:00Z")
It’s not that bad. The faces are a little beh, but it’s really not that bad.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/8 "2007-06-24T17:11:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
To try & earn _some_ money on this utter dog.
I’ve seen commercials.
They’ve peed on my childhood. :mad:
[/QUOTE]
I’m sure they’ll have a lot of trouble making money on this one. :rolleyes:
It may or may not be good but it will make a lot of money.
It doesn’t look like art to me but it does look a fun way to waste a couple of hours.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/9 "2007-06-24T17:17:55Z")
I find it hard to imagine that any kid in the 1980s, informed of an imminent megabudget live-action movie with hyperrealistic special effects depicting Transformers beating the crap out of each other onscreen, would consider such a film anything short of the coolest possible thing ever. How come Transformers rate the big budget film treatment, yet somehow Micronauts don’t? This is pure cosmic injustice.
Not to diminish the importance of childhood memories; but honestly, what kind of scriptural source material is being irrevocably violated here? Twitchy 12-frame-per-second animation featuring battles over Energon cubes, Junkions, and a guy named “Witwicky.” It’s not as though the various Transformer series ever worried excessively about maintaining an internally consistent mythology. Or did they, and that part just got lost in translation? I suppose that’s a possibility.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as cheesed off about the apparent absence of Roller as the next guy. But I figure that if it bothers me too much in the theater, I’ll just pretend that I’m really watching Michael Bay’s **GoBots**. Presto, treasured memories remain inviolate.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/10 "2007-06-24T17:22:13Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel]
How come Transformers rate the big budget film treatment, yet somehow Micronauts don’t? This is pure cosmic injustice.
It’s not as though the various Transformer series ever worried excessively about maintaining an internally consistent mythology. Or did they, and that part just got lost in translation? I suppose that’s a possibility.
[/QUOTE]
Micronauts disappeared from toy shelves in the early '80s, and never had a major cartoon, comic book, and theatrically-released animated film all at the height of their popularity. Transformers have been selling consistently in toy stores for the last 23 years, and by name recognition alone, they would probably be one of the best-known toy lines of all time (up there with Barbie, G.I. Joe, and Hot Wheels).
Also, there is an internally consistent mythology between all (or at least most) of the Transformers series – the comics by Dreamwave and IDW have gone to great lengths to explain and connect everything. Don’t ask me to explain it, though. I am very fond of the G1 Transformers (and still have most of my toys), but haven’t had much interest in anything since about 1988.
That said, I’m not a fan of the designs in the new movie at all. I hate the inhuman, insect-like faces. But I realize this movie isn’t made for me, I’m sure it will be a huge hit among fans old and new, and I find the fanboyish wails of “\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ raped my childhood!” to be pathetic and embarrassing.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/11 "2007-06-24T17:25:06Z")
Look, I was as much of a Transformer fan as anyone back in the 80’s, but I have enough self-awareness - and enough self-respect - to admit that it was a profoundly stupid show.
Let Bay do what he wants. So long as the movie features giant frickin’ robots beating the everloving crap out of each other, I’m cool.
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### Author:  [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/12 "2007-06-24T17:27:22Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
To try & earn _some_ money on this utter dog.
I’ve seen commercials.
They’ve peed on my childhood. :mad:
[/QUOTE]
Well, your personal opinions aside, and I’m not saying some people don’t agree with them, you are dead wrong on the studio thinking it’s a dog:
[Transformers tracking “gigantic.”](http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/tracking-harry-potter-as-huge-as-transformers-ratatouille-big-captivity-zero/)
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/13 "2007-06-24T17:28:18Z")
[Micronauts comicbook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronauts_(comic_book)) 1979-1986. I think I have most of them somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/14 "2007-06-24T17:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
Well, your personal opinions aside, and I’m not saying some people don’t agree with them, you are dead wrong on the studio thinking it’s a dog:
[Transformers tracking “gigantic.”](http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/tracking-harry-potter-as-huge-as-transformers-ratatouille-big-captivity-zero/)
[/QUOTE]
They wouldn’t open it on July 4th if they thought it was a dog. It would have been buried in the fall sometime, not put in the prime spot of the summer.
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### Author:  [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/15 "2007-06-24T17:34:54Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
Transformers have been selling consistently in toy stores for the last 23 years, and by name recognition alone, they would probably be one of the best-known toy lines of all time (up there with Barbie, G.I. Joe, and Hot Wheels).
[/QUOTE]
I think LEGO wants to have a have word with you.
I think the re-design of the Transformers makes sense with a live-action setting. These are alien robots. Making them appear as popular designs created by man (such as a tape deck) does not make a lot of sense.
Now, the quality of the re-designs on the other hand…
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### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/16 "2007-06-24T17:36:00Z")
I’ve heard somewhere that certain movies are released in Asia before they are in the US, so as to avoid rabid Asian movie lovers from getting their hands on pirated versions and watching those instead of going to the theaters. American movie lovers are less likely to do this, I suppose (I have no cite; these are just observations based on personal experience).
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### Author:  [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/17 "2007-06-24T18:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=cactus waltz]
I think the re-design of the Transformers makes sense with a live-action setting. These are alien robots. Making them appear as popular designs created by man (such as a tape deck) does not make a lot of sense.
[/QUOTE]
The computer system aboard the Ark (the ship that crashed and brought the Transformers to earth), when it went about repairing them, specifically picked local items for them to be able to transform into.
I don’t know the rationale behind this happening, but it’s from the pilot.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/18 "2007-06-24T19:01:53Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
Micronauts disappeared from toy shelves in the early '80s, and never had a major cartoon, comic book, and theatrically-released animated film all at the height of their popularity.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly my point! And yet somehow Transformers garnered all this attention, despite the fact that the Micronauts were obviously-- OBVIOUSLY! --an infinitely cooler concept (–said the guy who had the Battle Cruiser and a veritable army of the little buggers. If GI JOE ever fought those guys to anything better than a standoff, I do not recall it. And that’s even with the aid of their radioactively enhugened old-style 12" Giant Joe who only said “GKKRGGHH” when you pulled his string, PLUS Radioactive Giant Steve Austin! The awesome firepower of the Battle Cruiser in multivector assault mode cannot be denied)!
As I said: Cosmic Injustice.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/19 "2007-06-24T19:37:18Z")
[QUOTE=Loach]
They wouldn’t open it on July 4th if they thought it was a dog. It would have been buried in the fall sometime, not put in the prime spot of the summer.
[/QUOTE]
Not really true. They “reserved” the 4th as the release long before the film was ever even close to being completed, so they’ve been committed to that date (through massive longterm publicity) long before they had any idea whether the final product would be any good or not.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transformers/409212/20 "2007-06-24T20:14:28Z")
Hmmm…why no GI Joe movie?
It would seem to be a natural.
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