Transformers should already give us only animated films | TierraGamer: news and entertainment about anime, series, video games and technology

This September 12th the movie arrives in Mexican theaters Transformers OneThe peculiarity of this is that it is a prequel that will show us the beginnings of the enmity between Optimus Prime and Megatron. In addition, it will be the first fully animated film about these robots to hit theaters since 1986.

Critic reviews have already started coming in and It is one of the best received of all the robots in disguise films. This makes us think that the Autobots and Decepticons should never have left their roots in animation, because live-action did not do them any favors.

Transformers has always been characterized by its color

Something we must be quite clear about from the beginning is that the Transformers They were born as a toy line. After this, the eighties animated series was created that shot them to international fame by introducing us to memorable characters such as Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Starscream and Megatron..

Those who grew up watching this animated show will remember that each one, in addition to their personality, had their own design and well-defined color patterns. After all, it would be easier for children to identify them and when Christmas came around, they would know exactly which ones to ask for as a gift.

This unfortunately didn’t translate very well to the world of live-action, especially not in the five-film series directed by Michael Bay. Here in an attempt to make them more realistic and bio-organic, some of this magic was lost. Also, outside of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee it was very difficult to tell the others apart.

The movie of Bumblebee It was the first live-action Transformers film not to be directed by Michael Bay and he apparently understood this very well. In fact, in its first moments it presented us with the battles on Cybertron with modern animation and the rest of the film, although with live-action elements, respected more the jovial and colorful look of the series that made them so popular.The result is the highest-rated Autobots film to date.

Animation gives opportunity to focus more on robots

One of the big complaints from fans of Transformers Regarding his films, it is the excessive concentration on human characters. The live-action series had Shia Labeouf, then we moved on to Mark Wahlberg, then Hailee Steinfeld and finally Anthony Ramos in the recent The Awakening of the Beasts.

Surely Hollywood thought that a human element was necessary to keep the story interesting for the general public. Something like what they do with the Monsterverse films with Godzilla and Kong. Even though their names are in the title, they are always relegated by human characters.

In those cases it’s understandable because a two-hour movie of just monsters fighting wouldn’t be interesting. However, with Transformers It’s different because this franchise is full of characters that are quite interesting on their own. This has already been demonstrated in other media such as comics and television. There is no need to take away the spotlight from them in favor of humans who have nothing outstanding to contribute.

Bumblebee, by sticking closer to its animated roots, is the best of the live-action films so far. All because he achieved a great balance between his human protagonist and the little yellow Beetle’s mission to communicate with the rest of his companions.

Transformers One It already shows that it is possible to make a film totally focused on robots thanks to animation and that it also has a pretty good story. I wish Hollywood had realized the benefits of this sooner, because they’ve already made us suffer through six horrible movies of theirs.

There are things about Transformers that could only work in animation

One of the most interesting parts of the Transformers For fans of the saga, it is the war that happened on Cybertron that forced them to leave their home. In fact, that’s why they already explored it a little in Bumblebee and in the two great games from High Moon Studios: War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron.

Transformers One Finally, we get a movie that takes place entirely on Cybertron and lets us see what its society was like before the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. This could only be presented in the world of animation. Even if they made it ‘live-action’ it would probably just be animation with much higher quality.

Not only does this make the robots look more like how we remember them from their various animated series, it also makes it possible to better represent certain things, such as their transformations. Here we find that they go from vehicles to robots and vice versa in an attractive, interesting and very toy-like way. While the transformations in live-action were just an explosion of moving parts that even looked grotesque.

Also we can’t forget that the movie of the Transformers from 1986 was fully animated and showed the potential of what they could achieve in the medium. It gave us a fairly serious plot for animated films of the time, unforgettable moments for its characters and action scenes that, especially for the time, would have been impossible in live-action. Animation opens you up to a world of possibilities that live-action simply can’t or would require a lot of effort and special effects.

Transformers One should be the first of a future that does justice to robots in disguise

Now that Transformers One is critically acclaimed, perhaps it should serve as a test of what is best for the franchise. After all, we’ve already had six of their live-action films that have never even managed to make it to the critically acceptable end of the spectrum.

Perhaps it’s time to stop seeing these characters as mere inciters to action and see them as real characters with things to tell. At the same time, they should leave behind a little of the darkness that always characterized Michael Bay’s films. After all, these are movies inspired by toys. It’s nice to have some fun with them.

We know it’s coming soon on the way to a live-action Transformers/GI Joe crossover. However, they should stick with the animated side. Perhaps a spin-off saga that begins with One and takes us step by step through the enormous conflict on Cybertron.

Animation is also cinema, as Guillermo del Toro says, and recent years have already shown that there is room for all kinds of stories in this medium. So it’s time for the studios to forget their fear and let Transformers find their full potential on film by returning them to the medium that made them so beloved in the first place.

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