Odds are that like the pic of Bumblebee in robot form that surfaced a couple of weeks ago, this one will be yanked offline by Paramount's team of ever watchful lawyers before you can see it… but the first picture of Optimus Prime as he'll look in vehicle mode for Michael Bay's Transformers movie has hit the web. Don’t get excited it's pretty disappointing.
A full size version of the pic is here over at AICN, and though they've made him a semi, that's just about the only thing they've gotten right about the character. I'm not a hardcore transformers fan. I loved it as a kid, but it's not something I spend a lot of time thinking about in adulthood. So I'm pretty open to a few changes in order to make this thing work on film. For instance, I'm ok with Bumblebee being a yellow convertible instead of a Volkswagen Beettle. They had no choice, since Volkswagen wouldn't let them use their car. But if there's one thing about Transformers that most identifies it as well… Transformers, it's the look of Optimus Prime, both transformed and untransformed. I mean, come on Bay… you could have at least gotten the color right.
This is what Optimus Prime is supposed to look like:
- PIC REMOVED BECAUSE WE'RE AFRAID OF PARAMOUNT -
And the attack dogs are out again. If you were able to click to this page before the Paramount laywers got moving, you'd have seen a pic of a long nosed, black Peterbilt with ridiculous flames painted on the front.
Maybe it's a little thing, but if you're not going to give people any of the things they recognize about the characters, then why bother bringing them to the screen? You can do just about anything you want to any of the other characters, but it would be nice if Bay had made at least some attempt to give us an Optimus that at least slightly resembles the big bot we know and love. Prime is the one truly iconic symbol of Transformers, and Bay has just taken a dump all over him.
This should be such an easy movie to turn into a home run. We don't need a genius script, we don't need compelling human character. Just give us giant transforming robots fighting, and oh yeah, give us Optimus… not this over the top, flamed out biker truck. Come on seriously, how hard is it to paint the truck red? Great way to keep from standing out Optimus… paint flames all over yourself. Yep, you'll blend in right in with all the other truckers speeding down I-35.
