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[UltraPrimal]

Just caught the first afternoon showing. Here's my thoughts:

The Good:

Lockdown - He was an amazing villain! I loved him! Heck, I was practically rooting for him! Didn't really care for his pets or those weird big eyeballed and floating teeth drone things, but other than that I really like him. I think he kept true to the character for the most part even though he didn't look like his Animated or G1/ROTF counterpart.

Kelsey Grammar - Was also a good villain. Not quite as good as Lockdown, but when I saw the 2 of them together, I knew this was a great pair. I really wanted him and his goons to get what they deserved after murdering poor Ratchet.

Stanley Tucci - He started off pretty boring. Typical rich asshole. But after his face turn, he started to become an actual character and somewhat likable.

Frank Welker - Back as Galvatron! YES! So awesome!

Drift - Stereotype or not, I really liked him for as little he is in the movie. I really like the part when he's flying INSIDE the building with Bee hanging off him.

Mark Wahlberg - I'll say this, I like him much more than Mr. Shia "I'm-Not-Famous-Anymore" LaDouche.

The Vehicons - I liked how some of them kind of looked like past Decepticons. Particularly that 2-head Shockwave one.

The little nods to the fans - 1. When Optimus finishes transforming into his new alt mode, it plays the classic transforming sound when his Autobot logo pushes through. 2. When Tucci texts his scientist about the yield of the Seed's explosive potential, it's playing a version of the classic TF theme. 3. When Tucci mentions this the 5th(or was it 6th?) version of Galvatron I thought that might have been a nod to the fans, but probably not. But if you count G1/altG1/Kreo as 1, BW2 as 2, RiD as 3, A/E/C as 4, and maybe SG as 5, this could be the 5th or 6th version of Galvatron depending how you think of it.

It's the American thing to do - I loved how the one guy says that they should turn Optimus Prime over to the government for a reward that may or may not exist because it's "the American thing to do". The whole theatre laughed at that and I don't think it was for the reason the writer intended.

The Bad:

Optimus Prime - I really hate how the movies have turned Optimus Prime into a raging murder. At least in this movie he has some motivation because of all his friends being killed, but still I didn't like how much he said stuff like, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!", "KILL THEM!" "KILL THEM WITH MURDER UNTIL THEY'RE DEAD!". Optimus Prime should be better than that. Plus, you know, this a kids movie. Not setting a good example.

Bumblebee - Why is he a just petulant child in this movie? He's lost almost all the charm he had in the first film. There was no reason for his fit over Stinger being "better" than him other than for him to scan a new alt mode, which still looks just like his alt mode from the past 3 movies. When Drift mentions that Bee was the leader while Optimus was gone, I thought, "Oh good! So he's started to mature and evolve the character". That thought is quickly dashed when they immediately begin to wrestle like children for no reason.

Crosshairs - What a piece of shit. What kind of Autobot says, "I want them to kill each other so I can take off and be by myself". He spends the entire movie doing nothing and not contributing in any way other than that one joke with the gunship. "Pull, hold, shoot, repeat" or whatever it was.

The Dinobots - Maybe it was because half their scenes were spoiled in the trailer, but I found them to be very boring. Especially because they never talked. Optimus even spoke to them in what I'm assuming was Cybertronian, though it sounded more like Italian to me. So I assume they can talk, but only growled in the movie. Their scenes would have been a thousand times better if they spoke. I'm sure Gregg Berger, Michael Bell, etc would have been available.

Ratchet and the other dead Autobots - I didn't like how the Ratchet died, or the fact that killed him in the first place. I was worried it was going to be just the humans to take them out, so in a twisted sense I'm kind of glad it was Lockdown to deliver the killing blow, but still.

You Got The Touch - Didn't have it. Even if they just had Marky Mark say it, I'd been happy. They could have easily written in a part where Wahlberg's character is fixing something, whether it be Optimus or one of his neighboors items, it starts to work and had some says, "You got the touch!". Could have even been that 8-track or Walk-Man playing the song.

The Confusing:

The Dinobots - I think everybody assumed from the beginning that the origin of the Dinobots would have something to do with them seeding the planet in per-historic time and the metal fossilized dinosaurs they found in the arctic. But apparently that had NOTHING to do with it. They were just trapped on Lockdown's ship for no reason as to why they were there.

Spike - "I'll ride with you any time, Spike!" Spike?! Who was Spike? I thought they were named Grimlock, Scorn, Slug(Slag), and Swoop. And even the ones not in the movie are Slash, Slog(Sludge), and Snarl. Maybe the one who looks like Scorn is actually Spike, Scorn's tri-spinosaurus cousin.

The Vehicons - So why is that Galvatron can break apart into a billion lego pieces and reassemble to dodge an attack from Bumblebee on the highway, but when the Vehicons are fighting in China, they can't at least partially disassemble themselves to avoid being damaged. Also, it was explicitly stated in the movie that these guys were DESIGNED to take out the Autobots. Yet, 50 of them can't take out 5 Autobots. They totally should have been a bigger threat than they were given these 2 factors. Instead, the Autobot pants them at every turn.

Stinger - Is he like the Waspinator of AOE? When I was watching the final battle, I was like, "Oh, Hound just killed Stinger. I thought for sure Bumblebee was going to be the one to...oh wait, there he is again. Maybe he's not dead. Nope, now he's dead. Wait, there he is again. And he's dead again. There's another Stinger. And he's dead again." Like, did the animators forget that they already killed him and just kept reusing the same model or what?

Drift - Triple-changer? Cool! But why is he a triple-changer? Is it because he's a former Decepticon? And why is that not even mentioned in the entire movie? Seems like a big part of character to me. They should have at least explained that he's allied with the Autobots out of necessity.

Crosshairs - Speaking of triple-changers... Why isn't he Springer? Seriously, I could not even remember his name. He just looks like a movie-verse Springer to me. And it seems like Drift stole his gimmick.

Hound - Should have been called Bulkhead. Even people I went with, who know nothing about Transformers, said "Was that Bulkhead?"

The Spark Extractor - When Lockdown pulls out Ratchet's spark, I immediately thought that they were probably going to use his and the other Autobots sparks to power the Vehicons, much like Megatron did in Beast Machines. But that wasn't the case. Still, I wonder what happened to those sparks.

Unicron/The Quintessons - Just the way Lockdown said, "You're not the center of the universe" it made me think that he's actually been there and that it's something to fear. Could it be Unicron? Or is it the Quintessons/the Creators? I guess we'll have to wait for the next movie to find out.

Arcee - Was it just me or when the humans are shooting at Ratchet, just after they take out his leg, it sounded like Ratchet said, "Arcee, I'm hurt...". Was I just hearing things or what?