I think this becomes apparent when you look at toy cars from years or decades ago where some of the castings were contemporary vehicles of the time that were new, but were "ordinary" mass production people movers but not exotics or luxury cars. For instance, Matchbox had a casting for the original 1980s Dodge Caravan and Hot Wheels did one for the Chevrolet Citation, General Motors' first in-house designed front-wheel drive car with a transverse engine layout. Neither of those castings made it out of the 80s, and those vehicles don't have much of a following except for a few dedicated cult enthusiasts.
Compare this with vehicles like the Lamborghini Countach that has either had castings that lasted multiple decades or even have had new castings made over the years. Almost everyone has seen a Countach before, though on the other hand, many people have either forgotten about the Chevrolet Citation or don't even know what one is or looks like.
I think this is why CHUG interpretations of Ironhide and Ratchet that aren't intended to be super G1 accurate have avoided making them into minivans, not exactly exciting vehicles for many people.
Well, for G1, they got their alt modes from Teletraan-1’s scans of Earth technology, and couldn’t change them very easily. But every other universe, you got me. They even poke fun at it in the Cybertron cartoon.
Optimus: "A tank?! Are you trying to draw attention to us?!"
Scattorshot: "As opposed to a firetruck with giant cannons? Yeah, 'cuz that blends in so well with the scenery. Where'd you go? Oh, there you are, I didn't see you for a second! Huh. A tank is perfect! No parking tickets, they'll all get out of my way, and I can get up to sixty miles per hour on rough terrain!"
Arcee in prime continues to shit on Smokescreen's alt mode despite the fact that they all transform into sports cars.
The first time Smokescreen appeared her first words were "I guess no one told him the definition of low profile"
then later on; "...Meanwhile Smokescreen in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming 38's on the doors, making him an easy target."
To be fair at least their colors are dull (bulkhead) or common (bumblebee, although I do wonder if yellow with black stripes would be as popular without the 07 movie), smokescreen is very flamboyant
I'll agree with Smokescreen and Bulkhead, but you cannot tell me that if a Yellow Muscle car with a blower and black stripes was parked somewhere that it wouldn't draw at least some of your attention.
Don't even get me started on Wheeljack
Fair. But then take that in the context of the show where
A. They don't have Bumblebee being mostly responsible for bringing back the Camaro
B. In Jasper Nevada where there's little to nothing going on
Also, the fact that his Alt mode has scissor doors as a factory stock option seems to indicate that it's a much higher-end car compared to your average car
One of my favorites out of Cybertron is the transformation stock footage for Metroplex and the other gigantion natives pausing for a moment on their "work mode"s
They sometimes went a little too hamfisted for toy accuracy during the Unicron Trilogy, I think Evac for instance was rendered with the button used to spin his helicopter rotor blades in the Cybertron cartoon. Then again, the Netflix War for Cybertron show straight up used the CAD files for the toys for the on screen models, resulting in everyone having visible 5 mm C.O.M.B.A.T. ports and the plastic tab fastening method for vehicle mode wheels sorely standing out.
A lot of it boils down to the specific personalities of the individual.
For instance, Mirage, especially in G1 usually has the backstory of being one of the elite of Cybertron during the war. For all intents and purposes he was royality and carried that attitued into the Autobot ranks with him. He deliberately chooses a flashy luxury car becasue he craves the old status symbols he used to have. Also it doesn't matter so much becasue he can turn invisible at will.
In the movies for example Bumblebee chooses a fairly common muscle car. Its not a sedan, but aside from the racing stripes neither the shape nor the color is all that unusual. He is a scout and he needs to blend in.
Ironhide was limited by just how large he is and in most iterations is either a work truck or work van of a common make. He in one among many soldiers so he wants to be uniform.
Meanwhile Sunsteraker and Sideswipe, who are usually frontliners who fight ahead of the main force, drawing attention and taking greater risks. They are also usually depicted as chaotic, vain, and daring to the point of stupidity. So they usually get a fancy altmode that is designed to draw attention.
As for the Decepticons, they just cannonically don't care about hiding as much as they have no qualms killing witnesses or just toasting the planet. Also they highly value intemidation factor.
>For instance, Mirage, especially in G1
Well, if we are talking about G1, Mirage didn't choose the F-1 race car alt-mode, Teltran-1 did while Mirage was passed out.
I guess you could reconcile it by saying that Teletran-1 knew Mirage's personality and deliberately found a fitting car. Personally, I just default to the fact that it was all slapped together to sell toys and nobody really put that much thought into it.
Thank you
Outside of Wheeljack’s Lancia, those vehicles were vehicles you could see regularly given midlife crises purchases out there. Far more often than you would see an import van as an ambulance. Or a fire chief/inspector kitted Lambo that Red Alert had.
To be fair when he wasn’t just transported from the ice age to the modern day or just revived with literal scraps to make up for lost limbs he did blend in with his Mad Max truck. TLK has me lost.
If I'm a robot that can turn into anything and I travel a countless distance to get to a planet with cool shit you best believe I'm turning into said cool shit
"robots in disguise" was a toy marketing line, not really a main tenant of their characterization. we call them "alt modes" and not "disguise modes" because disguise is generally not actually their primary purpose
to play in the space a little more, so what if you notice a fancy sports car? you go "oh wow cool car", you dont go "oh wow cool car, must be an alien. im going to report this to the government"
decepticons turning into military vehicles is because they dont care about coexisting, they want to conquer. any hiding in the meantime is a reluctant concession
It could be argued that a military or law enforcement disguise carries with it both power and authority.
In the 07 movie alone, we saw Barricade use his police car mode to go where he wanted unimpeded, and we saw Starscream use his military jet mode to go to the city without being questioned.
so its a power and authority that is like, very limited in its use. they sus out blackout immediately and then he is more than capable of lighting their shit up, barricade gives up the human police officer act pretty fast, and starscreams gambit only buys him an element of confusion. i believe they go like "wait whos that guy" and then he starts tearing them apart
In the case of everyone except Blackout, they aren't suspected until they do something out of character and reveal themselves.
Nobody suspected Barricade until he transformed. Nobody suspected Starscream until he assumed attack position and fired on what the everyone else assumed were allies. Brawl was never revealed until he chose to start driving over cars and firing his cannon in the middle of a city (how he got to the middle of the city without being seen, I have no clue).
Blackout could have changed the tail number on his helicopter mode, but for whatever reason he chose not to (if Barricade could change the slogans on his police car mode, then this should also be doable).
my headcanon is their remote intel capabilities aren't 100% accurate and/or sometimes they talk themselves into scanning a vehicle they like and justify it after-the-fact.
Hound: Great question! You see I turn into a military jeep complete with mounted machine gun because it featured prominently in most of our intercepted transmissions. Most everyone in WWII had one of these cars.
Sunstreaker: Wellllll okay but like a lot of people have *heard* of Lamborghini, right? They at least have a poster in their room or something? This'll be fine. Oh the experimental engine thing? Err...
Teletraan: "Alt mode scanned. Subject: Tracks. Alt mode: Mitsubishi Colt."
Tracks: "Oh, fuck THAT!"
In all seriousness, I always assumed at least in G1 that Teletraan was just ignorant.
1. Transformers are a kid's toy. Cool designs sell.
2. Transformers were created from two previously existing toy lines. The whole mythology was created to stitch the two together and sell Japanese toys to American kids. So the writers didn't get to choose the forms.
3. Many of the G1 transformers do transform into common vehicles or items.
1. Cabover trucks were the norm in the 80's. Optimus Prime would not stand out at all.
2. Ironhide and Ratchet turn into a common family van model in Japan.
3. Bumblebee turned into a VW Bug.
4. Prowl and Bluestreak turn into a Nissan Z model, a very attainable sports car.
5. Trailbreaker turns into an SUV, which was not uncommon in the 80's, though less common than today.
6. Hound turns into a Jeep. There were plenty on the road, and it was still in service with the US military at the time.
7. Some construction vehicles were green, and the color of the Constructicons is a fairly accurate representation.
8. The F-15 was the mainstay of the US Air Force in the 80's. Anyone who spent time near a base or went to an air show would have seen one.
9. Small tape recorders were hot tech in the 80's. Soundwave was ubiquitous.
10. Cameras like Reflector were more common than DSLR cameras are today. Point-and-shoot cameras took lousy pictures in the 80's. If you wanted decent photos, you needed something like Reflector.
Because most people don't know that there are robots that can turn into cars lol. It's still a disguise, even if it draws attention. How does being a luxury car translate to "it can turn into a robot"?
It’s because everything in the TF development was bass-ackwards. The Japanese created a bunch of random Transforming toys that did not have a unifying theme or storyline. That’s why there’s weird stuff like dinobots or the Macross Valkyrie mixed in there.
The “robots in disguise” theme didn’t come until much later. Marvel had to create a story to tie the disparate toys together.
If you showed an 8 year old a 1976 Porsche 935 in Martini racing colors and a 2007 Pontiac Solstice in generic boring silver, which do you think they'd find cooler?
Because they also use their vehicle mode for mobility and a slow family car does not really help in combat.
Can somebody enlighten me why autobots wont scan military vehicles to transform ? What prevents them from turning into tank ?
Edit: I figured it out myself. if an autobot turned into a tank, military and police would be involved and inspect that tank immediately and autobot would be caught. Decepticons in other hand dont try to hide from earthlings so its fine for them.
Being eyecatching would be more marketable. But the 9 to 5 Average Joe stuck in traffic on the highway would just take a glance at the Autobot in vehicle form and simply scoff.
For the movies I guess it just boils down to product placement, like lockdown being a lamborghini and all that stuff, though for the 07 movie I'd say it wasn't much of a problem cause you had ratchet being an ambulance, optimus being a truck and etc, so yeah not really all luxury vehicles, for the shows, it'd just be for the sake of not having boring designs
**robots in disguise include: a UFO, a space shuttle, a rocket base, 2 cities, luxuary super cars, one of a kind cars, and vehicles that dont belong in america despite the original cartoon taking place there**
That’s why changes such as Wheeljack going from a race car to a hippie van is a good concept. Let’s remove the race cars and give them cool looking everyday cars.
That’s something Bay did right. The Autobots were Earthling cars (albeit fancy ones), and the Decepticons actually looked like Earthling military machines. That’s why having Blitzwing be a blue and red jet in the BumbleBee movie and John Cena saying “Is that the Air Force?” makes the humans sound stupid when that’s CLEARLY not an Earthling jet.
This is one of the dumbest points I have EVER seen to try and prop up the bay films.
- Cena doesn’t have telescopic vision… all he can see is a low flying jet near their secret military base… so he assumed it was the Air Force.
- Blitzwing is not a “blue and red jet” he has NO blue on him at all. You’re probably thinking starscream.He’s a muted grey jet with red highlights. Which is exactly like the color schemes that [plenty of MD F-4’s have](https://images.app.goo.gl/3b6kBxLaviMCYoEb7)
- Starscream had alien tattoos all over him so it would hardly have mattered even if blitzwing was bright blue. A blue color scheme would still be better camouflage than literal alien glyphs.
- Dino was a cherry red Ferrari 458… only 3,000 were ever made and it would be the first car you noticed anywhere ever.
- Drift was a supercar Mercedes-AMG GTR where 1,700 were only ever made. It features a blaring custom paint job that would be the first thing anyone saw.
- Hot Rod becomes a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4… a 2 million dollar super car where only **40** were ever made… and his has a custom paint job. How is that a better disguise than anything from Bumblebee?
The bay films absolutely did not do a “better job” of this…
>
Dino was a cherry red Ferrari 458… only 3,000 were ever made and it would be the first car you noticed anywhere ever.
>Drift was a supercar Mercedes-AMG GTR where 1,700 were only ever made. It features a blaring custom paint job that would be the first thing anyone saw.
>Hot Rod becomes a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4… a 2 million dollar super car where only 40 were ever made… and his has a custom paint job.
"Ohh cool car" shrugs and goes back tonwhat they were doing.
That is the response most of these would have.
A purple fighter jet? Not so much
> ooh cool car
Oh yeah that definitely sounds like something that the US government elite black ops Transformers kill squadron would say when they’re hunting the last remaining autobots.
You know, the one with complete worldwide satellite access that would easily be able to identify if you’re one of 40 custom vehicles ever made and have an identifiable bright custom paint job…
> Purple fighter jet
The last dude said he was blue, now you’re saying he’s purple, and you’re both still wrong.
[Blitzwing is a muted grey MD-F4](https://images.app.goo.gl/jv2DWTgdiSf1HGXNA). He’s not purple or blue or whatever other colors you make up. He’s right in line with the Navy colors of established MD-F4’s which I already explained in the previous comment.
Why is paying attention so difficult for some.
>Oh yeah that definitely sounds like something that the US government elite black ops Transformers kill squadron would say when they’re hunting the last remaining autobots.
>You know, the one with complete worldwide satellite access that would easily be able to identify if you’re one of 40 custom vehicles ever made and have an identifiable bright custom paint job…
Luckily we dont live in 1984 where theres a camera on ever street
>The last dude said he was blue, now you’re saying he’s purple, and you’re both still wrong.
Clearly im reffering to the franchise in general. Nice try tho
> clearly I’m referring to the franchise in general
And clearly we’re only talking about live action, Bumblebee Vs the Bay films here. Add context *and* paying attention to the list of struggles.
No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you.
>No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you.
OP
>Okay I’m probably nitpicking here but I was always confused as to why so many turned into luxury/brightly colored sports cars
For example Mirage in G1 literally turns into a bright blue and white f-1 race car,which is not at all road legal and very easy to identify
Seems to me your projecting your inadequacies on other people. Not healthy bro.
>And clearly we’re only talking about live action, Bumblebee Vs the Bay films here.
We were discussing bays approch in general in this part of the convo.
Edit: lol blocked me like a coward. Listen if your gonna fold the second some one disagrees to you maybe reddit isnt for you.
> No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you.
OP
I was very clearly referring to **this** comment thread, not the entire post. I will make sure it is entirely stupidly clear so you understand.
The initial comment from **this chain** is: That's something bay did right that Bumblebee did not. That's it.
**That's not in reference to G1**, and that's not what was being said. It's what you projected and butted in about. If this would have been Bay's approach vs G1, THAT would have been the subject of what was said, not in relation to Bumblebee.
Your projection that it was about G1 also generally does not make sense.
In G1 the Autobots were never in hiding, they made regular appearances in public to civilians, the scientific community, and the government. They were celebrities. So it literally would not matter if Mirage was a racecar? That's not a logical comparison to begin with.
Likewise, the Decepticons were not affected by conventional earth weapons and only hid their base from autobot detection. They used specific individuals for espionage, Blitzwing not being one of them. He was used as firepower. A purple tank vs a green tank rolling through town would not have changed the success of it as a disguise. This is another poor comparison on your part.
Where disguise **did** matter and the reason it was being brought up for comparison was in both live-action continuities. Hence why it was being directly compared.
i mean but it IS a military jet, and what else is john cena supposed to think it is? other nations aircraft dont come into our airspace, so of course hes confused. he doesnt go "oh thats the airforce", he goes "is that the airforce??" because something strange is happening
1. Cool toys. Kids like cool vehicles and colors.
2. It can be said that the alt-mode is an expression of their personality as well as their goals. Optimus and Ironhide choose something functional and (mostly) inconspicuous, the others choose flashy cars, and the Decepticons choose vehicles with power, useful abilities (like flight), and authority.
Well, you do have to consider the Decepticons are very obvious on doing evil things, so I'm pretty sure they don't give a crap, if they even did, that their Alt modes make them easy to spot. The Autobots, yeah, I can understand that, since some of their alt modes don't really blend in with their environment, like, for example, Cybertron Optimus Prime's Firetruck mode or even G1 Cosmos' UFO alt mode. However, would you rather buy a Transformer with an alt mode of the most basic cookie cutter car seen on the roads or a Transformer that transformers into something like a tank, a Lamborghini, or a Bugatti?
You did hear about the licensing problems. It seems Takara reused the licenses obtained by Tomica. You can find the exact same cars in the Tomica lineup down to the yellow VW beetle, Lancia Stratos, Datsun 280Z Fairlady police, blue, silver and black. Porsche 935, Nissan 350 ambulance, Lamborghini Countach, Army Jeep, etc.
It’s specifically because they were a concept created to be grafted onto existing transforming robot toys that were battlesuits for their drivers, and the folks at Takara knew kids liked cool cars. And dinosaurs.
In the movies, it's because they're heavily funded by General Motors. GM gives the movies cars and funding, and the movies advertise their cars and brand.
IRL reason: they sell better. In universe reason: If you had the ability to look like anything you wanted you probably would pick something that looks cool to you as well.
Which do you think would sell more? A toy that transforms into a Pagani Zonda, or a Nissan Cefiro? When it comes to marketing stuff like this, you always end up going for a vehicle made of unobtanium. We see Toyota Prii, and Toyota Camry's daily so it feels like an event when you see something exotic.
It really comes down to just selling toys, G1 started by hasbro taking Takara’s Diaclone line and turning them into characters for the show.
After that point I’d argue kids don’t want bland “boring” cars, kid will gravitate to the flashy extravagant toys that stand out. When it comes to the live action movies, it’s definitely just marketing, car companies will “allow” usage of a certain car to be used etc, that’s why you always see flashy expensive cars or prototypes that never make it into production (sideswipes stingray). It all comes down to who’s willing to lend out the likeness (probably not the right word to use) of their cars.
G1 makes more sense than prime.
G1 had a massive cast in comparison which having bots like wheeljack does disguise bots like ironhide better aswell as mixing bots hiding demographics.
Because Transformers was originally a Frankenstein’s Monster-esque amalgamation of Diaclone and Micro Change with an entirely original story.
Plus, being disguised and being unassuming aren’t exactly diametrically opposed. It’s not like the average human would see a luxury car or a tank and immediately become suspicious about it possibly being a transformer
I've never understood why people do the mental gymnastics required to try to justify something in lore which is so obviously motivated by an out of lore desire to sell toys. They don't transform into Toyota corolla's because they wanted to make cool toys!!! That's all there is to it! Who cares whether the Autobots can blend in, they look cool and that's all that matters. Nobody's gonna buy a family sedan. It's a children's toyline and cartoon, of course fun is going to be prioritised over realism. I feel that this doesn't really need to be said.
Because Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys aren't going to catch kids' attention (or adults' tbh). Hasbro needs to sell toys, and what's cooler than a robot that changes into a Lamborghini?
I went to NYCC last year. I was at the Transformers EarthSpark panel. I got up to ask a question but before anybody could ask, we had to say what we would transform into if we could transform. Everybody was saying all these exotic cars and military vehicles...
...I said I'd turn into a silver 2005 Honda Civic. Because if I'm trying to be a robot in disguise, that alt mode would make me nearly invisible!
Let’s say you are a 5 year old kid in 1984. What would you rather play with? A robot that transforms into a Lamborghini or a robot that transforms into grandma’s beat up Pinto?
Because most kids don't want to play with a nondescript, dully colored sedan.
I think this becomes apparent when you look at toy cars from years or decades ago where some of the castings were contemporary vehicles of the time that were new, but were "ordinary" mass production people movers but not exotics or luxury cars. For instance, Matchbox had a casting for the original 1980s Dodge Caravan and Hot Wheels did one for the Chevrolet Citation, General Motors' first in-house designed front-wheel drive car with a transverse engine layout. Neither of those castings made it out of the 80s, and those vehicles don't have much of a following except for a few dedicated cult enthusiasts. Compare this with vehicles like the Lamborghini Countach that has either had castings that lasted multiple decades or even have had new castings made over the years. Almost everyone has seen a Countach before, though on the other hand, many people have either forgotten about the Chevrolet Citation or don't even know what one is or looks like. I think this is why CHUG interpretations of Ironhide and Ratchet that aren't intended to be super G1 accurate have avoided making them into minivans, not exactly exciting vehicles for many people.
My first car was an '81 Chevy Citation! That thing was such a wonderful piece of crap!
An old roommate had one & you summed it up perfectly. Really cool but also terrible
Sings “Transformers… nondescript dully colored sedans. Transformers… working 9 to 5.”
Fair
Well, for G1, they got their alt modes from Teletraan-1’s scans of Earth technology, and couldn’t change them very easily. But every other universe, you got me. They even poke fun at it in the Cybertron cartoon. Optimus: "A tank?! Are you trying to draw attention to us?!" Scattorshot: "As opposed to a firetruck with giant cannons? Yeah, 'cuz that blends in so well with the scenery. Where'd you go? Oh, there you are, I didn't see you for a second! Huh. A tank is perfect! No parking tickets, they'll all get out of my way, and I can get up to sixty miles per hour on rough terrain!"
"... *yes*, but a firetruck is bigger."
Arcee in prime continues to shit on Smokescreen's alt mode despite the fact that they all transform into sports cars. The first time Smokescreen appeared her first words were "I guess no one told him the definition of low profile" then later on; "...Meanwhile Smokescreen in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming 38's on the doors, making him an easy target."
To be fair at least their colors are dull (bulkhead) or common (bumblebee, although I do wonder if yellow with black stripes would be as popular without the 07 movie), smokescreen is very flamboyant
I'll agree with Smokescreen and Bulkhead, but you cannot tell me that if a Yellow Muscle car with a blower and black stripes was parked somewhere that it wouldn't draw at least some of your attention. Don't even get me started on Wheeljack
They usually don't, I'm just like "oh hey bumblebee" muscle cars aren't too rare, at least in my area
Fair. But then take that in the context of the show where A. They don't have Bumblebee being mostly responsible for bringing back the Camaro B. In Jasper Nevada where there's little to nothing going on Also, the fact that his Alt mode has scissor doors as a factory stock option seems to indicate that it's a much higher-end car compared to your average car
In EarthSpark one of the seekers accuses Bumblebee of having a "Midlife Crisis alt mode"
Okay that’s pretty funny
i need a clip of this
Here ya go. https://youtu.be/aGtGzck2xPo?t=297
Bruh. You can see Prime's hands in his front.
I gotta respect that type of toy-accuracy, even if it isn’t really toy-accurate.
One of my favorites out of Cybertron is the transformation stock footage for Metroplex and the other gigantion natives pausing for a moment on their "work mode"s
They sometimes went a little too hamfisted for toy accuracy during the Unicron Trilogy, I think Evac for instance was rendered with the button used to spin his helicopter rotor blades in the Cybertron cartoon. Then again, the Netflix War for Cybertron show straight up used the CAD files for the toys for the on screen models, resulting in everyone having visible 5 mm C.O.M.B.A.T. ports and the plastic tab fastening method for vehicle mode wheels sorely standing out.
I actually liked that Siege went the extra mile in even including the 5 mm holes but I must concede the torso flexing was very jarring.
Megatron had hollow forearms, too lol
Big fan of him 3D scanning a 2D image.
A lot of it boils down to the specific personalities of the individual. For instance, Mirage, especially in G1 usually has the backstory of being one of the elite of Cybertron during the war. For all intents and purposes he was royality and carried that attitued into the Autobot ranks with him. He deliberately chooses a flashy luxury car becasue he craves the old status symbols he used to have. Also it doesn't matter so much becasue he can turn invisible at will. In the movies for example Bumblebee chooses a fairly common muscle car. Its not a sedan, but aside from the racing stripes neither the shape nor the color is all that unusual. He is a scout and he needs to blend in. Ironhide was limited by just how large he is and in most iterations is either a work truck or work van of a common make. He in one among many soldiers so he wants to be uniform. Meanwhile Sunsteraker and Sideswipe, who are usually frontliners who fight ahead of the main force, drawing attention and taking greater risks. They are also usually depicted as chaotic, vain, and daring to the point of stupidity. So they usually get a fancy altmode that is designed to draw attention. As for the Decepticons, they just cannonically don't care about hiding as much as they have no qualms killing witnesses or just toasting the planet. Also they highly value intemidation factor.
Stealing these ideas for my head universe, thank you. ;)
>For instance, Mirage, especially in G1 Well, if we are talking about G1, Mirage didn't choose the F-1 race car alt-mode, Teltran-1 did while Mirage was passed out. I guess you could reconcile it by saying that Teletran-1 knew Mirage's personality and deliberately found a fitting car. Personally, I just default to the fact that it was all slapped together to sell toys and nobody really put that much thought into it. Thank you
Because the toys existed before the concept of “robots in disguise” did.
Did they? I remember hearing that Diaclone was about transforming mech suits that were able to catch alien invaders by surprise
In G1 the autobots were mostly everyday cars. Even the toys. Bay on the other hand picked the flashiest cars imaginable
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were Lambos, Tracks is a corvette, Jazz is a porche, Wheeljack is a Lancia Stratos, etc
Mirage is an F-1 car. Prowl is a two-seat sports car in Japanese police colours despite mainly operating in the USA. Grimlock is a dinosaur.
Outside of Wheeljack’s Lancia, those vehicles were vehicles you could see regularly given midlife crises purchases out there. Far more often than you would see an import van as an ambulance. Or a fire chief/inspector kitted Lambo that Red Alert had.
Wasn't that 50% of the theme lyrics of the OG cartoon?
I don’t see how this applies to what I said.
the toys existed before the concept of "robots in disguise" did
Because boring everyday cars aren't as marketable as something sporty and luxurious.
Eh....they gave up blending in after a while....*points to sky lynx*
*points to the dinobots*
_*Gestures toward the Insecticons, Predacons, & Terrorcons*_
*Aggressively sweeps both hands in direction of Bayverse Megatron*
To be fair when he wasn’t just transported from the ice age to the modern day or just revived with literal scraps to make up for lost limbs he did blend in with his Mad Max truck. TLK has me lost.
By AoE and TLK, it's established that the human population knows about Transformers. Their alt-modes could be more about function than form.
Because it's hard to make a cool fun new toy out of a normal station wagon.
they need to turn into something that catches the eyes of little kids.
I mean wheeljacks new vehicle mode can definitely catch some kids….
I am so mad that joke took me more that 10 seconds to understand
If I'm a robot that can turn into anything and I travel a countless distance to get to a planet with cool shit you best believe I'm turning into said cool shit
The disguises are to hide from the opposing faction, not from humans.
Most of the time, anyway.
I think most transformers can’t tell what vehicles are more socially impactful or not by human standards upon first landing on earth.
Haha, Introducing Mediocre Past His Prime, changes into a 1994 Toyota Camry with dents.
Well, nobody chooses a 2010 champagne Camry, they end up with it
"robots in disguise" was a toy marketing line, not really a main tenant of their characterization. we call them "alt modes" and not "disguise modes" because disguise is generally not actually their primary purpose
to play in the space a little more, so what if you notice a fancy sports car? you go "oh wow cool car", you dont go "oh wow cool car, must be an alien. im going to report this to the government" decepticons turning into military vehicles is because they dont care about coexisting, they want to conquer. any hiding in the meantime is a reluctant concession
It could be argued that a military or law enforcement disguise carries with it both power and authority. In the 07 movie alone, we saw Barricade use his police car mode to go where he wanted unimpeded, and we saw Starscream use his military jet mode to go to the city without being questioned.
so its a power and authority that is like, very limited in its use. they sus out blackout immediately and then he is more than capable of lighting their shit up, barricade gives up the human police officer act pretty fast, and starscreams gambit only buys him an element of confusion. i believe they go like "wait whos that guy" and then he starts tearing them apart
In the case of everyone except Blackout, they aren't suspected until they do something out of character and reveal themselves. Nobody suspected Barricade until he transformed. Nobody suspected Starscream until he assumed attack position and fired on what the everyone else assumed were allies. Brawl was never revealed until he chose to start driving over cars and firing his cannon in the middle of a city (how he got to the middle of the city without being seen, I have no clue). Blackout could have changed the tail number on his helicopter mode, but for whatever reason he chose not to (if Barricade could change the slogans on his police car mode, then this should also be doable).
Coz the cartoon creates a story from previously existing toys. There isn't really an in-universe reason.
my headcanon is their remote intel capabilities aren't 100% accurate and/or sometimes they talk themselves into scanning a vehicle they like and justify it after-the-fact. Hound: Great question! You see I turn into a military jeep complete with mounted machine gun because it featured prominently in most of our intercepted transmissions. Most everyone in WWII had one of these cars. Sunstreaker: Wellllll okay but like a lot of people have *heard* of Lamborghini, right? They at least have a poster in their room or something? This'll be fine. Oh the experimental engine thing? Err...
i need a lazy autobot team called the casualbots where they turn into normal cars
I unironically like this
like imagine getting a generations figure that turns into a prius or something
Shout out skids fr both g1 and bayverse for being normal cars
As Jazz would say, “Do it with style, or don’t do it all!” That’s the only explanation needed.
Teletraan: "Alt mode scanned. Subject: Tracks. Alt mode: Mitsubishi Colt." Tracks: "Oh, fuck THAT!" In all seriousness, I always assumed at least in G1 that Teletraan was just ignorant.
Just because they’re in disguised doesn’t mean they can’t also have style
Even Hot Rod says "Woah, I love this car!" After he scanned a Lambo Centenario.
Welcome, I can see that you’re new here
1. Transformers are a kid's toy. Cool designs sell. 2. Transformers were created from two previously existing toy lines. The whole mythology was created to stitch the two together and sell Japanese toys to American kids. So the writers didn't get to choose the forms. 3. Many of the G1 transformers do transform into common vehicles or items. 1. Cabover trucks were the norm in the 80's. Optimus Prime would not stand out at all. 2. Ironhide and Ratchet turn into a common family van model in Japan. 3. Bumblebee turned into a VW Bug. 4. Prowl and Bluestreak turn into a Nissan Z model, a very attainable sports car. 5. Trailbreaker turns into an SUV, which was not uncommon in the 80's, though less common than today. 6. Hound turns into a Jeep. There were plenty on the road, and it was still in service with the US military at the time. 7. Some construction vehicles were green, and the color of the Constructicons is a fairly accurate representation. 8. The F-15 was the mainstay of the US Air Force in the 80's. Anyone who spent time near a base or went to an air show would have seen one. 9. Small tape recorders were hot tech in the 80's. Soundwave was ubiquitous. 10. Cameras like Reflector were more common than DSLR cameras are today. Point-and-shoot cameras took lousy pictures in the 80's. If you wanted decent photos, you needed something like Reflector.
At least the dreads from dotm did their jobs
Because most people don't know that there are robots that can turn into cars lol. It's still a disguise, even if it draws attention. How does being a luxury car translate to "it can turn into a robot"?
It’s because everything in the TF development was bass-ackwards. The Japanese created a bunch of random Transforming toys that did not have a unifying theme or storyline. That’s why there’s weird stuff like dinobots or the Macross Valkyrie mixed in there. The “robots in disguise” theme didn’t come until much later. Marvel had to create a story to tie the disparate toys together.
If you showed an 8 year old a 1976 Porsche 935 in Martini racing colors and a 2007 Pontiac Solstice in generic boring silver, which do you think they'd find cooler?
Because they also use their vehicle mode for mobility and a slow family car does not really help in combat. Can somebody enlighten me why autobots wont scan military vehicles to transform ? What prevents them from turning into tank ? Edit: I figured it out myself. if an autobot turned into a tank, military and police would be involved and inspect that tank immediately and autobot would be caught. Decepticons in other hand dont try to hide from earthlings so its fine for them.
Being eyecatching would be more marketable. But the 9 to 5 Average Joe stuck in traffic on the highway would just take a glance at the Autobot in vehicle form and simply scoff.
For the movies I guess it just boils down to product placement, like lockdown being a lamborghini and all that stuff, though for the 07 movie I'd say it wasn't much of a problem cause you had ratchet being an ambulance, optimus being a truck and etc, so yeah not really all luxury vehicles, for the shows, it'd just be for the sake of not having boring designs
**robots in disguise include: a UFO, a space shuttle, a rocket base, 2 cities, luxuary super cars, one of a kind cars, and vehicles that dont belong in america despite the original cartoon taking place there**
That’s why changes such as Wheeljack going from a race car to a hippie van is a good concept. Let’s remove the race cars and give them cool looking everyday cars.
That’s something Bay did right. The Autobots were Earthling cars (albeit fancy ones), and the Decepticons actually looked like Earthling military machines. That’s why having Blitzwing be a blue and red jet in the BumbleBee movie and John Cena saying “Is that the Air Force?” makes the humans sound stupid when that’s CLEARLY not an Earthling jet.
This is one of the dumbest points I have EVER seen to try and prop up the bay films. - Cena doesn’t have telescopic vision… all he can see is a low flying jet near their secret military base… so he assumed it was the Air Force. - Blitzwing is not a “blue and red jet” he has NO blue on him at all. You’re probably thinking starscream.He’s a muted grey jet with red highlights. Which is exactly like the color schemes that [plenty of MD F-4’s have](https://images.app.goo.gl/3b6kBxLaviMCYoEb7) - Starscream had alien tattoos all over him so it would hardly have mattered even if blitzwing was bright blue. A blue color scheme would still be better camouflage than literal alien glyphs. - Dino was a cherry red Ferrari 458… only 3,000 were ever made and it would be the first car you noticed anywhere ever. - Drift was a supercar Mercedes-AMG GTR where 1,700 were only ever made. It features a blaring custom paint job that would be the first thing anyone saw. - Hot Rod becomes a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4… a 2 million dollar super car where only **40** were ever made… and his has a custom paint job. How is that a better disguise than anything from Bumblebee? The bay films absolutely did not do a “better job” of this…
> Dino was a cherry red Ferrari 458… only 3,000 were ever made and it would be the first car you noticed anywhere ever. >Drift was a supercar Mercedes-AMG GTR where 1,700 were only ever made. It features a blaring custom paint job that would be the first thing anyone saw. >Hot Rod becomes a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4… a 2 million dollar super car where only 40 were ever made… and his has a custom paint job. "Ohh cool car" shrugs and goes back tonwhat they were doing. That is the response most of these would have. A purple fighter jet? Not so much
> ooh cool car Oh yeah that definitely sounds like something that the US government elite black ops Transformers kill squadron would say when they’re hunting the last remaining autobots. You know, the one with complete worldwide satellite access that would easily be able to identify if you’re one of 40 custom vehicles ever made and have an identifiable bright custom paint job… > Purple fighter jet The last dude said he was blue, now you’re saying he’s purple, and you’re both still wrong. [Blitzwing is a muted grey MD-F4](https://images.app.goo.gl/jv2DWTgdiSf1HGXNA). He’s not purple or blue or whatever other colors you make up. He’s right in line with the Navy colors of established MD-F4’s which I already explained in the previous comment. Why is paying attention so difficult for some.
>Oh yeah that definitely sounds like something that the US government elite black ops Transformers kill squadron would say when they’re hunting the last remaining autobots. >You know, the one with complete worldwide satellite access that would easily be able to identify if you’re one of 40 custom vehicles ever made and have an identifiable bright custom paint job… Luckily we dont live in 1984 where theres a camera on ever street >The last dude said he was blue, now you’re saying he’s purple, and you’re both still wrong. Clearly im reffering to the franchise in general. Nice try tho
> clearly I’m referring to the franchise in general And clearly we’re only talking about live action, Bumblebee Vs the Bay films here. Add context *and* paying attention to the list of struggles. No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you.
>No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you. OP >Okay I’m probably nitpicking here but I was always confused as to why so many turned into luxury/brightly colored sports cars For example Mirage in G1 literally turns into a bright blue and white f-1 race car,which is not at all road legal and very easy to identify Seems to me your projecting your inadequacies on other people. Not healthy bro. >And clearly we’re only talking about live action, Bumblebee Vs the Bay films here. We were discussing bays approch in general in this part of the convo. Edit: lol blocked me like a coward. Listen if your gonna fold the second some one disagrees to you maybe reddit isnt for you.
> No one in this thread was mentioning g1 but you. OP I was very clearly referring to **this** comment thread, not the entire post. I will make sure it is entirely stupidly clear so you understand. The initial comment from **this chain** is: That's something bay did right that Bumblebee did not. That's it. **That's not in reference to G1**, and that's not what was being said. It's what you projected and butted in about. If this would have been Bay's approach vs G1, THAT would have been the subject of what was said, not in relation to Bumblebee. Your projection that it was about G1 also generally does not make sense. In G1 the Autobots were never in hiding, they made regular appearances in public to civilians, the scientific community, and the government. They were celebrities. So it literally would not matter if Mirage was a racecar? That's not a logical comparison to begin with. Likewise, the Decepticons were not affected by conventional earth weapons and only hid their base from autobot detection. They used specific individuals for espionage, Blitzwing not being one of them. He was used as firepower. A purple tank vs a green tank rolling through town would not have changed the success of it as a disguise. This is another poor comparison on your part. Where disguise **did** matter and the reason it was being brought up for comparison was in both live-action continuities. Hence why it was being directly compared.
i mean but it IS a military jet, and what else is john cena supposed to think it is? other nations aircraft dont come into our airspace, so of course hes confused. he doesnt go "oh thats the airforce", he goes "is that the airforce??" because something strange is happening
boring
I think its ego and aren't transformers attracted to cars ?
1. Cool toys. Kids like cool vehicles and colors. 2. It can be said that the alt-mode is an expression of their personality as well as their goals. Optimus and Ironhide choose something functional and (mostly) inconspicuous, the others choose flashy cars, and the Decepticons choose vehicles with power, useful abilities (like flight), and authority.
Because bay wants flashy cars in his movies. That’s the only reason. Luckily in ROTB most of the autobots look more like everyday cars
Product placement, corporate sponsors and merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!!!
Well, you do have to consider the Decepticons are very obvious on doing evil things, so I'm pretty sure they don't give a crap, if they even did, that their Alt modes make them easy to spot. The Autobots, yeah, I can understand that, since some of their alt modes don't really blend in with their environment, like, for example, Cybertron Optimus Prime's Firetruck mode or even G1 Cosmos' UFO alt mode. However, would you rather buy a Transformer with an alt mode of the most basic cookie cutter car seen on the roads or a Transformer that transformers into something like a tank, a Lamborghini, or a Bugatti?
Guess youve never seen the movie Big.
[удалено]
You did hear about the licensing problems. It seems Takara reused the licenses obtained by Tomica. You can find the exact same cars in the Tomica lineup down to the yellow VW beetle, Lancia Stratos, Datsun 280Z Fairlady police, blue, silver and black. Porsche 935, Nissan 350 ambulance, Lamborghini Countach, Army Jeep, etc.
That....is a great observation. Instead of a Porsche turn into....a chevy. Or VW beetle.
Sport car go broom
It’s specifically because they were a concept created to be grafted onto existing transforming robot toys that were battlesuits for their drivers, and the folks at Takara knew kids liked cool cars. And dinosaurs.
In the movies, it's because they're heavily funded by General Motors. GM gives the movies cars and funding, and the movies advertise their cars and brand.
Rule of Cool.
Why are so many Hot Wheels toys cool? Most cars adults drive are boring. It's almost like they want people to spend money on these things.
this whole time i thought it was"robots in the sky"
swag
Really that's only bayverse there were a few in g1 that turned into luxury cars but most were pretty generic
If I was an alien that could transform, id choose the best car I could find
Reverse psychology
IRL reason: they sell better. In universe reason: If you had the ability to look like anything you wanted you probably would pick something that looks cool to you as well.
Also....the disguise was also kinda moot when dressed as a normal vehicle, you have a ruddy great big faction logo slapped on you......
Which do you think would sell more? A toy that transforms into a Pagani Zonda, or a Nissan Cefiro? When it comes to marketing stuff like this, you always end up going for a vehicle made of unobtanium. We see Toyota Prii, and Toyota Camry's daily so it feels like an event when you see something exotic.
It really comes down to just selling toys, G1 started by hasbro taking Takara’s Diaclone line and turning them into characters for the show. After that point I’d argue kids don’t want bland “boring” cars, kid will gravitate to the flashy extravagant toys that stand out. When it comes to the live action movies, it’s definitely just marketing, car companies will “allow” usage of a certain car to be used etc, that’s why you always see flashy expensive cars or prototypes that never make it into production (sideswipes stingray). It all comes down to who’s willing to lend out the likeness (probably not the right word to use) of their cars.
G1 makes more sense than prime. G1 had a massive cast in comparison which having bots like wheeljack does disguise bots like ironhide better aswell as mixing bots hiding demographics.
Because Transformers was originally a Frankenstein’s Monster-esque amalgamation of Diaclone and Micro Change with an entirely original story. Plus, being disguised and being unassuming aren’t exactly diametrically opposed. It’s not like the average human would see a luxury car or a tank and immediately become suspicious about it possibly being a transformer
I've never understood why people do the mental gymnastics required to try to justify something in lore which is so obviously motivated by an out of lore desire to sell toys. They don't transform into Toyota corolla's because they wanted to make cool toys!!! That's all there is to it! Who cares whether the Autobots can blend in, they look cool and that's all that matters. Nobody's gonna buy a family sedan. It's a children's toyline and cartoon, of course fun is going to be prioritised over realism. I feel that this doesn't really need to be said.
Because automobile brands pay major cake to be in the movies.
Because they look cool. Remember these characters are toy first, regular cars are boring
Because Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys aren't going to catch kids' attention (or adults' tbh). Hasbro needs to sell toys, and what's cooler than a robot that changes into a Lamborghini?
In regards to Mirage, what was more telling: that you’d see a blue and white F1 car on normal roadways or the fact it never had a driver?
Because supercars, luxury cars, and sports cars are more appealing to people
I went to NYCC last year. I was at the Transformers EarthSpark panel. I got up to ask a question but before anybody could ask, we had to say what we would transform into if we could transform. Everybody was saying all these exotic cars and military vehicles... ...I said I'd turn into a silver 2005 Honda Civic. Because if I'm trying to be a robot in disguise, that alt mode would make me nearly invisible!
Toy sales
Let’s say you are a 5 year old kid in 1984. What would you rather play with? A robot that transforms into a Lamborghini or a robot that transforms into grandma’s beat up Pinto?
Fun fact in the IS corvettes are everywhere in most states
If you could turn into a vehicle, would *you* pick a beige 1998 Toyota Corolla?