When 2024’s Transformers One hit theaters and was met with widespread acclaim, it showed that this franchise is at its best in an animated format. The ’80s sci-fi TV show that popularized Transformers was a cartoon and the series has continued successfully through other similar projects and comic books. However, most modern fans likely know the characters and world from the live-action movies.
Michael Bay’s five Transformers films were live-action and they were huge blockbuster hits, racking up more than $1 billion at the box office. Unfortunately, the majority of those films weren’t well received for a handful of reasons. Something about that take on the franchise missed the mark and with the critical success that Transformers One was, animation is the route Transformers needs to take going forward.
The Transformers Franchise Has Always Lent Itself To Animation
The Characters & World Are Ideal For The Format
The entire concept of Transformers is something that lends itself to animation. A robot that can turn themselves into cars, guns, and other forms is something that can seamlessly be done through an animated format. Even if the style from the ’80s cartoon didn’t completely age well, the transformations themselves still look fine all these decades later. Add in how animation itself has gotten more impressive over the years, and it just makes sense to follow that format.
The critical darling that was Transformers One is similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. After years of disappointing live-action films (some also made by Michael Bay), this classic cartoon found success in 2023 when it was adapted into an animated film. The live-action versions never dove too deep into things like life on Cybertron because of the limitations of the format. When Cybertron was shown in Bumblebee, it was great, but way too short.
Transformers One was better for having no human characters.
The Michael Bay Transformers movies also suffered from a problem that Godzilla films run into, which is that the human characters are often less interesting. For the most part, people want to see the тιтular Transformers interact, fight, and engage with other Transformers, while the subplots involving the usually underdeveloped humans hold things back. The animated format means the movies can avoid that and Transformers One was better for having no human characters.
The Live-Action Transformers Always Looked A Bit Off
It Was Often Hard To Tell The Transformers Apart
In Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, one major issue was that it was sometimes difficult to tell the robots apart. Whether Autobots or Decepticons, too many of the characters looked too much alike. The likes of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were rare cases who stood out because they had specific colors that were easily recognizable. However, plenty of casual fans couldn’t distinguish the difference between Megatron and The Fallen, for example.
The Transformers mostly looked like giant hunks of metal clanging off of each other.
On top of that, when it’s difficult to tell characters apart, it also makes it hard to care about them. In 2007’s Transformers, Jazz gets ripped in half by Megatron but it’s mostly a quick moment that doesn’t mean much because, outside of his voice, it was difficult to tell that it was Jazz who was the victim. In a lot of ways, the Transformers mostly looked like giant hunks of metal clanging off of each other.
Transformers One didn’t have that issue. Whether it was a main character like Orion Pax, D-16, or Elita-1, or a character who made a small appearance like Starscream and even the aforementioned Jazz, we can tell who is who and it makes it easier to like and care about them.
