Originally debuting in 1984, the Transformers franchise was a worldwide hit when it simultaneously launched a toy line, cartoon series, and comic book. The following two decades saw multiple revamps, animated movies, entire new toy lines, and much more. Since its early days, Hollywood was desperate to get involved and bring a live-action version of the robots in disguise to the big screen.
Fans finally got to see their favorite Autobots and Decepticons in theatres in 2007, thanks to producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay. While a huge commercial success and kicking off a franchise, the film delivered many ups and downs for fans, with some of those drawbacks still irritating them to this day.
10 The Character Redesigns Were Hugely Controversial
Changes have to be made when adapting any medium to film, and most of the time, this isn't met with much criticism. However, once designs for the robotic characters found their way online, many were upset with just how different the iconic heroes and villains looked.
Optimus Prime had flames, Megatron transformed into a jet, Bumblebee was cool, and aside from a select few, it was hard to tell who was who at first glance. Over time, some of these changes have become more accepted by long-term fans, but initial feedback was rather negative.
9 A Focus On Humans Was Seen As A Negative One
Spielberg suggested to the writers of the original film that the story should focus on "a boy and his car." Many were upset by this decision as it gave the impression that the plot may have less attention devoted to the robots and the lore of the franchise.
This unease grew as the cast was announced, a cast which consisted of relative unknowns such as Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. The filmmakers had their reasons for this, citing the confusion that general audiences would feel if they were thrown into the deep end without relatable human heroes. Sequels would expand on the mythology soon after.
8 The Product Placement Was A Bit Overboard
Many Hollywood movies include their fair share of product placement, and normally, this is seen as acceptable or even barely noticeable. An element of Michael Bay's style is to include a much higher amount of obvious brands as he feels this is reflective of the real world with advertising everywhere.
While it's hard to argue that point, the Transformers films do seem to push this mantra past the limit. The fourth film, Age Of Extinction, won "Worst Product Placement" in 2014 with 55 brands included, while the original went as far as having a Mountain Dew vending machine and an X-Box 360 turn into Decepticons.
7 Much Of The Humor Was Considered Immature
Another staple of Bay's films is the juvenile sense of humor that tends to be everpresent. Viewers expect moments of levity in even the grandest of blockbusters, but the Transformers series is often singled out for having childish and rude jokes that often don't make sense, even in context.
The first film includes a scene in which franchise hero Bumblebee essentially pees on a government agent, and its follow-up Revenge Of The Fallen included some bizarrely realistic anatomy on Devastator. These jokes come in scenes that have no robots to be found in them either, usually relying on crude dialogue and character misconceptions.
6 Many Other Jokes Were Seen As Racist
On a similar note, several moments throughout the franchise can be considered culturally inappropriate at best and outright racist at worst. Many bit-characters appeared in one or two scenes only to serve as the punchline to an ill-conceived attempt at fun. The sequels included more of this than the original, and surprisingly, the notion extended beyond the human characters. Even the Autobots got in on it thanks to learning Earth's languages through the internet. Revenge Of The Fallen is easily the worst offender of the lot, with the twin characters Skids and Mudflap being particularly guilty.
5 Objectification Was Rife Through The Series
Another unfortunate theme to occur through the franchise was the obvious objectification of its female leads. These characters still brought something to the conflict, such as Megan Fox's Mikaela Banes being a skilled mechanic and driver, or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's Carly Spencer convincing Megatron to turn on Sentinel Prime in the third film, Dark Of The Moon. Despite that, the camera tended to linger on these actresses and others in overtly sexual manners that upset many viewers. The less said about Age Of Extinction's Romeo and Juliet law, the better, but 2018's soft-reboot Bumblebee has done away with these issues.
4 Many Transformer Personalities Were Altered
Along with their appearances, fans took issue with how drastically many of the key character's personality traits were handled. Optimus Prime was quick to resort to violence and murder, Bumblebee was more of an action hero, Megatron served numerous other leaders, and Shockwave existed in name and body only.
Along with that, numerous Decepticon enemies in the films didn't appear to be based on any existing villains from the previous decades. With so many interesting and unique characters to choose from, it struck fans as odd that so many were left out, and those who made it in were presented so differently.
3 The Dinobots Long-Awaited Debut Disappointed
2014's Age Of Extinction, the fourth film in the series, was poised to finally introduce fan-favorite characters the Dinobots. The team of five brought a unique flavor to the early Transformers universe and could have injected the film series with new life and energy.
Unfortunately, their inclusion in the film was limited to the final action set-piece and all attempts at character and personality were void. Once again, the original visual designs were dropped, leaving fans needing to identify each character based on their dinosaur forms. The next entry, The Last Knight, kept them around but made many of the same errors.
2 The Action Became Too Over The Top
The Transformers are big, so it's no surprise that the action sequences had to be big, too. Audiences expect a certain amount of carnage candy with these films and similar action epics, but perhaps it's now too much of a good thing. Dark Of The Moon saw the city of Chicago almost leveled to the ground for its massive finale, while Hong Kong received widespread destruction in Age Of Extinction. At times, many people had difficulty keeping up with what was happening at all. Some scenes were noted for their technical achievements, however, including the wingsuit sequence in Dark Of The Moon.
1 Some Of The Original Voice Cast Were Replaced
Fan-favorite voice actor Peter Cullen returned to voice the iconic role of Optimus Prime, but many others weren't enlisted for the live-action adaptations. Sometimes this was unavoidable due to actors passing away over time, while other omissions came across as blatant oversights. A big example of this was the absence of Frank Welker, who voiced the Decepticon leader, Megatron.
The 2007 film went with The Matrix's Hugo Weaving instead for the first few installments until Walker was eventually brought in from the fourth. While Weaving's performance was widely accepted, a huge number of fans would have rather heard Welker re-teaming with Cullen from the very beginning.