Past and Future of Transformers

In case the fans haven’t heard yet, the next installment to the Transformers franchise, created by Michael Bay, is in development. While we’re waiting for this film to be released, let’s have a clear visual of how people think of the franchise so far. 

July 10th-14th, 2022 were the days of celebration for the franchise’s 15th Anniversary. It was after that anniversary that people had different opinions about the franchise. People would either comment on how the Transformer films were back in the past or what they could be in the future.

Back in the Past, when the first film was released into the theaters, both critics and potential fans gave their opinions, which proved to be very positive. People found the original film to be intriguing due to its plot and cast crew. Some of the actors that the original film featured were English Actor, Hugo Weaving, and Canadian Actor, Peter Cullen. 

Peter Cullen’s role was Optimus Prime, the main protagonist of the Franchise. Peter Cullen played an iconic actor for Optimus Prime because of the Series and Games he voiced in. Before playing Optimus Prime in the Michael Bay Franchise, Cullen played as Optimus Prime in a variety of Transformer Series, including the first Transformers Animation, Transformers: Generation 1, which was created in the 80s. Along with that, Peter Cullen also took the role as Optimus Prime in video games such as Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.

After the original film, Michael Bay then got into the process of adding sequels to the Franchise, which most people on this day consider to be less of an eyeful. Users on TikTok depict their opinions of these sequels by making video edits of what they think of each film. Opposing these critics are fans who thought some of the sequels were equal or better than the original film. 

11th Grade Student of Pitman Highschool, Lucas Arrizon said, “I watched both the third and fifth film of Transformers and I thought they were both astonishing.” I then asked,”What makes them astonishing?” “Well… the fifth film was astonishing because of the fight between Optimus Prime and Bumblebee,” Lucas replied with, “Oh….Transformers? Those movies are sick!”, Joshi Barrios said.

Some of the critics that don’t see this franchise as intriguing are celebrities. The executive producer of the Transformers franchise, Steven Spleiberg attempted to convince Michael Bay to put an end to Transformers after the third installment. However, due to the fans and the film studio, he made the decision to create the fourth and fifth installment. Even though he hung up the towel before the sixth installment, he passed the position of director and permission to film director, Travis Knight.

As for students, some say that this installment should end immediately. 

I asked, “Hey Alex, I need your opinion on the Transformers Franchise.”. Then, Alex Segura, 11th grade student of Pitman Highschool said, “Sure, go ahead.”. I then asked him, “Do you think that the Franchise should end after its upcoming project?”. He responded back by saying, “Yes, it should end.”. 

As of this moment, fans still see the Franchise as amusing, while critics see it as less of an eye sore. These opinions could most likely affect the Transformers Franchise in a negative or positive way.