Now that the Transformers One trailer has dropped, fans have been fighting like Autobots and Decepticons over whether this CGI film will be any good. On one hand, the animation looks great and the movie has an all-star cast; on the other hand, almost every scene in the trailer is filled with Marvel-style cringe comedy dialogue. However, I remain cautiously optimistic about the movie because it seems to channel the best Transformers show in one very important way: like Beast Wars and its spinoffs, it looks like this movie won’t focus on humans, including annoying kid sidekicks.
Boring Old Humans
Obviously, humanity has played a major part in Transformers lore from the beginning, with the Autobots befriending Spike Witwicky, with his son Daniel memorably joining in later adventures. Kid sidekicks eventually became a staple of the franchise (an idea that Robots in Disguise, Armada, and especially the live-action films helped to cement). Meanwhile, whether you chalk this up to the original G1 demographic getting older or the writing getting worse, the focus on human characters in Transformers media became one of the things that most fans learned to hate.
No Humans In Beast Wars
Beast Wars Was A Franchise Peak
Beast Wars and its spinoffs were great for many reasons–too many of them to easily list, really. But one of the reasons the show and its characters were able to shine so much is that we got Transformers storylines focusing primarily on our favorite robots. Whether you loved the Transformers One trailer or not, it gives every indication that, like Beast Wars before it, this film will be ditching the usual focus on humanity to instead focus on everyone’s favorite robots in disguise.
Location, Location, Location
The reason for that focus is simple: Transformers One, like Beast Machines, takes place entirely on Cybertron, which means we won’t have to suffer through the usual storylines of young humans befriending the more child-friendly bots. Furthermore, the movie is designed as a prequel that will show how characters like Optimus Prime and Megatron got their transformation powers as well as, presumably, what turned these former besties into bitter rivals.
No Puny Humans In Transformers One (We Hope)
With all of this taking place literally millions of years before the Transformers encounter humanity, we won’t have to worry about the keen awkwardness of, say, that scene in Age of Extinction where the guy takes out his laminated card and explains why it’s okay he’s dating an underage girl. Honestly, the humans remain the absolute worst part of all the Transformers live-action films, so the fact that the CGI Transformers One won’t have any is already a mark in its favor.
That Doesn’t Mean It Will Be Good
By itself, this doesn’t mean that Transformers One will magically be any good–War For Cybertron didn’t have any humans and it still left the fandom divided (to re-experience the weirdness of that trilogy, you just have to put…weird…pauses in…almost all of…what I have written). But if you’re a fan hoping that this new film will light the darkest hour for the fandom, this might be one reason to get excited. Speaking for myself, a weird buddy comedy with Optimus Prime and Megatron might sound like a bunch of beryllium baloney, but I’m infinitely more excited for this movie than the upcoming Transformers film crossover with G.I. Joe.
