So no, Transformers is most certainly not done on the big screen, and no, Michael Bay won’t be taking this next project on since as Kevin Fraser of Joblo has stated the director of Toy Story 4, Josh Cooley, will be taking lead on the project that will be coming….well, we don’t know really. That’s the status of most projects at the moment unfortunately since the lock down still has a lot of people unable to get to the studio to start working. At this point though the upcoming Transformers prequel, which will be animated as it’s been stated, is likely still in the conceptual phase one would think since it’s just now being mentioned. How long it will take for a script to appear is hard to say since this is something that can be done between writers online thankfully, but after that, it’s going to be a waiting game until things start ramping up again and production crews are allowed to get back in and do what they do best. The idea of an animated prequel though to the Transformers movie could be interesting for a few reasons, largely since we’ll get to figure out just what was going on during the war for Cybertron and how the different ideals of the Decepticons and the Autobots ended up destroying their home world.
As it’s already been seen the Autobots are fighting constantly for freedom, for honor, and for the survival of those that the Decepticons would otherwise eradicate or enslave in the name of power, but the ideologies that Optimus Prime follows are a little dated at times since when he has the chance, far too often it would appear, to end the war and thus end the fighting, he usually doesn’t take it. There have been moments when Prime and the other Autobots are more than willing to eradicate their enemies and finally stop the fighting altogether, but that does raise an interesting question. What happens to a warrior that no longer as anything to fight for? Some would say that the ideal setting for the Autobots would be one in which they could answer the call when they were needed, but wouldn’t have to fight any more than they absolutely had to in order to get by. But how long would that last? It’s already been seen in the movies that once Megatron and his Decepticons were defeated the first time that humans turned on the Autobots as the next big threat to their world. Only when another, bigger threat was found did the humans come to accept the Autobots again, much as it was shown in The Last Knight.
This time around though humans aren’t bound to be a factor since this prequel is likely to be just the Autobots and the Decepticons and no one else, meaning that Optimus Prime’s forces are going to be woefully outnumbered since it’s been this way for quite some time. Megatron’s forces are willing to do pretty much anything to gain victory, which the Autobots usually weren’t ready to do since as the protagonists they were expected to be the noble and upright face of the franchise that wouldn’t stoop to the same level as their enemies. In the more recent movies however it’s been shown that Optimus and his companions will use deadly force more often since they’ve gone toe to toe with Megatron and his cronies and done their fair share of damage. It’s going to be interesting to see what an animated prequel will bring though since the damage that each individual takes is hard to note in the live action movies unless it’s so painfully obvious that it can’t be missed. Some injuries that appear as though they should be debilitating are the type that the Transformers usually shrug off, while the more devastating ones are easy to witness and should easily be the end of them. But movie magic has so far made it possible to keep bringing back Optimus at the very least, even though others such as Jazz and a few others were left out of the mix once they were said and done with.
When all is said and done Transformers is still an interesting and overall impressive idea that was brought to light decades ago and is likely to keep showing up so long as there are people willing to take on the project and find a new way to present it. A prequel is going to be intriguing largely because it will show us the Autobots and the Decepticons battling for their planet before we get to the Michael Bay madness that was, admittedly, pretty spectacular when it first came out. To see the Autobots trying to survive is going to be a familiar story, but hopefully there will be a captivating twist to it that will tie everything together. Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter has more to say about this topic.
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