Interesting how all those cartoon shows you mention stopped production once the toy line sales dropped off. The bios are made for children, Transformers are toys designed for children. The fact that some adults like them doesn't change what they were intended for. How is that bullshit? I'm sure the excutives at Hasbro would be laughing there asses off at this.
Yep, dark, scary, edgey and no children because they would have lost the large portion of their marketed audience.
Frankly, I don't even understand why grown men are even debating over a movie inspired by a childrens toy to begin with. I feel like Woody the Cowboy trying to explain to Buzz Lightyear that he's just supposed to be a kids plaything and not a the real live space superhero he thinks he is.
Actually Transformers moved beyond that realm (Alternators come to mind). Bios for some of the GI Joes weren't made for kids and they deal with some adult themes.
So, let's see: Batman the Animated Series, not for kids? X-Men: the Animated Series, not for kids? Batman Beyond, not for kids?
Batman, Superman were made for kids as well, weren't they? That was their primary market back when they were created and that's what comic books are for, kids! So why are all these 20-30s year olds clamoring for something like the Dark Knight? Shouldn't the executives be aiming for the Batman and Robin type of show with lots of flash and color and big explosions and stupid piss jokes?
Making Transformers live action makes a big difference because they aren't cartoons anymore, Bay entered them into our phyical world. It's every kids dream that their toys become "real".
BTW, if the kid now turned adults are writing the Transformer cartoons ,then they're doing a piss poor job. If it's for the comic books, then I don't care. I don't read comics, so not to sound arrogant but I'm part of that mass public that's coming to know Transformers thru film. So me and many like me need a film that explains the basics of what my kids are watching & playing with. Robots fighting for freedom over a another ruling class is a universal message everyone around the world can relate too. Once again, it has to be a concept people internationally can identify with, not just an American or Eastern European audience.
I also have a degree in TV & Film production, so I have a fairly good insiders view of the film making industry. So I'm dead serious when I tell you the fans base aren't the only audience these films are marketed too. If they grab you that's cool and a bonus but they're really aiming at your kids. Transformers wouldn't be going this long if they weren't constantly changing them to appeal to the next generation of young fan. Trek does it with every spin off & Star Wars is doing it with "Clone Wars", TMNT does it as well. Interesting how all of them are long term selling products from the same company.
It's more about marketing than comic books. The comics are just tied into all the marketing product.
ARGH! That's your problem exodus. You're looking at it from a TOYS point of view and not a comic or a television.
And Nolan entered Batman in the real world again.
the Transformer cartoons are pretty bad yes, but the comics are excellent. Those guys writing the comics grew up watching and playing with Transformers. They have expanded and developed even better nature of the Transformer universe.
and I haven't touched a Superman or a Batman comic that wasn't 3 years out of date, and most of my beginning knowledge of Batman comes from the cartoon or Superman cartoon back in the 90s. So why didn't Nolan make it more like the Batman cartoon and kept it PG to have kids watch it instead of a hard Pg-13?
Yes, Transformers basic message is good vs evil but it is much more than that.
Optimus Prime came from nowhere. He was a data entry level worker (or something like that). He rose to become someone, which is a universal message. Megatron was an oppressed miner that went to become a gladitator and rose through brutality there. That sounds kind of like Gladiator the movie. You can convey those simple messages through dialogue and action.
Yes, it is about marketing but you got kids from the 80s and 90s, that read the comics, that know the Transformers. Transformers and most of the 80s cartoons and such had a massive explosion because those that grew up with them were more sophisticated and actually understood storylines.
That is who you market too and expand on that.
BTW Transformers wasn't marketed toward the youth, it was marketed to those that grew up with the cartoon and the comics, hence why it was Pg-13 and had not only a lot of adult humor but also the violence.