Keegan-Michael Key Will Be Sounding as Himself When Voicing Bumblebee in Transformers One

I have no grievances against any of the actors in this film. They are all talented to various degrees, but a Hollywood actor sounding like themselves is pretty par for the course. I mean its much more palatable when you have original creations. Like Woody & Buzz from Toy Story. Nobody can imagine them being voiced by anyone else besides Tom Hanks or Tim Allen, but to be honest, they sound just like Tom Hanks & Tim Allen.

Classically trained VA's on the other have have a wide range, which is why I prefer them in animation, especially with legacy characters that have been represented in animation for decades. I blame whoever made the casting decisions. I mean its far too early to judge this film, as we haven't seen a frame of it yet. But much like other films. Instead of "hearing" BB, Ill just be hearing KMK's voice coming out of BB like a ventriloquist. Same with Mario. It was a fun film, but Chris Pratt is still Chris Pratt...

o.supreme wrote:I have no grievances against any of the actors in this film. They are all talented to various degrees, but a Hollywood actor sounding like themselves is pretty par for the course. I mean its much more palatable when you have original creations. Like Woody & Buzz from Toy Story. Nobody can imagine them being voiced by anyone else besides Tom Hanks or Tim Allen, but to be honest, they sound just like Tom Hanks & Tim Allen.

Classically trained VA's on the other have have a wide range, which is why I prefer them in animation, especially with legacy characters that have been represented in animation for decades. I blame whoever made the casting decisions. I mean its far too early to judge this film, as we haven't seen a frame of it yet. But much like other films. Instead of "hearing" BB, Ill just be hearing KMK's voice coming out of BB like a ventriloquist. Same with Mario. It was a fun film, but Chris Pratt is still Chris Pratt...

I totally agree with you about classically trained voice actors. These are actors that are LITERALLY trained to do things with their voices and they keep casting film and TV actors in these roles. I cannot stand that. We were very close to getting George Clooney as Optimus Prime. Good thing that didn't happened. Makes me wonder how much better animated films would have been if the cast had been all VA's.

Solrac333 wrote:We were very close to getting George Clooney as Optimus Prime.

When?

He sounds like a good voice actor for Bumblebee.

While I'm happy to see more Bumblebee, if this movie is about the origins of Megatron and Optimus, it's going be harder to see him as the young one if he was there all along. The best use of him for me, would be Bumblebee being a civilian, that only later comes in contact with Optimus.

TulioDude wrote:He sounds like a good voice actor for Bumblebee.

While I'm happy to see more Bumblebee, if this movie is about the origins of Megatron and Optimus, it's going be harder to see him as the young one if he was there all along. The best use of him for me, would be Bumblebee being a civilian, that only later comes in contact with Optimus.

Considering all the attention he has gotten in the last 15 years and being a young bot, I was hoping we wouldn't see him at all, or just in passing. This story should have focused on the older bots such as Prowl and Ironhide who have been around a long time. On the 'Con side I hope Shockwave gets a lot of attention besides Megatron. I'm still looking forward to this much more than I was RoTB.

I've been getting more and more curious about this movie. The voice cast leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, it seems like a very "celebrity" cast, when I would prefer actual voice actors. On the other hand, the voice cast does make it clear that this is a high-budget movie and a high priority for Hasbro, so it likely won't be a low-effort cash grab.

Really curious to see what the animation style looks like and where the visuals draw their inspiration from.

#1 Signal Lancer fan wrote:On the other hand, the voice cast does make it clear that this is a high-budget movie and a high priority for Hasbro, so it likely won't be a low-effort cash grab.

Keep in mind that that the last time we got a celebrity voice cast like this was Machinima's Prime Wars Trilogy. Judd Nelson, Wil Wheaton, Michael Dorn, Jason David Frank, Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, Samoa Joe, Jamie King, all very expensive people cast simply because of their fame. The story, writing, and animation were all still pretty terrible.

Sabrblade wrote:

#1 Signal Lancer fan wrote:On the other hand, the voice cast does make it clear that this is a high-budget movie and a high priority for Hasbro, so it likely won't be a low-effort cash grab.

Keep in mind that that the last time we got a celebrity voice cast like this was Machinima's Prime Wars Trilogy. Judd Nelson, Wil Wheaton, Michael Dorn, Jason David Frank, Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, Samoa Joe, Jamie King, all very expensive people cast simply because of their fame. The story, writing, and animation were all still pretty terrible.

Yikes… I forgot how many big names were in that. I was about to say that hopefully it being a theatrical release is a good sign, but then I remembered some of the stuff the Transformers brand has put into theaters.

Cinemacon is currently going on and we know Paramount will be on tomorrow where the trailer for Transformers One will be shown early to attendants, while we wait for the public release April 18th (Chris Hemsworth is also in attendance of the event). But the first Transformers One news to come out of it is the Popcorn bucket. On the trade show floor, there are booths showcasing a wide range of products associated to the theatre going experience and one booth is for the makers of the limited edition popcorn buckets. At their booth is a popcorn bucket for the upcoming Transformers One film. It features Orion Pax.

Of course, the proportions are waaaaaaaaaaay off since they fashion the body in the form of a bucket, but it does give is an idea of what the character's head would look like and the details found on the body. We'll be back tomorrow if more news drops about Transformers One at Cinemacon.

The theater I go to doesn't do special popcorn buckets, just cup toppers and it's been a while since I've seen one. Still, a transforming bucket may be worth hunting down just for the novelty of it. Transforming isn't confirmed, but those wheels under the body are riveted to spin. I wouldn't expect much more than the legs folding back and maybe the head popping off or something if that.

Emerje

Novelty popcorn buckets might be appealing if I wasn't trying to narrow down my collecting out of necessity.

It just occurred to me: Now that even action/sci-fi/superhero movies can routinely clock in at around 3 hours, but they don't have intermissions like in the '50s and '60s because some ***hole producers actually want to force audiences to leave for the restroom then pay to see the movie a second time later on, could the availability of hard plastic popcorn containers be sort of a...lifeline in our darkest theater?

Doesn't seem that ridiculous or disgusting since that SNL sketch pointed out something else you can do with the Dune-bucket (rhymes).

While tallying up the various responses to the Transformers One footage shown at Cinemacon, we got a sense of the story, and it appears that the villains of the movie will be the Quintessons. This is pre war and more about the origin of Transformers, so it makes sense that the Quintessons are an element. Both Orion (Optimus) and D 16 (Megatron) will team up to take them on, while also searching for the Matrix of Leadership (this film's MacGuffin) Indiana Jones style.

We also know from a reliable source that the Quintessons will also be part of the Transformers One movie toyline (the one targeted solely at kids).

So, any Quintesson fans out there? Does this news excite you? Let us know!

I just hope they pronounce "Quintesson" correctly if they are there.

Brief interview clip with Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry about the movie's story: https://twitter.com/Fandango/status/1778581483201909129

Really good news for the Transformers brand. While the upcoming animated film is trying different things with the Transformers lore (like the characters discovering Transformation), it is testing very well, better than even TMNT Mutant Mayhem, as it is said to be the best tested animated feature in the studio's history.

Word is that Paramount’s upcoming summer animated tentpole Transformers One is the best tested feature toon movie in the studio’s history and will surprise many.

In other fun news, Chris Hemsworth was at the panel and gave a shout out to Peter Cullen who he claims helped him figure out what best approach to use for voicing the character of Orion Pax. This news comes to us from John Campea, who was in attendance. His breakdown of the Transformers One content begins at the 13 minute mark though some fans may be triggered by his comments since he does use very vulgar language towards fans who refuse to accept anything but G1 in their Transformers media.



And here is a quick interview with Brian Tyler Henry and Chris Hemsworth:

https://twitter.com/Fandango/status/1778581483201909129

Well I'm not shocked but still a bit bummed. I never cared for the Quintessons or that version of the Transformers origin story. I'm still gonna see the movie, and to hasbro that's all that matters.

As for some people not liking Hemsworth being Pax, it's easy to get past it. It's Pax, not Prime. He doesn't have to sound like Cullen. I'm more worried about the guy voicing Megatron. I hope he does better than Marnocha. He wasn't very good.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Well I'm not shocked but still a bit bummed. I never cared for the Quintessons or that version of the Transformers origin story. I'm still gonna see the movie, and to hasbro that's all that matters.

I have a feeling that this movie might take some inspiration from the Aligned backstory that depicted the Quintessons not as the true creators of the Transformers, but as merely invaders from space who came to Cybertron in its early years and tricked the populace into welcoming them, by pretending that they, the Quints, were benevolent innovators who only wanted to progress and prosper the Cybertronians' way of life, when they actually wanted to take over Cybertron and enslave its people for their own greedy benefit.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Well I'm not shocked but still a bit bummed. I never cared for the Quintessons or that version of the Transformers origin story. I'm still gonna see the movie, and to hasbro that's all that matters.

As for some people not liking Hemsworth being Pax, it's easy to get past it. It's Pax, not Prime. He doesn't have to sound like Cullen. I'm more worried about the guy voicing Megatron. I hope he does better than Marnocha. He wasn't very good.

Marnocha did a fantastic job as megatron in the Prime wars.

However, his WFC trilogy voice did need improvements.

But as we saw with Perlman and Primal, it depends on the show really

Good news. Always been a fan of the Quintessons and their place in the mythos.

I know this is just wishful thinking that won't pan out, but the mention of Quintessons being prominent in TF1's toyline has me excited that we might actually get some Quint types that even Impossible Toys never got around to: the security forces killed by the Transorganics in the 'Dweller in the Depths' flashback (easy remolds of the Scientists, if we finally got official toys of them), the humanoid types in 'Forever is a Long Time Coming', the Prosecutor/Leader/Xenomorph-Head's wizened variant in 'Money Is Everything'.

Even cranking out more of what we already got at a cheaper price would give me custom fodder to repaint a few more into Marvel colors; all I've done so far is General Ghyrik from the I.T. Executioner.

But I need some hope now that I know this movie's even less likely to feature a shouting match between Alpha Trion and Emirate Xaaron on Iacon's high council. Oh well, hopefully it'll do well enough for 'Transformers TWO' to happen down the road, leading directly into the Bee movie prologue.

And for the record, I like the Primus origin better too, but always felt the Quintessons were a better fit for the live-action universe. Just leave a little ambiguity regarding the ancient origins of the Transformers; even the Sunbow cartoon did that by throwing Primacron into the mix.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Well I'm not shocked but still a bit bummed. I never cared for the Quintessons or that version of the Transformers origin story. I'm still gonna see the movie, and to hasbro that's all that matters.

As for some people not liking Hemsworth being Pax, it's easy to get past it. It's Pax, not Prime. He doesn't have to sound like Cullen. I'm more worried about the guy voicing Megatron. I hope he does better than Marnocha. He wasn't very good.

Marnocha did a fantastic job as megatron in the Prime wars.

However, his WFC trilogy voice did need improvements.

But as we saw with Perlman and Primal, it depends on the show really

Yes, I should have specified, I didn't like Marnocha's performance in WFC. I don't remember much of Prime Wars, but I don't remember Megatron being bad. Redneck Overlord is the standout there...

And as much as it pains me, I guess the Quints are better suited for Bayverse as well, the Primus origin would require a more involved story and most audiences just don't have the attention for that. Bayverse is mostly for those who prefer the cartoon over the comics, IMO. Elsewise the movies would have been written better.

Lest we forget that the Bayverse already had its own origin story with the AllSpark cube?

And then ROTB had Scourge mention Primus by name.

Sabrblade wrote:Lest we forget that the Bayverse already had its own origin story with the AllSpark cube?

But as Optimus said, "we know not where it comes from..." So we can still have an origin for the cube as well.

And then ROTB had Scourge mention Primus by name.

Well has it been decided for certain that RoTB is a prequel to Bayverse? Other than Bee being a Camaro, nothing else ties them together, IIRC.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Lest we forget that the Bayverse already had its own origin story with the AllSpark cube?

But as Optimus said, "we know not where it comes from..." So we can still have an origin for the cube as well.

And then ROTB had Scourge mention Primus by name.

Well has it been decided for certain that RoTB is a prequel to Bayverse? Other than Bee being a Camaro, nothing else ties them together, IIRC.

We're still in that nerve-wracking limbo period of "wait and see".

Although, the Aligned backstory that a lot of modern TF fiction have drawn from established the AllSpark as the physical instrument through which Primus granted life to the TFs. That could work.

I'm always a strong supporter of anything animated, even though I have been disappointed many times, there have been some amazing surprises in my life as well. I was not initially excited about the celebrity voices. Not because "Its not Peter Cullen" so much as...There are so many young talented VA's out there who could deliver amazing performances, for a fraction of what the big names would cost. I'm sure that alone would have saved the budget of this film several million dollars. But if they work, Ill judge them on their own merit when I see the film.

Yes, I am one of those *fans* that didnt see Mutant Mayhem, and probably wont. It just wasn't my style, visually, or storywise. While some thought the Turtles being voiced by "actual teens" was refreshing, the truth was they were mostly (Im guessing) pre-teens, they sounded between the ages of 8-11. No knock personally against those young actors. They were just cast in the wrong roles. If they make a sequel, and those same young men are chosen again, and their voices have matured as they actually become teens, might be a great opportunity for them. For my money, the best Turtles film is TMNT from 2007 (better than any other animated or live action version IMHO).

It is unfortunate that John Campena is such a pedantic ass when he speaks of fans. I dont need his permission to like, or dislike the film, or anything else about the franchise. Ill judge it on its own merits when I see it in theaters (as I've always planned to).

I refused to watch TMNT Mutant Mayhem because they did April dirty. She wasn't just beaten with the Ugly Stick, she was splashed with the Dip from Roger Rabbit.

At least in TF1, there's no legacy human characters to butcher.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Lest we forget that the Bayverse already had its own origin story with the AllSpark cube?

But as Optimus said, "we know not where it comes from..." So we can still have an origin for the cube as well.

And then ROTB had Scourge mention Primus by name.

Well has it been decided for certain that RoTB is a prequel to Bayverse? Other than Bee being a Camaro, nothing else ties them together, IIRC.

The certainty is that, as told to us by the director of ROTB:

- Paramount sees all films as occurring within the same universe
- Paramount does not care about establishing any coherent continuity among its films; directors/storytellers can do as they wish with their projects

Cinemacon was full of news for Transformers fans and here's one that may be very divissive. The head of Paramount, Brian Robbins, announced that they would be extending their deal with Lorenzo di Bonaventura, where he'll keep producing movies for them. This was announced at the same time that one of Lorenzo's upcoming projects was now in production: the Transformer GI Joe Crossover film.

This is a film that Bonaventura has promised he would deliver, and it seems he is truly intent on delivering that promise, as he stated in a video from earlier this year.

"Divisive"?

I don't know.
It will depends on how good the movies will be. My expectations are low, but not rock bottom at least.

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Lest we forget that the Bayverse already had its own origin story with the AllSpark cube?

But as Optimus said, "we know not where it comes from..." So we can still have an origin for the cube as well.

And then ROTB had Scourge mention Primus by name.

Well has it been decided for certain that RoTB is a prequel to Bayverse? Other than Bee being a Camaro, nothing else ties them together, IIRC.

The certainty is that, as told to us by the director of ROTB:

- Paramount sees all films as occurring within the same universe
- Paramount does not care about establishing any coherent continuity among its films; directors/storytellers can do as they wish with their projects

Yeah, I guess with RoTB that was obvious. Caple Jr. is a mediocre director and "storyteller." Their writers weren't much better.

Paramount really should exert more control over this franchise, maybe then we would get higher quality films.

Some animated surprises I've enjoyed in my life:

TF:TM 1986 - ok, I was 10 when this came out. And despite all claims to the contrary, while perhaps there was at the start the idea "kill off all the old toys, so we can have kids buy new ones", there is actually a compelling story, and beautiful animation.

This video brings out some amazing points about the background producitonat Toei, and how the massive budget (for animation) played into this film




Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 1993 - OK I actually didn't get to see this in theaters, btu I really wanted to. Its theatrical run was only a couple of weeks (wasn't supposed to be). It was just way ahead of its time.

Ghost in the Shell 1995 - nearly 30 years ago, an anime film being released theatrically was basically unheard of. This was a very lmited release, glad I got to experience it

Princess Mononoke 1999 - Long before Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli were household names in the west. I got to see this film in its limited theatrical run. Truly amazing

Titan A.E. 2000 - Billed as one of the BIggest box office Bombs of all time. One of Don Bluths last cell animated (but with CG elements) films. I think this one was again just way ahead of its time, would fare much better in todays market. Sucn an amazing film

TMNT 2007 & Astroboy 2009 - The only 2 films from the defunct studio IMAGI, and I love them both. Whats truly heartbreaking is what they had in production, but never came to fruition. Not sure why this studio failed, but they were amazing at what they did.

Spider-Man INto the Spider-Verse 2017 - Initially the look for the film I found to be off-putting, but the design became more tolerable as the amazing story was unfurled. The sequel seemed a bit "over stuffed" for me, and Ill see the 3rd one when it eventually comes out, but that first film is still just fantastic! Winning the Oscar for Best animated film that year in my mind kind of vindicated the fact that nobody paid attention to Batman"MotP 25 years earlier, as it certainly could have been a contender at the time.

I dont want to set my expectations too high (or at all really). and I seriously doubt this will happen. But with Disney and Pixar basically in the crapper, id love for this new film TF:One to really make a run at Best Animated film. Would once again (perhaps) in my eyes vindicate the fact that nobody (of influence) paid attention to TFTM back in 1986.

As with many leaks, these first looks are not optimal and either grainy or obscured. Below you will see an image of Transformers One Bumblebee and Optimus drink topper figures. They esch have a robot mode and alt mode version. This is their bodies after they get T Cogs.

We also have a shot of Bumblebee’s mouth. You can see it behind Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyler Henry.

I read somewhere that this movie felt more like a young child movie. Geared towards young children learning to be who they are. I got that vibe when I tried to watch the younger He-man on Netflix. I'm hoping this is better and not what I heard.

Optimus has a second face on his chest!

Cheetron wrote:I read somewhere that this movie felt more like a young child movie. Geared towards young children learning to be who they are. I got that vibe when I tried to watch the younger He-man on Netflix. I'm hoping this is better and not what I heard.

This film has is indeed for young kids. Its made by a Pixar guy

william-james88 wrote:

Cheetron wrote:I read somewhere that this movie felt more like a young child movie. Geared towards young children learning to be who they are. I got that vibe when I tried to watch the younger He-man on Netflix. I'm hoping this is better and not what I heard.

This film has is indeed for young kids. Its made by a Pixar guy

Seriously? Well, my excitement and expectations just nosedived...

Rodimus Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Cheetron wrote:I read somewhere that this movie felt more like a young child movie. Geared towards young children learning to be who they are. I got that vibe when I tried to watch the younger He-man on Netflix. I'm hoping this is better and not what I heard.

This film has is indeed for young kids. Its made by a Pixar guy

Seriously? Well, my excitement and expectations just nosedived...

Depends on which Pixar guy it is.

Toy Story 4, so yeah, definitely not the best resume, but one can hope

o.supreme wrote:Toy Story 4, so yeah, definitely not the best resume, but one can hope

My pipe dream Pixar director for a TF movie would be Brad Bird, who did The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and one of the Mission Impossible movies.

Sabrblade wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Toy Story 4, so yeah, definitely not the best resume, but one can hope

My pipe dream Pixar director for a TF movie would be Brad Bird, who did The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and one of the Mission Impossible movies.

Brad Bird would be amazing.

o.supreme wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Toy Story 4, so yeah, definitely not the best resume, but one can hope

My pipe dream Pixar director for a TF movie would be Brad Bird, who did The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and one of the Mission Impossible movies.

Brad Bird would be amazing.

Ditto.

DeathReviews wrote:Optimus has a second face on his chest!

Like he's had many times before! (If you squint.)

Chris Hemsworth is eager for you to see the first trailer for the Transformers One film. He plays Orion Pax and he shared a video with Brian Tyler Henry, who plays D16/Megatron, promoting the upcoming trailer. It is available on his Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/chrishemsworth/stat ... 4323421410

Okay, so, we're getting the first trailer for the movie this Thursday... in space (whatever that means).

Space huh?

The marketing sure if something different this time, not sure if it's a good or bad thing for the marketing to be more bold here than whatever was up with Rise of the Beasts.

Below is the youtube video to the presentation from Paramount and Hasbro regarding Transformers One. The trailer is said to be revealed from Space. It starts at 9 AM EST

Enjoy!

Looks like it's on one of those high altitude balloons and will actually start at 10am when it reaches space (or the edge of it as is often the case)

EDIT: I liked the trailer, looks like it's going to be fun, very kid friendly. Does feel a lot more like a prequel to Earthspark or Cyberverse than the movies. The majority of the live chat seemed to really hate it though. Hopefully we get a better quality trailer immediately because it was not the greatest idea to show it on a transparent "screen".

Emerje

My initial thoughts, i liked it as well. It’s a different vision or take of how these characters started out on Cybertron while keeping to the roots of their initial existence. Yes, it looks to be more kid friendly, it does bring in some good humor as they development their transforming powers and then we see how they will eventually use them in battle.
To what @Emerje mentioned, I to look forward to a better quality trailer.


SGM

Trailers are up on YouTube!

HOLY SHIT I cannot overstate how excited I am for this. The trailer was so much more than I thought we were going to get, I mean the sheer scale of the movie seems astounding. The humor looks like it gels well for the setting, and the VAs all sound great. I’m finding it hard to think of any negatives right now, I’m so giddy.

I liked the animation and the voices, it seems like it'll be fun