Seems to me somebody mentioned something about that, yeah.

As for whether it's good news or bad, not enough information has emerged yet. I've seen some stills that purport to be designs and preliminary renders of some of the TF designs, and if they were any uglier they'd be a camel's ass, but that's all pretty high-grade rumor at this point. From official sources I don't have enough to make the call.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Yeah, there's not much to see in the teaser, being a teaser and all, just a Mars rover being smashed by a robotic silhouette.

Michael Bay is directing though... I dunno, this might be in his milieu, a smorgasbord of explosions and CGI. I could be wrong, but I think I saw Spielberg as an executive producer in the credits. But yeah, it's basically a year away, and months from a true trailer (I'm thinking Super Bowl spot).

"It's difficult keeping up with the cross-continuity, but I think Cosmouse just gave The Saturnian Scraphunter his Ultimate Pacifier to use against Galactapuss..."

Frankly, I'm reserving judgement until I see them MOVING.

I'm a little worried with Bumblebee as a Camaro and not the Beetle (good grief, Michael Bay, why not the new Beetle?).

Volkswagen won't license any vehicles...means no new beetle, no Lamboghini, no any vehicle that VW owns a part of.

-D-

I have no idea what kind of Stupid they're using at Volkswagen.

"Hey, guys! We'll pay you for the chance to put your product on screen! No paying us for product placement!"

"No."

This may be the worst case of Missing The Boat since E.T.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

Some manufacturers are very sensitive about any exposure that may present their products in a negative light. For instance, the reason why you can't wreck a car no matter what ludicrous thing you do in Gran Turismo, a game that otherwise pays ridiculously strict attention to the realism of its physics model, is because many of the manufacturers whose cars appear in the game made "our products will never be shown all crunched up-like" one of the stipulations of their licensing agreements.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Some of the Hasbro guys at BotCon mentioned that when they tried to get a license for the New Beetle for the Alternators line, VW was pretty reluctant to talk to them at all, and they brought up the fact that Bumblebee had been portrayed in a lot of the toys, comics, and cartoons with weapons as part of VW's decision to walk away.

I still think it's kinda stupid. Granted, Bumblebee is a soldier... sorta. To me, he's always been the icon of the little man who can fight and do it for all the right reasons. We all know that the Autobots we're never all for war anyways, but Bumblebee stood out among them all. He was the Nice Guy(tm) who knew very well what happens when your a pacifist.

Volkswagon is afraid of their bad heritage reflecting poorly on them? It's in the past. While it is important that we remember to not make the same mistakes as before, it is also important to not let it rule us like that. If VW thinks that someone out there is gonna get pissy about it... Well, maybe someone will. But they're the minority and, ultimately, a member of a group of people who will look for just about anything to get pissed off about (Not like G'Kron from SoS, he's actually a decent fellow). People like that can be a royal pain, but fortunately, they are also a rather small minority. I seriously doubt that VW would loose much, if any, business over it.

I'd buy a VW anyways because of the quality engineering that goes into their cars. I'd probably buy a bright yellow Beetle and slap that red Autobot sigil on the front end, take a picture, apply the caption, "BUMBLEBEE LIVES!" and send it in to VW just to piss with them.

Black Aeronaut Technologies Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer "What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?"

Er, have you considered that perhaps they don't *care* what other people think or complain about, and that in the eyes of the corporation, it amounts to a moral responsibility to avoid associating their work with war? I realize this is a mindset likely to be alien to a lot of people, but hey, if they have a deep feeling about their work's public image and about warfare being kept out of it, more power to 'em.

Also, anecdotally, people I know who've owned Volkswagens have had more problems with them than the folks I know who own Hondas, Chryslers, etc. The usual defense offered by the uptight VW owner is "You can't get one of the *Mexican* ones, you need to get one of the ones from *Wolfsburg.*"

If I have to actually check my car to see where it was built? That means I can't trust the brand as a whole, and that the manufacturer doesn't give a shit about their overseas operation upholding the same quality standards, so I shouldn't give them my money to uphold that "standard."

Ard Sumhenner
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

There's a sticker kiosk in the local shopping mall that sells those, and that is exactly what I plan to do when I get my first car (yes, yellow Beetle). :) (Doors, too.)

(Only not sending the photo to VW, because it's a geeky thing more than a spite thing.)

--The Evil Midnight Lurker what Lurks at Midnight
"An object at rest--CANNOT BE STOPPED!!!"

What the hell grade are you in? I mean, seriously, nobody who's old enough to have a driver's license in the first place should think it'd be funny or witty to... I'm not even sure what this would constitute. Attempting to taunt an international corporation because of its management's stance on toy licensing?

Some days I have serious reservations as regards the maturity and/or ability to determine reasonable courses of action evidenced by my fan base.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

If you had attended a few more anime and sci-fi conventions and gotten a better look at how some of your fan base behaves in public at these events, I don't think you'd feel that way.

You'd have serious reservations each and every day.

-D-

It's a good point...

That said, if I may speak as a fan of the series, with some general observations based on another series I liked as a kid.

As a kid, I liked the classic Battlestar Galactica. I saw the new version just recently... and while I knew they would make changes (they kinda had to), I ultimately got turned off by what they did to the character of Starbuck. It could have been easy to get that one right... but the producers made that change. I haven't watched the series since the mini-series came out. Maybe I'm a jerk on that front - it's nothing against Katee Sackhoff - but Starbuck's just "wrong", and didn't have to be.

In the case of Bumblebee-as-Camaro, there is a classic image from day one of Transformers. He was a VW Beetle, a small guy, determined to make his mark. A Camaro just ain't Bumblebee. And to make it worse, the reason Bumblebee is "wrong" in this sense is not because of anything Michael Bay did... it's because VW's got a bug up their ass over the portrayal of one of the most popular heroes in Transformers. Bumblebee was a good guy, and they're acting horrified at one of their products being the model for him. It just doesn't make sense, and it's kinda taken away from what the movie could have been.

Ah. Not Stupid, then. Idealistic.

I can understand that.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

I think it's more a massive case of collective guilt and shame, but sure, if you care to call it that.

No, not really. As has been mentioned elsewhere, it's all brand association and money. While I'm sure there's a certain amount of waxing about wanting to separate from the wartime history of Volkswagon, the reality is probably more along the lines of a suit somewhere not wanting his product associated with toys. (The phrase 'Mickey Mouse piece of shit' comes to mind.) Either way, what it really comes down to is avoiding actions they think will cost them sales, and therefore money.

Anyway, this horse was dead about three posts ago. PM or email from here, guys.

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train

<slams eyes shut> No! No! No! Baaaaad crossover idea! Go away!

-- Bob
-------------------
The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

Bob, you are absolutely priceless. Now I'm gonna be thinking of this one for the rest of the week, which is gonna be a while since it's Sunday.

Black Aeronaut Technologies Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer "What? Under the dorsal guiding feathers!?"