Wednesday 27 December 2017

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 3: Cinematic Universe ideas

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays, regardless of if you celebrate it, and what you celebrate.

While this further stretches the definition of Bayformers, though at this point some people are probably just looking at the title of the post, thinking I'm insane and moving on... They're partially right, at least for that insane part. This post looks more at story ideas that could work well for in a Live Action aesthetic, and tweaks that could be made to bring them to the big screen. It'll be going through the Generations one at a time, so with that out of the way.

Generation 1 and Generation 2 (I'm lumping them together): Let's piss off a lot of fans right away, I don't think there's much worth bringing from G1, at least from the show. The problem is that the show was so ingrained in the 80's kids show design mentality that not much of it would work well without having to do massive rewrites to the point where it might be the stories in name only. Take Dark of The Moon which is basically the space bridge arc from the show (I want to say the Season 1 finale based off what I remember off the top of my head, but I could be wrong). If anything, I think the Season 4 episodes (all three of them) would be worth bringing over as I think it could be interesting to do the Nebulos story around the Headmasters and Targetmasters. It could even borrow elements from the Japanese exclusive cartoons to have a mini-series of stories. In terms of the comics though, I think more could come from them, such as Bludgeon, Jihaxus, the Underbay saga (heck for fun I'd like to see them do Ratbat's evil carwash). I will admit that I don't know too much about the G1 and G2 comics (both Marvel US and Marvel UK) as I haven't looked into older comics from most lines (the exception being the old Archie Sonic comics).

Beast Wars: Beast Wars is something that I think could be really interesting to do, just due to the nature of the beasts. There are lots of different ways I could see it brought in. It could be brought in with the Time Travel gimmick of the show, and maybe have that be the justification of the legends of monsters, akin to how the Predacons from Transformers Prime were the reason the legends of Dragons exist in the show. I think it would be funny that the reason the legend of Big Foot exists is Optimus Primal. Another way I could see it is to borrow an element of Cybertron, and have the stories be on the Jungle Planet, turning it into a place for all the Beastformer Transformers. Imagine Cybertron Scourge being aligned with the Beast Wars Predacons as an example. Another way I could also see it happening is if it was brought to Earth in the modern day, adding elements of RID 2001 and maybe doing some actual monster movies with Transformers, rather then the pseudo monster movies the real movies have been so far. This could also be used as an excuse to do Beast Wars versions of other Transformers, such as Starscream as that Basilisk concept from The Last Knight. Beast Machines could also be brought into the story, with the Vehicons being an experiment made by the Predacons to bolster their army, eventually leading to the Transmetal technology.

Beast Machines and RID 2001: See above, I haven't got any ideas for them solo. What I will say though about RID 2001 is that the concept of it (and Rescue Bots), Autobots being common knowledge and don't have to hide in order to save people, can just be a side part of a story once the set up for it is ready.

Armada: With the main exception of the weapon Mini-Cons, I could see most of the Mini-Cons being something more like a commercial product in a Live action universe, the new version of small vehicles like bikes, scooters etc. Some could be used to add versatility to the Transformers akin to the PS2 game, and the Decepticons could be weaponizing the technology. It could even be used for things like the Apex Armour being a Mini-Con weapon.

Energon: The collection of Energon story would only work once (as evident by the fact that Energon is one of the worse entries in the franchise, and it did the "collect Energon to power Unicron" twice. However, turning Prime's Combination Spark into a power of the Enigma of Combination could be good for stories, just as long as they remember who can combine with who. It would be good for keeping things fresh in combat without needing to rely on 5-6 bot combiners, as they could have any of the two bot combiners from the trilogy, or even 3 bot combiners like Rail Racer. Some Autobots and Decepticons could even have "power armor modes", such as Energon Landmine and Bulk Head, or to use the one G1 fans know, Powermaster Prime.

Cybertron: I can easily see the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys being a multi film arc, though with one big change. I would keep the Jungle Planet, Velocitron and Gigantion planet keys where they are, but move Earth's key to Caminus, if not tying the planet keys to the Titans, so that there are 13 Planet keys, each with a power either tied to the Titan, or tied to the planet. Such as a key from Necrotitan allowing for resurection of the dead, or the Gigantion key able to make things grow or shrink. Combined with the Omega Lock, the keys would give an ultimate power to anyone who weilded the weapon. If anyone is wondering, yes this is inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems.

Animated: While in terms of story ideas, there's not much I'd take from Animated. I would however take characters, such as Blitzwing's split personalities, Lugnut, Lockdown and Sari. Bulk Head would be a combo of his Prime and Energon incarnations.

IDW: A lot of stories from IDW I'd like to see in the Live action style, such as Last Stand of the Wreckers (as teased in the first post) and Dark Cybertron. In terms of characters, the Decepticon Justice Division would make for a great series of villains for a story, and remember that arc based on the Omega Lock I mentioned before? Well, I'd personally do that story not with Megatron as the villain, but Nova Prime, with the goal to use the Lock to make him stronger then a god, using the Dead Universe as his personal prison. To those wondering why I didn't bring up Dreamwave, well its the same as the Marvel comics.

Prime: I've got nothing more to add from Prime that hasn't been addressed in other paragraphs. It would be cool for the Decepticons to use the Nemesis as an aerial base in a story, and I would use that incarnation of Shockwave for stories as it could be cool if he was the one that opened a gate to a Live Action Shattered Glass universe, or was the one who freed Nova Prime from the Dead Universe.

RID 2015: Mainly as a side story at first, though maybe as a main story later, the idea of an Autobot team trying to capture Decepticons would be a nice idea. Maybe lead by Sentinel Prime who in this timeline would be an Autobot enforcer, capturing Decepticons causing trouble for other planets. It could be a way to use the DJD for a main story, as both see the other as getting in their way.

War For Cybertron/ Fall of Cybertron: Aside from acting as a good base for the stories of the war, one idea that I admit I'm tweaking from a post I saw on Facebook (If you read this sir and want your work shared, please let me know and I will edit this page), based around the idea of two seperate Autobot factions. Optimus's faction, and while the original had Ultra Magnus as the more war driven leader, I'd rather use Zeta Prime, who would survive the war, but would see both the Decepticons and Optimus's Autobots as an enemy, leading to an Autobot v Autobot battle.

Ok. I think I've the general points covered now. If anyone would like to see a full pitch for any of these ideas, let me know and I'll come back to this topic. For now though, the year is almost done, plans are underway to do a Podcast looking back on 2017, but if that doesn't happen next week, then I'll be starting a new marathon. Not on robots, but of another franchise I was into as a kid, but didn't stick with me. Keep an eye out for either the 2017 Podcast, or the start of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles marathon with the 8

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