I don’t ask for much, but if you’re going to make a Transformers movie give me cartoon and comics accurate Autobots and Decepticons. That’s it, and I’m happy. For years Michael Bay refused to do that with his live-action flicks and Paramount let him because they were making hundreds of millions of dollars, but now that’s not the case. Now the entire franchise is getting reworked and Bumblebee, a prequel set in the 1980s, is finally giving us longtime fans what we’ve always wanted.
The O.G. Transformers dorks (I know my people well) went nuclear over the weekend when a brief teaser for Bumblebee revealed, *gasp*, a shot of the actual G1 Soundwave ejecting an actual Ravage from his cassette deck body. Yo. Now we’re seeing a bit more of that in the new trailer, and it’s simply glorious. We also get our first real look at Optimus Prime in the film, and he’s got an important mission for Bumblebee to undertake. Somebody’s always got to protect us puny humans, right? And there’s always one, this time played by Hailee Steinfeld, who gets roped into a war against the Decepticons. Another G1 fave we get a glimpse of is Shockwave, who appears to be leading some kind of revolt on Cybertron. The triple changers, Shatter and Dropkick, are voiced by Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux, while Blitzwing, who looks like Starscream, is voiced by David Sobolov.
Not only does this look like a charming Iron Giant-esque tale good for all ages, but like the best Transformers movie since the 1986 animated film.
Directed by Laika’s Knight and co-starring John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Rachel Crow, Abby Quinn, Jason Drucker, John Ortiz, and Kenneth Choi, Bumblebee opens December 21st.
