Like any child of the 80s I loved The Transformers and always wondered about the story before the Autobots and Decepticons came to earth. We knew there was a war on Cybertron and that it was destroyed, but that was about it. The upcoming Transformers One, as the name would imply, seeks to change that.
Using a super slick style of CG-Animation and sporting a voice cast any film can be jealous of Transformers One, as this trailer tells us, explores not just the origin’s of our favorite characters but specifically the genesis of Optimus Prime and Megatron’s relationship. Big surprise, they used to be bestest buddies! Seriously though, it’s an overused trope, yes, but it’s one that I don’t mind. And the voice cast I mentioned? Check out this roster, Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm. As John Hammond would say, they spared no expense.
I’m excited for this one, we’ve had plenty of live-action theatrical Transformers at this point, time to go back to animated basics.
Travis’ Hall H panel reactions below!
The first official day at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 kicked off with Paramount’s Transformers One panel, featuring producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura, director Josh Cooley, and stars Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Brian Tyree Henry as D-16 aka Megatron, and Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax aka Optimus Prime.
A number of clips were shown, each of them focusing on a different aspect of Optimus and Megatron’s friendship. We know them as sworn enemies, but it wasn’t always that way, and the film shows their evolution and what drove them to take such different paths. In fact, the panel began with a quick explainer video showing their battle across many forms, from the original ’80s cartoon, to Beast Wars, to the live-action movies.
In the first clip, we see Optimus and Megatron at the Iacon 5000, a pod racer-style competition on Cybertron. Optimus has dreams of entering the competition, but his pal doesn’t…until he’s forced into it in a humorous spectacle. Tossing on a pair of jet packs, they crash into the race and defy death on numerous occasions, but do they win it? Well, that we’ll have to wait and find out.
This clip establishes something that many Transformers fans might not be aware of. While Cybertron is happy at this moment in time, there is a class division. Optimus and Megatron are miners, and thus don’t have the ability to transform. When the miners enter the race, it stirs up the excitement from what is basically the working class robots on Cybertron.
A second clip shows the moment Optimus, Megatron, and their friends Bumblebee/B-127 and Elita (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) receive their transformation cogs. This leads to a mad chase where none of them are able to figure out how to transform propertly, stumbling around and drawing the attention of the very enemies they are attempting to escape from. This scene also features the voice of Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.
A third clip is a bit of a spoiler, and I kinda wish they hadn’t shown it to us in the Hall H room. Without giving too much away, it features an encounter with three of the most iconic Deceptions, and reveals in the clearest example yet the split that will eventually happen between Megatron and Optimus. In fact, we see the beginnings of one emerging as a leader, and how powerful he will eventually become.
The brand new trailer for Transformers One focuses more heavily on the friends’ conflict than previous trailers. It also highlights the stunning work by Paramount Animation, delivering what I think is the best looking Transformers movie yet. The animation is simply unbelievable.
Transformers One opens in theaters on September 20th.
