Has Transformers 4 Been Shattered?

A leaked call sheet made it out to the internet a few days which had some very revealing information. So much that Paramount quickly censored it all over the internet otherwise I would share it with you now but what the call sheet revealed is something that made nerds squeal everywhere, the Dino Bots are coming to Transformers 4!

That's news that makes my heart just sing and as of recently, a new logo has been spotted adorned a baseball cap on location. The logo still resembles the other with a few minor changes, one, claw marks have been placed on the logo "Jurassic Park" style reinforcing the idea that the Dino Bots will be present and color has also been added, which is the focus of this blog entry. 

The color that has been added is red however reflects the Decepticon logo. What does it mean? Immediately after seeing this image I thought one thing, Shattered Glass.

Shattered Glass is a multiverse story that popped out of Bot-Con in 2008 and best left to the Bot-Con introductory blurb describing such an anomaly.

"On a world known as Cybertron, a ruthless and cruel tyrant prepares his army for an all-out attack. Their destination: a planet rich in resources, known as Earth! Only a small band of rebels stands between this evil warlord and his plans for universal conquest. If these brave soldiers are unable to stop the attack, then there will be nothing to prevent this shattered universe from falling victim to the maniacal Optimus Prime and his evil legion of... Autobots?

This is a truly malformed universe, where the Decepticons are heroic and the Autobots are evil!
Coming this spring, the battle lines will be drawn and a new champion will emerge. A young and noble Decepticon will stand up and fight for freedom, the freedom which is the right of all Transformers! Advising him will be his trusted lieutenant Starscream and his fellow virtuous Decepticons. They will fight to the very last to stop the spread of Optimus Prime's tyranny!"  

That's quite a stretch however propaganda photos have also been spotted on the set for Transformers 4 also which indicate the possibility also, however also show that there is definitely a distrust between humans and the transformers in the new installment, be it Decepticon or Autobot.

So what really happened in what appears to be a 3 year time span since Transformers 3. Are all Transformers hated? Is there really a shift in who is an Autobot and who is a Decepticon? And if so, is Bumblebee the one who will bring hope to what may be a shattered universe brought forth by a rip in space and time via the destroyed space bridge?

Well I may be getting ahead of myself here but the fun is in the speculation. I guess we won't know until more information comes forth.

-Nurd!

TMNT in the Streets

Pictures seem to be popping up all over the internet from the set of Michael Bay's TMNT reboot.

The film was hit with extreme prejudice when it was first announced that Michael Bay himself would be helming the reboot. Later as time progressed we would learn that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were not mutants at all and would drop the 'Teenage." Shortly before the film was silenced and deemed postponed until further notice, we learned that the turtles were actually aliens rather than mutants and the title was simply "Ninja Turtles."

Through small corners of hope I heard it was leaked that the original script called for the turtles to actually come from Dimension X, which is core to the turtle mythology.

I have always enjoyed Michael Bay films and the Transformers movies remain some of my favorite movies of all time. I held strong and had faith that we would not be let down. I know that Michael Bay always seemed to lead a campaign of misinformation in order to keep his projects secret. Even on the set of Transfomers 3 he kept repainted versions of the Twins from Transformers 2, the duo that helped the movie, yet they were never in Dark of the Moon.

As the set images come in we still do not have a lot of information of how the movie will play out but below are a few pictures that will tell us more.


First and foremost, we have Megan Fox casted as April O'Neil. While Megan Fox would not have been my first choice, I do believe she will be a decent choice.

When she was removed from Transformers 3 for some comments she made and then reconciled with Michael Bay I figured we haven't seen the last of this combo and here we are.

April O'Neil has a signature look of red hair and a yellow jumpsuit, made famous from the 1980's cartoon series. That look has carried on and here she is with tinted red hair and a yellow jacket. Modernized for today's look I fully accept the yellow jacket. I mean, it's partly how we know she is supposed to be April. Her hair, not so much. Megan Fox has brown hair and since it is only tinted we don't get the feeling that April is the redhead that we all know and love.

Ofcourse a few other things we can take from this picture is that she is standing behind a news van. Yes, that's right, I'm going to make the assumption that April O'Neil will be a news reporter rather than other recent iterations of her that we have seen such as a high school student or a scientist. Also take note that the van has a New York license place also leading to believe that yes, just like the core material, it will take place in New York City. (If it didn't I would lose all faith in humanity.) Lastly, although you cannot see his face, the person facing her is comedic actor Will Arnett. Will Arnett has been recently listed as playing Vernon Fenwick, April's camera man and rival news reporter, further insisting our core material to be the 1980's cartoon canon.

Fellow SNL alumni Abby Elliot is also listed as being casted for an unknown role. My guess is she may bring April's sidekick Irma to the big screen for the first time.

Here we have the new Foot Clan. As you can see some liberties have been made but I don't think it really detracts from where they come from. You can see in comparison to the original TMNT movie there is quite a difference as they now wear some kind of armor. The face masks are even different, however now they lend the idea that they actually originate from ancient Japan. The poles they are carrying don't have anything to do with armament (I hope) but are more of what you find your local dog catcher using (more on that later). Overall, I think the new look for the Foot Clan brings them up to date however unlike the 1980's cannon I don't have a sense that they are robots and with the new appearance, they look more like thugs.

In this picture we see some more Foot Clan with some assault rifles in the top left. It makes me wonder if the Foot Clan will lose it's history as being a ninja clan in lieu of a clan that offers a protective detail and attack force for the Shredder. This picture also shows the Foot Clan operating during the day time so that also leads me to believe that they may not operate under the cloak of night. Lastly in this picture we see 3 motion capture suits with shells so that means only one thing, they've taken the turtles!

This is yet another very telling picture to me as far as the plot is concerned. We see three motion capture suite turtles shackled. We now see why they have the poles. We also see elaborate shackles for their hands and feet which would prohibit movement for the turtles. Looking even close we can tell which turtles have been taken hostage, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello. Motion capture suits also create a wire frame based on points located on the suit. Looking at this picture, I notice Donatello will have a smaller frame than the rest of the turtles, which tells me that he may be on the lankier, nerdy side we see in the new TMNT cartoon or he may actually be a she! Yes, part of the problems with the first bit of information is that Donatello is actually Donnie, a sister turtle. Of course we won't know that until we actually see mock ups of the turtles. Last but not least, we only see three turtles, not four, and the only one missing is Raphael, who may have escaped capture if not captured previously.

 

Lastly I want to leave you all with this. The reboot eventually dropped it's name to simply Ninja Turtles, which was too broad of a title and left a lot of room for liberties that were taken. In the end it still seems some liberties may have been taken however so much has stayed true to it's core so I am remaining with high hopes. With the outcry of fan disapproval they pulled the movie back for rewrites and made changes however we will not know for sure until the movie goes to press. What I can give is faith restored that, as if a backwards pedal, even the initial title has been restored!

 

 

 

 

-Nurd