Did Bumblebee Save The Transformers Franchise? 

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Bumblebee has pretty much always been a fan favorite so I'm not surprised by its box office success. The fact that it is a good movie really brings hope for the transformers franchise and I'm very excited to see the change in its approach flourish in to hopefully an amazing movie series.

Hailee Steinfeld was seriously great in this one. No surprise there, I love her in almost everything she's in. True Grit, The Edge of Seventeen, Hawkeye, she's always a pleasure to watch.

I can't believe I've never seen the Bumblebee/G1 designs. They are so much easier to look at. I can actually recognize characters I know from watching transformers on TV.

I really hope Rise Of The Beasts ends up feeling much more like bumblebee than the other films. Not just writing wise but design wise too, the designs in bumblebee were amazing

Travis Knight being involved in ParaNorman, Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings, also probably lent a lot to how he directed Bumblebee. When autobots or decepticons transform, you see the moving parts. you can actually see a lot of where each part goes. so it was also really fun to see them, well, transfom.

I loved Shatter as a villain. With her smooth manipulative ways, she got Sector 9 to lend her their technology (also implying the Internet was created from her modifications). She knew exactly who she was dealing with and double crossed Section 9 before they could double cross her. Shatter is like if Starscream were actually as clever as he thinks he is.

Let's just hope that Rise of the Beasts actually focuses on the Transformer aspect: the civil war, the ideology of the two factions, and the compelling worldbuilding.

Come on man. Missed opportunity. Did Bumblebee TRANSFORM the Transformers franchise?

I am 46 years old. Grew up with Generation 1 and as an adult now, I have a decent toy collection kept in a glass cabinet. Watching the Bumblebee 2018 movie made me warm and fuzzy inside because it honoured the toys so well aesthetically.

Travis Knight was the perfect choice to helm this film. As a stop motion animator and director, it was literally his job to bring to life things that were previously dead.

The G1 style just made each transformer more unique and iconic. I got to watch the g1 series a few yrs ago as a kid and loved how the characters weren’t just a fragile metal mess

I loved everything about this movie, especially the realistic G1 designs

It was 100% easier to understand what was going on the screen because of the old designs but don't get me wrong I do still love the Michael Bay films. Sure it's not my go to film but I do enjoy watching them. Or it could be because I'm now to far in that I'm invested in them.

I really like the simplified look of the designs as well. Yeah they have the mechanical details, wires, pistons etc. that make them more realistic. But toning them down was a big step over how the Bayverse added tiny details to every single part, making them hard to look at, and hard to pick out where parts on the face or body are.

Another thing worth mentioning: the decepticons, if anyone has seen the animated series from G1 to prime to cyberverse, you would know how much character EVERYONE has, decepticons included. It made them different because people didn't see it as a story of good battling evil but two sides battling for their own morals. We can see that the characters especially decepticons were butchered in Bayverse, every singhle decepticon was silver/chromeish and all looked the same, the reboot version however seemed to add more character to them and lets it stays that way.

Having Dylan O’Brien voice bumblebee was such a good choice. I also found it funny how bumblebee came back probably from a scout mission in the opening scene and casually killed some decepticons like it was a normal Thursday 😂

I liked the first and third Transformers movies (and Bumblebee). I did not like the second and fourth films. I haven’t seen the fifth movie (nor do I plan to). Also on a side note, I can’t believe the first movie will be fifteen years old this year.

My biggest problem with Bumblebee was how they kept cutting to the human character reactions (in the final fight) when Transformers were fighting. Hopefully, in the future, they'll focus more on the transformers during fight scenes.

I REALLY hope that they will be making more like these, because after bumblebee things have been really quite and I’m worried lol

I love this movie exactly as much as I disliked the Bayformers, that it to say, a whole lot! It stands with Detective Pikachu and the Sonic the Hedgehog movie as fantastic, fun, colourful events that are far, far better than they probably deserve to be. John Cena's character was supposed to be the stereotypical bad guy, even getting the bad guy facial scar linked to Bumblebee, but he's such a nice, charismatic guy, and such a pleasure to work with, that's they rewrote his arc so he redeems himself by the ending. My worry with movie like the three I mention earlier is that perhaps the studio expected nothing of them initially, and let the director and writer and extended team the freedom to do as they wanted without too much studio executive involvement. But sequels will be pressured in to adding this thing or that thing, because focus groups say it's "hot" right now. It seems to happen too often (see Wonder Woman). Thanks for another fab video, and congrats on hitting the million. Glad I've been a part of this journey for so long.

I honestly forgot that Hailee Steinfield was in this movie. I really enjoyed her in this movie and loved her in Hawkeye. I'm definitely going to be looking forward to her in any future projects

Drift deserves his own movie, he was a former Decepticon turned Autobot, and it would be really interesting to see his perspective and defeat the villain on his own like Bumblebee

Something tells me this guy likes the G1 designs

Everything about Bumblebee is gorgeous! I adore the designs and they nailed the heart of the movie!

I one thousand percent agree. This video said everything I was thinking. The Bay films were spinning kitchen utensils and this my toys came to life.

I love how Bumblebee balanced out the humans and the robots, I hope we get that Transformers Rise of the Beasts and since it'll involve time travel I also hope those theories about it erasing the Micheal Bay movies.

The Bumblebee movie was perfect that's the real Transformers

Bumblebee's fight with Dropkick was awesome, and it had a cool throwback to the G1 film as well.

Love this video essay, the amount of effort and points really makes this video so well structured. I love the Bumblebee movie morally cause of how well grounded and easy to follow it is in terms of its story, and yes the designs overall are definitely better I'd say. Yes they take heavy inspiration from the G1 designs but contain a very nice stylized approach and if you ask me that's my most favorite approach when it comes to Transformer designs in general.

My biggest problem with bumblebee is that the cybertron scenes completely overshadow the rest of the film. Even in this essay you went on about the G1 designs but the 3 main Transformers (Shatter, Dropkick and bumblebee) are either completely original characters or in bumblebee's case has a design that doesn't at all resemble G1.the only time we see G1 designs are with the characters on cybertron and optimus. I still enjoy the movie and respect it for showing restraint characters wise but the cybertron scene definitely stole the show; which is why currently we're getting a bunch of toys of characters that appeared in that scene for 3 seconds and even a CG animated cybertron film now.

Transformers is lit, the cgi is phenomenal

I was a little, LITTLE kid, when I first watched the 07 Transformers. It introduced me to the franchise, and there are still things I enjoy about it for sure. But having grown up exploring the other stories through the history of Transformers, Bumblebee was such a wonderful breath of fresh air. You could feel the respect for the original characters and storyline, it finally felt like The Transformers. I will always have a place in my heart for the original Bay-formers, but I will genuinely adore the real Transformers, and it felt very cathartic to finally see that same love on the big screen.

I think it was good because it comparatively minimalistic and had a good strong emotional connection between the girl and Bumblebee and it was a throwback to movies like Shortcircuit

That opening scene omg I nearly cried it was like someone had dipped into my imagination as a kid in the 80s. I wish this had kicked off a bumblebee specific universe

Am i the only one, who appreciates transformers 1 and two as some kind of guilty pleasur epic summer blochbuster thing? Sorry but I always enjoy to go back to these.

Yes, Bumblebee 2018 made me a fan of franchise again, after losing my hope back in 2014 after seeing Age of Extinction. Now, I cannot wait for the new ROTB movie!

"Thanks to you, B-127, we have a future." -Optimus Prime, post-credits scene

I remember seeing this movie in the theatres and walking out with a feeling of joy and relief that a Transformers movie could actually be good if not great! Thank you Nerdstalgic for this awesome video, and THANK YOU Travis Knight for saving the Transformers franchise from further humiliation and ruin!

'Bumblebee saved the Transformers franchise'... Rise of the Beasts wants to say a few words. ;P T_T

It's hilarious that it took them 5 movies to understand that something was wrong!

impressively enough, this movie actually has a coherent story about trauma that it explores through “the girl and her car” that it develops simultaneously in the main duo. Both hide away from the world due to traumatic events (Charlie’s father’s death and Bumblebee getting separated from his kind, attacked by the military and mutilated by Blitzwing) and through their attachment open back up again and return to their worlds after consecrating their growth by making the difficult yet necessary choice to part ways. There a few flaws along the way, but… The other movies never even TRIED to give any of the TITULAR CHARACTERS… a character arc. Unless the sub 500 million dollar returns (despite being over a threefold return on investment) cause the studio to stupidly regress, I think we have ourselves a working Transformers series for the first time.

I just love Bumblebee, there is just something extra mice about him, I watch Transformers just to see my favorite bot ...Bubblebee

I've never seen someone explain why the bay movies were so bad in a 10 minute span. You are a legend. Keep up the great work!

I heard that Bumblebee was good, and had absolutely no interest because I thought it would just be good for a Transformers movie. If all that you say is actually true, I may just give this franchise another shot. I cannot express just how much it pained me to watch the Michael Bay ones. And I'm not even a huge Transformers fan, they're just that bad

The opening sequence is one of my favorite scenes in all the movies. It's so good now I just want a movie about the war on Cybertron.

I was so bummed out by Transformers 2 (2009) that I never thought to watch anything else from the franchise, or Bumblebee - but now I am looking forward to watching this!

I CANNOT stop watching this channel! These videos are so perfectly timed, researched, and produced.

Aaaaand they're back to the michael bay clusterfuck movies.

You know what really saved it for me? Watching Optimus go full one robot army on all the decepticons by himself. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the movie! But man was watching those cybertron scenes get me so hyped.

Totally agree… as an 80s kid, I wanted to like the Bay movies… but… Bumblebee was something very different, and I loved it. The G1 Cybertron sequence gave me goosebumps, and at least once a month I watch B and Prime driving side by side at the side on the Golden Gate Bridge..

I will never forgive this production of this movie for how it treated Peter Cullen.

Very informative. I learned a lot about how the filmmaking process was made.

tbh bumblebee was great it felt every transformers had good screen time but in rise of the beast everything feels rushed

While I've always enjoyed the sheer insanity of the Michael Bay films. Bumblebee's new direction aiming for a more faithful depiction of G1 with a more heartfelt story makes me really excited to see what happens next.

The Bumblebee movie was great! The designs were so good they were definitely better than Micheal Bay’s designs (debatable). The Bumblebee movie definitely saved the franchise. This movie has the touch and the power

For my part, I consider Bumblebee's solo outing to be the most enjoyable instance of the Bayformer universe. Before this I'd come to generally dislike Bay's style, so if they continue to gown down this new route that Bumblebee has set up, I might find renewed interest in the live-action films 😊

“AUTOBOTS WAGE THE BATTLE TO DESTROY THE EVIL FORCES OF THE DECEPTICONS!”

This was SO MUCH BETTER than any other Transformers film. I'm glad other people recognize that, too.

Its sad that this movie saved the entire transformers movie franchide..for approximately just this movie, outside of that the next movie to come out outside of that is rise of the beasts, and compared to this movie, its a mess

The fact that Beast Wars is getting big screen screentime should tell how much Transformers fans are going to get actually fed. Makes me hope there could be an animated movie with Transformers Animated style designs or something. And for the shows to consistently get smooth framerate budget.

Personally I prefer the bayverse, Optimus tearing decepticons to shreds always gets a thumbs up from me

I can't believe this movie did in 5 minutes what Michael Bay couldn't do across 5 whole movies

Another thoughtful and concise analysis. Keep up the great work!

Agreed. A refreshing change of pace and would like to see more from this universe.. especially the first 10 minutes.

It is cool that the nerdstalgic crew made a video from a fan suggestion. They should do it more often as an Patreon tier.

Soundwave got _that_ voice

Please make a video on how rise of the beasts failed to fill bumblebees footsteps

Bumblebee is a proper Transformers movie. Bayformers is a fast paced CGI demo reel.

Why not Paramount hire Travis knight to fix the Franchise?

GODDAMN SHOCKWAVE GOT THEM THICC THEIGHS

Perfect time to upload this video! I was really thinking about this movie and this franchise as a general.

I loved everything about this movie! I just wish we knew when a sequel was coming out, I haven’t heard a peep about it at all!

I really liked bumblebees voice in this movie. Hope we get to hear more of his voice in future movies because it sounds really good.

Of The Bay Movies, Dark of the Moon is One of the Best Movies!

They really need to do movies on just the Cybertron wars. Since, Transformers on Earth really devolves into generic action films. It'd be cool to see the complexity of the war. Transformers on Earth can focus on Optimus going crazy from the centuries of war but they tend to only focus on bland human characters, robot blobs and military jargon

I loved the transformers movies as a kid. But i gotta admit, its kinda a mess. The only reason i could distinguish the transformers was bc i was a nerd that rewatched the franchise a 100 times. The Bumblebee movie is so much clearer and easyer to watch.

Travis Knight did a Great Job with the Movie!

Seeing all the Transformers and even Cybertron itself sporting their classic G1 designs in live action for the first time; doubles as sweet beautiful and Awesome, as it proves those designs can work and the overly detailed designs from the first five movies aren't the only way to go not only best transformers movie Not only is also it the highest-rated Transformers film on the site and scores significantly higher than 2007's Transformers, it is the first Transformers film to hold a Fresh rating, including the original 1986 animated film.

To me this movie somehow feels way more like a commercial product, probably because it's trying its best to look and feel like the toy ads turned into a tv series that the original transformers were. It's desperately trying to please as much people as possible, whereas what Bay did was "U remember that cool thing u liked from your childhood? Oh well, it's mine now, and l get to do whatever the hell l want with it, u either like it or u don't", which is kinda brave. His movies are still unwatchable and have no plot, obviously, but it feels to me that he has a more defined vision of what he wants his movies to look like. This makes his commercial product closer resemble """"art"""", compared to the commercial product that is the bumblebee movie. Whatever you like more is up to you

Michael Bay is not a storyteller but a cinematographer/advert director and I think he's great at doing spectacle in the Transformers movies. Also, just had an insane idea when you said Spielberg wanted a coming of age film: imagine a George Lucas, American Graffiti/Star Wars style Transformers movie.

I really hope that they let go the 'Bumblebee has a damaged voice box' thing in the future movies.

Bumblebee is by far the best Transformers movie. Transformers 2 is one of the movies that I hate the most but I have a huge soft spot for Dark Of The Moon

To be honest, as a long time Transformers fan, I'm not really sold with any of the live action movies, including BB, much as I like the return to the G1 desgins, I wasn't that invested in the film story because they make the same mistake as Bay films, they aren't developing the Transformers as characters to go beyond a single film, example, Blitzwing, shortly after he shows up, he pretty much killed off, the Transformers need to take centre stage as characters, not CGI messes that play second fiddle to the humans, plus I am sick of BB not speaking, it makes no sense for advanced alien robotic life form, to be incapable of repairing/healing their voical box, plus, what is the Autobot reason for coming to earth in the BB universe, nothing, they could very well go to Mars and fight there, the original G1 cartoon and comic makes it prefectly clear, why, they need energy because their war has ravaged their home world to the point they can't produce any or find a long term source thus they leave their home world behind but their war follows them, because Megatron cannot be happy having forced his enemies off world, thus chases them into space! The series since then, all had similar ideas but they take time to flesh out the core characters, the movies, they haven't done that at all, its mostly been bang, boom, or get from point A to point D via point C & B, one can only hope that the next installment actually takes time to develop the characters who aren't humans!

I hope that paramount does something like this with the TMNT

I still feel the original Trilogy is a good group of films. Heck Dark of the Moon (TF3) is still my favourite film of all time. I feel that 4&5 were the ones that started to just take it too far and started the franchise downhill. Because honestly I would suggest that the golden age of transformers was from around 2009-2013. Also, I am getting tired of the “I can’t see what’s going on complaint”. I’ve never understood it. If my 6 year old self could understand what was going on and could see the action fine then I don’t think it was the movies problem. I’m just getting really tired of the cliche hating on the Bayverse. However I do feel like Bumblebee is a proper step in the right direction. I think if we can get a perfect mix of the bay movies and Bumblebee, We can actually get an all around really good and enjoyable film. Not just on a cool action movie level but possibly something even greater. Really hoping that Rise of the Beasts can deliver on that.

Can you talk about how Solo is an under rated masterpiece

I saw this opening day with my dad, way better than the Michael Bay movies

Bumblebee was a needed edition in the Transformers franchise. It definitely took the movies in the right direction by being more faithful to the source material unlike other entries, luckily not wasn’t part of Bayverse. Even though it didn’t rack up much in the box office it was still a great film, can’t wait for Rise of the Beasts and the other two movies to come out in the foreseeable future.

I still think 3 part is best...the climax action where the building falls off and earth worm transformer ..is awesome

I loved all the transformers films, they all had great moments and they were all so cool!!!

The fight on cybertron really made this movie and showed the lore that existed. I hope that the beast wars movie will be good

I'd love to see an episode on the film adaptation of A Scanner Darkly - why it's a hugely underrated piece of cinema, how the rotoscoping elevates the material, and even maybe how it felt like it kickstarted Robert Downey Jr. as an actor again.

I did not think I was going to like this movie. I was like wow another transformer movie wow another broody teenager movie. but I watched it anyways and it WAS SO GOOD!! The best transformer movie IMO.

They did such a good job with Shatter and Dropkick. Having Decepticons who aren't snarling savages colored fifty shades of gray was a breath of fresh air.

The opening of Bumblebee always reminds of the Fall of Cybertron game trailer.

I love the fact they use the gen 1 design to see the robot clearer even tho the movie budget of the bumblebee movie is small it's more complexing and the story board is easy to understand! Bayformers has a big budget movie but the robot looks more human like and i don't want there story it's so far from the original transformer cartoons

A bumblebee-G.I. Joe crossover would be nice.

My biggest complaint was there wasn't enough scenes with the other Autobots, I know it was primarily about Bumblebee understanding the human world he got thrown into but if we got more scenes with Prime and the others that escaped Cybertron? I would've enjoyed the movie more.

It's funny that this movie's story has been done to death in the past (E.T., Iron Giant, Mac and Me, Earth to Echo, etc..), and yet it's still better than the other movies' stories.