More DOTM Concept Art

Another concept artist, Wesley Burt, has posted his work from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, joining the other four artists who posted their efforts. His art includes early designs for Igor, Wheeljack, and Laserbeak along with potential concepts for the various craft and Prime's trailer. Click here for the full gallery. (via Seibertron)

Names of Ferrari and Mercedes Is...

Nelson, admin for MichaelBay.com, has officially revealed the actual Transformers names of the red Ferrari 458 Italia and Mercedes-Benz E550.

Post 1:

Let's welcome the Ferrari 458 Italia to the Transformers family
His name is "Dino."
It's pronounced Dee-No.

Post 2:

And the Mercedes E550 is...
Que. Pronounced "Q."

The second post also had a link to the wikipedia article on the famous "Q" of the James Bond movies. The name of the Ferrari is out of left field and has no correspondence to Transformers that I am aware of. As for the "famous Italian”, Nelson said it is after Enzo Ferrari's son, Alfredo Ferrari for which the 458 was named in the design stage. There was also the Ferrari Dino from 1968-1976.

Ironically, the name of the Mercedes was leaked last July but none of us gave it serious thought that would be the final name mostly due to copyright/trademark problems with the 007 franchise. I guess the change in spelling to "Que" gets around that obstacle. The loud groan you here from California is probably everyone at Botcon as this news spreads. Thanks to NHLfan for the links.

Clarification About Wheelie and Wheeljack

For those upset about the red Ferrari not being called Mirage, this post might just be considered a pile on before it’s all said and done with news about Wheeljack. In a Shoot for the Edit thread called "Clarification", Nelson decided to clear up the confusion on who the buddy team is in the movie.

He wrote, "For some time now, I've implied through some of my post that Wheelie's sidekick was the Mercedes E550 (the E550 is a whole different character). It's not. My bad, my apologies. Brains is Wheelie's buddy. And what's Brain's alt-mode you ask? You'll have to wait and see. He later added, "I've read all the scripts in two languages. I got my two robots mixed up, plain and simple. Move on." This bit of info aligns with the comic and novel adaptations which revealed a character called "Brains" that is about the size of Wheelie.Read More »

DOTM Children Books Reveal Spoilers

Two images from book removed due to DCMA request from whoever the publisher is. If they had contacted me directly could have learned what else they found questionable but I guess contacting me directly like an adult is beyond their capabilities.

Last week a leak of the comic book adaptation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon revealed major story spoilers from the moon that was significant enough to get Don Murphy to force all sites (including this one) to take them down. The info is significant enough that I don't recommend looking for it. Now this week it seems the childrens' book of "The Lost Autobot" and "Optimus Prime's Friends and Foes" is doing the same thing but not nearly at the same degree as Cth from TFW2005 reports (mirror). Thanks to Feris Othman for the link.

To start with what I don't consider spoilers (the name and alt mode of characters), the images do finally confirm beyond doubt that the alt mode of Wheeljack (aka "Einstein")is the blue Mercedes-Benz E550. A whole lot of hints up to now made it common knowledge but this is the first real piece f official anything that put it all together. This would mean that Wheeljack is the new BFF for Wheelie that Nelson mentioned.

SPOILER WARNING!Read More »

Wheeljack Revealed?

An unofficial Transformers Dark of the Moon Facebook page has posted the below picture that could prove that the alt mode of Wheeljack is the blue Mercedes-Benz E550. The pic on the left is a panel from the comic book adaptation. From the comments, the image on the right is about 45 seconds into the trailer when Optimus enters warehouse talking about the "grave mistake" being made. There isn't enough detail to verify if the head matches "Einstein." Thanks to DJ.Bigtyme Beats for the link.

Dark of the Moon Comic Adaptation Preview Reveals Story Spoilers (Updated)

Per the request of Transformers: Dark of the Moon producer Don Murphy, the copyrighted images and spoilers have been removed. Due to the content of the comments, they have been cut off.

Amazon.com has posted a preview of the official comic book adaptation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon scheduled for release on May 25th. If you click the cover or "Search inside this book" you get about the first seven and last seven pages of the trade. A system error revealed more pages than intended leading to major story points being revealed.

I don't consider characters and alt modes to be spoilers. So knowing that, I will reveal that the leaked images did confirm that Soundwave's alt mode is the silver Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG as indicated by the game image. Also Wheeljack is a confirmed Autobot in the movie but I saw only has his name being said. Did not see his robot mode or vehicle mode to confirm if "Einstein", the blue 2011 Mercedes-Benz E550.

It should be noted that adaptations usually work from a final movie script along with designs and storyboards offered by production. However, as Sir Peter Jackson points out, there are three phases to a script - writing it, filming it and editing it. As a result what the comic shows for a scene and what the movie shows may not be the same. Certain elements like the major plot points, characters, etc tend to stay static due to cost but the specific details can easily change (scenes, characters, etc being left on cutting room floor).

If you wish to seek out the spoilers, that is up to you. Be warned the pages did reveal major plot and character developments in the story. If you are even a little bit sensitive about spoilers it is advised to not seek out that information.

Michael Bay Press Preview Transcript

/Film has posted the entire 7200 word transcript form the interviews that Michael Bay participated in when he screened portions of the film for the entertainment press. He briefly spoke of Frank Welker so can call that official confirmation he returns as Soundwave and mentioned a new character called "Brains" that could be the Einstein character (with Mercedes-Benz E550 alt mode). Bay goes into a great level of detail about the complications of shooting in 3D, experience of filming in Chicago, working with actors, film editing, sound design and more. Below are segments from the transcript but if want to read the whole thing, click here. Thanks to Winston for the link.

Question: Does this have a feeling of closure, this chapter?
Michael: I think so. But it still can be rebooted. Not with Shia. He’s turning grumpy in his old age.

Question: Out of curiosity, shooting in 3D, what did it make you rethink about axis in motion and progression…
Michael: A lot. I mean you’ve got to watch the panning because it strobes too much. You’ve got a guy on the set who’s got a control where when the camera goes like this, he can turn the 3D almost off. He sits there and it’s like if the robot comes close, we tell him what’s going on in the shot and he can kinda try to do where you want the eye to kind of look. But I can’t always check over him because there’s a lot going on on the set. So anyway, that was my process for doing it. I was able to shot about 60% native 3D, and then you’ve got 15% of all digital shots that were 3D, and then the rest is converted close-up stuff.

Read More »

How "Q" Was Made

EuroTuner has posted an interesting article that gets into the details on Transformers: Dark of the Moon's Mercedes-Benz E550 was made. The Benz is the alt mode of Q (like 007) to represent his role with the Autobots. I nicknamed him "Einstein" because of his appearance. The details below, more pictures of Q can be found at EuroTuner or mirrored at TFW2005. Thanks to Sahara for the link.

As a long time CEC customer, the movie’s acclaimed Director/Producer, Michael Bay, contacted Claus Ettensberger at CEC to help design the newest Autobot for the upcoming action thriller. With a base Mercedes E550 as the platform, CEC went to work transforming two identical sedans into Decepticon killers with style.

The conversion included new custom blue paint, which was specifically chosen by Michael Bay to make the character stand out. The CEC enhancements incorporated a custom aerodynamic kit with a front spoiler, side skirts, rear apron, trunk spoiler, fenders, suspension and exhaust system. The stock wheels were replaced with CEC C725 forged wheels (20x8.5” front, 20x10” rear) and Michelin PS2 tires (245/30R20 front, 285/30R20).