The Transformers films often receive criticism because, while being about giant sentient robots, the narrative focuses heavily on human characters, many of whom feel flat, unnecessary, or overshadowed by the spectacle. Meanwhile, the Transformers themselves lack the screen time or character development fans expect.
A list of Transformers who didn’t get enough development is;
Autobots
- Sideswipe (Revenge of the Fallen/Dark of the Moon
- Jolt (Revenge of the Fallen)
- Arcee / The Arcee Triplets (Revenge of the Fallen)
- Drift (Age of Extinction/The Last Knight)
- Hound (Age of Extinction/The Last Knight)
- Ratchet (Multiple Films)
- Wheeljack/Que (Dark of the Moon)
Decepticons
- Shockwave (Dark of the Moon)
- Soundwave (Revenge of the Fallen/Dark of the Moon)
- Starscream (multiple films)
- Megatron (Especially in The Last Knight)
- The Fallen (Revenge of the Fallen)
- Blackout (Transformers 2007)
- Barricade (Multiple Films)
Early scripts leaned on the assumption that viewers needed a human POV to relate to emotionally, so this led to characters such as Sam Witwicky taking the center stage, while Autobots became supporting players within their own movie.
Sarm’s arc is comedic and coming-of-age, but is very inconsistent across the sequels, while Cade Yeager’s storyline is thinly written and often overshadowed by explosions and plot chaos. The Side characters within the movie are usually there for exposition, plot devices, or merely jokes. This makes the humans feel replaceable, which happens every few films.
The movies regularly introduce a large ensemble of forgettable humans instead of developing the Transformers themselves beyond the forefront characters, such as Optimus and Bumblebee. Many fans still complain that major characters like Shockwave, Sideswipe, Drift, Ratchet, and Starscream received little dialogue or motivation. These are characters that were important throughout Transformers lore and stories from over the years.
It was not until 2018 that the Transformers got it right. Bumblebee received a solo movie that had a great formula. It only had a few human characters; it had an actual emotional bond between Charlie and Bumblebee, and the story focused on character growth, not just spectacle. The Transformers also had clearer personalities and motivations. Bumblebee is widely praised as the best character-driven movie.
The Transformers are the heart of the franchise; they always have decent personalities and histories from within the cartoons, comics, and lore. Fans do care more about Optimus Prime’s moral dilemmas than yet another government story. Within the history of Transformers, there is untapped potential for great films. I mean, they’ve even done decent cartoons.
The future of the franchise seems bigger than ever. With Rise of the Beasts introducing G.I. Joe within this universe, the films need to reduce the number of human characters, give the Transformers more dialogue and development, only integrate humans in a meaningful way, like Charlie and Noah, and let the movies embrace their sci-fi nature rather than Earth’s military/government.
