I don't think the t-cogs imbue any special abilities, per se. It seems like, when a Cybertronian gets a new t-cog, it triggers a transformation of their body at that point; its possible Megatron realized he could control this somewhat to give himself an upgrade when he ripped Megatronus' Cog from Sentinel.
While I don't know about special abilities, they did seem to make them taller and stronger than before, even just beyond their ability to transform. I don't think the non-Prime cogs handed out at the end had the same effect.
Incidentally, I find it funny that the more powerful Megatronus cog that D-16 took on changed his fusion cannon from the one we all know and recognize to one that's
less like the iconic version, which I'm under the impression he was left with in the end.
Still not a fan of Bumblebee and the Badassatron thing. I personally didn't like that part from the aspect of a parent bringing my kids to see the movie. But to be fair, they have heard worse from me. Not to mention the OG film dropping a few words.
Yeah, I've been wondering how that would do with parents/kids, and if "ass" is just a socially acceptable thing for kids to say now.
Like, dropping a curse word is one thing. I imagine you can explain to a kid why that might be inappropriate, or appropriate for the situation, and that they shouldn't say that word until they're older.
When the
kid appeal character is dropping "Call me 'Badassatron'" repeatedly throughout a movie, though? I feel like that's just
begging the kids to emulate it.
Anyway, thoughts on the movie as a whole...
Probably the best Transformers movie to date, in my opinion. Not necessarily my
favorite -- '86 is still gonna jazz me up like nothing else -- but from a more objective standpoint, this feels like the best as a movie. Definitely the one you probably want to point someone new to the franchise to.
My only real complaint is that I felt the movie had few surprises for me. I mean, I think that's on me -- while I may not remember ever bit of minutiae like some, I've been an avid fan since pretty much Day One, and I feel like I've seen some form of most of what this movie brings in some way or another. Still, I think it's the
execution of those ideas that really makes the whole thing shine.
One thing I did really like, though, is that Orion Pax was basically Hot Rod. Even used his smokestacks the same way Cyberverse Hot Rod did, as flamethrowers.
I guess when it comes to Chosen Ones, Primus has a type.
To that, I do wish Pax had his own "Oh no you don't, Megatron"-type moment to kind of bring that full-circle. Ah, well.
While I like the aesthetics as they are, I wonder if it would have been more expensive had they basically just kind of used the same sort of style as at the beginning of the Bumblebee movie. A full "live action" movie that's still nothing but CG.
I think by the end, I picked up on nine slogan/catchphrase drops. Sure, references in themselves were more numerous, but I mean stuff like "more than meets the eye" and the like. Yeah, I counted "you don't have the touch,
or the power".
This isn't a complaint, but a passing thought: Given that Megatronus is historically the traitor among the 13, I wonder if it wouldn't have been better if he had just filled Sentinel's role. You think about it, and most of it would have played out the same.
Well, except then we wouldn't get our obligatory "Megatron kills Sentinel" moment.
That's about all I've got. For now.
Oh, one other thought/complaint(?): Was there any iteration of the Transformers theme in here? I don't mean like a reference like "Oh, that's his ringtone" like some other movies would do, but used as an actual track.
I don't think every iteration of TF needs it, and even kind of get annoyed when it's overused, but... it just seems like it would have felt
right for this one.
Edit: Oh, one more thought came to mind: Did anyone catch how they were able to make Airachnid play back that specific recording? I thought Soundwave was going to do something instead, until they did that.
