From the start, of the biggest criticism leveled at Michael Bay's Transformers franchise was how the films drastically deviated from the classic look of the Autobots and Decepticons. Sure, Bumblebee was yellow, but he wasn't a buggy, and many others like Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave and Optimus Prime -- with his paint job and flair kit -- really didn't feel like the old-school robots in disguise many expected. Still others were rendered completely unrecognizable, as Bay had the designs generations of fans grew up with unceremoniously jettisoned in favor of new, overly-complex robot bodies.

While Bay clearly wanted to create something for modern audiences (we'll leave it up to you to decide whether he ultimately succeeded), director Travis Knight's Bumblebee is going back to basics and diving deep into the nostalgic feel of the property. This approach has become fully apparent with the release of the latest trailer, which showcases quite a few 'bots rocking their Generation One look, exciting loyalists for what's to come.

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Classic Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime

Though his robot form still looks different form the classic cartoons and toys, when we saw 'Bee as a Volkswagen bug once again, many fans wondered if we'd see other old Autobots in their G1 forms as well. If our first glimpse at Optimus Prime is anything to go by, then the answer is a resounding yes! The Autobot leader is seen in holographic form delivering a message to his comrade to protect Earth, and we also see him on Cybertron squaring off against some Decepticons.

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And in both shots, as quick as they are, Optimus is in his classic G1 glory. He's lost the flames from Bay's paint job, and is much more streamlined in design. Perhaps most importantly to some fans, Prime is rocking his mouthpiece, and bears the Autobot symbol on his shoulders. The bottom line is, Optimus looks ripped straight from the original line of toys, which heavily influenced the early cartoons in the '80s and '90s.

Soundwave Looks Like His Old Self

In Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, Soundwave was, well, completely unrecognizable. His design looked like an alternate version of the film franchise's Megatron (who also suffered a complete makeover). Instead of a purple-and-white boom-box, he was a silver Mercedez-Benz SLS-AMG, as well as a weird-looking satellite.

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Well, Knight is certainly giving us the G1 Soundwave here, not just via the character's iconic color scheme alone, but also in terms of weaponry, as we can clearly see his signature right-shoulder cannon. The icing on the cake comes when Soundwave ejects Ravage out of his chest at the 1:39 mark. The sound effect here is taken straight from the original cartoon series, serving as a nice Easter egg to diehards.

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Ravage Is On The Prowl

Speaking of Ravage, when we first saw him in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, he looked more like a can opener than a cat, not to mention he had one red eye which made his face look like a mechanical cyclops. In this trailer, though, as Soundwave ejects him, he transforms from a cassette to the roaring red, white and black G1 cat fans have been waiting to see.

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Instead of being used for reconnaissance, in this scene he appears to be all about aggression and being Soundwave's first wave of attack. If you're a betting fan, you're probably expecting a G1 Laserbeak, Rumble or Buzzsaw emerge from Soundwave at some point as well.

Shockwave and the Seekers

At 1:28, we see the G1 version of Shockwave on the extreme left with his iconic purple scheme, which Bay opted against as he gave us his unrecognizable version of the character, a silver robot in DOTM. Bay also had Shockwave's cannon on his right-hand, but Knight has corrected this, giving us something 100 percent faithful to the character's original visual aesthetic.

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As for the other Decepticons in this same shot, from left to right, we can see Acid Storm (with his G1 green color scheme), Blitzwing (whom many confused for Starscream in the early trailers), and Skywarp (with his G1 grey-and-purple color scheme).

There are some other villains obscured in the back, hinting this could be Knight's take on the Seekers, a special group of Decepticons whose designs were inspired by jets which they felt gave them a more intimidating appearance.


Directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) from a script by Christina Hodson, Bumblebee stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Pamela Adlon, Jason Drucker, Abby Quinn, Rachel Crow, Ricardo Hoyos and Gracie Dzienny. The film arrives Dec. 21.