For a decade from 2007 to 2017, director Michael Bay served as the director of every film in the Transformers franchise, with each one making a sizable amount of money at the box office. It made stars out of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox and turned characters like Optimus Prime and Megatron into household names. And yet, despite those successes, Bay's films are mostly despised by critics and die-hard Transformers fans.

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Character development wasn't the biggest priority for Bay, with several characters not being treated with the respect that they deserved. With the success of the franchise reboot Bumblebee (which Bay only produced) paving a way forward for the franchise without Bay, it's a good time to look back at those characters that the explosion-loving director didn't think were more than meets the eye.

10 Jetfire's Friendship With Starscream Was Removed

An image of Jetfire from the G1 Transformers cartoon next to the live-action version from Revenge of the Fallen.

Jetfire is an especially fascinating character in the Transformers franchise, in that he was one of the first characters to change sides. There's certainly potential in a film to really dig into Jetfire's motivations for changing sides and how that affects his friendship with Starscream, but 2009's Revenge of the Fallen didn't go that route.

While the film kept Jetfire's backstory of being a former Decepticon-turned-Autobot, his friendship with Starscream was removed entirely. Later joining the fight against the Decepticons in Egypt, Jetfire sacrificed himself so that Optimus Prime could use his parts as a suit of armor against the Fallen, though his sacrifice wasn't mentioned by Prime or any of the other characters afterwards.

9 Wheeljack Was Given A Bizarre Design

An image of Wheeljack from the G1Transformers series next to an image of a similar character from the live-action films.

Wheeljack is as well known for his inventions as he is for his cool design, but the version of Wheeljack we got in 2011's Dark of the Moon was something else entirely. An Autobot engineer named "Que" served as the film's gadgets expert, and was made to look like Albert Einstein despite the final design looking quite repulsive.

And despite being referred to as "Que" in the film, his promotional toy was still called "Wheeljack." The opening scene in Bumblebee set on Cybertron featured a Wheeljack that much more closely resembled his Generation 1 counterpart, so here's hoping he gets more respect in that series going forward.

8 While He Looked Cool, Grimlock Lacked Any Personality

An image of Grimlock from The Transformers: The Movie next to an image of Grimlock from 2011's Transformers: Age of Extinction.

When asked in a 2009 interview with Empire Magazine if the Dinobots would appear in the then-untitled third Transformers film, Bay was quoted as saying “I don’t like them. Actually, I hate them.” So when it came time for the Dinobots to make their actual debut in 2014’s Age of Extinction, fans were prepared to be disappointed.

The Dinobots in this film are captured by the bounty hunter Lockdown before being released by Optimus Prime. After Prime wins a battle against Grimlock for dominance, the Dinobot leader quickly (and uncharacteristically) submits to Prime. Though it was undoubtedly cool to see Optimus Prime riding a fire-breathing Grimlock into battle, the metal-munching badass and his prehistoric brethren lacked any of their usual personalities, let alone actual voices or names.

7 Wheelie Became Lackluster Comic Relief

An image of Wheelie from The Transformers: The Movie next to an image of Wheelie from Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Debuting in 1986's The Transformers: The Movie, Wheelie proved his worth as an ally to the Dinobots and by finding a ship for Hot Rod, but soon became grating to viewers because of his constant rhyming speech pattern and general uselessness. But those qualities were a blessing compared to his treatment in the live-action films.

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First appearing in Revenge of the Fallen, this version of Wheelie was a Decepticon spy who attempts to steal a shard of the AllSpark from Mikaela Banes, though she captures him and forces him to help her. Wheelie served as one of the franchise's many sources of comic relief, though his attempts at humor usually fell flat— the less said about the infamous leg-humping scene, the better.

6  Starscream Wasn't Treacherous At All

An image of Starscream from IDW's Transformers comics next to an image of Starscream from Michael Bay's films.

Starscream is defined by his treacherous desire to overthrow Megatron as Decepticon leader, but one wouldn't know that from watching Bay's films. There, Starscream is the exact opposite of his usual incarnation, being a servant of undying loyalty to Megatron.

This Starscream was killed in 2011's Dark of the Moon by Sam Witwicky, who stabbed the Decepticon in the eye with an explosive. As with Wheeljack, a more faithfully-designed Starscream made a cameo at the beginning of Bumblebee, and going forward that series could benefit by having him take center stage alongside Megatron with his original personality intact.

5 This Was Hot Rod In Name Only

An image of Hot Rod from The Transformers: The Movie next to an image of Hot Rod from Transformers: The Last Knight.

At this point, it seems like Michael Bay created some of his own characters for these films and only gave them the names of Transformers characters. Case in point, the Hot Rod that appeared in The Last Knight was pretty much Hot Rod in name only.

Rather than a brash and carefree young Autobot who learned responsibility before receiving the Matrix of Leadership, this Hot Rod was Bumblebee's "brother-in-arms" who possessed a time-stopping gun and had a French accent for some bizarre reason. While Hot Rod has usually been a divisive character among fans, it can be universally agreed on that this interpretation was far from the best.

4 Jazz Came Off as a Racist Stereotype

An image of Jazz from the G1 Transformers cartoon next to an image of Jazz from 2007's Transformers.

Michael Bay has often been criticized for including racist stereotypes in his films, so it was no surprise that his interpretation of Jazz (a character most often played by African-American actors) in 2007's Transformers would fall victim to some of this treatment: Jazz's first line is the cringe-inducing "What's cracking, little bitches?" upon meeting Sam and Mikaela.

Not only that, but this Jazz lacked his built-in speakers that play loud music, a feature that most incarnations of the character have used to weaken Decepticons in battle. Jazz ended up being the only Autobot casualty in the film, as he was torn in two by Megatron in battle.

3 Skids & Mudflap Were Extremely Racist Stereotypes

Traditional images of Skids and Mudflap above the Revenge of the Fallen versions of Skids and Mudflap.

As racially insensitive as Bay's version of Jazz was, the director went even further with Skids and Mudflap. Skids had previously been an Autobot theoretician while Mudflap had appeared as a Decepticon in Transformers: Cybertron, but Revenge of the Fallen made the characters a pair of Autobot brothers that served as comic relief. But from their exaggerated speech patterns to their inability to read, the two of them embody harmful stereotypes of African-Americans that should not have been included in the film.

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Mudflap's voice actor, Reno Wilson (who is Black), attempted to explain that himself and Skids's voice actor Tom Kenny (who is white) were given the direction to play the characters as "wannabe gangster types" who had learned this manner of speaking from the Internet, but regardless of the intention, the characters came off as extremely offensive and thankfully weren't included in any films afterwards.

2 Bumblebee Was Crudely Immature & Deserved A Voice

An image of Bumblebee from The Transformers: The Movie next to an image of how Bumblebee originally appeared in live-action.

While Bumblebee was already a fan-favorite before he made the jump to live-action, it was Bay's films that made him instantly recognizable the world over. Despite that recognition, his overall treatment was nothing short of insulting.

Through Bumblebee, Bay indulged in his more immature instincts, such as having the once dedicated and heroic young Autobot willingly urinate on someone, not to mention starting the irritating trend of making Bumblebee mute and only able to speak through his radio. Travis Knight's Bumblebee film restored the character's integrity though, and hopefully that level of respect for Bee continues in future films (which should include him getting his voice back).

1 Optimus Prime Became a Ruthless Sadist

An image of Optimus Prime from the G1 Transformers cartoon next to an image of the original live-action Optimus from Transformers: The Last Knight.

Optimus Prime is iconic for a reason, as his warmth, noble leadership, and willingness to never give up continues to speak to fans and non-fans alike. The films saw Prime act exceedingly out of character, becoming a ruthlessly violent sadist who enjoyed mangling his enemies and threatening others, even going so far as to attack humans in The Last Knight.

Even Prime's longtime voice actor Peter Cullen has spoken about how uncomfortable he was speaking one of Prime's many violent lines in the series. Prime's supporting role in Bumblebee showed that it is possible to do his original personality right, so here's hoping we get more of that faithful interpretation rather than following Bay's route.

NEXT: Transformers: Every Version Of Starscream, Ranked