
An unspoken aside of “who cares?” punctuates every line of dialogue, most nearly audible in those about the glowing rock that’s going to stop planet-sized monster Unicron (voiced by Colman Domingo and who has nothing to do with unicorns) from snacking upon our little blue marble. Noah used to be in the military, until he got fired or whatever, for being bad at teamwork or something.
#Autobot symbol movie
But all parties involved with the production deliver a level of effort suggesting that these Saturday morning implausibilities have been seized as cover and cause to not give a shit.Įverything has a vague partial finish, as if director Steve Caple Jr and the five-person brain trust responsible for the script banked on the audience’s familiarity with the shape of a movie to fill in the gaps they’ve left. It behooves a viewer to set their suspension of disbelief at a generously accommodating looseness in dealing with a film featuring Airazor, the extraterrestrial cybernetic eagle that speaks in the voice of Michelle Yeoh. His perfectly valid thoughts are hand-waved away by Mirage – voiced by Pete Davidson, saying things like “yo!” – with the instruction not to worry about it. Being called an Autobot was once an insult to Transformers, but after the time of Optimus Prime, it became a badge of honor.As obligatory human Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos, looking like he’s just walked into a party and realized he doesn’t know anyone) stumbles through a cosmic clash between opposing hunks of dinged-up CGI, he briefly questions the need of alien robots to disguise themselves as Earth-faring vehicles. Ultimately, this is a perfect example of writers taking a simple name meant to help sell product and giving it real meaning beyond the nostalgia and name-brand recognition. In essence, it becomes about reclaiming one’s power, not just from authoritarian rule, but by being able to proudly claim a name and give it the connotations that you desire. However, IDW’s explanation is a really cool take on the name of the faction led by Optimus Prime, because it is about reclaiming power and freedom. Cybertronians were canonically using the word Autobot before they reached Earth and ever knew what an automobile was. The name Autobot only came about because the majority of the good guy factions were able to turn into automobiles, which is obviously an explanation that doesn’t work in-universe. In fact, in Japan the Autobots were called " Cybertrons" (サイバトロン). The Autobot name was originally just a branding decision made by toy makers and had no actual significance to the story of the old Generation 1 (G1) Transformers cartoon show. Amidst all of this an officer of the law named Orion Pax and a revolutionary named Megatron set out to change things. After learning the truth of the fake Matrix of Leadership held by the current leader of Cybertron, Nominus Prime, Sentinel killed him and took the title Sentinel Prime himself, further ruling the planet with an authoritative fist and a brutal regime. He was also their secret enforcer, imtimidating or killing anyone who disagreed with their rule.

In fact, the term was mostly used in association with the force of Sentinel, the Transformer in charge of the security for the Cybertronian Senate.

The symbol of the Autobots was created six million years prior by Onyx Prime to represent the alliance of the ancient Primes - the powerful leaders of the Transformers - and as such it became a universal symbol for all Cybertronions, not any specific faction. However, IDW Publishings’ run with Transformers actually gave an answer to the true meaning of Autobots, revealing it came from a major insult.īefore the Great War the term Autobot was not widely used, as most transformers were simply known as Cybertronians. The Transformers are broken down into two major factions, Autobots and Decepticons, and as cool as the names sound, they have always been almost excessively simplistic.
