When I got to see the film on it’s opening which was already 2 years ago I thought it was one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve ever encountered especially since it had a limited theatrical runtime since it unfortunately fell short on box office and marketing strategies but again I was happy to watch it as a good fresh narrative of the transformers brand and one of the best films I saw in 2024 respectively.

But now here is my perspective on the challenges courses it went through that got it to where it’s seen as now by some audiences.

**It was placed on a poor released date**

Truthfully I do think the film got released at such a poor time and it felt like Paramount thought depended on that it was a good decision to release it right when the 40 anniversary of when the original Transformers animated series launched in September of 1984 which they uncarfully believed it would be a good way to be seen in theaters, but that was a poor decision by the studio which sometimes celebrating the 40th anniversary of the brand along with there be a new film based on it isn’t always one of the best ways to have a film spotlighted.

It was obvious it was going to rival against big family blockbusters such as Beetlejuice 2 which was heavily regarded by long time fans and The Wild Robot which came a week later and quickly stole the spotlight because of how much people adored it’s narrative.

**It could have released on a less crowded month**

I felt that if Paramount was smart enough to never risk it  flopping they could have released it around the middle of August since there was barely a lot that was out in theaters which the only ones were Alien Romulus, Harold and the purple crayon and the slow wind down of Deadpool & Wolverine and Despicable Me 4 which Transformers One would have had a slim chance of being spotlighted such as how that went for TMNT Mutant Mayhem when it came out in August of the previous year with it barley competing with anything so August would have been a better release date since it would of had some open space benefit before films like Beetlejuice 2 would have happened a few weeks later.

**The casting choice was expensive**

The casting choice in Transformers One impacted it’s budget to increase and make itself harder to turn a profit, I can understand that the studio wanted to choice well known actors that could have explored a new era of the film brand in a new continuity but again it would have been best to choice less known actors to avoid large paychecks such as big ones like Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan Michael-Key, Steve Buscemi, and Laurence Fishburne

Especially the budget can feel wasted knowing how much characters like Starscream didn’t get a lot of exposure in the story and yet they went with a big a lister for the role which is why we see his name in the credits as one of the first even given the fact he had less screen time while it even was the 5th in line while the credit of Jonathan Hamm as Sentinel Prime was in 6th which he got more screen time given but I guess a actor like him has less famous recognition than Steve Buscemi.

Again really great actors but I felt like anyone else that is talented who isn’t really that famous could have done the roles of Alpha Trion, Starscream, Bumblebee, Elita, and Orion Pax aka Optimus Prime well enough also without increasing the budget.

Now in days when you throw in a listers for films that end up being animated it won’t be the best ways to engage audiences.

As a side note Brain Tyree Henry isn’t as big of a high income a lister than the rest of the cast which he was definitely a fine choice who even ended up as a fresh new iteration of Megatron.

The same for Jonathan Hamm who had a straightforward interaction as Sentinel Prime and given that he is already just becoming a lot more famous in recent years which the animated film seemed to have made a positive impact on the two actors being part of a different genre they normally haven’t done in the past.

For the rest of the main characters I thought their’s voice cast was fine but I felt like they sounded like any other person especially you could kind of hear Chris Hemsworth’s Australian accent in some vocals of when Orion Pax is talking in a low voice even if he said himself in a interview that he wouldn’t throw that in.

**The franchise has gone through a lot of continuity resets which confused audiences what continuity they are watching**

Ever since after the Transformers franchise changed through a change of quality and a new direction following the end of the Bayverse people were confused what continuity to follow such as people till this day or before originally thought the Bumblebee film was a prequel to the main 5 films Michael Bay directed but was announced as a reboot by the studio and the film’s final ending which made people need to get used to the new change even if it took nearly 5 years for the studio to release it’s next chapter which was Transformers Rise Of The Beasts which influenced the franchise to find it’s new direction especially since it had enough elements that contradicted what went on in the Bayverse of Transformers.

**How the studio could have saved a film like Transformers One for a later time**

My honest opinion is that they probably shouldn’t have focused on making Transformers One so soon after Transformers Rise Of The Beasts since it just released recently as the first live action Transformers film in such the longest gap from the last live action entry where it felt like it was important that the studio should have kept their energy into expanded the reboot live action universe since the Bumblebee film and Transformers Rise Of The Beasts gave audiences new opportunities such as the Autobots arriving to Earth since the 1980s after fleeing Cybertron, the whereabouts of the Decepticons along with Megatron never having to do with being trapped in ice on Earth, Unicron’s other villain mercenaries, the Beast Wars narrative, and The G.I Joe’s existence.

It felt like the studio wanted to already start something new with Transformers One despite there being a low point of a franchise being occurred which just made audiences feel overwhelmed of possible franchise fatigue because of how much the studio wanted audience to last minute dig in for audiences to explore this new live action continuity they decided to come up with as a new animated Transformers feature that was mostly was a prequel to the original lore or the transformers narrative which might have made some audiences non interested or just burnout by how much the studio keeps launching new continuities of the same franchise and what brand it’s based off on while long time fans are just blessed to see another film happen while I can still be enjoyable to get to know.

**My Final Thoughts**

In the end I love Transformers One as a film piece and am still optimistic they could do a sequel hopefully about a decade but I do think it came in at a very poor point in time and wish it could have happened when the main ongoing live action continuity got enough development with at least a few more entries, I feel like if Paramount doesn’t fix the franchise soon as possible they might as well lose the rights if they don’t release a new film by 2028 or 2029 in the crosshairs of them losing their distribution rights to Transformers which that is only the case if they keep seeing the brand as non important to them as a long time running studio.

How Transformers One impacted the franchise