Michael Bay’s announcement trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon was devoid of any of the director’s signature explosions or action. Instead we got a look into the past – roughly 40 years ago – at an alien spaceship that crashed on the dark side of the moon. You can take a closer high resolution look at the ship and what’s inside by clicking any of the images at the bottom of this post.
The positioning of this enormous ship and its cargo, mostly carcasses of random Transformers, brings back memories of the Transformers Generation 1 television show. In the show, the Autobots arrived on earth via an ark that crash landed into the side of a mountain. They remained dormant for centuries before being woken. The similarities are striking, especially considering visual proof of Optimus Prime’s trailer being in the film shows a conscious effort to pull in more nostalgic pieces.
In the closing shot the camera rotates and zooms in on what appears to be an old but undamaged Transformers. His facial features are more human then any we’ve seen from Bay’s Transformers universe thus far, a gripe some Transformers fans have had about the designs. Like the ship that either was his transport or prison, he throws off a Generation 1 vibe.
Right now there are two front runners that this Transformer might be based on the character’s design, assuming he’s based on an existing character and not a Bay creation. The first is Alpha Trion, one of the original 13 Autobots. In Bay’s Transformers this would make him a Prime and as we’ve been told, Optimus is the last. Trion’s backstory could also have been altered to suit a different purpose, and would be a logical counter to Decepticon Shockwave who will be the main bad guy in the film.
The second front runner though less likely identity is Wreck-Gar, a Junkion who made a name for himself in the Transformers animated movie back in 1986 living on a planet of Junk and throwing a great party. If this is Wreck-Gar then the ship would be some sort of junk transport and nothing special. Unless he was some sort of prisoner and held some technical knowledge or skill vital to the Autobot effort.
Again, click the images below to view the high resolution version, then relive the trailer again at the bottom of the post.
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