It's been a long time since I've enjoyed an action flick with a packed theater full of people who are mostly there to have a good time. Some of the people in the audience brought a nasty vibe in with them and jeered at some of the awkward or cliched moments, but I was able to tune them out. As someone who watched the original series, part of the fun was in connecting what I remember from the show to the film. Soundwave, for example, was perfect as a satellite. I think his voice wasn't modulated like the original character. There's a scene in an episode of the cartoon where Soundwave's voice drops the modulation and turns into a growling, beast-like voice. (Here's the scene: [link]) So since Frank Welker returned to voicing Soundwave for the film, it's interesting to hear his voice sound so close to the errors from the series.

Regarding Mudflap and Skids: much ado about nothing. In fact, I would have liked to have seen the writers build on their ability to merge in to a single vehicle. They're the classic bickering brothers with a love/hate relationship who have each other's backs when things get rough. I didn't catch what actually happened to The Twins after their contact with Devastator. I'll pay closer attention when I see it again.

Speaking of Devastator, man, brilliant design. I didn't see that coming. It was like the Decepticons under the guidance of The Fallen had this monster of a chess piece in place, just waiting for the call to "unearth" their ancient machine. The no-nonsense functionality of Devastator that impressed me the most. He was essentially giant wood chipper retooled for rocks.

Opitimus Prime came across as a battle-hardened soldier in the film, which I never saw in the television show. When he executed the 2-wheeled Decepticon (Scavenger) after the opening battle with a shot to the head, it seemed out of character. He was more or less the voice of reason in the series, and even in the first film. Ironhide was always the brute.

One big error was Jetfire leaving the Air and Space Museum in D.C. and walking out into an airfield with rolling hills in the background. That made no sense. But he was another well-designed character. The cane/landing gear was brilliant. Jetfire's ability to teleport may have been a subtle reference another G1 Decepticon, Sky Warp, who was also black jet. Similarly, Starscream seemed to be doing double-duty as Thundercracker when he fired off an EMP burst toward the end of the film.

Something about the Mudflap and Skids ice cream truck configuration really worked for me. It seemed harmless enough not to attract the suspicions of humans and Decepticons alike. The idea of putting these two lower rung Autobots on point during a critical search and destroy mission makes me wonder if they were seen as expendable, experienced operatives, or young soldiers trying to earn their stripes. I also thought that their "upgrade" happened too quickly in the film. Their ability to combine into a single vehicle could have been explored a bit more.

Few have mentioned that the twins are not a new concept to the Transformers universe. Hasbro released a series of Decepticon toys called Duocons. A Duocon consisted of two autonomous vehicles with separate personalities that combined into one robot through a push-button, spring-loaded action. [[link] I bought Flywheels several years ago. On his stats card he's described as having a split personality and as being both a danger to himself and to Autobots. I actually came across a Mudflap and Skids ice cream truck toy review online before seeing the film. The toys have come a long way and it seems that engineering a reasonable amount of articulation is becoming the norm for this genre of toys.

I own the original Japanese Microman version of Ravage. I think it was called "Jaguar". It was and still is one of my favorite toys. Ravage was always an infiltrator in the television series, or used to terrorize humans. He never seemed to do too well against the full-sized robots. Anyone who has cats knows how they occasionally cough up fur balls, so the ball bearing bots he coughs up were a nice idea that introduces a new ways of imagining how the others might have smaller, symbiotic and self-aware machines living inside them and maintaining their bodies from within. The parts transplant from Jetfire to Optimus also shed some light on the possibility of their bodies sharing some fundamental compatibility matrix.

In a nutshell, lots to love about the movie. I may take time out to see it again soon.