It’s been a while since 2018’s Bumblebee and I wouldn’t be surprised if most folks have already forgotten that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is still a thing, especially with the one-year delay from its initial Summer 2022 release. But here we are and the first teaser trailer for the movie has finally dropped, and it’s quite the banger. Now just a disclaimer, most, if not all trailers from the previous Michael Bay Transformers movies are also bangers so that doesn’t say much. But this one has a good focus on the actual Transformers themselves, which addresses one of the complaints from the previous entries.
The main selling point for this film is, of course, the appearance of the Maximals and Predacons from Beast Wars. But unlike their television counterparts, their beast forms don’t have fur or skin on the outer surface and instead are still metal and mechanical components like how animal-based Transformers appear in the original series. Furthermore, they are also scaled like their Autobot and Decepticon predecessors and not smaller or closer to human size.
As far as continuity goes, it’s still a mixed bag because while it definitely follows the events of Bumblebee, it also incorporates several elements from the Michael Bay movies. These include a scene that seems to provide a new backstory on how Bumblebee lost his voice, and the reappearance of Optimus Prime’s bare mouth which is designed similarly to the previous entries.
Finally, we got a sneak peek of how Optimus Primal appears in robot mode. As a humanoid biped beast mode transforming into humanoid biped robot mode, I can’t see much difference outside of the head, especially with the same dull colors being used. But we’ll have to see as the marketing kicks off for the movie.
Overall, I’m not the most excited but I do look forward to watching Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. While I watched Bumblebee, I skipped The Last Knight so I’m cautiously optimistic based on this teaser. It does appear to have a good focus on the Transformers themselves though we still have a couple of human characters. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is set to be released in June 2023 and if you missed the teaser, I’ve included it below.
