Michael Bay Puts a Bounty on Racist Transformers

[Logan Westbrook]

Michael Bay Puts a Bounty on Racist Transformers

Bay has thrown down the gauntlet to sharp-eyed movie goers everywhere.

Director Michael Bay has offered a reward of $25,000 to anyone who can spot the Autobot Twins Skids and Mudflap in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The characters received a lot of criticism after their appearance in Revenge of the Fallen, as many felt they played on racist stereotypes of African-Americans. Although Bay defended their inclusion in Revenge of the Fallen, he promised they would not be in the sequel.

Unfortunately for Bay, an early review [http://www.aintitcool.com/node/49648] of the movie said that the Twins were in the film, although the comment has since been excised. Posting on the Shoot For the Edit [http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forum/showthread.php?9072-25-000-Reward] website, Bay categorically stated that the reviewer was mistaken, and the characters did not appear in the movie. He challenged people to prove him wrong, saying he would pay the reward to anyone who spotted the Twins "performing" in the movie. When some posters on the site pointed out that the Twins seemed to appear in one of the early trailers for the film, Bay replied that sometimes trailer houses used shots that did not make it into the final movie, and that it wasn't an indication that the characters were in the film.

It's a pretty safe bet that the Twins aren't in Dark of the Moon: This isn't the kind of challenge you make unless you're sure you're going to win. It seems strange, however, that Bay would film and render shots of the Twins in the first place, if they weren't ever going to appear in the movie.

Source: Blastr [http://blastr.com/2011/05/find-racist-robots-in-tra.php]







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[tombman888]

Michael Bay.... "Challenge accepted.jpg"

Would be funny if they actually were in the movie, but were like, in the background for a split second of a single scene in the movie.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It's a pretty safe bet that the Twins aren't in Dark of the Moon:

I dunno, if I was a washed out hack trying desperately to get people to watch my latest series of explosions, I might balance 2000 extra movie tickets against 25,000 extra people to watch the movie. Especially as I could then include them in the next film as a "treat to the fans".

 

[Logan Westbrook]

It's a pretty safe bet that the Twins aren't in Dark of the Moon:

I dunno, if I was a washed out hack trying desperately to get people to watch my latest series of explosions, I might balance 2000 extra movie tickets against 25,000 extra people to watch the movie. Especially as I could then include them in the next film as a "treat to the fans".

I'm not sure Bay really needs to resort to cheap stunts to get people to come and watch Dark of the Moon. Remember, Revenge of the Fallen made back its entire $200 million production budget in less than a week.

 

[Latinidiot]

Of course they are stereotypes. The robots learned everything they know from the internet. Hell, there even was this medic-bot yelling YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME HUH? COE AT ME BRO!

God forbid the autobots have spent too much time on memebase.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm not sure Bay really needs to resort to cheap stunts to get people to come and watch Dark of the Moon. Remember, Revenge of the Fallen made back its entire $200 million production budget in less than a week.

Then why did he name a specific amount for the bet? Oh yeah, because all of the Transformer nerds (what is their name?) will then get the DVD and the Blu Ray, no matter how bad the film is. And spend hours looking for them. $25,000 payout for that level of sales? He'd be a fool not to edit them back in.

Hollywood never makes bets without a reason.

 

[Ranorak]

Oh, I think I spotted them

 

[TheRealCJ]

I'd rather he give that 25 000 dollars to anyone who can spot a Transformer in the new Transformers film. Or one that isn't partially obscured by a ball of flame or a piece of US Military hardware.

It'll probably be a harder challenge.

 

[pdgeorge]

Holywood never makes bets without a reason?

What about Uwe Bowl (or whatever, he doesn't deserve his name being spelt correctly) constantly telling people "If you have a problem with my movie, let's take it up in the boxing ring!"

Some people are just dicks. Being in Hollywood doesn't preclude them from being dicks infact it makes their inherent dickishness about a thousand times as powerful as before.

 

[loodmoney]

Before I had any context for this, I read it as "Director Michael Bay has offered $25,000 prize for watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

I guess it's kind of good that he isn't using these racist stereotypes (not as good as, y'know, fixing them) but if it is anything like the other movies, there is a pretty good chance that we will once more be playing stereotype bingo with Dark of the Moon.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Of course they are stereotypes. The robots learned everything they know from the internet. Hell, there even was this medic-bot yelling YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME HUH? COE AT ME BRO!

God forbid the autobots have spent too much time on memebase.

Please stop trying to justify anything that happens in Bayformers. It doesn't work.

 

[Bob the frantic]

It's a pretty safe bet that the Twins aren't in Dark of the Moon:

I dunno, if I was a washed out hack trying desperately to get people to watch my latest series of explosions, I might balance 2000 extra movie tickets against 25,000 extra people to watch the movie. Especially as I could then include them in the next film as a "treat to the fans".

I'm not sure Bay really needs to resort to cheap stunts to get people to come and watch Dark of the Moon. Remember, Revenge of the Fallen made back its entire $200 million production budget in less than a week.

That's true, but think of it this way - Reviews for Revenge of the Fallen were quite poor, so Michael Bay may be pulling this off to try to:
A) Convince people that it's safe to watch this movie if the Twins were offensive to them
B) Have people go "Challenge accepted" and sit through the movie to find them.

If they aren't there, he just gets a heap of people to watch the movie who would have avoided it, meaning more money for Mr. Shaky Camera.

Still, nice to see that there will be one less thing for Moviebob to rage at. He IS going to review it, right?

 

[YOUM@D123]

new challenge: try and spot a likable character that ISN'T a transformer.

 

[Trikeen]

Try to identify one Michael Bay Transformer from another!?

Now that IS a challenge.

 

[Laser Priest]

"Come see my movie and you just might make money! PAY TO SEE MY MOVIE!" - Michael Bay, Movie Director and Con Artist.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

I'm not sure Bay really needs to resort to cheap stunts to get people to come and watch Dark of the Moon. Remember, Revenge of the Fallen made back its entire $200 million production budget in less than a week.

Then why did he name a specific amount for the bet? Oh yeah, because all of the Transformer nerds (what is their name?) will then get the DVD and the Blu Ray, no matter how bad the film is. And spend hours looking for them. $25,000 payout for that level of sales? He'd be a fool not to edit them back in.

Hollywood never makes bets without a reason.

I'm still not getting the part where it makes sense to edit them back in. Read the article again. He doesn't say he'll pay the first person to spot them, he says he'll play anyone that spots them.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

That's true, but think of it this way - Reviews for Revenge of the Fallen were quite poor...

Yes, they were. They were awful in fact. And yet the movie still made its entire production budget back in five days.

 

[Fwee]

Has anyone yet pointed out that this sequel is subtitled with a paraphrased Pink Floyd album name?

 

[evilstonermonkey]

Holywood never makes bets without a reason?

What about Uwe Bowl (or whatever, he doesn't deserve his name being spelt correctly) constantly telling people "If you have a problem with my movie, let's take it up in the boxing ring!"

Oh, he had a very good reason for that. He has had some boxing training (I have heard 'a little' and I have heard 'extensive,' but either way it is 'some') and most of the critics he was challenging are brittle old men or pasty overweight nerds. And he intended to use the footage of the fights in a movie. And it was free publicity.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I'd rather he give that 25 000 dollars to anyone who can spot a Transformer in the new Transformers film. Or one that isn't partially obscured by a ball of flame or a piece of US Military hardware.

That's a good point.

Also, I've heard that Megan Fox won't be in the movie, which I think is a bad move. I could tell her apart from everyone else, and her character was less annoying and cliched.