when i was, err… 17, i leapt from my chair and attempted to transform into a laser cannon like galvatron. i thought i ended up being more of a tripod, evoking laughs by one of my classmates. well, just the one because it was just before prep and i didn’t want too many people to witness my ‘hidden’ ability.

see what having a 13-year old brother and cousin can do to you?

my memories of the transformers were episodes taped on video or on telly, if i was back at home for weekend breaks. i also remembered watching transformers-the movie every day when i was at home with chicken pox, in between revision for SPM. toys? between the two of us, we only had cyclonus. none of the G1 classics. yes, i didn’t have much moolah then.

so, late last night i caught up with the rest of the malaysian population who had enjoyed michael bay’s two-hour (and a bit) take, sans subtitles, on the robots from cybertron. i was kinda happy with the changes bay made, although if an VW beetle (anyone saw the in-joke at the salesman’s garage?) wasn’t a suitable car for bumblebee to transform into, the current model would do. then again, i can’t imagine a beetle burn rubber like a camaro. oh, megan fox is hot.

for a two-hour film, it felt really short. goes to show when you are bedazzled with the excellent CG work they rendered to bring the transformers to life, time passes as pantas as starscream. the hoover dam battle was reminiscent of the second G1 episode where the decepticons created a tidal wave so that they could make more energon cubes (yes – guilty as charged, season 1 sudah di muat turun last week). retention of some of the classic prime lines was great. hugo weaving’s distorted megatron voice was unrecognisable (sounded very unicron!) and it was great to hear peter cullen reprising his old cartoon role. one thing i didn’t expect was the comic nature of most (if not all) of the robots which you thought were really serious in the original cartoons.

but does it matter? the film was ace and i’ll be looking forward for further films. just don’t fcuk up any future franchising, that’s what i’d say.

oh. have i mentioned that megan fox is hot?