Paramount has officially unveiled four of the Autobots to the world at a GM event in Hollywood last night. You’ve already seen the Camaro – aka Bumblebee – before, but the other cars have only been seen in spy photos on the web.
I actually saw all of these cars while visiting the set of Transformers in downtown LA last summer. None of them were available for interviews (you know how these Method actors are), but I did get to talk to producers, some of the human cast, and the mighty Michael Bay himself. Look for some of this coverage as soon as Paramount explains to me exactly which aspects are embargoed.
Bumblebee. In the movie he’s the Transformer that Shia LaBeouf ends up with. He talks by switching his radio around and finding the words he wants.
"Autobot Jazz." Two of the Autobots officially have Autobot in front of their names – I assume this is because you can’t sue someone back to the womb when they use the name Jazz, which probably can’t be copyrighted. As you can tell, he’s a Pontiac Solstice.
"Autobot Ratcher." He’s my favorite. A modified Hummer that’s been turned into a rescue vehicle, Ratchet made me laugh when I realized that the rescue insignia on his door, which includes little images of where he can rescue you – surf, mountains, etc – has an Autobot head on it.
Ironhide is a GMC KickTop truck. It is apparently a ‘medium-duty’ truck, but in real life it is a ‘fucking humongous-duty’ truck.