Transformers Stop-Motion Videos Are More Fun Than A Barrel Of Michael Bays

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

As much as I may not like Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise, I’m never actually rooting for them to suck. I’d love to finally see him make one that is both fun and not aggressively stupid, and if that ever happens I’ll cheerfully concede the point. In the meantime, however, I’m going to just keep rewatching this stop-motion Transformers video, which serves up a genuinely impressive battle between Optimus Prime and the Constructicons/Devastator. And without a single robot testicle anywhere in sight.

I’ve got a huge amount of respect for anybody with the time and patience to create anything using stop-motion animation, and this Transformers vid by Harris Loureiro is really well done. The action is smooth and rarely jerky like some older stop-motion tends to be, and I was also impressed by how the ‘bots seem to have a real sense of weight to them. Pulling that off has got to be tricky, since you’re having to not only move the toys where you want them, but also figuring out how to add in that look of impact and inertia when they land in a way that looks convincing. And you’ve got to love that surprise soundtrack.

Here’s another of Loureiro’s stop-motion Transformers creations:

Honestly, one of the things I love most about these is seeing the simplicity of the transformations. The ‘bots in Bay’s movies are so overdesigned, the transformations always feel arbitrary and impossible to follow. Here, you’re getting the transformations of the actual toys, but with the wow factor of watching them transform without a (visible) guiding human hand. You can check out more of the videos on Loureiro’s YouTube page.