Transformers Rise of The Beasts: Settling The Reboot or Prequel Debate Once and For All

Join me as I break down the highly debated question surrounding the upcoming film, Transformers Rise of The Beasts. Through conflicting statements and a deep dive into the franchise's history, we'll determine if this film is a reboot or a prequel. Get ready for an insightful exploration that settles the debate once and for all!

[Primes]

4:14 lol, that b minus reference is pure gold.

[mastermindoftrouble]

I can answer this easily. If Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts are connected to the Bayverse, then why do we have Unicron coming in Rise of the Beasts when Last Knight said he was Earth as reference to Prime?

[gaminuz]

Although I grew up with the original Bayverse trilogy, I still believe that bumblebee and Rotb are a reboot, and a necessary one at that

[snakeeyes]

Something that needs to be mentioned is that in the intro to the 2007 movie, optimus said that earth was "an unknown planet". Meaning he never been to earth prior to 2007. Which disproves Lorenzo's statement that the autobots went to earth in the 80's, left earth and came back again in 2007. Further proving the fact that it's a reboot

[deathbycat]

I’m not gonna lie. Having Megatron in the beginning of Bumblebee would have felt like having a thanos cameo in the first Iron man movie. It would’ve felt premature, and I’m glad they axed the scene regardless of the reason for it

[KnightsRealm]

This video just tells me that Lorenzo di Bonaventura needs to shut up and let Travis Knight and Steven Caple Jr. take the lead in publicity.

[sleekemu]

I like the theory of it being a alternate timeline thing where there are constant and variables, things are different but some events and things do remain the same, where Unicron did woke up and is going around the multiverse and the maximals were originally from the bayverse

[dstr]

To me the Bumblebee movie is to Transformers what First Class was to Xmen. It started off as a prequel but will eventually end up splitting the timeline ala Days of Future Past. Rise of the Beasts may very well be that split, since the Maximals are ALWAYS linked to time travel. I think things like the maximals being from "another planet" is a misdirect, likely created by Primal himself to protect Prime from the truth that theyre his decendents. Things like Unicron not being the core of the Earth, Prime et al arriving on Earth way earlier than they shouldve and, if we take the toys into account, already having a matrix of leadership make no sense unless we take into account that the Maximals already split the timeline when they arrived in the past, possibly even before Bumblebee takes place.

Imo, ignore ANYTHING Lorenzo says and take the events of the movies themselves as proof.

[alfonsonation]

In my interview with Director Caple, releasing tonight, I bring this question to him. The confusion is really being reinforced by Lorenzo. But I'm going with Director Caple on this one. ROTB is a new direction.

[je]

As someone who grew up with the Bayverse movies, this reboot is absolutely necessary. Towards the end, the Bayverse got REALLY messy in several aspects. And the lore itself is just all over the place
Tf1: the Cybertronian war for the Allspark
Tf2: The introduction of the 13 Primes and the Matrix
Tf3: the introduction of Sentinel Prime and the pillars
Tf4: the introduction of the Dinobots and the seed that belongs to the creators
Tf5: the introduction of Unicron, Quintessa, the staff and the guardian 12 knights that form a Cybertronian dragon
That’s all too damn much and it’s like each movie reveal tries to top the last but lacks good continuity

Hopefully this reboot establishes a more clear path and road for new lore

[ashuraomega]

The true answer is that it's a reboot Hasbro's just going back and forth on it's placement for marketing reasons. The same thing happened with bumblebee but in reverse the movie was originally planned to be a prequel to the bay film's but Hasbro feared that nobody would show up to watch the movie if it was marketed as a bay film so they turned it into a reboot. Besides if you actually watched bumblebee or any of the trailers for rotb you'd realize that none of the events, storylines, or characters that debuted in those films could fit in the Bayverse and trying to tie them together into one big series would only further damage the continuity of not only the Bayverse but the reboot films too.

[GameManCZ]

In Bayverse Optimus Prime arrived in 2007. Unicron is Earth. Bumblebee fought Nazis🙄. Bumblebee movie and Rise of the beasts are clearly a reboot like cmon guys…

[aans]

Honestly i think they might make ROTB an alternate timeline of the bayverse, it would keep both fans happy in a way

[hitomi]

It seems like Paramount wanted to keep it vague so they can say it's a reboot while also saying it's not by keeping Megatron out of the picture. That way they can gain new fans into the franchise while also bringing back old Bayverse fans with that syrup of "it's a prequel". The new designs also help keep things fresh and no one would really argue with a mix of Bayverse and G1 designs. In my headcannon, I'd like to think that some events vaguely followed the Bayverse but in an alternate timeline. About Lorenzo, he's just pretty much saying continuity and Bayverse is a problem for future me to think about.

[SgtAJ]

Personally, when I first went to see Bumblebee, I had thought this was Prequel to Transformers 2007 because of what I was being told and heard from friends who had seen this movie. However, in 2019, around the time Travis Knight had his interview with Movie Fone, I realized that Bumblebee was a reboot simply because the continuity doesn't line up with Micheal Bay's Transformers Movies. So when I heard Rise of the Beasts was a sequel to Bumblebee, I immediately knew this was a part of the rebooted timeline, despite Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura's constantly contradicting statements. Also, I think you put it best at 31:03. Lastly, while I do agree with what you said at 32:15, I don't think that will ever happen because The Last Knight, much like all the Transformers movies, is very expensive to make, so there is no way they're going to disregard that movie. On top of all that, aside from some other continuity errors, it really does seem Paramount and Hasbro want to ignore The Last Knight, and I can't say I blame them for that because even though I grew with Michael Bay Transformers Movies, I do agree with many that you can argue that The Last Knight is one of worst transformers movies, rivaling Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction.

[KingGumbly]

I just adore this community! I can imagine them going down a path of twisting Bumblebee and Rise of The Beasts into the trunk of a cinematic tree which can either branch off into the bayverse or into the knightverse :D I don't mind either way Im just so ecstatic for more of our boys to be on the big screen!

[AlreadiWon]

All Transformers movies are apart of a cinematic MULTIVERSE! The Beyverse movies are in a parallel universe from Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts. There. Problem solved. Now somebody PLEASE tell Lorenzo before he does another interview…

[dynobros]

Thank you so much for clearing it up, I literally get distracted from work sometimes because of stuff like this😁

[ethanlomer]

if they do connect the new movies to the bay films, i reckon they'll connect it up to DOTM and ignore AOE and TLK

[OneWithNoFace]

Haven't seen it yet but, I'm wondering if it will talk about the whole alternate universe thing. (He didn't)

Edit: Alright, pretty sure it was obvious it was a reboot. I mean unless every single bot and con just decided to magically change their design. And Unicron using his godly powers to rewrite history. Tbh, I don't think aoe and tlk should be considered Canon at all. To many continuity errors and plot points that would make it impossible for them to be Canon. For example, the transformers being on earth the whole time. Rotf and dotm did a great job on showing how transformers have been on earth before. But tlk ummm....yeah