The Transformers film series that is headed up by Michael Bay is a perfect example of what big-budget special effects can be, for better or worse. The franchise itself started off as a cartoon built to sell toys based off of a struggling Japanese toy line that caught fire in the United States and spawned tons of figures, television series and films. Much like every other aspect of fandom, Transformers fandom often opines for the simpler times, before Michael Bay’s explosions came to define the franchise.
That’s exactly what this group of fans looked to recapture with their Transformers fan-film Generation 1 – Hero. The fan-film is based upon the original toy line (hence the “generation 1” tag) and cartoon series, lovingly reproducing those characters in live-action with only practical effects. What sounds like an eye-roll-inducing affair is actually a delight, with tons of attention to detail and passion tossed into the project, blending together RC models and actual human beings wearing robot suits battling it out.
Think of it like those old, Japanese Godzilla movies but with people in meticulously-detailed cardboard boxes painted to look like giant robots. Unlike the Michael Bay films, this one was done with practical effects and did so without looking cheesy or cheap.
(Via Kotaku)
