First images from the sequel that Paramount’s bankers were asking for

By Imthishan Giado

UPDATED Mysterious new truck added and ANOTHER new look for Bumblebee – scroll to end to see more

Despite all our fervent prayers, Michael Bay today released proof that there is indeed no God above us all with the release of these first images from the not-at-all-anticipated sequel to Transformers 3:Dark Of The Moon, brilliantly-titled Transformers 4.

Released via his website and Yahoo, Bay had promised to update the robots for this new series of films set in the same universe but with an all new cast of characters. And because old characters won’t sell a boatload of toys unless they get new designs, every robot in the series has been redesigned from the ground up.

First up is commander-in-chief Optimus Prime. Formerly a custom-built Peterbilt 379 Prime is now a custom-built Western Star, a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks. So the the All-American Prime is now…German.

Also released were images of two other cars, neither of whom were given character names. Continuing GM’s long association with Bay (he used to shoot commercials for them) one of the characters is a C7 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in Kermit green with a horrible, horrible spoiler on the back. With a 460bhp V8 it’ll be pretty fast…

…except for the fact that the film will also feature this guy, a Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse, the world’s fastest convertible with 1200bhp.

Perhaps the biggest change of all comes for the star of the previous trilogy: Bumblebee is now a matte-black ’67 Camaro that brings a cool dash of restomod style. Perhaps too cool, as there are already allegations that Paramount ripped off the design from a famous tuner car. Still, this is easily the coolest that Bumblebee has ever looked, taking into account that the cartoon version was a yellow Beetle.

The latest to join the crowd of Autobots is Hound. In this version he is a Medium Tactical Vehicle, a kind of offroad all purpose vehicle built by Oshkosh Defense. Of all the Autobots released so far, this is one that’s playing closest to the original cartoon – in the 80s version, Hound was a beefed up military drab-green Jeep Wrangler.

Lamborghini joins the franchise for the first time with this as-yet untitled character, a Lamborghini LP-700-4 Aventador coupe. If I had anything to do with it, he’d be called Sideswipe. And no, not the one from Dark Of The Moon.

This time around, Optimus is not the only truck in town. Michael Bay’s also revealed this mysterious Argosy Freightliner truck, also a Daimler product. No clue yet who it’s supposed to be but with that ominous paintjob it can only be a Decepticon…which means it’s mostly likely Motormaster.

This…this we didn’t see coming. Bumblebee morphs into a new form partway through the movie and this squashed, squinty-eyed Camaro is it. Officially a concept, but we say it previews the styling for the next Camaro…just like the first film previewed the production current-generation Camaro.

One can only hope that these vehicles will transform into something that actually looks like a robot, and not a rampaging food processor.