Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Trailer Breakdown: The Maximals And Predacons Bring The Fight To Earth

Every generation of "Transformers" fan has a different introduction to the franchise: the '80s gave fans the original cartoon series with the Generation 1 Autobots and Decepticons, and the 2000's gave a new generation of fans the Michael Bay movies. And for those stuck squarely in the middle, there was only "Beast Wars." The computer-animated TV series premiered in 1996 and introduced the Maximals and Predacons, who were animal and dinosaur versions of the original Transformers. Optimus Prime became the giant ape Optimus Primal, for example, and the villainous Megatron became a T-Rex Transformer instead of jet. The series was beloved but never made the leap to the "Transformers" live-action film franchise ... until now. 

The trailer for "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is here, and there some great peeks at a bunch of "Beast Wars" favorites, including Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and even Airazor! This is the first mainline "Transformers" franchise film not directed by Bay, so "Creed II" director Steven Caple Jr. has some big, explosive shoes to fill. If there's anything that could revive this film franchise, it's the "Beast Wars" gang joining the team. Let's take a look at the new trailer and see what bits of "Transformers" goodness we can find.

The opening shows a shot of a massive rainforest, then the New York City skyline, then we're back to the forest. Text goes over the images, informing us that "for millions of years, our world has transformed, but something else has awakened." The new entry's new heroes, played by Anthony Ramos ("In the Heights") and Dominique Fishback ("Judas and the Black Messiah"), are hiking through the rainforest when giant gorilla Optimus Primal (voiced by Ron Perlman) launches himself over some rocks and beats his chest a'la King Kong. That's certainly one way to make an entrance. 

Of course, Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), isn't about to let a giant robot hurt any humans on his watch. He's looking fly in his setting-appropriate 1990s Generation 1 design, and he immediately gets ready to fight the big ape. There's the potential for an Optimus Prime vs. Optimus Primal battle, but since they're both on the same side, that would be kind of silly. 

Primal quickly explains that he is not the enemy, and that there is something much worse out there for them to fight together. It's kind of surreal seeing Optimus Prime and Primal side by side, since "Beast Wars" took place several hundred years after the original "Transformers" series, but it's also incredibly cool. Some of the other Transformers movies had some problems with scale and ended up depicting lots of shots of robot feet, but it looks like Caple Jr. and cinematographer Enrique Chediak found some ways to work around that. Prime and Primal are both absolutely huge, and we can see Ramos and Fishback are much smaller, but the composition is visually interesting. 

After his little chat with Optimus Primal, Prime changes back into his semi-truck form and heads into the city. It's good to see these older designs on screen again, and is sure to give fans a serious jolt of nostalgia. 

Live-action franchise fan-favorite Bumblebee is here as well, which bodes well for the film. His 2018 spin-off film, "Bumblebee," directed by Travis Knight, is the warmest and most emotionally resonant film in the franchise, and it showed fans that the Bay way wasn't the only way. 

The Autobots are primarily humanoid robots who can transform into cars, but few of them picked as pretty a form as Mirage. The Autobot, voiced by Pete Davidson, takes the form of a Porsche 911. He's one seriously sexy sports car, and Davidson lending his voice to the character should be a blast. In the short clip, Ramos' character gets into the Porsche in a parking garage and starts looking around before discovering this car isn't what it appears to be. 

While taking a peek at the deluxe interiors, he notices that the logo on the steering wheel is the Autobots logo, not the Porsche one. Before he has a chance to really process all of that, the two of them are speeding down the road and a police officer is hot on the chase. The trapped human tries to explain that he's not the one driving, but then Mirage transforms right there on the road, moving his parts around his precious cargo while still speeding by. This brings up some questions about the ethics and realities of riding inside of a Transformer, but uh, just roll with it. 

If you were wondering why Mirage is called Mirage, he gives a neat display of his ability to make fake copies of himself. He makes four mirage Mirages, distracting the police officer on his tail and causing him to crash into a median. That's certainly one way to escape in a car chase. 

One thing many fans of "Beast Wars" had to wonder about was the size of the various beasts, because there wasn't exactly anything on the alien world of the series to compare them to. Seeing Cheetor running alongside Generation 1 Bumblebee in his car form is exceptionally cool, and that Cheetor design is the stuff of every '90s kid's dreams. Cheetor was one of the most popular Maximals, as he was a steadfast and reliant teammate who also happened to be one impressive warrior. 

There's only a very brief shot, but the Michelle Yeoh-voiced Airazor gets a quick appearance, flying around some explosions. Airazor is one of the few female characters from "Beast Wars," but she's a great one. She's very close to Cheetor and Rhinox and is one of the primary members of the team. (Later on she gets merged with another Maximal, Tigatron, to become the most powerful Maximal of all: Tigerhawk!) Yeoh is a great casting choice for this tough warrior with a sarcastic, dry sense of humor.

Speaking of female Transformers, the next sequence shows Arcee, voiced by YouTuber Liza Koshy, zooming around on her motorcycle wheels like roller blades. Her whole design is so 1990s, which makes it perfect, and she has the most expressive face designed for the live-action films yet. There are going to be some people realizing they have a crush on a robot, and it's okay — there are tons of us out there. 

After making hearts fluttery with Arcee, the apparent big bad from the film makes his (or her) appearance, choking out poor Bumblebee. The design isn't immediately recognizable, but it's likely that this is the live action take on Scourge, who will be voiced by Peter Dinklage. Scourge is a hunter who works for the Decepticon Galvatron, so he might only be here to set up an even bigger big bad in the form of his boss. 

The humans and some of their new Autobot friends go on a stroll through some ancient ruins, and the VW bus that was shown with Arcee earlier appears to also be an Autobot, maybe? Again, the shot gives the audience a great sense of scale, and makes the whole story feel even more epic. 

If you thought the trailer couldn't reveal anymore fabulous "Beast Wars" faves, you were wrong, because there's a shot of Rhinox charging up his weapon in rhino form, and it looks positively killer. The designs from the 1990s show weren't going to cut it in 2022, and the updated designs are exceptional. Rhinox is the second-in-command to Optimus Primal and is sort of a father/uncle figure for many of the "younger" Maximals, including the eternally troublesome Rattrap, who sadly doesn't appear in the trailer. 

There's another shot of the New York City skyline, this time at night, and three balls of fire fall from the sky. Those are probably Predacons on their way to ruin everything and wreak havoc, or more Maximals headed to help out, but whatever the case, those aren't just some random space rocks. 

There's another great look at Optimus Prime up-close, and we see the inner workings of his face before his shield comes over his mouth. Again, the designs are phenomenal, as Prime looks appropriately worn and rusted while still looking as much like a realistic version of the 1980s cartoons as possible. Optimus Primal may be really cool and have the good luck to be voiced by Perlman, but Prime is still the ultimate hero of this story, and the trailer makes sure to remind audiences just who's king of this franchise. 

There is a massive, chaotic battle between Maximals, Autobots, Decepticons, and some various other blurry robot creatures. Optimus Prime and Primal fighting side-by-side is definitely worth cheering for, though the chaos feels a little like smashing action figures together. Then again, maybe that's the point. 

After the title, there's a brief scene with Fishback trying to convince herself that she's dreaming or hallucinating or something, and then she looks back over to Arcee, who waves. It would be incredibly strange finding out that there were transforming robots from outer space who were hiding on Earth as motorcycles and cars and giant apes, so it's hard to blame her for not believing her eyes. Then again, discovering you're in a "Transformers" movie can't be all bad, because you get some pretty sick new friends to save the world with. 

The final shot shows Ramos and Mirage walking down the road, with Mirage changing from his Porsche form to a more humanoid one. He even kind of walks like Davidson a bit, and the two stroll by some wreckage like a pair of cool dudes. Nothing to look at here, folks. 

"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" will roar its way into theaters on June 9, 2023.