Transformers look so much better in the upcoming Bumblebee movie

We’re about to user in a new Transformers cinematic era if these Bumblebee trailers are anything to go by.

Now that Michael Bay is out of the director’s chair, the movie has been left in the hands of BAFTA winner Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings). Penned by Christina Hodson (Unforgottable and the upcoming Batgirl), the prequel takes place twenty years before 2007’s Transformers.

“On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.”

Evidently they’re switching up the visual treatment too. Older fans will easily find the color palette and models familiar, harking back to the original designs rather than the sharper, mechanically layered look that Bay’s movies adopted. It remains to be seen if this is the franchise’s new look or an exception made for Knight’s spin-off, but online reactions have been positive so far.

Maybe Hasbro are going to see a marked increase in toy sales this time.

Bumblebee premieres in Singapore on 20 Dec.