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• The slogan for the movie "Their War. Our World", was the original slogan for the movie AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), but at the last minute, it was switched to "Whoever wins... we lose."

• Producer Don Murphy decided, after listening to feedback from Transformers fans, to use the voices from the "Transformers" (1984) (and its spin-off The Transformers: The Movie (1986)). Veteran voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who provided the voices for the iconic Transformer leaders Optimus Prime (Cullen) and Megatron (Welker), were auditioned personally by director Michael Bay, who feared that their aged voices would be noticeable. Cullen was confirmed to reprise his role, but Welker's voice had aged too much and besides didn't suit Megatron's new alien look, and so Hugo Weaving took the role of Megatron. However, Welker reprises his role as Megatron in Transformers: The Game (2007) (VG).

• WILHELM SCREAM: When Megatron flicks a human across the street like a bug.

• Charles Adler, who voices the Decepticon Starscream in this film, voiced the Autobot Silverbolt in "Transformers" (1984). He was the only other voice actor from the series besides Peter Cullen to get a role in this film.

• Two of the Decepticons in this film are named Bonecrusher and Devastator. In the original toy line and television series, Bonecrusher was one of six Decepticons, known as Constructicons, who combines to form Devastator. (Complete set up for a sequel!!)

• The radio sound bytes Bumblebee uses to communicate include the voice of Lt. Uhura from "Star Trek" (1966) saying, "Hailing frequencies open" and "Message from Starfleet," and bits of dialogue from John Wayne, whom voice actor Peter Cullen used as an inspiration for Optimus Prime's voice.

• The camouflage uniform that Captain Lennox and his squad are wearing is the Multicam uniform of the Army's Future Force Warrior system, part of the Future Combat Systems project.

• When the Autobots first crash to earth in meteor form, a man with a video camera exclaims, "This is so much better than 'Armageddon,'" a likely allusion to director Michael Bay's earlier film Armageddon (1998/I).

• In the "Transformers" (1984) series, the Autobots had blue optics (eyes) and the Decepticons had red optics. The animators created a new eye design resembling a camera shutter in order to make the robots more engaging; however, in a nod to the series, the color scheme remains the same. The only exception is Frenzy, who is a Decepticon, but has blue optics.

• The gunship that successfully damages and drives off Scorponok during the attack on Captain Lennox and his men is the AC-130H Spectre. 40mm and 105mm tracers and impacts in the movie were generated by CGI; the aircrew did not fire a single shot during filming. (Scorponok is damaged, but dives back into the sand. He maybe one of the Decepticons left on Earth to “Hide in plain sight.”)

• Josh Duhamel's character Captain Lennox first appeared in the comic book "G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers."

• The F-22 Raptor that Starscream turns into is intended to replace the F-15 Eagle that Starscream originally turned into.

• Sam's eBay name LadiesMan217 refers to Michael Bay's birthday: February 17th.

• In pre-release screenings of the movie, an additional scene showing Bumblebee scanning the older model was included just before the cut to Sam at school. This scene was left out of the general release.

• Bumblebee is a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro and reforms into the new 2009 concept Camaro.

• One of the F-22 Pilots has the name Cpt B. Armbruster written on his cockpit. He is part of the G. I. JOE team and is more commonly known by his Code Name ACE.

• The fact that Bumblebee speaks through his radio is a nod to the Junkions in the animated movie, who learned to speak by, and spoke entirely in the style of, television Broadcasts and commercials.

• WILHELM SCREAM: When Sam kicks Frenzy away, after Mikaela slices him with a electric blade saw.

• "Glen Whitman" is named for a friend of the writers, who is currently a Professor of Economics at California State University in Northridge.

• When Sam is talking to Mikaela in the car he says "you're more than meets the eye," a nod to the toy line's slogan "more than meets the eye." Isn’t as cheesy as it sounds, and damn that chick is hot!

• For the scene with Scorponok bursting out from the sand and attacking the soldiers, the effect was achieved by detonating primer cord under the sand. The explosions would be in close proximity and very dangerous to the actors in the scene so before the scene was filmed, Michael Bay told the actors to run and keep running no matter what happens or else they could seriously be injured or even worse, killed. As a result, the look of panic on the actors' faces as they flee from Scorponok in this scene is 100% genuine.

• 'Howard Stern' was originally approached to make a quick voice cameo in the film, however his agent talked him out of it.

• In some regions, release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title 'E7'.

• Peter Cullen described reprising his role as Optimus Prime as "slipping into an old pair of very comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a while," and was grateful to the fans for wanting him back. His vocal performance consisted of much improvisation with Michael Bay and bringing a sense of humor to Prime, as well as his traditional heroism.

• To prepare for his role as Sam Witwicky, Shia LeBouf worked out five days a week for three months and gained 25 pounds of muscle, but he realized during shooting that Sam required agility rather than strength.

• In her role as Mikaela Banes, Megan Fox gained ten pounds during filming. Ya right! And where I wonder!

• Michael Bay instructed the ILM animators to watch martial arts films to get an idea on how to effectively portray the Transformers' movements.

• Michael Bay originally turned down directing the film, considering it "a stupid toy movie." However, as a young man he worked at Lucasfilm Ltd. and had a similar opinion about Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which became a classic hit. Realizing he was wrong about that film and perhaps about this one, he signed on to direct the film. He also took the job because he desired to make a family film, though he wanted to make it edgier than usual.

• Hasbro released several toys based on the movie's characters. These toys feature new "Automorph Technology," where moving parts of a toy in transformations allowed some other parts to shift automatically. This marks a rare time when Transformers toys are designed 'after' the characters in the fiction, whereas normally, the toys are designed first.

• While the film's scriptwriters experimented with additional characters, their scripts always included the Autobots Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream.

• In terms of characterization all the Autobots in this film are based on their Generation One incarnations. However, their alternate modes have undergone modern interpretations and overhauls for a realistic portrayal in the live-action film; in particular, all their modes, except for Optimus Prime's Peterbilt truck and Barricade's Saleen S281E Ford Mustang, are now owned by General Motors as part of a tie-in deal.

• The character of Arcee was included in the script, but poor fan reaction caused her to be cut out and replaced with Ironhide.

• Megatron's classic alternate mode was a Walther P38 pistol, but Hasbro the owners, and official distributors of the toyline stated that they would not produce a gun of any kind for their characters (it's also illegal to make replica toy guns in several jurisdictions). Also the writers thought it was like "having Darth Vader transform into his own lightsaber and someone else swinging him around," so it was changed to an "interstellar jet." Megatron was also given a less humanoid face to make him more menacing.

• As part of the promotion campaign for the film, early trailers showed as little of the Transformers as possible. Many parts of the robots were hidden from view due to quick cuts. However, later trailers and commercials showed more of the Transformers.

• Barricade's side reads; "To punish and enslave" rather than "To protect and serve".

• The Optimus Prime portrayed in the film is a Peterbilt 379. In Duel (1971) (TV), directed by this film's executive producer, Steven Spielberg, the antagonist is a Peterbilt 281. This marks two Spielberg films with Peterbilt trucks as main characters, 36 years apart.

• Don Murphy originally intended to do a "G.I. Joe" film in 2003, but he instead negotiated with the Hasbro company to make a Transformers film.

• The Decepticon Frenzy was originally named Soundbyte. The writers had Soundwave in the original script, but decided to change the character to one of his cassettes from the original '84 series due to the size the robot has in the role. They plan to "do Soundwave correctly" in the sequel.

• The Decepticon Soundwave was originally in the script, but was replaced with Blackout (who had originally been named Vortex, and later Incinerator). He is to appear in the film's sequel.

• Michael Bay did not want the VFX aspects of the film to overwhelm the live-action elements, and spent most of the film's $150 million budget on 15 practical action sequences.

• According to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, working out the transformations was done with the help of a mathematical equation, which explained where each of the parts of the robot went when it become a vehicle.

• To portray the sentient cars, stunt drivers wore black and balaclavas to conceal themselves from view.

• Ironhide's gun is composed of 10,000 pieces (more pieces than any other robot), thus making him the bulkiest Transformer in the film.

• Optimus Prime is composed of 10,108 pieces.

• On May 26 2007, two Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor jets were filmed in flight. There are only three such aircraft in the United States Air Force. Theese things are BADASS. Imagine a helicopter that can LITERALLY transform into an airplane. Go look them up! They are “real” transformers.”

• As part of the promotion campaign for the film, a special Sector 7 site was launched that featured videos showing "evidence" of Transformers having already arrived on Earth. These videos featured: Grimlock destroying a construction site; Kickback and Laserbeak being accidentally videotaped; and a security video showing Bumblebee transforming in a parking garage. All these characters appeared in "Transformers" (1984) and, interestingly, are featured in their old designs from that show.

• At one point the Decepticon animal Ravage was included in the script, but he was removed and replaced with Scorponok, another robotic animal.

• The Decepticons outnumber the Autobots eight to five. This was a deliberate move by the writers to emphasize the Autobots' teamwork, and the threat the Decepticons pose to the world.

• Don Murphy brought in screenwriter Tom DeSanto to write the plot, impressed with the way DeSanto had managed the many characters and storylines in X-Men (2000). DeSanto, a big fan of the series since childhood, carried out extensive research on the Transformers; he held several meetings with comic book writer Simon Furman; and he invited fans to discuss the film on Murphy's online message board. His treatment explored the Transformers' existence and history, as well as the real possibilities and consequences of "their war on our world," similar to a disaster film, which was what Murphy wanted the film to resemble.

• As an in-joke for fans and a tribute to the original cartoon, a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, which Bumblebee originally was, can be seen at the car dealership where Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) buys the Chevrolet Camaro, that is later found out to be Bumblebee. Bernie Mac's character Bobby Bolivia, even attempts to sell Sam and his father, Ron (Kevin Dunn) the Beetle when they refuse to pay his asking price for the Camaro.

• During filming, Mark Ryan acted as a stand-in for the Transformers on set, to give the actors a physical presence to react to/act against. He also ad-libbed characters during the film's post-production.

• The release date was set without a script or a cast.

• The US government supplied planes and assistance to the production.

• According to one of the CGI artists that created the animated robots at ILM, if you took all the polygons (CGI building blocks) from all the autobots and decepticon models they created at the studio, and strung them end to end, they'd reach to the moon and back and you'd still have enough left over to build the coliseum in Rome two times. eek

• At one point in the film, Glen Whitmann makes a comment about the gashes in the metal wall made by robots activated by the All Spark, saying that three gashes are like "Wolverine's claws". In addition to Tom DeSanto being a co-producer on this and the 'X-Men' films, it was Marvel Comics that gave Optimus Prime his name.

• The commanding officer of the air base in Qatar is named Colonel Sharp, played by Glenn Morshower. This is a reference to _Armageddon (199 cool _ , also directed by Michael Bay, which also had a Colonel Sharp, played by William Fichtner.

• The line "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" was the winning line of an on-line competition where fans got to write in their own lines for a chance to hear them on screen. Although this line was first spoken by Optimus Primal in the spin-off series, "Beast Wars," the phrase has long been associated with Optimus Prime's character, first appearing in the cut-out Tech Specs on the back of the packaging for the original G1 figure.

• When Bumblebee introduces himself to Sam and Mikaela, speaking through the radio, he plays the sound bite, "Across the immense gulf of space"; the voice is that of Orson Welles from his infamous 1939 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds." Wells provided the voice of the planet devouring transformer named Unicron in _Transformers: The Movie, The (1986)_ which was Welles' final film performance.

• The Transformers have been given a new design that reflects their alien origin. According to 'Lorenzo Di Bonaventura' , during the design process, Optimus Prime was designed in CGI in his classic boxy look (as seen in the 1984 series), but he looked "fake and silly." So now, heavily stressed in their looks are advanced kinematics, realistic engineering and thousands of body parts (which all move during transformations and produce a better impression of mass). The Transformers were created with a mix of groundbreaking computer-generated imagery (by Industrial Light and Magic) and ten close-up props (by KNB Effects). The props built include Optimus Prime's head, Bumblebee's robot mode, Megatron's legs and Blackout's feet.

• Sam Witwicky's father plays a joke on Sam by driving through a Porsche dealership before taking him to the used car lot. In the original line and TV Series, the Autobot Jazz was a Porsche; in the film, he is a Pontiac Solstice. He dies.