Production is underway on Michael Bay's Transformers 3 and some unexciting updates have hit the internet from TFLAMB, who reported yesterday that someone saw the Twins from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen during shooting. The Twins of course, were the controversial stereotype robots hand-created by Bay for inclusion in the movie and were some of the worst characters ever seen on screen, ever. It wasn't the racial controversy that bothered me so much as it was how bad their dialogue was and how much they factored into the movie.

Michael Bay quickly clarified the matter today with an update on his site which simply stated, "The Twins are not back in TF3." That's one piece of good news, but I'm curious if they simply will pretend they didn't exist or give them a cameo and kill them off. The way they've (mis)treated characters so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there's no explanation given but we're better off without them regardless.

On a brighter note, there are also some photos that surfaced showing off three of our main Autobot friends; Optimus Prime, Iron Hide and Ratchet.

The most recent updates regarding Transformers 3 were centered on new members being added to the cast, with the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Ken Jeong all joining the franchise. But what about the characters from the first two movies, the Cybertronian ones? Let's take a look at some familiar faces.

Optimus and the Iron Hide vehicles (you can see two in the image) are no different than what we know them to look like from the first two films, but Ratchet appears to have gotten a bit of a repaint or at least looks different from the side. Click to Enlarge:

 

 

 

Also, here's a quick 30 second video from folks in LA who were right near the set during the filming of a scene where they flip a little car.

Our own Paul Young pointed out that the camera rig being used to shoot this sequence is not the right setup for shooting in 3D, with only one camera being used. That means either Transformers 3 is not coming in 3D or worse, it's getting the fake 3D tacked in in post through a rushed conversion. The last we heard from Michael Bay on the subject, from back in march, is that the "jury is still out" on 3D.

I wonder if Ratchet will get to speak in the next movie...

What are you desiring and expecting from Transformers 3?

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Transformers 3 hits theaters July 1, 2011.

Sources: Michael Bay, TFLAMB