This has been a long time coming, but I didn’t have clearance from Nelson to post on the boards again until now. Long story short, I said a lot of things that were way out of order, and this is my attempt at an apology. At first I felt posting this message publicly could be a bad idea, but I felt without making a formal apology on the boards, many of you would probably continue to harbour a grudge towards me for what I did…and I wouldn’t hold it against you either.

A couple of months ago, I saw Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS for the first time with my brother. I already had unpleasant feelings towards the movie after I left the theatre, but as I was talking to my brother (who often echoes my own feelings, albeit much more magnified), I was pushed a little further into the negative zone. It wasn’t his fault; when we come home in the car from seeing a film, we often knock our opinions back and forth, and in this case, our opinions were almost exactly the same. We got so enthusiastic about our criticism of the movie, I forgot about many of the scenes I DID enjoy, such as the first arrival of the Autobots on Earth and the final smackdown in Los Angeles...which I have to admit, are some of the best stuff Michael's ever done.

By the time we got home, my feelings had gotten away from me, and I posted them raw and unfiltered on Michael’s forum without waiting a day or two to properly organize them. That was my biggest mistake. Much of my anger stemmed from Michael’s decision to emphasize the human characters in favour of the robots, and the pointless casting (so it seemed to me) of Hugo Weaving over Frank Welker. But the one thing that really made me blow my top were the moments in the film I felt at the time were blatantly racist - the Indian operator during the desert sequence; Jazz exhibiting excessively “black” mannerisms and subsequently the only good guy to be killed off; the American soldiers instructing/ordering the Hispanic soldier to “speak English”, etc.

Now that it’s several months later and I have a clearer head, I can go back to these moments and understand there was absolutely nothing intentionally racist about ANY of them. At its worst, the film relies too much on stereotypes for comedic relief, but this doesn’t make it unique from every other action flick out there. I called TRANSFORMERS “the worst thing ever made”, and that was just me going completely berserk without contemplating what I was typing on my keyboard. I’ve seen some pretty hideous movies in my time, and TRANSFORMERS doesn’t come anywhere near them.

Everything went downhill from there. Nelson banned me, and I sought refuge over at Don Murphy’s boards. It isn’t a bad place, not by a long stretch, but there was something missing that I couldn’t put my finger on. I still can’t.

I got in touch with Nelson via PM, and he agreed to unlock my account. I’ve been working on this post ever since.

So, Michael - I‘m sorry for what I said about you and your film. I’m also sorry I abused the forum the way I did. Take my advice, folks - think before you write, cool off before you blow up, or you’re just opening Pandora’s box all over again.

BOW DOWN BITCH!!!! j/k

welcome back, homie

No blood, no foul. Welcome back.

Well... that's one dramatic post.

I don't really see how you ever had such strong negative feelings toward Transformers, but whatever. Everyone is going to have a different opinion.

Welcome back.

ahh, you still suck ass... bow down biotch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats for haten on Bay bitch.

P.S. Simon... I thought I needed to get laid LOL

P.S. On your behalf, I didnt like the fact that Jazz was a black 32 year old male rapper, but it fit his character they recreated, so yeah, you still suck!!!

P.S. Dude, it's a fuckin forum, get over it, you sound like your sorry over you cheating on your ex. (bigger things in life) though nice appoligy, but really, Bay doesn't give a fuck.

I'm sorry, who did jazz rape?

and if you meant rapper Darius McCrary is not a rapper to the best of my knowledge.

Naw, I was talkin about the stereo type, bottom line, Jazz was cool and we got screwed over on his death!

is his post a little dramatic, sure....but the guy just wanted to apologize for making the forums a shitty place, which i commend him for..no reason for you to be an asshole.

And I think it's time to lock this before it gets out of hand.