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And You Thought It Would Fail: After the, at best, lukewarm reception of previous Transformers films, hopes for Bumblebee were very low. It came out as the best critically received film of the Transformers franchise.
The designs of the Transformers are much closer to their G1 counterparts as opposed to the "cluttered" designs of the previous films. That said, they do keep some of aesthetics of the previous films, retaining some of the alien design elements.
Soundwave, complete with his G1 voice, and Bumblebee turning into a Beetle are the standouts.
Michael Bay being reduced to only an executive producer. His reduced role drew many fans. Time will tell on whether Bay will be no longer involved in future films.
The film does away with much of Bay's toilet humour, the over-sexualization of females is gone, and the needless explosions are cut down.
Though the film has a massively reduced cast of Decepticons, Shatter and Dropkick are actually fleshed out compared to the Generic Doomsday Villains that the 'Cons were in the previous films.
Unlike the Bay films, humans can do nothing against the Decepticons making them a genuine threat. The only victory they have over a Cybertronian is Bumblebee and that's because he wasn't fighting back. When he does, it's a total Curb Stomp Battle in his favour.
A major complaint about Sam and Bumblebee's friendship is that Sam treated Bumblebee like a pet with very few actual friendship moments (not helped by Shia's "acting" talents). By contrast, this film's more relaxed plot gives Charlie and Bumblebee more time to bond and develop a genuine friendship.
Award Snub: Despite being nominated for several Teens Choice and Saturn Awards, the film lost them all to the MCU.
Awesome Music: It's a film set in The Eighties. The soundtrack is jam packed full of awesome tracks.
The Lighter and Softer character driven story has not been well received by those who liked Bay's more action-oriented outings.
Rebooting the franchise. Most are okay with it, but a Vocal Minority isn't. Perhaps a result, Hasbro has opted for a Flip-Flop of God on whether or not there is a reboot.
Bumblebee scanning a Camaro at the end of the film. It's clearly meant, should it come to it, to tie the film more neatly into the Bayverse but many would have preferred that 'Bee remain a Beetle as the Camaro's design clashes with his onscreen personality.
As said on the first film's YMMV page, Optimus Prime got a lot of flak in the previous films for being portrayed as more of an Anti-Hero rather than an Ideal Hero who seemed apathetic towards the Decepticons he killed (even though war does that to people). This film, even if his scenes are very brief, wholeheartedly returns Optimus to his G1 persona. Likewise, while he's still a serious character, his tone lacks the utter seriousness he had in the previous films and the Transformers Aligned Universe, sounding more like he did in the original cartoon.
Bumblebee is now far more in line with the typical personality of a Kid Appeal Character as opposed to his rather generic portrayal in the prior films.
Cliché Storm: Perhaps the biggest complaint about the film's story is that it's every '80s movie.
For characters that appeared in but one film, Shatter and Dropkick are quite popular among the fandom.
Charlie and Agent Burns are also quite popular for being such well-developed human characters.
Fandom Rivalry: With those who like the Bay films. A lot of Bay fans were either fans of those types of films, not necessarily Transformers, or the fangirls who liked the humans such as Sam or Lennox. The more vocally positive Bumblebee reviews are from the online Transformers fandom.
Fanon Discontinuity: Even though Hasbro is reluctant to label this film as a full reboot, the fans are not, being perfectly happy to ignore the previous five films, justifying it with the many continuity problems this film has with the previous ones (for starters: Bumblebee arriving on Earth in 1987 instead of in WWII). On the flipside, those that like the previous five films are only too happy to ignore this one.
During the development of the 2007 film, Michael Bay considered the Generation 1 designs as untranslatable in lie-action. Come 2018, the reveal of the Generation 1-inspired designs in the film was near-unanimously praised by both the fans and the critics, turning Bay's words into a complete bull.
In the Q-Transformers: Mystery of Convoy Returns cartoon's 7th episode in the second season, Megatron mentions about the Magical Girl genre, with a (censored) Madoka Kaname and a beheaded Mami appearing on the background. Guess which of the voice actresses in the series dubbed a Cybertronian character in the movie?
Hypocritical Fandom: A major complaint of the Bay films was that they were Human-Focused Adaptations. And now the Bay fans are complaining about Charlie's critical role to the plot. Charlie does deal with a lot of the same problems as Sam does; bullies, family drama, teen angst, financial troubles; but she's not The Chosen One nor does this film feature the human military as prominently as the first five did. And yes, those that hated the Bay films' focus on Sam have had nothing but good things to say about Charlie.
Never Live It Down: Try to discuss anything Cliffjumper in either this movie or recent installments without mentioning anything about him potentially dying.
Many fans used the G1-inspired designs to push that the film was a Continuity Reboot (and it was eventually confirmed to be a "new storytelling universe") but the Transformers franchise has long since used new character designs even in the same continuity (look at Megatron in the first film and compare that to his design in the fifth).
Likewise, many use the Bayverse-esque designs and the fact that Sector Seven exists (complete with a young Seymour Simmons) to insist that the film isn't a reboot. This too isn't anything new. The Transformers franchise has frequently made usage of old designs and concepts in new timelines (look at IDW's line of Transformers comics).
Pandering to the Base: This film is clearly meant for those who watched and loved the G1 cartoon. Compared to most examples of this, the reception has been largely positive.
The live-action films started the perception of Bumblebee, particularly his live-action self as a Creator's Pet. This film returns 'Bee to his more lovable Kid Appeal Character archetype (for which he was the former Trope Namer) rather than the generic character from the previous films, earning him much more love from the fans.
The films themselves. To quote Scott Tobias of NPR; "Mankind has split the atom, sent a man to the moon, and now, in arguably its most unlikely achievement, it has produced a watchable Transformers movie."
Sacred Cow: Critiquing this film is not conducive to one's continued health.
The Scrappy: Charlie's Mom, Sally. She's not that bad but she's rather insensitive to Charlie's grief, scolds Charlie for buying a car without telling her than takes said car without telling Charlie, then takes Agent Burns' side over her daughter's. All that said, she's far less hated than Sam's parents.
Signature Scene: The opening on Cybertron and all its glorious homages to the original cartoon.
Blitzwing. He was set up as Bumblebee's Arch Enemy and is the one who gives Bumblebee his iconic mutilation but he's killed at the end of the first act. The prequel comic does show a rivalry between the two, clearly based on an earlier draft of the film.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: To those who enjoyed the Bayverse, it's more along the lines of "They Wasted Five Perfectly Good Movies," by failing to tie it into the other films.
Truer to the Text: This film was written as a love letter to the G1 cartoon and it shows. Bumblebee turning into a Beetle is just the tip of the iceberg.
Win Back the Crowd: After many wished for the Transformers films to end, many are now clamouring for sequels to Bumblebee.
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