Optimus Prime Truck From the Bumblebee Transformers Movie Up For Sale
A piece of Transformers history is up for sale, as the truck that stood in for Optimus Prime in 2018's Bumblebee can now be had for $21,600.
A piece of Transformers history is up for sale, as the truck that stood in for Optimus Prime in 2018's Bumblebee can now be had for a pretty reasonable price. Bumblebee served as something of a soft reboot for the live-action Transformers franchise, which launched in 2007 under director Michael Bay. The films were long, loud, and hugely successful at the box office until the ill-fated fifth installment, Transformers: The Last Knight.
Bumblebee featured very few other Transformers, with the titular Autobot scout taking on a pair of Decepticons in the 1980s on Earth. Near the end of the film, after bidding farewell to his human friend Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), Bumblebee transforms into his Camaro mode made famous by the Bay movies and pulls up to a truck on the Golden Gate Bridge that looks quite a bit like Optimus Prime.
That truck can now belong to one lucky fan with several thousand dollars to spare; per Seibertron.com, the 1987 Freightliner is up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The seller notes there's some cosmetic damage that needs repair but, otherwise, it's a fully functional, running semi-truck. The truck is listed for sale at $21,600; that may seem like a lot for the biggest non-transforming action figure ever, but it's a pretty decent price for a truck.
This might also offer a bit of a hint at the direction the next film will go. If the truck is being sold, that's a pretty solid indication that iteration of Optimus Prime won't be seen in the movies again, which tracks with what we already know; the next film in the franchise is said to take place several years after Bumblebee, so it stands to reason Optimus may have updated to a more modern look.
There's still plenty we don't know about where the Transformers film franchise goes from here. It will apparently not include a straight reboot, as Paramount sees Bumblebee as a success worth building on. It may include some aspect of Beast Wars, the epic time travel 90s iteration of the franchise that's so beloved by Transformers fans. Even though Bumblebee was a giant step in the right direction, the franchise still needs a boost after a decade of enduring critical drubbings for the Bay films. That new direction seemingly won't include Optimus Prime's 1980s semi-truck form, which will hopefully go to some rich, dedicated Transformers fan out there.
Source: Seibertron.com