Michael Bay understands spectacle and the Bayformers are all just that. The only way he differentiates the Transformers is by attaching them to tropes, because ultimately they're all just means to an end for delivering a certain level of spectacle on screen. That's why things felt the way they did in his films, and as they built upon each other it became more and more painfully obvious as well as difficult to ignore.
The primary thing that makes the difference for THIS film is the fact that Travis Knight is someone who comes from the background of being an animator. He understands what's necessary to frame animation to make it readable to an audience. As someone coming from stop motion, he VERY clearly understands what speeds you can deliver information at, and how much is too much. On top of that, he also seems to have a firm grasp on what's necessary to make animated characters stand out and make them matter, without just pinning a trope to them. That's why we suddenly have characters that we can visibly recognize, transformation sequences we can follow, and Transformers who feel like they're characters.
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