What the heck is a Maximal? Everything we know about Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

It's been a minute since we last had a Transformers movie on the big screen, and depending on your tolerance for talking corvettes, that might be a good thing. But the blockbuster franchise is officially booting back up following 2018's Bumblebee. The question now is, what the heck is that giant gorilla robot with the voice of Ron Perlman?

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh installment in the live-action movie series that first launched with the Michael Bay-directed set of high-action, high-Bayhem hits. The film's first trailer arrived at the start of December, revealing a new breed of shape-shifting robots — the gorilla dude included — and a globe-trotting adventure that's meant to be a sequel to Bumblebee.

If you haven't kept up with your Saturday morning cartoons from the 1990s, you probably have a lot of questions. We have answers.

What is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts about?

Paramount Pictures Optimus Prime meets Optimus Primal in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is set in the year 1994, a few years after Bumblebee's 1987 time period and before the Bay-backed movies.

Director Steven Caple Jr. and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura participated in a moderated panel back in June 2021 to reveal the first details of the film. They confirmed Optimus Prime is still the main character.

"He's new to earth. He doesn't have a connection to earth the way he does when we met him in the Bay films and in the animation series, where he's already a protector of earth," Di Bonaventura said. "In this film, it's forming why he has a link to humanity and why he has a link to earth, and that's emotional."

Rise of the Beasts will still have the Autobots, like Bumblebee, and their primary adversaries, the Decepticons. But we'll also meet the Maximals, the Predacons, and the Terrorcons as a war breaks out among them.

A villain by the name of Scourge is the leader of the Terrorcons, and he likes to collect Autobots and Maximals, displaying them as trophies. "One of the cool features that Steven came up with is that Scourge basically takes the insignias off of the robots that he's killed and fuses them onto him, so he's like a living memorial to the havoc he's created," Di Bonaventura pointed out.

"I wanna dabble more in horror in this one and make people jump out of their seats," added Caple.

Wait. Hold up. Maximals? Predacons? Terrorcons? What?

Paramount Pictures Ron Perlman voices Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'

Yeah, so... let's start with Maximals, a.k.a. what the giant robo-gorilla is.

The Maximals were originally depicted as descendants of the Autobots who could take different forms like their ancestors. These origins may be tweaked for the film. Unlike the Autobots, which commonly adopt the likeness of cars, jets, and similar vehicles, the Maximals take on animal forms. According to Caple, they are "prehistoric animals who travel through time and space who arrive on earth."

Optimus Primal (don't laugh!) is the leader of the Maximals. His animal form is a gorilla. "He's the beating heart to the Maximals," Caple explained. "If you look at what Prime is to the Autobots, he's that to the Maximals. He's older by design but has wisdom that goes beyond us. He takes care of his own."

The Rise of the Beasts trailer revealed a few more Maximals. There's Cheetor, who can turn into a giant robo-cheetah.

Paramount Pictures Cheetor dashes alongside Bumblebee in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'

There's also Rhinox, who can, obviously, turn into a rhinoceros. "Rhinox is the muscle of the group and the brains of the Maximals," Caple said.

"This character just wants to ram stuff. He wants to ram it all," Di Bonaventura added in a totally serious, non-sexual innuendo manner. "He's gonna always be the one who's like, "Can I do it now? Can I ram them now?"

Paramount Pictures Rhinox, the rhinoceros Maximal, roars in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'

Airazor, who can turn into a giant mech peregrine falcon, is another Maximal confirmed for the film's character lineup. "She's very nurturing, but don't test her," Caple warned. "Underneath her regal design, she's still a beast."

The nemeses of the Maximals are the Predacons, similar to the strife between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Caple said the Predacons are more reptilian in nature when they appear in Rise of the Beasts. "They've been here and there, but we've never gotten a chance to really focus in on their insignia or their tribe, if you will, so we're really hitting that more," he said.

"In a sense, you have the natural enemies of the Predacons and the Beasts, and then you have the Terrorcons and the Autobots in opposition to one another," Di Bonaventura explained. "We get to pair everybody up against each other, so it becomes a grand finale and epic Transformers experience."

Is this all based on something or what?

Everett Collection The Maximals assemble in 'Beast Wars: Transformers,' the Saturday morning cartoon from the 1990s.

Oh, you bet! Allow us to introduce you to Beast Wars: Transformers.

From the Saturday morning Fox Kids lineup of television shows in the 1990s, the same home for shows like Power Rangers and Bobby's World, came this Transformers series, the first of the franchise to feature computer-generated animation. Beast Wars was the flagship series for the whole Beast Wars offshoot that gave us the Maximals and the Predacons in the first place.

Beast Wars was set hundreds of years in the future after the earlier Transformers. The Maximals and Predacons were descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons. Small teams from each side crash-landed on an unknown planet, and they had to find a way to return home while also warring with each other.

There were all sorts of Maximal characters like Tigatron (tiger), Rattrap (rat), and Blackarachnia (black widow spider), and Predacons like Scorponok (scorpion), Tarantulas (tarantula), and Waspinator (wasp). What a wild time!

Who's in the movie?

Paramount Pictures Peter Cullen returns to voice Optimus Prime in 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.'

Peter Cullen, who has long voiced Optimus Prime in the movies and in animated Transformers titles, is back voicing the character in Rise of the Beasts.

Saturday Night Live veteran and serial celebrity dater Pete Davidson voices Mirage, an Autobot who can turn into a Porsche 911. Caple called Mirage "the rebel in the group" and "more of an outlaw" who will be causing "a little bit trouble with Optimus Prime and the rest of the squad." Di Bonaventura described him as "anti-authority."

Liza Koshy voices the main female Autobot, Arcee, who can turn into a Ducati 916 motorcycle. Said Caple, "She's super tough and fierce. She's very much a loyal soldier to Prime and the voice of reason at times."

Rounding out the Autobots are Cristo Fernández as Wheeljack and John DiMaggio as both Stratosphere and Transit.

For Team Maximal, Perlman voices Optimus Primal, David Sobolov speaks for Rhinox, and Michelle Yeoh voices Airazor.

Now come the villains. Game of Thrones alum Peter Dinklage voices Scourge. His Terrorcons will include Pose Golden Globe winner Michaela Jae Rodriguez as Nightbird, Scourge's right hand, and Sobolov again as Battletrap, who can turn into a tow truck.

Actually appearing as humans are In the Heights star Anthony Ramos and Judas and the Black Messiah's Dominique Fishback. Ramos plays Noah Diaz, an ex-military Brooklynite in New York City who's a bit of a whiz when it comes to electronics. Fishback plays Elena Wallace, an artifact researcher who works at a museum.

Tobe Nwigwe has also been cast in the role of Reek.

When does Transformers: Rise of the Beasts premiere?

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is currently scheduled to open in theaters June 9, 2023.

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• A rundown of all the Transformers in that opening Bumblebee battle