Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - 9 questions

Question: Are Carly's deceased brother (briefly glimpsed on a picture on Carly's dresser) and the British NEST soldier from Transformers 2 the same person?

Question: In the scene where Lennox introduces Sam and Carly to Director Mearing, he says that Carly "Knows all about the Autobots and knows Bumblebee". Yet, just one scene prior, she looks at Bumblebee like she's never seen him before. Does she know about the Transformers or not?

Answer: Sam probably told her all about the Autobots but she had probably never seen Bumblebee 'in person.' Shock and awe.

Question: I understand that the Autobots conveniently landed in America, but why do they only side with the Americans in their missions? There's a scene where Optimus and Sideswipe go on a mission to the Middle East. I just thought that Optimus and the other Autobots would've considered who was the best country to side with, not just agree to go out with the Americans.

Answer: Because it's the Americans specifically who are helping them, so, as Optimus explains in the opening monologue, they help the Americans with their conflicts in return.

Question: Of all the Transformers who die in this film, how many of them have died before in the Transformers canon? I'm looking for specific examples and how many times they've died.

Answer: I can tell you that every single one of them died in the old animated series, eventually. They had to make room for new characters to sell toys of.

Question: How did the Decepticons bring something as big as the Driller on Earth unnoticed? It's an earthworm the size of a building. Also, Megatron got here on purpose, Sentinel got here by accident, so did the original Seven Primes, so that would be an extreme number of coincidence. And even if that thing had been here for all these years, how did it manage to stay hidden? It's not like it can transform into something a little more subtle like a car.

Answer: Sentinel did not get here by accident. They stated out right that he was headed for Earth when he accidentally crashed on the moon. The Driller went unnoticed because it can tunnel underground; no one saw it. The Primes may have come by accident, but their arrival is the reason all the other Cybertronians keep coming here.

Question: Mearing says that the Xantium brought the second wave of Autobots. Which wave does she mean? Because so far, there have been three waves: Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Ratchet, Sideswipe, The Twins, Arcee, Chromia, and Flareup and lastly, The Wreckers, Brains, Dino and Wheeljack. Which one didn't arrive by ship, and how did they arrive?

Answer: Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Rachet all arrived on Earth via separate pods which carried them in Transformers (2007). Sideswipe, The Twins, Arcee, Chormia and Flareup are wave one, introduced into Revenge Of The Fallen. The Wreckers, Brains, Dino (Mirage) and Wheeljack are wave two, introduced in Dark Of The Moon.

Question: During the second movie we see many Autobots, Tex Two Idiot Robotwins and some Motorcyclebots. But now it are only nine Autobots again in the movie. Where did the other Autobots went? Did they got killed or went in hiding?

Answer: Mudflap and Skids (the two idiot robots I believe you are talking about) were removed from the film due to negative fan reaction. While we don't hear what happened to them in the context of the plot, no reason not to assume they were killed in fighting between the movies. Arcee and Chromia (2 of the motocycles) were killed in the last film.

Question: Optimus refers to two autobots called "wreckers". Are these two autobots Bulkhead and Wheeljack? There aren't mention by name, so I was wondering.

Answer: No. In Dark of the Moon, the Wreckers are the three NASCAR Autobots. Their names are Roadbuster, Leadfoot and Topspin.

Question: *Spoiler* What is the weapon that Sentinel Prime uses to kill Ironhide? It seems that all of the other Transformer weapons fire explosives or bullets, but his seemed to disintegrate Ironhide after he shot him.

Answer: the weapon is called an "Acid Rust Blaster" which seems to be similar to the cosmic rust seen in the animated series. the rust eats away at the Transformer's metal body.