Factual error: During the credits, Tyrese Gibson's character is listed as USAF Master Sergeant Epps. However, throughout the whole movie, Gibson is seen wearing the sleeve chevrons of a CHIEF Master Sergeant. Chief Master Sergeant is the highest rank an enlisted person can hold and is NEVER referred to either verbally or in writing as Master Sergeant. Master Sergeant is a different (lower) rank.
Continuity mistake: During the scene establishing the Decepticons on the Bayos freight ship, vehicles change. The first shot, overhead, shows Long Haul (green dump truck), MixMaster (grey cement truck), Rampage (red bulldozer), and Scrapper (yellow front loader with wheels). The next shot shows Rampage as being yellow, and Scrapper is now some yellow Volvo vehicle with treads and a claw. Also, by the angle of this shot and based on the previous shot, there would not be an angle to see through the background vehicles. In the next shot, when the transformers jump overboard, Rampage is red again, and the Volvo with treads is now the front loader Scrapper again.
Continuity mistake: In the astronomy class, Sam writes many symbols on the chalk board. In the first shot of the full board, one symbol is very messy. In a later shot, it is significantly cleaned up. (00:45:00)
Revealing mistake: During one of the shots in which the Pyramid of Giza gets destroyed, one of the falling rocks does not spin. During the fall, the rock bounces without spinning when touching the surface of the pyramid. It seems just to "hover" down. (02:06:34 - 02:10:39)
Continuity mistake: After the Astronomy class, when Sam is in his dorm room he begins writing a green symbol on the Bad Boys poster, but when Leo and Alice show up that first green symbol has completely changed its shape and its position on the poster.
Factual error: When the Decepticons are reviving Megatron in the Laurentian Abyss, sunlight can be seen filtering down on them. The Laurentian Abyss is too deep for sunlight to penetrate.
Factual error: When Starscream and Megatron are shown talking after Sam has escaped, they are supposed to be in New York City. They are actually on top of the "Gas Company Tower" which is in Los Angeles.
Continuity mistake: When The Fallen decrees that the Decepticons will now make their presence known, one of them knocks the flagpole off the top of the eastern tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. A short time later, another shot of the tower shows the flagpole is back and there is no damage.
Continuity mistake: When Megatron heads toward the tower in jet mode, he transforms and seen upside-down front flipping towards the tower before he lands. About a split second when he lands, he faces the other way instead of facing the tower.
Other mistake: In one of the beginning scenes, the time at the bottom says that it is 22:00, which means it would be 10pm in China. In the scene, it is bright daylight, not night time as it should be. (00:02:15)
Revealing mistake: In one of the first scenes with Devastator 'inhaling' everything in sight, there is an SFX shot of some random bystander hanging on for dear life, then losing his grip and being sucked in. During this shot you can see the matte halo around the person as they flail and 'fall'. It is especially noticeable given the general high quality of the effects in the film: by contrast this looks like a cheap effects shot from an old movie. (01:57:35)
Factual error: Aside from the lack of an Air Force base in NJ that looks anything like the one portrayed in the film, there are no mountains anywhere closely resembling the ones seen in the distance by the base.
Continuity mistake: When Leo, Mikaela and Sam arrive at Simmons's deli in Brooklyn, note the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter. Between shots the time changes from 10:20 to 11:40 to 1:05.
Factual error: Mikaela hotwires the silver Saturn Astra at the attack at the university. Firstly, she doesn't break the physical steering lock, and secondly, this is impossible to hotwire. It requires a signal from a chip in the ignition key that transmits the signal to the ECU to enable the car to start.
Factual error: The F-16s performing close air support were loaded with orange-colored "captive carry" munitions. These are used for maintaining weight balance on the wings, and are not weapons. (02:05:02 - 02:11:57)
Factual error: During the Decepticon attack on Paris, there is a shot of the Hotel Crillon with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The tower is actually on the opposite side of Paris, making this shot impossible.
Factual error: When Optimus is killed, the fight takes place in a mountainous forest with that was filled with extremely tall trees not indigenous to NJ, much less any surrounding state of the area portrayed in that scene.
Continuity mistake: Devastator demolishes a fair chunk of the top of the pyramid. In the shot where Devastator falls down after being destroyed with a Rail Gun, the top of the pyramid is still intact. (02:11:20)
Continuity mistake: At the frat party, when Sam uses the cake frosting to write the symbols, in the first shot he writes the first symbol with perpendicular lines aligned with the cake's edge. In a following shot showing more frosting symbols, the original two lines have changed shape and position - none of the symbols are aligned with the cake's edge. (00:33:50)
Continuity mistake: At Sam's dormitory, there is a bathroom directly across Sam's dorm room which has a blank wall beside its door, when he asks the RA to switch dorm rooms. However, when Leo joins him in the hall there is a large framed photo hanging there. (00:28:10)
Chosen answer: He knows from stories passed down to him from older generations of bots, not much unlike stories about the past passed down to us from our ancestors. His line about no one telling him anything is just a way to avoid being put back in the box or being tortured by Mikayla.
dablues7