>>10724531>ah. because yeah i remember him looking like garbage in that movieWell, not only is his alt mode based on an unreleased scene from the film, his robot mode is also based on his concept art and not the model used in the 'finished' product.
The reason he, specifically, got a toy out of the group was because he was actually supposed to be a bit of a badass - to elaborate on that missing scene, after the sub evaded Steelbane and dropped cade and what's-her-face off in the sunken spaceship, the HMS Alliance would have transformed (revealing herself to have been Nautica) and gone back outside to keep the dragon distracted while the humans went looking for the staff they came for. Steelbane would have fought with her and eventually killed her 9hence her disappearance from the movie from that point on) and rendezvoused with the other knights just in time for the ship to start lifting off. He then showed up in time to intervene in the fight between Bumblebee and the mind-controlled Optimus, before single-handedly beating the crap out of the latter and preparing to execute him when the Decepticons showed up and interrupted to steal the staff.
I don't remember how things actually went down in the final version of the film, though - something about the G.I. Joe stand-ins chasing them instead of Steelbane, I think? Did they ever explain what happened to the HMS Alliance in the film, or did they just forget about her after she dropped the humans off?