It is clear that there are a great many views on what constitutes good taste. However, a new package for the boxed set of the Transformer films arguably takes the boundaries of taste in a fresh new direction. Some might claim that the most fervent fans of the films are not the most discriminating target audience in the world, but this cynicism will be tested in the balance sheets of the future.

To be fair, the package does have to contain a lot of stuff. Admirers of the movies who make the purchase will not just get seven discs of the films and additional material, they will also obtain a plaque with Michael Bay’s signature on it. Now who doesn’t want that? OK, so it’s likely that ONLY Michael Bay would actually want to own this, but then he has been making the films for himself anyway, rather than for the fans.

The packaging may look a little on the absurd side, but some critics have made similar comments about the films themselves.

The Transformers films have always inspired a degree of controversy. Hence it is no real surprise to see a boxed set of them causing similar fuss. The big question is perhaps whether or not all publicity is good publicity.

Some film directors like to tell stories, whilst others are content with how much they can blow up during their career. Transformers director Michael Bay clearly lies in the latter category.

Someone took it upon themselves to count the explosions in Bay’s movies, which probably left them with a week’s long headache (but they evidently had nothing better to do, so tough).

Bay has, for a long time, had a reputation for being completely over the top when it comes to shooting action sequences, certainly when it comes to pyrotechnics and special effects.

We should also bear in mind that we are talking about how many times things blow up in his movies, and not how many times he personally blows up on set. Counting the Michael Bay explosions would be an even bigger task.

According to FrankenSpace.com, here are the numbers:

Let’s begin with the movie franchise he is most famous for, Transformers. There were 128 explosions in the first movie, 211 in the second, and 283 in the third. I can’t wait to find out how many there will be in the rumoured fourth movie, but it’s a fair bet he’ll increase his explosion count again.

His other movies don’t feature quite so many, but there is still a large amount, with the dire Pearl Harbour leading the way. There were 162 explosions in that movie (yet it was still incredibly dull). Armageddon had 121 and then, much further down the list, there is The Rock with 22 and Bad Boys 1 and 2 with 18 and 31 respectively.

We will unlikely see as many in Bay’s next project, Pain and Gain, a smaller, more serious movie than what we’re used to seeing from him. But I suspect we will see a return to form sooner rather than later.