Aside from random bits on tv, I'd never watched a whole Bay film until The Island. (The things I do for Frink!) I still have a sealed HD DVD copy of Transformers lying in a drawer like some Pandora's Box.
When Criterion came out with editions of The Rock and Armageddon on Laserdisc, there was a bit of a fuss as some people thought those films were unworthy of the label. Armageddon was the last LD Criterion released.