Lil Formers #171: G1 Nouveau
This’ll get you guys talking!
To see the new look I’m referencing here, check out this preview on Comic Book Resources:
Now, I’m not slamming Don Figueroa’s art skills, he’s still unquestionably the top Transformers penciller now or ever. But I think the choice of these hyper detailed faces is a big blunder. They’re ugly, they’re emotionless, they look like old men/skeletons. They have no personality… they’re no longer characters I can get attached to or care about. Just big scary machines. Sure, perhaps the tradional smooth metal faces with eyes and mouths that some how magically flex might not make sense, but tht didn’t matter. You could get expressions out of TF’s with those faces, you could see characters with emotion in them.
Anyway, I actually have bigger complaint about this new look… what’s up with the colouring!? I may have high standards as I work at a studio known for its high end colouring skills, but this is just god-awful stuff. Either the guy is on his first job, or was ultra-rushed and couldn’t finish, or wasn’t paid enough to do a decent job, or SOMEthing… but in my opinion as an editor this should never have seen print. Guh.
So anyway, all opinions welcome, what do you guys think of the new TF comic style??
PS: Yes, I am directly contradicting my robot reproduction statement from the Springer strip. But funny trumps consistency. 
November 9th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Hotrod looks rather… horrifying in the preview! 0_o
November 9th, 2009 at 3:44 am
…And I was talking about the link to the comic preview
November 9th, 2009 at 3:49 am
…And in conclusion, I’m glad that the ‘bots have returneth.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Awww….Junior has his father’s eyes hehehe =P
November 9th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I’m scared.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:09 am
I mean, this wouldn’t be the first time that the humans have turned on the Autobots but still… That’s it. I’m going to agree with the Decepticons for once. Humans are discusting creatures. I no longer consider myself part of the human race.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Agreed, the only one that looks purely bad ass is Optimus. Of course.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Man, and I thought the movie faces were freaky looking….
November 9th, 2009 at 4:51 am
I wouldn’t have even noticed the inconsistency had you not pointed it out
November 9th, 2009 at 4:54 am
And I don’t really have any strong feelings one way or the other about this new style. It seems to relatively seamlessly blend elements of the new live-action visual style with the more traditional appearances of G1.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:11 am
i think it may take a while to get used to it, but we shall wait and see
November 9th, 2009 at 6:13 am
IDW has been screwing with Transformers eversince they got the licence. Nothing I can add that hasn’t been said before.
BTW, your Hot Rod is donning the Rodimus colours. This might have been funnier if you kept these colors but gave jr. the dark pink colors that Hot Rod has. :p
November 9th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Arcee is such a slut…
November 9th, 2009 at 6:19 am
saw this a few days ago and did not like it. i love the live action movies but keep the movie look to the movies and the normal look to the comics. great artwork but bad design work. IDW just can’t seem to get their TF universe straightened out.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:39 am
I guess I’m in the minority here. I rather liked the new designs. They have what I thought was the best part of the movie designs; making the TFs look like real living machines, but with familiar color schemes and overall design that actually makes distinguishing the different bots effortless. I’m actually more worried about the writing. AHM was a total mess.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:31 am
why have all they all got goatee’s?
November 9th, 2009 at 7:31 am
I agree with Raymond T. The IDW comics were bad from the beginning (save the Spotlights and Beast Wars stuff). Besides, the IDW continuity is as G1 as the Movie or the Unicron Trilogy (altered backstory, reusing names fro unrelated charas, etc).
That “New Figueroa style” Hot Rod looks like he were about to eat his son. No wonder why junior is so scared XD (PS: Arcee loves Springer, why is she with Hot Rod?)
November 9th, 2009 at 7:33 am
That’s not the new Hot Rod! He’s not hideous enough! To truly be the new interpretation, he needs to look like a zombie! I was ready to buy TF comics regularly for the first time in years, thanks to AHM, but the new character designs killed that.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:41 am
To me it looks like a horrible mating of G1 and the Bayformers. I am rather disgusted with the new look and it feels like Don has fallen off the “talent” wagon.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:45 am
How did they do this? None of the IDW comics I’ve collected have these garish features. Why start now? At an initial presumption, it seems more in keeping with the TF movie style, which either means a concious change to that art style by IDW, or a direction that that was the art style to be used out of several options by the hierarchy at IDW. I hope my presumption is incorrect, as both are bad things IMO.
The problem I have with the new ‘live action visual’ style, is that if they are emulating human features, which I believe it is not a large stretch of the imagination to state so, HIS NERVES ARE SHOWING ON HIS FACE. Apparently they are emulating humans with INVISIBLE SKIN.
Perhaps this is a lead in to a new Headmaster series, during which the TF’s realize their ugly looks are what drive the shallow hearted humans to violence, and redesign their features.
It seems too different to the previous IDW offerings. will not buy. Or, I’ll buy it, and cut out the pictures of Optimus, the only character who seems to bear any resemblance to prior artwork.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Oh dear, what a lot of trukk-not-munkey baying (no pun intended). I find the new look intrieguing, a mixture between classic and bayformer as Gavic pointed out. I’ve also found myself enjoying the multi-story comics put out lately - what they lack in a continuous storyline they make up for interesting slices across a rich setting.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:26 am
i don’t really hate the body look but the faces…
ugh.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I don’t like much of new style of Figueroa.
The old give-me a nostalgic felings from my childhood.
This new, don’t are good for the old fans.
Figueroa back to the basic XD
(I learn to draw with Tex comics…)
November 9th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Everything you said is exactly how I feel. I don’t get who thought it was a good idea to make G1 look more like the live action movies. Jesus, I couldn’t even tell Hot Rod’s mouth was open when he was in shock of Ironhide’s death.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I gotta agree, these new faces are freaky. They sorta try to copy what the movie faces look like.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I’ve seen worse. Transformers: Energon, anyone?
November 9th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I agree with Funky Weasel, it’s pretty clever, using the live-action style for the faces and the classic G1 style for the bodies. And like I said, it could be a lot worse.
And speaking of the “bayformers” look: He had actually TRIED to do the classic, “boxy-chest” look for Optimus Prime and other characters, but the CGI looked like total crap when they did that. So I was willing to forgive them for that. The one thing I DON’T like about the Bay style is Devestator’s literal balls of steel… I still can’t get over that…
November 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am
IMHO it’s not that bad. Except for the one panel you seemed to have based the cartoon off of, the faces look reasonable.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I think the new design is a nice “experiment”. It has… well… something. The big question for me is: Was it a clever move by IDW, to use this new design for an ONGOING series? I’d have “tested” it on a mini-series or a nice oneshot.
Also it’s sort of a lead balloon, to give the series a story with “deeper”, nearly “philosophical” elements (as Shaun Manning stated), but choose designs for the bots that hardly transport their emotions.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
The style you chose for Hot Rod here to spoof the comic style kinda reminds me of like…one of the episodes of Five Faces of Doom where you see all the different Rodimus faces. Tell me I’m not the only one who sees it haha.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Oh primus, no! They look like Prime after his face was half melted in “Still Life!”. Those just aren’t the Autobots they should be! Why, IDW? WHY!?!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I’m concerned that they all look exactly the same; face, body size, structure, hands. The only different things are the colors and different “kibble”.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The Spotlight are just as big of a mess as the rest of IDW’s work. The concept was cool, but then they just screwed it up. It started as one-off stand alones, but then it integrated itself into the IDW Universe, that really no one cared about to begin with.
All the -tion series were slow paced, pretending more than it really was, with human characters that added nothing and Transformers that never hit a cord with little story to tell, which was masked by ’smart’ writing and tech-babble. The art and production is adequate at best. The re-designs are flat, lifeless and dull. And when the story started to hop between the -tion series and the spotlights and specials, things only became more difficult to follow and even less to grab you attention.
All Hail Megatron started off great. The first thing that was IDW that I had a real interest of reading. A world where the Decepticons had won! Then suddenly it’s set in the IDW universe some two years in its future. But what really pissed me off, was when AHM suddenly started to tell in detail how Maximum Dinobots ended…when MD was still in the middle of unfolding the story. I really wasn’t waiting to hear how Sunstreaker survived, when I was still in the middle of reading what Scorpinok might have done to him.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
oh wow… that’s something I don’t need to see first thing in the morning >.> man that’s kinda creepy
November 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I’ve been curious to see the impact the movie designs would have outside of the movie franchise - et voila!
This design is indeed more “grown-up” and serious than previous designs. But let’s face it - there’s no way (and no point in doing so) to take a setting with the premise of giant sentient anthropomorphic transforming robots from a mechanic world serious beyond a certain point, design- and story-wise.
Noonegotmyname’s idea of a storyline wherein the TF realize their faces (resp. the lack thereof) is a major disadvantage in their human-robot communication attempts is quite intriguing, could be played both for drama and laugh and would be quite 4th-wall-breaking
(I’m also in the lucky position that I have enough fantasy and artistic talent to create exactly what I’d like to see in TF. So I’m not dependent on any official stuff, I pick whatever I like and go with it
)
November 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Funny!!
Course, it would have been funnier if it was “wheelie” instead of Hot Rod Jr… But I digress.
When I think about it, “Bayformers” are more probably the wrong asthetic for beings that transform. There would be too much mechanics for the transformation itself. There’d be no room for a CPU (laser core/ spark), diagnostics, self repair, or weapons and munitions creations.
Besides which, all those joints would simply be more targets.
I think the Kiss principle would apply better..beside’s there’s currently a concept car that is practically “seamless”- I has eyelids for it’s headlights! - so the Transformer faces would not be “magic”.
If anything G1 face on a hybrid G1/ Bayformer body (like the movie toys themselves) would be a better asthetic for the Transformers.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
once again , sissy hotrod is whining about the little stuff .
i dont know the faces look the same , and as per usual ROD IS responsable for Prime’s death . are we sure that hotrod was a autobot not a spymaster *because hes been responsible for the death of countless bots, and managed to do the one thing that old grey-eyes has never been able to do … KILL OPTIMUS*
November 9th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I don’t hate it. But I sure do find it funny that they all seem to have mustaches!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The bodies I can take. But the faces just look fragging awful. Don used to be quite good at expressions, but now all I hear in my head are two horrible words; DULL. SURPRISE (cue ominous music). they look like they’re permanently gritting their teeth.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
BTW has anyone noticed the Action Comics #1 reference on page 3 of the preview? Different angle but still same. Here’s my views at http://bigsmallcomix.blogspot.com/2009/11/idw-goes-crazy.html (my real website, the other 1 is a typo
November 9th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
And lastly, has any1 noticed that the TFs are speaking with NORMAL speech bubbles? What the FRAGGING SLAG is up with that?
November 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Maybe they’re showing the robots from the humans point of view?
I’m ohonestly neutral on the thing. I can never find where to buy the comics anywhere so I dun care
November 9th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
thatd be a great ide “THE SON OF HOTROD” watd his name be?
November 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Looks like a failed attempt to imitate the movie look.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I’m inclined to agree with you on the style. Those mouths are frightening. D:>
November 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Ugh. Bayformers is affecting all the other TF media. Hopefully it’s a temporary thing that we can look back on in 10 years and laugh at… like G2 color schemes.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I can live with the art style if the story is great, but from the pages they show I don’t even know if it’s worth the bother to track this series down.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
lets face it, they’re going baybots style.
before long they too will have very tiny shifting parts and odd as sin transformations :p
not to say the baybots aren’t kewl in their own right, but they just come off as matt so delicately puts it “big scary machines” and tbh the new toys blow, some are kewl, but most suck. but its mostly because the old ones could transform just like they did on the show (sans the scale shifting thing) as where the new stuff is just terrible.
even the BW ones tformed mostly as they had shown, they just looked butt ugly in either mode :p
November 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
lol just took a second look, and speaking of going baybot style, check out bumblebee! :p
now i KNOW thats whats going on!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Wow, vile art AND randomly killing off Ironhide just so he can protect that little turd Hot Rod? IDW have made this a very comfortable jumping-off point for me…
November 9th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Looks like they’re trying to merge Bayformers and G1 like others have said. I won’t cut the bodies a hell of a lot of slack since, while they look better than the overly-complicated monstrosities of the LA flicks, they look too familiar build-wise. It’s not impossible to tell them apart, but they look like the same body with different heads & kibble. The faces are unforgivable. There’s a reason I don’t read any of the books related to the Bayformers flicks. I hate that particular TF universe. I avoid it because I prefer the G1 designs, though I will cut the designs of TF: Animated some slack. The toys kicked ass and the show was very well written. Bayformers sucked so I avoid those movies and anything related to them like the plague. Now we’re getting a taste of Bayformers in G1 related stuff and that’s a PROBLEM.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Finding out about a new TF comic line was awesome. Looking at the redesign was both awesome (bodies) and upsetting (faces). Seeing Ironhide killed on the second page is what killed it for me. It was bad enough watching him die at Megatron’s feet in TF: The Movie, but watching him die to save HOT ROD of all ‘bots, is too much.
I like the redesign as far as the bodies go. They look close enough to the G1 versions, but different enough to be new. The faces, no, change that crap. I understand wanting a new design to try and better portray emotion, but all the faces are gray, with darker shades of gray. Can’t really display emotion with that kind of color scheme in my opinion. Just doesn’t look right when you have to stare at it for a second to figure out which part is which.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Wow that’s hideous. People have already commented on it looking like they’re trying to do a halfway point between Bay’s trash designs and the real Transformers ones. My view–the faces are just plain horrible (and horrifying in multiple senses of the term). the bodies–well, on the upside they look a *lot* more like actual combat mecha than Bay’s ‘Gee, a steel pole wedged in those exposed hydraulics would ruin their whole day!’ designs. On the other hand, though–they’re still *lousy* at depicting the G1-era Transformers, that *already* have a very specific, recognizable design style to them. Those body designs might have been workable for new characters–or better yet a separate title entirely that’s based around mecha suits/characters.
And what the blazes is the deal with re-starting at issue #1 again? How many times have they done that now?
November 9th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I liked that the IDW comics kept the basics of the G1 designs with new and interesting plot (until AHM, by the 8th issue I dropped it because it was mediocre for me) but now that they are mixing the design of the movie TFs and the G1 Tfs I must say that I’m done with IDW (ok, maybe I’m overreacting; I may be done with IDW if AHM is part of the same universe as the spotlight issues and Devastation, Infiltration, etc.)
November 9th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
It’s nice to see it’s so out of continuity as well.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
The Bayformers pulled it off by being animated and specially designed for that style, I gotta say they really looked like living creatures. But that really doesn’t translate to the original designs at all.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I hate the new TF comic. It looks horrible, just plain horrible. I’m not saying that I have awesome art skills, becuase I don’t. But whatever anti-aesthetic they’re trying to pull off is just plain disgusting. It almost makes me miss the horrible art that marvel cranked out in north america, and that is just so incredibly sad that it makes me start to wish that people would stop making transformers comic books, period. Not counting webcomics of course, if I didn’t like lilformers I wouldn’t be here every monday checking out the latest strip, heh!
November 9th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
W T F! i prefer the old G1 style better this new style is just wrong just plain wrong and on a more sweeter note, Poor HotRod Jr! awww i just wanna huggle him and make him feel better
November 9th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Does Springer know about this? Or BB? Or… basically male in the series.
Joking i love Arcee, even if she is a hoe.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
…and yet nobody ever complains about the Gundam robots =P…
Face plate will solve everything. Ask Optimus Prime XD
November 9th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
The artist’s styles will always evolve to something better or something worse.
I used to like John Byrne’s art when he was white-hot. Today, not so much. Same with Figueroa, only this time I liked it more than his previous TF art.
It’s a matter of perspective.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:39 am
They still got expression
http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1257361491.jpg
bumblebee with the growly face…. hahaha
the one you referenced from the third page, thats just hot rod going into rage mode lulz
cant complain, im a consumer i choose to get or not get whatever gets pushed out
I am also a artist which works to my benefit so I can draw most things to whatever liking for me
imo i think they look more sinister and angry now, might give transformers the darker tone that it was calling out for; ill wait and see, might be cool. Might not be.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:09 am
@supplice: I agree
November 10th, 2009 at 5:26 am
First post!
Why..Oh…Why..are they making the new comics look like the movie incarnations. The movie faces worked as they could move, but in panel\cells you have one shot to get it, and human facial expression worked for 25 years, so you would assume it would still work…off to play COD 6 then watch TF animated movie to feel better. (sulks)
November 10th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Hmmm to me this is a fairly good idea, but with a not so good implementation: let me explain.
I like the idea of “modern” looking transformers, and I think the idea behind this faces was borrowed from anime robots, with slabs of metal to convey the general shape of the face, and lots of inner mechanisms shown… But the problem is that the plates are not “covering” enough and a large part of the inner mechanics is exposed. This leads to difficulty in interpreting expressions (especially the mouth as it has been pointed out), and also it leads to the point that when the characters are drawn from a distance, the face is “too black” because of an awful lot of black lines.
I should have liked the design with a better covering of the face, or also with less stress on details when robots are not shown too close. Reduce the detail on longer distance shots might also help in make robots look more similar to the originals…
November 10th, 2009 at 10:36 am
@ MEGAPRIME, he would be car RAMROD.
(thatd be a great ide “THE SON OF HOTROD” watd his name be?)
November 10th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I’m of the school of thought that the “1000-moving-parts” doesn’t really need to be drawn, you can use your imagination and look at the regular faces and assume that’s how they work. Who wants to really SEE that? I don’t. Some subtle cues could have been made, sure, but the new style is really unnecessary.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Okay, saw the previews you linked to… WHAT THE FUDGE!? Those aren’t Transformers, those are Bayformers! If I wanted a comic where I couldn’t distinguish between the robot characters without being a very informed person, I’d read a Battlestar Galactica comic from the 80s (if such a thing existed, I wasn’t into comics at the time enough to tell).
November 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
O MY GOD KILL IT!!1
November 10th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
JEEZZ!!!!
Black ppl are so black and oily
November 10th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I’ll have to agree with Matt, I personally cant stand this look either.
Movie asthetics really hurt the G1 characters, but are fine on the movie characters.
This makes them seem less like robots in disguise, and more alien robot make stuff go boom for Micheal Bay.
I immediatly contacted my comic book store to drop IDW’s G1 series, I can take horrible art by Marvel or DC if the story is top notch [Ed Brubaker, Geoff Johns], but with story that sometimes is lacking, I would not pay a cent for art that is horrible.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Y’know, I saw the preview, and I honestly think if it were a Bayformer comic, it would fit. But it ain’t. Poor junior…
November 10th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
@amd098:
DC did Transformers comics? WHEN?
November 10th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Looks like they are trying to bridge the gap between G1, the classics toy line, and the 2007 movie.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:56 am
The moment in the animated film that always, always makes me grin is that moment when Megatron, from the shuttle, fires at Hot Rod on Lookout Mountain. Hot Rod holds Daniel close to protect him as they’re falling, but his face goes completely stiff and his eyes are expressionless. It’s a reminder that they’re artificial people, and their displays of emotion are designed for others to observe. And yet I don’t like the designs of these new faces; even Darth Vader’s mask looked more interesting.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:48 am
“I immediatly contacted my comic book store to drop IDW’s G1 series, I can take horrible art by Marvel or DC if the story is top notch [Ed Brubaker, Geoff Johns], but with story that sometimes is lacking, I would not pay a cent for art that is horrible.”
It’s awesome art, it’s just silly to make ONLY the faces Bay-style. Do the whole thing super mecha if you want that look. Keeping the old bodies with Bay faces makes it look dumb. At least Optimus has his normal face… unless he can lower his mouth piece to reveal he has no chin…
Or the baddest mustache of all the Transformers…
Seriously, what is up with the mustaches????
November 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I have to agree with the “kill it” notion. Hopefully IDW will get the picture, and change the pictures. Let us pray to primus that the art is more “normal” by issue #2.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Seems like they’re going for the Bayformers-look, and let me tell ya: from the looks of those pics in the link you gave, Bumblebee looks way more masculine than he should. WAY more. Seriously, he looks like Batman from Dark Knight there.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
As with everything else, I’m sure this change was made to make the comic look more like the films. I agree with you 100% Matt, the design lacks any and all emotion. Why they needed to be changed is beyond me. Agreed also with Limpurtiles, BB looks like he’s supposed to be the baddest mother on Cybertron… wtf!?
November 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am
funny also trumps sanity. and it looks like you lost what little you had.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:05 am
cut the publishers some slack, Matt! they’re only trying to fish for new (younger) readers, u know, the movie fans! u’ll be surprised how many ppl outside the US would never have known about the Transformers had it not been for the movie… and they love those stupid new shutter-eyes and gorilla mouths and fangs and overall spiny, ugly looks!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:26 am
OH NO!!! CHANGE!! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!! *cowers in fear*
November 12th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I want the movie line to die now so we can have some decently drawn Transformers again.
November 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
So, I’m like, the only dude who LIKES the faces, then? It’s called realism, guys.
November 12th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Yeah sure, “realism”.
We want REALISTIC faces for our transforming robots from outer space.
November 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Well, it’s an interesting feature, and one I warmly welcome.
They’re ROBOTS. Really OLD robots. IMO, them looking as human as they did back in G1 is silly.
Here’s an interesting question. Do you really think that if the movie, at least, featured G1-style ‘bots, that the critics (especially those who aren’t fans) wouldn’t have complained about the ‘bots not being the least bit realistic?
Change happens. It’s a staple of Transformers. Demanding that Hasbro, Takara, and whatever animation studio’s making the current show cater exclusively to people who grew up with G1, keeping everything the way it was back then, is stupid and makes the person who demands that look foolish.
Don’s trying something new and realistic, and it works in my mind. Plus, notice how the mouth on Hot Rod, at least, is essentially ALL GREY - as mouths in the G1 cartoon WERE.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Don’t be scared son, every one will become old, include your father,haha!
November 13th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
……………………………………………………..explanation please…………………………………………………………….
November 14th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Hey Matt,
Long time fan, first time poster.
I am a G1er (generation one fan) personally I do not like the look of the robots that appeared on screen, some of the off screen toys are cool though.
How is Hasblow and IDW only catering to G1 fans? Hasblow canceled Animated, Universe/classics, alternators and titanium and are only focused on the movie toys right now aside from some of the few remaining bits left from animated and universe. Just movie stuff for the foreseeable future.
And IDW? Didn’t they have movie prequels galore, movie comics, tales of the fallen and other movie comics.
Why are G1 fans important, well without us, transformers would have died in the early 90’s, it is because of us that they made Beast wars in the first place.
Each toon that they put out moves further away from G1, animated did bring it back in its own way though. If you grew up with G1 you’d know that it is not the way it was back then, armada/ pokaformers with those stupid kids, that is soooooo far from G1 and catered to the kids that loved pokemon and a slap in the face to any G1er. the new faces are nothing like the faces in G1, except the colour grey. Catering to G1 fans….um, they ARE doing a “G1 series” with all the characters as their G1 selves FROM G1, it should look G1 style.
Keep Bayformers and Transformers separate. G1ers like G1 the way it is, if you want Bayformers, read those comics. easy as that. period.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:34 am
by on screen and off screen I meant the bayformers movies, not the cartoons.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
i find it unbeliveable that in G1 fromers our faces where like humans exept mine OP’s Grimlocks and others with face plates Bayformers destroyed the imgantion of kids why did it have to change *cryying*
November 15th, 2009 at 5:05 am
just got done watching Carpenters “GHOSTS OF MARS” dude are u sure u didnt base ROD Sr on the leader of the martians O_O
@bumblebee being a badass mofo , well the explanation is simple , he never got any fembot action in the books
so its all pent up , plus Elita kept on throwing poor yellow in the “Friend”Box while Scream’s walked all over her =]
@ the hyperdetailing , um you do know that when it comes time to change from Vehicle to Bot , his face is going to freeze in the winter and summer cuz of the salt and Sand .
Jag
November 15th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Holy!! Hotrod looks freaky!…but I always knew those two would have a kid…lol
November 15th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
If the last part of AHM 16 is any indication of what they future art will be, it’s not as bad as in the preview… at least in my opinion. It seems a bit… kinda blurry or something… I don’t know how to explain it. But I think I can maybe make peace with it…
November 15th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
@Matrix_holder:
What’s with all the “Bayformers” slamming? Sure, ROTF sucked, but the first one was pretty good. But I agree, this change should not have been made… and I’m not even a “G1er!” Although, I don’t think it was because of “G1ers” that Beast Wars was made… considering how when it first came out, everyone got all “trukk not munky” about it… And Animated was kind of a tribute to the original show, but a lot less… oh, gosh, I’m going to get hated for this… crappy-looking than the orignal show. …Let’s face it. The animation of the original show has NOT aged well, and I’ve only seen screenshots! Seriously, there were, like, 100 animation errors an episode, 150 per episode in Seasons 3 and 4, thanks to the most cheapskate animation company ever, AKOM. Sure, Animated’s animation was a little stiff at times, but at least there weren’t 100 moments an episode where characters were colored wrong, or characters that were supposed to be dead appeared in the background…
Huff… huff… You’re all going to hate me for this, aren’t you? …lol.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Also, Hasbro and IDW are NOT catering exclusively to G1 fans. It’s just that a lot of G1 fans are demanding that they do so, which is really stupid.
And is anyone besides me upset that Hasbro cancelled Transformers Animated, leaving at least 20 characters’ fates up in the air? We don’t even know if Ultra Magnus survived! That PO’s me.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:46 am
I pity the colorists who have to handle all of those lines…
November 16th, 2009 at 9:42 am
@Jarkes: I know. Animated’s abrupt cancellation was for the best, though. They would have used a different production team had it continued, which probably would have meant a large dip in quality.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
stupid.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I love Don… his art was always my favorite and I even wanted to get his art book all because I loved it. Now… I’m wondering what he did to fry his brain. Given… the high details are probably hard to get in and require talent… but this stuff… makes me think of the love child or a terminator and Skeletor (both of whom are so much better looking).
I was part of the crowd that jumped Ryall on his blog, and was basically told to just read the first issue before judging. Let me put it this way, it’s an assault on my senses. I didn’t like it in the Coda either. I don’t think I can spend money on it.. because I can’t see paying for something I can’t get attached to.
In summary… I completely agree with you.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:10 am
It actually looks a lot better than you’re making it out to be, Matt.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:02 am
did rodimus (not optimus) just merge with megatron to become not megatron prime?
November 21st, 2009 at 2:08 am
how can their faces change like that over 3 years? It’s not an artistic mistake its one of continuity.
November 21st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I just read the comic, the faces all look the same…only difference is the colour of the faces. It’s hard to tell what, if any emotions are being portrayed by the formers. who made the decision to go in this artistic direction. hopefully with all the negative reactions to the new art they will go back to the standard for all G1 continuity properties…since this is a G1 book.
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I Think This New Look Is Pretty Cool, Actually. Kind Of Movie Style, Yet With The Same G1 Blockiness.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:15 am
@Matrix_Holder: It was completely easy for me to read their emotions…
November 27th, 2009 at 10:26 am
holy crap that bumblebee is terrifying!
November 28th, 2009 at 12:00 am
damn those new faces are crap, and why does my fave gen 1 ironhide always seem to have to die?!?!
November 28th, 2009 at 11:28 am
@psychosis holochaust:
Because he was one of the first to die in the G1 movie, so he’s basically the first one to die in almost every version of G1 continuity… right? lol
I never read the TF comics anyway, so I really don’t care…
November 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Wait… I’m getting my facts wrong. PROWL was THE first one to die in the G1 movie. Ironhide was the final one to die on the Autobot shuttle, but more died in the main battle of Autobot City…
There was something about that I always found morbidly funny. They breach Autobot City, and Megatron shotus, “Their defenses have been breached! LET THE SLAUGHTER BEGIN!” I always thought upon hearing that line, “BEGIN? You’ve killed, like, 20 characters in the past 10 minutes!” lol
November 30th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
wtf
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 am
lolwut? >xD
I’ll draw you a face that emots and looks awesome Matt. But the only guys that actually fill that sorta face are the ‘cons, so…BEWARE! Box Ghost!1!
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
This is probably the best commentary on the redesigns I’ve seen. Way to go.
January 10th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Omg. >:)
January 13th, 2010 at 12:40 am
THE NEW REDESIGNS ARE SO TERRIBLE, I THINK THEY GAVE ME CANCER! HOW DARE ANYONE TRY TO CHANGE THE HOLY GRAIL THAT IS G1! THIS IS ALL AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT LIKE BAYFORMERS, WHICH SUCKS! THESE THINGS SHOULD’VE BEEN THEIR OWN DESIGN. NO, THEY FAIL AS ART EVEN AS THEIR OWN DESIGN, THAT’S HOW HORRIBLE THEY ARE. THEY HAVE NO EXPRESSION, THEY’RE DESTROYING MY CHILDHOOD, THEY’RE FOCUSING ON THE WRONG AUDIENCE, THEY KILLED MY FATHER, THEY RAPED MY MOTHER, AND IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME YOU ARE SIMPLY WRONG!!!
(Seriously guys. Chill out. To each his own.)
August 20th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Dude I don’t consider myself human after seeing the preview what did they do to them! Their their, ugly.