Me think, we will learn from the issue they're in.

 

Dinobot month?

SO. BEAUTIFUL  

 

Yay, Grimlock's Back !!

 

Actually, there's a difference between a different artistic take on a character and a complete redesign. As you mentioned before, each character comes with certain specific character specs that need to be recognized in order for the character to be identifiable. Sure, people had to follow Romita's (it was Sr. by the way) when it came to Spiderman, but these guidelines were open to artistic interpretation. When McFarlane began doing Spiderman he made a slimmer, more contorted Spiderman with more stylistic webbing and bigger eyes, but it was STILL SPIDERMAN! Same when Larsen did it, Bagley, and all the other artists that had a turn on the book. But when it's all said and done, they still had to respect the design of the character. You can be the new Iron Man artist, and you can have a new take on his armor, but these designs still have to be approved by the editors in order to have a cohesive continuity in terms of redesign and not confuse the viewer, but I fear the editors at IDW simply don't give a damn. It's like the artists are given free range to do their own take on the bots, even redesign them and not even hold any kind of design standard to hold up in continuity. That's why we can have Don Figueroa do a complete redesign/amalgamation between G-1 and bayformers in one issue, but then have Guido Guidi come in with a more blocky G-1 accurate take on them with different head and body molds the next issue with no explanation given.

THAT'S what's getting old. It's ok to have your own take on the characters, but IDW needs to adhere to a single design standard and stick to it.

 

"Complete redesign" is subjective, I think. Do you think Hasbro doesn't sign off on each design and story arch? I think Bayformers have taken much greater liberties with the franchise. These comics still feel like G1 to me. A much more mature version of G1 of course, but G1. And I think that's the point, really. These characters were pretty one-dimensional back in the day, and would be incredibly boring to more mature readers if new facets of their personality weren't expanded upon and even added.

 

Well I meant redesign in the esthetics sense, not really the overall characterization.
And no. I really doubt Hasbro signs off on EVERY redesign or new take on each character, especially since said redesigns seem to happen with each new artist that jumps on board of the books. That's why IDW has editors. Each editor is responsible for the brand integrity and quality control of each issue they put out.
That's like saying Disney or Warner Bros sign off on every Marvel and DC book, but they don't. Each entity is it's own monster.