I know it's probably going too far to assume this is a sign of a huge shift towards pure movie-injected aesthetics at large for TFs, but I still have a tiny little worry. It's not even that I don't dig the movie look that much, I just don't want the whole feel of the brand to change just because one part of it has more exposure. It'd be like when the X-Men comics suddenly had everyone in black leather after the first X-Men film came out. Almost alienating, as if the thinking is "the mainstream way or no way." Finished. DONE.
Those faces look absolutely TERRIBLE! What are they thinking?! Dear God I hope they don't continue going down this road of style! Ironhide and Prime look horrible like that. Their faces look frightening. PLEASE IDW SCRAP THAT STYLE FOR THE FACES, AND PRETEND THAT THEY NEVER EXISTED!
mouth is terrible. Optimus Prime does not have a mouth. I don't care what Marvel did back in the day. They were done by artist who had no clue what Transformers were and were just using that book to prove to editor's they were worthy of working on titles like X-Men or Spider-man. The Generation2 comic was even worse, Lobo (and Simon Bisley) was big back then and they were trying to copy his art. So I don't buy anything that was drawn there (apologies to Manny Galan). Now if someone like, Shoji Kawamori, said he had a mouth then I'd buy it. Until then, Prime doesn't have a mouth!!!!!!!! Neither does: Wheeljack Grimlock Shockwave Soundwave Bombshell Longhaul Scavenger Scrapper Cosmos Powerglide Seaspray Warpath etc....
Darn strait! ... and every real Transformers iteration since then too! (including most of your stuff) We love ya' Don
Yeah, I think the teeth are the most awkward thing about it. After generations of serene faces, anime-super-robot-style, it seems weird to have grotesque grimaces in place of lips. Ah. In that case, I agree. It lessened the impact of Prime's plight when *ZAP* off-camera, suddenly he's all better again! Woot! That could have been handled better. I think the idea is that he looks old and decrepit. But yeah... there's something "off" about it. It's interesting as a novelty, but not something I like in the broad sense. I think this IS sort of the kind of compromise I would have loved to see in the movies... much more so than what we got, in some characters especially. However, a compromise that works, or indeed.... is even NECESSARY on a live-action screen, is not the same compromise that needs to be used on a comic-book page. Two different mediums may demand two different approaches. I'm not completely against this. I like the idea of it. There's just something disconcerting about the way they turned out. Chalk it up to those myriad small decisions made in the drawing process. THIS. Completely agree. zmog
No, Don did Defiance issue 3 as well. Pat Lee has never done any work for IDW, and God willing, never will. Well, IDW's sales figures for Transformers comics aren't too impressive. Still the most prolific and respected TF writer. *folds arms* Okay, okay I didn't like Maximum Dinobots.
i like the art! If that's Don then that's even better. Anyways I like how he draws Prime. I just don't fancy that mouth too much. It still weirds me out. Prime DOESN'T need a mouth in my book
I don't like the faces. The robot forms being different and looking more up to date, I'm all fine with that. And the body designs are actually pretty cool in these preview shots. But I can't get past the faces--they just don't work. And while Prime has shown his face in other continuities, I never liked the idea of G1 Prime showing his. And it certainly doesn't work for me here.
By "aren't too impressive" do you mean aren't DW's first year impressive? When DW re-vamped G1 every TF fan on the planet picked one up and fallowed it for a wile. When they went under it left a bad taste in every ones mouths. Or do you mean not as good as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, or the X-men? Come on did anyone expect that could go on for long? Give credit where credit is due. IDW is number three after DC and Marvel. No small feat. And it likely has a great deal to do with Transformers.
Marvel made optimus prime. Shoji Kawamori didnt. kawamori made battle convoy. he's not an authority on anything transformers, aside from masterpiece starscream. if marvel says prime had a mouth, he had a mouth. but marvel never said he had a mouth in G1. he had a speaker-type-hole where his mouth would have been in his power master form. in G2, yeah, he had a mouth. we saw teeth. and then masterpiece prime had a mouth. something made by hasbro and takara. G1 optimus prime has a mouth. the people who made the character (marvel, hasbro and takara) said so. IDW is also saying it now. deal with it. you didnt make optimus prime, you dont get to decide. which is fine for a G1 comic. I love the movie designs, AND your art, but the faces just look awful here. everything else? stellar. everything else about the art is flawless and awesome. the bodies, the helmets, they're great. but the faces are out of place. they do not match the rest of the designs. they dont match how things were a single issue ago. thats the problem. but IDW seems to be all about "sudden, unwanted change" with transformers, so, par for the course, I guess.
Not impressive as in "AHM is the best selling series yet it struggles to move 12,000 copies". Since IDW has not (to my knowledge) released its sales figures, we can only go by Diamond's independent estimates.
While movie prime with mouth looks noble to me, this prime looks so weird and evil....don't know why.
I do not agree with you. I take movie prime without faceplate over this one without faceplate any day.