Gestalts have always been portrayed inconsistently, even in the comics. However, Marvel seemed to have a more consistent art and scaling. And while all combiners don't appear to be the same size, most paired combiners match their rivals. I'm awful at scaling so what do others think of the heights of the following? Devastator Here Shockwave, who admittedly himself has been drawn inconsistently, comes at about where Megatron would in the production bible scale sheets. Devastator's profile states he's over 60 feet, while a UK booklet states he's 100 feet. Those two aren't necessarily contradictory but it's worth noting the gap between mediums if the UK booklet is to be taken at face value. Menasor and Superion And here, the Aerialbots separate, and an outline of Superion's form remains behind Silverbolt's plane mode, meaning Superion could be almost as tall as Silverbolt is long..? Bruticus and Defensor Optimus Prime is drawn at 18 feet in Marvel, and this is him next to Defensor, but it's at an angle... Predaking is stated as being 80 feet tall. Computron and Abominus Piranacon No reference for size other than faded cons around merged form. Only other scans I could find of him are his fight with Galvatron in the UK comics which is a bit on the not-so-large size.
Scale is certainly not a factor in these guys. A space shuttle (Blast-Off) is many times bigger than any of Bruticus' other components, and a jeep (Swindle) is smaller than the tank that makes the other leg. Defensor has a motorcyle for a leg and a helicopter for an arm. If you know how much bigger a helicopter is than a bike, than the other components as well, this is one overly big arm. Superion should absolutely dwarf Menasor. Jets are much bigger than cars, and Concorde (Silverbolt's alt-mode) is bigger than many jets. Put simply, the combiners that adhere to real vehicles are grossly mis-sized
I know it doesn't make perfect sense; it's a fictional story. I'm interested in finding the most consistent portrayal sizes for a project I'm working on. Some mediums are less fluid in their stories and artwork than the cartoon and I was looking for some guesses based on evidence in-story as to a reasonable claim of size. I'm currently looking at Marvel's adaptation of G1 because in Marvel either the art is really bad or really great, and the best examples are worth using if they're consistent.
Not so. DW and IDW have noted something in the continuity of Transformers in their art of mass shifting. Now imagine them transformed into their alternate modes. They're in scale pretty much the whole time. Remembering when they combine, they still retain a functional scale, with the only exception being that they shifted mass to accommodate, perhaps a set height for their combined forms. We can safely assume that the gestalts are gifted with the ability of both mass conversion and parts compression. Remembering their respective factions did not want to have these guys too huge, or otherwise be problematic in the case of being usurped in power by other beings, (i.e. Starscream taking over Trypticon and practically scarring the cons shitless) the scales for each of these combination warriors is a set height. I'm fully aware we're not also talking about set height or that stuff. Scale. Scale. Scale. That's the one way ticket. Marvel Comics. A BIT of IDW works. Not too much. A bit.
Scaling is always an issue and I think it is best that the artist has a character "Bible" to help with size and proportions. I think that as long as the Combiners are portrayed about equal size, it makes a better match up, but if they were scaled correctly, then the limbs would all be out of proportion and they would all be very disfigured.
This one always bothered me because people are not even the height of Abominus' toe! Scattershot is smaller than his fist, but he forms the body the same size as Hun-Gurrrs! Just using one of the little humans in front of Abominus for scale, and assuming he's 6 feet tall, Abominus is about just under 100 feet, not even allowing for him leaning back. I have to go with this being artistic license... the artist is purposely making the gestalt bigger than he is in the frame to draw menace to him... not because he's that tall!
So then, can anyone say how tall these guys are judging from these scans? I guess based off the humans or objects around them? If we're to assume the average humanoid is 6-feet?
Surely in this pic proportions have been exaggerated on purpose,also in some Japanese manga talented comic artists in some scenes draw their warriors bigger and taller than usual to give the viewer the sense of their strenght. In his bio Abominus often climbs (and I think,destroy)tall buildings,this one is so big that he can simply trample on them.
However Computron is drawn more better in his scan, yet also appears large. I did consider his bio, but then Abominus wasn't given a true bio in english was he? Merely an English translation of his boxset profile IIRC. Regardless, I'm going off the few scans I could collect from the net. Are there any better sources/scans available?
True,also Computron is enourmous and well drawn. Yes,I spoke about the Japanese boxset profile on TFU.I never found a bio about him in the style of the ones in Marvel comics in online archives,so I doubt it exists.
