I like Widescream. He's never looked ape-ish to me, to be frank (Last I checked, apes don't have bird legs, really wide bodies and scrawny arms) and he looks kind of like a bird with it's wings outstretched while flying.

 

Wow... I think I find fault with just about every single thing you just said. Seriously.

I think it's a legitimate complaint that the designs for these two in particular do nothing to evoke the characters they are supposedly based on, either in terms of physical resemblance, or communicating a similar persona through the the design.

Being able to communicate character through the appearance alone IS the sign of a good design. I thought Starscream's chicken-monkey mode was silly looking, and Megatron was sadly just boring... not particularly distinctive no matter who he was supposed to be. His only interesting aspect was his alt-mode... it may be a flying pair of scissors, but there is something striking about it at least.  

zmog

 

You mean.... you've seen aliens? Well I guess that settles it. There can never be a humanoid alien like in Star Trek, Babylon 5, etc. EVER.  

As for the "G1 Box designs", Split Lip, you can't possibly tell me that someone such as yourself lacks enough of an imagination to visualize a redesign of our favorite robots in disguise that retain their general appearance while giving them a bit more detailed and accurate look (i.e. Starscream's F-15 mode has a lot of curves and such, so he really shouldn't have too many boxy looking parts when transformed into robot mode, or at best, to retain some of the silhouette by having exterior cover pieces reform as tightly as possible to serve as armor plating protecting most of the exposed parts rather then just a shattered wreck of a monstrosity.

 

I was rather referring to his cardboard box comment, which genuinely sounded like it came from a crazy man

If he likes Starscream's movie design, then power to him. Liking things that other's don't does not make you crazy, makes you normal.



And with due respect to someone with your tenure here, Split Lip, what constitutes alien and robotic is entirely subjective. Seriously dude, if these new Transfromer designs really get your passion revving, good. This fandom needs passionate people. You want truth, after a while, I totally got behind just about every design they made, but even though I saw the movie eight times, I still didn't warm to Megatron or Starscream. Perhaps thats because I prefer the stoic warrior Starscream from Transformers Armada and I am much more interested in the kind of Megatron who acts like a tactical warlord than a monsterous psychopath.

 

So full of profound truth.

Often those who defend the designs offer up these excuses for why they like them... claiming that more G1-esque designs would be impossible, etc, etc... which more than anything demonstrates a profound lack of imagination and perspective. The reasons offered are about as full of holes as the movie robots themselves. It's not enough to say "I just like them better."... it's always got to be "I like them better, and what you wanted sucks."

:rollseyes

Haha! I've been using "chicken-monkey" as a shorthand for Starscream since images of the FAB version were released. The fact that we both came up with it is only evidence that he does, in fact, look like a chicken-monkey.  

I also refer to the movie Decepticons as "Bionicles made out of knives"...

zmog

 

Fitting, since Starscream has He-man's toy proportions too. Giant chest, big arms and tiny legs.

 

'monsterous psychopath' Hahaha!! Maybe becasue it's 3 in the morning, and I'm really tired, but you really made me crack up. And it's funny because it's true. Hehe.