Design concepts

I was thinking about how Alternators manage to pull off a G1-esque aesthetic while having very detailed alt modes. Was there ever any consideration (or concept art shown) of different style of bots for the movies? I'm curious as to how they arrived at the Bayformers "metal origami" aesthetic as it really is quite unique compared to previous iterations.

While I do enjoy the Alternators aesthetic, I wouldn't call it "very detailed". Especially their alt modes. Their alt modes aren't really any more "detailed" than Bayformers. Or any other series.

It may have been considered, as the concept art seems to have covered a lot of different concepts and ideas. But I doubt we'll ever really know for sure if someone had the conscious idea to do that.

As to how they arrived at their current state, it was probably the same situation as any other visually-intensive movie: The director has an idea, they make concepts of his idea, he gives feedback, they make more concepts, he gives more feedback, and repeat. It's a spiral. They're working; getting finer and finer until they nail down the look that the director deems as complete. For Bay's case, he wanted "realistic, complex alien machines". He had in his mind a particular sense of style and design for the Transformers, and as the director, they went with it. Any director of the franchise would've done the same, but what exactly their aesthetic would've looked like is open for debate. There's no rule written anywhere that they have to choose a certain look. Director X may have gone with a more steampunk design for the characters, director Y may have chosen an Alternators-esque look, filmmaker B would've wanted even more organic, alien designs, filmmaker C might've just straight up done a 100% accurate G1 design. Who knows?

Originally Posted by The Fanbase Oh, look! It's that thing that I hate and am not looking forward to. I better comment about how I hate it and am not looking forward to it.

BEN PROCTER // ONLINE PORTFOLIO

We really need an artbook with artist/ILM/film crew commentaries.
Or at least a thread here or some webpage compiling all the odd snippits we get from time to time, giving us some idea of the thought process.

Kreon Art Thread -- Transformers Scale Project -- Kreon Parts Database

Starscream totally inspired the PCC Airialbot combiner core, didn't he?

Originally Posted by FatalT 71 to a troll Just saying that your internet tough guy routine is more terrifying to me than armed Iraqi insurgents. Well played, sir lol

I'm really glad we didn't get these! That Starscream looks so much worse than what we really got!

(I'm in no way calling you out, Bumblebee765, it's just that your post reminded me of something )

It's times like these that I like to point something out to the fandom:

WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS AND TASTES ON DESIGNS. Some people love the Bayformers aesthetic, some people hate it, some people are indifferent. The above designs are much more solid and G1-esque and right here is someone who hates this aesthetic. Others will love it. Why? Because we're all entitled to our opinions and there's no one design aesthetic that is "better" or "worse" than another. There will always be someone out there who doesn't care for the chosen aesthetic.

Originally Posted by The Fanbase Oh, look! It's that thing that I hate and am not looking forward to. I better comment about how I hate it and am not looking forward to it.

I prefer the very detailed look we have now. It seems more alien and looks badass. I'm glad they never went with the G1-esque style

As a fanatic of concepts and designs, I have to agree with Tyler Mirage on this one. It is largely a matter of personal taste and what the director believes will look good and make sense on camera. I think the 'metal origami' style cemented their alieness and fitted the style of this universe to a tee. However, if they went for steampunk stylings with rivets and pistons in the skeletal frame of the transformers, they could have changed the stylings and rules of the movie in such a way that their designs don't seem out of place. It isn't a matter of 'right and wrong', it's personal taste and perceptions that drive what character designers come up with.

Originally Posted by Autovolt 127 Megatron Growls So he can hopefully lower Optimus's attack stage by one point. However Optimus has the special ability Hyper Cutter which negates Growl.

Honestly They should bascially go with a more Prime/IDW esque look instead.

Originally Posted by Meta777 One day, he will return. Yes, he will return, and we all of us shall behold the ultimate glory of Aggron Archer!

With the number of parts they could have made the robots look just about any way they wanted to.

Take Iron Man. A ton of parts and up close they could show an amazing amount of detail. But once the camera pulled back it very much like the Iron Man from cartoons and comic books. So looking like a cartoon or comic book doesn't mean that you can't have complex and lots of parts.

Optimus Prime also seems to be a fairly good argument that they could have gone more G1 if they had really wanted to. Prime has loads of parts and tons of tiny details but most of the iconic details are still in the design. If you had a time machine and you could go back to the 80's with a picture of the design kids could still identify him as Optimus Prime.

I don't think it's so much that they weren't talented enough to come up with G1 inspired designs or that it's impossible to do a heavy G1 influence, it's seems like more of a choice to reject the past rather than embrace it.