For the most part I like it...however he should be called Trailbreaker, because he looks a lot like him and Trailbreaker should be in this film...he is so underappreciated. Poor TB.

 

You know....I know I harp about this a lot but I really hate the insect faces that they gave them. The robot mode's not bad (he looks better than Megatron and Starscream that's for sure)....But you know what? He reminds me too much like Trailbreaker. SHouldv'e made him a van. But oh well.

 

HA! Great minds think alike!

 

In the vein of renaming characters (and Trailbreaker would sooo fit this appearance)
Starscream becomes Apeface or Dirge.
Blackout becomes Vortex.

 

"Forget about taking names, I'm just here to kick your ass."

I love this design.

 

Well, actually they did make a Gundam live action series a few years back... but I'll be the first to admit that it wasn't all that good. However, I'm not sure what the existence of a TF live action movie ahead of a Gundam movie proves... besides the fact that Transformers has a much stronger brand recognition in North America, where big budget FX movies get made. Nothing more.

Links to Gundam? I'm not sure what you mean by that exactly... like I said, just watch some UC-based Gundam... meaning the original series (though of course, it still adheres to some of the stylization of its era), and the ones that EDcomics mentions above. I'm also not sure what you mean by "footnotes"... but the points I made about the realism and intelligent approach in Gundam refer to actual dialogue and story points in the series I mentioned.

Gundam SEED is mostly a styled-up, more toy-and-model-kit sales-friendly version of the original Gundam story, with more teen-boy melodrama and borderline superheroics. It's fun as far as anime goes, but much more akin to the exaggerations of Gundam Wing than the spirit of the original series.

08th MS Team and 0080:War in the Pocket are good places to start, because they're relatively short... though they are spin-offs, so they don't address everything about the setting. By the time they got around to Gundam Zeta, a lot of the mecha designs were getting pretty far out, so that may not be the best examples... though the story is excellent in that series (though it's a sequel to the original series, so you can't really watch it without seeing the first Gundam).

Much has been made of the impracticalities of "block" robots... but the truth is, they work just fine if handled with a strong design aesthetic and imagination. I don't think realism was the primary motivator for the Transformers movie design team though... I think they just wanted to make something radically different than what came before. Guess we'll see if that works out for them...  

zmog

 

  That is SO going to be his motto when I get him. Ironhide FTW!

 

I like it, but too much going on. Still it's for the visual.

 

He looks pretty good. I wonder if the shoulders on the toy can pivot up to match the V shape of this one.

 

Fan-fugging-tastic! Love his head. Easily one of the best in the movie.
Good thing he's on the autobot's side. Looks like he could kick anyone's ass, even Megs.

Anyone who says the heads look like insects, really have no idea what a bug's head looks like. Go look it up on google.

 

Man, he's built like a robotic juggernaut; shoulders that are made for running tackles, Viking head, and wide thick base.

I can just imagine him going full speed in alt mode then transforming at top speed to end up bowling balling down decepticons at 80+ mph.

 

optimus prime is huge in the movie, he's almost the same size as megatron

also, separated at birth:



barricade vs ironhide:

 

the only question is have about this design, and the for the other autobots, is where does the windscreen go to?

not a complaint, just very curious and excited to find out how these designs transform - the toys aren't giving much away really!

 

Ironhide is a bad ass, he looks like he could kick most of the decepticons around with ease.

can't wait to see this guy on the big screen!!!

 

i could get used to this...but...i dont hear " im tierd of sucking the decepticons vapor trail" when i see this.....

 

I love his robot mode, but his head bugs me the most. The toy doesn't do this model justice imo.

 

But when you think about it, it sort of makes sense. Scale up a toy like the Movie IRONHIDE and you get the "real" version seen in this CGI sheet. Just imagine scaling up a G1 (or Masterpiece) OPTIMUS toy and something similar would happen: The hydraulics of the truck would have to be accounted for, as would the suspension, drive shaft, chassis, engine and interior of the cab (as well as much more). MP PRIME only has to function as a toy, not hold together as a "real" truck cab.

One can't say "the old versions" would be better, as they've never been translated to "full size" and "real" before and therefore we can't compare the movie deisgns to anything (if you see what I mean)

 

Easily the best movie design IMO. It's fantastic. A totally badass Ironhide, just as he should be.

 

"Beef-cake"

   

 

The opening theme for this movie should go like this...

Trumpet plays, "Da Dadara Da da dara da...."
synthesizer voice, "The Gobots! The Gobots!"