Robots In Disguise #8 and More Than Meets the Eye #8 Covers revealed

Awwwwwwwww hell yeahhhhhh

Grimlock... *spits on ground*

So done with this lizard. His head looks different.

IIRC that's pretty much the same head he was sporting since way back in Maximum Dinobots.

Milne said he went with a Batman look (even the pointy ears), creeping in the shadows. Yes, that certainly fits Grimlock's character & design.

The constant redesigns, just for the sake of doing a redesign, is getting tiresome.

To be fair, it's only his head and the little lights that seem to be redesigned. And at least the recent wave of new bodies was largely explained as a sort of return to their heritage.

True, but is Grimlock the type to be sneaking around, ready to pounce from above? The lights are probably to make Grimlock better resemble his FOC version.

You're taking his words WAY out of context. Milne's actual words were:

it has a batman feel to it, which i did not intend until after i stated placing in the shadows and i thought, why not go pretty heavy on the shadows like in the batman comics i read. this was the result, and i like how it turned out

Besides this is just the cover, He might look different inside. Take a look at his Rodimus design on the MTMTE 1 cover spread. It's changed when he went doing the interiors.

Taking words out of context is how people get super angry about nothing at all!

Stop taking away their hobbies, you monster!

Anyway, narratively it is ABOUT DAMN TIME Grimlock came back. That tease in LSotW nearly killed me. I also want to see someone other than Simon take on writing him in the comics.

I'm still really excited to see a Grimlock penned by the Elder God Roberts.

Actually, the only other time he wrote Grimlock it was a literal joke...he is taken out of commission for all of Eugenesis by the FIRST SHOT of an invading Quintesson armada. And that's after a bunch of bots basically dismiss him as overrated in-character.

Of course in that story Springer was also a useless drug addict.

What I'm saying is, I think Roberts prefers writing for the "little guy" TFs, but is certainly capable of treating even his less-favorite characters with respect in IDW.

And let's not forget that OVERLORD DROVE GRIMLOCK INSANE FOR THE LULZ.

OFF-PANEL DAMN YOUR EYES

The REAL question we should be asking is is this is really Grimlock? Or is it SPACE T-REX in disguise?

That was funnier than it should've been.

Heheh.

I admit when I saw the thread title I was hoping for Overlord, but Grimlock is cool too. After LSotW, I'm very curious to see what he's been up to and what is mental state currently is.

Updated first post

It's bad for the coherence of the brand identity.

Was he on drugs during the whole Kup oneshot then too ?

Aw hell yeah Ironhide lord of the Dinobots. I too would like to see how Old Grimlock faired after LSOTW.

The thing is about brand coherence though, is that it's not as important as it used to be. Back in the day, DC and Marvel were quite insistent on maintaining a house style, particularly with their very popular characters, such as Superman and Spider-Man. Jack Kirby's Superman was often edited, with Kirby's Superman face being deemed not being Superman-like for their liking, and they would call upon more traditional Superman artists such as Curt Swan or Murphy Anderson to draw over it. As for Spider-Man, artists often had to follow the look established by John Romita Jr for a long time, not just in the comic, but in media such as cartoons as well. These days, differing art looks is just a reason to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, and to sell as much merchandise. The rule now is basically, if he's still recognizable enough under a diff look, it'll pass. Take a look at the multitude of Batman, Iron Man and Spider-Man toy variants we have. Don't tell me it's been bad for their brands. Heck just look at Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron and Starscream.

hah xD

Anyone has any idea who the two unfortunate Cons under Grimmy are? They look familiar... maybe japanese characters?

Remember TWW: Dark Ages?

Bludgeon: "I thought once he hears about your betrayal, Jetfire, Grimlock would have come charging in, Energo-sword at the ready. Just goes to show..."

Grimlock jumps from the shadows and knocks Bugly out.

Grimlock: "Goes to show you don't know me at all."

Grimmy can and will use stealth and deception (see also Spotlight Shockwave) when he has to.

Besides, the design is the same, actually. Grimlock only had two looks in IDW - the old TWW Don design as a Dynobot, and the new T-rex form.

I'm not aginst change I actually have argued that the whole blue/red optics thing is slightly old hat. and that the colours might be better used to reflect mood.

This applies especially well to Grimlock where he had a red eyed toy and both colours on the cartoon.
What I would like to see is a longer run by artist with a coherient design maintained - and less chopping and changing like poor ol' Bumblebee gets.

Is that Deszeras in front of grimlock?

Aaahhh, that's the Split Lip I know and love. It's kinda creepy when you like something or say something I agree with. Now it's back to the natural order of things.

True, I also love IDW is using a lot of WFC/FOC designs. I absolutely HATE Hot Rod's new design though.

A "Bad to the Bone" looking bunch of Dinobots!

That picture of grimlock with the blue bot in the lower right corner

is that deathsaurus?

Looks like him head wise

The bots in front of Grimlock are just generics. Alex Milne said so on his DA account.

Grimlock has many looks:





Dunno why they choose that one. I like the no-nonsence G1 head - black and featureless; no vented fins, no antenna.

GRIMLOCK!!!!!

Awesome! in the past Grimlock has been so over saturated, but since LSOTW the creative team here has had me frothing to know what happened to him! SO EXCITED!!!

I am not a fan of many of Milne's redesigns. He has improved slightly lately, but most of his previous work was too Gundam-y for my tastes.

And that's the point. "My" taste. If that qualifies as "rage, raaaage" then so be it.

Why are they splitting up the Dinobots?

Wait am I seeing the same pics as everyone else? I see two bots beneath him who look nervous.

They kinda split at the end of Maximum Dinobots.
I'm glad... I hope they give more characterization to Slag, Sludge and Snarl. Reintroduction through Ironhide is a brilliant move.

Grimlock as a Diehard - Bruce Willis - is also a great roll for him. We know who he is.

Who are the other bots on the cover? I think the closer one is Fort. Max.*

*I see in the posting they are just generic bots.

Y'know... it's good to see them and all, but these covers just serve to remind me of how much I HATE the IDW Dinobot redesigns. There's something about their whole look (in both modes) that utterly drains the charm right out of them for me.

zmog

If Milne wanted them to be generic, he shouldn't have made one look like Fort Max...

zmog

So happy!!! Reintroduce them right before the game comes out, smooth move Hasbro.

Do we know why the Dinobots are on Cybertron? Have they always been and we just haven't seen them since the new series started, or have they just arrived? I don't remember seeing them at all since before All Hail Megatron?

No. Different version of Springer.

Eugenesis was Roberts' epic fanfic based on Marvel. I think he made it pretty clear that Springer and Grimlock aren't his favorite characters. But here's the thing, he's not writing fanfic anymore and the IDW characters are different.

that's...that's the EXACT same head, drawn by Alex Milne...the design is identical, except he's got a glowy chest and its drawn in Alex's style...

Which I love. I'm a big fan of Nick's Dinobots (palaeontologist, don't judge me) and I was a little concerned Alex and andrew would redesign em. Good good.

Plus, 3 years since MD, 2 since LSOTW...finally some answers

I almost wish there was just one more G1 comic that had a consistent, more Dreamwave-y art style, and characters that acted exactly as they did in the cartoon...

...to siphon off the whiners.

For the rest of us, these comics are the best thing to happen to G1 in a very long time. Personally, I'm loving the varied art styles and new takes on old characters. This is how *real* comics do it. Very much looking forward to seeing the Dynobots again.

Me think, we will learn from the issue they're in.

Dinobot month?

SO. BEAUTIFUL

Yay, Grimlock's Back !!

Actually, there's a difference between a different artistic take on a character and a complete redesign. As you mentioned before, each character comes with certain specific character specs that need to be recognized in order for the character to be identifiable. Sure, people had to follow Romita's (it was Sr. by the way) when it came to Spiderman, but these guidelines were open to artistic interpretation. When McFarlane began doing Spiderman he made a slimmer, more contorted Spiderman with more stylistic webbing and bigger eyes, but it was STILL SPIDERMAN! Same when Larsen did it, Bagley, and all the other artists that had a turn on the book. But when it's all said and done, they still had to respect the design of the character. You can be the new Iron Man artist, and you can have a new take on his armor, but these designs still have to be approved by the editors in order to have a cohesive continuity in terms of redesign and not confuse the viewer, but I fear the editors at IDW simply don't give a damn. It's like the artists are given free range to do their own take on the bots, even redesign them and not even hold any kind of design standard to hold up in continuity. That's why we can have Don Figueroa do a complete redesign/amalgamation between G-1 and bayformers in one issue, but then have Guido Guidi come in with a more blocky G-1 accurate take on them with different head and body molds the next issue with no explanation given.

THAT'S what's getting old. It's ok to have your own take on the characters, but IDW needs to adhere to a single design standard and stick to it.

"Complete redesign" is subjective, I think. Do you think Hasbro doesn't sign off on each design and story arch? I think Bayformers have taken much greater liberties with the franchise. These comics still feel like G1 to me. A much more mature version of G1 of course, but G1. And I think that's the point, really. These characters were pretty one-dimensional back in the day, and would be incredibly boring to more mature readers if new facets of their personality weren't expanded upon and even added.

Well I meant redesign in the esthetics sense, not really the overall characterization.
And no. I really doubt Hasbro signs off on EVERY redesign or new take on each character, especially since said redesigns seem to happen with each new artist that jumps on board of the books. That's why IDW has editors. Each editor is responsible for the brand integrity and quality control of each issue they put out.
That's like saying Disney or Warner Bros sign off on every Marvel and DC book, but they don't. Each entity is it's own monster.