Thanks to TFW2005 boards member Type-R for linking us to site sponsor Robot Kingdom’s Facebook page for the latest scans from Dengeki Hobby and Figure King Magazines. In the scans we have some great images of the upcoming Masterpiece Ultra Magnus showing off some gimmicks and other features, more images of the recently revealed Q Transformers, cartoon images from Robots In Disguise, Takara’s LG-06 Sky Byte and LG-07 Jetfire, Takara’s Optimus Prime Playstation figure, and possibly the most interesting is an interview page with Generations Arcee designer Hironori Kobayashi. We’re hopeful to have a translated interview for your reading pleasure shortly!
Enough reading, check out the images attached after the jump and discuss!
[Wing_Saber-X]
^Gosh..she's so adorable.
SpinalCord
I feel like her finalized butt, spine, and chest are fairly close to the control art. Granted, he butt doesn't stick out as much, but I bet with posing it can You are right about her animated model having a navel… never noticed it before, but I think that's because her stomach had a lot going on whereas Hasbro's release is stark white. I will definitely be getting the Takara version. And I know her thighs are because of the transformation, it's just a little unfortunate. But in the grand scheme of things just nit-picking… she is far superior to the Titanium attempt, and I use to think that was ingenious designing
SMOG
Barely though. It was way subtle, and was often left off her design entirely. Her waist area was also based on a geometric model, so she at least looked more or less Cybertronian, rather than "squishy".
Oh, I agree. She was always highly gendered/sexualized. I wouldn't say "by '80s standards" though… (having lived through them, I can tell you the 80s were plenty sexualized ). It's just that she was more stylistically more congruous with the other characters on the cartoon.
This one… not so much. Not with the cartoon, not with the other figures in the line.
I'm willing to bet that was entirely a concession to the transformation mechanics.
Oh, probably. Hips that wide are not so much part of the current "sexy" paradigm. Comparing the figure to the concept art, you can see that the whole hip area was meant to be a bit tighter overall.
The black joints on the Hasbro version do look better.
Yeah, I never really found the IDW Arcee to be too much of a departure (though her original IDW look was a bit… shredder-y… ?). I guess Arcee has such a basic design, it doesnt' take much to embellish it… or depart from it, if you're a purist.
I find it interesting that the designer had to really sell Hasbro on the idea of a cartoon semi-accurate version. It sounds like Hasbro's in-house mandate has been to reformulate the designs as much as possible. I guess that's not so surprising though… there are only a handful of CHUG figures who really look VERY close to G1 accurate… Jazz, maybe… Cyclonus… Classics Seekers… that's about it.
zmog
Shipmeadow
d-do you know what arcee looks like in the comics?
the least G1 of her designs is the WFC/FOC body she took on cybertron
otherwise, idw arcee is just an armored G1 arcee with a heavier frame.
though as a concession, I do admit that the WFC/FOC body is my favorite and that is probably what you guys would have the most issues with
she's just looks so damn powerful and in control though!
eh, whatever, I'll try to see if I can modify generations arcee to look like current comic arcee. enjoy your hartman hipped compassionate valkyrie.
SPLIT LIP
Then again, it's still based directly on the original animation model's design. Yeah I had to look it up to be sure, but she had a 'navel' as well.
G1 Arcee was absolutely sexualized, abeit to 80's standards.
The lack of giagantic protruding ass and deformed spine is pretty toned down.
The hips though is the fact that her thighs are the rear fenders, and sit on a double-joint. The Hasbro's use of black helps tone it down, but compared to the control art the specific shape of the large hips seems mostly a by-product of transformation.
Feralstorm
I sure as hell won't be condemning anything before I get my hands on that supple pink … plastic.
I'm not even gonna be too hard on that perky control art – it's just following in the footsteps of much of the Arcee artwork from Studio OX, which pioneered the high-heeled feet and the curiously shapely slab-torso. I'll just be glad Takara's artist(s) stopped short of having hair flowing out from under the helmet. (that was only in SOME Studio OX art though, honestly)
Type-R
It only says Spring 2015.
[Wing_Saber-X]
@ topic on ''over sexualizing'' Arcee in the design sketches: Hey at least we managed to get a decently made Arcee right?!
SMOG
Yeah, the chest isn't as extreme as the sketches, but they have reshaped it a bit. Still, maybe it's not so blatant as the other aspects.
zmog
Primus00
Thanks. Does the picture above tell when japan will air the new cartoon? I won't call it RID b/c I don't know how to distinct the 2001 one from now.
Cal
Fuck no. I do NOT want a representation of that bloodthirsty Fury that appeared in IDW's comics. The compassionate valkyrie I remember from the cartoon is the only Arcee for me.
Cheebs
Her hips and navel are the best part!
SpinalCord
Hmmm, I remember her chest looking like the control art, but after relooking at her stock photos you're right. Her hips and naval are still ridiculous though, IMO
SMOG
Even so, I was kind of disappointed that they went with such a distinctively "organic woman" aesthetic, rather than at least hanging on to her basic geometry (such as it was). Her whole waist area is pretty "fleshy" in that sense. And with the navel too. tsk.
And even on the final Arcee toy, if you look carefully, you can see that the "shelf chest" has been deformed a bit to have more of a delineated bustline. They haven't toned down the style of those original sketches by all that much.
The end result is less overtly sexualized, but the decision to keep those organic curves is, I think, a legacy of that original "sexy Arcee" design, which seems to owe more to body paint than it does to machine aesthetics.
I agree with all this. I've never liked my Transformers to be too organically anthro'd up, but Beast Wars seemed like a special case where it became a bit more acceptable due to the organic motif running through the series.
Also agree. A G1 Arcee is long overdue. I've never really cared much for any incarnation of Arcee, but even if it's not for me, I recognize that fair is fair.
zmog
SPLIT LIP
Uh, I think you've confused things.
The actual toy of Gen Arcee is not exactly sexualized. (the midsection is a bit curvier and her thighs are a bit larger, but the thighs are larger because they're the alt mode's rear fenders) It's the CONTROL ART that's been hyper-sexualized. However, that did not make it into production, and the actual toy is fine.
REMINATOR
I totally agreed, Liam. That is one wasted page for nothing. I would've gotten some sort of satisfaction even if it just the box image pic or even just the blue leg. Instead, no effort at all from DHobby by releasing those old pics. If they have nothing on MP22, show us some other transformers for that page.
Feralstorm
This Arcee discussion is pretty funny when counterbalanced with the all the "fatty thunder-thighs" Arcee talk from earlier threads.
It is rather impressive (slash silly) how apparently sexualized the control art is. Never have I seen such a creditable attempt to add cleavage to a shelf-chest.
Autovolt 127
That's a very good point. We never did get a proper G1 Arcee toy….so its only fair that her (hopefully) first classics figure is a almost spot on representation of her old design. I do hope down the line we'll get a more IDW inspired Arcee from Hasbro.
I'm surprised that they're already giving a RID a Japanese dub so soon. I wonder if they will dub each season as its airing in English?
Here's what I think could work for a seiyu cast for RID.
Bumblebee – Daisuke Namikawa or Mamoru Miyano
Sideswipe – Nobutushi Canna or Masaya Matsukaze
Strongarm – Emi Shinohara or Ami Koshimizu
Fixit – Kappei Yamaguchi, Koki Miyata or Yasahiro Takato
Grimlock – Tetsu Inada or Kazuya Nakai
SPLIT LIP
To be fair, the finished toy is not nearly as grossly over-sexualised, and is a much more "realistic" and reserved "sexy" figure, so clearly somewhere on the production line someone pointed out how dumb it was to have, like, the mahoosive jutting-ass, perma-bent spine and warped car-front boobs.
No kidding. Where's my man meat?
That's another reason why I like Beast Wars. Most of the guys were "built" with the same level of pronounced anatomy as girls typically get in the name of looking badass and tough. There were more ripped dudes than curvacious babes. So when the boobafied Blackarachnia showed up she wasn't nearly as jarring as, say, the totally humanized and super-model-with-car-parts-on-them G1 Fembots typically looked next to their boxy and anatomy-vague male counterparts. (and then later in BW Airazor wasn't even boobified at all, looking far more reserved with a more pectoral-bust and less hour-glass figure)
Basically we need more girls with different body shapes than "hour-glass model."
EDIT: Also, on the topic of IDW vs. G1, this is the first proper G1 Arcee ever. I think it's perfectly fine that it's sunbow-based. The IDW character has never had much following from what I can tell. G1 fans meanwhile have had an Arcee-sized hole in their collections for 28 years, it's good that it's finally being filled by a good figure.