I friggin' love Bumblebee's whole design so much. I really wish we got this design back in 2007. He's just so friendly and cute looking.
I'm gonna have to completely disagree for obvious reasons. I so much prefer the the aesthetics of the bayverse designs.
Sure the bayverse face is still there but there are a lot of differences that separate this design from bayverse
Obvious reasons? I just don't think skeletal-face Bee works nearly as well. It's just too over-detailed, too hard-edged and scary. Bumblebee's, uh, Bumblebee design took the exact same intention but executed it a million times better. 07 Bee has the big round eyes, but they're so deep set and look gaunt, etc. The only aspect of BB Movie BB I don't think is superior is the battle mask, because the 07 version had a really clever design by having the helmet halves slide over the face.
The fact that he's a lot more solid, has a filled-in/non-skeletal face and limbs, and outside the head redesigns/removes a lot of the Bayverse Bee's most distinct elements like the arm shields and feet designs. The transformation is different in that he lacks the two sets of wings and also has the taillights on his ankles. Plus, y'know, there's the part where he actually scans the same alt mode TF1 Bee had and looks completely different in robot mode. Obviously the similarities are there since he was supposed to be the same character at one point, but the same could be said for, say, any two similar yet distinct iterations of a character.
Well, AoE Bee has a lot of differences than, say RotF Bee. IMO he's way more 'filled in'. I'll give you that Bee movie Bee is a little more 'filled in' than most other Bay directed versions, but to me that's about it. I still see plenty of exposed components, actual exposed engine parts, loose panels overlaying over other loose panels and wheels that hang *here* as opposed to hanging *there*. Sure, some areas, like his feet and shoulders have gone from sharp corners to being rounded out but they are still there. I guess to clarify, to me he's still plenty Bayverse aesthetic.
AOE Bee is filled in like VW Bee, but it takes a completely different direction. The pieces on VW Bee are much smaller—just look at his arm compared to AOE Bee who is littered with tiny pieces. There's nothing that is shared between AOE (or even 2007 Bee and DOTM Bee) with VW Bee. If that's not a new aesthetic, I don't know what is. Having the same aesthetic would mean having the same style which is not the case here. Like, there's no way I can look at this image and say they have the same style:
I can. I see quite a bit of visual continuity between the two. Exposed shoulder joints, rotators, etc. exposed engine parts, etc. Door wings, but one sticks out while the other lies down. But they are there. On both images the headlights become the chest, covering up the chest hood. They both have bending parts to form body. Visually the panels on the 2 bots look different because one is a VW and the others are Camaro. VW Bee is round because VW's are round. Camaro Bee is more jagged because the Camaro has more sharp corners. The 2 images look the same way to me- except one has sharper angles and the other is more rounded. If they ultimately decide to make it a prequel after all I'd have no problem associating the look of VW Bee with the rest of the Bayverse.
Your opinion. That's the only fact. I prefer the 07 version for those specific reasons. 2018 Bumblebee's face is so dense and almost chubby in a way. The eyes are just too big and destroy the aesthetics for my taste. He has a baby face. Bayverse Bumblebee on the other hand looks exactly like an insectoid alien robot which is exactly what he should be in my opinion.