dont. Like ever.

 

Ah, this must be the beginning of the Wreckers. Kup, Voltron, Strongarm, Springer...

 

Strongarm is in like three panels with no dialogue, yet she seems to be the highlight of this preview.

 

WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BOY'S FACE???

 

More talking. Wee!

 

A couple of theories:

Hasbro has exerted more control over this comic than in the past. The mandate may well be that if there's no new toys out, use an old toy design. The side effect would presumably be to help advertise older toys, possibly clear out existing stock at e-tailers/other outlets and reinforce the brand.

If you don't follow the 3rd party scene, MMC and Iron Factory have made a killing off of IDW designs offered by Milne and other artists who went a bit off the rails when it came to character designs. There's a thought that rather than give 3P more ammunition, Hasbro would prefer the only transformers toys getting sold is their toys, even if it's aftermarket. Again, Hasbro wants to reinforce the brand and its products as opposed to lining the pockets of a bunch of Chinese dudes.

Falling in line with concepts like "evergreen" designs, Hasbro may simply want to consolidate and make their characters readily identifiable. By Hasbro's mandate that an artist stick to the most relevant design available, a person can pick up a book and go "hey, it's [character]". This is opposed to having to deal with whatever artist's iteration of Rodimus Prime is. A new reader might have a hard time associating the artist's Original Design versus the OG - Hasbro once again has an interest in promulgating brand recognition:

 

Yay, Flak is full size (not Micromaster) as I've always wanted for the Battle Patrol team.

Excellent.

 

Yes, Strongarm is here. 

 

Ruckus\'s design is based on TFCC Ruckus, who is a redeco of CW Offroad.

 

Gimme Strongarm. Just don't change her characterisation much. Let her be naive and idealist the way she was.

 

I know i can't just put any SUV bot beside a hound mold and expect it to work but... I just did.

 

If they do that remold she better have a damn nose.

 

I dunno about that. I understand where you're coming from, but Strongarm came from a series where there where no noses so giving her one would seem, "off". Sort like, she was designed with a flat face in mind and putting a nose on it would get some getting use to.

 

Maybe they could "cheat" it by having her helmet come further down, forming the general shape of a nose without actually giving her one?

On the other hand, Strongarm appears to actually have a nose in these panels, so it'd be weird to just not give her one on a toy.

 

Small nose, pronounced jawline. She has a normal face with nose on this art and still looks like herself.

 

Yeah, she's also still got bulk on her.

 

More Strongarm and Kup is never a bad thing.

 

Can someone wake me when this gets interesting.

 

Okay, so that combined with the size of Whisper and Storm Cloud in an earlier issue makes me think that the 'bots who end up as Micromasters didn't start off that way, and end up either being 'micronized' somehow, Zentraedi-style, or rebuilt into smaller bodies. (The former seems more likely to me somehow). It's good to know the earlier appearance of 'micromasters' who were normal sized is actually a plot point rather than an error.