MP Hotrod? Are you including MP-9? If not, MP Hotrodimus ver 2 just had some Sunbow colors applied together with the targetmaster from the MP9 Hb version which was more like a downgrade.
Hm. Even if it ends up basically being an optical illusion in the end, I'm betting Arcee would look a lot better if the bottom half of that long white collar were painted pink to blend in with the rest of the chestplate color. Then the remainder of the white collar would look normal instead of elongated. I wouldn't mind a reprolabel or something to address it.
I see that. But I wish it was more like that. The colouring between the eyes and face has to be distinct but similar in shading. And blue and pink under red is a bit hard to do such. As opposed to humans having generally similar colours and tones across our own face.
Well that's an expected disappointment. I really can't get my head around why they saw fit to place the chest as low/make the neck and collar so pronounced/long? or go with such a long and pointy headscupt? The proportions are just ugly and IMO wrong. I'm sure some mental gymnastics can be done to say it's show accurate but it doesn't make it look any less unappealing.
Well the new scans confirm some peoples worst fears, too many compromised design elements here for me. Why does a shell former have so many inaccuracies in what is supposed to be a new slavish toon direction? This figure is pure fetishized garbage on the part of the designers. Poor form Takara.
Hmm, although I'll almost certainly end up buying this, I'm very much on the fence about some of the aesthetic decisions - especially the face, which should be rounder and younger. And I really hate that Takara is using the "come hither" pose in magazine photography; it's just depressing. On a related note, there's been quite a bit of talk about Arcee's proportions, in particular the long neck and "low-slung" bosom (a debate I really don't want to get into ), so I figured I'd trace over the latest magazine picture following the human contours of the neutral pose, to see how the proportions look when divorced from all the mech detail. What you end up with is a very athletic figure, something more like the stylised women from a superhero comic (Wonder Woman, perhaps) than a real woman. The neck is a little on the long side, but not entirely alien, and the hands are definitely large, but the bosom is actually not low at all - that is presumably an optical illusion created by the too-low collar (wait, I said I didn't want to get into that debate...). Anyway, I figured this might be interesting for those discussing the proportions, as it does show that they are not bad for a superhero-style figure - of course, whether Arcee should be built like a superhero is another matter. The proportions are at least better than MP-28's - I did a trace of his proportions some time ago (I can't find the picture now) which resulted in a very beefy torso on stick legs. (Mods, I hope this is okay - I tried protecting her modesty a little more by adding leggings and covering the midriff, but that didn't fit the shapes of Takara's figure.)
It isn't necessary that the chest is low, it's that is looks inaccurate/crap. The 'peak' or furthest point from the body is roughly in the right place but the upper slope is too severe and ends below the shoulder rather than at them. this isn't accurare the the show or (imo) visually appealing, it just looks weird and not like the Arcee we know and love. Arcee should be 'built' or proportioned like Arcee, especially in a line that seems to pride itself in show accuracy... at best this makes TT look unfocused in design aesthetic for the line.
Exactly right Booster, and Ambitron thank you for your work as always, you highlight my exact problems with this figure, its way too human-like and not Arcee, who should be much more robot like with vague human female traits. The neck, chest, hips, waist and upper legs in particular are very off and too "real woman" to be toon accurate.
Pretty much this. I just came from the magazine scan and people are getting ramped up about the proportions. Comparing this Arcee to Earthrise is useless. The chest becomes the hood, which determined the ultimate design of the upper body. If Arcee had a faux chest, this design may be different, but there needs to be enough clearance for the arm articulation. I think the real problem is that we’re looking at this from a man’s viewpoint. We need women to educate us on why Arcee’s chest is in the position its in and does it make sense in relation to her arm articulation.
Too 'unreal' woman you mean Arcee just wasn't this cheesecake in the show, she was far more slim and athletic in proportions... she wasn't built like Wonder Woman.
I dont know, the MP Arcee looks like a dead ringer for Sigourney Weaver in "Alien" if you ask me, I would bet money the designer is a fan. Either way, its not how Arcee should look in the MP line at all. There is simply no anime basis for this design.
The face. What the fuck? Your sketch over it, in the middle, makes it look good! I can't believe that removing the line details gives the odd thing we're getting... But I think you have nailed it. Everything is too human in shape. She's a robot, not the girl next door. I think I've decided what my issue really is with this figure. It's that I'm disappointed with TT for openly speaking about moving to toon accuracy and then breaking any and all rules they've set since MP01, because "waifu". By all means make your waifu version, but not at the expense of a legit entry in the toon aesthetic sphere. It just makes no sense to develop a figure that is such a departure from the line's current blueprint
The line work looks ok... unfortunately the lineart doesn't translate into three dimensional form well and it's still inaccurate to ANY source material.
I think you nailed it. I had a feeling that they were adhering to more human proportions, and your line art captured it perfectly.
I think if you take the collar of the shirt away, her neck will look an awful lot more alien. Not Kaminoan, but still really long and thin. It's just too high up and creates all sorts of perspective problems with the chest.
Well I never! With that hair and those legs, she can only be... MP-51 is... the strongest woman in the world... Chun Li!! Chun Li wearing bear gloves.
