Megatron's image was posted in this thread by Lazlow007 (YoloPark and Hasbro are giving us our first look of Megatron's design in Bumblebee), these are all the ones posted on Nizzi's Instagram.









Seeing these beautiful designs is bittersweet in some ways, given how the TF movies ultimately turned out in the end, they could've been so much better.

Remember that there was a time where people honestly (in an attempt to defend the look of the movie TF's) would argue that it was impossible to realistically render the characters from the toys or cartoon into a live action film setting?

And then literally a year after Transformers (2007) came out they released a movie adaption of Iron Man, which managed to flawlessly do what many claimed to not be possible.

 

These are neat. I wouldn't mind seeing these designs in media. Though, I think I still prefer Prime's design in Bumblebee—the head design is better on that one and I like proportions of his upper body more.

 

Utterly beautiful designs. Josh Nizzi is a fantastic artist. Not only does he work well in the Bayverse style, but he rules at realistic/3D interpretations of the G1 characters. He also did some G1-based statues a few years back (that Megatron with the tank tread cape).

I feel bittersweet about these too, but for different reasons. For me the 2007 movie is what it is. The movieverse has moved on, and the new era is looking bright. Bumblebee had some of my favorite designs in the brand. Sure, I would have preferred these back in 2007 to what we got, but I'm just happy we're getting stuff like this in the movies now. It's something to look forward to.

For me these feel bittersweet because...why the heck didn't they use designs like this in the new Netflix show? The first ever TF Netflix show is the perfect place to wow us with some awesome designs like this. Instead we get recycled CAD toy files (from what I understand, quite literally so). Not saying it literally had to be these exact designs, but something even halfway this cool would have sufficed.

 

i have the same opinion n i think what it is is that the windows are bigger on the actual bb prime so they look proportionate to truck mode, plus the general blockiness of the design makes it look less... "cheaty" than nizzi's design.

 

They're nice bits of artwork, but as designs? They're like a lot of the franchise nowadays- a stylistic filter over the exact same designs. We're reaching a point where nothing will have it's own identity, since Cyberverse Optimus, this Optimus, Bumblebee Optimus, they're all just borrowing 1984 Optimus' identity with a change in surface detail.

Basically, what will make this, or any other xeroxed Optimus design, stand out when the next 'realistic' take on a G1 cabover Optimus design comes around? Or the one after that?

 

While I get what you mean and more or less agree, the examples you listed aren't exactly great at proving the point you're trying to make.

Cyberverse is gonna be forgotten as soon as it stops airing because it accomplishes nothing, not because of its G1 inspiration, because the people working on it are lazy and incompetent. Also the one that appeared in Bumblebee was like a breath of fresh air after 6 crap films, so I feel throwing the fans a bone after all of that... business is the absolute least they can do. Even despite the room temperature takes regarding the film, the opening sequence on Cybertron is almost universally praised for actually looking like Transformers for once.

And these Statue designs were made with the intention of being as faithful as possible while also looking like they could fit in a movie setting.

Furthermore you could use this same argument with many other franchises like Batman, Spiderman, hell any franchise that has recognizable characters in it. Are we supposed to feel upset when Captain America... looks like Captain America? What's the alternative? I'm all for him having a new alt mode, new weapons and such, but he should always have similar colors and of course his personality so he at least looks like Prime, otherwise what's the point?

While the approach TF has taken for most of its history has lead to a lot of great stories and pieces of media, some... not so, it's lead to this idea the identity of this franchise is that it always changes its fundamentals. I know some geniuses are going to read this and instantly translate what I've said to mean "Omg you don't like chaaaaaange you want everything to stay the saaaame." Which isn't at all what I'm saying.

That big blocky guy with the red and blue armor holding an Ion blaster is this franchises identity, as is the silver buckethead.

 

I see you have somehow forgotten that until the last few years the "legacy of the franchise" was redesigns and new bodies for classic characters for fucking decades. G2 was already playing around with the shapes while staying recognizable. Don't be surprised that many of us are tired of this kinda crap and wish creativity was something the brand strived for again. Fucking depressing to see stuff like "10 nearly identical Optimus toys in two years". Generations Springer is on my shelf right now and I freaking wish half of the EARTHRISE line had that level of modernization and wit.

 

I always laugh when the superhero talking point is brought up. Superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man have all had the same design with some changes here and there over the last 80 years or so.

The Transformers on the other hand? Not really. In the 35 years of this brands existence, we’ve seen the Transformers go through multiple iterations and designs changes. I mean, holy shit, they even transformed into beasts, animals, and insects at one point.

If the Transformers had had an overall consistent G1 look over the past 35 years, I’d see nothing out of the ordinary of constantly rehashing those designs. However, they haven’t. Look at the images of Prime that I’ve uploaded. Sure, each design borrows the same basic design cues from G1 (the mouth plate, the horns, the helmet, the window chest, colors, etc.) but each one is different and unique from each other and G1. As @1BLD put it, putting a stylistic filter over what is essentially the same design is pretty boring. Shake it up. Give us designs the are reminiscent of the stuff seen in Animated, or Armada, or even G2.

 

They're pretty impressive looking. I can see them being used for the next TF movie in the Rebootverse.

That being said I do think these would've been more amazing if they were around a time where we weren't seeing much G1 content in the brand but as we are now they don't feel that special which shouldn't be a thing to feel at all.

 

not a great example. does captain america still have actual wings on his helmet anymore? does he wear spandex or those scalemail type things? no. he looks more like a proper soldier
and batman is always changing his costume, from black to grey to blue, with underwear or without, with spandex or armor

spiderman is a rare example of a design sticking for so long with minimal change.

That said, I don't even think these are very good examples of "realistic" g1 designs. What we saw in Bumblebee was good (and hopefully even better in a sequel with a higher budget)
but these just feel like G1 thrown through a overly lined detail filter. There's nothing to them. They don't look particularly real and they also don't look as good as the original G1 designs did, so who is this to please?

 

For the past 10 years the overall fandom wanted G1, and now thats here they don't want it.
Suck it up and deal with it.

 

Superman is the best example.

He tends to stick with the usual blue suit, with red boots and a cape. He usually also has underwear on the outside, but there are times in which he doesn't. He has had radically different looks from time to time, but will mostly be known for his normal atire.

Optimus Prime is a red and blue truck that turns into a red and blue robot. He will sometimes have white thighs, and others, silver thighs. He has has radically different looks from time to time, but will mostly be known for his normal look.

When concerning whether or not the G1 look is the best, that's up to one's opinion. Me, I think the Knightverse design is by far the bst design to have been designed. It takes his originals blueprints, and makes it more dynamic, with a body that says '"I'm a truck, that is also a super warrior."