Do you think transformer designs should be more alien like?

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by Desacrator, Sep 18, 2020.

  1. Nova Maximus

    Nova Maximus Well-Known Member

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    I'm all for new takes on the designs of old characters, I just think they shouldn't become so 'alien" that they straw too far away from their original that their unrecognizable.
    Prime form the first 3 movies I think is a good example of a good updated take on his design, while Starscream isn't.
    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Or take Don Figueroa's Megatron Bomber design from IDW. It's one of my favorite Megatron designs despite it looking very different from his original design and having an all black color scheme.
    Mrgatest2.png Mrgatest.png

    I grew up with the movies as well, and I like most of the first trilogy movie designs like, just then they made the Decepticons more incectoid and alien than the Autobots, despite the fact they're the same race. I'd say if you want to make them more alien go all the way and do all of them like it, not just some of them.
     
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  2. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    No. Bayformers are really the odd part of the franchise as they look too different from Transformers.
     
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  3. daniel 97

    daniel 97 Autobots' second in command

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    For me personally the Bayverse designs are much more interesting. The ones from Bumblebee just look silly to me. Way too cartoonish! Not a fan of the blocky design and I don't care if that's what G1 fans like. I'm not a G1 fan. I believe a mixture of both styles would work well. Perhaps a design that shares the simplicity of G1 for bigger areas/surfaces of the body and a more detailed/complex/skeletal view on parts like hands, necks, faces, fingers, intra abdominal areas and stuff like this.
    This comes in mind.
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. Desacrator

    Desacrator Well-Known Member

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    Nice
     
  5. Magnum Dongus

    Magnum Dongus @DiddlyDipstick on Twitter

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    I really want to see Megatron with a Marvel black helmet like in that second picture in the next live action appearance he has
     
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  6. TheDude810

    TheDude810 I have an unhealthy obsession with the RotF Game

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    I really loved the level of ingenuity and creativity that came from the more “alien” designs in the films. The Constructicons come to mind as being some of my favorites. Each one has a stand out body type and silhouette that makes them unique.
    upload_2020-9-19_16-1-39.jpeg

    Satellite Soundwave was also one of the coolest Soundwave designs we have ever gotten and it’s honestly a huge wasted opportunity that they didn’t use it more. upload_2020-9-19_16-8-29.jpeg

    Now, on the topic of if the designs in the new films should be more alien or abstract, I think it can work BUT it really depends on what character it is. The previous movieverse went kind of ham on the whole alien aesthetic, and while that was cool, this new universe seems to be more compliant with traditional Transformers, so I don’t think someone like Ultra Magnus would really work as well as looking super alien.

    For characters that could work, I could see Rack n’ Ruin rocking the movieverse aesthetic. Same for Waspinator and Blackarachnia. With these guys, they either don’t comply with the standard body type, or are very animalistic and insect like, which is something the alien designs do very well.


    That’s fucking awesome.
     
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  7. Nova Maximus

    Nova Maximus Well-Known Member

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    Favorite thing about that design is that he comes with a tank tread cape.
    788EA88E-9A77-4D55-8377-7F52F028AE34.jpeg
    The Optimus designed to go with this guy I think looks good to.
    3AEFEFC0-974C-4E78-8DB3-419674B0B723.jpeg
     
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  8. Revoticus

    Revoticus Splitting headache

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    I like a mix of both. Have some robots look alien like(Rampage & Demolishor), animal like (Ravage & Laserbeak), in between (Scrapper & Mixmaster) and have some more human like (Sentinel & Optimus).
     
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  9. Moy

    Moy Constructicons!

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    Yes I do. A few at least. What TF1 did with the protoforms was a good start.
     
  10. GeoSociety

    GeoSociety Quit

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    I don't mind the alien-ness to the point after 2007 and ROTF. Stuff like the Speaker mouths or Overload's spider legs think is fine. Stuff like the Dread's dreadlocks I don't think isn't so great because it looked weird.
    The BB Seeker designs, Shatter, Dropkick, Prime, and BB? Hell yeah.

    Shockwave, Soundwave, Wheeljack, Ironhide, and Ratchet being obvious bulgy placeholder designs with gorilla proportions? No thanks.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2020
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  11. tfgato

    tfgato Felinecon

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    I grew up with G1 but I wasn't very fond of its designs, specially the Autobots, most looked extremely simple and generic, liked more the Decepticons as they were more varied, when Bayverse came the designs looked better to me but now were very messy when transforming, the alien designs like Reedman and Scalpel's assistant were OK, the aliens like the Bikebots, Devastator and Devcon were not OK, they were stupid IMO, their design should have been more practical, particularly for Devastator and Devcon doesn't make sense to transform into something with less mobility and less firepower. As for the Knightverse, I think they nailed it with some of the designs in Bumblebee.
     
  12. Dinobot Snarl

    Dinobot Snarl Well-Known Member

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    Hate bays designs, I'd you're going for realistic than the anatomy of the Transformers should have some commonalities with each other, not just random metal shrapnel monsters.
     
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  13. Novaburnhilde

    Novaburnhilde Destron Enforcer

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    The thing about the term "alien" is that it's kind of arbitrary because aliens in fiction could look like anything. They don't have to exclusively look like what TV Tropes describes as "Starfish Aliens" to be more 'realistic' or more alien...y than the others. I think more bizarre anatomy would fit the Quintessons more.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG][​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  14. daniel 97

    daniel 97 Autobots' second in command

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    Yeah totally agree. I'd love to see all the other character done in that style.
     
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  15. Honorbound

    Honorbound Taking a break.

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    I'm all for making the Transformers, mainly the Decepticons, more inhuman in design. To me, it all depends on the execution. Most of the Constructicons were neat designs, while Starscream's design would have been better suited for a big bruiser like Ramjet or Lugnut, with requisite head redesign. I think that Starscream could have kept the digitigrade legs, gained a pair of wings that could turn into extra arms, and the question of vehicle mass would have been solved.
     
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  16. QLRformer

    QLRformer Seeker

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    I don't mind seeing more unconventional robot designs, as long as they show off character and the designs legitimately incorporate kibble. The AOE/TLK designs were too much a departure from the normal style for me through completely excluding decent transformations.

    In fact unusual mech designs are coming into vogue in recent years, with the examples below:

    [​IMG]
    EQUUS - a centaur robot mech from the anime CONCRETE REVOLUTIO


    HENKEI SHOJO - Transformer girls.

    [​IMG]
    PROMARE - Japanese firefighter mech.
     
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  17. TheDude810

    TheDude810 I have an unhealthy obsession with the RotF Game

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    Yes, I completely agree with this. Having stuff like Rampage’s treads become whips and Mixmaster’s drum turn into shields was some really cool integration.
     
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  18. Desacrator

    Desacrator Well-Known Member

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    Ive tried to watch g1 but I've only watched 2 episodes because trying to find the rest of the episodes on the internet is a pain. yes i know i can skip episodes but it takes the fun out of the build up and I wanna watch it all in order. what i can tell from my research is that it is messy in a way i mean a lot of characters appeared out of nowhere and in the background a lot... the last thing i can remember is Optimus prime in truck mode rolling down a cliff because a bomb blew up in a enigon mine... I think that's right? Btw was spike and his dad on a oil rig? I can't tell what the he'll they where on

    G1 6/10 (so far)
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2020
  19. Chainlink

    Chainlink No real than you are

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    While I prefer the cleaner silhouettes from BB, I really like the more unconventional designs from the Bay movies. If they can somehow blend those two together, it'd be perfect.

    Stuff like Mixmaster's drum shields, Rampage's tread whips, Bonecrusher and Sideswipe's wheel feet, and Scavenger's entire design were super cool. I love that level of creativity. Always adhering to the G1 source material just gets boring. So I guess what I want to see more than anything is more creative freedom.

    Also, side note: I find the more radical designs to add a bit of world building to the characters. Like, pre-war I don't think characters like Rampage or Scavenger would've looked like they did in the movies. But after countless years of war, I could imagine some of them would opt to alter their forms to be more suited for combat or a preferred fighting style. So someone like Rampage would just have been more comfortable being a pogo stick with whips.
    Headcanon, sure, but it's fun to speculate.
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
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  20. Desacrator

    Desacrator Well-Known Member

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    Some badass concept art ben_procter_rotf_20.jpg Josh_Izzi_03.jpg 42bcf26198299a9133419d54f9bff211.jpg tumblr_nlp857v5q81sp8yqvo1_1280.jpg c2e6109e53b7112dc24f8c40e3ce08ba.jpg
    Im not sure if Bruticus is a concept art? But still cool looking design
     
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