Or "Well this wasn't good, but man I bet the chef is a real nice guy / is one of us / just cooking in his own personal style." If I was charging money for something that did not live up to expected standards, I'd imagine you would all criticise my work as well. That's just how it is.
See that's dynamic. (well, except Dinobot's weird pose that almost looks taken from a different angle) The designs may be simple, but they're expressive, there's a fantastic sense of depth and energy, and it's not a flat angle. I do wonder what Cheetor's standing on... or what that spike next to Primal's knee is supposed to be.
The sheer sense of speed this cover gives off is great with the vehicle Rhinox is driving kicking up a massive cloud of dust behind it. For all that people rag on Malkova's style, this is proof that she can churn out something great when she's given enough time to let it cook. The colors especially pop, like she really took the time to emulate Josh at his best. The only thing that feels particularly off to me is, like SPLIT said, Dinobot's pose. It works for the character, but it feels awkward compared to the more dynamic poses of the other characters and runs counter to the sense of speed and urgency the cover otherwise gives off. Also, I just noticed that Primal was given kind of a hilt-guard to his sword. It's something he's never had before, but it looks pretty neat so I'm not going to complain about the artistic liberty Malkova took there.
My . I'm not really the type of person to mind the art direction (creative freedom!). I'm perfectly fine with cartoony designs. However, the story feels a lot like retelling/rethreading of the original Beast Wars show, but with Nyx at the center (Nyx being captured by Tarantulas reminded me of the same set-up, but with Cheetor). It probably works for most people, but from the perspective of a fan of the original show it's a little repetitive.
But his robot head is his real head, clearly different from his beast mode head. He swaps one pair of hands for functionally identical ones. It just seems like such a random change when nothing else about his design has been altered.
They're his "real hands" too? I mainly did it for a splash of color, I like the added red the fingers bring and its a little nod/call/link to his Transmetal design with its flip-around hands. Basically I just wanted to, haha. I dunno. I never imagined it'd be so sacrilegious but here we are.
I mean, it's not "sacrilegious," no need to over-inflate a simple observation. Just something odd I noticed, and I figured it was just your flair but then it showed up under another artist. Speaking of, funny how they kept Primal's hands but couldn't keep Dinobot's wounds consistent.
Tone gets lost, I'll admit, but I've seen a lot people actively looking for even the smallest things to criticize to prove their dislike for the issues I've worked on. *Shrug* But I make my tweaks where I can get away with them while still satisfying the need for them to overall resemble their season 1 designs. As for dinobot, Winston actually drew him battle scarred in 7 before I finished issue 6 so there were bound to be some inconsistencies. I did my best to bring over some of the slashes in his arms and his side and incorporate them into what I was doing but any other differences can be chalked up to "time has passed and some wounds have healed better than others"
Josh I just want to see your takes on the beast warriors as they appear. Also I forget where it is but someone had a brilliant take on a side-story based on Tigatron that I'm bummed won't happen
This is something I've come to appreciate a lot more on my current rewatch. Even Scorponok, the bittest of bit players, has shades and layers to his character. He pretty much only acts as a plot device for things like the cyberbee or as a goon, but the writers went out of their way to flesh him out anyway.
Ohhhh, of course. It's a Beast Machines comic book: None of the characters act like themselves It's slow and boring The designs are strange A god-like force is introduced in the first episode Rhinox turns out to be a bad guy An annoying bat character has been introduced for no reason That explains why it sucks. It all makes sense now.
And see, that's why the introduction of Skold confuses me. As Necromaster (or was it Coffee?) pointed out a while back, the idea of Skold being loyal due to her insecurities despite the abuse and mistreatment from Megatron would be a great character arch... for Scorponok, who was already a sniveling, grovelling lackey despite his moderate technical know-how. He was clearly not a complete oaf, but when pressured he would break down, start stuttering or talking like a dullard, and fumble basic tasks. (usually if Megatron wasn't around) It wasn't deep, but it was an internal mechanic of the character, and would've worked perfectly for what Skold has been thus far. There really didn't need to be a new character created when one of the existing characters would've worked just fine. Instead Scorponok is now just a goon again, except without the neurotic behaviour. It just confuses me. They've increased each team by one, yet still don't have the time/material to develop even half of them over seven issues. I wasn't planning to but now I'm on blast guess I gotta. Nah, if it was, it'd be good. Or at the very least entertaining. In Beast Machines the characters were pressured into new roles and situations and only barely managed to not crack under pressure. (some even did) In this book everyone just acts odd for no tangible reason. Cheetor, for example, grew out of his youthful impetuousness by the time BM rolled around and continued to mature into a more leader-like role. In this book Cheetor does nothing for six issues, then tells us his personality instead of having one. In BM the characters were massively outmatched and forced to keep relocating because the entire planet was swarming with attack drones. In this book both armies are "comfortably" marooned yet neither army seems especially eager to do much, with even the threat of Energon radiation being virtually non-existent. No desperate quest to merely survive, no attempts to seek out and eliminate the opposition. The Predacons launched one really poorly planned assault that accomplished nothing and Nyx got lost for an issue. Wheee. At least in BM they were attempting to visualize a concept which formed the backbone of the show's purpose. The designs were quite literally the blueprint for the heroes' own goals. And in BM drives the entire plot practically episode-to-episode, unlike the Vok here which show up for no reason, do nothing, and have been completely ignored since. Rhinox was reprogrammed in BM, here he's just kind of a bitch making catty remarks for no reason. Perhaps he's merely playing devil's advocate, but his choice of words and body language convey a sense of irritation and belittling, like the other characters are just too stupid to see his point of view. If this is working towards Rhinox turning bad it's incredibly forced. Well shit ya got me there. Seven episodes in BM had already had character-focused episodes, world-building, delved into the new mythos, and just started moving the main plot forward with Revelations Part 1. In seven issues this book has developed maybe three of its twelve characters, introduced another one, and had no movement of the main plot whatsoever. (unless you count Blackarachnia's arrival but we're not sure just how she'll effect the story and how soon) Beast Machines is way better than this book. At least Beast Machines had momentum, things happened, and it didn't waste its time and characters. Say what you will about The Weak Component, but that whole episode was development for Rattrap (which had been building since episode 1) and was a big step forward for his character in BM. Nobody has gotten anything near that in this book. Closest is Dinobot, but as I've said before his character development was practically done before the book started. His defecting was treated as a foregone conclusion by the writer, and the story reflected this. Hell, by Revelations Cheetor had already started to question Optimus and removed him from command. Every character had development and their own subplots moving and changing by the seventh outing. I know one issue isn't quite equivalent to one episode, but it's close enough and shows just how little this comic has actually achieved.
I can understand they wanted to mix things up with an additional female and an additional flyer. Should have been Sonar before she became a Transmetal. Unless Nyx somehow later becomes Onyx Primal, the black repaint of the bat Optimus Primal.
