The only thing which I would have liked to see in TF1 was that they kept the crest on Ratchet's head. I know Ironhide's head was completely redesigned too, but the crest was a key part to Ratchet's face.

 

I certainly did not intend to insult anyone, my apologies. The "insult" is not by virtue of a British accent as an isolated attribute, but rather to the idea of replacing the original southern-american accent of the g1 version of Ironhide.

And, as a general response to all who thought for some reason that my comparison to the lion in the Wizard of Oz was necessarily by way of his lack of courage, well, obviously not. I simply think his face looks feline.

Also, let me reiterate that yes, I am def a G1 fan (sold my RID, Armada, Energon, & Cybertron collections in their entirety after Hasbro & Takara wised up to reissues, commemoratives, masterpiece, and classics/universe), and though I understand the film is not EXACTLY G1, it is based on G1. For that matter everything Transformers is ESSENTIALLY based on G1. Outside of my extensive G1 collection, the movie figures (excluding redecos and non-existent characters) are in my view a natural extention of the original line and the films themselves excellent pieces of work overall. As a true fan I will always find something to critique, but are you kidding, I can't F'ing wait for ROTF  

Thanks to all who took the time to write out an opinion, rather than just a quick emotive.

 

What about his design? G1 Jetfire had one of the more memorable designs, (ie his giant back-engines, cockpit chest, visor, mouthplate, antennae, wings, or his commanding, tall shape) and nothing of it survived in the movie one. The new Jetfire looks a lot more fitting for say, Alpha Trion.

 

I'm just gonna say this:

GEEWHUNNER!

*Leaves*  

 

Of all of that, the only thing movie Jetfire doesn't have in any capacity is the cockpit chest, and posture.

 

You're not getting the point.

Hypothetically let's say you're aware of Transformers but have never heard or seen anything about Bayformers. You know nothing about it.

Let's say you were to see movie Prime; you would know just by looking him that he's Prime.

Bumblebee, you might guess he's Bumblebee from the yellow and black color.

Ironhide. You might assume he's Trailbreaker. You'd be wrong, but at least he looks like someone.

Starscream: What is it? Are we mixing in Beast Wars elements to the Bayformers? What's the with monkey jet? BF Starscream has little to no elements which tells the person, 'This is Starscream' The only reason why I knew he was Starscream, was because I read it somewhere. If you have to tell me who this person is, and if I have scratch my head a little and say 'Yea, I guess, but...' then you've failed in your job.

Oh and your last paragraph is irrelevant. Whatever the amount of $$ ROFL is supposed to make has nothing to do with the appearence of the chatacters in the movie.

On an added note; with the exception of Machine Wars, I can't think of a Starscream from any other TF series that didn't remind of SS.

 

Why are you so hung up on the designs when its been established that this ain't g1? His back story is the same a g1 Jetfire. In fact, only Optimus, Starscream and Soundwave have kept the same basic look throughout most of the fiction. Even Megatron has had at least a half dozen different looks. Its obvious you don't like the movie stuff, but you don't have to be obtuse.

 

Those are pretty important for his look. As for the others, I haven't seen them on his design at all, so I'm not sure what you're getting at. The JetPrime mode is a lot closer to what I'd hoped he would be like in fact.

 

Are you sure you're using the word 'obtuse' correctly?
Anyway.
Because a great deal of the designs (not all, but many) are simply bad.
I don't care if it's not G1! I don't care if Bayformers is a reimagined series. What I do care is if it's done well. I want to see a character who I can recognize. Not one I have to guess at.

Again take Starscream for example: I want to see BF Starscream and say 'That form is worthy of Starscream, that is undeniably Starscream!'
Let's look at most of every SS that has ever existed. He has mostly been colorful and let's be honest a bit flamboyant. Was BF SS colorful or flamboyant? No. He was dingy colored, rather dull, personality wise.
So I'm asking you; is the Bayformers robot mode worthy of Starscream?

Look at the Spiderman movies. Was his costume redesigned to some foreign and unrecognizable pattern just because the movie was not comic book Spiderman? No. They update his costume but kept the basic look of it because that's what people know Spiderman as.
Why is that such a difficult concept for people to understand?

 

I aint seeing it.

 

Never looked at movie Ironhide and Ratchet from that perspective. In which case it's neat that they'd actually reference Diaclone.

G1 Skyfire's robot and altmodes are heavily based on Macross. Other than that, he's best known for being stranded on Earth long before everyone else showed up, joining the Decepticons, and then switching sides. According to spoilers, movie Jetfire gets stranded on Earth, rejoins the Decepticons before switching sides. Sounds a'right.

It's kinda like asking why can't the Prince of Denmark be Latino?

I would consider myself a fan of the Tranformers, but other than a handful of G1 characters I wouldn't be able to tell which G1 Transformer is which if you take away their powers/altmodes, because I didn't find their personalities on the cartoon distinct enough to remember. I had to consult the TFWiki to find out or remember what made so-and-so tick.

Appearance-wise, I find movie Starscream's color scheme to be dull. But a red, white and blue jetfighter is going to stick out, so I'll concede to the colors they chose for him.

Movie Starscream as a scheming, conniving backstabber wasn't really properly portrayed. He needs to focus his backstabbing on someone, and the usual foil (Megatron) was a prisoner for most of the movie.

Spidey is the main guy for the Spiderman brand, so his appearance stays fairly consistent. Same for Batman.

Movie Optimus Prime arguably receives similar protection because he's the most recognizable of the Transformers.

Starscream isn't the main guy for the Transformers. Otherwise they'd put out more toys for him than Prime.

 

I have no problem if Starscreams jet mode was dull and gray, but that doesn't mean his robot mode had to be. Much of SS's robot mode could have had color reminiscent of his character.
Bottom line is; All I'm saying is that BF Starscream would have looked more interesting with a better design and a better color scheme. Because as he is now, I found him incredible boring.

SS might not be THE main guy but he's usually A main guy. And like I said before, the only other SS which didn't look anything like what SS normally does was the Machine Wars version, to the best of my recollection. And he kinda sucked.

 

Firstly people understand, what they are saying is since it isnt a redo of G1 it does not have to fit to those standards (or yours). Orci and Bay are making thier own TFverse and taking from all the incarnations. Not sure about anyone else but I'm just happy to see a live action TF film.

Secondly you can't compare Spiderman's costume to gaint robots tranforming from real vehicles to alt modes, that is comparing apples and oranges. One is a fairly basic costume the others takes weeks/months just to get a design done and they are trying to make it realistic in this universe where size and shape matter and every part has to go somewhere. Watch the extras from the first film.

Thirdly just because you say the designs are poor does not make it so. This is all subjective, its like saying a painting is "wrong" its art and there is no right way or wrong way.

Finally yes that form is fitting for SS. How many F-22's do you know that are red? Last time I checked the Airforce isn't offering thier pilots color options. And SS always thought he was the best so had to have the best and the F-22 fits him qutie nicely because of that. While a small line we still even got his sarcastic obedient nature towards Megs and finally he is extremely skilled fighter as he was in G1/armada/Cybertron....etc!

 

most people are 'aware' of transformers in that they have heard of an 80s toy line starring transforming robots, and could well have heard of optimus prime, and maybe megatron.

noone but the most hardened geek would have any idea who trailbreaker is, and the point about the money is purely that that kind of huge figure indicates an equally huge number of people seeing it, of which only a very tiny percentage would have any idea what g1 starscream looked like.

 

no, ironhide actually looks like g1 ironhide, but with a rim added to make his crest look like the top of a cowboy hat, and bull-like nose and horns added. sounds pretty appropriate.

 

Man, Soundscream was so cool. I loved how his toy turned into a working boombox.

 

While I would dismiss this as a typical Geewun thread, I do thank it for raising two fascinating points.

I love Starscream's design because it is beautiful in its own right, avian, simian, maintaining the grace of the original in a burlier design that was not allowed to dwarf Megatron and Prime.

Now I need to see those stickers...

 

starscream looked badass in the movie..i enjoyed all the robots so far...

the only one i may have a gripe with is Demolisher since there wasn't much creativity in it...the toy alone is in the Transformers Toy Hall of Shame, haha

 

I wasn't fan of movie STARSCREAM either... until I read the novelization of ROTF, he's quickly becoming my favorite decepticon in the movie, beating even G1 Starscream.

 

Why can't we just accept the fact that this is how Michael Bay & his production team envision Transformers? Not saying you have to like it, but we need to stop comparing ( Starscream doesn't look like his G1 counterpart) . There has been over 6 cartoons and countless comics that portray the transformers differently. You can't just rely on one source.