Thanks I agree. The eye shape is directly taken from the cartoon references.


There should be lines, but it is ultimately up to @Iron Star. I will say this tho, I caution people on messaging him too much. I don't do it very often. He was very nice and very cool back before we got the 2nd Head Sculpt for TE01, and he was working out the kinks..



I had sent him this digibash before we got the final proto-headsculpt above.

Which was the MP44 head on his TE01 V1 body.. Not saying I had anything to do with it or the final product, but he did respond when I sent the digi, so he did see it, and liked how it looked. So, I caution people to rarely send him a message like that, just because I don't want to have him bothered, or inundated with requests and suggestions. Off and on, some helpful requests is fine. but let's not piss him off. He's a great guy, and an excellent sculptor and designer, and I want to make sure he stays in TE and keeps working for us fans on fantastic sculpts like he did here with Mirage. So my caution to people sending him messages is to keep it short, sweet, and not too frequent.
He's really a great person. Let's not annoy him.

 

Yeah this face looks like Mirage to me, the lines might be a bit thick making it look like death stranding tears but I think the eye shape and lines make it work

 

Are these “lines” meant to be literal, or to define the shape of his face? I don’t see them as “lines” any more than Optimus is supposed to have a “line” down the middle of his mask. Is mirage supposed to have lines under his chin and around that goatee thing? We don’t draw lines all over Megatron’s face... perhaps it’s because they’re not meant to be “lines”, but to indicate the chiseling.
Starscream is drawn with them... bumblebee is drawn with them...





It looks okay I guess, but personally, when we start doing this...

... it just starts to remind me of this. Maybe just me though.

 

I actually like the initial head sculpt, the longer, leaner face is in keeping with the lean proportions of the body. Like a modernized, more mature and veteran Mirage. If Ironstar does change the headsculpt, I hope TE offers both heads.

This Mirage will be competing against Jazz as Prime's new Lieutenant in my headcanon.

 

Looks great TE and digibashers! Well done!

Please hide those shoulder screws tho. That looks terrible. Otherwise can’t friggin wait.

 

Yea, I personally liked the way this designer had the head originally. I was trying to take his vision and make it closer to the toon with the least changes possible.

Edit: no one even talked about my awesome new chrome digi technique or how I tried to make it look like it was really a painted prototype, just the face lines. Now I got those tears running down my face just like other edit lol

 

This is kind of where I'm coming from. It looks way too defined when they're painted in like that. Clearly, the cartoon was simply trying to indicate the shape of the face, and hard lines was the only way to do it. So long as the shape of the face isn't too soft, I think he'll work just fine without them painted in like that, or really deeply cut into the plastic

On some characters, that works even if it's not what it was meant to be. But I like Mirage's face as we see in the test shot.

 

I think it looks great when it’s sculpted into the face like Takara’s been doing with the toon accurate characters like bumblebee, Grapple etc. They don’t add borderlands style painted lines, they just add shape and definition to the faces

 

Yup this.

Needs deeper indents just like all of these.

 

Yea. I prefer the face cut lines. Just feels more artificial as a robot in disguise should. A marionette look, as opposed to smoothed out human. Some hard lines work for cuts into the face, others like Optimus and Megatron don't. For me. The cut lines, and larger superman style logo eyes for Mirage work better, and more in line with his cartoon profile and edges of the body. Shorten the chin a bit, resculpt the eyes, and add in the lines, and you've got the best damn cartoon Mirage Transformer on the market.

 

I've been re watching the G1 cartoon. It's surprising how many bots actually had the cutlines on their faces.

 

Sometimes I remember why I stopped coming on this forum for a long time. No lines is fine, lines are also fine. The line is supposed to represent two flat planes meeting together, like the welded together pieces of metal, you know, cause they are made out of metal. To me the indent is just useful to make the line stand out more since it can be hard to make the line that sharp on a figure. Both are good. I think saying "there should be an indented line" is incorrect. I think either is fine. Love how indented lines look on grapple, but the new Bumblebee face looks worse than the first imo.

 

Well to be honest, I think you should still come to this forum, even if you disagree with others statements. It's opinions that make life so interesting and full of diverse views, which if everyone agreed with everyone, would be boring to say the least.
Anyhow, on Bumblebee, in G1 he always had a weird face to me.




I do like the angles on this figure's head, it looks about like what I was trying to do with the digibash I did on the face for TE Mirage. It's quite right if you ask me. I love the angle on the cheeks, if @Iron Star does do a resculpt, I hope he gets that angle that grapple has. It certainly looks about like it should for Mirage.

 

That last Grapple shot looks straight out of Master Builders.

 

And that's where we all have different opinions. V2 Bumblebee face looks far superior to me so would love to see those deeper indents on this too.

Differences of opinion shouldn't stop you wanting to visit though, it'd be a boring world if we all thought the same and liked the same thing.

 

I think most of the lines are meant to define angles, mainly because they're not on the Official toys. Some figures are supposed to have panel lines on their faces, while others just have angles that are hard to translate in animation of the '80s. If he has panel lines or not, I think this Mirage sculpt looks fantastic and I'm fully in for at least one figure, probably the re-decos as well.

 

Its not the difference of opinion that bugs me. Its like the hyper focus on small things that don't seem to really matter that much. Or being overly negative about certain things.

 

Yea, but to me it's all in jest. I mean, we all get hyper critical of these things as consumers who spend our money on them. We may disagree, and argue over them, but ultimately it's not serious. I mean, we are all fans of Transformers, and there are so many of us, it's not even funny. This is probably the biggest and most diverse and expansive fandom I have ever been a part of. Transformers collecting is big money, I mean there has never been a time in my life I could think of that has ever been this expansive and there are so many products to like and not like, it's just, just, just an amazing time!! I think of you as a friend, tho I barely know you. But I know you share the same passion, and in that I feel like you're a brother in spirit, and I don't know, maybe it's the holiday spirit taking hold of me right now, or the Yeungling, but I really am glad you are here and part of this discussion and forums. No matter what we agree or disagree on in the future, I feel like It's better to have you here, then not. FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL The LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! LOL

 

To be honest, it needs work. When you use curves in Photoshop to create the chrome effect, you need to do it on a separate adjustment layer and set its blend type to luminosity so you don't get that weird rainbow effect (though you can also do it directly to the layer and then change the blend mode on the edit if you prefer - personally I try to make as many of my edits reversible or tweakable as possible so I'll always use a separate layer when possible)

Yech! No! The two faces on the left look fine but the two on the right look completely wrong. Er, I mean that's my opinion or whatever I guess, but y'know, I'm also right.

 

I don't think what we saw in the G1 toons were actually lines in the face. More like, changes in the level of the surface of the face to represent a more 3D look. Similar to how the toon and comics have lines to represent lips, chin dimples, cheek bones, ear details, etc on humans. Drawings (unlike real life) can't really highlight those features without using hard lines.