little annoyances in Transformers art

Over the last 25 years the Transformers have appeared in media from the exquisite to the scribbled and been licensed to the responsible and the... Pat Lee. Discussion of all the branches of TF media within!

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Dead Head
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little annoyances in Transformers art

Post by Dead Head » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:07 pm

Artist niggles? I'm always bugged by:
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* Overly shrunken waists on Transformers which contrast with their broad shoulders (Dan Khanna step forward).

* Galvatron's three 'head-prongs' when they're drawn far too long. Then it just looks foolish.

* Japanese artists' tendencies to splay Optimus Prime's antennae outwards at an angle, rather than going up directly vertical.

* Overly pronounced 'chin-juts' on all Transformers. It's fine for a few for whom it's their established look (example: Scorponok and Fort Max's faces), but when they're all super-chinned wonders it starts to grate with me.

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Post by spiderfrommars » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:44 pm

* bad storytelling (I'm looking at you Pat Lee and Rob Ruffalo)

* boxy TFs (I'm looking at you Jose Delbo)

* bendy TFs (.....Dan Reed)

* general half-arsedness (Frank Springer RIP, but really, you could've tried harder)

* plagarism (John Stokes, Manny Galan, stop!)

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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:40 pm

I hate it when a TF gets hurt they bend over backwards like thier back is broken or somthing!!
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Post by anna » Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:58 pm

the neck cables in the g2 comics great read sucky art.
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Post by spiderfrommars » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:34 pm

Will Simpson giving TFs nostrils.

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Post by Autobloke » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:41 pm

What about teeth? Or tongues? Or eyelids? Or fingernails/clawed fingers? Beards?
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Post by Señior's Covenant » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:43 pm

Dreamwave.
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The "i" in "Señior" from "Señior's Covenant" is intentional and part of a stupid & cheesy inside joke from '02. Thank you for your concern.

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Post by Autobloke » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:44 pm

Señior's Covenant wrote:Dreamwave.
Hmm... original.
Although they did love their 'about to take a dump' pose, didn't they?
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Post by Señior's Covenant » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:50 pm

Autobloke wrote:
Señior's Covenant wrote:Dreamwave.
Hmm... original.
Although they did love their 'about to take a dump' pose, didn't they?
Shockwave's favorite when info-dumping coincidentally.
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The "i" in "Señior" from "Señior's Covenant" is intentional and part of a stupid & cheesy inside joke from '02. Thank you for your concern.

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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:40 pm

fingernails is cool - they are weapons and have many other manipulation uses
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Post by Stormwolf » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:50 pm

Beards make no sense, except ofcourse with Unicron and Scourge I suppose.
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Post by Señior's Covenant » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:02 pm

I always liked the metalline-"beard" look really. Distinctive.
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The "i" in "Señior" from "Señior's Covenant" is intentional and part of a stupid & cheesy inside joke from '02. Thank you for your concern.

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Post by Predabot » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:11 pm

The early, and recent use of too much toy accurate-ness. :x

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Post by Legion » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:12 pm

Dan Reed's bendy limbs...

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Post by KingMob » Wed Jun 08, 2005 7:00 pm

Seeing the internal gobbledycircuits of TF mouths, overlarge eyes and generally gaping, staring, glaikit expressions.
I'm thinking Will Simpson here.

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Post by Autobloke » Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:43 pm

Stormwolf wrote:Beards make no sense, except ofcourse with Unicron and Scourge I suppose.
Why does it make sense for them and not others?
And I still think fingernails on TFs are dumb. Big-ass claws yes, but not something that looks like they need to visit a nailbar. NAILBAR!
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:06 pm

KingMob wrote:Seeing the internal gobbledycircuits of TF mouths, overlarge eyes and generally gaping, staring, glaikit expressions.
I'm thinking Will Simpson here.
I get nostalgic for Will Simpson though, especially his Jetfire. It just looks...right...

And I notice a lot of Reed-haters out there. I dunno, his stuff has soooo grown on me.
I would have waited a ******* eternity for this!!!!
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Post by Stormwolf » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:19 pm

Autobloke wrote:
Stormwolf wrote:Beards make no sense, except ofcourse with Unicron and Scourge I suppose.
Why does it make sense for them and not others?
Unicron already had a beard while he was still in his energy form, this was clearly seen in legacy of Unicron. Scourge was somewhat modeled after him.
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Post by Autobloke » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:21 pm

Right. My bad. Can I still bitch about Alpha Trion's beard (which seems to grow too)? Even though it's cartoon, not comic?
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Post by Guest » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:23 pm

Señior's Covenant wrote:Dreamwave.
...whose annoyance was having limitations imposed upon then to try and make each booklet have something resembling a plot, and covering up their self-proclaimed 'fantastic' art with speech bubbles and caption boxes.

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Post by KingMob » Thu Jun 09, 2005 6:39 am

^Good call. Poor layouts and speech-boxes superglued all over artwork is a notable issue, as that's not down to taste - it's a straightforward sign of bad work.

I actually like most of Will Simpson's stuff, it's really dynamic and energetic...just some of his detailing rubs me up the wrong way. And I have to say, I've always been fond of Dan Reed's stuff also...it's weird, but groovy weird.

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Post by Metal Vendetta » Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:25 am

At the time I hated it, but now having a totally different take on how to draw TFs is most certainly a good thing. And he really made them his own - the City of Fear stuff is spectacular.
I would have waited a ******* eternity for this!!!!
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Post by Stormwolf » Thu Jun 09, 2005 10:22 am

Autobloke wrote:Right. My bad. Can I still bitch about Alpha Trion's beard (which seems to grow too)? Even though it's cartoon, not comic?
Sure :)
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Post by Predabot » Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:43 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:At the time I hated it, but now having a totally different take on how to draw TFs is most certainly a good thing. And he really made them his own - the City of Fear stuff is spectacular.
I quite like it when people draw TF different, one such good example is Jae Lee. But what I don't like is when there are bad artists on Transformers, and Dan Reed (who I didn't even know the name of until now, but have read the 'work' of) is one of them.

And sorry, but no. I really can't see many things good with his work on TF, and I'm going to take a little bit of an 'Impy-stance' on this. Infact, I don't think he should have had anything to with TF in the first place.

There is a few not so harsh words I'm going to use tho. And that that he's probably very suitable to some other kind of comic, and that I don't feel he's the worst artist that's worked on TF. Lower-scrape tho.

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