Okay, so it's been two weeks and I promised to answer some questions about Nickel. So here goes.
I wrote #39 thinking that Alex would be drawing it.
I write *every* issue thinking Alex will be drawing it. When we have a guest artist, it's usually decided once the script has been handed in
Before writing #39 I already had in my mind a very specific 'look' for Nickel: she was to be an androgynous Minibot with a retro, '50s vibe.
I wanted more female TFs in MTMTE and I in particular wanted a female Decepticon, so... Nickel. #NoBrainer
The 50s retro vibe is evident, I think, in the head design. She turns into a rocket/car which looks '50s Cold War'. You'll see it eventually. When you see Nickel again she might be a different color, or have highlights: she was originally silver and chrome, per the retro look. In the script (written with Alex in mind), in addition to the aforementioned design cues, I asked for lightbulb fingertips and a rocket pack. Ultimately it was Hayato Sakamoto who was given #39 to draw. He sketched 3 versions of Nickel, all excellent. I chose elements of each.
Until #39, all you'd seen, very deliberately, was the 'front facing' DJD. As readers, you knew them principally by their reputation. Where was I? Right, the DJD. Prior to #39 you knew them by their reputation + when you saw them in action, it was through the eyes of others. I didn't want to show any behind-the-scenes stuff until #39, the 'Spotlight: Tarn' issue. The intention was always to build to a contrast between the 'outward' and 'inward' DJD. The DJD were never going to be utterly murderous, terrifying, super-evil monsters 24/7, because who is like that, really? But given that, as readers, you weren't afforded a privileged 'off-stage' glimpse into their lives until #39, but instead saw them as the 'in universe' characters did, of course based on the info given you're gonna assume they're 100% awful - everyone 'in universe' does.
None of which is to say that the DJD *aren't* truly appalling creatures. They are! The things they do are AWFUL. Is that incompatible with their behaviour towards each other when in private? In my mind, no. Was #39 my attempt to belatedly 'humanise' the DJD because I'd made them TOO awful? No. But it was about making them less 1D, albeit that for plot purposes to date, 1D is what they needed to be.
NB: Not One Direction.
Do I think Nickel is cute? No. She's a foul-mouthed and quite possibly traumatised genocide survivor who facilitates torture and death. Do I object to people finding her cute? Course not. What you think of her is up to you!