Thing is, the Transformers are aliens. always have been since day 1. The latter two examples are supposed to look like things from Earth (turtles and cats). The TFs come from Cybertron, so if the Cybertronian look ain't nothing like the Earth look, so be it.ViperEye82 wrote:And I'm saying they're Transformers. If I want an outside of the box ET film, I'll watch Prometheus again (but I won't). Transformers should look like transformers, tmnt should look like turtles, thundercats should look...well you get it. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying fans might have enjoyed the characters more if they were recognizable as robots, not monsters.
This kind of thing works in live action form since a look more like the blocky G1 look or any other non-Movieverse seires look would make them look more like giant toy robots, or even Megazords (mostly referring to the singular unit, non-combining ones), rather than technological lifeforms.
It's kinda like how a real life human looks far more detailed and alive than a cartoon character design run through the most advanced CG render to make it look realistically three-dimensional with still having that smooth, undetailed cartoony look. Think like in those live action Looney Tunes movies in which the characters look really there, but don't look "real" themeselves, if you get my drift.
Now, I will agree that the movie designs do look a bit overdetailed with too many panels and wires and such, though a more compromised design aesthetic that might work in live action while being more easy on the eyes would be the video game designs from WFC/FOC. Those look reasitica enough without being too jarring, and enough like the typicl Transformers designs without looking too much like giant-sized children's play things.