The Energon Pub

Sabrblade wrote:

DarkEnergon wrote:I wonder if Derrick Wyatt and Marty Isenberg be involved?

Can they make a series that can bridge appeal across young kids, older kids and adults?

Animated and Rescue Bots had the fun factor that works for all ages, but too much of a cartoony aesthetic or intent for older kids or cynical adults.

Prime and Movieverse had the cool factor, but too violent/dark or scary-looking for moms and younger kids.

Animated did get dark at times. Lockdown, in his first appearance, was essentially an organ harvester.

He was also kind of a baby killer. How he took all those protoforms from Yoketron or however you spell his name. Also, the fact that someone died in almost every episode in season 3. Or came very close to it.

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

I was thinking he looked like something else. But I can definitely see pedophile, too.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say this is not a look at the show's art style.

Remember, it states that it's going to be 3D models on hand painted backgrounds, which is exactly what Prime was: 3D models and hand painted backgrounds and environments, not all of the environments where hand painted, but enough that it was billed as a hybrid of 3D and 2D.
Then look at that BB, it's the exact same design as Prime BB, just with a different more traditional face, and well what looks to either be simplistic hand drawn style, or ugly cell shading.

So I'm guessing, it will be the same look as Prime, with maybe a few tweaks to the faces and other minor details. But if not, I may not bother watching it.

Tiered of having to get used to new styles and directions the moment I get used to one.

Quick update yesterday's big Transformers 2015 cartoon reveal. Matthew Humphreys, who previously worked on Transformers Prime, has updated his blog with a message regarding the character designs. According to his post, yesterday's Bumblebee character reveal is not indicative of how the final designs will look. See his full statement below:

Matthew Humphreys wrote:Transformers 2015

I can’t say much because you know the reasons. But I just feel the need to say that with our new show being announced the artwork shown on various sites is NOT a good representation of what the designs look like fully fleshed out. The new show looks amazing and I’m having a ton of fun working on it and I hope everyone watches when it comes out.

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

Alright, that makes sense. Still more than a year before the series starts (assuming it starts in the fall), so they probably don't even have finalized designs yet.

Ravage XK wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

They could have animated the eyes to show emotion instead of giving them eyebrows.

SlyTF1 wrote:

Ravage XK wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

They could have animated the eyes to show emotion instead of giving them eyebrows.

Honestly, I prefer the eyebrows. If they animated the eyes to show emotion instead then it would look too much like Animated or RID (I think they did it a little bit in G1 too, but I'd have to watch it again to be sure). They did it for Beast Wars, but that was more "cartoony" than Prime was so it fit there.

I think the Movie/Prime design of Bumblebee is alright, but who else thinks it might be neat to have a Bumblebee similar to his WFC/FOC design? I really like the physics and design that the video game series has, and I think it'd be great to see it translate over to cartoon format.


Also, anyone have any story ideas? Could we see Starscream or Shockwave return?
Or how about a new villain, Galvatron? One that was never Megatron, of course.

SlyTF1 wrote:

Ravage XK wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

They could have animated the eyes to show emotion instead of giving them eyebrows.

What are you talking about? The eyes in Prime are animated. One of the biggest and most obvious animation glitches is even related to the eyes, one of Megatron's eyes suddenly wanders of and looks into a completely different direction than it should.

El Duque wrote:Quick update yesterday's big Transformers 2015 cartoon reveal. Matthew Humphreys, who previously worked on Transformers Prime, has updated his blog with a message regarding the character designs. According to his post, yesterday's Bumblebee character reveal is not indicative of how the final designs will look. See his full statement below:

Matthew Humphreys wrote:Transformers 2015

I can’t say much because you know the reasons. But I just feel the need to say that with our new show being announced the artwork shown on various sites is NOT a good representation of what the designs look like fully fleshed out. The new show looks amazing and I’m having a ton of fun working on it and I hope everyone watches when it comes out.

Called it.

PrymeStriker wrote:Because that's the fault of the cartoon and totally not a problem with retailers over-ordering and overstocking the toy.

Hasbro is partially to blame for over-marketing the character and having wonky case assortments that are too heavy on certain figures, like Bumblebee.

kirbenvost wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote:Because that's the fault of the cartoon and totally not a problem with retailers over-ordering and overstocking the toy.

Hasbro is partially to blame for over-marketing the character and having wonky case assortments that are too heavy on certain figures, like Bumblebee.

It's been stated many times that retailers determine the case assortments, not Hasbro.

Not the least bit surprising. I figured it was probably concept art, given the show is nowhere near any completion stage if it's not even on until next year.

Sadly, marketing strikes again. Placeholder images thrown at media without any clue what it represents. (that's my guess, anyways, considering it happened to me a gazillion times and I was the muppet having to 'explain' my artwork to confused convention goers.)-actually scratch that for a minute-where did this image come from? It didn't seem to be on the actual press release, right?

Still, no matter. I commented simply on the image we saw. Animated taught me a valuable lesson in reacting to these things too quickly. I'll never love animated's look (or Primes CG models, to be fair.) But it worked for what it was, and a lot of animated designs shone as toys. As do the movie toys (rotf ones at least ) This artwork is bad, rescue bots looks better. Sorry folks, it's how I feel.

The design as it is here has potential. Interested to say the least. And as for the plot of the show, yes a new leader is good. The stigma attached to Bee in recent years throws a lot of us off the idea, but I'm open to it

I wonder if we will see some Dinobots in this series :O

I just feel the need to say that with our new show being announced the artwork shown on various sites is NOT a good representation of what the designs look like fully fleshed out.

Which immediately raises the question - WHY did they release the image in the first place?

'Daaah, we wanted to show you what the character will NOT look like when we NOT premiere the show! Daaaaah!'

Shockwave7 wrote:

I just feel the need to say that with our new show being announced the artwork shown on various sites is NOT a good representation of what the designs look like fully fleshed out.

Which immediately raises the question - WHY did they release the image in the first place?

'Daaah, we wanted to show you what the character will NOT look like when we NOT premiere the show! Daaaaah!'

Maybe someone demanded that they be giving some sort of preliminary art to go with this announcement. Though Bee won't be animated like this, his final design could be like this design animated instead in 3D.

Dead Metal wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:

Ravage XK wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

They could have animated the eyes to show emotion instead of giving them eyebrows.

What are you talking about? The eyes in Prime are animated. One of the biggest and most obvious animation glitches is even related to the eyes, one of Megatron's eyes suddenly wanders of and looks into a completely different direction than it should.

I'm talking about how they animated the eyes in just about every other series. Without everyone having big ass eyebrows. I don't exactly mind it too much, since almost everyone in animated had big ass chins, but still.

Hopefully it won't look like another Animated. I was definitely not a fan of those designs, though being slightly hypocritical because of mine liking of Prime characters and their designs (though their waists aren't like toothpicks).

And to answer Sabrblade's question, I consider the "fun and adventure" of Prime to be a much different breed of "fun and adventure" than a five year old would have in mind. For instance, they would consider Dora or Barney fun, while an adult would not. That is what I meant.

Thankfully, with some shading, I can see this design being something better to my liking. I mean, this is like Mewtwo's Y Mega when I first saw it. I don't want to like it, but I think it may warm to me, should they do some tweaking.

Actually not surprised that Bumblebee is not final. After all, the original press release in the previous news item regarding this topic already made it quite clear:

"Blending 3D characters with hand-painted environments, the series mixes action-packed adventure with lots of comedy, making it a rip-roaring experience for kids and families to enjoy together."

So I immediately considered Bumblebee's character art to be a concept piece. I still like it, and I want to see what the final render is going to look like. I'm also interested in seeing what kind of environments will be used in the new story. Hopefully less deserts and frozen wastelands, and maybe more Cybertron?

Knowing Matthew Humphreys is one of the designers actually makes me feel better. I've been a fan of his on deviantart for years.

I can't help but think they should've went with Hot Rod for the main character instead of BumbleBee. They could've even kept the same design and Friedle, and just changed his colors to red and orange.

In fact I stumbled accross this image today that is exactly what I would've wanted:
http://dyemooch.tumblr.com/post/8005446 ... do-this-xd

SlyTF1 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:

Ravage XK wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:Doesnt the facial expression on THAT PIC kind og make bumblebee look like a pedophile ? I cant be the only one seeing it...

Head. Gutter. Out.

Those eyebrows combined with that lifeless stare and creepy grin really give him the look. Its also funny how the same hasbro that felt robots didnt need noses now want to draw them with eyebrows.

Eyebrows help express emotions, the only thing a nose can express is "I don't care for that smell".

They could have animated the eyes to show emotion instead of giving them eyebrows.

What are you talking about? The eyes in Prime are animated. One of the biggest and most obvious animation glitches is even related to the eyes, one of Megatron's eyes suddenly wanders of and looks into a completely different direction than it should.

I'm talking about how they animated the eyes in just about every other series. Without everyone having big ass eyebrows. I don't exactly mind it too much, since almost everyone in animated had big ass chins, but still.

Ah gotcha.

Earlier this month we got our first look at Bumblebee from the new Transformers cartoon scheduled to hit the air in 2015. Now thanks to Kids TV magazine we get another look at Bumblebee and Optimus Prime's new design! Check out the new image below. The new series is set to air in the Spring of 2015.

I like that Optimus

viruscarnage wrote:I like that Optimus

So do I, but since he's faded I suspect he might be a memory, or maybe even optimus's ghost. I can see how they might try to revive optimus.

What if Optimus plays Obi-Wan here and shows up as a ghost to guide Bumblebee now and then? I'd be okay with that.