The Energon Pub

I just finished reading Spotlight Ultra Magnus and Last Stand of the Wreckers. Why are Fortmax and Scorponok so relatively small?

In Spotlight Ultra Magnus, Scorponok was not that much larger than Ultra Magnus. I am disturbed by the ineffective pummeling that he gave Ultra Magnus. Scorponok should have used his huge claws to snip off Ultra Magnus's head, or used his shoulder cannons and other arsenal. Instead, Ultra Magnus gets the best of him with one shot in the face. Please, he's a city for pete-sake.

Similar situation with FortMax. He is tiny compared to his TV sized character. In the very beginning of the story, why didn't he just make himself very huge and crush everyone?

Is this all summed up in writer errors? Or is there some logic behind this?

IDW is not slavishly recreating G1. In this depiction, neither Scorponok or Fort Max are their city-sized selves, but instead they are more "normal" sized. I guess this was done to ensure that their characters can me more easily accessible in stories.

I don't recall if Scorponok has Transformed yet in the IDW-vserse, but Fort Max hasn't, though based on some of his kibble, it looks like he may be a tank/APC vehicle.

I think Scorponok transformed in spotlight ultra Magnus, he's just a Scorpion.

I asked the artist of Spot UM why Scorps was so "small" (still somewhere here on the forums, unless it was wiped out by one of the wipes), he stated Furman wanted him that size and told him how large he should be. I think it was something about wanting him to work better with the rest of the cast and his function in the series.

Just like Omega Supreme, he was originally about two or three times as large as Optimus, now he's cit sized.

Actually I prefer both Scorps and Fort Max this size, they actually work better with the rest of the cast, while in the old toon they needed headmasters to interact with everyone.

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks,

Stormrider wrote:Okay, that makes sense. Thanks,

One could also argue that their more notable source are the Marvel comics. I know Scorponok's the size of Shockwave in Robot Mode in that instance, and Fortress Maximus wasn't as tall either.

Mkall wrote:IDW is not slavishly recreating G1. In this depiction, neither Scorponok or Fort Max are their city-sized selves, but instead they are more "normal" sized. I guess this was done to ensure that their characters can me more easily accessible in stories.

I don't recall if Scorponok has Transformed yet in the IDW-vserse, but Fort Max hasn't, though based on some of his kibble, it looks like he may be a tank/APC vehicle.

I was just thinking this as well. Doesn't Scorpanok transform in Maximum Dinobots or one of the earlier stories? I swear I remember him holding a busted up Hot Rod in one of his claws.

Max has not transformed I don't think, but I agree with the tank alt mode idea. I figure they would intend him as a mobile battle station, somewhat along the lines of the battle station mode Metroplex has.

I do like them as regular sized characters as well, as they can actually and finally interact with everyone else.