The Energon Pub

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:

First Gen wrote:Then its like a slap in the face when you read Bumblebee (which is directly related to Ongoing BTW) and you get super old school G1 art, when they are supposed to be the same exact bots in the same exact storyline.

in Iron Man 2 Don Cheadle will be playing Rhodes (War Machine). His face is different, his physique is different. He is still the same character. it is still the same continuity. everyone gets bent out of shape about the artist interpretation in this book but really, its the same characters if you read the dialogue and for the most part its the same color schemes and alt modes (with the exception of a few, thank you i knew that). The faces are those of machines, they do all look alike, i imagine these guys were created on a factory line possibly by quintessons. the faces should all look the same. a few characters retain the mouthplates they had in g1 (seaspray,wheeljack) while others retain battle helmets (swindle, ultra magnus).evryone is recognizeable. and who cares about the humans? who reads transformers for the humans?

You're comparing a live movie sequel to a continuous comic story arc. Something gets lost in translation there. I know they are the same characters, but the radical difference between the two art styles in a story arc that is supposed to be running concurrently is more than annoying. Its like having all the Movieverse comic tie ins being drawn with the G1 representations of their respective characters. It just doesn't work.

First Gen wrote:

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:

First Gen wrote:Then its like a slap in the face when you read Bumblebee (which is directly related to Ongoing BTW) and you get super old school G1 art, when they are supposed to be the same exact bots in the same exact storyline.

in Iron Man 2 Don Cheadle will be playing Rhodes (War Machine). His face is different, his physique is different. He is still the same character. it is still the same continuity. everyone gets bent out of shape about the artist interpretation in this book but really, its the same characters if you read the dialogue and for the most part its the same color schemes and alt modes (with the exception of a few, thank you i knew that). The faces are those of machines, they do all look alike, i imagine these guys were created on a factory line possibly by quintessons. the faces should all look the same. a few characters retain the mouthplates they had in g1 (seaspray,wheeljack) while others retain battle helmets (swindle, ultra magnus).evryone is recognizeable. and who cares about the humans? who reads transformers for the humans?

You're comparing a live movie sequel to a continuous comic story arc. Something gets lost in translation there. I know they are the same characters, but the radical difference between the two art styles in a story arc that is supposed to be running concurrently is more than annoying. Its like having all the Movieverse comic tie ins being drawn with the G1 representations of their respective characters. It just doesn't work.

what i was trying to say is that though the character looks different it is still the same character. it isn't part of the story that the appearance is changed and it doesn't need to be. imagine how pissed off the fan community would be if they simply, threw a line at the subject and were done with it. the visual representation isn't part of the story arc and you should not link the two.

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:

First Gen wrote:Then its like a slap in the face when you read Bumblebee (which is directly related to Ongoing BTW) and you get super old school G1 art, when they are supposed to be the same exact bots in the same exact storyline.

in Iron Man 2 Don Cheadle will be playing Rhodes (War Machine). His face is different, his physique is different. He is still the same character. it is still the same continuity. everyone gets bent out of shape about the artist interpretation in this book but really, its the same characters if you read the dialogue and for the most part its the same color schemes and alt modes (with the exception of a few, thank you i knew that). The faces are those of machines, they do all look alike, i imagine these guys were created on a factory line possibly by quintessons. the faces should all look the same. a few characters retain the mouthplates they had in g1 (seaspray,wheeljack) while others retain battle helmets (swindle, ultra magnus).evryone is recognizeable. and who cares about the humans? who reads transformers for the humans?

Well we are talking about a fictional race of robots whos shapes constantly shift and adapt.

In saying that thier appearence whilst appearing similar could theoretically be different each time they change form due to thier bodies constantly shifting and evolving to the enviroment, hence the changes between series, issues and even panels.

Or you could just say that the artist is adaptinmg his style due to input by fans/company/boss's or because he wants to draw things slightly differently.

Neurie wrote:

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:

First Gen wrote:Then its like a slap in the face when you read Bumblebee (which is directly related to Ongoing BTW) and you get super old school G1 art, when they are supposed to be the same exact bots in the same exact storyline.

in Iron Man 2 Don Cheadle will be playing Rhodes (War Machine). His face is different, his physique is different. He is still the same character. it is still the same continuity. everyone gets bent out of shape about the artist interpretation in this book but really, its the same characters if you read the dialogue and for the most part its the same color schemes and alt modes (with the exception of a few, thank you i knew that). The faces are those of machines, they do all look alike, i imagine these guys were created on a factory line possibly by quintessons. the faces should all look the same. a few characters retain the mouthplates they had in g1 (seaspray,wheeljack) while others retain battle helmets (swindle, ultra magnus).evryone is recognizeable. and who cares about the humans? who reads transformers for the humans?

Well we are talking about a fictional race of robots whos shapes constantly shift and adapt.

In saying that thier appearence whilst appearing similar could theoretically be different each time they change form due to thier bodies constantly shifting and evolving to the enviroment, hence the changes between series, issues and even panels.

Or you could just say that the artist is adaptinmg his style due to input by fans/company/boss's or because he wants to draw things slightly differently.

True, but we are talking about distinct individuals as well. Despite how many times they may change to adapt, there will always be a common denomonator to the character that defines him/her and lets you know that that is said character. You can almost define characters based off color alone, but Bumblebee's horns, Prime's faceplate, these are features that define the character. So the change can't be so much that you lose these things.

Maybe the AEC trilogy should make this easier to accept, but for example, using Armada Prime then Cybertron Prime in the same story arc as the same exact character gets confusing, and may throw off the casual fan so much that they may think the stories are not related based on art alone.

Its about concurrence and longevity. If IDW wants the new style of Transformers to stick, then all the titles connected to it should be drawn in a similar fashion. Not exactly the same cause only Don can draw Don, but similar.

Both view points have validity.

TBH I dont see Cybertron as part of that story, it was never ment to be. Hasbro just forced it, for soem reason rather than just saying ohh look new continuity. Galaxy force mades so much more sense than Cybertron and I still ahvent actually watch the English dub of energion yet.

But back to the comics, I can feel how annoyed you are but think about us UK readers back in gen 1, we had several diferent interpretations styles( and in some cases completely different character models) in 1 issue let alone in a run.

Im pretty sure the avaerage transformers fan can tell what should be the major characters in this series.

Now if some one doesnt get who the Obliterator Ironfist is in the Wreckers book thats more understandable than say bumblebee cause he has small or super exagerated features.

Perhaps ive just ben reading and looking at far too many international interpretations of the characters over the years that it doesnt bother me any more.

Neurie wrote:Both view points have validity.

TBH I dont see Cybertron as part of that story, it was never ment to be. Hasbro just forced it, for soem reason rather than just saying ohh look new continuity. Galaxy force mades so much more sense than Cybertron and I still ahvent actually watch the English dub of energion yet.

But back to the comics, I can feel how annoyed you are but think about us UK readers back in gen 1, we had several diferent interpretations styles( and in some cases completely different character models) in 1 issue let alone in a run.

Im pretty sure the avaerage transformers fan can tell what should be the major characters in this series.

Now if some one doesnt get who the Obliterator Ironfist is in the Wreckers book thats more understandable than say bumblebee cause he has small or super exagerated features.

Perhaps ive just ben reading and looking at far too many international interpretations of the characters over the years that it doesnt bother me any more.

Yes this is mostly true, but we gotta remember that digital art has also advanced TREMENDOUSLY since the 80's, should we not expect more as well?

Again, I would be absolutely be fine with this "new" art style, if it were IN A DIFFERENT continuity!

but come one, its not like 10 years have passed. Whoever said it, it it on the head, for christ sakes Bum-bee 1 is the same story, and look how much diffrent they look!

I will concur with whoever said it, that Mags doesn't look toooo bad, but he's the exception (and even then I think him drawn like city commander would have been sooo much cooler)

IF tihs was a 12 issue series or something, FINE! who cares, but for god sakes we must live with this as our "primary" story for G1 for the next howevermanyyears. If Don or whoever, checks this forum at all, or cares about fans opinion, we need to do something about this. I care to much for my Transformers comics to settle for this!

P.S - I'm not 'dissing' or saying anything about the 'story' line here, the 'story' so far hasn't been tooo bad (with the exception of killing off one of my fav characters EVER..grrr..)

31 posts and nobody mentions the Seaspray cameo? Cmon now.

Looks like you guys are saying it all for me. I can't stand artist discretion in regards to the style.

You know what? I take that back. I can't wait until Marvel and DC follow suit and start letting their artists draw Spiderman and Batman however they desire. Inconsistency and lack of emotion will be the new standard!

I love artist interpretation of a pre-determined look. Todd McFarlane, Mark Bagley, Erik Larsen, John Romita ... they all drew the same character over the years. Spidey always had a basically similar "outfit" / body through all of the years and yet all of the different artists always managed to draw Spidey in the same manner (i.e. same outfit) yet somehow brought about their own extremely unique style to the books. It'd be like a new Spiderman artist coming along and drawing Spidey with a brand new outfit regardless of what the other Spidey books are doing.

Maybe it's not the best comparison, but hopefully one of you can pick up on what I'm trying to say and make better sense of it.

MYoung23 wrote:31 posts and nobody mentions the Seaspray cameo? Cmon now.

I caught that too. Nice to see him finally get a nod.

cadenheadr04 wrote:Anyone else wondering why they chose purple for Huffer instead of blue?

Supreme Convoy wrote:

cadenheadr04 wrote:Anyone else wondering why they chose purple for Huffer instead of blue?

That'd be blue. Hex code is approximately #3d3775.

Seibertron wrote:

MYoung23 wrote:31 posts and nobody mentions the Seaspray cameo? Cmon now.

I caught that too. Nice to see him finally get a nod.

lets all take notice that we all knew it was seaspray, despite the art sstyle and without the nametag!!

also, love the site Ryan. you've made transformers as easy to fall in love with again as possible, great galleries, great staff, great forums. i really like that you participate in the discussions, shows passion.

that being said, i really like the art in this book

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:lets all take notice that we all knew it was seaspray, despite the art sstyle and without the nametag!!

Actually ... funny thing about that, I thought it was G2 Manta-Ray for some reason until I read the post above, and then I thought of course it was Seaspray.

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:also, love the site Ryan. you've made transformers as easy to fall in love with again as possible, great galleries, great staff, great forums. i really like that you participate in the discussions, shows passion.

Awesome to hear. I'm glad you're enjoying the site so much and like all that we're doing. I try to participate as much as I can, though that time has dwindled significantly over the past few years.

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:that being said, i really like the art in this book

And that there is the beauty of this hobby. The Transformers brand is so incredibly diverse that there truly is something for everyone, though I disagree about the artwork. I find it interesting that some of you do. It makes me wonder about what other robot genres you are interested in.

The thing is, I like the art, sure the faces kinda suck but the art is pretty good, the reason I hate it is this, this is supposed to be the idw G1 series. They redesigned almost every character for it so that they where more modern, now they let Don do this and redesign them again so that they look closer to the Movie designs to get the people that watched and liked the movie on-board as most of their reders, the long-lasting fans have decided to "F*+k you idw for giving us AHM!", and that's a fact, they have gone from around 45,000 monthly issues sold to around 15,000 monthly issues sold.

I said it before and I'll say it again, use these designs as a own unique Transformers universe separate from G1, RID, AEC, Animated and Movie and damn would I be all over it. The designs just scream to be something separate from all previous interpretations and that's where they belong as their own thing a own franchize.
But Ultra Magnus looks to be the best design from them all, he looks way too badass. Also I think Jetfire looks kind of bad, his head looks like it's just Hod Rod's head with a different paint job and a little remoulding, his upper body looks like a movie verse version of Cybertron Jetfifre's.

Also, why do they still have the name tags? I can understand them for like the first time the characters are seen, but damn.

You wanna see some great ultra magnus pictures go get the japanese transformers art books they ahve some of the best magnus pictures ever in there.

And as for sea spray, he was very recognisable as himself, actually they all are to be honest.

Geewun was over, eighteen years ago.

This is more similar to G1 than it is different; it is, however it's own continuity, even if superficially it seems like G1. I mean, the G1 story is well out of date right now, so why not the designs of the characters. Certain character traits have been changed, at the whim of the writers, to move the story, but create nagging inconsistencies; and this gets little scorn.

I just want to urge Don to keep up with trying new things and experimenting with his style. It's great, the way he increases the complexity of the figure, but retains the expressive body language. Facial expressions need a little work.

At any rate, I can't wait.

atleast1 wrote:Geewun was over, eighteen years ago.

No, it is still Geewun, and there haven't been any new ideas ever since. The stories are forever about Optimus Prime fighting Megatron from the planet Cybertron. Anybody can rewrite the stories a thousand times, but as long as the characters are the same, they are only the re-interpretations of Geewun.

atleast1 wrote:Geewun was over, eighteen years ago.

This is more similar to G1 than it is different; it is, however it's own continuity, even if superficially it seems like G1. I mean, the G1 story is well out of date right now, so why not the designs of the characters. Certain character traits have been changed, at the whim of the writers, to move the story, but create nagging inconsistencies; and this gets little scorn.

I just want to urge Don to keep up with trying new things and experimenting with his style. It's great, the way he increases the complexity of the figure, but retains the expressive body language. Facial expressions need a little work.

At any rate, I can't wait.

This is a G1 comic and G1 related toys come out all the time, so if people complain about the designs not being G1 ish in nature then they are in the right. It's the same with Animated, Movie or AEC, they all had their own unique style and doing them in a new vastly different style would be wrong. It would be like remaking the original Star Wars trilogy with organic looking spaceships and character designs that look like He-Man characters.

Dead Metal wrote:

atleast1 wrote:Geewun was over, eighteen years ago.

This is more similar to G1 than it is different; it is, however it's own continuity, even if superficially it seems like G1. I mean, the G1 story is well out of date right now, so why not the designs of the characters. Certain character traits have been changed, at the whim of the writers, to move the story, but create nagging inconsistencies; and this gets little scorn.

I just want to urge Don to keep up with trying new things and experimenting with his style. It's great, the way he increases the complexity of the figure, but retains the expressive body language. Facial expressions need a little work.

At any rate, I can't wait.

This is a G1 comic and G1 related toys come out all the time, so if people complain about the designs not being G1 ish in nature then they are in the right. It's the same with Animated, Movie or AEC, they all had their own unique style and doing them in a new vastly different style would be wrong. It would be like remaking the original Star Wars trilogy with organic looking spaceships and character designs that look like He-Man characters.

*cough* Yuuzan Vong *cough*

I still cannot agree more about the art being bad though.

Seibertron wrote:

Supreme Convoy wrote:

cadenheadr04 wrote:Anyone else wondering why they chose purple for Huffer instead of blue?

That'd be blue. Hex code is approximately #3d3775.

What about a bruised purple blue?

We're a day away from the latest addition to the Transformers 'Ongoing' series - Issue #3. More previews have rolled in and thanks to Bzzurkk, we get one more page from the comic. This entails some interaction between Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, as well as the start of a conversation between 'Bee and Ultra Magnus. Check it out below.



You can find Bzzurkk's full preview of 'Ongoing' #3 here. For the rest of the comic, check your local store tomorrow!

Keep it at Seibertron.com for the fastest Transformers news on the net!

Ironhide yes?

I really like how vibrant the colors are and I'm a bit confused on the comment about bee's horns, I see them don't you guys? Perhaps I misunderstood.

Bumblebee looks less like Unicron now!

I just picked up issue three today, I have to say that this new series really demonstrates Mike Costa's strength as a writer, say what you will about the art, but I am just loving the story so far. I also can't wait for Bumblebee # 2 and Last Stand of the Wreckers #1.

I like the art on the bodies, except for Hot Rod, he looks kinda ridiculous. I agree that the faces need work though. You can get away with faces like that in the movies or cartoons because you have a voice to provide an emotional context, but it's harder to imply that sort of inflection on the page with written word.