The Energon Pub

The Transformers Movie's "lead robot illustrator", Ben Procter, sent us an email early this morning to let us know that he has updated his website to include a new section about the Transformers project. Here's an excerpt from his website:

"Designing robots for the Transformers movie was literally a dream job for me. As a kid, I collected robot toys from a variety of anime, pored over the pages of Hobby Japan, drew lots of robots, and of course loved the Transformers cartoon. Never did I imagine that I'd one day get to help develop characters for the live-action giant robot movie I so badly wished would exist. I'm truly grateful to Jeff Mann [Production Designer] and Michael Bay [Director] for giving me the chance to rekindle a childhood passion on such an inspiring scale. And I'm in genuine awe of the finished movie's robot action, which culminates the hard word of so many talented concept design, previs and VFX artists (not to mention sound engineers). I've never been prouder to have worked on a film."

Ben has also worked on several other major motion pictures such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Superman Returns and The Terminal. You can view his IMDB.com entry by clicking here.

Check out his website to view 15 new pages of content that include many of Ben's incredible artwork at BenProcter.com. Enjoy!



Thank you for contacting Seibertron.com, Ben!

...and, likely thanks to this article, he's now exceeded his bandwidth...
Bandwidth limits suck.

link is dead too. bandwidth exceeded.

1337W422102 wrote:So HE'S the one who designed the new robots? In that case, the updates to his site better be an apology.

...geez, tough crowd.

Can we PLEASE stop beating this dead horse?

Theres already 2 topics on this website.

Devil Gundam wrote:

1337W422102 wrote:So HE'S the one who designed the new robots? In that case, the updates to his site better be an apology.

...geez, tough crowd.

Can we PLEASE stop beating this dead horse?

I 100% agree. Being crude and bashing the artist in this thread won't be tolerated. This is a real human being who has worked his ass off during the past 2 or 3 years working on the Transformers Movie. He's stepped out of the shadows of the movie to send us an email about the artwork on his website. If you don't like his work, then please move along. Inappropriate posts will simply be deleted from this thread out of respect for Ben. He doesn't deserve to be treated poorly.

If you have dislike some of his designs, then think before you post/write/speak and post a piece of constructive criticism instead of simply being rude and inappropriate. The Seibertron.com community is above that type of poor behavior. Real human being here, my friends ... please be nice.

We killed it...

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

sorry for my derogatory comments.

ahahah he got Dugg!!!!

No need to apologize for saying the designs suck. They still suck and we can still say so. I don't feel bad in saying so.

Maybe he can tell me were in the hell Barricades con emblem goes when he transforms into robot mode.

I like that it shows that they did attempt g1 based designs that so many people "claimed" they didnt even bother with. It also shows that they would not have worked as well in the frame of this movie.

I got a chance to see this website before it got killed by the bandwidth monster. Now, while I disagree with the direction chosen for the movie designs you can recognize the skill. This guy really is a genius artist and I for one appreciate his contribution. It would be great if he could post up alot more of the "early stage" drawings I would love to see them. I would love to see his version of G1 Optimus Prime and Bumblebee!

I thought by the 'geez, tough crowd,' you'd realize I was joking.

I think he did an excellent job on the designs. It was good to see he attempted do at least do some G1 era stuff. but like many have said in context of this movie. It wouldnt have worked well. I do wish people who complain about the designs post their own designs, so we can see What their robots would look like.

Tazirai wrote:It wouldnt have worked well.

just playing devil's advocate.. but why? i keep hearing it wouldn't of worked.. but why? honestly?

decepticonjon wrote:

Tazirai wrote:It wouldnt have worked well.

just playing devil's advocate.. but why? i keep hearing it wouldn't of worked.. but why? honestly?

There was even fan artwork I've seen that blends the movie's 'everything's gotta move somewhere' ideology with the classic 'boxy' look, and it DOES work. The panels move into place to from rectangular prisms and stuff, but there are gaps and you can see tech detail underneath. Unfortunately, I don't have a link to the picture I'm talking about, but I found it in the Kitbash/Fan Art Forum.

1337W422102 wrote:

decepticonjon wrote:

Tazirai wrote:It wouldnt have worked well.

just playing devil's advocate.. but why? i keep hearing it wouldn't of worked.. but why? honestly?

There was even fan artwork I've seen that blends the movie's 'everything's gotta move somewhere' ideology with the classic 'boxy' look, and it DOES work. The panels move into place to from rectangular prisms and stuff, but there are gaps and you can see tech detail underneath. Unfortunately, I don't have a link to the picture I'm talking about, but I found it in the Kitbash/Fan Art Forum.

i'm pretty sure i've seen what you're talking about.. can't find it off the top of my head.. but i jsut don't see how it couldn't work after seeing the tranformations in this movie, expecially frenzy being a boom box and going to insect humanoid thingy - which bends to the theory that they can really shape whatever shape into whatever they want. so even being more blockier, it wouldn't have really mattered.

It could have worked, but everyone that saw the movie, TF fan or not, it would instantly recognize them as bots from the cartoon. (Not a bad thing).

As stated before, they wanted them to look realistic. You could make movie versions of G1, be super cool and *realistic* looking, but people who have seen Transformers atleast once would automatically relate them to a cartoon, it's just a brain function thing!

My own view, I've been watching Transformers characters in cartoon mode for 20+ years, I want something different (movie bots/designs), not similar cartoon robot designs. (Ie not chunky and blocky, I have no problem expanding the Transformer universe to look liek something that isnt G1 or Aramada or that stuff, hence why I loved Beast Wars/Machines)

Here is a G1 design transforming in motion and running...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVTgnW1_Pw

Just a few guys did this...

Not saying it is the "end all, be all" but imagine if ILM went that direction.

Like that video, and I remember seeing it before. It's wicked!

decepticonjon wrote:

Tazirai wrote:It wouldnt have worked well.

just playing devil's advocate.. but why? i keep hearing it wouldn't of worked.. but why? honestly?

No problem.

My opinion only: Based on knowledge of real world robotics.

There have never just been "Boxy" Transformers. There have been all shapes and designs. People Equate Boxy with Robot. that isn't accurate in the real world.

Here's an example of a Boxy Real world robot. It's box like internal Workings are that way simply, because robotics is still in it's infancy on This Planet.



Once we get to the point where we can simulate a human skeletal structure, The boxy like designs will be gone. Robots on a real world level come in all forms and shapes. From Boxes to spider like beings.

Notice the shape of this robot. It's not box shaped like the leg above, it's transitioning to a more organic look.


Kinda like how people hated the designs from the 1986 movie, over the normal cartoon series.
Hot rod had more curves and less angles, than did most of the Ark Autobots.
Robots will eventually evolve to have less boxes, to more curved structures. Curved allows entry to places in accessible to box shapes, this is important for exploration.

the Transformers in this movie, I believe weren't designed to be boxy, not because of negative fan reaction. But to make sense out of their ability to transform.
lets take a look at two robots. movie bumblebee versus this Nissan robot.
Heres the Nissan robot. it looks like it can change into "something. it has a nice sexy curved body, it's also In the vein of G1 post movie style. But if it transformered, where do the parts go? I see wheels , a solid calf, solid legs. Arms that dont provide Bending appendages. A non transitional upper torso, meaning no intermediate modes. Basically it looks G1'ish. It would look GREAT onscreen, but not as a Transformer.


Now to Bumblebee. The pic is too big to post so heres the link instead.
http://www.seibertron.com/images/galler ... G_1099.jpg

You can see that he has MANY transitional parts to him. You can tell he can change into something. POSSIBLY MANY THINGS.
He's not limited by his own body to do things. In a sense he makes sense. Facial features aside. His body is more endo-skeleton, than heavily armored mechanoid. He has armor on the parts that matter. Other places are less armored, yet allow him flexibility and Humanoid movement.

I liek the new designs, faces are something different. Some work some don't, it may be color issues. But As a student of robotics, even our primitive stuff. I can see the beauty in a cybertronian form. Even my own robot below is a G1-movie Hybrid.

Now THAT woulda been nice. Hybrid styles.

tile_mcgillus wrote:Here is a G1 design transforming in motion and running...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVTgnW1_Pw

Just a few guys did this...

Not saying it is the "end all, be all" but imagine if ILM went that direction.

In my opinion, no matter how much CGI power you throw at that, it will still automatically mind me of G1, cartoon. That's what they are trying to avoid.

It's great, but it's still a cartoon. A dog wearing make up and a dress is still a dog.

Heres some video of the dualis robot in the real world.
it works well. but I cant see it being a transformer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYr7sEg1LQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnf6XAB7bM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzAzXr4BEWk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzAzXr4BEWk

briggs wrote:

tile_mcgillus wrote:Here is a G1 design transforming in motion and running...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVTgnW1_Pw

Just a few guys did this...

Not saying it is the "end all, be all" but imagine if ILM went that direction.

In my opinion, no matter how much CGI power you throw at that, it will still automatically mind me of G1, cartoon. That's what they are trying to avoid.

It's great, but it's still a cartoon. A dog wearing make up and a dress is still a dog.

I think there could have been a happy medium between where they went and what transformers used to be. Very Similar to Optimus Prime's head in the movie which felt very G1 to me and it sat atop a mess of parts, comparatively.

To me it seems the transformers would want to hid their internal parts with armor. They did do this to some extent but you could so much of their innerworkings. That video was interesting in that is showing a cgi modeled G1ish transformer moving fluidily and actiony...something that everyone said could not be done. I never advocated EXACT copies of the transformers...but I think they went way too far in some cases. Less is more.