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| shin ramberk 295th Post
 
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|  "Re(1):More Transformers Pics: OPTIMUS!!" , posted Tue 26 Sep 09:52
I think I figured out why the designs look the way they look. It seems to me that for the movie, they were aiming at creating a distinctive look and along with that, a heavy departure from the general "TF look."
Every Transformers line has to distinguish itself from the previous one. This is typically done with a gimmick with the toy itself. The movie was not going to center itself around a toy gimmick to distinguish itself unless the producers did not want the movie to be taken seriously. The producers seem to want the movie to be taken semi-seriously. They at least want to remove it from its original campiness and morph it into a respectable action movie.
So they need to make the designs unique and different from what's come before because what's come before was not very "serious". And here is the crux of the problem or solution (depending on your point of view to the designs). If 'traditional" TF designs had been used for the film, the movie would have looked very cartoony.
Its the truth. All TF designs are very cartoony. Even the awesome Binaltech/Alternator designs. These radical alien/monster designs are just plain more "serious" because they've never been used before in a TF medium.
So my point is... in a way, it is good they went through "non-traditional" designs because it really does take away from the suspension of disbelief you hold when you watch the movie. We all know its fiction, but in a way, seeing the alien designs (designs that have never been used or have been associated with a campy cartoon) makes the movie a little bit more credible. For a second you are more likely to think, "yeah, this s--t could happen." and "yeah, that would be f**king scary as hell but cool as hell to happen."
We'll see if the designs really do work once the movie is finished. The only concern I have at the moment is whether working toys can be made from these designs. There is nothing worse then watching a movie or television program about a toyline and then getting toys that don't reflect the onscreen entertainment. What's the point for it then!
http://ramberk.blogspot.com
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| nobinobita
53th Post
Occasional Customer
| "Re(1):Jazz" , posted Tue 26 Sep 14:51
quote:
Robot
Car
One of the more interesting looking designs.
Oof.
I really don't like those pictures. You sure they aren't fakes?
They just seem below par for movie art. They look to be at the level of an average Marvel comic.
I think this is a good example of a design that alot of people might find realistic, but I find generic (sorry for the haughty tone).
There's no real style to that robot. There's no coherent design sense communicated by it. The forms that make it up recall neither organic forms or existing industrial design precepts. It just looks like someone made it up from their head without researching anything relevent.
It's not new or innovative or original, its just ... uninspired and uninformed.
For that reason I don't buy alot of the new designs as being more realistic than the old ones . The old designs had a coherent esthetic, and when they were well executed they looked like they could exist in their world.
Also, the perspective in that drawing isn't very good.
Also, the Patlabor-ish head doesn't match the sharp, pointy, curved body.
If it were just a generic design in a comic, or even a videogame (which is what it looks like), i wouldn't mind. But it's a design for a high budget movie. Concept work for movies is pretty much the highest you can go as a fantasy oriented conceptual illustrator. Someone got paid alot to do that. Someone who is considered the top in their field, which should make them world class.
That design is not world class.
Personally, I like the G1 designs, and think they look real enough in an Asimo kinda way. But since they're inextricably tied to the cartoon (and the look of cartoon robots in general), I can see why they'd want to depart from that.
I just wish that they'd produce some better art.
Sorry to go on like this, it's just, as an artist myself, I hate to see work like this get the greenlight.
Oh, and one more thing. The person who produced those images may be real talented theirselves. It's very possible that the designs were just reworked to the point of stupidity by whatever commity greenlighted them.
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"Re(5):More Transformers Pics: OPTIMUS!!" , posted Fri 1 Sep 13:43
"Re(3):sushingada wont be used again I promise" , posted Sat 2 Sep 03:48:
still not funny)
