roach said:
Altmodes different??????
Is Optimus a truck, is bumble bee a yellow car?????
Their alt-modes were tied into their personalities. Optimus was commanding and in charge, and his big ass truck mode reflected that. Jazz was a rocker and free spirit, his alt mode reflected that. Bumblebee was the little guy who related to the little guys. His alt mode reflected that. There were like a dozen other cars on the market that would have been a better choice than a muscle car for his alt mode. Pretty much every company makes a little hatchback. Any one of those would have been a better choice. The fanbase accepted long ago that VW were going to be pricks and not let them make him a bug.
I have no problem with Prime being a long nosed truck. He's still a semi. I have no problem with Ironhide being a pickup. Heck, I like it more than him being a van. I have no problem with Ratchet being a S&R vehicle. I just don't understand some of the asthetic decisions involved. There are plenty of red and white S&R vehicles out there, so there was no reason not to make Ratchet his original colors. There are plenty of red pickups out there, so there was no reason not to make Ironhide his original colors. There was absolutely no reason to give Prime that horrible flame scheme. I mean next thing you know Jazz is going to be blue. These are simple things that are hard to get wrong, yet it seems like the design team for this movie is trying their hardest to do just that.
I just don't understand why they think alternator-style TF designs are so much more unrealistic than a robot that looks like a space wasp/gorilla/chicken. Look at all the fan made stuff thats come out over the years. It looks great, there was no good reason for all the drastic changes. None whatsoever.
That said, I can accept Prime's gay paint job and wierd robot/reptile looking design because he still looks like prime. I can accept Bumblebee's Bionicle design because he still somewhat looks like Bumblebee. I can accept Blackout's design because he's a new character and isn't going completely against our memories of a beloved character. In fact he looks badass. Just don't like his bug head. But Starscream is just the result of people in charge just not caring about the property and we have a right to be pissed off.
Though I have a theory, that starscream won't look anything like that. I think they released that pic alongside the others so we look at it and go "Holy ****, thats just so ****ing horrible I can't believe it. I don't care about the others as long as they just change that!" If thats whats happened, it worked. Much like some filmmakers do when it comes to the ratings board. They film some horrible scene in hopes that it distracts the board from another scene so they can keep it.