http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/04/07/scott-cam...g-transformers/

 

Form the front page on TFormers Here

..and this guy makes money doing this?! so wrong on so many levels....:(

I found this quote funny:

As an avid collector of transformer action figures I am always attracted to new and novel ways to collect and make use of them.

 

That said, what Scott Campbell does is a ridiculous dismantling of these great toys Takara and Hasbro have created for us. In short it is appalling. By taking apart these characters, Mr. Campbell is taking apart icons of youthfulness and boyhood. It pains me to see these objects reconstructed and misshapen as something familiar yet alien. The robots in Transformers (With the possible exception of Beast Wars, which I note Mr. Campbell makes gratuitous use of) teach us to care not only for machines , but for each other. They reflect values, like perfect moments of precise machine-like love, honor, discipline, devotion, courage and trust.

 

Instead, Mr. Campbell’s mutations preach, in piecemeal convocations, of our limitations. Of how we can never be someone as sleek as Starscream, as honorable as Optimus Prime, or as devoted as Iron Hide. His works are like pointed jabs at the psyches of men (and the boy that rests in all of us). While I recognize in them parts of those characters I cherish ( Ultra Magnus’ arm here, Grimlock’s mouth there), what I fail to find is the depth and conviction that completes the characters I know and love. In taking these characters apart, Mr. Campbell has exposed them to the futile whims of our world. apart, they no longer function fully, and are no longer more than meets the eye, but simply bodies exposed and embarassed to every judging eye in the world.

 

And to what end?

To distract we the viewer from the possibilities of a consistent set of value and belief? To lead us into a state where we cannot act as organisms, as though struggling with our own disparate functionless-ness? Where our only possible “how� is our every which way? Does Mr. Campbell hate that he is a man? Is he so focused on his limitations that he can’t see his own moments of being special? How do such obvious boy stuff as transformers possibly tell us anything about ex-girlfriends? And how can the pearly colors of preformed plastics possibly tell us about landscapes?

 

It may be fine for art-savvy sophisticates to look upon these things as great creations of wild intellectual ideas, but I can only see the awkward depletion of another icon of youth and the futile absurdity of the endeavor. Scott Campbell’s lexicon of landscapes, botany, girlfirends and parents makes for crooked superhuman heroes and ties them plainly to ourselves. Further while Mr. Campbell may have the touch and the power to sell his work to art collectors, but I for one will steer clear of these silly mutations of a worthwhile and meaningful part of our culture.

 

And please, am I really to feel bad that Mr. Campbell “nearly Blot� when he realized what he disassembled to make his art? Does anyone realize what he really disassembled?

 

Posted by: Colin on April 9th, 2006 at 12:20 am

http://www.pingmag.jp/images/article/misformers20.jpg

 

That poor, poor ML Shockwave. :tfcry

Meh there toys. He paid for them so he's free to do whatever the hell he wants with them no matter how effed up. :thumb

I don't get modern art

how much is 100-thousand Yen?

how much is 100-thousand Yen?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

100,000 yen is roughly 1000 bucks US

yep, look like crap to me!

So... he's getting paid to do what the WalMart Webpage photo guy does already with TF's to be displayed online?

 

 

:: remembers E Megatron ::