ew to that Prime pic

All that aside, there's still no good reason why alien robots should have human-looking hands.

once you start down that road, you realize that there's no reason why alien robots should have any humanoid traits at all and that to be realistic, the tf's should look like the sentinals from "The Matrix" wearing vehicle shells.

 

it's the same deal with comicbook movies: the only way to make the characters 100% realistic is to completely redesign them to the point where they no longer bare any resemblance to the source material. since that's not a preferable option, the only other choice is a compromise between the source material and 100% realism, ie, "Faux Realism: Stuff that seems realistic but really isn't".

All that aside, there's still no good reason why alien robots should have human-looking hands.

once you start down that road, you realize that there's no reason why alien robots should have any humanoid traits at all and that to be realistic, the tf's should look like the sentinals from "The Matrix" wearing vehicle shells.

 

it's the same deal with comicbook movies: the only way to make the characters 100% realistic is to completely redesign them to the point where they no longer bare any resemblance to the source material. since that's not a preferable option, the only other choice is a compromise between the source material and 100% realism, ie, "Faux Realism: Stuff that seems realistic but really isn't".

I know... what I'm saying is that there should be no expectation of "un-reality" for any given aspect of a character's design, once they're brought into a live-action context.

 

Let's be clear: the fault lies not with the person adapting a franchise to film. It's not their fault that Stan Lee gave Spider-Man web-shooting wrist thingies, or that Bob Kane put Batman in gray tights, or that the G1 Transformers were intentionally designed to look as human as possible. Maybe if this stuff had been given a bit more thought to begin with, we wouldn't have these problems.

Okay, I hate to point this out, but there are still white ambulances being used. There are also the larger red one used by fire departments. There is nothing wrong or unrealistic about using either of those colors for Ratchet.

 

 

Anyway, that old movie Ratchet's robot mode is too small, like it should belong to a very detailed minibot. The robot form of the new Ratchet is better.

the reason why the original TF's looked as human as possible is because the original Diaclone toys were meant to be human piloted robots and the japanese have this weird narccisstic tendacy to make their human piloted robots look as human as possible. it's like they think that the perfect form is the human form and that something can't be perfect unless it incorporates humanoid traits.

the reason why the original TF's looked as human as possible is because the original Diaclone toys were meant to be human piloted robots and the japanese have this weird narccisstic tendacy to make their human piloted robots look as human as possible. it's like they think that the perfect form is the human form and that something can't be perfect unless it incorporates humanoid traits.

I meant the cartoon/comic designs, not the toy designs... the cartoon/comic designs were intentionally humanized so that kids could relate to them, as the TFs were going to be the main characters.

Also, we've all seen the literal illustrations of Transformers on the G1 boxes and cards, would it have really been okay if they looked like that in the cartoon? I certainly don't think so.

Okay, I hate to point this out, but there are still white ambulances being used. There are also the larger red one used by fire departments. There is nothing wrong or unrealistic about using either of those colors for Ratchet.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you... but for whatever reason the overall effect is....... eh

 

Also, we've all seen the literal illustrations of Transformers on the G1 boxes and cards, would it have really been okay if they looked like that in the cartoon? I certainly don't think so.

FWIW I always liked the box art better......... oh well

I meant the cartoon/comic designs, not the toy designs... the cartoon/comic designs were intentionally humanized so that kids could relate to them, as the TFs were going to be the main characters.

oh that. it always bugged me that practically everyone in the cartoon had the same face when the toys had so much variety.

Okay, I hate to point this out, but there are still white ambulances being used. There are also the larger red one used by fire departments. There is nothing wrong or unrealistic about using either of those colors for Ratchet.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you... but for whatever reason the overall effect is....... eh

 

Also, we've all seen the literal illustrations of Transformers on the G1 boxes and cards, would it have really been okay if they looked like that in the cartoon? I certainly don't think so.

FWIW I always liked the box art better......... oh well

 

 

As artwork, they are great, but I have always thought the skinny armed Optimus Prime looked silly. Sunstreaker with his ape-like forearms and Megatron with his trigger-crotch, etc, thank goodness they went with artistic license. This is kind of what has been done with the movie, except they reverse engineered traditional cartoon Transformers.