She's like Black Arachnia and Groove's obscene love child

Said it before and said it again; I understand the need to turn blocky, toy-derived designs into something a little more 'realistic'... but these people have gone way too far.

Again; the problem is not the need for realism, it's a general, all-around poor toy aesthetic. And, politely, did we not learn anything from the same sort of philosophy when it permeated Beast Machines?

Well,beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
... but the beholder is waiting for an eyeball transplant in this case.

Nala: Ditto on your blog post tag comment ...
LOL

epanda: I thought it was beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.

Drink enough till she looks good! ^^

Folks:

I think the toys have successfully evaded the worst features of the movie designs, partly because they couldn't copy them economically, and maybe even by conscious decision.

In this case, the ugly head tends to distract one from what is actually a decent robot mode. I borrowed Megatron's paper bag for this illustration:

http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=11677

With a head like BW Blackarachnia's toy and perhaps a different name this would be a lot better. Trying to make a human face out of metal bug parts gets you this Rocky Horror Picture Show thing.

Cordially yours:
Autobus Prime
w/minicon Farebox.

Autobus:

You raise the interesting point that once again, ILM's insistence on 'alien' facial features as a leading point detracts from otherwise decent 'bots, a point with which I heartily agree.

However, I would add that there are other problems with this particular specimen - for instance, the should-attached wheel-halves; and the fact that this incarnation, unlike previous re-imaginings of Arcee, appears to be wearing a windshield on her ass.

I firmly believe that one day, a designer will come along that can actually create a beautiful motorbike alt and actually have a semi-decent robot mode to go with it. Until that day...

JOP:

Actually, Energon Arcee had the windshield-bustle as well. It's the style on Cybertron, I suppose. Also note, however, that the transformation of said bustle is different in the front and back views...it's hardly visible in the front view, but should be if not folded away, since it comes down to her knees in the back view.

I do see hope for one big improvement over E-Arcee. The Energon mold is a very good one, but she's hard to pose in an attitude that balances and doesn't look awkward, and the arms aren't terribly useful.

It's very hard, I think, to get a decent robot mode from a motorcycle. The wheels are big in relation to the rest of the machine, and can't really reshape into limbs, and there's little room for a big body cavity to tuck them into. You're guaranteed some kibble from that...and here it ends up on the upper arms. The next problem: the humanoid form is generally broader than it is thick, but a motorcycle is narrower...this dictates a lot of folding, mode-cheating, or a sideways transformation. Finally, motorcycles don't often have a lot of places you can squirrel away robot parts.

Take a look at Cy-Kill, Throttle, Groove, Wreck-Gar, the Laser Cycles, A-Sideways, E-Arcee, and Lugnutz, and you'll see examples of all of this. Taking it into consideration, I think this one's not bad...just a bit, well, butterfaced, as the intelligentsia say. :)

Cordially yours:
Autobus Prime
w/minicon Farebox.

So Ransack for the win?

Autobus:

Butterfaced? Love it. :)

Admittedly, the common motorcycle makes a rather difficult basis for a TF, but to be fair, I think we've seen potentially worse - MP and Classics Megatron comes to mind, for instance. ^_^

Gah, I'm just a hopeless optimist - I think more or less anything can be solved with careful thought and the application of good design principles.

Those wheels for instance; truly they are a difficult piece of kibble to stash in robot mode. But surely they could go on the back, instead of being attached to the shoulders? (Or they could end up in the torso, a la WW Prime.)

And yes, there is the butterface issue too...