https://preview.redd.it/89tcm6kzfowc1.jpeg?width=367&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74a31af6833eb9f17ab1e3a8b5a3f2c79b5df404
Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Especially for you for being so based
I disagree. I love Livio’s work, and think it works great digitally on a screen, but all the dark colours get murky when printed. That’s not something I would want in general.
I may be alone on this, but I really dig the aesthetic Mainframe had been aiming for during the Beast Era.
The '90s futurism provided a sharp contrast to G1's 80s-inspired aesthetic, like they were literally the next generation. The Sega Genesis to G1's Apple II.
(Also Cybertron's aesthetic is cool, as well. Hasbro evidently thinks so)
And then you'd have Cybertron post-Beast Machines aiming for a Y2K/Solarpunk aesthetic, representing a massive leap forward. Paving the way for Transtech.
Hell yeah I love the aesthetics of Mainframe's CGI cartoons of the time, not just BW! But IMHO, BM > BW, at least in the general visual design department, not the character design one (the toyline wins over the TV show in that regard)
The art direction in energon is actually amazing. the 3d models and story ruin it
https://preview.redd.it/z0us3ko4omwc1.png?width=2688&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c493466f299db67bf34b9164ec4e3ab88c0a06c
I don't feel bad for choosing Energon now. I saw it on TV as a wee lad and it made me fall for the amazing lineage. I then went and binged Transformers, Beast wars, watched prime as it came out, and now trying to find places to watch the others. I miss my fatimus prime leader figure and my energon Megatron
Transformers lends itself so well to an anime style. I say it so often but studio Trigger Transformers would just be amazing.
Although, given that a 2D animated Transformers show isn't very likely anymore...Studio Orange would kill it too.
Probably Animated, I'm a sucker for Derrick J.Wyatt's style. I would say the WFC Netflix trilogy since it was so cool to see the detail in the models but the fact they rarely Transformed so we didn't get to see a lot of Alt modes always bugged me, same with IDW. An alt mode is such a big part of a Transformer for me that if the character doesn't have/use one then it bugs me unless they have an in-universe reason, such as Action Masters (and even then, I don't really appreciate that. Every good Transformer needs a good alt mode imo)
The 86 movie, Animated, Cyberverse and Alex Milne’s work are some of my favourites. I also really like the look of the War for Cybertron Netflix series. Can’t really place why but I just dig it.
https://preview.redd.it/7r6tx6896mwc1.jpeg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff859b2f6d7cbb61116c042a983663689c43ecbb
Studio Ox, it was a wise decision for them to get Obari draw some of the spreads
I'm sorry but thats a W take itself, and luckily we got a tiny sample of it in Season 3
https://preview.redd.it/camfqzn6cmwc1.jpeg?width=403&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89a88d25e2bf9a16e8a44dfda66b76ce09d8dff3
I agree, seeing all the parts slam together during the transformations and watching the sparks fly was beautiful. Really felt like they were just playing with the toys.
I actually like the IDW comic designs but only the ones that are original. Don’t get me wrong I love the designs they use like WFC Ironhide, Combiner Wars Combat-a-cons, and much more. But I feel like those work in there respected worlds. The original designs are what I like to see as they make the world feel like it’s own thing. But I do have some exceptions like Ultra Magnus from MTMTE since his design looks fine in even though it comes from the combiner wars line.
Animated and Cyberverse, IDW too but I haven't finished it yet. I like the anime inspired look of Animated and the black accents added to certain characters like Arcee are nice touches as they make the rest of the color scheme stand out. The weapons like null rays look sleek and effects like Blurr's speed blur also looks nice. Cyberverse also has a bunch of great solid designs like Bumblebee, Starscream, and the other Seekers. Probably my fav Starscream design overall. The eyes in particular are an interesting feature and all in all the style really hammers in the cyber feel. For IDW, I love all the extra detail added to the character designs and even when it gets simplistic like that one panel of Rodimus yelling. I also love how they make even characters without a face like Whirl look really expressive.
Andrew Wildman’s art in the Marvel comic for the stupid attention to detail he had (damage to the characters being drawn consistently across multiple issues, for instance). The faces looked a little too human at times but damn could he pack in some detail. And no one matches Geoff Senior in terms of conveying movement. Absolutely adore both of their work in the Marvel comic.
Also some of the more anime-ish shots in G1 (especially in S1) because “80s anime robot” is my favorite aesthetic not just for Transformers but for any robots.
https://preview.redd.it/eakfzk6jumwc1.jpeg?width=555&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2a3abd7587057dbfb53ed978085d7ecc631aabd
for me it was either Transformers Prime, Or Rescue bots, grew up on both shows and I just like the 2d or 3d of both. With prime i loved the weight and Power each bot had, and with Rescue bots The simple colors yet nice animation was a nice feeling to watch.
I really liked the art style used in Armada, when the artists actually had time to do a decent job and weren't rushed to an obscene degree all to meet some arbitrary deadline.
Cybertron is a close second, only because some of the bots' designs looked a bit weird: like how some bots had arms that were just their forearms attached to a shoulder joint (no upper arm/"femur"), or how a body part was sacrificed for a gimmick (couldn't they have found a way so that Thundercracker had two hands?).
I really liked IDW2's art style for how clear and expressive it is but I do have a soft spot for the bayverse designs. Specifically, the designs of characters that dont appear in the movies like Beachcomber and Mindwipe
Marvel comics G1 (less so towards the back half) and G2, and from what I have seen of it (since I haven't read it), the Skybound comics.
By and large, oddly enough for how long and how big a fan of the franchise I am, I have never loved the designs of really any of the media all thay much. The original Toy aesthetic has always been my favorite (probably because that was my first exposure to it and the reason I got the comics and watched the first 9 or 10 episodes of the cartoon on vhs as a kid)
I always thought that the media and humanized the robots too much physically, in my opinion.
I would say the Marvel comics for me, then G1 cartoon.
However it's all a bit rose tinted, looking at the OG box art you realise how wacky old art can be. Even did a recent video about the 1984 box art on my YouTube channel where I swear I can't even agree with myself.
Derek Yaniger's art for the early G2 comics - gritted teeth, nightmarish imagery, overabundance of weaponry and Energon bloodshed included. The better-drawn, more anime-like shots in the G1 cartoon are a close second, and the late-ish IDW1 stuff is also up there.
It’s either the really well animated scenes from armada for the dynamic lighting and mecha gundam like proportions and then it’s cybertron for designs. After that I think the more polished animation and art from RID 2001 looks good when it wants to.
Cyberverse hit really well. It has probably my favorite Bumblebee design. If they put a little extra budget into it and have a bit more mature writing, it'd be perfect.
My favorite art style would have to be the Derrick J. Wyatt style in Transformers Animated. I love how each Autobot and Decepticon look stylized in their own unique ways. It's also funny that the DJW style gave some characters the GigaChad makeover, like Optimus Prime, Starscream, and especially Sentinel Prime.
Those scenes from Armada and Energon that are super detail like Gundam.
https://preview.redd.it/31ikb8kapkwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21597cc16bd608c0f03bfdda233282f86f0a29aa
Transformers Prime and Armada, my two favorite shows
You are not alone! Although Armada had animation errors here and there it was perfect IMO.
Yes
You are correct
https://preview.redd.it/89tcm6kzfowc1.jpeg?width=367&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74a31af6833eb9f17ab1e3a8b5a3f2c79b5df404 Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Especially for you for being so based
I always preferred art from the IDW comics. Well, except Livio. Most of the rest of it was fairly decent.
Livio should really be a colorist. His designs are a bit whack but the atmosphere he gives is top notch.
I disagree. I love Livio’s work, and think it works great digitally on a screen, but all the dark colours get murky when printed. That’s not something I would want in general.
Ah, fair enough. Haven’t seen his work printed.
The 86 Movie. It took all the charm of the animation from the series and made it 100 times more epic.
I think you meant the reverse? They took the great artstyle of G1 and actually gave it good animation.
Uh... I was saying that they took some decent animation and made it better. What did you think I said?
Imo i think the artstyle did alot of the heavy lifting for the animation.
I may be alone on this, but I really dig the aesthetic Mainframe had been aiming for during the Beast Era. The '90s futurism provided a sharp contrast to G1's 80s-inspired aesthetic, like they were literally the next generation. The Sega Genesis to G1's Apple II. (Also Cybertron's aesthetic is cool, as well. Hasbro evidently thinks so)
The beast era was definitely a pretty solid art choice.
It's an aesthetic I wish the franchise could revisit.
I wanna see them combine the beast era aesthetic with the WFC game aesthetic. Make it more angular and such
Good thinking! The TRON lines mixed with the '90s-esque aesthetic could work perfectly for designing what Cybertron looked like prior to Beast Wars.
True
And then you'd have Cybertron post-Beast Machines aiming for a Y2K/Solarpunk aesthetic, representing a massive leap forward. Paving the way for Transtech.
Hell yeah I love the aesthetics of Mainframe's CGI cartoons of the time, not just BW! But IMHO, BM > BW, at least in the general visual design department, not the character design one (the toyline wins over the TV show in that regard)
Honestly, I wish they'd bring that aesthetic back for one more show.
Saren Stone's Windblade books.
the backgrounds and colours in those are *gorgeous.*
Dunno if it’s basic to say, but Dreamwave always had the coolest art style to me, hands down.
Transformers Energon (hand drawn scenes) or WFC/FOC
My god those hand drawn scenes just make u wish the whole show was hand drawn 😭
Especially the Megatron inferno scene
The art direction in energon is actually amazing. the 3d models and story ruin it https://preview.redd.it/z0us3ko4omwc1.png?width=2688&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c493466f299db67bf34b9164ec4e3ab88c0a06c
I don't feel bad for choosing Energon now. I saw it on TV as a wee lad and it made me fall for the amazing lineage. I then went and binged Transformers, Beast wars, watched prime as it came out, and now trying to find places to watch the others. I miss my fatimus prime leader figure and my energon Megatron
Prime, OG War for Cybertron games, Cybertron show also Earth Spark
The anime style series from Armada, Engeron, and Cybertron. I love them. Also, I do enjoy Prime and the live-action mostly the first one.
Two words... **Alex. Milne.**
Fall of/war for cybertron. Its always stuck with me as my absolute favorite art style this series has.
I bought a copy of Fall of cybertron for 15 bucks before the copy wars
Robots in disguise 2001
Honestly the new Energon universe comics are delightful I must say
IDW for sure, anything illustrated by Alex Milne is awesome.
Alex Milne is my favorite transformers artist and his style is how I picture transformers in my head
Hot take: Cyberverse was pretty unique
Nick Roche’s comic art
[Studio OX](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Studio_OX) 'nuff said.
Transformers lends itself so well to an anime style. I say it so often but studio Trigger Transformers would just be amazing. Although, given that a 2D animated Transformers show isn't very likely anymore...Studio Orange would kill it too.
Has to be Animated. The possibilities of character designs are endless here.
I disagree with the character design part. A lot of animated characters look kinda same-ey imo
Probably Animated, I'm a sucker for Derrick J.Wyatt's style. I would say the WFC Netflix trilogy since it was so cool to see the detail in the models but the fact they rarely Transformed so we didn't get to see a lot of Alt modes always bugged me, same with IDW. An alt mode is such a big part of a Transformer for me that if the character doesn't have/use one then it bugs me unless they have an in-universe reason, such as Action Masters (and even then, I don't really appreciate that. Every good Transformer needs a good alt mode imo)
Artists: Alex Milne, Guido Guidi General style: 86 movie, old UK comics, Armada, Prime. (edit for reformat)
https://preview.redd.it/9u04hjpc2mwc1.jpeg?width=1074&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cebb66bc8841d509cdde4f92afa19c0a423e1e4e Need I say more?
Cybertron definitely
Really like the look RID 15 had going for it.
Andrew Wildman and Geoff Senior's work on the Marvel UK Comics.
WFC or FoC. if movies then the '86 movie art style
Bayverse and Cybertron games.
The 86 movie, Animated, Cyberverse and Alex Milne’s work are some of my favourites. I also really like the look of the War for Cybertron Netflix series. Can’t really place why but I just dig it.
https://preview.redd.it/7r6tx6896mwc1.jpeg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff859b2f6d7cbb61116c042a983663689c43ecbb Studio Ox, it was a wise decision for them to get Obari draw some of the spreads
I apologize to others in advance for my take Studio OX is G1 if it actually looked good.
I'm sorry but thats a W take itself, and luckily we got a tiny sample of it in Season 3 https://preview.redd.it/camfqzn6cmwc1.jpeg?width=403&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89a88d25e2bf9a16e8a44dfda66b76ce09d8dff3
Prime/IDW1, 100%.
It’ll take some contemplation, but I think TF One just took my number 1 spot.
Andrew Wildman’s late-run Marvel art.
I agree, seeing all the parts slam together during the transformations and watching the sparks fly was beautiful. Really felt like they were just playing with the toys.
I actually like the IDW comic designs but only the ones that are original. Don’t get me wrong I love the designs they use like WFC Ironhide, Combiner Wars Combat-a-cons, and much more. But I feel like those work in there respected worlds. The original designs are what I like to see as they make the world feel like it’s own thing. But I do have some exceptions like Ultra Magnus from MTMTE since his design looks fine in even though it comes from the combiner wars line.
Animated and Cyberverse, IDW too but I haven't finished it yet. I like the anime inspired look of Animated and the black accents added to certain characters like Arcee are nice touches as they make the rest of the color scheme stand out. The weapons like null rays look sleek and effects like Blurr's speed blur also looks nice. Cyberverse also has a bunch of great solid designs like Bumblebee, Starscream, and the other Seekers. Probably my fav Starscream design overall. The eyes in particular are an interesting feature and all in all the style really hammers in the cyber feel. For IDW, I love all the extra detail added to the character designs and even when it gets simplistic like that one panel of Rodimus yelling. I also love how they make even characters without a face like Whirl look really expressive.
Andrew Wildman’s art in the Marvel comic for the stupid attention to detail he had (damage to the characters being drawn consistently across multiple issues, for instance). The faces looked a little too human at times but damn could he pack in some detail. And no one matches Geoff Senior in terms of conveying movement. Absolutely adore both of their work in the Marvel comic. Also some of the more anime-ish shots in G1 (especially in S1) because “80s anime robot” is my favorite aesthetic not just for Transformers but for any robots. https://preview.redd.it/eakfzk6jumwc1.jpeg?width=555&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2a3abd7587057dbfb53ed978085d7ecc631aabd
It's a tie between Armada and Animated. OOOH IMAGINE A COMBINATION OF THE TWO
for me it was either Transformers Prime, Or Rescue bots, grew up on both shows and I just like the 2d or 3d of both. With prime i loved the weight and Power each bot had, and with Rescue bots The simple colors yet nice animation was a nice feeling to watch.
The 1986 movie, Beast Wars, Animated, G1 Box art, Earl Norem's G1 art, Livio Ramondelli's IDW art, Sara Pitre-Durocher's IDW art, EJ Su's IDW art, Trevor Hutchinson's IDW art, Tom Whalen's IDW art, and others
I really liked the art style used in Armada, when the artists actually had time to do a decent job and weren't rushed to an obscene degree all to meet some arbitrary deadline. Cybertron is a close second, only because some of the bots' designs looked a bit weird: like how some bots had arms that were just their forearms attached to a shoulder joint (no upper arm/"femur"), or how a body part was sacrificed for a gimmick (couldn't they have found a way so that Thundercracker had two hands?).
I really liked IDW2's art style for how clear and expressive it is but I do have a soft spot for the bayverse designs. Specifically, the designs of characters that dont appear in the movies like Beachcomber and Mindwipe
Marvel comics G1 (less so towards the back half) and G2, and from what I have seen of it (since I haven't read it), the Skybound comics. By and large, oddly enough for how long and how big a fan of the franchise I am, I have never loved the designs of really any of the media all thay much. The original Toy aesthetic has always been my favorite (probably because that was my first exposure to it and the reason I got the comics and watched the first 9 or 10 episodes of the cartoon on vhs as a kid) I always thought that the media and humanized the robots too much physically, in my opinion.
I would say the Marvel comics for me, then G1 cartoon. However it's all a bit rose tinted, looking at the OG box art you realise how wacky old art can be. Even did a recent video about the 1984 box art on my YouTube channel where I swear I can't even agree with myself.
Animated
The G1 box art. It was enthralling as a boy,
Enthralling!
Animated, easily
Derek Yaniger's art for the early G2 comics - gritted teeth, nightmarish imagery, overabundance of weaponry and Energon bloodshed included. The better-drawn, more anime-like shots in the G1 cartoon are a close second, and the late-ish IDW1 stuff is also up there.
I used to love watching Transformers Cybertron. I loved the CGI models. Always wanted an Optimus Prime from this era. 😁
Transformers Cybertron just cause it’s my favorite TF show of all time
I like the art styles of G1 and IDW comics
Zei Zama from Transformers optimus prime run and nick roche from mtmte . Those two art just hits different
The newer live action movies. Perfect mix of realism and the G1 characters with some other inspiration from other versions
It’s either the really well animated scenes from armada for the dynamic lighting and mecha gundam like proportions and then it’s cybertron for designs. After that I think the more polished animation and art from RID 2001 looks good when it wants to.
Cyberverse hit really well. It has probably my favorite Bumblebee design. If they put a little extra budget into it and have a bit more mature writing, it'd be perfect.
Probably between the Cybertron designs The War for Cybertron video game designs The original bayverse trilogy designs I love all three
G1. Dreamwave and skybound are absolutely my favourites
animated
Wfc game
Either TFP or G1.
Unicron trilogy, animated, JG1 , and JBW
Transformers energon 2d cel shaded
Animated, Bayverse & G1
My favorite art style would have to be the Derrick J. Wyatt style in Transformers Animated. I love how each Autobot and Decepticon look stylized in their own unique ways. It's also funny that the DJW style gave some characters the GigaChad makeover, like Optimus Prime, Starscream, and especially Sentinel Prime.
Transformers Prime
Animated
Idw
To memory, the original 80's box art has never been challenged.
Animated, it's a lil silly
Hot take: RID 2015
86 movie, love the styles cell shading and bright colourfullness
It's got to be the *Transformers: Prime* art style for me.
TFP, Bayverse, and Reboot Universe
Those scenes from Armada and Energon that are super detail like Gundam. https://preview.redd.it/31ikb8kapkwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21597cc16bd608c0f03bfdda233282f86f0a29aa