I dunno. Bulkhead being squared off is more or less consistent with the pre-movie G1 cast but on the other hand, it's the somewhat athletic proportions that really diminish the resemblance.
Yeah, Bulkhead is a character with a very specific design that breaks away from the traditional "ideal physique" that so many other TFs have. He's basically the most recognized representation of a person of size interpreted as a Transformer.
This new design, which is meant to "make Bulkhead look like he belongs in [the] G1 universe", removes any and all traces of his overweight appearance and reshapes him to have that more traditional "ideal physique" shared by so many other bots, with longer legs, a broad chest, and all-around Superman-esque proportions. The guy best known for being fat and stocky (which we love about him) is no longer fat and stocky. Because he wasn't "G1 enough". That has very unfortunate implications regarding what is and isn't considered "appropriate" for Transformer physiques, G1 or otherwise.
We have female Transformers, we have Transformers of different ethnic influences, why can't we let the most notable person-of-size-Transformer remain a person-of-size-Transformer?
This new design, which is meant to "make Bulkhead look like he belongs in [the] G1 universe", removes any and all traces of his overweight appearance and reshapes him to have that more traditional "ideal physique" shared by so many other bots, with longer legs, a broad chest, and all-around Superman-esque proportions. The guy best known for being fat and stocky (which we love about him) is no longer fat and stocky. Because he wasn't "G1 enough". That has very unfortunate implications regarding what is and isn't considered "appropriate" for Transformer physiques, G1 or otherwise.
We have female Transformers, we have Transformers of different ethnic influences, why can't we let the most notable person-of-size-Transformer remain a person-of-size-Transformer?
That strawman that don't make any sense. Neither Classics Grimlock nor TR Optimus (Is that the one you mean? It's the last longnose one that was the G1 character) was either the most recent or the generally-considered-best figure of those characters when the most recent ones came out.
And in Grimlock's case they were also separated by even farther in time than Blockhead here is from the good Bulkhead that people are holding up to say "track this down on eBay and probably pay a three-digit price instead of expecting a new one to be passable".
I honestly don't remember anyone complaining about Studio Series Grimlock as at all.
For Earthrise Optimus, the complaint was the extreme similarity between him and Siege Optimus...with the general view being more that it was the Siege one that became unneeded.
To me, at least, the Siege one should have been more different, so that it wouldn't be made redundant by its own retool
And the same goes for every other Siege figure whose vehicle mode was "already looks like something from Earth if you squint"; pretty much all of them got actual Earth modes in Earthrise, making the fact that the Siege ones didn't look different a waste.
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Jazz and the Datsun Bros have rounded chests. G1 is “boxy” but you can do that WITHOUT making it look like a robot put their arms and legs through a delivery box.
This Bulkhead is basically akin to repainting that Skids as Jazz. Yeah, it’s got some of the original callbacks (protruding chest, door wings, etc) but it would look very much off and wrong and I’m not going to fault people being disappointed when a “new mold” of a character has the same energy as Wings of Honor Kup.
This Bulkhead is basically akin to repainting that Skids as Jazz. Yeah, it’s got some of the original callbacks (protruding chest, door wings, etc) but it would look very much off and wrong and I’m not going to fault people being disappointed when a “new mold” of a character has the same energy as Wings of Honor Kup.
At least Wings of Honor Kup was justified in its being "This is a different body that Kup had a long time ago in his youth long before he got his more familiar old-age body" rather than saying "This is just what Kup looks like now because we don't want him to be an old timer anymore."
Bulkhead is basically "This is Bulkhead's new look because we don't want him to be fat anymore."
Bulkhead is basically "This is Bulkhead's new look because we don't want him to be fat anymore."
That's probably because Marvel thought he was a van.
"Person of size" lol
Kaon
Guest
I don't particularly like the style of either. Bulkhead looks like a strongman whose skipped leg day for the past few years. Skids is super boxy and not in a way that I favor.
I'm sure I'll get them both because I'm a toy whore, but neither one has me really excited at this junction. Maybe when we see more I'll have something to get behind.
I'm sure I'll get them both because I'm a toy whore, but neither one has me really excited at this junction. Maybe when we see more I'll have something to get behind.
You are reading way too much into this.
I will be interested in what else is shown tomorrow. I myself have so MANY car-formers that it's hard to get me really enthusiastic about any of them, but I'm very curious as to how they will do the 'Energon Monsters' and the implied Pretender remakes. Then again, it may be a version of Beast Wars Iguanus, who knows?
I hope we get a good shot of Bulkhead from behind, because there's a few bits of the transformation I can't figure out.
To me, he looks like a more "militarized" permutation of the "civic utility vehicles" exemplified by Grapple and Inferno. Kind of like how Prowl, Smokescreen, Jazz and Skids all share broad body structures, but are clearly more "specialized" in their uses.
Heck, all things considered, I think people might have responded better to him being a heavy remold of THAT tooling than be this whole new iteration. I generally get the feeling the big hang up is the fact Hasbro's citing him as a "Prime" representation, where I think the Animated and AOE Hound (who is basically movie-verse Bulkhead, IMO) influences are WAY more prominent.
Maybe they just don't want to admit that Animated exists.
Animated, for the time being, simply doesn't fit with their strategies going forward. They want multi-purpose toolings that can potentially find new life down the road. Animated reduxes proper can only be used for Animated.
I like Skids, but Bulkhead is a pass for me.
This. Also, seekers and maybe Cliffjumper aside, any mold reuses they get are going to be background filler at best.
He's one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMMV_HX_range_of_tactical_trucks
Maybe closest to this one:
