[Rant] Human TFs
Quick rant in between food poisoning vomiting and blargh to de-stress.
The biggest problem I have with people doing the whole humanizing thing is this: Humans aren't always pretty, thus your TFs shouldn't always be pretty. And they certainly shouldn't be "bish".
Let me explain. 'Bishie' is a descriptor that is acceptable for certain characters. But only a few. Mirage, I think, I could see as being bish, but that's about it. This is because the word "bishounen" literally means effeminate male. We're talking about the long haired, mascara-wearing femme-boys that you see in anime. Although those guys are extremely nice to look at, most Transformers aren't the types to be that pretty.
This doesn't mean they have to be disgusting looking, they just aren't going to be models. take Ironhide, for example. He's an old mech who's been around for a while. Heck, he's practically canon!married. In my head, that means that he's the equivalent of a 40-year old. He'd be fit, but there'd be a little bit of a bee belly developing on him, and his hair would definitely be thinning and going grey. He's not going to be qualifying for any modeling positions, but he's not bad looking.
You think I've been over reacting, right? Well, let's take an example: OPTIMUS PRIME.
Optimus, I find, is generally drawn like this or like this. Now, they're very pretty drawings. Well coloured, well proportioned and generally very shiny. It's just... does that kind of pretty, effeminate boy really bring to mind Optimus Prime, the noble, heroic leader of the Autobot forces?
*coughs*
So Toast, you say. How can human!TFs be done well, then?
I suppose that this drawing is a perfect example. It's just fantastic.
1) Colour schemes don't have to be perfectly copied. Note how the artist suggests Optimus' colour scheme without having to blue-ify his hair? That's a common issue I have with human!TFs. If they're actually human, they're gonna have natural hair colours. I can accept the "but it's dyed!" excuse for playful characters like Bumblebee or even Jazz, but... Optimus Prime?
2) TFs aren't all the same age. Optimus's age is illustrated with little details that don't detract from the fact that he is a very handsome man. Look! there's grey streaks and he doesn't look ugly because of it! *shock!* Not to mention the fact that he's got laugh lines (that don't make him look like an old geezer!)
3) Hair doesn't have to be long, and it doesn't all have to be on the head. Mechs can still look quite dashing without having hair that falls to the waist! Look, Optimus has a short hair cut and he also got a really nice beard to add to the elegance. Yes, facial hair can look sexy! This isn't to say that long hair's impossible. I mean, look at Megatron. His hair's pretty long for a guy, but he pulls it off with his sheer arrogance.
4) There is more than one type of face shape. Look at Megatron. Now look at Optimus. Note how Megatron's head is shaped differently from Optimus'? His chin is pointier, his cheeks are rounder and his nose has an upturned point. In comparisson, Optimus has a squarer shape to his chin, his cheeks are flatter and perhaps a little sharper and his nose actually points down. These differences don't detract from the overall elegance of either mech, but they make sure that they don't look like carbon copies of each other with different clothes and hair.
5) Clothing comes in different styles. What are the chances that Perceptor's gonna be running around in stylish clothing? Or that animal-loving Hound would be wearing leather? You've gotta consider the clothing and fit it to the Transformer. In the picture, both Optimus and Megatron are wearing formal clothes that suggest a formal Age-of-the-British Empire period, and it works quite nicely because they're both high-ranking lord types. If you had Bumblebee here, he'd probably be a page boy. Starscream would be the evil duke. Prowl would be the advisor to the king. And so on, and so on.
EDIT: I forgot...
6) THEY DON'T ALL HAVE TO BE CAUCASIAN. Seriously, i see a lot of black!Jazz, but... what about a Japanese!Prowl, huh? Or how about a Saudi Arabian Octane =D!! Get creative! There's more than one human body form, ya know!
Blargh. That's it for now. I go worship porcelain god. =_=
The biggest problem I have with people doing the whole humanizing thing is this: Humans aren't always pretty, thus your TFs shouldn't always be pretty. And they certainly shouldn't be "bish".
Let me explain. 'Bishie' is a descriptor that is acceptable for certain characters. But only a few. Mirage, I think, I could see as being bish, but that's about it. This is because the word "bishounen" literally means effeminate male. We're talking about the long haired, mascara-wearing femme-boys that you see in anime. Although those guys are extremely nice to look at, most Transformers aren't the types to be that pretty.
This doesn't mean they have to be disgusting looking, they just aren't going to be models. take Ironhide, for example. He's an old mech who's been around for a while. Heck, he's practically canon!married. In my head, that means that he's the equivalent of a 40-year old. He'd be fit, but there'd be a little bit of a bee belly developing on him, and his hair would definitely be thinning and going grey. He's not going to be qualifying for any modeling positions, but he's not bad looking.
You think I've been over reacting, right? Well, let's take an example: OPTIMUS PRIME.
Optimus, I find, is generally drawn like this or like this. Now, they're very pretty drawings. Well coloured, well proportioned and generally very shiny. It's just... does that kind of pretty, effeminate boy really bring to mind Optimus Prime, the noble, heroic leader of the Autobot forces?
*coughs*
So Toast, you say. How can human!TFs be done well, then?
I suppose that this drawing is a perfect example. It's just fantastic.
1) Colour schemes don't have to be perfectly copied. Note how the artist suggests Optimus' colour scheme without having to blue-ify his hair? That's a common issue I have with human!TFs. If they're actually human, they're gonna have natural hair colours. I can accept the "but it's dyed!" excuse for playful characters like Bumblebee or even Jazz, but... Optimus Prime?
2) TFs aren't all the same age. Optimus's age is illustrated with little details that don't detract from the fact that he is a very handsome man. Look! there's grey streaks and he doesn't look ugly because of it! *shock!* Not to mention the fact that he's got laugh lines (that don't make him look like an old geezer!)
3) Hair doesn't have to be long, and it doesn't all have to be on the head. Mechs can still look quite dashing without having hair that falls to the waist! Look, Optimus has a short hair cut and he also got a really nice beard to add to the elegance. Yes, facial hair can look sexy! This isn't to say that long hair's impossible. I mean, look at Megatron. His hair's pretty long for a guy, but he pulls it off with his sheer arrogance.
4) There is more than one type of face shape. Look at Megatron. Now look at Optimus. Note how Megatron's head is shaped differently from Optimus'? His chin is pointier, his cheeks are rounder and his nose has an upturned point. In comparisson, Optimus has a squarer shape to his chin, his cheeks are flatter and perhaps a little sharper and his nose actually points down. These differences don't detract from the overall elegance of either mech, but they make sure that they don't look like carbon copies of each other with different clothes and hair.
5) Clothing comes in different styles. What are the chances that Perceptor's gonna be running around in stylish clothing? Or that animal-loving Hound would be wearing leather? You've gotta consider the clothing and fit it to the Transformer. In the picture, both Optimus and Megatron are wearing formal clothes that suggest a formal Age-of-the-British Empire period, and it works quite nicely because they're both high-ranking lord types. If you had Bumblebee here, he'd probably be a page boy. Starscream would be the evil duke. Prowl would be the advisor to the king. And so on, and so on.
EDIT: I forgot...
6) THEY DON'T ALL HAVE TO BE CAUCASIAN. Seriously, i see a lot of black!Jazz, but... what about a Japanese!Prowl, huh? Or how about a Saudi Arabian Octane =D!! Get creative! There's more than one human body form, ya know!
Blargh. That's it for now. I go worship porcelain god. =_=