Goddammit, Optimus, stop changing bodies.
So, I thought to myself, "I should go ahead and make icons for Rattrap for when I inevitably start playing him." And then I thought to myself, "Man, it'd be awesome to have a Rhinox account to throw around museboxes and crap because Rhinox is The Man. I should make some icons of him, too." And then I thought, "Man, I love everybody in this goddamn series, maybe I should icon them all just to be safe. But man that is a lot of iconning." And then, "Hey, I want to enable people into giving me castmates, right? And icons are hella hard to find, so it would help the enabling to have icons ready to provide for anyone...."
So, uh, yeah, I've got about 225 icons made already. I just finished episode 4. Yeah. Likely will make an icon post every 5 episodes/300 icons-ish. Hopefully this won't be too spammy.
Doing this has also had the unforseen consequence of making me question when to take Optimus from. I really like his original design, you see, and he makes some damn great faces, especially in gorilla mode, and there are some other advantages. Y'know what this means, right?
It's Pros and Cons time!
Season 1, immediately pre-death (Original Optimus)
Pros:
+Definitely my favorite Optimus Primal character design
+Very expressive in both modes makes for an interesting and useful icon set
+It was Original Optimus that I fell in love with; the first 3 and a half minutes or so of Gorilla Warfare was what made me go "Oh, man, I want to play Optimus at ME."
+In other words, I want to play the peaceful explorer who wants to learn new things more than the battle-hardened warrior, and the former is much more present in Original Optimus than the latter stages, though this may be more of a function of the series's direction than Optimus's character itself.
+His sense of humor is also more apparent in Season One, though this may be the same case as above.
+Original Optimus is about 6 and a half feet tall in robot mode and gorilla-sized in gorilla mode and will therefore have no problems fitting into the buildings of Memento Eden, something that cannot be said for 20-foot-tall Optimal Optimus. So he'll be able to, y'know, stay in the apartments.
+His humanoid size and shape will also make it possible for him to get a job in comparison to Optimal Optimus, who, in addition to being too big to fit in buildings, has even more disproportionately huge hands, so he can't even really manipulate tools designed for humans.
+Original Optimus has a fully organic beast mode, which I know for a fact means he can sustain himself on organic food and therefore I wouldn't have to worry about things like energon sources.
+Optimus getting mistaken for a real gorilla: likely to happen and cause lulz.
Cons:
-I really wanted to have Optimus remember things backwards so he could start with Megatron's final defeat and therefore not have to worry about it during his stay in ME, but if he's from the end of Season One, remembering things backwards is going to have him starting with his imminent death, which is, uh. Kind of the complete opposite! I'd almost suggest that that's freeing in its own way because it makes it out of his hands, but hahaha, like Optimus would think such a thing for a second. So I'd have to give up on the remember backwards plan.
-There's a number of castmates he would never remember (I say as though he's terribly likely to get many castmates to begin with.)
-No remembering "Oh shit this is Earth."
-No remembering the Ark
-No remembering Code of Hero.
-Or, uh, I guess his other dead comrades-in-arms, but on the other hand, I do have Booster around already to gutpunch with a long list of dead people, do I really need to double up on that? But, damn, Code of Hero.
-He's almost too expressive. The temptation to get a paid would likely be great.
-Is Season One going to provide enough in the way of memories? It's 26 episodes, which is, granted, half the series by number, but, like, half of that is character-establishing/building episodes in which Optimus plays a fairly small part, and the season on the whole is a lot less dense than the 2nd and 3rd ones. I'm sure I could manage it, I'm just not entirely sure if it's wise to do so. (Although, really, now that I think about it, it would still likely be more substantive for dividing up into regains than Edgeworth's history--the way it's mapped out now, the beginning of 2-4 to the end of the credits takes up 23 percent.)
Season 2, end of The Agenda, pt. 1 (Transmetal Optimus)
Pros:
+Still about 6 and a half feet tall, so can still fit in buildings.
+And can still get a real job.
+I'm pretty sure Transmetals are still organic enough to gain meaningful sustenance from organic food, but I can't recall an example of a Transmetal eating off the top of my head. But I'm pretty sure I'd remember claims to the contrary, so I'd suppose it's within the acceptable realms of bullshitting.
+He'd remember Code of Hero eventually.
+And that they were on Earth.
+And Silverbolt, at least.
+Taking him from specifically the end of the first part of The Agenda means that I can do the remembering backwards thing, because the first thing he'd remember that way is Megatron being captured and getting ready to return to Cybertron. Sure, that didn't end how he'd have liked it to, but neither did the end of Season Three.
Cons:
-I really dislike Transmetal Optimus's character design. Just. His face, mostly. (This is a shot of Original Optimus's face. This is Transmetal Optimus's. Yeah.)
-A lot less expressive than Original Optimus; makes for a boring icon set.
-Still won't remember the Ark.
-Or a number of castmates.
-No, really, I hate that character design. It's a dumb, shallow reason, sure, but it probably would make me play him a lot less.
Season 3, series finale (Optimal Optimus)
Pros:
+Already have the icon set there on the account.
+End of the series, so he'd remember the entire series.
+And all his castmates
+And being on Earth and visiting the Ark.
+And Code of Hero fuck yeah
+I can do that remembering backwards thing like I wanted.
+Definitely no worries about getting enough memory regains out of it.
Cons:
-Ffffffff, 20 fucking feet tall, at least. No way he's fitting inside any buildings.
-And I don't think there's a single job he could do with those huge-ass hands of his, to boot.
-And, man, face-to-face interaction would be a bitch and a half.
-I don't think there's a scrap of organic material anywhere on the guy, which makes it pretty doubtful that he can get meaningful sustenance from organic food, which raises the question of how he's even going to function and waugh.
-Despite having basically the same face as Original Optimus, he's got a narrower range of expression, especially in beast mode.
-I'm really concerned about how in-character it really is to focus on the peaceful scientist/explorer aspect after everything Optimus goes through over the course of the series. It's just. It's hard to say. Season 3 in particular leaves little to no room to focus on character studies. Rhinox still presumably likes to smell the flowers, but that doesn't stop him from spending the entire season cooped up in the Ark, y'know?
I think I'm leaning mostly towards Orignal Optimus, if only because the Cons for Transmetal and Optimal Optimuses are so bad.
So, uh, yeah, I've got about 225 icons made already. I just finished episode 4. Yeah. Likely will make an icon post every 5 episodes/300 icons-ish. Hopefully this won't be too spammy.
Doing this has also had the unforseen consequence of making me question when to take Optimus from. I really like his original design, you see, and he makes some damn great faces, especially in gorilla mode, and there are some other advantages. Y'know what this means, right?
It's Pros and Cons time!
Season 1, immediately pre-death (Original Optimus)
Pros:
+Definitely my favorite Optimus Primal character design
+Very expressive in both modes makes for an interesting and useful icon set
+It was Original Optimus that I fell in love with; the first 3 and a half minutes or so of Gorilla Warfare was what made me go "Oh, man, I want to play Optimus at ME."
+In other words, I want to play the peaceful explorer who wants to learn new things more than the battle-hardened warrior, and the former is much more present in Original Optimus than the latter stages, though this may be more of a function of the series's direction than Optimus's character itself.
+His sense of humor is also more apparent in Season One, though this may be the same case as above.
+Original Optimus is about 6 and a half feet tall in robot mode and gorilla-sized in gorilla mode and will therefore have no problems fitting into the buildings of Memento Eden, something that cannot be said for 20-foot-tall Optimal Optimus. So he'll be able to, y'know, stay in the apartments.
+His humanoid size and shape will also make it possible for him to get a job in comparison to Optimal Optimus, who, in addition to being too big to fit in buildings, has even more disproportionately huge hands, so he can't even really manipulate tools designed for humans.
+Original Optimus has a fully organic beast mode, which I know for a fact means he can sustain himself on organic food and therefore I wouldn't have to worry about things like energon sources.
+Optimus getting mistaken for a real gorilla: likely to happen and cause lulz.
Cons:
-I really wanted to have Optimus remember things backwards so he could start with Megatron's final defeat and therefore not have to worry about it during his stay in ME, but if he's from the end of Season One, remembering things backwards is going to have him starting with his imminent death, which is, uh. Kind of the complete opposite! I'd almost suggest that that's freeing in its own way because it makes it out of his hands, but hahaha, like Optimus would think such a thing for a second. So I'd have to give up on the remember backwards plan.
-There's a number of castmates he would never remember (I say as though he's terribly likely to get many castmates to begin with.)
-No remembering "Oh shit this is Earth."
-No remembering the Ark
-No remembering Code of Hero.
-Or, uh, I guess his other dead comrades-in-arms, but on the other hand, I do have Booster around already to gutpunch with a long list of dead people, do I really need to double up on that? But, damn, Code of Hero.
-He's almost too expressive. The temptation to get a paid would likely be great.
-Is Season One going to provide enough in the way of memories? It's 26 episodes, which is, granted, half the series by number, but, like, half of that is character-establishing/building episodes in which Optimus plays a fairly small part, and the season on the whole is a lot less dense than the 2nd and 3rd ones. I'm sure I could manage it, I'm just not entirely sure if it's wise to do so. (Although, really, now that I think about it, it would still likely be more substantive for dividing up into regains than Edgeworth's history--the way it's mapped out now, the beginning of 2-4 to the end of the credits takes up 23 percent.)
Season 2, end of The Agenda, pt. 1 (Transmetal Optimus)
Pros:
+Still about 6 and a half feet tall, so can still fit in buildings.
+And can still get a real job.
+I'm pretty sure Transmetals are still organic enough to gain meaningful sustenance from organic food, but I can't recall an example of a Transmetal eating off the top of my head. But I'm pretty sure I'd remember claims to the contrary, so I'd suppose it's within the acceptable realms of bullshitting.
+He'd remember Code of Hero eventually.
+And that they were on Earth.
+And Silverbolt, at least.
+Taking him from specifically the end of the first part of The Agenda means that I can do the remembering backwards thing, because the first thing he'd remember that way is Megatron being captured and getting ready to return to Cybertron. Sure, that didn't end how he'd have liked it to, but neither did the end of Season Three.
Cons:
-I really dislike Transmetal Optimus's character design. Just. His face, mostly. (This is a shot of Original Optimus's face. This is Transmetal Optimus's. Yeah.)
-A lot less expressive than Original Optimus; makes for a boring icon set.
-Still won't remember the Ark.
-Or a number of castmates.
-No, really, I hate that character design. It's a dumb, shallow reason, sure, but it probably would make me play him a lot less.
Season 3, series finale (Optimal Optimus)
Pros:
+Already have the icon set there on the account.
+End of the series, so he'd remember the entire series.
+And all his castmates
+And being on Earth and visiting the Ark.
+And Code of Hero fuck yeah
+I can do that remembering backwards thing like I wanted.
+Definitely no worries about getting enough memory regains out of it.
Cons:
-Ffffffff, 20 fucking feet tall, at least. No way he's fitting inside any buildings.
-And I don't think there's a single job he could do with those huge-ass hands of his, to boot.
-And, man, face-to-face interaction would be a bitch and a half.
-I don't think there's a scrap of organic material anywhere on the guy, which makes it pretty doubtful that he can get meaningful sustenance from organic food, which raises the question of how he's even going to function and waugh.
-Despite having basically the same face as Original Optimus, he's got a narrower range of expression, especially in beast mode.
-I'm really concerned about how in-character it really is to focus on the peaceful scientist/explorer aspect after everything Optimus goes through over the course of the series. It's just. It's hard to say. Season 3 in particular leaves little to no room to focus on character studies. Rhinox still presumably likes to smell the flowers, but that doesn't stop him from spending the entire season cooped up in the Ark, y'know?
I think I'm leaning mostly towards Orignal Optimus, if only because the Cons for Transmetal and Optimal Optimuses are so bad.