The Solar Pool
Follow Me For Updates On:
  • Blog
  • Revisitation
  • Transformation
  • Book Shop
    • Heart of the Pool
    • Disclaimer
    • Links

Revisitation 4: Herbie Goes Bananas.

15/1/2021

7 Comments

 
Picture
This week, Verity may or may not get the love bug, whilst Skywarp and Thundercracker scratch a different kind of itch.

Plus, snaky Bumblebee, Wheeljack's ass and Ratchet's inability to understand surnames.

All in my look at Infiltration Issue 3!


7 Comments
Llama God
19/1/2021 01:48:35 pm

I think most of my comments around this issue would be around the art - because I don't really have a lot to add about the characters and story over what you've already said. Although I continue to love Verity, and yes, Bumblebee here is a great version of the character. A shame he turns into Hot Rod in screen media shortly after this, but that's a rant for elsewhere...

But to the art, and I have to admit I wasn't a fan of the art when I first read this. I think the main issue was that I was (at the time) a big fan of Figueroa's (and had been since his fan art days), and I'd been hoping for a style that was more like that. I also wasn't a fan of some aspects of Su's redesigns - some of the things like leg panels and feet don't look like Transformers, it looks more like Gundam or some other mecha. Of course, this was before the 2007 movie added a whole other aesthetic to the franchise, so I find myself viewing it differently now.

And indeed I do now love his designs (and I think they grew on me by the end of Infiltration, also). Even now, after so many other artists have worked on the franchise, going back and re-reading as we are doing this somehow manages to look fresh, which is quite an accomplishment. So yeah, I'm very much a fan now.

What I also find amazing is how elements of his Bumblebee design can be seen in the Bumblebee movie, and some elements of recent toys have taken cues from it directly - even in the Masterpiece. Which is just a testament really as to how good these designs are.

Reply
Stuart
19/1/2021 08:12:07 pm

Now Su is an official Friend of the Site, I agree.

Reply
Simon Hall
19/1/2021 10:27:14 pm

Aye, Su feels very much over-looked to me these days. His art is incredible; technical, believable and - like the sainted Geoff Senior - he captures movement and action superbly. It's like watching a film, with the smart use of 'camera' angles. Love it.

I agree it's a stylistic departure from the Dreamwave era, and thank the Matrix for that. Don was fine, but everyone else drawing in that imposed marshmallow style quickly turned a lot of their books ugly. Or, in the case of Micromasters, impossible to follow what on earth was going on.

I'd never thought about Bumblebee's avatar. Verity's comment 'ooh a bug' seemed more to me that she was commenting on his choice of alt-mode. His choice of a female avatar similarly didn't have me throwing my copy of The Female Eunuch in the air with joy. It just seemed a choice that suited him, and that is fair enough. Whether or not Lindsay Lohan was involved. I think I'd have a female avatar, because why not?

Reply
Tigerbread
27/2/2021 11:00:23 pm

Micromasters! Every 'bot was a massive pile of unfathomable blocks, they all must have been 'roiding real hard

Reply
LiamKav
29/12/2021 05:12:06 pm

I can see how Furman Bumblebee can seem like a completely different character than Barber Bumblebee. But I view it as a matter of situation. During Infiltration Bumblebee was doing his preferred role (spy) and doing it well. So he could be composed, competent and slightly sarcastic. However, that's a very different role than "head of all Autobots and possibly all Transformers on a post-war Cybertron". He's basically a classic example of someone who was promoted too far. And that's fine... not everyone has to be leadership material.

Reply
Stuart
29/12/2021 07:35:53 pm

That's a neat way of looking at it.

Reply
LiamKav
29/12/2021 07:50:04 pm

It's a recurring issue in life and in media... That everyone wants to rise to the top. Nope. Some people are happier (and better) in other roles. Sometimes you get people who seem unsuited to leadership roles who thrive (both Marvel and IDW Soundwave, for instance) but IDW Bumblebee isn't one and he shouldn't be made leader no matter how popular his character is.

Hell, it's not dissimilar from the arc Ultra Magnus has in the movie and season 3 of the original cartoon. It's not that he has no leadership skills, it's that he's best suited to being second in command. Some XOs would make great captains (like Riker) and others wouldn't (like Spock) and that's fine.




Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stuart Webb. Who knows everything about nothing and not a lot about that.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All
    Action Force/G.I. Joe
    Animated
    Announcement
    Armada
    Audio
    Avengers
    Baker
    Bay
    Beast Wars
    Big Finish
    Brosnan
    Capaldi
    Carpenter
    Carte Blanche
    Cartoon
    Combat Colin
    Comedy
    Comics
    Computer Games
    Costa
    Cullen
    Davison
    Death
    Discworld
    Doctor Who
    Dragon's Claws
    Dreamwave
    Dynamite
    Eccleston
    Ellis
    Fantasy
    Film
    Fleetway
    Frost
    Furman
    Generation 2
    Generation One
    Generation One
    Holmes
    Horror
    IDW
    James Bond
    James Roberts
    Jeffrey Deaver
    Ladybird
    Machine Man
    Marvel
    McCarthy
    Mccoy
    Mcgann
    Mosaic
    Nick Roche
    Nimoy
    Nintendo
    Panini
    Pegg
    Pratchett
    Prime
    Rescue Bots
    Revisitation
    RID
    Rincewind
    Science Fiction
    Science Fiction
    Shatner
    Signature
    Smith
    Sponsored
    Spy
    Star Trek
    Su
    Tennant
    Tipton
    Titan
    Torchwood
    Transformation
    Transformers
    Tv
    Visionaries
    Weatherwax
    Witches
    Wizards
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.