Comments: 53
Phenometron [2013-07-07 22:46:54 +0000 UTC]
An all-out inner war between the Decepticons is an interesting concept.
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Phenometron [2014-03-14 23:18:22 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! I've always found the bad guys more interesting, and the potential for intra-faction conflict is one of the reasons.
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JoeTeanby [2013-03-23 21:09:00 +0000 UTC]
Love it! So much going on. A fantastic battle scene.
Soundwave you fool - this is no time for texting!!!
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to JoeTeanby [2013-04-19 17:48:50 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! I love being able to put together a scene that looks like it could be a generic situation but is actually telling a more complex story in its details.
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Zephyr79 [2012-08-12 06:33:35 +0000 UTC]
I think Blitzwing should have been with the rebels, due to his role in FFoD. Other than that, this is a wonderful piece! I love how Skywarp finally figures out just how destructive teleportation can be. Ah, the old practice of ripping apart atoms with your body...
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Zephyr79 [2012-12-27 01:34:38 +0000 UTC]
Actually, I think his rebellion with Astrotrain and Starscream in "Triple Takeover" is an even stronger argument for your case.
Of course the real reason I put him on Megeatron's side is that he didn't get a G2 toy. But if I were to spin this out into a story, I think I'd say that after his failed mutiny, he accepted Megatron's dominance in a basic pecking-order way, simple soul that he is. But then Megatron's conversion into Galvatron gave Blitzwing a chance to reevaluate his loyalty, which ultimately broke when Galvatron's mad incompetence nearly allowed the Quintessons to deactivate all Transformers.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts and praise! I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.
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merfilly [2011-02-07 23:11:59 +0000 UTC]
Oh wow. So much detail.
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to ArwingPilot114 [2011-02-03 21:27:32 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! Just don't ask me why the Autobots got a new symbol too; I've got no freaking idea. Something to do with Optimus Prime, surely, but beyond that...
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to ArwingPilot114 [2011-02-04 01:09:55 +0000 UTC]
My personal explanation in the G2 comics was that it was a result of Primus' death. When Cybertron completed its re-creation, I could imagine a psychic impulse spreading through TFs across the universe, causing them to switch to new insignia without even questioning the idea. I can't think of a good reason why Primus would've wanted that to happen, if it was even his intent... though it could be an interesting lead-in to an exploration of free will in the race. Like, if a non-TF asks them why they did it, and first they don't even understand the question, but when one of them makes the mental breakthrough and recognizes their behavior for what it was, it brings into question all of their motivations, the war itself, etc.
But in the universe I cooked up for this picture? No clue.
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to ArwingPilot114 [2011-02-05 02:47:37 +0000 UTC]
Optimus had a few questioning thoughts about Primus along exactly those lines right before Unicron showed up. He resolved it by deciding that Primus had created the TFs not to be cannon fodder against Unicron, but to be Primus' successors after he and Unicron were both annihilated.
Of course, that's just what Optimus thought. There are other possibilities, I think. Especially in such a sci-fi-centric storyline, the question of what a "god" is is pretty open. Sure, being the defender of the universe against a creature that wants to consume everything makes the good-guy/bad-guy divide pretty clear, but only in a very utilitarian way. When it comes to day-to-day morality and the ethics of the TF war, why would Primus necessarily be on the side of "good"?
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ArwingPilot114 In reply to MattDrawsRobots [2011-02-06 00:18:33 +0000 UTC]
Yep, I remember that.
Of course. I mean, if you think about it, Primus' existence was recognized by both sides. Unicron was feared by both the 'bots and 'cons. And when it came to the final battle, Primus and Unicron viewed all the TF's as just a single race, not the 2 factions... and it's not like either side fought solely for Primus' so-called "ideals". They just fought for ideas, freedom, reform, and life. I just think it was strange how the TF's just started fighting one day, and it ended up being a war that lasted billions of years. And what the heck to the Quintisons have to do with their creation if "supposedly" their god is Primus?
On a side note, I'm quite glad there is someone else out there that thinks of these questions X)
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to ArwingPilot114 [2011-02-06 20:29:49 +0000 UTC]
Yeah, not long after Optimus had been preaching that Primus intended all TFs to be united against Unicron, Grimlock and Bludgeon both were saying that the 'Bot/'Con divide was inherent and unavoidable. I think in the end, Furman seemed to be espousing a yin-yang principle, that no matter how much Primus WANTED his creation to be fully "good," an evil counterpart would emerge because that's just the way of the universe. But I do agree that prosecuting a single war for millions of years is... conspicuous behavior. Certainly I think the Marvel-TF universe has room for more ideas to be added to what has already been established.
As for the Quints, the easy answer is that they don't exist in that universe. But there was a more modern comic that tried to reconcile the two origins . It claimed that the Quints had been servants of Unicron, scouring the universe in search of Primus. When a group of them found Cybertron, they hid the discovery from their master and turned the power of Primus into a business venture. Vector Sigma apparently already existed as an embodiment of Primus, and the Quints added a "shell program" to control it and produce the slave race that would eventually become the TFs.
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loaves [2011-01-31 12:17:49 +0000 UTC]
This is a very interesting perspective. I like it. The drawing is excellent!!
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Meteorprime [2011-01-30 13:26:10 +0000 UTC]
Fantastic- really reminds me of the old Ladybird books. :3 And I love the motion captured. Some real old style tf battling going down.
M
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Meteorprime [2011-01-30 21:13:02 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! Some of the Ladybird art was quite good - I'm flattered by the comparison!
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Meteorprime In reply to MattDrawsRobots [2011-01-30 21:31:59 +0000 UTC]
Its the shapes I think of oyur Tf's, that real old style heart of transformers classic feel. :3
M
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Meteorprime [2011-02-02 00:17:06 +0000 UTC]
I do like my robots to be made out of big, chunky blocks. None of that Bay-tastic car-wreck-in-a-humanoid-shape for me.
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Meteorprime In reply to MattDrawsRobots [2011-02-02 17:21:57 +0000 UTC]
Nope. I like the good old fashioned g1 designs but i also like alot of the modern show designs too. Not all the spindly stick ones though from the bay-verse. Primes the best of those by far.
M
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JZLobo [2011-01-30 03:02:26 +0000 UTC]
Gorgeous!
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sydew [2011-01-30 01:11:02 +0000 UTC]
Excellent work!
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hixdei-love [2011-01-29 22:00:47 +0000 UTC]
FEATURED!! In january's 30 features news article! Theme: Battle
[link]
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Yondercat [2011-01-29 16:08:15 +0000 UTC]
great battle scene, I love it.
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to marble-v [2011-01-29 20:02:36 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! I like using my art as a vehicle to share little-known TF lore, as well as to open people's imaginations as to what could be built on that lore. I'm glad you enjoyed my ideas!
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WisesnailArt [2011-01-29 12:27:20 +0000 UTC]
Your work is amazing and intense, and the background is just love.
Good job!*_*
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Mellow-Striker911 [2011-01-30 21:11:41 +0000 UTC]
He'll stay as loyal to Thundercracker as any corpse can!
Oh, and by the way, since you brought Starscream up... I actually do have a notion that he's involved, but I haven't decided exactly how. Since you seem interested in my nutty ideas and remarkably tolerant of walls of text, I'm going to outline my personal MW/G2 universe. Normally I would keep this sort of thing to myself as fodder for more creations, but I know I'm never going to write it all out as fanfic, and I don't see any more specific drawing opportunities in it, so here goes:
It starts with this picture , set in the future of the old cartoon, where I imagined Starscream's ghost reanimating the body of a fallen Decepticon (probably Skyquake ). This basically works for him, but living in a corpse is an unpleasant experience no matter how you slice it, so he takes his new body through the Kronosphere into the past to try and undo his own death. He ends up in either the late '80s or early '90s – season 2.5, at any rate – and his actions cause G2 and more elements of MW to happen. So Thundercracker's rebellion is one of his effects, but whether or not he meant to cause it or which side he chooses (if either) is far from decided in my mind. I do know that his nature as a disembodied, indestructible spark is eventually found out, and he ends up imprisoned in a Decepticon lab. Because sparks are something of a mystery to G1-era science (certainly the term doesn't exist yet), experimenting on him gains the Decepticons a quantum leap of knowledge. They're able to build basically a reverse-engineered Vector Sigma , whence come the G2-unique characters. I figure Thundercracker is still in charge at this point, so the new characters get his symbol. (I think perhaps this is how Megatron makes his return: With the help of an inside agent (maybe Soundwave, but not necessarily), he is slipped into the freshly-generated ranks in a new body (the tank), and he quietly seeks an opportunity to reclaim his leadership. That's why even he wears Thundercracker's symbol for a time.) Eventually Starscream is freed by an Autobot raid, but this is done with the help of other future characters who had pursued him into the past (which explains how Strafe can be in a pre-season-3 G2). They know that he's indestructible, but they also know that he's temporally misplaced, which is the one weakness they can exploit. So they use Kronosphere-related technology to further disrupt his grounding in space-time, and his spark is pulled outside of the timestream (hence his eventual reappearance in the Beast Wars ).
And THAT'S what's up with Starscream. Since you asked.
Though, admittedly, I have no idea at ALL what's going on with the Starscream of that time. Maybe he gets mass-displaced like in the UK comics, even though time-travel never worked like that in the cartoon? Eh, I don't know.
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Mellow-Striker911 In reply to MattDrawsRobots [2011-02-03 12:14:21 +0000 UTC]
"I don't see any more specific drawing opportunities in it" Ha! yeah right, you could make a mini movie with this plot!* we should name it 'the mishaps of Starscream' or 'the one who screw things together'* and what's more it's just one character! - I can't imagine how epicit would be if you put it all together to form one plot- and that you really connected it all together perfectly.
Though my curiosity seem to cling to that mass-displaced-time-traveling bit. but one more question, does ANY of the decepticons knows about this?
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MattDrawsRobots In reply to Mellow-Striker911 [2011-02-03 21:22:50 +0000 UTC]
Thanks, but the mini-movie thing actually makes it harder for me to come up with specific scenes that would make any kind of sense on their own. This picture is about as deep into the woods as I feel comfortable going, since I think it contains enough clues and connections to the actual lore that a sufficiently well-informed TF fan could figure it out. I don't think I could strike the same balance with anything else from that storyline.
The only way I could see it working is if I made a bunch of pics explicitly as a series, each one hitting a main plot-point. But sadly I don't see myself having the time or dedication to pull that off. And it would be creating obligation for myself, which I've discovered is the surest way to kill my enjoyment.
As for your question, I'm not sure how to deal with future-Starscream's "secret identity." The plot could play out in full without the 'Cons ever realizing who he actually is, but somehow I just don't see him being able to hold it in. Especially if his present self is still around, I'd think he would let HIM in on it, at the very least. In fact, it would be just delicious if present-Screamer found a reason to betray future-Screamer, and that's how he gets imprisoned. (If present-Screamer realizes that his timeline has been altered enough that it's no longer heading for future-Screamer's future, then he would have nothing to lose in betraying him. The only complication would be that if the other 'Cons are happy experimenting on his future self, that would mean they'd ALSO be okay experimenting on HIM. So either present-Screamer would have to somehow prevent future-Screamer from revealing his true identity – even under tortuous experimentation – or present-Screamer would have to spend the rest of his life on the run. I don't think he would choose to do that if he thought it through, but I could see the decision being very hastily made, then instantly regretted when future-Screamer has his revenge by telling the other 'Cons the whole truth.)
By the way, this storyline doesn't actually end with Starscream's time-banishment. I've got it loosely figured out how this alternate-'toon-G2/MW universe would lead into Alternators, Classics, and the other neo-G1 lines, with the main events happening during roughly the years the toylines correspond to. This may not be a sign of solid mental health, but there it is nonetheless.
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TeiOuja [2011-01-29 09:35:19 +0000 UTC]
I love it.
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JP-V [2011-01-29 07:02:59 +0000 UTC]
Such a intense battle scene which is created fantastically in terms of persepctive, art, and colours. The effects you used on Skywarp teleporting and self terminating is terribly excellent, unfortunately he was not successful to take out the real Megatron. Finally I like the huge background wall with the Decepticon Insignia on it very detailed and clearly states that this is Decepticon power struggle. Well done Astro-L you yet again have created a wonderful Transformers art piece.
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JP-V In reply to MattDrawsRobots [2011-01-29 22:08:16 +0000 UTC]
My pleasure! It deserves all the work done it. Yeah you have these really interesting ideas when you create pictures which come out out so well. Once again you are very welcome!
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