#I have the X8 girls Iris and Colonel refs now from today

[quibbs126]

Okay, I filled the rest of the page with semi-successful Elita sketches, now we can talk about Ultra Magnus

And probably also Elita, since I’m currently struggling with her

But yeah, so first we have Ultra Magnus. Like I said prior, he’s the commanding officer for the Autobot team that makes up our main cast. He’s the highest ranking bot I have so far, outside of maybe Alpha Trion but he’s doing his own thing, but he is not like, the leader of the Autobots like he is in Animated. The main reason I did this is because I was saying prior how I imagine the Autobot leaders to be at least somewhat corrupt, and I didn’t want to do that to Ultra Magnus. He’s a good boy

He as a character is pretty similar to the usual. He’s very uptight and official, and has definitely memorized every regulation in the rule book, to the point where he tends to be a stick in the mud. And probably to the point of comedy where some of his subordinates use that to mess with him, like loopholes or doing things that are technically an offense but completely harmless, or other sorts of stuff

Though also, despite his borderline religious following of rules and conduct, he has a moral code outside of that, and if the situation really calls for it, he is willing to break the rules, even incredibly important ones, if it’s for the sake of what’s right or for one of his subordinates. He cares deeply about them, holding them to the regulations is his way of showing he cares, even if no one likes it

In my mind he’s something like Captain Cyllene or Captain Holt. Though take the latter with a grain of salt because I’ve never actually seen Brooklyn 99 outside of random clips. But he’s like that

I also wanted to give him glasses because of his big eyes in g1, but I remembered the “too many visors” issue so I stopped myself. But he does wear glasses for reading that are in that shape. All that reading of the rules must have overworked his optics

I also know that he’s large, I just don’t know how large compared to everyone else. I’ve never figured out how big everyone is compared to each other, Megatron being a particular issue. Because I know he’s normally supposed to be big, but I draw him as around the same size as Optimus, whom I imagine is like, normal sized, so does that make Megatron normal sized too? That feels wrong

But speaking of his size, despite the fact that he’s generally back at base instead of out, and despite his personality indicating otherwise, he is a beast in battle and incredibly strong. Do not mess with this man

I’m really not sure why in universe he’s not out in the field more often. My best idea right now is that he’s in some sort of situation like IDW (though not nearly exactly the same, I don’t know if he’s a tiny man in there) where his armor is special or something and thus to preserve it, he isn’t supposed to go out in the field much, despite its usefulness in battle. He wishes he could do more, but for now it’s best he follow his orders and do what he can, as this must be for the best

He’s gonna have a breaking the rules/rejecting authority arc, I’m fairly certain

But yeah, that’s Mags. Now on to design stuff

Initially I was going to have him be based on X4’s Colonel, since they’re of similar positions and stature

But by the end of things the Colonel design elements just weren’t really there, he is far more rectangle. I think part of it is that Colonel has some idea of clothes in his design, while the Transformers don’t and I’m not sure I want to incorporate it

And to be honest, while I generally like how his design turned out, I feel like he’s the least Mega Man looking one I’ve done so far. Like he almost looks like a normal Transformer, just with a bunch of simplification

I feel like maybe I need to take another crack at him. And also remove that white part on his chest, it’s really distracting me now with how weird it looks

I like it, but it doesn’t feel right, you know?

Now I suppose we talk about Elita

Drawing her here, I tried to take more from some of the female Reploids, since they’re really the best option I have, I want to say mostly Alia. Granted, an issue there was that they all have hair while Elita doesn’t, so I wasn’t sure what to do

And speaking of the helmet, I think I’ve come to the executive decision that I need to change it, because I don’t know, I don’t really like it all that much, I think it needs more. I like her giant side cones, I know that, and I think I like her little antennae as well. But it’s the finished product that I don’t like, because the top of her head’s too bare. I want to say I like the visor too, and I want to have it, but it’s usually after I draw it that I start struggling with her head design

I think it needs more work, I just don’t know how to fix it

But other than that, new design aspects are fine? They still need tweaking, and I want to bring back her jacket collar, but I think I’m getting somewhere

Maybe I need to look at other Elita designs for help

But I think for now I’ve said my peace on Elita’s design struggles. Maybe I need to try other characters as well? I do want to get to Arcee at some point. Hopefully everything will work itself out

Oh yeah, and one more thing about Elita that I added and keep forgetting to mention. I have elected that she does indeed have her time stop ability, though it’s only for a few seconds, and she has to be sparse with how much she uses it within a short time frame, lest it overload her systems and cause her to severely malfunction. But yes, she can Za Warudo

Anyways, I think that’s about it for now. May draw more later, I’m not too sure how I’m spending the rest of the day. What will I draw next? I don’t know. Should probably get around to Alpha Trion at some point though