TF2 - Protectobot Sniper 01

The saga of the Protectobot Sniper begins. I didn't realize what a go-around this guy was too...


The beginning of the development sketches, again supposed to be a skinny guy, but these sketches aren't quite 'there' yet. But enought find the basic shape and placement of vehicle cues.


His arms, shoulders, and torso were created from the tail and upper fuselage, and his legs dropped from the rear and bottom of the fuselage.

So this guy was to be the first pass for the submission to Hasbro, but JT and I were a bit at odds with the chest, and the canopy glass being such a big part of the torso. He kept on and on about the fact the a Sniper would never have glass showing at the target, the glare would be a tipoff- and with real world logic, I totally agree. Of course, I knew you would never see that in the game, so the arguments began! From my point of view, the basic transformations for a helicopter would be front facing, so a TF coming would be able to 'drop' right into bot mode. That was my side of the logic argument, and one other thing...


There was a rule during the first movie, that glass couldn't transform, it either showed or disappeared. I believe it was a request from Hasbro to make the toys a bit easier to engineer. So I kept to that standard, but apparently, it didn't matter any more. I thought that the first movie tried to keep to that as well, but maybe by the time the second one got going...well...when has Bay cared about logic...or plot...

So these were a few passes at a compromise - it didn't matter to me if he showed glass or not, but I really wanted to have the canopy element make up the torso/chest. It just made sense to me.


So I went back to the drawing board and created a few more looks for the chest area.


That led to this, which is what we sent in to Hasbro for approval. I changed a bit of the transfomation, and made the tail create the leg elements, while the engine and upper fuselage made up the arms, leaving all the rest for the body.

I drew him in a cooler pose as well...I think this is where some of the problems of impression arise - I know in my head what these guys are going to look like, which isn't very fair to a group that's expected to give feedback to me, and even though I realize the two submission images may give a very different impression, the first being a little dowdy, and the second much tougher, but by the time I get to final turnarounds, they really wouldn't be much different. Why don't I just draw them cool every time? I try, baby, I try.

So while we waited for feedback on the bot design, I got started on the vehicle finals...