Transfomers Studio Series designer King Samlock is back to give us details on the designing process for the two Rise of the Beasts toys revealed yesterday. There was an assumption, way back before the film delay, that while the mainline toys would be based on preliminary concept art, the Studio Series toys would be of the finished models and that's not entirely the case. As you'll see below, Hasbro did a good job working with what they were given to make toys that should match what we see on screen but there was still some guesswork, making them not entirely accurate.
The designer discusses how Battletrap, for instance, was designed based on concept art and we learn through the blurb accompanying Bumblebee that the toys and the film were worked on at the same time. Some of the most obvious differences are in the paint apps department where Hasbro provided more paint apps than needed for Bumblebee's car mode, having the stripes on the offroad Camaro continue onto the back. Here are the full notes below, enjoy!
SS-99 TF7 Rise of the Beasts Battletrap
“POWER IS PRIMAL”
This robot design is terrifying, and we absolutely love it. Making his live action debut in ROTB is Battletrap!
Based on a licensed wrecker body GMC C70, Battletrap’s vehicle mode features a blower out of the hood, and a menacing tow truck boom off the rear. When transformed into bot mode, he retains some of the awesome spiked brush guard on the chest, with an exposed engine block protruding out the center. The arms maintain portions of the wrecker crane, so that they can be utilized as melee weapons, and he features a large spiked wrecking ball that can be an extension of his arm. His head design is unlike anything that we’ve seen before in transformers, with a vented eye covering that looks a bit medical.
I was lucky enough to be able to partner with Yuya Onishi on this design, and he did an amazing job of delivering on both forms. This figure is a blast to transform, and features an huge range of articulation include waist and ankle tilt. His vehicle mode even features a functioning dually wheel setup in the rear.
The deco on Battletrap was a blast to put together, and delivers a color palette that is very break frame from our traditional movie villains. He gets some nice two toning on the grill, weathering on the crash bar, stripes down the side, and is complete with “Bernie’s Towing” on the door. The concept art depicted a lot of amber lighting from the cab interior for Battletrap, so we used a nice translucent orange on the windows and wrecker lights to accentuate the overall tone of the design. Overall this has to be one of the most exciting characters to come out of the trailer, and I am so excited to finally be able to share him with you!
NOTE: I won’t be sharing full Screen to Toy asset breakdowns prior to the films release out of respect to our studio partnerships.
What are your thoughts on ROTB Battletrap? Are you excited to see this new character on screen? What was your reaction to the trailer? Let’s hear about it below!
SS-100 TF7 Rise of the Beasts Bumblebee
“POWER IS PRIMAL”
What a perfect book end to the first one hundred studio series figures. Bumblebee’s debut as a 1977 Camaro from his appearance in the 2007 film being figure #001, and his modified off-road form of the 1977 Camaro in the 7th installment of the live action Transformers film for Rise of the Beasts being figure #100.
Despite sharing some visual similarities to the Camaro form factor, this release is 100% new tooling. The figure does an incredible job of evolving the on screen bot from The Bumblebee Film into an off-road capable, rollbar heavy, winch ready, over-fender wearing juggernaut the blazed an unbeaten path with Cheetor by his side.
Built by the legendary team at @hendrickperformance , this practical vehicle is absolutely insane. Every detail of this build was precision crafted to bring the conceptual car design to life.
Ittoku Kuwazu was such a wonderful design partner to have on this item, and did an amazing job of bringing this character to life. I tried to keep a good balance of paint on the vehicle mode, with some exciting color reveals as it was transformed into the robot mode. I tried to keep the rear of the vehicle as visually interesting as the front, with many of the new components shifting to the back of the Camaro, with additions of the rear louver panel, spoiler and the blacked out tailgate. Despite being developed at the same time as the film, i find these ROTB figures to be incredibly successful at replicating their on screen designs. Though I might have gone stripe heavy on this guy coming off of the Dark of the Moon deco.
NOTE: I won’t be sharing full Screen to Toy asset breakdowns prior to the films release out of respect to our studio partnerships.
What are your thoughts on ROTB Bumblebee? Are you amped to see him in the film? What was your reaction to the trailer? Let’s hear about it below
