>>7849231>But it's not. Macross has been doing it for a long time and they have the additional handicap of semi-realism, that is, not cutting cockpits and engines in half etc.Here's the thing; Macross designs, while initially based on real vehicles, (i.e. the F-14 Tomcat), they're still fictional vehicles designed from the ground up, so the robot mode is more seamlessly integrated into the vehicle. If you look at a real F-14 Tomcat compared to a VF-1 model, its clear the VF-1 is more bottomheavy, but because the Battroid mode is designed to look like its parts are made out of the jet bits entirely, it feels like a very seemless design.
Transformers, on the otherhand, are handicapped by the need to adhere to preexisting designs that didn't take the vehicle modes into account; for example any starscream just abut needs to have the turbine chest, the blocky arms, the waist; all these things aren't part of the F-15, they have to be crammed into sleek F-15 body with varying results. Its even worse witht he aerialbots, where their entire robot modes are composed of elements not from their respective alt-modes. If you want sleek jetformers, you have to really start from the ground up and use the space given to you by the alt-mode primarily, not just built the transformation around the robot mode.
G1 Optimus, for example, it a good example of a robot that uses primarily alt-mode elements instead of just inventing robot greebling outright like most jets do.
