Bumblespud, or the Devil’s Potato Head
I don’t know that I’ve seen a more eloquent (if kind of horrifying) argument for the needlessly cluttered design of Michael Bay’s Transformers than the hideous Bumblespud. What the hell is going on with his face? Is the gray part his nose? His face? How pathetic is it he has to have a license plate with his name on it to even know what the fuck he’s supposed to be? (Answer: very.) Look, Optimus Prime, R2-D2, Snake Eyes and more made the transition to potato easily, and without looking like shit. If you can’t turn your character into a goddamn Potato Head, then maybe you need to rethink your design, all right?
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.