I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

He should stay the way he is. Half his brain is destroyed, he is half dead. He could be connected to the black. Possibly.....

He is way too bulky and robotic, tech gets light and slimmer has it advances. Also his head, I don't see the point of having half a head of hair, he should shave it.

Cyborg's look is still very much an 80s idea of how technology should look. We live in an age of smartphones, wireless internet and streaming media.

It'd be neat to see a Cyborg whose look was more in line with modern design aesthetics.

@Crash_Recovery said:

Cyborg's look is still very much an 80s idea of how technology should look. We live in an age of smartphones, wireless internet and streaming media.

It'd be neat to see a Cyborg whose look was more in line with modern design aesthetics.

Exactly

If anything, Cyborg's look should be evolving regularly. In a world where there's a new iPad out every 7 months it doesn't really make sense for his look to be static.

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

@PassionFlower said:

@Crash_Recovery said:

Cyborg's look is still very much an 80s idea of how technology should look. We live in an age of smartphones, wireless internet and streaming media.

It'd be neat to see a Cyborg whose look was more in line with modern design aesthetics.

Exactly

@Dernman said:

@Black_Claw said:

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

Yes and if you change it to the way the fan pic shows it would lose something in the process. It would way to easy to forget the tragic life he's going through and not just look and him as a guy in a suit or something. There are tones of characters out now with cybernetic replacements but you never really think about it.

Pity the black man. Make him monstrous. He'll still appeal to blacks who are still aware of how society views them, right?

@Superdork said:

@Dernman said:

@Black_Claw said:

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

Yes and if you change it to the way the fan pic shows it would lose something in the process. It would way to easy to forget the tragic life he's going through and not just look and him as a guy in a suit or something. There are tones of characters out now with cybernetic replacements but you never really think about it.

Pity the black man. Make him monstrous. He'll still appeal to blacks who are still aware of how society views them, right?

I think there are ways, in this day and age, to make a man who is half-ipod look sexy.

@fodigg: Show me.

@Dernman said:

@Black_Claw said:

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

Yes and if you change it to the way the fan pic shows it would lose something in the process. It would way to easy to forget the tragic life he's going through and not just look and him as a guy in a suit or something. There are tones of characters out now with cybernetic replacements but you never really think about it.

Pity the black man. Make him monstrous. He'll still appeal to blacks who are still aware of how society views them, right?

@Superdork said:

@fodigg: Show me.

I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist. When I'm on a better connection I'll see if I can track down some reference images.

@Dernman said:

@Superdork said:

@Dernman said:

@Black_Claw said:

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

Yes and if you change it to the way the fan pic shows it would lose something in the process. It would way to easy to forget the tragic life he's going through and not just look and him as a guy in a suit or something. There are tones of characters out now with cybernetic replacements but you never really think about it.

Pity the black man. Make him monstrous. He'll still appeal to blacks who are still aware of how society views them, right?

He is more then just his color. Right?

He is. But because he's the only representative of his race in the Justice League and Justice League of America combined right now, how he is perceived is important. Obama is more than his race. Doesn't make his race unimportant. Especially since an associated press survey recently found that 53% of Americans are prejudiced against Blacks--whether they realize it or not. I think it says something that the only way people are willing to accept Cyborg is if he is a sexually neutered, child-like, monstrous looking figure. I wouldn't care as much about his half-face if John Stewart were also a founder. But he isn't. There is only one image/representative of a Black person on the Justice League right now, and that will likely carry over to the movies and future cartoons. It's not unreasonable to ask for higher quality representation. You may not have to care as much about that because there are a lot of people who look you in the media no matter what you watch. And you have a lot of characters to choose from who represent you well. From my experience though, it sucks to grow up with the dominant images of people like you being monsters and criminals. Just my two cents.

What you say is just as important as how you say it.

@Dernman said:

@Superdork: Pity the black man. So you make so it's his race is more important than the man right?

Read.

@Superdork said:

@Dernman said:

@Superdork said:

@Dernman said:

@Black_Claw said:

I like the artwork, but as I said in another thread, Cyborg is perfect the way he is. His story is about being part machine and his current design perfectly captures the essence of "part machine".

Yes and if you change it to the way the fan pic shows it would lose something in the process. It would way to easy to forget the tragic life he's going through and not just look and him as a guy in a suit or something. There are tones of characters out now with cybernetic replacements but you never really think about it.

Pity the black man. Make him monstrous. He'll still appeal to blacks who are still aware of how society views them, right?

He is more then just his color. Right?

He is. But because he's the only representative of his race in the Justice League and Justice League of America combined right now, how he is perceived is important. Obama is more than his race. Doesn't make his race unimportant. Especially since an associated press survey recently found that 53% of Americans are prejudiced against Blacks--whether they realize it or not. I think it says something that the only way people are willing to accept Cyborg is if he is a sexually neutered, child-like, monstrous looking figure. I wouldn't care as much about his half-face if John Stewart were also a founder. But he isn't. There is only one image/representative of a Black person on the Justice League right now, and that will likely carry over to the movies and future cartoons. It's not unreasonable to ask for higher quality representation. You may not have to care as much about that because there are a lot of people who look you in the media no matter what you watch. And you have a lot of characters to choose from who represent you well. From my experience though, it sucks to grow up with the dominant images of people like you being monsters and criminals. Just my two cents.

What you say is just as important as how you say it.

@Superdork said:

@fodigg: Show me.

Hey SD, I haven't forgotten about this, but I am having trouble with the google in finding examples of what I'm picturing, which is more of the JJA-style Star Trek "chrome, white plastic, and lens flare" version of technology. Instead, I'm getting a lot of tech-horror and traditional cyberpunk art (e.g., Terminator, Borg from TNG) on one side, and anime style cybernetics, which is usually the flesh-tone indention plates (e.g., Ghost in the Shell) or they're just called a cyborg but are basically normal and just wearing a fancy tech-version of a tiara or have a cybernetic eye patch or a robot hand (e.g., Pluto). I still think that Cyborg can be presented with visible cybernetics beyond a few lines and a recolored eye and yet look cool and slick, but I can't draw worth a lick and my google-fu is failing me. Or nobody thought of drawing an Apple-brand cyborg before, but somehow I doubt that. The closest I'm getting are all-robot examples like the baddies from that Will Smith robot movie:

Or EVE from WALL-E I guess, but she's not very humanoid:

And then there's the ones that are so stylized I don't know what to make of them. I guess I'd put Steampunk cyborgs in the "tech horror/cyberpunk" category and things like Jeremiah Gottwald's (Code Geass) face plating in the anime category:

That looks more Phantom of the Opera than "cybernetics" to me though.

I did find some live-action examples of the latter category—the flesh-tone plates style—that show more visible cybernetics than some of the redesigned Cyborgs I've seen on these forums, however. One example:

Why she's wearing a dress that's half trash-bag, half duct tape and is all dirtied up, I cannot fathom. Maybe the artist is trying to throw a little Terminator in there after all? Anyway, it provides an example of much-reduced facial plating while still making the cybernetics visible. The titular character from the manga Battle Angel Alita does something similar (spoilered for size):

The new Robocop is one western example that moves away from the chrome and more toward modern looking tech—

—but it's done in black instead of white and it has a mask, not face plating, so it's not as applicable to Cyborg as I'd like.

What this is all showing to me, however, is that you can go a lot of different ways with the aesthetics of cybernetics. I'm sticking with my position of visible cybernetics, although some de-mechanization is in order, especially for live-action adaptations. I think visible cybernetics of some kind on the face is important to the themes of the character, but he doesn't have to look monstrous or barely human. Sorry I couldn't find you a better example.

This is another good Cyborg design

basically you have his"

-lower legs, feet, forearms and hands as entirely cybernetic.

-Keep his iconic cybernetic left eye.

Than the rest is flesh with Cybernetics on the inside now and than, but he's still human. he can wear body armor or a suit if you feel he needs more protection. But for live action he needs more of a Megaman/Deus Ex Machina feel to him.

I'm actually okay with Ivan Reis drawing Cyborg he looks good. I just don't like Johns pushing him as 85% robot

@sunman: that is one of the best designs yeta! it needs more white, but the eye and ideas are 100% right

@sunman: That's an excellent design, only thing I would change is for Cyborg to be bald and for the costume to be silver.