Iy seems that the fugly faces were Hasbro's idea afterall:

ActionFigs.com: Does Hasbro have an opinion about IDW rebooting the comic book series several times now? Are the hybrid designs from the G1 and Movie stylings in the comic Hasbro's idea or IDW's?

Hasbro: IDW has had great success with their Transformers comics. When they decided to start an on-going series there was a need to make a splash so fans would know that issue #1 was the next step in Transformers comics, so we decided that a new look would help.
Like Hasbro's relationship with all of our partners we were involved every step of the way, including a change to the new design in order to reflect a forward moving style for a more modern feel.