Kid-appeal character

2011-07-30T02:59:26Z

58.166.119.183: /* List of kid-appeal characters */

[[Image:Watching SUVs.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Cue the hijinks.]]''Transformers'' is, and always has been, a franchise aimed at children. And because most Transformers are always so [[Grimlock (G1)|broody]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|cool]] and all sorts of other things little kids won't get, most to all franchises have what could be called a '''kid-appeal character'''. This character often interacts with the token [[human]] character as one of their closest friends, and the two get into all sorts of wacky adventures together. They usually get pulled out by one of the older bots, completely fail to learn their lesson, and do it again. And again and again and...
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==List of kid-appeal characters==
[[Image:Wheelietftmslingshot.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Finally, a kid-imitable weapon.]]

'''[[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]]'''

*[[Hound (G1)|Hound]] spent a good deal of time with [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] in the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]]'s [[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1|first]] [[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2|three]] [[More than Meets the Eye, Part 3|episodes]], but was soon supplanted by...
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], who stayed with Spike for most of the series.
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] was [[Daniel Witwicky (G1)|Daniel Witwicky]]'s closest friend at the beginning of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''. This lasted for all of eighty minutes, as Hot Rod's upgrade into Rodimus Prime made him no longer "hip" enough, and he was replaced.
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] took over for the show's third season. Wheelie and Daniel went off on adventures like [[Surprise Party|stealing a ship to figure out when Ultra Magnus's birthday was and nearly getting killed repeatedly in the process]]. Exactly the sort of thing we want kids identifying with.
*[[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]], the girl, filled in for the Daniel's Best Friend part in the final three episodes. Hey, kids, you like hanging out with your moms, right?
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'''''[[The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'''''
*[[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] was still a companion to Daniel, even though they spent most of their time insulting each other.

'''''[[Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'''''
*The [[Headmaster Junior]]s were unique in that they served both as the token young humans and the kid-appeal Transformer characters.

'''''[[Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'''''
*[[Holi]] was [[Jean Minakaze]]'s pal.

[[Image:Nightscreambm.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Popular amongst the blind kids, maybe.]]

'''''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'''''

*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] was not only yellow, he had the impulsiveness and disregard for authority every kid-appeal bot needs. The only thing he lacked was a human friend, until [[Chak]] and [[Una]] showed up in the show's third season. Except for the [[Transmetal 2]] upgrade, and the whole of ''[[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]]'', he was a pretty friendly guy, annoying the others with his childish enthusiasm.

'''''[[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]]'''''

*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] replaced Cheetor as the youngster of the Maximals since Cheetor had matured. Hasbro had such high hopes for this kid appeal character, that they made his toy a giant Ultra class figure! Unfortunately, his character was angry and bitter, so he didn't get much love. He never had a human friend either, since ''Beast Machines'' had no humans at all.
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'''''[[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|Robots in Disguise]]'''''

*[[Wedge]] was the young, excitable hero who was hotheaded and naive, but was being primed for leadership.

*However, it was [[Side Burn (RID)|Side Burn]], the ''other'' naive, excitable young hero, who had the special friendship with [[Koji Onishi|a human]].
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[[Image:Hotshotironhidedw.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Hot Shot passes the kid-appeal torch.]]

'''[[Unicron Trilogy]]'''

*[[Hot Shot (Armada)|Hot Shot]] was the token kid-appeal character of ''[[Armada (franchise)|Armada]]'', hot-headed, unwilling to listen to his superiors, and suddenly thrust into a leadership role that lasted all of three episodes. Unfortunately, he ''grew up'', something no kid-appeal character should ever have to do, and was shortly replaced.
*[[Ironhide (Energon)|Ironhide]] took over once ''[[Energon (franchise)|Energon]]'' rolled around. His tenure was mostly spent getting kicked by...uh...[[Kicker Jones|Kicker]]. They got along eventually, though.
* Hot Shot was young and goofy again in ''[[Cybertron (franchise)|Cybertron]],'' but the series' kids spent more time with the [[Recon Mini-Con Team]], particularly [[Jolt (Cybertron)|Jolt]] (the only one who could speak English).

'''[[Live-action film series]]'''

*[[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] was the first Autobot to arrive on Earth. His mission to search for the [[AllSpark (Movie)|All Spark]] led him to [[Sam Witwicky]], a boy whom he befriended over the course of his mission, and stayed with once it was over. Sam repaid him by making out with [[Mikaela Banes|Mikaela]] on top of him. Huh.
*[[Skids (ROTF)|Skids]] and [[Mudflap (ROTF)|Mudflap]] provide the kid appeal in scenes with the older, more serious, Autobots and [[NEST]] soldiers since Bumblebee is with Sam, and subsequently tag along on the main adventure and even get an action sequence with [[Devastator (ROTF)|Devastator]] to themselves - all while being foul mouthed.

'''''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'''''

*[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] is [[Sari Sumdac]]'s closest friend, human and bot alike. Once again, he is irrational and impulsive, which has only helped endear him to his small, fleshy friend (assuming, of course, she is fleshy...).

'''''[[Transformers: Prime (franchise)| Prime]]'''''

*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (detecting a pattern yet?) returns, though this time he's not the only character with a guardian robot dynamic, as [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] and [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] are tasked with taking care of the [[Jack Darby|older]] [[Miko Nakadai|children]]. Regardless, as Bumblebee's friend is 12-year old [[Raf Esquivel]], he is the Autobot his age group are meant to relate to.

==Notes==
* They have an overwhelming tendency to be yellow.
* More recently, they also have an overwhelming tendency to be named [[Bumblebee (disambiguation)|Bumblebee]]. We're [[GEEWUN|not sure why]]. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage TVTropes] even refers to this kind of character as [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBumblebee The Bumblebee].
* Had [[trademark]] issues not gotten in the way at the time, ''Armada'' Hot Shot would have also been named "Bumblebee". After the 2007 movie had made "Bumblebee" an A-lister again (including a changed trademark situation enabling Hasbro to use the name again), this resulted in a reverse situation with the kid-appeal character from ''Animated'' having his name changed from "Hot Shot" (as that name had been established by the [[Unicron Trilogy]]) into "Bumblebee" (although [[Hot Shot (Animated)|Hot Shot]] later appears as a separate character in ''Animated'', with more similarities to his UT predecessor).
* ''Animated'' Bumblebee was [[Bee in the City|once transported]] into the [[Transcendent Technomorph|TransTech]] universe, where he was often mistaken for other kid-appeal characters, including Wheelie, Cheetor, and Side Burn.

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Kid-appeal character