Fandom
The community of Transformers fans is referred to as a fandom. While the term technically encompasses any group of kids coming together to talk about Transformers in a sandbox, it is commonly used to refer to the 30 year olds of the online fandom. The fandom has long played a role in the history of the franchise. Most notably, BotCon is their Mardi Gras, an official convention geared almost totally to adult fans.
History
Modern (online) Transformers fandom has its roots in alt.toys.transformers, a text-only Usenet newsgroup. Because Usenet is one of the oldest parts of the internet (dating from 1979, a.t.t from 1993) it functioned as a central hub where all all members of the fandom interacted together. This situation continued largely unchanged until the mid-2000's, when the fandom scattered across several dozen web-based message boards where it is no longer possible to 'know everyone.'
References
Many references to the fandom have been made in official Transformers fiction.
Beast Wars
The story editors of the Beast Wars cartoon, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio, interacted with the fandom via alt.toys.transformers, and worked numerous "shout-outs" into the series.
- In "Dark Designs", a loopy Waspinator declared that he was "Not wacko, Wonko! Wonko the Sane!" In addition to being the name of a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Wonko the Sane" was a screen name used by Ben Yee.
- In "Before the Storm", the Predacon computer informed Megatron of a "code A-T-T alert," and Megatron later initiated a "voice code A-T-T override," both references to alt.toys.transformers.
- Also in "Before the Storm", Megatron mused that "There is a storm coming. A storm of such power, such magnitude, it is beyond imagination!" This was a reference to the website of fan James Hooks, called "Beyond Imagination."
- In Nemesis, Part 2, Optimus Primal's line "encoding transmission M Sipher" refers to the screen name of Greg Sepelak.
- Also in "Nemesis, Part 2," Megatron instructs Dinobot 2 to fire on "targetting grid 3H," referring to 3H Enterprises.
- Numerous locations throughout the series were references to the names (both screen and real) of fans:
Fans Gone Official
Many members of the online fandom have gone on to contribute to Transformers in an official capacity. They include:
- Aaron Black (aka "Delta Star")
- Jordan Derber (aka "Buster Darkwings")
- Don Figueroa
- Tim Finn
- Andrew Frankel (aka "Swiper" or "Sideswipe")
- Rob Gerbracht (aka "Tengu")
- Guido Guidi
- Matt Kuphaldt (aka "Jackpot")
- Joseph Kyde
- Chris McFeely
- Adam Patyk
- Daniel Ross (aka "Mouth04")
- Greg Sepelak (aka "M Sipher")
- Jim Sorenson
- Chris Tang (aka "Ravestrike")
- Brandie Tarvin
- Trent Troop
- David Willis (aka "Walky")
- Benson Yee (aka "Wonko the Sane")
and others....
