Talk:Tracks (G1)

Direct to eBay exclusive?

That's a joke, based on the rarity of Alt. Tracks. 202.7.183.131 04:34, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

What about a Gay Transformers Catagory? There's probably enough to warrent one, Shockfleet, BWII Starscream, BB etc. etc. X-BoB58 19:47, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

But Tracks isn't gay...I mean, TFs don't have sex anyway. Maybe my bio notes of his massive powers and handsome styling were unclear...*confused* Autobus Prime 20:04, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Categorically, NO! There is no official basis for "gay" Transformers, and the topic is beyond the appropriate purpose of this Wiki.--G.B. Blackrock 21:04, 8 May 2006 (UTC) (P.S. The reference to Raul doesn't belong in the main bio, either. It belongs in the "Animated Continuity" section.)

Point conceded. I blame a.t.t. for warping my mind... --Autobus Prime 21:24, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Frankly I think all the of innuendo in that bio should be removed. --KilMichaelMcC 22:12, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Aw. I'm a *huge* fan of it. And it's technically not breaking any rules... --ItsWalky 22:34, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

The problem I have is that "gay Tracks" is a fandom construct. I am certainly guilty of using the concept to make jokes, but the character doesn't actually ever demonstrate romantic interest in other male characters. A page full innuendo to that effect stikes me as misleading. But, that's just my opinion. --KilMichaelMcC 22:40, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

See, the entry is no more gay than Tracks is. He's never said to be, but he sure acts like it. In that way, this write-up is completely accurate. --ItsWalky 23:52, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm not too concerned about what's there. If it's not clearly a fan-construct, I'll not raise a huge fuss. But it is indeed full of innuendo that may not be appropriate. For example:

"well-endowed with a sleek, muscular, and tastefully decorated..."

"He is able to launch two flaming incendiary missiles from long and durable launcher tubes."

"embracing his enemies in darkness, unaware of the Autobot until he strikes from behind, and leaves them moaning on the cold ground!"

"Tracks can also fly like a butterfly by deploying his secret, hidden wings from their protective closet."

You get the idea. Technically accurate, but purposedly written in such a way as to play up the "gayness" of it all. I don't think it's cool.--G.B. Blackrock 00:02, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

I am confused by this statement: "He's never said to be, but he sure acts like it. In that way, this write-up is completely accurate." I don't understand how it's accurate to say that Tracks acts like he's gay. Here, as before, I am defining gay as demonstrating a romantic interest in characters that share his gender. Tracks doesn't do that. Hell, I think there's a better case to be made that Red Alert and Sandstorm are gay than Tracks is, depending on how one interprets their feelings for Inferno and Octane, respectively. --KilMichaelMcC 02:16, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

You're quite right, of course;in fact, since Tracksy can't get along with his buddies, he has even less opportunity to show any kind of affection for them than Optimus Prime, and nobody every accused Prime of towing dual trailers. I also know very well that Tracks' voice actor (I'm not good with their names) was trying to portray him as an Ivy League snob. The trouble is that this conspires with his Bud-given personality to rather comic effect, and lends him a certain poncy air...and that was what I was trying to portray in the bio. I think.--Autobus Prime 12:31, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

As a gay Transformers fan, I have to say the whole intro/bio thing bothers me. It was funny for the first line or so, and then it became like an episode of "Are You Being Served" - tired, unnecessary, distracting from the actual information, and makes me want to stab you in the eye with Convoy's smokestacks. You managed to fill several paragraphs with gay innuendo loosely anchored by actual facts about the character - congratulations. Now how about writing it properly? It is a) unwarranted, since Tracks has already been established as 'not gay', and even if he was, b) it invokes unfair stereotypes, such as predatory sexual behaviour. So you're perpetuating two myths; one about Tracks and one about gays. Why not keep that whole blue Bluestreak figure myth thing going while you're at it? I don't see you putting lines into every "straight", "male" Transformer's bio about wanting to "something" their "something" with Arcee. Bottom line: grow up; if you want to be taken seriously as a Transformers resource, act like it.59.167.133.165 16:57, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Gay jokes

I don't have a problem with allusions to Tracks' fan-constructed homosexuality, but I think that the number of references in the bio has reached and surpassed the saturation point. Also, the fact that this Transformers Wiki is so easily found in a google search recommends that any gay jokes be kept to a tasteful minimum. We have to remember that Transformers is a toy line aimed primarily at children, and as such, the potential audience must be considered. As it stands, there are 14 references and double entendres in the 4 paragraphs that make up the largest part of the bio. This is a serious issue. (Kizudarake on the Allspark)

I'm not sure how any kid who doesn't or shouldn't know what this stuff means would even realize it's innuendo in the first place. Innuendo only works if you're already in on the joke. What five-year-old who doesn't understand that "shaft" is a euphemism for "penis" is going to stumble across this page and realize, "Oh, hey, this article is about gay sex!" This is not a serious issue. Certainly not on a wiki with Kiss Players of all things included. --ItsWalky 06:25, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

But the "Mommy, what's this word mean?" effect can cause some serious problems, and complaints.(Kizudarake from The Allspark)

I'll say. Like why isn't the kid's online activity being monitored more closely? At any rate, the proper way to go about this, after having your changes reverted like 30 times, and being told 30 times to cut it out, is clearly not to do it again just now as we're having this discussion. How many times do you have to be told? Take a vacation! --ItsWalky 06:41, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. It's not the Wiki's job to account for lazy parenting. Awa64 06:43, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm really not understanding your comment that "this is a serious issue". The innuendo will go over the head of anybody that doesn't already know that gay people exist. If a parent gets upset that their child read something that acknowledges the existence of gay people, then that's too bad. It's to the kid's benefit and the parent is a moron. If you are worried about the effect these jokes will have, you are welcome to disavow your involvement with this Wiki, which is easy because, you know, you have no involvement at all with this Wiki anyway except for having a weird issue with one particular article. The article's not going to change and it's not your problem. --Steve-o 18:50, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I think what it comes down to is how the TF Wiki wants to be taken. If it wants to be taken seriously, the Tracks article needs to be re-written to a more "professional" standard. However as is the Wiki is largely humorous, and as such the Tracks article is mostly fine, although some of the jokes are stupid. The downside is that it somewhat compromises the integrity of the Wiki. --Debbie Downer

AFAIK, we do have a syste of review for such jokes- and the standard we use is- 'if the jokes get in the way of delivering the information, they have to go.' But hand-in-hand with that we have 'please don't make this joyless.' Have you seen Wheelie's entry? That is beautiful. -Derik 08:45, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

"Professional"? You mean like Wikipedia? Absurdly solemn, extraordinarily opinionated despite a facade of gormless neutrality, unreliable on anything remotely political, and totally boring? We definitely want to keep our distance from that. Part of our mission here is to poke holes in the more inflatable fans, and the humor is quite useful for that, and the other part is to be the Hitchhiker's Guide To Transformers. We don't want to be the Encyclopedia Galactica. (N.B. I mean no disrespect to the great idea behind Wikipedia, but too many of their editors are only interested in grinding their personal axes. It's great for a lot of stuff, but unfortunately fails utterly at anything in the field of sociology, or as I said, anything political. But their 'neutrality' has very little to do with the accuracy or lack thereof of each article. Give me humor with accuracy over solemn half-truths any day.) --Autobus Prime 13:29, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

And our info goes into more detail, anyway, compared to the regular TF wikipedia. I mean we talk about toys. TOYS! Alot of people act as though toys hardly matter in Transformers. --FFN 13:50, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: joyless, I suggest you examine who is actually getting the joy; whether you are just entertaining yourself, or the visitors themselves are actually being delighted and amused by it, because I think you might be giggling your rear-end assembly off in a room full of crickets chirping. If the former, I recommend you find better ways of getting your various jollies. BTW, "taken seriously" in terms of readers believing the stuff posted here, not "Mr Boring". You can be be an authorative source without being dull and uninteresting. But with crap like this, why would we believe anything posted in this wiki? You're obviously just putting up whatever junk you feel like. The opposite of "absurdly solemn" doesn't need to be "pointlessly juvenile". You've already accomplished integration of some clever writing style in many articles, as well as funny captions to pictures. Then there's this. Be clever, don't be a joke. It's a real turnoff.59.167.133.165 17:10, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Totally entertaining myself, of course. A would-be joker must be prepared to be the only one to laugh, sometimes. True enough that there are other alternatives to absurd solemnity, but I don't think this article is pointlessly juvenile. I prefer to think of it as slyly sophomoric. And besides that, I really think that we can all respect viewpoints more if we know who is expressing them. --Autobus Prime 17:51, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Red Euro version

The latest edit [1] claims that Tracks was released a second time (in blue) in Europe "due to poor sales". Is there any actual evidence for that? It sounds like fan supposition. --Steve-o 15:09, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

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