Talk:Goldbug (IDW)

'87 toy

This discussion is carried over from Talk:Popular Earth vehicle alternate modes#VW Beetle. My view is that the '87 toy = Bumblebee renamed. It says so in his bio. So, at best, the toy could be said to have been repurposed into IDW Goldbug, except that IDW Goldbug is not a VW Beetle, so it is not even repurposed. - Starfield 17:05, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

The bios often vary wildly from the depiction in the fiction, yes? I'd say that this version of Goldbug is at least as close to the toy as, say, G1 Bumblebee is to Hearts of Steel Bumblebee, which co-exist on the same page. Or IDW Sunstreaker, who's a Headmaster. Maybe we should make a separate page for the non-gestalt, non-animal Predacons of IDW. I'd say that if we're willing to accept that there can be bodies for characters that aren't based on the toys, but are still associated with the toys, then it has to cut both ways. The only thing that makes Goldbug different from the other characters is that the character is sometimes the same guy as Bumblebee. Otherwise, if this toy can't live on the same page as Goldbug (IDW), then really none of the other IDW Throttlebot bodies (or any other kind of bodies) should live on the same page with their more toy-like other depictions. --Jimsorenson 17:23, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

Well, except that the other characters live on the same page because we consider them to be the same characters, just portrayed slightly differently between continuities. So the fact that the toys don't always represent every single depiction is considered low priority.

However, since we already decided that IDW Goldbug is a separate enough character to get his own page, that means that assuming the same toy as the Goldbug characters we separated him from is a "good enough for government work" match is no longer a "valid" assumption. --Jeysie 17:29, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

Ah, but we decided that he's separate enough from prior depictions of Goldbug to warrant his own page. But that's emphatically not the same as saying that he's a separate character. It's purely a wiki convention, for our own convenience. Clearly, the idea that Goldbug is a member of the team called Throttlebots is something that ultimately traces its roots to the toys. Ignoring a line on the bio, well, that's nothing new for us, or for Transformers fans, pros and everyone in between. This is not an analogous situation to, say, Galvatron II, where there were two guys running around with the same name. This is just, well, IDW's Goldbug, and in this continuity he's not Bumblebee. Just like in this continuity, Galvatron isn't Megatron. We still call them the same guy, and associate all the toys together, even though really the Galvatron G1 toy looks almost nothing like the Galvatron from IDW. And if the IDW Rodimus Prime isn't Hot Rod, which seems likely, then that toy should still be on the page too. All IMO, of course. --Jimsorenson 17:48, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

Well, I tend to take the stance that we shouldn't assume/make up things unless we need to. And if we do need to make any assumptions, we should mark them as being such (which is why we have things like the "nameless character" templates, after all).

If we consider IDW Goldbug to be separate enough to get his own page, mere wiki convention or not, then IMHO he's separate enough that we shouldn't make an unofficial assumption that the toy still applies, unless we see something from IDW themself that suggests it does (like an Earth mode that looks like the toy). Seeing as how inclusion of a toy is not important enough that it demands an assumption on our part in order to fulfill the bare basic requirements for a character page. --Jeysie 17:53, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

I agree with Jim. I don't think the visual depiction of a character needs to match the look of a toy for the toy to "apply," nor do previous personality depictions come into play at all, since bio/story-portrayal disparities have been a fact of Transformer life since the beginning. It's very odd to see the VW-Beetle Goldbug on this page, I agree, but the logic is sound. Imagine for a moment that, up until IDW, Goldbug had been a toy-only character. Then suddenly IDW uses him in "Cybertronian" form... wouldn't we still put the old toy on his page? It doesn't matter how much the bio differs; the toy of the yellowish Throttlebot named "Goldbug" in the G1 toyline was obviously the inspiration for IDW's character of a yellowish Throttlebot named "Goldbug" in their G1 comic. And, to return to the real world, it also doesn't matter that there's this other interpretation out there of Goldbug being a rebuilt Bumblebee. It doesn't affect the logic of this page's content, other than that the stories about him being Bumblebee belong on Bumblebee's page instead. The toy, being an independent entity (independent even from its own packaging bio), belongs in both places. - Jackpot 18:51, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

I feel pretty comfortable assuming the other Throttlebots' bios apply to them unless something were to conflict with them. IDW Goldbug? I don't know who he is. I considered putting the Category:Spies tag on the page, but I don't know if he is a spy. He doesn't appear to be an "espionage director." HOS Bumblebee was pretty close to G1 Bumblebee, actually. There wasn't anything that jumped out at me that would make me say, "Bumblebee wouldn't act like that." IDW Sunstreaker was very Sunstreaker-esque, so I don't know what you mean. He became a Headmaster? Well that is just imagining what would happen if G1 Sunstreaker became a Headmaster. Many Headmasters aren't Headmasters in IDW but have the same personality. - Starfield 18:36, 9 August 2009 (EDT)