User:JW/Sandbox
Beast Wars
Relationship to Generation 1
The relationship between Beast Wars and the Generation 1 cartoon became most prominent at the end of the second season, and throughout the third season. The Maximals and Predacons discover the Ark, and the Maximals spend their time defending it in an effort to preserve their history. This can be seen as a metaphor for the relationship between the two TV series. The Maximals are literally walking among their own history, surrounded by giants out of their past, respectfully striving to preserve it and them untainted. This is a reasonable analogy for how the creators of the Beast Wars handled its relationship to Generation 1, and is part of why the show is admired by fans.
Dehumanizing
The opposite of humanizing, dehumanizing occurs when the writers of Transformers fiction deliberately remove "human" elements from the characters, replacing it with robot-specific elements. Examples:
"I got something in my optics." (Not "eyes".)
"I used to chase turbo-foxes back home." (Not "foxes".)
"I've got a bad feeling in my carburetor." (Not "gut".)
Sometimes this can get kinda silly.
"You can lead a Cybertronian robo-horse to an oil slick, but you can't make it lubricate."
Toyetic
"Toyetic" can refer to one of two things:
- A toy which can easily be marketed in a piece of fiction. (Like Transformers, but unlike a hula hoop, for example.)
- An element from a piece of fiction (a character, a prop, a location) which can easily be made into a toy.
The relevance to Transformers is obvious. Uniquely, Hasbro's impetus to create the Transformers brand began with neither a work of fiction they wished to adapt, nor specific toys they wanted to market, but rather simply a nebulous desire to create a new toy/cartoon/comic book property akin to G.I. Joe.
Named for parts they don't have
Optimus Prime's disappearing trailer
One conceit of Transformers cartoons that one has to learn to live with, is the fact that Optimus Prime's trailer keeps disappearing and reappearing. In the original cartoon, Optimus's robot mode transformed into part of his vehicle mode. When he changed into a semi cab, his trailer would magically slide in from off camera. When he changed back to robot mode, the camera would often tilt up, quietly letting the trailer disappear out of frame. There were many variations on this. E.g., if Prime is standing in the middle of a group, and there is no place for his trailer to appear from when he goes to vehicle mode, it would instead not appear until after a cut. Similarly, in comics, while it's easier to hide the transition "between panels", there is still often no explanation provided for where his trailer was just a minute ago.
This conceit has continued beyond Generation 1, for other Optimuses who also turn into part of their altmodes. For example, Optimus Prime from Transformers Animated is sometimes just a semi cab (an emergency semi cab, with a light bar), and sometimes an entire fire truck, with the rest of the truck just popping up with no explanation. His case is particularly unusual, since A) firetrucks aren't usually based on semi cabs, B) in full-firetruck mode, he appears to be all one piece, not articulated like a traditional tractor-trailer, and C) sometimes he pulls genuine semitrailers instead of his "firetruck trailer".
Identity
In the vastness that is Transformers, the question of identity is often a difficult one to resolve. The core question is: When are two distinct portrayals of characters "the same character"? When is this character (who appeared in an issue of an American comic) the same as this character over here (who appeared in an episode of a Japanese TV show), and is he or she truly represented by this toy?
Same character, different names
Many characters have different names in different places.
- Optimus Prime is Convoy in Japan, but remains the same character.
- Octane's latest toy bears the name Tankor for trademark reasons, but is still the same character.
Slightly different toy, same character
- The American and Japanese releases of a toy are often subtly different, even when they are for the same character, and released at the same time.
Same toy, different character
- Many of the Micromasters were released in America as Decepticons, but in Japan as Autobots (often with the same name).
Different personality, same character
- Blaster was a rhyming cool cat in the cartoon, but a somber leader in the comic.
- Blackarachnia is a sultry femme fatale in the American Beast Wars, but a schizoid loon in the Japanese dub.
Different gender, same character
- Airrazor was female in the American Beast Wars cartoon, male in the Japanese beast wars cartoon, and then female again in some of the Japanese Beast Wars manga.
- Starscream and Shrapnel, male almost everywhere, are female in the French dum of TFTM.
Transformers are shapeshifting alien robots
The Rule of Personification Conservation states that if you're using nonhuman characters in a story, instead of humans, there should be a reason. For Transformers fiction, this suggests that stories about Transformers should be stories about alien shapeshifting robots, or else why make it a Transformers story?
Pros of Applying the Rule
- It's called Transformers, so the robots should transform.
- The most epic and classic Transformers stories all tie into their alien origin.
Cons of Applying the Rule
- It often misses the point. The base purpose of Transformers fiction is to sell toys. Therefore, the goal is to write good stories which happen to be about alien robots — it's not necessary to highlight their robotness for the story to be good.
- Empirically, many good Transformers stories are just war stories that happen to be about robots. E.g., Spotlight: Cliffjumper.
