Talk:Prowl (G1)

I am all for having an entry that consists entirely of "OUR MISSILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", but is the bold really neccessary? It makes it look like a header. --Suki Brits 02:09, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Trivia says: At OTFCC 2004 that there was no Prowl Alternator in the works. I'm assumignt here's suppsoed ot be a "_____ stated" int here someplace. Who stated? Hasbro? Aaron Archer? Hooper-X? (I could see Hooper wanting to disappoint a room full of Transfans.) -Derik 07:05, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I thought the Prowl2 line was just a joke.

Past Tense?

We probably need a policy statement somewhere (or at least somewhere I can find it) as to whether fictional events are described in present tense (as in the Wikipedia), in past tense (as preferred by at least one of our mods), or in whichever the writer prefers. JW 13:34, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Apparently I'm no good at keeping track of tense, so people sometimes chastise me after I've filled in the fiction sections. Of course, I didn't even know we had a policy. --FFN 13:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, apparently we do need a summary of what tense to use where, 'cuz I can't find anything like that. But to sum up -- Introductory paragraph in present tense, fiction in past tense. Basically, "This is who the character IS, this is what the character DID." --ItsWalky 15:25, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Do we have a consensus on that, or are you speaking ex moderata? And, how does this apply to non-character pages, like synopses of comics? JW 15:41, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd say it's a consensus, as I believe most of the top-contributers write the pages in that way. (For a while, Sunstreaker was our "this is how you do a page" project, though it's likely out of date by now for some new developments...) For non-character pages like episode or comic summaries, I'd suggest present tense. I don't think I've actually read enough summary pages close enough to say if they're being written in mostly one tense or the other... but "present" is my off-the-cuff preference. --ItsWalky 15:45, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Most of what we write is past tense, especially when summarizing fiction. It doesn't matter whether it's a character page or an episode/issue page. -- Steve-o 16:06, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Walky's rationale makes sense to me, and I agree with Steve that it should apply to episode/issue pages. A story summary is a story summary, and summaries are written by definition after something has happened. --Sntint 20:10, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

See, I'd vote for present tense on the comic/episode summary pages, but past tense when summarizing fiction on character/object/location pages. In the case of the latter, that's the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe"-reader in me - it's the character's whole history, as in, what has gone before, so it should be past tense. But when specifically summarizing one, small, condensed piece of fiction, there's that rule of thumb Wikipedia uses that says to use present tense "as this is the way that the story is experienced as it is read or viewed." - Chris McFeely 20:26, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

I find the present tense in story summaries to be a laudable goal-- but often difficult to accomplish. The past tense is more friendly to omniscient narration (because you're looking back on things) and I would have found it vexing to summarize, say, The Magnificent Six!. in the present-tense while reflecting the narrative ignorance that's central to its slowly revealed backstory. -Derik 21:49, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

(Resetting the indents...) It's news to me that Wikipedia perfers present tense for summaries. Personally, I think that present tense reporting sounds amateurish. Compare the present Dreamwave text:

Prowl was an Autobot from Praxus. After the death of Sentinel Prime, Grimlock called him, Jazz, and others to the ruins of Praxus, where he declared that if the new Prime was insufficient, they would take control of the Autobot military. Prowl was present at the ceremony when Optronix became Optimus Prime, and was restrained by Grimlock when Prime was attacked.

To a present-tense rewrite:

Prowl is an Autobot from Praxus. After the death of Sentinel Prime, Grimlock calls him, Jazz, and others to the ruins of Praxus, where he declares that if the new Prime is insufficient, they will take control of the Autobot military. Prowl is present at the ceremony when Optronix becomes Optimus Prime, and is restrained by Grimlock when Prime is attacked.

Granted, I could rewrite a little bit to make it more elegant...

The Autobot Prowl calls Praxus his home. Upon the death of Sentinel Prime, Grimlock summons him, Jazz, and others to the ruins of Praxus, and declares that if the new Prime is insufficient, they will take control of the Autobot military. Later, Prowl attends the ceremony in which Optronix becomes Optimus Prime, and is restrained by Grimlock when Prime is attacked.

...but I still think that sounds like it was written by a 12 year old. The past-tense version is more professional and authoritative. --Steve-o 00:16, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

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