Transformers Hall of Fame/2011
2011 was the second year of the Transformers Hall of Fame. The ceremony at BotCon 2011 saw another set of creators added in the form of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. The Transformers characters inducted were Ironhide, Ratchet, Soundwave and the fourth character decided by fan vote was Waspinator.
Nomination process
Running up until April 6, 2011, Transformers fan sites held individual polls to determine the nominees for the final ballot. Unlike the previous year, all five nominees were revealed on the same day as the voting began, April 13. The final fan-decided nominees were:
Voting ran for ten days, ending on April 22.
Hall of Fame Ceremony
As with the previous year, robot inductees were given a montage of clips set to music. Jazz and Shockwave's videos included clips from The Transformers, War for Cybertron, Transformers Animated, Transformers (in the former case) and Energon (in the latter). Grimlock's clips were all drawn from The Transformers and edited to make him look like he was dancing. Waspinator's video was composed of clips from Beast Wars, primarily of him being abused. Erector's video, on the other hand, was a mockumentary of Hasbro employees presenting concepts for Erector as he might have appeared in different franchises, including Beast Wars, Generation 2 and Transformers Animated. Afterwards, Aaron Archer asked that we not do that again.
- Ironhide: "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
- Ratchet: "I Need a Doctor" by ???
- Soundwave: "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett
- Shockwave: "The Final Countdown" by Europe
- Jazz: "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler
- Grimlock: "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was)
- Erector: "The Completely True Account and Story of Erector's life, from G1, to today"
- Waspinator (nomination): "MMMBop" by Hanson
- Waspinator (winner): "The Touch" by Stan Bush
As with the previous year, the videos released online have the song substituted with generic music, bar Erector whose video was not released online at all.
Notes
- Erector was a popular choice in 2011's website polling because his name reminds people of boners.
- Grimlock's 2011 profile asserts that before the Great Exodus, he was part of the Lightning Strike Coalition, the members of which were rebuilt into the Dinobots after being captured by Shockwave. This turned out to be a reference to the then-unannounced Transformers: Fall of Cybertron game.
- Erector's profile is amazing. He's a former member of the Constructicons who was kicked out of the team for not being green. He had no choice but to join the Autobots, and he was instrumental in providing a diversion to help them flee the battle of Tyger Pax. A creative genius, he created the Armada Laserbeak Surveillance System and Real Gear Quick Action Weaponry.
- Waspinator's profile says his name before taking on a beast mode was Wasp.
- The Hall of Fame banner that was outside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium during BotCon 2011 depicted Ratchet with inverted shoulder colors. While ostensibly done to avoid the legal wrath of the Red Cross organization, it suggests that Ratchet has either suddenly become Christian and/or decided to align himself with Switzerland.
