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The Transformers thread (shows, comics, toys, all things TF)

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Behn Wilson said:
I never read the comics before but am reading a few of late because of the current crossover event Revolution and I read Rom which is part of the event.

I am just starting reading it and am a little confused. I thought Optimus Prime was a good guy. Is that the case. I am a little confused it seems like he might be a villain here. Anyone who reads the current transformer comic know the answer, thanks.
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Looks like he was compromised/reprogrammed by the founders AKA the Quintessons
 
Baby Punisher said:
Looks like he was compromised/reprogrammed by the founders AKA the Quintessons
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Thanks. I a, struggling thru the material and almost wished I didn't buy it. I read Rom & Micronauts which are both part of IDW now. I bought the Revolution comics which they are both in for a crossover event which also includes transformers, GI Joe & Action Man. The books are not written for beginners to these universes so they are tough to follow. If they were trying to hook in new readers since they just acquired Rom & Micronatuts, then a little more narrative might have helped on these books. I cant even tell who the good or bad guys are in these books.
 
15776869_10104515713894984_6262027740273791517_o.jpg


1987 me with G1 Fortress Maximus and me with 2016 Fort Max.

Also, for those who missed the Black Friday sale on Fort Max, this site has it for $75 now as well: http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HSB6118
 
Tek_Jansen said:
I got all the G1 headmasters from the newest line for my son. I think I'm done for awhile lol
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Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night. :sarcasm:


I didn't get anything for christmas this year. Got other stuff and couldn't justify adding Fort Max to that price tag (plus I don't really have display space for something that big. And the other stuff I want is now older and harder to find and still expensive (parts of the Masterpiece line. Megs, Grimlock, Hot Rod/Rodimus.)
 
Til all are one...


Rodimus got a bum rap. He was honestly a really interesting character and ended up growing over the courselves of season 3. Right up to the point that they took the matrix from him aND resurrected Optimus, ensuring that there would never be another succession story for an autobot leader that doesn't get reversed within a few episodes/issues.
 
Rodimius was the exact opposite of Optimus. Optimus was a young Robot whom the matrix was thrust upon. He had to have the same doubts as Roddi did in his early day's of leadership.
 
Baby Punisher said:
Rodimius was the exact opposite of Optimus. Optimus was a young Robot whom the matrix was thrust upon. He had to have the same doubts as Roddi did in his early day's of leadership.
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yeah, but we hardly ever see that because most TF fiction starts with Optimus already firmly in command and on his way to robot jesus-dom. The fact that we got to follow Rodimus going from the high of beating Galvatron and destroying Unicron to "holy crap, I actually have to lead these people instead of just being the chosen one for a big fight" was great. Leading right up to the G1 episode "The Burden Hardest to Bear" where Rodimus bails on the Matrix and tries to just goof off and not give a ****, only to learn his lesson about accepting the mantle of leadership and the weight that comes with it. And then the very next episode was Optimus being brought back and the show promptly dying a quick death with the Rebirth 3-parter that was the only material made for season 4.

Obviously G1 was rarely ever continuous in its plot threads from one episode to the next, and there were a few "under that Matrix-ed up body and deeper voice, he's still Hot Rod and not a leader" episodes along the way, but it was funny that we got Dark Awakening where Rodimus takes the Matrix back from zombie Op because he knows he has to, then TBHTB where he flakes out again but really seems to understand that the great responsibility put upon him is important for him to accept, and then *boom* suck it Rodimus, we're restoring the pre-movie Autobot hierarchy and then immediately cancelling the show.

TF Prime sort of quietly teased a Rodimus style story arc for Smokescreen (who had a very Hot Rod-esque personality) but that too sort of quietly got pushed aside by the end so we could focus on the core cast and then pass the baton to Bumblebee for the current Robots in Disguise show.

It's just really a wasted recurring TF thread that we never get to see a Rodimus story happen again except for short-term stuff or teases. Because basically no Transformers series is going to seriously consider killing Optimus and then continuing on with the leader position filled by a secondary character (current RiD sorta does, but it still has Optimus alive and has the constant spectre of him finally recovering from his death/matrix-merge at the end of Prime and becoming leader again. Plus it's harder to deal with there since RiD is a lot more comedic than Prime was in spite of the former being a direct continuation of the latter.)
 
Interesting article on how the Transformers were given names and backstories.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...b-budiansky-bryce-malek-interview?CMP=soc_568

Ratchet, a medical robot, was inspired by Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ironhide came from the old TV show Ironside

A Hasbro executive told me that any toy that lasts two Christmases is considered a success – that was their barometer. Transformers lasted six or seven years before they started dying out.

Some writers pitched really inappropriate stuff for a kids’ show, such as the Transformers meeting space prostitutes.
 
Guardian17 said:
Interesting article on how the Transformers were given names and backstories.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...b-budiansky-bryce-malek-interview?CMP=soc_568

Ratchet, a medical robot, was inspired by Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ironhide came from the old TV show Ironside

A Hasbro executive told me that any toy that lasts two Christmases is considered a success – that was their barometer. Transformers lasted six or seven years before they started dying out.

Some writers pitched really inappropriate stuff for a kids’ show, such as the Transformers meeting space prostitutes.
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I think some of the classic comics TPBs have copies and images of Bob Budiansky's notes that he wrote while working on the material. Some of the characters went through odd design phases. Starscream in particular had a series of really doofy names, including "Ulchtar" before Budiansky decided that was dumb and changed it to Starscream.
 
I think the kids just really liked the robots. We were working so fast, the plots were full of holes. But I know from fan letters that kids would simply fill in any gaps with their own stories. These days I work as a clinical psychologist. I like to joke that, after screwing up so many little brains with cartoons, I’d better start fixing them.
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I wonder if he really knows how many lives he ruined by killing our beloved Transformers the way he did. To joke about it in such a way indicates to me that he doesn't, doesn't care or he enjoyed it. Savage.
 
Baby Punisher said:
I wonder if he really knows how many lives he ruined by killing our beloved Transformers the way he did. To joke about it in such a way indicates to me that he doesn't, doesn't care or he enjoyed it. Savage.
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Budiansky had little to do with that on the cartoon side at least. He wrote the basic background and the first half-ish of the Marvel comic run. He had nothing to do with the cartoon or the movie. The movie was written as a draft by season 1-2 editor and script doctor Ron Friedman and then given a once-over/re-work by the series' main story editor, Flint Dille, and brand creative director Jay Bacal.

Budiansky was responsible for his share of TF death, but that was mostly in the form of the comics' Underbase saga. And then he kind of got overshadowed by the levels of sustained brutality that Simon Furman put the characters through in the late marvel run and especially the short-lived G2 series.

Granted, the Underbase storyline was pretty bloody. Issue #50 ("Dark Star") stands as the highest bodycount of any single issue or episode of the franchise. The confirmed casualty list from that episode stands at:

  • All 5 Aerialbots
  • All 6 Seacons
  • All 5 Predacons
  • All 5 Technobots
  • All 5 Terrorcons
  • All 5 Dinobots
  • Hound
  • Bluestreak
  • Mirage
  • Hoist
  • Brawn
  • Gears
  • Goldbug (Bumblebee's rebuilt form)
  • Jazz
  • Jetfire
  • Blaster
  • The 5 Throttlebots
  • Thundercracker
  • Skywarp
  • Soundwave along with Ratbat, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw
  • All 3 Decepticon triple-changers (Astrotrain, Blitzwing, and Octane)
  • Omega Supreme
  • Starscream
It's also hinted that several other characters who later turn up dead were killed here such as most of the other combiner squads, the other seeker jets, Powerglide, Perceptor, and others. The reasoning was as it was for most Transformer deaths of that time, Hasbro wanted them to only showcase the characters with current toys, and the most convenient way to clear story space was just to gut the cast of anyone who was no longer on store shelves.


Also Budiansky has admitted that he really had no idea that the Transformers had taken hold in pop culture like it had until the late 90s and early 2000s when he googled his own name and found significant, ongoing discussion of the franchise online. He also has talked about being generally surprised by how seriously and fervently some fans take the characters. To him it was just a job that he did and promptly forgot about when he moved onto another gig (he was a house writer for Marvel and worked on Ghost Rider and Spider-Man among other things)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm probably going to re-read the Marvel run again because I don't remember half those deaths.
 
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The Nemesis said:
Budiansky had little to do with that on the cartoon side at least. He wrote the basic background and the first half-ish of the Marvel comic run. He had nothing to do with the cartoon or the movie. The movie was written as a draft by season 1-2 editor and script doctor Ron Friedman and then given a once-over/re-work by the series' main story editor, Flint Dille, and brand creative director Jay Bacal.

Budiansky was responsible for his share of TF death, but that was mostly in the form of the comics' Underbase saga. And then he kind of got overshadowed by the levels of sustained brutality that Simon Furman put the characters through in the late marvel run and especially the short-lived G2 series.

Granted, the Underbase storyline was pretty bloody. Issue #50 ("Dark Star") stands as the highest bodycount of any single issue or episode of the franchise. The confirmed casualty list from that episode stands at:

  • All 5 Aerialbots
  • All 6 Seacons
  • All 5 Predacons
  • All 5 Technobots
  • All 5 Terrorcons
  • All 5 Dinobots
  • Hound
  • Bluestreak
  • Mirage
  • Hoist
  • Brawn
  • Gears
  • Goldbug (Bumblebee's rebuilt form)
  • Jazz
  • Jetfire
  • Blaster
  • The 5 Throttlebots
  • Thundercracker
  • Skywarp
  • Soundwave along with Ratbat, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw
  • All 3 Decepticon triple-changers (Astrotrain, Blitzwing, and Octane)
  • Omega Supreme
  • Starscream
It's also hinted that several other characters who later turn up dead were killed here such as most of the other combiner squads, the other seeker jets, Powerglide, Perceptor, and others. The reasoning was as it was for most Transformer deaths of that time, Hasbro wanted them to only showcase the characters with current toys, and the most convenient way to clear story space was just to gut the cast of anyone who was no longer on store shelves.


Also Budiansky has admitted that he really had no idea that the Transformers had taken hold in pop culture like it had until the late 90s and early 2000s when he googled his own name and found significant, ongoing discussion of the franchise online. He also has talked about being generally surprised by how seriously and fervently some fans take the characters. To him it was just a job that he did and promptly forgot about when he moved onto another gig (he was a house writer for Marvel and worked on Ghost Rider and Spider-Man among other things)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm probably going to re-read the Marvel run again because I don't remember half those deaths.
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I find that excuse that he didn't know lame. Either he is oblivious to his surroundings like an idiot savant or he is lying his balls off. I choose to believe the latter. He was a writer for Marvel he knew the impact and cult followings these comics have. The guy is full of **** and is passing the buck. **** him **********.
 
Baby Punisher said:
I find that excuse that he didn't know lame. Either he is oblivious to his surroundings like an idiot savant or he is lying his balls off. I choose to believe the latter. He was a writer for Marvel he knew the impact and cult followings these comics have. The guy is full of **** and is passing the buck. **** him **********.
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This was the time before the internet. I can believe it. A lot of people involved in the franchise's early days have said that they just felt like it was a dumb toy commercial cartoon/comic and never gave it a second thought at the time. Peter Cullen said it took until he started going to conventions to realize how important Optimus was to people/fans

and the 80s run of Marvel-penned branded comics (TF, GI Joe, Godzilla, etc) was a pure business decision to help prop up the company through leaner years. For the most part a lot of them were promptly forgotten about and exiled from Marvel history as soon as they were finished.
 
https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tran...ws-are-in-what-are-the-critics-saying-a151921

The reviews are coming in for the new movie, and in the shock of the century, they're calling it a masterpiece that redeems every awful mistake the series has made to this point as it redeems the Transformers as characters in the eyes of both fans and casual moviegoers.







Just kidding. They're saying it's complete **** like everyone expected it would be and the worst entry in the franchise to date. A typical Bay-esque giant mess of loud noises, shallow characters, and a stupid nonsense plot.

I don't generally get on the "they need to reboot the franchise" train because I think rebooting things that are only a few years old is usually stupid. But they need to start again with a real plan and real structure in place instead of just letting this all devolve into Bay's landmine-laden sandbox.
 
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