Question of the Day: Who is your favorite writer for Transformers? (This can include any media that fits the /co/ sphere)>Transformers Wikihttps://tfwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page>Transformers Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@TransformersHQ>Energon Universehttps://imagecomics.com/comics/series/energon-universe
>>156194579What do we think of EarthSpark being a spin-off of classic G1?
>>156194579Either Kirkman or Michael Bay (he co written 2nd movie due to writers strike)Kirkman spins dozens of plates and keeps me guessing and engaged while maintaning a coherent shared universeBay having devastator get shot in the nuts and die was funny and stuck in my mind like a rusty nail in a foot
>>156194607That I have very mixed feelings on that may bleed into other posts of mine. Bear with me for a moment.To give you a framework, I'm a relatively new fan, being a casual robot enjoyer before Transformers One came out. I watched the BayMovies and was off put by them. (I later grew to appreciate them as they are). I latched on autistically to Animated and G1 S3 in particular. So for Earthspark, I actually had a fun time. I enjoyed how laid back it was and I thought the character interactions were cute. Now, it being a spin off of G1? I kind of can't stand that. Not only is it trying to retroactively place a relationship that was never present in G1, it's going off the conglomerate of nostalgia behind it and not the actual story. If it had pointed out for example, that Alpha Trion would have been a lone actor for a long time or that Orion Pax was someone who looked up to Megatron before shit hit the fan to serve the new plot, that would be interesting. But it doesn't do that. It only serves to say 'hey lookit this thing' when it clearly begs to do something on its own merits. I do find it funny that Rumble was implied to have died because of Soundwave.
>>156194623I rarely hear people praise either of the writers you listed here. A breath of fresh air, I'd say. For me it's Simon Furman as particular as he can be sometimes. Maybe it's just me growing with with Star Trek but high space adventures and world building about the smallest of details are something I'll always be a sucker for.
>>156194829Furman is like george lucas of this whole franchise but with far less jar jars in his repertoireOnly fuckup that comes to mind is arcee in idw I read his stuff last so It didnt grab me because Ive read an interpretation of it elsewhere but thats not to say hes bad or even midHe just is least remarkable to me,hes kinda like steel,essential but you often dont pay enough attention to it
>>156194579transformers are lame
>>156194706What are your thoughts on nightshade?
Being a child was siding with Optimus.Being a adult was siding with Megatron.Being a older adult is siding with Optimus again, but not for the same reasons as child you.
If I were to choose one, it'd be Bob Forward because he wrote Beast Wars like a 90's syndicated sci-fi show which is an approach I wish more TF series went for. Sometimes really serious, sometimes really ribald humor, an emphasis on nontraditionally heroic characters(Rattrap and Dinobot as perfect examples)
>>156195596They were good in Season One but that's more because Nightshade had enough room to breathe. It was disappointing when they became a Wheeljack type after S2, while that was a part of the character as a whole, part of me wishes the show leaned a bit more into the gothic side. Especially since their name is "Nightshade". Nightshade will always be a potential character but they're my potential character, dammit. Hope to see more iterations involving the ES characters in general, especially Dr. Meridian.
>>156194623THE ENEMY'S SCROTUM
>>156196427It was inevitable when they made devastator out of like 10 or 12 construction vehiclesWrecking ball cranes are underrated machines imo,its like having a melee tank but with a flail instead of a gun
for me, it's Nightbeat
>>156195674I just keep thinking about an incarnation of the Decepticons where, on top of the usual business, they're trying to operate amidst a schism split between Megatron, Starscream, and Scorponok.
>>156197603Would it be based on philosophy or strength
>>156196166Sometimes I wish Beast Wars Ravage would make more of a return. Ravage was always a favorite of mine and letting him be more flexible personality wise is always a bonus.
>>156197631Philosophy mostly, though it could easily be both (especially with regards to Scorponok). Megatron-Mix of aggression and well-planned tactics-Tends to favor the big picture of the long war-The only one to really inspire the others with his goal of 'peace through tyranny'.Scorponok-Plans, but tends to lean more towards ruthless aggression-Outdoes even Megatron in the 'might makes right' department-Unnerves the others with his merciless treatment towards friend, foe, and civilian (NAIL or otherwise)Starscream-Only cares for what benefits him the most-Others serve him...because he's not the other two.-Despite nobody on either side trusting him, his scheming and double-dealing does produce results with few casualties.Still feels like it could use a few more details. Though mostly it came from reading the ongoing TF storytime happening and seeing just how dysfunctional and disorganized things are under the Autobots in where we're at in the MTMTE era. Makes me wonder how things could play out if the roles were swapped.
>>156198015Interesting interesting. I'd read it. Who would be some notable decepticons and who would they follow? (and why)
>>156194607>Takara retcons IDW Star Saber as a dummy system that went berserk from operating the armor too long>Legends brings Rhinox back to life and gives Rattrap his legs>The comics establish that BWII and beyond all take place after Beast Machines.>Now thisI love Japanese Transformers autism.
>>156198320>>The comics establish that BWII and beyond all take place after Beast Machines.I will always find this weird, the BW II/Neo cast clearly aren't techno-organic like the BM characters and I kinda liked the old idea where they all took place before Beast Machines so you could have wild things like a subuniverse where Magmatron fights in the Beast Machines battles against the vehicons with new Dinobots.
>>156198335You can tell II/Neo take place after BM just from the shows themselves. BM takes place 300 years after humans helped during the G1 war. Nature on Earth has nearly completely retaken the planet by the time of II. 300 years is simply not enough time for that to happen.
>>156194607>>156194706>What do we think of Japan's dub of EarthSpark being a spin-off of classic G1?Fixed that for ya. Always remember that TF is a multiverse. This doesn't effect the English version's lore.
>>156194579>Who is your favorite writer for Transformers? Call me basic, but Furman and DWJ.
>>156197193I like a black & white noir mystery.
>>156198547Didn't BW take place in the past long before the Ark first arrived?
>>156195674>Being a adult was siding with MegatronWas it Netflix? I remember when I watched that show I took Megs' side but that's because of how the writers portrayed Optimus as a consistent failure
>>156194579Either the guy who did the first half of the skybound comics, who understood the series is about big robots brutally beating each other, or Bob Budiansky who managed to make both single issues fun as well as do over-arching long epic storylines with mass fatalities.Furman is so-so, he can be good but more often he is awful. And I hate every writer whose dialog style is so repetitive that everyone starts speaking the same way after a few issues (claremont, millar and kirkman are also guilty of this, ennis has some flaws too but mostly in that storytelling twists are highly telegraphed).
>>156198547>You can tell II/Neo take place after BM just from the shows themselves.The shows were made before BM was a thing though. That's more of a happy accident.>>156199485The time the BW cast comes from is the future, the transwarp just sent them to the past. the future they come from is 300 years after the war between the Autobots and Decepticons ended, though that timeline could be somewhat dubious(is it 300 years after 2006 or so when the G1 show ended? 300 years after the end of the JP G1 shows? 300 years after yet unseen conflicts that took another few hundred or thousand years after what we last saw of G1? it's not clear.
>>156199494I find it so strange that Optimus is portrayed as this stubborn, repressed hardass when he's never been like that from the jump. I suppose that's what happens with collaborative storytelling over decades.
Bump
>>156201739You swindled me
Is erector in?
>>156202442
Do you want to see human characters in any future series?
>>156204245Yes, but I also like the idea of bringing back reimagined previous humans like they do with Transformers.
>>156198015That isn't true in a al lot of ways It's a running point, especially in Generation One 1984, that as the war raged on, that Megatron pretty much abandoned any long term goal except murder every Autobot and especially Optimus Prime by Megatron's own hands and if it means rendering Cybertron a lifeless wasteland, so be it. And everyone pretty much only stay with him out of straight up fear or hoping he'll get killed and they can take over.Scorponok meanwhile is a straight up wannabe Darwinist who is all "survival of the fittest, but clearly has his favorites and friends and will make excuses for them when they fail while punishing others who aren't. And his followers only support him because the alternative is Megatron and at least Scorponok cares about his troops well being.
>>156203649Still have my Erector and trailer figure, which was the very first toy I got from my local Kmart (which closed in 2013) when it opened in November 1988.
>>156204337I'll never get over the concept that Starscream is usually right, but he's so snivelly and untrustworthy that nobody bothers with him until there are zero options other than himself.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4iwY2LXhz0&pp=ygUcc3RhcnNjcmVhbSBnZXRzIGFzc2Fzc2luYXRlZA%3D%3D
beast machines is a good show and I'm tired of pretending its not
When you think about it, there's probably at least one Transformers fan whose introduction to the series was Armada. I wonder what they thought when they first saw G1 and its dramatically different Starscream
>>156204937>When you think about it, there's probably at least one Transformers fan whose introduction to the series was Armada.There's a ton anon, Armada was a notable huge success and did so well the number of shelf space for Transformers toys at retail doubled.
>>156204797I think it's an interesting show on its own, even if it gets kinda crazy and esoteric at times, but that's honestly part of the appeal.However, as a sequel to Beast Wars, I still don't think I liked how it handled the characters.
>>156204797It's a good series in it's own right but a terrible sequel
Amazing.BOOBIES
>>156195674Being a child was siding with OptimusBeing a teenager was siding with MegatronBeing an adult is siding with Grimlock
>>156204937Most of the reactions were a mix of "Wonder when he'll betray Megatron" and "This guy is too wimpy to be Starscream!"
>>156195674being and adult is forgiving Hot Rod for Prime's death
>>156194579Brain blast I had for an alternate take on how to put Waspinator in Beast Machines:>instead of yeeting rocks at them and being flung out of a catapult, Waspinator ruled peacefully and relatively uneventfully>over the generations, the protohumans migrated about, suffered calamities, interbred with other tribes>eventually, the remnants of the tribe he ruled migrated away with the tribe that had absorbed them; climate issues>he made a few attempts to contact other tribes in the area, but the climate issues made them migrate away too>Waspinator was alone>he tried to hack it for a bit, just him, the sleeping occupants of the Ark, and the heads of Inferno and Quickstrike, but eventually he gave up>he had to sleep>then after some period-maybe a few months, maybe a year, maybe many years-something would wake him up, and he'd need to go back to sleep>sometimes he'd need to find a new place to sleep>but for most of that time, he slept>this went on for four million years>the cumulative few thousand years of loneliness wore at Waspinator>eventually, he reached a time near his own, shortly after the Great Upgrade>he quietly stowed away on a ship bound for Cybertronian space from Earth>once there, he scanned a new vehicle form and spent the next ~300 years laying low, avoiding anywhere his younger self or people he knew would be>some years after when he knew his younger self fled with the Disk and the rest of Megatron's crew, Megatron arrived on Cybertron and released his virus>Waspinator narrowly survived, and ever since has been hiding from the Vehicons, painstakingly upgrading himself to be ever more adapted to the new world so he can better outfight Vehicons he can't flee, and spending time with the time-worn heads of Inferno and Quickstrike, his constant companions>at first he has no involvement in the affairs of the Maximals or Megatron, but fate has planszzz>and he now always speaks in first person like he did when quitting in Nemesis>picrel
>>156205484>>156205588Why did DiDio specifically instruct the writers to not watch Beast Wars?
She deserved so much better
>>156207175Autism creature.
>>156206543Is this actually true? Seems like a strange decision.>>156205990https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7IJ8QJITGI&pp=ygUUYW1hemluZyBhIGJvb2J5IHRyYXA%3D
>>156207779Yes, it's true.
>>156206230Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who actually likes G1 Rodimus. There's a certain melancholy about him that's lost in future iterations. Funny enough, it reminds me of how people try to write Optimus Prime nowadays. On the other hand, you usually get IDW twinkish Rodimus after 2015 or so. They achieve different goals.
>>156195674Childhood is when you idolize Megatron. Adulthood is when you realize Shockwave makes more sense
>>156198015 >>156204337I like the detail from Scorponok's Dreamwave profile that he isn't naturally bloodthirsty at all, but feels he has to be as ruthless as possible or else the Decepticons won't respect him as leader. It goes well with the heart-to-heart he had with Optimus in Marvel G1 where he admitted he was afraid of dying (and them he died right after lol).
>>156208274Shockwave made me realize how much I want cute girls to regularly break into my dark, lonely gamer pad to bully me.
>>156194579I feel like if I said>Devastator ... that's what you need to James Roberts he'd get it, maybe even laugh, but I'm not sure this would improve the world
>>156208338>>156204337The more I think back, the more I remember being impressed with Scorponok while reading the comics; liked him a lot more than Megatron, that's for sure. Like, for all his aggression, even he has his limits.Guess I dun goofed. My bad.>>156208274Reading the comics made me a Shockwave fan for keeps.
>>156208342
Childhood or adulthood, Soundwave remains superior.
>>156208156>Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who actually likes G1 Rodimus.At best he'll only ever be my 2nd favorite Hasbro toy cartoon new leader character who got voiced by Dick Gautier, but I did like Rodimus, and felt he got a raw deal from the fandom, and later iterations of G1 never know what to do with Hot Rod when he's never allowed to achieve his destiny of becoming Rodimus, and Bumblebee has somehow stolen the role of being Optimus' successor from him and from Ultra Magnus.
Fun fact: Rodimus was never depicted with a toy accurate helmet.
>>156210079his toy looks like shit so that's like demanding a headless Ratchet/Ironhide
>>156208156the machinima trilogy was ass but I dig the idea of Rodimus and Starscream assuming leadership in a post-war Cybertron while Optimus and Megatron enjoy retirement
>>156210181Yeah, but that helmet looks good under a good artist's pen.
If you stop and think about it, Galvatron's even more screwed than Rodimus is, because no modern version of G1 really wants to let go of the early cast, especially Optimus and Megatron. Hot Rod can still exist and just never really become Rodimus, but Megatron can never evolve into Galvatron, and the best we can get is like IDW1, where we get a completely unrelated OC named Galvatron who isn't Megatron.The same in general for Cyclonus and Scourge, not that Hasbro really seem attached to any hard canon on who becomes Cyclonus.
>>156210256still better than being Goldbug
>>156210470True. Didn't IDW also make Goldbug a separate character and then do nothing with him?
>>156194579Unwilling to mention my favorite writers because the ones /co/ sucks the dick of are all garbage (save for Furman) but I generally prefer the comics over the cartoons to be honest (including Sakamoto's stuff). Not even talking about bay. Too American and ugly for me. I wish they would make a decent cartoon one day, preferably one that sticks to the original style, doesn't involves any children and has the balls to intertwine comedic and fun content with dark and serious shit without being too edgy or too spineless about it. >>156194706I feel like that series could have been good but they didn't really know what they wanted and focused too much on a bunch of characters nobody cared about (the parents were okay though).
>>156210489At one point Bee got damaged badly and had to wear a face mask, combined with him using a Cybertronian design, it made him kinda like Goldbugs head stuck on Bayformers Bumblebee.
>>156194829Was Furman doing anything after that Astrobots comic (of which I am apparently the only fan of)?
>tfw there is a new cartoonHow have I never heard anybody talk about it? I don't see anybody talk about the Skybound comics either outside of /co/ but I didn't even know that this existed. The premise doesn't even sound bad but it looks really cheap. Is it shit? I am one of those who enjoyed the later episodes of Cyberverse so I guess I'll give it a try.
>>156210677>How have I never heard anybody talk about it?because it's made of 5 minute long episodes aimed at ADHD gen alpha kids
>>156210609It seems like they really wanted a dramatic undercurrent but just didn't have the time or permission from the higher ups. I think the Grimlock arc was one of the best parts and we never see anything made like it again.
>>156210256Maybe go back the Marvel route with Galvatron (with cyclonus and scourge) being a time traveler from a potential future.I actually liked Netflix take that Nemesis Prime was a Unicron corrupted Optimus from the future with Galvatron.
>>156194579>Question of the Day: Who is your favorite writer for Transformers? (This can include any media that fits the /co/ sphere)David Willis, his Recordicons were ahead of times.>Can I has Transformer
>>156210777I do like that Marvel/Furman route of working those characters into present day stories, but you usually end up with them having to go back to their own time, or disaster occurring because they don't.Some sort of G1 project getting to play around with the Season 3-4 cast and future setting again would be nice.I think I prefer Nemesis Prime as an evil clone of Optimus, it gives more potential for recurring fights between them.
>>156210489Another one of Andy Schmidt ideas, that proved he had no idea what he was doing as editor. His hands off, do whatever you want approach was ridiculous.
>>156210777Galvatron could be a clone of Megatron too.
>>156210954We already have Megaplex for that, even if nobody uses him.
>>156210803Funny you mention that, I'm reading it right now.
>>156210751>aimed at ADHD gen alpha kidsI fucking hate how this is true for almost every cartoon they make. Do they even watch these things? Because I have never seen fans of series like this. ADHD ridden kids are addicted to tiktok, they probably hate cartoons on principle unless it's contextless memes.
Say about Furman's writing whatever you want but his world building was sci-fi as fuck and cool and it's a bit sad that I have yet to watch a cartoon post G1 that takes its ideas from there. Most of them are stuck in the "US kiddies find mcguffin and befriend one of the same 10 heroic TFs" phase before they get cancelled and I am fucking tired of it. There is so much more to explore and do.
>>156211409A lot of his ideas have crept into the shows, it's just that they tend to become more standardized for kids shows. Primus going from enigmatic absent god to kickass planet wielding superrobot God in Cybertron, the Wreckers being loosecanon soldiers in Prime instead of a frequently doomed team of dirty work operatives(weirdly the DOTM movie actually did lean into the idea that they're more brutal than other Autobots, but it's undercut by most Autobots in those movies fighting brutally), Bludgeon being in Cyberverse, etc. It is pretty funny to me that the only reason Primus became an essential part of TF lore is because he was namedropped on Beast Wars a couple times(albeit the second time due to Furman).
>>156208338Scorponok has been a very different character across multiple versions, it's hard to pin down what he's like as character generally speaking. Even his redemption in Marvel was just the result of his mind merging with the repentant Zarak.
>>156208848
>>156210079>Fun fact: Rodimus was never depicted with a toy accurate helmet.Fun fact: Hot Rod / Rodimus never had a cartoon accurate toy either. The closest was the original Masterpiece but 1. it had a retarded cab transformation (the entire cab was its own thing, you push Hotrod into it with his ass sticking out, and fold the cab front over it), 2. he suffered from having a huge "backpack" that stored basically his entire car mode. Studio Series is also fairly accurate but also has the backpack thing.
>>156211709
I want TF special in which all Sentinel Primes are fighting each other over who the real one is.
Dark Prelude storytime here>>156211958
>>156212046the winner:
>>156210677It's basically Sonic Boom with Transformers, it even has self-referential humor that only long-term fans will get it
>>156210777They can also do what IDW did and make Megatron and Galvatron two separate characters
>>156194579Furman for me, but then I basically grew up reading his peak Marvel US and UK runs, so I'm a little biased.Budiansky's a close second. His best stuff is good (Return to Cybertron and the Underbase saga) but his wanting to focus too much on random human OCs can drag things down sometimes.Honorable mention: the writer of the old Dreamwave ongoing (Brad Mick? Or was that an alias?). He seemed to be setting up some interesting stuff before Pat Lee's fuckery ruined everything.
