Ah, okay, so the "sadistic SG Autobots" are just following the canon then.

I agree that SG Autobots shouldn't be exactly like the canon Decepticons in terms of personality. What I meant by "making them like the canon Decepticons" was making them the same level of evil, not "EVIL TO THE MAAAAAAX". What I find interesting about the idea of SG is seeing how a character might be changed to make them evil / good. Some might be the opposite of their normal counterparts, others will be very similar but their motivation is warped so that now they're evil instead of good (or vice versa) . . . You don't have to have Autobots being the most sadistic beings in the galaxy for that.

As far as the alt modes, I prefer that the SG bots have the same alt modes as their regular counterparts.

 

Well again, I think the main reason why they're made "evil to the max" as you put it is so that they actually appear to be a threat to the SG Decepticons.

In the main universe where the Autobots are the heroes they're typically made to look weaker than the Decepticons so that the Decepticons can appear to be a challenge because it makes for a more interesting story when it seems like the villains have the upper hand some how.

When you reverse the roles of good and evil then it's no longer interesting to watch the over powered Hero Decepticons beat the shit out of the weaker villain Autobots. You have to turn up the evil to make the Autobots seem threatening in comparison to their Decepticons.

To put this another way, you know why Batman is way more popular than Superman? It's because Batman is just a normal guy who often fights super powered villains who are way more powerful than he is. Superman on the other hand is a freaking god-like being who most often fights normal human criminals which is the most boring thing in the world to read or watch. He's too powerful. Until villains like Bizzaro, Doomsday, or Darkseid showed up that actually provided a challenge his biggest most threatening enemy was a glowing green rock. Even the normal Batman villains are threatening to him because they're willing to kill while Batman isn't.

Another reason why Batman is a good comparison to make. The Joker is arguably a much weaker character than Batman. He's not as strong and basically useless in a straight up fight. Batman usually takes him out with a single punch whenever they get into a straight up fist fight. So how do they make one of the physically weakest villains in all of comic book history appear to be one of the greatest threats? By making his character a sadistic freak.

In comparison to SG universes where Batman is actually the villain and Joker is the Hero they usually compensate by making Owlman significantly LESS evil than Joker. Like Batman, Owlman the evil version of Bruce Wayne is a calm calculating and far more capable fighter than Red Hood. (Yeah the good version just uses the same alias that the evil version had before he was the Joker.) He isn't nearly as sadistic as Joker. Red Hood much like his villain counterpart has to rely on unpredictable tactics that Bruce Wayne, a man with no sense of humor, can't predict, in order to win a confrontation. Except being that he's a hero in this universe his tricks aren't intend to kill anyone. He knows he can't beat Owlman in a straight up fist fight so relies mostly on an arsenal of non-lethal tricks suck as his own version of Joker's laughing gas which unlike the evil version won't leave it's victims with a permanent smile on their corpse. It will make them laugh uncontrollably for a few minutes incapacitating them temporarily but isn't lethal. Anyway, Owlman is more like Catwoman in the main universe, a theif but not really a killer. He doesn't seem to mind that much when other villains from his universe talk about murdering people but he doesn't really seem the murdering type. (I'm going off Brave and the Bold cartoon in case you're wandering what universe this is from. I think the most sadistic character in that universe was Red Scarab, the evil version of Blue Beetle who actually bragged quite a lot about dismembering people. It was surprisingly graphic dialog considering the tone of that series. You never actually see any of it thankfully but holy crap that dude was scary as shit.)

As for the alt mode changes... I wouldn't mind it as much if they made every character completely different from their main universe counterpart and left the color schemes the same. Like I think it would be interesting if there was a reverse universe where the Autobots were mostly flyers and military vehicles and the Decepticons were mostly cars and trucks because that would actually solve the other issue you're having. Instead of making the Autobots way more evil just give them an obvious physical advantage. But when they're physically exactly the same as the main universe counterparts except for paint then it's hard to make the Autobots seem like a threat when their original designs were intended to make them appear weaker than the Decepticons.

If we went with changing the vehicle modes I'd try to pick vehicles that at least in robot mode with a new head and repainted to look like the character can still invoke that it's Optimus Prime or Megatron or whoever even if the vehicle mode looks nothing like how you would normally picture them.

This would also solve the issue of Beast Machines trying to make a SG version of it, if I could just make the Maximals vehicles and make the Vehicons beastformers... though the name Vehicon makes no sense if they don't transform into Vehicles.

 

Whether the Decepticons are stronger than the Autobots depends on the continuity. In TFA the Decepticons were purposely made much bigger and stronger. But in most continuities the two factions are about evenly matched. (I mean, sometimes they try to bulk out the Decepticon forces with nameless grunts, like the Vehicons of TFP or Beast Machines but let's be real, the viewer knows the heroes are never in real danger from the grunts. They are the flimsiest TFs of all time and probably would explode even if they merely tripped and fell.)

 

I could see it working in theory. Transformers gets rebooted all the time, while still recycling the simple good guys vs bad guys set up. It continues to work over and over, so starting from scratch with the factions reversed would be just as appealing to newcomers as (insert random TF reboot here). They wouldn't have any preconceived notion of who's supposed to be who. Established fans will either love or hate the change, just like every other change introduced in Transformers ever.

 

That's actually completely true.

 

Very true.

 

I'am not sure if this was mentioned already because i am too lazy to read all the way through, but i am quite sure there was a planned shattered glass episode for TFA Season 4. i think it could work as a one off episode or a multi-part episode in a current show but not a full series

Edit: Tfwiki page of AllSpark Almanac, with planned episodes
Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II - Transformers Wiki

 

Actually this angle intrigues me. optimus has a chance to really interact with his old friend/brother Megatron who isn't trying to kill him.

 

Wouldn't be any worse than that episode "Transfer Point" of Go-Bots in Wen Kroy.

"Imagine that. Good Guardians" --Crasher

good grief

 

I think it coild wprk as a one off mini series...the story wouldnt be too hard...however i would love to see even just one episode made in a similar style to g1, 80s artwork, cheesy storyline, good guys win(well in thos case the badguys) i think that would be fun...maybe not amazing and groundbreaking but simple and fun

 

@RodimusRex I don't think you can get much brighter then SG Thundercracker. I love colorful stuff, but even he's a little too much. Dear Gods! His color scheme makes him look like he flew through a paint factory.

 

The one time I finally got myself to read TFA as The Force Awakens and not Transformers Animated, people are talking suddenly about Transformers Animated again. Argh  

 

One possibility I can see to make the branding clearer:

What if the Autobot/Decepticon good/evil sides stay as they originally were for branding purposes but you just had the bad guys for a series be Nemesis Prime, Wasp/Bugbyte, Slice, etc.?

Other idea: Edison Rex it up.

Megatron and the Decepticons (still bad guys) win in the pilot. They crush the Autobots... who get brought back as Unicron’s servants. (Optimus becomes Nemesis, Bumblebee becomes BugByte.)

The Decepticons quickly work out that they need to work with humans against the corrupted Autobots. And you can tease at the Autobots coming back to their senses, etc. But the main concept then is corrupted Autobots fighting against Decepticons who are getting a forced ethics lesson.

 

With a few words: That wouldnt be SG. That would be a different plotline for the core Universe.



I believe it could work akin to a mini series like a two-three season anime of 15-20 episodes each with an adult or at least 15+ rating.

The SGs universe is supposed to be violent, extremely so. A correct representation of this universes Optimus, would be a guy who strings his rivals/victims corpses on a wall after he guts them inside out and spends his iddle time talking to them....Though it needs to be far from simple mindless violence and a scope between evil and good and simply mirroring the core universe.There is huge potential in the idea that even the few media that got released just dont tap on it.

The huge downside to it, and one that will turn most people off I believe, is that you must be familiar with the core universe, in order to appreciate the character quirks the SG have.

 

Indeed. I would honestly like to see what the SG universe would look like in an anime. It would be awesome to seem some dramatic designs and over the top action.

 

Star Trek: Enterprise did two or three episodes in the mirror universe, with no one from the regular universe crossing over. I thin any SG fiction we could do the same thing, as long as it does not deviate too much from the fiction that it's a part of. Like if there were an IDW SG comic they would have to stick with things native to IDW comics and not randomly throw in Energon Demolisher.

 

I have never seen this outside a fans fantasies.
And now also MTMTE.

 

It wouldn't be Shattered Glass any more than Prime is an alternate Bayverse or a take on IDW or any more than Animated is G1. No closer than Animated Blackarachnia is to the BW version.

I guess, though, that maybe I'd rather see a few of Shattered Glass' ideas in the blender with everything else. The minute you're adapting it, you're doing something new. A SG show would pretty much have to be as different from the FunPub version as Sunbow or IDW is different from Marvel Transformers. It's a different audience to begin with, most of whom would almost be unfamiliar with or turned off by FunPub's SG. I think you need a big tent approach that plays more off of people's vague awareness of Transformers who may not be into it enough to be drawn in by the weird nuances of a morally flipped crew.

Without a brand new approach, I think about the best you could do is pull a surprise reveal in a standard show that some character is secretly from the SG version of their universe and maybe have a detour through there. Or have a character switched with a counterpart as a POV character.

 

I respectfully disagree. An adaptation can be different while remaining true to the core material. Creating something else entirely and foregoing its core concepts and just carrying its just its name is an attempt at just capitalising a name. Also we are not discussing about the audience been familiar with it or not. While most are not, this is a niche universe with only a few people following it, hence why it receiving a movie/cartoon w.e. addaptation in the first place is remote.

 

I don't think it would work as an regular line-driven television series, but it would work great as a plot within another established series. Kind of like how Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would usually had a Mirror Universe episode once a season, where you saw how the status quo there kept changing. It could also be something to use in different series, like if Animated and Prime/RID 2015 had their own separate takes on Shattered Glass.