Bud is awesome. to hate him is to hate all that is right with the world. and then there's carlos. AND THEN THERE'S CARLOS.
I've never understood the need to force humans into these shows. Even as a kid, I was in it for the giant frikkin' robots, not the puny meat creatures. The G1 humans never bothered me, though. The people in seasons one and two simply weren't obnoxious. Danniel was annoying as hell, but you got distracted from him by Wheelie. Wheelie was by far the most annoying character in a TF show, untill they hired Brad Swail to voice somebody. The Cybertron kids weren't too bad. Unfortunately, the robot voice actors tended to get on my nerves. Especially back woods Scattorshot, and Starscream talking through his nose. Galaxy Force was awesome, though.
I thought the humans were fine in G1...Spike got a little annoying but at least he DID something. He and Carly freed the Dinobots on Cybertron for God's sake! Chip felt a little forced, but he was useful too...and Sparkplug worked right along side Ratchet (and kept going when Ratchet had to recharge as was pointed out to the Aerialbots). Daniel is debatable. He and Wheelie are...ugh. I didn't see much of RiD so I don't have any opinion of the kid in it...then came Armada. Holy. Fing. Sh!t. Alexis was sort of useful, Rad was annoying but Carlos, Fred and the other one (Billy?) were so god-awful. I never saw much Energon either, so I didn;t get to see much of Kicker. I saw a little bit of Cybertron and it seems to me Bud Coby and Lory were a little annoying but NOTHING like the Armada kids. Jesus, what an all time low supporting cast.
I've always hated Chip. Even as a kid I couldn't buy into the crippled-geek-saves-the-day crap. Even though the anime stuff shoves humans down our throats, G1 isn't off the hook either.
i actually think having the humans, especially the kids, is very important to have in the show, it gives kids something to relate to, it is kinda hard after all, to relate to a giant 1000ton robot which has guns for arms, and shoots everything in site, i mean that is a great role model. you have to have the kids in there, in my opinion. and I actually liked Kicker, and Mesha, i liked Alexis, and i like the current cybertron kids too, they are pretty cool, and for the most part i liked the armada kids in energon, as well. and Tai/Ai, in my opinion is the best human character ever. for a i guess, a 12 year old lol well i was like 14 at the time the show aired.
The Cybertron kids weren't that annoying to me. The voices sucked though, they sounded so much younger in Cyb than they did in GF. Kicker and crew didn't bother me much either. Not great, but he was at least useful. Armada... I gave up watching the series because of the fat fuck who always had to either eat or shit. Step on him, PLEASE. Masterforce did it best though- the kids became TFs.
Best use of kids ever in a Tf series was Masterforce. The kids were used for damage control and rescue. (and hostages as usual) They were head masters and actually kind of cool. The thing about G1 was while there were humans, they weren't used to be the main element. essentially spike was a spy, he wandered into the city found where the decepticon's were, then when there was a battle and he wasn't really involved. Also the Decepticon's attitudes towards humans in the old series was they weren't a threat. They were germs. So they never really payed too much attention to them. At least in the early eps. In the new series the decepticon have entire conversations with them.
never really been a fan of the humans in the show, appart from G1 characters. Cybertron, Armada and energon......errr i hate the humans there so much, all there used for is to point out obivous stuff 'Oh no its megatron' . I think kickers been the worset out of them all, arrogant and damn hes a winy lil brat
Like it has been said sometimes the humans are fine, other times they are useless. Spike and the humans were fairly usefull in G1. They taught the autobots about earth and pulled their own weight much of the time. It was a good blend. Daniel was somewhat useless. In the BW protohumans sorta helped a bit. Hell the held off Quickstrike and Inferno. Again slightly usefull, yet were almost non-existant RID - Koji was fine. Nothing horrid, nothing spectacular. Junko was good comic relief with all the misfortune that befalls her. Poor Poor Junko Armada - WAY too much kids. The kids were morons and Optimus wasn't much better either. Just plain horrible charachters. Especially Fred. I could complain more but I'm hungry. My blood sugar is low. When am I going to eat? Hey Billy! Billy! Energon - Kicker was a dick. Cybertron - Kids done right for once. Bud is a great kid. He acts like a little kid. Lori and Coby were great too. Good kids and good kids story lines. Victory - Jan is a bit of a pain in the butt at times, but otherwise ok. haven't seen other Jap. series.
Shouldn't that be Takara's biggest mistake? Since Takara was given a wide latitude in how to produce the cartoon... of course unless you meant it was Hasbro's mistake to allow Takara any say in how to produce the Transformers cartoon? In that case I would agree with you.
Well, so long as we're splitting hairs, I must point out that it was clearly the animation studios' biggest mistake, as they were the folks at fault - they actually allowed the human characters to be animated. Quote me and tell me I'm wrong. Go on. Dooeet. Dooeet.
He's faking it. In one episode Spike tosses him something, and he STANDS UP IN HIS WHEELCHAIR to catch it. He also has the super-human strength to shred a floppy disk like tissue paper (Thanks zobovor for that quote). Carly on the other hand was a hot geek girl. She's super smart, drives dangerously and can repair alien computer systems without any idea how they work, just like on Star Trek! Plus she appears to have a mutant healing factor, as her sprained ankle healed itself after a few minutes of being supported by Spike. Or she was faking for cuddly-wuddly points.
Personally, as far as humans go, I'd have to say that the TF series have been pretty hit and miss about them. But you can't really say that the comics have been much better, becuase there's been plenty of human characters in the comics (especially the recent Inflitratioin IDW story arc) that are all sorts of annoying or just forced. G1 season 1&2: Spike & Sparkplug were cool, they taught the Autobots about Earth and they essentially acted as spies and than weren't around when the battles started. Chip was, alright, seemed a little forced for PC purposes though. Carly was cool, she helped out so many times it wasn't even funny. As far as villains... Burger and Archevile were just horrid human villains, but an interesting concept that never really got off the ground. The other one shot humans that showed up in G1 S1&2 were pretty much hit and miss, but not really as annoying as anything we've had to date. G1 S3: Well, Adult Spike & Carly really didn't get enough screen time in my opinion... especially with all they did in S1&2, however, they seemed like the perfect evolution of those two decent human characters. There kid, Daniel, on the other hand... simply sucked. Him and Wheelie's combination were not a good replacement for the Spike & Bumblebee combo. Marissa Fairborne was cool and the Dashiel Fairborne hints were even flaoting around back than. There really weren't that many more human characters in S3... just a few EDC and Civilian guys around that didn't interest me one way or another. The rest of the none TFs were all freaky alien dudes that I'm still not sure if I like or feel indifferent about. Also, Cobra Commander's one episode guest appearance was awesome! G1 S4 four parter: Well, the Nebulons weren't bad, but they weren't good either. I think I liked them better in the comics. G1 Marvel comic: I can honestly say that most of the main stays (Buster, Sparkplug, Jessie & Blackrock) were decent human characters. Characters like Josie Beller (& the rest of her goofy superhuman crew) along with all the idiots at III were some of Budiansky's worst designs. Of course, the worst designs to come from Budiansky were all the one shot human heroes and villains. Robot Master and The Mechanic were among the worst! They annoy me more than Kicker. And, as I said, the Nebulons in the comics were much more interesting. I especially loved Galen who was very cool and Zarak really got alot of development going for him during the Furman run of the comics. Finally, Spike seemed unfortunantly forced... which is a shame, because I'd been waiting for him to show up for awhile (since I kind of liked him as a kid) in the comics, but even back than it seemed like he was shoehorned into the comics, because of the toy. Beast Wars: Well, I wouldn't say that any humans really played a big role here and this is the series hailed as being one of the best. The protohumans barely ever showed up except in a few episodes that were heavily based around them. Beast Machines: No humans at all, but that didn't kill this series. Didn't make it good either. RID: Koji was okay. Not too annoying, but nothing omg spectacular either. His father (Dr. Onishi?) didn't really show up enough for me to like him or not. Junko was... well... comedy relief. Period. Although watching her flip out all the time was funny. I know alot of people like to make Tai/Ai out to be a human character (and she's perhaps more human than some of the later human characters), but I've always considered her so cool, because she was born of Teletran-1 and all. Armada: I hate Carlos, Billy and than other fat kid... they should all just die. They were stupid and they never did anything usefull... hell, Billy and fatboy were just there as antagonists for Carlos & Rad at first. And than they became bestest friends. Ugh. Alexis was alright... nothing horrid, but nothing great. Rad was just plain stupid. "Hi, I'm Rad and blah, blah, blah..." Yeah, forget it. These guys reaked! Energon: Kicker was dumb and annoying. "Hey Optimus! Get out there and fight, because I'm leading the Autobots!" Yeah, whatever, like we needed a kid telling Prime and the other Autobots what to do. Misha was alright... again, not great, but not horrid. Althought her relationship with Kicker seemed a bit forced at times. Kicker's sister (Sally?) was... a typical younger sister anime sterotype and didn't really interest me at all. Dr. Jones was... annoying as hell. Always laughing and always never really having a clue. Stupid. Kicker's mom wasn't much better. "Oh, I just bake and cook and let your brother and father let off steam dear, because I represent all the negative stereotypes of women!" Yeah, nice one guys. The Armada kids all became more annoying as young adults. They didn't add anything to the series and Alexis annoyed me most of all... the little government sell out... Cybertron: The kids are done right. I don't think they're neccessary, but if they're going to be forced into the series this is how I'd like to see them. Bud got on my nerves from time to time, but was otherwise a decent character. Coby was cool. He reminded me of a younger Sparkplug. Which is cool and it was also cool when he modified his own Scrapmetal drone... just wish he'd actually participated in more battles with it. Lori was the first well written female in awhile I think. She actually acted like a teenage girl (unlike Alexis) and wasn't affraid to show her feelings for Coby later in the series. Their parents (along with Coby & Bud's eldest brother) seemed pretty stereotypical anime was to me, but whatever. They didn't really hurt the series so I won't complian. The military guy (forget his name) and the scientist chick (forget her name too) were alright. Not brilliant, but I don't think they were intended to be great attention grabbing characters. DW comics: Eh... can't really comment as I haven't read much of any of DWs stuff minus the first two G1 minis and the humans there were atrocious for the most part. IDW comics: So far... the Moulder wannabe is the only one I really like in Infiltration. Variety is the most annoying character ever (aside from Budiansky's one shot heroes and villains) to ever appear in a G1 comic. The other guy... the Sparkplug/Spike combo... I haven't really been able to get too attatched to him, but his actions in the most recent issue that I read (#5) were pretty cool.
The only TF show were the human characters really killed it for me was Armada. I found out of all the TF shows it was the one factor that really dragged the show down and probably would actually have been watchable without them. Overall though I actually don't mind human characters all the much, but only if they bring something to the overall story and things going on. That's were Armada really messed up as not only were they annoying as hell but they didn't add anything. Most of the time they just stood around cheerleading from the sidelines doing and contributing nothing to the overall flow of the show. This is my big problem with Cybertron/GF as though the human characters arnt annoying like Armada (although Bud gets on my nerves) they dont really do anything. I realize there trying to get them in there for the kiddies but the question I ask is what do they really contribute? What do the bring the table? How do they help the story and characters? And my answer is not very much, a little yes, but not enough. I guess maybe if you gave them some better voice acting and dialog they could be quite good but for me they just dont quite cut it. The only TF show that really pulled off human characters was Masterforce. I mean for a TF show that revolves exclusively around humans I have to say they pulled this show off amazingly well. What's even more amazing is its a Japanese TF show, in which they usually drops the ball on stuff like this. What's even more interesting watching Masterfoce is the little Headmaster jounior kids who should be the most annoying part of the show and ruin it, dont, and they arnt annoying at all. Again my theory on this is they ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!!! unlike the Armada or Cybertron kids who sit around for the most part and do and contribute nothing. Add in some decent writing, VA, and action it makes for some damn good television. Anyway just some of my thoughts. Like I said Armada was the only TF show were the humans actually killed it for me. Energon maybe would have but everything about that show was bad humans or no humans. G1 like others have said, the human characters never really bothered me. Ya Spike never really did much but at least he stayed out of the way. Danial was annoying but he really was never in it enough to ruin season 3 for me. But ya for me I dont mind humans, in some cases I think they actually bring a lot to the table in TF's, but like I said its really when we have these human characters just because we have to have them were it gets on my nerves. This is mostly due to in shows like Armada you end up having a bunch of annoying brats standing around doing nothing derailing a show that's suppose to be about giant transforming robots kicking the crap out of each other, and that's were I get peeved.
I hated Minerva a puppy died because she wouldn't save it from the Destrons. Yeah she was real useful. The little girl she saved at least threw rocks at the Destrons to try to help her puppy, while minerva stood there and cried.
Armada Kids 75% annoying (25% who weren't consists of Alexis (I liked her bond with the Screamer) and Rad (mainly 'cos he has Goku's voice) Kicker was good 'til he met the Alpha Q and Kobe is ok, Lori and Bud together is rather amusing
i HATE humans as well, they disturb the story of the TF tales and i hope we will soon get some new series where they DIIEEEE!! ho ho ho, and yes the upcoming comic stormbringer will be human FREE!
