Is it bugging anyone else that the writers portray the bots as having magical powers rather than just sentient robots who have abilities based on how they were built and upgraded? Blackarachnia can take powers for a short time like Rogue of X-men. She stinged Bumblebee and then magically had the stingers, same with Prime's grapplers. But what really irked me is when she 'took' Bulkhead's strength. I thought Bulkhead's strength is because he had mass? Mechanical "muscles" and probably a powerful "engine". How could BA replicate that? Sure this happened in G1 as well (Heavy Metal War or whatever it was called), but that was 80's writing and just a one off thing as well, notice how the newer bots didn't have random super powers. I like Lockdown precisely because of this as the whole story of Lockdown sticks to just robots - highly sophisticated, super advanced, but still down to the simple logic of a bot made up of parts and not just unexplained phenomenons like BA's sylph-like frame being able to perform Bulkhead's strength.
It happened in G1. Heck, it has been in transformers forever. How come Skywarp could teleport but no one else could? If it was a simple technology upgrade wouldn't they spend all day replicating transporting chips until the whole army could do it? How can plugging a baby robot's ass into your arm rebuild your arm in to a death ray? What about magical energon keys that plummit from the sky into your back to make large weapons appear. And the biggest 'super power' of all... Apache Chief mass changing. So no... It doesn't BUG me one single bit. TFs have always been basically superhero robots.
Didn't I already acknowledge it happened in G1? Why'd you quote that part then say to me the same thing I said. It happened in G1 but as it went on the newer bots stopped having random super powers, or at least powers that weren't so farfetched like teleportation. Characters like Springer, Octane, Cyclonus, Runamuck etc etc etc didn't have any super powers. Scourge had the ability to zoom in to view things lightyears away but that's about it. I don't really care about the Unicron trilogy. It's plain silly anyway with the 'gotta catch em all' theme and groin cannons. You don't have to be cynical just because you disagree. It's my opinion and it's not like this is a hate thread. I still enjoy TFA.
Forgive the Defenders of the Faith. They are overzealous in their destruction that has anything even remotely critical of the TFs. Its how they rationalize things. First assumption they make is that people who criticize something currently in the TF-verse and like G1 must also think that G1 is mistake free. That is their first fallacy - thinking that people think G1 was perfect. You obviously said differently on your view of G1 but he didn't understand that part. Its part of his algorithm to defend the current TF incarnations against those people who are seeking to undermine and destroy the current TF-world as we know it. Second assumption: they assume that if mistakes happened in G1 then they are forgiven to happen in any other incarnation. Forget the fact that back then G1 was just starting with a minimal budget just trying to make it - they didn't have the QC controls or the capacity for QC controls as they do now. TFs are HUGE now and a cash cow that can have great QC. But thats besides the fact, so long as G1 had mistakes, then every other TF show is allowed to have mistakes that no one can point out.
It'll be said at some point in this thread, so I figure I'll be the one to say it: IT'S A FUCKING KID'S SHOW. It's got some silly convenient plot devices that help the twenty-minute-long story flow along without too much trouble. Who cares?
While that's true, it's not really hard to think of alternative plot devices that follow the theme of Transformers closer. Ok yes, the Matrix, Allspark and key are also 'magical', but at least they are a reoccurring things and have a much bigger role as compared to individual powers of the characters. Besides, I don't feel a kid's show necessarily has to be silly, but that's just me.
Both of your 'jabs' at our comments have NOTHING TO DO with anything anyone has posted. Just another off-topic attack. Your whole post is a blatant troll. I never said G1 was mistake free or flawless or even hinted at it. And this particular discussion has *NOTHING TO DO WITH MISTAKES*. It has to do with do we find it annoying that they make little to no effort to technologize any of the 'powers' TFs have. All I said was TFs have always been more about ROBOTS WITH SUPERPOWERS opposed to ROBOTS WITH TECHNOLOGY. This is a US vs Japanese storytelling thing. US is the home of the Superhero, Japan is the home of the Mecha. Just about every series has relied on an almost unexplainable superpower to each TF that is not standardized across the whole race. When you look at it like that, it does not BUG me one bit. I have no problems with TFs being superhero robots opposed to technology equipped mecha like Battle-tech and Gundams.
I thought BA's (and by default, Elita's) downloading powers were just like the regular ability to replicate matter (like for instance, scanning a vehicle mode) only just for a short time.
They have powers to help individualize the characters and make their toys seem cooler. Blackarachnia's power seem to be the only one that's really "super powery". The other powers are pretty easy for me to believe seeing as they belong to super advanced alien robots created by a magical decahedron
How many powers aren't technological-ish? You've got Prime's batman-gizmos, Bee's rockets and stingers, Bulkhead's wreacking ball and size, prowl's speed and holographic emitter, Ratchet's magnets, Blitzwing's freeze rays and flamethrowers...the OP is right that BA's got more of a 'magial' super power but I'd hardly call that her alone is enough to say the writer's are portraying all the bot's abilities as 'magical'.
I'll agree that BA's powers are the most difficult to explain rationally, as almost everyone else's are fairly easily put out as a system/weapon designed into the robot. I think Split Lip's theory of a temporary matter replicator/duplicator/Xerox is the best seen thus far. I don't see Animated's powers being any different than G1. They're just handled more consistently and with more flare. Personally, I always had a bigger problem with the TF anime shows, where sheer force of will is shown to overcome any obstacle or enemy, especially when it manifests itself like a robot is wrecked and near death, suddenly finds a renewed will to fight, and in a flash of light is fixed up, shiny, and possibly upgraded to a new toy form or paint job. THAT'S the kind of thing I find a little too unrealistic and 'magical'.
i figured it was more like Blackarachnia had Nanobots that would temporarily scan what extra features another bot had, then allign themselves to use the other programing, like arranging into stingers, grapplers, or extra pistons within her body, thus giving her that extra strength
I always thought about it this way: Technically *ANYONE* can use any of the Transformers technologies, but many of them are dangerous, prototype and destructive or ineffective when handled wrong. TFs who have them are HIGHLY SKILLED at using that technology. Like a human who can fence having a sword or a bow hunter having a Bow and arrow. Put those in someone elses hands they are going to be nowhere close to effective with it. So lets go to TFs. Skywarp can teleport. I bet that teleporting is dangerous, unreliable and takes a lot of concentration to pull off. Most soldiers simply won't bother as it is not worth the risk. What is the point of having an army of teleporters when 25% of your crew destroys themselves when they teleport. Then you get into technologies that require other superstructures like Trailbreakers forcefield. Part of the reason he can use that is because of his fuel consumption woes. Being innefficient I bet means you can convert energy quickly and in much bigger output. IE: powering a force shield most other TFs wouldn't have the energy output to sustain. If you are really interested in that stuff and you require it to enjoy the robots... then read MTMTE trade paper backs. They are filled with this type of techno-retconning to make things make sense. And if we can accept Mini-cons can rebuild the inside of a TF into weaponry on the fly, then I don't see why BA/Elita-1's power doesn't rebuild her interior systems to replicate things like EMP or super strength for a limited time. I like Super hero TFs. I dislike Mecha TFs who do generic laser/missile barrages in a cut-screen to win a battle.
Hay guise! What was the working name of Transformers: Animated? Whuzzat? Transformers: Heroes? You mean they intended the transformers to be more like superheroes than other shows? Nowai!
The way I see Blackarachnia is that she's just a homage to Megaman. Megaman gets the weapons of the characters he defeats, he downloads them or something. I'm not up on the fiction. But Blackarachnia presumably works the same way. Her venom stingers allow her to temporarily replicate the abilities of another Transformer. Her whole body is probably built for it, and I bet her organic components actually enhance it. Plus, she's a spider. Perhaps she's got the proportional strength thing going while she has Bulkhead's abilities. The super powers really don't bother me. The newer guys all have powers too. Sentinel Prime's was shown to be his shield, barriers and shield slinging. Ultra Magnus calls down thunder. Blurr is really, really fast. Jazz has exceptional ninja skill. Granted, not as flamboyant as the stingers or Ratchet's magnets, but I think that is purely because they have less screentime. I'm looking forward to seeing if Jetfire and Jetstorm will live up to their "fire and ice" billing and actually control bursts of fire and ice.
BA's Special Tech ability is to Download data and integrate it into her systems for a short time. It isn't a super power, hence why her ability can not work on organics. In simple terms she copies other robot's weapons data and paste it into her programming, then can only run that program data for a short while until her systems kicks it out like it was a computer virus. To me it makes alot of sense and appears to be a very robot/computer thing to do, doesn't seem at all like a super hero power. If it worked on organics that would be a whole 'nother issue.
