Autobot/human relations: Single biggest difference between TF cartoons and comics?

See, I agreed with you (more-or-less) regarding the fact, at least initially, the human reply would be hostile and panicked. But I do think you're devaluing the ability of human intelligence services to determine intent through observation.

Observing their battles and the inevitable video of them would allow us to notice patterns of behavior regarding how they treat their damaged members, how aware of collateral damage and how much or how little various factions and individuals try to prevent it, how much they may or may not go out of their way to not harm humans, and so on.

Most of it would be to determine weaknesses and strategic and tactical flaws to use against them, but also to learn if they are "civilized" and have observed rules of engagement. Again, the fact that they switch over to the dominant language of their area only helps.

It wouldn't take an incredibly long period of time to learn that the red-badged "Autobots" (Prime certainly calls that name out often enough), led by the large, red-and-blue truck, seem to have a greater concern about not casually killing humans than the other, purple-badged ones.

From there, it's relatively low-risk to send a message to them (you don't even have to risk a human's life) asking for info about the conflict and potentially asking if they couldn't please take it somewhere else?

Even the way they respond would tell us more about them. It's pretty much inevitable that we couldn't help but learn that one faction of these things was far more likely to be willing to work with us and was at least somewhat concerned with containing the damage the conflict created.

Even if our initial responses to their existence were relentlessly hostile, Prime is wise enough to know that we were acting out of fear and really, he's a spectacularly good diplomat and so is Jazz. The first time we tried to make nonviolent contact with them, they'd likely respond in a way that would help create the impression that that faction wanted to try talking.

Again, I cannot see it as being as easy as it was shown in the movie, and the cartoon's level of acceptance beggared belief, but I can realistically see it proceeding, if slowly.

The reality of the situation as well, "If we leave, the Decepticons will likely just slaughter you in great numbers and take your resources." would encourage humans to try and work with the Autobots. Again, observation would show a very clear pattern of one faction ravaging and stealing and treating us like nuisances, and the other being a lot more diplomatic about it.

- Coeloptera

While this might be true for the general public, the actual military is another matter. As is, the US military (for example) already has soldiers from all walks of life and all parts of the world, including people from where we're actually at war, within it's ranks. The military wouldn't be much for "Kill em all and let god sort em out" in this day and age unless it was a military run by a tyrant or dictator. Any civilized, democratic based military would try to gain as much information on the conflict at hand before sending in troops and lobbing millions of dollars of hardware at them. The average joe-schmo might be a genocidal prick and label all them aliens as something that was better off dead, but the military would at the very least attempt to make contact with them first and foremost before deciding what to do.

I actually think the movie was the most accurate representation of what would happen if human military were to encounter a situation like this. The alliance that formed in the films took extenuating circumstances to form. At first the government treated the Autobots like a threat to be controlled and never bothered to differentiate between good or bad. But once the cons started attacking, there was very little choice in the matter and the humans needed the Autobots help. Combined with the soldiers who were more or less trained in dealing with foreign allies from enemy lands and knew first hand how dangerous these new threats could be, teaming up with the Autobots and trusting them to fight side by side was their only real option.

Fast forward to RotF and the official special forces formed from this alliance, and even after all that time passed there was still a large amount of distrust amongst government officials. The soldiers on the ground, the ones who dealt with the Autobots day in and day out, didn't feel that way as they've fought and died side by side. But the desk jockeys who make the rules and give the orders never have those experiences and thus retain those large amounts of distrust, prejudice and even fear that is so common in human nature.

If this whole "Autobots vs Decepticons" bit actually happened and came to earth, they most certainly would not be welcomed with open arms by the entire population. Nor would any civilized government constantly try to capture and destroy any and every Transformer regardless of faction status. It would be somewhere in between where an uneasy military alliance on some level was formed with the Autobots if for nothing more then to defend against the Decepticons.

well for starter sometimes Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms as many times in world history armies have been lead to their destructions by there commanders not taking all information available into consideration. example: Custer's last stand Custer had intel that could have saved his men and disregarded it not to mention chose not to take Gatling guns with him and he and his men were wiped out as a result


I can see how the armed forces of a given country would see 2 groups of giant alien robots fighting each other and think who ever wins is gonna conquer us and decide to kill em all and sort em out later in a sort of better safe than sorry Attitude. As others have said the grunts on the ground would quickly realize the red badged Autobots are trying to protect civilians where as the purple badged Decepticons could care less if humans die in the cross fire, the trick is getting the military brass to accept it and open a dialogue with the good robots.

Id like to think in this day and age we have advanced enough as a species to be able to try to reach out to an alien species that is openly protecting us even at the cost if injury to themselves, but then i see some the hate driven acts the worst of us commit and i am not so sure.

Once humans worked out not to attack the robots wearing a red badge the Decepticons will start wearing red badges for a tactical advantage, like making the robots wearing red badges look bad. They're not called Decepticons for nothing.

I don't know about that. They never bothered because there are so few Transformers overall, and they're so different from each other, that recognizing them on sight isn't that difficult.

- Coeloptera

Good point, old chum, though I see through to what you're really doing. You're defending the animation errors in G1! Attempting to explain why sometimes Decepticon symbols in the cartoon were colored red! I believe this happened occasionally in the comics too, so you're probably covering for those colorists as well.

Nice try, but you won't be fooling me!

something is off here...

*goes back to laughing his ass off*

While I think we all can agree that humans will inevitably begin to recognise and identify with Transformers over time, it comes down to how long it takes for this realisation to take effect.
The comic portrays years of occasional skirmishes, while the cartoon seems to indicate that every power station or laboratory throughout the globe would have Teletraan1 on speed-dial within months of first contact.

Its worth noting also that in the comics, the Autobots, while not being quite covert, were less likely to meander about in robot mode addressing large populations of humans. They were more likely to expose themselves (not in that way!) to select individuals who happen to stumble upon them.

While it is noted that some charismatic Autobots are likely to communicate well with people in order to establish trust, there have been many instances in both media whereby Decepticons have taken advantage of this, and shown to be just as convincing.
(I know I'm not likely to trust a 30 foot alien killing machine with cannons, even if it is telling me it wants to be my friend).

I think the crux of the issue is being able to relate (the foundation of communication) to this alien race, and I'm pretty sure it would take a while just to establish whether these machines are actually sentient or not. Due to our familiarity with the lore of Transformers, and the characters themselves, I think we take a lot for granted. And this is why it seems so frustrating when we see depictions of humans ignorant to Transformer fundamentals.
When you take into consideration just how ignorant humans are of each other, it's hard to be optimistic in the extreme case of form changing alien robots.


True, I was pressed hard to try and force rampaging Hippos into this thread (I think it worked though..right?), but it really goes to show there really is no comparison to an invasion of battling alien war robots. And this is why I think the mere comprehension of the fact would take time to absorb.
Months would be spent trying to find out who is controlling these machines, and what their motivation would be (Terrorism/ Economic destablisation, Arms sales etc).
Quite frankly a talking Hippo with guns would be a more mundane concept than an ancient race of transforming autonomous robots fighting a civil war on an alien planet in order to re-power their dying home world.

Recognising and relating to these alien robots are fundamental to identifying and understanding their motivations, but as luck would have it; their main characteristic is their ability (or preoccupation ) to disguise themselves.
All in all really, the odds are stacked against us.

I have to ask, but did the world ever learn the difference between the Autobots and Decepticons in the Marvel Comics continuity?

^THIS

I think that has a lot to do with how fans react to these stories. If you look outside TF media and fiction itself you'll see examples of human/alien first contact reaction. Look at movies like District 9, where the aliens posed no immediate threat whatsoever and how they were treated. All that based on what humans do to each other in real life. Other real life examples would be Hitlers treatment of innocents and the atrocities of slavery. If we do that type of stuff to each other in reality, why would it seem so hard to imagine we'd treat actual threats any different?

Although I admit that it seems the military would be more apt to seeking a diplomatic solution with one side as they themselves are severely outclassed. I don't see them doing so out of want as much as out of need. Too, a good portion of several countries populations have been wiped out (Skywarp in China), trying to trust and understand them may have gone out the window. Especially if they didn't see the Autobots land, they just assume they are all dangerous. It almost makes sense for them to adopt a "shoot now ask questions later" approach just to be on the safe side.