James Roberts AMA: MTMTE/LL questions answered transcript

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by justiceg, Dec 1, 2018.

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  1. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    Be mad at the fandom, the writer has no control over how people with respond to something.
     
  2. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    I don't know where the line is, but there seems to be some break point where the writer is actively attracting a certain kind of fan. So in a sense, I'd think that in some situations a writer does have limited control over what his fanbase is like. Given how interactive Roberts is with his fanbase, I can't imagine he didn't at least have some idea what he was cultivating.
     
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  3. hardlurk

    hardlurk Well-Known Member

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    Shipping is not about liking stories that are romantic or sexy, it's about the social activity of drawing out those feelings by writing fanfic or making art or roleplaying or just talking about them. And that's fine, but it's also fundamentally, you know, pervey. So I think it's awkward to try to bring the writer into it.

    Like, if you're a Game of Thrones fan, you probably think Emilia Clarke is hot, but it would be weird if she were on a panel and you asked her "is it canon that Khal Drogo enjoyed sucking on Daenerys Targaryen's toes?" or something. Maybe keep that sort of thing to yourself, or to the part of the internet that's into it, rather than putting it in front of the general public and the creative team?

    Unless Roberts likes that sort of attention. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
     
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  4. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    A more accurate analogy would be asking George RR Martin that question. I'm betting he'd answer it though. :confused: 
     
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  5. Bumblemus Prime

    Bumblemus Prime Cracked in the head

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    I actually find they sell better with free shipping
     
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  6. Andersonh1

    Andersonh1 Man, I've been here a LONG time Veteran

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  7. maurice

    maurice Well-Known Member

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    Oh nice Rapidfire survive.
     
  8. rikaldomario

    rikaldomario Well-Known Member

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    I think this was a fun read. I like Roberts for the most part, but his obsession with "shipping" (what a stupid word really) is getting annoying. I can't tell of he's being serious when asked "are X and Y in love" "yes" in most of them or just going along with them. Fort Max, Red Alert, Cerebros Poly trio was the most random by far.

    That Rewind story would have been great but it didn't come to pass. To me it sucks he preferred Chromedome and Rewind staying an old peaceful and boring couple than to reveal that kind of drama. Chromedome did his share of shady things so it wouldn't have been out of character. "Hey I did really aweful things when we first started, but we've been thru so much please forgive me".

    As far as Drift and Ratchet, I'll always find it stupid and it kinda shows it wasn't planned from the beggining like he said.

    I would have loved that crossover to the Marvel TF universe, self indulgent indeed, but great that a mainstream fiction acknowledges the "multiverse" aspect of TFs.

    Anyway, I think this interview shows a glimpse of how the IDW executive order to end the universe affected mtmte/ll.
     
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  9. hardlurk

    hardlurk Well-Known Member

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    The point of the analogy is that asking a writer to validate your favorite ship is equivalent to asking an actress to validate your fetish. In both cases, the correct answer is "no, horny people have no rights, I'm calling security".
     
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  10. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    OK, point taken, but I don't agree with that because I think it kind of depends on the writer and/or the work.

    There are some writers that just put their stuff out there and let the work stand on their own and don't deal with fans, which is fine. Some authors will decline to respond to certain questions. Others answer everything, or invite that kind of discussion. I think Roberts falls in the latter category.

    There's nothing specifically wrong with that, but you kinda get what you get when you fill your stories with relationships left, right and center especially in a IP that formerly had very few AND you invite audience speculation about everything AND you start actively addressing questions regarding character relationships.

    I guess I agree with you that some people need to cool it and keep it in their pants, but unfortunately that's no longer the age we seem to live in anymore.
     
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  11. dj_convoy II

    dj_convoy II Remix!

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    That's one thing where I think the whole relationships as heretofore unseen in Transformers comics falls down a bit... Chromey and Rewind almost seem unusual in their closeness... down to characters muttering how you rarely see one without the other at the beginning of the run. Their closeness is rare; special.* Everyone being partnered off (an exaggeration, but let's say the POSSIBILITY of it) suddenly towards the end seems to fly in the face of it.

    Oh, well. I'm still not sure Transformers comics are the best vehicle for relationship drama, but there you are. Vive le difference.


    *Channeling my inner Furman, there
     
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  12. Scoff

    Scoff Well-Known Member

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    There never was such an age: this has always existed. What has changed is that the preferred platform for doing this sort of thing has become more visible and so the general public sees more of it because of the existence of social media.

    Before the internet, authors were known to receives letters from people who for example, thought this or that character would be a better match for the protagonist than their intended love interest or would lament that the protagonist received no love interest at all.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2018
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  13. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    Good point. I'll agree with that. People have always been keyed into relationships.

    What I mean in general, though, was that it used to be people were less inclined to blurt out this sort of stuff once upon a time likely due to the difficulty in doing so without immediate peer group/social judgment. As you've said, with the internet being what it is, people can nowadays toss out whatever they're thinking or feeling instantly and feel limited to no shame due to the anonymity of it all or better yet, find like minded people that they can say anything they like to with no repercussions. There used to be some level of internal privacy that we felt compelled to keep. Not so much these days.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go dry clean my gimp mask and pony suit. :p 

    I kind of wonder if Roberts decided to do more relationship stuff BECAUSE of the positive reaction Chromedome and Rewind got. I mean, if X thing makes you popular and interesting, 2X things should make you more popular and interesting, right? Then again, I suppose that flies in the face of the fact that Chromedome just seemed to fall in love really easily. Kinda cheapens the whole thing if you ask me, but it does make for some interesting brain food. That's something that would have been an interesting point to explore - what if you could just delete your shitty exes every time you had a bad breakup?

    Alas, instead we got more introduction to less interesting Transformers relationship concepts. Oh well.
     
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  14. optimusmegas

    optimusmegas Target-Power-Titan-Prime-Battle-Master

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    Of course half the questions deal with shipping....
     
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  15. pluto

    pluto Banned

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    This is the take i agree with.

    but i do think there is some inconsistency in the way the fandom treats shipping (“ew it is for teen girl creeps who cant get enough tumblr”) MEANWHILE over in the third party forums, a thread about soft robo tiddies was closed down by the mods and THEN re-opened through sheer force of “bUt iM jUsT aPpReCiAtiNg tHe fEmOid fOrM”.

    I do think there is a robust discussion about private v public desires in all this, but Roberts getting asked a few innocuous qs about shipping is on the lighter end of the spectrum.
     
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  16. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    I think most of this stems from someone being surprised at all the shipping questions. I don't think it's the questions that are the problem, 'cause I feel Roberts cultivated that fanbase. If that's what he set up, it's what he's gonna get and it's 100% fine and dandy if you ask me. Shipping is fairly innocuous in a vacuum (it's the fanbases that make it weird).

    As for the 3P toys in question... yeah. No idea. Dunno why the decision was made to shut it down and then re-open it. That said, I think the comics boards, as heated as they can get, are usually way more civil than the grossness that can appear on the 3P boards whenever a fembot shows up.
     
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  17. justiceg

    justiceg Well-Known Member

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    Ha it was more than shut down - the original mod note on it said basically "no discussion of this topic is allowed anywhere on the site ever". I thought at the time this might be a bit harsh, but it's their site and their choice...I assumed they were worried negative attention would be drawn to the site and wanted to tone it down.
     
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  18. Thumbaticon

    Thumbaticon "It's all right, I'm an emergency vehicle!"

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    What the heck? *Begins google search*
    upload_2018-12-7_0-6-37.png

    upload_2018-12-7_0-9-26.png

    After reading IDW's Arcee i'd expect this to be under her hood:
    upload_2018-12-7_0-21-2.png
     
  19. Panjumanju

    Panjumanju Radio Wizard

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    I wish we'd gotten that Rewind 1 storyline.

    //Panjumanju
     
  20. TheSuperion

    TheSuperion No am Bishoujo!

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    Tell that to the Overwatch fan base. The biggest reason Blizzard has essentially stopped fleshing out the lore of their game (they canceled the damn graphic novel they were going to release), is because their fan base is so completely obsessed with headcanons and shipping that Blizzard doesn't want to step on any of their toes. There was a massive meltdown over mere hints in a few in-game voice lines that Genji and Mercy might have had a thing going on, because said hints contradict multiple, extremely popular fan-ships. It's completely insane.
     
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