Hello! I'm giving an academic presentation on TF fan communities at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts at Orlando in a few weeks. It's about representation and differences in perceptions across generations. You can help me by taking a short survey! You should be able to take it without a gmail account. I'll be happy to report back to the group once I've finished assembling all the information and completed my panel. Thanks for your time!

Here's the link for the abstract/summary: “The Transformers” and Its Fan Communities

Here's the link to the survey: Clay's TF Community research project

I'll leave it open through Saturday, March 5.

(I'm the guy that killed Randy, btw.)

 

 

That sounds like an awesome conference!! Let us know how it goes!

 

This seems pretty cool!

 

It's fun, yes! I've been many times now.

Thanks!

 

This is a neat idea.

I'm admittedly a bit curious about the results.

 

Thank you! I'll be sure to give a debriefing after the conference. And nice reference to "The Call of Cthulhu"!

 

So here might be a curve ball but I see this question "Regardless of your own age, do you see older / first generation fans' attitudes toward younger fans as:" Being 100% honest while I feel like I can use context clues to gauge some ones age I've been wrong a few times. Account age and what series's they particularly follow aren't (as I've found out) really a trust worthy method of finding out there a young fan or not. I've seen a few people who are new users who are only fans of the IDW, Prime and maybe the odd other bit of new media turn out to be late 30 somethings and similarly I've seen fans of older content turn out to still be in their teens etc.

On FB for sure and maybe on Twitter and Reddit it's easier to work things out since you can look at their other interests and maybe they've got personal information online but on here I dunno. Account age and little clues don't really tell me much about the person.

 

Thank you, for the opportunity to fill out the survey, which I've now done. I particularly enjoyed the section about speaking about why I like Transformers, wherein I referred to the red brick wall of happiness, a stalwart aspect of my interpretation of Transformers.

 

Yeah, this has more variables/complexities to it than it seems at first. It'll be interesting to see if the perception of unwelcoming older fans is more prevalent than actual, existing unwelcoming older fans. You still have a few that way even now, but it may be that the "trukk not munkee" mindset simply casts a long shadow even after the attitude has faded away.

 

Oh man, I feel old after taking that survey.

“How long have you been active in the fan community?”

Twuh- …. twen-.… 20+ years……



Anyway, interested to see where this goes.

 

The only reason I had to think about that one carefully was because of the word “active”. I’ve been a fan since 1984, but I didn’t really exchange with the fan community much until recently.

Regardless, age is just a number. I think anyone who stays passionate about their interests remains young at heart, and one who openly engages with others about them can maintain a young mind.

 

That’s a good way to think of it.

For me, I always liked Transformers since it first debuted in 1984. I was around 5 at the time. Saw the movie, then lost track of the show. Caught a few stray episodes of season 3 & moved on to other things.

I didn’t think about TFs again until Beast Wars came out. That’s when I became a dedicated fan. Still the best TF cartoon ever made.  

 

I was 10 when the first TF toys hit the shelves, and my experience was much the same as yours with the G1 cartoon. I didn’t enjoy the ‘86 movie and barely watched S3.

I don’t share your fondness for Beast Wars. I know it’s popular and critically well-received, but I’m less than impartial despite my efforts to warm up to it. I wasn’t brought back into Transformers until watching Animated and TFP with my sons.

 

the main benefit of being a child is you aren't embarresed about your obsessions.

 

I'm nearing half a century and I'm not embarrassed about anything. I haven't decided whether I'm still a child at heart or I simply don't give a shit.

 

I’ve gone back and forth on the movie throughout my life. As a kid, I thought it was cool & the deaths didn’t really bother me, cuz the story barely lingered on them long enough for them to register with me. Plus I figured they’d just get rebuilt and come back (and I was right!).

Then as I developed a more critical eye, I saw the movie as a train wreck. Just a shameless toy commercial, killing off beloved characters merely to make way for new toys. The Matrix and it’s connection to Unicron isn’t explained in the movie, characters like Wheelie just disappear when they’re no longer of use, & there’s just a ton of trash in it.

Then later still I went back to it & saw it in a new light thanks in part to an episode of Movie Bob. At a time when I thought I’d heard every analysis and perspective the movie had to offer, it was something fresh and posed the question: why do we keep coming back to this movie despite how flawed it is? It was a pretty interesting take. Since then I’ve just accepted it as something that does evoke an emotion in me- even if that emotion is simple wistfulness for simpler days. But I like it & most likely always will from here on.

There was a time I defended BW with a burning passion. I got into it with the likes of Raksha and others semi-regularly.
Probably too much. I’ve mellowed out over the years and came to realize that no matter how much I love that show or how objectively great I think it is, it will just never work for some people. And that’s fine. I never hesitate to offer my opinion on the various TF shows, but I don’t bother getting into arguments about them anymore. If someone tells me they think Energon is the greatest TF show ever, well more power to them. They are able to get enjoyment from more TF shows than me, and that’s not a bad thing.

Also, I like TFA & TFP too.  

And in case anyone has an hour to spare, here’s that Movie Bob editorial of TFTM.

 

@Zentropy sounds like you are the same age as I. And I concur with your last several posts here. Was a fan when they first came out until I stopped caring (and the toys became brickier and brickier). Casually watched BW but there are other things more important in college (and I'm not referring to studying). The stuff in the 00's was terrible IMO, and was initially turned off at the start of TFA; those early episodes only featured human villains and I felt it was following the '60s Batman formula. Came to appreciate it more later on, then watched TFP and Bay Movies. Bought a couple random toys here and there (used to play "Transformers, Squinkies, and My Little ponies" with my daughter) but didn't really get active again until I randomly spotted CW Dragstrip at Walmart one day. Then I started getting a lot of stuff. Turns out I'm still a child at heart, but with a bank account. And I also don't give a shit.

 

In my mind, I just see it as being reasonably aware of new developments in intervals of every few weeks/months (as opposed to being completely unaware for years on end). I did leave it intentionally vague though, as "active" will mean different things to different people.

Thanks to everyone that's taken the survey so far! I'd like to get a few more responses before I close it, but I think I can work with what I've got. It's shaping up to be a neat little project.