Disregarding that TF is built to be reinterpreted.
If it wasn't then it'd grow stale, start to stagnate.

Right, but there needs to be a reason WHY they're clobbering each other. And a straightforward, hero grappling with his arch-enemy narrative ain't gonna cut it with me anymore.

 

I mean, even before our time that's not what these stories were. You've just got people who were kids back then when they claim things were "simpler" growing up and realizing "Oh wait, it wasn't...I was just a kid who didn't understand everything going on beyond the surface."

 

At the core of the conflict isn't emotion, it's ideology, which is emotion driven into a rational framework. "I feel oppressed by my employer" is not ideology, but "we should eliminate all employers and take over their stuff" is. That's what even G1 cartoon understood, and most of IDW understood. Roberts did for the most part, see Functionism.

Of course there has to emotion. But they do not have to have SAME emotions as humans do. Stop limiting your viewpoints to be so human-centric. They need to be written at least a bit as inscrutable aliens. As written, there are precious few examples of this in IDW. Mostly villains like Shockwave, Scorponok, Jhiaxus. Overlord may be scary, but his motivation is laughable.

Soap operas have a lot of emotion. That does not make their writing mature - on the contrary.

 

True. I mean, when I was 5 I didn't watch Batman TAS for the character drama. Just enamoured with superhero action. Years later, as an adult, I'm able to appreciate it on a deeper level.

Overlord was pretty much Megs stalker.

 

TAS was perfect and I agree - it worked on all levels. And, speaking of the Timmverse, I think Batman Beyond really did what most shows fail to do, show us a future that's familiar yet alien.

 

I'm hoping Caped Crusader isn't mediocre.

 

yeah, I sort of shifted the title to the 'wait to read later' pile around #24 because it seemed like nothing was happening issue to issue and only recently have I caught up on the last 15 issues where things have become much more interesting than in the first couple of years of the title...

I get that they wanted to take their time to build up to the conflict, but over 2 years is not a great strategy...

they started the books with the conflict and moved into the post-war peace-time and it worked beautifully and those titles became must-reads the day they came out...

rebooting (or prequel-izing as I imagine we'll find out as the titles end as the bots move towards Earth) the titles with the uneasy peace before all-out war started isn't such a bad idea, concept-wise, but I would have maybe started with the war already going and flashbacks to the peace before...

 

Not really sure what you're asking for here. Different humans experience different emotions at different times -- so what would this 'inscrutable alien' look like, except a particular variety of human? When have aliens *ever* been written as being outside of the human emotional range, except when they're not characters in the story at all but devices, or monsters, or animals?

If your example of an 'alien' character is someone like Shockwave -- well, he's really not far off how some humans act. It's just the Spock trick of doing an alien by having someone talk and act in a weirdly cold and antisocial way, but that trick doesn't work unless you surround the character with others who are comparatively warm and emotionally engaged.

I just wonder, when it comes down to it, if all you're really trying to argue for is that the characters should be written for children, with no complexity in their motivations at all, and emotions that are limited to (1) being pleased that something is going their way, and (2) being annoyed or sad that it's not going their way.

 

Zetar sure is there, huh.

I feel like the novelty of obscure characters has kind of worn a bit thin. Like I would be way more down for Zetar an the Powerdashers if the majority of the cast in this book weren't already obscure toy references. Like after Subsea and Carzap it's like "We get it, you read the wiki". And you just know Ruckley isn't going to actually give him any character traits or anything, he's already coming off as a talking head and I would be shocked if he had any sort of arc in war's end, or did anything beyond just drilling something.

Name an emotion that isn't a human one.

Just kidding, you can't. There are no different emotions, no one has any frame of reference for emotions that fall outside the human understanding of what emotions are. You can either tighten the range of emotions of your alien characters or keep the same range of emotions they possess as humans, but the former is usually limiting if not done well and the latter is I guess the thing you're arguing against. Every alien or monster that is a character and not a beast is anthropomorphized to some extent. You can add animal characteristics to some characters, sure, but that usually falls under physical characteristics rather than mental or emotional ones.

Actually wait, I forgot about this video, I guess this would be what you're talking about at 1:50:

 

God I hope Skybound isn't just Siege the comic.
Nowadays Hasbro are far too hands on with their
media projects, hovering above creators heads,
ordering them around rather than giving them
some room to flex out & concoct new, original
stories. Everything has to have G1 toon influence.
Heaven forbid someone could write a TF series
according to their personal tastes and not
whatever's scribbled in the pamphlet that
Hasbro hands them.
Animated couldn't exist today
because it requires people
willing to ignore tradition
for the sake of original
storytelling.

 

Hasbro’s in charge of the brand and while there is deviation from G1, it’s corporate controlled deviation. Right now it’s movie, Cyberverse and Rescue Bots.

They are not going to give some comic book writer or TV show producer absolute free reign with the license. Sure, the stories do hinge on a writer’s competency and capabilities but we are not going to get a show like Animated again unless Hasbro wills it. Because no matter what, two things are true.

- Transformers has always been and always will be a toyline first and fiction second
- whatever sells toys will continue to be produced

 

A very depressing truth.

 

From interviews back in the day it seems they granted the IDW1 comics a lot more creative freedom than they do today. They seemed to lay off following AHM save for keeping Bumblebee from dying in the Costa ongoing, and was pretty hands off until they realized the comics were popular and started pushing for certain characters and concepts to start appearing. For sure Transformers is a toy line first and fiction second, but they HAVE had a looser leash in the past and there isn't really much of a reason why they can't loosen it again. Like the toys are going to sell regardless of whether a character appears now and then in his toy design.

It does make me wonder what the deal is with toys appearing in the comics though. Like does a Hasbro employee call up IDW and says "You NEED to tell your writer to put Skytread and Refraktor in issue 3 of his book or... else." Or is there some kind of deal worked out where IDW gets a cut of profit depending on whether they put a toy that's currently on shelves into the comic, and it's up to the publisher to push that to the writer?

 

I'm guessing it's the same mentality they had back in the 80s: gotta advertise these figures, so shove 'em in. Obviously, it isn't as extreme, but I do think it's still a factor. It's why Refraktor & Skytread were used, even though both had virtually zero character beyond "generic goon." G1 show was the same with most of it's Decepticon cast. Majority were simply angry, combat hungry thugs without distinction.

 

I think almost certainly these will be informal discussions where everyone is trying to please and get on with everyone else. Hasbro will say, "Let's show you these new figures we've got coming out -- can you work them into the comics?" IDW will say, "Shouldn't be a problem, Hasbro", because they want to make sure everyone's happy. IDW/Skybound will say, "Here's what we plan to do with the comics", and Hasbro will say, "Yeah, we love it -- only please don't kill Bumblebee, as he's fairly central to the whole brand."

We've all been to this kind of meeting -- the number one priority is getting everyone on the same page, enthused and in a similar mindset so that you don't have to lay down the law or get ruthless with your bargaining. If Skybound have a vision for the comic that sounds convincing on paper, Hasbro will probably hear them out. If Skybound come to Hasbro with a "What toys do you want us to promote?" kind of attitude, we'll get a boring war/quest comic with clunky, toy-faithful designs.

I'm betting no Hasbro rep has, at any point, slammed their fist on the table and said, "These are the rules you have to follow."

 

Nah, I can totally see a Hasbro rep holding up a polaroid of Ruckley's family and setting fire to it with a lighter in front of him to indicate what will happen if he doesn't include Battleslash in the comic.

But yeah I'm sure that's essentially how those meetings go. I do wonder about crossover events that coincide with toylines though. Like back when Combiner Wars dropped and it seemed to result in some narratives veering off-course, and I wonder if there was any negotiating with that. Given how it's been a while since we've seen any big Transformers crossover events revolving around a toyline I am pretty confident there won't be too much of that in the near future.

 

Hasbro's current CEO:

 

"Damnit Burcham you're a loose cannon! I'm gonna need your badge and your pens!"

 

.