I'm curious which tonal direction for transformers y'all prefer? I prefer the serious, emotional side of tfs like the Skybound comics or Beast Wars (although Beast wars does have a lot of comedic moments), but I know a lot of people prefer the goofier stuff like jg1 or Galaxy Force. I'm just curious where the majority lies?

Edit: I do want to clarify, transformers media can be goofy and have serious elements and vice versa. Jg1 had its serious moments, and Beast Wars has the Low Road, so it's not exclusively one or the other. I'm mainly asking which y'all would prefer to be the focus. Do you prefer mainly goofy with some serious, or mainly serious with some goofy.

 

Animated.

 

what

 

Like Animated.

 

This.
But honestly, it should be whatever tone the story requires.
Of course, how you PROMOTE that tone to get people interested is another story...

 

It honestly depends on which direction the writers take it but for me I like a serious take on transformers. Like a Sari Sumdac ending up in the TransTech universe and at first she tries to stay positive, determined, and focused on
the goal of returning home but things always end up going wrong and she keeps being apart of plans that has her commit crimes that steadily drains away her happiness and compassion overtime.

 

Yes

 

transformers should be so dramatically grimdark that it loops back around to being silly

 

Both.

 

I don’t think it necessarily needs to go one way or the other, both is good. I do think being attempting to be overly serious/melodramatic comes off unintentionally goofy though so I’d rather it just owned any goofiness rather than seeming not self-aware

 

Serious. Like TF:TM 1986.

Like Marvel G1 issues 56-80.

That being said, James Roberts did an amazing job writing some quirky characters that exist in a deadly serious universe.

Even TF:TM was able to add humor with quirky characters (Dinobots, Blurr, Wreck-Gar) after some serious moments like Kranix being devoured by Sharkticons.

 

transformers exists because hasbro wanted to sell toys the concept of transformers is silly i mean giant alien robots turn into cars is an outrageous concept

 

My favorite version/what's kept me a fan fiction-wise is Marvel, so...both.

Can get up to serious ruminations about the nature of conflict, empathy, and civil war, making the bots heightened sci-fi metaphors. Can also be forced to adapt and utilize goofy toyline ideas and feature characters like an evil airplane named Badwings. Somehow, when executed deftly, these factors do not feel at odds, but buoy one another.

Typically, when it's full camp or overly self-serious, it tends to land less well with me. I do like RiD 2001/Car Robots though--probably the only full-camp take I really click with.

I guess I would say, as a binary, serious. But that doesn't mean you should try to suck out the fun.

 

A balance.

You need the lows to enunciate the highs, you can take the setting fairly seriously while keeping all the color and ability to have fun with it. Metal Gear is often a series that takes itself pretty seriously but is also never afraid to shy away from a good gag.

But like any balancing act... it's tricky.

For something like Transformers I'd say keep it relatively light but don't shy away from heavier themes, as long as you're going to approach them and deal with them properly... more Beast Wars and less Earthspark.

 

Both...

and neither.

 

Ehhh... I think you can do both.

Too goofy you get stuff like Beast Wars Japanese dub and it's borderline YoutubePoop style of writing.

But too serious you get Transformers Prime and it's "its grimdark and edgy thus it's super mature!". Or the netflix series and Wangstimus Prime.

Beast Wars struck a balance between having serious moments and more comedic moments.

 

You have to balance the two, it can't be one or the other IMO.

 

I am open to either, but I don't think any Transformers fiction has been super serious, "hard" science fiction. Generally speaking, though, it should be a balance between the two. Even the most serious Transformers stories have their goofy moments.

If you're going the silly route, I would love to see something like Shrekformers or Skibidi Toilet Headmaster Transformers.

 

I didn't personally feet like Prime really leaned too hard on the more "grimdark" side as people claim. It had a lot of lighthearted moments and goofy elements all throughout the series, even if it doesn't seem like it on the surface level a lot of silly things happened all throughout the course of the show, it just happened to flow with the ongoing serious nature of events in the series. Like as much of a major deal it was for Bumblebee having lost his T-cog you really can't tell me him trying to surf on the back of an old pickup truck while chasing Knock Out isn't silly. Beast Wars skirts the line a bit harder to either side, so it's more noticeable in that show's case, but even then in episodes like Code of Hero the various ways the Predacons get taken out leans much more on the silly side compared to to Dinobot's ultimate demise.