What has a better story?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by Skyfire98, May 27, 2020.

?

Halo vs transformers

  1. Halo

    6 vote(s)
    20.0%
  2. Transformers

    24 vote(s)
    80.0%
  1. Schlockwave

    Schlockwave Member

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    Halo's story was crafted to sell a narrative experience, whereas Transformers' story was a means to sell toys in 1984. That's not to say Transformers has never had good stories - they've had a metric ton of good stories. I just can't say in good faith that Transformers stories were always created with the intention of being good because many of the creators themselves had admitted as much. :wink:  So while I enjoy Transformers more, Halo probably has the edge when it comes to narrative ingenuity.

    But it's also kinda like asking which has the better story: Star Trek or Super Mario Bros. I'm not sure if any of it's on the same playing field.
     
  2. SpiraPhantom

    SpiraPhantom Decepticon Propagandist

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    I do say that for a franchise with a notoriously mercenary approach to story (especially the original G1), they did quite a fine job. There is a reason people cried during the the original movie, after all.
     
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  3. Magnum Dongus

    Magnum Dongus @DiddlyDipstick on Twitter

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    I mean, there is no one Transformers story. Are we talking about Transformers Animated? Or are we talking about The Beast Within? It depends which story you want to look at.
     
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  4. Skyfire98

    Skyfire98 You can’t beat the original!

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    The entire transformers fandom and franchise.
     
  5. WishfulThinking

    WishfulThinking The world has moved on...we've always said.

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    I disagree.

    Halo was crafted with a narrative to sell a first-person shooter video game that "was not DOOM". Does it do a good job? Yes, but not really any better than other narrative driven games out there. People liked it because it was the logical next step from Unreal Tournament and less "I want to follow the exploits of Master Chief". Halo 2 arguably started to turn that around a bit...but let's face it, most of us were playing death matches and assassinating other players with the energy sword. SLAYER!

    Transformers, also a created narrative to sell something - in this case toys, was implemented by Marvel. The objective was for children to become invested in the media and make them (or their parents) want to buy their favorite characters. The sheer amount of characters caused a huge amount of world building as Hasbro wanted a toy to be featured every other week to sell it. You can play Halo only remember a handful of names. Transformers had you remember every character on two starships plus their human pets and bounty hunters, plus their personality quirks. And double down on it by buying and reading the comic books. And then ask you to memorize their tech specs. How fast can Miranda Keyes run? Don't know? That's okay. Astrotrain can fly 50,000 mph out of orbit. Which incidentally places Cybertron in our Solar System in the 1986 movie. Which also means Unicron was in our Solar System in the 1986 movie. Which means humanity could have witnessed all the events with their telescopes.

    If we're using Star Trek and Super Mario Bros as analogies, then Transformers is Star Trek and Halo is Super Mario.
     
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  6. jaws

    jaws Well-Known Member

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    TFs
     
  7. Schlockwave

    Schlockwave Member

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    That seems a bit unfair, given that those two games are eight years apart. There were lots of shooter games in between.

    Well, all that means is that you are personally more invested in Transformers than Halo. I am too, but there are people out there who have seen every episode of G1 Transformers and remember nothing save who Optimus Prime and Megatron were. Meanwhile, they know all the minute details of the Halo-verse.

    I created that analogy because Star Trek's story, like Halo's, was created to be a deep, interesting story to experience as you play the game/watch the show. The makers of Mario, like Transformers, have admitted that plot often takes a backseat so that there can be more action/gameplay/whatever. Characters are given names and personalities because that's the bare minimum for a narrative product. That doesn't mean Transformers has a bad story, just that there wasn't much drive in the beginning to create a deep narrative.
     
  8. LigerPrime

    LigerPrime Well-Known Member

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    Marvel G1 for me. Alot of interesting concepts such as the “Creation Matrix” etc.
     
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  9. SpiraPhantom

    SpiraPhantom Decepticon Propagandist

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    I would like to point out that RPG spinoffs of Mario series and famous among the fanbase for their extensive worldbuilding and engaging stories. I do believe that when it comes to analogies, Transformers is more of a Super Mario than Star Trek due to the whole varying narrative quailty. Then again, a more proper comparison would be to Sonic the Hedgehog, since both franchises have various interpretations in various media with hit-or-miss narratives, while still being a long-runner in their root media (toylines or videogames respectively).
     
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