What was up with the Silverbolt/Blackarachnia/Cheetor love triangle?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by Proud Nintendo, Mar 19, 2020.

  1. Mako Crab

    Mako Crab Well-Known Member

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    Proving Grounds is the episode- it starts with the Maximals scanning Blackarachnia to find out about her Pred shell. Cheetor’s drooling all over the place & she finally goes off on him, saying, “I’m sick of your stupid crush.”

    Shortly after that we see Rattrap and Cheetor walking away. Rattrap says, “Arachnids- who needs ‘em?”
    Cheetor replies, “Not me.”

    And that’s where it ended.
     
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  2. Blam320

    Blam320 Assembly Inventor

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    Technically the crush started long before then with the episode where Cheetor and Blackarachnia are looking after the protohuman children.
     
  3. Mako Crab

    Mako Crab Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I know. I was just saying that’s where it ended. It never amounted to much.
     
  4. kronatron

    kronatron Well-Known Member

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    He went from "Ultra gear!" And six lasers over cybertron, "How do you dance with all those skinny legs" to "I'm not a kid...and maybe I'm not so nice," and his response to Rattrap's comment about needing arachnids -- "not me."

    And who can forget Primal's one-hit wonder (besides the Christmas album), "There he is, my little guy!"

    My point...he grew up. Cheetor started his run on the axalon fresh off the playground. He was cocky and immature. Things hapenned to shape his character. Telling OP "you're embarassing me" shows an awareness of age-appropriateness, and somewhere along the way he had eyes for the only female still in the cast -- a very outspoken and opinionated, strong and agile character with a rebelious nature akin to his own -- and for a time she struck his fancy, albeit unrequited.

    It wasn't a love triangle, it was runtime error, which upon rebooting into TMII form, was no longer an issue. His priorities changed and seeing how SB and BA had a connection that no others shared, he excused himself out of the equation and focused on the mission, eventually surpassing OP in BM to bring SB back and keep the mission going.
     
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  5. SaberPrime

    SaberPrime Banned

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    How do you resolve something that never really existed in the first place? It was always just Silverbolt and Blackarachnia.

    Cheetor never had any more than a crush that lasted for all of like one episode and Blackarachnia never returned those feelings.

    A love triangle would be like if person A has feelings for person B. Person B has feelings for person C. And Person C completely obvious to the fact that B has a crush on hum, is also trying to help person A talk to person B. Or maybe Person C is aware that Person B likes hum but just isn't interested and only wants to help Person A. That's a triangle. Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Blackarachnia never had that type of relationship. Blackarachnia didn't really like either of them at first and only started to develop feelings for Silverbolt who had a continuing interest in her. Cheetor never really factored in to make it a triangle.
     
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  6. Insurgent

    Insurgent The Amazing Tango Mysterio

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    Cheetor was more of a third wheel than a triangle. It lasted a couple of episodes, was only really relevant in two. He outgrew it. He matured. It's character development. It was never meant to be a big deal and was dealt with accordingly.
     
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  7. Cheetatron

    Cheetatron Drat, outsmarted by a Lorry, I am disgraced

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    Silver bolt was one of very few flying maximals & he could fly in robot mode some TM Cheetor couldn't do
     
  8. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    Optimus Primal and Airazor could still do that, so I just don't see the point of Silverbolt (again, Transmetal Airazor would have been a much better choice than Silverbolt, since she is a much better character). Hell, even Tigerhawk and Depth Charge could fly in robot mode.

    Again, for me, Silverbolt is just there and doesn't add anything to the show.
     
  9. SaberPrime

    SaberPrime Banned

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    Why would Silverbolt need to do something other Maximals couldn't to be important? Tigatron couldn't do anything special either. He was basically just Cheetor with the personality of Airazor. Tigatron and Airazor worked so well as a couple and it was hard to tell them apart them apart as Tigerhawk because they were such similar characters in the first place.

    The main reason Silverbolt was there was to give the Maximals a Fuzor and of all the Fuzors available I always thought Silverbolt had the best design. If it hadn't of been him it would of been one of the other Fuzors in the toy line filling that role.
     
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  10. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    Tigatron at least had an intriguing personality and was used mainly when the Maximals needed a spy that would take the Predacons by surprise. And Tigatron didn't have Airazor's personality at all. Tigatron always felt more experienced and battle-hardened (especially if you listen to his voice), whereas Airazor had a more youthful exuberance, but had a sense of humor that was her own and differentiated her from the other youthful character, Cheetor. The only thing that they shared was their mutual love for nature, which is basically what brought them closer together.

    I personally feel even one of the other Fuzors would have been better than him. As long as it didn't make me slap him in the face constantly, I would have been happy. Believe me, I've tried to like BW Silverbolt, but I just can't like a character that I find unnecessary and I constantly want to hit so that he wises up.

    So yeah, Silverbolt is one of two BW characters that I absolutely disliked (the other being Scorponok).
     
  11. SaberPrime

    SaberPrime Banned

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    Not at all huh? Both characters never had a home in the Axelon, not because they weren't welcomed or didn't get along with the other Maximals but because they both felt more at home in the natural environment living among the native animals. Sounds like the same personality to me.

    Are you sure you're not thinking of Waspinator?
     
  12. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    Yes, they liked nature more, but they still were different. Tigatron was much more experienced and stealthy, whereas Airazor was more youthful and exuberant. They did share mutual interests, but that doesn't mean they have the same personality.

    Waspinator was wonderful to me. He was just great comedy relief and I just felt he was one of the best characters in the show. Silverbolt, on the other hand... I just could never get behind him. He just never did it for me until Beast Machines came along.
     
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  13. Alph

    Alph Well-Known Member

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    It sounds like you just didn't jive with BW Silverbolt's personality, which is fine, but he definitely brought something new to the table. Whereas every other Maximal had some degree of cynicism, ruthlessness, or a willingness to compromise their morals in certain situations, Silverbolt was naively adherant to his honor code.

    Now, it's true that Silverbolt could have gotten old on his own, but making him a foil to Blackarachnia was a brilliant move that made for a delightful story arc for both characters. It also culminated with an intriguing glimpse into another side of Silverbolt's personality, when Blackarachnia is seemingly killed by Tarantulas and Silverbolt becomes murderously vengeful. What happens when the shining knight's armor cracks and he's forced to face the harsh nature of reality? It's this element that Beast Machines latched onto, and I do agree that it made him a more fleshed out and interesting character than in BW, but his arc in BM would not have been possible (or at least it would not have been nearly as effective) if the shining knight aspect of his character hadn't been so firmly established in BW.
     
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  14. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    That is one of the many problems I have with BW Silverbolt. All the other Maximals were interesting because of their willingness to go into grey areas. Silverbolt just feels out-of-place and too naive and dumb to survive in this kind of environment.

    Also, his constant hounding of Blackarachnia made me side with her a lot of the time (during that scene of The Agenda where Blackarachnia shoots him, I honestly wished she had ended him).

    As a user said before, if they had him more time with the Predacons as a noble guy serving a corrupt liege, it would have made him much more interesting, and then, when he discovered how wrong he was, he would join the Maximals and become similar to his BM incarnation (which is the only good thing to come out of BW Silverbolt).

    Again, I must be one of the few people who doesn't like BW Silverbolt. I get what they were going for, but for BW, it just doesn't jive naturally (at least to me).
     
  15. SaberPrime

    SaberPrime Banned

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    Airazor was stealthy too... And she actually spied on the Predacons way more than Tigatron did.

    Waspinator to me was just an annoying idiot.

    I agree with Alph. I think his post better says what I've been trying to get across this whole time.

    The main thing I disagree with you on is your claim that Silverbolt was a pointless character... The thing is there are pointless characters in Beast Wars. That's one of the reasons I love the show so much. Everyone got enough screen time and character development to be memorable. Love them or hate them no one is pointless.

    A pointless character to me is someone introduced just to get killed off like Cliffjumper, Tailgate, Seaspray, Skyquake, ect from Transformers Prime. They show up, and die almost immediately. It's like why even have them if they're only there to die and nothing else? At least in Beast Wars the characters who died had actual character development for episodes prior to their death... except for Transmutate but even that was done better than Prime having the entire episode centered around her so her death would actually mean something. Of the characters in Prime the only ones who had an entire episode were Skyquake who mostly just growed even before he was an Dark Energon zombie so I never got a sense of his personality. And a guy who spent most of his episode pretending to be Wheeljack so the actual Decepticon only was really on screen as himself for like a minute. I can't even remember his name now.

    Everyone says how expressive the Prime faces supposedly are with those huge eye brows but... Transmutate also didn't talk much and got a lot of personality across with just a few words and a very expressive face that conveyed real emotion without her needing to say much of anything. Having an expressive face is even kind of waisted when Skyquake only ever has one expression... angry... angry and growl... that's his entire character. That's a waisted character.

    Exploring his backstory, explaining why he was so angry, showing some other emotion, that's how you make the audience care so their death actually has some sort of meaning instead of just feeling like a pointless waisted character who's death feels empty and without any thought or feeling put into it.

    A character is not pointless just cause you don't like them. Love them or hate them you should always feel SOMETHING when a character dies... or could potentially die. If you don't feel anything it's either because the character's potential was waisted... or they've died and have been brought back from the dead so many times that it just no longer phases you anymore. *cough*OPTIMUS*cough*PRIME*cough*STARSCREAM*cough*
     
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  16. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    Again, you like Silverbolt, fine, you like him. But you can't force me to like him, even after I tried liking him. Again, not trying to start a conflict, but I just felt that out of all the Maximals, Silverbolt always went through the motions. Until Beast Machines, he never seemed to "grow up" as a character.

    I always felt Silverbolt just wasn't needed. Even back when I was a kid, I felt his spot could have been filled by many of the other characters without going into the whole annoying goody-two-shoes routine. It just got tiresome.

    And compared to all the other characters, Silverbolt's development felt almost non-existant. The only episodes that delved into him were Transmutate and Crossing the Rubicon, but he is constantly left as the second banana (Rampage, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia leave a bigger impression on these episodes) and unlike the other characters, the events in these episodes seem to leave no impact on him, he just regressed as if it had never happened (whereas Primal, Cheetor, Rhinox, Blackarachnia and Rattrap, which were the other Maximals that survived to the end, always seemed to carry their previous experiences with them). So yeah, that is what made him pointless to me. It could have been a great opportunity to see him grow, but had to wait until the next series for that to happen.

    As for Prime, the less we talk about that, the better, 'cause otherwise, I'll start ranting.
     
  17. SaberPrime

    SaberPrime Banned

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    He's not my favorite character but I like him well enough. Just for the record though even if someone said that a character I hated like Waspinator was pointless waste of space I would still defend it.

    Was never trying to force you to like him. The point was that just because you don't like a character doesn't mean they're pointless or had no purpose in the story.

    I think the only characters you could actually say that about are the Tripredacus Council. They were on screen for like 5 minutes, look nothing like their toys, never transform, were referenced once by Tarantulas, and otherwise their appearance was little more than a pointless cameo.

    I'm just saying there was a point to him. It may not of worked for you and you don't have to like it but he was never pointless.

    He served as the Maximal's Fuzor which no other character could really fill.

    He was a love interest for Blackarachnia and the only reason that she even left the Predacons.

    Silverbolt himself didn't really develop that much as a character, he was always just this sterotype of a noble knight until Beast Machines. But his presence was important to the development of Blackarachnia.

    As for Beast Machines... I think the reason Jetstorm had such an effect on him where his time as a Predacon didn't is because he wasn't a Predacon for very long, he always had a choice in what he did so nothing bad really happened because of him. Jetstorm on the other hand did a lot of horrible things that Silverbolt was fully conscious of but couldn't do anything to stop. He had no choice in what he did and even though he wasn't in control he still felt guilty because of what Jetstorm did.

    You should also keep in mind that BM Silverbolt wouldn't exist without BW Silverbolt.

    If you don't like him because of the whole noble knight thing, that's fine. I'm not even going to try to change your opinion there cause I know there's nothing I can ever say that would change your opinion on his personality in Beast Wars. Just saying that he's not pointless. A character is not pointless just because you don't like them, they're pointless when they literally contribute nothing to the actual story. Calling them pointless is kind of a fact based statement that's separate from your personal opinion and that fact is just plain wrong.

    Remember at the beginning of my post when I said I'd also defend Waspinator. Well I thought he was an annoying idiot, of all the Beast Wars characters I freaking HATE him. I prefer him more as Thrust when he isn't being blown up and speaking in the 3rd person all the time. But I would never call him pointless just cause I don't like him no matter how much he annoys me. Cause he did actually impact the story... that impact being good or bad is a matter of opinion but it's there either way. The same goes for Silverbolt.
     
  18. TheUltimateBum

    TheUltimateBum Nautica Lover

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    Well, it's pointless in a rather personal way. Again, I am basically expressing what I feel about the character, not facts. As for the Tripredacus Council, well, I've never mentioned them because I always tend to forget they were even there.

    However, with Silverbolt, maybe you're seeing something that I basically don't see, since I really didn't see how he could impact the story in ways that other characters wouldn't have done. People always have different points of view and sometimes, there is something people see that others don't. And maybe my negativity and constant annoyance towards him just got so much in my nerves that I just decided to give up on him and just know that I'm stuck with this annoying idiot for the rest of the series.

    And yes, as I said in a previous post, the only good thing to come out of Silverbolt is the fact that we got BM Silverbolt, but that's all.
     
  19. Mako Crab

    Mako Crab Well-Known Member

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    I just have to say, Silverbolt is one of the biggest douchebags in Beast Wars. He’s not a knight in shining armor, though he hams it up like one, when it suits him.

    He’s an arrogant, holier than thou type, always throwing his honor code around like he’s so righteous and pure.

    Let’s go down the list!

    - Scolded all the Maximals for their treatment of Transmutate, before they had actually taken any action at all.
    - Secretly met with the enemy to give her supplies & fraternize with her.
    - Assaults Cheetor “for his own good”.
    - Defies orders to remain confined in his quarters.
    - Does not immediately contact his commander, when he discovers the Ark.
    - Hounds Blackarachnia to join his side. She does.
    - Continues hounding her afterwards to undergo reprogramming to be a Stepford Maximal. Can’t understand why she doesn’t like the idea.
    - Is possessive & shows jealousy, when he becomes aware that Cheetor has a crush on BA.
    - In Beast Machines, constantly rips on Cheetor for no good reason. Blackarachnia has to stand up for Cheets.
    - In BM, tells Blackarachnia that she couldn’t understand what it’s like to turn on comrades & attack them. She’s literally a Predacon defector.

    He might look like a squeaky clean knight, but he’s done more underhanded and morally bad things than most of the Maxis. He doesn’t fool me!

    *edit*
    I should add- this doesn’t mean I hate Silverbolt. His love story with BA is a meeting in the middle. She’s revealed to be more heroic & have better qualities than anyone thought & he’s revealed to be less heroic & have some bad qualities that no one would’ve thought. They’re kind of a messed up pair & that’s why they work.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2020
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  20. Insurgent

    Insurgent The Amazing Tango Mysterio

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    I would dare say even the Tripredacus Council weren't completely useless. They were in control of all the Predacon forcces in present day, and they were the ones who blocked the Maximals from detecting the transwarp wavefront so they wouldn't know where Primal was, sent Ravage to apprehend the criminal Megatron, putting into motion the events of Agenda and as a result, the status quo shift in series 3. They were also the ones Megatron was rebelling against, prompting him to steal the Golden disk and put the Beast Wars into motion. Sure the council were minimal characters, and only got about 2 minutes screen time, but it could be argued they were not pointless.
     
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