Tag: maccadam

Transformers and names

Attempts to make Megatron into like Magneto or something generally fall flat for me because of his name. Its meant to evoke a nuclear bomb,.

Its not like darker versions Godzilla where he is simultaneously representing the bomb and those harmed by it. You would need to change a lot about the character to pull it off.

Names are like super important to me as a Transformers fan. I judge the American Transformers cartoons (I try to give the translated Japanese ones leeway due to translation, dubs, and nameslaps to hold onto rights) alot by how well the names suit the characters.

Its why attempts to make the Decepticon cause sympathetic fall flat for me outside of animated, where Decepticon was a reclaimed slur (and it still felt they didn’t do enough with that and continued playing them as straight up evil.)

The name Decepticon tells me immediately the Decepticon cause itself in most continuities is similar to something  a “post-morality edgelord” would dream 

Speaking of names,  I’d like to vent about some names in the Aligned continuity:

Smokescreen Prime’s name is terrible because its a meta-gag  about his role and doesn’t fit in universe

“Breakdown” was unfitting for a bruiser type character.

 “Filch” is not a dumb name by G1 standards, and would fit perfectly in the micromaster days

Strongarm, I love you, but your name suits that of a villain and just screams police brutality and union buster.

I miss when names implied a special power.

On the other side, I don’t like names just be in-universe insults unless its adressed. It would hit the same wrong notes as the “negative theme” cutie marks we saw for joke characters in MLP:FIM. 

I remember reading a fic from the viewpoint of the Stunticons upon their creation, and Breakdown was screaming internally as he went through  “why do I have that name. Please let it not be the reason I think it is. That’s cruel”, and he felt so much relief when he reached the parts about his powers.

My unpopular opinion

I may think Transformers die too easily in modern, but I still think humans should be able to theoretically defeat one. (In practice its much harder.)

A single decepticon mind you. And it should require as much good planning as the finale of an old Giant Monster Movie and have to be tailored to individual weaknesses. (the idea of Transformrers having a common weakness to incendinary rounds in that one comic was dumb.)  And neutralized doesn’t mean kill. They’d have to bring them to a special facility in order to destroy the redundant well protected vital systems. And they still might run out of diamond saws halfway through and have to order more. 

The Thunderchild in HG Well’s War of the Worlds showed me that being able to make the enemy bleed but in the end overall achieve nothing can actually better reinfoce feelings of hopelessnes than the antagonist just shrugging things off.

My ideal Arcee

virovac:

virovac:

Former teacher for the upper classes and nobility.

Has authoritarian personality but consciously works to fight it. ( Some autobots joke she’s a self-aware Lugnut).

An experimenter in non-spark artificial intelligences, leading strike forces of drones ( who are not treated as expendable by narrative because even humans get attached to our bomb disposal robots)

I really like the idea of Arcee being someone predisposed to accepting an unjust status quo but consciously fighting that part of her because she knows it’s wrong.
as a tutor to the upper class she has a link and connections that end up useful to the autobots in getting funding for their cause and even manages to prevent things in her area from getting too French Revolution.

(I prefer the idea of the autobots and decepticons being co-existing revolutionary groups on opposite sides of the globe that eventually collide).

This was my attempt to tie together the different G1 Arcee portrayals with a bit of Animated and Energon, if anyone wondering the thought process there.

The drone thing from Energon is because I prefer Transformer names to mean something in-universe. Arcee=RC=remote control =drone

It also allows taking in the “motherly” aspect from G1 cartoon and giving it a less cliche sci-fi twist. I doubt Arcee would consider herself worthy of being called a mother because she sends off her creations to fight.

Her authoritarian tendencies come from her G1 bio, where she would go ballistic on anyone who spoke ill of Rodimus or Ultra Magnus.

Transformers opinions

I still maintain the best way to update the autobots is to make them a competing revolutionary group to the decepticons, rather than fighters to restore the status quo of a “Golden Age” that was actually pretty awful in most continuities.

I’m tired of shades of gray that go nowhere (Animated and Transformers Prime), The Transformers have their roots in older superhero stories. I want to see freaking hope.

Instead of making the Autobots former opressors, if you want to give them flaws, hold up a mirror to how while they’re often written empathetic to their own and those they’re allied with, but horribly ableist to neutral parties.

On a side note: I’d like to see avoidance shipping undertones to Megatron’s and Optimus’s relationship. I like foe-yay, but I feel having it between the faction leaders distracts from the other characters. I’d like to see the series move away from the “Great Man Theory” of history, and over-focusing on their rivalry seems counterproductive.

For similar reasons, I’d also like to see Unicron and Primus downplayed in their thematic importance. 

Interesting how the Fuzors,Quickstrike and Silverbolt were the only ones to not treat Rampage as simply a monster or tool.

To Silverbolt Rampage was just another villain, a particular foul one but still a person with feelings.

Quickstrike meanwhile, while never shown socially interacting with Rampage, spoke of him as a comrade when he arrived to rescue him from Depth Charge.

edit: Actually in a weird way, Depth Charge also treated him as a person, didn’t he?

Musing on swords in cybertron history

What properties do swords have that made them [popular as a main weapon]?

Unlike the mace, swords were well-rounded and suited to address the kind of danger you would face in any realistic combat scenario outside of the actual battlefield.
Unlike most other weapons, a sword could threaten at multiple ranges and in a wide variety of scenarios, and not be easily defeated by circumstance (cramped environs, multiple assailants, close-range ambush, etc). The ability to cut and thrust meant it would also disable attackers even with glancing hits, as pain and blood-loss is easier to inflict with a sword than with a blunt weapon. Finally, even lighter forms of plate could be addressed by pommel strikes and techniques such as the mordhau.
Unlike the pollax, the halberd, or the spear, swords were not cumbersome, and could be carried without too much of a hindrance even in the often cramped environments of a city.
Unlike dedicated battle-gear, they did not make the authorities nervous. For instance, openly carrying a shield meant you were headed to kill someone, because a shield had no purpose off the battlefield. A sword, however, was a legitimate tool of defense.
They were expensive to make, which made them coveted since possession of a fancy sword meant you were wealthy.

I feel swords would on Cybertron be fitting as a relatively new invention. Daggers, sure always good for a weak spot. But swords I feel took longer to take off until energon manipulation technologies to give them the “edge” they need were invented. And I imagine they were first used against weird metal tentacles of things lurking in the planet’s depths and only later applied against other sapients.

I still think most Transformers should probably be using blunt weaponry, with an energy dagger when they want to puncture,.

Needlenos (dis?)appreciation

Its a crime that more isn’t done with Needlenose being a combination of fashion designer and vidogame enthusiast.

image

He’d be one of those insufferable “master race pc gamers” while hypocritically shelling out money for a special edition color of a console.

He joined the decepticons out of spite for Optimus saying “I don’t really see the point of fashionable microchips. I mean, no one is going to see them.:)

He’s so low key awful it turns around into high-key wondeful.