No.1607
>>1606Not conventionally attractive, doesn't have a bombastic personality and isn't even ugly-cute like Dobby.
Doomed to be a main character that goes wholly ignored in the same way Seaspray, Hoist, Brawn and Powerglide got.
I think if Scourge has any fandom presence it's generally RotB Scourge. Still doesn't have a bombastic personality but his moan when fighting OP are more than enough. That being said, I've been hit with intense fandom fatigue for the most popular characters. I can't read megop anymore. Really don't care much for Starscream or Thundercracker. Would really like to see dom Beachcomber and any art of the lesser seen cons.
No.1608
>>1607> I can't read megop anymore.I only care about hyperspecific G1 megop. Prime and TF:One have ruined the pairing for me. The second they call Optimus an archivist or mention Sentinel, I'm out. I simply do not care about broken friendships anymore. Give me the comedic megalomaniac and Robodad. I want warring rivals, not sad exes.
No.1610
>>1607He doesn't have the best design (hairy robots will always look silly to me) but he is still an iconic G1 character with a decent amount of focus, and I kinda like the weird gayccent he got in Headmasters lol. His absence in Cyclonus centered fics is particularly egregious since these two are always hanging out together.
>rotbIs he supposed to be the same character or is his name just a wink wink nod nod like Armada's Cyclonus or Bumblebee's Blitzwing?
At least Seaspray and Powerglide got their focus episodes with their human girlfriends, there's a ton of autobots I had no idea existed because they did nothing in the original cartoon, like Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker or Windcharger, even Prowl was mostly relegated to the background.
No.1611
>>1610Sunstreaker is major popular thanks to IDW. He also hits conventional attractive appeal with Sideswipe for wincest.
And no. Movie Scourge is a different character but he has the same origin. He's a life form from Unicron. He's a terrorcon by technicality but they don't say so. If I didn't hear him say Nightbird's name I wouldn't have ever thought she was meant to be a G1 reference.
Very cute however, how they have presence in JP comics as complete failures at their job. I can't find the tweet, but she and Scourge both share an ability to have endless clones and they're as effective as sentai goons.
No.1612
>>1610A lot of the G1 backgroundish guys got a lot attention because of their fanon appeal (and because they were in Dreamwwave). IE, Prowl is a rule-following hardnose, Sunstreaker is a vain sociopath (and canon gay in Dreamwave, the first, I think), Trailbreaker is a peaceful friend to the animals, Breakdown is a paranoiac, etc. Older fanfic is better about featuring some of the more obscure characters.
Plus, a lot of them have their fandom designated boyfriends. There is no Prowl without Jazz, and no Sunstreaker without Sideswipe (romantic or otherwise).
No.1614
>>1613ayrt, them's the breaks. Nothing worse than being a rarepair shipper of a character with a fandom-desiginated-boyfriend. I've got a rareish Perceptor ship, and before me all I see is a bleak wasteland of Drift.
I feel bad for the nonas who ship Skyfire with anyone other than Starscream, or Knock Out with anyone other than Breakdown.
No.1615
>>1614thanks for the food
and let me guess, Ratchceptor? Hell it could even be Rodiceptor for how Drift only seems to exist with Ratchet, Rodimus, and Wing if they feel generous.
I like KOSS too, so, you can imagine the suffering continues and moral shall never improve. koss does have some content here and there. There's a tumblr of someone so insane for them she has a treasure of content. But idw KO and Prime KO are not the same character. Despite people who apparently did not watch Prime thinking so.
No.1616
>>1615G1, actually! But tagging on Ao3 for transformers is so bad that IDW and G1 Perceptor get muddled together. I don't even dislike Brainstorm in Headmasters but I have to filter him out to get a semblance of peace.
I was ambivalent on Prime when I watched it, but unfortunately that has trended towards dislike, mostly because of the annoying tendency of TF fans to fandom soup everything. Stop leaking Prime into my G1! Stop leaking IDW into my Beast Wars!
KOBB has potential though.
No.1617
>>1616I don't think some of my favorite pairs are rare, just overshadowed a lot of the time.
Like Chromedome and Prowl.
I am an avid hater of shockblurr though because it has ruined both Blurr and Shockwave's tags. As did Senator Shockwave and Empurata. But I blame shockblurr more because I genuinely love Animated Shockwave and pair him with anyone who isn't Blurr.
No.1618
>>1617>I am an avid hater of shockblurr though because it has ruined both Blurr and Shockwave's tagsI know people started tagging Transformers as Maccadams to differentiate it from the Bayverse movies. I need a new tag that is wholly devoid of IDW. Or IDW people can just tag their shit correctly and then I can block it. I hate to be geewunner about it, but man has IDW become a scourge on the rest of the fandom. I do not need to hear about the ~uwu canon transbians~
Animated Shockwave and Bumblebee… I like BlitzBee in Animated, but you're giving me ideas, nona.
No.1621
>>1620Jackcee I am guessing. It's in response to the top TF ships and Jackcee was huge thanks to teen boys self inserting and all the effort Fred Perry put in for saturating the porn scene with his comics.
No.1625
>>1624Blame this new wave of anti-straight sentiment in fandoms.
Have you seen how people react to oplita? It's like there's one half trying desperately to call them t4t and the other are people who push a straight pairing dynamic for the sake of being contrarian about it.
You can't be just gay you need to bring up every single option for being queer until it becomes a full sentence vs a single word identity. Kind of wish bronies were in whole support of Hasbro instead of exclusively MLP. None of this shit would fly in their fandom. Make the robots manly men with manly male parts and canon female attention- fandom can safely draw as much yaoi imaginable because no one would give the obvious straight robot a pussy. Only reason it happens in the first place is because most shounen and young male aimed media never touches on sex or women. The more heteronormative the less those writers want to interact.
No.1627
>>1625>Have you seen how people react to oplita? It's like there's one half trying desperately to call them t4t and the other are people who push a straight pairing dynamic for the sake of being contrarian about it.Makes you miss the time honored tradition of having her cheat with one of the female autobots or being killed off screen by Shockwave so Optimus can be single and hook up with the author's man'o'choice.
The toy collecting side of the fandom is male dominated though. The older cartoons too; both G1 and Beast Wars fandoms are predominantly male nowadays. It's TFOne, Prime, and IDW that have the huge female and female-but-with-a-complex-about-it fanbases.
Anyways! To bust out of the misery spiral, what is everyone's OTP?
No.1628
>>1627You just posted one of them.
I am crazy about lambocest but everyone throws Bluestreak at one of them and I genuinely don't give a shit about fandom Bluestreak. Read one fic where they made him a whimpering, quiet waif and who the heck even is that guy?
There are perhaps 2-3 people active in the fandom who are as obsessed with opbee as much as I am. Any time someone calls them father and son I refuse to comment back with "that's hot". Not even into dadson like that, I just think the moral dilemma and possible torture to OP for lusting after him makes it better. One sided lust and guilt make for peak content of any fandom.
No.1629
>>1627I got into the franchise very recently with the G1 cartoon and I feel at odds with the fanbase, I'm not sure I'll even read IDW, from what everybody is saying itt a lot of characters have been butchered. I'll try to watch Beast Wars and Animated if I can make it pass the artstyle.
No.1630
>>1629G1 is fun but you can't take it very seriously. It's super goofy, and unfortunately, by now, all the best fan writers have like, retired to raise their grandkids. It has the most potential as a springboard for fanworks, and there's some really amazing fics out there.
Animated is fun and cute, with some really great storytelling, but yeah, its odd to look at before you get used to it, and some people think Sari is annoying.
Beast Wars is dated in appearance but its far and above the best Transformers series. Unfortunately, the fandom isn't very strong these days. Actually that might be a good thing… I'd hate to think what furries would do to it.
I'm a huge IDW hater unfortunately, but it has its high points. It's too navel gazy and very millennial humor infested. It's clear that some characters were written to appease the begendered twitter crowd, so the series gets soured because of that. The art is usually really good though.
No.1633
>>1630I watched the OG show like a comedy and honestly I had a lot of fun, the plots were dumb and the animation non existent, but this was forgettable next to the stellar voice acting, genuinely funny dialogue and of course the gay robots. I also enjoyed the 1986 movie mostly for its gorgeous animation. I kinda want to read the original Marvel comics, they look insane from what I've seen.
Do you have any old fic recommendations or has it all been lost to time?
No.1634
>>1633It's difficult convincing people to take G1 seriously because it's lauded as just being a toy ad which, yes it is, but there is still care put into it.
People treat it like Hasbro pissed it out without any regard for narrative, while the comics were telling really, really introspective to unique stories. 80's Marvel was not the Marvel people know of today. It was not like IDW, full of quips and not letting a tragic moment simply happen.
I don't wanna sound like Chris-chan or a delusional Teletubbies fan, because I recognize that G1 is indeed, very silly and written for children. But it isn't mindless and that is generally what gets looked over the most. The Golden Lagoon is one of my top three episodes for the ending and unsaid commentary on their war. I would love to see more fanwork that handles that side of G1. But as anon said, the best have moved on to be someone's grandma. And worst of all, you can hardly find a pure G1 creator because they'll throw in Knock Out, Pharma or ignore G1 characters with the roles of IDW engineers or medics because they're not conventionally attractive sex icons.
No.1635
>>1633Any pairings you'd like to see, or is genfic okay?
>>1634It *is* a toy ad, but if it were unpalatable slop, then no one would have bought the toys.
Golden Lagoon is great. I rank it up there with Dark Awakening and The Gambler as the greatest untapped potential in TF storytelling. As a fanfic-er myself, it is really hard to keep from slipping into fandom soup. I keep finding myself writing about sparks and then remember that they weren't introduced until Beast Wars. It is sooooo funny when prime-girlies cram Knock Out into G1 as the Deception doctor—is Hook too ugly for you?
No.1636
>>1635I think Beast Wars is safe because it is specifically a sequel and prequel to G1 at the same time. It's its own continuity, but it's still based on the foundation of G1.
As Marvel Comics also touched on feelings, mortality, and birth and rebirth. Grimlock loses the Dinobots and he carries their bodies to a relic that would supposedly make him powerful enough to reawaken them. And it's the first time that Grimlock really gets meaningful development. Adding the concept of having a spark, I don't think, harms that. When someone starts bringing up Empurata, it's an issue. Pic related is from Alspark Almanac Vol 2 with Maccadam's menu. And it's little things like this that I think flesh out the world in a way that's not too intrusive. As in G1, they do make allusions to having their own food. It's just made of oil and mineral
Also if you like The Gambler then you'd love Marvel. There's multiple space travel arcs centered around societies just like it. There's this funny arc where Blaster, playing with children, accidentally causes an interstellar incident because they get sold off as entertainment slaves. And they cannot afford to buy them back.
No.1637
>>1636Ah, Grimmy and his drug addiction arc? I hate how Furman hit him with the retard beam to match the cartoon iteration. Going from the early issues, where he's executing prisoners of war, to the later issues, where he's having wacky hijinks, is always a bit of a doubletake.
I hateeee Empurata and Functionalism in non-IDW fic. Or when they talk about Ratbat and it's clear he's the senator rather than the accountant. It's a very bizarre refusal to engage with the series, and instead just plastering what they've read over other continuities and assuming that they're all the same. I hesitate to call them tourists but there really isn't a better description. I blame tfwiki for this in part, because they cram G1 and IDW together in the same entry, rather than separating them.
Animated has the best worldbuilding, imo, especially for what relatively little runtime it had.
No.1640
>>1639Man do I need to get around to reading these…
No.1644
>>1642Devestator because the entire team just work so well color wise and story wise. Moreo G1's with Omega.
Also major Computron fan because of Grimlock being its dad.
I'd like the Combaticons more if they were more in tune with each other. I don't like the IDW gestalt togetherness. I just like them as being really close to one another in a way that isn't exactly too friendly or compulsory. Kind of like a group of people that could hate each other to death but will still go drinking and stand up for one another. Swindle sort of stands out a little too much on his own as a character so it's hard to really see them as a unit. Versus the Constructicons who need one to function with another outside of their combined form.
No.1651
>>1642Combaticons for Decepticons,
Aerialbots for Autobots! I love how egotistical the Aerialbots tend to be, and their crush on Starscream is great.
No.1661
>>1660I'm a Rescue Bots fan and all the humans go so well with their bot partners. Kade and Heatwave are a perfect pair and while I don't generally write out canon love interests, they've both got so much chemistry.
That said, I also think the same for DaniBlades.
Movie pairings never really sold me. Mirage and Noah are great, but it's so one sided. Which makes the yearning even better. But it's really the immortality aspect that I think keeps me from being immersed in them. Bumblebee outlived Sam canonically and will keep outliving all his human partners. With cartoons, it's easier to apply bullshit logic or not think about how it wont realistically work. Someone put the crackship of Isaac Sumdac and Blitzwing in my head and it sort of never left, so there's that.
No.1662
>>1661Kade and Heatwave are so perfect for each other.
No.1666
>>1665Hot Rod and his BIG GUN!
No.1671
>>1670I think G1 did it best. Disgusting, low intelligence, but not necessarily stupid. It's genuinely the more emotional, instinct driven interpretations that seem to become the most popular over intelligent. I am IDW Shockwave's greatest hater because of this. He's Optimus' sweet and loyal puppy while the more conniving counterparts go unused. ShockOp in any continuity outside IDW is unheard of. I remember when they almost had children together.
The entire run poisoned every single character. Thundercracker the fanfic writing dog boy. Starscream. TRAAANSSBIAN Arcee.
No.1672
>>1671I think IDW's take on Megatron is not only the worst version of that character, but possibly the worst written character that I've ever seen in any comic. Robo-Hitler if he was a poet but also he feels bad about it. He's sensitive soul who also did just a few acts of genocide. Don't you feel so bad for him?
>transbian Arceeon that note, I can't stand the other two trannies either, Anode and Lug, aka what-if-lara-croft-was-a-robot-and-also-a-transbian. I think it was the third or fourth pronoun discussion that finally made me stop reading.
No.1673
>>1672It is worse than Hitler feeling bad. But he suddenly sympathizes for humans when he cuts himself as a holoform. Which seem to be insanely durable if not completely impervious to harm since Ratchet used his to catch another bot.
Instead of, Iunno, telling Rodimus maybe they should rethink this whole Knight adventure and help Optimus- he just angsts with his new friend group. And that is infuriating. Nautica being the only one to not really mind him I think works, but it still sucks because no one else so much as gives her a dirty look for it. Kid Omninan and Oliver in Incvincible do this so well. and they're both pale with red/purple coded which I find suddenly funny.
Oliver was born on a planet entirely alien to Earth and only knew space hitler as the man who loved his mom. And being young, no one can really get it through to him that maybe using space hitler's insignia isn't good. Nolan, like Megatron, reflected on the harm he did to humans and how frail they all are. But despite the burning need to make amends, Nolan is rightfully told to fuck off. No one should listen to Megatron. No one should give him the time of day unless they're just disconnected or are just like that. Ultra Magnus being his one friend could have worked very well. But nuance and character growth is not even an option. It's just "everyone doesn't acknowledge what happens for convenience." Megatron got Black Swanned one time and they kind of left it at that. If it weren't for the Cygate plot, then I think Tailgate would have been the perfect friend to speak up for him because he missed the war in its entirety and could have been the most unlikely bridge between knowing Cons as people and Autobots sticking to their morals and finding a better way to move on.
No.1674
>>1670>>1671>>1672Are the original IDW comics even worth reading? I got into the franchise rather late so the run was already over but it seems to be the most popular media among the modern fanbase (strangely zoomers given how millenial the writing looks), and it feels like this thread is the only place that doesn't glaze it. I have geewunner tendencies so I'm probably not even the target audience.
No.1676
>>1675>More than Meets the EyeSorry- I meant Robots in Disguise. MTMTE is the post-war, Rodimus Prime, fanfiction arc and terrible. I would not recommend. If you watched G4 of My Little Pony then it's literally the 100th episode that's the fandom and background story episode stretched out into a comic run.
It seems fun until you realize half of it only happens because James Roberts was making a fan's fanfiction real and was browsing OTP headcanons. Read it if you like to see humanoid bots that never transform and just stand around having sexual tension and quipping at one another.
No.1677
>>1675>>1676That's funny, all the recommendations say to start at All Hail Megatron because it apparently picks up at this point.
>literally the 100th episode of G4 MLP*shudders* yeah this is the vibe it gave off from what I saw, I already didn't like what they did with Ultra Magnus, Megatron, Arcee and the Unicronians, so maybe I won't bother at all.
How about the other comics like Dreamwave, IDW2 and the clusterfuck that was US/UK Marvel? I'm enjoying Skybound a lot, the 90s edge is fun.
No.1678
>>1677I can only speak for Marvel.
It's great. The art style will be off putting and I thought that some arcs were a little bit slow, but it's genuinely so good. Well written, and the art will grow on you once you get used to the jank. I read the US version.
IDW2 I attempted and dropped it 2 issues in. It's in the Calarts/Steven Universe inspiration era and you can see it in the stiff art and how it feels like twinkly pastel code music would be playing in each scene. It bored me, and had all of IDW1's late problems bundled into a comic with less impressive art.
No.1679
>>1674The Spotlights are good (except Arcee's). And Sins of the Wreckers and Last Stand are pretty interesting. But the mainline series are hit and miss. Mostly miss. But if you like fanfic-y tropes, then MTMTE and the Lost Light, have some moments. I don't regret having read them, but I wouldn't read them again. Mostly it was a negative experience.
But the art is very good! Alex Milne's art really carries the series.