MYoung23 wrote:I think the issue shows that the Transformers had some sort of a democratic/socialist government. A 'senate' implies leaders that are elected while the mines were clearly government controlled. This is backed by how the one robot says that they will re-assign the workers to new jobs and homes. The fact that Sentinal Prime was the leader but still had to answer to the 'Senate' in some way reminds me of a Greek city state.
It also shows to me that just like in the civilizations of today when you have such a large and layered government a bureaucracy develops and with that the possibility or inevitability of corruption.
In regards to robot designs I think it was more about class than ethnicity. The mine robots looked liked they did because they were designed to work in the mines. If you look at what the Autobots said about the mine workers their comments denote a snobbery based on class rather than any ethnic prejudices.
Quite the astute observation. And I think it opens up wonderful new possibilities for the Transformers mythos.
Already in the first issue, we're given a few key details: disenfranchised workers whose unequal treatment and status in society seem to be wraught upon them by a ruling class. A Senate, the seeming beacon of a democratic system of government, is here viewed as a detached body, concerned only with its constituency within a higher socio-economic sphere. And the ominous protrayal of the heroic Autobots as being nothing more than a security force, either employed by or in the service of the Senate, does
not bode well, either--after all, just how committed to the ideals of justice and peace can an organization be that deliberately serves a corrupt government?
A few details can also be inferred by what we're given here: these are workers, not prisoners, and yet they seem to be treated no different--and have not been for what we could consider generations. The attempts to phase out their role in society via automation suggests an attempt to
remove workers from society in general, as despite Senatorial assurances that "new jobs and homes will be provided," there seems little hope of that being remotely true. Perhaps most importantly, there are likely to be many perspectives on the issue from all classes--as simple to knowing that Prowl one day will follow Optimus, to as complex as the internal struggle Megatron himself seems to be facing.
As for what this last point could imply, well...
With IDW they seem to be laying the roots of a class struggle and rebellion that had some merit but eventually gets currupted into something perverse and evil. I forgot who said it but someone said that most people become evil by trying to do something they believe is right and good.
What if Shockwave, devotee of logic and order, started out as a Senatorial bureaucrat who saw fit to conveniently switch causes when the Decpticon banner was raised? Could Optimus--supposed defender of
all sentient life--have been a lowly worker who agreed that the system of oppression was unjust, but sought-out other means and somehow came to rally against the Decepticon ideology? Are the Autobots truly defenders of egalitarian ideals as previously believed, or are they merely struggling to maintain a system that yielded inequality against the movement it gave rise to?
I realize I'm getting carried away here, but for a mini-seires supposedly devoted to Megs,
Origins might just serve as Dreamwave's
War Within and let us all know just how everything went magnificently wrong.
Plus, hey, we could see cameos (or even full-fledged appearances) by Emirate Xaaron, Alpha Trion, and Lord Straxus at some point. One can hope...
