The Energon Pub

News Credits: 4877 · Fri May 05, 2017 9:14 am

I was wondering about making a list of the human side of things which is often overlooked or purposefully ignored. But humans are actually a big part of this franchise.

Suri would be an honourable mention for ... reasons, but aside from that I am kinda clueless as to who is a good human character. I actually liked Frasier Crane and Patrick Dempsey as the villains but aside from the the movies didnt give us great human characters. The g1 humans werent all that great. I did like the FBI guy from prime. I dont really like anyone outside from them but I havent wach rescue bots.

So I am asking you now, who are the best human characters in all TF fiction?

News Credits: 293 · Fri May 05, 2017 9:49 am

News Credits: 191 · Fri May 05, 2017 11:43 am

Aside from Shia LaMeme, I've found some of the humans in IDW to be surprisingly good, most especially Marissa Faireborne. Her dynamic with Thundercracker is just wonderful. 'Mayday' is also pretty nice, and of course there's the whole deal with Blackrock who... well, if Sari counts, so does he. Talking of Blackrock, Marvel's version of him is basically Tony Stark who trades in his Iron Man suit for realising that there's good transformers and bad transformers, so again, pretty fun. I don't think Marvel done all that badly for humans either actually; maybe it's because they're used to writing them, but a few of them were apparently as well-developed and entertaining as the actual Transformer characters.

Cybertron/Galaxy Force didn't do terribly for humans imo. Cody wasn't bad and it was nice to have a human companion who was useful by fixing things; and Lori was great - her whole attitude is fun, her relationship with Scourge is entertaining and funny, and it's nice to have a female lead on the show when the only other options were Override (who is nice but wasn't female in Japan) and... uh. You know. The really annoying boat one, whose animation model has certain aspects that makes me worry about the show's animators.

I haven't watched it myself, but Masterforce should be a goldmine for this since the majority of its cast are humans who use transtectors.

News Credits: 1 · Fri May 05, 2017 3:53 pm

I like Agent Simmons from the movies. He's not exceptionally deep but his energetic personality makes him fun to watch. He shows some character development(starts off as kind of a villain but does soon realize that there is a difference in factions and that the robots have personalities). Simmons also puts his life on the line to save humanity and is integral to defeating Devastator in ROTF.

News Credits: 15 · Sat May 06, 2017 10:08 am

I kinda liked Miko in Prime.

*darts for the hills*

........oh, Agent Fowler and Captain Fanzone.

News Credits: 1 · Sat May 06, 2017 8:49 pm

PrymeStriker wrote:I kinda liked Miko in Prime.

*darts for the hills*

........oh, Agent Fowler and Captain Fanzone.

I liked all the kids well enough in Prime. Also Miko did kill Hardshell AND when equipped with the Apex armor can go toe to toe with even Starscream!

As an aside, Fowler over Fanzone any day. He is one of the best human allies, helps out in matters the Autobots can't(like evacuations or matters with the law), can provide intelligence and give a heads up to the government, fought alongside them in battle on a few occasions, plus is voiced by Ernie Hudson.

Fanzone is somewhat amusing, but is mostly there to have something mechanical foul up and spout "This is why I hate machines". Hmm, I'll bet he was the kid who played with Action Figures and had imaginative adventures instead of swiping monotonously across a smart phone.

News Credits: 226 · Sat May 06, 2017 9:15 pm

This one will be lost on the kids but ... Circuit Breaker.

News Credits: 4877 · Sat May 06, 2017 10:03 pm

Burn wrote:This one will be lost on the kids but ... Circuit Breaker.

she became a Marvel Comics villain right?

News Credits: 38 · Sat May 06, 2017 10:05 pm

Loved:
Fowler, Agent Simmons.

Least liked:
fred and Kicker.

News Credits: 226 · Sun May 07, 2017 12:51 am

william-james88 wrote:
Burn wrote:This one will be lost on the kids but ... Circuit Breaker.

she became a Marvel Comics villain right?

Marvel retained the rights. As for being a villain, not sure.

News Credits: 2 · Sun May 07, 2017 6:02 am

Burn wrote:This one will be lost on the kids but ... Circuit Breaker.

YES!!

I was gonna say her. I know she's unpopular with many fans but i really loved her character. Her powers weren't genetic, they were made by her in a way that makes sense, she showed character growth and started to accept Autobots are different to cons but never lost that burning rage and hatred that came out during the decepticon civil war. And she single handidly made unicron pause and scream in pain. Who needs the matrix when you have her? She also kept showing she still had a good heart, as she would break off attacks to help humans in trouble and would let bots go if they helped humans or she gave them her word she would if tgey helped. There are so many layers to that often overlooked character.

I don't think she appeared in marvel comics outside tf. The wiki says she appeared at the end of secret wars 2 and convinced the bwyonder not to wipe out the multiverse, but that's all i can find on her. Apparently that was so they would have rights to her before her tf appearance. So marvel has rights to circuit breaker but not jose bellor. If anyone does know if she appears anywhere else, i would love to know.

I would also say marvel blackrock (but not idw version) and sari pre season 3. For some reason, i went off her a bit there but 1 and 2, she was my favourite human.

I wouldn't put her on the list, but i did like Miko. Raf was annoying and jack was just there. Miko never learnt and i can see why people don't like her, but she had an energy and excitement about her that i found infectious and made the show much more fun.

News Credits: 226 · Sun May 07, 2017 6:29 am

Insurgent wrote:I don't think she appeared in marvel comics outside tf. The wiki says she appeared at the end of secret wars 2 and convinced the bwyonder not to wipe out the multiverse, but that's all i can find on her. Apparently that was so they would have rights to her before her tf appearance. So marvel has rights to circuit breaker but not jose bellor. If anyone does know if she appears anywhere else, i would love to know.

So this here says that the CB that was at the end of Secret Wars 2 was CB of Earth-616. A different CB from who appeared in the Transformer comics as that particular universe is referred to as Earth-120185.

I had a vague memory that she'd appeared in recent years, guess that was wrong.

She'd be an ideal character to introduce into IDW's Hasbro universe if Marvel ever gave up the rights.

News Credits: 2 · Sun May 07, 2017 7:00 am

I dont follow the marvel comics so don't know if she has reappeared. The only recent appearance i know of is her one panel non descript cameo in regeneration one. Ans even that was a flashback. And was just a glowy female form flying with a power glow around her. Implied it was her but generic enough ut wasn't. I asked furman at an aa panel if circuit smasher was in because of licence or would he have used cb if he had the licence. He said cs was in the script from the initial conception.

The new shared universe would make it easier to bring her in. Honestly, I'd like to see her in a movie. With Jeri Ryan playing her. Gives a good excuses for heavy human element without it being forced.

News Credits: 226 · Sun May 07, 2017 7:07 am

Insurgent wrote:I dont follow the marvel comics so don't know if she has reappeared. The only recent appearance i know of is her one panel non descript cameo in regeneration one.

That's probably the appearance I was thinking of.

News Credits: 462 · Mon May 08, 2017 11:43 pm

Can't go wrong with any of these heroes and villains. Some of the best human characters we've ever had.

News Credits: 4877 · Tue May 09, 2017 7:06 am

Sabr, care to tell me which of those you like best and why? Were the humans played by tim curry and mark hamel any fun?

News Credits: 462 · Tue May 09, 2017 9:56 am

william-james88 wrote:Sabr, care to tell me which of those you like best and why?

It's really hard for me pick out "the best" of them since they were all just so good. For once, we got human characters who didn't rely on bottom-of-the-barrel comedy to be funny or forced plot demands to be useful. Every single one of these people was genuinely well written, competent, and (to their own different extents) charming in their ways. One of the main things the showrunners set out to do when creating the human characters was to ensure that they upheld the rule of "No stupid humans", and it shows.

william-james88 wrote:Were the humans played by tim curry and mark hamel any fun?

Absolutely! Dr. Morocco was a dangerous force to reckoned with wrapped up in all the slimy charisma that Curry could muster, while Woodrow Burns was one of the most lovable roles I've ever seen Mark Hamill play. You could tell that Hamill was having a ball playing Chief Burns' eccentric, world-traveling younger brother. Both were great.

So too was Colonel Quint Quarry, played marvelously by Jim Cummings.

Though, sadly, Curry only played Morocco in the first season, having to be replaced by Jonny Rees (who did an adequate job as Curry's successor) for the rest of the series after Curry had his stroke in 2012.

And while Madeline Pynch (played by Stacy Darrow) wasn't quite as "fun" as the male villains, she was probably the most cunning of the villains. She was more of a Lex Luthor-type villain, working her angles more behind the scenes to play a long game. Whereas the other villains were more physical and frontal in their plans, hers were more industrial and economical. Of all the villains, she lasted the longest (if you count Morocco's sentient virus as an independent agent from the real Morocco) and needed a clandestine "Ocean's Eleven" type operation by the rescue team to take her down for good.

News Credits: 191 · Tue May 09, 2017 5:16 pm

I think it likely helps that Rescue Bots in general was a lot more human-focused and, ahem, down to Earth than the other shows. While just about everything else was the Transformers fighting their conflict and the humans getting shoved in because mandatory, the express mission of the Rescue Bots was to help and communicate with humans. From the very outset they're weaved into the whole point of the show, rather than how writers of the other shows have to find ways and reasons for why and how the heck a kid can help fight off the wrath of Megatron.

News Credits: 22 · Fri May 12, 2017 2:01 am

Am I the only Donny Finkleberg fan on these boards? He was actually an involved character instead of on the fringes or in the background. He actually affected some events in the comics. And taught me that candy was bad for my teeth.

Joey Slick, anyone? A concert by Brick Springstern in a Bay film would be awesome. But The Boss might sue. >:oP

News Credits: 3 · Fri May 12, 2017 9:25 am

Totally agree with the mentions of Circuit Breaker, Agent Fowler, Blackrock (personally enjoy both his Marvel and IDW versions, though I've not had chance to keep up with Revolutionaries so idk how he is in that), and even Miko.
I'm also gonna throw some support behind Russel and Denny from RID. They're far from the most compelling but are a whole lot better than the standard human-tag-along fare, and they get the occasional nice moment together where you can tell that Denny really does want to connect with his son however bad he is at doing so

News Credits: 4877 · Fri May 12, 2017 9:45 am

So like a top 5 would be:

5. (??)
4. Black Rock
3. Agent Fowler
2. Circuit Breaker
1. The Rescue Bots cast (??)

Honourable Mention: Sari Sumdac

News Credits: 462 · Fri May 12, 2017 9:54 am

I honestly don't get all the love for Circuit Breaker since she came off as being a classic Marvel stereotype of a radical ignoramus who was so thoroughly convinced that the hero characters were just as evil as the villain characters and willfully refused to see otherwise.

It's like how J. Jonah Jameson is so insistent on believing Spider-Man to be a criminal and a menace, but with Circuit Breaker actually having the ability to take action against the Autobots herself, discriminating all Transformers as a single race of evil alien robots in her delusional obsession to 'kill all robots'.

News Credits: 191 · Fri May 12, 2017 10:12 am

I would argue for IDW Marissa to be on that list just on the merits of her friendship with Thundercracker alone. They make for a very entertaining and interesting duo; being one of the comic's ways of exploring how relations between humans and Transformers could be while still addressing the problems they face when one of them kind of invaded and killed a lot of people ten years ago.