The Energon Pub

RhA wrote:
If you're going to be sorry in advance, the question you ask is going to be a bit mean even by you own standards, wouldn't you agree?

Aside from that, usually animalistic depections are synonims of human character traits. Symbolism is a cultural phenomenon understood by most people, examples; a snake is a cunning and deceptive character (check your local bible) and not much ofa heroic character. If I where a christian comsumer, not a crazy assumption if you live in the US, you wouldn't be very tempted to buy such a character for you kid, right? Forgive me if I can't list every animal metaphore, the list is extensive and I can imagine you can think of your own examples.

Also. there's this article: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanization/

And be aware that fans can recognize a TF, but are not the primary market.

Oh. My. God. Why is this such a huge f**king debate??? I am just suggesting that different styled robot modes would be a nice change. Um, sure, snakes are naturally "the bad guys", but have you ever heard of a story where the stereotypically bad-guy looking character turns out to be a really useful ally? It's called looking past a book's cover. And hey, if you NEED snakes to be bad guys, there's this little faction I like to call "Decepticons". Yes, animals have metaphoric histories, but SO DOES EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING EVER. Really? This is your argument? Animals are metaphoric? That didn't stop Hasbro from making Beast Wars, which, to many's chagrin, has influenced more about the TF lore then most would like to admit. And fyi, I know plenty of christian consumers who aren't put-off by a plastic snake toy for their child. Cohrada, anyone? Oh yeah, and he was a good guy too. This is ridiculous. Why are people so against a little bit of change? Jeez, no wonder it's impossible to get anything done in the senate...

Noideaforaname wrote:Soundwave and Blaster both had loads of non-humanoid minions/companions. BM Vehicons and Movieverse Decepticons really push the envelope on robot designs. And then there's Trypticon and Sky Lynx, and probably a bunch more I'm not thinking of. While non-humanoid TFs have been done, a lot of those designs have been "forced" onto Harbro, either because they were rebranding a bunch of older toys (the G1 guys) or had a separate party do the designs for them (as with Movieverse). [I'm not sure how Vehicons were handled]

Personally, I love non-humanoids (in fact I hate human-like bots) and would love to see more of them. There's no real reason Hasbro can't make any.

EDIT: I would LOVE to get Dinobots that had dinosaurs as their bot modes. I don't know about anyone else, but their Dino-parts are far more memorable than their Bot-parts (and the original cartoon abandoned the robot modes at one point, IIRC).

Ok, you missed the point. I am suggesting animalistic robots with vehicle modes. My issue is that there are so few of them, and they would be really col to have. There's so much potential with what you could have, just read some of the ideas of the non-naysayers of this thread. None of Soundwave or Blaster's little buddies had vehicle modes, and skylynx was about the only one I can think of that comes close to fitting the criteria. And vehicon toys were notoriously bad, and definitely still humanoid...mostly.

PhelesDragon wrote:

RhA wrote:
If you're going to be sorry in advance, the question you ask is going to be a bit mean even by you own standards, wouldn't you agree?

Aside from that, usually animalistic depections are synonims of human character traits. Symbolism is a cultural phenomenon understood by most people, examples; a snake is a cunning and deceptive character (check your local bible) and not much ofa heroic character. If I where a christian comsumer, not a crazy assumption if you live in the US, you wouldn't be very tempted to buy such a character for you kid, right? Forgive me if I can't list every animal metaphore, the list is extensive and I can imagine you can think of your own examples.

Also. there's this article: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanization/

And be aware that fans can recognize a TF, but are not the primary market.

Oh. My. God. Why is this such a huge f**king debate??? I am just suggesting that different styled robot modes would be a nice change.

I never stated I'm against change, nor am I swearing. This is a debate because it turned out to be one, if you don't like a debate, feel free to stop participating in it.

PhelesDragon wrote:Um, sure, snakes are naturally "the bad guys", but have you ever heard of a story where the stereotypically bad-guy looking character turns out to be a really useful ally? It's called looking past a book's cover. And hey, if you NEED snakes to be bad guys, there's this little faction I like to call "Decepticons". Yes, animals have metaphoric histories, but SO DOES EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING EVER. Really? This is your argument?

Yes, it is.

PhelesDragon wrote:Animals are metaphoric? That didn't stop Hasbro from making Beast Wars, which, to many's chagrin, has influenced more about the TF lore then most would like to admit.

Beasts that turn in to humanoid robots.

PhelesDragon wrote:And fyi, I know plenty of christian consumers who aren't put-off by a plastic snake toy for their child. Cohrada, anyone?

Cohrada is a Takara product, never released in to the western market through stores. My point was based on western arguments. Plus, snakes are AN example, not every example.

PhelesDragon wrote: Oh yeah, and he was a good guy too. This is ridiculous. Why are people so against a little bit of change? Jeez, no wonder it's impossible to get anything done in the senate...

My point is that most TF's are humanoid looking because human postures are far more relatable then animalistic ones for the reasons I stated. That does not mean I never want to see an animal TF (I love Dinobots). This has nothing to do with the US senate.

RhA wrote:

PhelesDragon wrote:Animals are metaphoric? That didn't stop Hasbro from making Beast Wars, which, to many's chagrin, has influenced more about the TF lore then most would like to admit.

Beasts that turn in to humanoid robots.

PhelesDragon wrote:And fyi, I know plenty of christian consumers who aren't put-off by a plastic snake toy for their child. Cohrada, anyone?

Cohrada is a Takara product, never released in to the western market through stores. My point was based on western arguments. Plus, snakes are AN example, not every example.

PhelesDragon wrote: Oh yeah, and he was a good guy too. This is ridiculous. Why are people so against a little bit of change? Jeez, no wonder it's impossible to get anything done in the senate...

My point is that most TF's are humanoid looking because human postures are far more relatable then animalistic ones for the reasons I stated. That does not mean I never want to see an animal TF (I love Dinobots). This has nothing to do with the US senate.

You chose to use snakes as an example, and I refuted it. If we followed the idea that something's looks define its use, then we'd all be shallow, stupid people.

The whole relate-able issue makes sense, but this isn't about personality or character traits, it's about kick-ass bots, and limiting their designs to nigh-exclusively human is a waste of possibility. Agreed, most of the main characters should be humanoid, for the relating thing, but how many people love ravage? Why? Because he's a kick-ass cat-bot. What's the issue with having a few beast-bots becoming vehicles, which is my suggestion here. Not more beastial TFs, but more that turn into vehicles, something we have seen so little of. The thing about Beast Wars was to support my "beasts can still be used in media despite metaphoric references" argument, NOT to suggest that they are meeting the criteria I am encouraging. Beast robots, into Earth vehicles. Where are they? They'd be awesome. Hasbro, why hasn't this happened?

geez shut up and buy some transmetals

Astronopolis wrote:geez shut up and buy some transmetals

You mean mutants? (MU-HAHAHAAAH!)

RhA wrote:

Astronopolis wrote:geez shut up and buy some transmetals

You mean mutants? (MU-HAHAHAAAH!)

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

...and transmetals don't really fit in with the real-world aesthetic.

What about that dude that Sunstreaker has as a pet in the new comics. He transforms from a vehicle to an insect. Or Scalpel from the ROTF line. Also DOTM Steeljaw is another example that all could be added to the the previous examples given i.e Trypticon and Skylinx or the BW Mutants

monstergrotusque wrote:What about that dude that Sunstreaker has as a pet in the new comics. He transforms from a vehicle to an insect. Or Scalpel from the ROTF line. Also DOTM Steeljaw is another example that all could be added to the the previous examples given i.e Trypticon and Skylinx or the BW Mutants

Aside from Sunstreaker's pet, I was looking for examples of non-humanoid robots that turn into vehicles only. It would be nice to have some like that in the movie, like Hatchet if they made him in a decent size.

monstergrotusque wrote:What about that dude that Sunstreaker has as a pet in the new comics. He transforms from a vehicle to an insect. Or Scalpel from the ROTF line. Also DOTM Steeljaw is another example that all could be added to the the previous examples given i.e Trypticon and Skylinx or the BW Mutants

Aside from Sunstreaker's pet, I was looking for examples of non-humanoid robots that turn into vehicles only. It would be nice to have some like that in the movie, like Hatchet if they made him in a decent size.

PhelesDragon wrote:

monstergrotusque wrote:What about that dude that Sunstreaker has as a pet in the new comics. He transforms from a vehicle to an insect. Or Scalpel from the ROTF line. Also DOTM Steeljaw is another example that all could be added to the the previous examples given i.e Trypticon and Skylinx or the BW Mutants

Aside from Sunstreaker's pet, I was looking for examples of non-humanoid robots that turn into vehicles only. It would be nice to have some like that in the movie, like Hatchet if they made him in a decent size.

Agreed. Hatchet should be a hell of a lot gnarlier and larger than the size they released him in. DOTM Voyeger size (which is small) would have been proper IMO. I really wanted that figure but saw how minimalistic it was in package and it turned me off. Bit of a hit and miss on Hasbro's part.

They do need to make more monsters like him in these newer generations. They came close with the Dreads or whatever they're called but dropped the ball. Could have been a cool team of maniacal monsters to market for a new generation of TF fans. Much like Terrorcons and the like back in the day. Not to mention others of course but the point is it was a lost opportunity.