The Energon Pub

Hey guys. I was reading MTMTE and I realized that Chromedome and Rewind are more than friends. Yeah, I am a bit slow. I never really though TFs could be involved romantically (were Optimus and Elita 1 really an item? They cared for one another but didnt do much of it), since they are built and dont share our biology at all. And now I realize that not only can they be in a relationship, but one of the same gender. Is MTMTE with chromedome and rewind the first time a writer has written about two TFs sharing a relationship and being of the same gender?

-Burn edit-
This is a post that was made in the CW Devastator thread which spawned an interesting discussion that Billy-Jim and I thought should have a thread of its own. Keep it respectful.

The first 'canonical' one - if you really care about 'canon' - yes.

There are many many more across the new IDWverse, and they're all being treated as neutrally as they can be, which I believe is great. The Chromedome/Rewind pairing, in fact, was one of the most moving arcs of the first seasons of the post-Chaos stuff, and I remember exactly what I felt as I read that issue.

Let me dig up the review..

..I was not on board for the reviews yet!
(I joined for #16 (here: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... iew/27133/), and the first big moment was in #15. Blurr did up to #14.)

I have a feeling that if Rodimus ever makes it to Bayverse, he will be portrayed as one with an alternative lifestyle. And his "significant other" will be Wreck-Gar. He will have his G1 bike alt mode and he will be Rodimus's personal transportation. In essence, in Bayverse, Rodimus will be a gay biker who has a "very special relationship" with his bike. Or as South Park would put it, he will be "bike-curious."

...

Dear Christ, I gotta stop abusing prescription medication...

*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

ctrlFrequency wrote:*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

What? I don't even like bikes.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

What? I don't even like bikes.

It's not the bike thing...

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

What? I don't even like bikes.

It's not the bike thing...

And I don't lead an alternative lifestyle either. I like bewbz. On girls. I just have a f**ked up imagination.

This thread is being derailed. Mods frown upon that 'round here. Can we get back to gay Transformers, please?

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

What? I don't even like bikes.

It's not the bike thing...

And I don't lead an alternative lifestyle either. I like bewbz. On girls. I just have a f**ked up imagination.

Can we get back to gay Transformers, please?

I was talking about the drugs
Next time maybe you should PM me first before you dig the hole too deep

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:*looks at Roddy suspiciously*

What? I don't even like bikes.

It's not the bike thing...

And I don't lead an alternative lifestyle either. I like bewbz. On girls. I just have a f**ked up imagination.

Can we get back to gay Transformers, please?

I was talking about the drugs
Next time maybe you should PM me first

...oh. No worries, I'm not a drug addict.

ctrlFrequency wrote:Next time maybe you should PM me first before you dig the hole too deep

Oh the irony ...

Burn wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:Next time maybe you should PM me first before you dig the hole too deep

Oh the irony ...

What?

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Burn wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:Next time maybe you should PM me first before you dig the hole too deep

Oh the irony ...

What?

You dig yourself deep holes all the time.

Anyhoo, let's get back on track.

To reference Rodimus' first post, I'm kind of glad the Bay movies haven't depicted any Transformer romances, because, regardless of the genders involved, they would probably end up making them one-dimensional and/or skeevy like the Tessa/Shane deal from AoE.

I think the comics are doing a much better job with the whole inter-robot relationship thing. Particularly, the idea of robot relationships being largely an emotional connection (since there's no sexual reproduction and no practical use for physical attraction) seems to be a good way to approach the topic.

On the other hand, I was always amused at the way TFP's Knock Out had an "appreciation" for Earth's cars and trucks; I just wish it hadn't been explained as a "glitch" in his programming.

Glarryg

They're not holes Burn... they're ravines.

*tries to get back on track*

Okay... well Va'al answered the question, Chromedome and Rewind are really the first mentioned, and through flashbacks they have established it is pretty common since most TFS call themselves male.

Personally, I think it shows how the comic is maturing even more over the years, and that is something that is nice to see. Even though I tend to think of TFS as gender-less (since they don't have "bits and pieces") through media is how we change our attitudes and start accepting things that (should not be) are considered taboo.

Glarryg wrote:To reference Rodimus' first post, I'm kind of glad the Bay movies haven't depicted any Transformer romances, because, regardless of the genders involved, they would probably end up making them one-dimensional and/or skeevy like the Tessa/Shane deal from AoE.

I think the comics are doing a much better job with the whole inter-robot relationship thing. Particularly, the idea of robot relationships being largely an emotional connection (since there's no sexual reproduction and no practical use for physical attraction) seems to be a good way to approach the topic.

On the other hand, I was always amused at the way TFP's Knock Out had an "appreciation" for Earth's cars and trucks; I just wish it hadn't been explained as a "glitch" in his programming.

Glarryg

which gave light to two of the best lines ever:

"I'm not only an automobile, I'm an automobile enthusiast. "

and Starscream: "Never understood why any self-respecting Decepticon would choose 'automobile' as his vehicle mode when he could have flight!"
Knock Out: "I like the way I look in steel-belted radials."

I also got a kick out of Knockout Flirting with Prime in Deus Ex Machina: "Sweet rims...24 gauge...? You're reeeeeeal heavy-duty!"

Glarryg wrote:
On the other hand, I was always amused at the way TFP's Knock Out had an "appreciation" for Earth's cars and trucks; I just wish it hadn't been explained as a "glitch" in his programming.

Glarryg

That has, fortunately, somewhat been redeemed in Windblade, establishing his Conjunx Endura and naturalising the relationship and attraction.

(As had also already happened with the slip on Roberts' part for Nautica in MTMTE.)

I do fully support same-gender relationships. I can't imagine the horror of not being able to be with the person you love. I also think that it this perspective should be broadly accepted and should be portrayed whenever love affairs are relevant to the story (in whatever fiction). People should know that being homosexual isn´t a bad thing, but as neutral as being heterosexual.

What IDW is doing is a good thing, IMO. There's a growing acceptance for these kinds of characterization. TF's have gender (as is established since G1) and feelings (as they're divided between different philosophies (autobot and decepticon)) so the leap between having a gender, feelings and strong feelings for their brothers and sisters is a natural thing to write into the stories.

As time will go by and IDW continues this direction for their own version of G1, acceptance for (same-gender) relations will hopefully grow. I do think we have a while to go before it's considered a neutral thing, though. But we've come a long way since 1990, where the Zone cartoon featured 'more than friends' human characters. Example: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Akira_Serikawa The jokes are, ah, less than subtle.

Point of order: I thought Transformers in these comics were genderless despite any possible outward appearance.

I seem to read the discussion here as "two male Transformers in love" when it should just be "two Transformers in love."

Right? Did I miss something? There's not supposed to be a "gay" or "straight" attached to this in the IDW G1 story. I don't know. If I got it wrong I'm sorry. I feel like the premise for the discussion keeps changing. Maybe the point is just to have a continuing discussion.

I feel like it's best if TFs are genderless. I don't care if pronouns are attached to specific form types. I don't think the relationships should be referred to as "gay", "lesbian", or "homosexual" for two reasons: 1) You then have to determine what a "straight" or "heterosexual" relationship is and that's near impossible considering the history of gender across the franchise. 2) I think just allowing any two Transformers to define their relationship, specifically by the excellent language established in the books "Conjunx Endura", is enough.

I hope I'm being clear here and not coming off as biased. Let people love and marry who they want. I just feel like this discussion, is adding things to the comic that aren't there in order to better frame it within the confines of things we already know.

Eh. I don't have a problem with homosexual relationships in TF fiction (I'm a bi guy myself) but, at least from what I'm aware (I don't actually read IDW) there are probably more same-sex relationships in the current comics than normal ones. And they're all male/male! Where's my cyber-yuri?

Delta Magnus wrote:Eh. I don't have a problem with homosexual relationships in TF fiction (I'm a bi guy myself) but, at least from what I'm aware (I don't actually read IDW) there are probably more same-sex relationships in the current comics than normal ones. And they're all male/male! Where's my cyber-yuri?

yeah, its not fair. If there was true equality, then we should also see some Ai-chan and Flamewar action going on.