Optimizzy wrote:I didnt read every comment before this, so someone else may have touched on it:
Why do we assume that since she is a religious leader that that means she has some dark secret are is secretly evil?
Maybe she is *gasp* exactly what she says she is? Religions don't make people do bad things. Bad people use religion to justify their acts. Even if there was no religion, there would still be bad things, just different justifications.
In MTMTE storyline that showed us Star Saber, he was to represent one of the three pillars of society that has gone wrong, namely religion. Law and Medicine were also represented in an equally negative fashion.
If this new character turns out to be a bad guy, or even a negatively presented character, it will be a rather dull addition. I mean, we've seen that before, and in a far more engaging aspect.
//2 cents.
I think the friendly quarrels between Ratchet and Drift, and Drift's repeated heroism, have represented the potential for religion's positive influence in the comics. Cyclonus in his own way has as well; he's not a nice guy, but it's unrelated to his spirituality. Rodimus is spiritual/religious as well, but seems to struggle with how seriously to actually take it, quoting the most popular line repeatedly with little regard for appropriateness, more because it's associated with a person he hero-worships than a deity he is devoted to, which I think is a reflection of a fairly common approach to religion, but if anything is more a negative comment on the individual rather than the religion. So far for really negative depictions of religion, we have:
Bludgeon's cult devoted to Thunderwing and Pretender technology (Stormbringer) - which was all of like, five guys, so I don't think it really casts any aspersions towards organized religion.
Star Saber's fanaticism (MtMtE) - Which entailed trying, and
failing, to corrupt a long-standing, primarily pacifistic organized religion, only to end up locking up or killing most of the members of said religion when they refused to follow his genocidal extremist interpretation of it. This straightforwardly subverts the trope of the mass-murdering fanatical religion.
The Functionist Government's take on Primalism (MtMtE) - Which uses Primus or the Adaptus aspect of Primus to justify a caste system based on alternate modes, which I don't see as a comment on religion, so much as a comment on governments or politicians co-opting religious ideas to justify systemic inequality.
The Way of Flame (Windblade) - Which we're treating suspiciously in large part because it's the
only religion (supposedly) on Caminus. One assumes that makes it a state-sponsored and enforced religion, but not necessarily. Scott's repeatedly stated their planet is in bad shape, and needs help, so it seems unlikely they're about to go on a crusade. Also, none of the three caminans we've met so far are exactly shoving their religion down people's throats.
I think a lot of the tension is probably going to come from the way their beliefs challenge some assumptions made by the Cybertronians, who tend to be primarily atheistic (evolutionary engineering), monotheistic (worshiping Primus), or Pantheistic (worshiping the Guiding Hand, aspects of Primus). They don't tend anymore to worship members of the original thirteen, who seem to be remembered more like demigods or god-kings of prehistory. So far they have made no mention of Solus when they do talk about the original 13 Primes - a curious omission - and given the association of the other Primes with Cybertron's equivalent of the Hyborean age, it seems like many bots would be unhappy with someone coming around who still worships one of the 13. A more passive source of conflict may come from the Mistress of Flame potentially resisting the help offered by Cybertron when it does come - from her perspective, she may be unhappy accepting help from anyone she perceives to be a cultural descendant of Megatronus Prime, the guy that betrayed and murdered (or attempted to do so) their ancestor. Starscream, as a former Decepticon, arguably fits that bill.
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