Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

"I remember of the Decepticons, there were three jet fighters. So I had to come up with names that evoked power, menace, insanity, danger, evil – so I came up with Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker." - Bob Budiansky

"Megatron – I had to fight for that one. Hasbro initially turned it down because they felt it was too scary, because back in the 1980s, megatons meant nuclear bombs and had a very scary connotation, which was my intent. So when Hasbro turned it down, I realized it’s Hasbro’s product, they can do whatever they want. I’m the new guy, they don’t know me. On other occasions, they turned down names, but with Megatron, I felt it had a nice ring to it and I fought for it. They said it was too scary and I said, well, he is the head of the bad guys, he’s supposed to be scary. So they reconsidered." - Bob Budiansky

LE0KING wrote:That was actually a little disappointing. I'm not a G1er, but I'm working on a degree in writing, and seeing a writer look back on a project he spent years on and say that he didn't care about it anymore... that's kinda sad.

fenrir72 wrote:

LE0KING wrote:That was actually a little disappointing. I'm not a G1er, but I'm working on a degree in writing, and seeing a writer look back on a project he spent years on and say that he didn't care about it anymore... that's kinda sad.

For them, it was just a job (one of many franchised lines Marvel was paid to sell)which nobody really like to take and forced on him by Jim Shooter. It's just us fans who are really "fanatics" for the toyline. (Fyi "fanatic" is the root word for fans and no insult intended to eager beavers out here)

Also

"When I got off the book in 1989, it was a dying franchise, the toy line was not selling. Hasbro had pulled back on production. Comic book sales were going down. It just seemed like it fulfilled its lifecycle like a lot of toys." B.Budiansky

Production was rolled back because it was no longer selling. The fans either grew up and now focused on gals or videogames but that risk is still there if Hb doesn't play their cards right.Hopefully they don't go "bananas" and focused too much on BB etc.

Sabrblade wrote:I'll need to read this later.

Randomhero wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

LE0KING wrote:That was actually a little disappointing. I'm not a G1er, but I'm working on a degree in writing, and seeing a writer look back on a project he spent years on and say that he didn't care about it anymore... that's kinda sad.

For them, it was just a job (one of many franchised lines Marvel was paid to sell)which nobody really like to take and forced on him by Jim Shooter. It's just us fans who are really "fanatics" for the toyline. (Fyi "fanatic" is the root word for fans and no insult intended to eager beavers out here)

Also

"When I got off the book in 1989, it was a dying franchise, the toy line was not selling. Hasbro had pulled back on production. Comic book sales were going down. It just seemed like it fulfilled its lifecycle like a lot of toys." B.Budiansky

Production was rolled back because it was no longer selling. The fans either grew up and now focused on gals or videogames but that risk is still there if Hb doesn't play their cards right.Hopefully they don't go "bananas" and focused too much on BB etc.

Yeah bobs interviews always catch people off guard and put them off because while he did create so much, it was just a job. He did it and moved on. He says it how it was. A lot of people accuse Hasbro of being lazy nowadays and don't appreciate transformers for what it is but people need to understand that this is a franchise and while it does have a 30+ legacy, the goal is to sell toys and make money.

Indeed. Budiansky did what he did, could, and was willing to do for the comics in the mindset of their being a job for him. He did pull off some pretty good and pretty cool stuff throughout his run (Issues #5-8 being among his best TF work, IMHO), but it was evident from his lesser stories how little passion he could feel for the comic in those cases. And when one gets towards the end of his run, those particular issues just scream "burnout!" One could tell that he was so done with the comic by that point.

Conversely, as much criticism as we give him for his more recent TF works, it was Simon Furman and the rest of the Transformers UK team over at Marvel UK who really seemed committed to putting their heart and soul into most of the issues they created for the comic during Budiansky's run. There's just something about many of those Furman-penned stories that weaved in and out of Budiansky's stories that made them feel much more sophisticated, complex, and at times thought-provoking than most (but NOT all) of Budiansky's run.

Randomhero wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

LE0KING wrote:That was actually a little disappointing. I'm not a G1er, but I'm working on a degree in writing, and seeing a writer look back on a project he spent years on and say that he didn't care about it anymore... that's kinda sad.

For them, it was just a job (one of many franchised lines Marvel was paid to sell)which nobody really like to take and forced on him by Jim Shooter. It's just us fans who are really "fanatics" for the toyline. (Fyi "fanatic" is the root word for fans and no insult intended to eager beavers out here)

Also

"When I got off the book in 1989, it was a dying franchise, the toy line was not selling. Hasbro had pulled back on production. Comic book sales were going down. It just seemed like it fulfilled its lifecycle like a lot of toys." B.Budiansky

Production was rolled back because it was no longer selling. The fans either grew up and now focused on gals or videogames but that risk is still there if Hb doesn't play their cards right.Hopefully they don't go "bananas" and focused too much on BB etc.

Yeah bobs interviews always catch people off guard and put them off because while he did create so much, it was just a job. He did it and moved on. He says it how it was. A lot of people accuse Hasbro of being lazy nowadays and don't appreciate transformers for what it is but people need to understand that this is a franchise and while it does have a 30+ legacy, the goal is to sell toys and make money.

LE0KING wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

LE0KING wrote:That was actually a little disappointing. I'm not a G1er, but I'm working on a degree in writing, and seeing a writer look back on a project he spent years on and say that he didn't care about it anymore... that's kinda sad.

For them, it was just a job (one of many franchised lines Marvel was paid to sell)which nobody really like to take and forced on him by Jim Shooter. It's just us fans who are really "fanatics" for the toyline. (Fyi "fanatic" is the root word for fans and no insult intended to eager beavers out here)

Also

"When I got off the book in 1989, it was a dying franchise, the toy line was not selling. Hasbro had pulled back on production. Comic book sales were going down. It just seemed like it fulfilled its lifecycle like a lot of toys." B.Budiansky

Production was rolled back because it was no longer selling. The fans either grew up and now focused on gals or videogames but that risk is still there if Hb doesn't play their cards right.Hopefully they don't go "bananas" and focused too much on BB etc.

Yeah bobs interviews always catch people off guard and put them off because while he did create so much, it was just a job. He did it and moved on. He says it how it was. A lot of people accuse Hasbro of being lazy nowadays and don't appreciate transformers for what it is but people need to understand that this is a franchise and while it does have a 30+ legacy, the goal is to sell toys and make money.

I get that, but could you imagine Roberts or Barber or even Scott looking back at the idw run and saying that it was just a job?
You can tell there's passion in the books they write (with the exception of the forced collaborations) and it makes the books better.

Sabrblade wrote:

Windsweeper wrote:And let's not forget his work with Blaster.

Oh, definitely! His Blaster stuff was awesome!

And one of his finest one-off, standalone stories is "Decepticon Graffiti!" Runabout and Runamuck were so fun in that story.