The Energon Pub

I was watching G1 last night, and everyone flies. If everyone can fly, then why did do they even have jets alt. modes? I know, I know, its just a cartoon, I just thought I would bring it up.

I think the jet modes are more aerodynamic and they are faster. I think the jetform can do at least Mach(sp?) 2.8 at top speed. The robot modes are probably very wind resistant, and there may be a limit to how fast they can go in that mode. It probably also takes more energy to fly in robot mode than it does jet mode.

The first three episodes of the g1 cartoon were the pilot episodes. Everyone flies because that's how the writers wrote it and later changed it when the show became a hit.

And... in the old comics, only TFs with flightmodes could fly.

It worked very well for the first cast of Decepticons, because they had three that turned into jets, and several more that turned into objects small enough to fit in a jet's cockpit.

Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

darkassailant888 wrote:Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

I don't recall ever being curious about it. Not conciously anyway.

Wasn't it that Decepticons were a new kind of Transformer that could fly. I don't remember the episodes name but I think it was said in the one where Orion Pax becomes Prime.

DISCHARGE wrote:Wasn't it that Decepticons were a new kind of Transformer that could fly. I don't remember the episodes name but I think it was said in the one where Orion Pax becomes Prime.

That was "War Dawn". Megatron, Shockwave, & Soundwave were flying around Cybertron, sporting their new flying abilities. In MTMTE, everyone flew, including the Autobots. After developing the show, just the Decepticons flew. However, when the Dinobots were created, they all flew as well. Don't ask why, they just did. And in Season 3, in "Forever is a Long Time Coming", the Autobots flew in the first few minutes. I however, think it's just because they'e in space, & who can't fly in space? There you go.

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:Wasn't it that Decepticons were a new kind of Transformer that could fly. I don't remember the episodes name but I think it was said in the one where Orion Pax becomes Prime.

That was "War Dawn". Megatron, Shockwave, & Soundwave were flying around Cybertron, sporting their new flying abilities. In MTMTE, everyone flew, including the Autobots. After developing the show, just the Decepticons flew. However, when the Dinobots were created, they all flew as well. Don't ask why, they just did. And in Season 3, in "Forever is a Long Time Coming", the Autobots flew in the first few minutes. I however, think it's just because they'e in space, & who can't fly in space? There you go.

Hey, if Batman can breathe in space then transformers can fly there.

Seriously though its just a plot gimick, at first everyone could do it but then the writers decided to stop the Autobots from flying so that the Decepticons had a way of retreating without being persued at the end of every episode.

Uncrazzimatic wrote:Seriously though its just a plot gimick, at first everyone could do it but then the writers decided to stop the Autobots from flying so that the Decepticons had a way of retreating without being persued at the end of every episode.

So true, so true!

darkassailant888 wrote:Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

Not the first time, but you are right, i really cant see the logic in non-plane transformers flying ... allways wondered about this, i mean a guy like Energon Ironhide shouldnt fly in hes vehicle mode, i think it was in episode 9 of energon you saw him flying around the astroids or something ...

My take on this is that they could all fly, but the question is how well they could fly. I always use the basketball term 'White Men Can't Jump'. It's not that they can jump at all, they just can't jump as well as most black men.

The same is true with the Autobots. They CAN fly, but no where near as well as the decepticons (with exception of the flying ones of course, like Powerglide, SkyFire, Aerialbots and so on). There are several later episodes where the (non-flying) Autobots do fly. But when it is over greater distances they aided by rocket-packs, which the Decepticons don't need.

DISCHARGE wrote:Wasn't it that Decepticons were a new kind of Transformer that could fly. I don't remember the episodes name but I think it was said in the one where Orion Pax becomes Prime.

Right, because didn't Orion Pax think the Decepticons were cool just because they could fly? And the Arielbots were there becuase there was some kind of time vortex or they traveled back in time or something.

I see it as this:

All transformers have retro boosters that they can use to 'fly' short distances. These retros, however, have very little fuel/ are very energy consuming, so are not often used.
The Autobots only have retros, except of course the flying-alt mode Autobots.

The Decepticons are different. Their 'retros' are either proper boosters, or have a much grander supply of fuel/ are a lot mroe energy efficient. As most 'cons have flying alt modes anyway, this is kinda a moot thing.

i thought that only decepticons and a few autobots - w/ flying alt modes - could fly.

?

am i wrong?

optimus can't
that's why he hitched rides with other bots

and wasn't that one of the first "racial" differecnes between bots and cons in the g1?

Well, I think it was just n that series. I mean in the comic books only the ones that could fly flew, but they didn't couldn't fly at regular speed in Robot mode.

I always went with the idea that the Decepticon flying technology is more advanced. The Autobots have small, inefficient jets that can't be run very often for lack of fuel. Remember that the Decepticons steal lots of fuel, but the Autobots have to ration it to what they can get legitimately.

As to jet modes, they are probably faster, more aerodynamic, and more agile in high speed combat in the air.

Lord Crump wrote:I see it as this:

All transformers have retro boosters that they can use to 'fly' short distances. These retros, however, have very little fuel/ are very energy consuming, so are not often used.
The Autobots only have retros, except of course the flying-alt mode Autobots.

The Decepticons are different. Their 'retros' are either proper boosters, or have a much grander supply of fuel/ are a lot mroe energy efficient. As most 'cons have flying alt modes anyway, this is kinda a moot thing.

That's about what was said in an old thread. Autobots ran out of fuel or something, but Decepticons had upgraded equipment. Only a few Autobots like Sideswipe with his jetpack and Wheeljack with his engineering skills could fly. Someone speculated that the older Decepticons were forced to upgrade when Megatron took over, and the Autobots were not forced to undergo such operations.

Of course, it could be just another plot hole created by changing ideas about the factions and power balances, but this is a possible explanation.

darkassailant888 wrote:Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

Yes, I wondered why they all flew, why they all had magic hands with convenient weapons, why there were female robots when the others weren't male and a lot more.

Even at 8 this stuff was dumb, and it's why I'm a comic fan.
Still dumb, but nowhere near...

darkassailant888 wrote:Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

Well, no...I never went out and walked considerable distances to places I've never been before.

However, even as a child, I certainly wondered about it.

Dragonoth wrote:Someone speculated that the older Decepticons were forced to upgrade when Megatron took over, and the Autobots were not forced to undergo such operations.

This is how Dreamwave comics presented it. Megatron forced all Decepticons to upgrade their weapons and propulsion systems to be in his army. They Autobots are mostly former civilains, not warriors. They didn't upgrade as much, if at all.

That was what I thought! I thought the Transformer race split into those two factions because Decepticons could fly and Autobots couldn't.

I mean, I always imagined the war starting out something like this...

When things started, it was, as they put it, 'the time when all were one'. The only difference was that some could fly and some couldn't. Social patterns are pretty much the same in any species, so it goes without saying that both sides would generally stick with their own kind. That's okay and stuff, blah blah blah... That's when racial superiority rears its ugly head and kicks Transformerkind in the lug nuts. The ones who could fly start to think they're better than those who can't fly. They think their mastery of the skies gives them the right to rule. Meanwhile, the ones who can't fly are jealous because they'd really like to but they can't. Soon this jealousy turns into resentment of the ability and turns into resentment of the flight-capable ones themselves. One side is egotistical, the other resentful, so what do you THINK is going to happen?

And that is how I always thought it got started.

flying is serious FUN!

that's why!

I dunno, but I remeber in the comic books, early ones, that all Cons had to go through painfull changes, but they got rewarded with ability to fly..........Megatron used that ability to convince his believers that he is the chosen one to lead the Decepticons.But the Autobots, I dont know.....

darkassailant888 wrote:Okay fair enough. So did anybody wander about this the first time they saw it?

yeh I did when i first saw energon i thought why are the autobot cars, trucks and bikes flying in the air?
HOWEVER...
It should be noted that in Cybertron only vehicles that have a jet alt mode can fly. I can distinctly remember an episode where the ground vehiclestell the jets to lure the decepticon jets down so they can ambush them, however starscream is too smart and figures it out!!!