The Energon Pub

Thought that Sumdac was a rather odd name, so got to looking at it, and its Cadmus spelled backwards. I knew that name sounded familiar, but didn't know from where, so I did a wikipedia check.

Cadmus is a Greek myth who "By the instructions of Athena, he sowed the Dragon's teeth in the ground, from which there sprang a race of fierce armed men, called Spartes ("sown"). By throwing a stone among them, Cadmus caused them to fall upon one another until only five survived, who assisted him to build the Cadmeia or citadel of Thebes, and became the founders of the noblest families of that city."

As Sumdac seems to be the father of the robots in New Detroit (with Megatron being the "Dragon's teeth") and there's a lot of city building going on... there does seem to be a connection.

Could the animated writers be writing "deeper" than we expect, or am I just over analyzing?

Some good research there. I don't think you're over analyzing it. Just one of those cool things that make it even sweeter. Writers love to throw some deep stuff in there.

That's a nice find, and seems appropriate. Cool.

Wow! That was quite impressive with the research...interesting notion indeed!

When I first saw the name Sumdac I also thought it was strange, so I put it backwards. The thing I connected with Cadmus was different though, as for anyone who saw Justice League Unlimited or is is a big fan of DC comics would know that Cadmus is a very shady organization in both medias. I have to admit your idea is a hell of a lot better, Good Work.

Smart thinking! We may be watching a kids' show, but we're clearly dealing with writers both educated and clever enough to throw in something like that. Very appropriate.

I too noticed this. Thank you for relieving all lingering doubts as to whether or not I was the only one who saw this.

Black Bumblebee wrote:until only five survived

Five is a significant number in the transformers universe, most teams are composed of five members (Dinobots, Gestalts, etc).

And wasn't Sumdac hinted to create the Dinobots....

Stormwolf wrote:

Black Bumblebee wrote:until only five survived

Five is a significant number in the transformers universe, most teams are composed of five members (Dinobots, Gestalts, etc).

And wasn't Sumdac hinted to create the Dinobots....

I'ld confirm it, but i don't have the footage. Still 5 dinobots = 5 spartans...

well it could mean a combiner team coming later... which after glimpsing the a few episodes ahead, i really hope plays out.

i'm just not holding my breath. They gotta save something for a season 2 right?

AxiomScion wrote:

Stormwolf wrote:

Black Bumblebee wrote:until only five survived

Five is a significant number in the transformers universe, most teams are composed of five members (Dinobots, Gestalts, etc).

And wasn't Sumdac hinted to create the Dinobots....

I'ld confirm it, but i don't have the footage. Still 5 dinobots = 5 spartans...

well it could mean a combiner team coming later... which after glimpsing the a few episodes ahead, i really hope plays out.

i'm just not holding my breath. They gotta save something for a season 2 right?

THere are only supposed to be 3 Dinobots in the cartoon.

And at this point we have heard of a Constructicon or two to come, but nothing beyond that--plus that team was 6!

Maybe we've read too much into it now.

tigertracks 24 wrote:There are only supposed to be 3 Dinobots in the cartoon.

And at this point we have heard of a Constructicon or two to come, but nothing beyond that--plus that team was 6!

Maybe we've read too much into it now.

I was trying to leave hope for the sludge and snarl fans...

but with megatronic equipment coming from sumdac, i could see the constructicons getting sparks in the series. If it was far enough after the Dinobot intro...

Prime's team would definitely need dinobot back up for that, maybe even dion, er huffer uh..the Tick!?

Maybe the significance doesn't lie in the number...

Maybe the significance lies in the story itself. Let's analyze the story itself, shall we?

First up, the dragon's teeth thing. This can be interpreted as follows: Something obtained from an evil being/creature. Perhaps in this case the dragon's teeth wouldn't be a physical item so much as the knowledge gained from studying Megatron's... er... bits and pieces. The teeth/knowledge still contain the essence of what they were taken from.

The act of sowing said dragon's teeth. Sowing is considered a creative act, so we can interpret this as making something using the item/knowledge gained. In light of the knowledge we possess concerning the 'evil in, evil out' principle that seems to be the case here, sowing the dragon's teeth could be interpreted as giving the potential for destruction inherent in the dragon's teeth a way to be born, so to speak.

The warriors created by that act. Sowing the dragon's teeth results in them effectively results in their transformation, so to speak, and perhaps it can be said that the warriors created were taking after what they were created from. From what I've heard, the same will be the case with stuff created from studying Megatron.

So Sumdac is sowing the metaphorical seeds of future destruction by creating all these advanced machines, and at some point that'll result in Decepticons. Just like sowing the dragon's teeth resulted in the creation of a bunch of warriors.

And don't even get me STARTED on the Biblical metaphors present with Movie Megatron...

Night Raid wrote:And don't even get me STARTED on the Biblical metaphors present with Movie Megatron...

Funny you brought that up...I got into that very same conversation with my father just today. Both he and I are theology trained, so we REALLY got down and dirty with the scholarly bible-dork-speech...He's a big fan of the movie and the new Animated show(he's in his mid-70's), and he saw em as well as I did! Fun times on New Years Day!