Re: The Official Transformers: Rescue Bots Discussion Thread
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:07 pm
Ah, but there lies a counterargument with that in the current RID 2015 cartoon, in which we see Sideswipe playing the same rambunctious youth role as all his predecessors, getting into trouble and learning his lesson by the episode's end (save for when it happens in multi-parters), only to fall right back into the status quo of once more making mistakes that he has to learn from all over again by each episode's end. And thus, the traditional cycle continues on with Sideswipe.o.supreme wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Take the first three episodes of Blurr and Salvage, for instance. I've gone into this trilogy of episodes before, but by golly, these episodes were practically an analytical deconstruction of every single TF cartoon episode that ever dealt with the subject of "young kid-appeal good guy character gets into trouble against his leader's orders". Every time Cheetor/Side Burn/Wedge/Armada Hot Shot/Energon Ironhide/Cybertron Hot Shot/Animated Bumblebee/Prime Smokescreen/etc. would get cause some mischief, he'd learn a lesson by the episode's end and at best get a stern talking to or at worst get a pat on the back and a "We're glad you're okay" from each's respective Optimus, and all that would be promptly forgotten the very next time each kid-appeal character would once again get into trouble, then learn his lesson again, and rinse and repeat.
The trilogy of episodes that debuted Blurr and Salvage were basically a big middle finger to that episodic story structure and were like "No! That's not how it works! The troublemaker isn't gonna learn anything that way. He's just gonna keep making the same mistake over and over again." Rescue Bots' take on that scenario actually devoted time and effort to put some developmental growth not only into the young troublemaker (Blurr) but also into his leader (Heatwave). Blurr caused trouble in his first outings and, on top of the revelation from Salvage about what really happened in the past (Blurr nearly abandoning Salvage on Earth), the episode ends with most of the team no longer wanting to trust him. That's a pretty grim and yet realistically believable way to end that episode. It shows that Blurr's not just gonna fall in line with the team overnight, and that trust needs to be earned instead of handed out on a silver platter.
not to decry your thoghts, but this may reflect the changing times more than being "better" storytelling than any previous series. In times past. It was expected that an erring child learn form their mistakes the first time. Even in the workplace, if you *majorly* screw up more than once, you are probably not going to have a job. But in todays more lenient society, for good or ill (I say ill but I know most don't agree), its all about 3rd, 4th, 5th chances etc...
Blurr not learning his lesson I would say is not better handled than all other series, just a more modern take. I use episodes like that as how NOT to do things in real life.