The Energon Pub

[Bobton03]

Since it seems like I have some sort of Transformers question every couple of days, I thought that it would best to have a single dedicated Forum Topic for such questions without having numerous separate topics clogging up the Forums. If anyone is interested in responding to and/or reading these questions, they will be found under the above tipic title.

Well, here it goes...

1.) Throughout all of the various TF comics and animated series we see humans traveling with the Autobots in space and in some cases to Cybertron itself. Since Transformers and humans are on the opposite ends of the biological spectrum, how do the Transformers cope with the myriad of human physical needs such as food, air, and other biological functions? To me it seems like a waste of Energon to modify existing spacecraft to handle humans...any thoughts?

2.) In the TF Universe we are continually faced with character-flawed Decepticons trying to seize power and fulfill their personal aspirations of assuming the mantle of Megatron and other Decepticon leaders. Has there ever been a Decepticon leader that can be truly considered a "leader" in the Autobot sense? Or have all of the Decepticon leaders been corrupt in some regard?

3.) IDW continuity aside, who comprised Decepticon leadership following Megatron's departure from Cybertron and subsequent voyage to Earth? Was Megatron the originator of the Decepticons in the old Marvel continuity?

4.) Why were Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, and the Wreckers the primary characters within the Marvel-UK and not the Marvel-US comics? Especially regarding the Wreckers, why did they not ever make an appearance in the Marvel-US stories?

5.) In the IDW contiuity, how did Thunderwing make Cybertron uninhabitable?


- Bob

[G1 Smoketreader]

3) Shockwave took over after Megs left according to the G1 Cartoon.
3b)There are 3 versions of original story:(a)The stuff writtenBEFORE the toys were designed-almost entirely rejected by Hasbro late,but deriving the leaders names' and Cybertron(written 1982).(b)the stuff Bob Budiansky wrote for the Tech Specs and refleshed backstory with instructions to ignore backstory and target audience,and the stuff written for the Marvel Comic with same instructions (written 1983) and the G1 cartooon storyline (written 83 for 84).Megs was initially construed to be the founder of the Decepticons,mostly by insinuation.

4)There was a division in distribution and for one period Kenner was making TFs as well.At the time,Us,UK and Japan all had independant creative control of their TF involvement.TF wiki has a lot of info on the history.Some of the wreckers line-up got rotated around after the first copyright problems started rearing their ugly heads.

[Bobton03]

orriezaros,

After Shockwave went to Earth and was entombed along with the Autobots, is this when Decepticons like Straxus and the non-IDW Jhiaxus rose to power?


- Bob

[Bobton03]

A few more questions...

1.) I recently finished my first reading of All Hail Megatron and I have decided to re-read the TF: Ongoing story arc from the beginning. In Issue 12 of AHM it seems that the humans and the Autobots are on somewhat amiable terms and then once we hit AHM #16 and Ongoing #1, they are hiding for their lives against an angry human society? What occurred in the meantime to turn humanity against the Autobots? Since Spike and his father were in charge of the remnants of Skywatch and, for all intents and purposes, the US military at the end of AHM #12, would they not have the greatest impact on how the Autobots would be received and viewed by the American public? As a result, did Spike and his father drop the ball when it came to the Autobots, with the latter's plight falling on the poor-PR abilities of the Witwicky's?


2.) If Optimus Prime would have possessed the Matrix in Ongoing #1, would he have been so willing to surrender to the humans? Put a different way: Does the absense of the matrix preclude Optimus Prime from being able to cope with the ongoing struggles of being the Autobot commander?


- Bob

[G1 Smoketreader]

orriezaros,

After Shockwave went to Earth and was entombed along with the Autobots, is this when Decepticons like Straxus and the non-IDW Jhiaxus rose to power?


- Bob

Although some of the comics are fantastic, I personally consider most of them to be fan fiction rather than canon,and also formulaic in their likelihood to cannibalize any backstory for parts, so I avoid them.

However, I assume from what I've seen that Straxus and Jhiaxus already had 'titles and postions'and/or land, way before the war started.

By rule of thumb,use this: Any Transformer YOUNGER THAN Animated movie debut Hot Rod was propably extremely young,or unborn/uncreated,until AFTER G1 Optimus and his boys crashed on Earth (that is, x million years before 1984).All the rest were the same maturity level in G1 episode 1 as they were in wfc or Prime.(That is,infant,young,juvenile,young adult,adult,mature adult etc.)and none to one maturity level lower at War within.This gives an indication of likely social position.

Beast machines Jhiaxus would have been given a new command center,army and title,assumably by Megatron,regardless of where his 'castle' was before,but Beast Machines,timeline-wise,comes last of all televised canons so far written and propably all Canons except for the rare comic book exception.

Straxus appears to have stayed in Darkmount once he got custody of it,from what I can tell.

This is based only on what I know so far,which is little.I have to leave town for a journey,but when I get back I'll research some stuff as it'll educate me too,and type some proper answers and thoughts up.Until then,consider tf wiki.

Have fun!

[VonDoom]

1.) Throughout all of the various TF comics and animated series we see humans traveling with the Autobots in space and in some cases to Cybertron itself. Since Transformers and humans are on the opposite ends of the biological spectrum, how do the Transformers cope with the myriad of human physical needs such as food, air, and other biological functions? To me it seems like a waste of Energon to modify existing spacecraft to handle humans...any thoughts?
quote]
From what I know
The transformers homeworld is often shown having some form of atmosphere so the concept of air may not be that alien to them. Also since they transform into vehicles for smaller beings it would be likely that it wouldn't be that hard for them to adapt their technology to suit the needs of their passengers (they are a higly advanced race after all) During Beast Wars the transformers themselves are seen eating and breathing so their ships may already have the necessary life support systems.

2.) In the TF Universe we are continually faced with character-flawed Decepticons trying to seize power and fulfill their personal aspirations of assuming the mantle of Megatron and other Decepticon leaders. Has there ever been a Decepticon leader that can be truly considered a "leader" in the Autobot sense? Or have all of the Decepticon leaders been corrupt in some regard?

hmmm? Maybe Dreamwave's Shockwave (he even teamed up with the Autobots to end the threat of the fallen)
3.) and 4.) see orriezaros' answers

5.) In the IDW contiuity, how did Thunderwing make Cybertron uninhabitable?

Cybertron had already been pushed to the edge and was destined to become uninhabitable due to the ongoing war already, Thunderwing didn't make it uninhabitable he just sped the whole process up. Thunderwing himself only existed because he knew the end of Cybertron was coming and created his Pretender body in response (he then went crazy and caused widespread devastation), likewise Shockwave's energon seeding project was also a response to the coming downfall of Cybertron.

1.) I recently finished my first reading of All Hail Megatron and I have decided to re-read the TF: Ongoing story arc from the beginning. In Issue 12 of AHM it seems that the humans and the Autobots are on somewhat amiable terms and then once we hit AHM #16 and Ongoing #1, they are hiding for their lives against an angry human society? What occurred in the meantime to turn humanity against the Autobots? Since Spike and his father were in charge of the remnants of Skywatch and, for all intents and purposes, the US military at the end of AHM #12, would they not have the greatest impact on how the Autobots would be received and viewed by the American public? As a result, did Spike and his father drop the ball when it came to the Autobots, with the latter's plight falling on the poor-PR abilities of the Witwicky's?

A few soldiers don't run a country or the world for that matter. The public throughout the world feared the alien machines and would most likely not respond in a favourable way to any of them, likewise the explanation of "yeah we left the planet knowing what Megatron would do" probably wouldn't of helped the Autobots either. Many people died in the AHM storyline resulting in way too much hatred for the majority of humans to trust anything not human. Spike and his father still have to follow orders no matter what their feelings are.

2.) If Optimus Prime would have possessed the Matrix in Ongoing #1, would he have been so willing to surrender to the humans? Put a different way: Does the absense of the matrix preclude Optimus Prime from being able to cope with the ongoing struggles of being the Autobot commander?

I doubt it as Optimus himself pretty much made it out that the only reason he surrendered was because the war was over and he after fighting a war and leading as a soldier for millions of years did not believe he could effectively lead in a time of peace.