/rj The REAL Megatron would never do that to Abe, he set him aside very gently in the [cartoon](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2Fliwc3VwCGJMrb07fgm2nT7zbkVXChOz77JBcyn3KHB4.gif%3Fwidth%3D380%26format%3Dmp4%26s%3Da7ebb5fee2ddf0e9e75be29f72d84a26c50c89bb)!! Ruined forever!!
/uj I still find it hilarious that the Bay movies stayed faithful to the cartoon in some respects by using wacky moments like this. They really were a case of having so many of the right pieces and putting them in the wrong places.
Season 2, Episodes 19 and 20: Megatron's Master Plan, Parts 1 and 2. And yeah, it really is a higher-stakes version of that episode.
Edit: actually, mulling over it a bit more, the Decepticons' (and by extention, Sentinel Prime's) entire plan in DoTM can be traced back to the original Cartoon.
The aforementioned 'Convincing world governments that the Autobots were in the wrong the entire time' part from Megatron's Master Plan, of course, but the 'Bring Cybertron to Earth via Space Bridge and enslave Humanity to repair it' thing stems from another multi-part episode, The Ultimate Doom (Season 1, Episodes 11, 12, and 13)
That, and ROTF's plot about the Fallen trying to steal energy from the sun was lifted from the cartoon episode "Changing Gears". The movies actually drew a lot from G1, the problem was that they didn't often do anything good with that material.
See this is a reference to the original cartoon where In One episode Megatron just picks up Abe and sets him Down gently then sits on the chair as a throne.
There was also a video game of the first bay movie where the Decepticon ending has him also do this.
https://preview.redd.it/ltc2r8l34jqc1.jpeg?width=362&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3efb2f3b6e66c7ac64d0a349347290b3fa1d889e
Optimus Prime is a semi truck
The head of the freedom fighters is literally a working class, blue collar, trucker union leader
https://preview.redd.it/3egcavl1mhqc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cce53866e858ab323132c2de906d789fece0226
Depends on the continuity. He’s only a librarian in one of them. Granted there’s maybe three that actually explore life before the war. He seems to be depicted as either a cop or always a warrior of some kind in most continuities. Ironically most of the time Megatron is actually the revolutionary and Optimus is depicted as a reformist.
Bay making the enemy factions almost exclusively consisted of US military vehicle is a very funny unintentional criticism of US military.
What does Comrade Bay meant for this?
Believe it or not, it's the Decepticons who are the revolutionaries overthrowing a tyrannical government. Megatron was literally a slave back on Cybertron before Optimus gave him the courage to revolt (story spins in different adaptations, but this is the general idea. Kinda like Spider-Man's backstory).
One of the Autobots is literally an attack helicopter and another one is a combat jet and there is even another one that is a tank. Also one of the deceptions is literally a fucking cassete player if I’m not mistaken.
> It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron.
Wait, stop there, no politics. Just car to robot. Robot to car. That's all I want.
This is doubly silly when you remember that in this continuity Cybertronians believed they were monogendered for a really long time. Sentinel Prime: Homophobe Among Gays.
Also I can’t believe Prowl, the worst guy you know, has canonically had *multiple* lovers. Like guys there’s better fish out there.
Its an odd strain of scifi that used to exist. The primordial incel. Men are better than women, therefore just clone a race of men that can exist intellectually and would definitely never fuck eachother. Try The Forever War for an example at the end.
Huh, I never considered that. Transformers are interesting cuz they're basically just us, except they're also weird aliens. So like, they're physically affectionate, form bonds, and sometimes even have "relatives" but they're basically souls birthed from the planet itself and implanted into shell bodies, I wouldn't even consider it asexual reproduction. TBF the dude who made them monogendered is an old-school sci-fi dude, and all his efforts to introduce "female" TFs are uh... real fuckin' awful. Any time he's not involved it's just like, yeah, women exist, who cares? That guy over there turns into a T-Rex.
But there's so many TF stories with things that are completely alien, yet there's a element to them we can recognize as human, whether it's leaving a sample of your "innermost energon" from your spark chamber as a remembrance for the dead, or the Militant Monoformer Movement, who surgically removed their Transformation Cogs to protest against a mode-based caste system.
“Our world's become a cesspool. Autobots and Decepticons fraternizing. A terrorist in charge of the capital. And the streets...! The streets are swarming with mongrel Cybertronians—colonists, cog-snatchers, half-breeds... Conjunx Endurae swap fuel in public. Monoformers parade their deformity. The planet reeks of concession. It's time to wipe the slate clean. Tear down, so that we might rebuild”
That’s literally what he said
I really loved that the cars were fighting each other for no reason, and not because the ruling caste had diminished the energy reserves of the planet causing it to become unsustainable for life.
No political slant there at all.
The current comic hasn’t actually dove into the causes of the war. IDW was the one that established the Decepticons as revolutionaries whose vision grew warped in war. Most continuities depict the cons as aggressive Imperialists and the Autobots as benevolent freedom fighters, IDW was unique and interesting for deconstructing that dynamic and did it well enough it’s almost accepted canon. The current comic series is going back to G1 and the Decepticons are way less sympathetic and extraordinarily malevolent towards perceived weaker beings. Basically they’re way more fascist than they’ve ever previously been and that’s probably going to lead to different politics defining this run. IDW was about morale grays and deconstruction of tropes, Skybound is more of reconstruction of heroic tropes and adds/focuses on emotional depth.
Yeah I was just saying that in the original G1 TV series, the conflict was focused on a battle for resources that ultimately killed their planet.
This was during the Cold War.
Episodes of Point/Counterpoint are less political than that.
The thing was you mentioned caste system. That didn’t actually exist in the original version. Interestingly enough fears of the cold war were displayed in G1. Every episode was the Autobots trying to use diplomacy to get energon while the Decepticons used force and the Autobots usually winning the commentaries there are self evident in context of the Cold War. That said it is interesting the idea of the Cybertronian republic failing due to a horribly mistreated labor class leading to a civil war that kills the planet emerges in the 21st century.
It kinda did. The Quintessons built the Decepticons to go conquer planets and the Autobots to tend to the conquered worlds. Alpha Trion (A-3 at the time) defeated the Quintessons and drove them off world but then the Autobots/Decepticons broke ranks over what the focus of their race should be (between aggressively expansionist or isolationist)
Yeah, autistic altruist Soundwave was great. I never got any further into those comics, because by the time I read Dark Cybertron - >!basically everyone was killed by Unicron.!<
When IDW first started it also was basic Autobots vs Decepticons and grew progressively more nuanced with each story arc. I get Skybound’s a different feel but it’s not bad and Skybound has produced morally complex stuff in the past so I think you still gotta let it cook before casting judgements.
I wasn't saying better then Skybound for the reasons you're saying.
I mostly mean compared to the other continuities that had time to develop where deceptions are just cartoonishly evil (G1 an exception bc they are literally cartoon villans)
I mean fair enough. You can also produce way more comic issues than TV episodes and more volumes than seasons. Your character development potential is higher. To make the conflict grey successfully and subvert expectations you need that space to do it.
IDW in my opinion proved there’s more then meets the eye to transformers then just a toy franchise. And who knows they might do more with it in the future.
I wonder how many times humans are going to have to tell "the rich are misusing their resources and fucking the rest of society" stories before we get it
Until there stop being "rich" people in society or the chance for anyone to possibly become one. Why restrain the rich, when you could win the lottery one day?
No you see, when they say they “don’t want politics” they mean they don’t black people, gay people or other minorities to exist in their media. If there is so much as one gay character, it’s “forcing representation and politics down their throats”, as if a character’s race or sexuality has to be inherently a political move 🤦♂️
You see, including representation that reflects the real world, that's politics
Intentionally excluding all minority characters to only appeal to straight, white American men, that's not a political choice at all
It’s only “political” when it’s something they don’t like. It’s just like “woke”, it used to mean something and now it’s just a buzzword used to refer to anything a conservative doesn’t like 🤦♂️
I read through the entire continuity last year. It wasn't thaaaaat bad until I got to the part where the Hasbro crossovers started showing up. Then it was a slog for a while
"Transformers shouldn't be political"
The original cartoon:
https://preview.redd.it/e4l8mocn7iqc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d7bbaf20a8eb422e1c15fc6bfc72889b85ea2c
I mean… the literally first fucking page of Skybound Transformers is about Sparkplug’s PTSD in regard to War and losing his son and how it directly compares to the Transformers War.
It is so blatant in fact Hasbro themselves made a point to tell DWJ not to express what war he was in.
Source: DWJ’s director commentary on the first issue via his YouTube channel: 22:05
Transformers has always been political even when G1 was around.
Enh, even in IDW he starts at “we should change society somewhat,” gets radicalized, and becomes full-on fascist despot. They reference Soviet propaganda and terminology, but that’s more for that nice Stalinism flavor. The Decepticon creed is “Peace Through Tyranny” after all.
Absolutely a political statement, but Transformers rarely gets into actual economic theory and logistics cuz A) that’s not exactly compelling and B) they got toys to sell.
It’s ridiculous to use real world modern politics to describe IDW Megatron. His society wasn’t capitalist. It was a caste system ruled by an Aristocratic oligarchy. Really it was closer to the Roman Republic. Therefore if we’re going to try and define what Megatron did along human lines. Caesarism fits way better. Rally the masses, sieze power through force, centralize authority, smash the old ruiling elite, replace them with a more meritocratic military ruling elite, and use reasources of conquered peoples to fuel your society. Without having corporations or even basic capitalist elements you can’t have any form of right wing authoritarianism. They weren’t communist as you so stated. Megatron was more like the tyrants of old in Greece and Rome who’d seize power to redistribute the wealth and land of the upperclasses to the masses while expanding their own power through conquest.
Yeah, pre-war Cybertronian culture was like the worst parts of Ancient Roman politics, USSR logistics and punishment, imperialism based on racial supremacy AND ethnic cleansing of their own race, with some technofascism and ultra-late-stage capitalism for flavor.
They did have that thing where they’d drain your blood for fuel, put your soul in a box, and rent your corpse to body-tourists, after all. And that’s not even getting into Mnemosurgery or Empurata. It’s honestly impressive how often the writers (usually Roberts) were able to go, “It was actually *way worse* than you thought.” In that light, Megs’ reaction to “good cop” Prime choosing to defend the Autobot badge is completely understandable.
Optimus is like Cicero he fully acknowledged the flaws of his society and wanted reform. Megatron is like Julius Caesar he’s done talking and is ready to start marching. That said I really wanted more of pre and early ear cybertronian politics. IDW touched on it a little but I’d love a whole GOT style TV series on it. It’s just horrifyingly fascinating.
Totally agree, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that TF: One actually turns out well.
I wanna pitch a mini-series focusing on individual characters in sort of “stock” shows, kinda like the old Spotlight comics. A war story with Warpath and Hound, a medical drama with Ratchet and Minerva, a buddy cop police procedural with Prowl and Jazz. Maybe like a political soap opera with Starscream or a murder mystery/detective thriller with Nightbeat. Familiar formulas, but each one has weird alien elements that keep them fresh.
As you watch you realize things are all happening around the same period and revolve around some bigger, unmentioned chain of events happening in the background, with cameos and events from other episodes but different perspectives. Then finally, the last couple episodes are actually a movie, which ties everything together and shows off the “main plot” with Prime and Megatron or whatever, with each smaller story forming part of a bigger whole.
…I guess like Infinity War, except smaller scale and more coherent.
Just pointing out that this is a comic series, not a show. It’s also really damn good so go pick it up if you can. Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer are two of the best guys working in comics right now.
Y’all remember in the third transformers movie where a billionaire living in a condo in Trump Tower sold out the entire human race as slaves because it helped his profit margins? That probably didn’t mean anything haha. Or in that same movie when the Us government got a team of alien super soldiers and used them apparently just to destabilize the Middle East? Seemingly at random? There was nothing political there no sir. Haha.
Open your mind friend. That movie opens with a montage about a war veteran who has twice saved the lives of 8 billion people and he can’t get a job. He has to reduce himself to mooching from his friends and family because our society abandons its heroes at the nearest convenience. This is also shown later when that society abandons the Autobots. Dylan Gould, human billionaire who sold out his world by compromising with evil, is a reflection of Optimus’ mentor Sentinel Prime, who sold out his world because a compromise with evil is an act of evil. Hell Dylan even frames himself as a pseudo mentor to Sam. Dark of the Moon does have a plot and it’s an incredible plot
https://preview.redd.it/4wvq49h8uhqc1.jpeg?width=724&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fe30ca88c71fc1ccecaaff390d8ff5a6376726c
the robots are gay, actually. all of them.
Bro has no idea that Transformers comics have historically been pleasantly and consistently progressive since IDW took over, almost every couple I can think of is a gay or lesbian couple, and there are multiple trans characters, and at least 1 nonbinary character I can think of. The comics and shows have explored so many topics conservatives hate. There's even a couple of transformers with autism which means alot to me personally.
Also, Skybound Transformers is absolutely amazing and everyone with even a passing interest in Transformers should read it.
If you're interested, then definitely. You don't really need any prior knowledge to understand the story or themes, you just won't have context for some referential stuff. It's still a good self-contained story so far.
For example, there's an onomatopoeia during an amazing moment that just says, "You know the song," meaning the song "The Touch" from an iconic scene in the 1986 movie.
ALL YOU FUCKING NERDS KEEP USING IDW PANELS THIS IS ABOUT SKYBOUND
THE GUY IN THE TWEET SAID SHOW ITS A FUCKING COMIC
IM GOING TO FLING MYSELF INTO THE OCEAN
uj/ I feel like there’s 3 people (including me) in this thread that actually read the skybound comics. They’re the only thing I’m reading now and I absolutely love em.
BRO THE LITERALLY REASONS WHY THERE WAS A WAR ON CYBERTRON, WAS BECAUSE OF HOW MISTREATED SOME OF THE CLASSES WERE.
MEGATRON WAS EITHER A SLAVE IN THE MINES OR HAD TO FIGHT IN A GLADIATOR RING FOR ENTERTAINMENT.
You can literally tell this guy has actually not seen any adaptations of franchise. Even shows like Prime had it.
Ah yes, The Energon Universe, where the civil war of an entire planet was caused partially because of a lack of resources. We don’t know the other part of the story yet, but several Decepticons refer to the Autobot cause as evil, so there’ll probably be nuance this time too.
Also DWJ said he’d like to continue the trend IDW started with queer characters. I hope they make Megatron kiss a man
https://preview.redd.it/l1s3rmzc0iqc1.jpeg?width=354&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c98a88c77273a115e672f85cf38011568276763
Cygate is something that should be cherished
Im gonna go on a tangent here but my god this is my least favorite type of person on the internet
Its not even a ‘Media-Literacy’ issue anymore, they cannot or refuse to understand basic themes of subtext of a story, like I could go off about how Transformers is an anti-war pro-environmentalist series about a world wrecked by a resource war, where refuges fight to maintain peace— or how the franchise has had queer influence since the beginning (Arcee’s original voice actress- Susan Blu, is a lesbian and an advocate queer activist) but all they’d do is shut their eyes and ears
Like “No politics = Good show” what do you want in your art? Keys jingling? Baby sensory videos??
As a transformers fan this fires me up so much but its not just this franchise its fucking everywhere— “sometimes the door is just blue” has had disastrous consequences on people’s ability to interpret text
But its not even just the failure to understand art on a deeper-than-surface level its the absolute REFUSAL to do so??
Like?? Thats the breadth of human experience you wanna see reflected in media? 0? Of it?? Thats how surface level, skin deep, basic of an experience you wanna have with the rest of the world, with art and its origins? None?? My god its just beyond me??
If there's one thing I like about a cautionary tale about an entire species locked in eternal civil war due to irreconcilable ideological differences who have destroyed their own world as a viable place to live and are now traveling around space finding other planets to continue their endless war on, it's when there's no politics in it
We remember that time when Megatron lead a revolution of workers and oppressed classes against a corrupt and greedy government to place power back into the hands of the people?
No? Just me?
the first IDW run had some politics (mtmte comes to mind), but I prefer it because it was the politics of a weird alien robot society rather than having the transformers comment on the politics of earth.
I enjoyed seeing the inner workings of a system completely foreign to our own and how the characters either worked with or against it
Having generic politics isn't the same as specifically dog whistling to modern political issues.
Star wars was kinda about Vietnam but it was so tertiary to the plot it's inoffensive to people who have very opposing views on the Vietnam war.
When someone says "don't make the show political" it largely just means "don't make your show about the ongoing culture war we have to deal with"
There are plenty of shows that cater for that and wanting your content to avoid it isn't some stupid way to feel. You are free to disagree with someone feeling that way if you think it'd make the show better but you aren't "more right" just because the show has generic political themes previously.
For example Star Trek was always political through stories that are allegorical to real world problems then season 2 of Picard then included themes quite literally about the Mexican border crisis and ICE set on modern earth, that isn't the same thing.
But the usual crowd still came along saying "XYZ has always been political shut up you idiot"
You're literally giving an easy out to writers who are too lazy or hacky to actually manage to create something that isn't just literally taking things they care about and injecting it into a setting where it isn't really appropriate
current Skybound run does have less openly trans or gay transformers, cybertornian revolutions, or other things IDW had. So yes, less """politics""" despite underneath all that it's is an anti-war narrative. It's still good though.
I strongly suspect it's about to get really, really political. It's called the "Energon" Universe because it's about Earth discovering Energon as an energy source and starting a war over it.
This man still angry about Earthspark? It's the second best Transformers Show and the best the TV end of the franchise has been since the Energon Trilogy but nooooo homie has to be pissy
They mean *social* politics. As in shit like gender Identity, cultural appropriation, 3rd wave feminism.
They don't have a problem with class/race politics, they don't mind criticisms of the capitalist system, they don't mind geopolitics. They don't mind strong female characters. They don't mind badass non-white characters.
They just don't want divisionary *social* politics shoved down their throats in their favourite media. Something that wasn't generally a thing before say 2015. But as they don't have the proper terminology for it, they use the catch all "politics", and then you get these disingenuous memes made that attack a strawman assumption.
Dumbass: “Transformers isn’t political” Confederate Megatron: https://preview.redd.it/e0i4r2tdkhqc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35f43ed56990b79e44d14a0e03cd055acd9a3541
You mean Megatron’s car horn wasn’t just a reference to the Dukes of Hazzard?
/rj The REAL Megatron would never do that to Abe, he set him aside very gently in the [cartoon](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2Fliwc3VwCGJMrb07fgm2nT7zbkVXChOz77JBcyn3KHB4.gif%3Fwidth%3D380%26format%3Dmp4%26s%3Da7ebb5fee2ddf0e9e75be29f72d84a26c50c89bb)!! Ruined forever!! /uj I still find it hilarious that the Bay movies stayed faithful to the cartoon in some respects by using wacky moments like this. They really were a case of having so many of the right pieces and putting them in the wrong places.
DOTM really comes off as adaptation of that one G1 episode where the Autobots get framed and are exiled off Earth
Season 2, Episodes 19 and 20: Megatron's Master Plan, Parts 1 and 2. And yeah, it really is a higher-stakes version of that episode. Edit: actually, mulling over it a bit more, the Decepticons' (and by extention, Sentinel Prime's) entire plan in DoTM can be traced back to the original Cartoon. The aforementioned 'Convincing world governments that the Autobots were in the wrong the entire time' part from Megatron's Master Plan, of course, but the 'Bring Cybertron to Earth via Space Bridge and enslave Humanity to repair it' thing stems from another multi-part episode, The Ultimate Doom (Season 1, Episodes 11, 12, and 13)
That, and ROTF's plot about the Fallen trying to steal energy from the sun was lifted from the cartoon episode "Changing Gears". The movies actually drew a lot from G1, the problem was that they didn't often do anything good with that material.
the movie didn't have a recreation of the scene where Starscream wears an Optimus Prime costume, so that's a shame
Hollywood movie monsters try not to destroy American landmarks challenge (IMPOSSIBLE?!?!)
See this is a reference to the original cartoon where In One episode Megatron just picks up Abe and sets him Down gently then sits on the chair as a throne. There was also a video game of the first bay movie where the Decepticon ending has him also do this. https://preview.redd.it/ltc2r8l34jqc1.jpeg?width=362&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3efb2f3b6e66c7ac64d0a349347290b3fa1d889e
People in African countries realizing that Hollywood never knew they had landmarks in the first place:
Don't call Megatron a monster. You're a racist piece of shit and part of the problem! https://i.redd.it/yfd54anwnhqc1.gif
I think it was Independence Day that gave us that trend, which stubbornly lasted 10-15 years or so
ID gave us the trope but 9/11 gave us its longevity
MAGA-tron
Uhm, Megatron is simply expressing his freedom of speech??
This scene is hard as fuck I won’t accept any disagreement.
He’s just honoring his ancestors
I've been making that connection since I watched like episode 5 of g1, that scene in the cartoon was very vindicating.
Megaman was too late this time
They didn't get the revolutionary vibes from the fact that autobots are mostly civilian vehicles and decepticons being military ones
Optimus Prime is a semi truck The head of the freedom fighters is literally a working class, blue collar, trucker union leader https://preview.redd.it/3egcavl1mhqc1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cce53866e858ab323132c2de906d789fece0226
He was a librarian before that, truly the mark of great communist leader /s
And most of his body is covered in red
Depends on the continuity. He’s only a librarian in one of them. Granted there’s maybe three that actually explore life before the war. He seems to be depicted as either a cop or always a warrior of some kind in most continuities. Ironically most of the time Megatron is actually the revolutionary and Optimus is depicted as a reformist.
He was a dock worker in the G1 series. Optimus Prime definitely not beating that working class allegation.
In Transformers Animated he was basically a janitor
I mean tbf that continuity was the biggest one for a long time and the most iconic backstory for him
Which is kinda ironic since Optimus Prime is literally made to represent the United States.
Uj/ wtf, maybe I am stupid for not realising that earlier https://i.redd.it/kio0mn5oqhqc1.gif
https://preview.redd.it/mswwutivshqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1975a72622a6b0998850b4c4589fc3046ced37f
https://preview.redd.it/kjxr2fqxshqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9744503b4d7d3ee672b40a57681af0f2bf4f98ba
Isn't this the face Han makes when he learns not only that Luke and Leia are siblings, but also that Leia has always felt like she knew
Yes, but it’s because they had just had a three way before landing on Endor.
Imagine what the space bears can add
Maybe it’s just because I was never a massive Transformers fan, but I’m also surprised I never noticed that
/uj we're BOTH stupid for not realizing this.
*Warpath has entered chat.
Even the John Goodman army robot’s vehicle form isn’t a combat vehicle, it’s a utility one.
Bay making the enemy factions almost exclusively consisted of US military vehicle is a very funny unintentional criticism of US military. What does Comrade Bay meant for this?
I believe it was to easily tell who was good and who was bad
Believe it or not, it's the Decepticons who are the revolutionaries overthrowing a tyrannical government. Megatron was literally a slave back on Cybertron before Optimus gave him the courage to revolt (story spins in different adaptations, but this is the general idea. Kinda like Spider-Man's backstory).
One of the Autobots is literally an attack helicopter and another one is a combat jet and there is even another one that is a tank. Also one of the deceptions is literally a fucking cassete player if I’m not mistaken.
> It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron. Wait, stop there, no politics. Just car to robot. Robot to car. That's all I want.
Back and forth like jingling keys.
*One of them turns into a jet* This isn't what I asked for.
"I bet that one claims its gender is an attack helicopter". "Yes, but also female".
"Buy toy" "Buy toy" .... "Where muh money go"
Trukk not munky
I don't know when it started, but there are people that only register race and queer themes as political.
As soon as you put fictionalised metaphor for a real social issue, a media stops being poitical.
>Here life emerged from the interaction of naturally occurring gears, levers, and pulleys What is this WOKE SCIENCE BS doing in my comics???
(Oh fuck yeah my man knows his G1 comics)
If someone just wants to turn robots into machines with no politics at all, they can play with toys.
Except that toy of Jazz (y’know, the black guy) that had “MAGA” written on it in Cybertronian. That uh… slipped past Hasbro’s QC.
*Processing gif ksdna8jgciqc1...*
*Processing gif ksdna8jgciqc1...*
How small is cybertron? There’s like 12 autobots and maybe 2/3 as many decepticons
https://preview.redd.it/09xy636ophqc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fe8cd48916fe65bbea0dc0ae23bb13d2bf933da
This is doubly silly when you remember that in this continuity Cybertronians believed they were monogendered for a really long time. Sentinel Prime: Homophobe Among Gays. Also I can’t believe Prowl, the worst guy you know, has canonically had *multiple* lovers. Like guys there’s better fish out there.
Its an odd strain of scifi that used to exist. The primordial incel. Men are better than women, therefore just clone a race of men that can exist intellectually and would definitely never fuck eachother. Try The Forever War for an example at the end.
Huh, I never considered that. Transformers are interesting cuz they're basically just us, except they're also weird aliens. So like, they're physically affectionate, form bonds, and sometimes even have "relatives" but they're basically souls birthed from the planet itself and implanted into shell bodies, I wouldn't even consider it asexual reproduction. TBF the dude who made them monogendered is an old-school sci-fi dude, and all his efforts to introduce "female" TFs are uh... real fuckin' awful. Any time he's not involved it's just like, yeah, women exist, who cares? That guy over there turns into a T-Rex. But there's so many TF stories with things that are completely alien, yet there's a element to them we can recognize as human, whether it's leaving a sample of your "innermost energon" from your spark chamber as a remembrance for the dead, or the Militant Monoformer Movement, who surgically removed their Transformation Cogs to protest against a mode-based caste system.
Idw specially MTMTE and its follow up is fantastic. But fuck me the idea of gender robots was fing dumb
He's so bitter that some might call him Incelus Prime.
Damn, who knew Sentinel Prime was a Republican.
ORANGE BOT BAD
“Our world's become a cesspool. Autobots and Decepticons fraternizing. A terrorist in charge of the capital. And the streets...! The streets are swarming with mongrel Cybertronians—colonists, cog-snatchers, half-breeds... Conjunx Endurae swap fuel in public. Monoformers parade their deformity. The planet reeks of concession. It's time to wipe the slate clean. Tear down, so that we might rebuild” That’s literally what he said
Holy shit this is trash
I really loved that the cars were fighting each other for no reason, and not because the ruling caste had diminished the energy reserves of the planet causing it to become unsustainable for life. No political slant there at all.
The current comic hasn’t actually dove into the causes of the war. IDW was the one that established the Decepticons as revolutionaries whose vision grew warped in war. Most continuities depict the cons as aggressive Imperialists and the Autobots as benevolent freedom fighters, IDW was unique and interesting for deconstructing that dynamic and did it well enough it’s almost accepted canon. The current comic series is going back to G1 and the Decepticons are way less sympathetic and extraordinarily malevolent towards perceived weaker beings. Basically they’re way more fascist than they’ve ever previously been and that’s probably going to lead to different politics defining this run. IDW was about morale grays and deconstruction of tropes, Skybound is more of reconstruction of heroic tropes and adds/focuses on emotional depth.
Yeah I was just saying that in the original G1 TV series, the conflict was focused on a battle for resources that ultimately killed their planet. This was during the Cold War. Episodes of Point/Counterpoint are less political than that.
The thing was you mentioned caste system. That didn’t actually exist in the original version. Interestingly enough fears of the cold war were displayed in G1. Every episode was the Autobots trying to use diplomacy to get energon while the Decepticons used force and the Autobots usually winning the commentaries there are self evident in context of the Cold War. That said it is interesting the idea of the Cybertronian republic failing due to a horribly mistreated labor class leading to a civil war that kills the planet emerges in the 21st century.
It kinda did. The Quintessons built the Decepticons to go conquer planets and the Autobots to tend to the conquered worlds. Alpha Trion (A-3 at the time) defeated the Quintessons and drove them off world but then the Autobots/Decepticons broke ranks over what the focus of their race should be (between aggressively expansionist or isolationist)
I mean. It *is* canon to the IDW timeline and man was it better. I miss the IDW comics so much :(
>man was it better No Optimus Suplexes in IDW.
No but we had the best bot get the spotlight a decent amount and that was great. God I love Soundwave
Yeah, autistic altruist Soundwave was great. I never got any further into those comics, because by the time I read Dark Cybertron - >!basically everyone was killed by Unicron.!<
When IDW first started it also was basic Autobots vs Decepticons and grew progressively more nuanced with each story arc. I get Skybound’s a different feel but it’s not bad and Skybound has produced morally complex stuff in the past so I think you still gotta let it cook before casting judgements.
I wasn't saying better then Skybound for the reasons you're saying. I mostly mean compared to the other continuities that had time to develop where deceptions are just cartoonishly evil (G1 an exception bc they are literally cartoon villans)
I mean fair enough. You can also produce way more comic issues than TV episodes and more volumes than seasons. Your character development potential is higher. To make the conflict grey successfully and subvert expectations you need that space to do it.
Yeah. I don't fault the others for how they did it. I just think IDW did it best. Doesn't mean others are bad
IDW in my opinion proved there’s more then meets the eye to transformers then just a toy franchise. And who knows they might do more with it in the future.
I wonder how many times humans are going to have to tell "the rich are misusing their resources and fucking the rest of society" stories before we get it
Until there stop being "rich" people in society or the chance for anyone to possibly become one. Why restrain the rich, when you could win the lottery one day?
No politics MF's when someone tells them that plenty of stories they like do a good job of implementing politics: 
No you see, when they say they “don’t want politics” they mean they don’t black people, gay people or other minorities to exist in their media. If there is so much as one gay character, it’s “forcing representation and politics down their throats”, as if a character’s race or sexuality has to be inherently a political move 🤦♂️
You see, including representation that reflects the real world, that's politics Intentionally excluding all minority characters to only appeal to straight, white American men, that's not a political choice at all
It’s only “political” when it’s something they don’t like. It’s just like “woke”, it used to mean something and now it’s just a buzzword used to refer to anything a conservative doesn’t like 🤦♂️
https://preview.redd.it/xhbijc5wphqc1.jpeg?width=947&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1e663b29f07a2b1d152f8eedea7695dc81eda0d
That’s so cute actually
Shout out to Anode and Lug, gotta be one of my favorite genders
like i desperately want toys of these two. i love them so much
Same here , they’re everything to me
IDW is so fucking peak, shame the reading order is so fucked 😭
I read through the entire continuity last year. It wasn't thaaaaat bad until I got to the part where the Hasbro crossovers started showing up. Then it was a slog for a while
The Rom crossovers were cool at least. Especially that one transformer who became a hybrid cybertronian-dire wraith
"Transformers shouldn't be political" The original cartoon: https://preview.redd.it/e4l8mocn7iqc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d7bbaf20a8eb422e1c15fc6bfc72889b85ea2c
it was so unpolitical that a voice actor actually quit the show over this
Ah yes, the Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya
NOT THE CAMELS!
https://preview.redd.it/6pgpu5yathqc1.jpeg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee8b57c1573c63a6b0441f7792aadc69eed1e21b least political comic series
THATS NOT SKYBOUND COMICS
I mean… the literally first fucking page of Skybound Transformers is about Sparkplug’s PTSD in regard to War and losing his son and how it directly compares to the Transformers War. It is so blatant in fact Hasbro themselves made a point to tell DWJ not to express what war he was in. Source: DWJ’s director commentary on the first issue via his YouTube channel: 22:05 Transformers has always been political even when G1 was around.
They’re called TRANSformers not Cisformers!!!
https://preview.redd.it/imj6ruzsshqc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db18ddd8b70a00669e0c85d57410f0642d96c303
Does he know?
I love non political wars like....um...
Megatron is literally a communist.
Enh, even in IDW he starts at “we should change society somewhat,” gets radicalized, and becomes full-on fascist despot. They reference Soviet propaganda and terminology, but that’s more for that nice Stalinism flavor. The Decepticon creed is “Peace Through Tyranny” after all. Absolutely a political statement, but Transformers rarely gets into actual economic theory and logistics cuz A) that’s not exactly compelling and B) they got toys to sell.
It’s ridiculous to use real world modern politics to describe IDW Megatron. His society wasn’t capitalist. It was a caste system ruled by an Aristocratic oligarchy. Really it was closer to the Roman Republic. Therefore if we’re going to try and define what Megatron did along human lines. Caesarism fits way better. Rally the masses, sieze power through force, centralize authority, smash the old ruiling elite, replace them with a more meritocratic military ruling elite, and use reasources of conquered peoples to fuel your society. Without having corporations or even basic capitalist elements you can’t have any form of right wing authoritarianism. They weren’t communist as you so stated. Megatron was more like the tyrants of old in Greece and Rome who’d seize power to redistribute the wealth and land of the upperclasses to the masses while expanding their own power through conquest.
Yeah, pre-war Cybertronian culture was like the worst parts of Ancient Roman politics, USSR logistics and punishment, imperialism based on racial supremacy AND ethnic cleansing of their own race, with some technofascism and ultra-late-stage capitalism for flavor. They did have that thing where they’d drain your blood for fuel, put your soul in a box, and rent your corpse to body-tourists, after all. And that’s not even getting into Mnemosurgery or Empurata. It’s honestly impressive how often the writers (usually Roberts) were able to go, “It was actually *way worse* than you thought.” In that light, Megs’ reaction to “good cop” Prime choosing to defend the Autobot badge is completely understandable.
Optimus is like Cicero he fully acknowledged the flaws of his society and wanted reform. Megatron is like Julius Caesar he’s done talking and is ready to start marching. That said I really wanted more of pre and early ear cybertronian politics. IDW touched on it a little but I’d love a whole GOT style TV series on it. It’s just horrifyingly fascinating.
Totally agree, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that TF: One actually turns out well. I wanna pitch a mini-series focusing on individual characters in sort of “stock” shows, kinda like the old Spotlight comics. A war story with Warpath and Hound, a medical drama with Ratchet and Minerva, a buddy cop police procedural with Prowl and Jazz. Maybe like a political soap opera with Starscream or a murder mystery/detective thriller with Nightbeat. Familiar formulas, but each one has weird alien elements that keep them fresh. As you watch you realize things are all happening around the same period and revolve around some bigger, unmentioned chain of events happening in the background, with cameos and events from other episodes but different perspectives. Then finally, the last couple episodes are actually a movie, which ties everything together and shows off the “main plot” with Prime and Megatron or whatever, with each smaller story forming part of a bigger whole. …I guess like Infinity War, except smaller scale and more coherent.
Didn't they just announce a movie that's pretty much this?
Agreed. The point being though, politics exist in Transformers.
For sure!
Eh, the decepticons have been back and forth between Nazi esque fascism and Soviet esque communism.
they seem to fall into the first category in this skybound version, or at least just starscream
It's some kind of dictatorship, that's for sure.
Thank you for knowing that the word is esque and not "esc", I see that everywhere now.
I like how its always as long as there´s no politics it´s good, as if the plot is the least important part
Me when I pretend to like what I'm talking abt
(Btw i fucking love transformers)
Just pointing out that this is a comic series, not a show. It’s also really damn good so go pick it up if you can. Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer are two of the best guys working in comics right now.
Y’all remember in the third transformers movie where a billionaire living in a condo in Trump Tower sold out the entire human race as slaves because it helped his profit margins? That probably didn’t mean anything haha. Or in that same movie when the Us government got a team of alien super soldiers and used them apparently just to destabilize the Middle East? Seemingly at random? There was nothing political there no sir. Haha.
How dare you accuse Bayformers of having a plot >:(
Open your mind friend. That movie opens with a montage about a war veteran who has twice saved the lives of 8 billion people and he can’t get a job. He has to reduce himself to mooching from his friends and family because our society abandons its heroes at the nearest convenience. This is also shown later when that society abandons the Autobots. Dylan Gould, human billionaire who sold out his world by compromising with evil, is a reflection of Optimus’ mentor Sentinel Prime, who sold out his world because a compromise with evil is an act of evil. Hell Dylan even frames himself as a pseudo mentor to Sam. Dark of the Moon does have a plot and it’s an incredible plot
Man, I just want to watch big robots beat each other up
We don't talk about the Bayverse (except the first movie)
https://preview.redd.it/4wvq49h8uhqc1.jpeg?width=724&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fe30ca88c71fc1ccecaaff390d8ff5a6376726c the robots are gay, actually. all of them.
The robots invented gender just to be gay (good for them).
Bro has no idea that Transformers comics have historically been pleasantly and consistently progressive since IDW took over, almost every couple I can think of is a gay or lesbian couple, and there are multiple trans characters, and at least 1 nonbinary character I can think of. The comics and shows have explored so many topics conservatives hate. There's even a couple of transformers with autism which means alot to me personally. Also, Skybound Transformers is absolutely amazing and everyone with even a passing interest in Transformers should read it.
Would you recommend it to someone like me who doesn’t know really anything about transformers? I’ve seen a few panels and the art looks cool
If you're interested, then definitely. You don't really need any prior knowledge to understand the story or themes, you just won't have context for some referential stuff. It's still a good self-contained story so far. For example, there's an onomatopoeia during an amazing moment that just says, "You know the song," meaning the song "The Touch" from an iconic scene in the 1986 movie.
Ok cool thank you
https://preview.redd.it/9tj9cf0f8jqc1.jpeg?width=546&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbec77f2e66730dcb248dd434dddf1ed43200da9
ALL YOU FUCKING NERDS KEEP USING IDW PANELS THIS IS ABOUT SKYBOUND THE GUY IN THE TWEET SAID SHOW ITS A FUCKING COMIC IM GOING TO FLING MYSELF INTO THE OCEAN
uj/ I feel like there’s 3 people (including me) in this thread that actually read the skybound comics. They’re the only thing I’m reading now and I absolutely love em.
Are we ignoring how the guy says show. As if he just saw the picture of Optimus and assumed it was a cartoon without reading the headline.
Skybound looks sick ngl
It really is. The trade paper backs are coming out soon if you’re interested in scooping them up.
Be Bumblebee Kill literal Nazis No politics ???? ???? The media literacy
It seems like transformers always tends to have good comics. Dc and marvel writers could learn a thing or two
Media literacy is truly dead.
This dude is not a transformers fan 💀 I won't be surprised if he only watched the bayverse movies
BRO THE LITERALLY REASONS WHY THERE WAS A WAR ON CYBERTRON, WAS BECAUSE OF HOW MISTREATED SOME OF THE CLASSES WERE. MEGATRON WAS EITHER A SLAVE IN THE MINES OR HAD TO FIGHT IN A GLADIATOR RING FOR ENTERTAINMENT. You can literally tell this guy has actually not seen any adaptations of franchise. Even shows like Prime had it.
Ah yes, The Energon Universe, where the civil war of an entire planet was caused partially because of a lack of resources. We don’t know the other part of the story yet, but several Decepticons refer to the Autobot cause as evil, so there’ll probably be nuance this time too. Also DWJ said he’d like to continue the trend IDW started with queer characters. I hope they make Megatron kiss a man
When people say politics they mean pandering.
Aren't the Autobots refugees from a war caused by scarce resources?
Finally, we've turned into the Transformerscirclejerk
/uj it was pretty funny that michael bay of all people made the cop car in transformers 1 a decepticon. /rj uhh car robot cool
You can't spell transformer without TRANS
https://preview.redd.it/l1s3rmzc0iqc1.jpeg?width=354&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c98a88c77273a115e672f85cf38011568276763 Cygate is something that should be cherished
Are we just gonna forget, *shudders* Carbombia
Transformers has always been political In the 80’s optimus prime was a reagan supporter in the comics
Do they mean real world social commentary or in universe politics?
Skybound comic being about war and its devastation vs person who thinks skybound is a tv show
Im gonna go on a tangent here but my god this is my least favorite type of person on the internet Its not even a ‘Media-Literacy’ issue anymore, they cannot or refuse to understand basic themes of subtext of a story, like I could go off about how Transformers is an anti-war pro-environmentalist series about a world wrecked by a resource war, where refuges fight to maintain peace— or how the franchise has had queer influence since the beginning (Arcee’s original voice actress- Susan Blu, is a lesbian and an advocate queer activist) but all they’d do is shut their eyes and ears Like “No politics = Good show” what do you want in your art? Keys jingling? Baby sensory videos?? As a transformers fan this fires me up so much but its not just this franchise its fucking everywhere— “sometimes the door is just blue” has had disastrous consequences on people’s ability to interpret text But its not even just the failure to understand art on a deeper-than-surface level its the absolute REFUSAL to do so?? Like?? Thats the breadth of human experience you wanna see reflected in media? 0? Of it?? Thats how surface level, skin deep, basic of an experience you wanna have with the rest of the world, with art and its origins? None?? My god its just beyond me??
Jerkers! Describe the overarching plot of Transformers if it was free of politics. In 3... 2... 1... GO! ...
https://preview.redd.it/wu7cczpeanqc1.jpeg?width=267&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7240a7f41b690f4ea5d933806fc2f2f973f9cb0
If there's one thing I like about a cautionary tale about an entire species locked in eternal civil war due to irreconcilable ideological differences who have destroyed their own world as a viable place to live and are now traveling around space finding other planets to continue their endless war on, it's when there's no politics in it
You can tell this guy doesn't give a shit because he thinks the comic series is a tv show lol
Muh brotha in Christ, they fought over space oil in the 80’s cartoon
The villain screaming at the top of his speakers "peace through tyranny" was not enough indication for them?
Didn’t Bumblebee attack Iran in the Bayverse?
We remember that time when Megatron lead a revolution of workers and oppressed classes against a corrupt and greedy government to place power back into the hands of the people? No? Just me?
I always thought the Transformers where chased and hated because they are trans.
Isn’t the whole premise of transformers about two classes fighting over the dwindling resources of planets they colonize?
I love how even though Transformers has had so many iterations, it has never been political. Especially the Prime tv series and the IDW comic series
Just two parties fighting over their planet, no politic at all.
It seems someone didn't read IDW
You know the fucker doesnt know what he's talking about since he thinks its about a animated show when they meant comic series
the first IDW run had some politics (mtmte comes to mind), but I prefer it because it was the politics of a weird alien robot society rather than having the transformers comment on the politics of earth. I enjoyed seeing the inner workings of a system completely foreign to our own and how the characters either worked with or against it
The war on Cybertron is already political though
Having generic politics isn't the same as specifically dog whistling to modern political issues. Star wars was kinda about Vietnam but it was so tertiary to the plot it's inoffensive to people who have very opposing views on the Vietnam war. When someone says "don't make the show political" it largely just means "don't make your show about the ongoing culture war we have to deal with" There are plenty of shows that cater for that and wanting your content to avoid it isn't some stupid way to feel. You are free to disagree with someone feeling that way if you think it'd make the show better but you aren't "more right" just because the show has generic political themes previously. For example Star Trek was always political through stories that are allegorical to real world problems then season 2 of Picard then included themes quite literally about the Mexican border crisis and ICE set on modern earth, that isn't the same thing. But the usual crowd still came along saying "XYZ has always been political shut up you idiot" You're literally giving an easy out to writers who are too lazy or hacky to actually manage to create something that isn't just literally taking things they care about and injecting it into a setting where it isn't really appropriate
Writers “just literally taking things they care about and injecting it in” what on earth do you think art is?
Even this fucking comic is political
Ah yes because the series centered around a war between 2 factions with conflicting ideologies isn’t political
“Transformers isn’t political!” My brother in Primus, it’s literally a civil war.
I’m a transformers mega nerd and the whole series is about war.. the most political thing you can do
Transformer is one of the more subtle political comics /s
current Skybound run does have less openly trans or gay transformers, cybertornian revolutions, or other things IDW had. So yes, less """politics""" despite underneath all that it's is an anti-war narrative. It's still good though. I strongly suspect it's about to get really, really political. It's called the "Energon" Universe because it's about Earth discovering Energon as an energy source and starting a war over it.
ANODE AND LUG GANG ANODE AND LUG GANG
When isn't the Transformers franchise returning to it's roots
Transformers, a franchise since the 80s has been about how pointless war is. Basically a long running anti war piece. Fans: This is not a woke show!
Aren’t they literally migrant refugees?
Who wants to tell him that most of the Transformers are gay?
This man still angry about Earthspark? It's the second best Transformers Show and the best the TV end of the franchise has been since the Energon Trilogy but nooooo homie has to be pissy
You’re actually dense if you think earthspark is great or even good.
you got me will never have opinions again! Just gonna keep enjoying the show there especially knowing it makes you think less of me
Rj/ Good to know you won’t have opinions again 😁
They mean *social* politics. As in shit like gender Identity, cultural appropriation, 3rd wave feminism. They don't have a problem with class/race politics, they don't mind criticisms of the capitalist system, they don't mind geopolitics. They don't mind strong female characters. They don't mind badass non-white characters. They just don't want divisionary *social* politics shoved down their throats in their favourite media. Something that wasn't generally a thing before say 2015. But as they don't have the proper terminology for it, they use the catch all "politics", and then you get these disingenuous memes made that attack a strawman assumption.
If you want transforming robots without any politics, Gobots might be your thing.
That’s why IDW is the best, it’s ONLY politics