TF Prime episodes

[Gomess]

Simplistic childish elements + Grisly 'adult' elements mishmashed side-by-side =/= Family viewing. How do Hasbro not get this...?

A mixture is different to a compound.

[Mako Crab]

Simplistic childish elements + Grisly 'adult' elements mishmashed side-by-side =/= Family viewing. How do Hasbro not get this...?

A mixture is different to a compound.

Worked for the movies. Of course, those are childish in a whole different way. Take that away and you're left with something like IDW's movie-based comics, which were far too dry, boring and serious without the human element there to provide some relief from the war drama.

[Dominic]

It is not the fact that the movie have humans in them that is the problem, it is the writing. Trashy college/summer comedy style writing helps nobody.

"Reign of Starscream" is the only good thing to come out of the movies.


Dom
-admits that "Defiance" was readable.

[Gomess]

I've always balked at the idea that there should be less- or even NO- humans in TF fiction. This is an assertion I've only ever heard made by nutters on the internet, in fairness, but it still boggles the mind.

I suppose these are the same fans who prefer their TFs to be in a super srs multimodal reflection sorting space opera, rather than having to blend into human society, and the ensuing hijinks. That old argument again!

I mean... if there shouldn't be humans in TF... then the TFs may as well not have vehicle modes. Especially with seats. I think the problem is most of the writers haven't taken much care in constructing the human characters as truly sympathetic, instead of simple child-conduits (like Daniel was).

And *that's* why I like Masterforce!

...Wouldn't mind another TF series that at least starts with the focus on the humans, rather than the robots. Blimey, even Armada did that.

[Onslaught Six]

The problem is that the humans are always insipid and add nothing to the plot.

That, and even when the series is set on Cybertron or in space, I've always seen those stories as a direct parallel to the human element. TFs are indescribably human--far more than they have any right to be, as robots--so that very fact alone makes 'any' story with them a direct comparison. All of 86 and I's fanfic stories basically centered on this element--that even in space, thousands of years before (or after) meeting human beings, without any direct contact with them--they still act exactly like us.

It's not the human condition. It's the condition of all sentient life.

[Gomess]

Wilder and Cancer are insipid...? Whatevs, dude.

[Onslaught Six]

Those are Japanese human characters; they're different! Masterforce actually looks interesting. But every human character in every American TF series has been really pointless and adds almost nothing to the core conflict. (The exception being Spike in recent IDW, I guess, and some of those army guys in the movies.)

[Shockwave]

So far the current IDW series is the only one that has written them the way they should be. Every other series has basically just had kids running with the Autobots because "KiDs liKe tEh GoOd GUys!" I'd rather have no humans than poorly written ones. Course, my first preferrence would be well written ones.

[Dominic]

The kids in the "Armada" comic were okay. And, the fact that Prime tried to keep them out of things made it even more tolerable. Contrast that with...uh, Koji. "C'mon kid. Leave your mother behind and join us for danger!" Sparkplug Witwicky, as shown in the old comics, is another example of a well-written human character.


Sadly, most human characters are badly written.

[Sydew]

I never liked the idea of kids getting involved in TF, it always seemed unoriginal and irrelevant to any of the stories.
The Masterforce series had a good way of using human characters (even kids) in a relevant manner, to me it was very well done. I remember the idea of how humans were involved with the autobots in the Victory series where Jan was adopted by Star Saber, that was very interesting.