HUNTER O'NION RESPECT ZONE

*Shane McCarthy DNI* Mercury, she/her, Sunstreaker fangirl

[1980sactionfigures]

Horri-Bull - Transformers (Hasbro)

[transwomanstarscream]

interior pages for the transformers’ Big Looker storybook “Insecticon Attack!”, published in 1985. painted and illustrated by John Speirs. (source)

[physzoo]

double cee

[tpwrtrmnky]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a really fascinating case study in how to absolutely bungle an adaptation while, on paper, doing a lot of stuff the established fandom would in theory want to see. It's got:

More of the transformers themselves!

Optimus Prime combining with a version of Jetfire to gain a flying form!

Variations on combination including two guys who combine into a shared ice cream truck form!

A combiner so enormous and complex that rendering it caused state-of-the-art render farm computers to melt

A plot revolving around then-obscure deep lore character The Fallen!

Except.

The action is shot in a way where you can barely tell what's going on, the "more transformers" are squeezed in so haphazardly they hop in and out of the plot with no explanation, the fight at the end is such a mess that it's easy to forget anything Optimus is doing, the two guys who combine into an ice cream truck are bizarre racist caricatures, the scenes where the huge combiner is onscreen are so full of dust and explosions you can barely even see it despite all that rendering effort, and finally, The Fallen barely even does anything in the movie and is dispatched in like five seconds like an afterthought.

So yeah. Can't just throw in stuff that the fandom likes. Have to also make a well-written movie. Except I guess it made incomprehensible amounts of money anyway, so evidently that's optional.

[physzoo]

[transformers-comics]

The Great Car Rally (1984) art by Earl Norem

[megop]

[playstationpark]

Optimus Primal ‘Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals’ PlayStation

[arturer]

(x)

[minersedgarsart]

"That's Primus!" I was inspired by the collage splash pages in saw reading a collection of classic Fantastic Four, and wanted to apply the style to the first reveal of Primus.

[minersedgarsart]

"Consider this my Farewell gift" "Is that an autobot?,.. AH!"

[lintufriikki]

got reminded of one of my favorite g1 clips today 😭

[mauditeaffaire]

some insecticon pagedolls i made for fun. f2u everywhere!

[tetrahexianrootbeer]

balloongate

[tetrahexianrootbeer]

popped

[decepti-thots]

'ratbat is not called that bc he turns into a bat, he was a guy who was like a plane or something and was turned into a bat mini-casette because soundwave hated him. no we dont know why he was called ratbat given this' is one of the more Wait, What? details of idw that is even funnier bc it doesn't like...... do anything. it's just there in canon for no real reason. 11/10 no notes what the hell why not

[decepti-thots]

the thing is, i do actually think i know why this happened in an editorial sense- megatron: origins was very infamously a poorly condensed adaptation of a dreamwave miniseries pitch. in dreamwave, ratbat does in fact reformat and become a cassette that works with soundwave after being an average looking guy beforehand in flashback issues set on cybertron, and i'm guessing they just........ did not take this out of the pitch when it moved to IDW, despite the fact that it would have been in there due to this being, like, an actual plot point to some extent in dreamwave, rather than just a random factoid like it ended up being in IDW because nobody there was actually otherwise using ratbat when M:O came out. lol.

when in doubt always remember: This Is Probably Dreamwave's Fault Somehow!

[decepti-thots]

#first praxian prowl and now senator ratbat #truly when in doubt it was probably dreamwave

a list of stuff that is Dreamwave's fault, somehow:

ratbat used to be tall and not a cassette

praxus in general

shockwave is a scientist. (that this somehow isn't actually canon in Marvel feels wrong, lmao.)

orion (optronix, in DW) starting out as a data archivist before becoming a Prime. (this is also the name they went with for the original Shattered Glass fiction, over orion)

soundblaster is a clone of soundwave. (i do think that's probably coincidentally cyberverse coming up with the same idea, though.)

first in-fiction use of the term 'seeker'

sunstorm as a religious weirdo with radiation powers

like there's so much weird random stuff that is first seen in dreamwave but because nobody voluntarily reads dreamwave anymore you just forget. lmao. wild.

[pequod-come-pick-me-up-im-scared]

o_O

[decepti-thots]

the cbs original pitch has this extremely funny aside about jazz btw. porsche slander!! RUDE.

(this is before hasbro told them to bring all characters in line with the bios being worked up for the marvel stuff; the revised pitch is functionally almost all the same bios the comic used.)

[decepti-thots]

other really good bits:

soundwave was originally in starscream's role!

everyone we need to make sideswipe/optimus a thing

i wonder if the 'synthesized' emphasis plus her original body being damaged means they maybe considered giving starscream the kind of voice that sunbow eventually gave soundwave? all processed. hm!

[decepti-thots]

Here!