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Description
Kind of a follow up to the "How to Write Transformers"
Something that's been bugging me for a while in Transformers comics. The urge to kill a character that has a toy, for no damn reason. Back in the day, we understood when a character died, it was because there was no toy of that character being produced anymore, so they got to go out in a blaze of glory. However, even so... Before they did, they usually had a few stories dedicated to them, that made the people who bought their toys feel like they actually bought a character and not just a hunk of plastic. Ironhide bought it in the movie, but he had a crapload of great stories told for him. Omega Supreme got wasted by Starscream in Issue #50 of Transformers, but in a way, it was a revenge tactic, as he had previously wasted Starscream. We felt okay with it.
Lately, it's been if they're not in the movie or they weren't a G1 character, then they're just cannon fodder. And that bugs me. Every Breakaway, Incinerator, and Fracture you kill is a potential story. Sure, you could say "But Dave, no one cares about them." Yeah, well, no one cared about Nightbeat, Bludgeon and Thunderwing until Simon Furman came along and MADE people care about them. Even in the Classics/Universe and movie line, there was "new characters" made up, and instead of developing those characters, they usually ended up killed, and usually in an off handed manner.
Normally, this wouldn't bother me too much, but on the same note, they'll kill characters who actually has toys that people actually paid for, and then they'll insert in new characters the creative teams made up. This totally baffles me. Why create Flatline, when you could use one of the existing toys in that roll, like Fearswoop or Dirt Boss. Why make up Drift, when more obscure characters like Backstreeet or Tread Bolt would be effective? A more cynical part of me would say they're just hoping to make their mark on Transformers by making the next Straxus or Drift that'll make the jump from comic to toy. But then I look at fictional characters like Drift's former commander, Turmoil, with a giant gun for an hand... And all I could wonder is "Why not use the Heavy Load toy for him? I mean, he's there and he's got a giant gun hand. And they used Dropshot in All Hail Megatron. (Which I have still not read.)
It's just baffling to me. If you have a resource, why not use it?
Something that's been bugging me for a while in Transformers comics. The urge to kill a character that has a toy, for no damn reason. Back in the day, we understood when a character died, it was because there was no toy of that character being produced anymore, so they got to go out in a blaze of glory. However, even so... Before they did, they usually had a few stories dedicated to them, that made the people who bought their toys feel like they actually bought a character and not just a hunk of plastic. Ironhide bought it in the movie, but he had a crapload of great stories told for him. Omega Supreme got wasted by Starscream in Issue #50 of Transformers, but in a way, it was a revenge tactic, as he had previously wasted Starscream. We felt okay with it.
Lately, it's been if they're not in the movie or they weren't a G1 character, then they're just cannon fodder. And that bugs me. Every Breakaway, Incinerator, and Fracture you kill is a potential story. Sure, you could say "But Dave, no one cares about them." Yeah, well, no one cared about Nightbeat, Bludgeon and Thunderwing until Simon Furman came along and MADE people care about them. Even in the Classics/Universe and movie line, there was "new characters" made up, and instead of developing those characters, they usually ended up killed, and usually in an off handed manner.
Normally, this wouldn't bother me too much, but on the same note, they'll kill characters who actually has toys that people actually paid for, and then they'll insert in new characters the creative teams made up. This totally baffles me. Why create Flatline, when you could use one of the existing toys in that roll, like Fearswoop or Dirt Boss. Why make up Drift, when more obscure characters like Backstreeet or Tread Bolt would be effective? A more cynical part of me would say they're just hoping to make their mark on Transformers by making the next Straxus or Drift that'll make the jump from comic to toy. But then I look at fictional characters like Drift's former commander, Turmoil, with a giant gun for an hand... And all I could wonder is "Why not use the Heavy Load toy for him? I mean, he's there and he's got a giant gun hand. And they used Dropshot in All Hail Megatron. (Which I have still not read.)
It's just baffling to me. If you have a resource, why not use it?
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I'm still hopping mad about how Wheeljack was mishandled in Dark of the Moon.
He had no significant presence in the film, with no important dialogue and maybe a minute of screentime. He had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it introduction scene under a different name and likeness, handed out a few gizmos... and then got slaughtered in an event that in no way added to the film's emotional impact or story richness!
And unless you had read the comic book tie-ins or closely looked at the credits, you wouldn't have realized he was there in the first place. We never even got to see this G1 mainstay's Bayverse likeness really done in live action before they killed him.