TFs: DARE TO BE STUPID

Discussion in 'Fan Town' started by itsAlana, Aug 28, 2015.

  1. IvyLB

    IvyLB Hardcore Vigilante Gay Chicken Facilitator

    Someone who has literally no idea how to even spell gender politics because there is literally A Single Female Cybertronian Native Alive Right Now and likes other things people would consider way too finicky and boring to be worth paying attention to (watchmaking)? like tbh it makes a lot of sense for his character all things considered xP
     
    • Agree x 3
  2. theambernerd

    theambernerd dead to all sense of shame

    That's true! It's also mostly about miscommunication and futility which is. yeah something he'd enjoy.
    still terrible taste u:
    i have strange movie grudges from my foreign film class whoops
     
    • Witnessed x 2
    • Like x 1
  3. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    ...That's a hell of an old saying.
    Also, goddamnit Sandstorm.

    Also, babies! Baby whats, I'm not sure, but babies!
     
    • Agree x 1
  4. Loq

    Loq rotating like a rotisserie chicknen

    I've only just noticed this from the Upd8 and need to share, so
    2017-06-19 08.19.04.png
    Can I offer you a canon boobs-and-butt-posed Starscream in these troubled times?
     
    • Winner x 9
    • Like x 1
  5. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    There's a guy getting mad about homosexuality in the comments on TAAO10 on Viewcomic and I kind of want to just troll him for "getting so upset over a comic about children's toys".
     
    • Like x 2
  6. TheOwlet

    TheOwlet A feathered pillow filled with salt and science

    DO IT
     
    • Agree x 3
  7. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    Eh, it looks like it requires a Facebook account. I'm not going back there; I served my time already.
     
    • Agree x 2
  8. spockandawe

    spockandawe soft and woolen and writhing with curiosity

    ......brainstorm, why does your lab have a facehugger robot? A cybertronian-sized facehugger robot?

    facehugger.jpg
     
    • Winner x 6
  9. KingStarscream

    KingStarscream watch_dogs walking advertisement

    First thought: Funny Joke

    Second thought: Brainstorm's access to Earth media has given him a wide variety of unique and interesting fetishes.

    Third thought: There's Larrydraws Porn Of This Somewhere
     
    • Agree x 6
    • Winner x 2
    • Like x 1
  10. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    I wanted to do a brief Phase One roundup because apparently I just have a lot of things to say. Like, a lot of things. Also many images. Fear my nested spoilers of doom. (There's even one mention of Victor von Doom.)

    So. Most interesting character arcs: Thundercracker and Sunstreaker.

    I think phase 1 Sunstreaker has been covered pretty thoroughly already in this thread, but here are a few moments from when Thundercracker first gets to show signs of having an actual personality:

    From the first issue of All Hail Megatron, when the Decepticons give up the subterfuge and just full on invade Earth:

    [​IMG]

    Starscream: Muhahaha fear me!
    Skywarp: Muhahaha fear Megatron!
    Thundercracker: Uhhh... hmm.

    [​IMG]

    Starscream: Dammit Megatron, quit upstaging my rampage!
    Skywarp: Yay rampage!
    Thundercracker: Uhh... hmm.

    Eventually they get to the point where you can actually tell when Thundercracker and Skywarp are miscolored as each other just by the opinions expressed in their dialogue! Amazing!

    Other particularly promising characters I most want to see more of: Starscream, Rodimus, Arcee

    Characters appearing most frequently in snapchat content sent to my sister, who has next to no familiarity with Transformers, with little or no context: Soundwave and Mirage. Because Soundwave is one of my favorites and poor Mirage just ended up having a lot of moments that were funny out of context.

    Favorite spotlight issue: Kup. I like creepy. This is creepy and I like it. Also the author was allowed to tell a complete story and give it the room it needed, rather than having to also squeeze in a bunch of displaced continuity. And the writing and art work so well together, which isn't too shocking since the writer and artist were the same person. Good job Nick Roche.

    Kup is stranded on an alien planet. Every night he shuts himself in the wreck of his ship while terrifying zombie creatures gather outside, calling his name.

    [​IMG]

    This immediately made me think of I Am Legend, the novel, not the movie(s), which according to the wiki was completely intentional.

    The only direct adaptation of I Am Legend I've personally seen is the Will Smith movie, which was entertaining enough for what it was but not a very good adaptation. It sort of omits the entire point of the story, including the whole delicious irony that is the entire reason for the title. This spotlight is its own original story, drawing inspiration rather than retelling, but it's still a better fucking adaptation in my opinion.

    It's been a while since I read it, but to the best of my recollection: the novel is about the last survivor of a zombie-vampire apocalypse scenario. Whatever the monsters are exactly, they're undead. But not necessarily your shambling, brainless undead. It's much worse than that.

    At night he barricades himself inside his house while they gather on his lawn, calling to him, trying to talk him out. It's pretty memorable. If I forget everything else about the story I will remember the dead outside his house, calling his name.

    As he struggles to hold onto his sanity and will to live, he learns to hunt and kill and study them. He becomes very good at it. Renowned, in fact. Because as the new sole race of sentient beings, the undead have begun to build a new society. They have a culture. They have legends.

    They have a legend of a nightmare creature, something not quite like them, a predator who hunts them down and slaughters them in their sleep. He has killed so many. A monster.

    And there's the whole point. That epiphany when the main character's point of view shifts and he realizes his life will be remembered as a different kind of horror story than the one he thought he was in. Dracula for vampires, starring him. I Am Legend. It's almost funny.

    Given the reference, I had certain expectations for where the plot might be going. (Sorta like when Stieg Larsson name-dropped Dorothy Sayers near the beginning of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I was like okay dude, you are now obliged to abide by the fair play rules of the mystery genre. Which he did.) I was not disappointed.

    (Nick Roche also cowrote Last Stand of the Wreckers with James Roberts and is listed as the sole writer on Spotlight: Megatron, which is still a ways ahead of me in continuity but I think I've heard good things.)

    Some favorite amusing things to bring up in conversation:
    • The Autobots' creepy perma-smile holomatter avatars.
    They go through the entirety of Infiltration with avatars that never change expression from a bland smile, because apparently they didn't realize this looked weird. And maybe that's an unlikely mistake for a species where so many members also emote with facial expressions, but I still find it fucking funny. From Infiltration #6:

    [​IMG]

    From left to right, Wheeljack, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, and Prowl. Not pictured but also offenders: Ratchet and Bumblebee. In Escalation #1, Jazz, looking much more natural, thanks Hunter, Jimmy, and Verity for finally explaining this shit to them.

    [​IMG]

    The more you know!
    • That time Sunstreaker created a video game for humans starring himself.
    Also from Escalation #1, directly prior to the above scene I think.

    [​IMG]

    Look okay fair, they're a literally captive audience and as such may not be feeling all that charitable. But Verity, are you really completely unamused by this? The pissiest alien sports car apparently encountered human racing arcade games and thought That Me! And designing an entire working video game, even a very simple one, is a hell of an undertaking. Did he program it too? Because the three virtues of a great programmer are laziness, impatience, and hubris. Surely you'd agree he's at least got that last one down.
    • That time when the Autobots and Decepticons had a big fight in their altmodes, right in the middle of a dispute between Russia and the (fictional) breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya, and the locals had so many questions.
    From Escalation #4

    [​IMG]

    From top to bottom I think that's Skywarp, Wheeljack, Astrotrain, and Prowl. And two very puzzled Brasnyans.
    • That time Ratchet attacked Carol Danvers with an airbag.
    This is from the New Avengers/Transformers crossover (issue #2). I don't particularly consider it canon since it takes place in Latveria, a fictional country in the Marvel universe that seemingly only exists in the IDW universe long enough to have a crossover, and I don't think there's a single contribution to Transformers continuity that isn't covered elsewhere.

    Most of the Avengers aren't even remotely in character for like half the story because it's pretty much an excuse to mash action figures together and make them fight, and they decided the best way to do this was some crazy Doctor Doom contraption that makes organic people really aggressive. Which could be an interesting opportunity to show a different facet of the characters, but I think that was just way out of scope for a project this silly. It feels like the writer probably knew a lot about Marvel continuity (like there's one particularly nice moment of rapport between Logan (Wolverine) and Carol (Ms. Marvel), who have worked together before and have been so good at helping each other through vulnerable moments) but perhaps didn't have a lot to go on with the New Avengers, a brand new team at that point, and also not actually the same lineup shown in this series for some reason. I dunno, it's definitely not going to be mistaken for a masterpiece from any direction.

    But there were some entertaining moments, and I cannot get over Ratchet attempting to subdue Ms. Marvel with an airbag:

    [​IMG]

    FLFFFF.

    It's about as effective as you might expect.

    [​IMG]

    Ratchet, you sweet summer child. It's, uh, good of you to be respectful of the combatant who just shattered your windshield with her fist. You just have no idea how much you are the least of the indignities inflicted on Ms. Marvel. I mean even aside from how the art keeps putting her in that weird dislocated-spine pose so that readers can enjoy a good view of her backside while still getting plenty of side boob.

    The idea of mind control devices sends her into an absolute panic later in this issue. I'm gonna say this is almost certainly a reference to a past Avengers plot decision so ill-considered that the writer who rescued her from it felt the need to mercy kill her first to undo it. And I think he made a good call, because it really was that bad. I mean if you wanna talk about a lack of dignity.

    There's a very good essay about the whole incident called The Rape of Ms. Marvel. Sexual assault is honestly not a sufficient content warning for the level of horrifying creepiness, which included mind control machines and some truly bizarre Oedipal shit. With this storyline, Carol was written out of the Avengers to go live happily ever after with her rapist. Really, guys?

    [​IMG]

    Fortunately, writer Chris Claremont, who is best known for writing the entire X-Men line during its rise to popularity, and who had previously worked on Ms. Marvel's solo series, said hey nope. He brought Carol back into Marvel continuity, where she was accidentally effectively murdered by Rogue. Rogue, who absorbs people's powers and like life energy or something via skin contact, touched Carol a bit too long during a fight, permanently absorbing her memories and powers. Professor X, a powerful telepath, was able to return copies of Carol's memories to her mind, but not restore any personal feeling of connection to them. The identity death could not be fixed. (Rogue, who was a villain at the time, was so fucked up over all of this she ran off to join the X-Men.) The upshot of this was that while Carol still got to tell the Avengers off for their appalling behavior, everyone (including her and the audience) was spared from the worst of the continuing trauma of that terrible plot decision.

    So Ms. Marvel died (for a time, as death is so rarely permanent in comics), but Carol Danvers was reborn as the superhero Binary, with the cosmic power of a white hole, and she went off to be an awesome space pirate with Cyclops' dad. Like you do.

    [​IMG]

    Basically what I'm saying is that, in an interstellar burst, she's back to save the universe. (With a rogue southern belle, we're amazed that she survived. Chris Claremont saved her life. ...Yeah I'll stop.)

    Just, I don't think she's gonna waste much time ruing that brief moment she was awkwardly pinned by an airbag. I'm not sure how Ratchet thought that was gonna work anyway, but it fits with his concern for preserving human (or human-Kree) life, and I thought it was kinda adorable.
    • That time Frenzy went crazy and drilled some cows.
    He got left behind when the Decepticons fled Earth after All Hail Megatron. Being separated from Soundwave so long apparently did bad things for his mental stability. He drove some cows mad with fear (either with his fear-causing abilities or just by being a fairly large, crazed robot with drills for hands which I feel is sufficient), caused a stampede, and then drilled them to death before being rounded up by the Autobots. From Bumblebee #1:

    [​IMG]

    Awww, baby. You... really need to wash your hands.
    • Alpha Trion's indomitable sass.
    From Ironhide #3, wherein Alpha Trion has resurrected Ironhide, who has no idea who he is besides a guy in a ridiculous outfit, and just sort of assumed that of course Ironhide would immediately be up for participating in his various plans. Which, uh, not really?

    He tells Ironhide they're the only two Autobots on Cybertron, but Ironhide can clearly see the not-quite-dead Sunstreaker's signal:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Ironhide has so many strong feelings! Alpha Trion's just like okay whatevs. Did I mention I'm Alpha Trion? Hey where are you going?!

    At least Sunstreaker is impressed. Fairly incoherent, but impressed.

    • That time Optimus and Megatron reminisced about all the times they'd almost killed each other and had a chuckle.
    From The Transformers (2009) #22:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I'm sure if I sat here long enough I'd think of more, but this isn't intended to be exhaustive. It's pretty long anyway by this point so I'm gonna just leave it at that.
     
    • Winner x 2
    • Like x 1
  11. spockandawe

    spockandawe soft and woolen and writhing with curiosity

    Oh my god, they're going to fly some guy's corpse off the planet. I'm sort of horrified, but mostly LOVING IT
     
    • Like x 2
    • Agree x 1
  12. spockandawe

    spockandawe soft and woolen and writhing with curiosity

    Apparently transformers five has a scene where Megatron negotiates with lawyers? I still have zero expectation this will be a good movie, but I'm still torn on whether or not to waste movie theater dollars on going to see it :T
     
    • Like x 6
  13. Loq

    Loq rotating like a rotisserie chicknen

    If I do watch it, I'm going to watch it in the same way I watch B-list horror movies, which is to say with much sassing the screen and someone who also acknowledges how shitty they are :P
     
  14. BunjyWunjy

    BunjyWunjy Frabjous

    quick question, is transformers thursday still a thing? I didn't see a ping last week
     
  15. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    Shit! Did I not ping you? Sorry!

    It is a thing, I just took over for last week because Mizi's laptop died a sad death. We watched some G1.
     
  16. mizushimo

    mizushimo the greatest hits

    If anyone wants to know about the Latest Transformers movie, here's a good review by Brad Jones of Midnight Reviews

    There's no visuals from the movie but heavy spoilers, also lots of casual profanity.

    Guys. GUYS it sounds SO BAD.
    SO. BAD. ihavetoseeit

    Brad's Verdict: "This movie is deep fried butter on a stick"
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2017
    • Informative x 6
  17. BunjyWunjy

    BunjyWunjy Frabjous

    thanks for letting me know :)
     
  18. Briar

    Briar Well-Known Member

    Hi! I am new here. I just watched a few episodes on the stream, and have no idea what is going on.
     
    • Like x 2
    • Witnessed x 1
  19. spockandawe

    spockandawe soft and woolen and writhing with curiosity

    Hello!! Out of curiosity, which series was that? Because if it's the eighties series, I'm pretty sure nobody knew what was happening, even the people who were nominally writing the show :V

    (I offer you this representative gifset for the eighties cartoon show)
     
    • Like x 1
    • Agree x 1
  20. Verily

    Verily surprised Xue Yang peddler

    It's worse, it was Armada.
     
    • Winner x 1
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice