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Over at AVP Tumblr we got a lot of “are Javelin or Lugnut empurata victims” type questions so it definitely creates an expectation from people.
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Apr 12, 2024 16:27
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Sorry that happened to you I guess?
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Apr 12, 2024 16:41
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DoctorWhat posted:I think we're overdue for another mass media stab at the Quintesson consumer/industrial/military products origin. That's my favorite version of the origin. It lets the Transformers be a fun meta-commentary on themselves as products that managed to become more meaningful characters.
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Apr 12, 2024 16:54
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Comfortador posted:Do you think the X-men comics should stop using Mutants as an analogy for discrimination as well? I don't consider it cheap at all, I appreciate it's ingenuity personally, not saying you don't have the right to feel the way you do. Probably, they're really bad at it
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Apr 12, 2024 16:56
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Comfortador posted:Do you think the X-men comics should stop using Mutants as an analogy for discrimination as well? I don't consider it cheap at all, I appreciate it's ingenuity personally, not saying you don't have the right to feel the way you do. The X-Men are, if nothing else, actual humans and the discrimination against them lines up better with real prejudices like replacement theory and ableism and stuff based on ability. But even then there’s problems. Fantasy care apartheid exists primarily to justify Robot Hitler’s backstory and make him afraid of organic people oppressing him as a catalyst for him committing galactic genocide.
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Apr 12, 2024 17:07
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Robot Style posted:That's my favorite version of the origin. It lets the Transformers be a fun meta-commentary on themselves as products that managed to become more meaningful characters. Ditto. Sick to death of 13 Primes. Primus. Oh look Primes before Optimus were EVIL. The Allspark being a thing. It's all been done to death. I'm be glad to get a decade away from it all.
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Apr 12, 2024 17:42
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Nodosaur posted:The X-Men are, if nothing else, actual humans and the discrimination against them lines up better with real prejudices like replacement theory and ableism and stuff based on ability. But even then there’s problems. Fantasy care apartheid exists primarily to justify Robot Hitler’s backstory and make him afraid of organic people oppressing him as a catalyst for him committing galactic genocide. I guess I just appreciate the alternate take. Like.. in my head every sentient species that has gotten at least as far as we have will have its discriminations, its judgments, it's dark past. I like the unique approach to how it might manifest in an essentially immortal race of robots. Like if there was a story where Praying Mantis's were in this position, would it be a matriarchy due to the whole "Women eat the males heads after mating thing"? I think the word you chose "cheap" is probably a good description, it doesn't require much thought to come up with a scenario that lets our brain come to that conclusion, but I still appreciate it, especially ones that make me think of something I hadn't before. long-rear end nips Diane posted:Probably, they're really bad at it I guess it depends on your definition of "bad". Like, Obvious? Maybe.
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Apr 12, 2024 18:00
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Somebody post the rainbow dash at auschwitz screenshot.
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Apr 12, 2024 18:03
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The Last Call posted:Ditto. Making the Transformers originate as products also might make it easier to explore what it's like for robots to go to war with each other rather than just treating them as metal people. For example, in a world where the Decepticons were built to be military hardware, how much of their drive for conquest is actually something they can control? If they're programmed to be evil, can they be reprogrammed to be good? Is it even ethical to do so, or would it be like lobotomizing a human being? And on the flip side, do the Autobots protect humans because they want to, or because they've got some "do not allow meat creatures to be harmed" programming that forces them to walk into laser-fire to protect them?
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Apr 12, 2024 18:19
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The trouble with things like functionalism as metaphors for real life discrimination that real life discrimination, especially racial discrimination, isn't based on meaningful tangible characteristics, like eye lasers are turning into a truck. Especially in action heavy genres stories the metaphor inevitably breaks down and you left to consider "actually what should society do about people who can delete buildings with a thought" - In the majority of genre fiction writers are not equipped to answer that in a responsible or insightful way. In addition many of these genre discrimination metaphor stories exist in settings where real life forms of discrimination - against disability, on the basis of race, etc - get heavily or totally subsumed beneath the genre edifice. You also have a lot of Magneto type, Killmonger type villains who "went too far" in these stories - and Megatron seems likely to fill that role in this film. Personally, I'm of the opinion that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, but it doesn't seem like Hollywood screenwriters getting checks from the department of defense always feel the same way. For a great story that features mutants experiencing discrimination without being consumed by any of these pitfalls, I recommend the television miniseries Kamen Rider Black Sun.
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Apr 12, 2024 18:19
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Cybertronian politics were really interesting about the original IDW run and it made for much more interesting stories than just one bad dude starting a war out of nowhere, even if the eventual weird Autobot Megatron story was no good. It gave a lot of grounding to the story to see prewar Cybertron as weird and flawed and also it gave an immediate springboard to be able to keep telling stories about a postwar Cybertron rather than the characters being fundamentally aimless once removed from the underpinnings of the original premise. The idea of robots having to figure out their own personal identity independently from what they were created for seems like the most basic starting point for a story about a race of robot people. Empurata though I don't like for delegitimizing the ability for robots to just have different looking designs than some kind of transformers standard, and I think in general it might've been part of a trend for the series to get too grimdark about things, which being grimdark also undermined a lot of the other attempts to tell more nuanced stories. James Roberts in particular really seemed to like the idea of having characters perform unspeakable acts of cruelty and then pull back to treating them like normal dudes being goofy. Nodosaur posted:The X-Men are, if nothing else, actual humans and the discrimination against them lines up better with real prejudices Not really, it's kind of all over the place and depends on the writer's mood at the time. Sometimes you'll find stories that really hit the nail on the head, but other times they're wild and crazy, often the whole allegory angle is entirely dropped when they go on wacky space adventures. Sometimes they just kinda go crazy and unhinged with the allegory and it's really stupid and badly handled, sometimes they go on weird thought experiments with no meaningful implications on the real world. But I don't think the times when the franchise neglects or fails to properly do an allegory delegitimizes the times that they do go for it.
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Apr 12, 2024 19:04
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I'm real concerned about what the folks over at "AVP Tumblr" are thinking
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Apr 12, 2024 20:36
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what the hell ever, man
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Apr 12, 2024 21:09
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I feel like the writers on the functionist stuff avoided the X-men problem. For one, in a world where everyone can turn into SOMETHING, turning into a truck isn't that special, especially when there's like, fifty other people within any given square mile who also turn into a truck. For two, people are scanning new alt-modes or getting their bodies reengineered or even getting whole new bodies all the time in those stories - their alt-mode is a choice limited by external logistics. Megatron had half a dozen alt-modes over the course of the story. Functionism being specifically based on the mode they're created with, in a world where they could pick a new mode any time they liked if you'd just let them, is what made it fanatically irrational. It's a caste system, not racism against superheroes or whatever. And there IS an equivalent of X-men's mutants within the story, separate from the whole functionism thing, the point one percenters, and those guys don't seem to get specially discriminated against. They get special treatment, if anything - just being the one in charge of the mines when a .1% spark is found is enough to win you special privileges.
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Apr 12, 2024 21:12
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Comfortador posted:I guess I just appreciate the alternate take. Like.. in my head every sentient species that has gotten at least as far as we have will have its discriminations, its judgments, it's dark past. I like the unique approach to how it might manifest in an essentially immortal race of robots. Hate to be the one but the idea that praying mantids always devour the males come from a lab setting. An artificial setting where there is no escape for the male post mating. So yeah, put two animals in a sterile and strange environment and they won't act naturally. It's like throwing two people in an elevator and locking the doors, watching them freak out, and deciding that all people panic when put in elevators. I for one like how the functionist universe set up that it wasn't all gumdrops and rainbows before the Evil Decepticons rose up out of loving nowhere and Fire Nation attacked everything. I like the more moral shades of gray (not every villain has to have a sympathetic backstory of course) where the Council giving Shockwave an emotional lobotomy didn't turn him into a cold-hearted monster but removed all restraints on his morality; he saw it as loving freeing no longer having to wonder about right or wrong, only logical and illogical. We mostly see Shockwave as just an emotionless and faceless threat in the films and shows. And even after the Council was gone, it's not like everything turned happy and wonderful if not for Evil Decepticons. Didn't the next dude who took over made poo poo even worse for a while?
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Apr 12, 2024 21:34
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If you want an alien In fact, just read Children of Time anyway.
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Apr 12, 2024 21:40
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I like it when the robots fight and sometimes one turns into a jet and it PEW PEW PEWS the other guys and they’re all like BLARGH! and one is a car and drives fast and shoots the jet and the jet falls down and they punch and the jet runs away. Sometimes there’s a robot dinosaur and it talks funny and fights a giant green robot.
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Apr 12, 2024 21:41
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Joe Fisto posted:I like it when the robots fight and sometimes one turns into a jet and it PEW PEW PEWS the other guys and they’re all like BLARGH! and one is a car and drives fast and shoots the jet and the jet falls down and they punch and the jet runs away. Sometimes there’s a robot dinosaur and it talks funny and fights a giant green robot. Truly, they were more than met the eye.
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Apr 12, 2024 21:43
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Cowslips Warren posted:Hate to be the one but the idea that praying mantids always devour the males come from a lab setting. An artificial setting where there is no escape for the male post mating. So yeah, put two animals in a sterile and strange environment and they won't act naturally. It's like throwing two people in an elevator and locking the doors, watching them freak out, and deciding that all people panic when put in elevators. They don't?  No you're not "the one" I appreciate the facts, but I hope you at least got my point. Just unique takes on stuff like that from a perspective that's not quite ours, but close enough for us to related/identify.Joe Fisto posted:I like it when the robots fight and sometimes one turns into a jet and it PEW PEW PEWS the other guys and they’re all like BLARGH! and one is a car and drives fast and shoots the jet and the jet falls down and they punch and the jet runs away. Sometimes there’s a robot dinosaur and it talks funny and fights a giant green robot.  
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Apr 12, 2024 21:53
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:If you want an alien  Really bizzare sci-fi, but so drat good. It really helps to google the specific arachnids in question too, because then the whole story is extremely 
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Apr 13, 2024 00:33
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I went to Target today while the 30% off transformers toys sale was still going on, and while all the new stuff was basically all gone, they did have a Studio Series Leader Optimus Primal hanging out, and I immediately grabbed him, since I've wanted him for a while now, and have had no luck tracking this guy down at all. Holy moly this guy is great. I didn't care for the mainline movie figure because that one's a lot more drab and a lot more of a brick, but the Studio Series figure, while still dealing with the kinda drab movie color scheme, just seems to pop way more. It also helps that the sculpt on the figure is just a lot more interesting, and much more well defined. The detail on this guy is fantastic, between all the mechanical panels and all the textured parts meant for like, the skin and hair for munky mode. The damaged silver/metal paint is also a really nice detail that gives the whole look a bit more character. The transformation is also really neat, too, with they manage swapping the heads/chest between the two modes. The arms gave me some trouble in the transformation (you gotta fold the ape mode fingers into the fist before you can swap the hands, and that's not super clear in the instructions), and the leg transformation is kinda weak, though that's always kinda been the case for Primal figures, so whatever. I think the only thing that I don't really care for is maybe the chains? they're neat, but I think I'd rather give them to Battletrap if I ever get that guy, much like how I'd immediately give the axe to ROTB Prime when I eventually get that figure (provided that I can even find one). Also the shoulders are a little too loose on my figure, but that's fixable. I think this might be my favorite Primal toy since the original Beast Wars Ultra back in the day. I do still have a soft spot for Kingdom Primal though.
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Apr 13, 2024 02:15
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It really feels like they went above and beyond to justify a leader class toy that turns from a biped into a biped. They packed that guy with stuff and steps and charisma.
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Apr 13, 2024 03:12
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quote:Via their social media, Hasbro Pulse has announced a new fanstream that will finally reveal the upcoming Robosen Megatron! A tank I assume.
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Apr 13, 2024 03:27
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There are robosen products like Bumblebee and Movie Prime that don't transform, so it might just be a Megatron that walks around.
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Apr 13, 2024 03:33
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Cowslips Warren posted:
Tangent here: I always liked the less sinister G1 cartoon version of Shockwave, and I was disappointed to learn that he originally had Blitzwing's role at the start of the third season. It made sense: he'd looked after Cybertron for millions of years, and he'd choose to protect the planet even if it meant betraying his leader. https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/hasbro-memo-from-1986-asks-to-replace-shockwave-in-the-cartoon-and-add-more-predaking/46784/
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Apr 13, 2024 16:02
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Ha, and then the consequences of Blitzwing's actions were given to Octane anyway
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Apr 13, 2024 18:07
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You expect Galvatron to keep straight the guys he was mad at?
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Apr 14, 2024 00:50
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I found out yesterday that Webworld was written by Diane Duane, so that's pretty awesome. I continue to have read far less of her work than she deserves. Picked up the Reactivate Prime and Soundwave pack from my local guy. I like Prime almost as much as I'd hoped, though I am going to give him the rifle from the Bumblebee movie Prime so he can actually hold it. (The Reactivate rifle has a tiny little handle, it's weird) Soundwave is... Soundwave is there. I like his truck mode but even then it looks like you should be able to store his weapons in the big cavities his calves leave under the car, but they don't fit. Ive got enough differently styled Optimuses now I feel like I should put together a Council of Primes with Rodimus and Primal off in the corner smokin a dart Phy fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Apr 14, 2024 |
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Apr 14, 2024 02:07
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Goddamnit quote is not edit
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Apr 14, 2024 05:30
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The NHS is doing some medical research that requires surveys and a blood sample. You get a £10 voucher in return, and you can use that on Amazon amongst others. I had Earthspark Jawbreaker in my basket for a few days so when I got home I hit buy after redeeming the voucher. I guess I'm at the point where I'm trading blood for toy robots.
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Apr 14, 2024 15:38
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Arquinsiel posted:The NHS is doing some medical research that requires surveys and a blood sample. You get a £10 voucher in return, and you can use that on Amazon amongst others. I had Earthspark Jawbreaker in my basket for a few days so when I got home I hit buy after redeeming the voucher. Welcome to late stage capitalism.
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Apr 14, 2024 16:50
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Arquinsiel posted:The NHS is doing some medical research that requires surveys and a blood sample. You get a £10 voucher in return, and you can use that on Amazon amongst others. I had Earthspark Jawbreaker in my basket for a few days so when I got home I hit buy after redeeming the voucher. Was the doctor who took it named Doctor Acula
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Apr 14, 2024 16:52
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had these tucked away in a bookshelf and decided to sell them, but I have no idea what they're worth nowadays. I feel like I've seen them go for quite a bit before, but also there's no sold listings on ebay currently. one problem I remember them having is the binding is not great, so pages would sometimes come loose, as visible behind the galvatron-cover volume. they're really neat books with lots of info and great photos, as well as little footnotes mentioning things like common breakage points, manufacturing errors, etc. if they still made them to this day I'd probably keep them, but they only go up to beast wars and RID iirc.
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Apr 15, 2024 00:54
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TBH they're interesting things to have in and of themselves, even if the series is not complete and kind of replaced by TFwiki and reading threads of moaning on TFW2005.
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Apr 15, 2024 01:12
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they definitely are, and I've considered having them put in a ring binder to solve the binding problem, but also if they're valuable honestly I'd rather sell them. they're a novelty but I've looked at them maybe once or twice since I originally bought and read them.
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Apr 15, 2024 01:19
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They might have some worth. Old price guides can oddly enough be listed for a high price. Now if they sale for those prices or not, that might depend on how well known they are. There's an old Transformer price guide that goes for quite the pretty penny itself though it's not those pictured. Ah it's "Transformers: Identification and Price Guide". Do a look for that and see how crazy the price is for it. The Last Call fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Apr 15, 2024 |
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Apr 15, 2024 01:43
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drat, that moon rover optimus prime actually looks pretty rad. shame it was A: super expensive and B: sold it immediately https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ndXFBYMQI&hd=1
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Apr 15, 2024 11:51
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Kapow Toys still have him in stock in the UK, and he’s only £65, which doesn’t seem bad for a sizeable Japanese space oddity.
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Apr 15, 2024 12:28
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Captain Invictus posted:had these tucked away in a bookshelf and decided to sell them, but I have no idea what they're worth nowadays. I feel like I've seen them go for quite a bit before, but also there's no sold listings on ebay currently. Why are the titles written like that one spongebob meme TRaNsfOrmErS rECogNiTIoN GUidE
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Apr 15, 2024 15:33
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 Man, toy photographers love their crotch thrusts.
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Apr 15, 2024 18:45
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