Razorbeast's characterisation

[Gomess]

But, why write fanfic? When I do put pen to paper, (or more honestly, hands to keyboard), I am generally writing something that I hope will lead to something.

Which is your favourite part of sex? The beginning, the middle, or the end? I write because I enjoy the process, not to "accomplish the achievement of having written".

You are taking that way to hard.

You *put* it hard, remember? I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my ideas "cringeworthy" with no hint of humour or, more importantly, a desire to back up your assertion.

No, you are not obligated to follow or like TF at all times. (How interested am I in the movies?)

Thank you for conceding a point for once. I'm gonna have that quotation framed.

dicksweater?

You took the metaphorical "thread" of my fondness for pre-UT TF and metaphorically "wove" it into a "sweater", as a dick would do. C/f "making a mountain out of a molehill". Came up with it on the spot. Not my best, I admit.

...Even so, thanks all for information pertaining to Razorbeast's various portrayals.

[Dominic]

No problem.

That said, "cringe worthy" might be a bit harsh. But, you took it way too hard. (Do you see me losing my poop about your "conceding a point" remark?)

Still, when you make comments about writing TF stories dealing with bigotry, (a remark made in one of the UK comic discussions), part of me cringes because I do not want to see more polemic comics that deal with modern issues and such.


Dom
-not learning to love Beast Wars any more.

[Gomess]

That said, "cringe worthy" might be a bit harsh. But, you took it way too hard. (Do you see me losing my poop about your "conceding a point" remark?)

Of course not, but all that proves is that *you think* I took it way too hard. Have you seriously never been in a situation where you've accidentally offended someone, and felt compelled to just straight-up say, "I'm sorry, I'll try not to do it again" without any mitigators or modifiers?

when you make comments about writing TF stories dealing with bigotry, part of me cringes because I do not want to see more polemic comics that deal with modern issues and such.

Well, that sounds like a knee-jerk reaction. Are you assuming that because I'm actively against racism and sexism that I'm going to rewrite BW canon so that Optimus Primal is an Indian-accented female in a wheelchair, and have a storyline where Scorponok gets addicted to LSD? I have no interest in preaching, but you won't find any cheesecake or racial stereotyping in anything I write, either.

...That said, Tigatron's tech spec doesn't actually use any gendered pronouns... Heh heh heh...

(Impressed we've written two pages of nothing whatsoever to do with Razorbeast.)

[Dominic]

Dude, I am misunderstood all the time. (I have actually gotten better on this. But, eh, nobody is perfect.)

...That said, Tigatron's tech spec doesn't actually use any gendered pronouns... Heh heh heh...

And, stuff like that makes me cringe. Tigatron is male, (as much as that should matter to a TF, which in BW was more than it reasonably should have.....). Just changing that is the sort of thing that should be avoided.

This also relates to the problem with fanfic. In order to be consistent with official content, it is generally going to be derivative. The more it changes, the less point there is in it even being tied to a franchise.

Dom
-and we are still light years ahead of "The Burning Hammer".

[Gomess]

Like I said, I'd base any BW story I did on the toy continuity. Tigatron's tech spec is ungendered. Logic is a dish best eaten cold... Enjoy!

It was a conscious decision on Mainframe's part to make the genderless Tigatron toy character male (don't bother bringing up the "same mould as the male Cheetor" thing; Tracks and Road Rage shared a mould, too). What's wrong with choosing the other gender? As I've said many many times, the whole *point* of this exercise is to create a BW story truly distinct from Mainframe's. I'm just going back to basics (and deluxes, and megas...), building from the original foundations up.

Gender would be an important issue in my version of BW, since I'd make them sexually reproducing silicon-based life forms. Synjo will enjoy that! ...But with no actual sex happening. Booo, Synjo won't like it. =[

For what it's worth, I'd leave Scorponok as male, despite the fact his tech spec is ungendered, too. So, you can just focus on him and ignore Tigatron (in fairness, I probably would make Tigatron male, if only so I can create a truly androgynous Tigerhawk).

...Of course, if you're not gonna read my story, none of this should bother you. =3

[Ursus mellifera]

Gender would be an important issue in my version of BW, since I'd make them sexually reproducing silicon-based life forms. Synjo will enjoy that! ...But with no actual sex happening.

But.... sexual reproduction requires that sex happens. Otherwise the reproduction is not sexual. So maybe instead of putting tab A into slot B they instead merge their programs or somesuch? It's still sex.

To follow that up, would they enjoy it? Or would it simply be something they did in order to make more of them.

To follow THAT up, would there be children, or would the new 'bots form as fully functional "adults?"

I apologize for rambling, and I understand that this has nothing to do with Razorbeast, either.

[Gomess]

You misunderstand, my friend! There would be dirty, greasy, penis-in-vagina SEX (in either mode, too!), but I wouldn't show it. Dig?

The offspring would of course be children. And grow with appropriate variety (I'd probably make Waspinator wasp-sized, even in humanoid mode).

But there'd be no "bots" involved; like I said, they'd be organic life forms that just happen to be silicon- rather than carbon-based. I don't recall there being explicit mention of Beast Wars TFs being *robots* in the toy marketing; correct me if I'm wrong, but regardless, it didn't stop Furman doing basically the same. Marvel G1 TFs weren't "robots".

And yes, they would eventually learn to do it recreationally.

Don't apologise; you're helping me develop the idea! =]

[Onslaught Six]

Gender would be an important issue in my version of BW, since I'd make them sexually reproducing silicon-based life forms. Synjo will enjoy that! ...But with no actual sex happening.

But.... sexual reproduction requires that sex happens. Otherwise the reproduction is not sexual. So maybe instead of putting tab A into slot B they instead merge their programs or somesuch? It's still sex.

I think G's point was that at absolutely no point would he show Tigatron fucking Airazor. Or anybody else for that matter. Could it be implied? Probably. Maybe even indirectly implied by them having children or something.

To follow that up, would they enjoy it? Or would it simply be something they did in order to make more of them.

To follow THAT up, would there be children, or would the new 'bots form as fully functional "adults?"

These are valid questions and I'm sure G is prepared to answer them.

I apologize for rambling, and I understand that this has nothing to do with Razorbeast, either.

I love how whenever we take stuff off the rails, there's occasionally a hint of "Oh wow this is offtopic I'm sorry," even though the only thing we've ever done since day one here is derail threads.

I get the feel G occasionally throws in strange changes out of left field for the sake of doing something different if nothing else. I remember that was a huge thing we always did. In fact, I seem to remember you made Iguanus female in Ethereal, and then we decided that TFs don't have gender anyway, so everybody else still referred to Iguanus as male, and then Torca started romancing him/her. (I think when 86 and I started turning Ethereal into a human-based anime parody, Iguanus became definitively female, but we made her a tomboy who worked as a mechanic and pilot. Because all pilots were women, I think, because they had better reaction times or something.)

[Dominic]

I know it has come up before, (and some of this is based on real time conversations with Honey Bear), but some of the show characters have female alternate modes.

-Tigatron: If we assume he scanned Snowstalker, he scanned a female tiger.

-Waspinator: Had a stinger. And, the wasp he scanned was behaving like the female of a species that I cannot recall the name of.
-Tarantulas: Beast mode proportions.
-Megatron: ditto
-Inferno: scanned a female.

don't bother bringing up the "same mould as the male Cheetor" thing; Tracks and Road Rage shared a mould, too)

Yeah, I know. And, that annoys me as well. (I am just going to call my red Tracks custom "red Tracks" and be done with it.)

Still, I can do one better. "Armada" Sureshock is listed as both male and female, depending on where you look. The cartoon and Japanese tech specs assume female. But, the US sourcebook (and presumably comics), convention/fan-club material, and toy packaging assume Sureshock is male.

Preponderance of evidence says "male". But, there is still a case for "female".

The few times that gender differentiation comes up officially, most of the characters are stated to be male. (This includes the Arcee "Spotlight", where it is also demonstrated that gender is an unnatural distinction for TFs, but they recognize it without thinking.) So, yeah, just making a character female for the hell of it is kind of text book fanfic.

don't recall there being explicit mention of Beast Wars TFs being *robots* in the toy marketing; correct me if I'm wrong, but regardless,

Yeah, but you know they were robots all the same. I do not feel like researching dozens of profiles, (including some really bad ones), to figure it out though.

Why make them silicon based? It seems like a change for the sake of changing something.

Dom
-remembers a *really* bad fanfic that described G1 Laserbeak as female....

[Gomess]

I think G's point was that at absolutely no point would he show Tigatron fucking Airazor. Or anybody else for that matter. Could it be implied? Probably. Maybe even indirectly implied by them having children or something.

10/10. Let's face it, Tigerhawk was their kid.

I get the feel G occasionally throws in strange changes out of left field for the sake of doing something different if nothing else.

You're probably right to an extent, but I'm too self-aware for it to be *just* that. I always try to make it context-appropriate, and ensure that it adds something genuinely new or entertaining. And, really, who's going to be *hurt* if I make all three Tripredacus members female? And so what if I saw Whip It recently?

I seem to remember you made Iguanus female in Ethereal

Quite right! And as you pointed out, this was basically because there weren't enough female characters in it. On reflection, though, his tech spec does explicitly state he's male, so that's what I'd go with now. =3