We've got Hall of Fame voting going on up there

[JediTricks]

I have confirmation that our list has been received and accepted.

Odd to see Devastator get so much of a push. I like Devastator and all, just not that much. (And, I have no confidence in Hasbro's ability to make a good Devastator so it is hard to be even a little excited about the prospect of a new toy.)

Probably a lot easier with a lot of big names out of the way, he's recognizable and a big influence on the brand.

JT, did you use the same scoring method as last year (awarding more points to more favoured characters)?

Of course, they requested a ranked list just like every other time. I said as much in the opening post. I took your votes as in rank order, otherwise they wouldn't have been counted at all because we simply didn't have the time otherwise.

Ah. My mistake. Still, it was somebody who was writing officially for the property being a twerp. (Remember, it was not just the thing with Sideways. Sorenson also gibber-wanked around with "Alignment".)

Yeah, it's IDW's fault which means it's Hasbro's fault because IDW is an approved licensee for creating canon.

-torn between Mirage and Magnus, and more than a little suprised that Prowl did not go over.

Prowl's turn in RID over the last year hurt him in my eyes, I didn't really think about it until now but it kept him out of my mind I'm sure. Also, I'm kinda tired of the character in general.

Prowl ranked 3rd in our last year's results, it was Barricade, Rhinox, Prowl, Wheeljack, and Mirage in 2012. I guess tastes change.

[Onslaught Six]

are internet TF fans really bundling 2001 Rid Sideways with AEC Sideways. PERSONALLY I think this seems wrong for 2 reasons. 1- the 2001 Rid & AEC were in two different alternate G-1 Universes. 2- 2001 Rid Sideways is clearly a totally different persona character than AEC Sideways was. AEC Sideways had ties to Unicron & was clearly working for him as a loyal servant. even in the Cybertron cartoon series,It was speculated that Sideways & soundwave came from planet X,Many internet TF fans speculated that Planet X was Unicron.

It's not the fans on this one, there are official materials (from Takara, I believe) that confirm that RiD Sideways and UT Sideways (in his disparate appearances) are the same dude. The 'alternate universes' thing doesn't matter in this case since this Sideways is specifically a dimensional traveller. There's no speculation in this case, this is legit.

Robotmasters was the line that did it. It's stupid, just like everything Takara does with its fiction.

It's the Hasbro bio for the Armada figure that first drags RID Sideways into the UT character of the same name (the RID character was sold with RID Axer, whose bio says he's the G1 character via a black hole), and then the Takara release ran with that and crammed it up its own ass confirming it, and this got used in the Allspark Almanac with an Animated version of the character who is ALSO the same (as is the ROTF character).

I've always maintained that Hasbro's bio was just them reusing assets. "Oh, this guy named Sideways is a motorcycle? Didn't we already do a guy named Sideways who was also a motorcycle? Fuck it. Bio's already written." I mean, I'd really LOVE to see a comparison of Optimus Prime bios over the years, and how many we could "declare" were the exact same character due to "similarities."

and then threw in a bunch of 'easter eggs' and other goodies for funsies.

The problem I have is how the Wiki has taken their stupid bullshit fanwank crap jokes and thrown them into every obscure Wiki page ever. Why does something in the Allspark Almanac have any fucking bearing on a Masterforce planet?

Yeah, it's IDW's fault which means it's Hasbro's fault because IDW is an approved licensee for creating canon.

Let's not fuck around, here--it's Sorenson and his friend's fault.

Prowl's turn in RID over the last year hurt him in my eyes, I didn't really think about it until now but it kept him out of my mind I'm sure. Also, I'm kinda tired of the character in general.

Spoiler

It's not the turn, I think, but rather, the turn back that hurt him.

If the voting had been done in, say, August, I think we'd all have jumped on him.

[JediTricks]

Any fan can make their own fanfic, but IDW and Hasbro can give tacit approval to canonizing fanfic, so it really rests on their shoulders IMO.

[Mako Crab]

1. Ultra Magnus- He's alright, but I never had any strong feelings towards him one way or the other.

2. Devastator- Meh.

3. Ravage- Always liked the kitty cat.

4. Mirage (tied)- Meh. I know him from the cartoon and the lame spotlight IDW did. He never stood out to me.

4. Barricade (tied)- I like the car he turns into. Nothing more. That's more a compliment to Ford than anything.

[andersonh1]

I tried to select characters that had been around in many series in many forms, or who had stood out as memorable, not just picking my favorites. I struggle to come up with characters in the movies, for example, that have stood the test of time. It's too soon for that, really. Whereas characters like Ultra Magnus have shown up in various forms across various continuities.

So, some thoughts:



1. Ultra Magnus- Like Bumblebee, the character disappeared for a long time, but he's made a comeback in various series. It could probably be said that he's gone up in prominence in recent years.

2. Devastator- One of my picks, mainly because he was the first combiner, and got a lot of screen and page time. He's memorable, even if he hasn't been seen in many other continuities besides G1.

3. Ravage- I'm not sure he belongs on the list, honestly.

4. Mirage (tied)- Same here. The name and racecar gets used over and over again in the toylines, but has he really ever been a memorable character?

4. Barricade (tied)- The most distinct Decepticon from the first movie, apart from stalwarts Megatron and Starscream, but he isn't much of a character. I guess if we want a representative from movie continuity, there's a reason to include him.

[JediTricks]

Barricade, do we give props to Ford for the Mustang base design, or to Saleen who is the car modifier who changed almost everything about it? The first movie toys aren't even licensed from Ford, only Saleen (that changed in ROTF when Saleen went out of business).

[Mako Crab]

Eh, I'd give props to both Ford and Saleen then. I really do love their modified Mustang. The stance and everything about it is just cool. And yeah, if I were going to pick one Decepticon from the movies to serve as an icon, it would be Barricade. Not only did he get some lines, but the film arguably spent more time showing him in non-fighting scenes, thereby allowing the audience to familiarize with him, before it showed him getting violent. So sure. Also of note, his car mode was what audiences recognize. His robot mode was shown barely at all, but that badass cop car made it into many scenes.

[JediTricks]

Eh, I'd give props to both Ford and Saleen then. I really do love their modified Mustang. The stance and everything about it is just cool. And yeah, if I were going to pick one Decepticon from the movies to serve as an icon, it would be Barricade. Not only did he get some lines, but the film arguably spent more time showing him in non-fighting scenes, thereby allowing the audience to familiarize with him, before it showed him getting violent. So sure. Also of note, his car mode was what audiences recognize. His robot mode was shown barely at all, but that badass cop car made it into many scenes.

Yeah, the Saleen version of the Mustang really stands out as something special, it's based on the Ford design though so I guess props to both.

Barricade interacted with Sam, made the movie threatening on a personal level, only other characters to do that are Megatron in some rather over-the-top "why doesn't he just squash Sam" stuff towards the end, and Frenzy. Megatron isn't a good representative for the Decepticons in the film because he's A) barely in the film as a character; B) has no earth Alt mode; C) doesn't look like much of anything; and D) killed soon after we meet him. Frenzy isn't a good representative because A) he isn't a big fightin' robot but a spindly WTFbot; B) has multiple nonsense and wildly inconsistent transformation schemes; C) is a gibbering loony. So Barricade wins the title almost by default, had he remained in the film longer or done more in the sequels, I'd be more on board but the 'Cons in these films all get the short end of the storytelling stick.

[Dominic]

Yeah, it's IDW's fault which means it's Hasbro's fault because IDW is an approved licensee for creating canon.

Was it IDW that published the sourcebook in question? I do not recall.

I've always maintained that Hasbro's bio was just them reusing assets. "Oh, this guy named Sideways is a motorcycle? Didn't we already do a guy named Sideways who was also a motorcycle? Fuck it. Bio's already written." I mean, I'd really LOVE to see a comparison of Optimus Prime bios over the years, and how many we could "declare" were the exact same character due to "similarities."

Sideways and Axer are officially classified as dimension jumpers. (It actually Sipher who turned Axer from an idiomatic re-use to the exact same guy. But, he did it officially.)

Any fan can make their own fanfic, but IDW and Hasbro can give tacit approval to canonizing fanfic, so it really rests on their shoulders IMO.

Publishing something officially goes beyond tacit approval.

4. Mirage (tied)- Same here. The name and racecar gets used over and over again in the toylines, but has he really ever been a memorable character?

Mirage had several important scenes early in the cartoon, including "the ship was full". He had similarly important moments in issues of the comics. Mirage is the "less than heroic and somewhat reluctant Autobot".

The IDW "Spotlight" was not perfect. But, it was better than average. (I just really hope that the alternate timeline bull-wankery was just "Mirage is a damned lunatic".)


Dom
-going to put over either MIrage or Magnus.

[BWprowl]

I've always maintained that Hasbro's bio was just them reusing assets. "Oh, this guy named Sideways is a motorcycle? Didn't we already do a guy named Sideways who was also a motorcycle? Fuck it. Bio's already written." I mean, I'd really LOVE to see a comparison of Optimus Prime bios over the years, and how many we could "declare" were the exact same character due to "similarities."

Remember, this is the entire reason Walky's Wiki insists that Cybershark and Hammerstrike are the same guy. Hell, they wanted to do the same thing with Manterror and Buzzclaw, but luckily got shot down by both of them appearing in the same place in IDW's Beast Wars comics (likely the only good thing to come out of those paper abortions).

Fans on the Wiki in general just seem to have a major boner for characters being the same character. Hell, the whole Sideways thing came about because Walky himself thought it would be SO COOL if ROTF CannonFodderWays was the same as all the other Sidewayses, and went looking for any minor thing he could use as 'confirmation'. It's amazing they haven't tried to find some idiotic explantion for G1 Inferno being BW Inferno, or something stupid like that.