Wheeljack is incredibly selfish

[JediTricks]

I just saw that Wheeljack will be appearing in tomorrow's episode of TFP. I have caught up with the entire series so far, and I honestly cannot figure out why the writers have Wheeljack as a guest character. The writing that they have as an excuse for him to just up and leave has been appalling:

- Wheeljack shows up on Earth, finds out that a small group of Autobots - including his best buddy Bulkhead - is all that stands between Megatron and the power to rule the galaxy. He finds that the rag tag group of Autobots is horribly outnumbered and outgunned. His response is to leave, to wander out into space to look randomly for other folks.

- Later, Wheeljack tracks an enemy back to Earth and fights him there to a draw, disobeys a Prime's orders which gets him trapped and his buddy taken hostage, and even after he's rescued by said Prime and saves Bulkhead, he's ensured that his powerful dangerous enemy is now serving at Megatron's side on Earth, so what does Wheeljack do? He decides to just DRIVE AROUND THE PLANET!!!

So what can we deduce from this? What kind of priorities are these for any sort of warrior who believes in the Autobot cause? I can only see a selfishness from that, and I wonder what conversations they had about this in the writers room.

[138 Scourge]

Sounds about like the same situation Tigatron had going on, since you mention it. That weird "New guy that'll show up occasionally, but not really join the cast" dynamic. Though at least Tigatron would show up when shit really went down and would run into Predacon or Vok stuff and report back to the rest of the crew about it. With Wheeljack, no idea. Maybe the writers just figured "Well, for whatever reason we can't have another regular character on the show, how can we get rid of this dude for awhile?"

[BWprowl]

Mainly sounds like spotty writing, which I know a lot of us agreed was a fault of TFPrime, the way stuff just happens or works out because the writers want it to, rather than having any sort of decent explanation or justification. At least Tigatron recognized that the team needed his help, so he acted as a scout and reported back to base and assisted them, instead of just blowing them off to wander around.

[138 Scourge]

Yeah. Now I think of it, I probably shouldn't try to analyze stuff going on in a show that I'm pretty much done with. I think the first Wheeljack episode might have been the last one I've seen, come to think of it.

[JediTricks]

Sounds about like the same situation Tigatron had going on, since you mention it. That weird "New guy that'll show up occasionally, but not really join the cast" dynamic. Though at least Tigatron would show up when shit really went down and would run into Predacon or Vok stuff and report back to the rest of the crew about it. With Wheeljack, no idea. Maybe the writers just figured "Well, for whatever reason we can't have another regular character on the show, how can we get rid of this dude for awhile?"

Yeah,I guess you're right, Tigatron did kinda pull that, though the Maximals weren't heavily outnumbered by the Predacons, and Tigatron had genuine spiritual reasons for his motives for not joining the crew.

Why can't they have another Autobot character though? Writers are set on this "small crew" kick, but it's not like it has to be that way.

Mainly sounds like spotty writing, which I know a lot of us agreed was a fault of TFPrime, the way stuff just happens or works out because the writers want it to, rather than having any sort of decent explanation or justification. At least Tigatron recognized that the team needed his help, so he acted as a scout and reported back to base and assisted them, instead of just blowing them off to wander around.

Well, the writing is still pretty spotty, but it's surely not as unbearable as the miniseries premiere at least. You are right that "stuff just happens because of the writers" is a common theme on the show, Arcee and Optimus getting stranded and then saved, ANYTHING with Miko not getting stepped on, Bulkhead's brain not getting erased, a lot of the magic artifact weapons - last week was so stupid, Starscream is holding a replacement T-cog in his hands and puts off installing it so he can put a scooter around the arctic looking for a mysterious unknown thing. AND THEN HE GETS THAT THING! (I just erased the ranting passage about the previous week's episode in the tunnels of New York, that was an even worse example.)

Yeah. Now I think of it, I probably shouldn't try to analyze stuff going on in a show that I'm pretty much done with. I think the first Wheeljack episode might have been the last one I've seen, come to think of it.

His second episode is dumber and more selfish, and his 3rd episode is tomorrow.

[Sparky Prime]

And now his excuse is that his ship needs repairs. I was kinda hoping they'd destroy his ship or something so he'd have to join Team Prime officially. I don't understand why the writers are keeping him so distant. The show could use a few new permanent characters.

[BWprowl]

And now his excuse is that his ship needs repairs. I was kinda hoping they'd destroy his ship or something so he'd have to join Team Prime officially. I don't understand why the writers are keeping him so distant. The show could use a few new permanent characters.

Reminds of the way they seemed to aggressively kill or otherwise send off new characters anytime they showed up in the first chunk of the first season while I was watching. Seriously, Skyquake and Makeshift both got offed in their first appearance, and Wheeljack and Airachnid were similarly shipped off somehow. It's kind of a miracle Knock Out and Breakdown stuck around like they did.

Don't know why they need to economize the cast so much. Both sides currently have a space taken up by a guy who can't even talk.

[JediTricks]

And now his excuse is that his ship needs repairs. I was kinda hoping they'd destroy his ship or something so he'd have to join Team Prime officially. I don't understand why the writers are keeping him so distant. The show could use a few new permanent characters.

Yeah, that really didn't make sense. If nothing else, the Autobots could help him FIX the ship back at their large and well-supplied base. But instead they just keep the character on the sidelines most of the time. Honestly, I don't see how they think they're going to sell more toys at this point with season 2 halfway through and so few new characters having shown up. So from story perspective it makes no sense, and from toy marketing perspective it makes no sense.

Reminds of the way they seemed to aggressively kill or otherwise send off new characters anytime they showed up in the first chunk of the first season while I was watching. Seriously, Skyquake and Makeshift both got offed in their first appearance, and Wheeljack and Airachnid were similarly shipped off somehow. It's kind of a miracle Knock Out and Breakdown stuck around like they did.

Don't know why they need to economize the cast so much. Both sides currently have a space taken up by a guy who can't even talk.

Airachnid eventually did stick around for a while, and then they had her leave again. Only Knock Out and Dreadwing have survived the Decepticon culling really. Now that you point it out, it really is a problem on both sides.

But only Wheeljack comes off like a total jerk for it.

[Onslaught Six]

Honestly, I don't see how they think they're going to sell more toys at this point with season 2 halfway through and so few new characters having shown up. So from story perspective it makes no sense, and from toy marketing perspective it makes no sense.

Isn't it obvious? I'm convinced the reason they delayed the toyline as long as they did was because there are so few characters in the show they could make toys of.

Mind you, guys like Breakdown and Airachnid aren't even coming out until next month or later, so they've still got quite a bit of catch-up to do before they get everyone who's been on the show. (Where the fuck is Skyquake?!)

[Sparky Prime]

Isn't it obvious? I'm convinced the reason they delayed the toyline as long as they did was because there are so few characters in the show they could make toys of.

That didn't slow them down for the Transformers: Animated toyline, which started out with just 5 Autobots and 5 Decepticons for the entire first season.