Not really - I've often wondered it myself... so I looked it up. :) Now we know and knowing's half the battle! :D
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Not really - I've often wondered it myself... so I looked it up. :) Now we know and knowing's half the battle! :D
COOOOOBRRAAAAAAA!!! erm , oh wrong faction, meh :o:pQuote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
In the thread about the Philosophy book a few people mentioned that the comic came first not the cartoon, and I've seen similar comments on other threads too.
I'm not doubting that the comic book was on US comic shelves were before the cartoon aired, but both have different lead times. The first issue of the comic and the first episode of the cartoon might have been written at the same time. Comics take a shorter time to produce than cartoons.
Now I do recall that the first Transformers comic came out later than intended so maybe it was written first, but do we really know that for a fact?
(Maybe some of the picture books or colouring books with their mix of toy-accurate and cartoon-accurate art, use of Spike or Buster (or Butch!) and sliped in pre-release names (Spinout) actually came first?!)
Since the Transformers' personalities and backstory were created in-house at Marvel, it seems probable that Jim Shooter, Dennis O'Neil, Bob Budiansky, Bill Mantlo and Ralph Macchio would have been working on the concept of the comic from the get-go. It seems unlikely that they would have created the characters and plotted the basic Transformers story, sat around on their arses while people created cartoons, picture books and colouring books and then started work on the comics. But even in the unlikely situation that they had, we know the staff at Marvel comics were working on Transformers before the cartoon - isn't that the important thing?Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/583...lagetf1fo3.jpg
Marvel Age, March/April 1984.
The Marvel Age articles help date the creation of the comic, but Marvel Age existed to promote Marvel. No doubting that Marvel led the way in creating the Transformers universe but since they were involved in the cartoon too, maybe both were planned/written at the same time?
It's also interesting that the full text of the article does not mention the cartoon at all (showing the Marvel comics bias) however the plot description could fit both the comic limited series and the cartoon pilot (and most other origin stories from 1984).
The comic might just have come out earlier because it didn't take as long to make.
(oh and I'm not trying to discredit the comic at all, it is my favourite g1 canon afterall, I just think of both the cartoon and comic as both being created at the same time, neither as an adaptation of the other)
Remember that the cartoon was made by Marvel Productions in conjunction with Sunbow Productions. So it's still all Marvel anyway. :)
yhis question is a bit weird or even stupid, but why are some transformers heads so inproportion to their bodies?
the reason why i ask this is because ive had sook at the comicbooks and i noticed that optimal optimus's head is so out of proptortion to the rest of his body, and then there are characters like lugnut whom dont even have a neck!
They're not human.Quote:
Originally Posted by kuzzy
I think if Transformers existed in reality, they wouldn't be biped in appearance. They only exist in our 'reality' because the toys were designed to resemble human proportions. I think an example of the odd shapes we would see in real TFs, would be characters that were not originally toys and could look a little more creative - like Deceptitran, RacknRuin, War Within Ravage, Quintessons, etc. Having toy characters show up with odd proportions shouldn't attract a question of 'why doesn't it look humanoid/biped', but all the others should attract the question, 'why do they look humanoid for an alien race'? It's like in Star Trek, every alien race was mostly humanoid (to save money on effects), and was eventually explained that there was an underlying universal DNA throughout the galaxy that caused it.
Star Wars was kinda stuck with the same problem until they had a bigger effects budget with the more recent movies and CGI series.
But for marketting purposes, the familiarity of form helps sell toys and gain viewers, so that there isn't as much confusion distracting them from being interested and involved in the story itself (and become fans/collectors).
People want Transformers that have at least one mode that's recognisable as something familiar and most fans prefer at least two. If Transformers really looked like aliens we might get toys like these:Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Yeerks/Ultr.../robotmode.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Yeerks/Ultr...beastmode2.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Yeerks/Ultr.../beastmode.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Yeerks/Visser3/robotmode.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Yeerks/Visser3/beastmode.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/2001/Maximal/Bea.../robotmode.jpg
http://www.tfu.info/2001/Maximal/Bea.../beastmode.jpg
And nobody really wants that now, do they? :)