Transformers Hall of Fame 2015

[griffin]

True. I was looking at the previous Decepticon winners and the big 4 were already there (Megs, Screamer, Shock & Sound) so was having to think who else I would want in rather than it being an automatic response. But besides Welker & Nimoy I cant think of any other humans that I would want to vote for that aren't already in there (Cullen, Furman etc)

Nimoy is a bit of a knee-jerk at the moment, but including him is like including Spielberg, as it is a big name but has had limited involvement compared to other people in that area (in the case of voice acting, Nimoy was two short roles, while there are dozens of VAs who have done more for Transformers over the 30 years).


This was a list of people I think should have some acknowledgement that I posted up on TFW for "Pete's topic", noting that some polarising/infamous people here shouldn't win a fan-vote or be inducted, but should be recognised as a catalyst at one time that was instrumental for the rise of popularity of the Brand to the point that we wouldn't get to the point of having Movies if they hadn't been involved with the Brand.

Frank Welker (one would expect him be inducted soon, being equally, or more significant to the Brand and fandom than existing inductees Peter Cullen and Chris Latta, because he brought to life by voice, more iconic characters than those two combined),
Aaron Archer (creator of the Unicron Trilogy era),
Eric Siebenaler (designer of Animated & Classics toys),
More of the TakaraTomy toy engineers, especially current ones like Kobayashi, Hasui and Yuki (but too many to mention... they are the brilliant minds who do the hard work of creating/engineering all the parts for the convertible toys from Hasbro concept drawings, but Hasbro people are the ones most known and credited - so this would be a great way to make them more well known in the fandom and get the credit they deserve),
Derrick Wyatt (creator of Animated),
Bob Forward & Larry Ditillio (writers/creators of much of Beast Wars & the first official people to interact with fans during their run that led to fans shaping the direction of the series with Gen1 references and taking on Furman and Yee in the 3rd season),
Don Figueroa (War Within story and designs spawned toys and an ongoing "Cybertronian" Style since then),
Other long term or iconic artists (like Andrew Wildman, Geoff Senior, etc.),
John Barber (driving vision for almost a decade of Transformers comics),
Pat Lee (unfortunately, he was a catalyst for the pre-Movie surge of popularity in the Brand by the general public with their record-breaking comics, justifying the investment in a live-action movie... so should be recognised with a nomination, but NOT be inducted),
Jon & Karl Hartman (for creating the legacy of BotCon),
Glen Hallit (despite how it ended, he was still a driving element of BotCon's middle-era expansion and it's success in the fandom during those years),
Brian Savage (good or bad, his company kept BotCon alive after 3H),
Pete Sinclair (the Transformers fan on staff during the FunPub era, responsible for much of the last 10 years story and toys/characters),
Ben Yee & Dave Van Domelon (the people who helped get the "trukk not munky" fandom to accept Beast Wars in 1995/1996),
Greg Lombardo (the face of Hasbro to the fans during much of the FunPub BotCon era),
Raksha (for bringing balance to the allegiances when the fandom was almost all pro-Autobot in the early years of the online fandom, before Beast Wars).


Unfortunately, some of those are now almost mythical in the fandom as being long gone in the fandom... but still should be recognised for what they've done or contributed to Transformers and/or the Fandom, even if it is like "posthumously".

[Bladestorm]

Frank Welker.

He is well overdue and should have been inducted with or quickly after Peter Cullen.
Most of my fave Transformers are already inducted so I don't really mind who gets put up in terms of bots.

[griffin]

Most of my fave Transformers are already inducted so I don't really mind who gets put up in terms of bots.

That's the problem that I was noting... the passion is now gone by most, now that twenty-something of the most iconic characters are already inducted.

[Bladestorm]

That's the problem that I was noting... the passion is now gone by most, now that twenty-something of the most iconic characters are already inducted.

The thing is... there are other characters I adore who have played smaller roles... Jetfire/Skyfire... but has he done enough within the franchise to warrant a spot in the hall of fame?

To me getting into the hall of fame should be about contributing something significant to the franchise/storyline/universe... it's a title to be earned, not simply rewarded because you're not included yet...

Do characters have to be included in the honour roll every year?
Obviously as time goes on and storylines expand other bots have the opportunity to prove their worth to be inducted...

[Jetfire in the sky]

I think if it's limited to two character and two human inductees per year then there may be more interest, obviously 2010 was a bit of a crack a boner moment with such a great idea and they went a bit nuts.

Ravage for this year would be great, such an iconic character, one who spoke in the original comics but not in the cartoon and of course Jetfire/Skyfire I'm going to be biased towards but perhaps not deserving this early, I like the idea of later cartoon series characters going in, it brings in the *cough* younger Transfans among us.

Griff you have listed many worthy names some I know and some I would have to Google but I think for you to say that to induct Nimoy this year would be a knee jerk reaction is way off. As a 9 year old I didn't know what a voice actor was and apart from Cullen (for me known as the voice of Optimus Prime back then, not by his name) popping up in Voltron I never recognised any other voice in a cartoon, but when I heard that "Spock" would be one of the voices in TFTM I was so excited and I remember kids who weren't interested in Transformers (yes they did exist) talking about the movie because Spock was Galvatron. Nimoy early on also crossed the boundary from pop/nerd culture to the mainstream, yes not uniquely a Transformers thing but thanks to the Bay Movies Transformers has like Nimoy transcended from pop/nerdom to the mainstream making it the juggernaught it is today.
Anyway I'm waffling on to much here and everyone will have an opinion, but it's all good discussion because of our passion for Transformers
So say we all.
Oh, whoops. BSG outburst

[griffin]

I didn't mean to offend anyone, as I do agree that Nimoy is significant, and a big name for added publicity to the general public as well... I was just noting that we've had a lot of other Voice Actors do more, and that Welker actually voiced Galvatron a lot more than Nimoy did, but that short period of the Movie seems to be more memorable.

My "knee jerk" comment is because I've been seeing in recent weeks on fansites that all sorts of tributes should be done by Hasbro and Takara, like fast-tracking a Galvatron Masterpiece toy... which to me doesn't make much sense because Hasbro and TakaraTomy have never done that with any other lost Voice Actor, and personally Welker was more Galvatron than Nimoy, as Nimoy's "exclusive" character to me was Sentinel Prime.

If the time is right, or there is a publicity benefit, Nimoy would be a worthy inductee whenever it was eventually going to happen... I just didn't want it to happen this year just because he died, because it would mean that he wasn't going to be inducted this year if he was still alive, cheapening his contribution as being a reason to induct him.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I didn't mean to offend anyone, as I do agree that Nimoy is significant, and a big name for added publicity to the general public as well... I was just noting that we've had a lot of other Voice Actors do more, and that Welker actually voiced Galvatron a lot more than Nimoy did, but that short period of the Movie seems to be more memorable.

My "knee jerk" comment is because I've been seeing in recent weeks on fansites that all sorts of tributes should be done by Hasbro and Takara, like fast-tracking a Galvatron Masterpiece toy... which to me doesn't make much sense because Hasbro and TakaraTomy have never done that with any other lost Voice Actor, and personally Welker was more Galvatron than Nimoy, as Nimoy's "exclusive" character to me was Sentinel Prime.

If the time is right, or there is a publicity benefit, Nimoy would be a worthy inductee whenever it was eventually going to happen... I just didn't want it to happen this year just because he died, because it would mean that he wasn't going to be inducted this year if he was still alive, cheapening his contribution as being a reason to induct him.

I don't think you've offended anyone mate. It's just Jetfire and I trying to prove our point so don't stress in that regard

I disagree about the timing, I think this year is the ONLY year where having Nimoy would not seem gratuitous. I don't think there would be a lot of point in subsequent years because he will have been dead and gone a while. But this year, while its fresh, its a chance for TF fans everywhere to say "You may have been a Trekkie icon, but you meant a lot to us Transfans too. Thank you Leanoard, you were a legend and we will miss you". I think it would showcase the love and respect a lot of us had for the man. I wont say that as both a Trekkie & Transfan fanboy that I physically shed a tear, but I was upset and saddened to hear that he had passed and it would mean a lot to me as both a fan of his and the TF's if he got inducted this year. I really should find out how to vote.

However your point about Welker being a more important voice actor in the TF world is spot on the money and in fact in my original post in this thread he was the only human I mentioned. I think the two of them getting in this year would be the right call, especially given that pretty much all the universally accepted iconic TF characters are already in there.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Yeah, I'd leave Nimoy as an 'honorable mention' or something. James Roberts gets my vote.

Character-wise, I'd like to see Ravage included.