Goki's Random TF Facts Discussion Thread

[STL]

I should preface that I have a care factor of about zero on this thread b/c I feel your sig does the job enough to acknowledge that you're a knowledge buff but:

It would end up flooding this thread and I'd rather leave it open for discussion and questions from other people.

Reading from the summary of the comic - "All Transformers fight to control their savage inner selves..." - er, they do?

It sounds like a question to me that Geminii meant as in "Transformers do have to fight their savage inner selves?" I dunno the answer though but you probably do.

[GoktimusPrime]

I do know the answer, but since I don't recall ever mentioning that topic in any of my sigs, which is the entire point of this thread. We have another thread for people to post random TF questions so perhaps it would be better asked there. I'd like to keep this thread for questions/comments related to my sigs. Thanks.

As for why this thread was made, there have been two incidences where people made comments about my sig info on other threads, which threatened to derail those threads. After the first instance Paulbot suggested that I make a thread for people to comment/ask about my sig info, but I didn't think much of it then. Then after the second time I decided to follow Paulbot's suggestion and make this thread so that people don't derail other threads by discussing my sigs there. S'all.

[Geminii]

It wasn't in any of Goki's sigs, it was just something I ran across on a couple of synopses of ish 280. Apparently every Transformer except Slag uses "emotional dampers" to restrain their savage primal instinctual toaster-oven fury.

...yeah.

[GoktimusPrime]

This becomes a metaphor for the human psyche. The ability to reason is meant to separate beasts from humans (and in this case, other high-order sentient beings like Transformers). The Dinobots often have difficulty controlling their more primitive and savage impulses - Slag is the worst of the lot, but the others suffer from it too. Grimlock is notorious for having violent rampages and tantrums; like when he trashed his quarters aboard the Ark due to his frustration over his fellow Dinobots being in stasis lock, or when he decided to engage "aggressive negotiations" with Thunderwing during the Matrix Quest and likewise with Fangry during the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance period. Grimlock is clearly an intelligent being in the comics, yet he does occasionally allow his rage and passion to get the better of him. And many of the other Transformers do likewise - when their emotions break beyond a certain point, they just get miffed and go ape.

But none of them ever become like Slag though. None of them ever go into a true Berserkergang where "the berserk seemed to lose all human reason, a condition in which he could not distinguish between friend and enemy" (ref). While some may become insane with power and turn on their own allies (such as Underbase Starscream and Dark-Matrix Thunderwing), they were still inherently still in control of their faculties where they were able to discriminate between friends and foes - in the case of Underbase Starscream he consciously chose to turn against his fellow Decepticons (the distinction no longer mattered to him) and in the case of Matrix-Thunderwing, he immediately regretted shooting Spinister, but the Matrix soon consumed him and he was no longer in control of his actions. Thunderwing never became a Berserker, instead the Matrix itself had become a force of evil.

Shockwave is arguably on the opposite end of this spectrum - a Transformer who has honed his abilities of reasoning so much that he has nearly (but not quite) absolved himself of feeling emotions... dedicating himself purely to the laws of logic. There are times when his emotions get the better of him, but he quickly reels himself in and decides to do what "logic dictates"... unless he encounters a logic paradox which he cannot compute/resolve, then his rational mind kinda semi-shuts down and he is at a loss as to what to do. Jhiaxus also tried to attain a similar state of "logical enlightenment" but unlike Shockwave, he had serious savage primal fury bubbling under his facade. Jhiaxus isn't quite as bad as Slag's Berserkergang - he can still distinguish between factions... but he will abandon nearly everything else; his cause, his mission, his duty and endangering the lives of his fellow Decepticons etc. - he becomes completely enraged and so irrational that nothing else matters. Ironic that he became the very thing that he was trying to eradicate from the universe.



And as you've alluded to, the movie continuity points out that the Transformers do have a primitive savage trait that they've learned to evolve from, hence:
Ironhide: "Why do we fight to save the humans? They're a primitive and violent race."
Optimus Prime: "Were we so different? They're a young species. They have much to learn. But I've seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
(and the audience cheers )

[Geminii]

Optimus Prime: "Were we so different? They're a young species. They have much to learn. But I've seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
(and the audience cheers )

I swear that was put in so people could count the number of oldschool fans in any given showing.

[liegeprime]

I swear that was put in so people could count the number of oldschool fans in any given showing.

Well not really, coz there was a contest that Hasbro set up for the first movie promotion - submit a catchy caption that ol Eeyore will say in the movie. dunno the prize though.

[Vector Sigma 13]

Ok Gok id like to know some more about the fellow in your current signature please.

[GoktimusPrime]

Here ya go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cno_K%C5%8Djin
http://www.geocities.com/planetsabre...onokoujin.html

[Vector Sigma 13]

Excellent Gok! Thanks!

[GoktimusPrime]

And Goktimus, is your current signature a spoiler for Victory?

I've not watched Victory yet as I've still got about 15 episodes of Masterforce left to watch.

I didn't think that a nearly 20 year old series like Victory would necessarily be considered spoiler territory - to me it feels odd to treat G1 as potential spoilers. But I suppose one could argue that it hasn't been officially available in English in Australia until May 2008, which I guess is fair enough.

So here's the deal, I will not be posting any more Japanese G1 canonical facts in my signature until the end of April 2009. Once we enter May 2009 it will have been a year since Madman Entertainment released the Japanese G1 series in Australia and I think that it's a reasonable length of time for the "spoiler statute of limitations" to expire.

So yeah... head's up folks.