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#Post#: 780--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Transformers Legacies/Rise Megathread
By: Ashes Date: July 13, 2016, 12:35 pm
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Well, I thought this might happen but I didn't expect it to be
so soon... after the retrospective, I may occasionally pen
further essays analysing what I wrote and/or pondering what I
could have. Also, post 700 on this board! :P
[hr]
Thanks to the moral conflict between Saber and Kiritsugu Emiya
in episode 17 of Fate/Zero, and reading some comments on the
nature of the conflict in Captain America: Civil War, I've
realised some major flaws in Downfall and Fragments.
When I crafted the Total Conflict as seen in Downfall, and the
subsequent views that Waspinator and Dinobot have on it, the
intention was that both factions had grown morally-questionable.
It's essentially like World War I - unlike WWII, where Hitler
and his Nazi regime were decidedly bad and the UK, the US and
our allies were fighting against that in the name of justice,
WWI had no "good" and "evil". By the same token, not every
member of the Alliance was good, and not every member of the
Conglomeration was evil. This is perhaps something that I could
have reflected on more had the Downfall plot been a 26-episode
Rise season as once planned... but characters like Jolt,
Nightfall (especially in Twilight Voyage) and Iguanus show that
not every Maximal is a kind hero and not every Predacon is a
cruel or callous. Of course, the situations of most of my series
result in us seeing nasty Maximals and just Predacons only
rarely - the Maximals are usually either adventurers or valiant
warriors, and the Predacons (or other antagonists) are at the
very least lead by a figure hell-bent on domination, chaos or
destruction. This tends to be true of most official Transformers
series, too. But the Total Conflict was meant to involve
near-enough every surviving Cybertronian beyond Universe 1. The
Conglomeration being lead by ruthless, single-minded Galvatron
was balanced by the Alliance being commanded by utilitarian
zealot Nova Supreme. Had I known where I was taking Medusa's
character during Downfall, I could have used her to demonstrate
the Predacon viewpoint - while she herself is self-serving and
dangerous, she is keenly aware of the inequality between
factions and how Predacons tend to be treated in times of no
conflict. (Of course, that itself is a chicken-or-egg situation
- do the Predacons do evil things due to unfair treatment, or
are they treated unfairly due to their evil acts? Also, are all
Predacons tarred with the same brush or is their a large degree
of villainy amongst the faction? Perhaps if I had clearly
established what each faction is by "birth", I could have
explored that.)
Subsequently, to at least some degree, the division between
Waspinator and Dinobot can be brought down to one argument:
whether or not the cause of the conflict excuses the
consequences of the conflict. Dinobot views the consequences as
inexcusable; that the Total Conflict is futile, and that the
resulting devastation is a major concern. He views neither side
as inherently right. Waspinator stands firmly with the Maximals
- essentially, with the Alliance - and believes that stopping
the Predacons/Conglomeration is something so vital that the
chaos wrought is excusable, if regrettable. This is especially
true in light of Necrocide's restoration and the changes to the
Total Conflict... and it is this which causes huge problems.
Emberscales' Rebellion fighting against Necrocide's Army is a
World War II-style conflict. Necrocide is a villain who wants to
kill everyone. Emberscales' forces are fighting to stop him.
Everything pertaining to the Total Conflict as seen in Downfall
- and hinted at in Twilight Voyage, Synergy and Wreckers - is
irrelevant here. That in and of itself is a seismic shift. The
faction-based conflict is halted. The very essence of the
conflict is altered, as we now have one false Prime aiming for
genocide and a reactionary force trying to stop him. Throughout
Fragments, Dinobot is responding to the conflict between
factions. That is no longer the status quo. Waspinator, by
contrast, is decidedly acting to stop the great evil that is
Necrocide. Gathering the Matrix fragments is necessary to defeat
Necrocide, and that is the goal of Waspinator and his team. He's
not acting in response to the Total Conflict. Dinobot doesn't
acknowledge the shift in the conflict; even his shattering of
the Matrix totally ignores the new circumstances, instead acting
still on the idea of two sides fighting the latest round of a
never-ending conflict with the Matrix as the current prize.
I've pondered what would have happened if Waspinator convinced
Dinobot to stay with the Maximals - if he had rationalised the
fact that, right now, Dinobot's concerns about Maximal-Predacon
war pales in comparison to Necrocide's current degree of power.
If Fragments had seen Dinobot alongside Waspinator, travelling
to gather the scattered fragments... little would change. That
was a surprising realisation, but it's plain to see. Fragments
would be more brief, of course, with the team swiftly finishing
their hunt and returning to the Rebellion. The Archaicon
characters would remain in their old lives, as would Andromeda,
and Cross-Shot, Tidal Wave, Howlback and Snapjaw would remain
with the Maximals. The Lokon blade, the Timaeus drives and the
Valyssia Engine would all still be on Valoran. But beyond
that... the Archaicons played little to no role in Extinction
and in Hope. Even Cross-Shot's death, the Lokon blade and the
Valyssia Engine had minimal impact on what followed Fragments.
The Timaeus drives were only used once more, new iterations in
timeline c, for the same purpose as in Fragments. In opting to
return to the fight against Necrocide and the events that
followed, I had to abandon any real impact that Fragments could
have provided. Fragments operated in its own bubble, between
Downfall and Extinction, while
S∙T∙R∙I∙K∙E essentially continued
on with that "main" story.
Rather than that, I think that retaining the Total Conflict
itself would have been a better direction. Necrocide's return
not only brought on a change to the conflict that essentially
forfeited the integrity of the moral dilemma at the heart of
Fragments, but it brought on the necessary direction of
Extinction and, to a lesser degree, of Hope. It was the
implementation of Necrocide that forced Fragments to exist in a
bubble, as a story independent of but informed by the
Valoranian's threatening role. Rather than a backdrop of ongoing
Maximal-Predacon conflict to give Dinobot's position some
credence, we would have the continuing Total Conflict to back up
his point, especially as it seeps into Universe 1. Waspinator
would be gathering the Matrix fragments not to oppose Necrocide
(and ironically, not only did the Matrix not defeat the villain
in either Extinction or in Hope, but it was actually used to
transform him a second time in timeline c), but in the hopes of
returning it to Emberscales and, in his mind, finally bringing
an end to the conflict. The Total Conflict would serve as a
sizable, relevant setting for Fragments, much more suitably than
a Necrocide-focused conflict.
But more than that, perhaps placing Waspinator as unilaterally
good was a questionable move. It may well be something that
can't be helped, to suggest that one of our longest-serving
heroes and ostensible main character - and by extension, almost
every other member of our hero team - is genuinely in the wrong.
At the same time, it really is questionable as to whether one
side is right and one side is wrong, especially as entire worlds
are falling amidst the Total Conflict. Ignoring the immense
collateral damage, the question is also (and this is something
that Dinobot especially considers) whether an end to the Total
Conflict would ever prove to be a definitive end to
inter-faction conflict. Waspinator presumably believes that the
One True Prime would be able to unite the race - which of course
did happen, with him as the Prime, albeit under unique
circumstances. But more than that, he is convinced of the
villainy amongst the Conglomeration and of the heroism of the
Alliance. I think I would have needed to tread a delicate line
between displaying Waspinator's sincere opinions and his
begrudging acceptance of the Total Conflict's ongoing
destruction.
The reason I am drawing focus on Waspinator's role is also, in
part, because of another new thought I have had. Cross-Shot's
role in Fragments could have panned out remarkably differently
to how it did, especially with the series set to a
theme-appropriate backdrop of the Total Conflict rather than a
good-vs.-evil battle against Necrocide. In the series proper,
she came to blows with Waspinator's dedicated, almost
utilitarian mission to gather the fragments, and joined the
Archaicons only to witness the poisoning of their mission
statement (and of Dinobot's sense of honour). Cross-Shot then
became heavily-conflicted, but remained with the Archaicons
until the dying moments - for the sake of melodrama, she opted
not to act against Dinobot's villainous plan, simply because
Waspinator's stance was also against her own morals. Her death
was the sound end to the philosophical duel between Waspinator
and Dinobot - she had chosen and validated the former's path,
and the latter finally completed his transformation from
honourable warrior to genocidal villain. Instead, I have a new
idea, something that could have played into the philosophical
debate much more suitably.
Cross-Shot would essentially become the figurehead of a third
path, one between Waspinator and Dinobot. Rather than struggling
between their sides, she would forge her own. She would much
more keenly identify villainous figures and aim to dispose of
them - not based on faction, but on how much of a threat they
pose to the security of peace. Not accepting the conflict as
necessity or identifying every Maximal as good and every
Predacon as evil; not disregarding every combatant or conceding
that any conclusion to the conflict would be temporary. She
could draw together members of Waspinator's Maximals and the
Archaicons, forming a new core team heading into the next
series, while Waspinator realises the flaws in his view and
Dinobot either recognises his darkened path or remains a
villainous character. There is even the possibility of
Cross-Shot becoming the One True Prime: that the Matrix finds
its way to her hands, and it grants her its power and the role
that comes with it. If the Total Conflict were kept as a
persistent foreground element - and certainly, having Nova
Supreme's greater Alliance and Galvatron's Conglomeration
(perhaps with Skysquawk's team operating for her) involved would
be more easily incorporated than the various factions in Hope -
then Fragments could have ended with the newly-crowned Prime
bringing an end to the Conflict herself. That may well have
proven difficult or turned out hamfisted, but certainly, the
Total Conflict shouldn't be played out as a true foreground
element and so Cross-Shot would need to bring an end to it to
allow for the story to continue on. The next series would follow
the new Prime and her team in facing whatever threats persist in
a post-Conflict world, while also trying to manage a united
Cybertronian race.
I imagine that even Cross-Shot's view would come under fire -
targeting specific people as villains could prove inflammatory
to many on either side. The potential disbanding of factions
would also prove difficult. I do have to wonder if it may all be
too heavy for Legacies/Rise, not to mention too great a change
to throw older heroes under the bus for the sake of this new
state of affairs. At the same time, it's a tantalising concept,
a potential version of events that could have been even stronger
than the Downfall and Fragments that I wrote.
It's certainly something I shall be pondering more...
A.
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