Not sure what I'm more surprised by... that this newsgroup is still active or that I managed to get back into this google account.

So, um yeah... it's probably been something like ten years since I last posted, and I really wasn't expecting to get back into Transfandom again.

In the past week out of nowhere, a scene from an old fanfic idea popped into my head and I've gone down this crazy rabbit hole of nostalgia (You don't want to know how much G1 TF worldbuilding crap is lurking in my computer's archives) that's led to me actually *writing* Transformers again. (In a purely therapeutic, not-organised-enough-for-a-published-version kind of way.) Real life has been quite heavy over the past five years and I'd just not had the mental space for creativity, so it's very gratifying if a bit of a shock for the habit to reappear.

Anyway, as I've paid roughly zero attention to the franchise since Prime ended, and a quick browse of TF wiki shows me I'm hopelessly out of touch even on G1 stuff, I wanted to ask if there has been anything on a par with TF Prime in the interim. (Pretty much only interested in TV show stuff--never was a toy-collector and comics are not the format for me.)

Also... Hi! It's good to see you guys.

Velvet Glove (who discovered the early Ron Friedman TF:TM drafts yesterday and is now scarred for life.)

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 3:21:51 PM UTC+1, Velvet Glove wrote:
> Not sure what I'm more surprised by... that this newsgroup is still active or that I managed to get back into this google account.
>
> So, um yeah... it's probably been something like ten years since I last posted, and I really wasn't expecting to get back into Transfandom again.
>
> In the past week out of nowhere, a scene from an old fanfic idea popped into my head and I've gone down this crazy rabbit hole of nostalgia (You don't want to know how much G1 TF worldbuilding crap is lurking in my computer's archives) that's led to me actually *writing* Transformers again. (In a purely therapeutic, not-organised-enough-for-a-published-version kind of way.) Real life has been quite heavy over the past five years and I'd just not had the mental space for creativity, so it's very gratifying if a bit of a shock for the habit to reappear.
>
> Anyway, as I've paid roughly zero attention to the franchise since Prime ended, and a quick browse of TF wiki shows me I'm hopelessly out of touch even on G1 stuff, I wanted to ask if there has been anything on a par with TF Prime in the interim. (Pretty much only interested in TV show stuff--never was a toy-collector and comics are not the format for me.)
>
> Also... Hi! It's good to see you guys.
>
> Velvet Glove (who discovered the early Ron Friedman TF:TM drafts yesterday and is now scarred for life.)

*The* Velvet Glove, author of the TFTM parody that made me laugh out loud during a work call? Love your work.

Thirteen years on, TF: Prime still remains the most enjoyable piece of eye candy that the franchise has ever released. Subsequent efforts have been less well received (RID2015, Machinima's Prime Wars trilogy, Netflix's War for Cybertron trilogy). I haven't seen Cyberverse, though it seems relatively well-regarded for a series aimed at smaller children. There's a new series, Earthspark, which I also haven't seen, but has apparently stepped squarely into the culture wars that seem to define the public discourse these days..

The Bumblebee movie seems to have been highly regarded by critics and fans alike, a first for the live-action franchise. Another first: a female character that isn't objectified or defined by her relationship with a love interest.

Welcome back!

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 9:21:51 AM UTC-5, Velvet Glove wrote:
> Not sure what I'm more surprised by... that this newsgroup is still active or that I managed to get back into this google account.
>
> So, um yeah... it's probably been something like ten years since I last posted, and I really wasn't expecting to get back into Transfandom again.
>
> In the past week out of nowhere, a scene from an old fanfic idea popped into my head and I've gone down this crazy rabbit hole of nostalgia (You don't want to know how much G1 TF worldbuilding crap is lurking in my computer's archives) that's led to me actually *writing* Transformers again. (In a purely therapeutic, not-organised-enough-for-a-published-version kind of way.) Real life has been quite heavy over the past five years and I'd just not had the mental space for creativity, so it's very gratifying if a bit of a shock for the habit to reappear.
>
> Anyway, as I've paid roughly zero attention to the franchise since Prime ended, and a quick browse of TF wiki shows me I'm hopelessly out of touch even on G1 stuff, I wanted to ask if there has been anything on a par with TF Prime in the interim. (Pretty much only interested in TV show stuff--never was a toy-collector and comics are not the format for me.)
>
> Also... Hi! It's good to see you guys.
>
> Velvet Glove (who discovered the early Ron Friedman TF:TM drafts yesterday and is now scarred for life.)

So Robots in Disguise happened in 2015, which is a continuation of Prime in the loosest possible sense. It doesn't have the weighty story of Prime and is mostly a much lighter story where Bumblebee leads a small force against some of the most incompetent Decepticons in the history of Transformers. It' definitely trying to be more accessible to younger kids whose parents don't want them watching what could be considered violence. The show had an interesting take on Strongarm, Steeljaw, and Drift, but most of the others were just looney tunes level of character development.

Then Rescue Bots also happened, it's definitely aimed at kids but the villain in that was more competent than the villain in Robots in Disguise, and overall I think it's a better series than 2015 Robots in Disguise.

Cyberverse happened I'm going to Say it's not as good as Prime, especially the slog of a first season following Bumblebee and Windblade, but it get better and has good world building and a lot of characters in the end with some unique and interesting personalities. It' definitely better than Robots in Disguise.

Earthspark is also decent and at least worth giving a shot but so far it's still getting into it's early groove. It's more human centered than some of the others. It's got lot of inclusion messages and has a lot of new characters that were literally created for the show and other G1 throwback tributes at the same time.

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 8:21:51 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:

> Not sure what I'm more surprised by... that this newsgroup is still active or that I managed to get back into this google account.

Wow! It's the esteemed Ms. Glove herself! It's been ages. Very happy to see you around.
> Anyway, as I've paid roughly zero attention to the franchise since Prime ended, and a quick browse of TF wiki shows me I'm hopelessly out of touch even on G1 stuff, I wanted to ask if there has been anything on a par with TF Prime in the interim. (Pretty much only interested in TV show stuff--never was a toy-collector and comics are not the format for me.)

Wow, ten years is a lot to cover. Hmm.

So I think the best show we've gotten in recent years was the Netflix exclusive War for Cybertron trilogy, which was based on the toys available at the time. There are three chapters: Siege, Earthrise, and Kingdom, which correspond to the toy lines from 2019 and 2020 and 2021. I think it's worth a watch—I enjoyed it, and I generally don't take to new Transformers media with a great deal of interest. But, I was also collecting the toys, so I expect a lot of my enjoyment came from seeing the plastic robots in my collection come to life on the screen. It's a somewhat more mature take on G1, with character explorations (especially Megatron, Optimus Prime, Elita One, and Ultra Magnus) that you may enjoy.

Moviewise, we got Age of Extinction in 2014, The Last Knight in 2017, the soft reboot Bumblebee movie in 2018, and this year's Rise of the Beasts. I feel like the Bumblebee movie and Rise of the Beasts are quite watchable. The others, maybe not so much.

We lost quite a few voice actors, most notably Casey Kasem and John Stephenson and Leonard Nimoy. We also lost Larry DiTillio and David Wise and Derrick J. Wyatt.

There have been some really good digitally remastered releases of The Transformers: the Movie. The picture clarity is unbelievable. And, you know, you can never have too many copies of TFTM.

There was an official score released for the G1 cartoon, but it was only made available on vinyl. Boo! Prior to that, I helped with an unofficial release which is arguably better, being more complete and more authentic to the music you actually heard in the show, as composed by Robert J. Walsh (whom we lost in 2018) and Johnny Douglas.

It's too bad you don't collect the toys, because the ones we've gotten in recent years are honestly some of the best Transformers ever. I cannot speak highly enough of the Siege or Earthrise or Kingdom or Legacy toy lines.

> Also... Hi! It's good to see you guys.

Likewise, I'm sure!

I remember your kiddo was into Rescue Bots when they were a youngster. Did you manage to sculpt and mold them into a lifelong fan? My son is 15 now and he was collecting the toys with his dog-walking money for a while. He claims to have outgrown them, but he dug the box out of the garage last week so he could play with them again. Ha!

Zob (and, yes, early scripts for The Transformers: the Movie are both fascinating and dreadful)

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 2:56:45 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 8:21:51 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:
>
> > Not sure what I'm more surprised by... that this newsgroup is still active or that I managed to get back into this google account.
> Wow! It's the esteemed Ms. Glove herself! It's been ages. Very happy to see you around.
> > Anyway, as I've paid roughly zero attention to the franchise since Prime ended, and a quick browse of TF wiki shows me I'm hopelessly out of touch even on G1 stuff, I wanted to ask if there has been anything on a par with TF Prime in the interim. (Pretty much only interested in TV show stuff--never was a toy-collector and comics are not the format for me.)
> Wow, ten years is a lot to cover. Hmm.
>
> So I think the best show we've gotten in recent years was the Netflix exclusive War for Cybertron trilogy, which was based on the toys available at the time. There are three chapters: Siege, Earthrise, and Kingdom, which correspond to the toy lines from 2019 and 2020 and 2021. I think it's worth a watch—I enjoyed it, and I generally don't take to new Transformers media with a great deal of interest. But, I was also collecting the toys, so I expect a lot of my enjoyment came from seeing the plastic robots in my collection come to life on the screen. It's a somewhat more mature take on G1, with character explorations (especially Megatron, Optimus Prime, Elita One, and Ultra Magnus) that you may enjoy.
>
> Moviewise, we got Age of Extinction in 2014, The Last Knight in 2017, the soft reboot Bumblebee movie in 2018, and this year's Rise of the Beasts. I feel like the Bumblebee movie and Rise of the Beasts are quite watchable. The others, maybe not so much.
>
> We lost quite a few voice actors, most notably Casey Kasem and John Stephenson and Leonard Nimoy. We also lost Larry DiTillio and David Wise and Derrick J. Wyatt.
>
> There have been some really good digitally remastered releases of The Transformers: the Movie. The picture clarity is unbelievable. And, you know, you can never have too many copies of TFTM.
>
> There was an official score released for the G1 cartoon, but it was only made available on vinyl. Boo! Prior to that, I helped with an unofficial release which is arguably better, being more complete and more authentic to the music you actually heard in the show, as composed by Robert J. Walsh (whom we lost in 2018) and Johnny Douglas.
>
> It's too bad you don't collect the toys, because the ones we've gotten in recent years are honestly some of the best Transformers ever. I cannot speak highly enough of the Siege or Earthrise or Kingdom or Legacy toy lines.
> > Also... Hi! It's good to see you guys.
> Likewise, I'm sure!
>
> I remember your kiddo was into Rescue Bots when they were a youngster. Did you manage to sculpt and mold them into a lifelong fan? My son is 15 now and he was collecting the toys with his dog-walking money for a while. He claims to have outgrown them, but he dug the box out of the garage last week so he could play with them again. Ha!
>
>
> Zob (and, yes, early scripts for The Transformers: the Movie are both fascinating and dreadful)

Welcome back, Velvet Glove! I think I also remember you from the Padded Cell, back in the early 2000s. Great to see you again.

The others have shared plenty of food for thought, but I wanted to offer - your fanfic ideas are always most welcome here. :)

Joseph

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10:29:18 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> *The* Velvet Glove, author of the TFTM parody that made me laugh out loud during a work call? Love your work.

OK, this is what I'm most surprised by. In this insanely sprawling fandom, how the hell are people still finding / remembering my fics? Damn, that story's literally over 20 years old--I had to double-check on Lexicon--and I'm not even that great at comedy. I get too bogged down in my own words. But I'm tickled somebody still appreciates it. I had so much fun working it out and writing it. Oh, damn. I'd forgotten how pervasive the whole Brawn's Dead / Brawn Lives! debate was. (We *are* talking about the same fic, right?)

> Thirteen years on, TF: Prime still remains the most enjoyable piece of eye candy that the franchise has ever released. Subsequent efforts have been less well received

I *loved* that show and badly want to rewatch it now, but I've discovered it's no longer available to stream in the UK. I had hoped that it had raised the bar for TF cartoons going forward, but can't say I'm too surprised nothing's rivaled it.

> The Bumblebee movie seems to have been highly regarded by critics and fans alike, a first for the live-action franchise. Another first: a female character that isn't objectified or defined by her relationship with a love interest.

I've more or less sworn off the live action movies. I could swear we've had a female character without a love interest before, but I'm struggling to think who. (Sari, I guess? Arguably, even G1 Marissa Faireborn passes that criteria, though she does have one romance episode.)

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10:34:04 PM UTC+1, Irrellius Spamticon wrote:

> So Robots in Disguise happened in 2015, which is a continuation of Prime in the loosest possible sense. It doesn't have the weighty story of Prime and is mostly a much lighter story where Bumblebee leads a small force against some of the most incompetent Decepticons in the history of Transformers. It' definitely trying to be more accessible to younger kids whose parents don't want them watching what could be considered violence. The show had an interesting take on Strongarm, Steeljaw, and Drift, but most of the others were just looney tunes level of character development.
>
> Then Rescue Bots also happened, it's definitely aimed at kids but the villain in that was more competent than the villain in Robots in Disguise, and overall I think it's a better series than 2015 Robots in Disguise.

I was going to say I caught Rescue Bots because my kids were the perfect age for it, but looking over the wiki entry, I may just have seen the first season or two. I won't bother catching up, because as you say, it's aimed at kids, but I remember it was an absolute joy to watch with my children. An excellent quality pre-school age cartoon in its own right, and all the transformers references were the icing on the cake. Yesterday, I was watching a Botcon (2014?) video of various voice actors reading a parody fanscript--mostly G1 actors, but they randomly had Rescue Bots Blades in with them, and he triggered just as much nostalgia as the others.

I feel like I originally planned to watch Robots in Disguise with my kids, as a next step up in the age bracket, and I've no idea now why we didn't.

On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10:56:45 PM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> Wow! It's the esteemed Ms. Glove herself! It's been ages. Very happy to see you around.

Likewise! I might not have posted if I hadn't seen you were still active, but I figured you'd remember me. I have very fond memories of the FFR group and later the monthly cartoon episode reviews we used to do.

> So I think the best show we've gotten in recent years was the Netflix exclusive War for Cybertron trilogy, which was based on the toys available at the time. There are three chapters: Siege, Earthrise, and Kingdom, which correspond to the toy lines from 2019 and 2020 and 2021. I think it's worth a watch—I enjoyed it, and I generally don't take to new Transformers media with a great deal of interest. But, I was also collecting the toys, so I expect a lot of my enjoyment came from seeing the plastic robots in my collection come to life on the screen. It's a somewhat more mature take on G1, with character explorations (especially Megatron, Optimus Prime, Elita One, and Ultra Magnus) that you may enjoy.

Intriguing concept *and* I am able to watch it--I've moved back to the UK, so I can't stream Prime anymore, but fortunately, this one is still available.

> We lost quite a few voice actors, most notably Casey Kasem and John Stephenson and Leonard Nimoy. We also lost Larry DiTillio and David Wise and Derrick J. Wyatt.

Oh, damn... David Wise wrote so much of my childhood. Many of my favourite My Little Pony episodes were his, and I've always maintained that Rebirth is a work of genius when you consider the amount of constraints the story was under. ("OK, you're going to take your five episode premise and trim it down to three episodes. Make sure to feature every single toy we're releasing this year and wrap up three years' worth of cartoon mythos into a happy ending.")

> It's too bad you don't collect the toys, because the ones we've gotten in recent years are honestly some of the best Transformers ever. I cannot speak highly enough of the Siege or Earthrise or Kingdom or Legacy toy lines.

Hah. I do have a Kup somewhere, and I think most of a Springer. The one toy I always did want was a G1 show accurate Arcee so it looks like I left the fandom at the wrong time, because there's like five versions of that now. If I'd been in the fandom at the time the commemorative movie pack came out with her, Magnus, Kup, Blurr and Springer, I strongly suspect I'd have bought it. It's pretty much the Velvet-Verse action figure pack.

> I remember your kiddo was into Rescue Bots when they were a youngster. Did you manage to sculpt and mold them into a lifelong fan? My son is 15 now and he was collecting the toys with his dog-walking money for a while. He claims to have outgrown them, but he dug the box out of the garage last week so he could play with them again. Ha!

Sadly, no. I never wanted to pressure them into stuff just because I used to like it, and they didn't really stick with Transformers after Rescue Bots.. Again, probably affected by me falling out of the fandom, because they certainly got into other stuff they saw me reading and watching. They've seen all the films though, with their Dad, while I gave up on the live action series... I always figured I'd introduce them to G1 someday and maybe show them my fanfic if they were interested, but when I did show them the original movie, they couldn't get past how bad the animation was. (They are children of the HD and CGI era, though they're gradually gaining more appreciation for classic animation and are always amazed that people used to have to draw every frame by hand.)

One funny thing though is that they *love* the Community GI Joe episode (I'm going to assume you're familiar with it): they had a blast watching it with me because I spent the whole time dying and going: "That is *exactly* what the show was like!" (They were probably less interested in my run down of who was an original voice actor and who wasn't because the original was dead...) They still go back and put that episode on from time to time, so that's kind of my passing-on-the-torch proud parental moment. (We have not tried to find the original episodes, because I'm not sure I'm prepared to rewatch 80s American patriotism.

Velvet Glove (I'll try and get my son at least to give War for Cybertron a try with me.)

On Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 5:56:16 AM UTC-5, Velvet Glove wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10:29:18 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> > *The* Velvet Glove, author of the TFTM parody that made me laugh out loud during a work call? Love your work.
> OK, this is what I'm most surprised by. In this insanely sprawling fandom, how the hell are people still finding / remembering my fics? Damn, that story's literally over 20 years old--I had to double-check on Lexicon--and I'm not even that great at comedy. I get too bogged down in my own words. But I'm tickled somebody still appreciates it. I had so much fun working it out and writing it. Oh, damn. I'd forgotten how pervasive the whole Brawn's Dead / Brawn Lives! debate was. (We *are* talking about the same fic, right?)
> > Thirteen years on, TF: Prime still remains the most enjoyable piece of eye candy that the franchise has ever released. Subsequent efforts have been less well received
> I *loved* that show and badly want to rewatch it now, but I've discovered it's no longer available to stream in the UK. I had hoped that it had raised the bar for TF cartoons going forward, but can't say I'm too surprised nothing's rivaled it.
> > The Bumblebee movie seems to have been highly regarded by critics and fans alike, a first for the live-action franchise. Another first: a female character that isn't objectified or defined by her relationship with a love interest.
> I've more or less sworn off the live action movies. I could swear we've had a female character without a love interest before, but I'm struggling to think who. (Sari, I guess? Arguably, even G1 Marissa Faireborn passes that criteria, though she does have one romance episode.)

As someone who also thought the live action movies were generally just a rolling dumpster fire rapidly falling off a cliff, the Bumblebee movie was a prequel desperately trying to fix that and it does a number of G1 inspired things correctly, including VW Bug Bee, G1charactrs on Cybertron, and having a story without genital jokes and hyper masculinity being jokes. There is still a slight tinge of movieverse but it's tolerable when you add in a thought out coherent story and realistic characters. Best of all you can watch it without seeing the colossal disappointments that are Age of Extinction or The last Knight.

On Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 7:58:08 AM UTC+1, Joseph Bardsley wrote:
> Welcome back, Velvet Glove! I think I also remember you from the Padded Cell, back in the early 2000s. Great to see you again.
>

Yes! The Padded Cell was my online TF home for years, much more so than ATT honestly, which I came to relatively late. Sadly, the forum seems to be dead now and I don't know if any of them are still active in the fandom. I'd forgotten you posted there a bit as well.
> The others have shared plenty of food for thought, but I wanted to offer - your fanfic ideas are always most welcome here. :)
>

I probably will end up posting something, but it's so disorganised at the moment. My 10-20 years past self literally made notes on 11 million years worth of story and/or character ideas in the G1 cartoon continuity. Clearly, there's no way in hell 90% of that will ever make into an actual fic, but right now I'm alternating through reading through it all, and (not sure if it's a first draft or a warm up exercise) scribbling down random scenes / reactions from immediately after Unicron. (Seriously, how awkward must that Junkion shuttle ride to Cybertron have been? "Hey, everyone! BTW, I'm the leader now.")

Don't expect anything too major though, because I don't have the free time to sustain the kind of effort I used to go to, and I don't think I can still get to the places where I used to archive my work (e.g. the old Lexicon account). Besides, the trouble with G1 is that there is always more being added to the canon. My stuff was pretty niche 10 years ago. Now there's an extra decade of G1 obscura in the fandom, while my universe is entrenched in this tiny minimalist slice of the cartoon. So hopefully I'll produce the occasional stand-alone snippet to post here, but I plan on writing for my personal enjoyment rather than for fanfic publication.

Velvet Glove (Maybe I'll post some of my old notes. I had completely forgotten just how much I brainstormed for the joy of worldbuilding.)

On Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 11:56:16 AM UTC+1, Velvet Glove wrote:
> On Monday, June 26, 2023 at 10:29:18 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> > *The* Velvet Glove, author of the TFTM parody that made me laugh out loud during a work call? Love your work.
> OK, this is what I'm most surprised by. In this insanely sprawling fandom, how the hell are people still finding / remembering my fics? Damn, that story's literally over 20 years old--I had to double-check on Lexicon--and I'm not even that great at comedy. I get too bogged down in my own words. But I'm tickled somebody still appreciates it. I had so much fun working it out and writing it. Oh, damn. I'd forgotten how pervasive the whole Brawn's Dead / Brawn Lives! debate was. (We *are* talking about the same fic, right?)

That's the one! Especially loved the Carly/Blaster byplay, not to mention surly Snarl.