Suppose that you were tasked with doing a rebooted Transforms cartoon largely based on the G1 property. What concepts, characters, and character arcs would you adopt from other iterations of the story and why?
For example, here's some things I'd want to fold in from Armada:
1. Demolisher - "Missile Tank" is a very fun, very Decepticon alt mode. I like the idea of Megatron being a tank, and folding Bludgeon into the main cast (as a creepy tank ninja), but having Demolisher being a "reverse Starscream" and being loyal to Megatron to a fault sounds interesting.
2. {Starscream's betrayal & joining the autobots} - G1 featured Skyfire who defected (after not really being a Decepitcon) in the cartoon (and in the comic he was destroyed and given new life? Harsh!), but Armada Starscream defected for reasons to the autobots. IDW tried to do something similar with Thundercracker; and I can't say Armada Starscream's arc was great... or even good... but the idea of a Decepticon defecting is a good thing to try out. Obviously not with Starscream, though; but we do have this very loyal character, Demolisher, who I just talked about.... and having him swap sides would be substantive.
3. {Wheeljack} - An autobot turned Decepticon is a good idea to explore, but obviously not with Wheeljack. Of course there have been many good guys who defect to the 'cons, but what made Armada Wheeljack notable was that he seemed to defect thanks to Megatron's kindness towards him. Now that doesn't make a lot of sense... it's from Armada, remember; but the key features of this arc, I think, are (a) Armada Wheeljack is not evil, and (b) he doesn't un-defect. Maybe Megatron scouts him as a warrior and recruits him after the autobots think he's dead, or... maybe after prioritizing humans over saving him? This brings me to a second, substantive, change I'd want to make: Have this happen in the present day. As with G1, have the transformers be in stasis lock until the present day, but it strikes me that you could play up the epistemic dread of the Autobots not knowing if their planet is okay. (It always struck me that Megatron was so certain that Cybertron existed, and this strength of leadership kept his forces together when they could have given in to despair.) It's not hard to imagine our future-defector, with a later-wave toy, obv., pulling a Gears and complaining about Optimus's leadership or whatever. Not evil, but perhaps showing some cracks. Late in Season 1, or mid-Season 2, you can do the defection arc, which features Prime (or whoever is in charge of the unit) prioritizing humans and making a "tough call" leaving him behind. You could even show them return to the scene to look for him after the fact. But Megatron sees this warrior and recruits him. Frankly I think I'd set up a rivalry between him and Starscream earlier, so Megatron's choice here might just be to screw with Starscream for all we know. But he gives our Autobot the sales pitch about how Transformers are superior to humans; that he has a duty to his race to unite them under his rule and defend cybertron. Ideally we'll have had some light quintesson back story at this point setting them up as a threat that Megatron MIGHT plausibly be trying to unite the people against.
For example, here's some things I'd want to fold in from Armada:
1. Demolisher - "Missile Tank" is a very fun, very Decepticon alt mode. I like the idea of Megatron being a tank, and folding Bludgeon into the main cast (as a creepy tank ninja), but having Demolisher being a "reverse Starscream" and being loyal to Megatron to a fault sounds interesting.
2. {Starscream's betrayal & joining the autobots} - G1 featured Skyfire who defected (after not really being a Decepitcon) in the cartoon (and in the comic he was destroyed and given new life? Harsh!), but Armada Starscream defected for reasons to the autobots. IDW tried to do something similar with Thundercracker; and I can't say Armada Starscream's arc was great... or even good... but the idea of a Decepticon defecting is a good thing to try out. Obviously not with Starscream, though; but we do have this very loyal character, Demolisher, who I just talked about.... and having him swap sides would be substantive.
3. {Wheeljack} - An autobot turned Decepticon is a good idea to explore, but obviously not with Wheeljack. Of course there have been many good guys who defect to the 'cons, but what made Armada Wheeljack notable was that he seemed to defect thanks to Megatron's kindness towards him. Now that doesn't make a lot of sense... it's from Armada, remember; but the key features of this arc, I think, are (a) Armada Wheeljack is not evil, and (b) he doesn't un-defect. Maybe Megatron scouts him as a warrior and recruits him after the autobots think he's dead, or... maybe after prioritizing humans over saving him? This brings me to a second, substantive, change I'd want to make: Have this happen in the present day. As with G1, have the transformers be in stasis lock until the present day, but it strikes me that you could play up the epistemic dread of the Autobots not knowing if their planet is okay. (It always struck me that Megatron was so certain that Cybertron existed, and this strength of leadership kept his forces together when they could have given in to despair.) It's not hard to imagine our future-defector, with a later-wave toy, obv., pulling a Gears and complaining about Optimus's leadership or whatever. Not evil, but perhaps showing some cracks. Late in Season 1, or mid-Season 2, you can do the defection arc, which features Prime (or whoever is in charge of the unit) prioritizing humans and making a "tough call" leaving him behind. You could even show them return to the scene to look for him after the fact. But Megatron sees this warrior and recruits him. Frankly I think I'd set up a rivalry between him and Starscream earlier, so Megatron's choice here might just be to screw with Starscream for all we know. But he gives our Autobot the sales pitch about how Transformers are superior to humans; that he has a duty to his race to unite them under his rule and defend cybertron. Ideally we'll have had some light quintesson back story at this point setting them up as a threat that Megatron MIGHT plausibly be trying to unite the people against.
