Tag Archives: Cartoons

Stasis Pod Episode 15: The Spark

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When a spark goes online, there is great joy.

This week on Stasis Pod we tackle the episode of Beast Wars that had the most pervasive, longest-lasting impact on Transformers lore, The Spark! And bonus points for introducing something Transformers shows have rarely had before or since: a second regular female character! Join us as we discuss the episode itself as well as the significance of the concepts introduced — along with Jen’s proto-lesbian crush on Airazor.

We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispodcast@gmail.com and we might answer them on the sho

Stasis Pod
Stasis Pod Episode 15: The Spark
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Why G1 Arcee Still Matters

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Not Your Pin-Up Girl
Not Your Pin-Up Girl

In the wake of the Fan-Built Bot poll that told Hasbro loud and clear that we want more female Transformers, the Generations toyline is getting a huge shot of robo-estrogen as new character Windblade is joined by her bestie Chromia and, to the surprise of many, a slavishly G1-accurate Arcee.

When the new Arcee toy was revealed at BotCon 2014, a lot of people were surprised that Hasbro was making that version of the character. Some said they would have preferred the newer, more relevant IDW design. The original Arcee has spent decades attached to problematic art and a dismissive view of her as a token character. But for us older women in the fandom who grew up with G1, she’s the toy we’ve wanted since we were kids.

Continue reading Why G1 Arcee Still Matters →

Do Transformers Stories NEED Humans?

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It’s considered a given that Transformers stories will have a few Token Humans as part of the regular cast. Only the Beast series managed to avoid it. And in a lot of quarters it’s argued that, while they’re sometimes annoying and sometimes, like in the live action movies, take up WAY too much screen time, they’re absolutely necessary narrative devices to give audiences, especially audiences of children, someone to relate to.

But with a cast of alien robots who are psychologically nearly indistinguishable from humans, do we really need humans so we have someone to relate to?

Continue reading Do Transformers Stories NEED Humans? →

Winter Storms Include Some Familiar Names

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Winter StormsHas the notoriously nerdy staff at The Weather Channel been queuing up Generation 1 on Netflix? Though this year’s list of winter storm names was compiled with the help of a high school Latin class, ruling out another batch like last year’s Winter Storm Gandalf and Winter Storm Orko, it looks like a few names still manage to have geek cred – if you’re a more-than-casual Transformers fan. Most noticeable is the entries for consecutive letters O and P, Orion and Pax. According to the Weather Channel’s post about the new list:

Cleon, Gemini, Ion, Nika, Pax, Seneca and Yona were names substituted into the list because the name submitted by the Bozeman students for each of those letters was either retired by the National Hurricane Center, had alternate meanings or were difficult for English-speakers to pronounce.

So while the students suggested Orion, following it with Pax was a decision made by the Weather Channel staffers. And while Dion is explained as “Short for Dionysus; Greek god of wine and winemaking, among other things,” we also know him as Orion Pax’s old dock-yard buddy.

We see what you did there, Weather Channel nerds.

Chinese legislators try banning TF – in 1989!

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Just something I found while digging through the Lexis-Nexis article database, which might help explain the current upsurge of TF activity in the Asian market…

The Associated Press

February 19, 1989, Sunday, AM cycle

Legislators Urge Ban Of U.S. Television Cartoon

SECTION: Business News

LENGTH: 270 words

DATELINE: BEIJING

Twenty Chinese lawmakers have condemned a futuristic U.S. television cartoon as poison and urged the government to ban broadcasts of “The Transformers” and its toy characters, a report said Sunday.

The legislators “believe that the absurd ideological content of ‘The Transformers,’ especially its promotion of war as something good, will poison the next generation,” said the official People’s Daily said.

“The Transformers” is a futuristic cartoon about robots who can alter their shapes to become cars, planes and weapons, and who battle other evil robots.

The official Xinhua News Agency said it has been shown on Shanghai and Beijing television in translation, and several publishing houses have issued picture books of characters from the cartoon.

U.S.-made toys of the cartoon characters also have been sold in China for the “excessively expensive” price of about $$270 per set – nearly as much as the average Chinese worker makes in a year, the news agency said. The toys are sold in the United States by Hasbro Inc.

The legislators who objected to the program and toys are members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which meets periodically between annual sessions of the full congress.

The reports did not say if any government department had responded to the appeal or if the legislators planned to push for the whole congress to take some action on it.

The congress has had a real voice in drafting and approving laws only for the past few years, but legislation still is proposed by government ministries or the ruling Communist Party, not individual legislators.