Post by Jeff on Dec 16, 2003 13:46:47 GMT -5
Ep 01: All My Autobots
Well if “As Cybertron Turns” was going to be the name of the comic, I wasn’t going to let “All My Autobots” go to waste. Besides, I really wanted to drive home the idea that this would be a mock soap opera right from the start. The funny thing is, it never became one. There was never a clear decision NOT to make it a mock soap opera. It just never ended up going in that direction.
This first episode still causes trouble because, in a comic with a continuing story line, people tend to go back and read the first one first. Well, the two main ideas that are made clear in the first episode are:
This is a mock soap opera
This is a comic about Transformers fandom. Non-fans will not get its humor.
Obviously, the first statement was never true, and the second one stopped being true after the second episode. I lose a lot of readers this way…
Anyway, my idea for this episode was simple. Prime was still going for his late night munchies, but now he was all alone, and would have to go to ebay to get his Transformers, just like the rest of us. The whole idea of Prime having to bid to get his team, going through all the excitement, disappointment, and frustration the average ebay bidder encounters, cracked me up. It then seemed all too perfect that the random, ridiculous lot Prime would win would be the same one I’d just received in the mail. The comic potential was perfect!
Of course, this was now a comic about Transformers toys, not the actual Transformers characters. Add to that the fact that, Prime aside, none of these characters were any of the well known ones from the cartoon, and I had myself in a situation where I’d have to completely invent each of their personalities. None of them had any previous characterization I could work with. I didn’t really give this problem too much thought in the first comic, and just came up with general ideas for characterization that would govern what each one says in the final panel.
I knew I wanted Prime to be anything but a hero, only because his cartoon persona was so perfect and goody-goody that it was sickening. I wanted Prime to be a really selfish creep without a real heroic bone in his body, but who could be lovable and funny at the same time. He’s come a long way since then, but it worked for long while.
As for the other three, Trailbreaker would be the trouble-maker who’d constantly give Prime a run for his money, Poseidon would be the rigid and overly serious one, and Grapple would be the lovably clueless one. Obviously, I didn’t work very hard to keep these characters consistent.
Episode 01 wasn’t posted right away. I wanted to make sure I had a few episodes before I put anything on the web site. Knowing me, I might make one episode and then never touch the comic again. Episode 01 was probably made on January 8th or 9th of 2003. Episodes 02 and 03 were both made on January 10th, when all three were finally posted to the site.
It was then that fame and success turned me to a life of sex, drugs, and self-destruction.
Well if “As Cybertron Turns” was going to be the name of the comic, I wasn’t going to let “All My Autobots” go to waste. Besides, I really wanted to drive home the idea that this would be a mock soap opera right from the start. The funny thing is, it never became one. There was never a clear decision NOT to make it a mock soap opera. It just never ended up going in that direction.
This first episode still causes trouble because, in a comic with a continuing story line, people tend to go back and read the first one first. Well, the two main ideas that are made clear in the first episode are:
This is a mock soap opera
This is a comic about Transformers fandom. Non-fans will not get its humor.
Obviously, the first statement was never true, and the second one stopped being true after the second episode. I lose a lot of readers this way…
Anyway, my idea for this episode was simple. Prime was still going for his late night munchies, but now he was all alone, and would have to go to ebay to get his Transformers, just like the rest of us. The whole idea of Prime having to bid to get his team, going through all the excitement, disappointment, and frustration the average ebay bidder encounters, cracked me up. It then seemed all too perfect that the random, ridiculous lot Prime would win would be the same one I’d just received in the mail. The comic potential was perfect!
Of course, this was now a comic about Transformers toys, not the actual Transformers characters. Add to that the fact that, Prime aside, none of these characters were any of the well known ones from the cartoon, and I had myself in a situation where I’d have to completely invent each of their personalities. None of them had any previous characterization I could work with. I didn’t really give this problem too much thought in the first comic, and just came up with general ideas for characterization that would govern what each one says in the final panel.
I knew I wanted Prime to be anything but a hero, only because his cartoon persona was so perfect and goody-goody that it was sickening. I wanted Prime to be a really selfish creep without a real heroic bone in his body, but who could be lovable and funny at the same time. He’s come a long way since then, but it worked for long while.
As for the other three, Trailbreaker would be the trouble-maker who’d constantly give Prime a run for his money, Poseidon would be the rigid and overly serious one, and Grapple would be the lovably clueless one. Obviously, I didn’t work very hard to keep these characters consistent.
Episode 01 wasn’t posted right away. I wanted to make sure I had a few episodes before I put anything on the web site. Knowing me, I might make one episode and then never touch the comic again. Episode 01 was probably made on January 8th or 9th of 2003. Episodes 02 and 03 were both made on January 10th, when all three were finally posted to the site.
It was then that fame and success turned me to a life of sex, drugs, and self-destruction.