Post by Jeff on Feb 28, 2008 16:12:41 GMT -5
Ep 26: Goodbye, Convoy
While I happen to find this episode quite funny, I also feel some shame in knowing that I included it more for the sake of pleasing Transformers fans reading ACT than for my own creative satisfaction. Back then, the easiest jokes to make in Transformers circles were almost always at Daniel Witwicky's expense. He was the obnoxious kid from Tranformers: The Movie that always found the most inopportune moments to whine. Perhaps his most infamous whining moment was "Prime, you can't die."
There's very little originality in this episode. I've essentially duplicated the original movie scene and focused on the same tired old fan joke of how some whiny little kid manages to upstage Optimus Prime's dramatic death. The only newness I bring to it is the idea that no one has any idea who this kid is or what he's doing there. In TF: The Movie, they all just sort of tolerate Daniel. In this version, the only reason no one's beat the living heck out of him yet is that they're still trying to figure out what the hell he's doing.
As a result, while I find this episode a bit generic, it did open a vast doorway into possibility as I kept finding more and more ways for the Autobots to ostracize, terrorize, and stigmatize Daniel. The fact that he's played by an Episode One Anakin Skywalker figure only makes this more fun.
I suppose this must have been the episode where Flamewing and Turkey were finally integrated into the Autobot collective, though I think the original idea was just to have them as concerned acquaintances at Prime's deathbed. I never got tired of the visual gag they provided. In hindsight, however, this episode really restructures the Autobot team into their most remembered lineup, with Flamewing, Turkey, and Daniel all joining in this episode.
The shadowy line running across the first panel always bothers me in this episode. It's a mesh safety band attached to the base of my digital camera that was supposed to be worn around my wrist (thus preventing an accidental drop). These were the early days of digital cameras, and mesh safety bands were considered necessities at the time. Wearing the band correctly frequently led it it getting in the way of my shots (I ultimately removed it). In this case, I didn't even realize it was there until I'd completed the episode. At first glance, it looks a bit like a rafter.
You'll notice that Trailbreaker is looking up for all of the final three panels. This was not intended. Trailbreaker's head was quite loose and must have slipped back while I was shooting. Of course, Trailbreaker was being overlooked even back then, so I didn't notice this fact until a long time after.
Goodbye, Convoy was the name of a special Japanese Transformers giftset commemorating the death of Optimus Prime. It was a damn obscure and highly irrelevant reference for an episode title, even in a cartoon about Transformers.
While I happen to find this episode quite funny, I also feel some shame in knowing that I included it more for the sake of pleasing Transformers fans reading ACT than for my own creative satisfaction. Back then, the easiest jokes to make in Transformers circles were almost always at Daniel Witwicky's expense. He was the obnoxious kid from Tranformers: The Movie that always found the most inopportune moments to whine. Perhaps his most infamous whining moment was "Prime, you can't die."
There's very little originality in this episode. I've essentially duplicated the original movie scene and focused on the same tired old fan joke of how some whiny little kid manages to upstage Optimus Prime's dramatic death. The only newness I bring to it is the idea that no one has any idea who this kid is or what he's doing there. In TF: The Movie, they all just sort of tolerate Daniel. In this version, the only reason no one's beat the living heck out of him yet is that they're still trying to figure out what the hell he's doing.
As a result, while I find this episode a bit generic, it did open a vast doorway into possibility as I kept finding more and more ways for the Autobots to ostracize, terrorize, and stigmatize Daniel. The fact that he's played by an Episode One Anakin Skywalker figure only makes this more fun.
I suppose this must have been the episode where Flamewing and Turkey were finally integrated into the Autobot collective, though I think the original idea was just to have them as concerned acquaintances at Prime's deathbed. I never got tired of the visual gag they provided. In hindsight, however, this episode really restructures the Autobot team into their most remembered lineup, with Flamewing, Turkey, and Daniel all joining in this episode.
The shadowy line running across the first panel always bothers me in this episode. It's a mesh safety band attached to the base of my digital camera that was supposed to be worn around my wrist (thus preventing an accidental drop). These were the early days of digital cameras, and mesh safety bands were considered necessities at the time. Wearing the band correctly frequently led it it getting in the way of my shots (I ultimately removed it). In this case, I didn't even realize it was there until I'd completed the episode. At first glance, it looks a bit like a rafter.
You'll notice that Trailbreaker is looking up for all of the final three panels. This was not intended. Trailbreaker's head was quite loose and must have slipped back while I was shooting. Of course, Trailbreaker was being overlooked even back then, so I didn't notice this fact until a long time after.
Goodbye, Convoy was the name of a special Japanese Transformers giftset commemorating the death of Optimus Prime. It was a damn obscure and highly irrelevant reference for an episode title, even in a cartoon about Transformers.