My Transformers Game

[Shadeling]

Well, it looks like my game will be ran less often than I initially planned. But when I do run it, I am sure we will all have a blast.

[Eddy Fate]

I'm debating running a play-by-mail Beast Wars game myself.  Let me know how it goes!

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Well, it looks like my game will be ran less often than I initially planned. But when I do run it, I am sure we will all have a blast.

How often are you running it?  (Just curious)

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

I'm debating running a play-by-mail Beast Wars game myself.  Let me know how it goes!

I'm curious about Beast Wars, as I've never watched it.  Is the tone similar to the '80s Transformer cartoons?

[Sidhain]

Yes and no, there are lots of very cool bits in later Beast Wars--early on it isn't quite as interesting, and the CGI aniomation was primitive, but it developed into (and I'm not ashamed to admit it) a far better /story/ than the original Transformers with lots of in jokes:

Upon Finding the "Ark"

"Die Cast they don't make them like this anymore"


:)

Not to meantion the Shakespeare :)

[Eddy Fate]

I'm curious about Beast Wars, as I've never watched it.  Is the tone similar to the '80s Transformer cartoons?

Sort of.

Small cast of regular characters, villians never get "killed", small inside jokes and occasional cartoon "logic" (like Waspinator hanging in the air when he can no longer fly before plummeting)...

... but it has a more cohesive story, and has won Emmy Awards (I believe) as a science fiction show, not a cartoon.  It also has GREAT links to the original series, explained a lot about the original series, and does violate some retro-toon conventions (like the permanent killing of a character in the regular series).  It also becomes more serialized and less "compartmentalized" as the show goes on - ironically, it plays out more like a good RPG campaign than a cartoon.

So "Beast Wars" might be the gap between CAH and cartoons.  :-P

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Wow!  Judging by what you guys have said, I really need to seek Beast Wars episodes.  Might be right up my alley.  

I almost watched it once (a few years back), but somehow felt annoyed that they turned "my" transformers into beasts instead of vehicles.  In retrospect, that was a pretty lame reason for passing up what sounds like a great show.

[Eddy Fate]

Wow!  Judging by what you guys have said, I really need to seek Beast Wars episodes.  Might be right up my alley.  

I almost watched it once (a few years back), but somehow felt annoyed that they turned "my" transformers into beasts instead of vehicles.  In retrospect, that was a pretty lame reason for passing up what sounds like a great show.

I did the exact same thing in 1996 - "What the HELL did they do to the Transformers?  What the hell is a Maximal?"  It wasn't until a fellow Transfan, while talking about the "dark" nature of the new Dreamwave comics, pointed me to the series again a few weeks ago did I really become a fan.

You can get episodes of Beast Wars/Beast Machines (and the original TF series!) at http://www.tfarchive.com on a rotating basis.

Or, we can talk about me mailing you some CD's... :-)

[Josh D]

Personally, I loved Beast Wars. I got alot of insights into Transformer "biology". In the series, the Maximals, decendants of the Autobots, were on an exploratory mission when they ran into the Predacons, decendants of the Decepticons, who had lost the anciect war and had become 2nd class citizens. Well during the scuffle, several "stasis pods" were abandoned in orbit around ancient earth to keep the baddies from exploiting them.
This is the stuff I love. In each stasis pod was the protoform of a Transformer, depicted as a vaguely humanoid form of swirling silver with a "Spark", the cybertronian soul,  suspended within. When these stasis pods would occasionally fall to earth, there was a mad race to the crash site by each side in an effort to increase the numbers on either side. Once landed the pods on board computer would scan for indigineous life forms and use the DNA sequence it found, in the programming of the new Transformer, even fossilized DNA was useful. Presumably, this would give the new bot instincts of a sort that was best suited for the new environment they found themselves in. Personality chips in the pods could be switched if there was time before the scanning process that would determine whether the new bot was Maximal or Predacon, hence the race  for the pods.
I'd highly recommend catching episodes of Beast Wars, but definitely shy away from its sequel show Beast Machines. That was just sad.

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Stop it, you!  You're making me drool over that cartoon.  Must ... find ... Beast Wars.  :)

BTW, glad to have you stop by, Josh.

For those of you who don't know, Josh is the newest addition to the Spectrum team.  You can expect to see his artwork gracing the pages of Iconia and Darkness Unleashed.

[Eddy Fate]

Stop it, you!  You're making me drool over that cartoon.  Must ... find ... Beast Wars.  :)

http://tfarchive.com/bwepisodes2.shtml

tempt... tempt... tempt...

BTW, glad to have you stop by, Josh.

For those of you who don't know, Josh is the newest addition to the Spectrum team.  You can expect to see his artwork gracing the pages of Iconia and Darkness Unleashed.

Hi Josh!

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Eddy, you're an evil, evil man.  You already know that though.  

I'm going to have to break down and order a few eps to see if I'll like it as much as I think I will.

[Eddy Fate]

Eddy, you're an evil, evil man.  You already know that though.  

I'm going to have to break down and order a few eps to see if I'll like it as much as I think I will.

If you can cover my shipping, we can talk.  :-)

[mahoux]

Isn't this ironic - (Eddy) Fate tempting Cynthia... not the other way around.

BTW, I will be ordering CAH in the very very near future.

-Aaron

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Now that is a reversal, isn't it.  Usually, I'm the one tempting fate.  More often than not, in fact.  :)

Thanks for your interest in the game, Aaron.  I sincerely appreciate it.