Were the characters too fragile?

[Dreamscreamer]

It's just a thought I have been pondering, at least somewhat.

At times, it seems as though the characters are a bit... fragile. They sustain damage way too easily sometimes.

Well, I suppose that being injured/damaged actually makes sense, because they ARE in the middle of a war. And they are constantly shooting at each other, not to mention having accidents or whatnot. But sometimes it seems like, maybe, they are a bit "fragile" at times.

Is this due to poor construction, or the fact that their weapons are considerably powerful? (Yes I am aware that this is just a cartoon, so the writers could do whatever they wished, and sometimes there were definite plot points in the characters getting damaged and having to go to the CR chamber, plus it showed that they weren't invincible.)

Seems like the transmentals, especially the transmetal 2's, have a much better advantage than the regular ones. Cheetor was able to take quite a beating and give quite a bit himself once he became a transmetal 2, and he didn't even get a scratch. But it seemed like Optimus, sometimes even Dinobot, were constantly being damaged. (I'm not going to bother to mention Waspinator cuz EVERYONE knows how often he got blown up. I suppose I should count him, but I'm sort of excluding him because he was the comic relief in the show.)

Anyway... these are just some thoughts. It just seemed like it was too easy for the characters to get blown up, or to get some of the slag beat out of them at times. Maybe it's because their beast modes don't offer good armor? I don't know. I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts on this.

[Alak]

I would say:

- new Maximal bodies are smaller and less armored than Autobot bodies. It's like upgrading from a Ford F150 to a Toyota Prius. The Prius has more technological/economical/ecological benefits, but it's more fragile.

- Powerful weapon, like you said. Both factions were capable of synthesizing their own weapon projectiles like fire, quasar, lasers, and even missiles. That's a lot of heat to stand up against, especially with a tiny body!

- None of these characters had military expertise (except Depth Charge) and so I wouldn't expect them to be that heavily designed. Then again, they have uber weapons so why not uber armor? I dunno, this is my weakest point right here so feel free to ignore it lol.

[7Knight-Wolf]

Too fragile? Man, I'm always a little disappointed that they're all so hard to kill! Not that I'd want my favorite characters dying off, but, it seems like they fall to peices all the time and are ust fine in a minute! How much can a robot live through? Waspinator falls to peaices all the time but his spark never goes offline, and Megatron is torn to bits by Terrasaur in season one and just fine by the end of the episode. Dinobot, on the other hand, was mostly whole when he died! What gives?

[Aesir]

Too fragile? Man, I'm always a little disappointed that they're all so hard to kill! Not that I'd want my favorite characters dying off, but, it seems like they fall to peices all the time and are ust fine in a minute! How much can a robot live through? Waspinator falls to peaices all the time but his spark never goes offline, and Megatron is torn to bits by Terrasaur in season one and just fine by the end of the episode. Dinobot, on the other hand, was mostly whole when he died! What gives?

regardless of the damage to the body, if the spark survives they will as well

[7Knight-Wolf]

Say, what do you think abotu stasis lock? How does that tie into the stasis lock? Dinobot died after he repeatedly refused to enter it, and when the other characters are seriously injured, they go into stasis lock. Is that the life-saving (spark-saving) mechanism that keeps them all alive?

[Phoenix]

I guess it's kinda like an induced coma, which can save human lives in some cases if done under care in a hospital setting (such as if they are trying to lower someone's increased cranial preasure).

[Alak]

Say, what do you think abotu stasis lock? How does that tie into the stasis lock? Dinobot died after he repeatedly refused to enter it, and when the other characters are seriously injured, they go into stasis lock. Is that the life-saving (spark-saving) mechanism that keeps them all alive?

If you have a laptop, pull the plug and wait for the battery to deplete itself. The computer will attempt to enter hibernation mode so that it can preserve the energy before the battery hits zero. That way, it won't completely shut down (losing all unsaved data) but it won't be active either. That's how I view stasis lock.

[7Knight-Wolf]

I see. And when one refuses stasis lock and "the battery" runs dead, that's when the spark leaves the body?

[Alak]

I think so, at least that's what happened with Dinobot. Maxies and Preds can also outright die from severe wounds as shown with Depth Charge and Rampage being engulfed in the energon explosion. The easiest analogy for that situation is like blowing up your laptop by sticking dynamite on its processor...it's not turning on after that lol.

[Blazemane]

Unless it runs on Windows Wasp SMcN.

[Dreamscreamer]

Say those are definitely some interesting insights when it comes to stasis lock. I've never really thought about it like that before.

Just curious though, could that mean that the stasis lock exists to protect the spark for the most part? Cuz well, I can think of many cases where Waspinator was blown to pieces, literally, and even Tarantulas got torn apart by Rampage in one episode, I believe.

I also wonder about other factors too, though. Like... even if the spark is the essence--or soul--of a Transformer, surely other things are important, too. For example... the processor, or the harddrive, or whatever. You know, the equivalent of a Cybertronian's brain, and memory centers. What if those became damaged?

Although I guess if they lost some memories, it would be no worse than a human going through amneisa, I suppose. And unlike humans I guess they could get a processor transplant if they really needed one.

That leads me to another question though. How exactly does the CR chamber work to heal them, when they do get hurt? Do waves of healing energy sweep over them and make damaged areas grow back? Or are there nanites or something involved? Just wondering.

[Wicked Woman]

Actually, it's actually the chamber repairing them, scanning for any damages or viruses, it works to repair damages outside as well as the inside, aparently faster than a medic theoreticly.

It can also do other things like upload a core conciousness so that they don't risk damage or they need to talk to someone. (ie: fallen comrade)

Since it is shown being used quite a bit in the show, I'd guess that the cast only repairs a bot whose damaged without the CR chamber if there is a power-outage, the spark is in stasis lock or if the damage isn't too extensive.

Don't ask me about the CR tank though I am still quite confused about that one...


WW

[Alak]

Cuz well, I can think of many cases where Waspinator was blown to pieces, literally

Waspinator is secretly the most powerful transformer, simply because he cannot be killed. He never goes into stasis lock because he doesn't need it. He'll just keep coming back regardless the extent of damage done to him. His opponent may seem to be the victors at the moment, but time will erase them...but Waspinator shall continue to stand.

...that, and he's the show's punching bag character used for comedic effect. As for the CR chamber, it's just something the writers created to allows characters to survive all three seasons. Otherwise, they'd all be dead within a few episodes (except Waspinator).

[Phoenix]

I think Waspinator's ancestry evolved on Junkion in G1.. Those guys couldn't be blown up either!

[VelociBerg]

I think it was more of the fact that since these ARE robots after all, and not people, the writers thankfully decided to go "Hey, the network won't mind if robots are getting ripped apart, blown up, sliced into shreds, drilled into, set on fire, shot up, have huge holes blasted into them, or killed...because they're ROBOTS! Huzzah for violence in animation!"

With this in mind...imagine every condition I just posted in a cartoon aimed at children...but with real people. Just wouldn't fly.