Needless deaths

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:24 am

Were there any characters you thought were killed off prematurely or needlessly?

And is a high death count imperative since its a story about war?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:26 am

...Underbase, anyone?

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue May 31, 2005 12:01 pm

Magnus in Time Wars?

not sure if he was dead but it wasnt looking good

jboyler · Post by **jboyler** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:31 am

spiderfrommars wrote: And is a high death count imperative since its a story about war?

Not really. I think nowadays the idea regarding war movies is that more blood and guts means more realism, but that's not neccesarily true. Having characters die just for the sake of providing a 'body count' is really pointless. It is better to write a story with just a few meaningful deaths than a whole bunch of pointless ones. And some very good stories have been written about war that had very little actual violence.

On the other hand, war really isn't much more than pointless bloodshed, so maybe that's how it should be portrayed. At least, in that case, try to make a statement about the pointlessness of it than do it for the sake of adding excitement.

And BTW, I think Smokescreen's death in G2 was really pointless. And basically all the G1 guys who get killed at the beginning of the movie. I love the movie, but they just wanted to get rid of the old cast as fast as possible.

-J

ShadowSonic · Post by **ShadowSonic** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:21 pm

Hot Spot's death in G2 was rather pointless, since the tech he died destroying was all infected with a virus anyways and wouldn't have done anything.

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:38 pm

ShadowSonic wrote:Hot Spot's death in G2 was rather pointless, since the tech he died destroying was all infected with a virus anyways and wouldn't have done anything.

I disagree with this.

Hotspot didn't know Megatron had infected the cybertronian tech. He chose to act per his orders from Optimus Prime that no cybertronian tech can be left for humans (I thought this to include also G.I.Joe). Doing so and battling Cobra Hotspot got himself in such a bad shape he would be captivated by Cobra. To prevent that he chose to selfdestruct to complete his mission.

Did the futility of Hotspot's actions cheapen his sacrifice? Did it make the impact for reader less? Did it take away from the story? In my opinion no, rather made the story better because of the added tragedy. Hotspot sacrificing himself "for nothing" left a stronger image than if he had sacrificed himself to prevent Cobra getting the cybertronian technology.

Stormwolf · Post by **Stormwolf** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:53 pm

Alpha Trion in Key to Vector Sigma, what a waste of such a deep character

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:22 pm

I have a question (sorry for going off topic, sort of).
But does Inferno die in the comics?

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:32 pm

Obfleur wrote:I have a question (sorry for going off topic, sort of).
But does Inferno die in the comics?

In G2. Can't remember the exact issue, but quite certainly in the second Titan Books trade.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:33 pm

Obfleur wrote:I have a question (sorry for going off topic, sort of).
But does Inferno die in the comics?

Yeah, he sacrifices himself for Smokescreen in Legacy of Unicron in a future story set in 2008:

http://transfans.net/comics_guide_detai ... 177&page=9

I think his G2 death wasn't as cut and dried. A building fell on him.

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:41 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:Yeah, he sacrifices himself for Smokescreen in Legacy of Unicron in a future story set in 2008:

http://transfans.net/comics_guide_detai ... 177&page=9

I think his G2 death wasn't as cut and dried. A building fell on him.

For some reason I always think it was Smokscreen who died in Legacy of Unicron. Didn't Inferno die in G2 (I count him dead, the building exploded) after trying to avenge Smokescreen who had died just before? Propably not a coincidence.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:46 pm

Never saw the coincidence till now. Most interesting.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:16 pm

How about Xaaron?

He was quite an important character throughout the series, and he was killed off quite cheaply by Unicron, showing up Primus to be a bit of a gimp who merely uses his creations as pawns in the process.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:28 pm

I love that Inferno thing, wicked... - of course his shuttle death scene is wicked.

Xarrons death is strange to say the least. but it could hardley be pointless. anything battaling a god like transformer will bea pointless death to degree (ie your not gonna win without the old disco ball) but I guess Xarrons was more characterfull of them all...

Cyclonus, now theres a way to get yourself killed!

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:33 pm

Rhythms of Darkness Cyclonus's death was pretty pointless.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:53 pm

Oh noes... not Inferno

At least it was a heroic death...

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:52 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:Rhythms of Darkness Cyclonus's death was pretty pointless.

At least we got a good line from Galvatron.

"I only saved you... so I could kill you myself!"

Though I think it was done to show Galvy's a mean bastard who would happily kill his own troops for their failures.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:32 am

Osku wrote:
ShadowSonic wrote:Hot Spot's death in G2 was rather pointless, since the tech he died destroying was all infected with a virus anyways and wouldn't have done anything.
I disagree with this.

Hotspot didn't know Megatron had infected the cybertronian tech. He chose to act per his orders from Optimus Prime that no cybertronian tech can be left for humans (I thought this to include also G.I.Joe). Doing so and battling Cobra Hotspot got himself in such a bad shape he would be captivated by Cobra. To prevent that he chose to selfdestruct to complete his mission.

Did the futility of Hotspot's actions cheapen his sacrifice? Did it make the impact for reader less? Did it take away from the story? In my opinion no, rather made the story better because of the added tragedy. Hotspot sacrificing himself "for nothing" left a stronger image than if he had sacrificed himself to prevent Cobra getting the cybertronian technology.

Quite right... also the sacrifice of Fort Max was also in vain as he only managed to delay Megs, not destroy him, but it was still quite heroic...

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:17 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:Rhythms of Darkness Cyclonus's death was pretty pointless.
At least we got a good line from Galvatron. "I only saved you... so I could kill you myself!"

Though I think it was done to show Galvy's a mean bastard who would happily kill his own troops for their failures.

Classic Galvy - Id love to be Galvy *sigh*

JawBreaker · Post by **JawBreaker** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:13 pm

Mirage G2 anyone?
Actually Red Aert in G2 didn't really die for any reason other than to prove that Grims plan sucked.
Bit of a waste.

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Needless deaths

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