Transformers Vs GoBots: Q n A

Hey all,

First, let me say I hope you all enjoyed the story, and many thanks to everyone who took the time to read it, I aim to entertain

After much deliberation, I figured I would toss up a quick Q&A session for Transformers vs GoBots to field any questions you fine readers may have had. When I first started posting the story, I was responding to some of the comments in order to (hopefully) help add some understanding or context to what I was doing, but looking back at it, I probably should have just pulled out completely like I did for the later chapters and let everyone just chat amongst themselves. I think the discussions held for the last few chapters were great, and from the get-go I was getting the responses I pretty much expected (from the intrigue to the anger and resentment), which was great because I figured if I was going to write a story, I needed to yank some emotional strings on people.

I thought about trying to pull together a FAQ or something, but honestly I can't think of enough things to put on it, so I've instead scanned through the last cluster of responses and tried to see what the most recurring inquiries were. If anything you read here doesn't answer a question you had, please feel free to ask and discuss amongst yourselves.

WARNING! If you haven't read the story or plan to, be warned that the Q&A talks about everything, so SPOILERS abound! So like I said, if you haven't read the story but want to, here are links to the chapters.

Prologue: Part 1 | Prologue: Part 2 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 6.5| Chapter 7 | Chapter 7.5 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9-A | Chapter 9-B | Chapter 10-A | Chapter 10-B | Chapter 10-C | Chapter 10-D

Or, you can visit the website by clicking here.
_

Now, on to some of the more prevalent questions:

--- Transformers vs GoBots? What the heck were you thinking?!

I've always been a GoBots fan. I love em! Despite its very apparent flaws, I always thought the characters had a ton of potential, but were never handled in a way that would have allowed for the series to enjoy the same success Transformers had. That combined with the horrid marketing and deplorable comic attempts just sealed their fates. Now don't get me wrong, in no way shape or form am I saying I've revolutionized GoBots or am saying *this* is how GoBots should be done. I'm not. I'm just a guy who loves me some big robots. But I did want to do something different with GoBots and show that if handled differently, they could be every bit as entertaining and fun as the Transformers. I think they deserve to be a little more than cannon fodder for Transformers ,or background characters that get slaughtered because "LOLZ, teh GoBits = Fail." It's a ridiculous sentiment that permeates the general TF community, and I liken it to the phrase "That's what *she* said!" Overused and hasn't been funny or entertaining since *maybe* the second time it was ever uttered.

Aaanyway I first started this story as an F-U to the people who refused to admit that the GoBots had (and still have in my opinion) the same potential for coolness as the TFs. My original goal was to do the story and be done. Then a couple of buddies of mine got together and were toying with the idea of putting together a webcomic site dedicated to TFs and other mecha franchises. TF vs GB fit right in, so I continued the story with the intention of not only finishing it, but to produce an ongoing, new GoBot series. Unfortunately, things didn't quite pan out and the site never came together, but I still had 40+ pages of art and a few hundred pages of the story. So Here we are, x number of years later, and because I hate having artwork completed with no outlet, I decided to toss it up for your viewing pleasure... or displeasure, whatever struck you But the things that didn't seem like they weren't 100% answered or resolved, were set up that way because this was supposed to springboard into a new GoBot comic.

--- Why didn't you take my suggestions and include them in the story?
Because this was written in 2004-5. In the earlier chapters I said the story was already written, I was just editing it. I wasn't lying. Though I *am* an edit nazi, and would often edit a chapter, be done with it, then go back and re-edit the whole thing *again* to make sure there weren't any flubs or errors. If something went screwy on my end computer-wise, it would lead to delays.

---- The FBI/Braxis connection-
Okay, I wanted to do something I thought was entertaining with Braxis, but didn't want to use him directly. I wanted things to start off with him in jail. I figured the perfect way to re-introduce the Braxis name with a twist would be to give him an (until now) unmentioned son who not only has no desire to discuss his father, and worked his way through the ranks so he could use their infinite resources to not only exact revenge, but have the full protection of the U.S government behind him. He's smart like his dad, but in a more practical way.

---- A.J and Nick's powers.
I think it was pretty well explained in the story, but I should probably clarify a few things. When I was working on this with the intention of jumping into a GoBot series, I wanted to start playing with some of the Machine Robo roots, namely the main character Rom's ability to call forth Kenryu, a robot, and merge with him. I wanted Nick and A.J to not only be able to merge with their respective vehicles (Nick's would have been revealed in the series,) but with the GoBots as well. But with a twist. In the story you saw Nick replicate and replace Stak's head. Later on, you would have seen both Nick and A.J able to replicate different body parts for the GoBots. So say, Leader-1 got his arm damaged or blown off in battle. Nick or A.J would have been able to touch the other arm, replicate its design, then call forth an alternate robot form to replace the limb, giving the GoBot a new, more powerful limb for a short while.

---- Leader-Prime, say whaaat?
Yes, Leader-Prime. Seems like the opinion of that choice is split, but I stand by what I did and enjoyed the heck out of writing it. I knew doing a complete fusion of the characters instead of having them do an old fashioned gestalt merge *might* draw some loose DBZ comparisons, but to me that's like saying the Beast Wars fuzors ripped off the Wuzzles. Yeah... see how silly that sounds?

---- Sequel, yes?
No.
I *DO* have something else involving large robots in the works, but it's not GoBots, so there will be no sequel to this particular story. Sorry, as much fun as I had writing this, I hit a point where I realized that I was spending more time developing this story when I really *should* have been focusing on my own stuff. Now I'm not against people doing fanfiction, sometimes it's the only way to get stories that would never see the light of day in an official capacity, but for myself it's just practice for my own ideas. I hate, HATE having a character (or characters) created for a franchise that will never ever be used, will never be official, and can only languish in a fanfiction for a franchise I know I'll never have my hands in, much less the creative control to do what I had in mind. So, as much fun as doing a new GoBots series would be, it's not worth the time I'd put into it unless Hasbro knocked on my door and said 'We've got this GoBot franchise that's all dusty, want to take a whack at it?'
That being said.
Everything that I do fanfic-wise, is almost always a test for something else. There's a *reason* some of these revamped GoBots only have their respective character's color scheme in common. More on that hopefully sooner than later

Hmm, that's all I can think of for now, but like I said, feel free to ask away.