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Published: 2009-07-03 15:31:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 4155; Favourites: 46; Downloads: 50
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From Shakespeare's, "As You Like It":I pray you, do not fall in love with me,
For I am falser than vows made in wine (...)
So I watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the other day. Aside from the Decepticons, it was pretty much shit, so to heal the pain, I went home and popped in my Beast Wars DVDs, because Beast Wars is awesome as hell.
Dinobot/Megatron (or Megatron/Dinobot, I ain't picky), my beloved Beast Wars OTP. They'resoinlove and sotooproudtoadmitit~!
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Comments: 42
TermanianStar [2010-05-01 05:17:26 +0000 UTC]
Haha, always knew there was something going on between those two. No wonder Megatron kept obsessing with cloning Dinobot within the series. XD
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Wolf294 [2010-01-20 08:44:09 +0000 UTC]
I don't care what any buddy else has to say, that fucking hot!!
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justalittleuneasy [2010-01-08 14:50:15 +0000 UTC]
* Dinobot, obviously. ORZ It's 5AM here and I've not slept for about 24 hours, so sue me. XD;
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justalittleuneasy [2010-01-08 14:48:18 +0000 UTC]
Don't worry-- I also ship BW Megatron x Dinobt BW Megatron like burning. BURNING I SAY.
So, without any rants or hate or odd tangents into racism and the like, I just want to say that I really really like this piece of art. Thank you.
I kind of wonder if this is, like, the control room or the command center or something. Because that's gonna be awkward for the other Preds; I mean, they WORK in that room, for Primus' sake!
That's the perfect quotation, by the way, and they ARE far too proud to admit it. C'mon, you can totally see them as young revolutionaries before ideology came between them. *le sigh*
Dammit, now I've got the fanfic bug! >_< *must.. shake it.. loose.. !*
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Paradox-OS [2009-09-12 05:15:25 +0000 UTC]
Pardon me, just re-faving this piece of awesome.
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vicas-fawx [2009-07-08 15:49:29 +0000 UTC]
After a good long giggle at the astounding number of idiots you seem to attract...
So, Beast Wars. It's been a minute since I've seen the series (last I can remember is sometime around when it was still, er, on television) but I remember enough. Enough to know, say, who each character is, what they look like, and so on.
Girliness? Considering your style, I'd say this is on the more manly side of the spectrum. (Dare I say... mansexecelent?) It's more than easy to tell who is which. The hard, heavy lines and sharp angles definitely lean towards a more 'masculine' feel. And, y'know, a more non-bilogical feel, and seeing as they're robots and all, it works like Hershey's and marshmallow. The manliest of s'mores.
Compositionally, I love the choice of focus. You're giving details without too much detail, and the soft-hard light really makes the characters pop.
Jumping back to the lineart for a second, some gentle twocents. Understanding this might just be a stylistic affectation, the outer lines around Dinobot's face, especially in the area of his mouth and jaw, are almost too sharp and heavy. If you ever plan on going back to this, consider perhaps deeper shadows around that area of his face? Or lightening the color of the lines where the light reflects off of his skin (paint? Shell? Is there a right word for it?) That might make them more cohesive to the rest of the image, the way the lines around Megatron's face and headgear are softened just ever so.
Saying again: Textures. Love them. Also, the omission of fingernails for some reason makes me gleeful. Seeing as bots have no need for such frail human-type things. (Though, claws are good. Everyone digs claws.)
And and and, before I forget, loving the background. Are they necking in the control room?
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neffinesse In reply to vicas-fawx [2009-07-08 17:30:50 +0000 UTC]
mansexecelent
Ahahahahaha, yes! And thank you; I'm guessing that the idiots (or one idiot; whatever) was really looking for something to get hissy about with those comments, so I'm glad you disagree with them.
And dammit, you're right. I started out intending for a sort of stained-glass effect, but then lost sight of it once I started to colour it. Looking it over, I think I was really lucky that some of my fiddling lightened the lines on Megatron's fingers; otherwise they would've really stood out as well. (And I think 'shell' is the closest, really; don't quote me on that, though.)
But right! Thank you! and i suspect they're necking right wherever they want.
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roguekitty246 [2009-07-08 04:08:27 +0000 UTC]
.....lotta people freaking out over this picture, huh? Wow. Just--wow, people. Chill.
Loving this picture. Loved it in the YaoiGallery, loved it here. Megatron's smirk is so confident--gah.
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neffinesse In reply to roguekitty246 [2009-07-08 17:22:42 +0000 UTC]
Actually, I'm suspecting it's one person using two accounts to throw a snitfit 'cause she doesn't like the pairing. Which just, really, makes it funny.
I'm glad you still like it! But yeah, this picture seems to attract quite the crowd.
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roguekitty246 In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-08 19:11:49 +0000 UTC]
Gwah, why does that somehow not surprise me? D: People = idiots. If you don't like the pairing then don't look. Frag, it isn't my favorite pairing but I still dig the picture...and the pairing. *facedesk* Oh who am I kidding, I think I'm a slashaholic.
brb rehab
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neffinesse In reply to roguekitty246 [2009-07-08 19:16:00 +0000 UTC]
Basically, yeah. I'm just glad I had you on y!gallery to discuss with, to remind me that DinoTrap fans aren't necessarily raging douchebags; it's just one very vocal idiot.
Also, there is nothing with with being a slashaholic! For one thing it produces a whole lot of porn! Noes! Don't rehab!
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roguekitty246 In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-08 19:55:20 +0000 UTC]
XD Sometimes one idiot is all it takes to make an entire group look bad. *facepalm*
--and oh fine. I do enjoy teh pronz. I'd probably scare my way right back outta rehab anyway.
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akisawana [2009-07-05 00:17:41 +0000 UTC]
Well, let no-one say you don't have talent.
Your talent, however, works against you here. See, I watched Beast Wars on its original run. And I've seen pretty much the entire range of fanart, from "better than the original series" to "my four-year-old brother's stickfigures." And I have never seen such an unrecognizable Dinobot.
It may be a question of "style," but it has always been my position that if you need to tell me what you've drawn, you have failed as an artist. I almost can't believe that you've ever seen an actual picture of them. Yes, you've got volume and shading and so forth spot-on, but the picture they create is not recognizable as Dinobot or Megatron. You have failed to capture even their relative proportions to each other and themselves, or even get the very shapes right. You've got the color schemes, but all that givea is a masterpiece of "two little girls playing dress-up."
Also, you seem to have forgotten the eyes.
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vicas-fawx In reply to akisawana [2009-07-08 15:56:21 +0000 UTC]
Note: Faving every piece of fanart for your favorite series just to prove you love it best does not give you license to be a snob.
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street-howitzer In reply to akisawana [2009-07-06 13:52:47 +0000 UTC]
>> Also, you seem to have forgotten the eyes. <<
Go back to the kid's table, will you? The adults are talking about artistic composition, something you obviously aren't grown-up enough to understand.
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LadyJet2 In reply to akisawana [2009-07-05 22:10:04 +0000 UTC]
wow....y'know have you even considered composition? i mean for god's sake wo/man! stupidity is forgivable, ignorance isn't.
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neffinesse In reply to akisawana [2009-07-05 12:48:55 +0000 UTC]
Man, this'd be so much more convincing if you weren't trying way too hard. I could possibly buy that you couldn't recognise the characters (although I have to say you might need glasses; the colouration and armour is a pretty obvious give-away, build and girliness notwithstanding), and yeah, their proportions relative to each other are wrong, yes indeed. Thank you for pointing that out.
But then you say this: Also, you seem to have forgotten the eyes. And that just blows the whole thing, and makes it way too obvious. No one's gonna fall for that. Try to be more subtle next time. I know, I know, you were hoping for a meltdown, but you have to do better than that.
(and your cute 'surreptuous' attempt at asserting transformers street cred is duly noted. "See, I watched Beast Wars on its original run"? golly, can i touch you? being so unique as you are, and all.)
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azure-ocelot [2009-07-03 23:08:21 +0000 UTC]
Dinobot looks like a femme. Jaw, neck, and chest all too thin, and the mouth doesn't resemble his at all. I actually thought this was a picture of femmebots at first. Megatron has a girly mouth too, but it's less pronounced.
Interesting OTP. I could see this, but only if it was one-sided. Dinobot may've loved Megatron once, but he hates him pretty sincerely now. Megatron still seems to carry a twisted attraction around, though. He certainly cloned him often enough.
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neffinesse In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-03 23:16:56 +0000 UTC]
No, he doesn't.
... oh! Sorry! I figured I was allowed to state my opinion as fact too. What I meant to say is that no, I draw femmes as looking quite different from that, so my style considered, no, he does not look like a femme. It's not a carbon-copy of the style Beast Wars itself uses, nor is it meant to be. Also why I changed several design elements.
And the pairing works quite well as two-sided for me. Hate doesn't preclude love or obsession, especially not in TF-verse (Silverbolt/Blackarachnia, for one).
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azure-ocelot In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-04 04:11:25 +0000 UTC]
That's not what I meant. I meant he looks like a girl. It's the shape of the neck and mouth, mainly, though the arms don't help. Megatron is afflicted with a lesser version of the same thing. I thought you might be more used to drawing women, as many artists who are have a difficult time getting used to male figures. I thought you wouldn't mind a bit of critique. Forgive my impertinence.
(Silverbolt and Blackarachnia hated each other? Since when? BA thought he was, at most, more than a little annoying. Silverbolt was smitten with her, even when she tried to kill him.)
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street-howitzer In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-06 13:59:23 +0000 UTC]
Somewhere, a bridge is missing its troll.
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BlinkPink In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-04 15:33:16 +0000 UTC]
First of all, that's not critique. That's you being an asshole. The first thing you say, after all, is, "Dinobot looks like a femme." Even if that is critique, learn some goddamn tact.
Second of all, its a cartoon. Seriously. Arguing pairings when someone who obviously has a proclivity towards a certain one is just retarded and socially graceless, even in fandom.
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azure-ocelot In reply to BlinkPink [2009-07-05 00:32:39 +0000 UTC]
Honey, if I thought this was worth being an asshole about, you would know. Tact isn't my strong point, as it obviously isn't yours. But a bit of blunt honesty can do more good for an artist's or an author's work than any amount of fangirling -- provided she's willing to pay any heed to it, that is.
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street-howitzer In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-06 14:08:48 +0000 UTC]
>> ... provided she's willing to pay any heed to it, that is. <<
Ooo! Following the troll script to a T, I see. Now we can look forward to your "I'M LEAVING FOREVER" comment, followed by your "NO WAIT, NEVER MIND, I'VE GOT ONE MORE THING TO SAY" comment. Both of which will provide us with even more entertainment than you have already!
Unless, of course, you just wanna go back under your bridge, where you belong. I'm sure your bridge misses you.
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neffinesse In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-05 13:00:07 +0000 UTC]
Ohh no. No, you don't get to play martyr about trying to offer critique and the artist not "paying you any heed"; you actually need to give good, constructive critique first.
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BlinkPink In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-05 02:19:49 +0000 UTC]
If this is you being nice, I really don't see how anyone can stand being around you.
Actually, while I agree with you that 'fangirling' isn't helpful, taking the other extreme of barging in and basically telling someone they're crap without any real substance in your commentary otherwise is just as bad. Seriously. No one wants to listen to a braying jackass, even if said braying jackass says they're trying to be helpful.
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neffinesse In reply to azure-ocelot [2009-07-04 09:06:16 +0000 UTC]
No, see, crit is stuff I can use, and I don't mind that. If you told me their heads might be too big or small, or that there's something wrong with the general anatomy (for one, I think now that Dinobot's arm is a bit off) or that the lighting might need work. But that they're skinny and girly? Shit, look at my gallery! Actually, no, here, I'll help you:
[link]
[link]
[link]
'Girly' is what I draw. It's how my art looks. It's how I draw lips and necks on everyone. Critiquing that is more than useless, it's silly, because a quick browse could tell you that's how I draw. Now, if you disagree with my style, don't let me stand in your way; plenty of people dislike the style, and they have every right to, but you must be the first person to pop along who tells me I should change what amounts to a deliberate choice because you feel that it looks wrong.
(At most annoyed? She seemed pretty damn hateful to me, beating him up, trying to shoot him several times, getting thoroughly angry that he wouldn't fight back.)
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HighMageSerpentounge [2009-07-03 17:38:08 +0000 UTC]
Ohmy god, that's the perfect quote for them. <3
The details in this are amazing. I love Dinobot's scales.
There needs to be more of this pairing.
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neffinesse In reply to HighMageSerpentounge [2009-07-03 23:20:10 +0000 UTC]
I'm glad! I spent too long scouring Shakespeare quotes for it! (C'mon, it's Dinobot; it'd have to be Shakespeare!)
And I heartily agree. But given that I'm being pounced upon, both here and elsewhere, by people apparently intent on dissing this pairing, well, I can't blame people if they don't want to draw it. ._.
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HighMageSerpentounge In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-04 04:01:16 +0000 UTC]
It's because more people ship DinobotXRattrap than MegsXDinobot.
I'm of the opinion that it was a lover's spat before episode 1 that drove Dinobot to the edge, the last straw was the crash on not-yet-known-as-Earth. "I told you we should have stopped and asked for directions *snarlfrown*"
Also, Megs is one of the few taller than DB, which is awesome.
The only thing better than MegatronXDinobot is a threesome between Dinobot, Megatron and Rattrap.
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neffinesse In reply to HighMageSerpentounge [2009-07-04 09:09:59 +0000 UTC]
It sure does seem that way from some of the comments, yeah. ._. I don't pick on their OTP, why do they have to pick on mine? It's so true! "Pull over. There's a Maximal ship there." "I'm not pulling over!" "We need directions, maybe they can tell us!" "I'm not asking them for directions! I can handle it myself, yeess!" "
"
It is awesome, and funny, yeah. And I gotta say, I may be the one person who don't see the romance between Dinobot and Rattrap. I've tried, too.
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LadyJet2 In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-05 22:03:51 +0000 UTC]
BWAHAHHAAH! XD oh god so true X3
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HighMageSerpentounge In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-04 14:46:38 +0000 UTC]
Shipping Wars.
XD Bwahahahaha. Man, so right.
Dinobot and Rattrap have a kinda Hate-love thing or they just act like an old married couple, besides they have pet names for each other XD
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Firithnovwen [2009-07-03 16:07:44 +0000 UTC]
I love Beast Wars and never really came across this pairing actually. I love the quote with it, it fits perfectly. I love the parts with the Decepticons in the movie they were the best parts but I wouldn't go as far as to say it was sit. There is plenty of parts to pick apart but it's a summmer movie and it's by Michael Bay so we know what to expect. I wish they would come out with another Transformers cartoon that had the same quality as Beast Wars.
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neffinesse In reply to Firithnovwen [2009-07-03 23:18:22 +0000 UTC]
Eh, between the racist caricatures and the complete neutering of poor Mikaela's character, I honestly found the Decepticons to be the only highlight of that movie. YMMV, though.
And I agree! We could use some more Beast Wars, or at least the quality of it, we really could.
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Firithnovwen In reply to neffinesse [2009-07-04 00:41:24 +0000 UTC]
There was a lot of things wrong with the movie but with the racist part. I know a lot of people think the 'twins' were a racist stereotype, however in the first movie all the autobots were extreme sterotypes b/c they learned earth's language and behavior from the internet and the Internet is nothing but stereotypes but in the second movie those characters had settled down b/c they had been on year for some time. If the twins were new to earth then their personalities would be over the top and perhaps racist. Although I thought they kinda of acted like preteen white boys that were pretending to be black but that is just my opinion. Mikaela's character was slaughtered and Megan's Fox acting was horrible. I really liked Optimus Prime in the second movie, in the first he wasn't bad ass enough and I liked his death scene a lot. I love starscream, although I can't stand his design (lol) and the Fallen was a bit of a let down. And so was the new autobots, I just wish they had the twins be the real twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and have the Jet Judo!
Oh well, it was overall a good movie so I can't complain too much it was entertaining
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street-howitzer In reply to Firithnovwen [2009-07-06 14:55:25 +0000 UTC]
>> I know a lot of people think the 'twins' were a racist stereotype, however in the first movie all the autobots were extreme sterotypes b/c they learned earth's language and behavior from the internet and the Internet is nothing but stereotypes but in the second movie those characters had settled down b/c they had been on year for some time. If the twins were new to earth then their personalities would be over the top and perhaps racist <<
I don't mean to interrupt you, and I'm not trying to attack you--your explanation in-universe does make a bit of sense.
The problem is that, IRL, there is a long history of characters who act stereotypically "black" for comedic effect. These aren't just "black-acting" characters: they're characters who act that way only to make white people laugh at them. Old-time minstrel shows are the best example of this: white men would put on 'blackface' and portray themselves as "ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical". There were offensive stock characters which still exist, in some form, in pop culture today (Aunt Jemima was a mammy until very recently). There's over a century's worth of history regarding this kind of "entertainment", and Michael Bay can't ignore it just by going "muuuuuuuh they're robots".
Let's face some facts here. In the first film, the very first Autobot to die was Jazz, a black-painted robot who talked in stereotypical ghetto slang and was into breakdancing. (When I saw the movie, I even commented out loud: "Wow, I guess the black man always does have to die first".) In the second film, you have Mudflap and Skids, who contribute absolutely nothing to the plot and whose sole purpose seems to be providing comic relief. Mudflap and Skids are illiterate; Skids has a gold tooth; both speak with the same ghetto slang as Jazz, the other "black" character.
In other words, they have the exact same character traits which were once given to black characters in minstrel shows. And like minstrel characters, they are only pretending to be black. So why is it such a stretch to suggest that, at the very least, Michael Bay is a moron who's puking up his internalized racism into his movie?
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Firithnovwen In reply to street-howitzer [2009-07-06 20:11:52 +0000 UTC]
Okay I do see your point and understand it but I do kinda of disagree. Simply because there is a lot of black individuals that walk around talking like that (white people too) with gold teeth. Transformers are adapting to earthβs customs and choose a culture to reflect. They were over the top and distasteful however the stereotype is out there because they are people like that out there. I didnβt like how stupid they were and being illiterate was a bit uncalled for, although it wasnβt a language they would have likely been taught to read regardless.
As far as Jazz, you should be more or less angry at Hasbro and the other creators of Transformers in all considering he was the closest interpretation from the cartoon and comic books. He represented the era when he was created, and honestly I donβt find him insulting at all. In the movie he was intelligent and voice out his loyalty to bumblebee not wanting to leave him behind. And he only died for emotion effect, and being that Iron Hide, Racket, Bumblebee, and Optimus are more popular characters overall he was the best choice. His death wasnβt bad, he was protecting the soldiers. He wouldnβt leave as the others had told him, he died bravely nothing at all insulting about that.
In the transformers movies there has been a lot of smart and intelligent characters that were minorities. Such as Tech Sergeant Epps played by Tyrese Gibson he was intelligent, loyal, and strong. Glen Whitmann played by Anthony Anderson who was extremely smart although very geeky. Agent Simmons, played by John Turturro. These movie are not out there to display the minority culture is something negative, the twins were poorly written and went in a improper direction but I believe it was harmless. They werenβt making black people look like that they were showing two very stupid immature robots reflecting parts of a culture and stupid people and in this case stupid robots say stupid things. They obviously didnβt pick up the best of that culture which reflects the twinβs characters.
But I do understand your point, and it's valid
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street-howitzer In reply to Firithnovwen [2009-07-06 23:58:05 +0000 UTC]
>> Okay I do see your point and understand it but I do kinda of disagree. Simply because there is a lot of black individuals that walk around talking like that (white people too) with gold teeth. <<
First of all, your "white people too" comment is irrelevant, and for this reason: not all robots with stereotypically "white" voices exhibited stereotypically "black" behavior. Yet every single portrayal of a TransFormer with a "black-sounding" voice exhibited stereotypically "black" behavior. There's no equivalence.
Second, you are implying that if "a lot" of members of a minority race do something, then this makes it okay to portray every member of that race as uniformly doing it. It's okay with you for Michael Bay to create minstrel-show caricatures because some black person you saw on TV had a gold tooth and talked smack. Yet if white people do the exact same thing, you don't leap to the conclusion that all white people do this. Even if "a lot" of white people talked in 'ghetto slang' and wore gold grilles, you still would not believe that all white people do this; and you'd object to it if a major movie director uniformly portrayed all white people thus.
It seems to me that you assume that white people can be individuals, whereas black people are homogenous; that white people can be individually silly, but that blacks who do silly things just prove that their whole race is silly. Why is that?
>> Transformers are adapting to earthβs customs and choose a culture to reflect. They were over the top and distasteful however the stereotype is out there because they are people like that out there. <<
Go back to the article I linked to about minstrel shows. Those stereotypes, which you think reflect people "out there" right now, have existed for centuries. They are "out there" because white people think it's funny to portray black people as stupid, afraid of hoodoo, talking only in Ebonics and not reeden buks r teh nooze reel gud.
>> I didnβt like how stupid they were and being illiterate was a bit uncalled for, although it wasnβt a language they would have likely been taught to read regardless. <<
Yet they were the only AutoBots with this problem. No one else had any issue, just the "black" ones.
>> As far as Jazz, you should be more or less angry at Hasbro and the other creators of Transformers in all considering he was the closest interpretation from the cartoon and comic books. He represented the era when he was created, and honestly I donβt find him insulting at all. In the movie he was intelligent and voice out his loyalty to bumblebee not wanting to leave him behind. <<
No offense, but this just doesn't wash. The cartoons came out in 1984. What "white" Autobot in the movie behaves like they're from 1984? None, right? Yet it just so happens that the one "black" Autobot retains racist stereotypes because he was created in '84, back when nobody knew any better? And speaking of that, why the assumption that people in 1984 were ignorant bumpkins who couldn't tell that they were creating minstrel-show characters, and aren't responsible for perpetuating racist stereotypes?
>> And he only died for emotion effect <<
Naturally. Part of the "black sacrifice" is that the death of the minor African-American character motivates the white character(s) to really go after the villain. It is assumed that the African-American character was useless while alive, otherwise they'd be able to survive along with all those white folks. Even so, the character is well-liked by the rest of the cast, who pause just long enough to mourn his passing before doing what they'd already said they would do, only now, it's in his/her memory.
Explain to me how that wasn't Jazz's death in a nutshell.
>> ... and being that Iron Hide, Racket, Bumblebee, and Optimus are more popular characters overall he was the best choice. <<
Yeah, he's such an unpopular character that he's only been featured in one or two versions of "Tranformers". Not pretty much every single part of the franchise. Oh, wait.
And it's my understanding that Optimus Prime was, in spite of his popularity, killed off during Generation 1. So why not end the movie with HIS noble sacrifice? They'd already set the damn film up in that direction; I was fully expecting his demise, in fact. But, no, sorry--people like him, so he has to be spared. Let's kill the black robot instead! No one cares about him!
>> His death wasnβt bad, he was protecting the soldiers. He wouldnβt leave as the others had told him, he died bravely nothing at all insulting about that. <<
Of course. Another common part of "black sacrifice" is that the black character dies with nobility to protect his white buddies (even if he's also incompetent enough to get killed for trying). This allows for white people to savor the death of a black character without feeling any of those icky guilt feelings about their own racism.
>> In the transformers movies there has been a lot of smart and intelligent characters that were minorities. Such as Tech Sergeant Epps played by Tyrese Gibson he was intelligent, loyal, and strong. Glen Whitmann played by Anthony Anderson who was extremely smart although very geeky. Agent Simmons, played by John Turturro. <<
So, let me see if I understand you. There are two major African-American characters in the movies, and three Autobots who behave in stereotypically "black" ways. Of those, two characters may be considered "positive" portrayals, while three characters, as you admit, are "negative". It happens that all three negative portrayals are Autobots. Somehow, this doesn't mean that it's easier to get away with racist stereotypes if you portray those stereotypes through non-humans (see under: Jar-Jar Binks). Somehow, it means that it's okay with you that, three times out of five, Michael Bay and his staff reached for lazy and hateful stereotypes instead of creating a more unique character.
>> These movie are not out there to display the minority culture is something negative, the twins were poorly written and went in a improper direction but I believe it was harmless. <<
I want you to try this experiment. Instead of saying "I think this stereotype is harmless", try to, at the very least, imagine whether a black person might consider the twins' behavior harmful to how others view them. Of course you don't think it's harmful: I'm presuming you're non-black, and are therefore not threatened in the least by a racist caricature of black people. But what if you were?
>> They werenβt making black people look like that they were showing two very stupid immature robots reflecting parts of a culture and stupid people and in this case stupid robots say stupid things. <<
Two robots who happen to be some of the only "black-acting" characters in the films. Noticably absent are stupid "white" robots who say stupid things.
>> They obviously didnβt pick up the best of that culture which reflects the twinβs characters. <<
You will recall that part of the problem was that the characters were illiterate. The gold tooth in his grille was only part of it, as was Ebonics. So, I gather that you think that ignorance and illiteracy are a bad part of "that culture". You do realize that you sound like you're saying "The twins have poor character, with how they act like those ignorant blacks", don't you?
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Firithnovwen In reply to street-howitzer [2009-07-07 02:43:54 +0000 UTC]
This just seems too personal and I rather not debate it. I quite enjoyed your opinion before and wanted to debate from a different view but I don't care for this sort of aggressive onslaught.
I just rather not, take it as submission or whatever but I respect everyone and I see everyone as a individual and twisting my words doesn't make you right. You have a lot of valid points which most I agree but I rather not be treated like I'm ignorant or racist.
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street-howitzer In reply to Firithnovwen [2009-07-07 15:37:07 +0000 UTC]
>> This just seems too personal and I rather not debate it. I quite enjoyed your opinion before and wanted to debate from a different view but I don't care for this sort of aggressive onslaught. <<
"Aggressive onslaught"? Is that what you call something that respected your original post enough to go through it point by point? I at least took the time to read what you had to say--it's sad that you don't respect other people enough to do the same.
>> I just rather not, take it as submission or whatever but I respect everyone and I see everyone as a individual and twisting my words doesn't make you right. <<
How did I twist your words? Can you provide a specific example?
>> You have a lot of valid points which most I agree but I rather not be treated like I'm ignorant or racist. <<
That's absolutely fascinating. See, I didn't call you ignorant OR racist. Nowhere did I even imply that you, as a human being, were either ignorant or racist. How interesting, that you so quickly and adroitly leapt to the conclusion. One might almost think that you're hyper-sensitive when it comes to being challenged on your views of race.
I'm going to do something that's probably a waste of time, since you've already declared that you're not going to "debate" anymore. I'm going to explain to you exactly what I was doing in my previous comment, and the difference between having racist attitudes and being bigoted.
First: I was not calling you a racist. I didn't even call Michael Bay a racist. My exact words were: "[A]t the very least, Michael Bay is a moron who's puking up his internalized racism into his movie". I clearly have a low opinion of the man, but I still didn't call him a bigot.
In fact, the clearest summary of my opinion was: "... Michael Bay and his staff reached for lazy and hateful stereotypes instead of creating a more unique character". Because that's really what it amounted to. I think Michael Bay is too lazy to challenge his audience with anything more complex than big explosions, panty shots, and dur-hur-hurrr jokes about Those Shiftless Blacks. As you yourself pointed out, he didn't have to--he's (as well as the scriptwriters) clearly capable of portraying minority characters who aren't out of a minstrel show. Yet he did, more often than not. That doesn't make him hateful, but it does make him a white man who doesn't appreciate how privileged he is to be white and male.
The word "racist" does not simply mean "hating people of another skin color". Properly understood, racism is accepting the racial status quo--where whites are treated as superior, and blacks and other minorities are treated as inferior. It means perpetuating language, stereotypes, and beliefs that encourage others to discriminate. And it means completely ignoring the history of race, especially in America, in order to pretend that the hatefulness you support (even if you don't feel that hatefulness yourself) is brand-new.
It is bigoted to call a black person a n*gger. It is racist to excuse calling a black person a n*gger by saying "Oh, but black people call themselves that!" It's racist because it ignores the long-standing history of how the word n*gger was used by whites against blacks for centuries; it excuses a hateful and bigoted behavior by comparing it to an action that is neither bigoted nor hateful; it assumes that, rather than white people being responsible for using racial slurs, that black people invite it on themselves by taking the word back, as it were.
I would not call you a racist. I would say, based off the comments you've made here, that you have a lot of racist attitudes. You assume that black people are monolithic as a race, while white people aren't. You think it's okay for horrible characterizations of black people to feature in a popular movie aimed at small children, and for children to laugh at those characters. You issued pronouncements on "I don't think this is harmful", as though your opinion as a white person counts more than the complaints made about the twins by African-Americans. You disregard every history lesson on race in America that is handed to you. You're content with pretending that minstrel shows never were a popular form of entertainment in America, and that Michael Bay's portrayals of Jazz, Mudflap and Skids are based on real black people, not on stereotypes popularized and perpetuated by minstrel shows. Your second sentence said, in essence, that you think these negative portrayals are okay because "a lot" of black people really are illiterate and talk all ig'nant, and you later describe illiteracy and ignorance as part of African-American culture.
This wouldn't make you unique; I recognize them in you because I used to think the same way. It also doesn't make you a bigot, or a lost cause. I was asking you questions to challenge your assumptions in the hopes that you would realize that your assumptions are faulty.
At most, I'm guilty of assuming that you may have benign ignorance--that is, that you simply don't know about certain things, and would appreciate being informed. Apparently, I was wrong to assume that you were interested in actually learning something. My apologies. I didn't realize that you were perfectly content with spewing racist attitudes, and would only whine and blubber about how offended you are when those attitudes were pointed out to you.
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