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Originally Posted by UltraPrimal
I also wanted to get your guys opinion of characters like Tarantulas who doesn't actually go through very much of change, it's more so we just learn about more and more about who they really are and what their true motivations are. Like peeling back layers of an onion. More like character exposition than character development. Question is that still considered character development?
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It's a bit like Prime Arcee if you think about it.Her and Tarantulas have revealed their past throughout the run of their respective series,but looking at them at the current time,little or none has changed in their character.Arcee hasn't done much on Prime while Tarantulas has been doing his own thing while being part of the Predacon team just as in season 1.Like you said,it was more of exposition than development,considering that the past of each character should have been enveloped into their character at this point.The best example for this is Animated Bulkhead,when in the past he was revealed to be an expert in space bridge technology,it has been used full force at season 3 when he became pivotal to the story.
As for the segment itself,I also believe that what makes great character development,as well as great writing itself in a series,is whether or not we can relate to any these characters.Once again,Beast Wars and Animated exemplified that you can create great characters not only on how they interact with each other,but with the viewer.Why did we cry when Dinobot died?Why were we in awe when we saw Optimus become the very Prime he was supposed to be in the end of Animated?Why were we proud to see Cheetor grow up to become a leader at the end of Beast Machines?Why were excited to see Prowl don his samurai upgrade?
I think explaining character development as 'someone who changes from season 1 to season x' is just scratching the surface.We can see someone change from what he/she used to be,but if there isn't a relationship between character and viewer,we can't really say there is any real development.Going to Movie Prime,he changed from a standard commander into an unsympathetic psychopath in DOTM.Without any real explanation or time to create a relation with that character,the execution for such a change was done poorly,and the writing is in question.That's the real fault of the film series,as there was little interaction between viewer and character,especially for the robots.It does explain why some didn't feel anything at Ironhide's death scene in DOTM,or even Jazz' death scene in the first film.
Excellent episode my gents.Can't wait for Slag 69
