Decepticon Rule 4-Eva, amirite?
So like, I was talking about Transformers: Cybertron, more specifically my BFF Thunderblast, you know? She’s this Decepticon who landed on Earth in the distant past, got captured and frozen by Crosswise the Monster Hunter, and joined Megatron after Starscream thawed her out then abandoned her. But then lots of people were all up in her face, saying she was like, dumb and girly and slutty and poorly-developed, and I just HAD to be part of her fangirl pack, for serious! Can you beli-eve what the gossips are saying about her?
1. She’s a bimbo!
Ransack, Crumplezone, and Thundercracker, the rest of her team, are the punch-lines of running gags just as often as she is, constantly landing in front of Optimus Prime when they’re trying to run away from him or dressing up like cheerleaders. One part of Cybertron’s bizarre sense of humor involved everyone- even more ‘serious’ villains or heroes- getting to look silly every now and again (Sideways in the “Home Alone” takeoff, Jetfire’s hysterical fear of injections. Even Starscream, who was played more seriously than any other villain, had a few goofy moments, ie, *booming voice of command* “I’m going to do what any good leader would do!” *high-pitched genki voice* “I’m gonna make a tactical retreat!”). Thunderblast isn't a lesser character because she's included in this.
She’s definitely not stupid, though. She’s the one who thought of pitting Megatron and Starscream against one another so she could escape battle unscathed, after all.
2. She’s girly! Her ultimate attack involves flying hearts!
Cybertron was the most straight-laced series since Beast Machines so it was only logical it’d have comic relief, and one half of this, mentioned previously, was characters making believable but totally boneheaded moves/comments. The other involved using anime cliches (like translucent portraits in the sky) in situations that are totally wrong for them. In Thunderblast’s case, when she does her super city-leveling attack, little pink hearts and speed lines erupt across the screen. The joke here is in the irony - city-leveling attack, cute pink hearts.
But consider her extreme femininity from another angle: Thunderblast is from Earth’s distant past, and she’s part of a faction of Decepticons who interacted frequently with the humans of that era. No matter how much she tries to modernize herself (and she IS trying. That she knows the theme from “Jaws” and is willing to fight *at all* is proof of that), at the end of the day, Thunderblast has still gotten her concepts of femininity and acceptable behavior- some of the hardest concepts to shake- from human women in the early middle ages. I’m not saying it would have been impossible to make someone with her background a Nightbird v. 2.0 badass, just that it’s not in any way “cheap” or illogical for her to have the personality she does.
3. She’s a skank! Look at the way she clings to Megatron!
Her crush was unrequited and she was fine with that. It was mostly played for laughs, displayed by her shrieking like the fangirl she is whenever he used a particularly fine attack, had a particularly groovy idea, or was doing absolutely nothing in a manner she found particularly interesting. She wasn’t the only one stuck on literally and figuratively polishing his chassis, either (but I keep forgetting that Ransack and Crumplezone and Thundercracker, the rest of her team, don’t count because they’re men).
However, one thing Thunderblast *didn’t* do was allow Megatron to exploit her feelings. If he told her to do something she thought was too dangerous or out of her league, she refused. That’s hardly the behavior of a “clingy” woman who “can’t survive without her ma-hun.”
4. Lori was able to defeat her! That makes her a wimp!
Thunderblast was defeated by Lori because she was overconfident, not because she was outclassed; it wasn’t as if Lori beat her in a fistfight. Thunderblast was so certain she couldn’t lose in the water, she let Wing Saber distract her so Lori could drop a succession of cranes on her head. Also, I think it says something about Thunderblast that she wasn’t too “honorable” or “nurturing” to attack Lori with the intent to hurt her, not just take her hostage or scare the Autobots. If Thunderblast was a wimp, she wouldn’t have been able to hold her own fighting multiple Autobots by herself- something she does frequently, and in fact, shortly after her first appearance.
5. She’s a Mary Sue!
*headdesk* This is a difficult accusation to counter... because frankly, I have no idea why anyone would make it. Thunderblast is not a high-profile character, and while she’s far from useless in battle, she’s not even close to being as powerful as they are. The guy she likes, instead of swooning over her or even coming to admire her over time, thinks she’s irritating, calls her lazy, and doesn’t mourn or even particularly care when he thinks she’s died. She’s neither flawless nor burdened only with pseudo-flaws (she’s not clumsy, not hopelessly shy), and she’s *definitely* not someone viewers are supposed to identify with.
6. That skanky girly bimbo Sue is a disgrace to female Decepticons!
Thunderblast is the only female Decepticon purple-flag-waving proud of being a Decepticon. She’s the only female Decepticon (excluding one-episode-wonder Nightbird) to stay a Decepticon throughout the series; she only helped the Autobots when Decepticons’ lives were at stake. She’s the one who rallied the survivors at the end of Cybertron, when they were ready to give up and join the Autobots, making her the only female Decepticon to become leader of the Decepticons. And as I said once before, she’s the only female Decepticon who’s ever attacked someone relatively helpless with the intention of actually harming them. This character is a disgrace to the Decepticons? There are a lot of things I could say to that, but I think I’ll go with what Thunderblast herself might say: AS IF.
Furthermore, there are plenty of reasons to love Thunderblast. A few are:
1. See defense #6. It’s about time we got a front-line female Decepticon who was really a Decepticon, not a tortured Autobot just waiting to be shown the light by the power of true love. Underneath the sparkles, Thunderblast is as ruthless and self-serving as a ‘Con can get.
2. In spite of the above, there’s more to her than “capture Cyber Planet Keys and defeat Autobots.” We got to see Thunderblast fight plenty often, but we also got to see what she likes to do in her spare time, what she thinks of the other Deceptions, what she thinks about life in general. I like her sense of humor, too. I loved the way she hummed the theme from “Jaws” when she attacked, played chicken with ocean liners, and stuck her tongue out at her enemies. Which adds up to, btw, a character who is definitely not “poorly developed.”
3. Both she and her ‘brother’ Lugnutz had an uncanny ability to adapt to stressful/dangerous situations without breaking too much of a sweat, which is definitely a good attitude to have in a universe being eaten by a black hole. Sometimes her enthusiasm and vivacity are contagious!
4. She’s the main reason the faction doesn’t fall apart after Megatron’s demise. She rallies the remaining Decepticons to help stop the generator from exploding, but when all is well, she’s also the one who reminds them they are Decepticons and slips them out the back before the Autobots can miss them.
5. She’s unapologetic. This is perhaps my favorite thing about Thunderblast. That’s right, she’s sparkly and pastel and pink and purple... and not a darned bit insecure about it!
Nightbird was awesome, no doubt about it, and I can appreciate the various Blackarachnias as characters, but Thunderblast doesn’t invalidate them or threaten the female presence in the fandom. In fact, she’s a welcome addition... and my absolute favorite female character since Nightbird. You GO, girl!
1. She’s a bimbo!
Ransack, Crumplezone, and Thundercracker, the rest of her team, are the punch-lines of running gags just as often as she is, constantly landing in front of Optimus Prime when they’re trying to run away from him or dressing up like cheerleaders. One part of Cybertron’s bizarre sense of humor involved everyone- even more ‘serious’ villains or heroes- getting to look silly every now and again (Sideways in the “Home Alone” takeoff, Jetfire’s hysterical fear of injections. Even Starscream, who was played more seriously than any other villain, had a few goofy moments, ie, *booming voice of command* “I’m going to do what any good leader would do!” *high-pitched genki voice* “I’m gonna make a tactical retreat!”). Thunderblast isn't a lesser character because she's included in this.
She’s definitely not stupid, though. She’s the one who thought of pitting Megatron and Starscream against one another so she could escape battle unscathed, after all.
2. She’s girly! Her ultimate attack involves flying hearts!
Cybertron was the most straight-laced series since Beast Machines so it was only logical it’d have comic relief, and one half of this, mentioned previously, was characters making believable but totally boneheaded moves/comments. The other involved using anime cliches (like translucent portraits in the sky) in situations that are totally wrong for them. In Thunderblast’s case, when she does her super city-leveling attack, little pink hearts and speed lines erupt across the screen. The joke here is in the irony - city-leveling attack, cute pink hearts.
But consider her extreme femininity from another angle: Thunderblast is from Earth’s distant past, and she’s part of a faction of Decepticons who interacted frequently with the humans of that era. No matter how much she tries to modernize herself (and she IS trying. That she knows the theme from “Jaws” and is willing to fight *at all* is proof of that), at the end of the day, Thunderblast has still gotten her concepts of femininity and acceptable behavior- some of the hardest concepts to shake- from human women in the early middle ages. I’m not saying it would have been impossible to make someone with her background a Nightbird v. 2.0 badass, just that it’s not in any way “cheap” or illogical for her to have the personality she does.
3. She’s a skank! Look at the way she clings to Megatron!
Her crush was unrequited and she was fine with that. It was mostly played for laughs, displayed by her shrieking like the fangirl she is whenever he used a particularly fine attack, had a particularly groovy idea, or was doing absolutely nothing in a manner she found particularly interesting. She wasn’t the only one stuck on literally and figuratively polishing his chassis, either (but I keep forgetting that Ransack and Crumplezone and Thundercracker, the rest of her team, don’t count because they’re men).
However, one thing Thunderblast *didn’t* do was allow Megatron to exploit her feelings. If he told her to do something she thought was too dangerous or out of her league, she refused. That’s hardly the behavior of a “clingy” woman who “can’t survive without her ma-hun.”
4. Lori was able to defeat her! That makes her a wimp!
Thunderblast was defeated by Lori because she was overconfident, not because she was outclassed; it wasn’t as if Lori beat her in a fistfight. Thunderblast was so certain she couldn’t lose in the water, she let Wing Saber distract her so Lori could drop a succession of cranes on her head. Also, I think it says something about Thunderblast that she wasn’t too “honorable” or “nurturing” to attack Lori with the intent to hurt her, not just take her hostage or scare the Autobots. If Thunderblast was a wimp, she wouldn’t have been able to hold her own fighting multiple Autobots by herself- something she does frequently, and in fact, shortly after her first appearance.
5. She’s a Mary Sue!
*headdesk* This is a difficult accusation to counter... because frankly, I have no idea why anyone would make it. Thunderblast is not a high-profile character, and while she’s far from useless in battle, she’s not even close to being as powerful as they are. The guy she likes, instead of swooning over her or even coming to admire her over time, thinks she’s irritating, calls her lazy, and doesn’t mourn or even particularly care when he thinks she’s died. She’s neither flawless nor burdened only with pseudo-flaws (she’s not clumsy, not hopelessly shy), and she’s *definitely* not someone viewers are supposed to identify with.
6. That skanky girly bimbo Sue is a disgrace to female Decepticons!
Thunderblast is the only female Decepticon purple-flag-waving proud of being a Decepticon. She’s the only female Decepticon (excluding one-episode-wonder Nightbird) to stay a Decepticon throughout the series; she only helped the Autobots when Decepticons’ lives were at stake. She’s the one who rallied the survivors at the end of Cybertron, when they were ready to give up and join the Autobots, making her the only female Decepticon to become leader of the Decepticons. And as I said once before, she’s the only female Decepticon who’s ever attacked someone relatively helpless with the intention of actually harming them. This character is a disgrace to the Decepticons? There are a lot of things I could say to that, but I think I’ll go with what Thunderblast herself might say: AS IF.
Furthermore, there are plenty of reasons to love Thunderblast. A few are:
1. See defense #6. It’s about time we got a front-line female Decepticon who was really a Decepticon, not a tortured Autobot just waiting to be shown the light by the power of true love. Underneath the sparkles, Thunderblast is as ruthless and self-serving as a ‘Con can get.
2. In spite of the above, there’s more to her than “capture Cyber Planet Keys and defeat Autobots.” We got to see Thunderblast fight plenty often, but we also got to see what she likes to do in her spare time, what she thinks of the other Deceptions, what she thinks about life in general. I like her sense of humor, too. I loved the way she hummed the theme from “Jaws” when she attacked, played chicken with ocean liners, and stuck her tongue out at her enemies. Which adds up to, btw, a character who is definitely not “poorly developed.”
3. Both she and her ‘brother’ Lugnutz had an uncanny ability to adapt to stressful/dangerous situations without breaking too much of a sweat, which is definitely a good attitude to have in a universe being eaten by a black hole. Sometimes her enthusiasm and vivacity are contagious!
4. She’s the main reason the faction doesn’t fall apart after Megatron’s demise. She rallies the remaining Decepticons to help stop the generator from exploding, but when all is well, she’s also the one who reminds them they are Decepticons and slips them out the back before the Autobots can miss them.
5. She’s unapologetic. This is perhaps my favorite thing about Thunderblast. That’s right, she’s sparkly and pastel and pink and purple... and not a darned bit insecure about it!
Nightbird was awesome, no doubt about it, and I can appreciate the various Blackarachnias as characters, but Thunderblast doesn’t invalidate them or threaten the female presence in the fandom. In fact, she’s a welcome addition... and my absolute favorite female character since Nightbird. You GO, girl!