Dinobot has won. His rigid grill structure...
No, seriously, he did! He won the Transformers Hall of Fame! Even though there was Soundwave involved! Holy mother of crap! It’s insane!
I take full credit.
(Hey, Bob Forward, if you read this, you totally rule.)
EDiT: The first thing I did after writing this blog was email Beast Wars co-editor (and “Code of Hero” director) Bob Forward was email him about Dinobot’s deserved win. I got this response from Bob Forward, which he wrote for public dissemination:
I think it’s fairly well known that Dinobot was my favorite character. He wasn’t perfect, he had some very human failings, but he never stopped trying. He had ideals that he tried to live up to, and when he didn’t, no one could give him more grief than he gave himself. From the very beginning, his greatest ambition was to to die nobly in battle and have a glorious funeral. That the battle would be one of atonement for his own betrayal, and the saving of innocents that he had unwittingly helped place in harm’s way, was something he could never have anticipated and certainly would not have chosen. But when the die was cast and his duty lay before him, he faced it without flinching and did what had to be done. Even writing about him changed me, made me examine my own everyday choices in a new light, and I believe I became a better person because of it. Others who watched the show have told me that they still hold themselves to a higher standard than they might have otherwise, simply because of Dinobot. He lived a warrior, he died a hero, and to those who now honor his memory by electing him to the Transformers Hall of Fame, I’m sure he would extend his humble gratitude.
We asked for his tale, and we heard it. The ill deeds, along with the good. He was judged accordingly. The rest… (pulls out Soundwave’s batteries) …is silence.
Win! I actually got this.
Ahaha, that’s awesome! Congratulations <3
Congrats! I’m impressed and amazed.
Woot!
Walky, this is one of the many reasons you suck.
Man, Soundwave’s last chance for accolades was totally blown!
Alternately: ha ha
Nevermind my momentary grumbling. At least you’re a good sport.
HOLY BALLS DINOBOT FUCK YEAH
Hooray for Dinobot!
HOORAH!!
Awesome!
Some people seem pretty outraged. Did this happen at the con as well?
If so, it was hard to say. Everyone cheered one-by-one as the nominees were introduced, and Dinobot’s cheering was possibly the loudest.
That could possibly because all around you were cheering the loudest. Myself included. But It did seem that Dinobot got a hair more cheering than Soundwave did. With Grimlock close behind.
Holy scrapamole, gentleman, I’m shocked and impressed. Also, MANY HOORAYS!
YES WE CAN… slaughter our enemies with great honor.
I’m rather proud of the fandom as a whole for pulling together and getting this done.
So… I guess this means Robin has Ethan’s vote.
That’s what I was thinking
I’m so happy to hear this I registered just to say this.
So what happens? Do they have a Hall of Fame get together and get the producer and the voice actors together?
BTW anyone know Scott’s email? Though knowing him he already knows and is having giggle fits.
He’s a guest at BotCon this year, so chances are, if he wasn’t at the announcement, he’s been told by now.
He’s a guest at the convention this year, so he probably knows! (And will answer many questions about it at his panel tomorrow.)
Wasn’t he at the awards night anyway? The TFW guys said he seemed shocked and elated.
Yes he was at the awards and afterwards in typical scott fashion was signing our commemarativve plaque dealies.
Hehe whoops. I’m out of the loop it seems.
That is awesome ^_^.
AWESOME! The deeper character won!
I’d have voted for the sneaky and treacherous version of Soundwave, not the unflinchingly loyal one.
Yeah let’s not kid ourselves, outside of the comics Soundwave is just a voice that shoots dudes from his chest. That’s the only reason most people remember him.
I dunno. I remember this story where Soundwave set Breakdown up to take the fall for his own treacherous double-dealing. That was pretty f*ckin’ awesome… I just can’t remember where I read it.
THIS MAKES ME VERY HAPPY
Foward’s response is wonderful. It really sums up why I loved Dinobot as a kid growing up in the 90′s, and why I continue to love him today. Yeah, I was originally drawn to him because he was cool and badass, and turned into my favorite dinosaur. But as the series went on I really liked how he had an set idea of how things should be done, and stuck to them even when it meant sacrificing himself (I was oddly mature for a 6/7 year old when it came to my cartoons).
Dinobot deserved this win. More than any other Transformer.
Well, except Wreck-Gar. Wreck-Gar’s just awesome in every way.
Get a life, Shortipack. What kind of grown man blogs daily about a Transformers HOF vote. You need to get laid.
What?
Fail @ trollin’
And precocious for a kid only 6/7 of a year old, too.
…AND I HELPED!
By voting. Democracy works!
Sometimes.
Please stop deleting my comments, I voted for Dinobot all the days the voting lasted save for a couple of days.
I’m so happy about this, I actually cried, the best bot there ever was has reached inmortality and all generations of future fans trying to learn about important transformers will know about that one who gave his life in the past to save the future of the cybertronian race.
I really hope he gets a better toy, since, you know, he beated Soundwave, the g1 favorite in a WORLDWIDE popularity poll, that’s outstanding to say the least.
It’s also symbolic because Beas Wars saved Transformers forever.
Fun fact: in the Latin American spanish version, the actor who voices him also voices Darth Vader.
Nobody deleted your comments!
Maybed you should start.
Don’t you feel kinda bad though? I mean you DID sorta game the system and tell people to vote MULTIPLE times, and your comic does have overlap with people who are really outside of the TF community. Do you think you maybe had enough impact to have given Dinobot the votes he needed to win, and if so, do you think that was fair?
Dinobot won because people have a passion for Dinobot. I can’t just point people anywhere and get them to do what I want. Lord knows I wish that were true! I’d start taking advantage of that more often, that’s for sure. But it’s NOT true. Folks voted for Dinobot because they had a rapport with the character. I just reminded them. Don’t sell that rapport short.
My support helped because it was Dinobot. It wouldn’t have helped a character people didn’t care about.
I think a lot of people tend to assume that webcomic artists are geek rockstars like the Penny Arcade guys.
Willis doesn’t command an unholy army of fans.
Yet.
It’s the “yet” that scares all of us.
Then you scare too easy.
What’s your problem?
To be fair, the vote was set up so you could vote multiple times. There was nothing stopping Soundwave fans from doing the same. I think it speaks well to the popularity of Dinobot that Transfans were willing to come back and vote multiple times for Dinobot, where they apparently were not willing to do so for Soundwave.
Actually every time Willis reminded everyone to go vote for Dinobot I went and voted for Shockwave…cuz I like Shockwave.
I voted Grimlock…as many times as Mattel would let me (which wasn’t many)…because I like him better than both.
Him Grimlock, king! Him Grimlock…not Hall of Fame inductee….
Him Grimlock…sad.
I voted for Grimlock, too. Maybe there will be another wave of inductees soon?
Sweet bananas! My daily votes didn’t go to waste! OK so, new Dinobot toy/appearances confirmed? We can only hope!
Well, looks like I voted for the right Bot! Go Chopperface!
First, this is great. Willis, you deserve lots of credit for this. Second, why were under the impression that Soundwave was a shoe-in? In old 80s cartoon, he was pretty boring. Is there some later incarnation I’m missing?
Soundwave is unbelievably popular because he’s incredibly memorable, especially to casual fans. This is attributed to his distinctive voice and ability to shoot other dudes out of his chest. More complicated characters aren’t as broadly popular.
Ok, I see what you’re saying. He’s very memorable. I guess, that, for me personally, he’s not any more deserving of a Hall of Fame inductee than Grimlock or Dinobot. And I’m about as casual a fan as it gets. For whatever it’s worth, I divided my votes up between Grimlock and Dinobot. The from what I remember of the voting choices, the others were just blech.
I must be more casual than you, because I still don’t know who Dinobot is, having never seen him in any of the episodes of the show I’ve watched. I always thought he was just a generic dinosaur transformer. Through watching this entire process unfold, I assumed that the “vote Dinobot” thing was a calculated act of hilarity, trying to take make a completely generic & unmemorable character win over two of the most iconic transformers.
The letter in today’s post is the first and only clue I’ve received as to who the character is, and why I should care.
FANTASTIC!
DINOBOT FTW!
I just finished running downstairs yelling to my boyfriend about him winning. This has made my day/week/month/possibly year. I can’t believe he won!
Awesome! I love Dinobot.
TWF2005 is blaming this on you, Walky. Personally, I think they’re whining sore losers.
So, I’ve got to ask Walky, how does it feel to know you influenced the democratic process in such a positive manner?
I pretty much totally disagree with Dinobot’s induction, but oh well. Not like it is really important. Enjoy your victory.
This isn’t Walky’s victory, it’s Dinobot’s victory.
As it should be.
I’m surprised that Jazz or Grimlock didn’t win.
AWWWW YEEEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
I’s impossible this comic influenced Dinobot’s win, I mean, everybody in the world could have voted for him, it’s not like all transfans in the entire planet read this comic daily. I guess it’s because most people have fond memories of Beast Wars.
Did the others have a news source or whatever campaigning for them for the duration of the votes? It’s not just the single wave, but the numbers that voted repeatedly -only- because it was mentioned here. I never would have even known what was going on if it hadn’t been for this site, after all.
Let’s turn that on its head — did anyone else who can act as a news source or whatever care about any of the other nominees enough to bring it up?
And really, did anyone actually bother to vote that didn’t actually care about it? I doubt it.
AWWWW YEEEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!! [2]
nothing else needs to be said…
A dumb brute dinosaur robot…
A jive-talkin sports car robot…
A highly loyal monotonal spy/troop transport boombox…
A highly loyal cyclopean gun robot…
Or a deadly warrior, turned traitor against his own kind for honor’s sake, who makes the ultimate sacrifice for the inferior ancestors of inferior beings (who happents to turn into an oversized velociraptor)?
Character matters as much as characterization, and a moral code is memorable; most importantly, sacrifice changes those who see it.
….
Did you actually Call Shockwave Highly Loyal?
Vendetta… VENDETTA! I shall have my revenge, Mr. Willis. I shall have it, and it shall be swift. It shall be just. It shall be sweet.
Certainly makes my voting daily on mine, the g/f’s, the g/f’s sisters’, and g/f’s mom’s computers worth it. ^.^