Finally, making everything Joel Watson says into a “your mom” joke has paid off.
In other words, there’s a new t-shirt in the store.
Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
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BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
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SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
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SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
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Translation: YOU SHUT YOUR HOLE
Thank you for the translation!
It’s really “I cannot talk.”
I was kind of hoping it would be “Eat shit and die.”
Aww.
Me too.
I thought I’d picked up some valuable sign language there.
“eat shit and die”:
eat: form a duck with your hand and put it you your lips and tap
shit: make a fist with your non-dominant hand, keep your other hand out fingers apart. With your dominant hand place your thumb in the fist from the bottom and quickly pull it away
and: act like you’re grabbing something from the air with your dominant hand making a motion from your non-domnant side to the dominant side. It’s a small motion
die: hold your hands up one palm up and one palm down. flip them so the one down is up, and the one up is down.
Thank you ASL
But . . . she can . . . just because a section of the populace can’t understand her doesn’t mean she’s not talking.
actually she’s communing through physical gestures, not vocalizing any true words, and therefor, not talking.
I will give you the benifit of the doubt and guess that you know nothing about ASL. For that mater I would guess you have never watched the deaf carry on a detailed converstation or for that matter, Sing.
He’s being technical and pedantic. The definition of “talking” doesn’t encompass all conversation/communication, simply verbal communication.
Notice that we’re communicating without talking at this exact moment. And that particular interpretation preserves the asshole-ish-ness of Hughes Asshat.
aw, phooey.
I think she’s saying “Have some heart”. Whatever she’s saying, it has absolutely no resemblance to “I cannot talk”.
Could it possibly be “The feeling’s mutual”?
It’s really something to do with pinching nipples.
Ahh, I was waiting for this comic.
The redhead doesn’t have a name? How can this be?
Muriel Auburn?
Marian O’Hara?
Or should it be Mary Ann?
Just as long as it ain’t Ginger.
Well, she does have a soul.
Call her Jazz Hands.
Love the avatar. Integra Hellsing, right?
CORRECT! ^_^
One of my favorite mangas. Which probably speaks volumes of the issues I have
I too would buy many issues of my favourite comic or manga.
I like them collected into volumes myself.
I have over 350 volumes of various manga and a few dozen anime, but avoid the true otaku status by NOT owning any figurines, posters or pointless collectables.
Got me beat. I own about a dozen volumes myself, maybe a grand total of 15 animes on DVD (and my DVD collection is several hundred movies in size).
I do own a single anime related poster though (Castle of Cagliostro, one of my favorite movies of all time).
But the pointless figurines and collectables are where it’s at! You can’t just ignore them! you must BUUUY ALL THE USELESS CRAP!
If you haven’t yet, check out the OVA. Every ounce of crazy in the manga, distilled and spat out in mind-blowing animated awesome.
Hellsing is every kind of manga I don’t like thrown together, which for some reason adds up to something awesome!
Integra Hellsing: Abstinence was never this sexy.
Trying to come up with a suitably Willis punny name.
Leah Coch?
Clever. ^__^
That would crack me up double, if only because I have a coworker named Leah who is also deaf.
Which means she has an excellent way to ignore the crazy patrons and make them my problem. She’s a crafty one…
I’d advise you not to play Risk with her or let her talk you into joining the student council.
And with that name it would be even better if she turned out to be a lesbian. Punny AND ironic.
ignoring the obvious penis pun in her name
I don’t know myself. All I can say is that she’s -adorable!-
Clearly, the redhead’s name is Bumblebee.
April o’Neil Jr.
Awkward….
I am reminded of how I want to learn sign language.
Any suggestions as to which one?
Your local one. In America, that’s probably ASL, in Israel it’s ISL, in Finland it’s FSL, in Japan it’s JSL etc.. It’s good to keep in mind that sign languages are actual languages in their own right, with separate grammars and vocabularies, so learning one probably won’t make you able to understand another, and it will be as difficult as learning a foreign spoken language, or even more difficult, because you won’t be able to devour a whole lot of books, movies and TV in that language.
This! Thank you!
ASL?
By which I mean American Sign Language. I’m not asking for your Age/Sex/Location.
I agree what Doctor_Who said.
My mother is deaf and I’m in-training to be an ASL interpreter, so I’d recommend, well, ASL. It is the one that most deaf people I’ve known use. The others tend to be more like a code that rep laces English words with gestures (Ex: saying “Carpet” becomes translated into the two different signs”Car” and “Pet”) while ASL is actually a full on language.
Ugh, I hate this keyboard. Makes what I’m typing fly all over the place. Anyway, if you want to learn Sign Language, ASL is probably your best bet unless you plan on communicating with specific people who only have learned the other types of USA’s sign languages (Signed Exact English, or SEE, for example).
Huh, I hit reply but somehow my reply wound up at the bottom of the page, lol. Anyway, I’ll repost it here and hope Willis has mercy on me for double posting.
Ugh, I hate this keyboard. Makes what I’m typing fly all over the place. Anyway, if you want to learn Sign Language, ASL is probably your best bet unless you plan on communicating with specific people who only have learned the other types of USA’s sign languages (Signed Exact English, or SEE, for example).
I learned SEE sign, which differs from ASL in that you sign every word you’d normally say. They (educators of deaf children) found that those children had difficulty in writing English because they weren’t used to “speaking’ in complete sentences (to the same extent that children that weren’t raised signing were).
People who use ASL and those who use SEE sign can understand one another–they’re more like accents or dialects of the same language. In the same way, people who sign in English and people who sign in another spoken language can usually understand one another much more easily than those that only speak different languages.
Can we get a translation?
Title of the comic, dude.
That’s an odd thing to say. Or maybe I’m just really out of touch with slang.
I don’t think it’s odd. He indirectly calls her “worthless to him”, so she replies with essentially “I feel the same way about you”. It’s a pretty common phrase and a fitting comeback in this context.
No, he means she’s literally saying “Title of the comic, dude.” It’s a bit of a non-sequitor, but Hugh understood perfectly.
Yes. I was getting at that. Thank you for ruining my carefully constructed joke.
According to my partner (a former ASL interpreter) she’s signing “Accept each others feelings”.
As a current ASL interpreter, I agree with that.
Except for the “feelings” bit. It’s not tapped on the chest, which makes me think more of heart.
As an actual deaf person who knows ASL, I’d like to point out that dialect varies largely by area. One must not forget the east VS west “dentist” conflict. While that sign doesn’t exist in my area’s dialect, I can at least understand it means feelings in context.
Annnd I’m necroposting. Sorry about that.
Given the context i am pretty sure what she said was not particularly complementary but probably justified.
“Same to you, bub.”
I…don’t get it.
At the very least, he’s talking about how Bumblebee’s inability to speak vocally makes him worthless, and she replies in sign language.
Ah, I see now. Thank you.
Understand now my boy?
That girl is super-cute! <3 She gives me good vibes. I demand that she's worked in as a permanent character! …Er, I mean, please? :3
Seconded!
Third!
Or at least give her a name.
Forever’d!
I agree. I want more of her.
The fact people think Bumblebee minus talking is “worthless” to begin with saddens me. It’s an interesting character trait, at least.
Also, props for the detailed WWE action figure cards in the background. Wouldn’t have expected it.
Yeah, and an intresting character trait is the most we can ask for from these movies.
Speaking of the background, what are on the pegs in between the Transformers & WWE figures? Beyblades?
*makes the Muzak play Ace of Base’s “I Saw The Sign”*
That’s one of multiple songs Svengoolie has utterly ruined for me.
“I saw Plan 9, and it opened up my mind…”
HER HELL WHO?
hahahahhahahaha
Mike? Is that you?
Of course not. There’s evidence of regret on his face in the last pannel
No no no, in the redhead costume.
Ah, then yes, probably
If the redhead really is Mike, does this mean we need to call her Mikala or something similar?
Haha this is actually one of those situations where either character could be doing what Mike would have done- except he’d be doing it intentionally.
I thought the appropriate response would have been an upraised middle finger…
I don’t think he’d get it that she’s deaf if she just flipped him off. He’s probably used to it.
She’s just mute. If she was deaf, she wouldn’t of know whaat he said (especially since she was looking away from him when he started talking).
My translation of her sign language was way off, I thought she signed “YOU LIKE TO FINGER YOURSELF WHILE A HAMSTER-WHEEL IS INSERTED INTO YOUR GOATSC SIDED ASSHOLE.”
It should absolutely mean that.
Need to add it to a Signing Dictionary some time.
oh please let this not be the last we see of this girl, she is already awesome
Yeah, the comic could use a new Lesbian for Leslie to play with.
She may be mute but she sure knows how to use her tongue if you know what I mean.
Hahaha lol, Plasma Mongoose does what he/she/it (though for some reason i think the middle or last one) does best, making things even funnier
My legal gender is quite clear, my psychological gender… not so much and my genetic gender is at this point, unknown.
Of course, the first major hurdle will be when we learn Leslie doesn’t know sign language. Then the next few weeks will be the girl’s epic quest to find some paper and a pen. XD
All she needs to do is go up to Leslie, point at Leslie then herself and do the international SL for scissoring.
This is one of the reasons I’m glad I know sign language. It also helps in talking with my deaf sister in law, but this would be fun too.
Who’s Hughes Assat?
Oh my god, I just looked at the tags.
Never change, Willis. Never change.
The name is a play on the term ‘huge asshat’.
The More You Know…
Will we see an attempted historical Jesus miracle?
Ah jeez now I’m sad that I forgot all the sign language I learned in high school.
But I figured out the title was what she said
Hehehehe….your mom shot first.
With my penis.
Was your penis still attached to you when she used it?
Well, yeah. Kinda hard to get ammo out of a dead penis.
You never heard of zombies before?
… People hate that Bumblebee can’t talk? I mean, I know people hate absolutely random things about Transformers, but that one seems extra-petty.
I mean, I’m always wishing they’d add mute or deaf characters to TV shows and such, because I enjoy watching actors and animators expressing emotions through just facial expressions (heck, it’s a third of the reason I like Willis works so much).
Well I’m not really an avid transformers fan, but my friend doesn’t like it (I mean bumblebee not talking). Not because he’s mute though – no – that’s fine and dandy. It’s that there is this one human character he can’t stand who can understand him or something – my friend apparently mostly likes the other humans…
I don’t know the kid’s name – I feel like such a failure as a Shortpacked fan!
Anywho I kinda wish that the cute lady could become a member of the cast, but mute characters don’t translate well into this kind of medium I suppose an it’d be a shame for her to join and then kinda just be there…
Mute characters actually work quite well, as Girls With Slingshots has proven. It just requires some effort, which Willis in entirely capable of if he so chooses.
Actually, Melody in that comic is deaf. And reads lips.
Comics are an entirely visual medium. Mute and deaf characters work just fine.
They *can* work, but not easily. Obviously an artist has to be able to get across a lot of info without words, or take the easy route and just “translate” the signing a character does, which usually doesn’t read well.
There is always the Genma Panda method, which involves pulling a written sign from hammerspace.
Or the Harpo Marx, where you talk with music
Like Jericho from the Teen Titans.
He’s probably referring to Transformers Prime character Rafael, who’s a super smart genius whizkid who can understand Bumblebee’s clicks and boops.
It’s debatable if Prime’s Bumblebee is mute though, he can vocalize and the other Autobots (and Rafael) can understand him.
I agree, but I don’t think the Bayformers had particularly expressive faces. I suppose they could have pulled off decent body language, but the animators never really tried to do so.
The problem with it is that it’s just an excuse to not try and make the robots into real characters. And in another sense, it’s annoying because they fixed his voice at the end of the first one. His lack of speaking makes him more like Sam’s sidekick.
I always thought that Transformers Animated Prowl would have been relieved to learn that there’s one version of Bumblebee that isn’t flapping his vocal processor every single nanoclick.
I wasn’t even aware that Bumblebee couldn’t talk in the movies. Yeah, not remotely a Transformers fan.
A better criticism would be: The loss of the ability to speak and its replacement with copy-pasted media clips is in fact a pointless gimmick. And annoying.
Are you talking about the movies? The comic is not.
Nice punchline, no matter what she wound up saying.
The guy kind of looks like Mike, aside from the uncomfortable look at the end.
Yea…she needs to become a recurring character. just for the wonderful humor of the reply.
Wait, he’s not talking about the movies? His first line is referencing the movies. So the movieverse became/influenced comic-canon?
I don’t really know much about transformers, especially the newer stuff. I fell asleep in the first new movie and didn’t bother with the others.
This was totally supposed to be a reply to David Willis’ reply to Jetstream’s comment. I don’t know why it didn’t end up that way.
The current non-movie Bumblebee also doesn’t speak, which is an influence from the movie. But instead of using radio clips, he beeps similar to R2D2.
Aw, that’s adorable!
Though maybe he should buzz, like a bee?
or communicate with dance like a bee.
This cartoon has to sell toys, and sadly, I don’t think the power of interpretive dance really speaks to Hasbro’s core demographics.
Ha, that would be awesome if he danced in the shape of the shadows of six-dimensional shapes to talk to the rest of the Transformers.
Transformers canon is complicated. Right now the current “main” Transformers fiction is a very movie-influenced cartoon.
I thought she was grabbing her boobs oddly at first… Oops.
Also, I swear, it’s Mike’s not-evil twin. With a hat.
Wait, you mean fondling yourself isn’t a standard part of the ASL?
Not if the “S” stands for “sign”
For that matter, why isn’t she wearing the standard-issue Shortpacked work shirt, which Robin has complained is boob-obscuring?
I don’t think she’s intended to be an employee, she’s just wearing green. No nametag.
i demand a week long storyline where random customers ask if she works there.
Was he actually trying to flirt with her?
I have a feeling if Bumblebee was a hot woman he would similarly lose his eyebrows (Especially since the transformers have yet to figure out how to operate a sewing table).
That said, this man needs to learn how to sign something along the lines of.. “If you weren’t attractive I wouldn’t be backtracking my previous statement… I like baby seals.”
He didn’t lose his eyebrows. They’re on his hat.
You know what else is rude? Signing to someone who doesn’t sign. As an ASL user, that’s ssomething I learnt the hard way.
Well wait. You mean that mute people shouldn’t sign if they aren’t sure the person can understand? Or you shouldn’t sign to a mute person who doesn’t know how to sign? Kind of makes a difference and either way, I wouldn’t say its rude unless you’re signing over and over to someone who you KNOW can’t understand.
She’s doing it to make a point, not to actually communicate with the guy.
And this redhead’s adorable! I hope we see more of her.
…you’re right! How rude it is to sign to someone who can’t talk! She should just speak words to him!
…oh, wait.
*who can’t use sign language
Today is a bad day for writing for me.
i feel like this should end with that guy replaced by socially awkward penguins, or maybe both of them
At first I thought she was pantomiming snapping his neck.
Of course, Bumblebee’s lack of ability to talk wasn’t a reason to use stupid and annoying soundbites in place of remotely well written dialogue, it was a deep and meaningful social commentary on the mute! The mute who have radios inside them!
It all makes sense now.
The point
-
-
-
-
-
Your head
His joke
-
-
-
-
-
-
Your head
Jokes
Dots
More dots
Even more dots
Heads
Your head
-
-
-
-
Your other head
My head
My face
-
-
-
Your mom’s head
osnap
Your(Your head)ass.
So he’s Zaphod Beeblebrox? (From the Movie. In the Novels and TV series Zaphod had his heads side-by-side, I think.)
Zaphod Beeblebrox would be this instead:
Head 1 – Head 2
-
-
-
-
His ‘other head’
(If you know what I mean)
And then Snake Eyes comes and HUGS the girls and they walk away happily.
Of course the movies screwed with that, too, because now Snake-Eyes isn’t really mute. He just took a vow of silence.
Oh, but that scene would be a great ending…
Was that seriously a Switched at Birth joke?
If she doesn’t talk with prerecorded radio clips then the argument kind of falls apart. A Bumble Bee that spoke in sign language would be way more acceptable than the stupid corny thing that Bay did. He can’t talk anymore so he does sound boards! And continues to do it! Sure.
The guy’s complaint isn’t really about the movies, though I can see how it’s confusing since the dude mentions them in the first panel. It’s about how the movies have become canonical; the current Bumblebee doesn’t talk either (though he doesn’t use music clips, he beeps).
I think bumble bee should talk in morse coded smoke signals that come out of his butt. Or maybe in breakfast cereal box art slides projected from his right ear. Or maybe he could communicate by interpretive roller-jazz exercise routines from the late 70′s.
Transformers: Starlight Express
I just noticed that this guy is tagged as “Hughes Assat” but he refers to himself as “Kevin” in an early appearance.
Willis! I demand absolute consistency in fiction! My meagre brain cannot resolve this paradox.
It’s his maiden name! And he’s Chinese!
He doesn’t use his real name. For several reasons.
I like the way you’ve indicated the movements of sign language there.
I would be fine with Bumblebee not talking if he did use sign language, but the beeping is, well, irritating. But then I’m not a fan of Prime, so it’s not much of an issue for me.
I always thought that the ‘communicating through recycled sound bites’ thing the movie Bumblebee does would be a good trait for Wreck-Gar and other Junkions to have, as it fits with their culture rabbiting MO.
This is beautiful and sweet and I really love this strip. But then, it isn’t really about transformers to me, so maybe that’s why I can just like it. =)
I find Prime’s Bumblebee to be the least annoying version of the character, probably because he does not talk. I never really liked Bee to be honest.
Hell, should robots really need to converse verbally at all? Bumblebee’s thing should be that he has a radio transmitter instead of a mouth, and he speaks via binary or something, and you need a receiver to “hear” him.
Who designs robots to communicate by making noises that the other robots need to be in hearing distance of, anyway? Heck, one of them actually turns into a radio. Ad ironically, it’s the guy whose voice is hardest to understand.
Who designs robots to communicate by making noises that the other robots need to be in hearing distance of, anyway?
George Lucas.
Probably the same robots who have nose-like blocks in the middle of their faces, but Prime mostly got rid of those, so I can’t say that anymore.
Without those noses, how would they smell?
(Same as they do with them – like 10W-30 and Energon farts).
I don’t think alien robotic beings would have to have their olfactory sensors in the middle of their face and shaped like noses. They could have those sensors anywhere, or everywhere! Or maybe smell isn’t important. Lord knows when Optimus Prime covers up the tip of his nose with his mouthplate constantly.
Actually, that’d be a great excuse for why only one human could understand him. The human has a filling that just happens to pick up his radio frequency.
I loved movie Bumblebee, and I don’t mind Prime Bumblebee. In fact, my feelings on Prime Bumblebee up until ‘Operation: Bumblebee’ were pretty neutral. He hasn’t done anything to earn scorn, but he hadn’t done much of anything period to stand out as a cast member. I can only hope he doesn’t fade back into the background now that his spotlight episodes are over.
Those are basically my feelings on Prime Bee exactly.
Given I just translated this into Auslan by google I hope your adventure into ASL wasn’t to troubling.
In Auslan I’d probably speak using these three signs I feelings same
I don’t quite know the grammar as I never passed English either (bloody commas)
Pointer fingers striaght, thumb a bit like a claw. Move hands together and back out. (Same)
Point to self with pointer finger (I)
Thumbs up against chest or what you put in Panel #4 except upwards motion. (Feelings)
Yep, insulting the disabled is a berserk button of mine so can you draw someone doing a brogue kick (check wrestling or Conan when a wrestler called Sheamus is on) on the idiot.
I get what that shirt is SUPPOSED to mean, but all I can picture is my own mother walking into the scene of Greedo talking to Han, and gunning down Greedo before Han even has a chance to pull his own gun out.
That sounds way cooler than the actual intent.
Actually that’s what I pictured too. Now I feel dumb because the intent is…something else I did not get.
I can’t decide which is funnier right now, the T-shirt design or this comic. XD Love you Willis~!
Ah, so modern Bumblebee is actually hamfisted affirmative action. I guess it’s better than Chip from the 80s cartoon. It doesn’t change the fact that the various kazoo-based sounds in the current cartoon are hard to listen to up against the absolutely fantastic voice acting for every other character. Seriously, this has got to be Welkers’ best emotive work since Slimer!
Seeing who uses the term “affirmative action” as a pejorative whenever someone that’s not white, straight, male, or not-disabled shows up in fiction is a pretty good way to determine who’s kinda bigoty.
Extra bigoty points for “hamfisted.”
P.S. Welker helps create Prime Bumblebee’s voice.
Well, yeah. Welker doing “various noises” is kind of his specialty. I thought mentioning that he did Slimer would cover that. Also, ha ha so now I’m bigoted? Awesome. So “hamfisted” also instantly equals bigotry? You’ve got to inform a lot of people about that, I’m pretty sure that none of them are aware of this point. Also, your strip today fits the definition of “hamfisted” too, so… yeah.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING
STOP BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF
Believing that including a minority in the cast is “affirmative action” is pretty bigoted, yeah. It means you believe that only a cast with no minorities is neutral or normal, and any deviation from that is suspect.
Nobody’s saying you burn crosses on people’s lawns. But it’s still bigotry. It’s the Archie Bunker doesn’t-realize-what-he’s-saying-is-harmful kind of bigotry.
I don’t think calling Mute Bumblebee worthless is the same as saying all mute people are worthless. He’s a soldier. As for the joke, I didn’t get it until I read the comments. Which kind of makes it not work for me. Sorry. But then whenever you put a non-English language (even if it is with your hands!) in a comic without subtitles that’s bound to happen. The joke then becomes exclusive to anybody who knows the language.
You don’t NEED to know what she’s saying to get the joke, because the joke is SHE’S NOT SAYING IT WITH AUDIBLE WORDS. YOU KNOW. SOMEONE WHO IS MUTE. WHICH THE DOUCHENOZZLE JUST BASICALLY SAID MAKES SOMEONE WORTHLESS.
Actually, he said it makes someone worthless specifically to him. It’s a subtle but important difference. That the someone in question is a fictional robot is also an important distinction, as such may lack merits that one may find in a real person. He may as well have said he thought KITT looked ugly in red and had a girl in a red dress slap him for it.
HAaaaaaaaaaaaaah, look who’s using false equivalence now!
Mute Bumblebee isn’t the same thing as an actual mute person because the latter is actually using a translatable language instead of spouting gibberish that is magically understood by others. False Equivalence! BOOM!
Seriously, though – in my opinion, Bumblebee being unable to talk is one of least problems of the show (in the hands of more capable writers, it could be pretty interesting), but the way it is actually handled is symptomatic for the poorly thought-out writing. In season 1, anyway. I stopped watching about two thirds or so through that.
Except that’s complete malarkey, because the writing makes it so that we understand the general intent of Bumblebee’s actions and feelings, like competent fiction is supposed to.
We’ve had characters that can’t be understood by the audience for decades. They’re a staple of modern fiction. A particular favorite of mine is Schnitzel from ‘Chowder’, who only spoke the word ‘Radda’ over and over.
Schnitzel’s RADDA is played for comedy, as this character trope tends to be. That’s a little counter-productive when we are supposed to take the character serious in dramatic scenes. Besides, you’re missing my point.
All I’m saying is that a mute person signing is not the same as Bumblebee’s random, meaningless bleeps and bloops. Which is technically false equivalence. And I’m not seriously trying to invalidate this comic, I just took the opportunity to rib Walky a bit here, since the comic on false equivalence (deservedly) got him quite a bit of recognition outside the usual audience.
Fair enough. Sorry for jumping on your comment like that.
But Prime Bumblebee’s bleeps and bloops *aren’t* meaningless; the robots understand them, and (weirdly) that kid understands them. So it’s a pretty direct equivalence: Bumblebee is speaking some other language, probably a cybertronian dialect, which the other robots aren’t using for…some reason. (Courtesy to their human guests, sure, but they speak Human English amongst themselves too, even the villians. It may be translation convention.)
Basically, Bumblebee is speaking Greek, but he’s still speaking just fine. Which makes me doubt that he has a problem with his voicebox at all. (I don’t recall if a reason was given for him not speaking English in what little of the show I’ve seen. Perhaps he’s a linguistic elitist who can’t bring himself to?)
How Bumblebee lost his voice was the subject of the most recent two episodes. Suffice to say, he lost it the same way he did in the live-action movie supplemental fiction: long ago on Cybertron he was guarding something important and Megatron ripped his voicebox out.
And Bumblebee’s bleeps aren’t meaningless. They have tone and emotion. If his noises are meaningless, then so are R2D2′s, and nobody ever complains about HIM.
It depends on how well it’s done. R2D2 is amusing, but the Copper Kid from Silver Hawks is annoying.
I base this on nothing, but in Exodus they mentioned Frenzy and Rumble communicating in coded beeps and that they’re Minicons. I’d like to think that “BeeSpeak” is basically “Minicon speak” and it’s kind of like your computer’s basic beep codes, that they all have, even though they have advanced sound cards and the like. So Minicon speak, would be like a basic beep codes for Transformers. They all understand it, but they prefer the ‘normal’ method.
Like I said, I base that on nothing.
Yeah, I like that theory.
Though that also suddenly reminds me that there’s a Deluxe Class Rumble toy coming for TFPrime, and if he shows up in the cartoon, if Normal Decepticon Car Guy will be a Mini-Con? I somehow… doubt it… Well, here comes a wrinkle in the continuity.
I don’t complain about R2D2, no. But then again, I hate Star Wars.
So he’s more like Pootie Tang?
I humbly request A LOT more of the signing, red-headed, freckled girl. Please, please, please use her regularly. Also, please send her over to Dumbing of Age universe as well.
I humbly yet strongly support this request. It is imperative that this character become a regular.
I come from the future; trust me.
Fool! Nobody coming from the future can be trusted. Nor people who claim to. I must know, as I come from the past. Meanwhile, based on information and impressions I was able to gather in the past, I, too, humbly yet strongly support Enderkap’s request.
just for a non-transformers example of the worth of someone who cannot/does not talk, Snake-eyes, arguably, the most popular character on G.I. Joe is mute. so there’s that…
Being a ninja probably helps. Silence is a good trait in a ninja.
…It’s kind of an odd trait for the friendly yellow kid-appeal character, but it’s not a huge deal to me.
I don’t actually watch Prime. I caught a couple of episodes on the on demand channel and got bored quickly. I like Transformers Animated alright (I hated a lot of the robot designs but like the actual stories and characterizations a lot) but Prime is really not catching on with me. It may be that it is CGI or that the music and dialogue don’t grab me. I’m not sure what it is but I don’t feel moved to watch it.
I did like the War For Cybertron video game and I’m told that is linked to Prime and I’m certainly looking forward to the next game. But the actual Prime show I’m still not paying attention to.
I liked this comic, that’s all.
I vote for Un-named Mute Girl to remain part of the cast.
Seconded, but a name would be nice.
I third the motion. Unnamed Mute Girl rules!
Fourth! DO EET WILLIS
So, the question is…
Is she mute but not deaf, or is she a deaf-mute who can read lips?
She can hear.
Thanks. Just curious.
Just as an addition….not every person who is deaf, is mute. Many deaf people do not speak because they cannot hear themselves speak. Some do speak. Many laugh and yell. Actually, deaf people are some of the loudest people I know.
In all fairness to your deaf friends, volume control is probably very difficult for people who can’t hear.
I never assumed that all deaf people were mute, nor vice-versa (though I don’t know any deaf people personally, but that’s partly a function of being antisocial). I was just curious because it seemed ambiguous in this case, and since this girl seems to be turning into a cult phenomenon, I figured it’d be nice to know a little more about her.
I don’t have a problem with Bee not speaking. I have a problem with the show unwilling to do anything with his character. I didn’t hate him, but there was nothing to his personality for me to like either. He was just there.
Fortunately, “Operation Bumblebee” really did a good job giving him character.
I greatly enjoy this comic, if for no other reason than i can see this actually happening. But, for the record, TFP bumblebee does bother me. Not because he can’t talk, that’s fine… but because of how people explain what he said without explaining it. the dialogue following his is always peppered with hints as to what Bee said.
Don’t get me wrong, this makes sense, you want to let people know, but it just feels… blatant. I just wish it was a bit more subtle.
Ofg course, what really bothers me about TFP Bee is the fact that Raf can understand him. WHY!?! This has been bothering me ever since the show started, and they just glazed over it in Darkness Rising. I just don’t get it, and that infuriates me greatly.
Beyond that, and how fuzzy the show looks in SD, I gotta say, I love Prime. Its no Animated, but I get the feeling nothing ever will be.
Awkwardest moment ever!!!!!!
Mute people are worthless?
So people like Snake Eyes, Celty, Chrono, or Link is worthless. Wow your a jerk.
I was ok with Bumblebee in the movies till they a dumbly retcon him being mute agian in the 2nd movie.
I don’t think Link is actually mute. At the very least, if super Smash Brothers is to believe, he’s a very noisy mute, which I think is an oxymoron, so yeah…
…And Revenge of the Fallen was basically a clusterfuck in a lot of ways, but since the options were for him to continue to use the radio, or for him to have the voice he’d gained at the end of the firs movie, which would have gotten annoying fast with the weird inflections and tone that didn’t really fit the character, I really don’t think there was a good solution to that one. (And no, having his voice be completely different from the one he had in the first movie, would not have been a way to deal with that. It would have been a way to make RotF even MORE of a total continuity pooch-screw than it already was.)
You missed Rudy from Wild Arms. That guy was the best mute ever.
I disagree there. Changing his voice would have just been for the better. Him using the radio even though he could talk was… kind of awkward… There didn’t seem like much of a point to it. He does it because people liked it in the first one not because the story calls for it. As much as I dislike the three movies for various reasons, him not talking in the first one was probably a plus. I didn’t like it at first but looking back it was for the better thematically. But them writing it off with “OH well he likes this way better!” in two was just awful. He likes talking in a manner that involves him having to search for his words on the radio? A way that takes a lot of effort? I just can’t buy it.
In writing mute can work sometimes, and sometimes it can’t. It worked with movie Bee okay because of the radio and the fact that it was slightly important to the films plot. It doesn’t work well with Prime Bee because he’s not mute. Movie Bee can be called mute since his audio came from an external source, but Prime Bee has his beeping voice. The viewer just can’t understand him. Only the bots and Raf. It just leaves one wondering… WHY? What’s the point? It works okay in cuter character and when used for lighthearted scenes, but Prime is trying to be a tad darker. It ends up limiting him greatly as a character because the mute thing isn’t played with well by the writers. He’s in a show that’s trying to be serious and doesn’t seem to want a character making silly beeping noises.
See Soundwave makes it work. He’s silent and in the background replaying those clips and looking all creepy. He quickly became my favorite version of the character.
Bee shows up every now and then goes BEEP BEEP BOOP and just contributes nothing like he’s not even there. Operation Bumbleebee was great but it seems by the end nothing’s changed. Ratchet seemed to get more out of it in the end… It’s just so upsetting to see a perfectly good character go to waste because the writers give him a gimmick they seem to have no idea how to work with. Or maybe Hasbro had them do it. Whichever, its being handled poorly. And I’m upset to see it being carried over into Fall of Cybertron simply because if that game has any cast reprises Bee’s would be number one on my list.
JYB made me gay… I liked hearing him as Bee…
…I’ve been rewatching Prime recently and I just had to get all that off my chest somewhere sorry…
It appears she is not deaf, since it seems she heard him. She is either mute, or just knows ASL in addition to English and wanted to one-up the jerk.
True story: I took fencing in college. One of our most interesting experiences was fencing against a deaf/mute school. The fencers would “talk” behind their backs as they fenced, making often snide remarks about our style. It was rather disconcerting to have half the audience suddenly break out in laughter at a remark you couldn’t hear or see.
Zay, she might not have seen his initial remark (as she was turned away), but she could have read lips to get his more offensive remarks in the second panel.
two questions:
Why didn’t Bumblebee get his voicebox fixed(I don’t remember if they explained that)
And, how does everyone get those avatars?
also: I was first under the impression that she used martial arts to steal his voice. It took a few rereads to understand that she was signing, and didn’t touch him.
Transformers are complex machines, but so are humans. There are certain things on a human we just can’t recreate or fix. Same with Transformers. And one of those things is a Transformer’s voice box. Another is his or her transformation cog. You can do your best to repair them, but you can’t build one from scratch. It’d be like trying to build a brain from scratch.
The most recent two episodes of Transformers: Prime dealt with this.