Disclaimer: The phrases Beast Wars and Transformers, as well as all proper names mentioned herein, are Trade Mark and Copyrighted Hasbro/Kenner and whoever else. Star Trek is Trade Mark/Copyrighted Paramount. This paper was done purely for academic purposes, and the author expected to receive no profit from this (except, of course, a good grade!)

A brief introduction: For those of you who don’t know, Beast Wars is the name of the latest incarnation of the Transformers cartoon(which had two runs previous to this one in the U.S., as well as three different series in Japan.) As a sort of side note, and to try to give some idea why I would choose to write about a simple half-hour cartoon, I would like to let you know that when it was in its’ first run (from approx. 1984 — 1987) Transformers was actually a pretty popular TV show, and so far Beast Wars is one of the best selling toys that Hasbro/Kenner is currently producing. There is also a (small but faithful) die-hard group of fans of both the original series and its’ latest incarnation, and even two Internet newsgroups devoted to it. I also run into many people who are not really fans at the present, but when I mention Transformers they say something like, "Oh, yeah, Transformers! I remember watching that back when I was a kid!" usually with a tone of happy reminiscing. The point of this is that, like other more famous shows such as Star Trek, Transformers has almost gained a life of its’ own, at least among some people, and is still around after more than a dozen years when many shows (both kid and adult) have died out after less than a year, never to be heard from again. As one of its’ devoted fans, Transformer’s Beast Wars is one of my favorite shows, and has become an integral part of my life, and the struggle between good and evil as depicted on this show has permanently affected me. Why is it so popular? That’s a very complicated question, and not the point of this paper, so I’ll let it go, at least for now, and get on with the rest of my essay, but it is something worth investigating at a later date.

The concept behind Transformers is that they are robots that come from another planet called Cybertron that have the ability to change their bodies into different shapes (such as cars, planes, animals, etc.) for the purposes of both disguise and utility (i.e., some Transformers could transform into such things as construction vehicles, among others.) In this particular series, the Predacons (the bad guys), led by a Transformer named Megatron, steal a golden disk (we get the impression that this is a golden record that was sent into space on one of the Voyager space probes) that contains the location of a major Energon source (Energon is the name of the type of fuel that Transformers need to live.) As the Predacons try to reach this planet, a Maximal (the good guys) ship, led by Optimus Primal, chases after them. After traveling through a space-time warp, the ships end up shooting each other down over a planet that looks a bit like earth, but may not be. After they crash land (in separate places, of course) they discover first that they have no clear idea of where or when they are (they apparently traveled through time as well as space) and secondly that this mysterious planet is so full of Energon that prolonged exposure to it in their robot modes actually causes them to start shorting out. Therefore, they alter their alternate forms to be just like the native wildlife of this planet, including organic coverings such as fur, scales, etc., which is what actually protects them from the Energon fields. Among their beast forms are mammals, dinosaurs, arachnids, insects, and birds. My analysis will examine some specific events that occur from this point onward.

To paraphrase J. Scott Armstrong and Fred Collopy, concentrating on beating your competition tends to cause you to be in worse shape than if you just concentrated on doing the best that you could for yourself. This view definitely applies to the show. Here are a few examples of what I mean.

In Beast Wars, it is usually the Predacons (bad guys) that try to actively destroy the Maximals, while the Maximals (good guys) usually take a more defensive position (attacking only when attacked.) However, in one of the early episodes, it is actually the Maximals who try to get the upper hand by attempting to blow up the Predacon base. Without a base, the Predacons would be at a distinct disadvantage since they would be exposed to the effects of the Energon, and would be forced to remain in their more vulnerable beast modes for most of the time.

The original idea was that the Maximal named Cheetor would plant survey posts that would allow the Maximals to better map the area around the Predacon base, as well as pinpointing the positions of the Predacons themselves, which would allow the Maximals to then slip in and plant a bomb which would then destroy the enemy base. However, due to an Energon storm (on this planet, the Energon even permeates the atmosphere) Optimus decides to postpone the mission, despite some opposition from his followers. Cheetor, however, has other ideas. He goes ahead and plants the survey posts without Optimus’ knowledge. While doing this, a freak accident turns the survey posts and Energon deposits into a transporter of sorts that can instantly transport people or things between the two bases (think of it as similar to the transporters in Star Trek, except that they are actually pretty rare in the Transformer universe.) Before he knows that this has happened, Cheetor is transported into the Predacon base, where he is quickly discovered and chased around by the Predacons. Meanwhile, the Predacons don’t understand how Cheetor got into their base, and one of them accidentally ends up being transported into the Maximal base. He is soon ejected forcefully from the Maximal base, and the Maximals figure out part of what happened. They don’t know that Cheetor is still alive, and figure that the Predacons must have destroyed him by now. Therefore, they decide to use the transporter to deliver the bomb to Predacon headquarters (the apparent advantage, of course, is a much lower risk to the Maximals in actually placing the bomb.) In the meantime, Cheetor has accessed the Predacon computer, and has discovered that there is a major Energon vein that runs under both bases, and that destroying one base would probably take out the other base as well (since Energon is highly unstable, a chain reaction would easily have occurred that would have destroyed both bases.) He records this information on a disk and sends it to the Maximal base via the transporter, but not quick enough to prevent the Maximals from sending the bomb to the Predacon base. Cheetor has been rediscovered by the Predacons by this time, but he convinces them that although the bomb can’t be disarmed before it would explode, he can still unlock its’ clamps and free it to be moved out of range. After he successfully does this, the Predacons decide that they do not want him around any more, and he manages to escape back to his own base just before the Predacons destroy the transporter in the process of trying to destroy him. The moral of this story, in relation positioning is that by trying to gain the upper hand over their enemies, the Maximals actually almost ended up destroying not only the Predacons, but themselves as well. Fortunately for them, though, the Maximals learn their lesson from this incident, and never try anything like it again, while unfortunately for them, the Predacons keep making the same type of mistakes over and over again.

In another example of the upper hand, the Predacons try to destroy the Maximals. The Predacons make a clone of one of the Maximals, Dinobot. (Dinobot was actually a Predacon to start with, but due to his very low opinion of the Predacon leader, Megatron, (among other reasons) Dinobot defected to the Maximals. Ever since then, Megatron and the other Predacons have a particular chip on their shoulders towards Dinobot.) Their plan actually had the beauty of being both cunning and simple. After creating the clone (which was a perfect replica of Dinobot in his beast mode, a velociraptor, but with the limitation that it couldn’t transform into a robot), the Predacons lure Dinobot into a cave and collapse it around him, trapping him. They then send the clone in to try to deactivate the Maximals’ defense system, known as Sentinel.

After tricking first one Maximal and then another into leaving the base (until the clone is the only one still left inside) the clone attempts to deactivate Sentinel. The only problem is that the Predacons didn’t know that there was a deactivation code required for anyone not strictly identified as a Maximal (the clone didn’t have the same energy signature as a Maximal, though he looked just like Dinobot from the outside) so therefore the clone was unable to deactivate the defenses. During this time, the real Dinobot has freed himself from the cave and makes his way back to the Maximal base. He deactivates Sentinel from the outside, but the clone doesn’t know that the real Dinobot has come back, and thinks that he (the clone) managed to do it, so he signals Megatron that he can come and take over the base. Dinobot goes inside the base and discovers the clone.

Although Dinobot could easily turn into his robot mode and destroy the clone; his sense of honor (which includes not battling a much weaker opponent) constrains him to battling the clone in dinosaur mode. After a battle where he ends up destroying the clone, he goes outside and meets Megatron as he approaches the base. Pretending to be the clone, he tells Megatron the base is defenseless. Megatron tries to enter the base, but Dinobot reactivates Sentinel just as Megatron reaches it, and Megatron is thrown through the air by the shield to come crashing down to earth. He and Dinobot battle, and it looks like they’re in a stalemate, but the other Maximals return to base and send Megatron on his way. The point here is that although the Predacons’ plan was a good one, it ultimately failed due to lack of information and backup plans (and cost the Predacons valuable material as well as damage to Megatron), which demonstrates once again Armstrong’s and Collopy’s point.

Another example that shows one of the other major fallacies of the Predacons, lack of team work, is the episode where one of the Predacons, Terrorsaur, discovers a flying mountain full of a kind of Super Energon that is not only the cause of the mountain’s levitation, but also gives enormous power and strength to anyone who directly absorbs some of it. Terrorsaur has always been envious and jealous of Megatron, and sees this as a perfect opportunity to take command of the Predacons. After absorbing some Super Energon, he streaks back to base and challenges Megatron to a duel. Although Megatron is the most powerful of the Predacons, he is no match for Terrorsaur in this situation, and is soon reduced to several large (and numerous small) pieces of debris. Terrorsaur discovers, however, that the effects from this type of Energon wear off after a short while, and takes off for the flying mountain to recharge.

Another Predacons, Tarantulas, who also wishes to take command, secretly follows Terrorsaur to learn what has made him so powerful. All of this has been observed by Cheetor (who happened to see Terrorsaur heading back to base and followed him) who runs back to Maximal headquarters to report what he has seen. Optimus Primal is naturally worried, and flies to the island (along with their resident demolitions expert, named Rattrap) with the intention of blowing it up so that the Predacons can’t make use of it anymore.

To cut a long story short, they are ultimately successful in doing do, after a couple of battles, and when Terrorsaur returns to base, he finds a newly restored Megatron waiting for him (the episode ends at this point, but we can easily imagine what must have happened.) The point here is that not only are the Predacons once again concentrating on destroying the Maximals, but also that their lack of teamwork led to the complete loss of this source of Super Energon. If they had worked together, they could all have become real powerful through the Super Energon and quickly destroyed the Maximals, and then afterwards fought it out as to who would lead if they chose to do so.

We can see from these examples that the Maximals tend to do things in a more positional way, while the Predacons try to do things in a combinational way (although they ultimately fail.) The Maximals are mostly concerned with their immediate problems, especially those caused by the Predacons, in order to create a better position for themselves. Although their ultimate goal is to return to their home world (and they even try in a couple of episodes), they have no clear and workable plan for doing so. Except for two chances that they get (and ultimately lose due to Predacon interference), they have no idea how to try to get home. Therefore, they are restricted to defending themselves against the Predacons (behaving reactivity) and exploring the planet when they have time.

The Predacons, on the other hand, have the ultimate goal of defeating the Maximals and ruling the planet, with a small possibility of someday returning to Cybertron or some other planet to spread their conquest (although this last goal is only vaguely explored in one or two brief references throughout the series.) They are playing combinationally because they have a clear goal and are always coming up with new programs that would directly lead to the achievement of that goal if they weren’t foiled time and again by the Maximals. The Maximals, playing positionally, almost always win (or at least achieve a stalemate) over the Predacons, who play combinationally with big programs. Maximal victory occurs for a couple of reasons: First, the Maximals concentrate on improving themselves and their situation (building a good defense system for their base, working on new ways of communication, etc.). The Predacons concentrate on coming up with new ways to defeat the Maximals and fighting amongst themselves (the Predacons have little base defenses.) Secondly, the Predacons just seem to be generally incompetent. Sometimes, their programs don’t work simply because they’re not well thought out. Individually, they tend to be somewhat stupid. And their fighting among themselves often plays a big part in their failures. It is therefore the Maximals, with their superior positional style and better team work, that usually win the day and save the galaxy (or at least the planet) from the tyranny of the Predacons.

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