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Hey, doing a bit of research on a topic I actually had very little interest in when it comes to Transformers, humans.

But I understand that they have been a part of Transformers fiction since the begining and they do have a place in it. But I just never cared. I did like Marissa Fairborne in the latest IDW stories but the president of the USA could die and I could not care less (haha, I imagine US government bots taking that line out of context).

So I ask you now, which human characters do you like from the comcis and cartoons of the past and why?

I don't hate human companions as much as some others do, but my favorites are the ones from TF Prime. I have read some IDW comics but none of them included Marissa. Still, the ones from infiltration and the it's three or so follow ups were pretty good.

On top of my list are Circuit-breaker, and by extension G.B. Blackrock. Josie Beller was the first human to be profoundly affected by the arrival of the Transformers on Earth. Yes, Buster Witwicky was the first contact, but he subsequently faded from the story, whereas Circuit-breaker was there for the fight against Unicron. Also Circuit-breaker was able to affect the Transformers on more than just a superficial level. She could actually hurt them, and managed to bring some of them down and she even managed to get revenge on Shockwave by taking him out during his fight with Scorponok. G.B. Blackrock was also affected, though was more material than personal, as the attacks by the Decepticons and his subsequent deals with the Autobots mainly affected his businesses. But since he was basically a rip-off of Tony Stark, he could manage it.

On the positive side, if you want to call it that, the first name that comes to mind is Spike Witwicky. Yes, he was in the cartoon, but I'm referring to his comic version. He became irreversibly bonded to the Transformers by becoming Fortress Maximus's head, and he stayed true to the Transformers until the end of the original comic run when he defeated Galvatron (no small feat), and then died a memorable death at the hands of Megatron in G2, and even became a sort of reincarnation of Circuit-breaker in ReGeneration One, thus bringing things full circle for both of those characters.

Spike and Daniel in The Movie. They represented an acceptable level of human involvement within the story and number of humans overall.

Hunter O'Nion and Verity Carlo in IDWverse, for more or less the same reasons as above.

Nacelle wrote:I have read some IDW comics but none of them included Marissa.

Marissa Faireborn was a main human character in IDW from 2013-2018.

Moving on -

Comics wise, Verity is four of the top five answers to this. Ian Noble is the fifth. Donny Finkleberg for honorable mention. He's based on irl person Danny Fingeroth and there's a full circle connection back around to Transformers to be found there if you jump to Darkhawk next.

As far as the cartoons go, Masterforce did an outstanding job here. Almost the entire human cast is interesting and relevant, and the diversity doesn't feel haphazard like it does at times in the Sunbow material. Armada's Alexis is also a standout, to the point where she was effectively retread a couple years later with Lori.

I'm having deja vu now, is this a repeat topic?

I say the ones from Rescue bots are pretty decent.

ScottyP wrote:

Nacelle wrote:I have read some IDW comics but none of them included Marissa.

Marissa Faireborn was a main human character in IDW from 2013-2018.

I have now read a lot more of the IDW comics (including RiD). The human characters were pretty good for the most part imo.

Nacelle wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nacelle wrote:I have read some IDW comics but none of them included Marissa.

Marissa Faireborn was a main human character in IDW from 2013-2018.

I have now read a lot more of the IDW comics (including RiD). The human characters were pretty good for the most part imo.

Yeah they did a nice job. There was always justification within the story for why humans would be useful and/or dangerous to Cybertronians, and it almost always revolved around usage of TF tech. Then there's the larger in-universe context of that being an example of why the Tyrest Accord is both needed and aggressively enforced. Good times!

Captain Fanzone and Meltdown from Animated are my favorites. Captain Fanzone is great because he has excellent character development, learning to eventually trust and respect the Autobots. Plus, he’s one of the most competent human ally in the whole franchise.

Meltdown is a great human villain because he could actually do damage to the Autobots and he’s voiced by Peter Stormare, who’s awesome.

I think you've made this topic before, Will.

Anyway, I recall once promising to do a write-up on the best of the Rescue Bots human heroes and villains for you, but never got around to it. I apologize for that and would love to still do so, but it's been awhile since my last viewing of the show and I've grown rather busy with other projects taking my priority away from all others.

For a quick bit, though, I will list off the best ones: the Burns Family (Chief Charlie Burns, Kade Burns, Dani Burns, Graham Burns, Cody Burns, and Charlie's guest starring brother Woodrow Burns), the Greene Family (Dr. Ezra "Doc" Greene, Frankie Greene, and later Prof. Anna Baranova when she marries into the family), and three of the villains (Dr. Thaddeus Morocco, Madeline Pynch, and Colonel Quint Quarry).