FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This is a list of the most commonly asked questions I get, and some that aren't so common but still got asked. There are answers here, too :-) I'll order them from general to spoilers. . .and as soon as I can figure out how to code it, I'll just list the questions up here and make them links to the answers in the vast reaches below.
1. Have you already finished the Maximal Gambit, or are you writing as you go?
The Maximal Gambit is a long an involved story, and
I'm nowhere near
completing it. I started it way back in January 1999, and only finished
Part Two on Thanksgiving.
2. Will Defcon be appearing in the Maximal Gambit?
He will indeed. In fact, he already has--in Chapter 24.
3. Will Elita-1 show up and talk to Rodimus Prime?
Elita-1 is dead by the time of the Maximal Gambit, as are all the
other
female Autobots with the exception of Arcee. Of course, that doesn't
mean Elita won't be important in the story. . .
4. Are the Quintessons going to do anything?
They already have. The Quintessons have been
responsible for learning
the secrets of Unicron for the benefit of the Decepticons. As you
can see
in Chapter 26, they discover something most interesting.
5. Will Nucleon have anything to do with the story?
No.
Please?
I've already made my decision. No. Now leave me alone.
6. Is Starscream’s ghost going to show up?
Yes indeed. In fact, he's already done quite a bit since his appearance
in
Chapter 17. Don't worry, he'll be responsible for a whole lot more
soon
enough.
7. Is Primacron going to do much?
Primacron will play a pivotal role in The Maximal Gambit.
8. Will Buzzsaw and Laserbeak's fates be shown?
Yes on the one hand, I don't know yet on the other.
9. Will Overkill and Slugfest already be with Soundwave?
Yes, he acquired them in the twenty years between
the original show and
the Movie, according the The Maximal Gambit.
10. Will the Powerdashers do anything?
The who? Yes, they may die pointless deaths.
11. What's the point of the Maximal Gambit?
I decided to write the Maximal Gambit in response to the oft-asked
question,
"how did the Maximals and Predacons come to be?" I had a few ideas,
but they
all required me to either ignore season three of the cartoon or Generation
2 of
the comic. I knew that Bob Forward and Larry DiTillo meant for the
Beast Wars
to occur in the future of the Generation 2 comic, but, as with much of
Transformer
lore, that didn't fit too well with the cartoon, and vice versa.
I've always been a
bigger fan of the cartoon than the comic (despite the Comic Scan Archive),
so I
began to wonder what may have happened to bring the Transformers from the
cartoon to this point.
Thus, The Maximal Gambit was born. I have no compunctions
about
stepping all over "Authors' Intentions" unless those intentions were realized
in
the show. Since the Generation 2-Beast Wars connection was never
established
on the screen, I felt I was free to write what I would.
12. But you're ignoring the cartoon continuity, as well.
Yes, I realized that :-) My intentions with
the Maximal Gambit have changed
somewhat since I first started writing it, as well. I now see the
Maximal
Gambit
as being a bridge between Transformers: The Movie and Beast
Wars, ignoring
the events of G1 Season Three. By approaching the story this way,
I can feel
more free to manipulate the characters and events in the more adult fashion
in
which I like to write.
13. If you wanted to do a more adult Transformers, then why is there no sex and little profanity?
Because sex and profanity are what writers who do
not understand the power of
mature themes put in their work in order to make their work seem adult.
I have
no need for sex and swearing, in part because giant robots don't have sex
and
only Spike and Ultra Magnus ever swore, anyway.
I want the sex.
Well, that's just too bad. Try www.wild-cherries.com.
14. Why is Part One called "Prosperity?"
I named that chapter such in the hopes that I could
show the difference between
the Autobots and the Decepticons, and how the Autobots have prospered in
the
year since the appearance of Unicron in relationship to how the Decepticons
have
suffered. The Autobots are prospering on their homeworld of Cybertron,
yet they
have become complacent and Rodimus Prime is emotionally unwell. Whereas
the
Decepticons, in the person of Cyclonus, prosper even while they are trapped
on a
world of dust--because of their tenacity and unyielding spirit. This
is a theme that
will carry throughout the Maximal Gambit, and which will yield some
interesting
results by the time of Jihad.
15. You killed Wreck-Gar! I always liked him--are you gonna bring him back?
Provided the Junkions can gather all the bits and pieces, yes.
16. Where the hell are the Dinobots?
On Earth, where Dinosaurs belong.
17. You know the last three episodes of the series were called "Rebirth," right?
Yes, I do. In fact, I have the first of those
in RealVideo format. I named Part Two
"Rebirth" because it signifies the rebirth of the Autobot-Decepticon War,
the
rebirth of Galvatron (twice), and the rebirth of Unicron as a threat.
18. Damn you! You killed Jazz! He was my favorite Autobot!
I'm sorry.
19. You’re killing off too many Autobots. You’re not a Con-fan, are you?
No, I'm not a Con-fan. I'm an Autobot fan,
to be more precise, and an Optimus
Prime fan to be specific. But let's take a look at the Autobots I've
killed (60,
to be specific, in the Battle of Iacon).
The Autobots have had peace for nearly a year. They've recently learned
of a Decepticon attack on Darios IX, and have sent their space fleet--which
is
usually in orbit of Cybertron, shooting away invaders--off to try and track
the
Decepticons. One-fourth of the Autobot army stationed on Cybertron
has gone
with the fleet.
At approximately the same time, the Decepticons--angry and fully ener-
gized, decide to attack Cybertron, and Cyclonus' attack on the Moon Base
gives them the advantage of surprise. The battle lasts nearly a full
day, with the
Autobots having half the numbers of the Decepticons and being attacked
by
surprise from above by robots that want to kill them. Meanwhile,
the Autobots
only want to defend themselves.
20. Autobots would kill if they had to.
And they did. Several Decepticons lost their
lives at Iacon. Pathetic numbers of
them, in comparison to Autobots, but you must take into account that the
Autobots
were surprised, outnumbered, surrounded, and--most of all--they don't have
the
killer instinct. That killer instinct is what divides Autobot and
Decepticon--the
Autobots have been prosperous, and content, for a year, while the Decepticons
throve only on their hatred of the Autobots. Personally, I think
the Autobots per-
formed magnificently for the odds they were up against. Like Cyclonus
said,
the Decepticons should have won that battle, yet they still lost.
21. Why didn’t Rodimus just kill off the captured Decepticons?
Because, even for all his jealousy and paranoia, Rodimus Prime is still
the leader
of the Autobots, and that's just not the sort of thing Autobot Leaders
do. If an
enemy is trying to kill you, it's one thing (after all, he did score at
least one of the
kills at the Battle of Iacon)--but if an enemy is unconscious and shackled,
that is
quite something else.
Well, I would have killed them, get a little bit of revenge on them.
Yes, but that's why you're not an Autobot Leader.
Actually, I think it's because I'm not a robot and I don't have a trailer attachment.
Okay, fine. Next question.
22. Why are Rodimus and Magnus acting the way they are? They didn’t act like that in the cartoon.
It's my intention to write my own versions of Rodimus,
Magnus--indeed, of
all the characters of the Transformers mythos. Granted, I do try
to keep
them pretty much feasible, and in order to do that I do quite a bit of
research
on how the characters act in both the comic and cartoon in order to make
them the same characters, but different.
I'm not in the business of writing the same-old, same-old. That's
hackery--
if you want to read hackery, pick up the latest Dean Koontz or John Grisham
novel.
Really, I don't think Rodimus being paranoid about others' opinions of
his leadership capabilities is a far stretch from his original, no-self-esteem
cartoon incarnation. And Magnus being subservient, convinced that
Rodimus
is a better leader than he and is nearly always right? This idea
stems from
Rodimus being the "chosen" holder of the Matrix, even though Magnus was
chosen by Prime to succeed him. Instead of Magnus "having no problem
with
this," as he did in the comics and cartoon, I've come at it from the perspective
that it shattered his self-confidence and made Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime a
nigh-
omnipotent figure in his eyes. Which he's not, but bully for Magnus.
23. You don't like Rodimus Prime, do you?
No. In fact, I can't stand him. I couldn't
stand him as soon as I heard his name,
and learned from a commercial that he was going to be the new leader of
the
Autobots. I always hoped Optimus Prime would come back from the dead
to
kill him. And I almost got my wish, in "Dark Awakenings." Ah,
well. At least
he gave it his best shot.
24. Is there really no hope for Rodimus and Arcee?
Not at this point, no. Something drastic would
have to happen to Arcee in order
to make her have any remotely pleasant feelings for Rodimus again.
And even
then, it wouldn't be logical for her to fall in love with him as she had
before he
was Rodimus Prime.
25. Why did you name Part Three Jihad? Are you aware of all its meanings?
Jihad has two meanings that I'm aware of. The
first meaning, of course, is that
of a holy war, specifically one against an oppressor. This is the
most obvious of
the meanings, the one that everybody gets taught in high school (and one
which
Muslims get taught. . .hmmm, perhaps it's best if I avoid the off-color
jokes). In
this respect, a successfully fought Jihad is one in which the oppressor
(or enemy)
is vanquished, and the power of those who fought Jihad confirmed.
But a Jihad can also be a very personal crusade against the self, specifically
against those aspects of oneself which can lead one off the path of light
and good,
into darkness and evil. In this aspect, a successful Jihad is one
in which those
segments which lead one to evil are destroyed, or otherwise conquered,
perhaps
even by their acknowledgment and mastery.
26. Did you make up any of the questions in this FAQ?
Some of them, yes. But many others are real, and some of them are
just things
I wanted to get off my chest. All the "Conversations" started as
real questions
and moved on, as I wrote them here, into silliness. Because we've
all gotta laugh :-)
27.
I found an error! You referred to Goldbug as Bumblebee in Chapter
25!
I sure enough did. Even the best of us make
mistakes :-) It's fixed, now.
28.
You kill all the characters I like, and leave all the ones I don't like
alive.
I'm sorry.
29. When is Motormaster gonna finally get his comeuppance?
Galvatron hasn't forgotten Motormaster's disrespect for him. However,
he
isn't going to make his move too soon--he wants to distance himself from
the
berserker image that is still fresh in the minds of the Decepticons.
His
vengeance will be swift, unmistakable, and completely calculated :-)
30. Rodimus Prime is such a jerk! But he wasn't like that in the show--will he have a chance for redemption?
I believe that everyone, no matter how evil, should
get a chance at redemption.
Of course, how that redemption plays itself out will be the key issue in
chapters
to come. . .
31. I have suspicions that you're going to make Fortress Maximus the leader of the Autobots.
*Ahem* What gives you that idea?
After all, it's just my screen name that makes
that suggestion. . .
Filthy self-inserter! Self-insertions are so lame.
Yes, that's true. However, I took my name from
the character I have created (I
can't wait until you meet him--Fortress Maximus has always been one of
my
favorite Transformers, up there with Optimus Prime, Shockwave and Cyclonus,
and I think I have an interesting spin on the character). I did not
create my name
so I could insert myself into the fanfic.
What's the difference?
This is a good point. After all, the bits of
the fanfic starring Maximus Prime haven't
even been written yet (well, for the most part). So I guess you'll
just have to believe
me on that account. Hey, I was honest enough to admit that not all
of the questions
on this FAQ were asked of me. . .that should count for something, shouldn't
it? :-)
32. Is there any way you can email me the whole story so I can print it off and read it?
You have no idea how often I get asked this :-)
I don't email the story to everybody
who asks me this. However, I do have Word 97 files available
for download from the
novel index page. I will only provide these files for those parts
I've already finished,
so for all you folks looking for Word files of the chapters I'm currently
working on,
you're SOL. Note that I say Parts, not Chapters.
You may contact me personally if
you want Word files for those chapters I have up that do not have an accompanying
Part ZIP, and I will happily oblige for anything I've already posted on
ATT and put
on this page.
However, please to not ask me to convert the files to something other than
Word 97. Also, don't ask me to not password-protect those files.
I am very protective
of my work, and password-protecting the files serves one really fantastic
purpose,
in my eyes--it prevents you from inadvertently fouling up the file, which
means you'll
always be able to read the Maximal Gambit as I wrote it.
As far as printing this stuff out. . .all I can say is, make sure you have
a lot of
paper. And I mean A LOT! :-)
33.
Can you write me into the Maximal Gambit?
No. Somebody else beat you to it, and I'm not
going to allow any more Real Person
Insertions. Besides, the guy who asked me first has a really interesting
specialty that
will come into play during Part Three. . .
For anybody who wants to contact me about anything on this webpage, either because you really hated it, really loved it, found some errors, found some glitches, or anything else may do so at:
Thanks for your interest in this site, and may Primus bless all us TransFans.
Transformers and all related materials are copyright of Hasbro and Marvel Comics. The design of this page, and most specifically all fanfiction appearing on this page, are Copyright©1999 by Bryan Richard Shipp. All characters appearing in said fanfictions are also Copyrighted by Bryan Shipp unless either previously Copyrighted by Hasbro and Marvel, or otherwise specified. Any and all opinions expressed by Mr. Shipp are solely his own, and do not reflect in any way the opinions of the staff or management of the rest of the universe.