More than Meets the Eye
A few thoughts on the Transformers franchise
I wrote this piece for Catholic365, readers. Since I have been remiss in producing articles here on my newsletter, I thought that I would share it with you. Follow the link and enjoy!
More than Meets the Eye – Spirituality in the Transformers Franchise
I am an unapologetic Transformers fan, though there are parts of the franchise or series within it that I prefer to overlook. The second and third Bay movies, for instance, have too much in them that is bad for me to stomach more than a couple of scenes. The less said about Rise of the Beasts, the better.
Nevertheless, I am a relative outlier in the fandom for the franchise: I typically enjoy the human characters and their relationships with various Autobots, as well as the few humans who manage to connect with some of the Decepticons. Many fans complain that the human characters and their arcs “get in the way” of the Autobots’ and Decepticons’ character arcs. They would prefer to focus solely on – as they are known in the fandom – the ‘Bots and ‘Cons, ditching the human elements in the series entirely.
While I sympathize with wanting to see more of the ‘Bots and ‘Cons as characters, I have always balked at the idea of leaving humans out of the story entirely. With a few exceptions in the animated or live action series, I have thoroughly enjoyed the human characters, who are typically children but occasionally adults. In a discussion with a friend I realized some of the reason for this preference on my part is based on the spiritual symbolism of the Transformers.