Feature Article:
|
 logo created by FawnDoo |
|||
Other Articles
|
What do those Symbols Represent?
by Henrius Prime
|
|||
Why Do We Need the Kids Anyway? by Perceptor II
What's Your Outlet? by Coyotek
Toys to Toon by Dark Star
What Cartoons Teach Us by Perceptor II
|
In the past on the news, I read an article concerning the Taliban regime of Afghanistan. The article originally did not appeal to me as other articles would, but as I read on, I discovered that this article was truly of interest to me. The article was about the Taliban regime of Afghanistan directing Hindus and other non-Muslims to wear a yellow identity symbol and for Hindu women to fully cover themselves in a veil.
I read on with something sticking to my mind, but I just don't know what. As I continue, I realized my mind was also telling me that the Nazi regime of Germany (1933-1945) also used this inhumane tactic to isolate the Jews! Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, the Jewish population residing in Germany at that time was forced to show others that they're Jews by wearing a yellow Star of David. They were also isolated from the rest of the German society by other means, like stripping them of their citizenship or by boycotting their businesses. Other atrocities followed that further devastated their lives, but right now I'm not going to digress in that direction.
The Taliban regime's action not only reflected upon the horrors of the Holocaust, but upon Transformer cartoons as well!
On the arms or chest or head or backs of the original Transformers in the Eighties, there was a symbol of some sort, a red one or a purple one. When I watched them when I was small (and I vaguely remember things), I used to question myself what they are. Part of the design? That made sense. Later on in my life, I watched "Beast Wars," another Transformer series that deals with Transformers three centuries later. On those Transformers, too, were symbols engraved upon their body areas. I questioned myself once again with the same question, but nothing came to mind.
With the discovery of message boards and of the like, I accumulated more and more information regarding Transformers, and realized that those markings were what separated Transformers from whichever faction they were in. I learned that with the original Transformers, the Autobots, with the red marking on them, represented good, and the Decepticons, with the purple marking, represented evil. Later on, I discovered another interesting fact- that the markings were used by the Quintessons, their creators, to signify their presence as being a slave!
That made sense, at least for some parts.
But the troubling thing was this: Why did Maximals and Predacons have to have a symbol tattooed on themselves, too? With a span of three centuries, the Great Upgrade downsized many Autobots into Maximals, and with such a evolution in the history of Transformers, surely they would have also abandoned the usage of marking Transformers with this or that faction! Yet, this practice endures!
I ponder over the point of this practice, like marking Transformers to factions, and wonder: Is this not just another horrible act of isolating an entire population through the usage of marking them with particular symbols? Withal due respect, I believe this action is an act of infamy!
Like Maximals and Predacons, why bother with separating one faction from the others? To show that one side is good while the other's evil? I believe that that type of practice in the world of Transformers is abominating and that it must be banned forever! Such a stratagem of social isolation is immoral and that not only should the world of Transformers prohibit that practice, but our physical world should, too, taboo this deed of insolence!
 (Editor's Note: This article started an interesting discussion at the Iacon Literary Society. The thread can be found here.)
|
|||