I am way behind in Podcasts, but I wanted ro get into the questions:
1.) Transformers have been at war for over 4 million years our time, according to records. Does that make them really bad at war, really good at war, or serving a larger purpose to the galaxy/universe as a whole?
2.) What should everyone consider to be canon? What do you consider to be canon? Can everyone have their own official canon? Or do you just pull an Ultra Magnus and, "...not deal with that now...?"
3.) Why don't more Transformers change alt-modes more often? Do they not have the ability? Does it take to much energy? Is it...TABOO!? ...wear out your t-cog? Let us know are you functionist in your thinking, or do you think everyone is alt mode exempt as long as it's not effecting someone else's happiness? Okay that really doesn't have to do with changing alt mode forms more often, generally...
1) in the precursor Novel to the first Movie (Ghosts of Yesterday) there is a suggedtion planted that Star Trek esque Warp Speed, Star Wars Hyperdrives, or even the Space Bridges of the Unicron Trilogy aren't a thing, abd that the Bots and Cons are cross ing space in more or less conventional means. The fact that two Cybertronian ships get to cross paths at all in the Inky Black is probably cause for Celebration.
It also suggests that the Cybertronian War is more or less a "Cold War". And not a war of active dogfights and ship-to-ship. Both factions are largely nomadic, although I woukd suspect that certainly there are cases of Autobot teams tailing Decepticons who have done less than moral things.
To my mind, this creates a sumituation where fighting the War is less about the War, and more about "Well, this is just what we do when Autobots meet Decepticons." Its almost a culture to the Cybertronians. They fight beczuse thats what they do, because at this point the Bots hate the Cons, the Cons hate the Bots, and neither side is willing to leave the other in peace. They are a culture of conflict, and in that way the war becomes a self perpetuating thing. To be "Bad" at war implies an ineptitude and on a grand scale I dont think you can apply that to either faction, in any continuity. On the other hand, to be "Good" at war would suggest anbefficnecy in killing your foes or reaching a solution/treaty. And that by and large doesnt happen either.
My own personal storybook land, the first line is "The war is over, everyone lost." Even if the Autobots kill Megatron, there are enough Starscreams in the army who will take over their units, if not try to take over the whole Army. At best, a new head takes over the Cons. At worst, the Decepticon army disintegrates into embers on the wind, sometimes burning out, othertimes setti g off large blazes on whatever worlds they end up on, when not under the strict control of Megatron. Meanwhile, the Autobots have only a dead, broken Cybertron and a reputarion as being the other half of the fighting. Who won?
2) Canon is a tricky thing, at its most broad terms Canon is everything that has happened with the Intellectual Property Owner's blessing and control. (Hasbro). But it breaks down into tiers: you have your basic always true facts (Prime is leader of the Autobots, Megatron is Leader of the Decepticons, and even if you dont use them you acknowledge that it is their legacies) but then you get ibto the individual continuities and whats true for Beast Wars is not true for Animated, even thoughbthey draw from the same source material. However, within those Continuities, you have a rulebook that everything else thatvis informed by snd informs the other stories within. Thats Canon, but it stillbhas to have the IP Holder's rubber stamp, or its just a pretty story. Simon Furman could pen a comic story, but if Hasbro says "um, no we're not including that", its just a Transformers story.
As to whether or not everyone can have their own, it depends on context. If you sre taljing about the Hasbro stuff, no. "Canon" is the offical doings. The minute you start cherrypicking the things you do and do not want, you have created a new continuity. But there's nothing wrong with doing so, as long as you accept that its your interpretation and not the Hasbro approved story. But if ypu are like me, who is Fanficcing on their head or actually writing stories or making up reasons for cwrtain toys on certain shelves, then yes, ypu can make your own Canon for yourself to play in.
3.) Based on some stuff tossed out in the IDW stories, I would assume its a couple of diffwrent things. Trying to rebuikd a Cybertronian body is probably a physically taxing and energy consuming process, considering its likely nanobots analogous to our Antibodies trying to make the alterations. However, I believe personally, that Functionism was born from a simpler truth: you cant change what are. Someone who turns into a boat will always have to scan a boat. If you are forged as a vehicle with special hardware like aircraft turbines, your alt kode must utlize the capability. Otherwide you end upbwith a car with boat engines sticking out the back, or a plane with a big asd drill bit for the fuselage nose, or a Sports Car eith Tank Treads, etc. A quadripedal Beastformer will always be a quadripedal beast, big guys are big, small guys are small, etc. Anything else, and your body becomes unfamiliar, uncomfortable, a case of phantom limbs or growing pains, or you end upbwith unutilized vestigal parts in the alt mode that can make passibg for a vehicle hard or the vehicle itself undrivable (say a car with pontoons) coincidentally, multiformers have trouble with aquiring passable altmodes because one mode has to resolve a use for the parts of the other. Guys like Sixshot end up with underrealistic alt modes because of the excess Kibble, and when they do find something that works across all modes, scanning something new may end up undoing the harmony between designs.if that makes sense.
