Opening this an calling ~Nathanoraptor, since I am seeing quite some misuse as the OP describes.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Going to wholeheartedly agree, Transforming Mecha should be about well... Mecha. "Mecha is a science fiction genre that centers on robots or machines controlled by people. These machines vary greatly in size, shape, and appearance. Some are little more than cars with arms and legs, while others are giant humanoid constructs."
It does not cover normal cars, motorcycles and other mundane vehicles with some transforming capabilities like the Men in Black car unless they transform into Mecha.
edited 19th Oct '14 1:44:22 AM by Memers
No, the other one.
Yeah. Unless it transforms into some kind of mecha, it's not this trope.
I think it would be a good idea to split it to Transforming Vehicle for cases where it's a vehicle that changes mode but remains a vehicle (such as K.I.T.T. or an F-14 Tomcat).
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Yeah, I think the biggest issue with the shoehorning here is that it lacks it's own trope. Really what we need is a Transforming Machine trope to supertrope this and a new Transforming Vehicle trope and all the misuse will go away when they have a place to go.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
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I may start on those Ykttws soon. Transforming Vehicle first though.
edited 19th Oct '14 8:49:41 AM by SatoshiBakura
Jupiterian Local
Would a mecha that transforms into a vehicle be an example of both Transforming Mecha and Transforming Vehicle, or would the two be mutually exclusive? I mean, there are mecha that transform into things other than vehicles, and vehicles that transform into things other than mecha, but we need to make it clear if overlap between the two tropes is allowed.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Make sure to rip all the 'bad examples' from this page to help populate it. I really think that making those tropes to cover this misuse will fix this trope.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Okay, I started the Transforming Vehicle YKTTW. Come here and help stop this misuse
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edited 19th Oct '14 9:08:48 AM by SatoshiBakura
If they are like the Transformers and are seemingly normal cars and then transform into mecha then yes they would fall under both, now if they are mecha which transform into unique designed tanks or jet modes and you can still tell its a mech then no.
The only murky examples I can think of would be the few mecha series that have a few mecha that do not follow traditional mecha rules, mostly early 70s shows before rules were established, however I can not think of one that transforms.
Edit: well the YKTTW a seems to have a different idea, which probably works better.
edited 19th Oct '14 10:59:22 AM by Memers
I thought I had the idea, but I guess not. I could always add on to it, though.
The YKTTW does seem rather limited seeing how we have Cars that transform into motorcycles or boats or jets and stuff which are not mecha.
edited 19th Oct '14 11:43:13 AM by Memers
That would be why we're making sister and parent tropes to cover everything. The misuse is just pointing to a missing trope in this case.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Oh I agree, I was just talking about how the YKTTW seems limited in scope, but then again are full transformations like say Spy Hunter different than say the Green Hornet car which has minor transformations like deployable rockets and such? Would that be two tropes or just one?
I tweaked the definition to cover more areas.
No, the other one.
There's no difference between a car that transforms into a mecha and a mecha that transforms into a car. I'd also exclude those that can transform into a mecha from Transforming Vehicle. I don't think having that overlap adds anything, sort of like insisting on listing every example of a subtrope on its supertrope. Sure, it won't be absolutely all examples, but I don't think the distinction between the two is notable.
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Clock is set.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I think we have already fixed this.
Well, what about the wicks? I know, nobody has claimed that the wicks are problematic but still, should we do anything about them?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Re-clocking, because there doesn't seem to have been a cleanup.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Clock is up with no progress; closing.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Transforming Mecha is supposed to be about a robot transforming into an alternate form (e.g. car, jet, beast, vending machine). It's now used to refer to any mechanical item that changes form somehow, including cars sprouting jet engines and/or weapons.
I figure we should split and put vehicles with weapons or jet engines into another trope (I suggest Weaponised Vehicle). But I just want to know if it's a good idea before proceeding.