Centurions

This is Part Ten in a series.

We’re at an odd point in this series now.  The timeline isn’t that firm in my head.  GI Joe happens between seasons 2 and 3 of our Transformers treatment, as it helps to explain the shift in relations between the Autobots and Earth Governments.  Sky Commanders needs to happen shortly after Transformers because we’re going to need a large supply of Energon on Earth to power all the new technology.  And M.A.S.K. we hinted at during season 3 of Transformers.  After that shows may be happening concurrently, or not precisely in the order I am presenting them.  The exact timeline needs to be fully hammered out.  We’re entering a sort of plug and play phase of this series.

Centurions needs to happen early in the timeline, because we’re going to be setting up issues with complex AI on Earth.  And I feel like it should be the first AI related incident, but another series could happen before it that also deals with the AI issue.  But I think Centurions happening first makes slightly more sense, so we’re going to say it comes after M.A.S.K.  Anyway, a refresher on what Centurions is, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIajdXHRmJ4

So, we’re keeping the same basic premise.  In the original Centurions cartoon, there is a unified world government, and given that we’ve introduced Cybertronians, an extraterrestrial threat, that makes sense.  So, we’re keeping that.  Now, humans also realize that because evil Cybertronians are a thing, they need a way to fight Transformers, hence the experimental exo-frames and the armor systems of the Centurions series.  That is our next step in integrating Cybertronian technology with Earth Technology, the fusing of man and machine for power extreme.

We’re also going with Centurions because it would serve as a good way to bring the Microman toy line back to America.  Takara wants to bring the line back, they tried importing to the US in the mid-2000s.  It didn’t really take off, but the modular aspect of Microman and excellent articulation would be a good fit for Centurions.  Also, there’s something poetic about spinning Microman off GI Joe, as that was how it originated.  And, of course, spinning GI Joe off Transformers, which was an import of the Microchange line, which was a spin-off of Microman, which was a spin-off of GI Joe, it’s a nice sort of circular loop.

We’re also eventually going to do something with the Micronauts, so we’ll have two toy lines that make use of the Microman play pattern, but we’re going to get to Micronauts later.  Right now, let’s get back to Centurions.  So, we’ve got a united Earth Government, due to the revelation of the existence of aliens thanks to the Autobots and Decepticons, and perhaps another event.  That other event we’ll get to later in the series, it’s a cool addition, but it’s not something we can guarantee, so we’re going to do as much as we can without it.

Sorry, back to the topic at hand. Again, united World Government, new phase of integrating Cybertronian (and perhaps other alien tech) with human technology, fusing man and machine for power extreme, so that a single human can hold his or her own in a fight against a Cybertronian or any extraterrestrial, really.  That’s where we are.  We’ve got Doc Terror and Hacker causing all sorts of trouble.  Doc Terror and Hacker as per the original series are cyborgs, half robot.  And eventually, their robot halves, as in the original series get joined together into a single AI creation.  It goes mad, turns against Doc Terror and the entire world.

But why does it go mad?  Well, remember how Unicron’s body is at the center of the Earth?  Yeah, that has some impact on AI developed on Earth, especially AI that doesn’t have a spark.  The AI created by fusing the robotic halves of Doc Terror and Hacker is very close to having a spark, but it just falls short, and it’s corrupted by the presence of Unicron’s body, causing it to go rogue.  This is the first time we encounter this phenomenon, but it won’t be the last time.  Eventually, this rogue AI is defeated.  During this series, we get another cameo from the Benton that appeared in Sky Commanders, he’s still working on developing AI, perhaps he worked with Doc Terror for a time, before Doc Terror went all world domination.  Doesn’t really matter, again, he’s not a major character, we’re just doing a quick check in with the cameo, showing what he’s working on, the skills he’s gaining.

And that’s really it for the Centurions, we’re laying down the basis for rogue AI and why it happens, setting up rules that maybe aren’t fully explained to the audience yet, but that we are aware of.  Eventually, this bit about Unicron’s influence causing AI without sparks to go crazy will be revealed to the audience, but probably not until Jem and the Holograms.  Anyway, our next series is going to be Micronauts.