The Transformers UK Appendix:Inclusion
The Transformers UK Appendix is a repository of knowledge documenting the stories that served as back-up material in the Marvel UK comic The Transformers, but it is not exhaustive when it comes to the Transformers in particular, serving only as an appendix to TFWiki.net – hence the name. That's not to say we don't cover Transformers characters and concepts, but we only do so in a limited capacity.
General guideline
As an example, let's take a look at four different characters from the story "Prisoner of War!" from issue 5 and issue 6.
Marvel character | Transformers character | |
---|---|---|
Appeared outside of The Transformers | Spider-Man | Optimus Prime |
Appeared only in The Transformers | Nicholas Fury | Gears |
All four of these characters appeared in stories printed in TFUK, and are thus all "canon" to the robot universe, but only two of them receive pages.
- Spider-Man is a Marvel character who crossed over into The Transformers. He also appears in "Man of the Year" and "Children in Danger!". Since we are documenting those appearances, it makes more sense than not to also write up Spider-Man's adventures with the Autobots.
- Gears was the Autobot to spend the most time with Spider-Man. But Gears did not appear in any other TFUK fiction. Gears does not receive a page, but links on relevant pages can refer to his article on TFWiki.net.
- Optimus Prime was only a small part of Spider-Man's story. However, he does appear in two instalments of Robo-Capers. Since those are within this wiki's purview, Optimus Prime receives a page, but the only parts of his The Transformers appearances we document are those where he interacts with Marvel elements.
- Nicholas Fury is a Marvel character who makes a crossover cameo in The Transformers. He does not appear in any other TFUK fiction. A theoretical page on this wiki would merely repeat his coverage on TFWiki.net, so he does not receive an article.
That last part raises an important point: we're a TFWiki.net supplement, not a rival, and we don't need to host hundreds of pages of essentially duplicated information. Case in point: we don't even have a page for "Prisoner of War!", even though we document its events for Spider-Man and other characters!
But if we don't do it, who will?
Primary scope
The initial scope of The Transformers UK Appendix is complete coverage of all non-Transformers content printed in The Transformers. At the TFUK Appendix's outset, the administration also decided to cover the crossover arc concerning the Gwanzulums, a species that first appeared in Combat Colin before invading a handful of other Marvel UK titles. At time of writing, only the Doctor Who and Ghostbusters wikis cover their portions of the storyline in any depth, with information lacking on ThunderCats wikis and no extant Combat Colin wiki whatsoever. Covering the entire crossover on one wiki is hitherto unheard of.
As such, the complete primary scope is:
- The Transformers issues 1-332
- ThunderCats issues 66 and 67: "Double Jeopardy!"
- The Real Ghostbusters issue 9: "Too Many Ghostbusters!"
- Doctor Who Magazine issues 141 and 142: "Planet of the Dead"
The decision to cover the Gwanzulum stories essentially codifies the inclusion policy, which is based on two questions: Will anyone else document this? And, will anyone cover it the way we do?
Expansion
Once the primary scope is fulfilled, these two questions will be used to hold discussions on expanding the scope to provide further information on this roster of characters and their stories.
Potential avenues of expansion include:
- Combat Colin as he appeared in the pages of Action Force, to provide a complete view of his entire Marvel UK run
- Action Force itself, as we already cover a chunk of stories related to the franchise
- Stories featuring Death's Head, beginning with the Doctor Who crossover "The Crossroads of Time" and continuing into Dragon's Claws and so forth
- The rest of Planet Terry and/or Spitfire and the Troubleshooters
- Machine Man's appearances between "Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!" and "He Lives Again!"
- The Matt and the Cat sequel stories focussed on Humph
- The remaining issues of Visionaries