Fun with lasers

I’m actually okay with G.I.Joe and The A Team having bad aim, but why couldn't the Transformers ever hit their target?


Good point...they are robots, after all.


It does somewhat bug me that the A Team are such lousy shots, what with being a "crack commando unit" and all. You'd think one of them would have at least some training as a marksman. However, there is a somewhat plausible explanation as to why they never seem to manage to shoot anybody. They're already on the run from the government (allegedly for a crime they didn't commit), and adding murder and manslaughter charges may not be in their best interests. So instead, they flip over bad guys' cars, have Mr. T throw them over the hood and Hannibal stand over them with a cigar stub, and call it a day.

G.I.Joe is in the freakin' army for crying out loud. They have to learn how to shoot, and being soldiers in a war of sorts, shooting people is part of the job. However, since it is a kids show, you do have to limit the graphic violence a bit, even when dealing with tough topics like war and human casualties.

On the other hand...Transformers are robots. Computerized automatons that change into vehicles. If they were to get shot, you have to replace some circuitry, maybe a motor or some hydraulic lines. Yes, Transformers have been damaged beyond repair, but far less often than you might think. Of course, let's just forget how every intricate scheme to get energon cubes to Cybertron eventually boils down to stoic firefight in the same brown desert valley, and ponder why it is that none of the transformers are able to shoot the others. They're robots!!! Even if the computer's aiming program resulted in a misfire (which it shouldn't have to do...I'd expect a perfect shot every time), I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't have some form of algorithm in place to track the most recent laser blast, compare it to the location of the target, make an adjustment, and fire again within a tenth of a second. It just makes sense.

Instead, what do we get? A long drawn out scene of people shooting boulders and barely missing lasers and the Decepticons eventually retreating. If just ONE of the Decepticons would adjust his sniper program, this whole war could have been ended and we'd all be slaves to Cyberton by now.