The Infamous Con-Quest Essays
Straight from the pages of the long-running fanzine itself. Keep in mind that any references to "here" or "this magazine" or "these pages" within the essays refer to Con-Quest as a physical publication; other than that, they're pretty self-contained. I welcome intelligent comments or discussions ... but put that flame-thrower down, because the old talons are still sharp.... ;)
- Matrix Quest
- From Issue 4. The (in)significance of the Matrix to the Decepticons.
- Peace At Last?
- From Issue 10. Who will win the Autobot/Decepticon wars? Who should?
- The Making of BotCon
- From Issue 13. Some of my experiences organizing BotCon '95.
- The Soul of the Hunter
- From Issue 16. Megatron (the real one) and
Tyrannosaurs as personal archetypes.
- Of Wolves, Klingons, and Decepticons
- From Issue 18. The unmistakable
parallels between the three species.
- A Season in Hell
- From Issue 19. Review and discussion of the first
season of the Beast Wars cartoon.
- Lights and Mirrors: A Trick of Perspective
- From Issue 20. On pre-conceived
notions and the perception of the Decepticons.
- The Real Heroes of the Story
- From Issue 21. What does it take
to be a hero, and who's got what it takes?
- The Strange Case of Omega Supreme
- From Issue 22. False Memory Syndrome at
its finest.
- Megatron and Starscream: A World of Second Chances
- From Issue 23.
Deadly rivals or former friends? Let's look at the evidence.
- The Worst Crime
- From Issue 24. The most vile of all possible
transgressions is too often taken lightly, or worse yet, admired.
- Fight At My Side: Gender Relations on Faraway Worlds
- From Issue 25. Of chauvinism and equality.
- The Name of Respect
- From Issue 26. Galvatron: a lousy character with a great name. Galvatron: a great character with a lousy name. Which element can redeem the other?
- The Nature of Honor
- From Issue 28. Decepticons, and not Autobots, are the ones who exemplify true honor.
- Megatron's Alien Allies
- From Issue 29. How open are the Decepticon ranks to select aliens?
- The Best Thing That Could Happen
- From Issue 30. Why a Decepticon invasion of Earth, even with its concomitant destruction, would in fact be a good thing.
- Fantasy and Reality
- From Issue 31. Fantasy is compelling precisely because it is not reality, and not spoiled by such.
- Nightbird Revisited: A Response to Ignorance
- From Issue 32. The facts of the Nightbird episode reviewed once again.
- Untransformable
- From Issue 33. For a mythology like the Transformers, it's tremendously damaging to muck with it too much; but the recent "official" TF elements are trying to do just that.
- Redemption of the Dinobots
- From Issue 34. Why the Dinobots should be Decepticons.
- The Road Well Traveled
- From Issue 35. A retrospective on 10 years of Con-Quest.
 How to Write a G1 Fanfic - From Issue 37. Some facts, hints, and suggestions for aspiring writers from a G1 purist.
"Best Of" Essays
- Who's Fictional?
- From "The Best of Con-Quest 2" re-print special. Are
some fictional characters more fictional than others?
- A Better Breed of Hero
- From "The Best of Con-Quest 3" re-print special. Who makes a better hero - Autobots or Decepticons?
Additional Essay
- What Is It About The Transformers?
- Not from Con-Quest, but from the BotCon '97 Magazine. A discussion of the intangible elements that make the Transformer mythos exceptional.
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