Hiatus

Hey fellow Trans-Fans. For the time being, I will be taking a brief break from the blog. I have a lot of big things coming up which will demand more of my attention. I will not be shutting down the blog this time (as with Teletran 3, my previous blog). That blog I shut down with no intention of doing any further writing. With this blog, I do plan to come back really soon. I will leave this site up for references and for fun reads from any fans on the web who happen to stumble across it. Again, I do plan on posting new entries within another month or two. Until then, I will close with what the image says..."The Transformers will return after these messages."

Rodimus Prime vs. Rodimus Prime?

I saw a recent post on a forum on seibertron.com that made me think of this. It is amazing how much the Generation One Rodimus Prime gets a bad wrap because of his incarnation in season three of the original series. The fact he replaced Optimus Prime didn't help much either.

In the movie, Optimus Prime was killed off after a heroic final battle against Megatron. Eventually, the young Autobot known as Hot Rod would reclaim the stolen Matrix from Galvatron, unleash its power to destroy Unicron, and he would become the new Autobot commander Rodimus Prime. In the movie, he was portrayed as a strong and courageous new leader. There were still traces of him in the third season, but fans tend to remember more of the character's weaknesses. Rodimus Prime was insecure in his leadership and even walked out on the Autobots at one point. He was also more impulsive as he leaped into action first and thought about the consequences later.

However, I feel the style through which the character was written was a great move on the part of Flint Dille as this part of Rodimus needed to be seen in order to flesh the character out. I feel that the struggles seen during the third season only helped to make Rodimus Prime more real in that he had to learn how hold the mantle of leadership. Optimus Prime was once a young robot too formerly known as Orion Pax. On screen, we saw his youthful innocence once after he was betrayed by Megatron, and he was fatally wounded and rebuilt into Optimus Prime by Alpha Trion. That mistake was all fans saw. We never got to see the other mistakes he made or the path he took to become a strong leader. Rodimus Prime only held the Matrix for a little over a year before Optimus Prime returned. It would realistically be ridiculous to think that a young character would mature to the level of Optimus so quickly. I think the writing style added a lot to the character, and had he remained the leader a while longer we may have seen more of the hero of Unicron War.

Masterpiece Optimus Prime

In 2004, one of the best versions of Optimus Prime hit the store shelves in the United States and in Japan. That figure was Masterpiece Optimus Prime. The figure was designed to look like his animated counterpart and transform into a vehicle that looked also like its animated version. The robot mode was highly articulated (right down to the fingers), and it was made almost entirely of dye cast metal. There were plastic parts such as Prime's hydraulics and the rubber tires however. The figure also featured the Autobot Matrix of Leadership which could glow when opened. It sat inside of Optimus Prime's chest behind the wind sheild and in a hidden compartment (like in the 1986 film). I could spend a lot of time talking about this figure, but I won't. If you have the $80.00 to pick him up on eBay, I would highly recommend it. Outside of the original figure and the Powermaster Optimus Prime, this is the version of the figure to get.

Transformers Artwork #16

In honor of the recent post on the Cybertronian form of Transformers: Animated Megatron, here is one of the images of the character from the series. The cool thing about this form of Megatron is he truly looks like he is an evil character. From the pointed shoulders to his fusion cannon to his evil gaze just says that the Autobots are in deep trouble. This form of the character was a mix between the original Generation One character and the 2007 movie version. Eventually when Megatron was rebuilt on Earth, his new body heavily resembled his body from the Japanese exclusive manga Battlestars: The Return of Convoy which was released in 1991. That form was a heavily upgraded version of his original animated form.

Megatron (Animated, Deluxe)

Although the Transformers: Animated toy line suffered from some design flaws, there were some great figures which came from the line. One of which was a really slick deluxe Megatron which came in a 2-pack with Optimus Prime and a DVD of the first episode of Transformers: Animated. This figure transformed from a robot into a Cybertronian fighter...or something to that degree. While the vehicle mode is one of the strangest modes in the entire Transformers franchise, the robot mode was awesome. Megatron had an anime style with all parts (yes...I am talking about the fusion cannon here) in proportion. The voyager version in my opinion looked poor for not following this idea. The battle damage marks weren't really needed, but they can be removed with rubbing alcohol. Overall, this Megatron was a great toy to pick up and display on your collector's shelf. Check e-Bay or your local comic book/ collector's store to find one.

Robot Masters Starscream

Here is another one of those gems from Japan. There was a brief toy line over seas called Transformers: Robot Masters. This line featured smaller transformable action figure versions of Optimus Prime, Beast Megatron, Star Saber, and the figure in this spotlight, Starscream. This figure was unique because before the Classics line, this was the first Starscream figure to look and feel like the animated version of the character. Although he did feature some skinny arms, Starscream more closely resembled his animated form than any other toy did. He even came with a cool accessory which clipped on to his chest to recreate the missile launchers he had in the Generation One episode Fire on the Mountain. This mold would eventually be repainted as Thundercracker and Skywarp. If you have the opportunity to get this figure, he is worth a look.

Overlord

This is one of my favorite Transformers, this is the Decepticon Overlord, mint in box! It would be awesome if I could actually get my hands one. This is the European release of this once Japanese exclusive figure. He was released in Japan as part of Transformers: Super-God Masterforce as a God-Master (Power Masters in the U.S./ the use of god in Japanese is a term for power). Overlord transformed from a powerful battle station into a jet and a tank. He also came with two partners (Giga and Mega) who could transform into engines to unlock the toy's ability to transform. One combined with the tank to split into two parts and the other combined with jet to unlock the thrusters to form the arms of the torso. You then combined the vehicles to form Overlord! Also, if you plugged the two engines into the Overlord mode, you could unlock extra guns built into the robot. It is a real shame that this figure never saw a release of any kind in the U.S. He truly was one of the best Decepticons ever made for Generation One. I will probably do a full spotlight on him at a later date.

Arise, Pretenders! (but only in Japan)

One of the great tragedies of the cancellation of the animated series in the United States was that fans never had a true opportunity to see the 1988 characters in animated form outside of commercials. Super-God Masterforce in Japan rectified this. One really unique sub-group of Transformers were the Pretenders. They were Autobots and Decepticons with the ability to not only transform into vehicles, but they had outer organic shells to disguise their inner robots. Talk about robots in disguise! In the series, the Pretenders took on shells and could displace their mass to change size. Although only the Autobot Pretenders did this, I assume the Decepticon Pretenders could do the same thing. The Pretenders played a large role in the series until the appearance of the God-Masters (Power Masters). After that, they were still active, but took more of a backseat (excluding Metal Hawk).

In the U.S., the Pretenders did appear in the comics, but the concept was kind of ridiculous as the shells made the Autobots look like 4o foot tall humans, and somehow they managed to blend in to society. The cool part was that they could separate from their shells, and then they could remote control their shells to fight beside their robot modes.

Blurr

Here is everyones favorite fast talking Autobot. Voiced by the legendary Micro Machine man John Moschitta, Blurr was an interesting addition to the main line up in the third season of the original cartoon. His toy had a really interesting design, and was based on his animation models. His vehicle mode was that of a futuristic hover car. His color scheme was made up of primarily different shades of blue and grey. To transform him, you simply remove the front portion of the car (becomes a shield), flip out his legs, fold back the rear of the car, flip his head up, fold back the front side panels to form his arms, and presto! You have a unique figure. His legs were made of dye cast metal pieces, and the rest of his body was made of sturdy plastic. Although he did have a very slender robot mode, Blurr was a great addition to the Autobot forces in 1986. His figure would be rereleased in 1987 as a Target Master.

25 Years of Bumblebee

Similar to legendary characters like Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream, Bumblebee has shown up in the various incarnations of the Transformers in many different forms. Since debuting in 1984, Bumblebee has been a mini-bot, a Pretender, Legend, Action Master, Titanium, Classic, Hero of Cybertron, a movie star, a key chain, and even another character entirely as Goldbug after he got blown away and rebuilt by G.I. Joe (or Superion and rebuilt by a Quintesson depending on if you went for the Marvel Comics or the cartoon). He is a classic character, and I hope we continue to see more toys of every fan's favorite espionage agent.

Transformers #69

After the horrible artwork in issue #68, it was excellent to see that artist Andy Wildman returned for the next issue. In Eye of the Storm, Simon Furman continues to build up steam as the threat of Unicron grows closer. After two issues, the story returns to Optimus Prime and the Ark as they travel through deep space. Most of the Autobots have taken the time following the defeat of Thunderwing to rest and recharge. However, Grimlock has become extremely restless. Waverider finds Grimlock destroying a room aboard the Ark, and learns that Grimlock is heavily focused on reviving his fallen Dinobots.

The story cuts to Optimus Prime as he begins to experience great pain from the Powermaster process. After he recomposes himself, he meets with Nightbeat who explains that Ratchet may have survived the explosion which destroyed Megatron's fortress on Cybertron. Nightbeat's theory is that perhaps Ratchet was blown into the trans-dimensional portal by the explosion, and that he could be trapped in unspace as evidenced by the fact that search teams never found Ratchet or Megatron's remains. Nightbeat suggests that they send a probe into unspace to try and locate Ratchet, to which Optimus Prime agrees.

Elsewhere in space, Unicron is congratulating Hook, Line, and Sinker for brining him Galvatron. Galvatron is not pleased with Unicron as he had been plucked from his own time where he was the master of Earth. Unicron says that he needs for Galvatron to disrupt any chances Cybertron has to prepare for Unicron's arrival to which Galvatron vows to serve Unicron no more. After some persuasion, Galvatron agrees to help Unicron, but he secretly vows to make Unicron pay for taking him from his reality. Back on Earth, Mindwipe and Triggerhappy leave the Decepticon forces after Skorponok lost Starscream. As they flee, they soon find Starscream. At first they are afraid of him (Starscream did try to destroy all of the Transformers in issue #50), but Starscream says they have a common goal to get rid of Skorponok. After Ravage (who hasn't been seen since his battle with Skids farther back than Starscream's attempt to destroy the Transformers) and Shockwave join them, Shockwave makes it clear that he intends to dethrone Skorponok. Starscream then says they are declaring war.

Back at the Ark, Grimlock steals the bodies of his Dinobots from the stasis pods and also steals a shuttle to take them to Hydrus 4. Optimus Prime announces to his crew that once they arrive on Earth, the Autobots will be surrendering to the Decepticons in order to reunite the Cybertronian race. Nightbeat reports that he has found something in unspace. He pulls the probe back, but what he has found horrifies all who were in view. They have indeed found Ratchet, but his body is fused with Megatron!

This was a great bridge issue in my opinion. Simon Furman has always shown himself to be a great story teller, and after the destruction of the Matrix, he is showing just how grave the situation is for the Cybertronian race. On the one hand, we have the Autobots on verge of a drastic move to stop Unicron, they are also about to face a horrifying creature, and Grimlock has gone awry. On another hand, the Decepticons have splintered into two factions and a civil war is about to erupt in their ranks. If you have a third hand, Unicron is preparing for his assault against Cybertron, and Galvatron is planning his own liberation. There is a lot going on here, and Furman did a great job with the pacing and story telling. Also, a return to an established artist really helped.

European Constructicons

This is one of the oddities of the Generation One Transformers toy line. After the line ended in the United States and Europe continued to receive their own exclusive figures, they rereleased the six Constructicons. They were in their new paint schemes (which would be the colors for their Generation 2 debut in 1992 in the U.S.), but what was strange was that they came with none of the parts to form Devastator. In addition, each card had a generic looking robot that looked like Scrapper, but no individual character art (although they did have a shot of the entire team, but the large image was generic). Also, none of the figures had individual names. They were all labeled Decepticon. This sort of reminds of the European exclusive Earth Defense Force which were four remolds/ recolors of four out of the six Decepticon Breast Force members from Japan. They could combine to form their super robot form, but without the remaining members, the robot had no arms or head. You have to love random items.