Windcharger

Another classic Autobot Mini-bot from the early days of Generation One! Windcharger was featured heavily in the first season of the animated series. His toy was really neat, and as with all Mini-bots, really simple to transform. You simply unfold the legs and flip up the arms. Like I mentioned, quick and easy. Both his car and robot modes looked pretty slick with the red and black color schemes. As with most of the Mini-bots, his toy robot mode looked slightly different from his animated robot mode (mainly in the face). In the animated series, Windcharger would meet his end in Transformers: The Movie off screen. Arcee was seen dragging Windcharger's body to safety after he had already been deactivated.

Transformers #67

With the Matrix Quest's conclusion, the story of this issue jumps into the then future of 2009 and another dimension in Rhythms of Darkness. In this one possible future, the Decepticons have defeated the Autobots and have taken over North America. As the story opens, the mighty Galvatron emerges from the ocean with the Monster Pretenders to enter the crown jewel of his empire, the ravaged New York City. The Decepticons continue to destroy the city while Galavatron taunts his long since deactivated foe Rodimus Prime who has been strung up between the two towers of the World Trade Center.

Outside of the city, a small band of the remaining Autobot forces (Jazz, Prowl, Inferno, Chainclaw, Crossblades, Guzzle, and Getaway) flee with human military members Spike Witwicky and Lisa. Spike continues to challenge the Autobots to keep fighting, but Jazz had heard enough. He states that there is nothing left to fight for as Unicron had destroyed Cybertron and basically gave the Earth to the Decepticons. The humans argue, and Lisa confronts Prowl reminding them of their responsibility to protect the planet to which they brought their war. The Autobots then decide to attack the Decepticon fortress in New York City as a final act to save North America from a nuclear strike designed to wipe out both the Decepticon menace and the entire continent (all human and Autobot survivors included).

Cyclonus and Scourge are wandering around the outside of the Decepticon fortress when they are attacked by Getaway. The battle begins and one by one the Autobots fall. Galvatron's rage is taken out on his own troops for letting the Autobots get as far as they did, and he even destroys Cyclonus entirely. Jazz keeps Galvatron distracted while Spike scales the Decepticon tower to fly the American flag. Military leaders monitoring the fortress see the flag, and realize that there are still fighters against the Decepticons, so they call off their nuclear attack. At that moment, Hook, Line, and Sinker appear and take Galvatron from this reality to theirs. With Galvatron gone, Jazz, Prowl, and Inferno lead the charge to wipe out the remaining Decepticons and save the planet.

After the less than excellent Matrix Quest, this is Simon Furman returning to form with an excellent story that pulls Galvatron into the mix of the coming of Unicron. This issue was well written with good artwork. They also managed to pull in other characters who had not yet appeared in the comics or in the actual Marvel comic continuity. Although he was dead and in pieces, it was great to know Rodimus Prime had a place in the series as well as seeing the Monster Pretenders. This was a great issue, and the events of this issue will definitely have an impact on the looming menace of Unicron.

Warpath

Alright, first things first. Warpath is a truly a classic character from the original animated series, but this toy has some of the worst looking character box art I have ever seen! Not a great way to start this spotlight, but I have never been able to get over just how weird he looks on the package.

The toy itself looks similar, but it doesn't look as disjointed. He transforms from a tank to a robot. The tank mode looks good with its red paint job and gray treads. There is not much else to it in terms of paint apps. To transform him, you pull back on the rear section of the tank, flip it up to form the legs and feet, flip up the arms, and flip up the head. Another simple Mini-bot transformation. The robot mode looks similar to the box art as the arms rest lower on the body. He doesn't look bad though (definitely not in the same category of ugly as Wheelie).

The character played a prominent role in the second season of the cartoon. He is characterized by his love of action and his awkward word choices (i.e. "Let's go baaaash some Decepticons. Wham, bam!"). One of my favorite lines in the series came in the third season and it was delivered by Warpath. After many episodes and adventures with him constantly wanting in on the action and throwing out his sound-effect words, Warpath got left behind by the Aerialbots as they were chasing Scourge and Starscream's ghost. "Aerialbots...wait for...uh...oh..nevermind."

Transformers Artwork #13

This image is a classic poster from the days of Transformers: The Movie. To my knowledge, this was the Japanese poster used for the film when in finally hit Japan in 1990. The artwork is excellent and features Rodimus Prime with his comrades under the gaze of Unicron. I loved the style used for the artwork. It definitely has a Japanese feel, but also a hint of realism in its depiction of the characters. Too bad Michael Bay couldn't draw on this for inspiration. This image was also used on the Japanese video releases of the film.

Acid Storm

This was one of my favorite figures from the Transformers: Universe (also known as Classics 2.0) toy line. Acid Storm is a new Decepticon Seeker who is part of a subgroup called the Rain Makers. Although a toy has never been released for this character until the 2008 toy line, he is based on one of the Seekers from the Generation One animated series. He only appeared once in the season one episode Divide and Conquer.

The toy is really slick. He is exactly the same mold as the previous Classics Starscream/ Skywarp figures. His color scheme is what makes him stand out. His paint job is all camouflage, with some brown Decepticon insignias on the wings and tail fins. To transform him, you remove the wing guns, pull the top side of jet back, turn and flip the nose cone, flip back the top of the cone to reveal the head, flip the wings, pull out the arms, pull down the legs, rotate the tail fins, and flip down the feet. Classics figures were based on the original toy transformations and designs (although much better looking and more articulated), but their transformations were more complex.

Acid Storm is an all around great figure. Although it would be nice to get Thundercracker and Dirge released to complete the Seeker set, it was great to see a new toy for this little known character. There is a ray of hope to completing the Seekers in the U.S. With the all new Transformers: Generations (Classics 3.0) toy line coming soon, Hasbro is finally releasing Thrust in the U.S. Only two more Seekers to go!

Long Lost VHS Identified!

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I posted on a Kid Rhino VHS release that I had never seen before which showed up randomly in an auction on eBay. I just discovered what that tape was. It was an exclusive video release for Blockbuster Video which contained not only the three part "More Than Meets The Eye" pilot episodes, but it also featured the episodes "Aerial Assault" and "Cosmic Rust". I know this isn't a big news flash or really interesting item, but I was just surprised to learn what the tape was.

Action Master Devastator

This was the first toy version of Devastator I ever owned. I remember getting him as a child and not understanding why his limbs didn't match one another. At the time, I didn't realize just who this toy was representing. While it was definitely strange seeing this powerful combiner reduced to the size of a normal Decepticon, it was great to see Devastator again in the Generation One toy line before it ended. He was a popular character in the early seasons of the animated series. The toy does him slight justice in that he looks like he is formed from multiple components and strongly resembles his animated counterpart. The sad part is that he can't separate into the six Constructicons. His partner is a scorpion who transforms into his gun. Really cool figure for nostalgia's sake, but really strange to see the character reduced so much in size.