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Transformer of the Day for August 30, 2009

SMOKESCREEN

-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation Two (1993-1995)
-Function: Sneak Attack Specialist
-Motto: “When You Least Expect It, Expect Us”
-Notable Toy: Reissue (Takara, 1989)

Notes: Smokescreen is certainly among the stranger of toys in the Transformers Universe. He represents the first time that a pre-existing name has switched factions and forms. Interestingly enough, his body appears to foreshadow the transformation of Energon Starscream. And he is one of the few transformers whose combiner form is that of a vehicle, rather than a robot. How he forms his particular gestalt, however, is best kept off the written page. Although the tech spec almost reads as if Smokescreen and the larger Dreadwing are one and the same, I imagine him as an independent brains of the operation.

“What are we going to do today, Smokescreen?”
“Same as we always do, Dreadwing, try and take over the world.”

Transformer of the Day for August 28, 2009

MEGASTORM

-Faction: Predacon
-Era: Beast Wars II (1998)
-Function: Duke of Destruction
-Motto: “Loyalty Comes with a Price”
-Notable Toy: Leader-class (Takara, 1998)

Notes:  While Hasbro first used the mould as a suitable replacement for Megatron as part of Generation II, Takara reused the figure in the late 1990s for its anime Beast Wars II. Brother to that universe’s Galvatron, Megastorm would be reimagined as Gigastorm, a remoulded version of Trypticon, later in the series. But it’s the original tank that’s the ranking toy in this case. Because can you really go wrong with a giant green tank in a land full of animals?

Transformer of the Day for August 26, 2009

CARNIVAC

-Faction: Decepticon (Pretender Beast)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Hunter / Tracker
-Motto: “A cunning smile is more devastating than the fiercest weapon”
-Notable Toy: Deluxe (Hasbro, 1988)

Notes: Never underestimate Hasbro’s willingness to exploit a new concept. Combiners? Hello aerial/ protecto/ techno bots and your decepticon counterparts. Add a robot partner? Here comes target/ head/ powermasters. Pretenders were no different, and thus pretender beasts joined their humanoid pretender counterparts. The shells, like those of Carnivac, were blocks, and would have been really nice with some leg articulation. But still, somehow a rabid wolf seemed a little more appropriate for Earthen combat than scaly monsters.

Transformer of the Day for August 25, 2009

FIRE CONVOY / OPTIMUS PRIME

-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Robots in Disguise / Car Robots (2000-2001)
-Function: Autobot Commander
-Motto: “We Will Put out the Fires of Evil“
-Notable Toy: Exclusive God Fire Convoy Set (Takara, 2000)

Notes: I think Fire Convoy’s motto and battle cry should have been “no more MONKEY,” as he marks the return of Optimus to vehicle mode. Yes, the Fox-Kids dub of the cartoon was silly, but the toy was something to behold. Even better, Fire Convoy brought combiner technology with him, bringing even more fun to the toy.

(Apologies and thanks to bbts.com and shmax.com for the toy pic.)

Transformer of the Day for August 24, 2009

SCOWL

-Faction: Decepticon (Monster Pretender)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Sonic Saboteur
-Motto: “Control Sound, and the Faintest Whisper can be the Fiercest Weapon”
-Notable Toy: Basic (Hasbro, 1990)

Notes: Scowl is the Soundwave to Icepick’s Megatron. And yet I’ll always remember him from the Transformer sale at the Stedman’s in Weymouth that was a sign of its implosion in the face of the retail blitzkreig undertaken by the Weymouth Variety Store. It might not be Wal-Mart versus K-Mart or Target, but in a wee Atlantic Canadian town, it was just as epic. And blue monsters are cool!