Transformer of the Day for January 18, 2009
LOCKDOWN
-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Transformers: Animated (2008-Present)
-Function: Bounty Hunter
-Motto: “Run All You Want. It’ll Make the Chase More Fun”
-Notable Toy: Bumper Battlers (Hasbro, 2008)
Notes: Devcon . Armada’s Scavenger. Death’s Head. Bounty hunters take advantage of the Autobot-Decepticon conflict. But they don’t get the screen time of Lockdown, a merc who takes trophies from the bounties he brings to the highest bidder. Lockdown’s popularity has facilitated six different plastic appearances to date, including one of the better renditions allowed into Hasbro’s simplistic 3+ auto-transforming line.
Transformer of the Day for January 17, 2009
PYRO / SPARK
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One Plus (1991-1992)
-Function: Obliterator
-Motto: “Think of the most awful, unspeakable menace you can - and then double it. That’s what we’re up against”
-Notable Toy: European Exclusive (Hasbro, 1993)
Notes: After Action Masters, Hasbro stopped manufacturing Transformers for North American shelves until the arrival of Generation Two in 1993. Europe, however, was a different story, and region-specific products continued to trickle out. Pyro, later incorporated into the G2 line as Spark, was just such a rarity - a European only Transformer that could justifiably be called Gen 1.5.
Transformer of the Day for January 16, 2009
WEIRDWOLF
-Faction: Decepticon (Headmaster)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Tracker
-Motto: “My Pleasure with My Enemy’s Pain Comes”
-Notable Toy: Botcon Exclusive (Hasbro, 2007)
Notes: Following the Movie, fans were introduced to the concepts of Headmasters. In Japan, the smaller robot was the essence of the character, provided higher logic functions (and the head) of the robotic form. In North America, it was a partnership between a binary-bound Nebulon and a Transformer. Less a partner for his Botcon reissue, Weirdwolf nonetheless retains his colourful (and crazy!) side.
(Apologies and thanks to www.plasticcrack.net and www.botcon.com for the toy images.)
Transformer of the Day for January 15, 2009
OMEGA SUPREME
-Faction: Autobot / Guardian
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Defense Base
-Motto: “Unyielding Resolve Has No Conqueror”
-Notable Toy: Action Master (Hasbro, 1991)
Notes: Despite his stilted language, Omega Supreme is as gentle as he is fearsome. Despite his inclusion in the second wave of G1 figures, his origins do not stem from Takara, a situation that has been corrected with a recent Japanese reissue of the figure featuring a more “animation-style” faceplate. Only Europe would see him in his mispelled yet transforming Action Master form, Omega Spreem.
Transformer of the Day for January 14, 2009
THRUST / THRUSTOR
-Faction: Destron (Cyberbeast)
-Era: Beast Wars II (1998)
-Function: Aeriel Officer / Shock Trooper
-Motto: “Patience Brings Power”
-Notable Toy: Cyberbeast (Takara, 1998)
Notes: Between Mainframe-produced seasons of Beast Wars came the Japanese anime series Beast Wars II. Here Thrust, a brightly-coloured Destron jet, is mutated by the essence of Unicron into Trustor. While his early toy was a springformer common to the Machine Wars line, the uniquely redesigned Dinobot toy is exclusive to Japan.
(Apologies and thanks to beastwars.us for the Thrustol box art.)
Transformer of the Day for January 13, 2009
TIGERTRON / GEORGE
-Faction: Go-Bot
-Era: Playskool Gobots (2002-2005)
-Function: Search and Rescue
-Motto: “Experience is the Path to My True Potential”
-Notable Toy: Mission Earth Tigertron (Playskool, 2003)
Notes: Once the competition, Go-Bots emerged as a gateway for many preschoolers thanks to the Playskool’s Big Adventure line. There was even a short-lived cartoon. In North America, they had names like Prowl-Bot and Beast-Bot. In Japan, however, they were Billy, Greg and Paul Jr. In Japan, Tigertron was known as George. We love him.
(Apologies and thanks to GobotsArePureLove.com for the toy image.)
Transformer of the Day for January 12, 2009
BLITZWING
-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Transformers: Animated (2008-Present)
-Function: Berserker
-Motto:” Whooo! I’m Freaking Out”
-Notable Toy: Voyager Class (Hasbro, 2008)
Notes: Not since Man-E-Faces have we had so much fun watching a character of three minds of an issue! While we can only hope Hasbro follows through with a Universe Blitzwing to round out its collection of Decepticon triple changers, we still have this Voyager beauty to keep us…. zzzzip… slow dancing with the poison spider-bot… itsy bitsy spider bot climbed up the water spout…
Transformer of the Day for January 11, 2009
SIDE BURN
-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Robots in Disguise / Car Robots (2000-2001)
-Function: Speed Knight
-Motto: “Speed Limit? What Speed Limit”
-Notable Toy: Hasbro Deluxe (Blue Version) (Hasbro, 2001)
Notes: As if a flying shark wasn’t enough, the RiD cartoon brought us the hot headed young speeder who, in this case, had the hots for a little red number with a license plate. While the red powered-up version was a nod to Hot Rods everywhere, I’ve a preference for the cool, blue machine.
Transformer of the Day for January 10, 2009
RAVAGE
-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation One (1984-1990), Beast Wars (1996-98)
-Function: Saboteur / Tripedicus Agent
-Motto: “Today’s Autobots are Tomorrow’s Scrap Metal”
-Notable Toy: Beast Wars Metal X-9 (Takara, 1999)
Notes: He was always the coolest of cats. Whether leading his brethren cassette warriors into battle or spying on Autobots, Ravage never failed. No wonder he outlasted his G1 counterparts and found a new place in the Predacons. Even in a Transmetal, he’s still a cassette and still one cool cat.
(Apologies and thanks to beastwars.us for the toy image.)
Transformer of the Day for January 9, 2009
COUNTDOWN
-Faction: Autobot (Micromaster)
-Era: Generation One (1984-1990)
-Function: Aerospace Commander
-Motto: “For a World Without Evil, You Need A Universe Without Evil”
-Notable Toy: Universe (Hasbro, 2009)
Notes: Countdown was the most expensive Micromaster, owing to size of the rocket base with which he came packed. It is our loss that the Japanese Galaxy Shuttle never made a North American appearance to complete the set. You can almost imagine a recoloured Sears-exclusive two-pack. Hasbro really seems to have hit the right note with the upcoming tribute.
(Apologies and thanks to hk-tf.com for Universe Countdown details.)
