fairplaythings.com

Transformer of the Day for February 7, 2009

RUMBLE

-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Demolitions
-Motto: “Destroy What’s Below and What’s Above Will Follow”
-Notable Toy: Alternators (Hasbro, 2007)

Is there a more controversial character than Rumble? For twenty-five years, Rumble has been depicted as “the red one.” Even the cartoon bible describes him as such. And yet, somehow, he was animated in the blue hues of his brother, Frenzy, causing much consternation among fans. Still, it was nice to see Hasbro finally give pile drivers in the Alternator form. Even if they (again) made him red.

(For more information on Rumble, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible.)

Transformer of the Day for February 6, 2009

PROWL

-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Military Strategist
-Motto: “Logic is the Ultimate Weapon”
-Notable Toy: Action Master (Hasbro, 1990)

Notes: Prowl is just one of those characters who keeps reappearing in one form or another across the Transformersverse. There are two versions in Beast Wars, as well as versions in Robots in Disguise, the Unicron Trilogy and TF:Animated.  And so many excellent choices for G1-inspired toys - from Alternators to Titanium to the original release. But I have to go with the Action Master here. Prowl always seemed aptly suited to ride a motorcycle - maybe that helped inspired his Animated self.

(For more information on Prowl, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible.)

(Apologies and thanks to the shmax.com, bbts.com and tfw2005.com for the toy and cartoon images.)

Transformer of the Day for February 5, 2009

REFLECTOR

-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Reconnaissance
-Motto: “See and You Can Know, Know and You Can Destroy”
-Notable Toy: Diaclone (Takara, 1983)

Notes: Pity poor Reflector. A Decepticon who never appeared on North American store shelves (other than as a decoy bonus in 1987), he is a key part of the Decepticon army in the first year of the cartoon. But let the Decepticon army ranks grow with newly released toys, and Reflector is quickly shuffled aside. While a special offer in the mid-1980s allowed him to officially join our toy ranks, we still wait for the day to see a reissue of some kind that better reflects his onscreen presence.

(For more information on Reflector, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible.)

(Apologies and thanks to toyarchives.com for the toy image.)

Transformer of the Day for February 4, 2009

SKYFIRE / JETFIRE

-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Air Guardian
-Motto: “Among Mysteries of Science Lies the Key to Victory”
-Notable Toy: Henkai (Takara, 2008)

Now we know that the Jetfire/Skyfire weirdness had to do with legal issues between Bandai and Hasbro and the use of likenesses in different markets. But it was so strange from a kid’s perspective in 1984. Why did the cartoon hero Skyfire look so different from the toy Jetfire, and why the differing names? Still, I never quite understood why Hasbro never tried to keep the rights to the Skyfire name, although props to them for giving their Universe version of the character a battle helmet and cartoon face to reflect the dicodomy.

(For more information on “Skyfire”, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible entries here and here.)

Transformer of the Day for February 3, 2009

SHOCKWAVE

-Faction: Decepticon
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Military Operations Commander
-Motto: “Clarity of Thought Before Rashness of Action”
-Notable Toy: Alternators (Hasbro, 2005)

Shockwave, a calculating one-eyed, one-laser caretaker of Cybertron who transforms into a flying space gun. And even though you seemed to do a great job of running Cybertron for like four million years in Megatron’s absence, your cartoon persona never made a play for leadership. But your comic self was always a player. So many good figures too but in the end I went with the Alternator. Even if it meant going by your maiden name, Shockblast.

(For more information on Shockwave, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible.)

Transformer of the Day for February 2, 2009

PERCEPTOR

-Faction: Autobot
-Era: Generation One (1984-1992)
-Function: Scientist
-Motto: “One’s Ultimate Test Lies in One’s Molecular Structure”
-Notable Toy: Hasbro Deluxe (Hasbro, 1985)

Notes: Perceptor always seemed to be a little out of his element in the cartoon, which made for an interesting justaposition with his early Marvel Comic appearances where he served as a defacto Autobot leader. While it was always a great shame Takara never fixed his face for his initial 2005 reissue, it was pretty cool that the original release retained its limited microscope features.

(For more information on Perceptor, check out the Generation One Transformer Bible.)

World Event Productions has been putting out sets of the original Voltron series for some time now. Each set is in a beautiful tin box and there are five sets in total, meaning that there is one set for each lion.

Now I was never much into Voltron growing up because, in 1984-85, I was on the edge of getting out of toys. And I always found that the situation repetative — G-Force, stuck on a Rocket Robin Hood-esque planet, losing individual fight the daily robeast until, lo, they combine and slice the baddie in two. Now that may not be entirely fair to dumb the entire 72 episodes down to that motif, but there you go.

But my brother loved Voltron so it was always on every day after school at 4:00 p.m. like clockwork. So it forms a bit of background noise, which was fine for days of working my way through four groups of 99 bezerkers in a 10 X 10 room on the Commodore 64 (we do Bard’s Tale good!)

Anyway, I do remember that there was a second Voltron show that seemed to pop on sometimes. It was never as frequent but it seemed much more interesting because it was at least set in space, even if the basic plot seemed the same. And the idea of fifteen vehicles, rather than five lions, had to form the giant robot — well, that seemed really neat too.

So the week after Christmas, I was out at the HMV in Merivale and looking for the Second Season of Transformers: Animated, when I stumbled upon a pecular box. It wasn’t like the Lion boxes (cardboard instead of metal, boxed instead of flip-style) but it was clearly Voltron. It looked like the company had continued to put out Voltron and had moved onto the vehicle Voltron.

I stared at the box for a long time but eventually put it down. I couldn’t be sure the contents of the DVD, so I figured I’d do some checking. Lo and behold, when I got home I discovered it was in fact what it said it was. Today I had the occasion to pick it up, seeing as it was only $26.99.

Getting it home I had a chance to discover the Voltron.com site for the first time. This is a site done right, with a lot of promos and additional information, notably how the company started and where the idea for Voltron and other projects came from. There is even a glimpse at what could have been Voltron 2, had vehicle Voltron done better.

There is also a really cool fan section, which is notable for the contribution of one Robert Burden, a graphic artist who put together an impressive painting of Voltron, the painting of which is told through a time-lapse camera. It is an impressive video and piece of art. Some of his other works are also very impressive.

All this to say, I’ve another cartoon series to get through. Apparently this is just box one of three, with land and sea teams to follow. It will be good to have something to listen to while I’m getting new munnies ready. I’m really eager to start watching.

Transformer of the Day for February 1, 2009

UNICRON

-Faction: None
-Era: Generation 1 (1984-1992)
-Function: Universal Dominator
-Motto: “That Which Does Not Become a Part of Me Shall Become One with the Void”
-Notable Toy: 3H Botcon Exclusive (HardHero, 2002)

Notes: Strange how it took an adversary the size of a planet to bring the cosmic scope back to the cartoon. And left fans salivating for Unicron’s physical manifestation for decades. While it’s true that the HardHero statue doesn’t transform, it captures the dark god perfectly. Given the conceptualization of the 1986 unproduced protoype, he was worth the wait.

Even though I attended a small school where all grades from primary to grade twelve were in the same building, there was a psychological break between grades six and seven. What in really wasn’t that big of a deal felt enormous at the time. We’re only moving between school ending in late June and school returning in early September. And yet it seemed to mark this huge change, make this big difference.

Grade six was for children. Grade seven was for adults. Or adults as seen through the eyes of twelve year olds.

Twelve years old was also perceived by many as the age in which boys put down their toys and picked up with girls. To risk doing otherwise was to risk stigmitizing one’s self as a child, and one ran the risk of having that stigma remain for one’s entire high school career. And who really wanted to do that.

In 1985, I was twelve years old.

What this meant was that the toys I got for Christmas 1984 — notably the G.I.Joe Killer Whale and the Decepticons Soundwave and Buzzsaw (my first transformers) — were meant to be discarded within eight short months. Well, not meant as much as predestined. To do otherwise was to risk the above mentioned stigma.

So I went underground.

Now that was actually quite easy for me to do. The only toy line I really collected and really connected with was G.I.Joe. Micronauts were just outside my time horizon (although I had a few pieces) and Star Wars seemed lacking because of the absence of joints. But I was all about G.I.Joe, mainly because my buddies (exactly one grade behind me in school but within a six house radius of mine) were all about G.I.Joe. And because my buddies were still a year younger than me, it was relatively easy to continue to pick up a few pieces here and there and fully enjoy my G.I.Joes. I even still got toys for Christmas the next year, notably the G.I.Joe Tactical Battle Platform (if there was ever a toy that encouraged kids to want to work on an oil platform, this was it!) and the Cobra Moray.

And then we were in 1986, and my G.I.Joe days were truly done.

In 1986, my younger friends hit the point I was suppose to have hit, and I actually didn’t feel much like playing with toys anymore. Others who I knew had gone undercover as well (one friend in particular had been inspired to buy the entire line of Coleco’s Sectaurs figures) lost their taste for it. So I carefully wrapped up my G.I.Joes and put them into storage (avoiding the familiar pattern of either blowing them up with a fire cracker or selling them at yard sales for a quarter a figure). And promptly forgot about them until today.

Okay, that’s all true except for the promptly forgetting about them part. Instead, I quietly got hooked on Transformers. But that’s a story for another day.