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Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are our opinions so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Transformer Toys Japan Never Got (Molds and Retools)
Western fans whose purchases are predominantly Hasbro's standard Transformers toys sometimes feel like the grass is greener in Japan. And why wouldn't we? Just look at the exclusive molds, remolds and redecos Japan got in the Transformers Prime line and more recently in the Generations Combiner Wars and Robots in Disguise lines. Just to shove it in our face, they even re-released at retail the Tank Frenzy and Rumble molds for the cassette characters which Hasbro never released at retail (even though Hasbro designed it)(LINK). Plus there are all the Masterpiece Transformers we may never get and the list goes on.
But with all that going on, it is very easy to forget that Hasbro themselves have had dozens (hundreds?) of exclusives, many of which were just found at retail, and this list is to remind all Westerners (and Oceanians) that we sometimes get things Japan doesn't get (and might never ever get). Yes, many of those Hasbro exclusives are toys nobody wants (like Supreme Beast Machines Cheetor, Supreme Cybertron Starscream and quite a bit of the Titanium line) but we have some really good stuff too that quite a few Japanese fans had no choice but to import (now it's their turn to pay that shipping muahahaha). I will stick to just retail here (we will leave show exclusives for other lists), and in the next two weeks, I will try to mix it up with a wide array of exclusive molds, remolds and decos that both Japan or Takara (they can be mutually exclusive) didn't get. For now we start with tooling so either a new mold or a retool that Japan never got at retail.
While not show accurate in the least, this is by far the best toy to come out of this design. I loved Prime Megatron's robot mode but the vehicle left a lot to be desired. There was that visible head syndrome, robot arms just hanging out in the back adding nothing to the vehicle mode, and I couldn’t quite get what the front was all about. Was it a head? Couldn't really make heads or tails of it (not quite as bad as Megatron's Animated Cyertronian design of course) and not something I cared to Transform this excellent robot mode into.
But man, talk about an overhaul with the Beast Hunters retool of Sharkticon Megatron. Many problems I had with the original vehicle mode design were fixed. No more visible head syndrome for starters but more than that, the ship looked like something. It had this incredible bio mechanical look to it, which reminded me a lot of HR Geiger, with a very prominent head and fins in the back. Those are the obvious bits of remolding but when actually taking a good long look at this toy you realize it's mostly new parts. The arms and legs and even head have all been changed to add detail contributing to the more underwater theme. The deco is pretty stellar too, reminding me of the colour palette in the Bioshock games. And he comes with the Tartarex Warp Sword which not only is a badass shark sword gun made for pure slaughter but also a very clever reference to the abyss from Greek mythology, Tartarus.
There are several Beast Wars Transmetals toys Japan did not get at first but some eventually found their way there in one way or another. This one never did. I will be honest, that pun of a name scores him some pretty high points but the toy is great overall as well. The Transmetals 2 line is known for inventive designs, premium deco and serious gems (with the notable exception of Cheetor) and Ramulus is all of that. Add to that the very original beast mode, that of a Nubian Ibex (wild goat from the Middle East), which I think is his better looking mode. I do like that as with many Beast Wars toys, the robot head takes inspiration from his beast mode, and he has these adorable horns (which are only beaten by that adorable little goat tail).
What, 2 Transformers Prime toys on this list?! Well what can I say, Transfomers Prime was the paragon of cartoon based toylines which has yet to be beaten, so you bet your ass it had some damn good toys. Japan got some excellent exclusives for that line (Ironhide, Jet Vehicon, Breakdown ) but we got some too, like this awesome dude right here. He is beautiful, nice and lean, imposing with a terrific transformation, which I prefer to the far more expensive Ultimate Predaking. Despite being classified officially as a voyager, he's HUGE, which gives this toy incredible value. Plus he has a generous amount of paint apps and I love those translucent wings. This is the best Predaking toy from the Prime line.
2. Transformers Titans Return Sky Shadow (aka Black Shadow)
In the G1 era, Japan got Black Shadow, a toy that was never released by Hasbro (we got Thunderwing instead). But now it's payback time with Hasbro releasing the best rendition of that character through leader Sky Shadow, a toy that just oozes cool. Even for those who don't know the character, the design and colour scheme are undeniably stylish. He just looks intense and a Decepticon truly worthy of being in the highest ranks. The transformation was simple but clever and all modes look great. The chunkiness also reminds me of the Cybertron era, but with today's articulation - it's awesome! I like him even better than Overlord, a toy we have been waiting agse for, since this seems like an evolution in design (which I always like) rather than simply just doing G1 with articulation (which often ends up rather dull).
1. Practically all the best Beast Machine Toys
Japan skipped so many molds from Beast machines that the line might just as well been Hasbro exclusive (and it technically was until 2004 when a dozen molds showed up in Japan). Basically, Takara only released their version of the toys for show characters, and only 1 toy per character (the more show accurate one). So for instance, they only released the Tank Drone as their Tankor instead of the awesome Mega toy. They also missed out on all those incredible basic class toys of non show characters like Quickstrike, Longhorn, Night Viper and Scavenger, all toys that I would recommend anyone to have in their collection. And yes, many of these toys mentioned are better than the previous toys mentioned on the list, I just didn't want this list and the upcoming "Top 5 Beast Machines Toys" to be the same.
He's here for two reasons. Firstly, it's possible that Titanium The Fallen might've been imported to Japan by Tomy Direct and I am not sure if that counts or not. Secondly, it's not as good as the other toys on this list. The idea though is that the Titanium line was Hasbro exclusive and Takara didn't release their version of it. I know, I know, good for them. They were able to avoid some of the worst toys ever made for the Transformers line, and I say this with no exaggeration. They were also able to avoid an Optimus Primal toy which didn't have a Beast Mode (well done on that one Hasbro). But they still missed out like with Fire Convoy and the Fallen. People forget, but this toyline got us our first figure for The Fallen (aka Megatronus, one of the Primes). And fun fact, this toy's design is taken from the IDW comics Stormbringer Megatron design, so that's one more Stormbringer design for fans to have in toy form.
It is very hard to judge G1 toys in fairness due to their iconic status. I love Bludgeon and collect his modern toys, but I would be hard pressed to say that the original holds up to everything else on this list. Pretenders are very love em or hate em in this community while I remain indifferent on the subject. I do love both Pretender designs. Of course, it would help to talk about it more if it was available for me to purchase at a decent price. I still find it very bewildering that of all the G1 toys not to be released in Japan, it is the one deliberately styled after a part of their culture and the first Transformer to bring in the Samurai motif. That has since been found across different characters. It's an aspect I like a lot since in the more modern era I find it fascinating how designers will use pieces of the alt mode to turn it into a samurai style armour, for example. And yes, Octopunch, the tentacle monster Transformer, also never made it to Japan.
That is a question I had the moment I saw the figure. This is the first time in history we have ever had a mainline shockwave toy based on his G1 look at the voyager scale from Hasbro. Unlike other contenders for a spot on a classics shelf, he has most of the articulation points required (including awesome ankle tilt) and has the right look at every angle, especially the side and back with a G1 styled backpack.
However, this is still a toy from a line targetted at young kids with a more cartoon design than what we have seen in the Generations line. So, does he really work? Well I attempted to find out by purchasing him and taking photos of him next to various toys from the Generations line. Below are shots of him with his fellow decepticons, to show you how he scales, and to show you how the styles work (or don't) together.
Here he is putting up the good fight agains the autobots.
Here he is victorious.
And here he is ... not.
All in all, I think this works super well until we get a voyager sized shockwave in the Generations line.
The picture above is thanks to Jan who posted on our Facebook page.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. And Va'al swoops in from the left, takes the list, and shapes it in his image. First day.
Taking over from william-james88 for this session, I thought about turning our attention to one of the weirdest and least explainable (until Simon Furman in IDW) features of the Transformers lore: mass shifting. Tinkering with some of the figures below, I pitched the idea to the resident listicler - what are the best toys that change size drastically between modes, faithfully and painstakingly representing the mass-shifting quirk in plastic? It took us some thinking, as we kept running short at 3-4, but we may have cracked it, and we're spanning a lot of lines, too!
Is this a good figure? No. Does it conjure up good memories? No. But it is part of the best toy line from the live-action movie series (so far) and it does a fantastic job at starting from an admittedly hefty remote controlled car, to become almost Voyager scary nightmare of a spiky robot. The actual class? Deluxe. But don't remind him.
That said, the robot mode is also nightmarishly lanky and spindly, and carries a lot of the issues of the live-action designs in its feet, limbs, and general... everything, so I wouldn't exactly recommend tracking it down at this stage.
As big as the smaller cars in the Masterpiece line - though not the smallest - the second iteration of the Captain Rodimus/Hot Rod compacts a towering robot into the speedy, flashy, flamey douche we all love to hate. Despite still being a little too big to make it into the Ultra Magnus trailer in play-mode, it's small enough to look positively tiny compared to its previous figure, and not that much bigger than the original!
But switch to robot mode, and you have something really much larger, in comparison. It does fit nicely with the likes of Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime, but may annoy some fans in its comparison to, say, the Datsun clones or the Lambor army. You do get fishing equipment included though, so your Rod can hold a rod - rodception.
We've all heard the tale: Tiny Tractor Turns into Toweringly Tall roboT. That's what you get with Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof, at least when compared to other Deluxes Warrior class figures in the same line. Not only is it a great little farming vehicle (one of the very few, if not the only one), adorably blue, and plodding along in the fields.
But as soon as you unfold every single part of the vehicle into its limb configurations -- hoo boy, do you have a tall, dark, and handsome, mean lookin robit. He towers over several of his class in the RID line, and is probably the first or second best of the entire run (Bisk/Thermidor is somewhere in there too), and he's just *so* different in size between the two modes, you might almost not even notice how hollow he has to be to pull that off.
Voyager class, bulky but relatively compact green SUV, complete with wrecking ball port on the back, limited release in the First Edition wave, and extortionate secondary market prices. Bulkhead is a mean, green, looming, booming machine.
From that Wreckin' ball, you get a baller Wrecker - something later canonised in the IDW comics too, as the last generation of the team before it's disbanded entirely - which may not make up for the size in height, but it is *hefty* all round, and sacrifices nothing for its look. Who says round can't be intimidating?
I placed both on here, as the Revenge of the Fallen figure is a stellar piece of work, and based on its cartoon counterpart - but Animated is the real star of the show, as the first entry onto the toy scene. The class? Deluxe. And the vehicle mode does a good job of keeping it at that, nice and tidy in its spiky green and black murder muscle car.
The robot mode, however, is HUGE. Like, super tall, almost Voyager scale, and without any hollow or thin or particularly lanky parts, as the aesthetic of the show and toyline allowed for proportions to work their way with stronger lower limbs and looming hunches. In Lockdown's case, it was also super fitting.
Don't Call It a Comeback The Top Five Reboots in Transformers History, by Scotty P
When something isn't working right in some way, a reboot can help set things back on to a better path. We do this with our gadgets all the time to set things straight, and more recently, large entertainment companies have been more willing than ever to restart classic franchises in order to cash in on new or lapsed opportunity for potential money. Soft, hard, full continuity reset, reboots until they were retconned out, non-reboots until they were retconned as such, that other Mainframe animation series - there have been many of these reboots and resets over the years.
Transformers is no stranger to this concept. Reboots, relaunches, and re-imaginings have allowed Transformers to persist over the years, and with each newly scanned concept or universe the world of Cybertron expands its IP empire further.
Usually.
Sometimes.
With IDW Publishing's long running Transformers comics continuity coming to an end this Fall, leading to a so-far nebulously defined reboot in 2019, inspiration struck to look back at the various times the heart of Vector Sigma has washed away the old and began anew. Take a short walk with me down memory lane as we look at the best reboots of all kinds throughout Transformers history - soft, hard, power cycled, and even some that are more "refresh" than reboot. Don't get too pedantic, I'm going to play pretty loose with the "reboot" concept's definition.
One more thing - This "top five" list is just for fun, just my opinion, and you should definitely comment by replying to this post to tell me why I'm wrong about all of it on our Energon Pub Forums!
#5 - Transformers Prime
Another way to put this first ranked entry could be "The Aligned Continuity and in particular, Transformers: Prime", but keeping the focus on Prime while acknowledging the wider Aligned Continuity feels appropriate, and somewhat similar to how Hasbro's various divisions handled things anyhow. Transformers: Prime was the focal point of a loosely-to-moderately-woven group of multimedia entries launched in 2010 with a goal of becoming a unified, overarching meta-continuity that would carry the brand for ten years if not longer. Along with Prime, several elements aimed to collectively achieve this goal: the War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron video games; Exodus, Exiles, and Retribution novels; Covenant of Primus and Transformers: Vault books, the Rescue Bots franchise, the follow-up Robots in Disguise animated series, and several tie-in comics. Despite these efforts, all these disparate pieces only really accomplish their goal if you're looking at their general ideas from orbit after your brain was launched into space from trying to actually patch it all together.
Despite the clear fictional problems at hand with the wider Aligned Continuity execution, Transformers: Prime itself brought a credibility to the television fiction and had a wider, more mass-market appeal than the beloved but niche Transformers: Animated and clearly kid-focused Unicron Trilogy. Using a main cast roughly the size of Beast Wars' main cast, the series was able to expand Transformers to an audience that had experienced the live action movies but was ready for something new that also remained grounded in at least some familiar, nostalgic territory. With hooks like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the voice of Cliffjumper (at least in the pilot, for a few minutes), Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprising their respective Optimus Prime and Megatron roles for television, and the flash of a new cable network, "The Hub", Transformers: Prime felt like it had it all. This new multimedia onslaught looked to have the brand poised for another boom after the shocks of Revenge of the Fallen's awful experience, not to mention the late 00s economic near-collapse, had settled.
Presumably hoping to learn from the Transformers: Animated toyline's truncation due to the Revenge of the Fallen toyline (yes there were some late waves and exclusives, and yes there was more to it, just keeping things simple here), Prime's "First Edition" toys were plucked out of the pan-universal Generations lineup and released after Dark of the Moon's run in theaters. Kind of. Eventually, just ahead of the second season's premiere, a wider toyline hit the shelves and for a time, Prime was rolling with a quality TV show and a decent range of toys.
While not without its missteps, Transformers: Prime helped to bring in new fans after Revenge of the Fallen's deleterious impact on the franchise's credibility, and was an important first step towards making Transformers a franchise that had toys rather than a toy franchise that had fiction.
#4 - Transformers: Armada
In the 90s, there was Beast Wars, and it was good. Then there was Beast Machines, and it was good, mostly, but also a little weird and the toys were a mess. Then there was Transtech, and it was not.
With fans fatigued from running with the beasts, and Hasbro looking to set longer term plans in motion to really take Transformers back into the pop-culture A-list, time was of the essence. A new approach to get kids to like Transformers again was needed, and a new team was assembled from the ashes of the axed Kenner division (there's more to it, again, keeping things simple), ready to truly re-launch Transformers in earnest for the first time. They made some redecos of Takara's "Car Robots" Transformers line, called it "Robots in Disguise", and this filled some space on retail shelves for awhile while they got ready for a new battle.
With a new cartoon receiving a hyped-up release in Cartoon Network's popular "Toonami" block, a comic book from hip retro-cool licensed publisher Dreamwave, and a slew of new toys, Transformers: Armada had arrived to transform your summer of 2002. Mini-Cons were here - could you catch 'em all?
Disaffected young adults that had grown up with Generation 1 and Beast Wars were initially not pleased, for the most part. While some would come around (after some time coping with the fact that they were getting older), kids loved Armada and the toys were a runaway success, to the point where the line was padded out with Beast Wars repaints and multi-packs of previous releases with Mini-Cons strapped along to meet retailer and consumer demand. A Playstation 2 video game padded out the multimedia marketing, and Transformers was beginning to find some success again after another short flirtation with obscurity.
Armada's success not only spawned a sequel in Energon and a spiritual sequel to that in Cybertron, but it proved that classic ideas of the Autobots and Decepticons could be merged with new characters and myths to successfully market to both old and new fans. These lessons would be applied earnestly and soon into the future, leading to Transformers' second era of cultural phenomenon - but this is a ranked list, and sadly, this segue won't quite work unless you skip the next entry (don't!)
#3 - IDW Publishing's "Phase 2" Line art by Nick Roche, colors by Josh Burcham
The one true "soft reboot" on this list was kicked off by the one-shot comic book from IDW Publishing, "The Death of Optimus Prime", released in late December of 2011. Picking up after the pretty good ending to the pretty bad Transformers "Ongoing" run of 2010 and 2011, this proved to be one hell of a hook for a jumping on point. Its premise is simple: the Autobot vs Decepticon war is over - now what?
The "what" proved to be two ongoing series that would run from January 2012 to September 2016 in what is quickly becoming known as the "golden age" of Transformers comics. John Barber's Robots in Disguise (later just Transformers) and James Roberts' More Than Meets The Eye comprised the core of a stretch of fiction that would treat Transformers like people while treating its readers like adults. While lighter on action than other eras of comics, plenty is still to be had as our heroes face down Decepticon remnants, their own bad decisions, not-yet-dispelled evils from another dimension, ancient Cybertronian relics and their masters, corrupted Autobot leadership, galactic organizations, the hazards of romance, and especially in the case of Megatron, themselves. Contributions of other writers such as Mairghread Scott and Nick Roche helped flesh out the universe and tie up other loose ends while creating new questions, and the artistic talents of several veteran and newcomer pencilers, inkers, colorists, letterers, and editors shone through the cloud of "licensed toy property book" like the brightest Spark on Cybertron.
Line art by Andrew Griffith, colors by Priscilla Tramontano
The casts were composed of many key "Generation One" characters, of course, but many characters that never got a chance to truly be defined finally had their time to shine. Whirl, Needlenose, Chromia, Rewind, Swerve, Tailgate, and almost countless others went from G1 afterthoughts to memorable, well defined, actual characters that you can describe in more than one sentence if asked. New characters came in as well and made huge impacts, with the likes of Rung, the DJD, Windblade, and Aileron - also among a plethora of others - to take what had been an almost exclusively "G1" lineup and expand it in a significant way. Couple this with the introduction of characters from across the Transformers lore, enabled by a colony concept similar to the various planets in Transformers: Cybertron, and the universe feels like one in where any Transformers character from any point in history could show up and fit in without being awkwardly out of place.
Perhaps the biggest contribution of this era is how it expanded the representation of people expressed through the robot characters in ways that were long overdue. In addition to the intrinsic value of doing this, praise is in order for how the authors and artists approached this new strategy of inclusion in a way that never felt pandering, belittling, or disrespectful, but was instead natural, empathetic, and uplifting. The world and its people are diverse and express themselves and their experiences in infinite ways, and IDW's Phase 2 books will remind you that it's possible for Transformers to do the same. The brand can tell stories that matter to us humans on a level that isn't boiled down to robots punching, shooting, and kicking one another while sometimes turning into cars, trucks, planes, and guns. While that's not a new concept, Phase 2 uses that as a paradigm and does so effectively while still delivering plenty of action and sci-fi/mecha goodness to please its base of longtime Transformers fans.
Line art by Alex Milne, colors by Joana Lafuente
It was truly a special time in Transformers fiction, and as its follow-up "Hasbro Universe" phase winds down, I can say that it is and will be missed dearly.
#2 - Transformers (2007)
Some fans love Michael Bay's take on the Transformers, and the five movies that comprise a decade-spanning chapter of the brand's history. Others loathe them, while others can appreciate them from a distance while pointing out their positives and rightly pointing out their less savory, regrettable elements. This is not about that. This is about the summer of 2007, and how the Transformers ascended to successful heights not seen since the 80s.
We all remember our first car and our first fling. My first car was a hand-me-down [redacted because I think this is a bank security question] that I wrecked and you don't need to know about the other thing. The 2007 version of Spike "Shia LeBeouf" Witwicky had a first car that was a 1977 Camaro that was actually Bumblebee and became a 2007 Camaro after being insulted by his first fling, Megan Fox. One of these things is much more glamorous and fun than the other, and this is one of the reasons that movies are cooler than real life.
No one was really sure if Transformers could work on the big screen, and early pre-release hype was tepid at best - no thanks to your pals here at Seibertron.com and producer Don Murphy, but that's another story. Then the trailers hit and excitement built a little, but then the movie premiered at Botcon 2007, was widely released shortly thereafter, and while critically panned as expected the movie was actually really fun to watch and became a surprise mega-hit of a summer blockbuster. The toys started to fly off the shelves, and the little VW beetle from G1 was now a cool modern sports car that you couldn't find a toy of for about two months - and some say we're still paying for that now. That aside, it did make Bumblebee a true Transformers A-lister again after his lengthy absence from the franchise. Bumblebee's rediscovered appeal helped the movie, and the movie helped its related toy line find huge success, to the point where the line was padded out with Cybertron repaints and reissues of previous mold releases with new paint decos strapped along to meet retailer and consumer demand. Sound familiar? Probably so, but Armada had nothing on this, for as good as that was.
Love it or hate it, there's no denying that 2007's Transformers movie took our favorite Cybertronians and again made them a phenomenon the likes of which they hadn't been for 20+ years. It's hard to imagine this success being repeated, but then again, there was a point where it was hard to imagine Transformers even being around to get to this point. If only something had been around to maximize its potential...
#1 - Beast Wars
As the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrived in the late 1980s to nunchuck G1 into a shallow grave filled with pizza cheese, Hasbro had to re-think how to continue with Transformers. They released the Action Masters, and it is generally agreed that this was a very bad idea. After hiding away in Europe for a couple years with their totally-radical-awesome toys like Overlord and the Motorvators, Generation 2 arrived to herald a renaissance and revival of the great Transformers brand!
Generation 2 also arrived just in time to be almost completely ignored by its target demographic because of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers smashing any momentum it could have hoped to have, like a Putty Patrol dude in season 2 when they just had to hit the big obvious "P" on their chests, or G2 Slingshot anytime after the year 2000 when you just had to move it in any way whatsoever or breathe on it funny. Don't tell me I'm wrong, I was in the third grade when G2 was released. No one cared about G2 in grades 1-5 except me. Transformers would have to again go live on a farm in the Midwest for awhile, which is probably where all the G2 Technobots were buried by your uncle as he made his way to Washington to go work for Nintendo.
Then in 1996, like a vast, predatory bird, nature did something unnatural. Nature lied...
They were robots in disguise! Gone were the Autobots and Decepticons, now there were the Maximals and Predacons. Not those Predacons, new ones with all sorts of crazy new forms and kid-appeal characters that changed into cuddly critters like pillbugs and octopuses and half-lionfish-half-bee-half-mans. It was awesome.
With extremely articulate (for the time) figures even at the most basic price point thanks to ball jointed hips, knees, elbows, shoulders, and more, and with a wide range of transformation difficulty scaling from one step up to "I'm still not done with Tripredacus mom, just another minute!", Beast Wars was the first truly successful "reboot" for the Transformers. Without it, this list probably wouldn't exist - both literally and figuratively. These remarkable toys had staying power, and were truly doing things both new and timely. Extreme reimaginings of classic ideas? Check. Scribbly packaging font? Check. A subline with vacuum metal chrome? Check. Beast Wars' toys were a microcosm of the 90s and what it took to reinvent an old property for a new era, while still holding up in many ways to "modern" standards.
Also incredibly timely was the accompanying television show. An entire kids' show, made with computer graphics, released on a weekly schedule was proof positive that the future had arrived. The small cast led to character driven stories, and while the first season can drag in places, go ask a kid catching just the loose episode here or there in 1997 if they cared. You can't so I'll answer: they didn't, I was there. The show was a hit and more than a few of my peers at the middle school held it as a guilty pleasure. While it looks worse every year thanks to advances in technology, and even in its time couldn't hold a candle to big-budget movies like Toy Story or A Bug's Life, it still blew away anything on a Playstation, Saturn, or N64 on the polygonal 3D playing field. The show may also lead some younger fans to believe Beast Wars isn't a reboot at all, with it technically falling into the Generation 1 fictional continuity! However, this wrinkle is the only facet of Beast Wars that wasn't a completely fresh start, and one has to wonder if such a wild departure would ever work today considering the constant flashpoints of toxic, social media driven, hot-take and hate-click fueled attention seeking behaviors that sometimes arise when anything dares to flip an established fictional property on its head. Regardless, quality can overcome even the most apprehensive of fanbases, and in the case of Beast Wars' show the fact that it truly was good helped immensely, leading to two additional seasons after the initial run and the Beast Machines follow-up, plus a lengthy syndication run in early mornings that lasted into the early 2000s.
The other thing that lasted into the early 2000s? The toyline, with a Walmart exclusive being released in 2001 - though 2014's Strafe themed repaint of Terrorsaur marks the last use of any of the original toolings, for now.
With Beast Wars nostalgia starting to crest, and Masterpiece toys of icons like Dinobot and Megatron just released or on the horizon, it can't be denied that Beast Wars truly saved the brand from its early 90s ultimate doom countdown to extinction (foil gatefold variant cover, 1:700 copy retailer incentive available with the order of 4,000 copies of The Death of Superman.) While there are still a few "Trukk not Munky" holdouts, even most of them have at least softened to the point of being able to recognize Beast Wars' contributions to Transformers. The rest... is silence.
Honorable Mentions
All Hail Megatron Line art by Guido Guidi, colors by Josh Burcham
You may be thinking to yourself, "wait, was it a reboot!?" No, but it sure felt like it for a small stretch of time in mid-late 2008! This was a shot in the arm that kept the franchise going in comic form, and while the immediate aftermath wasn't great, eventually this led IDW's Transfomers story out of the meandering woods of the Dead Universe and into the great heights of Phase 2.
Machine Wars: Termination Line art by Hidetsugu Yoshioka, colors by Evan Gauntt
Technically this isn't a reboot, but instead a story within the G1-derivative Wings Universe from Fun Publications. Let's be honest though, it's a Machine Wars reboot. And it's very fun! If you didn't read the comic that came with your Botcon 2013 set, what are you waiting for?
This concludes our look at "reboots" of all kinds in Transformers, and the superlatives of the bunch. Do you think I missed anything? Transformers: Animated fans probably do, but they're wrong and it's ok - and they can tell me why I'm wrong by replying to this post!
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Best Insect Transformers Toys
Insects have been part of the transformers brand since the very very beginning. They are actually the very first animal based Transformers we have ever gotten, thanks to the insecticons. Scorpions and spiders aren't insects, so I didn't include them here. But don't let that stop you when you share your own top 5 list in the comments.
This was a pleasant surprise. With the previous releases of new Beast Wars toys straying very far from the show models (like Universe Cheetor or the Cybertron Optimus Primal and Megatron toys) it was a breath of fresh air to just have a new Waspinator toy looking like his good old clumsy self. The articulation was as good as I could hope for and that headsculpt rocked! The character models were done after the toys and thus took some liberties, making the toys look unlike what we saw on TV, especially for the first year. So seeing Waspinator have such a perfect headsculpt was invigorating. He's a great looking insect too with a neat non intrusive wing flapping gimmick.
I should be frustrated that both the beast mode and the robot mode use the same head, which is almost like an unsaid faux pas, but he makes it work. It looks like a locust head in alt mode and a robot head in robot mode, complimenting the rest of either mode, so I quickly got over it. He even ends up looking more like a bug than his other two insecticon acolytes due to the long grasshopper legs which really go all out to sell the insect like proportions. The deco is also gorgeous in an 80s future way with the fullest deep purple I have ever seen. G1 toys have not aged well for the most part, but when looking at the insecticons, especially kickback, you can see how these striking designs can never die.
Sure the size isn't great but for a Cyberverse collection, he is imposing. he probably has the best transformation for a Cyberverse commander class figure (well, maybe tied with prime Ironhide) and the size doesn't sacrifice intricacy or detail. He looks awesome in both modes and makes for a mean looking beetle.
Man, how I wrestled with the idea of putting this guy as number 1. He really is incredible. As a 10 year old, I truly believed that he was perfection for a Transformers toy and my opinion hasn't changed much. These were formative years and I remember looking at this guy and seeing that unlike most other toys, he didn't reuse animal limbs for his robot limbs, he wasn't a shell former, had many new details for the robot mode and yet remained sleek. Not only is he sleek, he is downright unsettling in his ultimate maniac design. This guy reeks of villainy and not the fun kind, the scary kind. The kind you can have nightmares about. So not only is it a great Transformers toy objectively, when you take a look at the design it just takes it over the top. There are very little toys out there with as much personality as this one. And I haven't even talked about his drill hands that turn when you activate them through his shoulder (well I guess now I have).
1. Beast Wars Powerpinch
I remember being ten and seriously thinking that Power Pinch was the best Transformer toy of all time (the Transformers brand was 18 years at that point). This wasn't hyperbole or a spur of the moment thought we get when we first open a toy, this was after looking at all the toys in my modest collection. While Beast Wars is a great line, the conversions often repeat or are predictable, especially with mammals when either half their limbs or all their limbs serve double duty as both the limbs of the animal and the robot (Beast Wars TM2 Cheetor felt so lazy to me as a kid). But what is amazing with insects is that their anatomy doesn't give the toy designer such an easy way out. The limbs must come from somewhere else. Scavenger above is a gorgeous example, on a technical level, of such an achievement in design. However, I always found Power Pinch to be even better simply because it was based on a realistic bug. Limbs not serving double duty means there is no robot design or kibble found anywhere in earwig mode. The great weapon (a giant pair of shears) integrates perfectly into the tail. The transformation is as complex as we will ever get for a basic class transformer thanks to a nice amount of parts count (seemingly more than modern day legends class figures). The robot mode offers lots of new robot detail. Basically, the bottom half of his body and the head are pieces not seen in insect mode and yet there is minimal alt mode kibble to hide due to how the toy is engineered. It's a little marvel really and due to it being a toy from this era you have all the ball jointed articulation you would need along with a generous amount of painted details we could only dream of getting today. This is one of my favourite Beast Wars figures of all time and easily the number 1 pick for best insect Transformers.
Honourable mentions: There are a bunch of good insect Transformers out there that couldn't make the list. To mention a few off the top of my head, that were up for consideration, we had Beast Wars Mantis and Inferno, Transmetal Waspinator, Transmetal II Scourge and Scarem and Generations Bombshell.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 times G1 Transformer Toys Were Better in the Diaclone / Microchange line
As many of you know, the original Transformers toys were imported toys from Japan that came from different transforming robot lines, mainly Diaclone and Microchange. Both were derivatives of GI Joe and if you want the full story you, The Toys That Made Us has an excellent episode to get you up to speed on the exciting history of these toys. In short, none of the initial Transformers toys were conceived as giant sentient robots fighting eachother in an eons long war. Due to that, and also due to different safety standards in the US, there are several aspects of the toys that were dropped when they came to America. In some cases, the original version of the toy had more to offer and made more sense, and that is what we are looking at today.
5. Swoop when issued as Dinosaur Robo no.5 (Diaclone)
Unlike many Transformers releases of Diaclone figures, Swoop actually had firing missiles, and no obvious seat for a small figure to pilot, making this look less like a toy intended for another line. However, there is still one big reason why his Diaclone release has an advantage over the Hasbro release, and it's a reason no others on this list share. While the release of the mold under the Transformers brand had a red chest, the original release had a blue chest, which is far more accurate to the deco the character was sporting in the cartoon. You can see the difference below with the "worlds smallest transformers" release of the two different decos.
I would like to thank Black Bumblebee for pointing me to something truly awesome: Blaster's original toy had a working AM radio. It's a very sophisticated product. You would plug a microcassette which was the radio into the chest and then use the buttons found around the toy to turn it on or off, and to change the stations and volume. A pair of batteries in the right leg (you can see an image of the battery compartment below) would amplify the signal. The on/off switch became molded detail for the Hasbro release and the back of the toy was remolded to not have the hatches and openings. And if you ever wondered why the gun has this big hole in the middle, it was to store the earphone. There was both a blue and red version of this toy, which is where the colour cues for both Blaster and Twincast come from.
The main reason why his Diaclone release is better is simply due to him having an extra transforming robot that comes with him. It makes sense, if the Magnus toy was derived from an upgraded version of Convoy, then why wouldn't it too get a smaller vehicle like roller? Well it did, and unlike roller, this little buddy transformed. There is no reason not to include or release that in a Transformers line.
The main reason why he is so high on this list is that the way he was repurposed in Hasbro's toy does not take advantage of his playability. This toy has three really good modes but you wouldnt know from the way he was released by Hasbro. The instructions show you can convert him from a Robot to a Microscope to a mobile laboratory, which looks like a cannon platform with the cannon pointing upward.
It has later been called a tank mode, however, this is not the tank mode this toy was designed to have. The proper way to transform him as a tank as intended in the Microchange line is to have the cannon all the way down so that the hands and feet are parallel. That actually makes a third wheel in the back touch the ground and you now have a tank that can roll really well. Hasbro probably removed this awesome third mode from it's instructions (and replaced it with the mobile laboreatory) because the tank wasn't meant to be manned in the Transformers line, unlike the Microchange version which can fit Micromen (the slide holder becoming a place for the figure's back to rest against), driving the tank. While the toy we got ends up being very similar, and can still turn into an awesome rolling tank for your Micromen (each sold seperately), the entire purpose of the toy has changed and I feel it worked far better as a Microman toy. But at least, this is still an awesome toy which can work repurposed as a sentient robot, unlike the next toy on this list.
These toys make me sad, everytime. They arent great in the Transformers line and have been dissapointing people since 1984 since they don't look like their cartoon counterpart due to their lack of heads. Instead, you get a weird black face sticker behind the windshield stuck to a seat. This release is unfortunate because the toys they were initially are awesome! In Diaclone, this wasnt a headless sentient robot with a sled. Instead, it was a mech and a battle station, both manned by smaller figures which combined together to conceal themselves as a van. The functionality is still present in the Transformers release of this toy, but the meaning behind it and what it represents changes entirely. Instead of a headless robot, you get a manned mech with little figures which sit can sit behind the windshield which now lets them control heavier weaponry on the battle platform and actually fire some missiles (which the original Hasbro release did not do as well).
Before being sold in the west as Soundwave, this toy was sold as Casette Man and actually came with life size headphone and microphone set (non functional, of course). He also came with a cassette case for the little cassette he came with, which Hasbro did not include in Soundwave's release (it was however included in this character's release in Japan). Also, while he comes with rockets and a rocket launcher, the missiles do not fire in the Hasbro version while they did when the toy was part of the Microchange line (and this speaks to most G1 toys of which I have chosen Soundwave as ambassador).
It is a growing concern for fans that more and more retail space is being given to Transformers toys aimed at younger audiences, with simplified or instant transformations instead of more complex puzzles, and plagued with gimmicks. While Transformers toys for young kids have been around since the beginning - they are toys after all - the option of a line of figures aimed at a younger audience sold alongside more complex toylines has been around since the first live action Transformers film (2007), with the Gravity Bots and Fast Action Battlers. And it has decidedly grown since.
There is, however, one big part we tend to forget: this distinction in age groups started happening because Transformers toys grew more complex and less gimmicky. In G1, the kiddie line was all we had. There weren’t more advanced toys. It's not like you could pick between a jumpstarter Top Spin and a Deluxe Top Spin back in the 80s - Jumpstarter Top Spin was all you had.
We are also very quick to forget that when we see toys that are today’s equivalent of Jumpstarter Top Spin (e.g. Turbo changers and One Step toys) on the shelves.
Now the status quo is changing once more, with both the Bumblebee Movie line and the Cyberverse cartoon line being made up solely of gimmick driven toys. At this point, I thought of looking at other action figure toylines available at retail and compare, principally the DC and Marvel figures, and Star Wars toys (the last two being a perfect comparison since they are made by the same company as Transformers).
And yeah, as the title suggests, we Transformers collectors are waaaaaaaaay better off than anyone collecting DC, Mavel or Star Wars figures.
A picture is worth a thousand words so let's just check out some pics from my latest visit to Walmart and Toys R Us (sorry, American readers, I don’t mean to open up recent wounds).
We have Marvel
Notice how the main attraction for parents, kids and anyone wanting a Marvel toy here is limited to either tall PVC toys with limited articulation or smaller toys based on gimmicks. The Marvel Legends line, which encompasses figures aimed at older kids and fans of the movies and comics all mixed together, are sparsely stocked, if at all. The only toys exclusively for Infinity war are only made for younger kids. Collectors have to instead try to find more articulated toys of characters from the film within a wave that has movie characters and other totally unrelated characters from the comics. And if you want to get a decent figure of the main villain in the film (Thanos), you are stuck having to buy all the figures in the wave, even the non movie ones, since this villain has his parts split amongst all these figures. Can't find a figure? too bad, not only do you not get that specific toy but your buildable figure is also missing a limb. NICE!
We have DC
Basically the same as Marvel. Sure, we have some more collector oriented toys, but it is mainly bigger and simpler products, aimed at younger kids. Right now, as with Marvel, toys featuring the characters from the movies, toys or games are not in lines of their own but lumped together. And if you want better articulated figures of the Justice League Action show, well, too bad!
Now Star Wars
Ok, this is a little different. While like DC and Marvel there is only one line for collectors, which also mixes in characters from across the franchise, the simpler toys do have a retro feel which can attract collectors as well. Basically, it’s as if alongside Transformers deluxes and voyagers, we literally had a G1 Topspin reissue somewhere on the shelf. Not just him, but other characters from recent films. Which is basically what we already have with the One Steps, but imagine all the One Steps had the same packaging as G1 Top Spin. That is basically what is going on with Star Wars. One difference though: these smaller simpler Star Wars figures overwhelm the shelf space, and most other toys are all aimed at younger audiences too, like the vehicles, playsets and role play weapons.
Now let’s look at Transformers
There are definitely toys for younger audiences, there is no denying that and it is what this article started from. But unlike every other toyline covered here, these simpler toys are not the majority of product being sold. They are just a subset - there are far more toys that are complex and made up of more than 5 steps, for adult fans and older kids alike. And we have more than just one line of those too. We have movie toys in their own line (Studio Series) and other toys looking at the history of the brand in another. Plus remnants of a previous cartoon line which also had some standard complex toys for collectors to enjoy (Robots in Disguise).
That last part is of course changing, with Cyberverse not having options for older kids, but that just means Hasbro is doing with Transformers what it has done with Marvel and Star Wars long ago (in a galaxy far ... ok I 'll stop). So to reiterate, toys targeting younger kids are usually the norm, and have been the norm since, well... toys are for kids. Yet, in the Transformers brand, we get lines dedicated to more mature kids and appealing to adult collectors, and those toys tend to take up a lot more shelf space compared to similarly marketed toys in other franchises.
So yeah, we Transformers fans have it a lot better than the rest when it comes to our options of more collector oriented toys.
After a slight delay through the SDCC madness, we have reached the final episode of the entire Machinima Prime Trilogy of cartoons. It's been over two years in the making, and it's finally come time to take a look at the culmination of all those previous episodes. It's been a wild ride from start to finish, with a few ups and certainly a few downs. We are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, though, because we have one more episode to look at before the entire series draws to a close. Let's do that now, and make sure to read to the very end for more of my final thoughts on the entire trilogy. Join me as I break down, in our final Prime Trilogy review ever, The 10th epsiode:
Saga's End
Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a long one.
(The following review contains spoilers for the Prime Wars trilogy. There are A LOT this week. Proceed...on your way to oblivion.)
The episode picks up where the last left off, with Rodimus, with his newly upgraded form, in a heated battle with Optimal Optimus at the Well of Sparks.
Megatronus turns his attention towards the main cast, and turns the requiem blaster towards Megatron. At the last moment, out of nowhere, as Megatron is about to be blown to bits, Predaking drops from the ceiling on to Megatronus.
Preda-ex-machina
Predaking demands to know where the Engima of Combination is, but he never explains why. Megatronus engages him, and it gives a moment for Windblade and Grimlock to help Optimal Optimus. They hold Rodimus down as Optimal removes the Matrix of Chaos from within him.
As we switch back to watch Megatronus battle Predaking some more, we get a strange point-of-view shot from Predaking's perspective. It's a neat concept, but it doesn't come across very well, as we only see Predaking's arms for a split second, and everything else in the several-second long shot looks like a mistakenly placed empty frame. I even had to watch the scene a few times to make sure that's what they were trying to get at.
Heart Stopping Action!!!
We also get flashbacks to the first episode of the entire trilogy, when Windblade sliced through Menasor like butter, as Megatronus just tears Predaking's head clean off with little to no struggle in the next scene. You know, this giant combiner that was winning in a fight against Volcanicus just a bit ago. Him.
FATALITY
He then chucks Predaking's decapitated head at Megatron, who responds with an "Oh Shit", which is really strange in my opinion, to hear from Megatron's mouth.
I haven't really addressed the swearing that has really more or less suddenly appeared in this portion of the Trilogy, with "Ass"s and "Damn"s scattered all through the past 10 episodes, so I'll share my thoughts now. While I am 100% behind a more adult or mature focused Transformers show, this series seems to think that making Megatron say "You're starting to piss me off" several times is the way to do it, instead of a darker setting or more complex story lines. The words feel even stranger to hear because, as I said, none of the other seasons really had swearing this bad or frequent. It seems like the show runners sprinkled some curse words here and there this season as a cheap and easy way to make the series seem more "Adult".
This isn't to say I'm against swearing at all, either. Far from it. I think it can actually be used to punctuate emotional moments and make a character's personality distinct. But you can understand my suspicion that this series' use of it wasn't exactly for storytelling purposes.
GIVE ME YOUR FACEEEEE
Solus Prime, still flickering into existence using power from the Well of Sparks, makes the projection of herself gigantic, and picks Megatronus up and out of the battle with Megatron. She envelops him, dragging him down into the well, causing a column of new sparks to launch out in to the universe from the well, which Perceptor remarks will create the next generation of Transformers.
The heroes' problems aren't over yet, as the Matrix of Chaos, while having been removed from Hot Rod, is still searching for a new host. It finds Megatron, who was one of it's bearers in the past, and starts to be enchanted by the evil object. As he tried to fight it, he realises that the only way to stop it from just going and finding another host is to destroy it completely - Megatron included. Optimal Optimus readies the Requiem Blaster, and aims it at Megatron. As the realization falls over all of the cast that this is what must be done, they say their final goodbyes and thank yous to the former Decepticon leader.
As Megatron raises the Matrix of Chaos, Optimal Optimus primes the Requiem Blaster, and fires. Megatron is vaporized.
One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. But until then there must be no tears, no regrets. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me I am not mistaken in mine.
Perceptor analyses the ground in front of him, and confirms that while the Matrix took the majority of the force, no trace of Megatron remained.
But the cast doesn't have much time to morn, as the one and only Optimus Prime crawls out of the Well of Sparks, because this cartoon isn't in the business of breaking new ground. Yes, of course the precious Autobot leader has to come back to life, and, on top of that, of course he has to upstage the death of the character that led the team through the majority of the trilogy. The show had successfully created a touching, emotional, impactful moment with the death of Megatron, and totally ruined it by saving Optimus Prime. Even if he had waited a beat or two longer to crawl out of the Well, it would have not only allowed time for Megatron's death to reach it's full emotional potential, but it would have made Prime's reveal more impactful.
IT'S ALIVE
Prime explains that he was reanimated through some confusingly illogical process regarding his connection to the Matrix of Leadership. But he says that everyone else who was killed by Megatronus can't be brought back to life.
After the dust settled, we see Prime and Optimal in what appears to be the Sanctorum again. Optimal promises Prime that he'll return the Matrix, but Optimus refuses. Instead they wrap up the character arcs in a not-so-tidy fashion. Windblade has become the city speaker for all titans in the universe, along with Emissary, while Hot Rod is still recovering. Grimlock has gone to morn Sludge with his fellow dinobots, and Perceptor is now the guardian of the Enigma and the Requiem Blaster.
EXPOSITIONNNNNNNN
And, as the two Primes continue to walk away, lurking in the shadows is the one who started it all, Starscream.
*Roundabout by Yes plays*
And on that bombshell, it's time to end.
That's it. This over two year long saga has come to a close. Looking back on it, was it really that bad? Was it really that disappointing? Did it deserve the hate it received? Well...I personally think so. This show started and ended with consistent problems, ones I've harped on, sometimes painfully so, before. Blocky, generic mouth movements, stiff animation to the point only one character (in a shot of many) was moving at a time, the occasional bad voice take, editing, etc. And while many, admittedly, were improved upon with each consecutive season, I think they dedicated too much of their increased budget on celebrity cast members than what was needed to fix the flaws, and new ones began to pop up. Continuity problems, notably, were one that severely impacted this season's first half of episodes. Characters being thrown one direction, and waking up in the complete opposite direction, for example. And, as an interesting side note, with the death of this show comes the death of it's host streaming service, Go90, as it's parent company announced it would be shutting down the platform tomorrow.
The plot as a concept was enjoyable, with many characters that we've never seen interact in Transformers media before thrown together. It was a fun thing to see, Overlord fight with the Mistress of Flame, Optimal Optimus fighting basically what was Nemesis Rodimus Prime.
To be fair, the show started with a disadvantage, premiering right as it's "Tie in" toy line was coming off the shelves, with the second season following the same unfortunate pattern. And while this could be written off as another fault of the show runners, or Machinima, I think that was a slight of Hasbro's part. Out of the creators' control.
Art was one of the absolute highlights of the show
Positives for me looking at the entire series as a whole were the art style/color palette, and the score. I've talked about both before, and, aside from the animation at times, it was a very pretty show to look at. It was at it's best when it cuts to a sweeping open shot of the universe, or a building with many colored lights. It felt very futuristic and modern, and I think they nailed the aesthetic they were looking for. I honestly think it's one of my favorite /looking/ Transformers shows of all time. The character models and designs are great, and, if they had been animated better and given better lines, most characters would also be some of the best iterations we've seen. As it sits, only one character from the trilogy holds that title in my mind...
It was that smile. That damned smile.
Megatron. Probably the most universally praised part of the entire three seasons. As such, I won't dwell very long. Perfectly capturing what a post-war Megatron would be, the show runners, character designers, and voice actor, Jason Marnocha, killed it. With a ridiculous amount of personality and wit, he is, hands down, one of the best new interpretations of Megatron we have ever seen.
And, ultimately, I think he's so good, that that's how the show will be remembered. Not for it's terrible pacing, or emotional moments that didn't really land, or Slug disappearing randomly. I think it was a show that started out with a disadvantage and hype it couldn't live up to (what show really could live up to "The Game of Thrones of animation) and, through a series of missteps, became fatally flawed. Despite a few diamonds in the rough here or there, I think, at risk of sounding like a fanboy keyboard warrior, but as a Transformers fan, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard.
And that's it. Thank you so much for not only reading this review of the finale of Power of the Primes, but all of my reviews over the past 2 years. I really can't express enough how thankful I am for your support of them, your memes based off them, or your discourse (whether you agreed or disagreed with me). I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. They were a lot of fun, and I loved writing comedy-based pieces to share with you guys. Stay tuned for some more Seibertron articles looking back on the Machinima cartoon courtesy of myself and William James 88 in the coming weeks. Thank you again!!!
Well, 'happy' might not be the best word. But hear me out.
The IDW Transformers and Hasbro universe, their comics continuity, has been running for the past 13 years, and was announced - for lack of a better term - to reach its conclusion by the time the Unicron mini-series came to its own end, taking Lost Light and Optimus Prime with it (alongside Rom, Micronauts, GI Joe, MASK, and all the various casts and stories within).
As of this week, and after an initial showing at the San Diego Comic Con 2018 IDW panel, we have finally seen the final covers for the last issues of each of the three series - but most importantly for Lost Light and Optimus Prime.
Let's go a little into the background first, though: in October 2005, Simon Furman and EJ Su brought to the stage Infiltration #0, the revelation that Cybertronians had been on Earth for a while, Verity Carlo and Hunter O'Nion, and a new Marvel Ultimates-influenced 'Generation One' continuity - its Phase One - began.
A year later, in September 2006, Nick Roche and Simon Furman went back a little further in Spotlight: Shockwave, an issue that will become more and more relevant to everything happening in this universe up to its very end.
Some of those stories were cut short in 2008 (and concluded in Maximum Dinobots - until we came back to it all in Lost Light), as Shane McCarthy's All Hail Megatron saw the triumph of the Decepticons on Earth and the creation and arrival of Drift, some initial but vocal fan complaints (not all was bad!), which only got louder for the most part with what followed from 2009 to 2011, and Mike Costa's ongoing series. Then Optimus Prime was killed, again, and Orion Pax returned - the comics split in two parallel series: More Than Meets the Eye, and Robots in Disguise. Phase Two begins.
Part of the Phase Two stories, alongside the ongoings, were the Wreckers' Saga (now collected in one volume), the Autocracy trilogy (which we re-covered here), and the first proper crossover event in Dark Cybertron - which brought with it a much wider universe, and the arrival of Windblade (among others).
Since then, the ongoing series saw a third companion, in Windblade, and eventually Till All Are One. Dawn of the Autobots led into Days of Deception, then its second crossover Combiner Wars up to Titans Return, and opening the universe even further and wider in Revolution, Reconstruction and the final big event, First Strike, which ushered in the end of the Hasbro Universe through the unfortunate Transformers vs Visionaries miniseries, and the resulting summoning of Unicron.
So here we are, at the brink of it all. The universe is about to end, and I just told you I'm happy for it. Let me explain why, exactly:
Continuity - This is the bane of comics everywhere, I have said so before and I will keep on saying so until we stop considering 'canon' as something monolithic and impervious to change and modification. Continuity can be a useful tool, but taken to its extreme it's just silly, harmless, and a source of headaches - and unnecessary gatekeeping for readers who do not want to or cannot keep track of everything that happened ten years prior to the book they're reading right now. An entirely new, actually fresh start will clear everything before it - and a new continuity can be established, free from the self-imposed shackles that prevent potential fans to fully enjoy the books coming out. Hopefully, something looser, that will allow for further development as it continues.
IDW Publishing - The IDW staff have proven themselves extremely capable of creating good Transformers fiction (other fiction too, but this is the focus here of course). Sure, there have been pitfalls along the way, mostly down to the strained relationship between licensor and licensee, and how that affected the creators in their storytelling. But they have never entirely destroyed the Transformers story that was being told. With John Barber as EIC, I have the confidence that this will continue, strongly, into whatever new venture we will see the comics embark.
Timing - I said something very similar in a piece about the Transformers Bumblebee Movie, but it's worth repeating at this point: the entire Hasbro universe, outside of the fiction, is being reshaped. The live action movies have shifted tone and possible storytelling, with Paramount looking to start afresh; the comics are all being ended together, with stories having been developed for a long time already, by admission of the writers themselves (and TAAO and Wreckers also had their excellent farewells), and reaching a almost entirely organic conclusion; a new toyline, with some heavy fiction behind it, is being launched in Fall 2018; it's been 13 years. That's a new fan's entire life, and one now ripe for the seeding of a new story.
New talent - A lot of the creators, with the exclusion of editor John Barber, have already stated that they are not currently planning on returning to the books. Be it artists, or writers, or colourists, or anyone else involved in the creation of the books, we currently have no idea of who will be involved, and this opens doors to infinite potential: to name but a couple of fan favourites, Sarah Stone came into the books from fan-art work; Alex Milne had a similar trajectory from deviantArt, though with previous engagements at Dreamwave; Kei Zama was extremely popular on Tumblr before doing covers and eventually interiors; most current professional creators have been fans of the franchise since they started doing art or writing of any kind; we've seen several fan creators spotlighted in comics covers across the series and the years, and the prospect of entirely new talent is tantalisingly exciting. I am ready for all of it.
Comics precedent - This is a two-sided point, actually.
Firstly, comics history has a well proven track record of having limited series among its most influential of all time: I'm thinking of The Sandman, Lucifer, The Wicked and The Divine (end forthcoming), even Saga will end at some point (once the current hiatus is over). The same can be said for book series, and even big and small screen ones - in spite of the recent wave of rebooting and forced continuation - I mean, Marvel Transformers itself is famously a 4 issue mini-series that lasted for 80 numbers. Having an ending is good. It does not cancel out a story, it allows it to sit and mature with time and with every revisitation.
Secondly, the precedent set by the current IDW universe. The entirety of the creative teams involved have been working nothing short of miracles in establishing a seriously impressive layer of fertile ground for more stories to spring forth (not in the Botanica sense from ReGeneration One - sorry Simon). In an interview with the Twincast Podcast, Nick Roche spoke about 'a groove that was for everyone reading – and if that’s not for me, that’s fine' - starting with the inclusivity, diversity, and representation that the writers so far have established for the Transformers world, and carrying that into the next stories as a starting point. The precedent, the existing reality that made it into non-specialist media coverage, as well as triumphed within comics circles, is there, and it is a thing of wonder.
As I was working on the later stages of this comment, a similar piece from David Heslop was brought to my attention, and I wholeheartedly recommend heading over to read that too, as one phrase in particular jumped out at me: 'by giving us an ending, we get to experience the totality of this saga’s existence'.
Experiences can indeed be bittersweet, and provoke untold levels of emotion - be that good or bad - but we have all been witnesses to something unprecedented in a licensed comic property that started out way back when to sell toys and flesh out their packaging bios. Non-Anglophone readers are slowly gaining access to those stories too, with translations of MTMTE spearheading localised publishing pushes, and Japan receiving the full story from AHM onwards as we speak; the rest will hopefully follow too, even if much after the end of this particular era of stories.
And for that, for all of these thirteen (even just the number!) years, for all of these stories, yes - I am happy to see them come to an end. With an ending that the creators have meant and carefully planned. And an ending that I still hope will open to something bigger still in the years to come.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Transformers Toys with Mythological Alt Modes
Just to precise, this is not a list about the top 5 mythological alt modes, but instead of certain amazing toys which turn into mythological creatures. This means that there can be more than one dragon on this list (tee hee), one of the most awesome alt modes in the Transformers brand.
A common theme among mythological creatures is the idea of hybrids, like the centaur or sphinx. When it comes to Transformers, this becomes the ideal occasion to give a beast mode a flight ability. You can never go wrong with wings, they will make any animal look more majestic. I realize that most toys on this list end up with wings. What makes this toy extra special is that the hybrid idea of the winged Tiger is plot specific to Beast Wars and symbolizes the union of Tigertron and Airazor in the same body. It was special to see them return to the show and united in a way that felt unprecedented for any kid's show. The toy takes it up a notch by giving an added eagle motif with the optional battle mask that you can add over the tiger. The robot mode is also absolutely gorgeous, even though it can appear rather busy. Both the tiger and eagle beast mode parts are showcased in the robot mode giving him the look of a regal warrior.
The second best Dragon Megatron out there, but still an incredible toy. I love the wings and colour scheme adding to the regal nature of this toy. Part of the lore is that Dragons love treasure so all the chrome and him being ornamented in what seems to be a jeweled body fits well. Plus it's quite crazy that this mythological form is only one of his many many modes and he pulls it off as well as if it was his only alt mode.
Aside from possibly some better sculpting, I fail to see just how much a modern day interpretation of this design could improve so much on the original toy. It helps that the show model is so close to the toy, making this toy quite show accurate. He has an excellent wing mechanic with launching missiles (this is back when you could expect missiles from a deluxe class toy) which work well as clubs and conceal themselves perfectly as wings. I really like how this toy really is a hybrid rather than simply a wold with wings with the talons which work so well as the robot mode feet.
I just love the dragon mode which screams Tolkien. Plus you have the poseable neck (which you can puppeteer yourself), flapping wings and fire missiles shooting from his mouth. Everything you want from a dragon transformer is there with the added Transmetal finish (once again invoking Smaug's gold encrusted body). The transformation is one of my favourites with the y axis becoming the x axis and the wings becoming so imposing in robot mode (due to the height lowering). This is the regal look Beast Wars Megatron was born to have, yesss.
While dragon alt modes are probably the alt modes I will get most excited for, I couldn't help but fall in love with Scourge's design in Transformers Cybertron. I like how he keeps his great stature for both modes and just how broad and imposing the robot mode is, making him truly merit his Convoy title in Japan. The weapon also kicks major ass by being this war hammer and sickle hybrid. The Hydra mode is also a very smart integration of the cyber key gimmick with two more dragon heads appearing when activated giving us a very unique alt mode. Him being part of the Cybertron line means he gets all the bonuses that legendary line was known for. Which includes a screen accurate toy, that solid plastic which never felt the same since, and an excellent face sculpt that also invokes some beasts elements like the under-bite fangs. And as I said before, wings just add so much elegance to a look and he has it here too with the beast mode shoulders flaring out to give a majestic effect. I see no faults with this toy.
Honourable Mentions: I really want to take a look back here at the incredible mythologically themed alt modes we have gotten in this brand so far. These may not have been the best but the sheer fact that we have these is incredible and adds to the cultural richness and diversity of our beloved brand.
Moon is a Transformer based on the Moon Rabbit which is a creature the Asian culture believes to be in the moon (and we can even see its shape).
A Yeti. That's right, we do have an actual Transformers toy that does transform from a (working) drill ski bike into an abominable snowman. Everyone, meet Windchill the Yeti-Bot!
Grimwing turns into an Ursagryph which is half bear half eagle and so unknown that this very toy is the most prominent example of this mythological creature.
If you like Dragons, the Beast Hunters line was filled to the brim with them, which was pretty awesome. Definitely the best dragon from the Prime Beast Hunters line was Ripclaw. It had the most complex transformation with a lot for playability for a deluxe class toy, thanks to the segmented dragon tail. The dragon mode looks the part and gives a robot mode that plays against type for female robots.
Heinlad is a tanuki but this toy isn't based on the actual animal but on the mythological interpretation since it comes with sake and has a great big pair of balls which the mythic animal is infamous for. I still can't believe that made it through but I am glad it did.
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