Transformers Site Articles News on Seibertron.com

Darth Bombshell's Thoughts on Dreamwave's Generation One More Than Meets The Eye Profile Series

Date: Saturday, January 20th 2007 6:05pm CST
Category: Site Articles
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Darth Bombshell

Permanent Link
Views: 24,465

Our latest installment in the Seibertron.com Articles Section comes from staff member Darth Bombshell. Darth Bombshell wrote this article awhile back, but has decided to share it with the rest of the Seibertron.com community. In this article Darth Bombshell shares his thoughts on Dreamwave's Generation One More Than Meets The Eye Profile Series. Without further delay here is the article:


Darth Bombshell's Thoughts on Dreamwave's Generation One More Than Meets The Eye Profile Series

In late 2002, Dreamwave announced plans for their most ambitious project yet: a series of profile book on the original Transformers that would appeal to both the current and older fans of the Generation One characters. The plan was not met with the best reviews, but I was cautiously intrigued. I felt that the series had the potential to be the most informative and enjoyable series that they had produced up until that time.

And then the problems began.

The first of these problems occurred when the first volume of their planned four issue series, set for a planned release on December 2002, was not released. Fans had thought that the project, due to the immense undertaking that it would take to produce, had fallen apart. The official word was that, in order to incorporate fan demand, the format had to be changed from a four issues bi monthly series to an eight issue monthly series. I don´t think that many fans bought this excuse. In fact, I am almost definitely sure that many fans thought that it was an excuse to explain the fact that they could not get the books out on time, a theory not at all helped by the fact that Dreamwave was, at the time, developing a history of not releasing their books on time. The last two issues of the first Generation One miniseries had arrived unacceptably late, an act most fans thought was an attempt to squeeze a second miniseries out of the various plot points left dangling at the first miniseries conclusion. This would become ironic in that none of these plots are expanded upon at all. In fact, it seemed that Brad Mick, the writer of the second miniseries, was going out of his way to ignore most of the events that had occurred in the first miniseries. In any event, most saw the restructuring of the whole project as little more than an excuse to try to attempt to construct an overall continuity to their Generation One projects.

This would inevitably lead to what would end up becoming the most well known problem that the series would be blamed for. It was decided somewhere during the series run that the final issue would include what would ultimately become something of a “bible’ for their various Generation One series. Many of the plot points described in this issue (the origin of the Triple Changers, Cybertron´s history, explanation of the various ‘Master technologies, etc.) would become the hard and fast rules for their Generation One storyline, in the War Within series, the two mini-series and the upcoming ongoing series. Unfortunately, continuity problems arose almost immediately, the most famous of which was the fact that Shockwave developed the Triple Changer technology shortly after coming back online following the events of the Great Shutdown, a plot point which would be contradicted by the first War Within series, which would show Blitzwing as part of Shcokwave´s attacking force transforming between his various three modes, supposedly before he gained the ability to do that. This would become even more convoluted by the events of War Within: The Dark Ages, which state that Shockwave was using Blitzwing as a test subject for various technologies. Granted, the former was released before a set continuity was established, but the fact that the latter attempts, and fails, to try to bring together all these seemingly confusing elements together show how restrictive setting down a straight path that all future projects must follow unerringly can get.

The quality of the writing would suffer, as well. This series was designed to give each and every Transformer character that was released in North America as a toy between 1984 and 1990 a profile. In order to do this, Adam Patyk and Brad Mick, writers of the series, had to draw from two different sources: the tech specs for these characters and the established bios written for the characters from Marvel´s “Transformers Universe’ series written almost twenty years ago. This would ultimately lead to the series having two different types of profiles: profiles that were nearly carbon copies of the original slightly rewritten to make them look different (for those characters who had previously written bios) and bios written using elements from the tech specs (for toy only characters) and bios written completely from scratch. (particularly the Micromasters)

But all of these problems seem very moot when one realized the main reason that the series was being produced: to showcase new and exciting art of the Generation One characters. All the art in the series was drawn either by Dreamwave talent (such as Pat Lee, Don Figueroa and Guido Guidi) or freelance talent hired on for the project. (such as Matt "Jackpot" Kuphaldt and Joe Ng, later to do work for Transformers Energon and the upcoming War Within: Age Of Wrath miniseries). The art, like much of the elements of the project, is a mismatch of good and bad, the most horrendous of which, unsurprisingly, comes from Pat Lee. One need look no further than his drawing of Starscream in the sixth issue to realize this fact.

The final problem that the series faced occurred, ironically, on the first page of the first issue. The whole series was based upon the fact that some unknown force was accessing this information from the Vector Sigma computer. Fan speculation ran unabated throughout the entire series run as to who this person was. The final issue revealed to us who this person was: Beast Wars Megatron. When people realized this fact, many mistakenly assumed that it would be a prelude to a Beast Wars miniseries. Although not likely at first, it was probably apparent that it was planned, the fact that a potential Beast Wars miniseries may occur (should enough fans vote for it on the upcoming Summer Special poll) confirming this fact.

In the end, despite the many problems that the series faced, it was considered one of the more popular projects undertaken by Dreamwave, and would be of use as both a encyclopedia for fans and guideline for fans. It´s popularity would lead to the creation of a “sequel’ series for Dreamwave´s other Transformers project: Transformers Armada.

It too would not be welcomed so easily, but unlike its predecessor, would not prove to be as popular.

Shelf Warmers on the Other Side of the Ocean

Date: Sunday, January 14th 2007 8:21pm CST
Category: Site Articles
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Professor Smooth

Permanent Link
Views: 44,869

We have added another article to our article section. The latest endeavor comes from our very own Professor Smooth, who has been spending a lot of time in Japan. He has written an article about Japanese Transformers Shelf Warmers. So without any more delays here is Professor Smooth's article:


Shelf Warmers on the Other Side of the Ocean

Throughout the long history of The Transformers, there has been two constants from the very beginning. Optimus may have given way to Rodimus; Powermasters may have been replaced by Actionmasters; and Beast Wars may be been replaced once again by Robots in Disguise, but no matter the premise, the gimmick, or the homage, there have always been shelf warmers. You see them all the time. Nobody wants Cybertron Defense Scattorshot. Nobody wants the Beast Wars Rhinox reissue. You can probably still find a Beastformer if you hunt around at a couple of K-Mart stores. If you're anything like me, you often pondered an alternate reality where GOOD figures, figures that someone might actually want, lined the shelves. Why should you be doomed to spend an enternity looking at unwanted mini-cons when Japan is getting figures that collectors gladly shell out for? Well, I'm here to tell you that Japan is no different. Just as there are Toys R Us stores in Japan, there are shelf warmers here too.

Yes, Seibertron.com readers, Japan has shelf warmers too. Not only shelf warmers, but peg warmers and overstock warmers as well! So what figures that you've thought about importing clog the shelves in the land of the rising sun? I've been to several Toys R Us stores and brought back a detailed report on just what the Japanese won't spend their hard earned yen on.

You may remember that Takara released Beast Machines a few years back as “Beast Wars Returns” and most of the TF shelf-space is taken up by those figures. Toys R Us Japan had the exclusive rights to sell these figures. As turns out, that means they had the exclusive rights to STOCK them because, let me tell you, they did not sell. Ultra Jetstorm and Nightscream are in WIDE supply. Rattrap and Cheetor are out in force. You'll find the occassional Optimus Primal (Blast Punch) or Megatron (Dragon) with Tank Drone, Strika, and Obsidian making occassional appearances.

Robot Masters was a popular import line when it debuted. Online retailers blew through their early stock. So too did Toys R Us Japan. However, Gigant Bomb and the Thundercracker/Skywarp 2-pack STILL hog a ton of shelf-space. Each of these figures would only set a collector back 1,000 yen (about 8.50 USD), but those collectors just aren't buying.

Galaxy Force sold out completely. There is only ONE item from the entire line that can still be found. The Blurr/Buzzsaw two-pack has that honor. Like the Robot Masters figures, they only run 1,000 yen for, but every Toys R Us has a TON of them.

Takara has had great success with their line of reissues. Re-releasing characters that fans and collectors want has had people on both sides of the Pacific snatching them up. This proved that when a hard-to-find and high-demand toy is offered again, sales are fantastic! Takara seemingly set out to prove the opposite was also true when they reissued G2 Convoy. This reissue of Laser Optimus Prime usually has an entire shelf to itself. At 4,999 yen, it's not hard to see why. Nice figure, but with MP-04 around, it's almost redudant.

There is a Binaltech figure that has clogged the shelves of every Toys R Us retailer I've been to. This will either come has a shock or a complete no brainer, depending on how you feel about the figure. It is the Japanese exclusive Binaltech Yellow Tracks figure. Takara, in al their infinite wisdom, released Tracks as a yellow 'Vette. The figure was, in short order, re-released with the correct blue color scheme and the character's signature flame-decal on its hood. Yellow Tracks, still available more than 2 years after its release at the bargain price of only 3,000 yen (26.50 USD).

The most surprising shelf-warmer, in my opinion, makes sense on further inspection. Not a single one has sold since I've been in Japan. I've checked. The award for most expensive shelf-warmer is: Masterpiece Starscream. TakaraTomy released the best Starscream figure to date. Easily surpasing the G1 and Robot Masters version of the character and arguably outdoing even Hasbro's Classics Starscream. Then, for reasons outlined by the creator in the included booklet, gave it a paint scheme that looks absolutely nothing like the character. No doubt TakaraTomy thought that the awesomeness of the mold would be enough to sell the figure. No doubt TakaraTomy thought wrong. Masterpiece Starscream is a shelf-warmer the likes of which have not been seen since Supreme Cheetor. At 7,999 yen, it doesn't look to be flying off the shelves any time soon. Fortunately, the second constant of Transformers has always been “repaints.”

"Sunstorm: New Character, or Old Trick."

Date: Saturday, January 6th 2007 7:33pm CST
Category: Site Articles
Posted by: Hotrod | Credit(s): Darth Bombshell

Permanent Link
Views: 43,234

With the new year we are going to be focusing on our article section more, bringing you more articles and reviews then ever before! To kick things off, our first new article comes from staff member Darth Bombshell and is titled "Sunstorm: New Character or Old Trick?". Darth Bombshell picked this one to answer a question posed by our own Equus Maximus. When you finish the article do not forget to check out four toy galleries of various Sunstorm toys here. Without further delay here is Darth Bombshell's article:

Sunstorm: New Character or Old Trick?

One of the things mentioned in the advertisement of the first issue of the Generation One ongoing series was that it would see the debut of a “brand one Generation One character.” When said character was revealed to be Sunstorm, a great deal of discussion arose on the subject. All this discussion stemmed from one simple question: Is Sunstorm really a new character, or is he little more than the latest tool by Dreamwave to make sure that sales of the series prove to be profitable?

For those who have no idea, Sunstorm started out life as an E-Hobby exclusive toy available from http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/. The character is meant to represent an orange seeker who appears very briefly in “More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1”. Many people consider this appearance an animation error, however, largely due to the fact that Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp were standing where he was only moments earlier. A seeker bearing the same orange color scheme would appear again in “Divide And Conquer”, in what was obviously an attempt to have three generic seekers on standby.

Despite these two appearances in the cartoon, no toy was ever made of the character during the original Transformers run. It’s not hard to see why. With characters such as Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream central figures in the cartoon, its stands that characters that played very little roles in the cartoon would not get a toy based in their likeness. The main reason for this is that the cartoon, and to a lesser extent the comic, was little more than a launching platform on which Hasbro could sell the toys. With characters like Ironhide, Jazz, Soundwave and Devastator taking up the majority of the time in both mediums, it stands to reason that Hasbro wouldn’t release a toy of a character that made very little impact in either. So, having said this, can Sunstorm be considered a true “character”? Not in any particular sense, since his appearances in the cartoon was either considered an animation errors or a filler character, in addition to not having a toy that kids would buy. Even though that is not the only way to see it, it's the way the majority of the fandom chooses to see it.

On the other hand, however, Sunstorm can truly be considered a character, just not in a way that most fans would recognize. As stated before, in 2003, Sunstorm finally had a toy made in his likeness. In this fashion, he can truly be considered a character, since he did have an appearance in the cartoon (questionable though it may be) and now has a toy to represent that appearance. However, the setback to this is that, with most fans not considering his appearances in the cartoon to be completely valid, the fact remains that the majority of the fandom continues to consider him a toy only character. And in this light, he is still not considered a “true” character. What I mean by this is that, unlike Optimus Prime and Megatron, both of who had toys as well, both of these characters had the opportunity, via both the comic and cartoon, to develop and mature into the characters that most fans nowadays are familiar with. Sunstorm had no such opportunity, and as such, can be considered to be one of those characters who never had their opportunity to shine.

Having said this, one must come to look upon the toyline from the perspective of a business executive, and not a fan. It should come as no surpised to anyone that both the cartoon and comic were merely vessels by which Hasbro could plug the toys, since it’s clearly apparent in both mediums that they were not above doing whatever it took to make sure that the toys of that year got the spotlight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Movie and in #50 of the original comic. In both issues, characters of years past were killed off (or just disappeared without explanation) to make room for the current lineup of toys crowding shelves in every major store. And due to the limitations of their respective mediums (more apparent in the comic), few of them were able to develop in an interesting or memorable way. One is not too likely to find characters past 1987 high on their lists of all time favorites.

Two of the well known exceptions are Bludgeon and Thunderwing. Both of these characters made their appearance near the end of the comic once Simon Furman took up the reigns as writer. Both of these characters were toys in the 1989 line that few people would remember were it not for Furman’s writing. He portrayed Thunderwing as a respectful leader whose obsession with finding the Creation Matrix made for one of the most compelling stories of Marvel run. With Bludgeon, Furman created quite possibly the closest thing the Decepticons could call an “honorable” warrior, who eventually became Decepticon leader after Scorponok’s death in issue 75. It’s not surprising to see that these two characters are well known and liked throughout the fandom. Their recent appearance in the Armada “World’s Collide” storyline (also written by Furman) shows how well known these characters are. For Furman to utilize characters that Armada’s target audience has no idea about opens up the possibility for him to portray them in a new and interesting way. What does this have to do with Sunstorm? Well, as a toy only character who does not have a history behind him that fans, both old and new, would recognize, Brad Mick, writer of the G1 ongoing series, can feel free to utilize and write the character in almost any way he wants to, since there is no anchor holding him back. To a majority of the audience then, he will no doubt be portrayed as if he was truly a brand new character.

However, while we have established that Sunstorm is a new character, the question of whether or not he can be considered a brand new character in the Generation One universe is still in doubt. We have established that Sunstorm, as a toy, is more or less a Transformer character. However, we have also established his lack of name recognition outside of Japan. Even if that weren’t true, there would still be a number of fans who don’t consider him a true Generation 1 character. Why? Because, to a great deal of American fans, the Generation 1 universe ended, for all intents and purposes, with the three part “Rebirth” miniseries. At this time, the toyline was more or less sliding into unpopularity, no doubt in part to the fact that its major advertising campaign had gone off the air. However, in Japan, six more Transformer series were produced: Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory, Zone, Battlestars and Operation: Combination. And while Headmasters, and Masterforce to a degree, utilized the characters seen in that years wave of American toys, by the time that Victory came along, the cast of characters was made up of toys exclusive to the Japanese market (much like Sunstorm), and are not very likely to be well known by most American fans.

Even if it were true that Japanese characters aren’t well known to American fans, that does not necessarily mean that they cannot become a part of the Generation One universe. Take Overlord for example. The character, whose first appearance was in the Japan “Masterforce” series in 1988, was made the Decepticon leader in the 1991 European assortment. The European tech spec (seen here) makes very little mention of his role in Masterforce, with the exception of his twin human partners (referred to as “Energon mini-figures”). He is not the only one to get the “import” to the Generation 1 universe. The Motorvators (Flame, Gripper and Lightspeed), were also part of the 1991 European assortment after spending most of 1989 being known as the Brainmasters Laster, Blacker and Braver in “Victory”, while the Breastmasters Drillhorn, Jaguar, Killbison and Leozak got an allegiance change and were brought over to Europe in 1992 as the “Autobot Rescue Patrol.” Since these characters were released at the same time as Sideswipe, Tracks, Bombshell and Thundercracker (as Action Masters, yes, but well known characters nonetheless), one can make the assumption that these characters have, for lack of a better term, become brand new Generation One characters.

With Sunstorm, who will be making his first "official" North American appearance in the pages of issue #1 of the ongoing Generation One Transformers series, this is perhaps the best way to explain his status as a new Generation One character. In the end, though, it does not matter, because to a great deal of the audience, he will appear to be a new character, regardless of what previous origins he may have. No matter the case, it all hangs on the shoulders of Brad Mick, whose pen is the key that will make us remember Sunstorm as we would remember Thunderwing, or causes us to blot him out for all eternity just as we do Wheelie.