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Graffitimus Prime A Seibertron.com Review of IDW Transformers Ghostbusters #3
Peter can't deal with that right now
Story
Issue #3 marks the halfway point in this 5 issue crossover of 2 beloved 1984 franchises. The Men in Beige have now met the Bot in Red and Blue, and more Ghosts have been busted.
So how does the issue stack up with the story so far? Keep reading on to find out! And if you need to catch up on the important details of the issue, check out our Database Entry!
Admit it, you can hear that siren too
Issue #3 gave us some great moments with the Ghostbusters and bots. As the issues have gone on, we have gotten some better and more enjoyable Bot to Buster interactions, and this issue continued tha trend.
I would not have guessed or even thought about this prior to the series, but Peter and Starscream make for a great comedy couple. The Starscream snark and attempts to intimidate coupled with the mouth of Peter have led to some really cool and sometimes downright hilarious moments. One of my favorite parts of the issue was Peter just casually tossing Starscream in a hidden trap because he didn't trust him, and hey, can we blame him?
Also admit this: you always hoped these 2 would come face-to-face
Ectotron has certainly made his home with the Busters as well. The jokes surrounding his name finally culminating in his (much better) rebranding was believable and fun. And then he remembers that he literally is the Ecto-1 right now, and his weariness at being the transport was fun. I also enjoyed the Ghost hunt and the blooming friendship he has with the Ghostbusters. Can the poor bot get a particle thrower already???
And I will admit, this was the major smiling moment for me
And we finally duck back to the Ark and the other Autobots. And with that trip back to Ark, I really hope we get a Grimlock on Earth with Ghosts and a Wheeljack/Egon meeting. The few pages on the Ark made it clear that there is a lot of fun to be had with some Auto-buster mashups beyond Prime and Ectotron.
The story was a good and entertaining one. There was some plot progression, some fun ghost hunting, team bonding, and of course some great Buster jokes. The Ghostbusters are a great crew, and it has been and continues to be so much fun to enjoy them like this.
Yes, story and characters are pretty good.
Art
Art duties fall once more to Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Tom B. Long on art, colors, and lettering respectively. It has been a joy to watch and look at the art for this crossover so far, and this issue continues that quality. I haven't really had a major complaint about any part of the art so far, and the quality has been nice and consistent, which is really nice considering this creative team doesn't get to draw and color Transformers much. They caught on quick!
If I had one little complaint, it would be that the other Autobots (mostly Optimus) besides Ectotron seem to possess just a little bit too much of a cartoony feel, mostly in the overly large chests. But it's a stylistic option and it is only a minor thing for the whole issue. The lines have been strong and defining, and I have loved the colors. Luis has gotten to flex his muscles with the colors of the ghosts, traps, and particle throwers. It has been one of the major art highlights of the series for me. It's great to see.
I wouldn't want to either
Conclusion
Halfway through this crossover, and I am feeling really good about this series.
The series has been a joy to read, and has provided some classic banter while throwing in some larger than life robots into the mix, with great results. It has been very lively, with every page giving you something good to take away, and has given me quite a few laughs. The chemistry here is wonderful, these were 2 franchises meant to meet each other. Keep going strong crew!
P.S. Now that we got the classic "ain't afraid of no ghost" line, bets on who says "more than meets the eye" anyone?
GenCon came and went, and with it, a ton new decks to make a massive splash in the metagame! My predictions were completely perpendicular to what actually happened, it seems, with a ton new aggressive decks to dominate the tournament standings instead of what I had figured, which was an amplified defensive presence. From Lionizer/Optimus Prime: Battlefield Legend, to General Optimus/Barrage to even Quad Cars, the entire format seemed to be catered to the offensive push.
With GenCon behind us, and a new aggressive meta unfolding before us, what are the causes of this paradigm shift? What changed from Origins to GenCon and what made people suddenly stop playing defense, and start playing offense? How will the format change in the future, deeper into the Siege meta? Let's dive in and find out!
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"Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!"
Lionizer is far and away the most obvious addition to the pantheon of aggro support in the Transformers TCG, with an astonishing Bold 4 and a weapon that not only gives Bold 4 as well but also trims the fat in your hand with Plan 1. It's a frankly disgustingly powerful card that is cheap enough to play in effectively anything you want, and powerful enough to never make you think twice about it.
The turn one play is incredibly powerful as well given that you, as Lionizer starts in robot mode, have an effectively free transformation on one of your other characters to set up for combos. You see, since he starts in his most powerful mode, you simply attack with him on the first turn of the game. That means you can devote your transformation per-turn to someone more pressing.
But that's not all that he does. You see, since he's a Battle Master, you can also equip him on an already high Bold character like Wheeljack to swing for even more damage, and since he's an Upgrade, he can also trigger Wheeljack's alternate mode effect, drawing you into better resources. It's a frankly ridiculous amount of value in Lionizer that makes him one of the most prevalent sources of aggression out of the Siege metagame.
Pressure / Pushing down on me
Pressing down on you / No man ask for
Under pressure
A less obvious cause of the more aggressive format is none other than Press The Advantage, a somewhat conspicuous card that deals quite a bit of damage to things that is consistent enough to happen when and where you want it to. But how does this little old card make its presence known so well? That has something to do with factions, and their prowess in certain categories.
If you look at the decks that are played, you can see a few things: First off, Cars are immensely prevalent due to their consistency and offensive prowess, but second off, when you have a defensive deck, it usually either features or is entirely made up of Decepticons. I mean, sure, there are exceptions in Aerialbots of course, but the vast majority of defensive decks either are comprised of or feature Decepticons. For example, Major Shockwave is usually entirely made up of Decepticons, the eponymous Double Primes from back in the day had Nemesis Prime, Tanks had an incredibly defensive (and Decepticon) setup and now Three Wide has both Flamewar and Aimless in it.
What does that tell us? Well, for one, Decepticons are probably depressed because they're blue all the time. But perhaps more importantly, it tells us that the most potent circumstances for Press The Advantage is also the most common, meaning Press The Advantage will deal far more damage to the most common defensive decks than against the most aggressive ones. And the best part? Well, it's a green pip, which means you get it pretty much whenever you need it given the fact that you have a monstrous amount of Bold, usually.
Press The Advantage might not seem it, but it's a huge reason why the meta's growing more orange than blue. But wait, if you notice, Press The Advantage only works for Autobots -- aren't we forgetting something? Huh. This is gonna bug me!
An oldie but a goodie.
Insecticons are and have always been a fantastic deck that refuses to die. Ever since the deck was printed, Insecticons have always been a powerful deck that has only gotten stronger as the days go by, but oddly enough, it uses absolutely zero of those other cards. What keeps these bugs going? Is it that they hold their breath when someone whips out the Raid? Are they juicing on steroids?
Personally, I think it has something to do with this:
"Cowabunga it is, then."
Reckless Charge is, I think, the source of this extremely aggressive metagame. If you combine this incredibly powerful card with a Grenade Launcher (or any weapon for that matter) you'll be getting around +8 damage on one of your characters, around 2/3 of a character's HP before flips and before factoring in your base stats, not counting what Battlefield Legend can do when playing a free Action.
Doing +4 damage on an orange pip creates an immensely powerful card that doesn't really have too much of a downside when you consider that most aggressive decks are usually pretty fine with getting either one-hit or have enough HP that the 3 damage recoil doesn't affect them too much. Put it this way: If you're using Reckless Charge, you don't care about the recoil effects.
When you consider that Lionizer and Firedrive are Battle Masters and thus don't care about being attacked, or dying for that matter, Reckless Charge creates a practically unparalleled amount of damage with a frankly irrelevant recoil effect. Isn't this familiar, though?
If you think about it, One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall could be regarded as the same card but a little worse in some regards. Okay, yeah, sure, one is direct damage and the other is a stat boost and they're used mostly for different reasons, but consider this: When you're not using One Shall to target a different character, you're using it to target a character that you're about to attack. You could essentially say that you're increasing your attack damage to that character by +3 and taking 3 damage in recoil. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? With that in mind, wouldn't you rather do one more damage and have an orange pip while also taking the recoil damage after the attack instead of before?
That's my point. Reckless Charge is an immensely powerful card; so immense that it is actually better in some circumstances than a blank pipped card. I think that, as a whole, there is no other card in the game that could attest to growing the offensive power of the game more than Reckless Charge. Nothing else comes close, not even Bashing Shield. Sure, Bashing Shield is a fantastic supplement to that power, but not everyone has a Force Field on them or even in their decks, so it's a strong card, but not as strong as Reckless Charge is.
So, what are we gonna do about it? Just have more oranges until we make Minute Maid jealous? Or perhaps we should wait until the next set and hope that things cool off?
Not if I can help it!
This is a little something I've been working on for quite a while, and I've found that it's one of the most powerful decks that I have created thus far. Ladies, gentlemen, all of my discerning fleshbags, feast your eye-holes on SkyStick!
3 Infiltrate (B)
3 Point Defense System (Blk)
3 Take Cover (B)
1 Laser Cutlass (B)
Skywarp from Wave 1 is probably one of the most forgotten characters in the entire game. Sure, he was printed to be the six star, third member of the Seeker trio, but when you consider that he did practically nothing for that entire list, you start to wonder just what kind of list he should be played in.
Here's a refresher on what he does:
His vehicle mode is one of the most useless things in the game, and he'd probably be better off blank. But, when you consider his robot mode, you start to see where I'm going with this. You see, Skywarp defends attacks and stacks his defensive power using Flamewar and Reinforced Plating, but just when he's about to take the far reduced damage, you can instead choose to move it off him and onto one of your patsies -- erm, teammates if you flip a white pip. You play plenty of white pips, so you'll get it effectively every time.
You see, that's what is so amazing about this deck. You reduce your opponent's damage by an incredible margin, and you force them to attack into Skywarp using Hiding Spot, Bravery and psychology in general. You start the game attacking with Nightstick and transforming Flamewar to robot mode, forcing your opponent to attack into Nightstick. They will almost definitely not one-hit him thanks to his effects as a Battle Master (of which can boost Skywarp's defensive prowess even more than it already is) and your defensive list in general. This leaves you to transform and attack with Skywarp, ideally with an Armor, effectively giving your opponent the choice of either attacking into a defensive tank or into a Battle Master a second time.
But how do you win the game? You can't just sit in one spot and do nothing forever. Well, that, my friend, is why you play Blue/Black. Dealing Pierce damage through black pips, Cutlass and Piercing Blaster can whittle your opponent down to nothing, one bite at a time. Your patsies aren't just an effectively extended health pool for Skywarp -- they can pack a punch.
And how will you do all of this? Well, that's where Detour comes in. Being a Micromaster, he has a tap effect. This tap effect, however, involves drawing two cards, which can be extremely useful into drawing into Bravery, which can force your opponent into attacking Skywarp for as long as it remains in play. Of course, you won't always need that Bravery when Skywarp has Nightstick eventually attached to him; your opponent may very well just attack him outright given that he's the largest threat on the battlefield.
Speaking of making him a threat, did I mention that Tote can untap him and allow you to attack with him a second time, scrapping Smoke Cloaks and Hiding Spots from your hand that you don't need anymore? Because Tote can do that thing.
SkyStick is one of my favorite decks at the moment. It's practically invincible, you play enough disruption to care little about what your opponents do on their turn, but if you eventually find that your opponent is simply too Bold for your own good, simply side out Nightstick for Acid Storm and watch them squirm. As it turns out, Lionizer isn't really a threat when he does zero damage. Of course, if it's Aerialbots you're afraid of, simply side in a Take Cover and Point Defense System and watch as they combine for no reason at all, reducing practically all of their damage to nothing.
SkyStick can still be beaten, of course, and it usually happens if you go second against an aggressive deck that can can do upwards of 12-14 damage on their first turn, potentially KOing Skywarp (or coming close enough for him to be KO'd outside of combat through direct damage). In fact, direct damage as a whole is entirely annoying for SkyStick, which is why I play Take Cover. If it ever becomes too much of an issue, however, it is definitely worth swapping out Acid Storm for Motormaster in your Sideboard since he effectively stops that from happening for the rest of the game.
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CONCLUSION
The format has never looked more aggressive, with an influx of powerful decks like Quad Cars, Lionizer Cars, General Optimus/Barrage and Lionizer/Optimus Prime: Battlefield Legend making strong things even stronger. In fact, Aerialbots did make a showing at GenCon, and all of them did rather poorly compared to the aggressive decks around them. Now, what does that say about this format, then? Is it some congealed mass of the same three decks? Is it some monotone, horridly homogeneous metagame?
No, it's not. In fact, this is one of the most diverse character metagames we've ever had, with oodles of combinations to work with. But does that mean that it's also diverse in deck creation? That's where things get a little dicey, with only a little variation in terms of pips, Weapons, Actions and everything in between. This is where the game could use some improvement, and I look forward to seeing what will come in the next set to aid the diversity of deck creation.
What say you? Will you be using orange, aggressive decks for the remainder of this season to try and get your invite to the Energon Invitational? Or will you go against the grain and go blue? Will you take SkyStick out for a spin or does a death from a thousand cuts seem too slow for your taste? Whatever you pick, let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next one!
Spoilers and new character appearances will be referenced below
If you read issue 7 (the last one I reviewed) and wanted more shots of bots talking while walking up stairs, then you will be tickled pink with this issue. The first few pages are all about stairs and talking.
But that is far from the most boring part, because after Bumblebee and Elita One protect Megatron as he is going up some stairs, we get several pages dedicated to the meeting Megatron attends. This is easily the most exciting scene since the Jedi meetings from the Phantom Menace.
I know comparing something to the Star Wars prequels is old and tired by now, but that is really the best comparison to reading this comic. Not only are the scenes and their pacing ridiculously similar to what we saw in Star Wars Episode 1, but this whole concept of exploring a time before the era we know just brings the comparison home. There was even a scene with a drawn out discussion where the word "Decepticon" is being created before our eyes that reminded me of when Medichlorians were explained to young Anakin.
This same council meeting scene also brought upon loads of complaints from me about this series as a whole and what it was. We have some really deep cuts with an appearance of Heretech, a character only ever seen in the previous IDW universe (I once covered his first appearance in a special feature), and I find his appearance aggravating on a narrative/world building level. Is he any different to the character he was (or will become) in the previous IDW comic? Because if he is not, then why should I care about seeing him here. And yet, if this is the same character we know, then what is the point of all this being a new universe anyway? In the end, this series is just an unexplored era of the previous IDW universe through a different lens while adding inconsistencies and boredome, just like the Star Wars prequels.
Does that mean this issue is all bad? Well, there is one good aspect with the introduction of Shockwave. Of course, this comes with the reveal that indeed nothing is new here and bad guys are bad while good guys are good, but at least we get Shockwave. And a well written Shockwave at that. I love how he was always a Decepticon simply because that's where his interests lined up more than any loyalty to Megatron himself and we see that here again. I do see the irony in me complimenting how this issue is now becoming completely complacent with the characters as we know them, but there is also a cathartic sense that we can now move on and no longer pretend that we are doing anything different.
Once again, we have 3 artists contributing to the book and there is no order to it. Just look at the how the comic is organized:
I would say my favourite of the bunch was Mcguire-Smith. I liked their depiction of Shockwave and it's the segment of the comic that I felt the colourist (Josh Burcham in this instant) and artist gelled best together. Of course we do also get shots of Siege Megatron's tank mode which looks ridiculous in comic form with the feet sticking out. The fact that the tank barrel isn't included in the drawings only makes it look worse.
The covers available feature Beth Mcguire-Smith as the main cover artist. Thomas Deer drew the Starscream cover that has been associated to this issue since solicits. This Mohawk artist from near my hometown in Canada has been colouring Transformers comics for a while and it is great to have him contribute a cover. Jeffrey Veregge does the cover for the retailer incentive variant.
As always, you can also find images of all of the book's covers along with full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers #10.
Verdict
I didn't like this issue and it highlighted other problems I have with the series as a whole. It just doesn't feel like something worth spending our time and money on, especially when similar themes have been explored before and done better. At the same time, there was some comfort in characters finally showing their true colours and the fact that any pleasantries with this book being "a bold new era" would be put aside. I would have loved something new and exploring themes set up by James Roberts, but if this is what we are getting out of it, might as well just stick to the well known formula of good vs evil. As boring as it sounds, it can't be more boring than this.
"Is it Fear or Courage that compels you fleshling?"
The time has come, and MPM-08 Movie Masterpiece Megatron is arriving in-hand for all the movie fans (and hopefully more fans elsewhere) to enjoy. As a huge movie fan myself, I could not wait for this figure. I was more excited for this figure than I was for any other figure this year, including MP-43 Beast Wars Megatron, Ectotron, and even MPM-09 Jazz. This specific Megatron has a very special place in my heart, and I really wanted it to be good.
So is it?
In the famous words of another Megatron: Yessssss
Let's start just by looking at this robot mode head on. The figure is faultless. The design is dead on to the original Movie Megatron design. It's also both cool and important because this is the first mainline figure to utilize that Movie 1 design since the first movie itself.
Let's take a look.
The robot mode is tall, hefty, and imposing. He looks like he walked right off the 2007 theatre.
Now take a look at that headsculpt! That is a mean Megatron face right there, captured in gorgeous detail and with some well placed paint to help it stand out. The mouth is posable, and it looks great open or closed. They nailed it.
And take a look at how tall he is! This Masterpiece figure is as tall as a Prime Wars Combiner, which is really impressive.
Looking around the figure some more, there is a backpack on him, but honestly considering the design, I think this is as close as they could get to minimizing it. The good thing is that backpack is only really noticeable once you start moving around to view him from behind, and it blends in fairly well from a back view.
Also, while we are around back, take a look at the weapon storage. The gun tabs in down behind his waist, and the flail piece pegs into the gun and the back stabilizer wing.
And here we have my favorite of his accessories: the Allspark. I have wanted one of these since the movie came out, and it is awesome to see it here. The cube is very intricately detailed, and is painted a beautiful silver.
The cube itself can fit into Megatron's chest, so you can recreate his famous 2007 Death Scene, or maybe just pretend he is powered up on it. either way, that translucent red plastic in his chest is fantastic looking.
Since we are now on accessories, take a look at that flail. Now, this is one of the few down points about this figure that I have. The flail is made of soft plastic, so while he can swing it around and pose it, it is subject to the laws of gravity, so you can't get all the poses you want out of it, such as a mid-air flying flail. But it is still a nice piece, and I appreciate that they recreated the movie where he literally pulls his hand out of his arm into a flail.
His final accessory is his cannon. Now the cannon has 2 forms. The first is a blaster mode, where it replaces one of his hands and forms a pretty wicked looking gun hand. It makes a nice companion piece to his other hand has a flail.
The other form is that of his dual-handed fusion cannon, as seen in the first movie when he blasts Optimus. I really like the way they have it wielded and how it perfectly recreates his pose from the movie. I appreciate the effort they put into making it a single hand gun as well as a dual-handed cannon.
Posing Megatron is also really fun. His fingers are all articulated, the head has multiple hinges to move around wherever you need it to go, and the arms and legs are very posable. The ankle tilts are a bit of an issue. He has some good ankle tilts with a lot of movement, but they have a soft tab area where they are either right upright or they are free to move and tilt, which limit his shallower ankle tiltage.
Before we get to comparisons, one last thing: he has spectacular light piping.
So for some comparisons, here we have him beside his original voyager toy from 2007, his recent Revenge of the Fallen Studio Series toy, and the other Movie Masterpiece figures that have been released since the 2nd Bumblebee figure of the line.
Breaking the mold of the larger Movie Masterpiece figures, Megatron's transformation is really fun! It takes less time to transform him than any of the other Movie Masterpiece figures, and he is far less finicky than any of the others too. It is fun to transform him, and it's not much of a chore.
The jet mode is a really nice looking alien jet mode too. Unlike a large portion of the fandom, I really like his 2007 jet mode, visible head and all. This is a lean and mean Megatron ready to batter you into submission. And the visible head makes his jet mode pretty darn scary when you see it flying at you.
It's also a very heavy robot, and the jet mode is not only huge in size, but you can feel the weight when you pick it up. The die cast is included in his midsection and his feet, so the weight is faily nicely distributed throughout, and the die cast in the middle of the jet mode fits in great with the plastic surrounding it, really giving Megatron a metal jet heart.
He also does a fairly good job of blending his robot parts in with the jet parts. While the robot parts are not fully hidden away, they add to his mean jet aesthetic, with the fingers giving the nose a pointy feel, and his feet looking like massive jet boosters.
He also has some good weapon storage in this mode. The blaster tucks away between his robot mode feet, and blends in flawlessly with the back of the jet. The flail is a little less subtle, pegging in beside the jet. But at least it has somewhere to go.
And here we have his jet mode beside his 2007 self and some recent Studio Series Constructicons. His jet mode is absolutely massive.
So the final verdict on Megatron: He is spectacular. He was such an anticipated figure, and he lived up to expectations. He is massive, accurate, posable, and fun to play with. Robot mode can move and is beautiful, the transformation is fun, and the jet mode is absolutely gigantic. He's heavy, and he's tight.
He has a few weak spots. The ankle tilts could use a little bit better and smoother movement, the fingers could be made of a little bit more sturdy plastic, and the flail could have been made stiffer and segmented for posing. But those are minor points considering how much is excellent about this figure.
As the 2007 Megatron voyager was my first ever Transformer, I have been waiting a long time for this update. And I could not be happier with it. They nailed this Megatron, finally giving proper justice for the first Megatron many of us got to see and love.
Another Month, another round of fantastic homemade work from the many Seibertronians who give their time and effort to create some awesome pieces of fiction, art, and tutorials for all of us to enjoy! Check out what all hit our Transtopia Section in June of 2019, and let us know what you think of it all below, or in the threads that each piece comes from!
Fan Fiction Home to the creative authors of Seibertron.com's Transtopia
Dead End zoomed across Kaon Plaza as an unfamiliar figure pursued him. A flurry of missiles battered the Plaza's front by the pursuer's friends as its citizens fled. After thankfully hiding in a small corridor, Dead End looked up the pursuer's body type and stats and discovered it was the Knight Steelbane. His heart raced for he knew the Knights of Iacon were practically unstoppable.
At Tarix Station, now designated as Command Outpost One, Predacons were readying for their assault. Gigastorm was prepped and en route to the the nearest Space-bridge, over Nebulos. Onboard Ramhorn was briefing Snapdragon and Apeface on their missions. The two large bots listened with little attention. Their focus was on their roles to be played. Because of their alt-modes they carried the honor of delivering the warheads to their intended targets.
“Those Insecticons chewed me up pretty good Doc,” Sunstreaker smirked from the operating slab. “For a moment there I was afraid that you would run out of polymer-steel plating and you would have to finish my repairs using sub-standard materials.”
“I scrounged around and found a few scraps in Huffer’s old workshop. I almost walked right over ‘em,” Ratchet chuckled. “Huffer never marked anything during his whole function cycle! He always relied on the sensors in his fingertips to identify everything from trithyllium steel to tin-foil.”
“It’s a shame how he met his manufacturer—being dismantled by Seekers and all—I wouldn’t wanna go out that way.”
“Better a shot to the Spark, hmm? Like you did Downshift?”
“How do you know about that?”
Ratchet picked up something off of his tool tray and held it in front of Sunstreaker’s face. “With this... a recorder chip wired directly into your optics. I installed it when Prime ordered me to check your cerebrals, right after I found out that you terminated Camshaft for no reason at all... other than the reason you formulated in your head. Everything you saw in Demon Swamp, I was also able to see on Teletraan-1’s monitor screen.”
"Galvatron!" a commanding but distorted voice called out of the darkness, echoing around the Predacon Leader as he looked around the void that surrounded him.
"Who,...who said that?" he called out in a nervous tone, the voice not recognisable to him.
'Who was that? I could not make it out, but surely it wasn't Megatron.' he thought as he stood there in the blackness.
"Galvatron!" it called out once more, but again it was so distorted and without direction, Galvatron could not make out where it originated from. So he began walking through the darkness like a blind man as he reached out ahead of himself with his hands, hoping that he could grasp whatever was calling to him.
Photo Blitz This is where you can post your pictures of Transformers in whatever fashion you like.
And that's it for the month folks! Like what you see or read? Be sure to leave a comment and let our creators know! Looking to share your own creations? Please do! We'll be back in a months time for the next round up from our Transtopia forums!
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 Non Screen/Show Accurate Transformers Toys
The idea of owning a part of what you are a fan of is integral to the idea of collecting action figures. And of course, it is important for the object representing what we love to be as faithful as possible. I do remember being disappointed as a kid with the mutant heads on Beast Wars toys so much that I would remove them on Megatron and Dinobot, so even for kids accuracy to a show or movie can be important. However, there are some toys which are still pretty awesome even though they may have major inaccuracies and we will look at the best examples now.
There was very little discrepancy between show models and toys for Beast Wars after the first season, which was great for kids. Tigerhawk was a glaring exception though. It’s not that the differences are numerous but more that they are very obvious and in your face. With this character being a combination of Tigertron and Airrazor, I understand the toy designers wanting to integrate both the alt mode heads in the alt mode, with a hawk battle mask going over the organic tiger head making Tigerhawk look a lot like one of those He Man battle cat toys. That was probably too goofy for the show, which ignored this and gave Tigerhawk a more streamlined look of a flying mechanical tiger with no Hawk head. It definitely makes the toy look way off compared to the show model, but it doesn’t stop the toy from being awesome and having excellent play value. I really like those wing missiles.
Beast Machines will always be one of the oddest eras of Transformers with a show that people are still split on, on show transformations that were closer to morphing than changing parts, and a toyline that looked very different from the show with no sense of scale. Case in point, the toy which looks the most like the Tankor we see on the show is a small unimposing tank drone. We do have a bigger Tankor toy (called Tankor) in the toyline and while it does not look like the show it is one of my favourite toys. Especially with being even more complex than the animation shows him to be by having one head/cockpit for each of his modes.
I only realized waaaay later that the three combining components of Tripredicus were supposed to be the three characters we see on the show. It’s not obvious (especially for a kid) since the three seen in shadows would not have beast modes, and the headsculpts don’t look like the three toys we did get. Plus, it’s not like the Magnaboss components were seen on the show (as part of any Maximal government). It doesn’t stop Tripredicus from being one of the best combiners we ever got of course.
In the later half of the 2000s, here was a big change in Transformers toys where the animated models were created independently of the toys (and have been ever since). Of course, toy designers could get a look at what the artists were working on but since a toy cycle is 2 years, there was a lot of changes from when a toy designer gets a model and what we see in the film. Add to that the fact that toy designers had never dealt with such complex designs as the live action ones and we ended up with an odd first batch of movie toys looking very different than what we saw onscreen. A great example was Optimus Prime, whose toy was much blockier than the onsceen model. But it was still a phenomenal toy with a very different transfomation scheme for Optimus, where the legs are in the front of the cab and not the back, and a new level of complexity we had not been privy to before. Plus, it being blocky made this toy a perfect hybrid easing us in on both the new types of transformations schemes and the new movie aesthetic.
While Hasbro had obtained the license to sell a Macross toy as part of their Transformers line, the show had to change the look of the toy, especially in alt mode. So what you see on the show is very different than the sleek sexy jet we got with the toy. I don’t think too many kids minded though, especially since the toy looked so awesome. And we all know Jetfire is easily one of the best toys of the G1 era.
I am not a huge fan of this toy but I can't deny how lovely the jet mode is. Of course, the perfection of the jet mode means the robot mode ends up with a lot of kibble and not looking as close to the G1 model as the previous Masterpiece mold, Optimus Prime, did. And of course, the colours were completely off.
GenCon is coming up next week, and with it comes a whole new meta with not just the Siege cards but also the slew of promos we got over the San Diego Comic Con weekend! Sure, not everyone was able to get them, but many people were, and that means you're likely to see a whole bunch of people trying on Soundwave or the Omnibots on for size. Not only that, but with the advent of black pips making Pierce not just an easily reachable damage cap, but a powerful damage effect for defensive decks with low attack totals. With these new additions to the meta, how will the meta shift before GenCon begins and what should you play at the game fair? Let's dive in!
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META PREDICTIONS
I think, as a whole, the entire format is going to slow down thanks to the black pip, Battle Masters and an increased reliance on Bold for more offensive decks to be countered easily by Acid Storm. But does that mean that the format has a bad case of the "blues"? Well, not exactly. Let me explain by going into the first deck that I'd like to cover, which is Aerialbots.
Aerialbots wrote:Silverbolt -- Aerialbot Leader (5*)
Skydive -- Air Warfare Specialist (5*)
Fireflight -- Sky High Recon (5*)
Air Raid -- Reckless Flyer (5*)
Alpha Bravo -- Airborne Special Ops (5*)
This is what, I think, an average Aerialbot list is going to look like. At least, this is what I would play if I were going to make the trip to GenCon. You might want to put a few more black pips in there to start with, such as Hiding Spot to effectively force your opponent to attack Skydive as much as possible, but generally speaking this is what an average list will look like in many cases with the only exception being a few cards in the sideboard.
Before we get into that, let's dive into the main list. Basically, you already play quite a few cards that give you Pierce in the first place. Playing a few black pips will help maximize the amount of Pierce you can do without bogging down your flips with potentially bad defensive flips. This is why Smoke Cloak and Steady Shot are both so powerful. Not only do they allow you to play fairly solid cards during your turn with Steady Shot being the major player in that regard, but you will never be sad to see them flip given the fact that they have both a black pip for offense and a blue for defense. They are both very solid cards, and if you're playing Blue/Black you should definitely be playing them.
So, all that aside, the rest of the list is fairly average. The exception is that I put a few interesting cards in the sideboard for your consideration, including Infiltrate for the aggro matchups as well as Omega Supreme for everything else.
Optimus will likely be the general side-in for most cases, having incredible utility and power and will often just out-value your opponent especially with cards like Marksmanship, Steady Shot, Inferno Breath and more in your deck to help increase his damage even further than you already will be with a Noble's Blaster. Plus, in a defensive list, he'll be incredibly hard to take down, especially with Fireflight using Brave to keep the major heat off him. Fireflight is so good, in fact, that I included a character in the sideboard for you to consider just because of his versatility.
You see, Omega Supreme really likes it when his partner is attacked instead of him. Omega's HP isn't as large as Metroplex, but if you only take two at a time and your partner defends the rest of it, well, you'll be lasting a long time to make the most of your powerful offensive potential. Since Fireflight has Brave, you can put Reinforced Plating on him (as well as Enemy Combat Analysis if you're facing the mirror) and you can force your opponent to attack him, dealing minimal damage thanks to Fireflight's defensive upgrades, which you can then move off to Omega to make the both of them last.
Omega is a lot like starting the game with Superion in play. Sure, sometimes that's not for the best and you'd be missing out on the time and value that your other parts give you, but sometimes the matchup just requires it, especially against Mirror. I think that Omega is super underrated in this metagame, and I think that the slower the format gets, the more viable he becomes. In fact, you can even use UFO to get even more value out of him, but even I think that might be a bit much, investment-wise.
--
Forgotten, but not lost.
Speaking of underrated cards, I'd like to point out possibly the most underrated card out of Wave 1: Aerial Recon. Aerial Recon has been an absolute boon in my playtesting thanks to not only its scry effect, but its defensive boost on a Utility. Sure, it's an orange pip and that makes me only a little sad, but when you consider the fact that you're going to be defending that much more damage on cards like Fireflight on a practically immovable Upgrade thanks to its Utility nature, Aerial Recon finds its value extremely quickly.
Plus, if you happen to swing for more Pierce than attack, it is always nice to flip one offensively to give yourself that extra oomph to get the job done. But that said, it is an orange pip which means that there's a pretty good chance that you'll flip it at the wrong time, potentially messing up your defense of a powerful attack. Think of it like playing a blank card in your deck, of which this plays none. You can use Aerial Recon to powerfully boost your defensive stats, and when you get to keep it, you get to put it on Superion to boost his stats even more than your Armor already is.
If you're playing Aerialbots, try this card out. You won't regret it.
--
The meta has certainly slowed thanks to the introduction of the black pip with Siege, but I'd like to point out that it hasn't slowed down to a crawl, at least not yet. With the introduction of Siege, the "old guard" of Insecticons and Cars can certainly look different in their updated forms. Will that updated form lead to wins against decks like Three Wide Primes and the new Shockwave deck that seems to be on the rise? Well, let's take a look at a list for each of them and see for ourselves:
2 Backup Plan (W)
2 Bashing Shield (O)(G)
3 Erratic Lightning (O)
2 Flamethrower (O)
3 Force Field (W)
3 Grenade Launcher (O)
3 I Still Function!
3 Improvised Shield (O)(O)
2 Mining Pick (O)
3 Peace Through Tyranny (O)
3 Power Punch (O)
3 Reckless Charge (O)
2 Static Laser of Ironhide (O)
3 Supercharge (O)
3 Swarm! (O)
Sideboard
Chop Shop - Sneaky Insecticon (6*)
3 Bad Attitude
3 Repair Bay (O)
2 Frag Toss (W)
2 Enforcement Batons (O)(G)
The Insecticon list hasn't changed much over the eons, but that's kind of the beauty of it. You see, when you have the massive amount of power that the Insecticons have, you don't really need to consider too much in terms of what to play outside of things that increase your damage. In fact, the mainboard for the Insecticons hasn't changed at all from my Origins list. That said, however, with the advent of Acid Storm and Dampening Field being popular sideboards to counter the Insecticon playstyle, you need to play a few things to ease the burden.
For example, if you happen to face off against an Acid Storm or a W-5 deck, you would end up dropping the Flamethrower and either Supercharge or Bashing Shield for Frag Toss as well as adding the spicy Enforcement Batons. You see, Frag Toss gets you a nice bit of Action damage that can not only function as extra Swarms in your deck, but also functioning as another way to activate Barrage's robot mode effect. You play this especially over One Shall Stands because it isn't a blank card. I've spoken at length about how I dislike blank cards and how they can mostly hurt you in the long run, but thanks to the fact that Frag Toss has a white pip, you can play it without worrying too much about your deck's pip consistency.
Enforcement Batons, however, are certainly an interesting add-in even by my standards. Let's dive into why I love this highly underutilized card:
--
"STOP RESISTING!"
The sticks of fury strike true! Yes, Enforcement Batons are actually a very, very good addition into sideboards going into GenCon. You see, as a whole, the metagame has slowed down thanks to better defensive cards. But in many cases, W-5 Blaster is honestly extremely powerful at not just stopping Bold effects, but also stopping Kickback from, well, existing. You see, when you have Kickback who flips cards to get his value, only flipping a certain amount of cards makes him ultimately worse. Plus, Battle Masters like Nightstick and Lionizer are frankly ridiculous at getting value, especially used in tandem with characters like Battlefield Legend or similarly strong characters.
That's why Enforcement Batons are so strong. You see, by using them as effectively a Bashing Shield for Battle Masters like Nightstick, you're going to get an immense amount of value out of it. Plus, when it has outlived its usefulness, you aren't exactly losing anything offensively with the orange pip and +1 Attack. Of course, it isn't like you're gaining anything offensively, either, but you're still getting rid of those pesky Nightsticks, Lionizer and even Ion Blaster of Optimus Prime.
Did I mention that it's a green pip so you can do this pretty much whenever you need to? Because it's a green pip that you can use pretty much whenever you need to.
Sadly, there isn't much in the way of removal for W-5 Blaster insofar as something as strong as Bashing Shield. With the advent of Personal Targeting Drone as well as Device Virus, one could make the case that simply using those would make an easy removal. That would be a lie, of course, simply because Personal Targeting Drone is awful. However, Crushing Size could be a savior in that regard. Getting to draw a card in the down-time of when your opponent is not playing a W-5 is quite a powerful effect, and being a white pip is certainly not a bad thing for consistency. But, that said, Crushing Size doesn't have a green pip, so you can be sure that you'll seldom have it when you want it.
Could Crushing Size be the savior Kickback has been waiting for?
Probably not. But it's a nice thought!
--
Cars wrote:Private Downshift -- Special Ops, Security Agent (8*)
Wheeljack -- Weapon Inventor (9*)
Prowl -- Military Strategist (6*)
23/25
2 Mounted Missiles (O)(O) (2*)
3 Confidence (O)
3 Supercharge (O)
3 Reckless Charge (O)
2 Press the Advantage (O)(G)
2 Start Your Engines (B)
2 Backup Plan (W)
3 Peace Through Tyranny (O)(O)
3 Grenade Launcher (O)
3 Erratic Lightning (O)
3 Power Punch (O)
3 Turbo Boosters (O)
3 Field Communicator (W)
2 Bashing Shield (O)(G)
Sideboard
Cliffjumper -- Renegade Warrior (8)
2 Heroic Team-Up (2*)
2 Enforcement Batons (O)(G)
1 Press the Advantage (O)(G)
3 Force Field (W)
2 Heat of Battle (W)
Cars is still a strong mid-range deck that features consistent damage output, though not quite as powerful as Insecticons in the raw damage department, that makes up for it with moderate defensive capabilities that translate into more attacks during the untap phase.
Sadly, the major cause for your defeats usually revolve around someone out DPS-ing you. In other words, you get one-hit on the first turn of the game by an Insecticon and you end up losing the aggression battle. It's why Cars has always had an awful matchup against Insecticons and other, similarly aggressive decks.
That's where Downshift comes in. The Omnibot may be part of the Comic Con booster pack, and without his two compatriots he may seem under-powered, but the simple fact that he can attach a free Weapon to himself on the first turn of the game, then give himself Bold 1 is frankly ridiculous value, especially on the first turn of the game.
Let's dive into that for a little bit:
--
Upshift, amiright?
On the first turn, you can attach a Grenade Launcher to Downshift, giving him 8 Attack with Bold 1 on the first turn of the game. Something is going to die, especially against things like Lionizer, Insecticons and Aerialbots where the average HP is usually low.
The thing you need to consider, though, is that with your newfound power, you also have a lower Star Count which you can increase your deck power with. Mounted Missiles not only help you increase your pip strength, but they also increase your Weapon count to make the turn one play that much easier. Even better, you increase your potential damage by attaching it to Downshift's Utility slot, opening up your weapon slot for an even more powerful weapon.
But that's not all! You see, Downshift also happens to be a Car that Upgrades itself, making Wheeljack incredibly happy in that you can use Downshift to Upgrade himself, draw a card and then potentially discard a Weapon to not only buff Downshift but also activate Wheeljack's Robot Mode ability at the same time.
If you managed to get a Comic Con pack, you need to try this combo. Sure, he doesn't do as much damage as Bumblebee in the mid-game, and he lacks the draw power of Bumblebee, but his early game potential has the ability to completely annihilate a character before your opponent even gets to use them.
I absolutely adore Downshift in Cars for that reason, and you should too. Sure, yes, it is part of the Comic Con Pack and that makes it exclusive, but the point is, there are way more uses for the Omnibots than just their own composition.
--
CONCLUSION
GenCon starts on the 1st of August, and with it comes a new metagame. With the powerful additions of black pips, Omnibots and even the Cassettes, the meta is growing steadily, but that's not all. The meta is also steadily refining itself. This is where rogue decks can finally make purchase.
With a large card pool and more refined field, rogue decks or rogue derivatives of meta decks can shift the matchups that their derivatives normally had. That combined with the sideboard can create a vastly more creative metagame, and one that I can barely contain my excitement for.
I cannot wait to see what comes out of GenCon. With the meta slowing down slightly, you can play different, less conventional lists. In fact, I'd be interested to see if Dreadwing or even Black Constructicons make a showing, but that's probably just wishful thinking.
Sadly, I decided not to attend GenCon this year. I already have my invite to the Energon Invitational, and aside from clout and maybe a bit of money if I do well enough, there isn't too much reason to "grinch" people out of their invite. You'll just have to manage without my ugly mug this time around!
What do you think will be at GenCon this year? What kind of decks will make the best showing? Are you considering other decks with single Omnibots or do you think that they can only be viable as the full squad? Let me know in the comments below, and I will see you next time!
Fellow Seibertronians we have a feast for your eyes. Our troops on the floor have been dodging blaster fire and snapping pics every chance they get! Press events, shifty characters, fancy dangerous breakfasts have all tried to bring our team down but to no avail! We're bringing you nice full galleries from each respective hot spot of our fandom from the 'Con.
Click on any of the below links or images to go to the corresponding gallery. Enjoy the images and as always share your view with the Seibertron crew in the forum.
Carry on my Wayward Son A Seibertron.com Review of IDW Transformers Ghostbusters #2
So, are you ready to believe us?
The Road So Far
After a pretty dang nice opening to the series, Issue 2 of Transformers Ghostbusters Ghosts of Cybertron lands! Does it live up to the first issue? Or does it fall into the pitless void that many issue #2's have? well, let's find out!
Hopefully no one died reading issue 1 and reads this one as a ghost
Issue 2 pretty much takes place entirely in 1 staging area, with a short jump to a secondary location. And while that may seem like a boring setup, it is actually a nice get-together with some nice introductions to group dynamics and also some set up for later issues, without being too overly convoluted and boring.
The Ghostbusters crew takes center stage this issue, and the Ghostbuster fan inside me was delighted with how they all played out together: Egon with his wonderful scientific skepticism, Peter as the wise cracker who definitely gets the best on-liners, Winston as the more grounded member who also gets some great one-liners, and Ray who leads the team and tries his best to handle the situation around him. The group dynamic is strong and fun, and I really hope the Ghostbusters fandom is happy, because I am.
I'd be more excited if we got free Proton Packs
On the Transformers side of things, we only get 2 characters for most of the book, but we get a better feel for Eck and what he's been up to and what he normally deals with and how important the current mission is for him. We also get some awesome Starscream, and he certainly lives up to the Ghostbusters expectations!
Come on Starscream, I'm trying to make you look good!
We also get a flashback to the introduction of issue 1, showing the effects of Gozer unleashed. We also get some classic Decepticon moments, and a few more nice 86 movie homages in ways that are very much different but entertaining.
While it may not seem like much was done, the group as a whole felt like a good fun ride, and it has helped set up Eck as a member of the team and also gives us some more prompts and questions, making you wonder where things are truly meant to go in this book
Art
Dan Schoening impressed me in issue 1 of the series, and he follows up issue 1 with an equally as fun issue 2. It's fun to see the cartoon aesthetic attached to Eck, though I still insist that the robot heads are a bit too small for their bodies. But that is a minor thing, I can't be too hard on a guy who is drawings Transformers with almost no experience doing so, especially when his Ghostbusters crew has a great style themselves. It's hard for the bots to blend in with that, OK?
But Starscream really shines and he is my favorite of the Transformers half of the party, as is a little surprise guest that I will leave you folks with finding out who that is.
The Ghostbusters crew look good as well, and I really appreciate the facial expressions they have. If tiny robot heads are the weakness, the human facial expressions are the strengths. Well done Dan, I love seeing the smirks, the grins, the "sigh here we go again" looks. It's fun to look at! The backgrounds fill out the artwork well too.
Heed his warning, or he'll talk, and you already can't be talked to death because you're a ghost
Colors are shining once more thanks to Luis Antonio Delgado, and the proton streams and the surprise character are real shining points for the colors. Give me some more of that please! I really appreciate the background trees as well. It is a simple matter relatively speaking, but a very nice feature.
Lettering is done by Tom B. Long, and he continues his great work allowing us to view all the joys of the issue and giving us some great angry Starscream spirit.
In Conclusion
Welcome aboard Rookie!
Another really good episode guys, a joy to read!
Transformers Ghostbusters has started out as a silly comic that I am enjoying reading that is giving us a look at a cool new character who got a pretty sweet toy, a classic crew we all love, and a bot that can fit right in with them. It is an enjoyable read, it doesn't have a shock value trick to it, it's exactly what you would expect, and sometimes, that's just what you need.
Keep it up guys, I'm ready to see 5 streams crossing again!
The Transformers Generations mega line now has an entire toyline just for repaints. It is called Generations Selects. Added to that are other exclusives rumoured (like a Reflector 3 pack in toy colours) or confirmed (like Siege Ratchet) which are all based on repaints. Of course, some may have different heads (like Hero Megatron), and different parts (like Ratchet) but basically it comes down to getting a lot of similar looking toys in different colours.
The general public has taken notice and the complaints have been piling.
Actual comments on facebook regarding recent reveals of repaints:
So I'm still paying for the same figure just in different colours???
Hasbro always remold,repaint their product, this is why third party always better than original
OMG MAKE IT STOP.
Please God no more repaint/retools. I hoped the repaint wars were over.....not by a longshot.
I knew Siege was gonna be repaint city just like the Prime Wars trilogy. It started out strong Wave 1 but then the seekers came, Prowl and his brothers, Sideswipe and Red Alert, Ironhide/Ratchet/Crosshairs, Soundwave and now Soundblaster. We are getting a grey Shockwave too. Hasbro getting lazy again.
Now, are there truly more repaints than before? Of course not. So why does it feel like there are? Well for the simple reason that now repaints are no longer out of reach of people. Here are some repaints from 2015 where the complaint was minimal.
Every figure above was only available if you either attended certain events, or if you paid for a subscription and they were always at least twice the price of a retail figure. This made a lot of people ignore them and out of sight, out of mind.
Now, for 2019, what Hasbro has done is basically keep the same output of toys and repaints but make them more available. You no longer have to go to a convention to get them and Americans can now buy them for the same price as non exclusive figures. Them being more accessible means that they are cheaper on the secondary market or importers, which many international fans depend on as a last resort. Them being accessible means more fans can join in on the conversation and complain. So complaining about repaints is actually a luxury many didn’t have before, due to previous repaints being too expensive or inaccessible for anyone to care.
I would also argue that the repaints we are getting are far more enticing than the previous inaccessible repaints many missed out on (as shown in the previous example). Unlike those, the repaints in the Siege and Generations Selects line are for bots that share the same body type, for the most part. I mean, think about it, we are finally getting a good looking generations Ratchet (with no fake chest and in perfect scale), all the Datsuns, all the fembots, and all the seekers you could desire.
We are living in a new golden age of Transformers, people, and I for one am happy to share this time with you.
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