Transformers Prime part the first

     Re-watching Transformers Prime from season 1 before I watch the final DVD: Predacons Rising that wraps the series. I thought I would put up some thoughts on the franchise as a whole as I go through. I am midway through season 1 right now, so I don't feel like I have a fresh perpective to throw out on that season yet but...

    What is the show there for? To sell toys, and keep the franchise fresh between big screen movies. Let me state clearly: when I say "to sell toys" that is not neccessarily a bad thing. It is in the very best traditions of a storyline based upon a toy line to sell those toys and to make them appealing.

    That being the case, I thought I would give my thoughts on those toys, starting with the Autobots who got screen time on the show. The toys came in two waves- the First Edition toys and the Robots in Disguise toys. in most cases the First Edition toys are nicer, and more screen accurate, so I have used them here wherever possible



The First Autobot we see in the series is Cliffjumper, Voiced by
Dwayne(The Rock)Johnson. his time on the series is short but he makes
a big impression. The FE Cliffjumper toy has some marvelous engineering
including flip-out cannons in his arms

The Second Autobot to get screentime is Arcee voiced by Sumalee
 Montano and featuring almost no pink whatsoever. On the FE toy her rear wheel splits
in two and folds into her legs, which is a remarkable way to get it out of the way.
She does have a fair amount of "backpack" including her front wheel and handlebars

Bumblebee (voiced by random sound effects and eventually by Will Friedle
(more about that later) is an extremely nice toy(first edition again). All of his vehicle parts
nicely become his robot body with not much left over. if I have one complaint about this figure,
it was the fact that he only came with one cannon(I had to "borrow" the other)

FE Bulkhead(Aptly voiced on the show by Kevin Michael Richardson)
has engineering that goes beyond good and approaches "Crazy-Ass"
his vehicle sides sort of accordion out and wrap from his chest to his back. my
intial figure of him was the RID version, since FE bulkhead was not released in the states
until about a year after the initial FE release. The difference is measurable 

Ratchet is the characterization I actually find the freshest and funnest
on the show. Voiced by Jeffrey Combs he is grouchy, bad tempered,
and somewhat of a mad scientist. He did not get a first edition release,
and his toy, while having a lot of innovative features has one serious
aesthetic downside for me. His animation model indicates that his doors'
become part of his chest, and it appears they were unable to make this happen
on the toy, but instead had to give him sort of a "false chest" by molding the
doors onto it


This is sort of take two on this post, I managed to delete all my pictures and captions trying to remove one
Coming Soon: Part 2 with more toys!

Ghost Mine

so I am a little over halfway through the season finale, they have found the masonic symbols on the big stone bulkhead(not HIM), and all I can think is


"You fear to go into those mines. The Masons delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of the crescent mine... shadow and flame."


or BALROG!

could be a dragon tho, too


Update: neither Balrog nor dragon...

Almost Human...Almost Skipped it

     So I have to eat a little Cybernetic Crow. I expected Almost Human to be just sort of... I, Robot the TV series sans Will Smith

     and so the pilot was- you have a disgraced cop, struggling with his no longer quite human body, with a disdain for his required android partner, who is a non-standard Android of the DRN series(one of the crazy ones)

     and then it gets better


          and better still...


And now I am looking forward to each episode with the excitement I used to have for Fringe (before I kind of got lost in it)

Cybernetic Crow is not bad. It's a little crunchy. If you haven't tried Almost Human, I recommend it


note- this is my historic 200th post!

.....and now I'm on the Skids

     I have extremely cool memories about the character. I had no idea who he was, I was looking for Tracks, I did some calling around, and my sister took me to some rinky-dink hardware/general store in some little town outside Denver to find him, but it was not Tracks- it was Skids (both blue...see?). I decided to get him anyway, and he turned out to be a very cool little toy. he never got much love on the TV series, did better in the comics, got thoroughly abused in ROTF

I have not read the IDW comics- I probably should- from what I have seen, they have good story

and they are giving us some really good toys right now

from G1 to Alternator, to ROTF, to DOTM to IDW Generations

Skids...an overview

the very same toy bought in that little store. I remember the store as gray.
My sisters husband actually got me Tracks from a place called
Service Merchandise. that store is gone, he has passed away,
and my G1 tracks disappeared, leaving...Skids



the Alternator line had good and bad-they went for high car accuracy

 

Which Sometimes left the robot mode a little flat

Michael Bay may have Abused my childhood a little here.
Actually, hand to Primus, I love the transformation on ROTF Skids,
but I just wish he had a less comical head

IDW Skids looks a little less than amused.
He may in fact be about to shoot bayformer Skids in the face
the face on IDW Skids is Hawk-nosed and lean, ascetic looking. he is supposed to be
a master tactician, and his tactic appears to be not to bring a huge fist to a gunfight

Where I began and where I am going....until Takara puts out Masterpiece Skids