I’m sexy and I know it. Botcon 2012 Shattered Glass Tracks!

Character-wise, Shattered Glass Tracks is probably the least inventive of the Shattered Glass characters. He’s basically the exact same as regular-universe Tracks; remarkably vain and conceited.

However, depiction-wise, he is a wonderful head nod to the history and even pre-history of Transformers. Upon first seeing him, a lot of fans cried, “Road Rage!” from the exclusive red version of Tracks put out by the Takara affiliate store eHOBBY as the original G1 character Road Rage. In truth, Road Rage — who is incidentally a female Transformer — and Shattered Glass Tracks share a common homage, that of the original pre-Transformers Diaclone Corvette toy from which G1 Tracks’ toy came.

For reasons unknown, Hasbro eventually chose to put out G1 Tracks in a blue colour scheme, but the red paintjob could still be seen on the Transformers 1985 box art.

Though I much prefer him as Shattered Glass Tracks, it is nice that those that would like a Generations-style Road Rage can grab some Reprolabels and turn him into her.

The red detailing really works well with this mold’s alt mode too, perhaps even better than the blue deco.

Of course, flying car “attack alt mode” is there too.

So yeah, there’s not really much else to say about Shattered Glass Tracks. A pretty lackluster attempt at the evil incarnation of an established character, but a pretty spectacular implementation of Transformers pre-history resulting in a great toy.

Growin’ up may be hard to do, but so is growin’ down. Goldbug part 2!

If you read the comments from yesterday’s post, you’ll notice that I accidentally left someone out. I had thought to mention the Reveal the Shield release of “Gold Bumblebee” but couldn’t initially figure out where to work him into the post, thinking that I would go back afterwards and slot him in somewhere. Clearly it slipped my mine, as Flywheels from over at Random Toy Reviews kindly reminded me. Incidentally, Flywheels is going to be picking up the other Goldbug upgrade set, the RF-006 “Gold Scout” set from Azim Venksta over at Renderform, so hopefully we’ll see a post of that version over at Random Toy Reviews sometime soon?

Following the two most likely unintentional Goldbug homages of shiny gold G2 Bumblebee and the 2010 shiny version of United Bumblebee was an outright homage in the form of “Gold Bumblebee”.

Initially I was going to say that I was disappointed in this little guy, but the more I looked at him today at work (all of the little legends class, Cyberverse, Robot Heroes, etc. go to my work display), the more I liked him. Yes, he has Bumblebee’s smiling, happy face rather than Goldbug’s stoic faceplate, after all he is just a repaint of Classics Legends class Bumblebee, but taking the trademark blue in the head and extending it to the legs and arms is a really nice touch. Just out of curiosity I googled around to see if anyone did an upgrade head for this little guy and low and behold I found a TFW2005 Radicons post that shows a really good custom job.

Not needing any customization at all is Gold Bumblebee’s alt mode, with its sparkly, gold-flecked paintjob.

I do believe Classics Goldbug would approve.

“Fist bump, little dude.”

‘Til All Are Displayed! The Collection… well most of it.

I was just looking at the pictures on my “‘Til All Are What Now?” page and thought it was just about time for an updated shot of my Transformers display.

As I sit at my computer typing this out a turn to the left reveals three shelves, each roughly six and a half feet tall, as well as an assortment of smaller satellite shelves. To my immediate right is display shelf 1. Topped by three (soon to be three and a half) shelves of the star of Transformers — no, despite what they would have you believe recently, not Bumblebee: Optimus Primes and Convoys of all shapes and sizes.

Working our way counter-clockwise, shelf-by-shelf from there we have:

• Half a shelf of Hot Rod/Rodimus Primes.
• Ultra Magnus’ (Magni?) and Blaster and his tapes.
• Smaller Constructicons and a slew of Micromasters.
• Constructicons (old and new) and other combiners.
• Scorponok, SkyLynx, and Omega Supreme.
• In the middle is the Dark of the Moon shelf and Kre-O Optimus, which is a bit of a mess at the moment.
• My wife’s “girl Transformers that could kick your tailpipe” shelf.
•  The multiple incarnations of Mirage, Prowl, and Jazz.
• The Targetmasters.
• Finally, the Headmasters and Wheeljack.

On the wall opposite display shelf 1, there are shelves 2 and 3 and two more ancillary shelves.

For this one, I’ll do each shelving unit individually, starting on the top left:

• Various incarnations of Star Saber (except an actual Star Saber, sadly) and Dai Atlas (with an actual Dai Atlas, happily.)
• Two shelves of Minibots and their updates.
• An entire shelf of Grimlocks.
• The rest of the Dinobots, as well as Grimstone and his Dinobot drones.
• The G1 repaints from the newest movies; such as red Ironhide, white and blue Jazz, and Revenge of the FallenSkywarp (look! I finally found my G1 repaint Movie (2007) Starscream!)

Display shelf 3, starting at the tippy top:

• AssortedGods, Monsters, Primes, and one tiny Fortress Maximus.
• The Animated Shelf, including the full 2011 Botcon set and TFCC Exclusive Animated Cheetor.
• The G2 and G2 Classics with all the glorious colours of the rainbow.
• The first section of G1 and G1 Classics Autobots.
• Shattered Glass and the second section of G1 and G1 Classics Autobots.
• The Movie (2007), RotF, and DotM Leader and Human Alliance class toys.
• More Combiners! Predaking!

Display shelf 2, from top to bottom:

• Shockwaves, The Fallen, and movie Megatrons.
• G1, G2, Masterpiece, Classics… just a whole bunch of Megatrons as well as Classics Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge and their updates.
• TheshelfoftheSeekers.
• Soundwavesgalore and mini-cassettes (and updates) galore.
• G1 and G1 Classics Decepticons.
• Japanese Beast Wars, including my beloved Tako Tank.
• Another shelf full of combiners.

The last little shelf is a mishmash of stuff:

• Smokescreens G1, Classics, and Alternators (soon to be joined by RotF and Cybertron Smokescreens once I dig them out.)
• The Generations Junkions.
• Scan series Bumblebee, Sideswipe…
• …Ratchet and Ironhide.
• The Power Core Combiner Autobots.
• The Power Core Combiner Decepticons.

Oh yeah, also Supreme class Beast Machines Cheetor standing to the side.

With the exception of G1 Metroplex and Cybertron Metroplex that stand ever vigilant above my computer (which is itself named Metroplex) and an extra Micromaster Tailwind, that is the entirety of my current display.

However, though admittedly a lot of floorspace is taken up by the display (and yes, I am aware that I am very, very lucky to have a wife that is not only ok with, but actually encourages my collecting and displaying), it only amounts to a little under half of my total collection. The rest are in plastic bins in a closet.

One day I will have an entire room devoted to the collection, until then, I’ll keep enjoying them by occasionally pulling them out of their bins to take pictures of them for this blog. That way I get to share the joy this collection brings me (and yes, a little showing off too.)

The nicest guy but he can’t catch a break with modern toys, Trailbreaker!

“It’s nice to use a character that just doesn’t get any love at all.”

One of the very few times I have agreed with Nick Roche’s writing is when he chose to use Trailbreaker rather than Blurr in Spotlight: Kup. As a solution for the radiation poisoned environment in which Kup was unwittingly trapped, Trailbreaker’s ability to generate an almost impenetrable force field was a perfect fit. As Nick points out in the quote above, it was a chance to give the affable Autobot an all too rare moment to shine.

*knock knock* "Avon calling."

Unfortunately, despite numerous failed attempts at updates or homages because of trademark issues, our faithful, good-natured Defensive Strategist has had to make due with just his G1 toy for a while. Not that this is entirely a bad thing. Even with G1 levels of articulation (read: mostly none) his toy still has a very solid robot mode.

Mine is the 2008 Encore line reissue, hence the more cartoon accurate blue visor rather than the red that was on his original toy and the beautifully tampographed Autobot symbol on this stomach/alt mode hood rather than the awkward sticker of the original. Being a Japanese release, his spring-loaded fists are still fully functional. However, they are on a very sensitive hair-trigger, causing many incidents of accidental rocket punch.

Trailbreaker’s G1 toy shares many Transformer’s inconsistency between his toy and his cartoon’s model. Most notably in his case is that his cartoon appearance gives him a nose and mouth.

Unfortunately his cartoon model also diminishes one of my favourite things about his toy: his belly.

Looks like someone's been eating a little too much of the beryllium bologna and cesium salami.

Though nowhere near Grandus‘ level of rotund, Trailbreaker — like the recently introduced Dark of the Moon Leadfoot — has a… less svelte aspect about him that I quite enjoy. The fact that Transformers robot modes come in diverse shapes and sizes reinforces the more humanistic aspects of the franchise.

Being originally a toy from the Diaclone series, Trailbreaker has a real world alt mode, transforming into a Toyota Hilux 4WD with an added Camper/Utility shell.

This year Hasbro chose to skirt the trademark issue by finally releasing an update in the Reveal the Shield line, but under the name Trailcutter. This toy gives Trailbreaker his cartoon model’s full face.

Unfortunately something is a little amiss with this “update”.

Yes, 27 years later he finally gets an update and it’s in the form of a Legends class toy. *sigh*

His Reveal the Shield toy has a modernized version of his G1 toy’s camper truck but sadly missing his distinctive red, orange, and yellow stripes and white detailing.

So it looks like poor Trailbreaker is going to have to wait a little longer to get that update he deserves.

He would like you to know that he is not a pervert. Windcharger!

There are some deep, dark crevices in Transformer history that are better left unexplored. Windcharger, it turns out, inhabits at least one of them. His original G1 toy looks harmless enough:

As evidenced by the loop molded in above his head and the lack of silver on his mouthplate, mine is the 2003 Fun4All keychain release of Windcharger.

The head on his toy isn’t much to look at, and his card art doesn’t do much to help the matter.

Though now that I look at his card art, does he have a pencil-thin Zorro mustache?!? Had that bit of shadowing actually been on his toy, he would have been a lot more memorable. Olé!

I’m assuming that’s why, in his cartoon appearances, he was given a face.

Ummm…

"Why?!? Why is that the only cartoon picture of me anyone shows? I was undercover! I was *not* flashing anyone. "

Other than his questionable choice of activity while off-duty, Windcharger was a mostly unremarkable part of the cartoon and comic book. It was, however, his cartoon depiction that led to him having an actual face when he was recently given an upgrade in the Reveal the Shield line. Windcharger proved to be the most difficult of the end-of-the-line RtS toys to get ahold of.  He was well worth it, though, he’s a great toy and a wonderful update.

Character-wise, I don’t remember much of him from his background appearances throughout the cartoon or comic book, the first piece of Windcharger art I can remember actually making an impression on me was an unofficial piece done by the super-talented Matt Kuphaldt. Titled “Return to Sender”, it shows Windcharger using his trademark weapon, as described in his bio:

In robot mode, Windcharger’s arms act as the positive and negative poles of a magnet. He can cast powerful magnetic fields at distances up to 700 feet. He can levitate a 10-ton block of steel at that distance. He can attract objects that are affected by magnetism toward him or repel them. At closer distances he can rip them apart.

(Pay close attention to that last part, it will come back up.) In Kuphaldt’s piece, Windcharger is using his magnetic ability to return two missiles, presumably in the direction of the Decepticon that launched them at him.

Just a brilliant piece of artwork, you should definitely take a look at the rest of his stuff. RtS Wincharger takes the magnets and turns them into flip-out weapons that replace his hands.

"I'm gonna magnetize your right in the face."

Both also include rungs for use with C-Joint weapons, as you can see in the image below, the rungs can be used with his weapons out, or when they are folded in and replaced by his hands. Overall, a very, very worthy update of our impulsive little magnet-handed Minibot.

"Don't worry, little buddy, maybe Movie Optimus can help us find a face for you too."

Thanks to him being a Minibot, G1 Windcharger transforms into a somewhat cartoonish looking Pontiac Trans Am. RtS Windcharger now transforms into a made-up muscle car that combines elements of about four or five current actual models.

Despite the somewhat caricature-like look of his alt mode, I don’t think that anyone’s going to be making fun of G1 Windcharger any time soon. In 1986 a book was published titled Deadly Paradise.  A mystery involving Decepticons cloning Autobots and framing them for acts of destruction. Everything is going along fine until the Autobots get a chance to mount an escape, knocking out Decepticons, when on page 27, Windcharger murders Starscream.

No, not “damages”, not “incapacitates”, he outright kills him:

“Windcharger flew to the rescue, grabbing Starscream in his huge arms and squeezing him with such magnetic might that the Decepticon screamed for the very last time.”

Yeah, careful with those little, quiet types. ‘M just sayin’.

A character so powerful he punched his way backwards into G1! Glorious! Lugnut!

Engrish can be very funny sometimes. When Takara was announcing the Japanese Animated toy releases, a rather oddly named listing showed up for “Ragknights”. Animated had been out for a while in America, so all of the available toys and characters had been revealed. This name — whilst not too odd for a country that has used the names ”Kirk” and “Alan” for Transformers — didn’t really line up with anyone we were aware of. Then some Japanese-reading Transfans provided the actual katakana for the characters name:

ラグナッツ

(pronounced Ragunattsu)

What was being incorrectly transliterated into English as “Ragknights” was actually “Lugnut”.

Lugnut joins Armada Tidal Wave and series-mate Blackout in that long list of Decepticon titans with immense powers and inversely proportionate intelligence. As Foghorn Leghorn would say, “That boy’s as strong as an ox, and just about as smart.” (which, in Lugnut’s case, is probably an insult to the intelligence level of oxen.) Lugnut is fiercely loyal to the Decepticon cause in general, and to the glory of Megatron specifically.  However, he also joins Blackout and Animated Bulkhead in having a toy that, despite being a Voyager-class, is rather small.

Part scale comparison, part reason to show See-Through Prime again.

The standard Animated level of cartoon-accuracy is there, but — once again, just like Blackout — a sizeable chunk of his alt mode’s tail is removed to form a weapon. In Lugnut’s case, however, this weapon is even less useful than Blackout’s one-shot-and-it’s-useless launcher. Having only one attachment point high up on the handle means that his toy can’t actually wield it as anything more than a very elaborate, dangerous looking walking-stick

Shown is the "Atomic Lugnut" repaint. I normally don't buy straight repaints, I just happened to find this one on sale for $12.

With the cancellation of Animated, Lugnut would have retreated into the background but, keeping with the theme of surprisingly, delightfully random choices that have become a staple of the Reveal the Shield/Generations line, Lugnut was called up to duty for an homage.

Even though he is an homage to an Animated character, being released in the Reveal the Shield line meant that this particular incarnation was meant to exist as a G1 character. This was then further solidified when the exclusive comic book that came with the Battle in Space set actually featured a scene that placed RtS Lugnut at the original Battle for Autobot City from the 1986 movie. Lugnut had punched himself backwords into a place in history!

Speaking of punches, Lugnut’s signature weapon is his P.O.K.E., the Punch Of Kill Everything. Focusing an explosive charge in his fist, slamming his fist into anything then results in a positively ridiculous discharge of energy. The shot above is only the beginning of the P.O.K.E., the next scene is usually a crater the size of Detroit.

 Originally just referred to as “Explosive Punch”, the title of “Punch Of Kill Everything” or P.O.K.E. was a fan-adopted term that was then made official by series writer Marty Isenberg. Though the Animated Lugnut is capable of doing a mediocre P.O.K.E. pose,

The superior level of articulation on the new RtS Lugnut means he does a far more dynamic version.

The toy designers even included spring-loaded, extendable fists on the RtS toy that simulate this energy punch. Über homage!

Animated Lugnut’s alt mode is, as best described by TFWiki, a “retro-futuristic bomber”. RtS Lugnut incorporates more from the “Atomic Lugnut” repaint than the original, including the sharkmouth decals along the nose, adding his own details like a more realistic paint-scheme and his name spelled in callsigns on his wings and tail.

Of course, that’s probably more to help him remember his own name than anything else.

Yes, friends, act now; destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains! Wreck-gar and the Junkions!

As I said in yesterday’s video post, my favourite scene of Transformers: The Movie (1986) is the Autobot’s crash-landing on Junkion, the planet of junk. After detonating two-thirds of their spaceship in a desparate attempt to escape Galvatron and his Decepticons, Ultra Magnus and a small band of Autobots found themselves on a planet-sized collection of debris.

Much to their surprise, however, this was not an uninhabited pile of debris floating through space. This was home to the Junkions. A nearly indestructible race of Transformers composed mostly of pieces of their surroundings, their primary source of communication is snippets from Earthen T.V.

"We talk T.V. You talk some T.V.?"

Though mostly easy-going and very ready to fight on the side of good, despite their goofy appearance and demeanor, it’s best not to take the Junkions too lightly. As TFWiki points out, “It’s probably a good idea to just not mess with the Junkions, as everyone who does seems to die.” Leader of this ragtag group of literal motorcycle hooligans is the mustachioed Wreck-gar.

Voiced by Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame, Wreck-gar — and the Junkions in general — have often been accused of being what’s wrong with the 1986 movie; their completely nonsensical existence proving too goofy for the cynics in the audience. I, however, found them to be a joy. Unfortunately my love of the character didn’t travel over to the G1 toy. Boxy even by G1 standard, it just has none of the character embodied in Wreck-gar. The bigger crime? The toy doesn’t even sport his trademark goatee and long, flowing mustache! Unacceptable.

This is why the announcement that the Reveal the Shield line was going to finally do Wreck-gar some justice made me positively giddy. This toy does oh so much better at capturing the spirit of Wreck-gar than the G1 toy could have ever even hoped to. Eyes chock full of mischief, a huge grin, and — best of all – the return of the ‘stache.

"Happy motoring. Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

After his appearance in Animated had gone the garbage truck route, RtS Wreck-gar took it back to the original’s alt-mode, a motorcycle. A portion of Wreck-gar’s back wheel and his exhaust pipe can be removed and unfolded to become an axe. Then the sides of his front wheel assembly separate to allow the wheel to swivel forward and create the arm mounted shield he sported in G1.

"You check in... but, you don't check out."

As an added bonus, his toy designers also built holes into his motorcycle seat that correspond with the pieces on the underside of his… well, his crotch. This means he can ride himself, or rather, two toys of this mold can be used as motorcycle and rider together. Of course, this allows you to recreate one of my favourite parts of my favourites scene: when one junkion in robot mode is riding another in alt-mode. When they crash, the rider transforms into a motorcycle and the other transforms into robot mode and they switch.

Scrapheap, a remold of Wreck-gar, was announced as part of an extremely pricey e-Hobby exclusive 3-pack. I thought my poor Wreck-gar might have to be rider-less — no way I was plunking down the cash for the 3-pack, no matter my love for Junkions. Then, an absolutely brilliant custom parts maker that goes by the name Maiden Japan showed up on the TFW2005 boards with a thread titled “Wreck-gar Custom Add-on Parts”. Handpainted, custom pieces, he offered a dizzying array of choices — a new head with six colour possibilities, an add-on chest with six selections, an add-on set of spiked shin and shoulder pieces with a cartoon accurate axe in six colour possibilities and two axe choices, and last, but not least, a cartoon accurate, updated spiked wheel shield!

"Whoa! Watch where youre putting that thing. Someone could lose an eye."

The combinations seemed virtually endless. I finally narrowed it down: I would order three Wreck-gar toys and enough pieces to modify two of them into other Junkions. Then I needed names. I thought that the best trash-related names had been taken over the years; Scrapheap, Junkyard, and Detritus being examples just from within Transformers. But then I hit on names for my Junkion creations. Introducing: the Junkions brothers, Dregs and Dross!

Super Rubble Bros. (Dregs on the left and Dross on the right.)

Now Wreck-gar has himself a little Junkion army to command!

Spikey, pokey, stabby fun.

There’s also all that fun rider and motorcycle action too.

"Stop, thief! No welcome-wagon "Hello Stranger" with that new coffee flavor for you! Offer expires while you wait; operators are standing by."

The best thing about that shot is that Dregs is actually balanced on his own in that one-footed running pose.

Huge, emotionless, with no weaknesses and no interests other than conquest. G1 Bunny ears! (Or Cyclonus, if you prefer).

“Cyclonus was a small time demon.”

This was the response when Floro Dery, the… idiosyncratic design supervisor also responsible for designing Cyclonus’ partner-in-crime, Scourge, was asked if he had any special insight or “trivia behind the character” Cyclonus.

I kind of like it.

Cyclonus has never been a ‘bot I have given any consideration, due to my late introduction to the 1986 movie, this remains true of a lot of the Decepticons introduced in or after that point. That is, until I got his Generations toy.

Phenomenal light-piping, look at those menacingly glowing red eyes.

This update awakened a love of this character I never even knew I had. Massively powerful, remarkably effective (not a word often applied to Decepticons), and inexplicably loyal (also not a word often applied to Decepticons), Cyclonus might just be one of my favourite Decepticons of all-time.

"One joke about Trix cereal and I obliterate your planet."

First released in 1986, Cyclonus’ most conspicuous feature is that he pretty much has rabbit ears.

Despite his prominent protuberances, I really like this toy. Just like Scourge, he’s decently articulated for a G1 toy, and has very distinctive facial features. His Generations toy captures all this character splendidly. So much so that, though I very, very rarely buy repaints for the sake of repaints, when the Battle In Space 2-pack ”Anime accurate” repaints were announced, I knew I needed to have it.

Here’s where Cyclonus leaves Scourge in the dust, however. Rather than Scourge’s flying bathtub design, Cyclonus has a very cool, sleek spaceship for an alt-mode.

Also, here’s where Cyclonus’ Generations incarnation beats out Scourge’s. In 1987, both Cyclonus and Scourge were re-released with some slight retooling to accomodate Targetmaster partners. Cyclonus’ new toys have included an updated version of Nightstick, his Targetmaster partner. To top that off, an undocumented feature allows Nightstick to either be held in Cyclonus’ hand or — folding his hand in — you can mount Nightstick directly on his wrist (in an homage to how Targetmasters were presented in the Japanese Headmasters series.)

Nightstick himself is also a nice little update, giving the little guy some much needed articulation.

Included in the picture is G1 Nightstick, but don’t be thrown by the Autobot symbol. I don’t actually own G1 Cyclonus’ partner, Nightstick, but I do own the absolutely identical (except for the Autobot symbol) Targetmaster partner of the Autobot Ricochet, who also happens to be named Nightstick.

Guns, guns, and guns.

The two G1 Nightsticks may or may not actually be the same character; despite one working for the Decepticons and one the Autobots.

However, they are not to be confused with Nebulan, the Autobot partner of Artfire that looks exactly like Nightstick, or Nightstick, the partner of the Autobot Stepper, that looks nothing like the original Nightstick.

Glad we got all that sorted out.

No matter what dimension, he’s the coolest cat you know. Jazz!

Jazz is cool. Maybe the coolest dude in Transformers history. What makes Jazz so cool? Even though he is hip and likes nothing better than to jam out to Earth music of all kinds, he is Optimus Prime’s right hand ‘bot because he still has the goods to take on just about anybody in a fight and come out on top.

“Special Ops”. Not only does that phrase describe his function, it has also become appended to his name. See, everyone wants to be like Jazz, or at least use his name. Hasbro no longer has a trademark on “Jazz”, so his toys have had the word “Autobot” affixed to it since his 2003 Commemorative Series re-issue. With a slight break for the Alternators line, when his toy sported his Japanese name “Meister”, all Jazz toys in every toyline has simply been “Autobot Jazz”, that is until his Reveal the Shield release as ”Special Ops Jazz”.

This release is astoundingly good. I can think of absolutely nothing wrong with this toy, it is perfect; keeping all the style of the G1 toy while providing exceptional articulation.

Just look at his feet! They perfectly retained the detailing down to the G1 toy’s feet.

This is one case where using a made-up vehicle for alt-mode works really well. Jazz’s new alt-mode looks pretty much like a combination of his original alt-mode, the Martini Racing Porsche 935 Turbo, and his alt-mode from the 2007 movie, a Pontiac Solstice.

Then the designers go that extra step to prove how much they really do love the fans.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but he’s totally doing the Robot.

Speakers! Beyond his much purported love of music in general, this harkens back to his cartoon appearance, where he would occasionally deploy speakers and use them as sonic weaponry.

 In accordance with this, his new toy is able to deploy his speakers in alt-mode as well.

The speakers can also be attached to extend his gun, but I’m not really sure what the point of that would be. They’re speakers. No gun on the planet is going to be as cool as a robot sporting speakers.

Speaking of cool, Jazz is so cool he’s cool regardless of the dimension he exists in.

Jazz’s evil counterpart shows up in the alternate reality of Shattered Glass. As the evil bodyguard of the evil Autobot Leader evil Optimus Prime himself (did you catch all that eeeeevil?), he replaces all of the racing stickers with inspirational messages such as “Kill to Win” and “Massacre Racing”, despite this, he still follows G1 Jazz’s mantra:

“Everything he does has to be with style, from talking to simply transforming.”

All this and he talks like B.A. Baracus.

Even Jazz’s silver Pontiac Solstice namesake in the 2007 movie – after being brought back from his unfortunate fate at the end of the movie – took a toy spin in the familiar red, white, blue, and the number “4″ with an eye towards style.

“Just because he’s supposed to be in disguise doesn’t mean that he can’t be noticed. With help from Bumblebee and Autobot Ratchet, he picked this color scheme as the one most likely to get him appreciative looks from all the humans the passes on the freeway.”

Winner for best light-piped eyes? Maybe.

Somehow Cybertron Elite Guard member Animated Jazz even manages to ratchet up the cool factor; replacing the “Special Ops” description with a new job title,

“Jazz has studied Earth culture since he first became aware of it. He loves everything about it – the music, the movies, the vehicles, and – of course – the style. He’s usually a pretty chill guy, being a cyber-ninja and all, but he can barely contain his excitement at finally getting to check out Earth and give his new vehicle mode a spin.”

Nunchaku. Wielding. Cyber. Ninja.

Jazz is just the coolest guy you know, no matter what version of reality you live in.

Represent.

He is the Prime of Justice! Enemy of… forests everywhere? G2 Optimus Prime!

In 1993 the Transformers brand had sat silent in the United States for two years. The last episodes of the cartoon having aired in 1987, Transformers kept going as a comic book series and toyline until 1991. To prepare for their comeback, Hasbro had Transformers appear first in the on-going G.I.Joe series and then, kicking of in their new, re-branded series, Generation 2.

Within a year, both the Transformers and G.I. Joe comics were cancelled.  

(Hey, Joe-fans, don’t even think of blaming us. We didn’t ask for Generation 2′s Manny Galan artwork any more than you asked for G.I. Joe’s Star Brigade and Ninja Force.)

However much of a blip in the world of toy sales the Generation 2 toyline may have been, it did provide some lasting — and notably great — additions to the Transformers collection as a whole. Of course you can’t have a Transformers series without an Optimus. The comic book series opened with the toughest looking shot of Optimus imaginable.

“This Is Not Your Father’s Autobot.” 

Alrighty then. Right out the gate and Hasbro is making some big promises. Off to the toy store to find out what new, improved, and/or tailpipe kicking Autobots they had in store for me.

Huh. Funny. That looks pretty much exactly like my “Father’s Autobot.” Granted, they did make him darker colours and gave him an electronic box that squawks out “I am Optimus Prime”… whoa, and gave him some big honkin’ guns.

Even Roller is permanently packing some heat now.

Ok, pretty cool. I do have to admit, his new weaponry and the loud proclamation of “OPTIMUS PRIME” along the side of his now jet back trailer adds an extra layer of “Come Get Some”, to our erstwhile Autobot patriarch.

However, somewhere along the way, Hasbro had made plans to deliver on those earlier promises. These plans took a bit of a detour back into less intimidating before coming out the other end with an Optimus Prime that would become a fan favourite toy for a decade. G2 Laser Optimus Prime was released in 1995 and had a new Western Star long-nose truck alt-mode, pulling a tanker trailer.

My G2 Laser Prime is actually the Japanese re-issue of "The Prime of Justice" Battle Convoy. The 2006 re-issue added chromed detailing to his chest and trailer, tampographed G2 Autobot symbols to his alt-mode's doors and trailer, and replaced the nametag-like "Optimus" and "Prime" chest stickers with an image of the matrix.

He also utilized the light-up electronics also used in other “Laser” toys that year.

And his light-up alt-mode headlights adds some nice spooky mood lighting.

However, his light-up sword and gun gimmick wasn’t what made him the great toy everyone loved. It was his articulation.

For a toy that came out in 1995, he had very advanced articulation. Rather than his G1 incarnation’s repair bay, this trailer transformed into a base just bristling with weaponry. Though, an Optimus Prime swinging a big sword didn’t hurt his popularity much.

Famous for his articulation, he is also notorious for one thing. His trailer, following in the apparent “Disguise? Who the heck needs disguise?” marching orders has a sticker for each side that reads “Optimus Prime Octane” and appears to depict our once compassionate Autobot leader… burning down a forest?

I honestly have never been able to bring myself to put these on the toy. Any toy for that matter. You can also see the name tag chest stickers for those that want that old-school look. I very much prefer the Matrix.

 Well, maybe it was a decidedly Decepticon-friendly forest. Setting aside Optimus’ newly found pyromania, it’s easy to see why this toy quickly became and remained a favourite. I like to think that this on-going love for the mold is what then caused Hasbro to make the surprising choice to release an update in the form of the Reveal the Shield Deluxe Class Optimus Prime.

Swords on robots. Just as cool in 2011 as they were in 1995.

Interestingly, RtS Optimus appears to take a cue from the 2006 re-issue, with an image of the matrix molded into the inside of the side window pieces that fold together to form his chest.

He also does the original one better, his tire covers fold up and together to form a sheath for his sword in robot mode.

In alt-mode, RtS Optimus replaces G2 Laser Optimus’ slow fade of red with an almost 2007 Movie Optimus-like flame pattern.  

RtS Optimus takes another hint from the original and provides storage for his sword in alt-mode, but one-ups the sword storage again by adding a transformation to the sword itself, allowing it to become his alt-mode’s trailer hitch.

An amazing toy that has stood the test of time and now an update that re-interprets the original rather than just trying to duplicate it.

An interesting side note of Transformers toy history: G2 Laser Optimus Prime was repainted in 2002 in all black as the Robots in Disguise villain, Scourge. That same year saw a release of Scourge as a Legends class toy, two years later that toy was then repainted back into Optimus Prime.

Now if we can just get the full-size G2 Laser Optimus Prime toy done in these colours, this homage would lap itself.