Post by notpicard on Mar 3, 2006 16:20:59 GMT -5
I thought I would put together a thread for those who have not kept up with the current Transformers toylines but who were fans of the original Transformers series (which lasted from 1984 in the United States to 1992 in Japan and Europe).
If any other TF fans are reading, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
A lot of the characters represented as Attacktix are somehow related to a G1 counterpart (the original TF series eventually became referred to as Generation 1 in order to distinguish it from Generation 2, Beast Wars, and all other TF series to come). It is important to note, however, that Hasbro has taken a "Final Fantasy" approach to the toys. That is to say that while many of the characters look a lot like a character from a previous series, they are not the same character but instead someone similar from a new contunuity/universe.
That said, here are some similarities to G1...
Obvious ones are easy:
Optimus Prime
Megatron/Galvatron
Starscream
Rodimus (his name shortened from Rodimus Prime)
Omega Supreme
Insecticon
Arcee
Battle Ravage (Ravage's name seemed to need the addition because of Hasbro losing the right to the name "Ravage.")
But I would also like to point out that the design of Optimus actually refers back to several incarnations of the character. He turns into a Firetruck as does the "Robots In Disguise" character (who is not G1). He has a regular mode and a Super mode (which originated with Powermaster Optimus Prime later in G1). The front grille is somewhat similar to War Within Prime (which is a comic and will not have been made into a toy until later this year). The wings are quite similar to the wings of Godginrai (or Apex Armor Optimus Prime reissue). Other small similarities can also be found.
Dark Scorponok is a character many G1 fans who ducked out around the time of Headmasters or who simply did not live in Japan will not recognize. The dark version of Scorponok originated as Black Zarak from the G1 Japanese Transformers series "Supergod Masterforce." I like how there is a bit of the obvious along with some of the obscure going into the design of the new characters. It keeps me looking.
Omega Sentinel is another good example of that. He actually refers to an older character introduced in a season 2 G1 episode titled "War Dawn." You may recall this episode as the one where the Aerialbots go back in time on Cybertron to the start of the conflict between Optimus and Megatron. In it, there were "Guardian Robots" that were colored the same as Omega Sentinel (and looked quite similar to the G1 Omega Supreme).
If you look close at the face of Skyblast (or see it more obviously from his color), he looks quite similar not to Jetfire (who was the Macross Valkyrie) but to Skyfire from G1 season 1. Skyfire seemed to be the implied cartoon version of Jetfire because of the trouble with the character design being in use for Robotech.
Moving on to Hot Shot, it has become apparent that since he was created in TF Armada, the character has paralleled Hot Rod who was introduced in TF the Movie (so much so in fact that in at least 1 Armada episode he is mistakenly called Hot Rod). The design of this TF "Cybertron" Hot Shot has a few features similar to his G1 counterpart. The yellow "wings" on his back spin into place in the same way on both toys, the lower legs have the same design, and Hot Shot even has the pipe guns on his forearms (though they are somewhat hidden by his car doors).
A little more obvious to this fact is his repaint Excellion, who is also red with hood flames. The Hasbro use of the name Excellion is getting confusing. As I understand it, there are 3 red Cybertron Hot Shot repaints currently planned. 2 are called Excellion (a small "Legends of Cybertron" version and this Attacktix one) and one is still called Hot Shot (the main toy line release). The name actually refers to the Japanese release of Cybertron Hot Shot called Exillion (sp?).
That about does it for what I can think of at the moment. I thought it might help to have a topic for some Attacktix collectors who are old TF fans and looking at these guys getting only guesses.
If any other TF fans are reading, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
A lot of the characters represented as Attacktix are somehow related to a G1 counterpart (the original TF series eventually became referred to as Generation 1 in order to distinguish it from Generation 2, Beast Wars, and all other TF series to come). It is important to note, however, that Hasbro has taken a "Final Fantasy" approach to the toys. That is to say that while many of the characters look a lot like a character from a previous series, they are not the same character but instead someone similar from a new contunuity/universe.
That said, here are some similarities to G1...
Obvious ones are easy:
Optimus Prime
Megatron/Galvatron
Starscream
Rodimus (his name shortened from Rodimus Prime)
Omega Supreme
Insecticon
Arcee
Battle Ravage (Ravage's name seemed to need the addition because of Hasbro losing the right to the name "Ravage.")
But I would also like to point out that the design of Optimus actually refers back to several incarnations of the character. He turns into a Firetruck as does the "Robots In Disguise" character (who is not G1). He has a regular mode and a Super mode (which originated with Powermaster Optimus Prime later in G1). The front grille is somewhat similar to War Within Prime (which is a comic and will not have been made into a toy until later this year). The wings are quite similar to the wings of Godginrai (or Apex Armor Optimus Prime reissue). Other small similarities can also be found.
Dark Scorponok is a character many G1 fans who ducked out around the time of Headmasters or who simply did not live in Japan will not recognize. The dark version of Scorponok originated as Black Zarak from the G1 Japanese Transformers series "Supergod Masterforce." I like how there is a bit of the obvious along with some of the obscure going into the design of the new characters. It keeps me looking.
Omega Sentinel is another good example of that. He actually refers to an older character introduced in a season 2 G1 episode titled "War Dawn." You may recall this episode as the one where the Aerialbots go back in time on Cybertron to the start of the conflict between Optimus and Megatron. In it, there were "Guardian Robots" that were colored the same as Omega Sentinel (and looked quite similar to the G1 Omega Supreme).
If you look close at the face of Skyblast (or see it more obviously from his color), he looks quite similar not to Jetfire (who was the Macross Valkyrie) but to Skyfire from G1 season 1. Skyfire seemed to be the implied cartoon version of Jetfire because of the trouble with the character design being in use for Robotech.
Moving on to Hot Shot, it has become apparent that since he was created in TF Armada, the character has paralleled Hot Rod who was introduced in TF the Movie (so much so in fact that in at least 1 Armada episode he is mistakenly called Hot Rod). The design of this TF "Cybertron" Hot Shot has a few features similar to his G1 counterpart. The yellow "wings" on his back spin into place in the same way on both toys, the lower legs have the same design, and Hot Shot even has the pipe guns on his forearms (though they are somewhat hidden by his car doors).
A little more obvious to this fact is his repaint Excellion, who is also red with hood flames. The Hasbro use of the name Excellion is getting confusing. As I understand it, there are 3 red Cybertron Hot Shot repaints currently planned. 2 are called Excellion (a small "Legends of Cybertron" version and this Attacktix one) and one is still called Hot Shot (the main toy line release). The name actually refers to the Japanese release of Cybertron Hot Shot called Exillion (sp?).
That about does it for what I can think of at the moment. I thought it might help to have a topic for some Attacktix collectors who are old TF fans and looking at these guys getting only guesses.
