Heroic Decepticon

17 November 2007

Why Wheelie?

A thought popped into my head; a thought related to Wheelie.

It’s a given that Trans-fans hate Wheelie with a passion. I can see a few reasons for this: (1) uninspiring name bordering on stupidity; (2) lousy toy and not so good box art; (3) wears a sun-visor like thing in robot mode; (4) arguably horrid colours; (5) lacklustre character; and (6) incessant rhyming speech patterns.

I’m not so sure about point (1), (4) and (6) myself.

With regards to (1), Worse Transformer names than Wheelie comes to mind- Big Daddy, Vroom, Erector, Slow Poke, Hubs, Aquafend, Road Pig, Space Case and Hooligan just to name a few.

With regards to (4), worse Transformer colour schemes exists. I'll name a few to colour my point- Metrotitan, Circuit, Slicer, Turbo Master and Battle Gaea.

I think speaking in rhymes for (6) is pretty cool in a fun way, but maybe not in a Transformer way. It would have been quite a challenge for writers to script Wheelie lines; maybe they were the original Wheelie haters and maybe it is for this reason that Furman refuses to write Wheelie into his stories?

The thought that popped into my head is a question.

The question is this: is there a Transformer that is more hateful than Wheelie? The answer is yes, that Transformer could be Rodimus Prime.

[box art courtesy of Botch's Box Art Archive]

Next: Why Rodimus Prime?

***
Read the other side of the story

Forum Discussions

Seibertron.com discussion

16 November 2007

Lot 1870

This happened when I was still a student, in or around March 2005.

I was sitting around one day when I came across an eBay auction for a huge lot of Transformers. It was really huge and included hundreds of Transformers, mostly G1. Its Buy-it-Now price was AU$2000. I did a quick preliminary calculation and worked that if I bought this lot and kept what I wanted then sold off the rest, I could still make a profit if its cost price were AU$1500.

At that time, mummy gave me entire semesters of living expenses and Uni fees in one go because she just cannot be bothered to do it piece-meal month after month. So there was lots of money (in student terms) sitting in the bank. I made the money grow by (1) placing them in Saver accounts with high interest rates; (2) putting some in fixed term deposits; and (3) buying and selling Transformers (and toys).

Provided I could make that back and hopefully profit, AU$1500 wouldn’t cause a dent anywhere. However, the converse was not true- the seller needed money, and fast.

I waited for the auction to end without a buyer before contacting the seller to ask if he would part with the lot for $1500 exclusive of shipping. After some negotiation, we agreed on an AU$1870 inclusive of shipping price tag- hence the title Lot 1870. The only catch was that he wanted to keep one of the 2 Bruticus’ in the lot.

The lot arrived in 3 huge carton boxes packed to the brim with Transformers.

Pic shows 80% of the lot. TF boxes, parts and other TF related merchandise is not pictured.

I kept the following:

Jetfire complete
Trypticon (robot only)
Defensor complete with Hot Spot box
Superion (missing all little guns)
Spyglass & Spectro (no weapons)
TRU reissue Ultra Magnus
Some G1 cassettes
All misc parts that did not go toward completing figures
All TF related merchandise that came with the lot

I spent the next month planning the auctions; planning which items should be listed as a batch, what day and time to list and how to make the auctions attractive. I decided that anyone who buys more than 3 auctions from me and has a combined value of more than AU$50 would receive a free gift; AU$100 and above would get a bigger free gift- all gifts were to be TF related.

The gifts came from the lot either in the form of TF accessories, mini-bots, and other TF paraphernalia. This turned out to be very successful, so much so that the gross amount from all the auctions totalled almost AU$3500 after allowing for eBay fees.

I not only kept many choice mint pieces, but managed to pocket approximately AU$1630 in cash. =)

***

So there it is. One of many such similar stories. It’s all good because I have fun and can grow my Transformers collection at the same time.

13 November 2007

Autobots can't fly, can they?

This is one of a number of contentious, often discussed but never resolved G1 Transformer continuity issues. I’m going to put down what I believe to be true.

The contention: Autobots cannot fly, Decepticons can.

In MTMTE Parts 1 and 2, Autobots had flight capability but completely lost it from MTMTE Part 3 onwards. There were particular exceptions of course:

(1) Autobots who transformed into airborne vehicles could fly (sometimes without transforming);
(2) Autobots with some special ability could fly or have flight like powers. For example, Sideswipe (rocket pack) and Gears (air cushion legs); and
(3) all Dinobots can fly courtesy of rear mounted rocket packs. This is seen in SOS Dinobots and War of the Dinobots and seems to be a special ability the Dinobots have.

Galvatron in The Return of Optimus Prime quite authoritatively concludes the issue by sarcastically stating to Prime ‘Oh, I forgot, Autobots can’t fly’.

'Sideswipe, give me your rocket pack.'

This begs the question: Why can’t Autobots fly when they clearly could in MTMTE?

MTMTE was rife with animation errors, Autobots flying was one of them. That would be a straightforward explanation.

I think that Autobots can fly, they just choose not to. The Transformers are at war and have ‘drained the once resource rich Cybertron’, which is the main reason why the Ark and its crew were searching for ‘new sources of energy’. Flying of any form, presumably takes up large amounts of energon. The Autobots choose not to fly in order to conserve the Transformers’ already depleted supplies of energon.

They flew around in MTMTE Pts 1 & 2 because they have just awakened on a strange world and wanted to fight their enemies in the way they are most comfortable and accustomed with, that presumably includes flight. By MTMTE Pt 3, they were more familiar with Earth through Sparkplug and Spike, so their dire need of energy and its imperative conservation would once again become a priority.

There of course remains the matter of flying Dinobots. A simple reading of their profiles would say that they are not too bright. In all probability, they fly because they can and because they are too dumb to realize that they have to conserve energon.

The Decepticons, on the other hand, have no qualms about flying because if they run out of energon, they just take it.

It makes good sense to me if looked at this way. It is not that Autobots cannot fly while Decepticons can; It is more that Autobots choose not to fly, while Decepticons choose to.

11 November 2007

Under the Sea - Photogallery [part 3]

Previous chapter: Photogallery part 2 - The Toys

This is the final Under the Sea gallery. It focuses on the juicy part of this beautiful set; juicy for the extremely obsessive collector at least.

This set is not only 100% complete, in that it has all the toys, their parts, weapons, instructions and offer catalogues, but it has more.

I would consider the below as the 'bonus' part of this set:

unused sticker sheets for Nautilator and Overbite;
complete packing bubble and cardboard inserts for Snap Trap;
complete cardback packaging with little plastic insert tray for all 5 carded Seacons; and
unpunched cardbacks for all 5 carded Seacons

Short of an MOSC/MISB set, I believe that this is possibly that best and 'most complete' set of Seacons that can be obtained. I am so impressed that I gawk at it for unspecified periods of time on a daily basis.

100% complete Seacon parts
Unused sticker sheets for Overbite & Nautilator
Used sticker sheets for Skalor, Tentakil and Snap Trap

Unused Nautilator sticker sheet sealed in original packet

Complete packing bubble and cardboard inserts for Snap Trap

Complete cardback packaging with little plastic insert tray

Unpunched cardback

There is still one thing that intrigues me about this set- how could the original owner bear to part with such a perfect set of Seacons?

So I asked; and so I got a reply.

Next: Postscript [release date pending]

***
Read all Under the Sea chapters
Chapter 01: The Auction
Chapter 02: Their Arrival
Chapter 03: Photogallery [part 1] - Mint on Card & Mint in Box
Chapter 04: Photogallery [part 2] - The Toys
Chapter 05: Photogallery [part 3] - The Details
Chapter 06: Postscript

***
Related article: Operation Combiner

10 November 2007

Under the Sea - Photogallery [part 2]

Previous chapter: Photogallery part 1 - Mint on Card & Mint in Box

This gallery focuses on the out of package toys.

Overbite, Seawing, Nautilator, Skalor, Tentakil and Snap Trap are shown in their respective packaging- mint-on-card and mint-in-box. They are shown in their designated order, beginning from SE1 (Overbite) through to SE6 (Snap Trap).

Now, its time for the pictures to do the talking...

Seacons and Piranacon

100% complete Seacon set (cardbacks & box not pictured)

SE1 Overbite

SE2 Seawing

SE3 Nautilator

SE4 Skalor

SE5 Tentakil

SE6 Snap Trap

SE6 SnapTrap

Next: Photogallery part 3 - The Details

***
Read all Under the Sea chapters
Chapter 01: The Auction
Chapter 02: Their Arrival
Chapter 03: Photogallery [part 1] - Mint on Card & Mint in Box
Chapter 04: Photogallery [part 2] - The Toys
Chapter 05: Photogallery [part 3] - The Details
Chapter 06: Postscript

***
Related article: Operation Combiner

06 November 2007

Rumble is blue Frenzy is red - Don Figueroa speaks

Today, I saw a little something related to the original Rumble is blue, Frenzy is Red article I wrote a few weeks back.

I was reading Dreamwave's The War Within (vol. 1), which was penciled by Don Figueroa.

It was a little into issue #2. I was scrutinizing a particular panel to see how Figueroa designed Powerglide's cybertronian mode when I saw it. There it was inscripted on the hover platform Powerglide (and Outback) were standing on- the words FIRRIB.

FIRRIB: Frenzy is Red, Rumble is Blue.

This is no fluke and cannot have ended up in the panel if Figueroa didn't want it there; he is known for sneaking 'easter eggs' into the panels he illustrates. He put it there because he wanted it there. He put it there because he believed Frenzy is Red and Rumble is Blue. Exactly what I believe in too!

Here it is:

Detail showing FIRRIB [panel 1, War Within (vol.1) #2, Dreamwave]

I am extremely delighted to discover that (arguably) the best Transformer artist in the industry advocates FIRRIB.

***
Related article
Rumble is Blue Frenzy is Red

04 November 2007

Under the Sea - Photogallery [part 1]

Previous chapter: Their Arrival

Below is a gallery of this great set. Overbite, Seawing, Nautilator, Skalor, Tentakil and Snap Trap are shown in their respective packaging- mint-on-card and mint-in-box.

They are shown in their designated order, beginning from SE1 (Overbite) through to SE6 (Snap Trap).

Now, let the pictures speak for themselves!