TFtember: Warpath

Warpath 

I love this guy. While most Minicars are usually cars, this guy was a tank. A General Motors M551A1 Sheridan, to be specific. He only had one figure in the original line, but he was available via mail order in 1987. 

His file card has him being raucous, a real life of the party kind of guy, but if his gun barrel is scratched he can be upset for weeks. 

The comics had him has a member of Perceptor's resistance group. He was mostly a background guy, like many other characters, just popping up. He did occasionally blow things up, so good for him. 

The cartoon set the standard. Voiced by Alan Oppenheimer with a bombastic tic, Warpath didn't get any episodes devoted to him, but he did show up mostly in season two, with subsequent seasons having him mostly be a cameo at best. 

TFtember: The Big Broadcast of 2006

"The Big Broadcast of 2006", the Transformers, November 12, 1986

The Quintessons are looking for one of their lost journals but the good news is that they found it. The bad news, they found it on the planet Junk. 

Yup, the Junkicons. Some Sharkticons are dispatched to Junk and are equally dispatched by the natives. The Quintessons opt for a more subtle approach, i.e. screw with their televison.

Those monsters

Yeah, they hijack the Junkicon's signal, hitting them with a subliminal message telling them to clear the planet up, also blaming other races for all their problems so they should really do something about that. 

When both Autobots and Decpeticons are attacked, things quickly spiral out of control...

Yeah, this should have aired before "the Quintesson Journal" but eh, what can you do? Not awful, but it is nice seeing the Junkicons again. 

TFtember: The Transformers: Headmasters#1

 "Ring of Hate!" the Transformers: Headmasters (July 1987), with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Frank Springer (pencils), Ian Akin & Brian Garvey (inks), Nell Yomtov (colors), Diana Albers (letters) and Don Daley (ediotr)

We open with a usual sight: a pitched battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Scorponk and his Decepticons are leading some Autobot prisoners to some smelting pits, but a group of Autobots lead by Fortress Maximus attack. The Decepticons flee and everyone is happy!

Well, everyone save Maximus. He's sick of everything and he announces his intention to retire. He takes his followers and splits for the planet of Nebulos. They arrive and from there we meet the locals. There are quite a few but the chief two are Galan and Lord Zarek. Galan wants peace and is perfectly fine with the Autobots being on the planet. Zarek, on the other hand, sees profit in war and wants to stir things up. They manage to turn the people against the bots when they magnitze Blur's arm and kick off a small riot. 

Maximus and four other Autobots arrive in town and beg for peace. To prove their sincerity, they kneel down and tear their heads off. 

Wow. A bit different than the show, for sure. I get wanting the leave the war, but why couldn't the Decepticons just follow them?

TFtember: Venom

Venom 

Another Deluxe Insecticon. This one started off as Beet-Zaguna cicada. He's officially the leader of the Insecticons, but his paranoid nature sidelines him most of the time. His main specialty is psychological warfare.

He only had a very brief cameo role in the UK comics and none at all in the cartoon. Pity, as he could have been an interesting foil. Bombshell did his role pretty the same though. 

TFtember: The Ultimate Weapon

"The Ultimate Weapon", the Transformers, November 10, 1986

Bit of a mess

The Netherlands is apparently an abject hellhole with roving gangs terrorizing the streets. Things are so bad the call is made to the Autobots, who send the Protectobots. They might have fared well against the humans, but when the Decepticons attack Blades is injured. 

While First Aid takes his comrade back to Metroplex for repairs, Galvatron threatens Rodimus with 'the Ultimate Weapon'. 

Back at Metroplex, First Aid is confronted by Swindle, who's in the middle of stealing the city robot's transformation cog. First Aid is a pacifist; a fact Swindle takes advantage of rather easily and gets away with the cog. 

Swindle returns to Galvatron with the cog in tow, they promptly install it in Trypticon. First Aid, guilty over what his inactions resulted in, leaves the team forever. Which is a problem, as the restored Trypticon easily crushes everything in his path, as it turns out First Aid is the only with the technical knowhow to fix Metroplex. Can First Aid overcome his principals in time?

Honestly could have used a rewrite or two. First Aid's whole deal comes across as Lifeline's issues from GI Joe. 

TFtember: GI Joe and the Transformers#4

   "...All Fall Down!", GI Joe and the Transformers#4 (April 1987), with credits to Michael Higgins (script), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Vince Colleta (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Bob Harris (editors)

Autobots gather their Joe and Cobra allies together as earthquakes rock the area. Shockwave informs Bombshell that Dr. Mindbinder's services will no longer be required but thankfully the Baroness manages to save the mad doctor. 

Ratchett arrives at the Joe base and with Mainframe's help they rebuild Bumblebee, who wishes to be called Goldbug from now on. 

Back at the Autobot base, talks continue. The majority consensus seems that Power Station Alpha needs to be destroyed for the good of all...yet the minority has a concern. What if, thanks to the various shenanigans going on, the station is now alive? A small team of the Baroness, Goldbug, and Scarlet will sneak onboard and sabotage, the while rest fight off the Decepticons. 

The station is launched into space and harmlessly detonated. All's well that ends well, right? There is still the matter of Senator Larkin and her ties to Cobra...

Pretty darn good and an ending scene that sticks with you.   

TFtember: Twin Twist

Twin Twist

The other Jumpstater. The toy was the same as Topspin, only he transformed into a kind of twin drill. Same action, which while neat can lead to breakage. The file card shows him as kind of a maniac. Apparently enjoys drilling anything, be it a Decepticon or lamppost. Optimus is a bit worried. 

He showed up in a crowd in the American comics, although I'm told his role was much larger in the UK comics. He never showed up in the cartoon. 

Like Topspin, he was also a member of the Wreckers. Given his attitude actually makes a fair amount of sense. 

TFtember: The Quintesson Journal

"The Quintesson Journal", the Transformers, November 11, 1986

We open with a peace talk between two warring races. The Autobots are trying to play peacemaker. Judging from the all out brawl going between the ambassadors, things are not going well. 

A Quintesson journal, meanwhile, is tumbling through space before it crashes onto a planet. Both the Autobots and Decepticons detect it and the race is on. 

It swtiches hands quite a bit, with the Decepticons managing to get it open. Much to Galvatron's fury there is no top secret intel, just ecnomic data. Namely that the two races mention earlier? Yeah, their war is a result of the Quintesson's meddling. 

After some back and forth, the Quintesson's announce they will be delivering their bombs to both planets as agreed, namely they intend to bomb the hell out of both planets. Can the Autobots stop them in time?

Not bad even if the animation is getting worse by the second. 

TFtember: GI Joe and the Transformers#3

  "Ashes, Ashes...", GI Joe and the Transformers#3 (March 1987), with credits to Michael Higgins (script), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Vince Colleta (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Bob Harris and Don Daley (editors)

The Decepticons are making plans with their new allies Cobra, i.e. they plan to betray them at the first opportunity. After a brief meeting, Dirge goes with Cobra and Dr. Mindbender stays with the Decepticons.

Back with the Joes, Blackrock is busy briefing the team, also stressing they just killed Bumblebee. Mainframe (computer expert) disagrees about the last part. 

Senator Larkin, who's been acting very suspicious these past two issues, is having a chat with the Baroness. Yup, turns out she was a Cobra asset this entire time. Hawk is not happy. 

Back at the Joe base, Bumblebee is brought back online, sort of. His brain and voice box are fine, the rest of his not so much. Bumblebee is not happy. 

Cobra and the Decepticons attack the Autobots base, but wouldn't you know it, somehow Dirge's gun jams and Cobra switches sides to help the Autobots. A sign of good faith, you see. 

Yeah, the Cobra is now throwing with the Joes, since Cobra found out the Decepticons plan to turn Earth into a burnt husk. Since they keep their stuff there, that is a problem. 

Good payoff and nice to see the world being expanded. 

TFtember: Tracks

Tracks  

Always had a soft spot for this guy. The toy started out as Diaclone car but the twist here is you can pull out his wings, making him one of the few Autobots who can fly. Being a Corvette Stingray helps too. 

He got reissued for the Classics line with some new paint details but the oddest is the Action Master take. Doesn't look anything like him, plus it was only released in Europe. There's also a red variant. 

His filecard paints an interesting picture. "Called a 'lousy Earth-lover' because he favors his sleek Earth form over his original form" is certainly a take. Other Autobots were shown to have an interest in Earth, Hound and Jazz in particular, but here we have an Autobot who is hated for his choices. 

In the comics, Tracks was one of the few Autobots who was born on Earth. He was basically in the background until Blot shot him with an acid gun (#50)

The cartoon fared better. Voiced by Michael McConnohie, he was given a sort of Thuston Howell III type of voice and attitude. He mostly showed up in season 2 but he never really had an episode devoted to him. He did pop up and he did certainly do things. Mostly wearing an alien mask or crashing while shooting a movie. 

TFtember: Carnage in C-Minor

"Carnage in C-Minor", the Transformers, October 14, 1986

And this has been called, if not the single worst episode in the franchise then certianly the most error prone. 

The Decepticons are planning to hijack a comet and crash it into Metroplex. The Autobots intervene, but during the course of the fight the comet is redirected towards a small inhabited planet. Before anyone can do anything, waves of pure sound come from planet side and blast the comet to bits. Both sides are interested. 

Galvatron wants the destructive power for himself but Soundwave calls it the most perfect harmony he's ever heard. Turns out the harmony is the result of three locals signing in perfect harmony. One of them is willing to work with the Decepticons but how about the other two?

Hard to get through. Seriously, since when was Perceptor strong enough to blast Devastator apart? Not to mention the supposedly dead Transformers popping up the crowd scenes and overall just disappointing. 

TFtember: GI Joe and the Transformers#2

 "Power Struggle", GI Joe and the Transformers#2 (February 1987), with credits to Michael Higgins (script), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Vince Colleta (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Bob Harris and Don Daley (editors)

We open with the Aerialbots arriving on the scene and finding Bumblebee in pieces. They respond by forming Superion and threating to return the favor. The battle is underway when they get word that Prime has died (Transformers#24) thus they retreat. 

Power Station Alpha is now under Decepticon control but Cobra opts to steal it. GB Blackrock witnesses this battle and his boat is sunk in order to act as a distraction for the escaping Cobra. Blackrock overhears the Cobra troops talking about giant robots and he realizes he might be able to help...

The kid Bombshell planted a cerebro-shell inside is about to undergo surgery to get it out of his brain. 

The Decepticons and Cobra officially have a meeting but Dr. Mindbener starts to panic when he overhears two of the jets talking. They plan, not only to take the power station for themselves, their resulting actions will blow up the Earth!

Some slight continuity errors start to pop up but overall good. The stakes are now raised. How can our heroes handle this? 

TFtember: Topspin

Topspin  

Prior to this, we've been looking at most just Transformers. Sure, we had cars, minicars, jets, etc. but here we had an actual different line-toys that did something besides just change. 

Jumpstarters! Vehicles that would flip on their own accord and transform-all by themselves! The catch is the parts need for this can wear down and break, so finding one in good shape nowadays is a bit hard. 

Topspin, apparently some kind of hovercraft thing, only had one toy in all of Generation One. His file card paints him as a thrillseeker of sorts, beating the terrain is almost as important as beating Decepticons to him. 

The comic paints him in a similar light. He only ever showed up in the UK books and was part of the Wreckers group, a sort of Dirty Dozen/Suicide Squad. This proved apt as Topspin got his head blown off by Megatron in one issue. 

He never showed up in the cartoon. 

Tftember: Webworld

 "Webworld", the Transformers, October 20th, 19886

The one where Galvatron drives a planet crazy.

During a material raid, Galvatron spends more time firing on his own troops than the Autobots. Back at their base, Cyclonus ponders. If he doesn't do something and fast they could have a full blown rebellion on their hands. A Quintesson appears and mentions the planet Torkulon, renowned for their healing abilities. 

Wonder what kind of insurnace they take?

Galvatron is lured there and the healing begins, or at least attempts. It seems Galvatron is just so darn crazy every technique the Torklons just makes him crazier. They have one last trick, however, and it is basically a lobotomy conducted by the entire planet. 

Of course, opening the planet's mind to Galvatron's particular brand of crazy may not be the best idea...

Pretty good and a nice focus on Galvatron. 

TFtember: GI Joe and the Transformers#1

"Blood on the Tracks", GI Joe and the Transformers#1 (January 1987), with credits to Michael Higgins (script), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Vince Colleta (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Joe Rosen (letters), Bob Harris and Don Daley (editors)

Like chocolate and peanut butter. Seriously, you'd think the two franchises would have crossed over before this but it seems back in the day Hasbro wanted both shows to be on equal footing before they crossed over. When Transformers was popular, Joe wasn't and vice versa. 

For continuity, this takes place around Transformers#19 and G.I. Joe#50.

The Joe team has a new assignment: Protect Power Station Alpha. There are other parties interested, namely the Decepticons and Autobots. Bumblebee is picked, and the minicar spends most of his travel lamenting his lack of physical strength.

The Drednoks have been assigned to watch the power station but as is their want they got bored and kind of wandered off. They decide to highjack the station (it being mobile might have helped) but a group of bikers VS highly elite military fighting force isn't the most balanced battle. 

Bumblebee is forced to exposed himself to avoid Buzzer's chainsaw but the gang manages to escape. Cobra Commander is most annoyed while Megatron is equally annoyed. The latter orders Dirge and Bombshell to take over the station. 

Bombshell manages to infect the son of one of the station protestors and makes the lad walk into traffic. Bumblebee radios for backup and the Aerialbots are dispatched. The jets would never make it in time, so Bumblebee transforms and saves the boy.

This sadly puts him literally in the crosshairs of the Joe team who open fire and blast the brave scout apart just as the Autobot jets arrive. They are not happy. 

Well, that's a heck of an opening. Good set up with a plot that could easily be on either show. 

TFtember: Thrust

Thrust 

Getting back into the jets and this time we're looking at Thrust. Much like the other series 2 jets, Thrust is just a recolor of the first wave jets only with VTOL fans on his legs. According to his filecard, he is a loudmouth braggart who attempts to 'psych out' his enemies by being as loud as possible. Basically, the worst guy you could have in the field. 

Only one toy in all of Generation 1 although there would be others in subsequent lines. 

The comics tell a similar story. In the UK books he is described as an elite warrior although in the American series he just pops up with no introduction and basically just acted as another thug until Blaster blew him up in #41, although he did show up in the background of issue#47. 

Voiced by Ed Gilbert in the show, Thrust popped up with no explanation in season two. He was mostly just another jet, acting more or less just like Ramjet or Dirge. His biggest moment probably came from the film where he was first run over by Optimus Prime (set to "the Touch") then later eaten by Unicron.

He got better, popping up in season three. 

Not the biggest character in the show but he was there. 

TFtember: Ghost in the Machine

"Ghost in the Machine", the Transformers, October 21, 1986

We see the return of Starscream's ghost!

He's still lurking about, this time possessing Scourge and acting amuck. Cyclonus follows but gives up, assuming his comrade has defected to the Autobots, but that isn't Starscream's goal. No, his destination is the severed head of Unicron, now acting as a moon to Cybertron. 

Unicorn needs a few favors and if Starscream wants to be a whole robot again, he'd better do them. First order of business, some eyeballs. They steal Metroplex's eyes but one get busted during the theft, so with some trickery they manage to steal one of Trypticon's eyes. 

The next task is to steal the transformation cog from Trypticon. Seems like he should have told them that while they were there but what do I know?

With Unicron's plans nearly completion will Starscream have a body again?

Honestly better than you'd think. Glad to see Starscream again even if this would be his last appearance in the series. They could have done quite a bit with a ghost transformer but it didn't quite pan out. More's the pity. 

TFtember: The Night Transformers Saved Christmas

"The Night Transformers Saved Christmas" Women's Day (December 26, 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Nelson Yomtov (colors), and Ellen levine (editor).

A different yarn this time out, in that it was an exclusive insert in the weekly mag Women's Day. 

Soundwave and Laserbeak are up to no good as they are stealing the power from the town of Midvalle's power station. Bumblebee manages to spot them and summons an Autobot war party. In the fracas the Perry family's car gets wrecked. 

The family is thankfully unhurt, but little Meagn is going to be crushed that they won't be able to deliver presents to the needy of Midvalle now. 

Not on Bumblebee's watch! He goes to town to help power the town's Christmas tree while the rest of the Autobot's fix the family's car. 

Decent and seasonal. Low stakes and easy enough to follow. 

TFtember: Tech Specometer Eleven

Tech Specometer Eleven  

Starting this one up again and yeah, got a weird one.

Made by Nasta and rebranded for the North American market, this is a basically a child's first multitool. 

Included:

Telescope 

Periscope

Magnifying class

Tape measure 

Reflector

Altimeter

Compass

Flashlight 

Whistle

 Sundial

Counter

The Japanese version had a working AM radio instead of a reflector, but I guess somethings aren't meant to be. To my knowledge it never appeared in any other format or medium. I never cared for things like this, as the included tools were usually too small to be effective.