***alt.toys.transformers FAQ v2.2 (last time!)***
Steve R. Stonebraker
The Glorious
Alt.Toys.Transformers FAQ
written by Steve Stonebraker
srst...@cc.owu.edu
bc...@freenet.carleton.ca
Version 2.2
Updated: 9/24/95
== Introduction =======================
This is the FAQ file for the alt.toys.transformers
discussion group. A FAQ is a list of Frequently Asked Questions.
FAQ's are intended to provide quick answers to various questions
which come up frequently on the newsgroup, and in some cases have
had the life totally beaten out of them by repeated discussion.
This makes things easier for the person asking the question, and
also makes things less annoying to the people reading the
newsgroup.
A FAQ is also a useful reference for people who read the
group regularly. It allows them to find answers to questions
they may have without taking the time to post their question and
wait for responses, and also is simply entertaining to read.
If there is something discussed in the FAQ which you still
have a question about, or have some new ideas to contribute, by
all means do post a message about it. This is merely a reference
guide, and is not supposed to give the impression of having the
last word on anything.
Also, if there is something which you would like to see
included in the FAQ which I have passed over, send me email about
it and best bet is that your suggestion will be in the next
version. Revisions of this FAQ will probably be irregular, but I
will probably make small changes about every two weeks.
This FAQ should be available in a number of places. I will
post it regularly to the newsgroup, and eventually (hopefully) to
news.answers and alt.answers. It will also be available from me
by email request, as well as on several WWW pages and FTP sites,
which I will list at the end of the introduction.
There was (and still may be) an earlier version or two of
the FAQ floating around, but after someone started a message
thread entitled "TF FAQ sucks!", I thought it might be time for
someone to actually take the initiative and write up a new one...
So, here I am.
Initial thanks go to "Max Sterling" (that was his posting
alias at least), the author of the previous version of the FAQ
which I am replacing. He no longer seems to exist at his old
email address (alum...@camins.camosun.bc.ca), but I thought it
only proper to thank him anyway. Although this FAQ is almost
entirely my own work, parts of his FAQ (questions, answers,
ideas) have been included in this one, and without some sort of
previous reference I'm sure my job would have been a lot harder.
== FAQ Availability ===================
The Transformers FAQ is posted every other monday to a.t.t., and
in time will hopefully be seen on alt.answers and news.answers.
It is also available through the following means:
FTP: vela.acs.oakland.edu /pub/jjhoxsey/
vtucs.cc.vt.edu /filebox/other/transformers
ftp.telebyte.com /misc/transformers
WWW: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~progrmer/transformers.html
http://www.acs.oakland.edu/links/jjhoxsey/transformers.html
http://www.vt.edu:10021/other/transformers
http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf.html
Email: srst...@cc.owu.edu OR bc...@freenet.carleton.ca
== Revision History ===================
v1.0 - everything new
v2.0 - more complete MUSH info
- quote list info
- info on RoboMACs, a TF-compatible rpg system
- now have complete and correct info on Japanese TF cartoon
- added more voice actor info
- list of gestalt components and list of tapes
- discussion of comic writing/art staff
- explanation of Soundwave's voice in the cartoon
- editing, grammar correction, etc.
v2.1 - transforming sound spelling
- misc. little changes
v2.2 - email address changes for a few people
- tiny revisions to voice list and Japanese cartoon section
- two or three new WWW pages listed
== Plans for Future Changes ===========
- list of TF deaths in the movie
- complete list of starring voice roles in the movie
- edit UK TF comic and toy origin sections for conciseness
- info about Telnet clients for the MUSHes
- sections on TF Action Cards and "Find Your Fate Jr." books
- explanation of the switches on Jumpstarter's heads
== Terms and Abbreviations ============
There are several terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that I
may be using in this FAQ, and that you'll run across in the
newsgroup as well. Here is an incomplete list of them...
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions, or the list thereof
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion.
OTOH - On The Other Hand.
spam - posting long, pointless messages, or sending a message to
many newsgroups where it doesn't apply
TF - Transformer(s)
G2 - Generation 2, or Transformers: Generation 2
TransFan - a Transformers Fan (whoa...)
a.t.t - alt.toys.transformers
tech specs - the little cards from TF boxes which showed the
abilities and stats of the TF
bot - Autobot
con, decep - Decepticon
Op, OP - Optimus Prime, Autobot leader.
Megs, Meggy - Megatron, Decepticon leader.
Quints - Quintessons, aliens introduced in the TF movie who
played a large part in the plot of post-movie eps
== Contents ===========================
I. General questions relating to the newsgroup
1. Why don't you guys go and get a life?
2. What's the range of ages for people in this group?
3. What is FIRRIB?
4. What's the TF-MUSH?
5. Where do I go to sell old TF's I don't want anymore?
6. I have some TF's but I don't know their names... can
anyone help me?
II. Getting info and stuff
1. Is there a TF ftp site?
2. Is there a TF WWW page?
3. Where can I get a list of all the TF's that were made?
4. Where can I get a list of all the TF tech specs?
5. Where can I get a list of all the TF fan fiction?
6. Where can I get a list of all the TF cartoon episodes?
7. Where can I get a list of TF quotes?
8. How about a TF encyclopedia or something?
III. General TF questions
1. When did the TF's first come out?
2. Are there any TF video games?
3. Are there any TF conventions?
4. Are there any TF clubs?
5. Is there a TF role-playing game?
IV. Continuity Issues
1. Why doesn't anything agree with anything else?
2. What's the basic origin from the comics?
3. What's the basic origin from the TV show?
4. So where did Unicron come from in the cartoon?
V. General TF story questions
1. Does Cybertron have an atmosphere?
2. What's up with the female TF's?
3. But WHY do they have them at all?
4. How do TF's reproduce?
5. How did the great war start?
6. Why do they transform? Why not just be big robots?
7. Where does Prime's trailer go when he transforms?
8. Are they immortal?
9. Is there a Transformers history anywhere?
VI. Toys
1. What were the TF's based on?
2. What's the deal with red/yellow Bumblebee/Cliffjumper?
3. Why is Jetfire just like a Robotech Veritech fighter?
4. I've got these weird tiny TF's. What are they?
5. How many combiners did they make?
6. How many tapes did they make?
7. Did they ever make a Unicron toy?
8. Why did the last few years of TF toys suck so bad?
9. Why do most of the new TF toys suck so bad?
10. What's with Go-Bot Transformers?
VII. Cartoon
1. What's the deal with Rumble and Frenzy? Which is which?
2. Can Autobots fly or not?
3. Why'd they call Jetfire "Skyfire" and draw him different?
4. How'd they do Soundwave's voice?
5. I heard about a Japanese Transformers cartoon, but it was
totally different from the American one. What's it like?
6. Where can I find episodes of the show on tape?
7. What was "Five Faces of Darkness" about?
8. People have mentioned "Call of the Primitives". What was
that episode about?
9. What happened in "Dark Awakening" and "The Return of
Optimus Prime"?
10. What was "Rebirth"?
11. Is there a list of the voice actors from the show?
VIII. Comics
1. Who published it, and when was it in production?
2. Who wrote the comic?
3. Who drew it?
4. What's different between the American and British comics?
5. The whole story arc with Unicron was different in the
comic, so where did Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge come
from in it? And where was Rodimus Prime?
6. What about issue 43, "The Big Broadcast of 2006"?
7. Wasn't Spiderman in one issue? Does that mean the TF's
are in the normal Marvel Universe with the X-Men?
8. What about G.I. Joe?
IX. TF:The Movie
1. What happened in it?
2. Why weren't more characters featured?
3. Where was Snarl?
4. Why did the Insecticons keep showing up and dying?
5. Why would Astrotrain need to "jettison some weight" in
space?
5. Why'd they kill everyone?
6. Didn't they swear in it? (Also, did they edit the video
version?)
7. Who did the voices?
8. What is the universal greeting?
9. Where can I get the movie on tape?
10. Where can I get the movie on laserdisc?
11. Where can I get the movie soundtrack?
X. Miscellaneous Questions
1. What were those Cybertronian units of time?
2. Unicron vs. the Death Star: who would win?
3. How do you write out the transforming sound?
4. Which TF's died in the movie/comic/tv show?
XI. Legalese and Special Thanks
== I. General Questions Relating to the Newsgroup
1. Why don't you guys go and get a life?
Contrary to appearances, many, and indeed most, of the
regular posters to alt.toys.transformers DO lead healthy and
(somewhat) full lives. It is true that we are holding on to
our childhoods, but that's something that most people would
consider to be a good thing. :)
When it comes down to it, the main reason that most of us
read and post to alt.toys.transformers is that we simply
think transforming robots are a pretty cool idea. A large
portion of a.t.t readers also read related newsgroups (such
as alt.tv.robotech, rec.games.mecha, and rec.arts.anime),
and you may also want to check out a few of those groups if
you have not already done so.
2. What's the range of ages for people in this group?
There's no official count of this of course, but when
someone asked in a post, most of the answers ranged between
17 and 25. Generally, it's the people who were the right
age to appreciate Transformers when they were really
popular, from around 1984 to 89 or 90.
3. What is FIRRIB?
FIRRIB is an acronym for "Frenzy Is Red Rumble Is Blue".
It's a movement that has swept up quite a few followers in
a.t.t. This is a matter of dispute because of inconsistent
coloring between the toys and the cartoon show. If you go
by the toys, Rumble is red and black, while Frenzy is two
shades of blue. On the TV show, however, Rumble was
purplish and blue, and Frenzy, who was almost never
featured, was red and black.
To make things even more confusing, sometimes they were both
shown as blue, or both as red. The comic book, near the
beginning, often had inconsistent coloring as well, and in
fact both Frenzy and Rumble looked sort of blackish. Also,
according to some sources, the new G2 Go-Bot version of
Frenzy is actually purple, perhaps in an effort to solve the
red/blue controversy? ;)
What it really comes down to is whether you consider the
show or the toys to be canon. For most people this depends
on which they saw first. One thing you will learn about
TF's, though, is that there really is no canon.
4. What's the TF-MUSH?
A MUSH is an online game which many people can play at once.
The letters stand for Multi-User Shared Hallucination.
MUSHes are very similar to MUDs, in that people connect to
it and control characters which interact with other players
and the environment.
There are currently three Transformer MUSHes. The first
one, generally called TFMUSH or TF1, takes place before the
events of the movie. The second MUSH, known as TF2005, or
TF2K5, takes place very shortly after the movie. The other
MUSH is Cybertronian Wars - The Transformers Saga (CWTS).
It takes place just before the time of the movie. All three
MUSHes have their own timeline and continuity, and need not
agree with each other on all points.
On all of the TF MUSHes, the focus is placed on role-playing
and plot rather than fighting. If you are looking for hack
and slash, try a MUD. The experience of playing on a TF
MUSH is a lot like being inside an episode of the cartoon.
There are planned events called "tinyplots" (TP's), but for
the most part the players are the ones who initiate events.
Also, the admin of the various MUSHes wish to point out that
they are not in competition with each other. On the
contrary, most of the admin play all three MUSHes, and some
even have admin duties on more than one of them.
On all three MUSHes, you may choose either a Featured
Character (FC) or a Non-Featured Character (NFC). FC's are
Transformers that actually existed as toys or in the cartoon
or comic (it may vary from MUSH to MUSH, but on TF2005 you
may pick any character from the four issue "Transformers
Universe" comic except for those who clearly died in the
movie). These characters are understandably limited and in
high demand. Before choosing a FC, make sure that you are
choosing one which you will be able to role-play well. For
example, don't choose to play Prowl and then act like a war-
crazed maniac. If you would rather make up your own
Transformer, then that is what NFC's are for (these are
Original Characters, or OC's, on TF2K5). You may choose
your own name, appearance, modes, abilities, and tech specs.
However, there is a limit to the total of all of your tech
specs; that is so there aren't twenty people running around
with all 10's ruining the game for everyone else. There are
other limits placed on NFC's, but to learn more about those
you should ask someone on the MUSH itself or email one of
the Wizards. Players are usually permitted to have at most
one FC and two or three NFCs.
It's best to visit a MUSH before getting a character so that
you can get a feel for the place. Telnet to the MUSH of
your choice, and at the login screen, type "login guest
guest", or "connect guest guest", or whatever it says to
type. You will then be placed into a welcome room, which
will probably have a few people in it talking Out Of
Character (OOC, as opposed to In Character, IC). Type
"help" to get some of the basic commands, and then ask one
of the people in the room to help you out.
If you decide to get a character and start playing on the
MUSHes you might want to get a copy of the MUSH Manual so
that you can get accustomed to the commands, and that way
not be totally lost when you first get on to play. You can
get the manual by anonymous ftp at the site "caisr2.caisr.
cwru.edu" in the directory /pub/mush. The file is called
MUSHMAN or something obvious of that nature.
The current addresses for the MUSHes are:
TFMUSH: rowan.liii.com 1985
TF2K5: rowan.liii.com 5555
CWTS: not currently up :(
The TFMUSH gods are Frenzy and Ravage, and Shockwave is in
charge of theme and building:
Frenzy: swe...@utdallas.edu
Ravage: da...@vt.edu
Shockwave: kena...@cs.indiana.edu
The TF2005 Character Staff head is Vector Sigma, and the god
is Cyclonus:
Vector Sigma: sdw...@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu
Cyclonus: sha...@brown.edu
The CWTS Head Director is Metroplex, the demigod is Alpha
Trion, Newbie Staff Head is Ultra Magnus, and the Theme
Staff head is Shockwave:
Metroplex: dav...@oldcolo.com
Alpha-Trion: foe...@itchy.ee.cua.edu
Ultra Magnus: bra...@cwis.unomaha.edu
Shockwave: bent...@oldcolo.com
5. Where do I go to sell old TF's I don't want anymore?
Simply post an auction message in a.t.t. The group is
relatively low-traffic, so there won't be a lot of
complaints (if any) from auctions being held. Make up a
list of what TF's you want to sell, give some clue as to
their condition, whether they are originals or Generation 2,
etc., etc.. Anything that your buyers might want to know.
There's almost always at least one auction going on, so you
can find a current auction message and sort of follow its
format if you're totally clueless.
6. I've got some TF's but I don't know their names... can
anyone help me?
Certainly. Many of the regular att posters (and I'm sure a
lot of the lurkers) can identify your TF's without even
having to look them up. Simply make a post with the subject
"ID this/these TF" or something similar, and you should get
emails or follow-up posts about it before too long. Even if
the toys aren't _real_ TF's, be they ripoffs like Shackwave,
or GoBots, or MASK, or whatever, go ahead and ask; just make
sure you say that they aren't (or might not be) Transformers
so people know what to think about.
== II. Getting Info and Stuff =========
1. Is there a TF ftp site?
Yes, there are actually three ftp sites at this time. They
tend to echo each other to some extent, although not always.
The sites are:
vela.acs.oakland.edu /pub/jjhoxsey
ftp.telebyte.com /misc/transformers
vtucs.cc.vt.edu /filebox/other/transformers
To contact the people who run these sites, email to the
following addresses: jjho...@saturn.acs.oakland.edu
ehar...@kendaco.telebyte.com
t...@vt.edu
You may use any of these sites through anonymous ftp. The
vela site tends to be more complete and up to date. When
you connect, you will probably want to get the index file
for the site, which is a text file that lists everything
currently available for ftp. If you don't know how to use
ftp, ask whoever is in charge of your computer system for
help, or email me directly and I'll see if I can clear it up
for you. If you can help it, don't post to the newsgroup
with questions about how to use ftp.
Both sites have subdirectories for text, pictures (both GIF
and JPG format), and sounds. The pictures available include
scans of art from toy boxes, scans of some of the toy
catalogues, screen captures from the movie, and fan art.
2. Is there a TF WWW page?
Yes! There are actually quite a lot of Transformers Web
pages. More TF pages keep popping up, so to save space I'm
going to simply list URL's and scrap the little reviews of
each page I had before. The first two are WWW extensions of
the FTP sites at the same locations. Where I have used
capital letters in URL's, it implies that the machine is
case-sensitive and if you try to connect without the caps,
you will probably get an error. Also, if you run a TF-
related WWW page, or have links to a page I have not
mentioned, please let me know and I will add it to the list.
http://www.acs.oakland.edu/links/jjhoxsey/transformers.html
http://www.vt.edu:10021/other/transformers
http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~progrmer/transformers.html
http://netspace.org/users/shalott/TF2005.html
http://pages.prodigy.com/Hell/tfwrestle/tfwrestle.html
http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf.html
http://Ravenwing.pc.cc.cmu.edu/np24/jetfire.html
http://www.firstnet.net/~dhayden/transformers.html
http://www.marshall.edu/~ward8/tf.html
http://studsys.mscs.mu.edu/~pronovic/phil/botcon/opener.html
http://pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom
http://www.public.iastate.edu:80/~dvh_tion/
http://calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~sslui/
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~u01dlw/
http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/j/jhpace1/WWW/Files/
Transformer_Chronology
You also might want to check out the page below; it has
several TF sound files (theme songs), a sample of Peter
Cullen's Voltron narration, and a bunch of other cool TV
theme songs from your childhood:
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/kennyp/sounds.html
3. Where can I get a list of all the TF's that were made?
There is/was a (fairly) complete toy list at the TF ftp
site. It's mysteriously found in the "text" directory under
the name "toylist.txt".
More up to date, there is also an extremely comprehensive
toy list which is still being compiled, maintained by Robert
Jung (a different R. Jung than the one who wrote ARJ). He
can be contacted at "rj...@netcom.com". This lists all toys
from the US, Europe, and Japan, along with years they were
released and short descriptions.
4. Where can I get a list of all the TF tech specs?
Hex is the keeper of the "Official Unofficial Transformers
Tech Spec Listing". This file is updated regularly, and is
also posted to the newsgroup occasionally, although less
recently because of people complaining of spam. For a copy
of this, you can check the newsgroup, but it's probably
easier to email Hex and ask for a copy. He has several
addresses, but the preferred one is "tashjidg@ucunix.
san.uc.edu".
5. Where can I get a list of all the TF fan fiction?
Currently, Suzanne M. Ferree has taken on the responsibility
of maintaining the fanfic list. This list is posted bi-
monthly to the newsgroup, usually on the 5th and 25th of the
month, but you can also get it from the Brandeis WWW page or
by emailing Suzanne. The list is rather large, as a lot of
TF fanfic has been written.
All of the fanfic on the list should be available at the ftp
site if you are interested in reading it (a lot of it is
very good).
Suzanne's email addresses are:
winter/spring: "sfe...@s-cwis.unomaha.edu"
summer: "s...@grex.cyberspace.org"
Also, Suzanne asks that when you post fanfic, if you want it
to get on her list, that you include the word "fanfic" in
your post subject. Like, "FANFIC: Unicron vs. the Death
Star". That makes it easier for her, and for other readers
as well.
6. Where can I get a list of all the TF cartoon episodes?
Marek Kozubal (progrmer) has a fairly complete list on his
WWW page. This list has all titles, and additional info for
some. He's working on getting plot summaries for them.
Aaron Marsh (abm...@vaxb.isc.rit.edu) has an episode list
which is in order, with summaries for most. He posts it to
the group, and will also send it to people over email.
7. Where can I get a list of TF quotes?
Naomi Novik (sha...@brown.edu) compiled a list of favorite
TF quotes a while ago, and although it hasn't been updated
for a while, she is willing to email it to people who want
it. Just contact her. Also, if anyone out there has the
desire to reorganize and maintain the quote list, that
position is still unfilled and looking for a volunteer. :)
8. How about a TF encyclopedia or something?
Such a project is currently being undertaken by Stanley Lui
(ss...@uwaterloo.edu). It's largely just a shell right now,
but he's trying to put together a TF Encyclopedia on the
WWW. The URL is listed at the end of this section, and also
above with the other TF WWW pages.
Major articles in the encyclopedia will be on specific
characters, events, and places, from all TF fiction
continuities. Currently only the American comic and
cartoons are listed, but Stanley hopes to eventually include
the UK Comic and Japanese cartoon episodes. For each item
listed there will be a history for each continuity. For
example, the "Optimus Prime" article will probably have two
sections, each reading like Op's life history from either
the cartoon or US comic continuity.
There will also eventually be hypertext links within
articles, so that, for example, when the section on the
Matrix mentions Alpha Trion, there will be a direct link to
the article on Alpha so the reader can get more information
on him.
The TF Encyc is provided mainly as a reference tool for
people who need background information for FanFic writing,
and for other TF fans who are just trying to remember the
name of a place or what a certain weapon did.
Anyone who is willing to write articles for the TF Encyc
should contact Stanley to see what articles are currently
blank, or connect to the page directly to see what needs to
be done. All contributions to the TF Encyc will be properly
recognized and acknowledged.
Also, on a similar note, Aaron Marsh has a painstakingly
compiled list of _every_ TF appearance in the American
comics. It's organized by character, and lists every issue
in which that character appeared. Aaron will send this out
by email. If you're interested contact him at "abm4111@
vaxb.isc.rit.edu".
== III. General TF Questions ==========
1. When did the TF's first come out?
The very first appearance of the Transformers was an
animated TV commercial for the Marvel comic book. This
first appeared in summer of 1984. The first issue of the
comic itself was dated as September 1984. However, at this
point Marvel is dating their comics about 2 months ahead of
when they hit the shelves, so it's likely that issue one was
actually released in July '84. The first batch of toys were
released in fall '84, and the original three episodes of the
show aired at about the same time. The cartoon then went
weekly in early 1985, and daily in fall of that year.
2. Are there any TF video games?
There were 2 different games released for the Commodore 64.
The original, merely called "The Transformers", was a basic
platform game. I didn't have this one so I have to go on
what other people have said, and what was in Max Sterling's
version of the FAQ. Your mission was to find 4 energon
cubes which were scattered throughout the level and bring
them back to your home base. When you got the energon cubes
back to your base, they would turn into parts of an Autobot
symbol, and the object was to complete that symbol.
The second game was called "The Battle for Cybertron" and
was set after the movie. Your mission in this game was to
stop the Decepticons from taking over various places on
Earth, and to stop them from building their ultimate weapon.
There was a map screen with about 15 different places on it,
and you could send about 8 different Autobots (strangely
including both Hot Rod _and_ Rodimus Prime) to different
places, depending on where the Decepticons were attacking.
Once your Autobot was there, it would switch to a first-
person view, and you had to move a crosshairs to shoot at
nearly endless Decep jets that flew onto the screen. You
could be hit by Decep missiles, and if you got hit too much
your screen would "crack up" and you'd have to bring another
bot in. There was also a nearly impossible part where you
had to stop a tyrannosaurs rex from stepping on the space
shuttle.
There were some rumors about a Super Nintendo TF game which
was in the works to go along with the TF:G2 line, but talk
of that has died down, and it was likely just a rumor. The
current hope is that Takara will make an Ultra 64 game.
For people interested in playing the above games, one of
them and a Commodore 64 emulator to play it with are
available by ftp for most platforms at "frodo.hiof.no" in
/pub/c64/emulator. The other game is available on Optimus'
WWW page, as well as a link to the emulator site.
3. Are there any TF conventions?
In 1994, there was an official BotCon held by Hasbro in
honor of the TF's 10th anniversary, and also to help launch
their TF:Generation 2 line. This convention was the first-
ever, and focused mainly on the collectible toy aspect of
TF's, and was a general success with fans. The name of the
convention is derived from the words AutoBOT and DeceptiCON,
placing the obligatory "con" at the end of the name.
For 1995, a.t.t.'s very own Raksha put together a second
BotCon in early August. This convention was fan-organized
and focused more on the fan-related aspects of TF's.
Both BotCons featured dealer tables for toys, comics,
fanzines, and art, as well as tv rooms where fans could
watch the movie, American, and Japanese cartoon episodes on
constant playback. Both BotCons also had a special limited-
edition TF figure available only to convention attendees.
Attending a BotCon is a major thrill for most TF fans. For
days after the 95 'con, more than half of the message
threads on att had the word "BotCon" in them. A huge
fraction of the people at BotCon were either MUSHers or
att'ers, or both. If you can possibly get to the next
BotCon, it's something you won't regret.
As of this moment, there are no definite plans for BotCon
'96. The only reason the previous two occurred was because
someone decided to make them happen. There are several
people considering hosting the next BotCon, and several
possible sites, although at the moment it seems that Dallas
and Chicago are the most likely sites. Watch the newsgroup
or updates of the FAQ for new developments.
4. Are there any TF clubs?
There are two major TF clubs that are still active today.
One of them is TransMasters, which is run by Tony Buchanan
and Mark Tisdale. There is also a UK branch run by Matt
Dallas. For information on this club you can contact any of
them. I personally had better luck with Mark than Tony,
although other people have expressed the opposite
experience.
Mark Tisdale Tony Buchanan Matt Dallas
PO Box 469 1215 S Andrews Rd 221 Wayfield Rd.
Montezuma GA 31063 Yorktown IN 47396 Chatham, Kent
ME5 0HG
Another club called The Survivors, is a branch club of
TransMasters. For information contact:
Liane Elliot
6202 34th St. NW
Gig Harbor WA 98335-7205.
5. Is there a TF role-playing game?
In a manner of speaking, yes. Dave Van Domelen has written
a robot-oriented role-playing system called RoboMACs which
can be easily applied to Transformers. His email address is
"dva...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu". To order a printed
copy of the rules for $11 plus shipping, email your request
to "pl...@io.com".
The game itself is more concerned with role-playing than
rolling dice, and the mechanics of play are simple.
Character creation is trait-based instead of stat-based and
can accommodate anything from normal humans to planet-sized
mecha using a sliding scale. The game uses ten-sided dice,
with 2d10 used for task resolution. While best-suited for
humanoid robot combat, it can easily be extended to other
themes such as paranormal humans and cyborgs. There is
currently no magic system, but a later supplement may fix
that. To be added to a reflector-style mailing list set up
to discuss and playtest RoboMACs, email to "pl...@io.com".
The rules and sample campaign are posted to the list
periodically, along with various updates.
== IV. Continuity Issues ===============
1. Why doesn't anything agree with anything else?
As many readers will be aware, there are serious story
discrepancies between the TF cartoon and comic book, and
sometimes even between the cartoon and itself (and more
rarely, the comic and itself). Many fans enjoy finding ways
to explain these discrepancies within the cartoon, to make
everything still fit together, and for the most part they
are successful.
The important thing to remember when comparing the comic
book and cartoon series is that they have NOTHING to do with
each other, except for having mostly the same characters and
a theme of transforming robots from Cybertron. The two
clearly take place along alternate timelines, and IMHO, any
attempt to reconcile the two separate stories is futile.
Not only do totally different events occur in both, but the
origin of Transformer life is completely different as well.
2. What's the basic origin from the comics?
Way way back at the beginning of time, there was a god of
chaos called Unicron. He had an insatiable hunger, and a
hatred of all of existence. As there was no power in the
universe to oppose him, he managed to eat everything that
was, except for one tiny microscopic dot. This dot exploded
(a la Big Bang) into the universe we know today. Unicron
was enraged and immediately began to eat again, but this
time another god named Primus fought him. Their powers were
of equal measure, so they fought for ages, with neither
gaining the upper hand, but as they fought they wreaked
havoc on the universe around them. Primus saw this, and in
a desperate attempt to trick Unicron, he plunged himself
into a metallic asteroid. Thinking that Primus was indeed
up to something, Unicron also dove into a metallic asteroid
so that Primus would not have an advantage. However,
Unicron soon discovered that he was trapped in his asteroid,
as Primus was also trapped within his.
As the millennia passed, Primus discovered that he could
alter the shape of his prison, and so began to form his
asteroid into a planet, and the planet into a race of beings
which he hoped would one day be able to stand against
Unicron, should he ever escape from his asteroid. These
beings were the Transformers. The Creation Matrix which
allows Transformers to make more of their kind, contains a
bit of the essence of Primus' spirit.
Primus and Unicron possessed a mental link, so Primus knew
that Unicron had also learned to shape his prison. While
Primus had created an army to fight for him, Unicron had
turned his entire asteroid into a giant replica of his old
form. He could change from this form to one which more
resembled the original asteroid as well. So that Unicron
would be unable to find him and his children until enough
time had passed that they would be able to fight against
Unicron, Primus fell into a deep sleep. Thus the
Transformers were created on their planet Cybertron, with
almost no memory of their origin other than myth.
3. What's the basic origin from the TV show?
Millennia ago, the Quintessons were the heads of a huge
galactic corporation. They built the planet of Cybertron as
a huge factory in which to build robotic slaves. There were
two basic models: household and entertainment robots, and
warrior/gladiator robots. Whenever one of their slaves
began to show signs of true intelligence, the Quintessons
had it immediately smelted down to be used as raw materials
for the next line of robots.
Eventually, however, more and more of the robots began to
gain sentience, and they started a revolt against the
Quintessons which ended in the Quints fleeing Cybertron for
their lives, and the Transformers taking the planet over.
It was sometime after this that the first hostilities arose
between Autobot and Deception.
4. So where did Unicron come from in the cartoon?
Unicron's origin was not discussed in the TF Movie, although
that was when he first appeared. His origin was not
revealed until the post-movie ep, "Call of the Primitives".
In the cartoon storyline, Unicron was built by a man named
Primacron. He built Unicron to destroy worlds because he
liked having blank slates for planets so that he could do
what he wanted with them. Unfortunately, Unicron revolted
against his control and started to eat various planets for
the fun of it. In the TV show, there was no special bond
between Unicron and the Matrix of Leadership as there was
between the comic Unicron and the Creation Matrix. The
Matrix of Leadership just happened to be the most powerful
object in the universe, the only thing which could stop him,
and he knew this. That is why he wanted it destroyed.
== V. General TF Story Questions =====
1. Does Cybertron have an atmosphere?
The general consensus on this is yes, it does. It is
obvious that there is an atmosphere there after Spike
travels to Cybertron and breathes without a space suit, but
some people maintain that it did not have an atmosphere
until the TV episode "The Ultimate Doom". In that episode
(actually a three-part story) Megatron drew Cybertron into
orbit around the Earth. They claim that at that time it
picked up some of Earth's atmosphere. However, there is
more evidence to show that it has always had its own air.
Firstly, there is apparently sound on Cybertron, and you
can't have sound without an atmosphere of some sort.
Secondly, even in the first episode of the show, the
Decepticon "triangle" jets were clearly shaped
aerodynamically, which implies an atmosphere. Thirdly,
according to the TV origin of the TFs, Cybertron was
originally a factory planet run by the Quintessons, who are
(more or less) organic. Therefore, Cybertron must have had
an atmosphere or the Quints would not have been able to
survive there.
2. What's up with the female TF's?
In the episode "The Search for Alpha Trion", a band of
female Autobots was featured on Cybertron. In that episode,
Prime and several other Autobots went to Cybertron to save
the females from Shockwave, who had captured the female
leader, Elita One. Elita was an obvious love interest for
Optimus Prime. The other female Autobots also seemed to be
paired up with their respective "guys".
Also in this episode, Elita is almost killed, but Alpha
Trion informs Prime that he alone possesses the correct
interface to save her, and so Prime "interfaces" with Elita
and transfers energy though a cable which oddly goes from
the area of his lower torso to the area of hers. :) When
Alpha informs Prime that only his power module will properly
interface with hers, Prime is shocked, stating that "only my
creator could know that".
The other episode that had Elita One was called "War Dawn",
in which the Arialbots go back in time to the golden age of
Cybertron, and meet a robot named Orion Pax. At the end of
the episode, Alpha Trion turns Pax into Optimus Prime, and
turns Pax's girlfriend-bot into Elita One.
There was also an episode entitled "Enter the Nightbird" in
which a human scientist invented a ninja-like robot with
clear female curves to it, named Nightbird. This robot had
no personality, although it was rather dangerous. Megatron
captured and took control of Nightbird, but in the end she
was recaptured by the Autobots and deactivated.
In TF:The Movie, and in the post-movie eps, there was
another female Autobot named Arcee. She was pink, had a
tiny waist, and transformed into a futuristic convertible.
In the movie, she seemed to be interested (mutually) in Hot
Rod, but in all the post-movie eps, she and Springer were an
obvious item.
I have been told that the british comics featured several
female TF's, including Arcee, although I can not confirm
this. In addition, the Japanese HeadMaster Minerva was
characterized as a female both in the Masterforce cartoon
_and_ in her toy incarnation (this toy was released with a
sex change under the name of Nightbeat in the US). The only
other female TF toy ever made was Nightracer, the BotCon '95
exclusive toy. This toy's tech spec card was written by the
Con's organizer, Raksha.
3. But WHY do they have them at all?
Personally, I think it's a little bit silly to force genders
upon robots. I did like Arcee (the only female TF to really
get any character development in America), and I admit that
to be socially responsible, it was probably important for
Hasbro/Marvel/Sunbow to introduce female characters.
Technically, however, I still think it's silly. :)
All of the non-obviously-female TF's were quite clearly
modeled after males, and I feel that this makes a certain
amount of sense. I now tread on dangerous ground, but
without meaning to sound sexist, since males are generally
larger and stronger, they are generally also better
fighters. And, since the TFs are all fighting a war, it
makes sense that they would be built to be big and strong.
Then we look at them and see big, wide frames, and broad
shoulders; characteristics which we identify as "male".
Explained this way, TFs don't really have gender at all, but
we simply identify them as male, because they look more like
males than females from our point of reference.
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with TF's having
traditionally "female" personality traits, like compassion,
mercy, forgiveness, certain parental instincts, etc.. These
are traits that would be useful to have in any society.
4. How do TF's reproduce?
There has been a lot of discussion on this question. There
are several different answers provided by "official"
sources, and there is also a lot of speculation by fans.
In the original comic book series, Transformers could only
reproduce by building new TF bodies, and infusing them with
life with the Creation Matrix. In the Generation 2 comics,
an alternative method of "budding" was introduced which met
a lot of criticism on att, but without re-reading the entire
series I don't know anything about it. Anyone that does,
please fill me in.
In the cartoon, it sometimes seemed enough to simply build
new robots. The Dinobots and Technobots are examples of
this. When Starscream built the Combaticons in
"Starscream's Brigade", he actually only built bodies and
downloaded the personalities of Cybertronian criminals which
were on file somewhere into those bodies. However, when the
Arialbots were created they had to be given life by Vector
Sigma, a supercomputer at the heart of cybertron.
5. How did the great war start?
This depends on which story you are following.
In the comics, the war began simply because some of the
Transformers were power hungry and hostile. They formed a
group called the Decepticons, and began to make strikes
against Cybertron's cities in order to take it over.
Transformers who opposed this formed another band called the
Autobots and fought against the Decepticons.
In the cartoon, the war began soon after the Quintessons
were driven from the planet. The warrior robots were in
general more hostile, and wanted to control the planet.
They began to call themselves Decepticons. The household
robots, who called themselves Autobots, tried to resist this
takeover.
6. Why do they transform? Why not just be big robots?
Following the comic book timeline, Primus incorporated the
ability to transform in his children to mimic the shape-
changing method which Unicron used.
On the TV show, there are two different, and slightly
conflicting answers given. One of these is that they could
always transform, from the very beginning when they were
robot slaves. This was to make their functions more
versatile. The warriors could fight as humanoids, but also
change form into vehicles of war and powerful weapons. The
household robots could change into useful tools and
transportation vehicles. The other answer is that
transforming was a technological innovation which the
Autobots "discovered" as a secret weapon to use against the
Decepticons, who had superior firepower. It's that "robots
in disguise" thing. This advantage was quickly turned
against them, however, when the Decepticons also began to
use this technology.
7. Where does Prime's trailer go when he transforms?
Although it wasn't ever explained in the TV show, the
currently accepted reason is that each transformer has their
own "compartment" in subspace, in which they could teleport
anything to and out of at will. Each transformer is
apparently "frequency locked" to a certain pocket of
subspace, so there isn't any possibility of a transformer
stealing weapons that were placed into subspace by another
transformer. This explanation seems to be verified in
"Demon's Swamp", when Kickback's gun suddenly materializes
in his hand in plain sight for no apparent reason.
8. Are they immortal?
Barring injuries and being killed in battle, there is no
reason to believe that, with proper maintenance, a
Transformer could not live indefinitely. So, in short, they
pretty much are.
To confuse matters a bit, though, there was an issue (or
more?) of the UK comic which showed a future Rodimus Prime
from the future who was obviousley aged; he was frail,
bearded, and generally geezer-like.
9. Is there a Transformers history anywhere?
There is a Transformers Chronology file which was written,
and is available at the (lengthy) WWW at the address below.
This chronology follows the TV show's Quint theory, so you
may or may not like it. :) I think it at least used to be
available on the vela ftp site, but I'm really not sure if
it's still there.
http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/j/jhpace1/WWW/Files/
Transformer_Chronology
== VI. Toys ===========================
1. What were the TF's based on?
Thanks to Robert Powers' (repo...@artsci.wustl.edu) "new"
version of the old FAQ, here's some info on that subject
from a.t.t. regulars:
The original Transformers were recolored versions of older
Japanese toys. Megatron, for example, was one of six
different guns.
The mini-Autobots began as a Japanese line called Microman.
On the mini-Autobots there is a stylized "M" on the hood
representing the brand name.
Kendrick Kerwin Chua writes:
"Many Transformers started life as part of the Diaclone
series, a line of toys in Japan that had no connection with
a cartoon or comic book or fiction of any sort. American
companies who took a liking to the toys made up characters
and the fiction and the whole Autobot/Decepticon thing to
justify the toys, and so the Transformers were born. Many
toys are copyright 197X and again in 198X for the American
reissue.
"Contrary to rumor otherwise, Hasbro was the first American
company to get licenses and copyright for the Japanese robot
toys which were not related to an existing fiction (as were
the Shogun warrior or Voltron toys.) This was a great honor
for Hasbro in the eyes of Takara, because in Japan there are
little or no copyright laws regarding toy design, which is
why we are now seeing imitation Sky-Garry and Deathsaurus
toys popping up about... But I digress.
"There were several separate lines of toys, not all of which
were made by Takara, which were assembled into the original
two-year series of Transformers. Megatron and Shockwave came
from a line called Gun-Robo. The Deluxe Insecticons were
originally Bandai designs, as were the predacons (who aren't
original run, but hey...). Jetfire, Roadbuster, and Whirl
were originally Robotech designs, made by gods-know-who.
(hard...@cyberspace.com) Eric W Harding clarifies this:
"Roadbuster and Whirl were from a Japanese Mecha show called
'Armoured Trooper Dorvack' according to the boxes sitting
here, which was not part of Roboblech."
"The Autobot Cars and the original three jets came from the
Diaclone line, which is sometimes transliterated as Diakron.
Diaclone toys had no fiction behind them, and came in a wide
assortment of colors. They also came with little human
figures with magnetic feet which were interchangeable among
all the Diaclone toys. Most interesting among them was
Convoy, a blue ten-wheel truck which would be recolored red
and called Optimus Prime for American audiences. He was
packaged with a car-carrying trailer which would eventually
be the root of the design for Ultra Magnus.
"The Minibots and the cassettes were part of the Microman
line, which had the distinction of having few or no
accessories (no missile launchers to lose, no guns to
misplace). Microman toys came in an even wider array of
colors.
"Hasbro worked with Marvel to create a usable fiction out of
the toys. Although appearances may suggest otherwise, the
Japanese did have a hand in this, creating the background of
two warring robot races, the Cybertrons and the Destrons.
Marvel would alter this slightly, giving them more latinized
names and putting them on the same planet (rather then
having them truly be two different races.) I believe it was
also the Americans who came up with the original car versus
plane distinctions that we've come to know and love.
"John Romita, of Spiderman fame, headed a team of artists
who took the toys designs and altered them drastically for
portrayal on the small screen. Romita is responsible for the
more human-looking Ironhide and Ratchet that we've become
accustomed to, as well as putting actual faces on all the
robots rather than visors and faceplates. However, it's the
Japanese animation company Toei who is responsible for the
seamless and fluid transform schemes and scenes."
2. What's the deal with red/yellow Bumblebee/Cliffjumper?
They were both originally from the Microman toyline. In
that line, the toys all came in a wide range of colors,
including the ones we know as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper.
When Hasbro bought the rights to the toys, they must have
either bought some backstock which included both colors, or
they made some production mistake and continued to
manufacture them with both colors.
I had both the red and yellow Bumblebees, and called the red
one Hornet, saying he was Bumblebee's long-lost brother. :)
Aside from Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, there was another
similar minibot named "Hubcap" who was released at the same
time as the other minibot recolors (eg. Outback, Swerve,
Tailgate,...). He was, or at least was supposed to be,
yellow. Apparently there was another, fourth, TF in this
"family" which was sometimes mistakenly packaged as both
Bumblebee and Cliffjumper in both colors. Without any real
name, this toy is usually referred to as Bumblejumper.
3. Why is Jetfire just like a Robotech Veritech fighter?
Technically, it's a Macross Valkyrie, as the Robotech show
was a derivative of three separate Anime series (Macross,
Southern Cross, and Mospeada). Hasbro and Harmony Gold (who
released Robotech in America), as well as a few other
companies (like FASA, the makers of Battletech) bought the
rights to use that "shape" of robot. Hasbro apparently
thought, quite correctly, that a Valkyrie would make a
really neat Transformer, so they went ahead with it.
4. I've got these weird tiny TF's. What are they?
Unless they're micromasters, you've got either Minispies or
Decoys. Both were limited-time offers, and were packaged
with other TF's.
Minispies came first, and were about an inch long with
simple transformations. They were the first TF's to have
the black rub symbols on them, the point here being that
since they were spies, you had to check which side they were
really on. Later the rub symbols were put on all TF's to
show that they were "real" Transformers and not rip-off
ones.
Transformer decoys were made later, and were nothing but
small rubber statues of various TF's in their robot modes.
The Autobot decoys were red, and the Decepticon ones were
purple.
5. How many combiners did the make?
The combiner or gestalt Transformers were among the most
popular of the toys. The first combiner was Devastator.
Also, Devastator and Predaking were the only ones made up of
characters who were approximately the same size (with the
possible exception of Monstructor). For all the others, the
main body of the gestalt (who was also always the team
leader) was always significantly larger than the other four.
Predaking was made up of only 5 animals, but because they
were so well designed (Predaking is IMHO the best of all the
combiners) they were all about the same size.
For information about the origins (according to the TV show
timeline) of some of the combiner teams, contact Dairenn
Lombard (pi...@cyberverse.com). He has a fairly long write
up of the Combaticons' origin prepared, and is interested in
getting the origins of the other teams as well. Also, many
readers may be totally unfamiliar with the Monster
Pretenders (the American version of the 'con DinoForce from
TF: Victory). If you want to see who they were, they were
featured in issue 67 of the US comic (see VIII, 5).
There were also at least two other combiner teams which were
released in Japan but not in the US. These are the Autobot
Trainbots and the Decepticon Breastforce.
Here is a list of the gestalts, in the approximate order
that they were released:
Devastator - 6 Constructicons
- Hook, Long Haul, Bonecrusher, Scavanger,
Mixmaster, Scrapper
Superion - 5 Arialbots
- Silverbolt, Slingshot, Air Raid, Skydive,
Fireflight
- Stunticon counterpart
Menasor - 5 Stunticons
- Motormaster, Dragstrip, Dead End, Breakdown,
Wildrider
- Arialbot counterpart
Defensor - 5 Protectobots
- Hot Spot, First Aid, Groove, Blades, Streetwise
- Combaticon counterpart
Bruticus - 5 Combaticons
- Onslaught, Blast Off, Swindle, Brawl, Vortex
- Protectobot counterpart
Computron - 5 Technobots
- Scattershot, Strafe, Lightspeed, Nosecone,
Afterburner
- Terrorcon counterpart
Abominus - 5 Terrorcons
- Hun-Gurr, Sinnertwin, Blot, Cutthroat,
Rippersnapper
- Technobot counterpart
Predaking - 5 Predacons
- Razorclaw, Rampage, Tantrum, Divebomb,
Headstrong
- extremely cool
Piranhacon - 6 Seacons
- Snaptrap, Seawing, Overbite, Nautilator,
Tentakil, Skalor
- Snaptrap is always the body, but the other five
can be interchanged between all four limbs and
used as Piranhacon's gun
Monstructor - 6 Monster Pretenders
- Birdbrain, Bristleback, Icepick, Scowl, Slog,
Wildfly
- about the height of Hot Rod and very chunky
6. How many tapes did they make?
Overall, there were six Autobot tapes and ten Decep ones
released in the US. The list of them follows, the deceps
first:
Buzzsaw - gold condor, came w/ Soundwave
Laserbeak - red condor
Ratbat - redish (sometimes purplish) bat
Ravage - black panther
Slugfest - green stegosaurus
Overkill - grey/silver tyrannosaur
Beastbox - pinkish ape, combines w/ Squalktalk for Squalkbox
Squalktalk - green condor, combines to form Squalkbox
Frenzy - blue robot (red in cartoon :P )
Rumble - red robot (blue in cartoon)
Grandslam - red tank, combines to form Slamdance
Raindance - blue plane, combines to form Slamdance
Steeljaw - yellow lion
Ramhorn - rust-colored rhino
Eject - blue robot
Rewind - black robot
7. Did they ever make a Unicron toy?
Yes. Well, sort of. It was only a prototype which was
never released anywhere. Here's a letter that was sent in
to Action Figure Digest:
---
Yes, Virginia, There is a Unicron...
Dear AFD,
After reading Don Ferguson's letter in issue #12, I was
surprised to find your information regarding the
Transformers character Unicron was incorrect. A Japanese
book, "Transformers the Movie: Special Data Book"
(distributed by Takara) shows that there were two
prototypes. The first was rather small, while the second was
about the size of Fortress Maximus (about 21.5 inches). The
larger one said ten phrases in Orson Welles' voice.
According to my friend in Japan, the article says
Hasbro USA did not like the first prototype, thus Takara
produced the larger one (shown above). I'm guessing Hasbro
rejected this one because it would cost too much to produce.
---
Even on a black and white photocopy, the figure looks
impressive. To give you an idea of the sheer enormity of
the model: Rodimus Prime in robot mode doesn't even reach
its knee.
8. Why did the last few years of TF toys suck so bad?
This isn't universally agreed upon, but most people tend to
think that the TF's decreased in quality in their last few
years of production. First of all, Hasbro switched to
making them out of cheap plastic rather than good plastic
and metal. Second, the _____Master themes got out of
control. Every new toy had to have some new gimmick; it
wasn't enough to make cars that turned into robots anymore.
Part of the TF charm was that they LOOKED like toy cars or
toy planes or a real tape player, but it also turned into a
robot. Later toys no longer looked like real things. They
had to be futuristic cars, or cars that had people who
turned into their head or their gun or their engine. The
ActionMasters also took a lot of flak (and still do), but
deserve to be defended. Yes, they are Transformers that
don't transform, and yes, that is kind of stupid. But on
the other hand, they actually are pretty nice action figures
that added a new dimension to the TF universe.
But anyway, not all of the last TF's were terrible. As with
all toylines, there were good ones and bad ones. While it's
true that the overall quality of the TF line declined in its
last few years, there were still a lot of nice toys. Most
of the MicroMaster toys were actually pretty neat, some of
the Pretenders were really nice looking and had great
characterization (thanks to Simon Furman), and a lot of the
Head/Target/Power Masters were pretty cool too.
9. Why do most of the new TF toys suck so bad?
Again, not all of the new TF's are crappy. A lot of them
are, but there is general consensus that the Generation 2
Dreadwing toy is pretty cool, as well as the Decepticon
CyberJets (which are _extremely_ posable) and the G2
Megatron (the big tank version). The reason Megatron is a
tank now rather than a Walther P-38 pistol is probably that
it's no longer PC (or maybe even legal) to sell realistic
looking toy guns.
10. What's with Go-Bot Transformers?
One of the G2 Autobots belonging to the water-squirting
group is suspiciously named "Gobots". This is quite ironic,
because during the TF's first run, their major competitors
were Tonka's GoBots. After the G2 Gobots was released, one
of the next major Autobot groups was announced, and they
were called: Go-Bots. These TF's are the size of Matchbox
cars so that you can use them on Matchbox/Hot Wheels tracks.
Kendrick (kend...@io.com) managed to clear up some of the
commotion on this matter, however. Apparently Hasbro bought
out Tonka since the last time they went head-to-head with
the transforming robots idea, and in a slightly unnecessary
effort to prevent other companies from reviving GoBots as a
competing line, Hasbro intentionally used the name in the TF
line to assert their ownership of the concept.
To prevent confusion on the newsgroup, Tonka GoBots are
usually referred to specifically as Tonka GoBots, and also
by various derogatory names. There are a few readers of the
group (myself included) that not only don't hate Tonka
GoBots, but think they were okay, but we are few. Prepare
to be flamed (as much as anyone on ATT flames) for standing
up for them; Super GoBots excluded. :)
== VII. Cartoon =======================
1. What's the deal with Rumble and Frenzy? Which is which?
For the answer to this, read "What is FIRRIB?", question 3
in section I, "General Questions Relating to the Newsgroup."
2. Can Autobots fly or not?
In general, they can't. If you are willing to put the
inconsistencies away as merely that, the basic rule is:
Decepticons can fly, Autobots can't.
However, to go further into those inconsistencies: in the
first few episodes of the show, most of the Autobots WERE
shown flying at one point or another. Technically, it
should only be Gears with his compressed air jets, and
Sideswipe with his rocket backpack that should be able to
fly unaided. At one point in "More Than Meets The Eye",
Prime even borrows that rocket backpack from Sideswipe to
attempt to chase the Decepticon ship.
After the first batch of TF's, there were of course
exceptions. A lot of Autobots could CLEARLY fly, like the
Arialbots and Skyfire. It also seemed as if the Dinobots
could all fly, making them another exception.
3. Why'd they call Jetfire "Skyfire" and draw him different?
This is due to the nature of the copyright deal Hasbro made
concerning the rights to the Jetfire shape. Hasbro bought
the rights to produce a Jetfire toy from the makers of
"Macross", but part of the deal was that they could make
only a toy, and not an animated character. The only time
that Jetfire is seen in animation is in the initial TV
commercial which advertised the toys of both him and
Shockwave.
There are rumors of a limited edition Skyfire toy, although
most a.t.t. readers do not believe them.
4. How'd they do Soundwave's voice?
Thanks to Kendrick for the info on this one; the quoted
statements are his. :)
All of the voices on the show were altered to make them
sound more robotic and less human. The process they used is
called "flanging", which means that a stereo recording was
made of the voice actors, and then one channel of the sound
was slightly delayed in a random fashion to produce, as
Kendrick calls it, the "swooshing" sound in all their
voices.
For Soundwave in particular, the voice recording was also
sent through an analog synthesizer to remove "all the
tonality but none of the enunciation or cacophonous sounds."
The removed tones were then replaced artificially by someone
on the voice processing team to produce the cool-sounding
voice we all know and love.
When performing Soundwave, Frank Welker "simply uses his
deep growling bad guy voice". The same voice can be heard
as Dr. Klaw on "Inspector Gadget". Sometimes the editing
team on the TF show would mess up, and bits of Welker's
unaltered voice ended up in the cartoon. If you notice any
of these times, let me know what episode it is in so I can
put in here. :)
5. I heard about a Japanese Transformer cartoon, but it was
totally different than the American one. What's it like?
Most of my information on this subject comes from "Track
Attack" (Pema Galang, at "gala...@tc.umn.edu"), who was
kind enough to send me nice long emails about it. :)
Extreme thanks go to her for her help in this area.
There were actually several Japanese TF cartoons. The first
series consisted simply of dubbed versions of the american
pre-movie cartoons. Then there was an OVA (on-video
animation, or something like that) called "Scramble City"
which was a sort of bridge between our pre-movie eps and the
movie itself. "Scramble City" introduced many of the TFs
who (for americans) magically appeared just in time for the
movie.
Following the movie came "HeadMasters", which included a few
of the movie characters, but focused mainly on the Head and
TargetMaster TF's and their origins. Several big TF's die
in this series (including Op and Ultra Magnus), and
Cybertron is destroyed. In this series, all the HeadMasters
are originally from Cybertron (rather than the Cybertron/
Destron division), but left it to find a new world because
of the war. They settle on a place called MasterStar, where
they develop the *Master technologies.
The next series was called "Masterforce" and centered mainly
on the "Junior HeadMasters" and PowerMasters (known as
GodMasters in Japan). This series also included the
Seacons, Pretenders, and a giant Decep GodMaster named
"Overlord" who most American TF fans will have never heard
of. In this series, the Autobots and Decepticons were robot
races from different planets, known as Cybertrons and
Destrons, respectively. The main characters were the Junior
HeadMasters, Autobot HeadMasters with children for heads.
They were Go-Shooter, Cab, and Minerva (Siren, Hosehead, and
Nightbeat to Americans). The Decepticons also had a Junior
HeadMaster group. PowerMaster Optimus Prime was also in
this series, but he was called Super Jinrai, and had an
extra second trailer called Godbomber (which was not
included in the American toy) that transformed into a second
exoskeleton and gave him wings.
The name of the next series is "Victory". The Autobots are
led by a BrainMaster (kind of like a PowerMaster) named Star
Sabre. The other BrainMasters are named Blacker, Raster,
and Braver, and combine into Road Caesar. The Deceps have a
new type of binary bonded TF's called BreastMasters (they
have chest components that can transform into weapons or
animals). The leader of these is Deathsaurus, a double
BreastMaster. There is also a team of BreastMasters
(LeoZack, Gaihawk, Hellbat, Killbison, Jaguar, and
Drillhorn) called BreastForce who can combine to form Lio
Kaiser. There is also a Decep Multiforce called the
DinoForce who have Dinosaur counterparts and combine to form
DinoKing (they are the Monster Pretenders/Monstructor in the
US). The Autobots have their own Multiforce; six of them in
all, and any two can combine to form a different robot.
Altogether they merge to form Land Cross. Also, the
Masterforce TFs appear occasionally, and OP is reincarnated
as a golden robot named Victory Leo that transforms into a
lion. He can combine with Star Sabre to form Victory Sabre.
The last Japanese TF animation is called "Zone". This was
another one-shot OVA. Mainly concerned with MicroMasters
(all of whom were portrayed as Autobots, even the ones we
know as 'cons) and Decep gestalts (all of whom are wearing
capes(?)), this show also includes some of the Victory cast.
The story sort of centers on a matrix-like thingy that the
'cons are after. Apparently following this is a comic
series called "BattleStars" which brings back OP and Megs in
new forms, although info on this is sketchy.
All the Japanese series were done in traditional Anime
style, which means they're very cool. There are no
officially released copies of these cartoons in the US,
although there are a lot of people that have copies of them.
If you ask on the newsgroup, you are likely to get some
responses. You can also check Anime suppliers, and the TF
fan clubs for info. Although I've only seen Masterforce (in
Japanese no less) and a tiny bit of Victory, there are
english versions of most of these shows around.
For those interested, "zor...@aol.com" apparently sells
Japanese tapes, but "slgr...@saturn.acs.oakland.edu" warns
against ordering from him. As an alternative, you may want
to contact Greg Pallenik (gpa...@bgnet.bgsu.edu), who also
has Japanese episodes available. Also, Jameel al Khafiz
(ha...@andrew.cmu.edu) has copies of Masterforce which he is
willing to sell.
6. Where can I find episodes of the show on tape?
All of the "unnamed" episodes from season 1 were released.
Also the movie, "Five Faces of Darkness", "The Return of
Optimus Prime", and a first season three pack which included
the episode "War Dawn". Unfortunately, these have all been
discontinued. The tapes that are still in stock in various
warehouses can sometimes be ordered at stores that
specialize in movies. You may want to check video rental
places for old TF tapes, and ask if you can buy them, as
they most likely aren't rented out very often (this is how I
got my copy of the movie).
Several fans have been taping the G2 episodes, and several
people have original G1 episodes on tape as well. You may
want to contact Roger Wilcox (aka Jeff Boeing), who has all
TF episodes on tape in SLP mode. Email him at either
"ro...@cisco.com" or "tra...@netcom.com".
7. What was "Five Faces of Darkness" about?
FFOD is one of the most maligned TF cartoon story arcs. It
was a five-part story which immediately followed the movie,
and attempted to tie up various loose ends such as where
Galvatron went when Rodimus Prime threw him out of Unicron,
and what the deal was with the Quintessons. The animation
for FFOD was pretty crappy. There were a lot of editing
mistakes, and it just in general looks bad.
The basic story revolves around the TF origin (see IV, 3)
and the Quints trying to take back Cybertron. A lot of
elements from the movie turn up, such as the Junkions,
shuttles separating and blowing up, the Quints putting
people on trial, etc., etc..
8. People have mentioned "Call of the Primitives". What was
that episode about?
This episode takes place after the movie. In it, Primacron,
in the wake of Unicron's failure, sends out his other
creation, Tornatron. Unicron was a creature of matter, but
Tornatron is a creature of energy. He goes about eating
stars and things, trying to empty the universe for
Primacron. Before Tornatron attacks, Primacron's
"Assistant", calls all the primitive TF's (like the Dinobots
and Predacons) away. The Assistant, which looks
suspiciously like the Matrix of Leadership, sends the
primitives to fight Tornatron. In the end, Grimlock gets
into Primacron's lab and destroys the control device for
Tornatron, saving the universe.
The main reason that people would be talking about "Call of
the Primitives" is that it has about the best TF animation
ever other than the movie itself (excluding the Anime). It
was produced by a different animation studio than most of
the other eps, although I don't have a lot of info on this.
(Hint, hint)
9. What happened in "Dark Awakening" and "The Return of Optimus
Prime"?
In "Dark Awakening" we have the familiar scene of the
Autobots detonating three quarters of their shuttle to
escape Decepticon pursuit. Our heroes soon find themselves
drifting near a giant Autobot cemetery barge. Against their
best superstition, they dock with it to make repairs. Once
there, they are surprised to find Optimus Prime walking
around. Eventually, it is revealed that he was revived and
reprogrammed by the Quints in an attempt to capture the
Matrix. But in the end Prime's personality overcomes the
Quint reprogramming and he sacrifices himself to save the
other Autobots.
Or does he? In "The Return of Optimus Prime", a two part
episode, we open with some humans, a man and a woman, who
are testing a new metal alloy by flying a ship made of it
near to a star. They encounter a shuttle with Prime aboard,
flying towards the star. The two humans rescue his body,
but he is already dead. They return Prime to Earth, where
the woman's father wishes to melt the body down due to a
deep-grained hatred of all Transformers. However, at the
last minute he decides to instead use Prime's body to do all
the TF's in. When the humans' ship was near the star, it
picked up the traces of a fungus of some sort which infects
living things and causes them to hate everyone around them
and want to kill and destroy. The woman's father laces
Prime's body with this, and then calls the Autobots to pick
up their leader's body which he "salvaged". TF after TF
becomes infected with the Hate Plague, which spreads to not
just humans, but the entire galaxy. Sky Lynx manages to
take Prime's body to the Quints, who agree to revive him to
help stop the plague which threatens them as well. Prime
then coats himself with the new metal from the shuttle,
making himself impervious to the plague, and is able to get
the Matrix from the infected Rodimus Prime and uses it to
stop the plague.
The animation in "Return of Optimus Prime" is high-grade.
Having no personal recollection of "Call of the Primitives",
I can't make a comparison, but IMHO RoOP is some of the best
American TF animation around, although the story is a little
silly.
10. What was "Rebirth"?
"Rebirth" was a three-part story, and the last three
episodes of the TF cartoon. It followed RoOP and introduced
Head and Target Masters. It wasn't too well done, so don't
be upset if you missed it.
11. Is there a list of voice actors for the show?
This section of the FAQ has a lot of room for improvement.
If you have any extra information regarding TF voice actors,
even if it's just one more line for an actor already
included, please email me about it.
Here is an incomplete list of some of them, and some of
their other parts:
Peter Cullen: Optimus Prime, Ironhide, season 5 narrator.
- can now be heard in various jeep and movie commercials.
- narrator for the vehicle Voltron cartoon
Frank Welker: Megatron, Rumble, Frenzy, Wheelie, Alpha
Trion, Soundwave, generic Junkions
- Gogo, Furball, and the X-Bird from Tiny Toon Adventures.
- Waffles, Goof Troop.
- Abu, Disney's Aladdin.
- Schmoo, The New Schmoo.
- Spock's screams, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
- various parts in classic Warner Brothers cartoons.
- Uni, Dungeons & Dragons.
- Slimer, (Slimer! and) The Real Ghostbusters.
- Fall Apart Rabbit, Bonkers.
- special voice effects in the movies "Species" and
"Mortal Kombat"
Don Messnick: Ratchet, Gears, Scavenger
- Hanna-Barbara animals/dogs: Dino (Flintsones), Astro
(Jetsons), Scooby and Scrappy-Doo
- Dr. Danger on "Toby Danger", a Johnny Quest parody
- featured on Warner Brothers' "Freakazoid!"
Victor Caroli: the narrator, pre-season 5.
- currently plays the background voice of the "Ray-O-Vac
Renewal" commercials.
Scatman Crothers (deceased): Jazz
- played the cook in Steven King's "The Shining"
- featured in one episode of "The Hulk"
- Hong Kong Fui
Corey Burton: Spike Witwicky, Shockwave.
Michael Bell: Prowl
- leader of Farpoint Station in the ST:TNG pilot
Susan Blu: Arcee, Merissa Fairborn.
- appeared on an episode of Three's Company.
- Ann Lewis in Robocop: The Animated Series.
- blonde rich girl (Bree) in the G.I. Joe ep "Lifeline has a
Girlfriend"
- blonde heroine on Visionaries (dolphin totem)
- on an episode of Knight Rider
- the mother in Friday the 13th Part 7
Chris Latta (aka Chris Collins): Starscream.
- Cobra Commander, G.I. Joe
- Moe the bartender in the first 4 eps of "The Simpsons"
- Ernie Slye, badguy, in "Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines"
- a Klingon commander from Star Trek: the Next Generation
- a Pakled (we're smart. You think we're stupid, but we're
smart) from ST:TNG.
- at least 10 other roles in TNG.
- bowling buddy for Al Bundy in Married... With Children
- One of the Darkling Lord Knights from Visionaries
- D'Compose from Inhumanoids
Casey Kasem: Cliffjumper, Blue Streak, Teletran 1
- host of the Best of Rolling Stone Collection.
- host of Anthony Roberts Personal Power infomercial.
- host of music countdowns all over North America.
Neil Ross: Springer
- Herc Armstrong from Inhumanoids
- Cyclops in the 1984 one-shot X-Men cartoon
- Captain Heavy Metal in a GI Joe episode
== VIII. Comics =======================
1. Who published it, and when was it in production?
_The Transformers_ was first released as a four issue
limited series from Marvel Comics. The first issue is dated
September 1984, and the last time I checked, a good
condition copy cost about $8-10. The limited series was
published bi-monthly, and then at the end of issue 4 it was
announced that the book was to become a monthly, continuing
title. The first issue of the monthly book was dated June
of 1985. _The Transformers_ remained a monthly title until
its cancellation at #80, July 1991.
Contained within the seven year run of the TF comic, there
were several related books released. Marvel published a
four issue TF/G.I. Joe crossover, a four issue Headmasters
limited series (which then merged with the regular TF
comic), a four issue "Transformers Universe" following the
"Marvel Universe" format, and a three issue adaption of the
movie. From independent publishers, there was a "How To
Draw Transformers" book, as well as a short-lived TF in 3-D
comic, which was rudely and with no warning canceled right
at the beginning of a promising multi-issue story.
November 1993 marked the beginning of _Transformers:
Generation 2_. This comic, also by Marvel, ran for 12
issues and was then stopped. Preceding it was a short
introduction/crossover in issues 138-142 of _G.I. Joe_.
TF:G2 was not a limited series, although the writer
intentionally planned the first story arc to last for 12
issues in the case that the book would not be continued, so
that it could end with a sense of closure. Unfortunately,
it was a good thing that such foresight was taken.
Following is a list of all TF titles ever published,
including the publishing company and number of issues
printed:
Transformers Marvel 1-80
Transformers: Generation 2 Marvel 1-12
Transformers: The Movie Marvel 1-3
Transformers Universe Marvel 1-4
Headmasters Marvel 1-4
Transformers vs. GI Joe Marvel 1-4
Transformers in 3-D Blackthorne 1-3
How to Draw Transformers Blackthorne 1-4
UK Transformers Marvel UK 1-332
UK Transformers Annual Marvel UK 1-7
UK Transformers: Generation 2 Fleetway 1-5
UK Transformers: G2 Annual Grandreams 1
"Best of" UK Transformers Marvel 1-19?
Raksha adds the following information as well: The UK TF
Annuals were hardback books with text and comic stories as
well as other features. The first of these was also
released in a paperback cover version in 1986. There was a
single G2 annual as well. The UK comics also had a series
of "Collected Comics" that reprinted the best stories from
earlier issues. These went to about #19 or so, but I don't
know the number for sure since I don't have all of them.
In addition, the TF vs. GI Joe series was reprinted in 1993
in a trade paperback (TP) with a new cover by Andy Wildman
and Stephen Baskerville.
2. Who wrote the comic?
Excluding about three issues, all the TF comics were written
by either Bob Budinsky or Simon Furman. Budinsky was on the
book until issue 56, at which point Furman, who had been the
writer of the British TF comic for a long time, took over.
At this point the quality of stories took a major upturn.
He stayed on the book until its cancellation, and wrote the
entire run of G2 as well. After Furman showed us how good a
TF comic could be, many people started to resent Budinsky's
predominantly juvenile plots. To paraphrase the way someone
on a.t.t. recently explained it: Budinsky wrote a comic book
about giant robots. Furman wrote an epic adventure rich
with mythical archetypes, religious conflict, and tragic
heroes. It should be clear which was better.
3. Who drew it?
The TF comic did not have just one or two major artists,
although it did change less than many other books. There
were probably a dozen or so people that drew TF over it's 80
issue run, but the main names to notice are Jose Delbo, Andy
Wildman, and Geoff Senior. Jose Delbo is of note because of
the long period of time that he stayed on the book, working
with both writers.
Geoff Senior and Andy Wildman are the two main artists from
the end of the comic's run. Both came over from the British
book with Simon Furman, and both were incredible. Geoff's
art was blocky and low in detail, but his shapes were well-
defined and visually appealing. He also had the ability to
draw pictures which excellently depicted the mass and
inertia of TF bodies in motion. Many of his fight sequences
truly give the impression of giant robots throwing each
other around.
Andy Wildman drew extremely detailed illustrations for the
book; it was Wildman who, IMHO at least, changed TF from a
comic with pictures to a comic with art. He gave the TF's
smooth and extremely human facial features (sometimes even
teeth and eyeballs), which annoyed a lot of readers (these
are robots, after all), but it also allowed the pictures to
much better convey the emotions of the characters. Wildman
had a lot of nice little touches to his art, such as battle
damage on the characters which stayed with them from issue
to issue (Scorponok's broken antenna comes to mind).
The G2 book was drawn mainly by Derek Yaniger and Manny
Galan. The artistic style of this series was MUCH different
than the G1 books. Manny Galan's art to many seemed a poor
imitation of Yaniger's dark, spooky TFs. In the last couple
of issues, as a welcome change, we got Geoff Senior back.
Unfortunately, the book was canceled soon after.
4. What's different between the American and British comics?
The British TF comic followed a different (and much more
interesting) continuity than its American counterpart. The
UK book was weekly rather than monthly, and lasted for
another year or so after the American book was canceled. It
reprinted all the US stories, but when not doing that the
Brits had their own stories. Here is some more information
from Kev Briggs (kr...@leicester.ac.uk):
"Basically, we DID follow the stories of the US comic, but,
as yours was monthly and ours weekly, we were privileged to
have Si Furman write epics and short tales in between,
complete with our own art, lettering and so on. I can't
speak for all Brit readers, but I was disappointed when US
stories had to be run. Our own stories were packed full of
action, intrigue, continuity and mythos, with extensive
character development, with the great artwork of Geoff
Senior, Lee Sullivan, Will Simpson (he drew TFs as if they
were really able to transform - no disappearing wheels etc
in the robot mode - drew a superb Constructicon story
complete with heavy tyre tread and all), and filled colour.
The appearance of the US stories made them so unappealing,
Jose Delbo's artwork was inferior and the dot colouring was
terrible. ...
"In our comic, the Movie, minus several blunders was taken
as gospel and several truly epic 20 years ahead stories
literally blew our socks off before the final link between
present and future was established - then severed in the
superb Time Wars. A few discrepancies between US and UK
storylines cropped up, in particular involving Megatron,
which were compounded by the delay in receiving whole US
extended stories. Most were cleared up eventually however."
It's pretty difficult to get a hold of UK TF comics. If
you're interested in getting some, post a message on the
newsgroup and there will probably be replies from people
willing to give theirs up, although the cost may be high.
However, Kev has begun to write and post summaries of some
of the UK TF future epics for the benefit of US fans. If
you are interested in this contact him. As another
alternative, the head of The Survivors, Liane Elliot, has
written up a guide to the UK comics with a list of all
issues, and summaries of many storylines. This file is
available from me (srst...@cc.owu.edu) by email request.
5. The whole story arc with Unicron was different in the comic,
so where did Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge come from in
it? And where was Rodimus Prime?
Cyclonus and Scourge was just regular, everyday Decepticons
who were introduced during the Headmasters limited series,
which took place parallel to issues 30-36 of the
Transformers comic.
Galvatron was brought to the comic book continuity from
outside that timeline by the comic Unicron. In issue 67,
Unicron sent three of his servants, Hook, Line, and Sinker,
to an alternate dimension (which was SIMILAR to the cartoon
reality, but not the same as it) where Galvatron had beaten
the Autobots almost completely, and killed Rodimus Prime.
Hook, Line, and Sinker appeared in that reality, took
Galvatron, and brought him back to the comic book's normal
reality. For those of you that asked and wondered, no, this
Hook has nothing to do with the Constructicon of the same
name. :)
This all caused understandable confusion for Galvy when he
met the comic's Megatron, who, although he had died several
times, was still Megatron and not Galvatron.
6. What about issue 43, "The Big Broadcast of 2006"?
This issue, as well as the two-part "Man of Iron" story from
issues 33 and 34 take place out of the normal comic
continuity. "The Big Broadcast" was simply an episode of
the cartoon which was transferred to the comic for some
reason. "Man of Iron" was a short storyline from the UK
Transformers comic.
7. Wasn't Spiderman in one issue? Does that mean the TF's are
in the regular Marvel Universe with the X-Men?
As was once said in response to a letter in Transmissions
(the TF letter column) "Please, please don't mention issue
3." Yes, Spiderman was in issue three of the original
limited series. However, he was ONLY in one issue and that
was the only time any Marvel Universe character appeared in
the book. It can sort of be considered a story flub, and
one that you shouldn't pay much attention to.
Also, the TF comics included the Marvel Universe's "Savage
Land", and Circuit Breaker appeared in issue 3 of the
"Secret Wars II" miniseries/crossover. However, I would
assume that these both go under the same "don't ask"
category as the Spiderman cameo.
8. What about G.I. Joe?
Yes, the TFs are in the same universe as G.I. Joe. There
were two crossovers which G.I. Joe. One was the
"Transformers vs. G.I. Joe" limited series which ran during
TF issues 24-27. The other was a brief crossover which took
place mainly in G.I. Joe in order to introduce the TF:G2
comic.
== IX. The Movie ======================
1. What happened in it?
The basic plot of the movie goes as follows:
It is the year 2005, and the Decepticons have fully
conquered Cybertron. The Autobots have bases on Cybertron's
two moons, as well as "Autobot City" on Earth (which is NOT
Metroplex or Fortress Maximus). The movie opens with
Unicron, a giant planet, eating the world of Lithone and
killing all but one of its inhabitants.
To counter a coming Autobot attack, the Decepticons attack
Autobot City, and a huge battle occurs which ends with the
defeat of both Optimus Prime and Megatron. Prime passes the
Autobot Matrix of Leadership on to Ultra Magnus. Megatron
is revived by Unicron and turned into Galvatron, and Unicron
sends him to destroy the Matrix.
Galvatron goes to Autobot city to kill Magnus and get the
Matrix, but the Autobots escape and are split up. The
Dinobots, Kup, and Hot Rod crash on Quintessa. Kup and Hot
Rod are captured and put on trial, but the Dinobots and
their new found friend Wheelie rescue them. The Deceps
follow Magnus and co. to the planet of Junk. Galvatron
attacks and takes the matrix, and then the Autobots fight
with the Junkions and Wreck-Gar. Then Hot Rod and the Dinos
show up, placate the Junkions, and everyone goes off to
fight Unicron, who has spent his time eating Cybertron's two
moons and the Autobots on them.
The Autobots attack Unicron, who is eating Cybertron, and
after most of them are swallowed by him, Daniel rescues his
dad Spike and the other Autobots who were eaten, and Hot Rod
gets the Matrix back from Galvatron and uses it, turning
into Rodimus Prime and destroying Unicron.
2. Why weren't more characters featured?
The movie took about two years to make, so when the movie
was written, they only had the first set or two of TF
characters to work with, which didn't include most of the
big gestalts like Superion and Menasor. So, Devastator was
the only gestalt in existence when the movie was written,
which explains Kup's fear of him when he first forms. :)
3. Where was Snarl?
Snarl was mysteriously absent from all the Dinobot scenes in
the movie. There is only one place where he shows up: for
about one second during Galvatron's attack on Autobot city,
you see Snarl with the other Dino's, but afterwards he's
gone again.
4. Why did the Insecticons keep showing up and dying?
As was shown in a few pre-movie episodes of the cartoon, the
Insecticons had the ability to make almost unlimited clones
of themselves. It is therefore likely that the insecticons
thrown out of the shuttle and turned into Sweeps were only
clones, thus allowing Shrapnel to harass Daniel on Junkion
later in the movie, and for the Insecticons to show up more
in later cartoon eps. Also, when Kup and Hotrod run over
the Insecticons on their way into Autobot City, we must
assume that their wounds weren't fatal, for we know they
were the _real_ Insecticons because they called Shrapnel by
name when eating the door.
5. Why would Astrotrain need to "jettison some weight" in space?
While it's true that there is no "weight" in space, there is
mass. The more mass on board, the more fuel is required to
accelerate and decelerate. It is possible that Astrotrain
didn't have enough fuel to (a) accelerate enough to get to
Cybertron within 10 years, or (b) decelerate enough once
they get to Cybertron to actually stop and land there. Once
the extra scrap metal was thrown overboard, however, there
was little enough mass on board for him to get home quickly
and land.
6. Why'd they kill everyone?
The movie was intended to introduce a new batch of
characters, which it did, and to make "room" for them it's
understandable that they might need to take other people out
of the way. Also, the deaths of so many major characters
added to the drama of the movie. Someone suggested that the
deaths of many original Autobots was intended to make the
Deceps seem more evil than they could be shown on a daily
"kid" cartoon.
7. Didn't they swear in it? (Also, did they edit the video
version?)
There were two cases of swearing in the theatrical release,
and there was exactly one edit from the theater to video
versions. In the scene in which Bumblebee and Spike are
sucked into Unicron, in the theater version Spike said "Oh
shit, what are we gonna do now?" This was edited for video
to just "What are we gonna do now?" with a silent space just
long enough for "shit" to fit in. The other scene was on
Junkion, where Magnus tries to open the Matrix to save the
Autobots from the Decepticon attack. In both versions, he
says "Open! Damnit, open!"
There have been claims of other edits as well, although the
main sample of TF fans on att has not supported them: One is
that when Prime died in the theater, his body turned to dust
and blew away, but that on video the scene ends with Daniel
crying on Prime's hand. However, many people distinctly
remember the scene ending with a fade-out of Daniel and the
hand in the theater as well (it's much more dramatic, IMHO).
It's possible that memories of Starscream crumbling at his
death are getting mixed up with Prime's death scene.
The other main edit-claim relates to Magnus' death at the
hands of the Sweeps on Junkion. Some people seem to
remember Magnus being quartered (the Sweeps attach tractor
beams to his limbs and fly off in different directions,
tearing him apart). This IS the way it happens in the comic
book version of the movie, and so possibly was in the
original script. In the video version he simply gets
perforated by several laser blasts. Like Prime's death,
most people remember it happening in the theater the way it
does on the video.
Other possible edits include changing the order of some
scenes and removing other footage altogether (anything from
one-second shots of things to entire short scenes). All in
all, it has been claimed that some 20 minutes of footage are
missing from the video version, but I stress again that most
readers of att disagree, and it is still the "official"
position of the group that "oh shit" was the only change.
As with all movies, there was footage prepared and filmed
that never made it through the final cut before the initial
theatrical release. Some of these clips can be seen on a
tape called "Transformers: HERO" which was available at
BotCon. They include more fighting scenes and extended
transformations for Autobot City and Unicron. Nowhere on
this tape does Optimus crumble to dust. It is conceivable
that this footage does exist, was cut before the film's
release, and for some reason is not among the other cut
scenes, but it seems unlikely.
8. Who did the voices?
The starring roles include:
Peter Cullen -- Optimus Prime
Frank Welker -- Megatron
Judd Nelson -- Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime
Robert Stack -- Ultra Magnus
Eric Idle -- Wreck-Gar
Leonard Nimoy -- Galvatron
John Moschitta (the Micro Machine guy) -- Blurr
In the credits, Unicron was listed as Orson Welles, and
Welles did indeed do this voice for most of the movie.
However, Orson died before the movie was completed. If you
listen carefully, you will here two distinct voices for
Unicron. The previous FAQ writer decided to settle this
once and for all and sampled some clips with an audio
digitizer and sped them up. The other voice was none other
than Leonard Nimoy.
9. What is the universal greeting?
Spelling on this varies, but following the lead of the comic
adaption: "bah weep graaagnah wheep, ni ni bong".
10. Where can I get the movie on tape?
The movie is currnetly out of print. Technically, it's only
on a "moratorium", which is a sort of video-industry limbo
where movies go and hope to be printed again, although no
one really knows if they ever will.
One reasonably reliable way to find it is to look in long-
established video rental places in your town, and see if
they have it. Newer rental places probably won't have it,
but stores that were around when it came out on tape almost
certainly do, unless they've already sold it to some other
TransFan. :) There's a good chance that they don't rent it
out very often and you could buy it cheap. Also, some
people have been able to order it from Blockbuster Video.
Look for it under the "Animation" section or even the
"Children's" section. It was transferred by FHE onto VHS.
It is a production of Marvel/Sunbow.
There was another release on the movie in 1991 which was
recorded in SLP (6-hour) mode, probably to save on material
costs (less tape would be needed in slow mode). This
version was released by Live Home Video and Avid Home
Entertainment.
11. Where can I get the movie on laserdisc?
The laserdisc is probably also out of print, but the
previous FAQ had the following quoted post in it. If anyone
has more up to date information, I'd like to hear it.
Ryan Gavigan (gav...@venice.mps.ohio-state.edu) offers some
information about this:
It's available on LD as an import bilingual disc from Japan.
It's not letterboxed, it has kana subtitles when characters
first appear, and a Star-Wars-ian scrolling intro not in the
us video release (don't know if it was in the theatrical
version, I missed the opening when I saw it) which I doubt
was added just for japan since it's in english ^_^.
12. Where can I get the movie soundtrack?
It's not extremely hard to find. It was released by Scotti
Bros. Records, and isn't still in production, but _is_ still
available. You can have some music stores order it on tape
or CD, although a lot of major distributors don't carry it.
If you have trouble finding it anyway, or want to save the
trouble of looking, you can also order it over the net from
CD Connection. Telnet to "cdconnection.com" or try their
WWW page, which is at (big surprise) "http://www.
cdconnection.com". It costs about 10-12 US dollars on CD.
The soundtrack has several good songs on it, including the
two Stan Bush tunes "The Touch" and "Dare". The (excellent)
score was written by Vince DiCola.
== X. Miscellaneous Questions ==========
1. What were those Cybertronian units of time?
Issues 17 and 18 of the comic book focused on events on
Cybertron, mainly with Blaster's efforts to free a neutral
scientist named Spanner from Decepticon captivity. In
number 17, two units of Cybertronian time measure were
introduced, and occasionally popped up in dialogue in later
issues. The conversions are as follows:
1 Breem = 8.3 Earth minutes
1 Vorn = 83 Earth years
2. Unicron vs. the Death Star: who would win?
Hitler.
Seriously, though, this is a perfect example of a question
that has been beaten into the ground. Someone asked this
sometime during the '94 school year and the discussion went
on and on as more new people jumped in expressing their
opinions, which were, invariably, opinions that others had
already stated. It degraded into the kind of discussion you
might see in a religious debate area where one person says
"no, don't you see? it's this way!" and the next person says
"no, you're wrong! it's THIS way!" and then someone else
agrees with the first person, and then the second, etc.,
etc..
The problem is that this is a fairly common first question
for people to post because they think (rightfully so) that
it's an interesting question to muse over for a little bit.
Unfortunately, we've been put through this all about three
times now and it's worn awfully thin. IOW, most of the att
regulars will be extremely annoyed with you if you post this
question, or even something similar (Unicron vs. Galactus,
Unicron vs. the Zentradi war fleet, Unicron vs. Vger,
Unicron vs. M.Bison).
To actually answer the question... The side that favored
Unicron gave rationale such as his superior speed and
mobility, and the toughness of his hide (if an exploding
moon didn't scratch him, what good will the Planet Destroyer
beam from the DS do?). They also noted that since the
Matrix was the only thing that could destroy him, what hope
could the DS possibly have? The Death Star side said that
the DS actually had superior mobility because of its
hyperdrive, and that the Planet Destroyer could basically
blow up anything in the universe, even planets with tough
metal hides. The size question came up over and over again,
comparing Uni's size in the comic to Cybertron in the comic,
Uni in the movie to Cybertron in the cartoon, Uni's head to
Uni's body to Cybertron in "The Ultimate Doom", and every
other comparison that can possibly be made, in the hopes of
figuring out which one was bigger. In the end, there was no
consensus, just a bunch of people yelling at each other.
If you are a troll, this is an excellent way to throw the
group into an uproar. :)
3. How do you write out the transforming sound?
When this question came up, our resident technobabble god,
Kendrick, had his own special take on it:
"The Transform sounds begins as an 8 hz pulse repeated five
times for .7 seconds each repeat whose pitch can be
represented by the absolute value of a declining sine wave,
with each zero-to-zero arc of the wave representing one of
five cycles of the repitition. The actual value of the sine
wave can be modified by factor N which is multiplied into
the X value but divided into the Y value, which means that
although the actual pitch is largely indefinite, in analog
terms when the transform pitch is higher the length of each
pulse is shorter, and conversely when the pitch is lower the
length of each pulse is longer."
More traditional attempts were as follows:
RA Jung: "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh"
Kirt Israel: "CHHH-CHH-Chh-chhu-chu"
Optimus: "chreechroochroochroo"
4. Which TF's died in the movie/comic/tv show?
A fairly comprehensive "Transformers Book of the Dead" was
written by Liane Elliot (tetra...@prostar.com), listing
TF deaths in several different continuities, complete with
the circumstances of each death. This is available from me
by email request.
== XI. Legalese and Special Thanks =====
Many sincere thanks go to (in alphabetical order):
Aaron Marsh (abm...@vaxb.isc.rit.edu)
Acroyear (acro...@bgbbs.com)
C.J. Stankiewicz (cjs6...@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu)
Dairenn Lombard (pi...@cyberverse.com)
Daniel P. Foerst (dde...@iglou.iglou.com)
Darren Murphy (jd...@uow.edu.au)
Dave Van Domelen (dva...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
David Filip (grim...@u.washington.edu)
Eric Harding (erh...@kendaco.telebyte.com)
Galvatron (jm...@columbia.edu)
Hex (tash...@ucunix.san.uc.edu)
Ivy Bohnlein (bohn...@acmelabs.uhc.asu.edu)
Jameel al Khafiz (ha...@andrew.cmu.edu)
James Mohr (jpm...@primenet.com)
Jeremy Pace (jhp...@eos.ncsu.edu)
Jim Hoxsey (jjho...@oakland.edu)
Kendrick (kend...@io.com)
Kev Briggs (kr...@leicester.ac.uk)
Kirt Israel (kis...@diamond.tufts.edu)
Liane Elliot (tetra...@prostar.com)
M Sipher (msi...@nando.net)
Marek Kozubal (prog...@max.tiac.net)
Matthew French (mnf8...@marauder.millersv.edu)
Mike Toole (sla...@student.umass.edu)
Naomi Novik (naomi...@brown.edu)
Optimus (opt...@canit.se)
Pema Galang (gala...@tc.umn.edu)
Raksha (jk...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Robert Jung (rj...@netcom.com)
Robert Powers (repo...@artsci.wustl.edu)
Roger Wilcox (rog...@cisco.com)
Stanley Lui (ss...@uwaterloo.edu)
Suzanne Ferree (ev...@cleveland.freenet.edu)
Troy Ledgerwood (troyl...@aol.com)
Zachary Adams (zqa...@tam2000.tamu.edu)
All the wonderful staff members of the MUSHes :)
and all the readers of att!
The Transformers, Autobots, Decepticons, Optimus Prime,
Megatron, and most of the other names and things are all
registered trademarks of either Hasbro, Marvel, Takara, or
someone. This FAQ is simply a reference for Transformers
fans and is not intended to infringe upon any legal rights
to the names or ideas.
--
--Steve
-- Steve Stonebraker -- email to srst...@cc.owu.edu --
-- alt.toys.transformers FAQ Keeper --