#transformers micromasters

[whatwooshkai]

just finished the first issue of micromasters. going insane in general but seriously. was anyone going to tell me there's a canon transformer named BIG DADDY because WHY DID I HAVE TO FIGURE THAT OUT MYSELF BY TRACKING DOWN PHYSICAL COPIES OF AN OUT OF PRINT COMIC

[dangus-doo]

I draw a pen doodle every day until I forget

Day 284: Windy (Transformers: Operation Combination)

I found a cute train lady! I was scrolling through Shouki (Trainbot Leader) on TFWiki, and I found a story called “Train Wars” that included nearly every Train Transformer fighting the Fallen in manga form!

Naturally, I had to go through all the train members, and I found Windy! She’s part of the micromaster team “Sixtrain,” and we got her in the US as Midnight Express.

She’s adorable! I want to be friends with a few of my own Trainbot OCs. (Might be a hint for tomorrow’s drawings…)

[hasbr0mniverse]

HasbrOmniverse Comic Of The Day! Dreamwave Comics - Transformers Micromasters #03 - Cover Date September 2004 - Storylines/Events: Recipe For Hate

[aviatrix-ash]

[majachee]

sunrunner design for @emperor-kumquat

hehe play/read Mercy <3

[churino6]

Design for pre earth barricade

He wasn't able to handle the autobadge ealry on, maybe he was never a good fit for it if you think about it,

Inside the Primax 984.0 Gamma ark that our initial group of autobots called their home layed the seat of power for all autobots, as you may expect, being the head of goverment doesn't mean a place is entirely peaceful, Barricade and his Race Track patrol would make sure of that. The Race Track patrol was a minor group of troublemakers back in the day. The young barricade was among them as "runner," an alias he used to avoid reconition like the coward he was, but everything changed the day the ark was attacked by the predacons.

the rest of the patrol saw oportunity in the chaos and broke into living quarters and stole as many things as they could, but barricade was left behind by them and caught by the authorities, he ratted em out and got away scott free as a result while his buddies rusted away.

Now, without a job, Barricade decided to "turn his life around" and get into law enforcement, and that's where the trouble really began. You see, Barricade is a bully at heart, and what happens when a bully is determined to get more power? Not good things. I'll tell you that much

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

How did Astrotrain end up with such a small and skeletal body?

Dear Astrological Anatomist,

In the universe where one might encounter this particular Astrotrain, the Great War had been going on for so long that energon supplies were running dangerously low. Many Cybertronians on both sides were forced to undergo the Micromaster downsizing procedure, and Astrotrain was no exception, giving up his locomotive form to do so.

Having three modes was something which Astrotrain had always felt elevated him above his peers; with only two, he developed quite the inferiority complex. This led him to begin experimenting with strange and unorthodox materials to upgrade his new, smaller body, in the hopes of unlocking a new transformation. Eventually, through a combination of Skeletron and Forestonite, he was able to grant himself a new double-barreled blaster mode—although the formula did have some side effects.

[siphersaysstuff]

THE GHOST OF PICS: MECHS PAST

And with THAT tortured pun, December's Patreon-backed @tfwiki picture batch is all stuff we've kinda needed forever, all stuff from the prior century, and all stuff from outside the US market!

We start with Takara's original DEATHSAURUS, Decepticon leader in 1989's Victory, who just had his Legacy Haslab toy start showing up on doorsteps. And of course, new separate pics for his Breast Animal partners EAGLEBREAST and TIGERBREAST (yes, get them giggles out, go ahead).

Let's jump back a year to 1988's Super-God Masterforce, and the Godmaster RANGER. This mold is the only one of the three Powermaster Autobot cars to get recolored for its Takara release. Sadly, the MIB copy I bought back in 1996 was missing its gun, thus my general reluctance to add a pic to the wiki. But lord, that tiny, crunchy book scan we were using suuuucked. Made Ranger look white when he's a very light stony blue. Still using the scan though, just now in an inset panel to show off the gun I don't have.

And now we bounce ahead to 1990's Zone, and the Micro Transformer base SKY HYPER, piloted by Deadwheeler. I took these pics forever ago at some BotCon, and have long lost the notes as to who owned this piece a few hard drives back. This sample was also missing the three ramps, thus both the length of time it took for me to get comfy going ahead and adding these to the wiki, and the new book-scan inset to show the missing ramps.

Let's shift over to the European market, with 1992's THUNDER CLASH, the leader of the Autobot Turbmasters. His gravity-feed missile launcher was, like all the Turbomaster and Predator launchers, very much not US choke-gate compliant.

Fun fact: Thunder actually did get a Japanese release! He and Skyquake were straight imported to Japanese stores in Hasbro packaging, with just some necessary legal info changed to Japanese on the boxes. This was the Operation: Combination year, where Takara released the small Turbomasters and Predators in 2-packs.

And now we're going much further back, and much further south. No, that's not Brawn, that's OUTBACK, the 1987 Mexican version by IGA. Apparently, IGA was unwilling or unable to pay for the new '86 Mini Vehicle molds, thus they made their own versions by simply recoloring the '84 originals and slapping them on new cards for the '86 characters. Sometimes with alternate decos to boot!

Sadly, I don't own this toy, and like Sky Hyper, this was a BotCon pic taken with original owner info lost to time. (I always try and credit the toy owner when they let me take pics.)

Now here's the ones I'm super-happy about. These are two of the three Eletrix, ESPORTE and PORSCHE, exclusive to Estrela's 1985 Brazilian Transformers line! These toys transform and walk/roll forward via remote control, attached by a wire over 4 feet long. I'm keeping an eye out for the third one, Jipe.

None of the '85 Brazilian toys have any faction markings, but the Autobot-style packaging leads one to assume "all good guys". As do the bios of many of the toys in the line... but the Eletrix lack bios, sadly. Which is weird, as Estrela made up new bios for some toys in the line, and just straight-translated others from their Hasbro bios.

These molds were released in the US, but as the "Pow-R-Bots" in Village Toys' TF-wannabe line Convert-A-Bots. Like Estrela, Village licensed them from Japan's Yonezawa Toys, where they were the Remote Change Robo Series. All of these releases use the same plastic colors, but give them new stickers for branding and language.

I bought these two MISB (cellophane still there!) earlier this year, but was a little gunshy about opening them, worried the electronics might have somehow rotted. Schrodinger's Electronics. But no, since they didn't come with batteries, no corrosion, and they work as well as a 1984-mold cheap electric gear-powered toy can (that is to say, loudly).

And of course, since I got the boxes, I took the opportunity to take 600dpi scans of the box art unique to Estrela's packaging!

Man, I love going through these older, not-US corners of TFdom, and hope you learned something new about the vast TF universe. And if you'd like to help make that just a little bit easier and get more pics out a month, consider joining my Patreon! "gregstfwikipics" there, every little bit helps, plus at higher pledge levels you can pick a theme for the month!

[palaciosworks]

Look! It's Gingham!

[cybertronia-obscura]

Feature Character of September

Windy of the Train Team!

Toy Bio (as translated by Doug Dlin):

Yamagata Bullet Train/WINDY Though a splendid female warrior, in fact, her mental age approximates that of an Earthling teenage girl, and she is engrossed more with love and gossip than battle. With her beautiful singing voice, she's the idol of the Cybertrons. She even seems to have secret admirers among the Destrons.

Windy was introduced in the "Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers" toyline in Japan, though the Train Team did not receive an individual toy bio until their MicroMasters release in 2003.

Windy's appearances are confined to the Japanese stories. Her most prominent role is in the Train Wars story during the Generations toy releases when the Train Team and the Liner Team come to help chain the Fallen.

[elfdragon12]

So my human OC, Loretta "Ettie" Caruso, with mini versions of the Astro Squad in their alt modes!

This story isn't a new continuity, but rather an exploration of the G1 universe with a different set of characters we've never gotten to see through the eyes of.

Time for some actual info about her specifically!

Ettie is a 28 year old mechanic from New Jersey born in 1978, raised in by her single father with an older sister and younger brother. When the Autobots and Decepticons emerged in 1984, she was immediately entranced by them and thought they were the coolest thing. In 1994, she got to go to an event hosted by Blaster and meet him face to face. She developed an infatuation with him really quick (don't come for me, this is exactly why we all make up OCs). While she'd been interested in the field anyway, she became determined to become a mechanic so she could help out the Autobots... And be closer to these alien robots she's rooted for since she was 6. In the year 1999, she was selected to go through Cybertronian medical training due to her excelling in mechanic work and testing well on basic Cybertonian anatomy. Traveling to Autobot City, dhe did lessons with Autobot medics like Ratchet, First Aid, and Hoist as well as some lessons with Sparkplug Witwicky who'd been working on the bots since 1984 and she did very well. Over time, she became better and better, even doing solo work on bots herself. In 2004, she was selected to join a deep space mission with the Astro Squad. She underwent some astronaut training and basic EDC training on interplanetary procedures and etiquette and the team officially started their mission in early 2005.

Now, the year is 2006 and, while meshing with the team has taken some trial and error (especially with the battle-eager Barrage), but she would say it's going well.

As for Ettie, she's headstrong but kind. Her hero worship of the Autobots made her want to stand up for those who needed help. She can be a little overzealous at times, but she does legitimately mean well. Part of this is because she's butted heads with people in her chosen industry and, thusly, she can get defensive. She also religiously tunes into Blaster's radio show broadcast from Autobot City. Since actually meeting the Autobots, her hero worship has cooled down (and becoming an adult). They're people just like humans are. She's butted heads with a few bots who aren't quite as accepting of humans in their midst as others are... Though she still has never been able to let go when it comes to Optimus Prime.

When they got the news about the attack on Autobot City later on, it was quite a blow to the team. They eventually landed on a planet and held their own little ceremony to honor those who'd been lost.

Now the year is 2006 and they're continually their exploration of deep space!

[pocoslip]

Thundercracker Training with Sixshot

(I'm Glad some Transformers Figures are Compatible with Japanese Figure Stands)

[transmetal-tk]

"I was quite a looker back in those days. People used to say to me, 'Now that's a tall glass of water!' That's how I got the name 'Kup'."

"Me Grimlock doubt the veracity of this story."

[driver270]

"Exhaust" Cannon

Yes, I'm fully aware that my Peter Cullen impression suuuuuuuuucks.

[aviatrix-ash]

[return-to-pterosaur-phase]

When I saw Rung is in Earth Wars I was pleasantly surprised, even a little excited

WHY THEY GOTTA DO THAT TO HIM