CYBERTRON NEW COMMANDER Package This time, the commander is called "Fire Commander: Fire Convoy." That title of "Fire Commander" is awesome (^_^), but don't tell me that midway through we're gonna get a "Water Commander: Water Convoy"? Fire Engine Mode His fire engine mode is the "Fire Enjin." ["Enjin" uses the characters for "Fire God."] Based on "engine", perhaps? Repair Base When you mention Commander Convoy, this [is what you should expect]! A repair base! [It's not what *I'd* expect, but okay...] These parts become armor. What, no Roller? (T_T) Giant Combined Mode Super Fire Convoy. The combined form of the rear of the fire engine and Fire Convoy. Hmm, kinda like J-Decker or Dukefire. His colors and chest area are rather Broadcast-esque. I hear you can open up that part on his chest and see a Matrix. It's not written anywhere that you can remove it, but he's got that Lioconvoy feel to him, doesn't he? The ladder on his back gives him that dragon-slayer look, so maybe he WILL be played by Nobutoshi Hayashi? (grin) [Hayashi's played several roles in sword-and-sorcery series, but this specifically refers to his role as the lead character Guts (or Gattsu) in BERSERK. (Image available at http://www.hakusensha.co.jp/berserk_dc/gazou/gattuT01.GIF) Another role of Hayashi's was Basara Nekki, the hero of the series MACROSS 7, in which he's the lead vocalist/guitarist for the band Fire Bomber. Basara's on-stage catch phrase is "Fire!", and the page's author thinks Fire Convoy's will be too, so Hayashi seems a natural for the role.] DESTRONGER LEADER Mode 1 The DestronGER Leader, "Dark God of Destruction: Gigatron." ...Gerrr.... That aside (grin), what a menacing 6 transformations!! If the boss personally goes this far, we won't be seeing a supporting role selling a Sixshot-like transformation. (^_^;) Apologies, but I forgot to get a shot of "Mode 1: Gigabat," so please just make do with the one here. (T_T) (Bottom Right) Mode 2 Gigatron Mode 2: Gigajet. It may be hard to decide if he's headed forward or backward. (^_^;) It should be a really impressive design if they do some reworking for the cartoon designs. Mode 3 Gigatron Mode 3: Gigadragon. Huh? Dymoryuug? (Grin) [Dymoryuug is a boss villain from the Dinozone story, outranking known Dinozone villain Giganodragon even though he doesn't have a toy. The joke here is that Gigadragon's missing only one kana to make it Giganodragon.] He got this form by taking on the spark of Hun-Grr! (Well, maybe not.) Mode 4 Gigatron Mode 4: Gigahand. Okay, all together, now: "Gaaabriiiinnnn!" (Well, except you young whippersnappers.) [Gabrin (or, if you prefer, Goblin), was the boss villain from a 1976 kids' live action SF show called SPACE IRONMAN KYODAIN. It basically looked like an upright, angular, metallic, clawed hand with an eye in the palm. :-S Every time it showed up, it would yell out its name like that, presumably to be scary. A similar giant hand (sans eyeball), the Iron Claw Fortress, was an enemy base in the 1981 sentai series SUN VULCAN, while the 1975 anime RAIDEEN THE BRAVE featured an enemy critter/transport called Ghante, a sort of giant, flying green hand with dinosaur-ish heads at each fingertip. So the idea of giant hand-creatures ain't new to the Japanese.] The angle in the photo's lousy, but it does pretty much look like a hand. Now how are they gonna use this in the cartoon? Mode 5 Gigatron Mode 5: Gigaformula. "This is AOI's new machine." (Read in Shuuichi Ikeda's voice!) [A reference to the racing series CYBER FORMULA, which features a lot of fantastic F-1 racers that look a lot like this mode, actually. One of the racing companies/teams in the show is called Aoi Formula, and Ikeda played the role of Kyoshiro Nagumo in the series. He's most famous in Japan as GUNDAM's antagonist Char Aznable, though more casual/recent anime fans may be more likely to find a subtitled copy of PROJECT: A-KO, in which he plays the alien Captain.] I couldn't believe how cool this one mode out of the transformations is! Decorate it by putting the CYBER FORMULA characters Aoshima and Yuujin on the sides. (Grin) I could really look forward to car chases between this and the Cybertrons' Car Robos! Mode 6 Gigatron Mode 6: Gigatron. The red coloration here and there on it really has a neat feel. CYBERTRON CAR ROBOTS Wildride Cybertron Car Robot: Wildride. The paint work is really nice. At first this may look like it's diecast, but it's plastic. It's surprisingly light when you hold it. (Grin) It's also got chromed parts everywhere. In the catalog, he says, "Combat is a silent activity." His title is "Warrior Extraordinaire." [This is a best guess; the kanji combination literally means "magnificent arm warrior," or, more loosely, "magnificently skilled warrior." But the "magnificent arm" portion could also be a homophone for a word meaning "dynamic/superb." This seemed a good compromise.] Now this isn't just limited to him, but what's with the full view of the innards through these too-clear glass parts? (^_^;) They should've smoked the glass. By the way, his hood and doors open. Mach Alert Cybertron Car Robot: Mach Alert. Uhhh...ain't this just (Red) Alert? His title is Traffic Riot Unit Captain. He says, "No breaking the rules!" Compared to Wildrider & co., his paint scheme is, well... (T_T). That white mold color as it is makes him look kinda cheap.... I'll ink him in a bit for them with a Gundam Marker. (Grin) I wish he had some red or yellow on him. Speedbreaker Cybertron Car Robot: Speedbreaker. Feels like a cross between Tracks and Hot Rod, doesn't he? (No, no! Not THAT kind of cross!) [The "x" versus "+" business, which doesn't translate literally, comes from a convention in yaoi (homoerotic) manga. An "x" between two characters' names there indicates a homosexual coupling. I guess English-speaking fans aren't the only ones to wonder about Tracks...] His paintwork is extra-cool!! The metallic parts and that fire pattern are especially sharp. (^o^) He says, "Full speed--I'm rarin' ta go!" [That's pretty loose, but the general idea's there.] Kinda like NEO's Break in character, huh? His title is "High-Speed Warrior." [More like "Explosive Speed," but that's a bit ungainly.] His robot mode color scheme gives a Cybershark-ish impression. Package Cybertron Car Robots It looks like all but the leader will be on blister cards. (The Spycharger set comes in a box, though.) [So much for every Japanese TF toy being boxed...] And they're also set up so you can see their cards with them. Unfortunately, it seems the cards are going back being ordinary cards. [As opposed to the lenticular motion cards of Metals.] Well, the Metals ones were way too luxurious, anyway. (Grin) CYBERTRON SPYCHANGERS Autofire & Eaglekiller [This seems as good a time as any to announce my change of heart on the first name here. For ages, I took the Targetmaster recolor of Inferno to be called Artfire. It didn't make much sense, but that's the best I could manage from it. Since then, my translation experience has led me to believe that the Japanese were actually trying for AUTOfire, despite the fact that "auto" is usually written as "ohto" in kana rather than "ahto", as it is here. (I initially was going to point out the appropriate match with the first Auto/Artfire's function of "Rapid-firer"--which I originally rendered as the more awkard "Multi-shot Man," but that's actually Stepper's function. The original Auto/Artfire's was "Sniper". So much for that. :-S I don't know if this'll be as big an impact as, say, "Death Czarus," but I'm sticking with it.] Cybertron Spychangers: Autofire/Eaglekiller. These are recolors of the [G2] GoBots. Umm...so who were these guys originally...? There's another character by the name of Autofire, a Targetmaster recolor of the original Inferno. Whether they're both the same character or not, I can't say. Eaglekiller...He's got that eagle mark drawn on his chest, but it looks like one of the plains drawings of Nazca and makes me want to lose that blaster. [This is a reference to a stage from the video game XEVIOUS in which you got a special power-up for attacking the Nazca plains drawing.] Their titles are "Ninja Chieftan" and "Aviator Ninja." It seems all the Spychangers will be established as ninjas who conduct intelligence activities. Wars & X-Car Cybertron Spychangers: Wars/X-Car. Wars...he's got that "Let's misunderstand Japan!" feel to him. (Grin) <-I've had a boom in using this since I asked a certain person. [According to the author, this stems from the fact that the people most likely to wear stuff decorated with such garish kanji in Japan are either tourists or biker gangs. The gang members wear the kanji as a sort of equivalent to gang colors--to stand out. The tourists...well, they're explained above. :-)] I really wanna hear him do that "Kfff-haaa, kffff-haaa" business. You think he's got a ring inside his body? [These last two sentences refer to Warsman, a character from the gonzo wrestling parody comic KINNIKUMAN, or MUSCLEMAN. (The source of the M.U.S.C.L.E. Things from years back.) Warsman was a parody of Darth Vader, which explains the sound effects he wants...] X-Car...Maybe he shoots beams from his eyes? The ladies might be happy to hear his name isn't just from X + Car, but also X + Scar, as he's got a cross-shaped scar on him. [Though there are a number of such characters in anime, this specifically refers to the character Himura Kenshin, star of the samurai period dramedy RUROHNI KENSHIN (WANDERING KENSHIN, image available at http://store1.yimg.com/I/freethought_1552_184198209). The character--and the whole series, really--is quite popular among female anime fans there.] That transparent body is kinda odd. Perhaps in the cartoon he'll be able to go invisible like Volfogg? [The ninja-like police car robot from GAOGAIGAR.] Ox & Counter-Arrow Cybertron Spychangers: Ox/Counter-Arrow. Ox...This character was created as an homage to Studio OX. (In my own imagination.) [OX is the illustration studio responsible for a lot of the cooler, fancier renderings of the G1 TFs, mostly for magazine layouts] He looks like he was made by Gateway (not). [Gateway computers ship in cowhide-patterned boxes, echoing Ox's color scheme.] Counter-Arrow...Probably no relation to Counterpunch. (^_^;) The Spychangers' names follow the A-I-U-E-O-Ka pattern. [The first six of the Japanese kana "alphabet".] Also, the Spychangers have surfacing emblems a la the former rub labels (stickers that reveal a symbol when you rub them with your finger) hidden somewhere on their car bodies. Of course, you can figure it out if you look closely, but it's neat that they made them fairly unobtrusive. DESTRONGER METAL BEAST ARMY Destronger: Metal Beast Army. (The category name isn't written in the catalog.) These are recolors, so I didn't get close-up shots. (^_^;) On top of that, this shot's blurred...sorry, folks. It looks like they'll be called Stinkbomb->Gaskunk Nightglider->Gildo [Gildeau?] Spittor->Goosher [Spelled that way to ensure the use of the long "u", instead of "gusher".] Cybershark->Gelshark [With a hard "g"] The names follow the Ga-Gi-Gu-Ge pattern. [Another sequence from the kana "alphabet".] And am I the only one to feel a weirdly strong persuasive power in the name "Gelshark"? CATALOG(?) Part 1 An enlarged panel from the usual catalog. Just as the "Sound & Light" implies, the siren wails and it lights up. [It also has four other sounds, including Japanese dialogue. Perhaps their equivalent to "I am Optimus Prime!" :-)] Part 2 The story sorta goes like, "The Destrongers have arrived in our era through a rift in the dimensions." "This green Earth must fall under my rule before it is destroyed by Mankind!" (Apologies for the overly loose translation m(_)m >Head of Literature) Does this "our era" mean that a co-starring with Generation 1 characters is no dream!? Also, with stuff like "The Cybertron warriors hide themselves and go to the city" written in there, it seems they're going for the one-time "Robots in Disguise" theme. As for the Metals Beasts, Gelshark seems to be the loyal retainer [with lines like] "I won't spare even my very life for Lord Gigatron!" I worry that the personalities of the remaining three Metal Beast brothers might be written to give the impression "They play the fools (but come through when they have to)".... Just from the examples of SECOND, NEO, and the Acro Changetroopers...they'll probably be real blandbots. (As for the cartoon, all the catalog has written on it is that it'll start in April.) Oh yes, Lord Gigatron, I got a big laugh out of "Has a touch of multiple personalities from transforming too much." (Grin) Part 3 Look carefully, and you can see where "Three Brothers" is written. [At the top of the red bar containing the Car Robots' names is the phrase "Presenting the three Car Robot Brothers!"] RETURNING THE FAVOR The G2 Laser Rods, Road Rocket/Road Pig, have been revived as Machspeeder/Roadbison, vehicles for the Microman LED Powers line. ["LED" here is pronounced as if it were the word "led".] A reversal on the former pattern of items shifting from Microman to Transformers. PRODUCT LIST Transformers: Car Robots Product List Cybertron C-001 Super Fire Convoy 4980 Mar. C-002 Wildride 1800 Mar. C-003 Mach Alert 1800 Mar. C-004 Speedbreaker 1800 Mar. C-005 Autofire 450 Mar. C-006 Eaglekiller 450 Mar. C-007 Wars 450 Mar. C-008 X-Car 450 Mar. C-009 Ox 450 Mar. C-010 Counter-Arrow 450 Mar. C-011 Spycharger DX Set 2700 Mar. C-012 J-5 (500 line) 1980 May C-013 J-7 (700 line) 1980 May C-014 J-4 (E4 line) 1980 May C-015 JRX (C-012-014 gestalt) 5980 May Destronger D-001 Gigatron 2980 Mar. D-002 Gaskunk 980 Mar. D-003 Gildo 980 Mar. D-004 Goosher 980 Mar. D-005 Gelshark 2500 Mar. BONUS Exhibited here together with original-series characters. (I think it was just for display purposes...)