A journey through the JP Gen1 cartoon.

[Paulbot]

They are driving their Transtectors right? Not other vehicles? The Transtectors are extensions of their bodies so it makes sense they can control them as well in vehicle mode as they can in robot mode.

PS I like the Masterforce songs

[Tallestblue]

I enjoyed Masterforce a lot more than I enjoyed Headmasters, at least Minerva does get involved in the action now and again and there are some really great robot designs in it too. (shame the toys leave a lot to be desired, compare Anime GodBomber Convoy to the toy. Brick City. )

[kup]

I enjoyed Masterforce a lot more than I enjoyed Headmasters, at least Minerva does get involved in the action now and again and there are some really great robot designs in it too. (shame the toys leave a lot to be desired, compare Anime GodBomber Convoy to the toy. Brick City. )

What? She isn't serving tea for the boys?! What a disgrace!

[griffin]

She does play out the 'scared little girl' stereotype to begin with, but she does indeed get into the thick of the action and even takes on the enemy... unlike Arcee in Headmasters, which I don't think fought anyone or fired a shot throughout the whole series.

[Hursticon]

She does play out the 'scared little girl' stereotype to begin with, but she does indeed get into the thick of the action and even takes on the enemy... unlike Arcee in Headmasters, which I don't think fought anyone or fired a shot throughout the whole series.

Nope, she certainly didn't - Glad to hear that this trend hasn't continued into Masterforce though because women/females are just as capable, if not more so, of inflicting damage.

[GoktimusPrime]

At least the US comic had the sense of making them just one part of the cast and story, not the majority like in Masterforce. And even then, the nebulons were not often on their own, so weren't the central plot or point of the comic... not to mention, they were just an add-on to the Transformer, not the actual 'Transformer'.

Well it depends... Fortress Maximus and Scorponok seemed to be quite like Transtectors in the US G1 cartoon - both operated by Spike and Zarak respectively but without any apparent independent will/sentience from Fort Max or Scorpie. Even Cerebros seemed to lose apparent will/sentience when Spike became his head. In the G1 comics Cerebros was pretty much a mindless drone, built by Galen to allow him (and later Spike) to bond with Fort Max's larger Mk II body. As G1 progressed, it seemed (at least to me) that that independent wills of some of the Headmasters became more docile, allowing the wills of their bonded partners to become dominant. For instance, after arriving on Earth Zarak became increasingly dominant as the mind of Scorponok -- in fact, when faced with his imminent doom Scorponok's courage faltered because Zarak realised that as a man of flesh and blood, if he died in this battle it would be terminal for him... then he kinda spoke about "What would Scorponok do?", and then inspired by this took courage. But there was no apparent input from Scorponok himself, unlike say with the relationship between Fort Max and Spike. It could be argued that Zarak and Scorponok's minds merged into one. The minds of Optimus Prime and Hi-Q also merged; hence Action Master Optimus Prime's (and presumably G2 Optimus Prime's) mind is actually an amalgam of Optimus Prime and Hi-Q. In "Guess Who The Mecannibals Are Having For Dinner?" and "Recipe For Disaster!", the Decepticon Powermasters Darkwing and Dreadwind were basically portrayed as vehicles for Hi-Test and Throttle, with Sky Lynx discovering their secret and saying something like Hi-Test and Throttle being the Decepticons Darkwing and Dreadwind. There was no interaction between those Decepticons and their Nebulan partners as if they had separate sentience -- if you looked at those stories independent of the rest of G1, and you didn't know any better, you might think that Dreadwing was pretty much a piloted mecha like a Transtector.

Also keep in mind that the Transtectors are actually sentient Transformers in their own right, it's just that their sentience is dormant throughout most of the series until the end when they awaken and become independent of their human/Godmaster counterparts -- hence when you see God Ginrai and Minerva in Transformers Victory, they are _only_ Cybertronian robots and NOT binary bonded to their former human partners (thus when God Ginrai is slain and later rebuilt as Victory Leo, it's the robot who's rebuilt -- the human named Ginrai remained on Earth and was never involved in the events of Victory)

She does play out the 'scared little girl' stereotype to begin with, but she does indeed get into the thick of the action and even takes on the enemy... unlike Arcee in Headmasters, which I don't think fought anyone or fired a shot throughout the whole series.

Yeah, I quite like the Minerva character.

Nope, she certainly didn't - Glad to hear that this trend hasn't continued into Masterforce though because women/females are just as capable, if not more so, of inflicting damage.

Hell hath no fury...

[griffin]

Ep 7 - Panic! Protect the Wild Animals!

Animals in Africa are being herded into stampedes by the Decepticons, who believe that the humans will kill every single animal to stop it, which would cause an imbalance in nature and the foodchain. The plan backfires when the Autobots get involved, with the help of a park ranger.

The more I watch this series, the less it feels like Transformers. Robot content is like a cameo to the story.
In one scene the Decepticons appear in robot mode, only to just disappear without even doing anything.

Just like a previous episode about interfering with 'human energy', this one requires humans to kill every animal to destroy themselves. That may be true, but a stampede concept isn't going to lead to total annihilation of all animals.
But I feel that the plot wasn't the important element of this episode - it was more a character building episode with the Autobot Headmasters.

How weird was it to have the Autobots hiring a transport plane to carry the 3 humans and their Transtectors. I would have thought it would be easier (and cheaper) to just have the 3 kids fly to Africa with the Pretenders. (I'm pretty sure Autobots fly in this series, like they did in Headmasters)

The Decepticon Pretenders have such contempt for their human allies, but I guess the power of the Transtectors keeps them loyal.

[griffin]

They are driving their Transtectors right? Not other vehicles? The Transtectors are extensions of their bodies so it makes sense they can control them as well in vehicle mode as they can in robot mode.

PS I like the Masterforce songs

That'd be true if they were just sitting inside, and just driving by thought. But these kids are actually steering, using pedals and even changing gears. Even if the Transtectors are just an extension of themselves, if they are using those driving tools (pedals, steering, etc) like a normal driver, they would have had to learn how to use them, in order to look like they are driving like normal drivers.

I know it makes it look more dramatic and exciting, for kids watching and pretending that they could drive a real Transformer, but getting to look like a real driver takes a lot of practice, especially if they are like 10 years old.

[GoktimusPrime]

They're Newtypes

[griffin]

Ep 6 - Go, GoShooter! Showdown in the Wasteland

The Decepticon Headmasters kidnap someone, and the Autobot Headmasters rescue him.


This episode was confusing from the start... trying to explain 3 weird types of energy, that relate to the existence of Humans and the Earth.

The interesting thing about this series, at least at this point, is the way the Decepticons are trying to recruit followers in the Humans, rather than wanting to destroy them or seeing them as mere insects. Megatron would be disgusted.
It's also a reversal of the way Humans are usually followers of Autobots, if we ever saw any instance of followers.

Again, so much time is spent on just the humans. And when the 'robots' show up, it's just the Human controlled Headmasters.