Random Transformers Videos

[lastmaximal]

What a neat little video. I forget how much I and others must take the wiki for granted these days, with so many earnest and sensible questions seeming almost silly given how thorough and accessible the resource is. (The easiest question to answer was the one about the little art detail on the lower right, which has to be a detail view of that angled section of the back of the leg).

But this approach is only so roundabout because the point of origin is the piece of artwork rather than the commercial, and frankly seeing that very analog bit of production (and the associated story of literally flying the piece and others like it back and forth) was the coolest thing about this. (The cringest thing about this was the "Obama giving Obama a medal" that was Ask Vector Prime, but it does at least provide some nice closure to this discussion. But hey, maybe this is now me taking THAT for granted. How many fandoms even had that opportunity?)

Now I want a Zarak Maximus redeco of that upcoming Scorponok...

 

[The Predaking]

It definitely looks a lot like Scorponok, especially once he flips the pages to the other color scheme. I imagine that is what they were going for in the commercial since Scoponok would probably still be on the shelves.

That was a neat video, and it makes me wonder what else exist from that era of making animated shorts for the G1 US toy commercials.

 

[lastmaximal]

It does make sense to just modify an existing Big Robot design if they needed one to menace tiny robot vehicles. Some simple color changes and new parts and it's Different Enough. I remain fascinated by the old-school painting of these acetate sheets with the printed lineart. I'm grateful to have come up in a time when digital makes all of this so much more accessible (the state of physical art tools I had as a kid could simply never), but it's really cool to see these production methods put to use by people who could.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I don't understand why you wouldn't just advertise the toy that exists to sell more of that toy instead of making up one that doesn't exist to... not sell?

 

[lastmaximal]

Well, what they were REALLY trying to sell wasn't Scorponok, it was the Micros (looking it up on the wiki, it's the Micromaster Transports). This art is from 1988 for a 1989 product line, by which point Scorponok may have been slated to be discontinued. (The gimmick handoff in 89 was between Pretenders and Micromasters, save for -- per the wiki -- a rerelease of PMOP.) They were going all in on JUST micro play, right down to smaller (and cheaper) bases, with even the packaging design changing across the line. Featuring existing product would dilute the approach of shilling the new.

(But it actually does make a lot of sense to have big citybots around for the Micros to fight in, on, and over. I never clocked it before, but this really draws attention to how, like TR PMOP and POTP's Evolution gimmick, the 86-87 and the 88-90s Micros ended up being ships passing in the night.)

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

But this approach is only so roundabout because the point of origin is the piece of artwork rather than the commercial, and frankly seeing that very analog bit of production (and the associated story of literally flying the piece and others like it back and forth) was the coolest thing about this.

Well, it was the black-and-white Japanese version of said control art, and the accompanying Japanese text (translated in the aughts by bilingual Nikkei "Juniper Walters" ) that told us fans that that brief commercial appearance wasn't simply a miscolour. It's not as if we had time to blink during those hectically paced commercials of the day.

What we don't have -- and what Jim Sorenson is unlikely to be able to provide, no offense to him -- is the production reason of how we got "Kyôdai Destron Heishi". Now that the glorious colour sheets have been revealed, we can see in the video that originally there was a more Scorponok-derived colour scheme, which led someone in the Tube Of You comments to suggest that this was a recolour and repurposing of an alternate or provisional model.

 

[Sabrblade]

From the words of @Greebtron on Discord:

I take it as read that TMS were given Marvel models for continuing 1987 product when they produced the 1988 adverts. Then come the 1989 adverts, they needed a giant Decepticon, so they grabbed Scorponok's model off the pile, before Griffin-Bacal came back and told them to change it as his toy wouldn't be sold in 1989

 

[lastmaximal]

Well, it was the black-and-white Japanese version of said control art, and the accompanying Japanese text (translated in the aughts by bilingual Nikkei "Juniper Walters" ) that told us fans that that brief commercial appearance wasn't simply a miscolour. It's not as if we had time to blink during those hectically paced commercials of the day.

What we don't have -- and what Jim Sorenson is unlikely to be able to provide, no offense to him -- is the production reason of how we got "Kyôdai Destron Heishi". Now that the glorious colour sheets have been revealed, we can see in the video that originally there was a more Scorponok-derived colour scheme, which led someone in the Tube Of You comments to suggest that this was a recolour and repurposing of an alternate or provisional model.

This is nice trivia, but the quoting me confuses me a bit. It's nice to find out about that Japanese control art and so on, but I wasn't even aware that existed, nor was it what I was talking about.

Again, my point was that my easy gut reaction to go "oh, the wiki explains it" (as someone on Reddit also then pointed out to this person), was something I realized I'd taken for granted. Where my connection to this character was the wiki, his connection was the actual artwork, so what seemed like a circuitous path to me was actually just perfectly sensible backtracking from a different starting point.

The bit Sabr cites from Greebtron is more than enough to address the supposed gap of the "unknown" production reason, to be honest. Failing the manifestation of a time machine (which I would have very different uses for), context clues are perfectly fine. It makes sense that they'd have animation models (such as for commercials, if not the show) on hand, and it also makes sense that someone would make the call to change things up as needed ("we're not selling that anymore, change it a little, no, change it more").

 

[The Predaking]

So why did they change it from Scorponok though? I mean, yeah, Scorponok was discontinued at this point, but they didn't put in another toy that they were selling but used a modified version of him. Why not use the actual Scorponok model or Trypticon's for that matter? It just needs to be a recognizable giant Transformer.

 

[Sabrblade]

So why did they change it from Scorponok though? I mean, yeah, Scorponok was discontinued at this point, but they didn't put in another toy that they were selling but used a modified version of him. Why not use the actual Scorponok model or Trypticon's for that matter? It just needs to be a recognizable giant Transformer.

Hasbro's logic at the time was likely, "We don't want our toy-advertising commercials to advertise toys that aren't presently available from us anymore, because doing so would be seen as false advertisement."

Even if some stores in 1989 might have still had some lingering Scorponoks in stock on the shelves at the time, in Hasbro's eyes, that old stock would have been considered "out of stock" by that year.

 

[lastmaximal]

So why did they change it from Scorponok though? I mean, yeah, Scorponok was discontinued at this point, but they didn't put in another toy that they were selling but used a modified version of him. Why not use the actual Scorponok model or Trypticon's for that matter? It just needs to be a recognizable giant Transformer.

That's just it, he was discontinued. Trypticon was even older. And neither of them were what the commercial was selling, so they'd have taken some attention away from what the commercial was selling. (Optimus Prime was enough of that kind of inclusion, I figure, and a regular Transformer paradoxically REALLY shows off how small these are -- next to a citybot, regular bots look tiny, so imagine how tiny these must be next to a regular bot.)

And while it would've been neat to see some continuity and familiar characters, it absolutely did not NEED to be a RECOGNIZABLE giant Transformer. As we've seen, it works perfectly well with We Have Scorponok At Home.

 

[The Predaking]

it works perfectly well with We Have Scorponok At Home.

Best name ever!

 

[lastmaximal]

Dear Ask Vector Prime...

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

As the remaining major fiction of the latter years of American Generation 1, the Marvel comic was arguably in a bit of a bind as far as dealing with Hasbro's diminishing focus on "bad guys", and particularly leaders thereof in the latter years of G1 (until the Action Masters, but the comic was cancelled before much could really happen there. Arguably Furman did more to promote European Classics, save of course introducing Krok and making Grimlock a formal Action Master).

Key Decepticon players during Furman's tenure on the US Marvel run included:

• Megatron (available by mail order, would eventually get an Action Masters figure),
• Starscream (Classic Pretender),
• Shockwave (would eventually get an Action Master figure),
• Scorponok (1987-88),
• Thunderwing (Mega Pretender, but only briefly in the plots),
• Galvatron (1986), and of course,
• Bludgeon (from the toyline's perspective, an Ascended Extra from the second wave Pretenders).

We didn't get Overlord, and Skyquake would not debut in US fiction until 2009.

(Mind you, while Japan got Overlord and Deathsaurus, the grass wasn't necessarily greener, as Takara was also giving less support to villains after Victory. (Though to be fair, how would you make a toy of "Violin Juggler" -- sorry, "BioRanger Iga?") Super Megatron and Scrash never got toys, and Operation Combination's Destron line up was the smaller Predator jets and Combaticon reissues. )

Given all that, good old Kyôdai (I am liking that "We have Scorponok at home" descriptor), much like Halonix Maximus years earlier, fit the bill as someone recognizably intimidating (as he attempts to stomp tiny mechs) without causing any problems for Hasbro or Takara by showcasing a character either dead or no longer at retail.

 

[lastmaximal]

I genuinely don't think it's that deep, but where's the fun in that, I guess.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

We Have Scorponok At Home

Temunok.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Temunok.

scorpo-slop

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

I genuinely don't think it's that deep, but where's the fun in that, I guess.

There was a little bit more to the build up of Halonix, but for years we the fans couldn't really be sure if his brief Sunbow appearance was supposed to be an actual remembered Autobot, or just an image that Hound whipped up to intimidate Devastator and buy time. "Wings Universe" fiction decided to take the former route, and now he has a name.

The case of "Giant Decepticon Soldier" is a little murkier, just because of when he made his debut -- the phase of G1 where declining interest and an embryonic Internet means that a lot of supposition and rumour get mixed in with what was actually archived.

And again, no disrespect to AVP, but "Zarak Maximus of Primax 1086.0 Kappa", while a tragic story, is answering the wrong question (as was sometimes Vector Prime's wont).

I just hope that the efforts of the first to determine that this was indeed a unique character, however that uniqueness came about, don't get forgotten.

 

[lastmaximal]

There was a little bit more to the build up of Halonix, but for years we the fans couldn't really be sure if his brief Sunbow appearance was supposed to be an actual remembered Autobot, or just an image that Hound whipped up to intimidate Devastator and buy time. "Wings Universe" fiction decided to take the former route, and now he has a name.

Idk who these "the fans" are, but I genuinely cannot relate to any of that. "Couldn't be sure" just seems so much less likely instead of, well, WANTING there to be more to it.

 

[Sabrblade]

Idk who these "the fans" are, but I genuinely cannot relate to any of that. "Couldn't be sure" just seems so much less likely instead of, well, WANTING there to be more to it.

I think he's referring to the earlier days when ATT was the primary online community for the fandom. Were you on ATT back in the day, or no? (I myself wasn't and have never been, so I wouldn't know if you were)