Transformers: Legacy United Animated Universe Optimus Prime is Something That Exists

 

Animated Optimus Prime’s wiki picture

When you get right down it, Transformers: Animated was an anomaly. Effectively serving as a Plan B should the 2007 film fail, it didn't, Animated was by radical departure from the bayverse and Transformers in general. Animated stepped back from technical realism in favour of bright, dynamic, cartoony and above all else, characterful designs. The thing Animated did so well was creating Transformers whose mere appearance spoke volumes, only for the vocal performances and writing to utterly endear them to fans. Of course, that wasn't the only thing it did well, and I'd easily put it in the Top 3 Transformers media of all time. What Animated arguably did less well was the toys, the art style not being the easiest to replicate in plastic, and once the line concluded, Hasbro never tried something like that again. At least until Legacy got going and started drip-feeding those characters into the mix. Today I talk about the first voyager attempt.

The 2008 Transformers: Animated Optimus Prime toy, voyager class

 

So, Animated Prime, what's his deal then? Well, he's a fairly nuanced take on the archetype to be honest, with a debt to Optimus Primal. He's not the leader of the Autobots, Prime is a common rank in this continuity, and he's in charge of a Space Bridge repair crew. He's got the same idealistic, big good vibes as Optimi tend to have, but he's much lower in the hierarchy, and is depicted as young and inexperienced. Not the kinda guy you'd expect to be doing infrastructure. The precise reasons why he's in that command are actually very tragic, he's in disgrace, and his arc through the show is him overcoming that. This isn't an Optimus Prime that starts out at the top, in a rivalry with Megatron. Animated, though cut short, ends when he's god-damn earned that.

 

The actual toy then, and its vehicle mode first. Optimus' alt mode was honestly a bit ill-defined on screen and in plastic. He's more or less the front end of a scifi fire truck, although if you took the light-bar off, and you can here, you wouldn't know that. The show was a bit woolly about this, he had at least two trailers, but the actual toys didn't implement that. The original voyager had a functioning water cannon instead, for example. This new Legacy toy then focuses on the truck cab then, and its doing an OK job with it, but its not doing anything spectacular. On the plus side, it compares favourably with both the animation model and previous toys. There's a Generations greeblie filter being applied, but it passes the squint test. It not a Bulkhead or Skyquake situation, the likeness was prioritised here. There’s also some easily missed interior details, like a steering wheel, which is nice. The downside is however the feet, which ended up in the trailer hitch area and look a bit obnoxious, while the axe can stow but not integrate. The feet in particular are the subject of much speculation; there's a pair of slots there of no obvious use, prompting hopes of some Wingblade version down the line and the creation of at least one third party add-on set. This sort of visual flaw seems to occur a lot with modern primes, and I'd tolerate it more if something could obscure it, but this is at worst average as Legacy alt modes go. Shame about the production scars though.

If the truck form was more adequate than great, the robot form nails it. Lets talk about characterisation again. Optimus is a big guy, but big in a specifically heroic and cartoony way. He's very wide in the chest and arms, but thin in the legs and hips. He's a triangle of upper body strength, which is possibly more exaggerated here than in the 2d art, but its perfect for him. There's nowt brutish about it either, he's in bright, friendly colours, and most importantly, NO MOUTHPLATE. This adds so much, revealing his youthful face. Its a bit, umm, mainline Generations, but its him. He's Captain Carrot Ironfounderson, if he were a giant robot. And then there's the rocket axe. The vintage toys often didn't capture this right, but its perfectly replicated here with a blast effect port on the back, and an extending haft. This combines with the articulation to make a superlative robot mode. Its just about possible to do a two handed pose, and it presents posing options just not found in other toys. And its not just good articulation, its good articulation in service of character, and this robot mode has a lot of character. Maybe the forearms needed some details painted, but otherwise this is doing what it should with unexpected vigour. Oh, and its got the 5mm port thing covered.

 

In truth, Animated Optimus Prime was probably not the obvious choice for an update. Nowt wrong with him, and certainly someone you'd need eventually, but he's not one of the breakout characters from his show. And truthfully, even at the time, there were a lot of Optimus toys, and even more now. But this honestly impressed me. The altmode is at worst acceptable, and suffers from high expectations, but its doing OK. And the robot mode shines. While this toy seems to have gone under the radar and straight into discount, lost amongst so many other Primes, its well worth your time.

Remembering: Samurai Jack

 

 

Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil!

But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me.

Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future, where my evil is law!

Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku!

Created by Cartoon Network big man Genndy Tartakovsky, Samurai Jack is likely the simplest cartoon you will ever watch. One that often has more dialogue in its explanatory intro, than the rest of the show. A narrative where the lead character's actual name is unknown to us, and the antagonists name, Aku, literally means evil. An animation that sought to replicate martial arts films as children's TV, and so moved things into a generic future when robots could be shredded without fear of setting off the censors. Its mainly action, but it can be quite daft too, with the Samurai's initial encounters including talking dogs, the Ant Hill Mob, and possibly the most powerful Scottish stereotype ever created. It's all done in a minimalist style of simple shapes and hard angles. However, to quote someone out of context, simple isn't the same as stupid. As animation, Samurai Jack is possibly the most beautiful thing ever made for American TV. And if you picked your episode, it's a match for any live action set-piece. Look at the Spartans episode, the one with the shinobi, the zombies in the graveyard, the gladiators, the giant robot fight, Lulu, sweet thing, and anything involving the Scotsman. Its all good, or at least distinctively interesting.

 

And so "Jack" strides this weird future, facing countless bounty hunters, demons, lost temples, and prolonged homages to action cinema. You never quite know what you are going to get. Mind you, the show does have does have a structural flaw, one that's unavoidable due to its concept and magnified by its episodic format. If Jack finds a time portal, the series ends immediately and as it's two recurring characters are absolute paragons of good or evil, there's little way to develop them further. The joy of things is that you can drop the samurai into any scenario and watch the fireworks, but this is still a status quo throughout 52 episodes. So, as things went on, episodes got more experimental, with Jack having a minor role in several as different viewpoints get explored. It's perhaps telling that award-winning "Birth of Evil" two parter features Jack only as a newborn. The show ended on a somewhat goofy episode where Jack cares for a baby, and for 13 years that was it. There were comics, but no conclusion. Then Genndy T cut a deal to make a fifth season to finish it, under the less restrictive Adult Swim banner.

As I had never seen this season, that was where I started with my bluray boxset. It was startling how much it was like I remembered the show, but also not. Its still as action packed, but now there's an actual plot. The goofier stuff is initially absent, replaced by existential despair. Aku has destroyed every time portal off-screen and decided to wait for Jack to die of old age. This surprisingly pragmatic act by the hugely hammy and stereotypically villainous Aku has however backfired: the samurai does not age, seemingly due to time travel shenanigans, and is only getting better. Fifty years have past, in total stalemate, and it's broken both of them. “Jack” actually has to talked down from a suicide attempt at one point, with most of the series being about him trying to get level again, and find his lost sword. Its very much a deconstruction of the series so far, not least because he is forced into taking actual human life. But it doesn't stay there. The series ends in a manner that is bittersweet, "Jack" having suffered no small amount of personal loss in victory, but it shows us the lives he saved, and those whom rushed to help him. It wasn't all for nothing, and this grows into a romantic subplot. Its a true deconstruction, as an actual example of the GRIMDARK season 5 looks like, would not allow that. And while I do not wish to discuss the ending in great detail, I will say it handles some bad clichés well.

 

 

Ultimately, Samurai Jack is very simple. So simple that I can't stretch this far past a single page without recounting whole episodes. But like I said, simple isn't the same as stupid. Nor is it the same as being shallow. Its like a poem, but not one that takes itself seriously.

Few things are as singular as Samurai Jack, you just have to watch it.

 

Radical Regenerations: Animated Soundwave And Laserbeak

Soundwave is a character I think I wanted as a child, but never actually got. He's someone I've brought multiple toy of, and I keep meaning to get the Masterpiece version someday. I suppose its a mix of him being loyal, and having an army of minions that live in his chest. Today, I talk about the only version I've kept hold of: Animated Soundwave. Read on to find out why this guy is on my Shelf of Awesome, and how he differs from the G1 version.

Image from TFWiki, Copyright Hasbro.

The Context

Seemingly developed as a more child-oriented contrast to the theatrical film of the same year, Transformers: Animated was probably the last truly great cartoon the series. Or at least, the last one doing something significantly different. The art style was a radical departure from the norm, the series was episodic, the actual war was over, and it was not entirely serious. While initially dismissed as “kiddy”, the series soon won fans over with over-arching story-lines, legitimately dangerous Decepticons, increasingly dark plots, and an obvious love by creators for the brand. Characters varied between being homages, archetypes, and thorough reworkings. Soundwave was visually not as big a departure as he was fictionally. This Soundwave was not Megatron's trusted lieutenant, although he was definitely on Megatron's side. Soundwave was an attempt by Megatron to build himself a new body, Megs just being a head at the time, that went horribly right. Via the power of the Allspark Key, Soundwave made the jump from drone to full-on sentience, which Megatron easily convinced to start a robot revolution. Sounwave only appeared in three episodes of the series before it was tragically cancelled, but is well-remembered for reasons that will become apparent.

Soundwave
Let's ignore Laserbeak for now, I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, and start with the overt difference between this and other Soundwaves, the alternate mode. Like G1 Megatron, Soundwave's altmode fluctuates as his first one was invalidated by time, a micro cassette player. Although Guardians of the Galaxy briefly made the technology cool again, back when this toy was made MP3 players had made it utterly obsolete and unknown to most actual kids. So, they made him into a car, but not just any car(1), a car with a boombox theme, while retaining the blue and metallic accents of the original toy. Its based off the Scion xB, a car not unknown for modification and extensive sound systems, so its a fairly sensible choice. The front end features cassette style buttons, the wheels are patterned after speakers, there's a gold decal of a power switch, door panels like tape spools, and its boxy shape evokes the angular nature of 80's stereos. One element which is new however is the use of teal lines, reminiscent of TRON. Ostentatious? Maybe. Definitely says sound though. Paint applications aren't ideal, my example being rough, and a balance bar on the back end being ignored by Hasbro. On the plus side, there's translucent, but trendily tinted windows, so they didn't cut that corner. Robot bits are essentially invisible, although the wheels are but loose on their mounts. In terms of play value, its fairly a unremarkable car, nothing actually wrong with anything, but the only thing of interest it does is having a mounting slot for Laserbeak, but we'll get back to him.

The transformation is a little unusual to me, but I'd be the first to admit cars aren't my favourite altmode. Maybe there's a similarity to Prime Rumble, in that the lower legs turn inside out, forming the front end. But otherwise, the style seems largely unique, a necessary consequence of rendering the Animated visual aesthetics into something that exists in plastic that changes modes. In this respect, Soundwave is fairly a unremarkable-to-solid example of the Animate toyline, the engineering being a success, although not a high-flyer like Prowl or Swoop. As a result, Soundwave's robot mode has some noteworthy gaps and exposed transformation gubbins in the chest and shin areas, but nothing obnoxious. That said, moving the head assembly needs finger nails. As for Laserbeak? He's got a two step transformation, but enough about him.

What's the robot mode actually like then? Its actually pretty good. The likeness to the animation is a good match, if lacking some gold and a classically purple badge. Unlike the car mode, is not as big a deviation from the G1, and you could be forgiven for thinking its another body for the same character, just done by a (very) different artist. The chest for example is extremely G1, with tape buttons, and translucent plastic with subtle sound bars sculpted in. It even opens. You could also be asking why this is a “Radical Regeneration”? Patience, grasshopper, all will become clear. This mode does inherit most of the car details, and is proportionally is a bit of gorilla, so that's different. He is however articulated like a boss, with twenty-two good joints, a startlingly high number for deluxe. The legs are good, with two balljoints, a hinged ankle, an ankle tilt, and a tight waist swivel. You can also make use of a transformation joint if that isn't enough, although friction is starting to go in the knees. His head is on a basic swivel, with an aborted light-piping gimmick, and a visor suspiciously like a pair of Kamina Glasses, but are actually a reference to the ABC Warriors(2). Remember the glasses though, they are another hint of my reasoning behind this review. The arms however are fantastic, with six joints, but THREE in each elbow. He can press his own buttons. This extremely welcome level of jointage is however marred by the lack of conventional fistholes, Soundwave having flat hands. Such things were fairly typical in Animated.

So he's got joints up the wazoo, but no capability for holding a weapon in a sensible way? How is this good? Well, now we have to stop ignoring the bird.

Laserbeak

The bird is for most intents and purposes, a big accessory, and not a brilliant one by himself. It doesn't help that his eyes aren't painted in the Hasbro release(3), and he's got two points of articulation, one of which results in his wing coming off. The animators didn't actually know the bird existed at first either, so he didn't debut in the cartoon until season 3. He can do the falconry pose though, there being some concealed slots on the outside of each forearm for Laserbeak to clip-on. And that's good. Its what you want in this pairing.

However, if you are actually looking at the pictures, you've figured out the main reason why I've put off talking about this guy. His altmode is an electric guitar, inspired by the Dean Razorback V. He's an electric guitar, which plugs into the 5mm screw-holes in Soundwave's forearms. Hmm. Guitar.

SOUNDWAVE FIGHTS WITH THE POWER OF ROCK!

Is this radical enough for you? See why this guy is today's subject. Soundwave, possibly the most robotic and strait-laced of the Decepticons, has been reworked into a practitioner of loud rebellious music. He is an evil giant robot that mind controls other robots, with an electric guitar. And presumably rocks out when he needs to chill. This is awesome. This is metal. Its probably one of the greatest concentrations of metal-awesome in the brand. Until that Knights of Unicron set came out, the only thing more obviously metal-awesome than this is Bludgeon, and he's a walking album cover. If this does not appeal to you, I don't know what will.

Conclusion

Let's not kid around, Soundwave and Laserbeak are great. Its true that time and cut corners take the shine off things. I wish the paint applications on mine were both more extensive and better implemented. And perhaps, maybe, another design draft wouldn't have gone amiss. The pair are however extremely competent at what they we made to do, broadly defined as “rocking out” and “looking badass”. Robots with electric guitars are thin on the ground anyway, but the designers didn't rest on that laurel too much. Both of Soundwave's modes are good. Laserbeak is exceptional as an accessory, if meh by himself. Together they pull off the seemingly impossible task of homaging the original Soundwave while being extremely distinct from him. So go get them.

Foot notes

1. Or a flipping satellite.
2. Dirt Boss is the only actual Gurren Lagann reference in Animated, Derrick J. Wyatt had not seen that anime until late in the series' run.
3. Takaratomy of course fixed this, and added metallic blue to the set, which is tempting....

Sunday Post: Umm, been socialising.....

Sorry folks, I've had a busy week. Then I met friends and did stuff like this:

And this:

Anyway.....


Okay, on a more serious note, I am still working on actual really real posts. Should have a Mad Max meets Transformers review up in the near future, and I've got something special planned for Halloween.  I've also got two weeks of Transformers posts stockpiled, so hopefully, I'll have something more meaningful for you next Sunday.

See ya soon.

Post-Auto Assembly Update

Well, Auto Assembly is over. Finished. I had a damn good time, as did everyone whom went. A thousand odd people. I also spent a lot of money on toys, here's an image of them. Consider it a preview of forthcoming review fodder.

As you can see, I went mainly for the small toys, filling in some gaps and omissions. There was a couple of holy grails, such as Meantime the Real Gear watch, and Death's Head, fulfilling a desire about as hold as my Transformers fixation. I don't actually collect action figures, so I probably won't review him.  And yes, that is a sushi roll.

Devastator, you say?

Well.

Yeah, he/they are on the review pile. And yes, he can hold that pose. The review is going to be longform, and probably will materialise in early September.