Captain of the SDF-1 Macross

Definately. Optimus Prime should always have a faceplate and also, he must be a truck (whether he's a big rig, fire truck and so on). Otherwise, we'll be seeing Optimus Prime looking like this (taken from a G1 picture book): http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/the_end.jpg EDIT: posted image altered to URL due to the image being too disturbing.

The writers and animators at Mainframe felt that Optimus Primal should be a different character, hence the addition of the mouth. Ever since, it conviced Hasbro to do the same when it comes to future designs of Optimus Primal. Hasbro/Takara make certain that Optimus Prime should have a faceplate and that also reflects on the toys. The exceptions are the Gobot Optimus Prime and the Machine Wars Optimus Prime toys, who are repaints of other Autobot toys who never have faceplates and thus, they don't resemble Optimus. Yes he does, since he's a powered-up version of Optimus Primal and the toy reflects his. A repaint of the Optimal Optimus toy, named Primal Prime, has a mouth.

You must be talking about Thunderclash (who never had a faceplate to begin with), where the MW Optimus Prime was derived from: http://www.tfu.info/1992/Autobot/Thundercl...hunderclash.htm

Although I enjoy playing fighting games, I suck at it when it comes to combo attacks and attack moves, especially on 2-D games. However, I find 3-D fighting games more easier because the player can hurt the opponent with simple blows and kicks. My uncles suck at almost all of my PS2 games (even Gran Tsurismo 3) but find Dead or Alive 2 much easier to play. And yes, they were oogling at the DOA gals and always pick the girls to play. As one of them say about Tina (about her cowgirl outfit), "Wow, it looks like stepped into the nudie bar at Missisauga." As one friend of mine says to me on how to play with fighting games, "You must be one with the controller."

According to the Transformers fans who owned the R2 Micron Legend DVDs (because they wanted the exclusive Minicons inside), the Minicons in the Japanese dub are still beeping, mindless drones. However, the mini-comics that comes with the DVDs show that the Minicons can talk (just like those in the Dreamwave comics).

OK, OK, I know that RID and Armada are moneymakers but my nephew's curiousity insists on what are my G1 toys are. We both have some good times looking through the Generations book and the Cybertronian Guides on who's who. And yes, much of the line are flying off the shelves except for a few, such as Armada Laserbeak for one. Although most of Armada is fudgy, I do bought some good gems like Blurr (a good high-tech alt-mode) and the Street Speed Minicon team (it has realistic alt-modes with good colors). I plan to get Unicron one day since it's the closest thing to a "realistic looking" Unicron toy. Yet, my nephew is sold into G1 when he played with the G1 toys and watching the movie. After the movie, he got to watch some G1 episodes and later played with my G1 Jetfire toy (but I drew the line that he should not play with my Yamato Macross toys). When the party was over, I gave him an orignal G1 Optimus Prime (with most of the accessories) since I have the New Year's Prime re-issue. He did want the re-issue but I promise to him that he may get one next year. Now that was over, I'll see if I can make my nephew to like Macross.

I have seen Alternators and I'm sold. I like the concept back into realistic alt-modes. Still, there are still hardcore fans (including myself) who are vocally against the direction Hasbro is pushing. They believe that Armada and Energon is both a mistake and an insult to the Transformers name. Such fans wanted the serious storytelling back, much like what Bob Forward and Larry DiTillo did for Beast Wars. Those writers did an excellent balance of seriousness, humour and enjoyment for both the hardcore and the youngsters. That show brought me back into Transformers. Shade, if you think youngsters would just follow what Armada and Energon stands for. Think again. When my 8 year-old nephew visits my place for a party, I shown him my robot toy shelf of Valks, Beast Wars, Robots in Disguise and G1 stuff. He is from the Beast Wars/Beast Machines/Robots in Disguise variety. Him (points to G1 Prime, who's next to RID Prime): Who's this next to Optimus Prime? It looks cool. Me: Optimus Prime. Him: No way. He doesn't look like Prime. Me (transforming the toy): It's him for sure. Him: Wow. Looks wicked. Him (looking through the Transformers Generations book and points the G1 Megatron picture): This is so cool. Who is he? Me (points to the heading): That's Megatron. Him: You can't be serious. He doesn't look like him. Me (shows G1 Megatron): He is Megatron. I'll transform him for you. Him (holding G1 Megatron in gun mode): This is a great toy. You should have seen his reaction to Tranformers: the Movie. He got excited watching it, especially when Megatron started killing the Autobots aboard the shuttle. He also got surprises of the way some of the names from BW/BM/RID were also on the movie.

Very true. These are the same factors as to why the Generation 1 line was killed off back in 1990: * drop the use of diecast metal and rubber tires. * stop using realistic alt-modes and instead use "high-tech" alt-modes. * the line was riddled with gimmick-oriented toys (Headmasters, Powermasters, Targetmasters). * some sublines make the line worse (Pretenders, Action Masters). * Lastly, they use lousy color schemes/paint apps (neon colors, mismatched schemes, etc.) Fortunately, Generation 1 was able to last longer in Europe and Japan, where they made better toys that were more playable. Whoever was running Hasbro are probably the same idiots who did the worse marketing decisions during G1. Because of their mindset, this the reason why Bob Forward and Larry DiTillo (the Beast Wars script editors/writers) were fired. Bob and Larry are diehard fans who cared not only for the hardcore fans but also for the youngsters who are also fans. They did a lot of balancing the storytelling without dumbing down the audience. Simon Furman (TF comic book writer) wanted to write for the Armada show or the upcoming Energon one, but Hasbro said no to the request.

Aaron Archer (aka Orson) is the chief Transformers toy designer at Hasbro. Most of the Armada (and the future Energon) toys are credited by him. He is also one of the few insiders at Hasbro (since he's an employee) who hangs out on TF message boards under the name "Orson". Check the message board of www.tfw2005.com, click onto the "News, Rumours and the Future" section and you'll find a sub-section of the board devoted to Orson, under the name "Orson's World". If you want to b*tch at him, go to the board if you want.

Then I recommend in convincing Hasbro to hire Shouji Kawamori, Big West and Studio Nue to do the new Transformers designs. Once Kawamori and co. comes it, Orson is shown the door (headfirst, of course). Hell, Syd Mead (Turn-A Gundam) can do better designs. <_<

Nah. Ever since Hasbro bought out Tonka, Hasbro has ownership of the Gobots trademark and the character names. With that, they already ridiculed and gloated the Gobots (and related) names anyway. Besides, Leader-One (a Minicon from Transformers: Armada) is now the pimpin' servant boy to Decepticon leader Megatron.

If you want to see something that will scare you (or laugh) senseless, here's something from the G1 era: http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/cover.jpg http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/map.jpg http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/hound.jpg http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/meg...gs_pimpride.jpg http://www.appstate.edu/~th42428/files/the_end.jpg This is definately wrong.

According to various Transformers boards, most say that the Armada kids are gone when the Energon era comes up. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the Autobots will get only ONE human kid. <_<

Too late for that. Hasbro already done that to Optimus Prime and his decendant, Optimus Primal. Optimus Prime: http://www.tfu.info/1995/Autobot/OptimusPr...ptimusprime.htm http://www.tfu.info/1997/Autobot/OptimusPr...ptimusprime.htm Optimus Primal: http://www.tfu.info/1996/Maximal/OptimusPr...timusprimal.htm http://www.tfu.info/1998/Maximal/OptimusPr...timusprimal.htm http://www.tfu.info/1998/Maximal/OptimalOp...imaloptimus.htm http://www.tfu.info/2000/Maximal/OptimusPr...timusprimal.htm http://www.tfu.info/2001/Maximal/BlastPunc...timusprimal.htm http://www.tfu.info/2002/Maximal/SupremeOp...timusprimal.htm

Yes it is. It's called Transformers: Energon, a follow-up sequel to Transformers: Armada. Taking place 10 years after the events of Armada, the Autobots resort to the use of combining while the Decepticons use energon for their weaponry. Sorry, I'm not well up-to-date to this because I don't know much further than that.

Before the Wildstorm comics came about, all comic series before it are ALWAYS NON-CANON because the stories are treated the same way as fanfic stories: unofficial stories that have no bearing to the timeline. The Robotech Reference Guide did treat the Malcontent Uprisings as canon because they want to put a logical reason for the establishment of the Southern Cross Armies. I have the issue that contained that story but Seloy was not one of the particapents. Miriya confronted Seloy about her plans to wipe out the South American towns and Miriya killed both Seloy and her son to delay her master plan. As for the fight, the Zentraedi weren't piloting Veritechs; they were piloting Stingers, which are junk-heap armed battloids with flight cabalities. Here's what the Stinger battloids looked like: http://www.steelfalcon.com/Mecha/stinger.shtml Tell me about it. Her shrieking voice and her missile barrages pisses me off when I confront her in the game, especially the no-clip ceiling that prevents me of going higher.

I use Win 2000 on my PC. I will never move to XP due to the obvious flaws in that OS and I had a bad experience using it, so I don't bother. Besides, the PowerBooks and iBooks are built like refined Swiss timepieces with comparable specs and price points. From my previous experience with PC laptops, I find that more than half are lemons. One of these days I would get a PowerMac for video editing because Premiere performs better and Final Cut can only be runned on that computer. My previous experience with a PC for video editing led me into frustration when I get bad results with it. To vent my rage, I kicked the PC and punched the moniter because of it. I got swollen knuckles on my fists and putted dents into the PC casing after that.

It goes to show that toy designers should not take drugs. Since Energon Prime is a bad design (he looks like he drank too much energon), I'm taking the Armada version instead.

Hasbro already tried that before and that replacement was Rodimus Prime, an angst-ridden wimp who whines his doubts of leadership that is worse than Shinji Ikari.

I voted for Link because he fits with the combat theme of the game: sword fighting. Spawn is kinda good, but should have went for Mideaval Spawn to make it fit. Heihachi should not be the bonus fighter because he's a corperate boss and also, he fights with his fists. That's like fighting with a knife against a guy with a submachine gun, and who has that handicap. Since I voted for Link, I have to buy a Gamecube to play.

All these pretty Mac OS-X icons make me wan't to buy an Apple iBook. However, I have to earn some cash for me to buy one.

Not to mention that all of the Robotech mecha drawn by Kevin Long has the UN Spacy emblem, with the exceptions of the lifted animation sheets. Wayne Breaux Jr., who replaced Long, drew the UN Spacy emblem only of the "Veritechs" and Destroids. Yet, he did draw one on the Super Alpha, a beefed-up version of the Alpha with UN Spacy FAST Packs. I also remembered that the Matchbox Hovertank toy had a UN Spacy sticker on its leg near the knee. <_<

Not to mention they managed to fix most of the animation error, such the soldiers performing the gun salute for the ceremony. The OAV version looked uneven and jumbled, while the movie version fixed it so they performed right for the gun salute with their M4 rifles.

When Urban Vision released the OAV Tekkaman Blade II, the sign of good sales from it did prompt them to consider releasing the TV series. However, Saban stepped in and said to Urban Vision that the OAV is infringing the rights on Teknoman, with a C&D. Technically, Urban Vision told Saban they weren't because it's seperate and Saban backed down. Because of this, no one went to license the TV series. Saban was bought up by Disney last year when they were looking for a new animation subsidary to replace DIC (Disney kicked them out previously). This killed the Fox Kids block and Saban was renamed BVS Entertainment, as shown in the credits of Power Rangers and Digimon season 4 (Digimon Frontier). Whoever's running BVS currently owns the rights right now, including all of Saban's anime licenses.

UPN used to air it for 26 episodes back in 1995 and re-run the same eps until September because Teknoman ran on a weekly schedule. The remaining 15-18 (?) episodes were supposed to continue for the UPN Kids block but was canned because the ratings weren't what UPN wanted. Instead, they ended up airing pish-posh stuff for the remaining year until UPN killed their kids block completely when it was over.