#15: Misfire (1987)

Misfire was one of those Transformers that 'other people had'. Meaning, I was never lucky enough to own him myself. My friends Jeremy and Andy had him, and for that they earned my eternal envy. Andy not so much, because at least he appreciated the toy, but that's another story.

Targetmasters are the ginger headed stepchildren of the 'Masters' concept I feel, because it doesn't seem as openly cool as Headmasters or Powermasters. Without those, you have essentially either half a robot, or a robot that won't transform properly. With a Targetmaster, if the Nebulan component gets lost, all you have is a robot without a gun. Going against the grain as I always do though, I loved Targetmasters. I like the gimmick, the thought of your little partner becoming a gun is awesome to me. I loved the actual toys too, and to my mind, the Decepticons were always the better toys. Misfire is a perfect example of this.

Come ON, the guy is PINK. He also has half a jet hanging off him in robot mode. But LOOK. What you have there is a tall, lithe, good looking toy, complete with a little partner that turns into a gun. The jet mode looks great too, I'm not sure exactly how aerodynamic that thing's going to be, but it looks nice and futuristic (as all post-movie Transformers should) and really, that's what you want from a Decepticon jet.

His bio is great, too. I adore the fact that this guy's aim is rubbish, that he couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo, yet "says he's improving". Even better is that his partner Aimless is absolutely no help at all, his mind wanders so much that he doesn't bother aiming and just fires randomly in the hope of hitting something, anything.

Misfire is one of those great Transformers with both a great toy AND a great set of Tech Specs. And as usual, whenever that happens, the fiction completely lets them down. Misfire is just another Decepticon in the Rebirth (again, not David Wise's fault) in the Japanese continuity he's again just part of the Decepticon group (the writing in Headmasters is pretty atrocious though) and in the comics, well, he gets a good death, being stepped on by Unicron. That's as good as it gets, sadly.

Still, I love Misfire. He's one of my targets for purchase in the next year. I just hope that my aim's better than his.