#49: Grotusque (1987)

I can't remember anyone at school owning the Monsterbots. Now, that could be that they were never realeased in the UK, I have to be honest and say that I'm not sure if that was the case or not. I DO remember seeing pictures of them and thinking that they looked very cool indeed. I still think that, actually, and I've love to own any or all of them. Grotusque was always my favourite of the three, for two main reasons. 1. the name. It's very spiky, and I love Transformer names that are a play on words. 2. the toy, which looks horrid and a mish-mash, another thing I love. I guess that's why I never cared about Devastator that much; far, far too uniform for me.

Sadly, they were the only two things I ever had to go on, because the Monsterbots never appeared in the G1 cartoon, even the Rebirth (which mainly concentrated on the 'Masters'). They DID appear in the Japanese Headmasters cartoon, but I didn't actually see that until 2005.They did appear in the Marvel comics Headmasters stories, but again, the 'Masters' took centre stage there, with Grotusque et al being nothing more than background characters. In the IDWverse, Grotusque was part of the Monsterbot team again, being a mercenary that killed for both money and fun - after helping out the Dynobots and disappearing for a couple of years, Grotusque wound up being killed during the Chaos story arc. But who knows, we may yet see him again, in more of a starring role.

His Tech Spec bio is an interesting one, it depicts a soldier that is scared by his own appearance, and chooses to hide that fact by constantly joking about it. A good character piece, that's possibly held back by the toy's gimmicky nature a little.
                                      

Grotusque's toy is a fairly typical one of the time; sturdy, blocky, little articulation. He also resembles some of his Headmaster cousins somewhat. The alt-mode is fantastic, being described as a 'winged sabre toothed tiger'. There's so many things wrong with that it's not even funny. He's also got a common 80's gimmick; the cold spark. If you press a button on his neck, his mouth opens and sparks fly out. I like cold sparks. There so incredibly pathetic to look at, I can't hate any toy that employs them. Hence my love of the Firecons.

Grotusque is a victim of being the wrong toy in the wrong time; Hasbro cared more about the 'Masters' gimmick than they did three Autobot monsters, it would seem. I guess they felt they'd already done the Dinobots, why bother with more monsters? Ironic, considering where the Transformers franchise would be ten years hence. See Alanis, that's what irony actually means.

 

#48: Razorclaw (1986)

One of my favourite books whilst growing up was my copy of the collected Transformers: Universe comics, a profile by profile look at all of the Transformers in the Marvel comics (and by extension the toys and cartoons) up until 1986. It was great to see all of the characters, and get to know them through their personalities, strengths and weaknesses. However, it was a bit rubbish to see characters that you knew weren't going to get released in the UK. One of these was Razorclaw. And considering how cool both he and the Predacons were, this majorly sucked.

In the cartoon, the Predacons were frequently shown to be badasses. The cartoon played this up to the hilt. While most of the Predacons didn't get too much screen time, Razorclaw did, and even got an episode to himself (kinda) with season 3's Nightmare Planet, where he and Springer had to team up against the machinations of the Quintessons, who were brainwashing Daniel into having bad dreams, and then making those dreams take actual form. Razorclaw made it very clear that he hated the Autobots, and hated Springer, and only teamed up in order to survive. Even then, he was being a badass, and I loved him for it. Aside from that, he was very much just part of the Predacon team, but they were awesome, so it's really ok.

In the comic, he was no less of a badass, but again, just part of the team. They worked with Shockwave, betrayed Megatron, and worked for Ratbat, but sadly they were soon relegated to the role of buffoons (but not before Razorclaw shot a soldier dead. No, really.), as they got outwitted by the Throttlebots. This actually happened.

IDW has yet to see any true Predacon badassery (they've come close, though. They're currently in capitvity, so it could happen, but I wouldn't expect it anytime soon. But that's ok. Razorclaw will just keep on waiting, until his time to strike comes near...

Razorclaw's toy just looks so dense and tough and durable, like the Transformers version of a Tonka toy. Sadly, I've never owned or played with any of them (one day, Glenn, one day). But that will hopefully change next year. I'mma save up and get them, if possible. Hopefully. We'll see.

Razorclaw is my favourite Predacon. There, I said it. This is mainly because of Bob Budiansky's marvellous profile of him in Transformers: Universe. Seriously, go check it out. And fall in love with Razorclaw, Rampage, Tailgate, and even Arblus. He's in there too.

#47: Tailgate (1986)

If I'd written this blog entry a year ago, things would have been vastly different for ol' Tailgate. I would have said that he was hardly in anything at all, and certainly wasn't a major player in the cartoon, where he had about one scene where he got trashed by Trypticon, or one story in the G1 comic, where he woke up some Cybertronic demons. That would have been about it. Then Rocherts happened.

Suddenly, Tailgate is now a superstar. True, he's been offline for six million years, lost his legs, and nearly been duped (kinda) by Cyclonus into becoming a Decepticon (and would have done too, if not for the intervention of Ultra Magnus). He's come a long way. Personally, I liked Tailgate even before he was more well known to the fandom; his Tech Spec bio had a lot to do with that. Basically, Tailgate is Robot!Moses, believing that ALL Earth machines are alive, and in bondage to their overtly cruel human masters. In my mind's eye, I can quite plainly see Tailgate singing 'Let my people goooooooooooooo!' in his best Paul Robeson voice. This image makes me happy.

I love Minibots, so Tailgate automatically wins brownie points with me just for existing. The fact that he's a really good toy is just icing on a very delicious cake. True, he's a repaint of Windcharger, but I think he improves on the original design, with a better and more detailed (and therefore interesting) faceplate, and a great colour scheme of white and blue which just stands out and pops so well. It's a repaint that is even better than the original, and for that I salute you Tailgate.

Tailgate is an interesting 'bot, that just keeps on getting more and more interesting. I truly hope that Rocherts keep writing for this guy, and continue for a long time to come. Tailgate's a great character and a great toy. If only the Generations/RTS version of him was more readily available...

#46: Treadshot (1990)

Treadshot is one of those Action Master toys that I wish I'd picked up at the time, but didn't for one very good reason (at least what I thought was a good reason at the time); he wasn't one of the 'proper' Transformers characters, he was an original character, created to bulk up the Action Master line. Sadly for Treadshot, he came in at the wrong time for fiction; right at the end of the Marvel comics run, and well after the G1 cartoon had packed up and gone home. His fictional appearances in the G1 comic amount to standing with Soundwave and Crankcase as they attended the meeting regarding the state of Cybertron after Unicron's attack; clearing up debris with Soundwave and Crankcase; and standing with Soundwave and Crankcase as Grimlock wiped the floor with Fangry. I'm sensing a theme here.

Things didn't get any better for him in the IDW universe. He worked at a Decepticon space station; he was harpooned but survived; and then Impactor harpooned him again. He didn't survive this time.

That's it. That is everything Treadshot has ever done. Now, you could argue that them's the breaks, especially for a late era toy that really, nobody cared about. On the other hand, this guy is a GUNSLINGER. Yep, an actual, bona fide gunslinger. It states that is his function, and that he's really, really good at it on his Tech Specs. Now, to have what amounts to Billy the Kid on your roster of characters, and then just not use him at all? Unacceptable. I demand a Westworld type story where Treadshot goes haywire and stalks Transformers to their Jesse James-style deaths. This must happen.

Treadshot was an Action Master, and therefore came as standard. His articulation lay in his legs, head and arms; he was basically a Transformer version of a GI Joe. Personally, I think that this is awesome, and would have liked to have seen every single Transformer made into an Action Master at some point, complete with playsets and more vehicles. Sadly, the line just wasn't popular enough, and it ended before the really interesting stuff came along.

Above, is the toy that Treadshot seems to have been based on; the Highway Robo. Orignally made by Sunmayor Ohkawa, it transformed into a firing Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum, complete with scope attachments, just to make it look even more like an authentic firearm. You know, for kids!

To sum up then: Treadshot = gunslinger = wasted opportunity to make Lee van Cleef 'bot.

For shame, Hasbro.

#45: Brainstorm (1987)

Brainstorm is a character that's changed over the years. Back in the 80s, he was just a generic scientist type, always forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, or having so many complex ideas that he shorts out his own brain. Unless you were living in Japan, where he was so generic he possibly turned into a tin of Tesco Value baked beans. These days however, he's the most ambiguous, coldhearted and possibly sinister scientist you ever did see, Doctor Strangelovian even. Personally, I like the change. I also like the fact that we're seeing him without the Headmaster process having happened yet, all that lovely stuff is yet to come. Of course, in G1, we got the Marvel comic's version, which is all good, they at least attempted to adhere to the Tech Spec bio. Not very well, mind you. But they attempted. The cartoon, not so much. But that's what you get when you whittle 5 episodes down to 3, eh, Hasbro?

I love Brainstorm's toy. It's deceptively simple, it turns into a neat Cybertronic jet, and the Headmaster robot is just great (as they all were). He's also an impressive shade of cyan, which goes well with the grey and even the orange on Brainstorm. The Headmaster gimmick works really well with Brainstorm, and the face they gave him just suits him for some reason. I couldn't tell you how, it just does.

Brainstorm was always a great robot waiting for something to happen to him. It took 25 years of fiction screwing him over for that to happen, but it seems to be all going on for Brainstorm right now, he's a shady scientist working for the good guys. And let's face it, that's always going to be interesting.

#44: Sinnertwin (1987)

The Terrorcons were pretty unlucky, really. They came in at a time when Hasbro didn't seem too concerned with combiners anymore, they were all excited about Headmasters et al. So when it came to interesting fiction to make kids want to buy the toys, well, that just didn't happen. Sinnertwin, as a member of the Terrorcons, was affected by this. He has an interesting Tech Spec bio, the guy who goes looking for trouble, and can rend any creature to pieces, bt is scared of mice and bugs? Come on, that's comedy gold as well as being an interesting Achilles' Heel. Sadly, the cartoon being the cartoon, we never got to see it. Sinnertwin was either growling as a Decepticon, or growling as a brainwashed Decepticon being used by the Quintessons. The comic was a little better, but not much; he never really did anything noteworthy.

It's frustrating, because here you have a Transformer (indeed, Transformers; let's treat the Terrorcons as a whole here) whose alt-mode is that of a MYTHICAL CREATURE. You have massive scope for this being an interesting, fun character to play around with. Hell, I can come up with a story here off the top of my head. The Terrocons and Technobots (their Autobot Counterparts) get sent back in time to Ancient Greece. The Terrorcons, being all monstery and mythical, prey upon the superstitions of the time and get themselves worshipped, and plenty of Greeks doing their bidding. The Technobots however, align themselves with the great scientific and philosophical minds of the time, meld together even better as a team as a result, and kick Abomnius' ass. There. Wasn't difficult now, was it? Instead we got Carnage in C-Minor. There's no justice.

Being a Scramble City-era toy means that Sinnertwin's robot mode is pretty much awful. That's ok though, because his alt-mode is a complete joy. It's a yellow and green Orthus, after all. (look it up, kids) The random purple tail and midsection are a bit strange, but able to be overlooked. The point here is that he transforms into a yellow and green two-headed dog creature. Man, I love the Terrorcons so much.

Sinnertwin then, as with all the Terrorcons, is a bit of a waste, fictionally. His Tech Specs are good, his toy is good, even the way he looked in the cartoon wasn't bad. He just had nothing to do. Which I guess is true of all the later combining toys, but it's still a bitter pill to have to swallow when the alt-mode is so awesome. At least he wasn't Blot, though.