BIOS- Dion

"Efficiency makes you strong. Speed makes you lethal."

Function: Infantry

There was a time when Dion cared little for the echoes of war beginning to spread across his home world. Occasionally he'd opine on the feats of the new robots with flight capabilities, who he secretly envied, but otherwise turned a deaf audio receptor to the discussion about the start of what some were calling the second Cybertronian war. All that changed the day the war finally found him. The flying robots landed at the front door of the storage depot, led by the one called Megatron. Amicable at first, the encounter quickly turned for the worse when Megatron unleashed his full fury on the dockworkers and fled with that cycle's shipment of Energon.

When Dion awoke, he now was fully aware of what Megatron and the Decepticons were capable of, and having lost all that he had known, Dion decided to join the Elite Guard and now works to stop the Decepticons any way he can!

Strength: 7 Intelligence: 7 Speed: 9 Endurance: 8
Rank: 6 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 9 Skill: 8

Bios: Astrotrain

"The greatest opportunities are borne from adversity."

Function: Bounty Hunter

Constructed to serve as a transport for Megatron and his warriors, Astrotrain became discontent ferrying unappreciative Decepticons across the galaxy. In the chaos that followed the Unicron Battles, Astrotrain struck out on his own as a bounty hunter. Astrotrain convinced the Mini- Con Starcatcher to join him by promising him wealth and riches. The same promise was made to a trip of Mini-Cons who joined him later: Astro-Hook, Astro-Line, and Astro-Sinker. Astrotrain is cruel, but he is also extremely loyal to those under his command. He has an innate ability to inspire loyalty in others. His years of successful commissions have afforded him significant wealth, allowing him to upgrade his systems, greatly enhancing his strength. However, he has never given up his primary weapon, an ionic blaster that disrupts an enemy's internal circuitry.

Strength:8 Intelligence:7 Speed: 7 Endurance:7

Rank:6 Courage:9 Firepower:8 Skill:7

Bios: Burn Out

"Skill and experience lead to congruity."

Function: Munitions Expert

Her whole life, Dia has known nothing but the Diaclone project. Born in 1982, the same year that the program began and the reason her parents named her as they did, every moment of Dia's upbringing was dedicated to one day enlisting and training to become a mech pilot. Her ambitions eventually became reality and she was partnered with the Burn Out mech.

Although trending towards the smaller side of the mech spectrum, Burn Out has an impressive array of weaponry in humanoid mode. When in full battle status, Burn Out bristles with armaments from pulse rifles to destructive concussion levelers. As with the other Diaclone mechs, targeting of these weapons while maintaining balance and maneuverability is coordinated through aid of an artificial intelligence equipped in the mech's central computer. The AI from Burn Out is a copy of Dia's own personality and every bit as determined and stoic as its pilot. It is also just as stubborn, often leading Dia to disable the voice command function lest she start arguing with something that is essentially herself. A woman of very few words, she finds the verbal exertion more exhausting than the strenuous physical activity needed to pilot the suit without computer assistance.

Strength: 6 Intelligence: 7 Speed: 7 Endurance: 8

Rank: 5 Courage: 8 Fireblast: 9 Skill: 7

Bios: Topspin

"By your will, Alpha Trion"

Something happened to Topspin a long time ago; something he only remembers as pain, and terror, and a landscape of twisted, shifting metal lit by the strobe light chaos of laser fire through rolling smoke. It is the last time Topspin remembers feeling anything.

Eons later he found himself drifting, alone, though the vast darkness. Lost for years, he slowly ran out of energy, and his systems shut down one by one. Eventually, his inert body plunged through a wormhole and ended up on one of the transit pads in Axiom Nexus.

Handed off by processing authorities to Alpha Trion, he awoke to find himself staring into the face of another natural leader. Never before had he met a being with such overwhelming force of personality, or such deep conviction. Here was the leader that would guide him to what he sought.

Alpha Trion saw instantly what Topspin was; after all, he'd been waiting for someone like him since arriving in Axiom Nexus. He saw in Topspin the fruition of all his grand goals, and immediately set his plans into motion. He promised Topspin all he could want and more. Telling the plain truth for perhaps the first time in decades, he told Topspin that the reward he sought for so long waited just beyond the veil of the bleed, on Alpha Trion's home world.

Speciality: The ability to manipulate Transformers sparks
Weapons: Energon plasma weapon: Twin Blasters
Unique Quality: Has the unique ability to move a spark from body to body and can even split a spark into two or more pieces without destroying it.

Bios: Anti-Blaze

Anti-Blaze, a junior member of the Mini-Con Council of Sages, was among those who argued most passionately against asking Optimus Prime and his Autobots for help. He felt that involvement with the larger Transformers had brought only grief to the Mini-Con race, though he now regrets his position. He has been forced to make the unpleasant transition from a relatively unknown political figure to a military leader at the front lines as he fights against Thrust and the other evil Mini-Con rebels.

Strength: 7 Intelligence: 8.5 Speed: 7.5 Endurance: 9

Rank: 9 Courage: 10 Fireblast: 8.5 Skill: 8.5

Bios- Kobushi

During the long years of relative solitude before and since their discovery on the Moon by the larger Transformers, Kobushi came to the conclusion that personal perfection could be attained through challenging combat. Every enemy destroyed, he believes, adds to his own power as a warrior. He has devoted his life to improving his martial skill, adapting the ancient art of Metallikato to most effectively use his diamond tipped drill arm. Landslide, the toughest individual on the Exploration Team, has been his frequent opponent, and Kobushi challenges him at every opportunity.

Strength: 9 Intelligence: 6 Speed: 4 Endurance: 9 

Rank: 5 Courage: 8 Fireblast: 4 Skill: 9.5

Bios: Optimus Primal

"Peace is the absence of conflict and the presence of justice."

Function: Starship Captain

A veteran of the last Great War that resulted in the defeat of the Predacon forces, Optimus Primal embodies many of the Maximal philosophical ideals. He is a heroic figure whose ability for self sacrifice knows no bounds. While he understands that war and conflict are sad realities of his existence, he has made it a point to study the historical and scientific records of past generations. He believes it is the balance that his idol, the original Optimus Primal, maintained throughout his long service. While Optimus Primal has a vast understanding of standard battle protocols, he sometimes utilizes unconventional, yet creative tactics to succeed in his missions. In vehicle mode, his boosters allow the ability to move at speeds of up to 350 mph for short bursts. While in robot mode, the boosters can become forward deployed missile launchers capable of locking onto two targets independently. The boosters can also be used for flight in robot mode. While always battle ready, he believes his current mission of exploration aboard the Axalon is symbolic of the Maximal goals of peace and harmony in the galaxy.

Strength: 10 Intelligence: 9 Speed: 9 Endurance: 10

Rank: 10 Courage: 10 Fireblast: 7 Skill: 9

Scorponok the 13th

 

It's Friday the 13th and a pretty good time to enjoy some of the more spooky side of things. I could point out how various talent from Transformers and Friday the 13th have worked on both franchises again, but I thought it'd be a good day to look at a more forgotten member of the scary robot crew. Dark Scorponok! Now, Scorponok is hardly forgotten and generally a featured character, but in the case of Dark Scorponok he was literally just a repaint used to fill out some gaps in Cybertron when the line was just releasing.  With a Black Zarak inspired deco (I'm regretting skipping that Legacy one now, dangit) Dark Scorponok was a pretty good looking update to the Energon Scorponok toy mold. I strongly recall many of us in the Transformers fandom speculating that he was going to be a BotCon exclusive based on early leaks.

This was when Fun Publications first took over and nobody knew what to expect yet. He wasn't a BotCon exclusive, but a normal retail release! However, his characterization was solely in Fun Publications fiction. During Cybertron, the fan club magazine's comic was a side story to the Cybertron cartoon with a variety of exclusives and non-show toys led by Vector Prime addressing the problem on Cybertron. I quite liked the comic and had fun seeing all these toys get some form of life. Dark Scorponok was among the bad guys. As he died in Energon, Scorponok was resurrected as Dark Scorponok on this wasteland of Cybertron that's being destroyed by Unicron's evil.

Dark Scorponok is a almost mindless monster who's main focus is devouring the sparks of other Transformers. He's a pretty big threat whom is eventually dealt with by the Autobots. As a toy, Dark Scorponok is mainly a repaint of the Energon toy with a remolded tail piece. Now instead of a lever to control his 'Hyper Mode' guns, there is a slot to insert a Planet Key matching Cybertron's toy line gimmick.

Bios: Ricochet

 

"Shoot first, why bother with questions."

Function: Bodyguard

Ricochet, the twin brother of Autobot Jazz, is the result of Prime's experiment in splitting an Ember in two and joining each with a new body. Though Ricochet and Jazz were activated seconds apart, the two couldn't be more different. Trained by Prime to serve as one of his elite bodyguards, Ricochet is known for his wild attitude, acting first and asking questions later. Many times this leaves the Autobots without a hostage or serves to eliminate anyone who plans to usurp Ricochet and take his position by Prime's side. Ricochet works extra hard to betray others first, believing that those around him are out to sabotage him. Much to his annoyance, his twin brother Jazz has always been Prime's favorite. Though Ricochet only "acts" crazy from time to time, some fear that this knowledge will lead to it no longer being an act.

The Master of Oil

 

While looking at my Nemesis Primal figure, I found myself wondering why he wasn't Oilmaster? Let me rewind a little and bring my train of thought up to that opening question. Legacy Iguanus was previewed by Hasbro. Like other Pretender updates before it, Iguanus's robot mode is based on his Pretender shell with inner robot alt mode while ignoring the inner robot mode. It's a fun happy medium if they're not making a full Pretender style toy. The toy is a Core Class figure, a size class I do like a lot. Leading me to hope other Pretender updates in that scale happen.

I like Pretenders quite a bit. Always have, they're just fun. As time went on after their release and information became more readily available, the unmade Pretender shells became more common knowledge. They were certainly cool and as things work, the gorilla one became a character in E-Hobby comics. He was named after Oilmaster, a popular fan blogger. I always found that super cool. That's one of the things I've always enjoyed about E-Hobby toys. The inclusion of the greater Transformers universe. 

More time went on and in 2015 Oilmaster was made as part of that year's BotCon Exclusive set. A brand new shell and the Legend Swerve mold was used to create the character. After all this time it finally existed! I do wish to eventually acquire the BotCon/TFCC Pretenders. They are some of the coolest things that came from the Fun Publications era. 

So here it is some time later after that. Every so often I proudly look at my recent Walmart vintage Transformers toys. You know, the ones that come in 'vintage' packaging? I really like them. The recent Beast Wars ones are a particular strong source of emotion. I loved Beast Wars and that whole time era. I honestly miss it. That first gorilla Optimus Primal toy has always been a stand out Transformer toy for me. Sometimes I find myself imagining exclusive figures if I was in the position to create them. I can easily see myself pitching that toy mold as the toy that would become Oilmaster. 

Then we get to that Nemesis Primal figure. He came in the 'Worlds Collide' Buzzworthy Bumblebee boxed set exclusive to Target. One of the reasons I like store exclusive Transformers is that they're essentially the modern day equivalent of BotCon exclusives. They're also pretty neat. The Worlds Collide set pretty much was an old BotCon exclusive box set in execution and certainly felt like one. Nemesis Primal was an alternate universe evil clone of Optimus Primal made from the Kingdom version of Optimus Primal. When the set was initially previewed, I took it as a throwback to Galvatron Lio Convoy/ Galva Convoy initially and thought it looked like the old Kabaya model kit. Which is pretty much is/does. However with Iguanus making the rounds and getting me all excited... I guess you can see what I was thinking in that opening question.

Bios: Sky-Byte

 

"Flash of metal fins. Sharkticons tear foes to shreds. Die quick, Autobots."

Sky-Byte is a Predacon by design, but, like his Quintesson creators, works with the Decepticons from time to time when it's profitable to do so. He leads the new-generation Sharkticons into battle, ruthlessly shredding all cars and robots on his way. He sees himself as a sophisticated warrior poet, the self-proclaimed "greatest shark around," composing haiku about the robots in disguise he's about to deactivate. Exposure to forestonite has given Sky-Byte a devastating new ability; he can unleash a "Tsunami Blaster" freeze attack from his chest, paralyzing his foes. Combined with an already impressive arsenal, air speed, and his Sharkticon hordes, he's a menace to everything in the air, land and sea. Were he more competent and less given to overblown theatrics that leave him vulnerable, he'd be one of the Autobots' greatest threats.

Bios: Ramjet

"Accept your fate and welcome the glorious chaos that awaits."

The being originally known as Ramjet has one goal and one goal only; to enact his master's every whim and desire. For millions of years he executed the Chaos Bringer's commands without question or fail. Traversing dimensions and realities with the simplest gesture; Ramjet's power was near limitless. With the Unicron singularity destroyed by the actions of Nexus Prime, Ramjet's sole reason for existence, securing Unicron's presence across all parts of the multiverse, is no more.

With his dimension hopping abilities and raw power also severely dampened by the effects of the Terminus Blade and Star Saber, Ramjet once again relies on his supersonic jet mode for attack and pursuit missions. He has a top speed of Mach 4. Emits powerful blasts from his body. Channels Unicron's dark energy through two Antrodemonus Swords hidden within his wings. Can launch MX-00 caliber missiles capable of collapsing a Transformers' spark upon direct impact. Due to the torturous pain he endured and his undying devotion to his master, Ramjet often suffers from fits of insanity.

Shitting Their Prime Pants

It feels like ancient history now, but then again, I suppose it was almost 20 years ago. At the time some major drama in the Transformers fan world went on that seemed larger than life. For outsiders- the Transformers fandom is more of a subculture than other fan bases. It's a little world of it's own that many members stay pretty wrapped up in. These days it's much larger and segmented, but it used to be much smaller and more tight knit. This particular event took place from 2003-2004, when things were starting to get a growth spurt. The internet was becoming more of a common thing and message boards for various interests were popping up all over. These were quickly taking the place of older online gathering spots, much to the dismay of some assholes.

There was one constant, BotCon. Prior to the last years, it was a smaller more personal affair back then. There were occasional attempts at other TF conventions and some TF programming at other shows, but BotCon was pretty much viewed as the only one. It was like our annual family picnic and a must go destination for many. Hasbro supported the show, but it wasn't officially official until around 2002.  I'm not going to go into the complete history of the con, but here it is of you're so inclined. In short, the brothers who founded it had a partnership with their friend Glen a few years into the cons life. This partnership ran the show for about 6 years. In 2003 they had a falling out and split up. Glen who owned the official license would go on to run the official fan club and con now named The Official Transformers Collectors Club/Convention (OTFCC for short). The brothers would run BotCon as an unofficial show in 2004. And within the fan community, a battle line in the sand was drawn. 

Bios: Lio Convoy

"The balance of nature must be preserved by an unceasing battle for survival."

As far back as his memory records extend, Lio Convoy has been entrusted by the Builders with protection of equilibrium in the ecosystem over which he presides. However, Lio Convoy's understanding is that if either the Maximals or Predacons were to achieve superiority over their enemies, the inevitable result would be an imbalance leading to the downfall of their society. He interprets the brutality of war as nothing more than natural selection at work.

Lio Convoy is never seen without his Typhoon Staff, which was presented to him by the Builders as a symbol of his authority. It continually emits a hypnotic pulse that paralyses any bioorganic Transformer within a 1 km radius. Unbeknownst to Lio Convoy, the same pulse exerts a limiting effect on his internal Energon Matrix, restricting a power the extent of which even the Builders fail to fully grasp...

Bios: Side Burn

Function: Speedy Knight

"Think you can keep up? I doubt it !"

Side Burn is a born exhibitionist; if its loud, fast, or haphazard, you can't bet he's tried it. Then bragged about it at a local Energon pub. Upgraded with a new Spark engine, Side Burn is now topping land speeds once thought to be unreachable and still hasn't found his limit. Although he'd be more than happy on the track, watching the world streak by his windshield in an indecipherable blur, Side Burn knows that his speed will someday provide a key advantage in the war against the Decepticons. Even if Prowl and his other friends in the newly-formed Autobot military don't share his outlook.

Bios- Sgt. Hound

Watchful attentiveness launches triumph.

Sgt. Hound, as a scout for Optimus Prime throughout the third Cybertronian war, was instrumental in the victory of the Autobots over the brutal Decepticons. Along with Special Operations Officer Autobot Jazz, Sgt. Hound presented the General with precise intelligence that allowed the newly-reconstituted Autobot Firestormers to route Megatron's expansion of the Decepticon Star Empire before it could attack any other worlds. The battle ended when the experimental energon refinery that Sgt. Hound had forewarned about was struck by a Decepticon missile. The Decepticons destroyed themselves, but the explosion also cast Sgt. Hound and General Optimus Prime through a rupture in reality.

 

With the war over in his own universe, Sgt. Hound attempted to find peace in his new home. Unfortunately millions of years of conflict, honed military skills and alertness prevented him from finding it. When General Optimus Prime joined Security Administration Officer Cheetor's task force, Sgt. Hound once again enlisted under his commanding officer. Even with war and military service being all that he can remember, Sgt. Hound is still as friendly and compassionate as the day he came online. He befriended many Low-Techs, including fellow former soldiers Dia and Cline.

Bios- Megaplex

The skies belong to me!

Megaplex was built by Jhiaxus as a clone of Megatron, copying the Decepticon tyrant’s aggression, cunning and battlefield skills into a brand new body ready for the modern age. Charged with leading an assault against the planet Cybertron and securing the heart of Jhiaxus' new, unified Cybertronian Empire, Megaplex uses the traits he has inherited from Megatron with chilling efficiency as he smashes through planetary defenses and culls the planet below.

Megaplex must be cautious, however, since under his armor plating he can feel Megatron billowing to the surface, screaming to be let free. The chaos and destruction wrought by the invasion of Cybertron has fed the psyche once buried by Jhiaxus' tutelage, and it may only be a matter of time until Megaplex can do nothing else but let Megatron loose against his enemies. Whoever they might be.

Wreckloose is a weird name

Off screen characters are usually pretty great toys despite not getting any screen time. Wreckloose from Cybertron is one of those really great toys that somehow didn't make it to the show. Realistically because of random marketing and business reasons, but I'll call it because of bad decisions. Wreckloose is a Decepticon from the Jungle Planet who turns into a komodo dragon (autocorrect suggested I misspelled Commodore Dragon there and frankly that's an awesome idea). I was a big fan of the Jungle Planet as it was something of a return to Beast Wars and Wreckloose really felt like a lost beast era mold.

As part of the Cybertron line, Wreckloose had a Cyber Planet Key gimmick in his weapon. His weapon, which was a helmet piece in lizard mode would unfold into a crossbow type weapon. This could be activated in beast mode or when held in his hand. Also felt like a late addition to the design, making me wonder if he was sitting in some designers binder somewhere for a few years. Probably not, but with his overall design and look, I'm convinced he could have been a Transmetal 2 basic... and man should he have been.

Just as the injustice of such an excellent toy not being featured on the show was committed, so was the misfortune of no repaint into a new character happened. Wreckloose was the rare one and done mold in Transformers that happens less often than you can imagine. I could assume it was due in part to the movie line originally being planned to follow Cybertron immediately (but didn't), but will just chalk it up to another bad decision based on no factual evidence and not ever working in the toy industry. Though later the mold did resurface in discount store releases.

Several Cybertron and Energon figures found their way back onto shelves with minor differences via discount store releases. Initially this was under the Universe banner, but shorty after the live action movies it was just 'Transformers'. For a brief moment in time Transformers were just called Transformers and it was glorious. Wreckloose was re-released around 2010 with minor paint differences in these discount store packages. He could be found on a standard card normally, though a boxed gift set with him included did pop up. The toy is largely the same as his Cybertron release with a few minor paint detail differences.

While the original toy's fiction was limited to his bio (he sets traps) setting him in the Cyberverse story, the re-release didn't really put him anywhere other than your local Family Dollar. Though years later, he was a bit character in Fun Publications fan club fiction in the Beast Wars: Uprising story line. Eventually, the obviously a freaking Beast Wars found his way into some sort of freaking Beast Wars setting. Because holy crap it was a freaking Beast Wars toy that somehow didn't come out until Cybertron and don't you tell me otherwise because dammit it's a fucking Beast Wars toy with a shoehorned gimmick.

Mutant Beast Wars

The year was 2000, and even though Beast Wars was technically over and replaced with Beast Machines, there was still plenty of Beast Wars toys on the shelves. Since reruns of Beast Wars were steadily running on Fox Kids on weekday afternoons, it was natural to stock Beast Wars figures with the Beast Machines figures. The Fox Kids versions of Beast Wars toys were neato recolors of BW toys that took advantage of kids who saw those reruns and wanted a Transmetal Cheetor. With this and Animorph Transformers toys stocked with Beast Machines, there was a lot of beast themed Transformers on the shelves.

Animorphs wasn't a successes (I mean, I liked the toys... but that was something I found out after they went on clearance), however a company doesn't start out to fail at something and there was a few Animorph Transformers toys designed that went unused in the line. Somebody had the idea to remold the human bits into robot parts and release them.

So there you had the Mutants of the Beast Wars, The Mutant Beast Wars! What made them mutants exactly? Well, thanks to a virus unleashed by Megatron, these Fuzors were lost in their beast modes. Transforming from beast mode to beast mode with the robot lost inside (but maybe you could find their robot head peeking out). In case that description and the picture above doesn't clue you in, they don't have a robot mode. Icebird, for example, turns from owl to bear.

Like Animorphs, they were great toys, but now they were actual Transformers (not just in name). Though like their Animorph heritage, they were misfits in the Transformers fan world. As one could expect the G1 Purist crowd obviously despised them. A good deal of the beast era fans also wasn't fond. Though a handful of us did, and personally I loved them.

I was all over the figures the moment they arrived at my local Walmart. In fact the first one I grabbed was Icebird (my favorite of the bunch) one Friday night. I had the night off and took a quick stop to check out the toys and grab a bite to eat. An excited jump in the air lead to grabbing Icebird and a pack of chicken wings. That evening was spent with a toy I couldn't put down and messy homemade buffalo wings. Mutant Beast Wars didn't have any fiction outside the text blurb on the packaging. If I was a better writer, I probably would have written tomes of terrible fan fiction. The Mutants DID however appear briefly in 3H's BotCon comics. While they didn't get the biggest starring role, I was glad for something. Later they made some various low key fictional appearances in IDW comics and Fun Publications Fan fiction. Soundwave even made appearances in E-Hobby and Kre-O manga.

The Mutants never got any extra members, though some fans speculated Savage/Noble (Beast Changer) could be a Mutant. The 'Ask Vector Prime' Facebook Page (ran by Fun Publications) said in some realities he was and in some realities all BW characters were Mutants. Which I suppose in some reality is an answer and in some reality the alternate reality trope isn't played out yet (but Thanos still wins). All jokes aside, I've never considered him to be a member, but if you want to go ahead. There's a multiverse shoehorn for that.

Another would be new member is Leatherhide. A planned repaint of the Soundwave mold for the ill-fated Halloween Horrocon sub-line (that's a nifty name, huh), Leatherhide would probably be released as an Autobot, but a Mutant in any fiction. Leatherhide fictionally did appear in The Allspark Almanac volume 2 and in Fun Publications fiction meaning I'm not the only person who really wanted this toy.

Mutant Beast Wars over the course of time has managed to remain obscure in the greater world of Transformers with a little nod here and there. An odd team of misfits loved by some and despised by others. I suppose for the opposing team it's a good thing they didn't take off. Though as someone who came close to buying a test shot at a BotCon, I would have loved for them to take flight. The little nods here and there are great (and appreciated), but in some alternate universe I have a display of Mutant Beast Wars Masterpiece toys.

Good Ideas

You just can't keep a good idea down. Drench from Transformers Generation 2 has just a great look. That green striped into black, the yellow spoiler with that 'TURBO' graphic. It's just a super sharp deco that makes for a really good looking toy. So good looking that...

It was planned for a Universe update around 2004, made from the Armada Wheeljack mold, which was a really good figure with a pretty similar car mode. Sadly the toy was never made, but you just can't keep a good idea down.

As you can tell from the test shot, and might remember from the time, Wheeljack wasn't the best name for the mold as Sideswipe would have been a better choice. It looks like Sideswipe and the name would better suit the 'traitor' character. Such an obvious oversight that...

In 2008, Shattered Glass Sideswipe was inspired by the idea. Shattered Glass being a mirror universe with evil Autobots and heroic Decepticons. Characters had different colors and looks than they traditionally had, with Sideswipe jumping to the Decepticons, it just worked. Making for a great looking toy, with a great deco that payed homage to past Transformers. Perfect for a Transformers convention exclusive. I mean look at that car mode. It's a perfect homage to G2 Drench, a nod to the unreleased toy, and a good use of the mold.

But we're not done here. Nope, not at all. Surprisingly 10 years later, in the anime SSSS. Gridman, the deco popped back up. Many of the human characters were designed to pay homage to various Transformers (not to mention other random homages) and...

Well... you just can't keep a good idea down.