BIOS: Skywarp

"Strike when their backs are turned!"

Function: Warrior
Considered the sneakiest Decepticon to ever fly in the sky. Pulls practical jokes on fellow fighter planes. Low intelligence makes him prone to accidents and occasional mid-air collisions. Instant conversion capabilities allow for immediate battle-ready status.

Strength: 5 Intelligence: 2 Speed: 7 Endurance: 7
Rank: 3 Courage: 7 Firepower: 6 Skill: 4

When Machines have a War

 

With this weekend being a holiday weekend, I'll be honest, I'm a little checked out mentally. I could use the break. That being said, let's talk about Machine Wars! For those not well acquainted with Machine Wars, shortly after Beast Wars started, MW was launched as a Kay-Bee exclusive (toys were reportedly seen at some Myers stores) Transformers line. It was pretty small and made up of unreleased G2 molds and late G1-early G2 European toy molds.

The cast of characters was mostly the classic crew and the line was basically an experiment to see if vehicular based Transformers would sell well again. While I loved G2, it didn't sell as well as G1 and Beast Wars pretty much brought Transformers back to it's former glory. Unfortunately Machine Wars didn't really take off and it wasn't until the Vehicons of Beast Machines that vehicular Transformers returned to store shelves (aside from the vehicle bots in Takara's Beast Wars series) with RID bringing vehicles back in force. 

That being said, the line has no fiction what so ever. The tech specs pretty much painted the toys as the characters returning without much detail to give you a sense of why they all looked different. Megatron's bio vaguely hinted at him being a jet again after the canceled G2 ATB toy. Thundercracker's hinted at a little character progression, but that was it.

Most fans (myself included) considered them a continuation of G2 as Beast Wars was basically G3 when it first launched before the story line got changed into the one we all know now. You know, I've always wanted to see that idea continued. Maybe I'll look at it some more the next holiday weekend. The closest to actual fiction Machine Wars ever got was tied into the BotCon 2013 exclusive set which had a Machine Wars theme. In it's included comic, the new Machine Wars Transformers followed on from the prior G2 themed set's story line. Which in itself was their take on how G2 would have taken place within the classic cartoon fiction. In all honesty, it wasn't bad.

The above art is a restoration of Optimus Prime's box art from Machine Wars that I found on Google Images. If you or someone you know is responsible for said restoration, I'd be happy to credit you. Please leave me the info in the comments section below. 

Two all Bot Patties, Special Plot, Let us See

 

It was the early 2000's and Transformers had been slowly growing from this kids thing with a small adult fan following into a pop culture phenominon. This was years before the live action movies propelled things into the strotosphere and you had Bumblebee on bottles of Mtn Dew. However thanks to places like Hot topic selling shirts with Autobot symbols on them and the then new Dreamwave Transformers comic flying off the shelves, things were growing.

Armada was a much bigger hit than anyone expected, leading to stores demanding more toys faster than they could be produced. Not to mention, the adult fan community was growing now with the internet getting into more homes and connecting people in ways it wasn't before. Repainted toy molds are a common thing in every toy line. However, for the most part, only a handful of Transformers would get a repaint up to this moment. Suddenly Hasbro needed to get more product out.

Toys take longer to develop than you'd think. There's a lot of hands in the pot all working on the same project. Transformers is a toy line with a longer developmental timeline due to the engineering involved. The fastest way to get stores new stuff out ASAP is to reuse existing resources and that's what they did. Practically every toy in Armada was repainted into a new version of the toy. At BotCon 2002, the exclusives bore the new label 'Expanded Universe" similar to Star Wars. Before then, they'd have the current lines logo. The ongoing story line would take place off screen of the current fiction usually with non-show toys serving as characters. 

Expanded Universe toys were still starring in the ongoing convention story line. Honestly it seemed like a good way to brand the convention toys and let those who used them fictionally to place them wherever. Halfway through Armada, something called Transformers Universe happened. It all but replaced the former BotCon, now called OTFCC's storytelling. Now all of their exclusives bore that title instead of Expanded Universe.

Transformers Universe ultimately was a brand new toy line made completely from repainted existing toy molds that sold right next to Armada (later Energon and Cybertron). At the time, Transformers didn't have the standard amount of shelf space most of us are used to. There was an entire 6-8ft section in most stores full of product. It was cool, and maybe a little overwhelming. You might hear the occasional older fandom member say "it used to be about 20 toys a year". It really was, and now there was a ton out seemingly nowhere. Add in things like G1 reissues, odd merchandise that kept popping up, or the cool things going on in Japan like when Robot Masters came out. There was just a ton of stuff!

Lots of stores had exclusive Transformers, mostly under the banner of Transformers Universe. There was a mix of Beast Wars/Machines, Robots in Disguise, Armada, and even older G2 and Machine Wars molds! Want a toy in exciting new colors, here ya go! Miss out on a toy before, well, here's another chance! It was great, and according to the Hasbro Transformers team, they were working on getting Brave molds into the line. Neat! Fictionally, all the Transformers throughout the greater Transformers Multiverse were all brought together inside Unicron. They'd fight to the death while Unicron would feed off the death and anger. OTFCC was directly selling comics to further the story... and that's where this story takes a nose dive.

There's some of you who read the name OTFCC and said 'what?'. Some of us collectively exhale. I've talked about it before, but let's explain it as simple as we can. Prior to Fun Publications BotCon was ran by 3H. 3H was the convention founding Hartman brothers and their friend Glen Hallit. They split up shortly after BotCon 2002. The brothers took the BotCon name with them and Glen continued to run the convention and now fan club named simply 'Official Transformers Collectors Convention/Club' or OTFCC for short. IUp to this point Hasbro supported BotCon, but by 2002, they had secured a license.

OTFCC didn't go as planned. Delays and other issues cause the show to fail and shortly after the 2004 convention the license was taken away from Glen. A little later Fun Publications was the new holder with the Hartmans back on board. Those 3H comics had sporadic releases and the story line ultimately went unfinished due to 3H closing down shop. The toys, however, went strong for a few years before dwindling down in 2005 before living out a few years as a discount store line. As a discount store line, the toys were generally lower cost figures repacked from prior lines such as Energon or Cybertron in a generic Transformers Universe packaging. The name itself got another life years later. What we now call Generations, went through a few names changes initially and was called Universe for a while. 

And just like that, it was forgotten. The Multiverse comes up time and time again and gets used differently in various fictional outlets. The word multiverse gets thrown around a lot lately, that's what inspired me to write this. Some people have outright forgotten about the original Universe or maybe never learned about it depending on their fan experience. Often you'll hear G2 colors either mocked or loved, but the often weird purple's and wine colors used in Universe go by unmentioned. That's a shame, it was fun. I thought so at least, I mean, I just wrote a lot of words talking about it. 

Bios- Megatron

Function: Commander

"Prepare for oblivion!"

Megatron once again "takes to the skies in disguise" in his latest aerial-attack configuration. Body armor composed of stealth deflector shields that allow for invisible attacks on Autobot enemies. Twin turbo thrusters rocket him to speeds of up to 600mph in less than 17 seconds. In robot or vehicle mode, this evil commander is one of the worst threats in the universe.

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.

Bios- Starscream

 

Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies.

Starscream is ruthless, cold-blooded, and cruel, yet considers himself the smartest, most sophisticated Decepticon of all. He believes Decepticons should rely more on guile and speed rather than brute force to defeat the Autobots. He's a powerful air commander who can reach speeds of mach 2.8 at an altitude of 52 miles, even while flying heavily armed with his heat seeking, air-to-air missiles. 

 

Sandstorm (Machine Wars)

There's a bad storm, brewing, and I'm it!

Sandstorm has adapted a new battle copter configuration... but can still scream across the desert wastelands like a turbo-charged fireball! Dual turbine engines make speed his greatest asset, and they also double as powerful laser cannons that fire air-to-ground laser bursts which explode upon impact. Watch out, Decepticons!

GiG Predators and Turbomasters commercial

I've made my love of late European G1 to all of G2 Transformers known more than on a single occasion. The design style that started in that nebulous area between the end of G1 in European countries (oh the things we missed out on here in the States) and went through Generation 2 (with those European molds surfacing in Machine Wars and Universe). It's just perfect to me, the ideal evolution of that Diaclone/Microman genesis to original Transformers. Even now with all our fancy engineering in modern Transformers, if something makes me think of that era, I gravitate towards it.

It's a major reason why I like the more simple toys that come from lines intended for smaller children (Turbo Changers, Authentics, Cyber Battalion and so on), it's that they are extremely similar to this era of design and that's just something I love. Take that Authentics Bumblebee, despite all his budget restrictions slapping you in the face, he's got the skeleton of a G2 car bot. The various more simple toys of Robots in Disguise are 100 % seemingly lost in time relics of this era. Hell, there's a couple of 3 Step larger versions of Optimus Prime from RID that would blend right on in with a Victory or Brave figure. Whenever people say they wish Transformers were made like they used to be, all one has to do is point towards those. There was a Fast Action Battler toy from Age of Extinction, Vehicon, who was pretty much a remake of Stormtrooper Rage.

Occasionally I get asked why I like these oddball toys, and I usually just answer that I just like the random stuff (and I do), because sometimes folks just don't get it. They don't have too, it's all subjective and really not important. Everybody enjoys things differently, and this is one of the ways I enjoy things.

The Cyberverse is vast

Over the weekend, pictures of of packaged Cyberverse toys started poping up all over the internet. I really like the bright colorful packaging. The entire line looks fun and full of life. I mainly plan on getting the smaller scout class figures, but there's going to be some of the larger toys I want to get. The larger 20$ Grimlock and Starscream look like pretty neat figures. I really like the rocket pods on Grimlock, giving him a more Mecha Godzilla look. Starscream also has added missile pods, but his are huge making him look more like Skyquake. Im hoping for eventual recolors that would homage various Skyquake recolors. I think an outright black  version would be enough to make me happy (Machine Wars Starscream), but fingers crossed for a King Atlas or even  Skyquake homage.

Awesome in the Machine

I really liked Machine Wars. Sure the molds were reuses of Euro G2 and some unused G2 with nothing original made for the line, but long hair don't care I dug it. Just a neat anomaly in the Transformers world. Beast Wars was in full steam when this line was tested out at Kay Bee's (some folks swear to have seen them at Meijers and maybe they did) judging if vehicle based TF's would still sell (it didn't do well, to a beast naysayer's nay saying). Lot's of folks like to say Machine Wars was in response to a Kenner employee misspeaking at BotCon essentially causing the line. I don't necessarily agree with that. I mean, sure it's possible (I'm not one of those robot nerds who thinks he knows everything), but it's a little hard to fathom why a toy company would sink the small fortune to release such a line just to cover a mistake an employee said to a relatively small amount of people (in a time when not enough people had the internet to really spread the information). I'd imagine Hasbro/Kenner (remember when Kenner made Transformers?) would just move along like nothing happened and if questioned would just say the employee was mistaken. I like to think the employee was directly speaking about what Machine Wars turned out to be and probably just worded it badly or it was interpreted wrong (I mean, people do make mistakes).

Of course that's just me theorizing and only folks employed by the involved companies know the actual truth. Regardless, it was a super neat line. I always have and still really do like those old classic boxy Transformers toys and just overall thought it was neat. Machine Wars toys had these pretty great decos that were not traditional on mostly traditional characters. Not to mention that packaging just screams out to me. Those colors man, there just not what M&M kept babbling about when they found him, they're a real visual treat on that box. I always found the budget of the packaging hilarious. They essentially reused box tooling they had and made the toys fit inside them and doctored up some existing art (in some cases of not the same toy) to match the new characters inside.

Most of the molds found themselves released in other colors and as other characters in other lines, but there's just something special about that little series in the blue boxes to me.

Ironically

Man, I love Machine Wars packaging.

I was thinking earlier today. The exact reasoning that I started this blog/site/whatever (I feel weird calling it a blog) comes directly from me wanting to create a series of zines focusing on more forgotten/looked over series of Transformers. It was going to start with Machine Wars, then McDonald's Beast Wars, onto the Walmart Dinobots, the Mutants, and so on. I literally had been sitting on this idea for over a decade. I've mentioned before there was a pre-cursor to Zone Base in the form of a short lived Tumblr. I did it at an odd point and it didn't really last long. Not long enough to work that forgotten series into it. So at some point I decided to make Zone Base. Which I made and promptly sat on forever. In between self doubt if anyone would actually read it and general life keeping me busy, Zone Base sat empty for awhile and at some point I made a "I promise there will be something here at some point" post. Then more time passed and I finally decided to get off my butt and do something with it, I mean what's the actual worse that could come from it?

So I decided the most appropriate time to launch Zone Base officially (even though I didn't buy an actual url until a few days later, so it was blogger.com/zonebase) was during BotCon 2016. It was the last BotCon, and say what you will about Fun Publications years on the convention, it was around long before them and meant a whole lot to us Transformers fans. I really wish I could have gone, but at that point I was just priced out. Though, they seemingly had an exclusive just for me. I mean, I know they didn't make it with me in mind, but let's just say they accidentally did. They had an Under 3 homage toy (I got Kilby to grab me one at the con).

McDonald's Beast Wars is a big deal to me and that toy was just that last special BotCon thing, just for me. Earlier in the evening, I said goodbye to BotCon (though I had done that originally before the Fun Pub version, it was a different con with the same name really) and did a soft launch of Zone Base on Instagram. It was a picture of a Big Mac and a Combiner Wars Shockwave. I had grabbed a Big Mac meal just for the occasion as I always ate a Big Mac at least once at BotCon (pre Fun Pub, though I did eat one at Charticon, because that was a return to those old BotCons to me). I've said before and I'll say it again: I've always associated McDonald's with Transformers and occasionally I guess it'll make sense to people.

But that Instagram post had a little blurb about Big Macs and BotCon and that was that. It was generally well received on social media (man, I share everything) as most folks who saw it got it. The next thing I posted was a little later that night, and that was the introductory Zone Base post. Fortunately Zone Base has been really well received and I've really enjoyed making it. Though, I gave that little insight to why I created this site/blog/thing to explain what's ironic.

I was thinking today that I still haven't made anything with that zine idea. *shrug* I guess I'll get to it eventually.

Weekly Spotlight: Megaplex

The skies belong to me!

Megaplex was built to function as a clone for Megatron, a strategy designed to confuse enemy Autobots who seek to shoot down the elusive Decepticon leader. But Megaplex is more than just a decoy, he is equipped with powerful attack weapons that make him a formidable warrior in any air battle. And in robot mode, he only gets tougher!

Weekly Spotlight: Stalker

Hate till it hurts and then hate some more.

The only land-based Predator. A truly twisted mind that's capable of the purest evil. The master of the double bluff. Uses supertech 'Garble' system to protect Predator signals from Turbomaster spies. Then slyly scrambles their communications to wreak the havoc and confusion he loves. As vehicle, stands solid as a four tracked armored satellite station and rocket launcher with five missiles. As robot, towers above the battle wielding impressive hand held fighting power.