Although the period of time we now know as the
Generation Two line was fairly brief, if understood as a fraction of the franchise's now more than 35 years of existence, I consider it an important time in Transformers history. I have thus decided to spend the next year (and change) giving some extra attention to that little window of Transformerdom. The main part of this focus will be a new podcast, which I'm calling
Not Your Father's Autobot. This podcast will cover the whole run of the
Transformers: Generation Two comic produced by Marvel Comics in the early 1990s. The first episode (well, actually, it will be "Episode 0," since I'm dealing with a few issues of the
G.I. Joe comic that set up the actual
G2 comic) will drop this Sunday. You can get it as it drops by subscribing to
the RSS feed or, if you prefer, you can simply find it via this blog on Sunday. This blog will also be the primary place to leave comments on the podcast, as well, and I invite you to give it a listen! Thanks in advance.
In the week or two prior to a new podcast episode going live, I'll be featuring some
Generation Two toys that haven't yet been featured here on the blog. This month's featured
G2 toy will be "Hero" Megatron (don't let that "Hero" label fool you, he's still a bad guy!). At first glance, it's easy to assume that this toy is just a scaled-down, purple, version of
the first Generation Two Megatron toy, and indeed the two toys do have much in common. Both clearly turn into a tank, the new default mode for Megatrons once Hasbro made the decision that gun-mode Megatrons would no longer be produced somewhere around the mid-to-late 1980s. Both utilize the tank's turret as a shoulder-mounted weapon for Megatron's robot mode, and both provide at least one additional hand-held weapon. This version of Megatron, being smaller, no longer has any of the electronic gimmickry that the larger toy has, but speaking for myself, it's really not missed.
This toy's transformation to tank mode is all-but identical to the larger Megatron toy (and even has a similar space to
store the hand-weapon in tank mode), but if one somehow missed the bright orange bellows behind Megatron's turret in robot mode, it's impossible to ignore in tank mode, and provides the most significant difference to this toy (not to mention the main point it held in common with the other "Hero"-labeled toy, an Optimus Prime mold that was eventually reused to make
Destructicon Scourge). If one slides one of the large blue-tipped missiles provided with Megatron
over the tank turret, you could
launch it by detaching the bellows from the back of the turret, setting it on the ground (keep the hose attached, of course!) and pounding the bellows to send a gust of air to the missile. Already far better play value than mere electronic voices and sounds! (IMHO, of course)
I'll still be featuring non-
G2 toys throughout the year, of course, but will have another representative of the
G2 line next month. In the meantime, please come back to catch "Episode 0" of
Not Your Father's Autobot: A Transformers: Generation Two
Comic Book Podcast when it drops on Sunday!
Although the period of time we now know as the Generation Two line was fairly brief, if understood as a fraction of the franchise's now more than 35 years of existence, I consider it an important time in Transformers history. I have thus decided to spend the next year (and change) giving some extra attention to that little window of Transformerdom. The main part of this focus will be a new podcast, which I'm calling Not Your Father's Autobot. This podcast will cover the whole run of the Transformers: Generation Two comic produced by Marvel Comics in the early 1990s. The first episode (well, actually, it will be "Episode 0," since I'm dealing with a few issues of the G.I. Joe comic that set up the actual G2 comic) will drop this Sunday. You can get it as it drops by subscribing to the RSS feed or, if you prefer, you can simply find it via this blog on Sunday. This blog will also be the primary place to leave comments on the podcast, as well, and I invite you to give it a listen! Thanks in advance.
In the week or two prior to a new podcast episode going live, I'll be featuring some Generation Two toys that haven't yet been featured here on the blog. This month's featured G2 toy will be "Hero" Megatron (don't let that "Hero" label fool you, he's still a bad guy!). At first glance, it's easy to assume that this toy is just a scaled-down, purple, version of the first Generation Two Megatron toy, and indeed the two toys do have much in common. Both clearly turn into a tank, the new default mode for Megatrons once Hasbro made the decision that gun-mode Megatrons would no longer be produced somewhere around the mid-to-late 1980s. Both utilize the tank's turret as a shoulder-mounted weapon for Megatron's robot mode, and both provide at least one additional hand-held weapon. This version of Megatron, being smaller, no longer has any of the electronic gimmickry that the larger toy has, but speaking for myself, it's really not missed.
This toy's transformation to tank mode is all-but identical to the larger Megatron toy (and even has a similar space to store the hand-weapon in tank mode), but if one somehow missed the bright orange bellows behind Megatron's turret in robot mode, it's impossible to ignore in tank mode, and provides the most significant difference to this toy (not to mention the main point it held in common with the other "Hero"-labeled toy, an Optimus Prime mold that was eventually reused to make Destructicon Scourge). If one slides one of the large blue-tipped missiles provided with Megatron over the tank turret, you could launch it by detaching the bellows from the back of the turret, setting it on the ground (keep the hose attached, of course!) and pounding the bellows to send a gust of air to the missile. Already far better play value than mere electronic voices and sounds! (IMHO, of course)
I'll still be featuring non-G2 toys throughout the year, of course, but will have another representative of the G2 line next month. In the meantime, please come back to catch "Episode 0" of Not Your Father's Autobot: A Transformers: Generation Two Comic Book Podcast when it drops on Sunday!
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