Bumblebee: The one movie no one can agree on.

Before getting started, due to the upcoming removal of the Google API, there may be a change in the display names for who wrote the posts. Assuming I'm right, this will be posted under the name "Blaster". It's not a different writer, it's the same person as the vast majority of the content here. It's just that this site is no longer going to be connected to the Google Plus account I keep forgetting is tied to it... Also no, the name Blaster didn't come from Autobot Blaster, I started using it before I saw the Generation 1 cartoon, and that Blaster has not appeared in movies or tv shows since the G1 cartoon.


"It's a prequel!"
"It's a reboot!"
"It's a prequel!"
"It's a reboot!"
"Well, this person said it's a prequel!"
"Well, that person said it's a reboot!"
"I'm not supporting this movie because it's a prequel!"
"I'm going to support it because it's a reboot"
 Bloody hell, we could probably start the Cybertronian Civil War with the status of what this movie is!

It's funny sometimes how closed minded some people can be when it comes to media, and I do count myself in that statement too. So consumed with learning everything there is to know about a movie, going to war over it's importance to a franchise and to the world as a whole, but ignoring other aspects to it, such as differing views for more than just a black and white mindset. I bring this up because, during the marketing push for Bumblebee, everything was picked apart in the debate over what it was, if it was a prequel to the 2007 movie or a reboot due to the diminishing returns on the first five Live action films.

My stance on the matter back then? "It was both, because right now Paramount is looking for a safe revenue generator to let them keep funding movies", and the continued debate on the matter, thanks to conflicting statements (to which I say "Paramount, what are your marketing and PR teams doing? It's their job to keep stories straight), the announcement of both a Bumblebee 2 and Transformers 6, and the (to put it mildly) conflicting reports on the "Hasbro Cinematic Universe" have only reinforced this belief for me. I wouldn't deny any claim that this movie struggled in the production side due to the conflicting story angles. It is very likely that this started life as a proper prequel, but was forced to course correct during development into a hodgepodge of the two, it's a sign that they don't know what to do. However, I'm not here to talk about the production side of the movie. I'm here to talk about the movie itself, the end result of its troubled life. How is it? Well, I'll put it this way, I get the feeling I'm not going to make some friends in the die-hard side of the fandom with this one (but what else is new at this point? Why do you think I haven't tried reviewing another fan game... Sonic Mania technically doesn't count). Absurdly long intro aside...

Opening Impressions: Transformers Cyberverse

Wednesday, April 12th, 2017. The last Opening Impressions post I did (not counting Beast Machines) that used the tag Opening Impressions... wow it's been a while since I've done one of these, and this is assuming I haven't forgotten to put the right tags in some posts which is very likely that I have. I need to take a break from traditional anime for a bit though, so I figured why not wash away Sailor Moon with some giant robots? But what is there to do? The Japanese exclusives? Those are best saved for a marathon especially because that would defeat the point of trying to get away from anime for a while. The games? Hoping to get to War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron next year. Prime Wars Trilogy? Anything I could say on those has probably already been said. There's not much for me to add to that discussion. I wasn't a fan of it, even though I saw all three. I really wish that Mark Hamil's first role as a Transformer wasn't in those shows because I would have loved to see it in something with a higher production value. No... what I need is something new, something that discussions are still ongoing about, something like Cyberverse.

As per usual with these posts, while I try to make the official reviews more formal, these posts I let be more casual, bring in theories and the like. There will still be formal elements, but I can't make any concrete judgements on a show that hasn't even finished the first season yet.

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 3: Cinematic Universe ideas

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays, regardless of if you celebrate it, and what you celebrate.

While this further stretches the definition of Bayformers, though at this point some people are probably just looking at the title of the post, thinking I'm insane and moving on... They're partially right, at least for that insane part. This post looks more at story ideas that could work well for in a Live Action aesthetic, and tweaks that could be made to bring them to the big screen. It'll be going through the Generations one at a time, so with that out of the way.

Generation 1 and Generation 2 (I'm lumping them together): Let's piss off a lot of fans right away, I don't think there's much worth bringing from G1, at least from the show. The problem is that the show was so ingrained in the 80's kids show design mentality that not much of it would work well without having to do massive rewrites to the point where it might be the stories in name only. Take Dark of The Moon which is basically the space bridge arc from the show (I want to say the Season 1 finale based off what I remember off the top of my head, but I could be wrong). If anything, I think the Season 4 episodes (all three of them) would be worth bringing over as I think it could be interesting to do the Nebulos story around the Headmasters and Targetmasters. It could even borrow elements from the Japanese exclusive cartoons to have a mini-series of stories. In terms of the comics though, I think more could come from them, such as Bludgeon, Jihaxus, the Underbay saga (heck for fun I'd like to see them do Ratbat's evil carwash). I will admit that I don't know too much about the G1 and G2 comics (both Marvel US and Marvel UK) as I haven't looked into older comics from most lines (the exception being the old Archie Sonic comics).

Beast Wars: Beast Wars is something that I think could be really interesting to do, just due to the nature of the beasts. There are lots of different ways I could see it brought in. It could be brought in with the Time Travel gimmick of the show, and maybe have that be the justification of the legends of monsters, akin to how the Predacons from Transformers Prime were the reason the legends of Dragons exist in the show. I think it would be funny that the reason the legend of Big Foot exists is Optimus Primal. Another way I could see it is to borrow an element of Cybertron, and have the stories be on the Jungle Planet, turning it into a place for all the Beastformer Transformers. Imagine Cybertron Scourge being aligned with the Beast Wars Predacons as an example. Another way I could also see it happening is if it was brought to Earth in the modern day, adding elements of RID 2001 and maybe doing some actual monster movies with Transformers, rather then the pseudo monster movies the real movies have been so far. This could also be used as an excuse to do Beast Wars versions of other Transformers, such as Starscream as that Basilisk concept from The Last Knight. Beast Machines could also be brought into the story, with the Vehicons being an experiment made by the Predacons to bolster their army, eventually leading to the Transmetal technology.

Beast Machines and RID 2001: See above, I haven't got any ideas for them solo. What I will say though about RID 2001 is that the concept of it (and Rescue Bots), Autobots being common knowledge and don't have to hide in order to save people, can just be a side part of a story once the set up for it is ready.

Armada: With the main exception of the weapon Mini-Cons, I could see most of the Mini-Cons being something more like a commercial product in a Live action universe, the new version of small vehicles like bikes, scooters etc. Some could be used to add versatility to the Transformers akin to the PS2 game, and the Decepticons could be weaponizing the technology. It could even be used for things like the Apex Armour being a Mini-Con weapon.

Energon: The collection of Energon story would only work once (as evident by the fact that Energon is one of the worse entries in the franchise, and it did the "collect Energon to power Unicron" twice. However, turning Prime's Combination Spark into a power of the Enigma of Combination could be good for stories, just as long as they remember who can combine with who. It would be good for keeping things fresh in combat without needing to rely on 5-6 bot combiners, as they could have any of the two bot combiners from the trilogy, or even 3 bot combiners like Rail Racer. Some Autobots and Decepticons could even have "power armor modes", such as Energon Landmine and Bulk Head, or to use the one G1 fans know, Powermaster Prime.

Cybertron: I can easily see the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys being a multi film arc, though with one big change. I would keep the Jungle Planet, Velocitron and Gigantion planet keys where they are, but move Earth's key to Caminus, if not tying the planet keys to the Titans, so that there are 13 Planet keys, each with a power either tied to the Titan, or tied to the planet. Such as a key from Necrotitan allowing for resurection of the dead, or the Gigantion key able to make things grow or shrink. Combined with the Omega Lock, the keys would give an ultimate power to anyone who weilded the weapon. If anyone is wondering, yes this is inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems.

Animated: While in terms of story ideas, there's not much I'd take from Animated. I would however take characters, such as Blitzwing's split personalities, Lugnut, Lockdown and Sari. Bulk Head would be a combo of his Prime and Energon incarnations.

IDW: A lot of stories from IDW I'd like to see in the Live action style, such as Last Stand of the Wreckers (as teased in the first post) and Dark Cybertron. In terms of characters, the Decepticon Justice Division would make for a great series of villains for a story, and remember that arc based on the Omega Lock I mentioned before? Well, I'd personally do that story not with Megatron as the villain, but Nova Prime, with the goal to use the Lock to make him stronger then a god, using the Dead Universe as his personal prison. To those wondering why I didn't bring up Dreamwave, well its the same as the Marvel comics.

Prime: I've got nothing more to add from Prime that hasn't been addressed in other paragraphs. It would be cool for the Decepticons to use the Nemesis as an aerial base in a story, and I would use that incarnation of Shockwave for stories as it could be cool if he was the one that opened a gate to a Live Action Shattered Glass universe, or was the one who freed Nova Prime from the Dead Universe.

RID 2015: Mainly as a side story at first, though maybe as a main story later, the idea of an Autobot team trying to capture Decepticons would be a nice idea. Maybe lead by Sentinel Prime who in this timeline would be an Autobot enforcer, capturing Decepticons causing trouble for other planets. It could be a way to use the DJD for a main story, as both see the other as getting in their way.

War For Cybertron/ Fall of Cybertron: Aside from acting as a good base for the stories of the war, one idea that I admit I'm tweaking from a post I saw on Facebook (If you read this sir and want your work shared, please let me know and I will edit this page), based around the idea of two seperate Autobot factions. Optimus's faction, and while the original had Ultra Magnus as the more war driven leader, I'd rather use Zeta Prime, who would survive the war, but would see both the Decepticons and Optimus's Autobots as an enemy, leading to an Autobot v Autobot battle.

Ok. I think I've the general points covered now. If anyone would like to see a full pitch for any of these ideas, let me know and I'll come back to this topic. For now though, the year is almost done, plans are underway to do a Podcast looking back on 2017, but if that doesn't happen next week, then I'll be starting a new marathon. Not on robots, but of another franchise I was into as a kid, but didn't stick with me. Keep an eye out for either the 2017 Podcast, or the start of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles marathon with the 8

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 2: A clean slate

Encase you missed last week's post, you can find it here: https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/how-would-i-fix-live-action.html

Very quickly, before beginning, while I will not go into spoilers, I have seen The Last Jedi and my personal views around the controversies it has been causing in the Star Wars community is really petty. Looking at the larger picture, I'm personally fine with the issues people have with it after a single view and thinking back on it. That view might change when I go to review it though, which I'll try to do as soon as the DVD gets released.

While it is all well and good to try and fix, course correct, take something into a new direction and more, many people believe that Bayformers is something irredeemable. While I stand by my choice of releasing the post talking about how I'd start to handle it going forward, there's also the flip side of "what if I could give it a clean slate? What if I was in control from the beginning?".

For the sake of a challenge, I'm limiting myself to the movie release schedules of the actual movies, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2017. As such, I am only using characters and ideas that existed around those times. Original ideas are still fair game, but I can't add in a character like Victorion into Movie 1, she didn't even exist yet. The thing to remember about this though is that hindsight is 20/20, and I am looking at this with the knowledge of the five movies, so these ideas wouldn't be the same as if I was coming at it without that knowledge. And like with the last post, I am keeping in mind that these are for mass audiences, but I still hold to my rule of "if there is an audience for it, its there for a reason, and it'll be your free advertisement", so there will naturally be a combination and balance of the two audiences. Also, like with the last post, this is being done with the visual style of Live action/ CGI (even though I prefer animation). Also I'm using the poster/ DVD art for the actual movies as placeholder images, just to help break up the wall of text.  With those out of the way:

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 1: The current path

If you'll allow me, I want to take a small break from reviews for a few weeks, not to go on leave again, but to write down something that has been clawing at my mind for some time. It should probably not come as a shock to anyone who's been here for a while, I am a Transformers fan. I've watched all the shows (including the Machinima stuff everyone hates, those are for another time), read some of the comics (before I get hate from that, comic books in general are something I've been trying to get myself into), seen the movies, been collecting the toys recently and used to collect them when I was a kid. If there was one franchise that defined my childhood... it would probably be Lego, then Pokemon, and then Transformers though mostly because when I was growing up I was really into robots and machines, its why Thunderbirds also makes that list. However, its pretty safe to say that the live action movies have not gotten a good reputation both in the fandom, and in the film analysis community, with general audiences overall not caring about the details. It's a shame because, like many, I know the IP has potential. As to what kind of potential, well that's something I'd like to test for myself (heck I need to use some of that self taught game design knowledge for something other then a DMCA waiting to happen as a thing for fun).

Inspired by Movie Bob's series, which in turn was inspired by the Whatculture team (almost certain that's right, correct me if I'm wrong), I'm going to try my hand at a "How would I fix" series. What comes out of it going forward? I'm not sure, it'll really depend on any feedback I get from this. At the moment, this is planned for three parts:

• Part 1: How would I handle this series in its current state (if I was, for some reason, brought on to direct Transformers 6 and 7, yes this part is two movies)
• Part 2: How would I have handled it if I was in charge from the beginning/ how would I reboot it (ignore the fact that when movie 1 came out in cinemas, I was 11)
• Part 3: Movie ideas that would work in either timeline

While this is going to come into play more next week, I will set one ground rule, while creating new ideas is on the table, if an idea is being borrowed from the source material, it has to have existed at the time (for example, no Windblade in Movie 1). What is however in play is visual style. These are being designed with Live Action and Live Action CGI in mind, none of these would be fully animated, though considering the subject matters later on, there might need to be a lot of Live Action CGI. With that out of the way, let's begin.

So with this following on from The Last Knight, let's first establish what is in play, and who can be in play. The last movie teased that Unicron would play a big role in the movie, which means that by the end of this post, Unicron has to have been dealt with in some form. A lot of major Decepticons are dead, though thankfully there's still room to grow. For this though, I am assuming that all the Autobots in The Last Knight survived, because to be honest I don't care enough to rewatch that movie to find out, and that the only two survivors on the Decepticons were Megatron and Barricade. To get the ball rolling, every movie needs a plot, and what I've come up with is as follows.

Earth is right now in a state of chaos. Government bodies have stood down their Anti-Transformer policies and defense divisions due to the looming nature of what is below their feet. With the cities in chaos, the Autobots have begun preparations for a planetary evacuation, using their technology to rapidly increase the nations' individual space programs. With the assistance of the Knights of Cybertron, Cade, Viviane and Cogman believe they may have found structures on Cybertron that could have survived the chaos the planet has gone through in recent years, and have traveled to the dead planet to look for them.

Meanwhile, on a defensive front, Optimus Prime and Megatron have agreed to unite their forces, including recent arrivals to Earth, to counter the threat. Taking a team made up of the strongest Autobots and Decepticons available to them, Optimus Prime and Megatron travel to the planet's core to try and stop Unicron from awakening. Before departure though, Megatron orders a Decepticon flier to travel with Barricade to the old Decepticon base on Mars and prepare it for the fight should they fail (something we won't see until the post credits of the movie).

The idea for movie 6 is to give more of a build up to Unicron's arrival, adding weight to it by showing how unprepaied everyone was, splitting the teams up to each prepare for the chaos. But, I hear you ask, what are those teams? Well:

• Team to Cybertron: Cade, Viviane, Cogman, Bumblebee, Drift, Hound and Crosshairs. Their goal, to awaken the dormant Cybertronian cities, the Titans, along with any usable ships, to help with evacuation and (eventually), heavy fire power against Unicron
• Team on Earth: Perceptor, Hot Spot, Blades, Streetwise, Rook, First Aid, along with several, unnamed Transformers. Tasked with the evacuation of the continents
• Team in the core: Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, Megatron, Silverbolt and the Arialbots (which would be unnamed in this movie), Motormaster and the Stunticons (which would be unnamed), Six Shot, Quick Switch and Springer. Tasked with trying to stop Unicron from awakening, and would be fighting constructs of Unicron the further they traveled
• Team on Mars: Skywarp and Barricade: Tasked with reactivating the ship, which is in reality Trypticon. Yes, the post credits scene is dedicated to awakening the first Decepticon Titan (that anyone actually cares about).

Now transformers fans would know I named three combiner teams there, the Aerialbots, the Stunticons, and the Protectorbots, and yes its because some of those are going where you think they're going. Superion and Menasor would form in this movie, though I wouldn't form Defensor, simply due to the nature of the missions. Granted this is very Autobot heavy, mostly due to the fact that its almost a given there will be Decepticon drones of some form, a lot of the Decepticons I had in mind for this would work better later on, so expect some of those stories in movie 3. As for the Dinobots, sadly to many, the movies don't care enough about them which is why I've ignored them here. However, doing some research, I have something in mind related to them for part 3.

So, onto Movie 7. With the assumption that the events of Last Knight and Movie 6 have happened several months apart, and Movie 7 directly following on from Movie 6, the transformers have managed to evacuate the human population from Earth. I know that sounds like several leaps in logic, but I have to ask you, has anything in these movies made any logical sense? At least this one you could use the arguement of the Governments actually doing something with all that Transformer knowledge accumulated over a decade and a bit. Moving on, the humans are on Mars, Metroplex, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon, each in their battle modes, have moved into position outside of Earth's orbit. Cade, Viviane, Cogman, Bumblebee, Drift, Hound and Crosshairs. are onboard Metroplex alongside Six Gun, Slammer, Scamper, a small team of Autobots tasked with the protection of Metroplex. Onboard Fortress Maximus is the Earth Evacuation team along with Cerebros and Cog, two (though secretly four) Autobots tasked with the protection of Fortress Maximus. Skywarp and Barricade pilot Trypticon along with Wipe-Out, Full-Tilt, Necro (who wouldn't be a headmaster this time) and Brunt, who were the guards of the Decepticon Base, due to the fact that it was still making Protoforms.

As for the team in the planet's core, they are currently trapped inside Unicron and must find four ancient Cybertronian Weapons inside of it as it is transforming. Yes, the reason why I held him back, is because I want to do something I doubt the movies will actually do, and transform Unicron into his robot mode. As for the weapons they need to find, because I personally need to squeeze some post G1 in here somewhere, the Energon Saber and Chaos Saber (I want to save the name Star Saber for, we Star Saber), the Requium Blaster, and the Skyboom shield, four weapons said to have been placed onto Unicron by Primus should he ever be awakened again, though due to the transformation, are now inside him. From there the movie becomes one half space battle, one half land battle/ Scavenger Hunt as the Autobots and Decepticons battle to defeat Unicron. The day is eventually won, Unicron's body returns to planet mode as his spark is believed destroyed. The reconstruction begins once the humans return to the planet, now having to remake the world due to the changes caused from Unicron (I'm leaning towards continent mass changing in some way), the weapons break to reveal themselves as Mini Cons before scattering themselves to the universe. Credits roll, mid credits scene, Fortress Maximus and Metroplex are in city form acting as a centralized point to help with the rebuilding efforts. Some Autobots depart earth now that the mission is done to return to tasks they were doing before, including Springer and Perceptor, who say they are gathering a team to handle a situation on Garrus-9 (hint hint for part 3). Post credits scene: Unicron's spark finds its way to a dead planet, fusing itself with it, the planet begins to cyberform into a far more familiar planet look. Drained of Energon, the new planet breaks free of its orbit, and begins to travel the universe for planets to feed on.

While I'm not one for handling casting, as that would depend on what happens to the pitch, those would be the story ideas I'd put forward as a semi course correction, and better set up other movies going forward. For next week, we go back in time to see what I'd have done if I was in charge from day 1.

Mediaholics Cinema: Transformers 2007 (Bayformers 1)

The cold never bothered him anyway

Shout outs to some of the members of the Transformers Collectors Club Australia with more meme generator knowledge then I have for the pictures.

Transformers; The Last Knight: Everything you think you know is a lie, a Deception, a Decepticon?

So... Live Action Transformers Cinematic Universe... this is a thing now... And this movie's only goal is to quickly get the lore in that's needed to make the universe work going forward... Bayformers' version of Batman in blue vs Batman in black: Dawn of the Jesus symbolism if you would... and Bay's in charge of the movie that'll do it... Can you imagine my reaction when I heard that news? I can assure you, others took it far better than I did. But, with this (hopefully) being Bay's last movie in this series, and going forward we might be able to better dissect the flaws of this franchise going forward. Well... I've gone this far, let's get this out of the way. Transformers: The Last Knight.

Opinion Piece: Power of the Primes

So, with Titans Return winding down, Hasbro looks to the future with its follow up, and the conclusion to the Prime Wars Trilogy with Power of the Primes. After it's official unveil at San Diego Comic Con recently, I've been thinking over the news and leaks that have come from it, and would like to voice my views on the new line.

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So first of all, I should state that I have been enjoying Titans Return overall. While some of the figures have been pretty "meh", a lot more have been really entertaining moulds to mess around with. While I do get where some people are coming from, in that it doesn't make the Headmasters from G1 feel as special anymore, and I personally would have liked some of the newer headmasters get the CHUG treatment over some in the line *cough* Sideways *cough* Overload *cough*. I have enjoyed the fact that it’s given some characters new chances at life, some who haven't been seen in years, even decades. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I've had with the line is availability here in Australia. US readers, I hope you like your Wave 5, it’s not going to be seen here until September at the earliest. On top of the US Exclusives like Chaos on Velocitron and Siege on Cybertron, and you have people like me wishing they could get a complete Titans Return set, knowing they may never will. Another issue I've had with the line is a more personal issue. I hate stickers. I hate Sticker details. I can live with them to an extent, if the design is more complicated then basic paint can do, but later on into the line, all the voyagers and leaders started using these foil stickers for everything more complicated then paint and it gets frustrating to see them peel off due to the quality of them. What makes it worse is that they do them for the insignias of the characters too, and I know they've got all sizes of Autobot and Decepticon tampographs they can apply, so to see them as stickers makes them look cheap. I know some people like them, as it is better than no details at all. But there are some characters like Broadside and Megatron which would have benefited with paint and tampographs over stickers. Silver doesn't work on grey plastic.

So, with that out of the way, let me go into Power of the Primes. Starting with its announcement, and I was pretty underwhelmed by it honestly. So, the new gimmick is Powermasters... which does lead to why Powermaster Prime and Overlord were in Titans Return, but that's beside the point. Contained in the new replacement for Titan Master class sets, Prime Masters can be combined with Deluxe, Voyager and Leader class characters to power them up, or used as a weapon in their pretender shells. Prime Masters themselves are retools of Titan Masters, and with the announcements so far, what's confirmed. It feels like a pretty average opening wave.

For the Prime Masters, we have Liege Maximo, which comes with the Skullgrin pretender suit. Doing some research into Pretenders, the first thing that comes to mind is "what's going to fill out the line?", there are thirteen primes, and I think the SDCC panel said there would only be 12 in PotP, but I could be wrong. To compare that to Titans Return, the Titan Masters were at bot 12 by wave 3. If my predictions are correct, there are going to be 6 waves of both Titans Return and probably Power of the Primes, and there are more pretenders, 33 not counting Classic Pretenders and Japan exclusives. Who's going to make the cut? Are we getting normal Powermasters too?

Moving onto the Legends class, and the way they sold this, it makes it sound like they're characters they couldn't fit into Titans Return, because the way they interact with Prime Masters is exactly the same as how most Legends class bots interacted with Titan Masters, riding in the vehicle modes. Not to insult Beachcomber fans, but the initial push for me wasn't there for me. The other thing for me is that we seem to be getting a lot of Autobot Legends class characters lately, and while I don't know if was like that in G1, from my perspective I'd like to see some more decepticon legends class characters.

On to Deluxe, and this is where things get a bit more interesting. Three characters were revealed officially, Jazz, Dreadwind and Darkwing. Jazz I'm honestly surprised wasn't in Prime Wars sooner, just due to the nature of the character, but Dreadwind and Darkwing have my interest. While yes, they do use Combiner Wars parts (hello Galvatronus limbs), they also do have a vehicle combined mode like their original toys to create Dreadwing. I personally enjoy gimmickformers depending on how the gimmick is implemented, its why I enjoy the Cybertron line, so something like this is more interesting for me as it adds some more originality to the line, makes them feel more unique. I admit I'm hesitant to see the execution of the Prime Master gimmick in this and the voyager class, because I can see things going badly depending on the execution.

Onto the Voyager announced, and this almost killed my interest. Starscream. I have mixed feelings about Starscream, it really depends on how he's written, but in terms of toys. Starscream often comes with the promise of the Seekers. Skywarp and Thundercracker at least, cone heads maybe, the "Something Storm" ones if they're reaching hard, so when I see a Starscream, my first thought is "Oh Primus we're going to have waves of just that mould as voyagers aren't we?". Also, can we please pull back on sticker details?!

Last, but not least, the confirmed Leader class characters. Rodimus Prime, and Optimus Primal. While we haven't seen Primal, we have seen Rodimus and Rodimus does make up for Starscream (before leaks). The fact that this is the first Rodimus that lets you turn Hot Rod into Rodimus without trailer kibble. That genuinely excites me, and the figure itself looks great. He's one I definitely want to get.

Overall, the official announcement was mediocre for me. But, what did get my interest in the line was the leaks. Now, I'm not going to post the images of the leaks here, as I'd rather not risk Hasbro wanting me to take this post down, as I'm pretty sure they're image hunting them. I do encourage you look around for them though if you want to see what they look like.

According to the leaks, incoming characters include (and if these names are wrong, they are phone camera captures of a computer screen, I am trying here):

Prime Masters (I can't see some of their pretender shells..): Micronus Prime, Vector Prime and Metalhawk, Alchemist Prime, Alpha Trion, Quintus Prime and Bludgeon, Megatronus and Bomb Burst, Solus Prime and Octopunch

Legends: Slash, Windcharger, Skrapnel Rerelease, Battleclash?, three that I can't see the names for, Cindersaur

Deluxe: Slug, Swoop, Snarl, Sludge, Rippersnapper, Moonracer, Cutthroat, Blot, Simmertwin Novastar,

Voyager: Grimlock, Hun-Gurr, Elita-1, Inferno, a Grimlock repaint, Predacons (to make Predaking)

Leader: Optimus Prime, Rodimus Unicronus (Rodimus Prime Repaint), an Optimus Prime rerelease?, Optimus Primal, a Rodimus Prime rerelease?

Now, there's a lot to unpack here, and many wouldn't recognise the names, so... The Prime Masters are going to be who you expect, their pretender shells though, not so much. Not much to say on Legends due to the quality of the picture, we're getting G1 Dinobots in Deluxe and Voyager scale, Predaking and Abominus incoming, lots more fembots, with Moonracer and Novastar getting toys for the first time ever, and Leader Class is looking to get really old, really fast, and is the one thing about this leak I'm hoping is fake. 3 waves in a row of Rodimus Prime? I like the look of the mould, I don't like it that much, especially since there are other characters who deserve the CHUG Treatment. Overall though, this leak was what got me excited for the upcoming line, because of the new characters, that don't get a lot of toy treatment, if at all. Again, my only issue is the leaders.

While the leaks have given me more interest in the line overall, what really interests me is what could be coming. The main ones for me being Leader Star Saber and Deathsaurus. The other Powermasters like Doubledealer, Joyride and Slapdash? Some characters that were Japan exclusives? Something that justifies the S in Generations that isn't G1 related? There's a lot of possibilities here that I hope gives the Prime Wars Trilogy a strong note to end on. One way to find out, maybe some of the leaks will be shown off in Hascon (I'll admit that Titans Return Arcee looks really nice). Anyway, see you in the next review.

Transformers Marathon II; Rescue Bots: Aww, no love for Defensor

Fun fact, was going to do a Rescue Heroes joke until I saw that one of them was Blades.

Like seriously, all you're missing is a motor cycle and an Ambulance, though I think swapping Groove out for a bulldozer would be a good idea. Combiner Wars swapped him with a Swat truck after all

Transformers Marathon II; Robots in Disguise 2015: They really should stop using that subtitle

Whereas Transformers Prime was a combination of Animated and Bayformers, Robots in Disguise 2015, its direct sequel, was a combination of Prime and Rescue Bots (next week). Doing this one early as I have been keeping up with RID 2015, so unlike Rescue Bots, it’s the perfect thing to review while I’m at the Tech Games Fest during this week. So with that out of the way…

Transformers Marathon II; Transforms Animated: CHINS!!!

And now to jump back to a post Bayformers era. The 2007 movie has just come out, a new cartoon comes with it. Compared to the 2007 movie, this is far more kid friendly, and panders a lot to old school fans. How well does it pull it off though? Also, I hope you like chins.

Transformers Marathon II; Robots in Disguise 2001: That was a drastic jump

EDIT: It should be brought up that, during the time this was being aired (encase 2001 wasn't a give away) aspects of the show was censored upon western release due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, leading to confusing plot threads later on in the series. I did not bring it up in the main review because... I never got up to that point as I couldn't bring myself to get up to that point.

Behold, the series right before when I started, Robots in Disguise (for the purposes of this I'll be referring to it as RiD 2001 as they reuse the name for another show which is getting a revisit this marathon along with several toylines and I already used my "no not that one" joke and I'd rather not reuse it yet), and this was a pretty big jump from Beast Machines and then the jump to Armada was just as big. But to give you the heads up now, the only reason the jump was big was because the pit that RiD 2001 is in. I've seen talk of this being a filler show between Beast Machines and Armada, and if that's true, it shows.

Transformers Marathon II; Beast Machines: Troop builder drones, everywhere!

What do you do after an initial toyline, repaints of said toyline with new figures made around ridiculous gimmicks and then a line of animals to robots? Apparently you make vehicles with faces and give the animals to the Borg where they nerf transformers? Um... Okay then... Let's see where this goes.

Transformers Marathon II; TF Beast Wars: People say this looks prime... why?

Welcome to the second Transformers Marathon, with the subtitle of Revenge of the Bay. But because I can't put the whole title into a tweet along with the link for the site, Transformers Marathon II in the title it is. While the first marathon primarily focused on the origins of the franchise, what I personally grew up with and the live action incarnations. This time it'll be focusing on what I never got into, in terms of the shows, and post bayformers shows... I kinda ran out of movies (to my knowledge). Six shows are up this time, the Japanese exclusives are for another time. Beast Wars, Beast Machines. Robots in Disguise 2001, Animated, Rescue Bots, and Robots in Disguise 2015. Some of these are going to be more Opening Impressions rather then reviews mostly just due to time, I am still working on the trailer after all. One of them being what's up first, the Beast wars. Time to find out what the whole Team Monkey> Truck thing is all about. Oh and as a side note, I've got nothing to say on the recent things happening in the IDW comics, so don't ask for my opinion on Onslaught x Blast Off.

Mediaholics Toybox: Revenge of The Fallen Leader Class Optimus Prime

Ahh Bayverse, you're going to be a pain in my ass again come October aren't you? You and Jem have now brought my bar so low that you make me question if I should review what I call the cinematic duo of the dammed. I'm doing another Transformers month next month because of that movie. But, I will admit that the mountain of Energon sent out of the bay bots' waste disposal units has some gems in among the rough smells of bloated corporations making movies to appeal to as many demographics as possible, even those who shouldn't be allowed to drive due to a lack of brain cells. One of those was the first movie as I'm often more lenient on first films as I expect there to be lessons learned from them. And some were, just the wrong ones. Another gem was in fact the Revenge of The Fallen toy line, which gained the most from the movies as it was a blast of creativity and throughout its run, gave us a wide variety of movie faithful bot and con designs and classic characters that were given the Classics revival with a touch of Bayverse realism to create some really interesting designs. Might do some more of those later as what movie toys I do have from RoTF I do enjoy overall. One of them being today's subject, the original trillogy version of that one bot who likes faces and the removal of them, Optimus Prime.

Android Triple Hit: Because Blaster can actually do more with his phone now

Pretty on the nose, but yeah that's the reason I haven't done a lot of ios and android games. My iPod touch and phone I got back around 2011, they were out of date, my iPod still is. And before anyone asks, I like dedicated equipment, something designed to do one thing is going to do that one thing better then something designed to do 100 things. I also admit that yes that probably has affected my judgement on these three, I know it has for at least one of them. I ask you hear me out, so that you might be able to see where I'm coming from. As to what those three games are? They are Transformers Earth Wars, Transformers Forged to Fight, and Fire Emblem Heroes. Like with every solo review I do, I will be having images that split up each review so that if you only want to see one, then scroll down until you see the image for the one you want. With that out of the way

Transformers Earth Wars: So this is what its like in between episodes...

The plot for Earth Wars is pretty basic (spoiler, all three of these games have simple plots). The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting on earth, and in order to achieve dominance. To do this, you as the player must build up your base and army, and then use your army to destroy bases of the opposite faction. What's the difference between the factions? Almost nothing in terms of gameplay, the biggest difference being who you have easier access at getting. I sided with the Decepticons, so my base structures have more of a Decepticon look to them, and while I can get Autobots, I have 5 Autobots to around 47 Decepticons. The character selections have been designed as well to make as many characters have the same powers on both sides, which is probably the only reason Octopunch is in the game as he's a clone of Seaspray (look them up, I have to keep moving). The roster itself also has some questionable choices, as I can think of some far more well known characters to go in then the afore mentioned Octopunch, with another being Viper.

Designs themselves, while they try to make them look as close to each other as possible, its a hogpoge of designs from the CHUG era (Classics, Henkei, Universe, Generations. Basically the current size scale) along with Masterpiece/ original generation 1 toy. You've got Megatron who has his Combiner Wars design (granted each of these are tweaked so they aren't one for one) along with the combiner limbs that are in the game as well as the two complete combiners (like I said, I picked cons, so most of my examples are going to be cons). You've then got ones like Bludgeon and Seaspray that have their Hunt for the Decepticons designs back from movie 2, Optimus Prime and Star Sabre who have their Masterpiece designs, though granted Prime's is a little different, borrowing some cues from his combiner wars repaint of Motormaster). It is interesting to see, but what does make it distracting is the model reuse. While some are expected like Nemesis Prime being Optimus like he always is. The afore mentioned Octopunch because Seaspray, along with Slipstream because Windblade, Nightbird because Arcee among maybe more are other examples of it, I can only talk about what I've seen because... well...

All three games covered here are free to play, pay to win, so we have some of my all time favorite mechanics in games including "multiple currencies with the only one you can convert into others being the one you get the least of and the one directly connected to real life money", "timers that mean you might only play a game for 10 minutes before being told "wait or pay", "random number generation that determines what you get and don't get making it harder to get the thing you want, making you want to pay real money" and "no roof for payments before features get unlocked so you can pay every cent you own into a barely rewarding game". Real talk, if you actually do like these mechanics (the lines before meaning to be sarcastic as I absolutely hate them), then you're part of the problem as to why the F2P model is a piece of money grubbing scrap. How does it work here? Well, one part of the game is base construction. You build a base that will get you resources, being Energon, Alloy, both of which are needed for construction and upgrades, and eventually Ore-13, for combiners. You will also, on average, get two crystals daily which will give you power ups to use in battle (more on that later) or low star units. Higher the star count, the stronger the character. If you get a double (which I swear should not be as common as it is), then you can get shards for a crystal that is a star up from the one you get the double of, and other things mainly for powering up units. If you need more of any of these, you need "Cyber Coins", which is the thing you can pay for.

As you build your base, you attack other bases to get boosts in resources, but if you can attack others, others can attack you. I've had 10 people attack me, only successfully two attacks so far. It's very easy to attack, a lot harder to defend because the combat is all automated. You can choose when to use special moves and where units start at, but apart from that, its a cutscene. Considering you need to be online to play this, I'd rather be spending my time with something else now that I've cleared the, at times brutal, campaign to get the combiner lab that I can only use if RNG lets me get the right Constructicons and Combatacons. Moving on!

Transformers Forged to Fight: Transformers goes Street Fighter

"How do we mash up as many continuities as we can into one game?" Apparently the answer was street fighter with micro transactions and a hexagon rock paper scissors mechanic. Ok then...

I admit this is the game I've put the least amount of time into, more due to technicals, in terms of plot, Optimus Prime has crashed onto a planet that is in a state of spacial and temporal flux, bringing characters, both autobot and decepticon to the planet and making them fight each other. To unlock more characters, you go through the same RNG system as Earth Wars, but what makes this one more annoying is the variety. I've only just taken out Starscream again, but for that, I had to fight Movieverse Grindor, Ironhide and Bumblebee, I could have fought Windblade, I did fight Rhinox, and there's more in the game, and probably a lot more to come. I'd be down for some Unicron trillogy love, though that's more transformers general. The character collection is basically the same as what it was for Earth Wars, so I won't dwell on it here.

My issues with the game come down to performance, and controls. This is a fighting game, but the controls don't feel very precise, not very detailed, all the fights I've done so far, and this is coming from someone's who's main experience in fighting games is Super Smash Brothers, I've won by tapping the touch screen at random, overpowering my opponents with speed and luck over skill. What also doesn't help is that my actions could lead to the move I didn't want to do because its a combination of taping, swiping and holding the screen for your light, heavy, ranged, shield, dodge and super move. The game also chugs at times in terms of a solid frame rate. What that rate is, I don't care about, but it does noticeably drop and stutter. I don't know why, it shouldn't, my phone's as up to date as possible in terms of hardware, so it comes off as "optimized for tablets" which makes me wonder why it wasn't, if possible, locked to being just for tablets. Presentation's also pretty bleak. In Earth Wars, the characters had animations during dialogue, whereas here, its still portraits, which does feel like a downgrade by comparison. The art style also goes for a "realistic" approach, in that every colour looks depressingly dark. Was it because of the Beast Wars and Movieverse characters? Regardless, I personally would have preferred a lighter colour pallete. But, to each their own. If they can get the technical side to the game sorted out, I'll give it another try, but until then, if you want a new fighting game, probably not the best place to look if you're into the Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat/ Tekken ect style.

Fire Emblem Heroes: Chibi powers, activate!

Might as well get this quickly out of the way, as people are going to ask, I didn't get into Super Mario Run, it just didn't hook me.

Fire Emblem Heroes, the third in house Nintendo game on phones, bringing the stratergy from Fire Emblem to the phone. As a short answer to if they did it, I'd say yes. The plot for it is that two kingdoms are traveling to the realms of the main games, from the original Fire Emblem, all the way to Fates, siding with the playable characters from each game. You have the power to summon random heroes, and you're tasked with breaking the contracts of each of the heroes to stop the villain army, or rather one spoiled little kid and her army. From where I stand in it right now, its a veil for the game, and an excuse to get the characters, which to me, is interesting because most of my experience with Fire Emblem is limited to Awakening and Fates (along with Smash, but that goes without saying), so getting a feel for each of these characters, almost all of them I had either forgotten about, or had never heard of before. All of the characters do have English voices too, so for the first time ever, Marth and Roy have an English voice.

I was lucky enough to get her early on, she's one of the strongest in my team right now thanks to her Dragonstone. I also participated in the Easter event, so I do have Bunny Lucina, I just don't want to risk that genie getting out. Will say though that Bunny Lucina is cute, not as rediculous as Chrom or Xander, and not as... expected, as Camilla

The gameplay is as close to Fire Emblem as you can get when taking into account the mobile format. Permadeath's disabled because of the F2P parts of the game (but more on that later), characters only have one weapon to them, and special moves are easier to pull off, but the trade off is a 4v4 environment for combat, and maps limited to the one screen, so what you see in map size is what you get. This takes some getting used to because there's not much safe room to move, and some characters got a nerf for the sake of balance (I liked it when mages didn't need to be a space away to attack), but it is Fire Emblem on a handheld. The F2P model also feels more player friendly here. It might be because I'm not very far into the game, but the play session timer hasn't run out for me yet, orbs that are needed to summon heroes are plentiful, and while I have had double ups, they haven't been as ridiculously common as earth wars where 47/130+ means I keep seeing characters I already have. If we have to have the F2P model, I'd rather a version of it that is player friendly in some form rather then punishing because you haven't paid them everything you own for the sake of that rare item.

I do really like the presentation for the game though. I'm assuming the soundtrack is a mix of original and remixed/ reused songs from past fire emblem games, I cannot confirm that though, but what I do like about it is the new artwork. Each of the character portraits is well done, and their in battle/ overworld chibi sprites are very cute. I'd love to see this style used in the main games for things like FE 2018, as I think its safe to say they're not in Shadows of Valentia or Fire Emblem Warriors.

Hard to do a full summary for each of these games, they may be worth looking into if you're looking for something new to play, but for the next two reviews, what should they be? The strawpoll can be found here http://www.strawpoll.me/12771732 and before I'm asked, Heart Gold and Soul Silver arc will be after these two. I haven't forgotten... Ok I completely forgot about how much time was left in the month, but I'll stick to it.

Top 16 Best Bots of 2016: #TF16Of2016 (#TF16BestOf2016)

Kind of an old hashtag started in 2013 started by @Essex_Alpha  (if he's even still around, I'm honestly not sure), which was a hashtag where you talked about the best bots you got that year. They didn't need to be brand new this year, just ones you got. Well, I want to do my own one of these, but with a little twist. As you might be able to guess by the fact that the brackets in the title have another hashtag in them, while this one is covering the best, I am also working on a list of the sixteen worst. Because you can't have one without the other... well here you can but I'm on a small holiday, and I want to write! None of these are full reviews, it is still a Top X list, but if there are any you'd like to see a full review on, if one doesn't exist already, let me know and I'll get one up as soon as I can. So lets get too it, shall we?

First Impressions: Transformers The Last Knight

"Now to see if Michael Bay wants his title back in The Last Knight." You know, when I wrote that, I was assuming, hoping I had until the Superbowl to find out, as every other Transformers trailer has come out during the Superbowl. So why break it up now? Well wishful thinking is that the review of Jem is what brought the trailer out so early. Realistically, its Rouge One, everyone fighting to have their trailers shown before the new Star Wars movie. Will you be seeing more First Impressions on here in the coming weeks as a result? Probably, seeing as I haven't done a solo one since... Ghostbusters 2016 are you F!@#*(! kidding me? Sorry for this taking longer then 24 hours, but if you've seen my reviews on the first four Bayformers movies, then you know why I've been procrastinating. No, I'm not going to hide it, I've been putting off writing this post because of the last movie, in fact I'm continuing to put off writing about the trailer in the post itself because of Age of Extinction.

Raise your hand if you think that tag line isn't going to go anywhere?

Galvatron's Army: This, is a lot of cons

So, literally yesterday, at time of writing, Galvatron got a bit of a boost to his army. To fans of Generation 1, they know that his personal subset of the Decepticons was the Sweeps, Scourge, Cyclonus, and himself. They were to Galvatron, what Starscream and the Seekers were to Megatron. So lets take a look at them. Here are all of them... as photographed by me with no proper set up on my bed with a phone camera...

Transformers Prime First Edition Deluxe Class Starscream: Someone's been looking after their figure...

I've gotten a few more Facebook purchase characters, and this one just happens to be the one I've got with me right now, so lets take a look at one of the earliest Transformers Prime characters. It was either going to be this or Cybertron Wing Saber, I'd rather not let childhood fantasy take over two weeks in a row.

Starting with the jet mode, and with the exception of a bit of undercarriage for his legs, this is one very nice looking jet mode. I should say while it is a lot of undercarriage for a jet this size, it still isn't robot under a jet syndrome, so in comparison, to me its a bit. However said robot kibble does take away the sleek look when looking at it from any direction other then from the top, his hips do unfortunately make up quite the aerodynamic breaking wall. What's personally annoying is that I do get a bit of enjoyment from finding gerwalk modes for jetformers, but you can't really do one for Starscream here as his hips are always attached to the nosecone of the jet. To the jetformer fans, there's also no real landing gear, just nubs on his feet and top of his pelvis. Still it is a nice jet mode, now onto the robot mode.

Yes this is from Optibotamis' review, it was the best picture I could find