#Squeezeplay

[xxxpression]

A Battle of Singlets

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, have you ever had a Headmaster partner?

Dear Aegis Agent,

I have indeed. Allow me to continue my tale of the ultimate Titan Masters, and I promise your curiosity will be satisfied.

While Arcee was tracking down the Titan Master hidden on Caminus, a separate mission was being carried out on the colony world of Biosfera—known to the locals as Eukaris. Grotusque, Twinferno and Repugnus journeyed there to find another Titan Master, this one believed to grant incredible fireblast. The Monsterbots were not Optimus Prime’s first choice for the mission, as he worried their bellicose disposition would create conflict with the native population—but with the so-called jungle planet having no roads to speak of, only Autobots with bestial alt-modes would be able to handle the terrain.

As Biosfera had been largely insulated from the Autobot-Decepticon conflict, the Monsterbots expected its inhabitants to be pushovers, who would do little to impede or expedite their search one way or the other. Instead, they arrived to find the planet on the brink of all-out war between the four major tribes. Something was terribly wrong: the kinds of weapons being amassed were beyond even those used by Cybertronians in their raw destructive potential. Still, the Monsterbots decided the brewing tensions were none of their business, and decided to focus on searching for the Titan Master.

It was at that point that I was forced to intervene. I materialized in their midst, which proved to be something of a miscalculation: they were taken by surprise, and turned on me immediately. Naturally, I am no lightweight, but I must admit the three of them had me on the ropes. I forced a time-out, separating us from physical spacetime, to allow us to communicate without violence. Once they were prepared to listen, I told them what I had seen.

In the future, Biosfera is an irradiated wasteland. Algorithmic engines crawl over the ash, feeding carbonized trees into immense furnaces, liquid metal pouring from foundries to coat the planet, constructing some kind of superstructure… to uncertain ends. The few survivors of the global devastation have shed the last vestiges of their organic biology, becoming purely robotic lifeforms in order to weather the potent radiation.

The Monsterbots refused to believe me without proof, and so I removed my head, Safeguard. Repugnus briefly swapped Dastard for Safeguard, and saw in his memory banks what we had witnessed of that apocalyptic future. Begrudgingly, the Monsterbots agreed to help us, and we separated, each to visit one of the four tribes.

High in the mountain eyries of the Cloud Walkers, Grotusque and Fengul discovered that they had forged a partnership with the Decepticon Fangry, who had given them a powerful attack jet. At the same time, Twinferno and Daburu found the Scale Walkers to be strategizing with Krok, who had armed them with an unstoppable armored tank. So too were the Wave Walkers consulting with the crab-like Squeezeplay, and as I discovered, the Fur Walkers had welcomed amongst them the ferocious Horri-Bull. It was obvious to us that the Decepticons had completely infiltrated the planet’s tribes, and were deliberately stirring conflict between them. Unfortunately, stirring conflict was the Monsterbots’ specialty, and they each started fights with the Decepticons on sight, leading to them quickly being ousted from the other tribes. Safeguard and I had the most luck, managing to convince the chieftain of the Fur Walkers that they were better off without the “guidance” of Cybertronians—though unfortunately, this included ourselves.

We regrouped, and the Monsterbots decided to resume their search for the mythical Titan Master hidden on the planet. I hoped that in the course of our hunt, we would stumble across a centralized base of operations for the Decepticons, which might produce the evidence we needed to sway the tribes. As it turned out, we were being followed: one of Twinferno’s heads spotted a bird flying overhead, and recognised it not as one of the Cloud Walkers, but as the Decepticon Wingspan. Twinferno almost flew up to take out the snooping Decepticon, but I was able to convince him to hold. We waited until nightfall, and when Wingspan left to make his report, we quietly followed.

He led us to a foreboding tower of steel, a weapons factory hidden in a barren valley. Inside, ensconced within the topmost chamber, we found the true mastermind behind the hostilities: the lost Titan Master, Scorponok. Once, he had commanded one of the Titans of myth, but he had been usurped by the alien Lord Zarak. Driven to madness by this defeat, he had begun traveling the galaxy in search of new evolutionary pathways. On this remote and primeval colony, he found them: and now, his machinations had brought him to the precipice of his return to power. In the fallout, once the biomechanical natives evolved into a purely mechanical existence to survive the nuclear winter that followed, he would use a planetwide relay to reach out and upload his consciousness simultaneously into thousands of bodies—becoming a gestalt lifeform on a scale that would surpass even the Titans.

Well, we certainly weren’t going to stand around and wait for that to happen! The Monsterbots made short work of Wingspan and Horri-Bull, but Scorponok was far from finished: he recalled the jet and the tank from the tribes, and they joined together to form the almighty Overlord. One Titan Master formed his head, while another plugged into his chest, right alongside Scorponok himself—giving the combined giant three times the power.

As it happened, deploying Overlord turned out to be a miscalculation: unbeknownst to us all, skillful trackers from the four tribes had followed us to Scorponok’s lair, and when they saw that the Cloud Walkers’ and Scale Walkers’ new weapons were in fact one and the same, they finally had proof that they’d been deceived. They raced back to their homes, to urge their leaders to begin peace talks. Unable to take down Overlord, we beat a hasty retreat, and he split into his individual components once more to menace the tribes.

Unfortunately, the nuclear submarine Scorponok had built for the Wave Walkers remained in play—and once he gave the command, it launched its payload, sending a dozen missiles up into the atmosphere. Converting to starship mode, I flew after them, and began an arduous process to disarm the bombs. First, I froze the missiles in time, halting their trajectories but maintaining their velocity relative to the planet’s rotation in space. Then, with a boost of power from Safeguard, I isolated each individual warhead, accelerating time to allow billions of years to pass in what was, from our perspective, mere cycles. During that time, the fissile material experienced many half-lives’ worth of radioactive decay… until finally, the payloads were rendered inert. Although I had saved the planet from nuclear fallout, the missiles still had enough raw explosive power to cause untold destruction—and I was powerless to stop them. The radiation from the warheads needed to go somewhere—and although spread over a short period, it was still a strong enough burst of gamma rays to cause a chain reaction, unleashing an electromagnetic pulse which knocked me offline and sent me plummeting into the ocean.

The rest, I heard after-the-fact, once the Wave Walkers dredged me up and brought me to shore. The Fur Walkers and Scale Walkers united, ambushing Overlord’s tank half, while the Monsterbots waylaid the jet—just long enough for the Cloud Walkers to intercept and destroy the missiles in midair, before they reached their targets.

As for Scorponok, he was able to slip away in the confusion. The Monsterbots were frustrated to have failed their mission, but after seeing the sheer destructive potential of his fireblast, they knew it was for the best that Cybertron would have to do without his power. They resolved that when Scorponok next appeared, they would be ready and waiting to settle the score.

Back on Cybertron, the situation had gone from bad to worse: Powerhouse’s seismic forces disturbed Trypticon from his hibernation, and he awoke very hungry indeed. After consuming several Titan Masters, including Powerhouse, and gaining their abilities, Trypticon lay waste to the Autobot defenses, felling Fortress Maximus. Just in time, Iron Apex arrived from Caminus, merging with Magnus Prime to form Omega Prime, who was able to drive the beast back to the Praetorus Wharf.

During the battle, I had been impressed by the bravery of Metalhawk, and so before returning to the Realm of the Primes, I entrusted with him the power of my spark—much as my father, Primus, had done long ago to create the Titan Masters in the first place.

[transformers-labels]

MF

[thelastgherkin]

My final acquisition this year was Legends Goshooter, probably the most valuable freebie I'll ever get! Shuta was sequestered away in the cockpit of a Titans Return (or similar) Highbrow purchased by @transgirlsoundwave, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time! He makes a fine supplement to my Generations Goshooter. (I am trying not to think about tracking down Minerva and Cab.)

[flamewar05]

“Arcee about that backup”

[toyboxcomix]

Random Old Comic: Tongue https://www.toyboxcomix.com/2017/06/04/tongue/

[fire-in-the-goat]

Versus all three of them??

Man! Cliffjumper just doesn't get a break anymore.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #376 - "Human Component: Minerva"

Originally posted on May 4th, 2009

Story, Art - Iván Mas Thanks to - Carlos Oliveros

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: Minerva was one of the most dramatic reinventions of a Hasbro toy for the Japanese market, a complete redeco of Nightbeat into a medic’s car. Ignoring later retcons, she was the first ever toy of a female Transformer. Together with Shūta and Cab, she was one of the three schoolkids given a Master-Brace by the Autobots, which allows her to transform into a Headmaster and combine with a Transtector. Chōkon Power is involved somehow. Given that Minerva is a schoolgirl, perhaps you’re wondering why Mas has drawn her Like That. Great question! Mas’s stated justification (per the machine-translated commentary I’ve included below the break, along with some extra art) is that he found the premise of the young teens driving around saving the world too far-fetched, so he’s aged them up a bit. Sure, I guess. If we’re talking in terms of the plot of Masterforce, this strip appears to be set after the fourth episode, “Birth! Headmaster Jrs”, which has the first altercation between the Autobot and Decepticon Headmaster Juniors—but obviously Mas is adapting the story for a new audience so is at liberty to futz with this kind of thing. To paraphase a comment by Mas on deviantART, he justifies the sheer quantity of text in this strip by reminding readers that he’s writing about a story/characters most readers will have zero familiarity with, because he’s “not interested in explaining Starscream’s treachery towards Megatron, or how nice Hot Rod is”! Based?

The idea is simple, I want to introduce the main characters of Masterfroce, which outside Japan, are more or less unknown in many countries, and the series, in terms of potential, seems to me the most profitable and innovative.

Personally I have always wanted to face Transformers in a more serious and adult way, more in line with these times, I think that the younger audience already has its "Animated" and will always have the classic series.

I also think that it would be relatively easy to make Transformers a good comic of say "superheroes or robots" and I mean a comic that both Transformers and non Transformers fans would like. And I think it would be easy to put it at the level of ... maybe some x-men (?!) ( sacrilegeee!!!! ) ( not in terms of sales volume, that's logical, but in essence ).

Another of the "problems" that I feel transformers comics have in general is that at graphic level the robots are indeed very well, but that’s all.... when it comes to drawing backgrounds or humans ........... let's be frank although it annoys us, in the comic world, nobody takes transformers as something serious, it is considered a sub-product ( never better said "SUB" ) to simply sell dolls, of course, so far they have done well.

In the mosaic, first of all I tried to create the same feeling I had with Masterforce when I saw it,

- really, this is transformers ? no robots ! -

So, in none of these mosaics I'm going to introduce anything related to robots, although of course, they are an important or fundamental part of the theme.

But before we talked about giving an adult touch to the theme, and in this aspect, I am more interested in what the "souls" of the robots may think, which in this case is the function that humans do, in order to be able to understand better the metallic beings.

But in this aspect I always give the same example... in "the walking dead" the main thing should be the zombies, however they end up being something secondary... and nobody will deny that the series is more than good.

However in this Mosaic, those of you who know Masterforce will have noticed.... in the series, Minerva was not so grown up.... well, I have done it for coherence, the eighties were another thing, but today, it would be too far-fetched, even within the far-fetched nature of the story, that a girl of 15 years not only drove a car, without being stopped by the police, but also save lives and worlds, with the maturity that presumably entails.

Masterforce is also not a new twist to the same, which would be easy and what every X time is already done, but a new concept, an evolution of robots and characters, far are the already "incarcerated and typical" Prime and Megatron, beings to which I have great respect and appreciation, but I consider that neither the fans of Transformers or any series can live forever of the same characters, even more when they are so well known, in this case,

Wolverine is a good example, nowadays it is very difficult to create something surprisingly good and new with Wolverine and even more without breaking the different continuities.

Or Batman too... to create something that really catches the attention, they have had to kill Bruce Wayne .....

I know that I run the risk that many because people don’t see robots, they won’t be interested interested in the story, but without wanting to seem offensive, that’s your problem, we have been watching Prime and Megatron for 25 years..... and I'm starting to get a little tired, and besides even at the time Masterforce was better than the original G.1 in almost all concepts, in animation, character design, drawing and scripting.

So, I hope that people can discover and enjoy Masterforce and I hope that those who already know it can "open" their mind a little and they will like it, if not... they will always have Prime and Megatron.

[robert-h-arts]

Legacy United, Target Exclusive, Versus 4 Pack

[ratkid-kelp]

unbelievable that his name is squeezeplay and he transforms into a freaky creature instead of like a car or something

[jazzluca]

SQUEEZEPLAY ( Deluxe ) Generations LEGACY UNITED

FINALMENTE ogni tanto, in questo marasma Generations di personaggi semi recenti o soliti noti visti e rivisti, compaiono bot sinora inediti della G1, come l'Headmaster "Junior" SQUEEZEPLAY, più noto da noi per essere il CANCER / Prudox ( sic ) di Masterforce.

Non è il primo però dei 3 Decepticon Headmaster del 1988 ad essere riproposto, dato che qualche anno fa ad aprire le danze fu Fangry, remold esteso del Doublecross Titans Return vigliaccamente allegato però in un 4-pack in mezzo ad altri repaint ridondanti. E stessa sorte capita a Cancer, ora, solo che ALMENO questi 4-pack non sono più così esclusivi per noi europei ed in mezzo c'è almeno un altro remold non così banale come Cliffjumper Prime, ma di questo parlerò nella sua sede dedicata.

Il ROBOT si presenta davvero bene, antropomorfo e non goffo come il G1, e pure lui è uno stampo già visto, ovvero quello del TR Mindwipe, ma le parti in comune sono davvero pochissime, ovvero le cosce, il bacino, pugni, bicipiti e spalle, e le basi che sostengono i kibble sulla schiena. Oltre alle parti nuove dedicate al personaggio, a colpire sin dal giocattolo originale è la colorazione, con un torso e pugni blu, arti grigi e stinchi e testa viola.

Il Legacy qui si permette inoltre qualche altro tocco cromatico per arricchire la miscela, con bicipiti, bacino, ginocchia e ora pure i pugni neri. La posabilità è la stessa di Mindwipe, ovviamente, con in più la possibilità di "chiudere" piedi e talloni, per via della trasformazione.

Il G1 era a suo modo affascinante, sopratutto per la modalità alternativa, ma questa nel robot era un po' ingombrante, con le zampe posteriori dietro la schiena lanciate verso l'altro ed il muso mostruoso che pendeva dal sedere: nel Deluxe Generations invece ci sono ancora le zampe, ma sono solo messe come richiamo estetico all'iconografia dell'originale, mentre la testa del mostro è ancora un po' ingombrante ma almeno ora può stare sulla schiena.

Come accessori abbiamo la coda del mostro come una sorta di scudo da avambraccio, mentre invece del classico fucile ( che potevano comunque ricavare lo stesso da quello di Pipistrello TR ) abbiamo pistola terrestre in scala per il robot sulle fattezze del Diaclone Browning, citazione del fatto che in Masterforce il suo corrispettivo umano Cancer aveva proprio Browning come robottino da compagnia!!

Infatti anche il design della testa si potrebbe basare più su quello della versione giapponese del personaggio visto in Masterforce, per quanto fedele al giocattolo, eh, ma più che altro perchè durante Titans Return è uscito tale Crashbash che era effettivamente un omaggio a Squeezeplay ma con un design della testa meno "neutro" e più quasi diabolico!

E no, non si ispira alla versione dei media occidentali, dato che nel Transformers Universe SQ gli hanno dato una testa ben più banale e con un visore sugli occhi!! ^^''

Quindi, quella uscita come Crashbash è la variante più occidentale, volendo, di Squeezeplay, mentre l'intero Legacy omaggia più il Cancer di Masterforce, sia per la pistola che per le fattezze del Titan Master Lokos, basate proprio sul pilota Headmaster Jr del cartone orientale.

Finita questa disanima, passiamo alla TRASFORMAZIONE, un po' diversa dall'originale, dato che qui le braccia non si chiudono a guscio frontalmente per divenire la schiena, ma invece diventano le zampine posteriori, alla stessa maniera del pipistrello di Mindwipe, mentre quelle sulla schiena sono meri orpelli che vanno ruotati in avanti, non prima di aver aperto il torso verso l'alto ed averci attaccato lo scudo / coda viola. Le gambe anche qui diventano le zampe anteriori mentre il testone si posiziona sopra le spalle di esse.

Sulla carta, ovvero nei disegni di fumetti e cartoni, questo MOSTRO GRANCHIOIDE ANTROPOMORFO è una figata. Punto. Nella realtà del giocattolo G1 il nostro era un po' goffo con le chele puntate frontalmente e la posa delle gambe semi accovacciata. Al contrario dell'ottimo robot, il mostro meccanico Legacy non migliora tutto esponenzialmente rispetto all'originale, dato che sì, ora le braccia sono ben più mobili ma con le chele che si aprono solo orizzontalmente, la calotta dietro la testa è un po' distaccata dal corpo e forse un po' troppo ampia, facendola sembrare più la testa di un cobra, manca totalmente il "guscio" sulla schiena viola ( formato nel G1 dalle braccia racchiuse ), e le zampe posteriori sono ora forse un bel po' troppo corte.

Guai a sistemarle tutte sotto il corpo, Primus ce ne scampi, che sarebbe così ancor più ridicolo! Bisogna quindi lasciarle a mio avviso un po' divaricate, anche a sto punto la forma ottimale era renderle come le INTERE braccia e non solo a metà ripiegate, che così andavano bene per il pipistrello di Mindwipe! ^^'

Anche per il guscio sulla schiena, basta rendere la coda / scudo con un pannello in più pieghevole, et voilà, tutto risolto. E anche la testa, magari un po' più avanti con il semiguscio della nuca più aderente avrebbe giocavato alla posa. Per il resto alla fine è ok, con lo sportello apribile frontalmente sul torso per ospitare il pilota Lokos, ed alla fine l'occhio si abitua a questo mostro, ma è un po' peccato che da popò di robot ci si trovi con un alt mode non riuscitissimo, anche se si apprezza tutti i cambiamenti fatti dallo stampo di Mindwipe.

Infine, ancora peccato per il mostro non pienamente riuscito, ma il robot è davvero bello ed è un'ottima aggiunta alla collezione di Decepticon Generations G1, ma ancora peccato perchè per averlo bisogna acquistarlo insieme ad altri 3 repaint, magari per qualcuno un po' ridondanti, purtroppo! ^^''

[xxxpression]

Breathtaking hotel encounter

[askvectorprime]

Dearest Vector Prime, owing to how in the Shattered Glass continuity the Decepticons were the quote on quote 'good guys', how did the events of Super God-Masterforce forego in this?

Dear Shattered-God Surmiser, I'm aware of an alternate Earth where the colonizing Super-Robots known as 'Cybertrons' came to Earth long ago to infiltrate human civilization and manipulate the course of human history, pushing it ever towards exploitation and destruction of its natural resources. However, the cruel Hawk and Maximus-the-Cowardly found themselves in conflict with the noble Destrons, who had come to Earth to protect its destiny. Like Hawk, they were Pretenders too, but took on grotesque and frightful organic forms to warn humanity that they fought on behalf of the wild creatures across the globe.

Once Turtler and the Seacons secured the oceans and prevented melting in the polar regions, the Cybertrons were desperate and enlisted easily-corruptible human youth to carry out their will: a snobby, elitist student from France, Minerva; the spoiled prince of an empire, Cab, whose fire truck Transtector actually caused fires and burned down forests; and Shuta Gō, a tentative and calculating young man whose father became rich from rigging international soccer tournaments.

Dauros and the other Destrons were worried about active human involvement in their efforts, but the benevolent goddess Angel Alpha gave them her blessing to seek out worthy adversaries: Cancer, the contemplative monk who struggled with his dark side; Bullhorn, who taught self-defense courses at a local homeless shelter; and Wilder, a young business school prodigy who was betrayed by his best friend and ousted from his own nonprofit organization.

The battles escalated, soon involving the Godmasters who could harness the very life-giving energy of Earth itself. The struggles took a turn for the worst when Ginrai appeared, an evil politician who now wore the transtector of the dangerous Optimus Prime.

At this point, Angel Alpha was forced to admit a secret truth: she had hoped to make peace with the Cybertrons and had made transtectors as a peace offering, even one for Ginrai. Alas, this was not to be, and she herself intervened in the conflict, incarnating as Black Zarak, a vengeful form to defend Earth as a last resort. She enlisted the aid of Giga and Mega, a married couple who donated their billions to support carbon neutral efforts. Eventually the scourge of the Cybertrons was repulsed. Giga and Mega were able to adopt not only Wilder, Bullhorn, and Cancer, but also Shuta, Cab, and Minerva, giving them—and the planet—hope for a better future.

[thelastgherkin]

LEGACY UNITED VS: G1 Universe Squeezeplay and Lokos

Squeeze me, squeeze me, never let me go...

More like this:

Buzzworthy Bumblebee Worlds Collide Fangry and Brisko

Titans Return Titan Master Class Terri-Bull and Crashbash

Collaborative Draculus

[toyboxcomix]

Random Old Comic: Tongue https://www.toyboxcomix.com/2017/06/04/tongue/ https://www.toyboxcomix.com/2017/06/04/tongue/?utm_source=tumblr&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #404 - "Human Component: Cancer"

Originally posted on July 30th, 2009

Story, Art - Iván Mas Thanks to - Carlos Oliveros

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: Cancer is named for the astrological sign associated with the crab. His backstory was revealed in the late Masterforce episode “God Ginrai - Save Cancer!?”.

Well, carrying on with this theme.... today it's Cancer's turn...

I wanted to recall the look he had in the animation, so it is easier to understand that some time has passed, compared to what we saw in the original series, and that is why, like Minerva, we see him with more age.

I intend to add little by little more mechanical or robotic elements, so here we can see a complete masterforce armor.

I am also completely aware that there will be many people that this does not call their attention, do not like it or do not understand it, well, if they want to get into the subject cool, if not, that’s fine too, they already have what IDW publishes and without belittling the rest, the other Mosaics, so they are already well served, although there is always one that says - this is not transformers...- well, it depends how, it doesn’t even deserve an answer...

Even so, I didn't want to pigeonhole myself with this topic, I mean, the last mosaics of mine that have come out are about this topic .... is due to a small coordination error, I made 7 mosaics, that should have been finished some time ago, the idea was to intersperse those seven, with these of Human component, unfortunately, we are pending to finish those 7. . we already have a delay of a year.... bad thing, I did my work, but it seems that the colorist(s) doesn’t have much time, and incomprehensingly the thing is taking forever,... among other things, that is one of the reasons why I painted or gave color myself to the Human component, so that it did not take me much time.