# Autobots... transform and upgrade
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 18, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309 "2003-07-18T03:32:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/21 "2003-07-19T14:49:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tracer \*
> \*\*So, wait … this is a model/toy … based on a cartoon … and the cartoon itself was in turn **based on a toy?!** \*\*
Huh?
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### Author:  [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/22 "2003-07-20T12:36:55Z")
Okay, so I haven’t bought a transformer in a very long time, but damn! That is a fine looking Robot in Disguise.
…And People say that I’m hard to shop for.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/23 "2003-07-20T16:33:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Justin\_Bailey \*
> \*\*Huh? \*\*
When they made the Transformers cartoons (and comic books), they started with the Optimus Prime **toy** as the basis for how he should look and then added other touches to make him more impressive on-screen (and on-page).
Now, somebody’s making a new Optimus Prime model/toy whose look is based on how Optimus Prime looked **in the cartoons**.
So, it’s a toy, based on a cartoon, based on a toy.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/24 "2003-07-20T19:06:58Z")
But the toy didn’t come first did it? They were released simeltaneously weren’t they?
And having toys based on a cartoon is not an uncommon occurence.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/25 "2003-07-20T19:52:59Z")
Actually, the toy came first. The first season Transformers came from two unrelated toy lines, Diaclone and Microman, from Japan. Hasbro repackaged them, asked Marvel to give them personalities. Diaclones had the little seats in them, Microman mimic existing toys. (Megatron is a Man from UNCLE gun, Bumblebee is a Penny Racer.)
Furthermore, Prime is an icon at this point. So the toy is based not soley on the cartoon, but on an idealized image of what various artists have done to him over the years in multiple media, from cartoon to comic to package art.
This is why he’s a 20th Anniversary toy.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/26 "2003-07-20T22:46:05Z")
They pretty quickly added in other toy lines, too.
Jetfire (or was he Skyfire at that point) is a Macross Valkyrie with an Autobot logo stuck in the place of the UN Spacey logo.
I…can’t remember any of the other lines names…but if a new type of Transformer showed up (Dinobots, Insecticons…) it was probably a new toy line being incorporated.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/27 "2003-07-20T23:45:02Z")
Dinobots, as you can tell by their little driver seats, are Diaclone.
The Deluxe Insecticons are a third line, the Insecticons are Diaclone.
Omega Supreme and Sky Lynx come from the same line.
The combiners, Devestator, Menasor, Superion, Defensor, and Bruticus, are diaclone.
I have a prototype sketch of a Planet-Robo which is Unicron. Diaclone.
Whirl and… the HMMV… uh, road something, are a different line. About it.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/28 "2003-07-21T01:21:45Z")
Whirl and Roadbuster (and I believe the Deluxe Insecticons too) were from a line called Dorvack.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/29 "2003-07-21T01:47:14Z")
Shockwave, of course, is from a seperate line.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/30 "2003-07-21T18:16:17Z")
The robot form of Optimus certainly does look way cool there… But that truck form just does not look right. It looks too pieced-together. It’s way too clear which parts separate when it transforms. Is this something that would be fixed up in the production model?
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/31 "2003-07-21T19:03:16Z")
Transformer fans, the long-awaited Unicron toy will also be released at the convention this coming weekend.
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### Author:  [@MrMyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMyth)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/32 "2003-07-21T23:42:26Z")
Maybe I’m a bit out of the TF world, but isn’t that gun at the bottom of the first pic how Megatron looked in his original transformed mode? Whenever Soundwave (the flat-out _coolest_ 'Con) fired him?
I loved the Megatron toy almost as much as Optimus. No way in hell you’d get a toy gun that looked like that nowadays.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/33 "2003-07-22T02:36:49Z")
It certainly is. And there is one famous scene where Prime fires Megatron. I can’t remember where, though.
And, actually, you _can_ buy a Megatron if you find the right toy importer… he’s currently being reissued in Japan. Alas, for all intents and purposes, he’s permanently a tank in the US, ever since '92.
Oh, and yes, the truck has a few misaligned panels.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/34 "2003-07-22T08:17:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \*
> It certainly is. And there is one famous scene where Prime fires Megatron. I can’t remember where, though.
“Countdown to Extinction,” IIRC.
> [@](#):
>
> And, actually, you _can_ buy a Megatron if you find the right toy importer… he’s currently being reissued in Japan. Alas, for all intents and purposes, he’s permanently a tank in the US, ever since '92.
Just make sure you leave Megatron in robot mode when going through airport security, or you’ll be in for a world of hurt.
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### Author:  [@MrMyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMyth)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/35 "2003-07-22T14:11:29Z")
Countdown To Extinction…isn’t that the series where they yanked Cybertron into Earth’s orbit?
And I’m a sad, sad little man - I saw the Megatron gun, but I neglected to notice the Creation Matrix next to it.
My TF license will be revoked forever.
_“You got the touch…You got the power…”_
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/36 "2003-07-22T19:03:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MrMyth \*
> **Countdown To Extinction…isn’t that the series where they yanked Cybertron into Earth’s orbit?**
No, “Countdown to Extinction” was the one where the Decepticons stumbled upon the Exponential Generator. The generator was building up to overload (don’t they always?) and would blow up the entire planet when it detonated. Optimus Prime had to load Megatron with the generator and fire it into deep space so that it would blow up far enough away to be harmless.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/37 "2003-07-22T21:15:15Z")
To be fair to **MrMyth,** “Countdown to Extinction” was the postscript to “The Ultimate Doom,” _aka_ the yanked Cybertron into Earth orbit three-part series.
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### Author:  [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/38 "2003-07-23T04:22:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \*
> \*\*Whirl and Roadbuster (and I believe the Deluxe Insecticons too) were from a line called Dorvack. \*\*
The Deluxe Insecticons are from Kiko Chutai Beetras, another Bandai line.
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### Author:  [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/39 "2003-07-23T10:24:40Z")
I’m not sure, but I _think_ the little sign says:
Transformer Masterpiece
Convoy [the Japanese name for Optimus]
December (something – planned release?)
and the card for Smokescreen definitely says “sumookusukuriin”
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