The Road To El Dorado

My first encounter with the DC family of heroes was through two mediums (both television based); the Superman series of feature films and the Super Friends cartoons. Both were worthy in their portrayal of the DC mythology and represented well the super heroes we know and love today. There were so many things to love about the shows I mentioned that can never be replicated. For example, there will never be another real-life Superman like the one acted out by (Mr. Christopher Reeves). For another, Batman (of the Super Friends series) was actually voiced by Adam West, at one point in time.

Like I was saying, the Super Friends series of cartoons of the 1980s was one of the starting points towards my love of action figures, super heroes, and DC Comics in general - great story line complimented by great characters. However, it was unfortunate to note that some of the characters showcased in this cartoon series never really made it out alive (for lack of a better word). El Dorado is one example.

In 1981, before the release of the well-loved Disney animated movie of the same name, there was an ethic, obviously mocha-toned superhero named El Dorado.

El Dorado was created only for the Super Friends cartoons and has never appeared in a single DC Comic. The starring role that he played in was for Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show as a full-time member. El Dorado, a Latino, was added to the roster of characters in the cartoon for the sole purpose of injecting diversity into the show's overall theme. To say that his character appeared rather stereotypical was like saying you didn't realize we was different from the rest of the Super Friends. El Dorado spoke English with an accent, and was prone to replacing the word "yes" with "si".

It was later revealed through episodes that El Dorado was, in fact, Mexican. No official origin story was ever created to explain El Dorado's past or how he got his super powers, but it has been assumed that they're empowered by ancient magic and his people's warrior-spirit, from being the descendant of Ancient Aztec Sorcerers.

His most frequently used ability was teleportation, which he accomplished by wrapping his cape over his body and vanishing. Anyone or anything he wrapped his cape around could also be teleported with him and there appeared to be no limit to the distance he could travel. Another of his frequently used powers was the ability to generate illusions. These  illusions were also capable of  generating noise and could be touched. He also exhibited some degree of mental powers, including telepathy. Later episodes expanded to include super strength, flight, and the ability to make objects appear and disappear.

El Dorado was also know for his academic prowess in all things Pre-Columbian history and has assisted the Super Friends whenever they were forced to enter unfamiliar ruins or areas in Latin America

While many non-believers may have assumed that characters such as El Dorado may have faded into the recess of time and memory, some of us fan-boys never seem to truly forget or let go of the need to re-promote such images / icons of the classic past. 

While El Dorado was scheduled to be one of the few Hanna-Barbara original heroes (along with Black Vulcan and the Wonder Twins) to receive an action figure after Samurai, the Super Powers Collection line was unfortunately canceled before the figures could be made. However, El Dorado was released in Series 18 of Mattel's DC Universe Classics along with several other Super-Friends/Super-Powers themed figures. 

You can imagine my delight that knowing that the creative directors at Mattel and DC still see it fit to cast El Dorado in this, my most favorite line of action figures.

I guess we will never know what happened to El Dorado, whether he was taken back to be among his ancestors in the Aztec heavens or managing some Beverly Hills gardening-slash-pool cleaning company. The next time you open up a bag of Doritos, spare a second and a thought for the mighty El Dorado.

Buzz Kill

[All evil leaders must learn how to point insistently and intently]

I would guess that being a Go-Bot must have sucked: for one thing, you're currently discontinued, and for another, you'd be constantly over-shadowed by those dastardly Transformers and their rampant public relations campaigns that bordered on presidential election proportions.

Retro-fans would well remember the era of the Go-Bots (although in snippets) - 1984 was the period when Go-Bots were released along side their Transformers counterparts.

Ages ago Classic Articulation did a character focus piece on the goodies leader, Leader-1. Today, right now, we should pay homage to Cy-Kill - the proverbial Megatron in the Go-Bots universe.

In Challenge of the Gobots, Cy-Kill was the leader of the evil Renegades. Cy-Kill was originally a member of the Guardians and friend of Leader-1. Through wanting to be the sole ruler of Gobotron and because he felt he was the mightiest guardian, this ideology came into complete conflict with the thoughts of Leader-1's democratic rule. This led Cy-Kill to break away from the Guardians and become the leader of the Renegades. Thus started the never ending desire to conquer the Gobot homeworld.

[Switches in wall always means trouble - or art deco]

Cy-Kill attempted to invade Earth with the help of crooked scientist Doctor Braxis, but his plans were thwarted by the Guardians. The Guardians were able to eventually capture him.
Through the aid of Fitor (one of Cy-Kill's lieutenants and also a former Guardian), Cy-Kill was able to escape and threaten Gobotron once again.

Notable appearances in the series were in episodes: "It's The Thought That Counts" , "Doppleganger" and "Battle of the Rock Lords" - the penultimate episode.

Cy-Kill was one of the earliest transforming figure ever manufactured in 1983. The toy mold of Cy-Kill was originally Bandai's Bike Robo from their Machine Robo toyline. Bike Robo was a heroic character in red, white, and blue colors. The Tonka company, however, decided to make this character a villain.

[Comes with leather jacket and Village People CD]

The Tonka version was originally released in the red, white, and blue, but in the final year of the toy line this was changed to a more black and green color scheme - reflecting the villainous nature of the character. The animated version, however, had already been drawn in the original colors and so he stayed that way on TV.

In facts that are of purely sidelining nature, back in 1984, when the Go-Bots were in their prime, Tonka Toys reported well over $100 million worth of orders for Cy-Kill and 29 other GoBots since they were introduced in January 1984. However, those days are long gone and we are left with these humble typed words of mine, and pictures.

[Remember how instructional packaging was back in the day?]

Bones

[Skeletor sits atop his giant hamster and shows off his latest purchase from Knick Knacks]

Nothing beats the original villains of yester-years: they always had quirky idiosyncrasies, came with personalized evil laugh-styles, could seldom beat the protagonist hero in an actual fist fight, and are usually ugly as sin.

Skeletor is, luckily for us, all those things.

Skeletor has been a mainstay of the Masters of the Universe franchise, as arch-enemy and main antagonist since forever - perhaps since the creation of Eternia. Depicted as a muscular blue humanoid with a purple hood over his yellowing bare-bone skull, Skeletor seeks to conquer Castle Grayskull so he can learn its ancient secrets, which would make him unstoppable and enable him to conquer and rule all of Eternia.

According to the classic 1983 Filmation brand of cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, little is known of Skeletor's early years. Skeletor is a former pupil of Hordak, leader of The Evil Horde. He was solely responsible for the knowledge used to build Snake Mountain; the command base for the Evil Horde as they attempted to conquer Eternia.

When Hordak and his Horde invaded Eternia and stormed the palace they were driven back and defeated by King Randor's armies, and the magic of Castle Grayskull. Hordak, however, had one final plan - he knew that the twins just born to King Randor were somewhow important, though he did not know exactly why. Hordak set off to kidnap the children, taking Skeletor along with him. Hordak managed to grab Randor and Marlena's daughter, Adora, and would have taken their son, Adam, as well, but was discovered by Man at Arms and Queen Marlena.

[Skeletor's lack of nipples was a concern for the crowd]

A fight broke out, during which Skeletor was overpowered, and Hordak abandoned him and retreated to Snake Mountain. Furious over having been betrayed by his mentor, Skeletor gave away the location of the Horde's secret base in exchange for his freedom.

Hordak had retreated to his base of operations Snake Mountain. When cornered, Hordak opened up a random dimensional portal (later revealed to have led to Etheria) and leaped through with the baby Princess Adora still in his possession.

Though Hordak would escape with Adora, Skeletor remained on Eternia, and set himself up in Snake Mountain. Skeletor remained on Eternia and raised an army of powerful minions of his own and took over as ruler of Snake Mountain. Skeletor's main goal is to conquer the mysterious fortress of Castle Grayskull, from which He-Man draws his powers. If he succeeds, Skeletor would be able to conquer not only Eternia, but the whole universe.

[The secret Horde way of saying 'oh puh-leez, girl warrior']

A later series, that was a re-engineering of the original, confirms that Skeletor was once a man named Keldor who was transformed into Skeletor after nearly dying.

Skeletor possesses an array of mystic powers and is an extremely powerful sorcerer with control over a vast range of dark magical powers. He also possesses considerable scientific skill, and is shown to have skill in creating various machines and devices in both the Filmation and New Adventures animated series.

He is usually armed with a magical weapon called the Havoc Staff; a long pole crowned with a ram's skull (and in some depictions, a crystal ball embedded within). He can discharge bolts of mystic force from the head of the staff, or use it as a focus for more powerful forms of magic.

[1984 classic, featured on many episodes of Robot Chicken]

Skeletor has also displayed the ability to discharge energy from his own body, as is seen in the 1987 film (played by Frank Langella) where he casts lightning from his hands, and in the original animated series where he projects energy from his fingertips.

All versions portray Skeletor as being extremely cunning and intelligent

Of course, Skeletor is never without is evil feline companion Panthor; a giant purple panther who serves as an evil counterpart to Battle Cat. Panthor is portrayed as Skeletor's pet, being at the right of his throne. However, unlike Battle Cat, Panthor only appears in a handful of stories in the original series.

[Like Cringer but eats the flesh of children]

Fun sideline fact: a 94 metre unfinished highrise building in Kraków, Poland was nicknamed after Skeletor, the arch-villain in the cartoon which was popular in Poland in that decade. Spelled in Polish, Szkieletor.

See what you learn when you pay attention.

This is Cobraaaaaaaaaa !

[He wants you (and not in a relationship way]

To be a leader means that one should be fair in judgment and just in dealing with people - and the best villains of the 80s totally reflect the exact opposite of this, and that's what's made them so memorable, so cool. You've got Skeletor, Mumm-ra, Megatron, Mon-starr and more.

However, none of them lead an army as huge and as domineering as Cobra Commander.

The title of Cobra Commander has been reused over the subsequent years, however, the best and most memorable holder of that title was the baddie from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero of 1982

Not much is known of the background of the man called the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander is obsessed with creating political and social conflict in as many number of areas possible. He demands that his minions swear absolute loyalty to himself and Cobra. Being ruthless and totally obsessed, the Commander also likes to personally oversee vital projects himself, even engaging in military combat himself on occasion.

During the run course of the Sunbow animated series subtitled A Real American Hero, Chris Latta voiced the dramatic Commander - infamous exploits of this megalomaniac included a Cobra temple and an Arena of Sport for his amusement. He even had Destro build a MASS Device for him that enabled his men to capture a spy satellite for his own use.

Although only Cobra Commander's eyes are ever openly exposed, it is clear from this partial view that he is a blue-eyed Caucasian. His reason for wearing the mask was not expressly divulged, but in one episode, Destro interrupts his unmasked privacy during a meal and is repulsed at what he saw (which is not shown on-screen). Upon noticing Destro's presence the Commander so humourously muses, "It takes a strong stomach to watch me eat, eh, Destro?".

In G.I. Joe: The Movie it is revealed that he is in fact a many-eyed, blue-skinned snake-man from the ancient civilization of Cobra-La.

Cobra Commander frequently leads assaults of combat himself, but often falls into being a coward at heart whom is usually the first to retreat whenever the battle turns sour. Impatient and frequently hysterical, he was prone to fits of rage when things went badly, often launching into extended rants. He was also greedy and egotistical, often mistreating his own troops to the point of mutiny.

[A Commander is one who knows where to point]

The Cobra organization decides that, after Cobra Commander had repeatedly failed to bring them victory, they should literally create a new leader. Under the guidance of Dr. Mindbender, Cobra's scientists combine DNA samples retrieved from the tombs of history's most notorious despots (along with DNA from current G.I. Joe member Sgt. Slaughter) to genetically craft Cobra Commander's successor, Serpentor, who immediately assumes charge of Cobra and deposes the Commander to the status of a lackey.

Fortunately for the Commander, G.I. Joe managed to interfere with the gene collection to deny Serpentor the critical inclusion of Sun Tzu's essence and with only a little of Sgt. Slaughter's. The absence of that ancient military strategist's influence evidently makes Serpentor prone to impulsive foolhardiness. Cobra Commander, through an opportune moment, manages to save the life of Serpentor from a Joe attack and, thereafter, Cobra Commander seems to be employed as the organization's primary field commander.

[A Commander is someone who knows how to steal movie lines]

Cobra Commander spent most of Season 2 trying to reclaim his former glory from under Serpentor's domineering shadow, assembling his own secret society called The Coil to that end.

Following on from the movie, the DiC animated series re-starts with Cobra Commander left in a snake form, and being kept as a "pet" of Serpentor (who took great enjoyment in taunting and torturing the former leader and kept him in a cage). During this time, some members of Cobra were finding themselves disillusioned with Serpentor's leadership. In particular, The Baroness (recently rejected by Destro for Zarana), was finding herself no longer in Serpentor's good graces, and sought the means to oust him from power.

Opportunity presented itself in a scientific study she found suggesting the mutagenic properties of the Dragonfire energy. Seeing her chance, she, with the help of newly-joined Dreadnok Gnawgahide, released the captive Commander (still a snake) and took him into a cave believed to be a major source of Dragonfire power. Once there, the Baroness and Gnawgahide performed a ritual to unleash the Dragonfire. Their efforts bore fruit, as the Commander was returned to a more humanoid form (albeit green and reptilian in nature). After evading capture by the Joes, the Baroness and Gnawgahide provided Cobra Commander with an old battle suit of his and went about beginning the next phase in the Commander's plan to retake his organization.

Contacting Destro, Baroness surprised him by showing him the Commander in his new humanoid form. This caused Destro to immediately join their cause (and dump Zarana). As this was happening, Cobra Commander was also regaining the loyalty of some of his men, if not in some cases by force. Using the Dragonfire energy (again), he created a new fleet dubbed the Python Patrol, which he then used to overtake Serpentor and regain control of Cobra. In classic Cobra Commander fashion, he wasn't happy with simply defeating his usurper. In a final display of ruthlessness, he turned the Dragonfire energy against Serpentor, mutating him into a pig for Gnawgahide to keep as a pet.

A Real American Hero original figure line of 1982 featured Cobra Commander - fashioned with a light blue helmet with silver faceplate and red Cobra insignia on chest. This would probably be his most memorable representation.


This figures accessories included a small, black laser pistol with round, grilled muzzle.which could be stored in an impression in the figure's back.

The hooded version of Cobra Commander, released in 1984 used the same body mold as the 1982 original but with a new head and was on available as a mail-in direct-to-order.

Subsequent releases of Cobra Commander diverged from his original representation to be more functional themed - such as Battle Armor or the interesting Impostor character. A fun fact to add to your retro knowledge: over 40 versions of the Commander were released between 1982 to 2009 (inclusive of the movie line releases) making him one of the most re-issued and re-modeled characters of the Joe universe next to Snake Eyes.

[A Commander is someone who can stare at you for hours]

Another fact for you: the comics were very careful to differentiate between Cobra Commander's helmet and his hood which was only for ceremonial occasions, while the helmet was worn whenever he was in the field or in danger of facing combat.

See-cons

[The perfect camouflage is you were hiding out in an 80s party]

Does anyone actually know how many Transformers were actually conceived in the entire Generation 1 spiral? It's more of a rhetorical question actually, but if you do happen to know, you're a larger fan than I am and deserve adoration.

But, in any case, an acceptable answer is: alot.

There were so many characters - Autobot and Decepticon - that its easy for one to lose track and totally forget about the existence of some. One bunch of characters I'm going to address in this entry have been out of original production for almost 20 years ! I can just barely remember playing with these awesome figures: the Seacons (pronounced See-cons).

The Seacons are a team of Decepticons named for their sea-animal alternate modes. The team is able to merge their bodies and minds to form the gigantic Piranacon. The team members are:

Snaptrap is the team leader. He rules the other Seacons through fear of force rather than any sort of inspirational leadership qualities. He is, however, very good at what he does - brutally and efficiently taking apart Autobots.

Nautilator possesses a rather unfortunate weakness - for supposedly an underwater specialist, he's no good at underwater operations whatsoever. Due to this, when formed as Piranacon the other Seacons let him form Piranacon's weapon rather than anything else in combined mode.

Overbite is interested in only one thing - hunting prey, be it Autobot or luckless human ships that happen to get in his way. Oddly for having a shark alternate mode, he possesses extra limbs to help function on land.

Seawing is the team's stealth specialist, gliding silently through the water and attacking without warning. He also has designs on being the leader of the group; likened to the Starscream of the group.

Skalor is disgusting even by Seacon standards: always leaking oil, lubricants and various other fluids is so disgusting that even the other Seacons try to avoid him. Skalor doesn't seem that bothered about getting it fixed - even when it causes him to seize up in battle.

[The most tentacle-est Decepticon ever]

Tentakil is the cruelest of all the Seacons. He'll lure opponents to their doom by complimenting them on their battle prowess, letting them think he is an honorable foe - then he'll strike and take them apart. He enjoys tricking them more than actually destroying them.

Although the Seacons' personalities are wildly disparate, their combined mode of Piranacon is a successful combination of their minds. But as all the Seacons love hunting their prey, Piranacon (known in Japan as King Poseidon) is also dedicated to this without the personality conflicts that paralyse other combiners.

[The awesome complete Piranacon]

As the incarnation of the six feuding Seacon personalities, Piranacon finds and destroys one hapless victim after another in great succession. He will continue this course of behavior until he runs out of fuel (which he inevitably will do since he never pauses to re-energize) or until he is stopped (which considering his awesome power, rarely happens).

Piranacon is so single-minded about his task that he will brush aside any Decepticon who tries to talk to him about anything else.

[The always cool Energon card]

Piranacon's strength is immense. He can hold up. to 4,000,000 tons, making him ideal for lifting freighters and various warships from the sea. He is fully operational up to a depth of 30,000 feet below sea level. He only walks at a maximum speed of 15 mph on land and 10 mph undersea, but since he is virtually impervious to weapons-fire, his need for speed in order to evade enemy attack is negligible. He wields a jawbreaker cannon (which is actually the weapons-base' mode of Overbite), which shoots powerful metal-eating, salt-based corrosives.

That being said, the group is known for possessing an extra ability not present in the other combiners – each 'limb' can also transform into a weapons emplacement, which can be wielded as a gun by Piranacon - which lends logic to the fact that the Seacons possess a sixth member).

When later packaged together as a giftset, however, Nautilator was not included, making him the rarest and most sought after of the group among collectors.

The composition of Piranacon's limbs differs from show to show. Seawing and Tentakil are the constants, always forming the left arm and leg, respectively. Piranacon's box art show Overbite as the right arm and Skalor as the right leg, while his instructions show Skalor as the right arm and Nautilator as the right leg.

A point of note is that the Seacons were released too late in the toyline to make an appearance in the US Transformers animated series: their Japanese counterparts, however made it to the small screen in 1988’s Japanese-exclusive series, Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, where they demonstrated a noticeable behavioral difference from their comic depictions.

Hasbro has exclusively release a Generation 1 Commemorative Seacons line in their original colors for the first since their initial release in 1988 - and they're amazing, just looking at them.

This limited edition set is only available in North America.

[True retro packaging]

The commemorative exclusive comes packaged in an awesome collector gift-box, includes collector cards, includes all 6 figures needed to form Piranacon, and each figure comes with individual weapons. This is the first time Piranacon has ever been reissued with the G1 color scheme.

Shipments from the Hasbro factory will arrive in two (2) batches, in Late July and in Late August.

Uncle Ben

[The Orlando Bloom of Third Earth]

Many a child-at-heart still draws fun-filled, action-packed memories when they recall the ThunderCats series - the "Hoooooooo!", the villains, the weapons and the play-sets and the characters.

We (meaning the classic geeks) are all familiar will the main protagonist group that made up the nuclear family of the ThunderCats. I've always been more curious as to the origins of the mysterious trio that were introduced to the cast later on in the series history. Rather than draw it out into one large entry, let's start at one of these curious cats: Ben-Gali.

Ben-Gali is one of the two younger new Thundereans among the trio, ideally named after the bengal tiger but more resembling a white tiger. He is a skilled blacksmith apparently like his father before him. This talent proves valuable after the Sword of Omens is once again brokenby Tug Mug in 'Mumm-Ra Lives!'.

Bengali was introduced in the "Thundercats Ho!" movie (aired as a five-part episode): a ship that escaped Thundera just prior to its destruction and wound up shipwrecked on Third Earth for a time before they were found and rescued by Lion-O and the rest of the Thundercats.

[A grumpy Ben-Gali]

Fast and agile like Tygra, Ben-Gali refers to him as 'brother' - but not in hip-hop way, mind you. It is unclear if they share a true blood bond or if the greeting is merely meant as a term of endearment (note: the new ThunderCats repeatedly call the originals 'Nobles' while referring to themselves as mere Thundereans).

In combat, Ben-Gali wields a weapon called the Hammer of Thundera. It can shoot energy blasts, and carries smoke pellets in its handle, to allow him to cause confusion and provide cover for withdrawal from a fight.

[Ben-retro-Gali]

Ben-Gali's figure is essentially a re-paint and molding of Tygra's body. As with his counterparts, Ben-Gali's action figure was issued in 1987 (Series III) with new Battle-matic Action: Using your forefinger, push down the battle-matic action lever on the back to move Bengali’s arm. It can be said that Bengali is considered one of the rarest and highly sought after ThunderCat figures - a rare jewel for any collector to have in their collection.

It's less than coincidental that this Classic Articulation entry comes along with the release of a Big Bad Toy Store Exclusive release: the Bengali 10” Cold Cast Porcelain Statue, sculpted by Paul Bennet. This statues is truly exclusive because only 350 were produced and set up for grabs.

[Speedos on top of leggings are cool]

This statue is packaged in a full-color collector’s box and depicts Ben-Gali in a combat-ready stance, with the Hammer of Thundera. If you're the rich and resourceful person I know you are, then point your browser towards BBTS and get one just for yourself.

Trakker Jumps Joe

[Matt Trakker: it's not Photoshop]

Written by GL

Believe it or not, because I didn't when I first saw it, but the awesome leader of the M.A.S.K. team of do-gooders has been moved and absorbed into the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe line !

The 25th Anniversary collection was the best overall toyline of 2007, with excellent sculpts, awesome articulation, and cool accessories.

Specialist Trakker leads a secret unit which develops ordinary-looking vehicles that convert into advanced combat vehicles. Joining forces with the G.I. Joe team, the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.) team battles V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). The new spin on things is that V.E.N.O.M. was a unit formed by Cobra to construct its own converting vehicles. Specialist Trakker uses his next-gen technological devices to preserve peace throughout the world and stop the corrupt forces that are using the same technology to control the world.

Created by Kenner, M.A.S.K. was basically (some-say) a rip-off of competitor Hasbro's G.I. Joe and Transformers (read: figures and changing vehicles).

Obviously the original story had no connection to either G.I. Joe or Cobra, but otherwise the stuff on his filecard is still retro accurate: single father Matt Trakker was the multi-millionaire philanthropist whose money and technology kept the M.A.S.K. team going. Miles Mayhem really did steal half the M.A.S.K. masks, and used them to perform mercenary work, leading Trakker to assemble a team to counter him.

[Matt & Matt: you make the comparison]

Matt never had a codename (no one in M.A.S.K. did), which is why this figure is identified only as Specialist Trakker. Of course, they could have named him Thunderhawk (after his flying Camaro) or Spectrum (after his mask). Just calling him 'specialist' shows that this new Trakker's work is as an independant support role.

The figure's suit has been painted to look alot like the old M.A.S.K. figure: the gray of his flight suit, the flight harness, etc. It doesn't quite match the old toy, but it is fairly similar to the animation model.

[The new Spectrum: the Hasbro remix]

Matt also wears a helmet and it shares some stylistic elements with the original Spectrum mask, however, there has been no word on whether it can still fire a sonic blast or allow the wearer to see different visual spectrums.

He comes with a nice plain machine gun and a five-piece helicopter backpack that seems like Inspector Gadget run through a car compactor. In all honesty, with the green painting (seen in the photo), it looks darn close to Condor.

[Matt In Flight: so much for stealth coloring]

General consensus over the figure shows that there are some fans out there who think putting Matt Trakker in the G.I. Joe line is a show; some feel is a con to real Joe fans. Either way, the fact of the matter is Hasbro acquired a lot of licenses and original properties when it bought Kenner, and it's good to see they're willing to give all retro characters a chance.

Dark Storm Coming

[Visionaries: you know it!]
Written by GL

It's time to cycle back through all that good stuff that be used to love. Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was a true classic cartoon that just didn't last very long, sad enough to say. The show had a pretty solid premise, the characters were memorable, if not over-cliched to the fight between good and evil, and the action figures were pure class.

So, you had the Spectral Knights on one side of the fence, and the Darkling Lords on the other. And the circle of life continued on for just about a season.

[Darkling Lords: the 1987 line-up]

Being on the side of evil was never a good thing; you always had to face defeat, your morals were alway shoddy, you never got any good-natured chicks on your side and your boss was always usually an abusive dunce. This scenario was never any different for the Darkling Lords.

Rewarded for his cunning and ability to scale walls effortlessly (no arguing how that would make you a good head baddie), Darkstorm was the leader of the Darkling Lords.

[Darkstorm: wondering who un-tied his shoe laces]

Even before receiving his totem powers, he commanded the allegiance of Reekon and Mortredd; two of the in-waiting lackeys. In the pilot episode of the show, Darkstorm moved on to gain the further allegiance of the other members of his would-be Darkling Lords when finding them caught in a trap during the quest to Merklynn's shrine. In all his charm, Darkstorm made all those trapped swear loyalty to him in exchange for helping to freeing them. Because, if anything is right in this world, it's best to always kick people when they're down.

His bad mamma-jamma is so bad in fact that he even managed, in episode 7 to overthrow the great wizard Merklynn and assume the throne of Iron Mountain. Darkstorm is, without a doubt, a central character in every one of the shows - with his devious plot-brewing and dastardly schemes.

[Original Backcard: I miss these things]

He bears the totem of the mollusk and his power staff holds the Power of Decay. The cartoon showed he also had a secondary power to reverse his own Decay, a talent that is not commonly found in the other Visionaries collective.

To instigate the Power of Decay, one merely needed to recite: "By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not, Let all that grows recede and rot!" To reverse it (when you're in a good mood), utter: "Power of rot, obscuring truth, What once was old restore to youth!" On one note, this power to rot any substance was usually used by Darkstorm to wear down the armour of his foes.

[Original Action Figure: I had this !]

Release along with everyone else in in the 1987 action figure line, Darkstorm comes packed with his Decay power staff and a twin-bladed hand axe - all must-haves for the aspiring abusive head baddie.

Bring on the decay !

All Just A Mirage

[Mirage: took this picture in mid-conversation]

Written by GL

Mirage was one of the earliest members of the Transformers universes. After Optimus Prime and Megatron, Mirage (as a name) is one of the most re-used names; which I guess leads on to the continuity of the character.

Mirage's character background is quite well documented, especially if you take into account that fact that he doesn't exist. On Cybertron, he was one of the planet’s upper class. And even though Mirage joined up with the Autobots, he's one of those fella who sometimes just doesn't know why he did, which leaves his fellow Autobots finding it hard to trust him. He often tries to avoid conflicts directly and, at times, has voiced a preference to return back to the good ole days on Cyberton.

Ironically enough, Mirage is excellent at hand-to-hand combatant as well as a skilled sharpshooter. He is armed with a rifle which fires explosive, armor-piercing darts, but the most important piece of his gadget base is his shoulder-mounted electro-disruptor, which can bend photons to make Mirage invisible, or appear to be where he is not, or even alter his physical appearance. All those whom eat their veggies will now understand why he's called Mirage.

Even though that is the character's persona, the animated series chose to shaped Mirage into a more gentle character, not the snob suggested by his profile. His actions immediately after the Transformers’ reactivation on Earth in 1984 were quite cool ones, which included working with Hound on a plan to dupe the Decepticons, and using his invisibility powers to sneak aboard the villains’ space cruiser as it launched, sabotaging it from within and forcing it to crash back to Earth.

However, Mirage’s role in the Autobots’ battles on Earth was kept at a minimum; of course, there were the odd spot-light roles such as when the Decepticons impersonated the Autobot to swipe some power-cubes, or when Mirage was among the team of five Autobots who disguised themselves as the Stunticons, impersonating Drag Strip.

[Death Scene: not for the faint of heart]

There have been many accounts and claims about what ever happened to Mirage when The Transformers: The Movie came out. You see him in the background from odds and ends. Some fans speculate that he was among the dead upon the Decepticons' onslaught. But you never know, with is ability to turn invisible, he still might be around in hiding.

Mirage as a G1 figure was part of the Transformers line from 1984 through to 1991. He was indeed part of the original Autobot car assortment. Mirage was originally designed by Koujin Ohno in 1982 and released as part of the Japanese Diaclone series by Takara.

[G1 Booklet: I love these]

Fun Fact: Mirage transforms into a Ligier JS11-Ford Formula 1 racing car, which is the origin for his Japanese name. He bears the racing number 26 – denoting the vehicle as that which was driven by Jacques Laffite in the 1980 season. See what you learn when you pay attention.

The toy was specifically designed to work with the launcher mechanism contained in the Optimus Prime / Battle Convoy trailer. And fans claim that the toy is easily broken when excessively used at the waist pivot.

If you didn't already know, the labels on the Mirage figure are references to several real-world companies. The largest name, Citanes, is a deliberate rip-off of Gitanes, a French cigarette company, with a Gitanes' logo of a dancing gypsy woman even on Mirage's belt (in robot form). Ligier is the name of the company that manufactured the JS-11 chassis, while elf is a direct reference to the French oil company that is now TotalFinaElf.

[Classic painting: I told you the stickers bit was true]

See what you learn when you just love vintage stuff.

In 1986, he was made available as a mail-away item (as he was no longer shipping to retail shelves) in multiple offers. In Japan Mirage was also included in the 1986 Goodbye Convoy gift set. This was the final release of the mold, making Mirage the only one of the original Autobots not to have been reissued in some form.

[Retro Cool: bulky, ugly and lovable]

It was announced at Botcon 2005 by Hasbro and Takara that the mold for Mirage's original toy, first released in 1984, has been lost, meaning that the toy cannot be reissued like many others have - despite the fact that certain unnamed Chinese pirates have produced near-to-perfect reproductions of this awesome character.

Juicy gossip: I heard that, in China, they have re-created the mold by completely reverse-engineering the original Mirage mold to make close re-makes. Bless their piracy-filled hearts. See...the guy is still around, it's all just a Mirage.

Krang My Man

[Krang & Shredder: best friends for life]

Written by GL

Say it loud and say it proud: we love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). We love 'em to death. No other anthropomorphic animal character-based cartoon ever caught out attentions so damn blatantly. We went and bought the vehicles, the play-sets and the movies. Dammit, we taped the movies ! But to love the turtles mean to also love the villains they faced - even if they were oozing pus balls. Like Krang.

Krang first appeared in the 1987 TMNT cartoon and went on to make appearances in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book, as well as most of the classic TMNT video games. However, Krang never made an appearance in any of the live action movies.

Krang is, despite his pus ball appearance, an extremely intelligent warlord from another world known as Dimension X. He somehow took command of an army of Rock Soldiers under the leadership of General Traag, and stole the Technodrome (that mother of a fortress he rides around in). One day, an unexplained incident occurred that caused Krang to be removed of his body and made to a brain-like, pus-like form, also resulting in his exile from Dimension X to Earth, along with his army and the Technodrome.

[Bachelor Krang: no fake]

On Earth, Krang and Shredder hit it off, who, along with his robotic Foot Soldier army, moved into the Technodrome. In exchange, the Shredder designed a new body for Krang, a human-shaped exo-suit. Shredder lived up to his part of the bargain since he was unable to deal with the turtles and needed Krang's help.

Krang's ultimate goal is to take over the Earth (just like every other super-villain). Every plan throughout the cartoon revolves around either taking over the world or powering-up the Technodrome to take over the world. However, it should be made clear that Krang doesn't really care much for the affairs between the TMNT and Shredder.

As the cartoon plot goes, Krang spent 8 seasons in the Technodrome scheming to take over the Earth. The TMNT finally destroy the Technodrome, trapping it in Dimension X for good and putting an end to Krang's plans.

There were several attempts made at various points in the cartoons story-line to revive the Technodrome and Krang - however, each time was met by trouble and failure. Each time Krang is left to rot in Dimension X.

[Krang & Chang: in the driver's seat]

If you didn't know, Krang's powerful mechanical body is named Chang. Krang rested inside the stomach area of Chang (which we can assume is the cockpit). Originally, the suit had a microchip installed that allowed both Krang and the robot to change his size to near Godzilla proportions. This chip was, however, destroyed in the very first episode the suit first appeared.

[Mega-Krang: the world's biggest baby]

Even without this microchip, Chang & Krang (even though sounding like a take-out place) was quite powerful. The hands could shapeshift into various weapons (like axes, maces and pinchers) and even a communication device.

[Original Krang: Playmates exclusive]

Krang was first released under the Playmates toy-line label in 1989. He was part of the second wave of TMNT figures - alongside Casey Jones and Usagi Yojimbo. Now, Krang was not packaged with Chang (his mechanical body) but rather sold as a detachable pus-ball joined to a bi-pod-like vehicle as transportation - think aquarium on wheels and you'll get the idea. It was actually a Mobile Life-Support System.

Krang also came with a brain-drain gun and mechanized arms that could be attached to the Mobile Life-Support System.

[Original Chang: nu skool transportation]

Chang was finally released in 1992 at roughly 11 inches tall. Now that's a figure !

How many times did I say pus-ball ?

Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dawg

[Classic Autobots: Rodimus & Hound]
Written by GL

Ok, I agree that this is probably one of the crappiest titled blog entries I've ever produced. But there no judgement on quality. I chose to do this character focus purely because of the sheer coolest of this Autobot character represents and because a good and dear and very married friend of mine has this Autobot in his mini-Robot Heroes collection (which I managed to have a gander at over the weekend).

[Robot Heroes: cute as Hound]

The toy piece that was to become the Autobot known as Hound was originally released as part of the Japanese Diaclone series by Takara (one of the first robot lines that contributed to the birth of the Transformers as a line).

What makes Hound a classic is that he was a pure first generation Transformer. He was released in 1984 and was one of the smallest of the Autobot cars. Hound's alternate mode is that of a 4X4 military jeep, and comes with three different weapons - a missile launcher, a machine gun and a hologram gun. All this artillery more than makes up for his size. Message: midgets should just buy guns.

[Animated Hound: small but strong]

Fact to dazzle your girlfriend with: Hound is known as Dépisteur in Québec and Canguro in Italy.

As a 'person', Hound is known for his love of the planet Earth, his tracking skills, and the ability to project highly realistic holograms.

During the first season of the cartoon, Hound served as the Autobots' primary scout and reconnaissance soldier - this appeared to suit him well because he quickly grew to love the natural landscapes of planet Earth. Hound was also integral in the creation of the original 3 Dinobots, as he was the fella that captured holographic images which served as rough blueprints for construction of Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge.

[Animated Hound: loves football too]

After a spurt of early appearances, Hound became more and more absent from the show, showing up only when his holographic powers were needed. Autobots = petty? We'll never know.

He first appeared in 'More Than Meets the Eye', the three episode pilot that launched the toyline onto television. Funnily enough, for the earlier parts of the show Hound was Spike's prime companion before Bumblebee came along. Hound was the first to introduce Spike to the concept of transforming and also gave Spike a tour of the nearby desert while telling him tales of Cybertron. Hound would also end up being rescued by Spike once when this friendly Autobot was almost drowning. Hound was in the main cast of the pilot, almost playing as large of a role as Optimus Prime himself.

This changed however when the show moved into its regular season. Bumblebee became Spike's companion, and Hound took a backseat. However he still did have some notable appearances.

[Animated Hound: no one messes with you when you have a gun on your shoulder]

Hound made a brief cameo appearance in the Transformers: The Movie where he, along with Sunstreaker, stood next to Optimus Prime before Prime confronted the Decepticon forces. We can assume that Hound did not survive the two attacks on Autobot city, as he did not make any further movie appearances. This might have been due in part to the fact that they were discontinuing the 1984 toyline and thus needed to kill off some characters to move along.

[G1 Hound: stubby as he was]

When Hound was released in 1984, he came with a hologram gun, a machine gun, a missile launcher, 3 missiles, a spare tire (!) as well as a gas can (!). He was a practical yet deadly fella.

As mentioned, Hound was released as part of the initial Autobot assortment in, transforming into a Mitsubishi J59 Jeep. Mounted on the back of the vehicle mode is a large, silver machine gun turret.

[Vintage Package: all the accessories were true]

In robot mode, Hound is armed with a large, silver holographic rifle and a shoulder-mounted, spring-loaded, firing rocket launcher with three silver projectiles. The US version of this launcher had severely weakened springs for safety reasons.

He was reissued in 2004 by Takara in their collection reissue series, and this mold was used to make the e-Hobby exclusive Detritus figure (whom is a Junkion, if you didn't know) during that same year.

Hound was yet another greatly designed and personalized character that just didn't pull through into the modern age. But, he will alway be remembered. Just like Wheeljack. Let us bow our heads.