Grumbles : Powermaster Optimus Prime (+ Apex Armour)

Gripes : Alternator /Binaltech Bluestreaks arms.

Ideas : The Voice of Grimlock

 

Grumbles : Powermaster Optimus Prime (+ Apex Armour)

I don't have a problem with the powermaster version of him, it's that naff apex armour. Ok so here's the deal for those who haven't seen the apex addon (very few on this site probably). It's basically a caboose on the arse end of his trailer designed to make him into a larger robot.

 

So I looked at the box art and thought that looks cool, ok I'll give it a go. Ok I know Prime is now over 20 years old but does he really need a 'Bling' chest warmer and orthopeadic boots?..."I'll stop you Megatron if I can find my servo assisted Zimmer Frame"

 

I seem to have fallen for the "That's too cool, you box art fool" trick like when I was a kid. He was cheap at least and I have the best bits of him even if I leave that travesty in the box and pretend it doesn't exist.

 

Gripes : Alternator /Binaltech Bluestreaks arms.

WHY? WHY? WHY? Who designed this?!! If you have the new version of Jazz or Wheeljack you'll know that there are many ways of having linked steering. It's just such a pig to get his arms both in and out of position. Grr

 

Ideas : The Voice of Grimlock

I have this big problem with Grimlocks' voice. In the cartoons and the US comics to an extent they seem intent on painiting him to sound like Captain Caveman.

 

In other sources (for example the most recent era of Dreamwave, he shows the intellegence I always thought he had, but with the nagging voice glitch which is explained in Vol 1 of the Guidebooks).

 

Ok so here the idea. I don't think he should sound like "Me Grimlock, me badass." Captain Caveman.

 

I thought after reading some of the more erudite dialogue he is tagged with, as having the voice of a Viking warlord. Imagine if you will some of the more lampooned ideas on European accents of broken english, and yet the voice of a Viking with broken english works for me, and changes Grimlock into something else, much more gritty and hardheadded than ever before.

 

But hey that's my own idea. Everyone is different, so maybe that doesn't work for any of you. Though think of the following phrase in your head, and attach the two voices to the words and see which one works better.

 

Caveman Grimlock :"Me Grimlock, me badass"

Viking Grimlock : "Me Grimlock, me badass".

On the subject of Grimlock's voice:  For the longest time growing up, I only had three episodes of G1 on tape:  The FHE cassettes of Transport to Oblivion, Roll for It, and SOS Dinobots.  That was pretty much my entire view of G1, keep in mind.

 

Watching only SOS Dinobots(and not the next one, War of the Dinobots) leaves a much different view of Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge in your mind.  They don't talk in the "Me, ____" speak, and although slow, do have their likable sounding tones.  Grimlock, in particular.  The few lines he speaks in that episode, Gregg Berger delievers powerfully.

 

"We do as told...for now!"  That was the Grimlock I knew for the longest time.  A Grimlock who knew what he was saying, and didn't flower his speech.  One who didn't like the idea of being told there was higher up.  One who could NEVER be comic relief, because he was near invulnerable and wasted anyone in his way.

 

Of course, that was my childhood innocence, which would be shattered around the time I found a local rental place some many years later(Beast Wars was on air, I think) that had Transformers the Movie.

 

Which is a shame, because I also had this totally cool image of my head of Shockwave being a neutral, and didn't care who provided Energon so long as he got it.

Apex is of roughly equal comparative standard with all the later Transformers that combined with Prime. I think he looks cool with the armour on myself - bear in mind that the PM Prime re-issue is the way he was meant to appear, and that the G1 PM Prime had a lot of alterations made to it that didn't improve the mold at all.

I agree with gripe on Smokescreen/Silverstreak's arms.  But you get used to them with practice.  As far as Meister and Grimlocks arms being better, well...that's progress for you.

Oh I agree there are lots of improvements to Prime himself (dicast metal front, chromed thighs and retractable fists which used to bug me on my original back in the 80's), but I'm not one for the "power of a pylon, bling of a Cylon" thing. Just doesn't work for me, as he would have looked a lot better if he had looked like his boxart.

Grumbles : Powermaster Optimus Prime (+ Apex Armour)

So I looked at the box art and thought that looks cool, ok I'll give it a go. Ok I know Prime is now over 20 years old but does he really need a 'Bling' chest warmer and orthopeadic boots?..."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You say that like they took a 20 year old toy (18 really) and recently gave him the Apex armor. That is a no.... That was how he was released in Japan (as well as Super Convoy) back in 1987 or so. So I mean... it is nothing new... and yes, Godbomber (Apex armor) is one of the brickiest of bricks out there.

i like GODBOMBER - its definatly ARMADA/ENERGON HOTSHOT in his youth!

No I wasn't contesting the release as I know it was the Jap version (hence why it actually has a touch of quality with the metal front).

 

Just why the armour? What were they thinking, as he'd gotten the Ultra Magnus treatment which was good enough.

 

And yet no more replies on the idea of Grimlock. C'mon people let me know if the idea is wide of the mark or sounds reasonable.

 

Please?

No I wasn't contesting the release as I know it was the Jap version (hence why it actually has a touch of quality with the metal front).

 

Just why the armour? What were they thinking, as he'd gotten the Ultra Magnus treatment which was good enough.

 

You're not thinking Japanese. When Masterforce was on the air in 1988, giant robot anime was utterly dominated by the Real Robot genre created by Mobile Suit Gundam. In the Gundam shows, the main protagonist gets a "mid-season upgrade", in the form of a more powerful mecha or a booster system that attaches to his mecha to give it more abilities. In a 52-week series, the upgrade usually arrives around episode 26, which is exactly when the Godbomber was completed in Masterforce.  :tflaugh

Basically, the combining-with-the-trailer schtick wasn't enough, because the mid-season upgrade always involves a NEW toy, whether its an attachment or replacement for the original protagonist robot.

 

And yet no more replies on the idea of Grimlock. C'mon people let me know if the idea is wide of the mark or sounds reasonable.

 

Please?

 

Your suggestion makes good sense to me. Sadly, the G1 cartoon was just a few short years too early to avoid the "dinosaurs as dumb tail-draggers" paradigm. I think that if TFs had come along in the toy world in 1988, say, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did, Grimlock would have been treated like a fast, tough barbarian chieftain instead of a slow, tough cartoon caveman.