I'm sure like me, a lot of you are pleased to see the return of bios on the backs of the cards. Whether they jive with the show, or not, they give the toy some character.  Hell, it made me want the Universe (halloween) Snowcat.  (didn't get it though, no cash... :tdown )

 

However, after getting back into the Armada PS2 Game (I'm THIS CLOSE to beating Megs.  I've rescued all the Minicons and Datacons...), something came to me -

 

Why in the F&*@ didn't Hasbro make little bios for the Minicons, and more importantly, (the cause of this topic), make ANY MENTION of what superpower they provided their link-partner?

 

I thought that was one of the coolest things about the game, how the minicons had names that showed what they do.  Like Shepherd, Safeguard, etc.  It almost makes me wanna go rename all my minicons.... (well... some of them already have appropriate names).

 

Then DW put out the character guide, and STILL didn't touch on this.  The entire concept of Minicons was that they provided some enhancement to the bot or con.  and yet... no one has put something together that chronicles this. 

 

For instance the Land Military Team each could have different missles a la the R2 Minicons from the game. 

 

Be on the lookout, I'm going to fill in those gaps soon, and post them here.

 

Any thoughts?

points to Armada More than meets the eyes

 

sees all minicon bios.....

What he means is, in the game, each Minicon unlocks a specific function for each Transformer. For example, Jolt unlocks flight-capability for each Autobot, whether it's Prime, Megatron, Hot Shot, or Starscream.

 

However, in neither the comics, nor the cartoon, nothing like that was even alluded to. A Minicon gives extra raw power, that's it. The location of powerlinking unlocks different capabilities, but which Minicon doesn't really matter.

In the comic, and, to far lesser extent, however, they did allude to why each Transformer had a specific personal Minicon. Each Minicon routed power through the bigger Transformer. Personal Minicons were more aware of the specific energy-routes in their own Transformer, and thus could work more efficient with them, to the benifit of both.

 

But, again, neither the COmic, nor the Cartoon, ever alluded to the minicons unlocking specific functions, like in the game.

:pfx

 

and, the card they come on isn't really big enough for two biocards, is it?

They didn't do it because the toys/comics came first and the video game is just an offshoot. The game just had them do different specific powers because they were just freaking power ups that looked like mini-cons.

true, but they were really cool fricken powerups that looked like minicons.

Not to mention that the friggin cool minicon powerups that were the personal minicons were able to be kicked and hit in vehicle mode, giving tons of soccerlike fun to the game.

They didn't do it because the toys/comics came first and the video game is just an offshoot. The game just had them do different specific powers because they were just freaking power ups that looked like mini-cons.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you're missing my point. 

 

"well the toys and comics came out first so we better leave this great idea for the next product to pick up."  doesn't make sense.

 

The whole point of minicons was to provide enhancements.  specific enhancements would have been a treasure trove of cool concepts... for instance:

 

Land Military Team:

 

Bonecrusher: releases a cluster of energon seeking missles, perfect for multiple targets

Knockout: releases a powerful EMP that shorts out its targets

Wreckage: releases a missle that explodes into countless bits of shrapnel on contact.

 

yes, mflinn, we saw the bios, i own that whole collection.  we even saw what abilities they had on their own, but not one of them said what they did for whichever partner they linked to.

 

Not to mention that most minicons didn't have partners a la jolt/hot shot, leader-1/megatron, etc...

 

i'm just saying they dropped the ball.  they should've done this...someone should do it.

But only a few minicons have weapon-abilities. Other minicons, like the Star Saber team, have, individually linked, no special powers for their hosts, except the regular power-boost. And again, only in the game, which was the last format of media the series utulized, this concept of having each minicon a specific upgrade for their host appeared. And it is the only one in which it could, because there were only 3 robots that could use the functions, and each was landbased. The toys don't utilize it, because it's impossible to implement each feature in each toy. Plus, it's utterly pointless. The cartoon couldn't either, because all characters could use the Minicons, and why would Starscream need a Minicon that would allow you to glide? Same goes for the comic. In these formats, it just does not make sense to do such a thing. Only in a game, where only a limited amount of combinations is possible, such a concept is possible.

Sonar could provide a boost to the bot's vision in the dark.

Ransack could provide a grappling hook, or perhaps extra grip strength for scaling mountains.

Iceberg could provide extra power to internal heating systems, thus helping a robot withstand more extreme cold conditions (remember when Prime stalled out when they went to the arctic? (or the other pole, i can't remember).

 

Obviously, these things wouldn't be useful in the toy per se, but how many people have changed their mind and bought a toy due to its cool bio?

 

and yes, starscream wouldn't need a glider minicon...he'd be interested in other minicons...some minicons' powers would be redundant with certain bots, but so be it.

 

does no one else think this was a great missed opportunity?  all some of us ever Starscream about is how slapped-together, last-minute some of the storywriting is for our beloved TFs, and here's a great chance to add some depth to the story.  well... here was a great chance...