Mastaaaaah Foce!

[andersonh1]

Ginrai gets just about beaten to death that episode. Pretty brutal. I notice the opening credits have changed to reflect the fact that Hawk and the others aren't main characters any more. Pretty good battle between Overlord and Ginrai in the opening credits too.

Is Piranacon the most pathetic combiner ever? He gets trashed by Ginrai every time, and it only takes a few seconds.

[BWprowl]

Shit, do I need to catch up.

Damn right you do.

20. Quick, Switch Sides!
This one is kind of a breather/summation episode, with the Autobots recapping that the four Godmasters have been found, the Decepticons complaining about the same thing, and both Cancer and Sixknight voicing their respective misgivings on the subject of faction. It's interesting that Sixknight actually sincerely approaches Ginrai about learning how he beat him a few episodes ago, and doesn't blow him off when Ginrai gives the anime-standard "Humans are strong because they fight no matter what" speech (hey, at least he delivers it well). Interestingly, Cancer's actions in this episode are him trying to reaffirm his loyalty to the Decepticons, while Sixknight's retaliatory actions are him trying to shake off the influences of his previous alignment all for the purpose of GETTING STRONGER. The unintentionally clashing ideologies frames the episode well, particularly in that Cancer actually accomplishes what he set out to do (telling off Minerva), while Sixknight is still left unsure if he's been set on the path to greater strength. It's also cool to see that Ginrai trusts Sixknight and even seems to have a respect for the way he lives (not wanting to insult his honor by helping him in battle), and that Minerva still doesn't think Cancer is a lost cause, even after he goes off on her.

This is also the episode where Ginrai is formally named as the 'Autobot Leader'. The way they talk about it, it seems less like Ginrai would be Supreme Commander or anything like that, and that he's intended to be more of a field commander while Hawk still handles all the coordination back at the base. It makes sense that the Autobots would want their team to rally around the most obviously powerful guy they've got so far, and it provides a dramatic contrast to the way the Godmasters are handled over on the Decepticon side, with Mega and Giga basically forcibly usurping control of the team from Blood, and him not being happy about it, in comparison to the Autobots voting Ginrai in as the leader, and him having to be pressured into reluctantly accepting. He does make a few calls regarding Sixknight in this episode already though, showing that he respects the Autobots' decision and wants to at least try to grow into the role.

This episode also introduces Browning, the robo-gun sidekick given to Cancer by Mega to facilitate her already-uncomfortable relationship with him. It's unique to see a cute roleplay-toy-sidekick character given to a villain-aligned human character, but it works, and Browning is pretty cute, in my opinion. Love the bit where Cancer leaves him to pilot the airship (the same one that also finally explained exactly how the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors were moving their Transtectors between countries), and a few minutes later he's crashing it into the ground, apologizing that "There are still some things I just can't do". Poor little guy. Sadly, I think he disappears for the next few episodes after just being introduced in this one.

The insert song that plays in this episode, while Sixknight is fighting the Decepticon Juniors, is really really cool.

21. The Autobots save yet another little girl! But hey, more Godmaster action in this one!
This one's obstinately a filler episode, mainly just showing the Autobot Godmasters coordinating as a team on a 'big mission', with Ginrai officially as the leader now. They also have bitchin' hovercraft out of nowhere (seriously, where do they get the funding for these things?). It also reinforces just how outclassed the Decepticon Pretenders are now, as they (and King Poseidon, who as Anderson already pointed out, isn't exactly the most impressive gestalt) are beaten pretty soundly, and their plan to kidnap doctors to make humans sad was a pretty stupid one to begin with (and come on! They're only shown to have kidnapped, like, twenty or so doctors! In the whole world? Come on guys!). We do get to see the Godmasters' four-element-based attacks though, which is cool. I was actually all like "Oh, so that's where 'Fire Guts' comes from". But enough about all that, the real selling point of this episode is Shuta's wardrobe:



Truly, no man ever had truer swag.

Another plus was that Copo was pretty kawaii, uguu~, and I was genuinely unsure if she was going to survive the episode, since this show has killed off parents, puppies, and best friends before with no problem. So I got to be fairly relieved/happy when she lived. Cool.

22. Lightfoot Must Choose: Pepsi or Coke?
Oh wow, here's where all the plot went. Okay, opening up with the Decepticons claiming that destroying the Godmasters is a 'new' plan isn't exactly original, but at least they deign to start with someone *other* than Ginrai this time, and as we'll see, their plan is actually pretty good. But the big stuff really starts in this episode with the introduction of Grand Maximus (or at least his Grand component, which is inexplicably subtitled as 'Maximus' here) and the revelation that the war out in space between the Autobots and Decepticons may have elements hitting closer to earth than we previously thought, which looks to become important and influential for future episodes. Indeed, it launches a background plot about the Autobot's creating a secret (even from the kids!) project to equip Ginrai for space travel/combat, which definitely gives the series the beginnings of a more 'epic', continuous feel. They've got a real goal to work towards now: Getting Ginrai into space so he can stop the encroaching forces from taking Earth. Plus, I must confess that I've always enjoyed anime that gradually work their way up to taking place in space (Gurren Lagann, Mai-Otome, even Negima to a degree, cool stuff), so this appeals to me. The rest of the episode is watching the Decepticons put their surprisingly well-implemented anti-Lightfoot plan into action, with Hydra and Buster making their triumphant return after a couple episodes of absence, and their kidnapping and holding-hostage of Lightfoot's father working out pretty well for them until Ginrai's growing leadership and planning abilities thwarted them, not to mention Lightfoot's growth as an actual combatant.

Actually, the Lightfoot thing is handled really well in this episode. He's always seemed the least combat-ready of the Godmasters, and as I mentioned before, he's the only one who lacked a real reason to hate the Decepticons. This episode gives him one, with Hydra and Buster kidnapping his father, and using the opportunity to really beat the tar out of Lightfoot, so when the tables are turned and he can finally fight back, he really lets them have it. It's satisfying to see him grow as an Autobot warrior, and nice that they didn't just neglect the character once his introductory episode was finished.

Overall, this episode's just pretty great in general, with a lot of overarching plot being set up to go on in the background, and a meaty, well-executed main story that shows the growth characters have already experienced, as well as giving some to others, plus a nice big fight at the end (though the bit with Ranger tickling Hydra was a little weird...).

Oh yeah, and the new opening animation kicks in in this episode. The song's still the same, but the new animation itself is pretty cool, and for some reason works better with the song itself to make the whole intro work better. I dunno, it just kind of clicks now.

23. Expose the fact that the fortune-teller is blatantly Mega!
More elements get introduced here, particularly the first instance of Mega and Giga leaving the Decepticon base and actively participating in their faction's mayhem! We technically knew they were Godmasters already, they'd mentioned it before, but here we finally see them in their suits, and get to see their Transtectors, though we don't get to see them transform. The episode also makes known the influence of the Decepticons fighting in space, as they're able to chuck asteroids down to Earth to fulfill Mega's fortune-telling, not to mention apparently somehow manipulate things to blow up a jet full of 450 people (holy shit!!). I like that they don't show any trace of these space-Decepticons in the whole episode. They could've used this to flash-promo a new toy or something, but instead it's left more ambiguous, simply made clear that *something* is up there, able to harm us and our planet from beyond our reach. It's more ominous, and in my opinion, more effective.

Less effective is the way a couple appearances on TV by a poorly-disguised Mega are able to sway everyone on Earth's opinions on Ginrai (you know, despite him appearing all friendly-like on TV several episodes back, and that multiple people before now have been shown to know what Transformers and who the Autobots are), though at least they come to their senses in the end. And hey, the Autobot Headmaster Juniors get to do their rescue team thing, which was kinda neglected for a few episodes before now (they were focusing more on the Godmasters). The kids also end up getting let in on the Bomber Project secret, which actually seems fair to me, now that the space Decepticons it's being designed to combat have proven to be a direct threat to the planet itself.

More weird subtitle notes: The Dam that gets blown up in this episode is actually called Watson Dam, but the subtitles call it Sherman, in one of the more desperate, reaching attempts to tie this thing into more TF series. Seriously, this one comes off as really forced, and with little point to it; is there really anything wrong with implying that there's more than one dam in the Transformers universe?

Masterforce is over half-done at this point, and the series really feels like it's heating up, with the ominous battle in space providing a more intense backdrop to the proceedings, and Mega and Giga's joining of the fray implying that they're getting more serious about the war. And things'll only get more intense next episode, since as we all know by now, Overlord officially debuts!

[andersonh1]

I think the Pretenders just made Ginrai the leader so they could hang out and drink some wine while he's out doing all the fighting!

I had forgotten about DoubleDealer until he turned up a few episodes ago. I've reached the point where the 'Cons are attacking the Autobot base, thanks to DD infiltrating. At least Hawk has shown some sense this whole time by watching Dealer and then exposing him. Seems like he ought to have remained in charge, and maybe he really is. Maybe Ginrai's the target while he's off doing important background Autobot leader type things. I don't know.

[Onslaught Six]

Since we're always talking about translations:

The Japanese incarnation of the Getaway toy. As much as I appreciate "Lightfoot" - a GIJoe I owned as a kid having had that name - the Masterforce show revealed the Godmaster's father as being named "Leftfoot". While I'm not sure if it's what Takara intended - and it's somewhat dippy besideswhich - I can only take this to mean that he is Right Foot, son of Left Foot. Which, coincidentally enough, is the foot you use on the gas pedal...

Conclusion: Rightfoot's got happy feet.

Also, maybe coincidentally, that would mean all three Godmasters (besides Ginrai) start with the letter R. (That said, Lightfoot is such a cooler, TF-esque name...)

[andersonh1]

I just always remember Getaway's starring moment in Transformers #80 where he gets killed. "This time, Getaway, you've been got!"

[BWprowl]

Admittedly, ‘Rightfoot’ works better with the ‘Leftfoot’ pun, and claiming it must be ‘Lightfoot’ on account of all of Takara’s packaging rendering it as such doesn’t really mean anything considering these are the same people who consistently spell it ‘Minelba’. The thing to remember is that neither one is technically right or wrong, since in Japanese the L and R sounds are the *same sound*, not a choice between either translation. So not only does ‘Rightfoot’ work as a pun on ‘Leftfoot’, it’s actually a simultaneous pun in its own dialect as the name can be equally read as ‘Lightfoot’, all at once.

Today’s rudimentary lessons on Japanese were brought to you by Weab-Ohs, a cereal made in Japan, so you know it’s inherently superior to everything American cereal companies put out.

Anyway, now I’m falling behind too!

24. Ginrai gets blown away by a delicious dessert!

Alright, debut of Overlord here! They’re kind of nebulous about how Mega and Giga’s personalities/consciousnesses come together into the single entity that Overlord seems to be, particularly since it seems like it works differently in the very next episode. Anyway, this one is a return to the show’s well-worn path of ‘the Decepticons have a plot to destroy Ginrai!’, though at least in this case they’re more focused on specifically taking out his trailer, knowing it will render him less effective and nullify the abilities of the Bomber Project. Sadly, in this iteration, the once-cunning and effective Hydra and Buster are starting to swing more into Team Rocket territory here, their plan being to lure Ginrai to a movie shoot and blow him up with landmines. What happened to the driven, direct serial killers we saw a dozen episodes ago? Admittedly, the explosion they do hit Ginrai with is pretty extreme, caught me off guard with just how violent it came across, but then they fall into trying to finish off the trailer with plot-weakened laser blasts, taking way too long at actually damaging it and ending up getting curb-stomped by Super Ginrai. I know this is just them jobbing so Overlord can look better here, but it still comes across a bit silly to see what used to be a genuine threat amongst the enemies taken down so many notches. Oh man does Overlord’s introduction make up for it though. He just destroys Ginrai, ripping armor off of him, beating him down, and basically flattening him as a finisher. He may not actually kill him like he thought he did, but the damage is so severe that Ginrai’s Chokon Power can’t even heal him or his transtector the way it normally does (as we’ll see in the next episode), and seeing Ginrai have to actually eject from the transtector because of the damage really drives the point home. It’s a solid, impressive debut for the new big bad guy, much better than Hydra and Buster who ended the episode by retreating for no real reason; here we get to see Overlord actually victorious, and it adds another pressing element to the completion of the Bomber Project: Ginrai needs an upgrade that’ll put him on the level of Overlord.

Also worth noting that the animation in this episode is a bit above what I was used to before in the series. Things move a little more fluidly and there’s more detailed shots of the robots up close, showing complex inner mechanisms and wires and cables and so forth. The shots we get of the Bomber Project aren’t bad either, being detailed, mecha-construction shots that wouldn’t look out of place in a good Gundam show or something.

25. Will the Bomber Project be destroyed? Of course it won’t!

Like I said in the last episode, we see that Overlord’s attack on Ginrai was damn severe, as he’s been hospitalized with his injuries and the transtector is needing to undergo repairs showing that there are limits even to what Chokon Power can do. The scenes of him in the hospital really highlight the differences in having a human like him as the main character/leader as opposed to a vanilla Transformer: If Optimus Prime got severely injured in an episode, you certainly wouldn’t see him recuperating at a hospital hitting on cute nurses. It’s also cool to see the other Godmasters in an out of combat situation for what feels like the first time in a while, with them visiting Ginrai. Here it seems like Road King is going to act as a remedial commander while Ginrai recovers, but Lightfoot shows elements of taking charge, and his growth into those abilities become apparent by the end of the episode, him coordinating the desperate struggle that breaks out when the Decepticons attack his factory where the Bomber Project is being built. Road King, on the other hand, proves to be the resourceful one, coming up with the diversion plan to lead Hydra and Buster away. It’s kind of cool to see the Godmasters in a situation without Ginrai, as it lets their characters break out from under his shadow, and we get more full focus on them.

The Decepticon Pretenders come back for more development in this episode as well, showing how far they’ve really fallen in their own ranks. They actually manage to discover the location of the Bomber Project, and want to tell Mega and Giga about it, but then they get cockblocked by Hydra and Buster who take credit for the discovery themselves. Then they’re relegated to backup in the attack on the project itself, to the point that the Autobot Headmaster Juniors are the ones allocated to fight them! Admittedly, they put up a decent fight against the kids, but they definitely make it clear that their drop in importance has hurt their egos quite a bit. Then, just when it looks like they’ll be able to push through during the battle, Lightfoot and Ranger come out of nowhere and tear arms and legs off of them! Holy shit! And the Pretenders just have to limp away lamely. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

This one’s good, since it shows that with Ginrai down, the Autobots might be considered vulnerable, and the Decepticons are getting more brazen in their attacks. The stakes are being clearly raised, which is a great way to get things heated up as the second half of the show develops. Fitting that, we learn the identity of the space-based Decepticon who was committing attacks a couple episodes ago: Black Zarak. And then we find out at the end that Overlord has made it to the moon to rendezvous with him, meaning that the rush to finish the Bomber Project is only going to ramp up more.

[andersonh1]

I'm way ahead. We've ended up watching two episodes an evening (my oldest daughter loves watching it with me, and even my wife enjoys the storyline). We're down to the last four eps, and Buster and Hydra have

Spoiler

just let Devil Z turn them into robots

. The cracks are starting to show in Devil Z's command as well. His troops seem fine with some murder and destruction, but genocide is a bridge too far.

[andersonh1]

Done, watched the last episode yesterday. Pretty good show, all things considered, and it made the concept of "human transformers" work better than I thought it could. I didn't anticipate all the headmasters/godmasters becoming pure Transformers at the end though. That was a nice plot twist when the Decepticon headmaster juniors lost their use of the Masterforce, AND had their former transtectors turn on them.

So I had to trawl Youtube to find out some answers to some plot questions. Shout Factory should have included the special I found as part of the DVD set. So Devil Z isn't a Transformer, but another alien race entirely. Ginrai's transtector was built on planet Master and intended for Convoy, but then apparently meant for someone on planet Master. Shuta says both, so maybe they built it for Convoy/Prime, and changed plans when he was killed? Or planned to rebuild him? That could use some further clarification. The Autobot godmasters were such because Devil Z stole some Autobot/Cybertron transtectors by mistake. And Black Zarak is Scorponok rebuilt, as I thought.

Good show, and I'm glad I got the chance to watch it. And the theme tune definitely grows on you after awhile.

[Onslaught Six]

So, this is just something I'm playing around with (and we should probably move this to another thread if it grows any further) but I've been thinking of "repurposing" (I hate that term, but whatever) some of the older ArmEnerTron toys I don't really care too much for character-wise and creating a sort of new set of Masterforce cast--most of them, anyway. I'm mostly concerned with the Autobots since most of the Decepticons are so...specific as to warrant their own new figures entirely, in my head.

So here's just sort of a rundown of what I got:

Autobot Headmasters:
Minerva - Cybertron Override (Colours are the same, layout is similar, Override is even a girl in the US)
Shuta - No clue here, although a good repaint of Energon Hot Shot might do. Also thought about Energon Prowl, but he's too blue and not enough white.
Cab - Energon Inferno (There are very few fire trucks in TF, actually, and making this guy Cab/Hosehead works better than almost every other one)

Godmasters:
Ginrai - Cybertron Optimus Prime/Galaxy Convoy. Galaxy Convoy is practically a full-on Ginrai homage anyway. Add in the Wingsaber combination as Godbomber...
Road King/Slapdash - Energon Cliffjumper (Cliffjumper is a yellow and black...dune buggy thing, as opposed to an F1 car, but whatever!)
Lightfoot/Getaway - Movie/Classics Breakaway, who is clearly just a Getaway homage anyway. A nice Reprolabels set would cover any other inconsistencies.
Ranger/Joyride - Dunno

Pretenders:
Metalhawk - justifies his own new toy. I saw a Photoshop the other day of Fall of Cybertron Fireflight (Is that his name?) in Metalhawk's colours (with a shooped head) and it looked damn perfect, though.
Waverider - Nearest I can find is PCC Undertow, who was a Decepticon and has some Movie greeblies, but it's the closest thing I got. VERY few boats in TF...
Landmine - Cybertron Landmine, no question.
Cloudburst - Maybe DOTM HA Reverb or Energon Windrazor?

[annhell]

How about Energon Prowl for Slapdash / Road King?

And, while not exactly the right vehicle type... Cybertron Red alert for Shuta?