Most Wanted Characters: G1 Cartoon

The Transformers Trading Card Game has done a great job of hitting a diversity of Transformers characters, from beloved Gen1 staples to some obscure characters (we're looking at you Firecons), but there are still a ton of characters to feature. Below are some humble proposals for characters from the Generation 1 cartoon.  When applicable, I have added some possible play mechanics to help inspire the game design team.

Gen1 Cartoon Autobots

Huffer and Gears: I remember these two mini-bots as being hilarious because they were always whining. The little pickup truck and mini-semi looking thing never did much in terms of helping out or playing a role in the plot, but they were always there when the Autobots rolled out.  The picture above is he toughest they ever looked in the show.

Beachcomber: He has a cool mellow attitude, is a geologist/environmentalist, and he's a dune buggy.  We need that. Plus, I remember an episode where he found this gold stuff (called 'electrum') in a lagoon that made Transformers invincible temporarily - sounds like an awesome battle card armor to me.

Brawn: He's a small dude with a big chip on his shoulder. For a tiny guy, I remember him being pretty tough and what happened to him in Transformers the Movie was mind blowing (no pun intended).  He looks like a cross between the X-men's Juggernaut and that strange robot from Buck Rodgers (pictured here) so I can't wait to see what the card artists would come up with for him.  He could be a high attack, low defense character to represent his strength but his propensity for charging into battle.

Seaspray: Hovercraft.  Need I say more?  I hope not, because I don't recall him doing anything memorable in the cartoon.  While a hovercraft isn't technically a boat, Seaspray could make it worthwhile for a 'boat' battle card that he could share with Seawatch.

Perceptor: This has to happen.  He's a big nerdy scientist who turns into a microscope (which I believe has been turned into into some sort of sniper cannon in the comics - see picture).  Despite being a total geek, he also survived the bloodbath that was Transformers the Movie.  Legit fighters didn't make it and a bot who turns into a microscope did!  Perhaps his 'smart' mechanic could be the ability to play the "Superior" upgrades on him without needing the Tech Research battle card.

Sky-Lynx: I'm not sure I dig this dude, but he'd be a decent combiner if the game designers can make it work.  He's got a bird part, a lynx part, a bird/lynx combined freak thingy (pictured), and a spaceship mode (all with a strange English accent if I remember correctly).  He's already on a battle card (crash landing), so clearly the game makers know about him. More power to the game geniuses if they can make him work.

Gen1 Cartoon Decepticons

The game has done a nice job of including the G1 Decepticons, but there is one (?) guy who needs his time to shine.

Reflector (the random camera guy who shows up in the background of every group scene but never really did anything): One thing I am learning about collectible card games is, it sucks when you get tons of copies of the same guy.  Here is a chance to remedy that.  Like in the cartoon, three of these guys would make up the alt mode camera. My idea: Two of the same regular common bots would form two halves of the camera, and a mini character would be placed over it to create the lens.  Now, what would this camera do?  I'll leave that up the experts.

Bonus

I have to be honest, I am unfamiliar with Overkill.  But he's a Decepticon robot T-rex mini-cassette so he must happen.  Soundwave needs all the cassettes he can get and you literally can't go wrong with dinosaurs.  Go ahead and throw Slugfest, who is apparently a Decepticon robot stegosaurus, and Beastbox, a Decepticon robot gorilla, at me too. These dudes seem to have hung out with fan favorite Ratbat, so let's give him some friends!


Am I missing someone from Generation 1 we need to get into the game?  Let me know in the comments!

Note: I give permission to the Transformers Trading Card Game to use any of these ideas!

Colorful Windblade

For my entry in the Windblade Unsung Heroes Deck Building Challenge, I had to go beyond my G1 comfort zone to work around a character that first appeared in the IDW comic, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #26: Windblade.  Windblade is known as a "Cityspeaker" because she is able to communicate with dormant Titans.  In the comic, Chromia was Windblade’s bodyguard. They came across Alpha Trion, who let Windblade know that Metroplex was wounded and needed help.  Windblade and her crew sped off and took up residence inside Metroplex and started trying to fix him.  Later, they were found by Autobots from the Lost Light ship captained by Hot Rod.  The ship provided the crucial jump start needed to give Metroplex enough power to create a space bridge back to Cybertron, where a big battle was taking place.

Characters: Windblade Combiner Hunter (12), Chromia Special Ops (8), Private Smashdown (5)

Battle Cards (Pip Colors)(Number):
Attack Drone (WG)(3)
Combat Dagger (O,BL)(2)
Dismantling Claw (BG)(2)
Enforcement Batons (OG)(3)
Escape Route (WG)(3)
Extra Padding (BG)(3)
Fight for Position (O, BL)(2)
Personal Targeting Drone (WG)(3)
Reactive Armor (OG)(2)
Rock Toss (O,BL)(3)
Roll Out (OB)(1)
Scrounge (OG)(3)
Secret Dealings (WG)(3)
Smelt (BG)(2)
Steady Shot (BL,B)(2)
War of Attrition (BG)(3)

Breakdown: 16 Orange, 13 Blue, 30 Green, 12 White, 9 Black.  22 Actions, 10 Weapons, 5 Armor, 3 Utility.

Why these Characters: The challenge was issued to use Windblade Combiner Hunter, so my team started with her.  She uses up a lot of stars, so it was a challenge to build a squad around her.  Chromia was Windblade’s bodyguard so she seemed like a natural partner. I went with Special Ops because I am hoping I can force a battle card synergy between her and Windblade.  I also liked Chromia’s flip ability - return a white card from scrap pile.  Sadly. I couldn’t fit a character that related to them in the comics within my star limit.  Hot Rod seemed like a fun choice since his Lost Light found Windblade in the comics, but he had too many stars.  I gave up on a Transformers lore team-mate and pivoted to a character who could benefit from the battle card strategy I am going with – Private Smashdown.

Why these battle cards: Since I’m guessing the odds of facing a combiner team is pretty low, I focused on WIndblade’s flip ability in which she reveals the top card on the deck and if it has two different color pips, she can play it.  I decided to make a deck with only multi-pip cards to guarantee I would trigger this ability every time I flipped Windblade.

Smashdown’s Airquake Hammerclaw loves this strategy, because the odds are good that I will flip more battle icons than my opponent, which gives the upgraded character a +2 attack.

Chromia’s bot mode ability is to draw two cards if she gets two white pips when attacking.  To fold this into my strategy, I first prioritized double pip cards with a white pip. This added Attack Drone (which is cool because it is stackable in one weapon spot), Personal Targeting Drone, Secret Dealings, and Escape Route to my deck.  Escape Route is helpful because this my gameplan requires both Chromia and Windblade to flip a lot – Chromia to return a white pip from scrap into my hand and Windblade to look at top card of her deck, which I have guaranteed will have a two pip color card. 

With the white two color pip cards accounted for, I tried to get double pip cards that could help me.  Combat Dagger allows has Bold 1.  Putting it on Chromia gives me another chance at getting the two white pips.  Action card Fight for Position does the same thing, giving me Bold 2 for a turn.  Enforcement Batons, Reactive Armor, Smelt, and Dismantling Claw have scrapping abilities. Extra Padding is a stackable armor that lets you flip more cards on defense.  This is necessary given the lack of consistency in pip pulls because I have so many different colors.  Rock Toss has 1 chip damage and it would be great if Windblade activated it on her flip ability. Roll Out allows me to flip both my bots to alt mode, meaning I get to return a white pip card to my hand and trigger Windblade’s two color deck reveal power at the same time.  Scrounge helps me dig for the upgrades in my deck.  Finally, War of Attrition is a powerful card if I can get three in my hand.  A dream scenario would be to have two in hand and then find the third on Windblade’s flip, which would allow me to play all three and heal one of my characters.

Strategy: This deck is built around flipping to trigger powers.  Having Smashdown means i have one less bot I have to flip and helps get a weapon on one of my other bots when he is Ko'd.  In round one, I’d flip Windblade to set up her flip back. In this mode, she gets an extra attack point, so it sets her up to fight as well.  I’d attack with Smashdown to hopefully get him into Hammerclaw mode, which will love the many different colors my attacks will be sure to have.  If I pull a weapon, I’ll give it to Smashdown to get the most out of him before he dies.  Round 2 would be a decision between flipping Windblade back to trigger her ability or flip Chromia to get her in position to flip back and take advantage of her ‘flip two whites during attack’ ability.  This decision would depend on what I have in my hand and what my bots' damage situation is.  If I have one of the flip battle cards like Roll Out or Escape Route, I could flip them both in Round 2.  Either way, I am probably attacking with Chromia before Windblade to keep the theme of her being a bodyguard. Plus, I think Windblade’s flip power will hit more often (100%) than Chromia’s, which is based on getting two white pips, so I want to keep her alive the longest.

Fire in the Sky

Background: In the cartoon, Jetfire is called Skyfire and he has a cool backstory revealed in the episode called "Fire in the Sky."  This is probably why he's called Skyfire, because "Jet in the Sky" would be a dumb name for an episode.

Millions of years ago, before the Decepticons and Autobots started fighting, Skyfire/Jetfire (We'll stick with Jetfire from here on out for convenience sake) and Starscream were buddies exploring the galaxy.  When they were charting Earth, a storm separated them and Skyfire/Jetfire was lost.

Flash forward to the present and the Decepticons are messing around with a crystal that converts the Earth's heat into energon cubes.  While digging around the crystal, Rumble finds Jetfire frozen in the ice and the Decepticons dig him out and fix him.  Starscream is glad to see his old buddy and because he is loyal to Starscream, Jetfire joins the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, the Autobots and their human allies Spike and Sparkplug head up north to figure out why its freezing everywhere. Things don't go well and pretty much all of them get captured.

Megatron starts to sense the Jetfire isn't down with being a total jerk, so he orders Jetfire to execute Spike, Sparkplug, Ironide, Ratchet, Hound, and Gears.  Jetfire refuses and Starscream blasts him and the prisoners with his null-ray (Luckily, Hound used his hologram powers to save the day).  When Starscream leaves, the injured Skyfire is repaired by Ratchet.

Jetfire proudly declares himself to be an Autobot and he and Starscream end up in an aerial dogfight.  Skyfire manages to bury the crystal before he crashes back into the ice.  The Autobots are sad and leave him in the ice for a few episodes for some reason before finally digging him out in the episode "Fire on the Mountain."

Characters:

Captain Starscream (12)

Jetfire Air Guardian (10)

Mounted Missles (2)

Vandalize (1)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number):

Bashing Shield (OG)(2)

Bombing Run (B)(2)

Crash Landing (No Pip)(2)

Defensive Configuration (O)(1)

Disarm (B)(3)

Dismantling Claw (BG)(3)

Extra Padding (BG)(3)

Increased Durability (BL)(3)

Minor Medic Kit (BL, BL)(2)

Mounted Missiles (OO)(2)

Multi-Missile Pod (B)(3)

Null-Ray of Starscream (O)(1)

Reactive Armor (OG)(3)

Scrapper Gauntlets (O)(3)

Smelt (BG)(3)

Vandalize (O)(1)

Vaporize (B)(3)

Breakdown: 15 Orange, 20 Blue, 14 Green, 7 Black.  12 Actions, 9 Weapons, 14 Armor, 5 Utility.

Why these characters: I wanted to recreate the story of these two buddies who grew apart.  I picked Captain Starscream because it features the cybertronian jet alt mode, which I imagine he would have looked like back when they were friends way back in the day.  That only left me with enough stars for the smaller Jetfire.

Why these battle cards: Sort of by accident I stumbled on an interesting pair dynamic.  Starscream likes to scrap enemy upgrades while Jetfire lets you add upgrades from your scrap pile.  This seems like a good way to approximate two planes that started out as bros but ended up enemies.

Bashing Shield, Disarm, Dismantling Claw, Reactive Armor, Scrapper Gauntlets, Smelt, Vaporize and Vandalize try to take advantage of Starscream's "When an upgrade is scrapped, do 1 damage to that enemy" power.

Bashing Shield, Defensive Configuration, Extra Padding, Increased Durability, Minor Medic Kit, Crash landing*, and Reactive Armor were included to take advantage of Jetfire's "When you flip to this mode, put an Armor or Utility from your scrap pile onto this character" ability.  In particular, Defensive Configuration allows another armor to be placed, which I might need if he lives long enough to flip a few times. I liked Mounted Missiles because it has a double orange pip and it is a weapon that could be placed in an armor or utility slot.

Starscream's Null-ray had to be included because he totally blasted his former friend with it. 

Crash landing is obviously useful with planes, but I also liked how it fit what happened in the episode.

Finally, Bombing Run is included to try to keep my two tall planes alive.

Strategy: Starscream transforms first to get the additional attack and goes first.  Hopefully, this gets some utilities or armor into the scrap pile for Jetfire to claim when he flips in round 2.  With Starscream in bot mode, any cards that scrap an upgrade do 1 damage to that enemy.  Starscream can stay in this mode in round 3 to hopefully take advantage of his scrap/chip damage ability while Jetfire keeps flipping back and forth to claim upgrades.  

What do you think of this deck?  Is there any chance of a Starscream/Jetfire reconciliation?

Note: I am short two multi-mission pod cards from actually being able to run this deck, so if you have extra, hit me up!

*Update: Thanks to some feedback, I realize Jetfire can't grab Crash Landing because Jetfire isn't in plane mode when he uses this ability.  I still like it as a card I can play on Jetfire the normal way so I can hurt someone when he dies, but would be open to some other nominations for upgrades he could snag. I've received some good suggestions to use Superior Jetpack or Superior Plating instead of Crash Landing, as Jetfire's scrap pull ability allows you to use them without needing Tech Research.

Ninja Robot Revenge

Siege II has a cool promo character named Nightbird.  But who exactly is Nightbird, where did she come from, and can we build a deck around her story?

One time in the Transformer cartoon, in an episode creatively titled "Enter the Nightbird," this scientist guy made a female ninja robot named Nightbird.  While Dr. Fujiyama built the robot for good, the Decepticons stole her, which is a very Decepticon thing to do.  Bombshell put some sort of chip in her that reprogrammed her into a total badass under the Decepticons' control. Editor's note: Apparently Bombshell can do this using mind controlling "cerebro-shells."


Nightbird then broke into Teletraan 1 (because that's what ninjas do) and stole "the World Energy Chip" from the Autobots, who spent the rest of the episode trying to catch her.  In one particularly moving scene, Optimus prevents Cliffjumper from shooting her and makes a failed attempt to reason with her.  The Autobots eventually (spoiler alert) managed to subdue the super ninja using an electro mesh prison.  While she was placed in storage to prevent her from being used for evil, the episode's ending left hints that she would be back.  Sadly, she didn't appear in the G1 cartoon again, but I believe she showed up in some of the comics.  Regardless, she finally gets her due with this deck!

Note: I have updated this article by adding the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck at the end of the article.

Characters: Nightbird (7), Prime Autobot Leader (7), Bombshell Psy Ops (11)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number in Deck(:
4-Wheel Drive (B)(1)
Bashing Shield (OG)(1)
Battlefield Report (B)(3)
Cargo Trailer (B)(3)
Contract Contingency (BL,BL) (3)
Cooling Vents (O)(3)
Coup (BL)(2)
Data Pad (W)(1)
Energon Axe (B)(3)
Energy Pack (O)(1)
Escape Route (WG)(2)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)
Kinetic Converter (W)(2)
Matrix of Leadership (BO)(2)
Mining Pick (O)(2)
Opportune Repairs (O, BL)(1)
Pep Talk (B)(1)
Pocket Processor (G)(1)
Rapid Conversion (W)(1)
Roll Out (BO)(1)
Treasure Hunt (O)(2)
Valuable Contract (BL)(1)
Breakdown: 13 Orange, 14 Blue, 4 Green, 6 White, 13 Black.  17 actions, 5 weapons, 7 armor, 11 utilities.

Why these characters: Bombshell is the one who implanted her with the mind control chip, so he's got to be here.  Prime represents the Autobots trying to catch her, but he is also included because he tried to reason with her instead of shooting her, which seems like a very Optimus Prime thing to do.  Beyond the theme of trying to stick with what happened in the episode, Prime has a draw card flip ability and Bombshell is trying to collect cards to trigger his KO ability.  I also wanted to try to have one character from each faction to represent her position between the two teams.

Why these battle cards: First, since I had Nightbird, I wanted to use as many bounty hunter battle cards as I could (Contract Contingency, Coup, Opportune Repairs, Valuable Contract).  Bombshell needs cards to trigger his ability, so I then prioritized cards that either help me build a hand (Treasure Hunt, Pocket Processor, Pep Talk, Kinetic Converter, Data Pad) or flip characters, which can also get cards into my hand (Rapid Conversion, Escape Route, Roll Out).  I loaded my deck with upgrades to try to make the most of Treasure Hunt (23).  I picked some card that go with Optimus (4-Wheel Drive, Cargo Trailer, Matrix of Leadership, Energy Pack, Opportune Repairs since he is my only Autobot on this team) and some cards that hopefully would keep my team alive a bit longer (Increased Durability, Cooling Vents).  Finally, I wanted to try Secret Actions, as I rarely have used them in decks (Battlefield Report, Coup) and it seems a Ninja robot would use secret moves.  This deck is split pretty evenly between blue (14), orange (13), and black (13) pips.

General strategy: Flipping is the name of the game to trigger Optimus and Bombshell's draw ability.  Nightbird can hang around in car mode until she is about to KO someone, when she can flip to trigger her bounty ability (which ties well into her ninja thief past).  If playing against a wide team, Bombshell won't need as many cards to trigger his ability, but against tall teams, keeping him alive for a long time might be the challenge.

What do you think of this deck?  Are you captivated by the tragic tale of Nightbird?

Passing the Matrix

This deck is fashioned after that time in Transformers: The Movie where Optimus Prime died and he gave the matrix to Ultra Magnus (not an auspicious inspiration since that didn't work so well in the movie):

Characters: General Optimus Prime (11), Major Ultra Magnus (12), Ultra Magnus Armor (2)

Battle Cards:

Battering Ram x2

Brainstorm x 3

Cargo Trailer x3

Combat Training x2

Cooling Vents x1

Data Pad x1

Defensive Formation x2

Diagnosis x3

Energy Pack x 2

Grenade Launcher x3

Handheld Blaster x3

Improvised Shield x3

Matrix of Leadership x1

Mining Pick x2

Noble Blaster x2

Roll Out x1

Squish them Like bugs x2

Steamroll x1

Team up Tactics x2
Breakdown: 22O, 22B, 2G, 5W. 14 Actions, 12 Weapons, 5 Armor, 9 Utility

Why these characters? Both are trucks and leaders, so I have a better chance of using the Matrix, battering ram, and cargo trailer.  They are both Autobots, so I can use tribal cards like Noble Blaster.  Both are big, so I have a better chance of using Squish Them Like Bugs and can use Energy Pack.

Why these cards?  I only have to flip Magnus once so I tried to have my deck geared towards hitting 2 orange and 2 blue pips.  That's why I have the double pip cards (Handheld Blaster, Improvised Shield, Matrix, Roll Out, Ultra Magnus armor once it gets knocked off).  I tried to pick white cards that would also help me get those cards - Combat Training gives me bold 1 if I have an Armor on Magnus, Data Pad gives me a card and lets me put on one the top of the deck.  Either one of these utilities would help Magnus.  Obviously Mining Pick is very helpful as well. My other white pip is Diagnosis, which could help keep these guys alive. 

Since I have only two guys, I tried to pick pip cards that would help heal these guys or block damage - Cooling Vents, Defensive Formation, Team up Tactics.   I put Steamroll in for situations where I am playing a wide team and need to smash the damage to another player.

Strategy: This one is all about flipping Ultra Magnus and trying to smash with him until his armor gets taken off.

What do you think about this amazing recreation of the saddest moment in movie history?