Most Wanted Characters: Transformers the Movie

Transformers the Movie Characters We Need

Transformers has done a good job of fulfilling my Gen1 cartoon wish list.  But there is another rich source of characters left to be explored.  We already have Springer, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, and Blurr ... oh and thanks to Wave 5, a playable Kup.  But there are tons more cool characters where that came from ... and by where that came from, I mean Transformers: The Movie.  Below is my list of most wanted bots from the Generation 1 animated movie.  Not only are these characters pretty cool, but they would help me make more Gen1 theme decks:

Galvatron: After being mortally wounded in a one shall stand, one shall fall battle with Optimus Prime in which they both pretty much fell (see Passing the Matrix), Megatron was chucked out of Astrotrain and left to die (see Oh, how it pains me to do this).  But he kind of didn't.  Unicron found him and turned him into Galvatron.  I remember Galvatron being straight up awesome in the movie and kind of random insane in the subsequent tv episodes.  Either way, we need him in the game so we can have him go up against Starscream Decepticon King.

Cyclonus: Like Galvatron, Cyclonus was created by Unicron from a fallen Decepticon.  I somehow tricked my brother into giving me his Cyclonus toy when we were kids.  The least we can do is make a card for him.

Scourge/The Sweeps: Scourge and the Sweeps, which were pretty much just random dudes who looked just like Scourge were the rest of the Decepticons that Unicron repurposed.  I don't really dig this guy, but he could be a character where you could play multiple common Sweeps in a deck and get a stacking bonus to mirror the fact that there were more than one Sweep and they were all pretty much the same.  This would cut down on wasted common cards and help with pauper/intro decks (which apparently have been renamed Junkion decks).

 

Wreck-Gar: Speaking of which, Wreck-Gar is the leader of the Junkions, a group of junk robot Transformers that live on planet Junkion, which is basically a big garbage planet.  Wreck-Gar  seems to only be able to talk with Earth TV  soundbites (which the live action movies ripped off for Bumblebee, only less awesomely).  When the fleeing Autobots encountered the Junkions after crash landing they fought before realizing they can be friends.  The Junkions were easy to knock down, but they kept getting back up and they had the ability to bring Ultra Magnus black to life with some special wax polish stuff (which could be a legit battle card for them).  Also, when they appeared in the movie, Weird Al's Dare to be Stupid was playing, and that's just amazing.  Wreck-Gar is the only named Junkion I can remember, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have a team of them.

I thought of three mechanics Junkions could use.  Since he likes junk, Wreck-Gar could sift the scrap pile for something useful. Since he gets knocked down but keeps coming back, he could have some sort of back to life ability, which hasn't been seen in the game yet.  Finally, reflecting his ability to save Ultra Magnus, he could resurrect one bot during a game if he finds the appropriate battle card.  This could be limited to Ultra Magnus, a high star count character to help tall decks, an autobot to encourage tribal builds, or any other limitation to keep the game balanced.

Sharkticons: These guys were the guards/executioners used by the Quintessons.  In the movie, they tried to eat Hot Rod and Kup till Grimlock and the dinobots came in and totally bossed them.  My pitch here is similar to Scourge.  Because they are not unique, you could play more than one at once, with multipliers that reward that to simulate their swarming ability.  This could be a way to feel better about getting duplicate common cards. Plus, look how cool these guys look in alt-mode!

Quintessons: These jerks presided over captured bots and rendered them guilty or innocent.  But the strange thing was, if you were innocent, you got tossed into the Sharkticon tank to die.  I literally spent hours as a kid trying to figure this out.  What did the bots do to tick off these guys?  What was up with the 'opposite day' verdicts?  If they found you guilty would they let you go?  Later seasons of the show would sort of go into their backstory, but at the time of the movie, the Quitnessons were an enigma that boggled my young mind.  In card form, how about the first four way changer in which each mode has a different 'face' representing the different sides of the Quintessons?

Wheelie: This little guy was just chilling until the Dinobots found and befriended him.  His speaking in rhyme thing ("Wheelie say, meet friends today!") is either a cool gimmick or annoying.  He'd make the perfect small size character card.  Plus he would go perfect with the Fling battle card.  He's on the card and it has his signature slingshot.
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Rodimus Prime: I initially left Rodimus Prime off this list because he's basically Hot Rod with the Matrix of Leadership and an extended trailer (not sure how that works). But, he's less whiny than Hot Rod and the toy was cool, so let's get him as his own card!  Maybe he has some ability that only triggers when he gets equipped with the Matrix of Leadership card.

    

Kranix: His role consisted of being the last survivor of a planet Unicron ate and being tossed into the Sharkticon pit by the Quintessons.  His one saving grace is, he died with attitude, telling the Quintessons to "Spare me this mockery of justice!" The sad thing is, if he survived for literally a few more minutes, he would have been rescued! Making him into a card is the least we can do, even if it is an extremely low health vanilla (no abilities) card with Brave (meaning he gets attacked first).



Unicron: I almost know better than to ask for this, as even as a titan sized card, he would be too small!  Unicron is a planet that eats other planets and transforms into a huge evil robot.  Perhaps he could be formed with two titan sized cards side by side to make him big.  Maybe he is a special card that has 50 stars, and when you play him, the opposing team can go up to 50 stars as well for an epic battle mirroring the final scenes of the movie where Deceptions and Autobots alike had to attack him to save Cybertron.  Maybe he can only turn into a robot when some condition is met (he eats a certain number of opponents, his health drops to a certain level).  Maybe he heals for each bot he kills. He would be banned from competitive play, but could make for fun variation on game nights. He could make for a sweet promo card if you buy a whole box.