Doc.
I'm Doc. Issues from Capes on the Couch, a show that examines the mental health issues of comic book characters. Part of the Gunna Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out now, shows on the network are individually owned, and opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other amazing geeky shows@gunnageeknetwork.com.
And welcome to Play Comics, where once again, we're here looking at a video game based on a comic property and how well it represents that source material. And today, we're just gonna do all kinds of things that turn into other things because that's how transforming works. And that's the really horrible segue we're gonna have into me telling you that. I have Charles Shelton here from the Transmissions podcast, here to look at some Transformers. This really should have a subtitle, but it doesn't. Charles, how are you today?
I'm great. Thanks for having me on. It's good to be here. We've been talking about this for a little while, so I'm glad I finally got to make it on your show.
I think this might have been the easiest pitch ever, because it was literally. Hey. Hey, Charles. Transformers. Yep. Exactly what is it that really got you sucked into the Transformers franchise?
I mean, I was the target demographic in 1984, so I was 8 years old in 1984. I was a kid who loved sci fi, robots, all the crazy stuff that was going on in the 80s, and robots that turned into other things signed me up, and I was hooked. Got into the cartoon, of course. That was the point. It was a cartoon. It was a commercial designed to sell kids toys, and it worked on me, and I just got deep into the. Into the show. Then, you know, of course, the toys and then the comics and just. It never. It got its hooks into me and never let go.
Well, I'm really excited to have you on, because when transformers started in 1984, I was not quite born yet, so it's nice to have somebody who was there from the beginning.
Well, yeah, that's. That's my one claim to fame, and it seems to be I'm in a. I'm in a dwindling demographic the older I get, so. But I'm still proud to. Proud to be in that first generation.
Well, there's also a ton of people at the local shop for me that are still getting, if not all of the Transformers comics that come out, a very, very big chunk of them. So I really don't think these robots are going to be going anywhere.
Yeah. Yes. Skybound is now producing the Transformers comics. And you got a big name in comics, Robert Kirkman behind them and everything. So it looks like Transformers is maybe hitting another. Another renaissance.
So the game we're looking at today, I'm probably going to slip up and call it Transformers Armada, because, like I said, it really should have a subtitle on it, but it doesn't. But this one is at least nominally based on the Transformers Armada cartoon. And what are your experiences with that one?
Okay, so, yeah, this was. It's interesting because this was at a time when I think 80s nostalgia started. Just started kicking up. I think that was like the first resurgence of 80s nostalgia was in the early 2000s, and I was a young adult. I was already married and about to have my first kid when Transformers Armada. So. So I was interested in a new version of Transformers. This was kind of the first new version of Transformers since that went back to cars and things. I mean, we had a couple years before that, they had imported a Japanese Transformers show, the Transformers Robots in Disguise, which in Japan was called Car Robots, but that was completely Japanese produced.
So.
So the US Was just importing it. But this was the first kind of us, like, originally designed. Like, originally US designed Transformers new thing since Beast Wars. And I was interested to see what it was gonna be. And then I have to say, the cartoon kind of turned me off just because it did become a like, of course, at the time, this was when Pokemon was just the first Pokemon craze had started. So Transformers, of course, took a little bit of inspiration from Pokemon with the mini cons, and that filtered into the show. So it was very much like, you know, the little mini con robots were just, you know, the little kind of things you're trying to catch and use them to fight each other. But the mini cons didn't really have any personality. They were all like, you know, they were all kind of like Pokemon in that they didn't really talk. They didn't really, you know, have any dialogue. It was just, you know, the big robots catch them and play with them. And then you had the human. The little. The human kids who were kind of the sidekicks of it. But then they were kind of the point of view characters of the show. So. And I was. Yeah, I was. I kind of. It kind of turned me off with a cartoon. But I did, you know, I did still like the toys because, of course, the toys were cool and that you had the. Having the mini cons where you could plug them into the bigger robots and everything. That was a cool Play pattern. I just wish they had gone in a different direction with the story and the cartoon. But it was still. I think it was still a fun time for Transformers. And this was before Transformers really hit it big with the live action movie. So it was still kind of a niche thing where kids and adults who were still pretending to be kids were the only ones still into Transformers. So I was, you know, I still appreciated it. And they did have a comic series, and the comic series actually made the mini Cons more of characters, and they did have dialogue in their own stories and things. So I was actually reading the comics too. So, you know, it was something I enjoyed. The Transformers comics were also doing G1 comics at the time too. So that was, you know, that was something I, of course, was always interested in since that was going back to my days as a kid. So that nostalgia was strong and it kept me interested with the new stuff.
I'm glad that you saw the Pokemon thing too, because that was like the first thing I noticed when I was watching this one. And I mean, it's not like it was a big hindrance for me. I'm the perfect age for having that Pokemon nostalgia type thing going. So I had to see the show until a few days ago when I started watching it. And we kind of sped through the few episodes at the beginning, jumped ahead a little bit and caught a couple other random ones. I mean, very obviously it's made for kids. Obviously it's made to be kind of a reset of everything, but in so, so many ways, I never grew up. And it sounds like you might not have either, so it's not like that's really a problem.
No, yeah. I mean, I of course, recognize that it was a kids show, it was made for kids, you know, but of course, I mean, like, there have been lots of. Since Armada, like, you know, now I'm sure now people are nostalgic for armada since it's 20. Since it's over 20 years old now. But we've had lots of other Transformers shows over the years, and they've all been targeted at kids. In particular, Transformers Animated I thought was a really good show that was in the mid 2000s. Swimmers prime was a big computer animated show that was a little bit more, I would say, closer to preteen Teenage Target than younger kids. Rescue Bots was also targeted more towards younger kids. And most recently, EarthSpark, which is on Paramount, was also, I think, targeted towards 8 to 10 year olds. But all those shows had interesting stories and characters and dialogue that I think adults could enjoy. If you're into Transformers, I think adults could enjoy it.
And honestly, I was prepared for this one to be a lot worse because my wife is the big Transformers person in our house. And before we started watching it, I was kind of telling her about this game and that it was based on the Armada series, and she was just like, oh, be careful. Armada is the one that people, if they do like Transformers, but they don't like. One of the series is Armada is one of the ones that they really don't like. So I'm glad that either she was wrong or I was one of the people that liked it, because even watching a bunch of like, I went and watched, like, series recaps and everything, getting ready for this too, because I just didn't have time to watch the whole series or even enough for me to think that I had watched enough of it. And even most of them were sitting there like, yeah, this one's different, but it's. It's not bad. It's just different.
Yeah, no, I, and I agree. I mean, I, when I, My initial impression was, you know, was a bit negative. But, you know, eventually, you know, they did, they did get into some, some heavy stories within the Armada series. And then the, the. They had. They call it the, those, Those three sets of. Of shows, the Unicron trilogy from Armada, Energon and Cybertron are kind of build as a complete story set that goes through lots of different things. And of course, Unicron is a central bad guy in all those series. So that was interesting as well, because of course, the only thing I knew Unicron from was from the 86 movie. So having a new version of Unicron and then actually getting a toy of Unicron for Transformers Armada was exciting for me. That was the one big purchase I made because at the time, as a, as a young adult with a, With a new wife and a new baby coming along, I wasn't really collecting Transformers, but I did shell out the money to get that Unicron when it came out, just because, you know, there was never a toy of that back in the 80s. So I had to satisfy my inner child with that.
Wait, kids make you not able to spend money?
Well, I mean, they, you know, the kid, the kids, you need money to feed the kids, so that. That kind of lowers your discretionary spending, I guess.
I guess that does make sense. That's something I haven't had to worry about for me. So, I mean, I always think it's interesting though, for real, how people have gotten into these franchises and stuff. And then when they have kids or otherwise have other more grown up things that they need to spend money on, you know, how they're able and what they're willing to go and spend the money on for the things that they're still loving. So knowing that you had to literally keep another human alive, but Unicron was still important enough for you to go get that toy, I think just really proves how much you love Transformers, but also how just how big Unicron is in multiple ways. Because Unicron is kind of big.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
And. And my kid didn't go hungry, so I did, you know, I. I saved another. I saved money in other places to. To afford the Unicron, but the kid still. Still got to eat and got to have, you know, got to have what. What he needed.
And that's the important part. You. You have the kid, you keep the kid safe, but you also have the cool things to show them when the kid gets older.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Although unfortunately, all my kids have. They all outgrew Transformers, so I never outgrew Transformers, but I introduced it to my kids. They played with them for a little while, but then they got older and now they're all, you know, they've moved beyond toys and in all aspects, pretty much.
Well, I guess that just means more toys for you and that you don't have to share. So that might be a win, too.
Yeah, fair enough.
On that note, I'm going to drop some promos for a few other shows and then we'll come back and talk about this game. This is Rob, this is Annelise, and we are your nerd best friends. Nerd Best Friends is the podcast where we dive into the nerdy conversations you're already having or wish you could. Each week we explore everything from epic.
Film debates to our latest tabletop game adventures.
Ever wondered who would win in a fight? Batman or Iron Man?
What Hogwarts houses the Avengers would be sorted into?
Or which Star wars character would make the best Dungeon Master?
We will nerd fight over these and more.
Plus, we bring you interviews with industry insiders, hilarious nerd stories, and deep dives into the fandoms you love. Because you can be a nerd about anything, don't miss out.
Smash that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform and join us for all the geeky goodness.
You can also connect with us on social media Nerd Best Friends and share your nerdy stories.
What's the nerdiest thing you did this week? Do you like the Transformers.
Yes. Do you like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Do you like IDW Comics and comic book podcasts? Then come check out Ninjas and Bots. Each week we look at an issue.
Of Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from their IDW Comics incarnation. We drop episodes every Saturday morning, just.
Like the cartoons we loved as a kid. The show can be found on your favorite podcaster and@johnreads comics.com.
See you then. Those are some great things to check out, but first let's finish up here. So, Charles, here we are looking at transformers on the PS2 that was released in 2004. Just the PS2, which is already a little bit weird. I feel like there weren't a ton of things licensed anyway that were just on a single console made by Atari and a second party Atari studio, which is pretty much for anybody who doesn't know. Just means that it's not technically Atari, but it might as well be because of how ownership goes. Yeah, that studio was Atari Melbourne house, which you might know better under some other names. Beam Software, if you're older, being the big one. So they have things from there that you would know. Asterix and the Magic Cauldron. There's a Judge Dread game, some Inspector Gadget stuff. Back to The Future Part 2 and 3 for the NES is and the Punisher for the NES are probably the big ones that I know them from. So they had done some cool things in their past. This is probably the last game that they made as the Atari Bellborn house named company before they just got bought out again by someone else. And I mean, really, what a game to go out on.
Yeah, I mean, I was not too familiar with the developer, but playing the game. I bought the game back when it came out in 2004. So I played it on my PS2 back then and I dug it out. When you asked me to come to the show, I dug it out and I still have a working PS3 with backwards compatibility. So I was able to put it in there and play a little bit. And I also watched a long play just to refresh my memory. And yeah, it's fun. I mean, for PS2, I think the graphics are good, the gameplay is good. One thing that surprised me when playing it was how much of the vibration rumble feature they use. They make you feel like you're controlling a giant robot because every step you take vibrates the controller like you're a big robot stomping around. So it's. It was just interesting to see how much effort they, they put into making it feel like you're, you're controlling a Transformer.
I think that was the big key for this one is just like, yes, they move big and slow and clunky and some of them move really, really slow. But you're a big giant robot. You're not going to be going super fast anyway until you transform into a car or a truck or something. And then you can go pretty fast, but you're a car or a truck. So, you know, you get not only the big feeling of, hi, I'm a big lumbering giant robot who can shoot things, but you get the difference there in the speed. And I just think that is a really nice touch with this one.
Yeah, definitely. And I think like we, you know, I talked a little bit disparagingly about the, the Pokemon aspect of Transformers Armada, but I think that actually makes this the kind of very well suited to a video game where, you know, the whole point of the game is you're collecting mini cons and then the mini cons give you different power ups and everything. I mean, that fits right in with, you know, with making a good game. And then you show off, you know, the aspects of Transformers Armada that it gets people, it gets kids interested in picking up the toys.
I've kind of alluded to it earlier in our talk here where this game is kind of based on Armada, but not really. It's almost like somebody like three or four people down the line in a game of telephone heard what Armada is about and that's what they made the game based on. Which, like, I'm not saying that in a bad way here at all. In Transformers Armada, the cartoon, you have like super specifically, hey, the mini cons were kind of sent out away from everything and they were found on Earth. And then everybody's trying to get them so that they either do or don't get used in war crimes and stuff. And then here in the game it's more like the minicon said, hey, this is dumb. We don't want to be a part of this. And they left on their own. And then there's a distress signal that comes out and so it's just a race to go collect all of them so that the other side can't use them in all of their war stuff. Like, it's not the same. But I don't think that difference really matters that much here.
Yeah, I mean, I think probably, I mean, I don't know how long the development of the game took, but they probably started development maybe at the, like right at the beginning of Transformers Armada being, you know, being produced. So they probably got like the initial outline and you know, some of the, the toy designs and everything, but maybe the cartoon wasn't ready yet or hadn't been really fleshed out yet. So they probably just got the overall, the outline and said, okay, do the game based on that. And of course, yeah, I mean, there's no humans in the game, even though it's set on Earth. But like all the environments have a distinct lack of humans in them. You only have like three Autobots and I guess four Decepticons in the whole game. And then all the enemies are decepticlut clones, which is just a nice way to make, you know, generic bad guy enemies that you can blow up. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's interesting how they, they just took that, that basic outline and, and turned it into a game.
I think they did a really good job picking levels and stuff for this one though, because like, I think about it right now and yeah, there aren't any humans. But with the levels that they have, I didn't really feel like the humans were missing out of everything because you're either in the Amazon or out in big middle of nowhere, snowy Alaska or in the Amazon again because they have to go back and hardly ever see games like having making. You have to go back when it's linear like this. So I think that's a nice little touch on stuff.
Yeah, definitely. Although it's funny seeing like the one. I think there's one level in Antarctica where they say, like, oh, the humans found some minicons and they brought them back to their settlement, so you need to go get them. And then you get there and you are to get all the Minicons, you have to basically blow up all the human buildings to get all the Minicons and the humans aren't there. It's not really clear what happened to them. And then, you know, say, well, there's no, there's no like moral cooperation laundry of you're destroying these, you know, life form settlements or anything. It's just, go blow up the place and get those Minigons.
I was just assuming that the humans had gotten attacked by mutant penguins and were no longer feeling safe, so they ran away.
I mean, as good an explanation as any.
I mean, it's definitely more explanation than you get in the game because they're just kind of not there anymore. It's weird. And like, I was looking at this thinking, oh man, I wish there were more Autobots. That I could be. But those are the three main Autobots that you have in the series, too. So, like, yeah, it's not a lot, but it's also pretty much what you get in the series.
Yeah, and I did like that they, you know, they had one. They had one giant Decepticon that you fight to. I think, you know, I think part of the reason that they. They did kind of scrub Armada off the title for this game is that they did want to. I think they did want to catch some people with nostalgia who are just nostalgic for Transformers, but haven't really paid attention to what's going on with Transformers currently. So if you vaguely remember Transformers and you vaguely remember. Oh, yeah, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, those characters are in this game. So when you play it, you might say it kind of looks like what I remember as a kid, but Optimus prime kind of looks like the Optimus Prime I remember. And Starscream's a jet. Yeah, I remember he was a Jet. So, you know, you could plausibly say, like, you know, it's a modern. It's a modern Transformers, but it, you know, it calls back enough to what I remember from the 80s to be. To tickle my nostalgia enough. I mean, they lift a bunch of dialogue straight from the movie at several points in this game. So I think that was intentional to just try and hook as many Transformers fans as possible.
And the character models definitely looked more like those older Gen 1 transformers than they did to looking like the Transformers Armada character models that they had.
Yeah, I mean, you could even, like, even Optimus Prime's partner, Sparkplug. I mean, it's not a coincidence. I think that he looks a lot like Bumblebee. I think at the time that Armada was produced, Hasbro had lost the trademark to Bumblebee and to Hot Rod, another Transformers character. So they, you know, they. They created Hot Shot, and then Sparkplug was the little. Little buddy for Optimus Prime. And it's. It's funny because, you know, after. After the live action movies came out, you'll never have another iteration of Transformers without Bumblebee. So it's. It's fun. This was a time where there's one set of Transformers series that had no Bumblebee in it.
I've seen mixed things about that, and I'm glad you brought that up, because Bumblebee is like, he's. I'm pretty sure my wife's favorite. She's going to hate that. I don't remember that. But, like, I've seen people saying they lost the license and I've also seen people saying that they like didn't. Were almost scared to use it because of other things called Bumblebee in probably not close enough to matter instances. And have you heard anything about that or am I just going crazy listening to people on the Internet?
Well, I know there, there was a, there's a DC superhero named Bumblebee who's associated with the Teen Titans. I don't remember if the like the original Teen Titans cartoon might have been on at the same like around the early 2000s. So maybe that was an issue. So yeah, it could have been that and it could have or it could have been trademark issue. But yeah, I don't, I'm not sure. We'd probably need to get someone who was working on the, on the Hasbro brand at the time to settle that, settle the score there.
The important thing for us right now though is that there is no Bumblebee. And that makes Kaylee sad.
Well, he comes back in later series so, you know, it was only I guess about three or four years without Bumblebee. Once we get to 2007 and the live action movies, Bumblebee is here to stay.
What I was not expecting from this game was such a super polished, actually good game. I know we don't usually spend a lot of time talking here about if the game is good or not, but this one, I feel like we really have to because this is like the controller layout on this is so good. Like just the mechanics of almost everything are so good and the things that aren't good are just how PS2 games were made that we've figured out better ways to do. So it's not like there was anything a lot better back then.
Yeah, yeah. I mean it's, it's. I mean it's also like that's, it's doubly something for, for Transformers games like Transformers games notoriously before this were pretty terrible. I mean it just back in the, back in the G1 days in the 80s, there was like one NES game that actually never came to the U.S. it was a Japan only exclusive. And you know, you can easily find that on the Internet and download it and play it in Nintendo Emily earlier and you see how you can see how terrible it is. There were, I think there was a Commodore 64 Transformers game that was like a, like a strategy game that was also pretty bad. But yeah, Transformers games did not have a good reputation before this. And this was, you know, this was, this was surprising how competent it was how fun to play it was how much it took advantage of the whole, you know, minicon power up thing and gave you lots of very different powers you could find for each minicon. And then the way you assigned those different powers to the button layout on the, on the controller made it pretty easy to swap things out. And then of course, you've got the transformation power. I mean, you've got one button to turn yourself from a robot to a car and back. And you know, that that's, that's always fun. You know, I think they could have, maybe they could have integrated that a little bit more into the game. Like, I think there's, there's a couple of instances where you need to be a vehicle to like jump over like, you know, gaps to, to reach other places in a level, but other than that and then just getting around the level faster, that's pretty much all you can use being a vehicle for. I, you can run into enemies like you, you can run over enemies, but that's, that's kind of pretty much it. I mean, it's just, it's just a fun thing you can do, but does really isn't really central to the gameplay and, and going through the game.
I mean, that being said, who doesn't want to run over enemies is optimistic. Prime. That's a good reason to play it right there.
Yeah, definitely.
One thing I am really wondering about here is the Mini Cons, like, do they pop up in other Transformers instances or are they pretty much like Armada thing and that's it.
So they, I mean, there's always been smaller bots in different iterations of the, of the series. They just have never been kind of demarcated as a separate race of Transformers. They've just been like every, each team has had their own little bots on their side. Like the Autobots had the mini cars back in the day and then the Decepticons had, you know, Soundwave had his cassettes. Those cassettes would be, you know, considered, you know, many bots or whatever. So they've always been sprinkled in with the bigger bots, but just you know, never kind of separated as their own. Their own third Faction until Transformers Armada and later on their other, other series would bring them back as a, as kind of a separate race, but they would still like the, the Mini Cons you'd have later on would always be just kind of, you know, they'd be recognized as like a separate race or whatever, but not a separate faction. So they'd just be like, you'd have some Minicons who were Decepticons, some who were Autobots, but they would never be like this third neutral faction in future series.
See, now I just want to see Dinobot Mini Cons.
That'll be fun. They have released just recently. I mean, they don't call them Minicons, but they do. They did release a set of Dynabots that were smaller and they combine into a super robot. They just released them a couple years ago. So you can, you know, you can. You can find them probably online. But they are. They were. They. They were the original. Like they were. They were made as the original Dinobots and then also repainted as another set of. Of Dino Dinosaur robots that were the Japanese set of robots called Dino King because he. And that was like a Japanese in a later Japanese cartoon series. So you can get both variants of those.
Oh, that's exactly what I need more things to spend money on. I might do it anyway still. So as we start to wrap this one up, what do you think are the big highlights in this game for what it gets right looking at not just Transformers Armada, but the more general Transformers universe?
I think it. Like it. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention that it gives the voice actors, like, it uses the voice actors Gary Chalk and David Kay to be Optimus prime and Megatron, who were the voice actors for Transformers Armada, the cartoon. And they were also, of course, the voice actors for Beast wars back in the 90s. And they took advantage of that. Like I said, they used the dialogue from the. From the, you know, from the 86 movie. And they also. I mean, one thing that I was surprised was they took advantage of Unicron. And Unicron was in Armada in the cartoon. But in the game, he kind of shows up out of nowhere. Like, they don't really connect him to anything in the game. You know, for most of the game, Megatron's the big Bad you're getting up to. But then at the end, Unicron just pops up and you're. And you gotta. You gotta fight him after you. After you collect all the Mini Cons. So that was. That was interesting.
Yeah. Obviously I don't have as much Transformers background knowledge, but, I mean, I look at this and, you know, your character designs are following all the patterns that I've picked up on, on who is an Autobot and who is a Decepticon. You've got your war between the two factions going on just like there always is, and, you know, just going around getting to be a big giant lumbering robot as you're fighting each other is just always so much fun. And not running out of bullets. That's always cool, too.
Like I said, just the care and making it feel like you're controlling a big robot with the vibration and the movement and then everything. And then how you can, of course, when you turn into a vehicle and you get that burst of speed, and then later on you get some, you know, you get the ability to glide. So that was a surprising. I mean, I know that you have. In the show or even in previous versions of Transformers, Optimus prime sometimes will get a jetpack and be able to fly around, but I didn't expect that to make it into the game.
And what do you think this game really gets wrong, looking at Transformers?
Well, there's not enough characters. There's. There's so few characters. And Transformers is really a franchise that is. Has an explosion of characters for both Autobots and Decepticons. And you're really. No, they. They took. They. I think it's the right approach in that they put effort into the characters. They have to make them, you know, fully fleshed out so that they, you know, they look good and they control well and everything. But it would have been nice to have just a few more characters, both as boss enemies to fight and to be able to control. And I think the Mini Cons, they could have made them less generic. Other than the Mini Cons that are partnered with the three Autobots, all the Mini Cons in this game are basically generic designs that they just put into the game, and they are not based on any of the designs of the toy or cartoon minicons. So that would have been nice to have that. And then I guess the other thing is that other than your player character and some of the bosses, you don't really see any transformation in the game. So your character can transform whenever you want. The boss characters will usually, like, they have fight patterns where they'll fight you as a robot, then they'll transform and fly around and shoot at you and then transform back. But all the Decepticones don't transform. They just run around, and nothing else in the game transforms. So that would have been nice to have a little bit more transformation.
I mean, first off, I think that the fact that that's what you had to go with is a really good sign, right? And I mean, I'm with you. It's really hard to have a ton of characters, and it's Transformers. You almost can't have enough characters in here, but you definitely could have had them mixed in just in the background of things up in their base or different people coming on the comm systems or something. You know, it's not like you didn't have to like fully develop some of these people. You could have just had them in there. But I get why the developers wouldn't want to spend a bunch of time doing that on stuff if they're working on other parts of the game. And I mean, I'm with you on the Mini Cons too. I wish there would have been or put into them, but I'm also not sure how developed they were in anybody's mind either. So maybe they're as developed as anybody ever thought of them as at that point.
Yeah, I mean that, that's, I don't know what, like what they had access to in the, in the development process, but I did at least looking at the, you know, the Transformers wiki has a, has, has a page on this game and they do mention that there was some cut content in terms of other additional characters that just didn't make it into the game. So I think, you know, I think given the realities of development time, it was probably just, you know, we, we want to make what we do put in the game as, as high quality as possible. So we're not gonna be able to. We could kind of, I think they could have put more characters in, but then that would have probably would have brought down the quality of the over of the game overall.
And just because I'm like for some strange reason thinking that we didn't even tell you who the characters are that you can play as, you can play as Optimus Prime Hotshot or Red Alert. And at least as far as the games that came out over here go for the ones that I've covered for the show, this is the first one where you can be Optimus Prime. I forget if it was Beast wars or Transmetals. You could be Optimus Primal, but he's different, so that doesn't count.
Yeah, that's true. Although, you know, if you, if you want to be pedantic, this is a alternate version of Optimus Prime. So you know, all the, all the G1 folks who are looking for the, you know, the 86 movie Optimus prime, this is not quite the same guy. He's, they're close, but they're, you know, they're, they're, you know, cross dimensional cousins or multiversal, you know, variants or whatever.
Those are the kind of pedantics we're here for. So I'm Cool with that. That is just beautiful. If you knew somebody who somehow did not know what Transformers was, and I don't know how you would find that person here in this world, but I'm sure they exist somewhere. Would you give them this game as a bit of a primer course on Transformers?
I would, but I would say that's probably. I'd say it's not enough to get the full Transformers experience. I think it's. It's enough to get the basics, but it also might skew your perception because it is. It is so focused on the Mini Con collecting, which pretty much all other Transformer iterations are not really focused on that. So it might, you know, it might skew your perceptions a little bit if. If you were not exposed to anything with. From Transformers other than this game. But, you know, it does give you the basics of. Optimus Prime's a good guy, Megatron's a bad guy. You know, Starscream is. Is also a prominent character, but all the other characters are kind of. I mean, I. I'd say no. No one else in this game is really a top tier Transformers character other than those three.
I think in a lot of ways, this game is a perfect example of why I've switched that question around to being part of the primer course. Because I'm. I mean, even from what little bit I know about Transformers, like, this is definitely getting you in the right direction. But if this is all somebody new, then, oh, God, they're missing so much.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, you do get Unicron. I mean, if you make it to the end of the game, you get Unicron. So that. That's definitely a plus. Although he. I mean, that's another, you know, going back to my transforming complaint, we don't see a robot mode of Unicron in this game. He stays in planet mode for the, you know, for the final battle.
Well, the last question I have for you here is which two Muppets are just different forms of the same Transformer being?
Wow. I was not prepared for that question. I'll say. You know, Kermit. Kermit makes me think of Optimus Prime. He's, you know, he's. He's kind of, you know, a leader. He's. He's a peacemaker. He tries to, you know, he tries to do, do, do what's right and do what's best for all the other Muppets. So he, you know, he embodies those qualities that I think of with Optimus Prime. You said two Muppets I got to think of another one.
Yeah, I mean, who would Kermit transform into?
Wow, I don't know. Maybe, maybe, maybe Gonzo. Just like Jekyll and Hyde where you have calm Kermit and then crazy gonzo.
Oh, that's a good one. I know. I was asking Kayleigh. This is like one of the few times I've actually planned that question before. We're in the middle of recording and I was asking Kayleigh and. Or she came up with it, so she was asking me about it. And I mean, what I thought of was like Muppet Babies Kermit, where he hasn't gotten all super cynical yet.
Ah, okay.
But then transforming into full on Muppet show animal.
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah.
So you've gotten nice and calm and I'm gonna be nice and get everything worked out in like that super appropriate for your grandparents house kind of way. But then the full on insanity when he just flips that switch.
Yeah, that's. It's kind of like incredible hall care.
Well, Charles, it has been great talking to you about all of this. If people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
Well, yeah, I host a Transformers podcast called Transmissions. So we do two shows every week. One show focused all on toys. And yes, there is lots of Transformers news about new toys coming out all the time. Enough to have us let us do a weekly podcast. And then we do Transmissions Alt Mode, which is all about Transformers comics and media. And we are regularly reviewing the skybound Transformers comics that are coming out. And we also have a third show called Empire of Rust, which is a live play RPG podcast. So it's a Transformers themed RPG podcast where a friend of mine and they have a player group where they all take on Transformer characters and then they go through adventures on Cybertron. So that's every two weeks. And in addition to our main shows and all those shows are@transmissionspodcast.com we all our shows are audio and we have video on YouTube, so we have a YouTube channel as well. So all that you can find on our website@transmissionspodcast.com and you guys do a.
Wonderful job with all of those. And I mean, just really, if you're into Transformers, go listen to these shows because you're going to like them.
Thanks, I appreciate that.
And as always, we will have links down in the show notes because clicking links is super so much easier than trying to remember how to spell things.
That's true. We try to keep it simple. Transmissions podcast, you know, you can look up transmissions in the dictionary, look up podcasts. That's it. Transmissionspodcast.com that's all. So if for some reason you can't click the link, just remember transmissions podcast.
Yeah, that one's pretty easy. I'm mostly thinking about people like me who are just really horrible at spelling and, or typing the words and so getting their letters in the wrong spot. I got to protect myself from my own stupidity there.
Fair enough.
As always, the best place to find me is over on Play Comics.com where there's links to all the social media things. Or, you know, just look for Play Comics on Blue sky, because that's, that's pretty much where I am. I've settled. I'm an old man who gets set in his ways and that's where I have decided to be until something happens and another one comes along, which is probably going to happen by the time that you hear this episode. You know, in the like five hours between when I'm finishing the edit and when it goes live. Because that's just how things seem to work out right now. If you want to be on the show, then there's a link down in the show notes where you can see the list of games that I am looking to get booked the soonest. I am about to update that list again. So if you haven't looked recently, then maybe you should look again because that might be a good idea and there might be something for you on the new set of things. I don't know. Take a look at it. That's the only way you'll ever find out. If you want to help support the show, then you can be like Dan McMahon or oh no lit class and give the show money because sadly it does cost money to run a podcast. Or you can just share it with friends or enemies or random people out on the street. You know, not in that annoying you're carrying a boombox around with you kind of way. Just, you know, if you hear somebody having a conversation and you can get into it in a not creepy way and say, hey, I know about a cool podcast you should listen to. Tell them about this one. And maybe another cool one too, so it doesn't look like you're just trying to shill for me. But yeah, you should do that because it's cool. Don't forget that Play Comics is a part of the gunag.com network, home to other such wonderful shows as Legends of shield where I'm pretty sure next week we're going to finish up Daredevil. I Don't know. I don't know. I can't see that far into the future. We had inventory today, and I am completely dead. But if you want to hear something else from me specifically, you know, in addition to Legends of SHIELD Because I'm doing that too, but finishing up the edit of the first episode of Sugar Spite, and everything is fine. That's probably gonna get finished up in the next few days, and then it'll be out where people can see it and hear it. And yes, you did hear me correctly, and I said see it, so you're gonna have to see my face, which at least one person thinks is not super horrible, but she's married to me, so she. She's kind of legally required to think that. If you like the music that I'm rudely talking on top of right now, head over to BackingTrack GG and check out some of the great music you can find over there and use some of it in your own projects. I'm gonna selfishly say not this song, but if you really want to, you can. I can't stop you. But most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. So, Charles, here we are looking at Transformers. This is the one time I'm going to say it. When this game was getting made and stuff, it did have a subtitle, and the page scrolled on me. Where did it go when this game was getting made? Oh, I swear it was on this page. Anyway, the game did have a subtitle. I'm not. I'm not going to say what it is now because I don't see. See it on the page, and editor Chris will go fix that later. If you like the music that I'm rudely talking on top of right now, head over to BackingTrack GG and check out some of the great music you can find over there. Wait, is it gg? Because it's really great. That's dumb. Take that out.