The Energon Pub

. . . The arena is clean, pristine from having had no use until now. No notches in the battle floor, and fresh paint along the corridor that the combatants walk to reach the ring. This place has known no violence until now. That will change dramatically in the coming days. All the robots are prepped and lined up in the staging area according to their seeding. None says a word, simply looking ahead and waiting for the signal to travel the long passage to their destiny . . . .


The Autobots of 1984 Bracket

Pre-Match Analysis
The Autobots field 18 combatants, ranging from Optimus Prime to Bumblebee. Basically there are three groups in play. First are the lovable but ability challenged mini-autobots. While size is not a factor in each match, ability scores are, and the mini-Autobots do not fare well. The middle group will do better, and this represents the bevy of medium-sized cars such as Hound and Silverstreak. The only exception to all this is Ratchet which is less endowed than his brethren, and Gears which is the toughest of the little guys. Atop both groups sits Optimus Prime, by a sizable margin. This is his bracket to lose.

Notable Results
The biggest upset of the bracket was in the second round when no. 12 Sunstreaker took out no. 5 Ironhide. No. 7 Hound also upset no. 2 Prowl in a five set affair. No. 4 Jazz took no. 1 Optimus to the limit, winning the first and third matches before succumbing to the great one. The final was no. 1 Optimus’ 3 games to no. 6 Mirage’s 0 games.

Post-Match Analysis
The mini-Autobots did not do well. This was apparent in the first round when Ratchet took out Bumblebee 3-1. Overall the shorties went 6-18, with half of those wins against each other. Ouch! It looked like this was Optimus’ grid to dominate, and he finished 12-2, advancing to the Tournament of Champions. Would Megatron follow?


The Deceptions of 1984 Bracket

Pre-Match Analysis
This is the smallest bracket of them all, with only 10 Decepticons in competition. Like the Autobots, this group features 3 distinct factions. At the bottom are Soundwave and the tapes. Expect early exits for these bottom-dwellers. In the middle are the Decepticon Jets. And at the top sits Megatron, all by himself. Like with Optimus, this is Megatron’s stage to shine. But he will need to be wary. Skywarp has stats that are not far from his. The competition in this bracket will be much tighter than with the Autobots.

Notable Results
This bracket produced only 3 upsets, and each one was with consecutive seedings (e.g. 8 vs. 9). No. 3 Starscrem was nearly upended by No. 6 Ravage in what might have been the upset of the tournament. In the end, the top two seeds met, with a shocking conclusion. Skywarp bested Megatron using all 5 matches to do so.

Post-Match Analysis
Soundwave and the boys did a respectable 13-19, although some of the wins were at the expense of themselves. Thundercracker fell to Soundwave and became the laughing stock of the other jets. Going in we knew that Skywarp would give Megatron trouble, and it proved to be his undoing. Megatron still finished a solid 8-3, but it will be Skywarp (9-4) who will advance to the Tournament of Champions.


Conclusion
And so ends the first two brackets. We expected to set up a clash between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and in the end we were half right. Instead it will be Optimus vs. Skywarp, making Prime’s path to the finals look that much easier.

The seekers Tech Specs need to be fixed.

Skywarp's should be Starscream's
Starscream's should be Thundercracker's
Thundercracker's should be Skywarp's