Nemesis Cyberplex wrote:Zombie Starscream wrote:Emperor Primacron the 1st wrote:I found it ironic that the powermasters needed the engines to becomes ROBOTS.

I find it ironic that the Nebulons replaced parts that the Transformers already HAD. Why do you need to replace your engine when you got a good working one already?
I believe the idea behind all of the "master" TFs, in the western world anyway, was to have an additional partner that would provide support from the inside...kinda similar to how in Star Wars all the starfighters have their own on-board mechanic droid, such as R2-D2. I believe they were technically meant to be sitting inside the robot somewhere tweaking his mechanical systems on the fly for maximum output....and to give a toy an added bonus mini robot to make kids think they were getting 2 transformers for the price of 1.
In Japan, though, I'm sure they were just using it to try to make Transformers fall in line with all of the other giant robot mecha trends where they focused more on non-sentient robots with overly-emotional pilots, such as Gundam or Go Lion(or whatever the hell Voltron is called over there).
Exactly.
I personally always have had a fondness for Headmasters. Godmasters are very cool as well. But when comparing TF to Gundam, Macross, etc., the thing I love the most is the concept of LIVING machines. Not lame-@ss androids that are human-sized, but giant mecha that think for themselves, and act accordingly.
Even as a child in the early 80s, this concept was not lost on me. It was partly why I prefered TFs to Voltron, Robotech, etc.
Not to say those did not have their cool moments...they did. But the TFs were LIVING F***ING MACHINES! Such a cool concept.