It seemed strangely appropriate to mark this occasion given how over the past weekend the new Combiner Wars toys have just started to really make their way into the hands of fans. 30 years ago today, the Generation 1 Season 1 finale “Heavy Metal War” aired, and viewers were introduced to a new breed of Transformer – the Combiner.
Read on for more, after the break! Heavy Metal War, as a Transformers episode, was a real game-changer. As the first season of the show had progressed we had steadily been introduced to different subsets of Transformers, including the massively powerful Dinobots and the Insecticons, with their voracious appetites and Shrapnel’s habit of repeating his last word, word. But Heavy Metal War was the game changer. Not only did it include a massive, no-holds-barred showdown between Optimus Prime and Megatron, but it also introduced the Decepticons’ trump card – the six Constructicons who merged to form one gigantic robot, Devastator.
Devastator was a huge deal on his introduction, since there was nothing like him in the show. Towering over all the rest of the Transformers, Devastator was far more powerful than any other character in the show until this point, and it needed some trickery from the Autobots to bring down the giant.
From that point onward into the second season there was a certain special thrill that came from watching the show and seeing the Constructicons turn up, because you knew it meant you were going to see Devastator in action. As a kid, I yearned for seeing the big guys who only got sent out on rare occasions in action – not only Devastator and later the other Combiners in Transformers, but also the likes of the Beast Walker on Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.
Needless to say, the Combiner idea was a big hit, reinforced with the introduction of four more combiners in late 1985 / early 1986 – Superion, Menasor, Bruticus and Defensor. Ever since that time, Combiners have been one of the most demanded features to appear in a Transformers line, and their announcement is almost always met with great enthusiasm – even if the end result falls a bit short sometimes.
Why have Combiners been so popular? I personally feel it is due to the simple appeal of taking a group of smaller toys and putting them together to create a new character, a bigger one who is more than the sum of their parts. There is a certain thrill of building that larger robot, and an undeniable appeal to “collect them all” and assemble the final super warrior. Certainly it is a gimmick very close to the heart of the fandom, when you look at the sheer quantity of third party combiners that have been produced – and with Hasbro on the bandwagon, it looks like Combiners are going to be merging their way into our hearts once more.
LegendAntihero
I'd love to pick up a lot of Combiner Wars toys right now
Infosaur
Correct me if I'm wrong, but which came first: Heavy Metal War or the first appearance of the Constructicons in the comic?
Back in those days I had the advantage of a couple of Chinese import shops I knew of. I'd hunt there for Transformer Knockoffs and cool robot stuff I didn't understand yet. (back in the days before internet, I couldn't talk with fans in Japan about GoLion or Tranzor Z.)
If it was a transforming robot I was all over it. I had quite a few things I still can't identify. (probably take me 5 minutes on google, but why spoil the mystery?)
One of my earliest scoops was an almost complete set of constructions, BEFORE THEY WERE RELEASED AS CONSTRUCTIONS! Anyone want's to ID these knockoffs, know that Long Haul was red, Hook was Orange and Mixmaster was Yellow. The only one I didn't have was Bonecrusher.
So imagine my shock/disappointment when it turned out "Official Bonecrusher" didn't fit with "Unofficial Hook"s mounting point! I ended up buying ALL the other 5 Constructions, (much to my mother's consternation) all over again!
One problem I've had with combiners from a fiction standpoint though, is that their personalities are often lost in the "hey aren't you 2nd guy from the left in the group that forms SuperMegazord-Dude?" Sometimes we get lucky and we have a break-out character like First Aid, and Slingshot. But when's the last time you've seen the Constructicons be anything other than a monolithic team?
Metroplex79
That boat has sailed. The "Thrilling 30" was the best Hasbro could do.
Autovolt 127
If Sol Fury thinks its special enough he probably will make one.
DOTM Bumblebee
Awesome! Hope they do something special, as in Titan Class, Voyager-sized Constructicons special, for our very first combiner…
allew
Yep I was a young kid when the episode premiered. Back in the day we didn't have internet spoilers so it was so shocking to see the Constructicons combine, epic moment!
Metroplex79
"No way!!!"
*pile drivers pounds ground*
NOTE: Can't use the legit one, as it was already used above, so I used the other one-ish
Lizardsaur
There should be a thread dedicated to anniversaries like this. On that note, on the 29th this month will be the 30th birthday for the Insecticons, Insecticons. (Read in Shrapnel's voice)
Thunderthruster
"Nothing little one. hahaha. What would you say about me. hahaha"
FanimusMaximus
Happy Devastator Day!
Schmegatronis
30 Years of combiner love… meh I'm old now…
Armada_MK
"Constructicons! Transform! phase one!"
DJW107PRIME
Combiners!
Fallout
too bad his grandson only got famous for exposing himself on the big screen…
Archzerograv
Prepare to meet your doom… Nothing can withstand the might of DEVASTATORRRRR!!!!!
Then the party begin!!!!
soundwaverulls
Oh yeah! I've always loved combiners. They're so awesome.
Great, now I have an imagine of Devastator in one of those party hats.
UltraMagnus3786
Nothing tops the fluidity of that Devastator combination in TF: TM. Love it!
paramedicprime
"Then we shall do the same…….only heavier!"
tfcrafter
Happy combiner day!
UndertakerPrime
I remember watching Heavy Metal War when it first aired. The official Hasbro Constructicons weren't in the local stores yet, but there was a store selling imported Diaclones. So my first Devastator was the multi-colored one. Of course, not knowing what I know now, I refered to it as a "fake" one and got the "real" green one later. Ended up giving away that Diaclone one. Oops.
The other thing I remember about that ep? Wondering who in the blazes these new Dinobots were. I had missed War of the Dinobots so I had never seen them before.