Computron and the Technobots are Transformers I unfortunately don’t have that much knowledge on other than what I’ve found Googling before I started writing this. As I’ve said before I was born in 1986 so all firsthand knowledge I picked up about Transformers was from Generation 2 and unfortunately for me the Technobots were never rereleased as part of Generation 2 nor were any of the episodes they were featured in shown during the ’90s.

Even if I was born at a time where I was able to watch the Generation 1 cartoon it probably wouldn’t have mattered since the Technobots were introduced fairly late in the series and didn’t make that many appearances after that.

Outside of the Generation 1 cartoon the Technobots however have made numerous comic book appearances as well as a few appearances in the Transformers Headmasters cartoon and were even prominently featured in the opening episode of Transformers: Combiner Wars where they got the crap beaten out of them by the Stunticons in Menasor form.

If you want to see Menasor beat the crap out of Computron here’s the first episode of Transformers: Combiner Wars for you. Luckily, it’s all within like the first minute and a half or so you don’t have to watch the entire video unless you want to.

The Technobots first appearance was in the episode “Grimlock’s New Brain”. In this episode Dinobot leader, Grimlock gained super-intelligence after being exposed to a generator at Cybertron’s core. Later Grimlock and some other Autobots travel to Unicron’s head to stop the Decepticons from harvesting anti-electrons. Grimlock gets separated from the other Autobots who end up being attacked by the Terrorcons so Grimlock builds the Technobots out of pieces of Unicron and gives them the ability to combine into Computron before giving them his super-intelligence so they can save the other Autobots and then everything goes back to normal.

If you’re interested I found this video on YouTube where somebody took most of the clips from “Grimlock’s New Brain” explaining the Technobots’ origins and turned it into 1 big condensed origin video. (You’re welcome).

My decision to buy a Technobots set came from a point where I was taking a look at my Transformers collection and realized that even though I only had two combiner sets, the Combaticons and Stunticons they’re both Decepticon teams and so I thought I should balance out my collection by picking up an Autobots combiner team.

As I said in previous posts I was a bit late to the game when it came to getting into Transformers collecting which means that even though I might get lucky and be able to get some pretty cheap there’s also the possibility that I’ll be paying a premium for others and that there will also be some which I’ll really want which are going to be a bitch to find.

Originally when I came across the Technobots I wasn’t planning on buying them because they were a bit more expensive than what I was willing to pay. But after talking to a coworker of mine who is big into collecting Transformers who told me that the Technobots are quite rare and that he’s never seen them and after realizing that I haven’t seen them in stores or at Frank & Son’s or on Big Bad Toy Store I decided to just bite the bullet and pay the 99 bucks for it. This may have set me back more than I was willing to pay but hey I have something for another blog entry.

Here’s the front side of the box.

Back side of he box.

Here’s the side of the box detailing all the figures that came inside of it. Like my Combaticons/Bruticus set this 1 also has a bonus figure which in this case is Scrounge. Also it’s not shown as the box but there is technically another bonus figure inside this.

The instructions showing how to transform each Technobot. If you look at the bottom you’ll see the other bonus robot, Cybaxx who is included as a partner or Scrounge.

Here’s the backside of the instructions showing how to combine them into Computron.

Here’s the little poster that came with it. Like Bruticus this is basically the same art used on the box minus all the distractions. You know for being such a nerdy Transformer this image actually makes Computron look like a bit of a badass.

Here they are out of the box. Notice Cybaxx in the top-right corner. He’s freaking small.

Here’s Scattershot, the leader. As a Voyager-class Transformer he’s the largest in the Technobots set. As you can see from these pictures Scattershot’s alt-mode is a spaceship. I feel a bit jipped with this version of Scattershot because the original Generation 1 Scattershot had 2 alt-modes, a spaceship and a big ass cannon which I’m assuming that’s where his name Scattershot came from.

Here’s Scattershot in robot form. His transformation isn’t that complicated. I think the only confusing parts with transforming him is that his arms and legs need to be rotated a certain way and the instructions aren’t that clear on how to do that. Notice how his secondary forward cannon/Computron’s main weapon splits into two pieces to form Scattershot’s rifle and shield.

Here’s Afterbreaker who was also known as Afterburner or Afterbreak during the ’80s and who forms the right arm. Afterbreaker’s alt-mode is a futuristic motorcycle with an extended windshield/canopy for the rider to sit behind kind of like the light cycles from Tron.

Here’s Afterbreaker in robot form. Out of all the Technobots he’s probably the most complicated to transform because of the way you have to bend his limbs a certain way and I was too scared of accidentally breaking a piece of him off. Also the front fairing/wheel/canopy portion of him needs to be rotated a certain way which isn’t that clear in the instructions. I think the first time I tried transforming him I spent probably a good 15-20 minutes how to finish transforming him before realizing certain pieces can rotates.

Here’s Strafe who forms the left arm. His alt-form is some sort of space fighter or space ship.

Here’s Strafe in robot form. He’s not that bad to transform. His legs are pretty similar to Afterbreaker which requires them to be bent and folded in a certain way as well but other than that his transformation isn’t that bad.

Here’s Lightspeed aka Lightstorm aka Lightseed, the right leg whose alt-form is a futuristic car.

Here he is in robot form. He’s a pretty easy transformation. I didn’t realize this at first but after transforming him and playing around with him a little he reminds me a lot of Turbo from Challenge of the GoBots.

Here’s Nosecone, the left leg whose alt-form is some sort of drilling machine. This version of Nosecone looks way different than either his cartoon form or his original G1 toy. If Nosecone looks a bit familiar it’s probably because he’s just a repainted version of Brawl from Combaticons/Bruticus the only difference aside from the color change is that his front is Brawl’s back.

Here’s Nosecone in robot form. I’m a little annoyed that they didn’t even try to make him look different than Brawl by giving him a different head. I don’t know why they didn’t do that it’s not like this is how he looks in either the comics or cartoon.

Here’s the bonus Legends Class figure Scrounge whose alt-mode is a flying saucer. According to what I found Scrounge is basically just a recolored version of Cosmos with a different head. Scrounge never made an appearance in the cartoons. His only appearances were in the comicbooks and it’s because of this that makes me wonder why they didn’t just put Cosmos in here instead.

Scrounge in robot form which looks nothing like he did in the comicbooks, which makes me wonder once again why didn’t they just use Cosmos?

Here’s Scrounge’s partner Cybaxx whose alt-form a tiny space shuttle.

Aside from being a little midget Transformer Cybaxx also transforms into Scrounge’s weapon which looks like a big-ass double-barreled shotgun.

Considering how small Cybaxx is his transformation is incredibly simple. In keeping with the Scrounge is basically just a recolored version of Cosmos-theme, Cybaxx is a retooled version of Payload/Blast Master who was released as Cosmos’s partner during the Thrilling 30 rereleases from a few years back.

Here’s a group shot of the Technobots in robot form.

And here they are in vehicle form.

Now it’s time to form Computron.

First up is Scattershot who is the head and torso.

Next is Afterbreaker who forms an arm.

Then you have Strafe who forms the other arm.

Then it’s Lightspeed who forms a leg.

And Nosecone who forms the other leg.

And now you have Computron. If you’re wondering why I didn’t show Scrounge and Cybaxx’s transformations it’s because they don’t’ have any. They just stay in vehicle form but you stick them together than you stick them on Strafe so they can become either a shield or a pauldron or something Unlike Bruticus whose hands and feet are interchangeable Computron’s hands and feet are distinctively different.

Here’s Computron with his gun. Compared to Bruticus Computron isn’t that back heavy so it’s not that hard to get him to stand up straight. Unfortunately, Computron’s balance only applies if he’s standing up straight and empty-handed. Give him his gun or stick one of his arms and he’ll fall over or at the very least start to tip over without any support. As you can see from the photos Comptron is standing a bit crooked and the reason for this is because I had to widen his stance in order to keep him upright.

This is pretty much it for Computron and the Technobots. This was a pretty interesting write-up for me to do since it gave me an opportunity to work with lighting during my shoots.Thanks for reading and please check back soon because I have plenty more toys and other stuff for you.